Paul Ryburn's Journal

Back in the good old days, I used to carry pen and paper with me to jot down notes when I was out and about. Then in 2009, I got my first iPhone and started using the Notes app instead. However, I realized not long after that Evernote was a superior way to take notes. It stores notes in the cloud, so notes I take on any device on which I have the program installed – my MacBook, netbook, work computer, Android Tablet, Kindle Fire, and iPhone – immediately are available on all other devices. It’s become a service I can’t live without.

Now it’s helping me get my next plate at the Flying Saucer. As a member of the UFO Club, if you drink 200 different beers, you get a plate on the wall with your name on it, and a $100 plate party tab. If you complete more plates, the tab goes up – $125 for the fourth plate, $150 for the sixth, $175 for the ninth. The Saucer’s computer keeps track of which beers you’ve had.

I’m at 165 beers done, 35 more to go for my sixth plate. Now, usually when wrapping up a plate, I have to get through a few duds – beers I don’t like, or beers that are expensive. This time, I wanted to minimize the damage. So, I went to the Saucer’s beer computer and clicked the “Print Beers Not Tasted” button. It output this list:

This is actually only half the list – it’s folded over. The Saucer has a lot of beers, mixers, and flights!

I got a menu and put a circle by draft beers that are discounted on Pint Nite. I want to make sure and knock those beers out on Monday when they’re only $3. I still had 17 of those left.

Then I went through and put a line by other beers that I want to be sure to drink – either because I like them, or because they’re inexpensive. There were 12 more of those. That will get me to 194. So I’ll only have six left over to do from the expensive/yucky category.

When I got home, I signed into Evernote, and created a new note listing the beers I want to be sure to knock out on my way to 200.

Because of the syncing through the cloud, the note is now in my Evernote app on my phone.

As I drink the beers, I can open the app and delete them one by one. That will ensure that I don’t miss any of the beers I want to drink, getting to 200 as painlessly and as cheaply as possible.

As for getting the plate done, I’m not going to rush it. I’ll need six more Pint Nites just to knock out the draft beers. Besides, April and May are festival season, and it’s hard to find a date on the weekend to plan a plate party.

Speaking of festival season: Another post will be up in a couple of minutes. Stay tuned.

Bring a bag of Reese’s mini peanut butter cups and fill up a glass with them. Not only will your server come to check on you, but Saucer girls you never even knew worked there will come out of the woodwork to make sure you’re okay.

(The glass shown here used to be full.)

Tonight is South Main Trolley Tour. Here are a few things I’ve heard will be going on at South Main businesses tonight:

– Clothing boutique Sache will give out samples of Shock Top and Shock Top IPA.

– The Blues Foundation’s office will be open tonight from 6 to 9. They invite everyone to come check out their new merchandise and see the plans for the new Blues Hall of Fame.

– Grace Askew performs at Double J SmokeHouse and Saloon, 6 to 10. Mark “Mule Man” Massey takes the stage at 10.

– $5 photo booth at Reel 2 Reel Photography

– Max’s Sports Bar begins serving liquor tonight

I have one quick stop to make on the way, but I hope to make it to Trolley Tour by 7:30 at the latest. In particular I want to check out new restaurant Grawemeyer’s.

MIFA invites everyone to their Day of Reflection and Service tomorrow, Saturday March 31, honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The event will be held at MIFA headquarters at 910 Vance. It kicks off at 8:30 with assignment of volunteer projects and complimentary continental breakfast. (Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.) At 10 there will be an awards presentation, and a keynote address by the winner of MIFA’s 2012 teen oratorical contest. Also, from 9 to noon the UT College of Pharmacy Health and Wellness Fair will be happening at the event site. More info here.

Today is National Cleavage Day. As the creator of Tube Top Month, I fully support this.

Earlier this week I was looking at the Flying Saucer’s menu, and noticed that they’ve replaced the build-your-own slice with a build-your-own pizza. You get 3 toppings for $9.99. I didn’t measure it but it looks like it’s about 10″.

