Category: Uncategorized

Lots of assorted stuff today… first of all, congrats to the trivia team on a first-place victory last night! We were sure we were in trouble after we got only 1 out of 7 right on the third-round bonus question, but everyone else missed it too.

The Memphis Flyer is having their monthly “Work It Wednesday” happy hour tonight, and this time they’re taking the show on the road to Midtown. It will be at the Beauty Shop from 5 to 7 PM tonight, with 10% off menu items, $5 house wines, and $2.50 domestics. Good excuse to do a little Hump Day drinking and mingling with the staff of the Flyer.

I saw on Twitter today that Skatelife Memphis has received a $2500 grant from Nike. They will use the money to build a mini-halfpipe at the Greenlaw Community Center. Congratulations to them, and yay for more family-friendly amenities in Uptown.

The DNA and SMA are combining to have a holiday party at the Metro 67 apartments on Sunday, December 20, from 6 to 9 PM. Free to all members of either organization, cash bar, door prizes, and various restaurants providing the food. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up. Nice to see the two organizations working together, so members of one group can get more familiar with the other.

Wow that means I’ll have four days of parties in a row… got my building’s party on the 17th… a party at a South Main condo on the 18th… my plate party on the 19th… and the DNA/SMA party on the 20th. The weekend before Christmas is gonna be a busy one.

Guys, if you’re thinking about buying some new clothes, I have a suggestion for you… do it on Sunday. If you bring a Sunday brunch receipt from any Downtown restaurant to Shelton Clothiers in December, they will give you $20 off a purchase of $150 or more. So you’re basically getting free brunch. Trying to decide where to eat? My suggestion would be right next door, at the Majestic Grille. Try the smoked salmon hash browns, or one of the fritattas, or the breakfast named after Downtown legend John D.

Ladies, if you want to shop at Shelton for the man in your life, might want to do it this Thursday, December 3, or on Thursday, December 17. You’ll receive a bonus of a gift card good for 15% of the amount of your purchase. You can pass along the card as a gift, or use it yourself the next time you shop Shelton. Also, wine and hors d’oeuvres will be served on those nights. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

More shopping savings down the street at Lansky at the Peabody… they sent out an e-mail yesterday containing a 25% off coupon, and they gave me permission to post the link for my readers… get the coupon here.

Heavy rain headed this way… hope it’s gone by the end of the workday.  Sunset Wheat is the fire sale so it’s a pretty safe bet I’ll be out after work, even if I have to walk in the rain.

If you own a Blackberry and want to try the Foursquare app, there’s now a beta version available for your phone. Get it here.

Don’t forget that tomorrow, Wednesday, December 2, is the Majestic Grille’s 50% off gift card sale. Doors open at 9 AM and you must buy them in person.

I pick on the Saucer from time to time on my blog, but I have to give them major kudos for something they’re doing this weekend. They’re the first stop on Saturday’s Stumbling Santa Pub Crawl (7 PM) and they’re asking everyone who participates to bring a toy for the Ronald McDonald House from this list. Here’s the cool thing: The Saucer is going to match donations toy for toy. So, if you bring a toy, TWO kids will get a Christmas present. Very, very nice. I guess it’s time to pull my Santa suit from 2007 out of the storage room and see if it’s in good enough shape to use again.

By the way: The collection box for the toys is already set up. It’s next to the UFO computer, near the bathrooms. So if you can’t make it Saturday, you can still drop off a toy. If you can make it Saturday, why not drop off a toy now and then another one Saturday? Then you’ll make Christmas better for four kids.

I finished second at the 7:30 poker tournament at the Silly Goose last night. They had two tables going, and Josh took out the entire other table with an all-in. Thus he arrived at my table with a huge stack. I was just too far behind when it got down to him and me heads-up. Congrats to Josh on a fine victory. At least I earned points toward the final table, which I think will be played in two weeks.

Trivia night at 7 PM… I should have time to get in one $13 turbo 6-max Sit’n’Go on PokerStars before I head up there.

