Paul Ryburn's Journal

There’s a Groupon for a ticket to a Grizzlies game being sold right now that is an excellent value. You get a T-shirt plus your choice of a Terrace II or Club level ticket. Get the deal here.

There’s a Tigers game at the FedExForum at 12 Saturday. For Tiger fans who want to eat before they go to the game, the Majestic Grille is opening at 10:30 that morning for Saturday brunch. I’ve said for years that the Majestic is the best brunch Downtown. Call 522-8555 to get reservations.

Bluefin has announced a check-in discount. Check in on Facebook or Foursquare at the popular sushi restaurant, show it to your server and get 10% off.

Two Downtown businesses, St. Jude and Baker Donelson, were named to Forbes’ list of best 100 places to work. Congratulations to them.

The Daily News reports that Bluff City Coffee has leased a 3000 square foot kitchen in the Pembroke building. They plan to use the space to expand their food offerings, with an upgraded lunch menu, more pastries, breads, donuts and soups, and other improvements. It’s part of an aggressive expansion that they hope will eventually include a retail spot in Midtown.

I read an interesting Lifehacker article and figured it was worth sharing: Save big money on your next vacation by volunteering. The article explains how to donate a little of your time to see some exotic locations cheaply. Examples include working on hiking trails in Hawaii, taking care of animals in Ecuador, and cataloging pink dolphins on the Amazon. There are a number of sites linked in the article to help you find your dream volunteer opportunity. The article also notes that these types of vacations are great for practicing and developing new skills, and you can write off the money that you do spend.

Miss Cordelia’s posted that they are doing a double sampling tonight. They have Sassy Lady Sausage at the front door, and a dried fruit and nut couscous (with recipe) at the deli. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

Programming note: I’m attending a social media marketing training out east tomorrow. I’m not sure if I will be near a computer with access to the Internet, so there may not be a lunchtime post.

All right, after-work post is done, time to go out. I’ll try to hit the Silly Goose’s party tonight at 9. Daniel posted that there will be giveaways including T-shirts, Crown Royal headphones, tattoos, shot glasses, flash light key chains, beer openers, beads, hats, koozies, and headbands. I’ll pre-game at Saucer or Blind Bear or possibly both.

I’d like to start today’s blog post with a “thank you” and a “congratulations” to my friend Pete the Trivia Guy. He completed his 4th plate at the Flying Saucer, commemorating that he drank 200 different beers there for the 4th time. They rewarded him with a $125 tab to throw a party, and he had it last night. Good to see Pete (who actually isn’t the trivia guy anymore) and catch up with him.

One of the other party guests told me about a style of beer I hadn’t heard of before – chili beer, which is beer flavored with chili peppers. He said that there’s one brand of chili beer where there’s actually a pepper in the bottom of the bottle. I know the Saucer doesn’t carry it – can you buy chili beer at Raffe’s or Whole Foods? If so, I’d be willing to make a field trip beyond the Parkways.

Quote of the night from the plate party: “I’ve been shitting Gus’s for the past 24 hours”

This morning I got an email from the Memphis Flyer about upcoming shows around town, and one name rang a bell: Loudon Wainwright. For some reason I thought I’d seen him in the credits on M*A*S*H. I checked Wikipedia (which is back online today) and sure enough, I had. Wainwright guest-starred as the “singing surgeon,” Captain Spalding, on several episodes during the Henry Blake years of the show. I remember him singing about Tokyo being a town with clean sheets and kimonos. He plays the Buckman Performing Arts Center Friday. Details about the show can be found here.

The blackouts yesterday in protest of SOPA and PIPA appear to have worked. Many Congressmen, including sponsors of the bills, have dropped their support after learning more about what a bad idea these bills are. You know what? What happened yesterday is the real Occupy. Not pitching a tent in front of a government building. It’s about making a statement that the public won’t allow large corporations to buy legislation anymore.

I also want to point out that SOPA and PIPA were backed by the entertainment industry more than anyone, and about 90% of that industry’s political donations go to Democrats. Although I don’t really consider myself affiliated with either party, it’s no secret that I lean left on most issues. For that reason, I am VERY DISAPPOINTED with the Democrats in the House and Senate who allowed their support of these bills to be bought. The problem with our government is not a Democrat/Republican issue, but rather that Corporate America has more influence with our legislators than the average Joe who pays his taxes. That’s not what our Founding Fathers envisioned. I bet Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, et al. are rolling over in their graves. Corporate America is the new King George III.

So, last night after the plate party, my friend Mike showed up, and he wanted to check out the Blind Bear. It doesn’t take much of a reason to talk me into going to the Bear, so I happily went along. I had a few PBRs and caught up with him, then ordered chicken tenders and fries to go. Not only did I want to try the Bear’s tenders for the first time, but I wanted to try out these sauces on them:

Jim Ross (J.R.) used to be the lead announcer on WWE Monday Night Raw, and was the announcer on Mid-South Wrestling which I watched back in the ’80s. He has a line of BBQ sauces and jerkys. Last week I came home from the bars and placed a drunk order. Pictured above: Main Event Mustard, All-Purpose Rub, Slobberknocker Hot Beef Jerky, and Chipotle Ketchup. I used the mustard, rub and ketchup with the chicken tenders and fries last night, and was quite happy. Normally I hate ketchup, but the chipotle flavor is different enough that I like it. You can view his product line here. If you’re a wrestling fan, he has a blog that is good to read.