You can now wipe your butt with your own tweets. No kidding. There’s a company that will print your Twitter posts on four rolls of toilet paper for $35.

1 BR/1 BA loft for rent on Riverside Drive. All the amenities. I know the landlord and have no doubt he takes good care of his tenants.

Foursquare users who live or work out east: Usually drive-by checkins are frowned upon, but in one case, they are encouraged. Check in at LunaWeb at 5180 Park and $5 will be donated to Mid-South Spay & Neuter Services. One checkin per day counts.

Worst tweet of the day: “Karaoke for all the bars in 38103 #wheniwinthelottery.” Well, that’s one way to get me to move out of Downtown.

That’s all for now. See you on South Main tonight.

Diamond Dave sent me a ton of news about things coming up at the Brass Door – literally an entire post’s worth of news.

Friday night will be the first performance of the Sock it to Me Burlesque Show downstairs in the Cavern. Dancing, singing, fire spinning. $10 cover. Show starts at 11:30 PM.

Saturday night, Mark Akin of the Subteens will perform a late show.

They’ll have the Tour of Flanders (cycling) on at 7:30 am Sunday morning. Belgian waffles, beer specials, and door prizes.

Seamus is organizing a Sunday morning football (soccer) kick around in Tom Lee Park. Afterward, there will be a $10 Irish breakfast and beer specials for the participants. You can sign up on the Facebook event page for the kick around.

Sunday night is Service Industry Night at the Brass Door. With industry ID you get $2 domestics and wells.

Here’s a new game to win bar bucks… Brass Door Bingo Monday Night at 7 PM. Diamond Dave tells me he’s been practicing his bingo calls.

Next Thursday, April 5, Diamond Dave and his Davettes are bringing the Love Train to town. Dave will have ’70s disco with dancers, prizes, and more. “For anyone who came to my birthday party, this promises to top it,” said Dave.

The Brass Door is an Irish pub on Madison between Second and Third. Great food, reasonable beer and drink prices. Check it out!

Might want to avoid Second between Monroe and Beale if possible this afternoon – they’re doing construction and lanes are closed. Pic tweeted by I Love Memphis Blog intern Raquel – follow her on Twitter at @raquelhinson.

The Green Beetle has a new menu, and posted menu pics to Facebook this morning. You can view them here. A chili cheeseburger you eat with a knife and fork? Now that’s a dish I’m putting on my to-do list. I’ve been a fan of chili cheeseburgers ever since I had one at The Lion’s Share restaurant in McCain Mall in North Little Rock many, many years ago.

There is a great article about the Cozy Corner in USA Today’s “Great American Bites” feature. Read it here. The article compares Cozy Corner’s wet ribs to the dry ones found at the Rendezvous. It also goes beyond ribs and talks about other dishes including Cornish game hen, BBQ spaghetti, and rib tips.

13 artists have decorated Memphis Flyer boxes that are located around town. Vote for your favorite here. Winner gets $500.

Want to hear some live music tonight? My pick of the day is two blues legends who will be performing at Double J SmokeHouse and Saloon tonight. Butch Mudbone and special guest Blind Mississippi Morris take the Front Porch Stage at 7 PM.

Yazoo brewery reps will be at the Beale Street Tap Room tonight for a Yazoo pint night tonight. The pint glass special will be the Yazoo Gold Medal winning Hefeweizen. Get a free glass with each Hefeweizen you buy. They’ll also be raffling off Yazoo shirts, ball caps, and other prizes. From 7 to 9 you can buy River City Brewers Festival tickets at the Tap Room.

If you want to take one of the Segway tours of Memphis, here are the times: Tue– 3:30, Wed– 3:00, Thurs– 3:30, Fri– 11:30 & 3:00, Sat– 11:30 & 3:00, Sun– 11:30 & 3:00. Call 901-529-4108 to reserve a spot on the tour.