It’s official:  Judd is gone from Spindini.  This Daily News article has the details.  It certainly is a pro-Judd piece, but why should I be surprised, seeing Fredric Koeppel’s name in the byline.

Bernard J. Lansky, owner of Lansky Bros. and “Clothier to the King,” has had a street named after him.  The block of Beale between Main and Second has been named “Bernard J. Lansky Street” in his honor.  That’s appropriate, I suppose, since that block contains a statue of his customer Elvis Presley.  That’s also the block where you can usually find 2 or 3 panhandlers at any time, trying to charge tourists to park in metered spaces and run various other scams on them.  Nonetheless, congratulations to Mr. Lansky on a well-earned accomplishment.

I had people e-mail and ask where I got my info that tonight’s Tiger game will be tape delayed on WKNO tonight at 9 rather than live… I got it here.

Time for some Pint Nite beer… kinda tempted to stay home and play PokerStars, but I kinda want to catch up with everyone who was out of town for Thanksgiving more.

Yesterday as I blogged, I mentioned that I was playing another “freeroll” tournament on PokerStars, where I spent my frequent player points to enter but had a chance to win part of a $1,000 cash prize pool. Well, I’m happy to report that I finished in the money… 5499 entered, top 810 positions paid out. I finished 624th.

My prize? Thirty-two portraits of Abraham Lincoln engraved in copper. That’s right, folks. Treinta y dos centavos. 6.4 nickels. 3.2 dimes. A classic example of creating money out of thin air. That’s the American way… what a great country we live in. My bankroll, which started the day at a paltry $536.11, had skyrocketed all the way to $536.43 after the hour and five minutes I spent playing the tournament. Daniel Negreanu and Joe Cada better beware, because I think it’s clear there’s a new big dog on PokerStars’ tables after my performance yesterday.

After the poker tournament, I went to Sunday Fun Day at the Saucer, then decided to take a trip south to Calhoun’s. I was in the mood for their super-hot habanera hot wings, and ordered 16 of them. People were making bets on how many I could finish. The over/under was established at 14. I was in pain as I made it into the double digits. After a lot of suffering I made it to 15 to beat the over/under.

Due to unexpected rain, I had about a 7 hour stay at Calhoun’s… not a bad place at all to hang out when I’m in the neighborhood. Small but good crowd there last night. Had a good time discussing various topics with the others at the bar, and I played QB1 for a while but kept forgetting to call the plays in time. Thanks to Mikey for the ride there, and Dave for the ride home.

Note to Tiger fans: I read on gotigersgo.com that due to equipment installation delays, the 7 PM Tiger game will not be broadcast live on WKNO-TV as planned, but will be shown via tape delay at 9.

It’s Monday… that means Pint Nite after work. Not sure if I’ll make it to poker night at the Silly Goose this week.

The Snuggie Pub Crawl was last night at four Downtown bars.  I made a last-minute decision to buy a Snuggie and do the crawl, and am glad I did.  It was a lot of fun.  Here are some pics.

Meredith finally made the blog for something other than wearing a tube top.  Here are Tom and Meredith in their Memphis Tigers Snuggies, in the VIP area above the Tap Room.

On the right is @finnious, one of the best Memphis Twitterers, rocking the Auburn Snuggie.

Crystal and Tyler.  I got Tyler hooked on the Foursquare app for the iPhone last night.  Looks like the Majestic Grille will soon have a new mayor.

These girls won the best group Snuggie award for their holiday Snuggies.

A parade of Snuggies comes through the gate at Silky’s.

Samurai Snuggie

Silky’s courtyard.  I kept moving back and forth between the courtyard and inside the bar to watch the Arkansas-LSU game on the big screen.  I’d been saying that I hadn’t seen a good overtime game in a while.  I got what I wished for last night, although not with the outcome I wanted.  LSU won 33-30.

Leopard Snuggies everywhere

Brandon double-fisting beers at Kooky Canuck

The Kooky super-sized ice cream sundae.  I forget what this thing is called since they changed the name.  This guy better be happy that the Nuh-Uh Girl did not attend the pub crawl, because if she did she’d be right in his face going, “Can I have some???”

