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Beatles aficionado Jeff Golightly will perform Beatles music as well as covers by other British Invasion bands (the Kinks, the Stones, Gerry and the Pacemakers, etc.) tonight at Bluff City Coffee, 505 S. Main, during Trolley Art Tour from 6:30 to 9 PM. He has some great Beatles stories to tell, so if you’re a fan you ought to stop by.

Unfortunately it doesn’t look like I’ll make it down there… got private parties to attend both tonight and tomorrow night. Tomorrow night’s is a ’70s party, so it’s possible you may see me around town in my “Disco Paul” persona before or afterward.

Gotta run, getting some work done on the new online store during my lunch hour.

Before I get started with the day’s news, fellow blogger Rachelandthecity asked me to post this:

(Click on the image for larger size) It’s a concert to benefit the Crisis Center, at Neil’s tonight. Susan Marshall, Cory Branan, Ben Nichols, Giant Bear and more.

Today’s lunchtime post is being brought to you by the free Wi-Fi at Bon Ton Cafe. My lunch today: Meatloaf ovetr spaghetti topped with parmesan cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, buttered corn, cornbread, and banana pudding. Glad to have another Wi-Fi lunch option downtown. Bon Ton is your typical big-city diner kind of like the one Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer used to go to all the time.

I finally got the required physical for my job at Harbor of Health over on the Island, and let me tell you, that place was the antithesis of the typical doctor’s office. I’m used to sitting in a crowded waiting room with screaming kids, elevator music, magazines that are several months old, and then after an eternity someone yells out, “RAYBURN! PAUL… RAYBURN!”

Not so with HoH. The waiting room was peaceful, with a view of beautiful Harbor Town Square. I heard piano music coming from another part of the building. The nurse came out and said, “Are you Paul?” and I went back and saw the physician and got the damn form signed and was out quickly. HoH is not just a medical clinic but a total health solution, with a gym, classes, nutririon counseling and everything. If you live on or near the Island and want to get healthier, you should check it out.

So I have my stupid form signed and I can officially be put on the schools’ payroll now. I was a day late getting it in. Funny how the city schools’ culture works; a lot of people will fuss at you like you’re a child for not following directions. “DIDN’T I TELL YOU you were supposed to have the physical done by orientation?” the HR person asked, in a tone that made me wonder if she was going to write me a Behavior Document to take home for mommy to sign.

“Look,” I told her, matter-of-factly, “I don’t have the physical done. I can have it done tomorrow. If I submit the paperwork tomorrow will that be all right?” She said yes. Funny how a lot of people are conditioned to respond to a tone line hers and think, oh my God I’M IN TROUBLE. I just didn’t care. Worst case scenario, I’d get paid a period late, which is no biggie. Well, I guess since she’s HR she could take my job away, but considering a .NET recruiter e-mailed me two days ago to tell me he has open positions, I still wasn’t that concerned.

Physical went OK… I asked them to do the minimum and they did. I didn’t have to bend over and cough, no dreaded white glove, no needles. Amazingly, my blood pressure and pulse turned out to be normal, and all the second-hand smoke I breathe in every night hasn’t caused any lung disease yet.

Other news – 93x will be giving out Music Fest tickets today from 5 to 7 at Brookhaven Pub. That’s out in East Memphis somewhere near Poplar and Mendenhall… here, look it up on Yellow Book if you don’t know where it is. Or ask Ptolemy Kat, she hangs out there.

I’ll be on a rooftop tonight – haven’t decided yet whether it will be the Peabody or EP’s. I’ll figure it out tonight. I’ll probably be at the Saucer for a pre-rooftop beer 6:30ish.

I’ve abandoned the idea of building an aStore – the storefront designed by Amazon.com to build private stores – and instead am using a third-party product called Associate-O-Matic. Like aStores, it builds custom online stores based on Amazon.com associate links, but it’s a lot more configurable. I got the store about 20% of the way done last night. Hope to have it up by early May. I mentioned that the store would focus on a particular type of product, and one of my readers has already figured out what that product is.

All right, guess I’ll finish my meatloaf and get back to work.