Trash into treasure: About 5 months ago, I bought an Android tablet, the ViewSonic gTablet, on woot.com. I knew that it came with an older operating system – Android 2.2 Froyo – and I’d probably have to root it. It was worse than I expected. The stock software that came with the tablet was severely crippled, and couldn’t even access the Android Market. I was unable to get several builds of Android 2.3 Gingerbread to run on the tablet. However, I was able to get a better version of Froyo working – I could access the Market, but I couldn’t get apps like Foursquare, Google Earth, and Google Maps. It was better than what came out of the box, but not by much, and I ignored the tablet for five months, especially after my Kindle Fire arrived in November.

Well, this week I discovered that a version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was available for the gTablet. After a good amount of tinkering, I got it installed. The tablet is fast and can access Google Play, the successor to the Android Market. It thinks it has a GPS – it doesn’t really, but Wi-Fi can approximate locations – so now I can get map-based apps and check in on Foursquare. The gTablet for Dummies site showed me how to install Ice Cream Sandwich. Note: I do not recommend buying this tablet unless you are a serious computer nerd who does not mind messing around under the hood (and voiding the warranty in the process). That said, I finally appreciate Android for the first time, and have a tablet that’s 90% as good as the iPad for half the price.

Relaxing Wednesday night last night. I got three Mendocino pale ales and IPAs done for my 6th plate at the Saucer. Those are delicious beers that I recommend if you’re into hoppy flavor. Only 35 beers left, although I’ll probably delay my plate party until June since festival season is coming up. I wrapped up the evening with a delicious Dog of the Day at Bardog. My checkin there prompted a couple of “we don’t hang out there enough” comments. Agreed!

Plans for tonight: Getting my hair cut after work, then out to the bars. I won’t be out early enough to make it to poker at Max’s.

Saturday I was asked to name one of Blind Bear’s poker tables. It was kind of their way of saying thanks for being a regular customer and mentioning them on the blog. They know I love poker, so it was a fitting gesture. You might notice a sort of tip of the hat to something else I love in the new name:

Paul’s Blue Ribbon poker table

I’m sure the name needs no explanation. It’s the table nearer to the front door. You can reserve the table on the Blind Bear’s website.

Tomorrow at 2 pm at The Silly Goose, Clay Thompson will be hosting a meeting with a featured speaker who specializes in helping small business maximize their largest asset, which is their businesses. Wine and snacks will be provided and will last under an hour.

There’s a Groupon deal for a Grizzlies game going on right now. You have your choice of seating, Terrace II or Club. You also have your choice of three games: Phoenix on the 11th, New Orleans on the 18th, or Cleveland on the 23rd. Whichever deal you pick, you get a Grizzlies hat, and the total value is more than half off.

MemphisWeather.net tweeted that there’s an entry-level meteorologist job open at the National Weather Service. That would be a pretty cool place to work. I think I would have made a good weatherman.

Friday night is South Main Trolley Tour, with many shops and galleries open 6 to 9 PM. Mild-weather months tend to lead to huge nights for Trolley Tour, and looking at the forecast – high 81, low 62 – I’m predicting a big night for Friday.

Friday night is also the Memphis Fashion Weekend event at Jack Robinson Gallery, with a runway show 7:30 to 10 PM. MFW is described as “two nights of designers, drinks and dancing for ArtsMemphis and the love of fashion. There will also be an MFW event Saturday night at A. Schwab on Beale.

Last night I played poker at the Blind Bear, and one of my tablemates recommended the weekly 3 PM Saturday tournament at Southland Greyhound Park. It’s a $35 buy-in, with a $1000 prize pool guaranteed if at least 25 players show up. Cards are shown on video screens rather than live dealers at each table. You get 10,000 in chips to start, blinds start at 25/50 and double every 15 minutes. That’s kind of a fast structure – blinds doubling is fine in bar games, but I prefer to see 25-40% increases per level when I’m investing real American dollars. However, the advantage is that the tournament ends fairly quickly – “you’re back in Memphis by 6 PM,” my poker buddy told me. There are no rebuys in the Saturday tournament, although there are rebuy tournaments other days of the week. Hmmm. This tournament sounds a LOT like the Thursday night tournaments at Max’s Sports Bar, except for real money and on a slightly larger scale. Those who win regularly at Max’s might want to check this out.