Snuggie wearers getting down at Club Chill.  I must admit, I found it hard to dance in a 6 foot long Snuggie.

Now I know how astronauts must feel when they view Earth from outer space.

Christina announces the winners of the Snuggie contest.

Yeah I know, kind of a blurry pic, but it’s hard to hold a beer and zoom in with a camera.  The guy in the orange Snuggie won for originality for incorporating the booklight that came with it.

Full album (134 photos) can be viewed here and is worth a look.  This is an event I just can’t do justice with a dozen or so selected photos for the blog.

Also don’t forget to visit Amelia’s Voice and consider making a donation if you couldn’t make it to the pub crawl last night.

Next week is the grandaddy of all Downtown Memphis pub crawls… Stumbling Santa.  It’s also the marathon, the holiday parade, the SEC championship game, and about a zillion other events.

Hmmm I’m up too late to make it to brunch at the Majestic… think I’ll play another freeroll tournament on PokerStars, then head to the Saucer for Sunday Fun Day.

Recap here. The SEC’s most overrated team loses again.  Guess the Rebs weren’t as fired up as they were last week when they had the pep rally… er, KKK rally.

Okay, so it looks like I will do the Snuggie pub crawl after all.  I just paid my $10 on PayPal.  After I finish my current freeroll tournament on PokerStars, I’ll run over to Walgreens and buy a Snuggie.  Something different to do.

By the way, I’ve heard people asking, “If I don’t want to put on a Snuggie and donate $10 to the charity, can I still come and hang out?”  I’m not one of the organizers, but from everything I’ve read, the answer is NO!!!  You get a lanyard for participating that gets you in the clubs.  This was a huge mistake we made with Stumbling Elvis, not making participation mandatory.  We had hangers-on who did nothing but get in the way the entire night.  Glad to see they’re cracking down on this.  I’ve heard Stumbling Santa next weekend will do the same.

Anyway, I have time to burn until the pub crawl, so I decided to clean out my camera and see what I could find that I hadn’t posted.

Lizzie and friends at Calhoun’s, RiverArtsFest weekend

My friends Shawn and Joe.  Not only do we share similar tastes in college teams (GO HOGS!), we also share similar viewpoints on who’s a good bartender.

Jessica and Amber from the Saucer, at Kooky Canuck’s Halloween party.

My name atop the leader board.  I’ve since finished my 200th beer, and as soon as I figure out when I want to do my plate party, I’ll print out the receipt from the computer and my 3rd plate will be done.

Amazing.  This tournament has been running 13 minutes and 1300 of the 4500 participants have busted out.  I’ve folded every hand, and of my initial stack of 1500 chips, I’m only down to 1470.  Top 675 places pay out, although being a freeroll you have to make it to the final table to make some serious money.

WTF was going on at the Cadre Building this morning?  I live a half block away and can see it out my window.  There was all kinds of whooping and hollering and car horns honking.  It must have woken me up a half dozen times.  Usually, being 13 stories up, I don’t hear all the noise from the street.  They didn’t quiet down until almost 5 AM.

While I was proofreading this post another 200 players busted out of the tournament.  Incredible.

If you’re looking for an alternative to the Snuggie Crawl and want to hear some live music, it’s the Hard Rock’s 12th anniversary tonight.  Above Only, Agent Jane, and Egypt Central at 10 PM.  Not sure of the cover but usually it’s inexpensive there.

All right, blinds are getting high, time to hit Publish and actually start playing this tournament.  See you at the Snuggie crawl tonight.

About a week ago I had a blog reader e-mail me, telling me he’s a big fan of international soccer.  He asked if I knew of anyplace Downtown that showed it on TV.  Since McGuinness closed, I knew of no such place, and asked the readership of the blog if they knew.

Well, today I got a response from the GM of Bangkok Alley, who plays soccer himself and is a fan.  He says they have 3-5 channels that show soccer.  They don’t always have it on, to appeal to the masses, but they do have it.  With 2 TVs and about 6 bar seats, I imagine most of the time it would be pretty easy to get them to switch one TV to whatever match you want to see.