Here are a few pics I took at last Sunday’s Rajun Cajun Crawfish Fest on the river:

I was just made aware of this and wanted to pass it on:

Save 25% on Men’s shoes that are on sale at Shoes.com! Use Code: MENSALE25. No excluded brands! Ends 5/11

This site has lots of name-brand shoes, including Adidas, Reebok, Kenneth Cole, Skechers, DC, Converse, and many more. Worth checking out if you need to buy a new pair.

Last night was trivia night at the Saucer. Now, a few weeks ago I predicted that the other downtown trivia team – currently calling themselves Imus and the Nappy-Headed Hos – were on the beginning of a downhill slide, and while they might pick up the occasional victory once in a while, they would soon prove to be a flash-in-the-pan team not on par with the legendary Rapscallions.

Well, last night was the “occasional victory” for them – their first in a month. No sooner had the announcement been made when their team leader Clay came running over, jumping up and down, all excited like a 12-year-old boy who had just seen his first boob. “Flash in the pan! Flash in the pan!” he kept saying. Calm down, Bucky.

I do congratulate them on their victory – they were the better team last night. However, I still continue to believe it’s a last gasp. They’re legends of trivia about as much as Ricky Martin is a legend of music – their string of victories in January/February was their “Livin’ La Vida Loca” and last night was “She Bang.”

Anyway, the Rapscallions took second, adding $25 to our stash for a total of $160. The Nuh-Uh Girl wrote down all the questions so that she could quiz the Nuh-Uh Sister, who missed trivia due to a Pilates class. We lost by 7 points… let me know if the Nuh-Uh Sister could have made up the difference. If so, I’m calling the Pilates studio and telling them they’re not allowed to schedule Tuesday night classes anymore.

Not going out tonight… too much to do at home. I need to spend several hours building my Amazon.com aStore – I told a couple of people the concept last night (the store will focus on selling one particular type of product) and they think it could be a smashing success. I also need to clean the apartment up a little, as there may be people coming in and out Saturday night due to a nearby party.

All right… not much news to report today, and I’ve got a lot to get done on the laptop, so I’m going to go ahead and post. Perhaps I’ll get the crawfish fest pics up tonight.

I ran into Memphis’ poet laureate IQ last night and he told me about an event happening this Thursday, April 26, at the Memphis Theological Seminary (East Parkway at Union) from 5:30 to 8:30. Here’s a scan of the flyer:

Looks like they have an impressive lineup: Dr. Valerie Bridgeman Davis, a professor at the seminary and a finalist in “My South Speaks”; IQ, who has been to three National Poetry Slams and is the local Slam Master; John Hancock, the 2000 Southern Fried Champion; da Shade Moonbeam from Austin, and many others. Check it out if you get a chance.

– Question for my male readers: Can anyone recommend a THIN wallet that they really like? Someone last night commented that I have a “George Costanza wallet” – about an inch and a half thick – and it occurs to me that sitting on that thing all day probably has a lot to do with the pain I’ve experienced in my lower back and leg. Time for a new one. E-mail me if you have recommendations.

– So last night about 9:30 it occurred to me that I’m COMPLETELY out of toothpaste. No problem, I thought, I’ll run down the street to Walgreens and pick up a tube… OH, WAIT, THE DOWNTOWN WALGREENS CLOSES AT 8. Sorry, I know I’ve ranted about this before but… HOW RIDICULOUS IS IT that our neighborhood drugstore won’t stay open past 8 PM, when Number 10 Main, the Shrine Building, the Renaissance, the Claridge, the Exchange Building, the Springhill Suites, the Sleep Inn, the Comfort Inn, the Madison, the Holiday Inn Express, the Peabody, and the Residence Inn by Marriott are all within a 3-block radius. So many times I’ve been walking down Main at 8:30, 8:45, and seen people standing outside Walgreens with a dumbfounded “You’re kidding, it’s closed?” look on their face.

– Bon Ton Cafe, a breakfast/lunch spot on Monroe between Second and Third, now has wireless Internet, so add that as one more place to take your laptop. Bon Ton has great breakfasts and lunch specials. I believe they’re open until 3 PM weekdays, 2 on Saturday, closed Sunday.

– If you’ve been thinking about buying a Mac, iPod, or iPhone, this weekend would be a good time to do it. Friday through Sunday, April 27 through 29, Apple Stores nationwide will be open extended hours and will pay the sales tax for you. In a state like Tennessee that’s a pretty significant savings.

