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I wish I could learn to enjoy a quiet evening at home.  Unfortunately I can’t.  Not when there’s so much good food and drink Downtown.

Last night after trivia I stopped by Kooky Canuck and had their maple marinated flank steak, with blue cheese mashed potatoes and green beans.  At under $10 it’s one of the best values Downtown.  Even my health guru AL would approve, I think, and she’d be happy to hear I ate a green vegetable.

Tonight I stopped at Bangkok Alley for their seafood green curry.  Shrimp, scallops, and the fish of the day (today it was salmon) in green curry with vegetables.  Very very good.  I forgot to tell them to kick it up a notch on the spice, but even at the default level I liked it.

Check the back page of the Flyer if you’re looking for an apartment Downtown… there’s an ad for a 1BR luxury apartment at 481 S Main for $800 a month, utilities included, W/D, tile and all that jazz.  I’ve heard this is a very nice apartment.  This is a GREAT deal.  One note though, if the landlord is who I think it is, he’ll call you “spirit” as you sign the lease.

Tomorrow is an Ozone Action Day.  Ride the MATA bus for 25 cents.  Why not?  They’ve got a punctuality record that is unparalleled in the transportation industry, except for maybe Delta Airlines.

Old Lazy Ass at the Saucer is actually being nice to me.  It’s somewhat disturbing.

Probably not an early morning post.  I see I have an opportunity for 9 hours of sleep and am going to take advantage of it.

Southwest Airlines is doing a deep discount sale that ends today:  One-way tickets to all their major cities $30-90.  The thing is, the sale ends at 11:59 today, so if you plan to fly, you better jump on it.  Tickets must be used between September 9 and November 18 and can’t be used on Friday or Sunday.  Details here.  True, Southwest doesn’t have a gate at Memphis International, but unlike all the commercial airlines that land at Memphis International, Southwest doesn’t suck.  Little Rock has Southwest service and is only a 2 hour drive, and Nashville does as well and is a 3 hour drive. 

If you’re a member of MPACT Memphis, there are a couple of events happening Downtown within the next week. Friday, July 10, they’re having a Lunch Bunch gathering at Wrapzody, a restaurant that specializes in wrap sandwiches. They’ll meet at noon. The restaurant is on the ground floor of the Renaissance Apartments building, 99 N. Main.

Next Tuesday at 6, there will be an MPACT Memphis happy hour at Grill 83 in the Madison Hotel. This is a chance to get to know other MPACT members in an informal, laid-back setting… hmmm that’s right around the corner from where I live… I could hit happy hour there and still make it to trivia not long after 7… may have to RSVP for this one.

In other news, Capital One has bought the Horizon Building. The Horizon is the unfinished tower building at 717 Riverside, which has been sitting there since the old owner defaulted. Hopefully they can finish it and get people in it soon, whether as condos as originally intended, or apartments which became the plan later.

I read online (can’t remember if it was Twitter or Facebook) that the Peabody plans on announcing the lineup for its New Year’s Eve party soon. They’ve done a great job turning around their weekly rooftop parties… can they do the same for the New Year’s party? For the past 5 years my stance on their NYE party has been “won’t even consider it,” but they seem to have a renewed commitment to customer service in 2009. Still skeptical given the quality of previous NYE parties, but at least willing to hear what their plans are this year.

Probably going to hit the Silly Goose for a couple of beers after work.  I doubt I’ll stay out late though, because I want to get home and work on yet another website idea.  Busy busy…

Time to launch my newest website.

Flasks for Sale is an Amazon storefront that carries hundreds of different flasks by category.  Looking for a leather hip flask?  A girlie flask?  A stadium seat cushion flask?  An elegant stainless steel flask?  We’ve got them all.  Hundreds of categories to choose from.  As always, this site is done in association with Amazon.com. They handle the checkout with their world-class secure system, and they also handle shipping and returns. I never see your name or credit card info, just a notification that items were ordered and I made commission.

After doing 8 or 9 sister sites to Tube Top Boutique, I got tired of building women’s fashion sites… so I decided to do something different and build a sibling site to Mid-South Alcoholic Supply, perhaps my favorite of all the stores I’ve created over the past two years.

Got another one coming sometime in the next few days… right now, though, it’s time to head to trivia.

Not a whole lot to talk about today… this should be quick.

I’ve been asked to point people here to vote for Victoria’s Secret to include the University of Memphis in their new Pink collegiate line.  That’s a link I’m more than happy to post.

Just got the monthly newsletter from Envision Memphis, the health club on the top floor of the Cadre Building.  Featured classes for July include Pilates with Val Russell and the Push Pilates team, Yoga Therapy with Amsa, and an early-morning Hollywould boot camp.  Click through to their website for more details.

