Author: paulryburn

After Memorial Day weekend, I’m going to get back to building new websites, specifically, Amazon.com storefronts. Related to that, I have a question for my female readers. I want to design some sister sites to Tube Top Boutique, where I focus on a very narrow niche of women’s fashion. What niche do you think my next storefront should focus on? If you have ideas, shoot ’em to paul@paulryburn.com.

It’s been a fulfilling week at work… I’ve spent most of this week setting up a WordPress blog that we’re going to roll out next month. As a result, I’ve gained a much better understanding of WordPress than I had before. I’ve added a lot of bells and whistles that are going to WOW the blog’s readers and keep them coming back. I’ve also learned a lot of tricks that I will eventually use on my own blog.

I feel like I’ve finally found my niche. I’m a marketing person with a very strong knowledge of IT, rather than an IT person. I enjoy creating things that will excite and motivate people. I don’t enjoy optimizing SQL Server stored procedures to reduce import and transformation time of large data files by 10%.

Got another question… those of you who work near the airport, where is there a place to pick up a Memphis Flyer in that part of town? It’s Friday and I haven’t read the Flyer yet. That’s completely unacceptable, especially since it’s one of my main sources for blog info. You just don’t see green boxes out by the airport like you do in Downtown and Midtown.

All right… had a friend call and say he was at the Saucer before I even left work… time to head up there and get the weekend started.

Beginning July 1, out-of-state wineries will be able to ship wine directly to Tennessee residents.  They will still have to register with the Tennessee ABC and get a permit.

In honor of the long weekend, Kooky Canuck will sell 34 oz. Super Cold Coors Light for $2 all day Sunday.  Most everyone has Monday off to recover, so stop on by and have one, or a few… don’t forget to bring your pennies to tip Meghan, if she’s working.

There’s a Facebook group for Tube Top Month… feel free to join if you’re a fan.  Only 10 more days!

The block party last night was outstanding.  Bluefin had Delirium Nocturnum in bottles for $2 each.  Nice!  They also had delicious beef and shrimp skewers for a buck each.  Great music by the Bluff City Backsliders and Blind Mississippi Morris too.  Those bottles of Delirium took me out of commission early and I just didn’t feel up to the Peabody rooftop.  Hung out at the Saucer for a while then went home and got a good night’s sleep… plenty of weekend coming up to catch up on partying though.

But first, I face an exciting day of diagnosing configuration issues in php.ini files.  Joy joy.

I thought part of the settlement when Kooky Canuck agreed to totally dissociate itself from its former name was, no more scary almost-human creatures.  No Big Foot, no Sasquatch, no Yeti.

And then tonight they brought back the scariest creature of them all.  “Meghan.”  What were they thinking?

Please, Shawn and Lana, let the nightmares end.

May 21 is National Waitstaff day, so be sure to treat your bartenders and servers extra well when you go out tonight.  Here’s an article from WikiHow on how to tip your server at a restaurant.

There’s a Facebook promotion going on right now called Bullseye Gives. Through this promotion Target will give $3 million to St. Jude and other charity partners. Your votes will determine how much of the $3 million St. Jude gets. Go to Target’s Facebook page to vote, and you can vote once per day through May 25.

On May 26, Target will announce the amount each charity gets, based on vote percentage. So if St. Jude got 50% of the vote, they’d receive 50% of the money, or 1.5 million dollars.

Something else I saw on Facebook – this coming Monday, the Red Rooster will throw a Monday Fun Day party entitled “Luau – everyone gets Laid.” It’s a chance to show off your summer beach bodies and tans. Attire is beach or summer clothes. Domestics and vodka drinks will be on special for $2.50.

Also, the Rooster’s prize for this week’s “You Got the Look/Chicklette of the Week” contest is a Big Buddha handbag.  It’s Thursday night after the Peabody rooftop.

If anyone is looking for a C# programming position, I know of a recruiter who has one open. It requires 3-5 years programming experience and some project management experience. It would be ideal for someone out east in the Germantown/Collierville area, and it’s for a large manufacturing company. If interested e-mail me at paul@paulryburn.com and I’ll put you in touch with the recruiter. No need to send resumes, just send a paragraph summarizing your past experience, and if you seem qualified, I’ll put you in touch.

Hmmm… the recruiters never give out the names of the companies, but I think I know which one they’re talking about… if I’m right, I interviewed with them 2 years ago and got asked one of the dumbest IT interview questions ever. “How many languages support the .NET framework?” The real answer is, it doesn’t matter, because as long as you know one of them, you’re good to go. The answer he was looking for was 23 (this was 2 years ago – may be more or less now). I have no idea why he asked that. It was completely useless trivia.