My poker buddy said the park had $1/$2 No-Limit Hold’em cash games going on too, also with the video dealer. I like that too – you don’t have to tip a TV when you win a big pot. Southland’s poker page says they have other cash games as well, including Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha, and Limit Omaha Hi/Lo.

I had someone ask if any Downtown restaurants or bars will be showing Wrestlemania this Sunday. As much as it kills me to recommend this place, Hooters usually carries the big PPVs. People who’ve been to PPVs there tell me you need to show up at least an hour early. Main events this year are The Rock vs. John Cena and Triple H vs. The Undertaker.

Stuff going on tonight: Poker with Poker Jon at Bardog, 7:30 PM; Open Mic Night and Wine Down Wednesday at the Brass Door, 8 PM; trivia at the Blind Bear, 8 PM; Jeremy Stanfill at the Silly Goose, 9 PM.

A few days ago I posted that Mudbugs in March will happen this Saturday in Court Square. It struck me as unfortunate that it’s the same day as River City Brewers Festival, but the two events have found a way to work together. Your brew fest ticket gets you free admission to Mudbugs in March (it just gets you in the park, you still have to pay for the crawfish). With the crawfish fest’s hours of 2:30 to 6:30, it’s very possible to go after the afternoon session, which ends at 4, or before the evening session which starts at 6. Kudos to the organizers of both festivals for working together! That’s how we do it Downtown!

The Flyer’s Hungry Memphis blog has a good article about the Jack Daniel’s Master Taster’s Dinner which happens at the Peabody this Thursday. By they way, Hungry Memphis has tweeted a lot of fun facts about the dinner too. Follow the blog at @HungryFlyer.

Josh Pastner has received a 1-year extension to his contract. That will keep him here through the 2016-17 season. Some people have criticized his coaching this year, and in some cases I have to agree, but I think this is a good move by the University. He won more games in his first 3 years than any previous U of M head coach, and he got us to two NCAA tournaments. And he did it without being a douche like his predecessor. Yeah I know, no wins over Top 25 yet, but those will come. Women’s coach McFerrin got a year extension too.

If you go to Kooky Canuck a lot and have a smartphone, you need to download the stiQRd app. This is a loyalty program for restaurants and businesses, based on QR codes that you scan. Kooky Canuck is the latest business to join the stiQRd family. If you go 10 times and scan their code, you’ll receive a $10 gift card for the restaurant.

Getting more and more excited about BBQ Fest. It’s only 7 weeks away. My vacation for that entire week has been approved. I really like what our team did with the bartending situation. Previously, team members would cover the bar at all times, which sucked because it means some people got stuck behind the bar during the two biggest party nights of the festival, Thursday and Friday. This year we’re hiring bartenders so all team members can enjoy themselves. That is definitely a decision I support! Our friends Squeal Street BBQ had the same idea, recruiting a couple of the Saucer’s best. I tend to hang out in my own team’s booth most of the time, but that move pretty much guarantees I’ll wander over to Squeal Street for a few visits.

Planning a BBQ team is not all fun and games though. Team members have to be careful about the guests they invite. If you have someone who has a known history of overimbibing at all-you-can-drink type events and then driving home, that person is a huge liability if you invite them in and serve them alcohol. Our team captain is an attorney so we know this well, but I just want to mention it for the benefit of other teams. Actually, people who plan other types of parties should be aware of this too (it’s not the season, but for some reason Halloween parties come to mind).

Got several responses for places to house our sponsors, and have passed them on to our WordPress guy who works in Memphis for further investigation. Thank you to those who responded!

Plans for tonight: Poker at the Blind Bear at 8. Two more weeks of league play to accumulate points for the final table, where an iPad will be awarded. Looking at the standings, all I need to do is show up this week and next – you get one point just for showing up, more points for a top-three finish – and I should be safely in the finals. Even if you can’t catch up on points, there’s still plenty of reason to come out and play, because $50 Bear Bucks are awarded to each week’s winner. I’ll pre-game with a few beers at the Saucer before heading over.

