Lunch post: Crab cake sandwich, finally a decent Fire Sale, and Steve Cohen gets an A+

Having lunch today at Circa, using their free Wi-Fi.  I’m having the crab cake sandwich.  It’s HUGE and comes with a pile of potato chips.  Dressed with remoulade, lettuce, a tomato (which I removed), and onions (some of which I removed).

Took the long way here and walked past the Saucer to see what the Fire Sale was… it’s Blue Moon.  FINALLY!  SOMETHING DRINKABLE!!!  If they’d put Blue Moon on Fire Sale as often as they do Killian’s Red or Abita Turbo Dog, I’d be a happy camper.

Changed my mind and put the tomato back on the sandwich.

Story from WREG News:  Our representative in Congress, Steve Cohen, received an A+ on a survey done by an organization that looks out for the rights of the middle class.  They say he voted to protect the middle class and raise its living standards on issues related to tax cuts, children’s health insurance, affordable college, and the minimum wage.

Changed my mind again.  Took the tomato off.

Blast.  Hour’s up already.  I had a couple more things to post but can’t think of them.  Back to work.  I’ll be at the Saucer at 6 to drink Blue Moon and watch the Tiger game, then on to Aquanet and $1.50 Yuengling at the Rooster.

Poker Walk details

More details on the Poker Walk I posted about last night (thanks Otto), happening this Saturday from 7-10 at Peabody Corner Bar, Big Foot Lodge, McGuinness, Flying Saucer, and Jillian’s:  You go to each bar and get a drink and a card.  After you go to all five bars, you have a poker hand.  The best poker hand at each bar (depending on where you end up) wins a prize.  Also, the first 20 to hand in a completed poker hand at each bar win tickets to the Saving Abel show at the New Daisy.

Hmmm… planning a little strategy here, if I were to play… Corner Bar and Jillian’s are the least popular of the five bars, so if I were playing I’d plan to end up at one of those two, where the odds would be better of holding the best hand.

By the way, this is the same concept as the “Poker Run” planned by East Bumblefuck Kat and her Ptolemy socialite friends every year.  I believe their Poker Run happens in April.

$1.50 Yuengling Lager at…

…the Red Rooster tonight.  Just got a MySpace bulletin from them (and I’m sure I’ll get three or four text messages from them too) saying that Yuengling Lager draft beers will be $1.50 all night long.  It’s “Rock Out With Your Cock Out” night and Aquanet and Dova Grove will be playing.  I will be in attendance for this one.  Will probably get there about 9, 9:30ish or so.

Home now. This post contains useful information.

Home from McGuinness now.  First of all, here’s a pic containing info on a Poker Walk happening this Saturday from 7 to 10 at five bars in the core of Downtown:

p3130223.JPG

I guess a Poker Walk is kind of like a Poker Run, except a month earlier and without all the stuffed shirts and RSVP photographers.

And now for what we’ve all been waiting for:  The BEER REPORT!!!

Previous total:  $616.75

Beers 112, 113, and 114 (but 107, 108, and 109 according to the Saucer):
Dos Equis Amber bottle $4.25
Kingfisher Lager $5.00
Sam Adams Light $4.00
Tip:  $13.25 x ~30% = $4.00
Total:  $17.25

Grand total:  $634.00

The drunkass McGuinness post

So tonight I went to the Saucer and (with Mikey the Camera Nazi) planned the presentation we’re going to give to the new Downtown security patrols next Thursday.  Got the handouts together – “common panhandling gimmicks”, “our favorite bums”, “problem panhandling locations.”  Took the laptop home, changed clothes, came back to the Saucer, hung out in the window with Harmony and a couple of other regulars who said “please don’t blog us” about 1000 times.  So I won’t.  They tell me they appreciate a good Sunday Fun Day as much as we do, so they’re cool.

After that, went to Hoop’s Bar.  The big news at Hoop’s is that they now have a record player and Hooper’s rather extensive record collection.  If there’s a record you own and want to hear I’m sure you could probably take it up there and Hoop would play it.  Unless it sucks.  I was trying to decide if I was hungry enough to eat again at Hoop’s, having not eaten since having a breakfast burrito from Elliott’s (sausage, jalapenos, onions, potatoes, egg and cheese) at 10 AM.  Probably a good thing I don’t have a girlfriend as she’d have to sleep on the couch after the contents of that burrito got processed.  Anyway, I thought about eating a second time – the Badass Burger or Anna’s Egg Wolls or the Meat Pizza (get you some) but decided not to.

And now I’m at McGuinness.  Drunk.  Having a Woodchuck Amber as my final beer.  Nothing like a nice sugary apple cider right before bedtime.

I’d do a beer report but I can’t remember two of the three beers I drank.  I wrote them down but it’s on a piece of paper I dropped off at home when I took home the laptop.  The one I remember is Dos XX Amber bottle.

Regular blog reader Mike W sent in this article about absinthe lollipops.

This post was really not worth reading.  Or typing.

Wed lunchtime post

(Edit 5 PM:  Oops forgot to hit Publish at lunch.  Sorry.)

I just got e-mail letting me know that the Downtown Blue Monkey has a “now hiring servers” ad in this week’s Memphis Flyer.  Usually restaurants do that when they’re 3-4 weeks away from opening.

Regular blog reader JR e-mailed to remind everyone that the Civil Rights Game, which serves as the season opener for Major League Baseball every year, will take place at Memphis’ AutoZone Park on Saturday, March 29.  The Chicago White Sox will play the New York Mets in the game.  JR tells me you can still get tickets for $39, which includes tickets to not only the Civil Rights game, but two Redbirds games during the season.