(Food’s good, too)

I went to the Rent Party fundraiser at Kris K’s Warehouse last night after Trolley Tour.  Here are a few pics.

DJs Joe and Jay

Rockin’ Santa

Food by the Majestic Grille.  Last night was the first time I’ve tried their chili.  Outstanding!  I believe they have it every Wednesday.

Rudolph the red-nosed… horse?

The silent auction

The Nuh-Uh Girl, holding a plate of food, tries to dodge the camera.

… but persistence pays off.  Here’s a pic of the Nuh-Uh Girl eating.

Neon Kris

I am going to take the Blues Foundation to task for one little thing.  Let me quote their Facebook listing for the event:

“The Blues Foundation will hold our annual fund raiser November 27, 2009 at The Warehouse, 36 E GE Patterson, Memphis, TN. The “Rent Party” will begin at 8:00 pm with food from The Majestic Grille and Memphis’ best beer from Ghost River Brewery.

Jay and Joe will spin your favorite Blues music; we will have great Silent Auction and Blues Foundation merchandise. Admission is only $10 at the door.”

Reading that listing, would you assume that food and beer are covered in the price of admission?  Especially if you’ve been to Warehouse parties in the past, where that is usually the case.  As it turned out, the food was covered with admission price, but you had to pay for beer.  The prices were very reasonable – $5 for 3 tickets for pints of Ghost River beers, no doubt a bargain.  However, due to text messaging word got around that they were charging for beer, and I know for a fact that 5 to 10 of my friends who were planning to attend were turned off and did not come.  The point is, if there’s a cash bar you need to be sure and specify that in ads, event listings online, etc.

Again, just a minor gripe, and at the end of the day I’m thrilled with the job both the Blues Foundation and Kris do to support great music in Memphis.

After leaving the party, I had a beer at Calhoun’s, then headed north.  As I got to my usual weekend hangout locations though, I thought, “You know, I’ve had ENOUGH of hanging out at bars and drinking.”  At least for one night.  So I came home and went to bed at 10:30.  As a result, I was up and feeling great at 8 AM.

Played some more poker yesterday.  I moved up to the $13 buy-in 6max turbo Sit’n’Go tournaments, and finished the day up $19.  I also discovered that there are freeroll tournaments I can buy into on PokerStars with the frequent player points (FPPs) I earn for playing.  These freeroll tourneys pay out real money to the winners.  So I entered two of them, and man, the players were horrible – they were dropping like flies.  There were 4000 entrants, and 1000 had already busted out by the end of the first blind level.  I’m going to enter some more today and try a new strategy – fold every hand through the first four blind levels, unless I get a monster like KK or AA.  By that time so many players will have likely dropped out that I’ll have made it past the bubble and into the money.  Then I can start playing aggressive poker and attempt to come in first. First and second place in these freerolls pay north of $100 each.

Attn pro wrestling fans:  Here’s a good blog to read:  The World According to Dutch. It’s by Dutch Mantel, who wrestled in Memphis for years, and until recently booked TNA Wrestling.  He’s a hell of a storyteller.

Snuggie Pub Crawl is tonight… undecided if I’ll do it.  The Snuggie I ordered never came in the mail, so I’d have to purchase one at Walgreens.  Plus I haven’t purchased my ticket to the crawl, and the Arkansas-LSU game is on tonight at 6 PM on ESPN, and I may well just go to a bar (Saucer probably, unless Fire Sale is bad) to watch it.

Several people pointed out that my post about viewing the shuttle yesterday was inaccurate, as the shuttle had already landed.  As I told Internet legend The Mexican Wolf, when I start getting paid full-time to write this blog, I’ll start fact-checking.

That’s all for now… time to log on to PokerStars and attempt to build my bankroll.

Thanks to WildBill for posting this to Facebook:

The space shuttle and international space station will both be visible tonight in the Memphis sky for 5 minutes each.  Each will appear at 10 degrees above WNW and disappear 5 minutes later at 12 degrees above SSE.  Shuttle will appear at 6:01 PM, space station at 6:03 PM.

More sighting times and dates here.