However, you may want to compare Apple’s prices against MacMall, Apple’s #1 reseller who often undercuts their prices. Even with the sales tax savings, MacMall may still have a better price… click the button below to check them out.

– Tonight’s Tuesday, so it’s time to see if the Rapscallions can win trivia and add another $50 to their prize stash. We finished out of the money last week, but at least I got to see the Nuh-Uh Sister in a tube top licking an ice cream cone… possibly the hottest thing I’ve seen since the Romanians left town last October.

– I’m turning back into Laptop Paul this week… I’m setting up my first Amazon.com aStore. aStores let you create your own personal store selling Amazon.com offerings, and every time your store sells an item you get a commission. I had an idea for a unique themed store yesterday and have begun work on it… will post a link when it’s ready, but I have a few hundred items to add first.

– A friend of mine who is a recruiter has a couple of .NET programmer positions open… if you’re a .NET programmer looking for work, shoot me an e-mail listing your qualifications, and I’ll pass it on to him.

That’s all for now… I have a few crawfish fest pics to post, but I have to download them from the camera first.

Just received word from someone who would know that Beale Street Wine Race is this coming Sunday, the 29th. Usually it runs from noon to 6. Sunday brunch crew: We may have to make a field trip down to Beale this week.

I’m dropping my other blog, the “Better, Bigger Deal” one… I simply don’t have time to update two blogs on a regular basis. What I’ll do instead is report on Deals here from time to time. A lot more people read this blog anyway.

From now until the end of the month, you can get 60% off gift certificates bought through the links on the left of this blog, through my Memphis Discount Dining site, or through my national affiliate partner Restaurant.com. Just use code APRIL at checkout and hit “Recalculate total.”

In addition, with every order you place, you’ll get a bonus $10 gift certificate, free of charge. This is the best promotion I’ve ever seen them roll out, so make sure to get your order in before the end of the month.

Also, today I became aware of a GREAT deal on mid-sized MP3 players. Creative Labs is putting two of their players on closeout, and for a limited time you can get a 5 GB player for $69.99, or a 6 GB player for $79.99. These are refurbished units, but as I’ve explained before, refurbished electronics come with the same warranty as new units, and often have to pass even more rigorous testing before they’re allowed to be sold. So there’s no need to be scared. Click the link below to get a player that holds 5-6 times as much as a similarly priced iPod shuffle.

Save on Refurbished Zen Micro 5 GB!!

Today, as a new employee I got to tour the city schools’ Central Nutrition Center out on Jackson. Pretty fascinating place… there they do as much advanced prep as possible to feed the schools’ 118,000 students every day. I got to see these enormous cooking vats, as well as systems that allow cooked product to be cooled for later distribution, without losing any of the food’s flavor. I also got to walk through the biggest refrigerator I’ve ever seen – that thing must’ve been close to the size of a football field.

Couple of interesting facts I learned… this year, MCS started serving breakfast free of charge to ALL students (not just those eligible for reduced-price meals). “We didn’t have federal funds to cover all of it,” they explained, “but we thought it would be worth it to go ahead and do it, knowing that students will perform better if they have a proper breakfast.” Lunches normally cost $1.50 (elementary) and $1.75 (secondary) but 75% of the students in the district are eligible for reduced-cost lunch, which lowers the price to 10 cents. Not bad… for a dime, 75% of the students can get two good meals a day. Once again, I tell ya, the city schools do a much better job than most people realize.

I had to wear a hairnet when I toured the kitchen… I kept it, maybe I’ll put it on tonight and take a pic.

Couple other notes:

– Isaac Hayes’ restaurant in Peabody Place closed yesterday. Mall management thinks they’ll have no problem leasing the space back out. That would be another good space for a large bookstore chain to consider.

– Meditrina has also closed (not sure exactly when). That location, if you ask me, needs a different type of business than the niche restaurants (Meditrina, and before that Samovar) that have been there. Something that grabs the attention of people walking out of Parking Can Be Fun and looking for a place to eat before the ballgame or Orpheum show… whereas, Meditrina and before that Samovar were kind of destinations of their own. Seems to me that something with a menu similar to Huey’s/Big Foot/Sleep Out’s would work well.

Another post to come soon, so check back.