It’s Tuesday night tonight, which means the 34 oz. mixed drinks are on sale for $5 at Kooky Canuck.  Those would be good to wash down their new Maple Flank Steak.  Terry usually bartends on Tuesday, so, great service at the bar.  Remember, that 34 oz. mixed drink normally costs twice as much, so make sure you tip him extra well.

I usually don’t talk about work on my blog, but a rather cool thing happened this morning so I’ll make an exception… we’re moving to a new building in Horn Lake next year, and the architects came around and asked each of us our wants and needs.  Wow what a novel concept, asking the employees what kind of workspace would allow them to be most productive… as opposed to assuming management knows best and designing a one-size-fits-all space without any input from the staff, which is what happens in most offices… I like it.

After work I have to see about lining up tracking services for my websites… they’ve now reached the point where I need to pay for premium web tracking to be able to better search-optimize them.  This is a high-class problem to have.  One of my sites is selling cornhole boards like crazy this week and I need advanced tracking to understand what I did right, so I can duplicate it on other sites.  After I get that done I’ll head to the weekly trivia match at the Saucer, where Mikey the Trivia Guy is filling in for Pete this week.

And with that, I’m outta here… be sure to let me know if you see any new Romanians out and about Downtown.

Kooky Canuck just added some new menu items. One is the King Kookamonga, a supersized version of their Kookamonga burger. 6 pounds of meat, 12 pounds total with bun and fixins. Free if you and a friend finish it in under an hour, $34.99 otherwise.

Elsewhere on the menu, I see a 6 ounce maple flank steak that’s new.

(Edited to add: they also have a new half pound hot dog.)

Not there by the way… Still at Pint Nite, surfing their menu from my phone.

At Pint Nite at the Saucer, blogging from my phone… A girl just interviewed with one of the managers and was probably wondering why I was staring at her throughout the interview.

I was trying to figure out if she was Romanian. Every year around this time, Memphis sees an influx of Romanians, Russians, Serbians, and other college students who have come here on their summer break on a 4 month work visa. They usually get restaurant and hotel jobs.

Of all the girls who come over here from Eastern Europe, the Romanians are by far the hottest. We had several a few years ago but they graduated.

If you have any Romanian sightings, e-mail me at paul@paulryburn.com and let me know.

This just in:  King Willie to delay resignation until July 30.  And then on July 29, I’m sure we’ll have another press conference announcing a further delay.  Sigh… will we ever get rid of him?

The monthly SMA meeting will be July 14, a week from this coming Tuesday, at the Orpheum.  The featured speaker will be Pat Halloran, president of the Orpheum.  Social begins at 6, meeting at 6:45.  There will be a cash bar available, and free hors d’oeuvres available compliments of the theatre.  Free food… wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up?

It’s 10:30 in the morning and I’m getting ready to walk to Sole to try their brunch.  Later in the day, the usual Sunday fun.

A couple of new cigar stores have opened Downtown within the past month.

There’s a Smokers’ Outlet at 6 S. Main which has a walk-in humidor.  They also carry some basic convenience-store items and apparel for sports teams in the area.

There’s another new cigar lounge on Second across from the Peabody, next door to Kooky Canuck.  Looks like they have a real comfortable lounge area with leather couches and TVs – good environment to enjoy cigars, I would imagine.

And, of course, there’s the first and the finest, Tobacco Bowl on Madison between Second and Third which has been Downtown for years and years.  Huge selection, owner with lots of knowledge of cigars, a very comfortable lounge upstairs, coffee bar downstairs.

I don’t smoke cigars, but I can tell that it is certainly a good time to be a smoker in Downtown Memphis.

(Edit 10:38 AM: More info on the Richard Johnston filming here.  Free performance in front of the New Daisy at 8, after party inside at 10:30 with a $5 cover.)

The July 4 show in Handy Park featuring Muck Sticky begins at 5 PM tonight and is free.

I saw on Facebook that local hill country bluesman Richard Johnston is filming on Beale Street tonight.  From looking at his website, it looks like he’ll be in his usual spot outside the New Daisy.

Also, for those of you who miss superstar bartender Jamie who used to work at the Black Diamond, he’s back on Beale, at the King’s Palace patio bar.  Good to have Jamie back on the street.

Hmmm… despite having a free pass into the Peabody’s July 4 rooftop party, I’m now leaning toward Beale tonight.  Of course, it’s a short walk, so I could easily do both, I guess.

I’ll end with my usual quote – “He who goes forth on the Fourth with a fifth, may not go forth on the Fifth.”  When the Fifth is Sunday Fun Day, though, you better believe I’m going to go forth on the Fifth.  Hmmm Sole is doing brunch tomorrow and bartender Melissa is back in town.  Boobs!  That may be a plan for tomorrow morning.