My team’s principal sponsor WordPress is looking to rent four bedrooms Downtown the week of BBQ Fest, as close to Tom Lee Park as possible. Ideally they would like to have them in one unit, or if not possible right next to each other, or barring that, nearby.

These are not kids coming down here to party. This is a company with 25 million websites using their software. They just work virtually rather than report to a cubicle every day. More power to them. They are professionals and I have no doubt they will take good care of your home or condo. I thought Internet access would be a big deal, but my local contact has told me they bring their connections with them. They just want someplace they can call home rather than hotel for a week.

Shoot me an email at paul@paulryburn.com if you have a place (or two) or know of one.

In other news, I played the 10:00 poker game tonight at the Goose. I was thrilled to see owner Daniel at my table. I enjoy playing him. I was not so thrilled when Daniel hit trip Sevens to take out my pair of Kings when my pre-flop AK paired. That’s poker though.

Bonus photo: Here’s Paula Raiford on the Ms. Pac-Man machine.

The Memphis Daily News reports that a new concept will move into the former Pat O’Brien’s space at 310 Beale. The building will be renovated into three banquet halls, plus a corner bar called Dancing Jimmy’s that will seat about 40. The business will be operated by two veteran Beale Street property owners. Read more here.

There’s some encouraging news at the bottom of the article – Performa, the company that manages Beale Street, is working with the Memphis Police Department to get a substation opened at Fourth and Beale. That area has seen a lot of problems, due to Club Crave and its predecessors. A permanent police presence would certainly make the block of Beale between Third and Fourth feel much safer.

The Daily News also has a good blog post about South Main Fever. South Main is booming with new businesses, the most recent of which is Grawemeyer’s which opened this past weekend. At the end of the blog post, they mention that a “celebrated name” in Memphis BBQ hopes to open in the coming months, as soon as they get permits worked out. I’ve heard the rumors about this and it’s a HUGE name. Multiple winner of the Memphis Flyer poll, not Corky’s, not Rendezvous. I remember getting dry rub all over my clothes a couple of years ago when I ate hot wings on the patio at one of the restaurant’s existing locations.

Speaking of wings…

I stopped by Double J SmokeHouse and Saloon last night to try their wings. They are smoked and grilled rather than fried, for a lighter meal. You get 8 of them for $9, or 12 for $13. Comes with celery and your choice of ranch or blue cheese.

The Majestic Grille posted this morning that they are hiring experienced servers. Patrick and Deni are great and this is one of the best places to work Downtown. You make good money too, especially on days when there are Orpheum events. If interested, apply in person Monday-Thursday between 2 and 4 PM. No emails or phone calls.

Memphis Roller Derby is hosting the Honky Tonk Stomp on the 31st at the Pipkin Building at Tiger Lane. The Stomp is the annual Tennessee state derby championship tournament, so they’ll have teams from Memphis, Johnson City and Knoxville competing. Tickets are $20 for the day or $12 after 4 p.m. They’ll also have beer and food. More info here.

After I ate at Double J last night, I stopped by Max’s Sports Bar. I ordered a PBR then exclaimed “MICHELEINEEDABOX!!!” when I saw a custom 1-hour Buzztime poker tournament about to start. Didn’t win though, nor the second tournament I played. Good catching up with some of the South Main folks. Wish I could’ve stayed for the entire Grizzlies game.

Earlier in the day, I was at the Saucer. It was “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” with a Bloody Mary bar set up. Odd thing, they didn’t sell one Bloody Mary from noon to 1, then as they were breaking it down at 3 the place got packed and a swarm of people ran up to order one more as they were breaking it down. Maybe they need to keep it going until 5 like the Goose does.

Louisville vs. Kentucky? All Calipari-hate aside, I’m rooting for Louisville. I’m grateful for Pitino’s years of lobbying to get Memphis in the Big East.

Monday. That means I’ll be at Pint Nite at the Saucer. I have yet to decide whether I’ll feel like walking over to the Goose for poker with Poker Jon at 7:30. I’ll be out tonight about 6.