My Handling-Panhandling co-founder Mike King and I have been asked to spend an hour training the new security patrols that will walk the streets of Downtown April-June.  We will be training them March 20 (reminds me, I have to clear that with work).  They want Downtown residents who have to deal with the problem every day to offer their perspective.  Planned topics include an orientation guide to common panhandling gimmicks, a top 10 list of of the bums who cause the most trouble Downtown, and a guide the biggest problem locations Downtown.  We’re meeting at the Saucer tonight to put the presentation together.

Which reminds me, I’m skipping my usual Wednesday night at Itta Bena this week.  It’s a beautiful day with a high in the low 70s, and I want to be outside, or at least in the Saucer’s outside room with the big garage windows.

This is going to be a wandering weekend for me.  There are people from 11 schools in town for the Conference USA tournament, and I always enjoy walking around and talking to tourists.  Much more likely to hit Beale Street bars like Silky’s, Tap Room, and Pat O’s than usual.  Also, this Friday is the Raising of the Goat on Beale Street after work, and Saturday is the St. Pat’s Day parade at 4.  I tend to wander around at these events, maybe having one drink with one group of people, then tabbing out and wandering some more and finding another group at a different bar.  Much less likely than usual to spend 6 or 7 consecutive hours drinking beer at the Saucer, although I’ll have to spend enough time there to down my 3 plate beers each day.

(Edit 5 PM:  Time to hit Publish for real this time and go get a beer)

C-USA tournament game times

Mikey the Camera Nazi sent me a Conference USA tournament bracket yesterday, as published on MadduxSports.com. Here are the game times for the Memphis Tigers:

Wednesday: Only the teams that suck play. Well, 8 of the 11 teams that suck. None of the games will be televised, which means you’ll miss out on some of the worst basketball ever. No big loss.

Thursday: Tigers play the winner of Tulane vs. Marshall at 6 PM. Game will be broadcast on CSTV.

Friday: Tigers play either UTEP, Southern Miss, or Rice at 3:30 PM on CSTV. Well that sucks. Stupid job. Maybe I’ll be able to run to the Saucer right after work and catch the last 30 minutes.

Saturday: Tigers play in the championship game, probably against Houston or UAB, at 10:30 AM on CBS.

Of course, this assumes the Tigers will win their Thursday and Friday games, but come on, it’s Conference USA.

There are some game being broadcast on CSS, but because of the way the bracket is set up there’s no chance the Tigers will play in any of them. CSS… teams that suck on the network that sucks.

Also, it just came out in the news that in 2009, Memphis will host the C-USA tournament for the 5th straight year.  Congrats to us!

Jumper Cable Guy on street-people.com

Looks like the webmaster of street-people.com had an encounter with notorious bum/hustler Jumper Cable Guy.  You can read his story here.  Sounds like JCG changes his story to fit the surroundings.  This week he was saying the snow and ice killed his battery.

Unfortunately street-people didn’t get a good pic of JCG, but that’s okay because we have one right here:

jcableguy1.jpg

Attn Sunday brunch crew

May be some disruptions in plans the next two Sundays…

This Sunday (the 16th) Big Foot Lodge is doing $2 34 oz. green beer in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.  The green beer will be flowing all day long.  Hmmm… usually we do our brunch stop (this week Majestic) for a couple of hours, then the Saucer for an unspecified period of time.  Perhaps this week we should limit the Saucer to a couple of hours (gotta be there for a little while though, so everyone can beat Pete at pool) and then hit Big Foot.  At midnight they’re giving away prizes to the person wearing the most green.  Probably won’t stick around for that.

Also, there’s a sign on the Saucer’s door saying, “We’ll be open for Easter Sunday (March 23) at 5 PM.” WTF? They’ve never done that before.  So our normal plan of doing Majestic 11-1 and then hitting the Saucer won’t work… we’ll have to come up with alternate plans until 5, most likely involving someplace with TVs since March Madness will be on.

Crawfish @ Mulligan’s, T-shirt printing Downtown, beer and trivia report

Tonight I learned that TJ Mulligan’s has all-you-can-eat crawfish on Monday nights, starting at 7 PM, for $15. If you’re into crawfish go by and check it out. Former Sleep Out’s bartending all-star Frenchie is there as well.

I picked up some new T-shirts I got screen printed today. My friends Pete and Josh run a T-shirt printing business inside Winfield’s at Madison and Main. They can take any image and put it on a shirt for you. So I got a Pete the Trivia Guy (different Pete) shirt made, and wore it to trivia tonight. Pete thought it was quite funny. I got a second shirt printed as well, which will be on display sometime this week. Gotta be careful where I wear that one though, as there is an offensive gesture on the shirt.

We got second in trivia tonight. That brings our total to $275, assuming I get my plate done on time.

Beer report:

Previous total $605.25

Beers 109, 110, and 111 (but 104, 105, and 106 according to the Saucer):
Chocolate Truffle (Young’s Double Chocolate with splash of Framboise) $5.00
Black Dog Honey Raspberry bottle $4.00
St.Pauli Girl bottle $4.25
Tip: $13.25 x ~30% = $4.00
Free biggy Dos Equis Lager for hitting 100 beers $-5.75
Total $11.50

Grand total: $616.75

This is one of those days when I have to hit the reset button. Home at 9:45 PM, hours earlier than normal. I need a good nine hours sleep and then I’ll be ready to roll again.