Outta here… I was asked to do a photo shoot for some social media presentation and they want to do it at the Saucer.  Now that I can handle.

Congrats to the Rapscallions on taking first place in trivia with a very high score.  Post-trivia, I joined the Nuh-Uh Girl, the Nuh-Uh Sister, the Nuh-Uh Brother (rare sighting) and the Nuh-Uh Brother’s Girlfriend at the Silly Goose.  Here’s a pic of the Nuh-Uh Girl eating off the Nuh-Uh Brother’s and Nuh-Uh Brother’s Girlfriend’s plate:

Ques Brothers booth video has been uploaded and will go up in the morning.

There will be a block party on the block of the Main Street Mall just north of Peabody Place this Thursday, May 21, from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. Free to the public, with music by Blind Mississippi Morris and the Bluff City Backsliders, and the following businesses will offer specials:

• Majestic Grille – buy one appetizer get one half price for dine-in only; $4 mojitos on the patio.
• Circa – $5 appetizers, $5 featured wines by the glass, $20 bottles.
• Center for Southern Folklore – $4 peach cobbler and ice cream, $16 64 oz. Ghost River growlers.
• Shelton Clothiers – 20% off entire store excluding sale items.
• Bluefin – Kono Grilled Beef, Chicken or Shrimp with teriyaki sauce $12; $5 Bluefin Cosmo, $2 domestic beer.
• Silly Goose – $3 wells.
• Tobacco Bowl will have a table on hand for the debut of their new Bluff City Cigar.
• Belz Museum of Asian and Judaic Art – 25% off museum admission, 15% off any one item in the museum store.
• Art under a Hot Tin Roof – preview of their new store; showcase of pearl and leather jewelry.
• RiverTown Art Gallery – specials on Memphis prints.

Great way to start your evening before the Peabody or Madison rooftop parties or whatever you decide to get into.

Ques Brothers booth walkthrough video will be posted as soon as it finishes uploading to YouTube.

Last Tuesday, Kooky Canuck put their 34 oz. signature cocktails on sale for $5, and it must have gone well, because it looks like they’re doing it every Tuesday now. One of those will take you from zero to hammered in record time.

Bardog Tavern continues their Freeroll Poker Tournament tomorrow night, Wednesday, May 20, in the downstairs Underdog Room at 7:30 PM. Call 901-275-8752 to reserve your spot. Compete for prizes, as well as points to be accumulated over a 16-week period toward a grand prize of a cruise for two. Space is limited, so call them ASAP if you want to reserve a spot at the table. This is a Texas Hold’em tournament with progressive blinds. The first week they did it, it ran late, but now they’re doing their best to get it done by 10:30. It’s hosted by Gut Shot Poker.

The NBA draft lottery is tonight. I haven’t heard as big a buzz about it as in past years, perhaps because the Grizzlies did a little better this season, and enter the lottery with the 6th worst record in the NBA. Therefore, according to Wikipedia their chances of drawing picks are as follows:

• 1st pick: 6.3%
• 2nd picK: 7.1%
• 3rd pick: 8.1%
• 6th pick: 43.9%
• 7th pick: 30.5%
• 8th pick: 4%
• 9th pick: 1%

Where to watch? The Saucer isn’t hosting the Grizzlies’ watch party this year (Buffalo Wild Wings at Poplar and Highland has it) but there will still be a lot of people there. Another good place would be Calhoun’s on GE Patterson, Downtown’s best sports bar. Silly Goose has a $2 drink menu from 5 to 10 and four TVs, so that would be a good spot to drink for cheap while you watch the lottery. I believe the lottery starts at 7:30 PM, but wherever you go, you better show up early to get a good seat.

The Commercial Appeal projects Memphis Tigers guard Tyreke Evans as the 7th best player in the draft, so if the Grizz don’t move up in the draft, there’s a possibility we could end up with a local guy.

A few articles in the CA this weekend that are relevant to Downtown, which Downtowners may have missed due to BBQ Fest:

• A profile of Sridhar Sunkara, the Center City Commission’s IT director and a Leadership Academy Fellow. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Sridhar on MPACT Memphis projects, and he’s a good person to know in the world of IT.
• An article on the the Pink Pig clothing line at Shelton Clothiers
• An article on a couple living in the 2 West condos on GE Patterson

Block party at Main and Peabody Place Thursday night.  I’ll post specials later today or early tomorrow.