Attention Foursquare users: The mayor of the Silly Goose, who has had that bar pretty much on lockdown since November, is out of town for the next nine days on a ski trip. This is likely the best chance you’ll have all year to steal it. The Goose mayor’s first beer is free every day, so there’s a very real incentive beyond just bragging rights.

Tonight would be a good night to start stealing. The Goose’s 3rd anniversary party is at 9. (Sorry to those who went by yesterday, after I published the wrong date.)

Correction: In my lunchtime post I listed the Silly Goose party as tonight. It’s actually tomorrow. One piece of other Goose news – they have acquired a Ms. Pac-Man machine.

Soup Sunday has been announced for February 19 at the FedExForum. This is an event that runs from 11 AM to 2 PM and over 70 of the best restaurants in town participate. Your ticket entitles you to walk around the FedExForum’s concourse, stop at the restaurants’ booths, and enjoy unlimited samplings of their soups (and in some cases other items). You also get unlimited soft drinks. More info here, including VIP ticket options and how to become a volunteer for the event. Ticket proceeds benefit Youth Villages.

Time for my annual advice on this event: If you plan to attend, get there early. Be in line at the front door at 10:55. By 11:30 the lines get super long, and by 12:30 the most popular restaurants start to run out of soup. They give you a container that holds 4 soups, which reduces time standing in line. I’ve seen one person modify said container to hold as many as 9 soups at once. (Can you guess who?)

The third annual River City Brewers Festival will take place Saturday, March 31 in Handy Park on Beale Street. As was the case the past two years, there will be afternoon (12-4) and evening (6-10) sessions. Tickets, which are not yet on sale, will be $30/session and will benefit the Ronald McDonald House. If you want to volunteer at the festival, you can sign up here. If your brewery wants to offer samples at the fest, details can be found here. The festival is still seeking partnerships if you want to get involved. “Like” the festival’s Facebook page to keep up with news and updates. When the ticket link becomes active, I’ll post it. They did a very good job with this last year, and if the weather would just cooperate for once this could become a huge beer fest.

Speaking of beer: The Flying Saucer is giving away another New Belgium Fat Tire bike.

From January 24 to February 21, every time you buy a New Belgium Fat Tire you’ll be entered into a drawing for the bike. (Be sure to tell your server or bartender you want an entry form.) Perhaps the best days to enter the drawing will be Tuesdays, when Fat Tire pints will be on Fire Sale for $3 all day long.

Foursquare has announced that they are adding menus to their platform. Starting today, you’ll be able to click though to menus of restaurants that have made their menus available on the service. You can even see prices. So if you get the drunk munchies and want to know where to find a burrito under $5 near your current location, now you’ll know.

Speaking of location-based apps, here’s a really cool one: Find My Car Smart app, which uses the iPhone 4S’s Bluetooth 4.0 capability to mark where you parked your car. That way, when you come out of the bar hours later and have amnesia for where you parked, your phone will remind you, keeping you from mistakenly filing a stolen car report with the police. It’s in the App Store for 99 cents.

I don’t need no stinkin’ app, though, because I do Downtown properly – I WALK to the bars! And right now, it’s time to walk to the Saucer for a happy hour Dos Equis Lager. May hit Blind Bear later.

Today is the day when many websites are blacked out to protest SOPA and PIPA, two bills that have the potential to bring China-style censorship of the Internet to the U.S. Wikipedia is perhaps the most well-known site that has gone black. Google blacked out its logo but stayed online. If you click the blacked-out logo, it takes you to a page where you can sign this petition protesting SOPA and PIPA. I did that, and I also tweeted Steve Cohen (@RepCohen) asking him to vote against SOPA. I strongly considered blacking out this blog today, but I didn’t have time to get the plugin installed.

Speaking of Wikipedia: One thing I discovered yesterday is that there’s a version of it called Simple Wikipedia (and it’s not blacked out). This is a wikipedia written in basic English, so it can be more easily understood by children and non-native speakers of the language. I had no idea it existed until work asked me to edit a page that had an incorrect fact.

By the way, if you’re desperate to access the full Wikipedia today, there is a workaround. Just add a “.m.” before “Wikipedia.org” in the URL. So, en.m.wikipedia.org rather than en.wikipedia.org. That will take you to the mobile Wikipedia site, which is still online. For an interior page, also use the “.m.”, so en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis rather than en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis. Also, mobile phone apps that display Wikipedia data should work. (I just tried this with Wikipanion on my iPhone.)

He may not have been able to play, but Zach Randolph was at the Grizzlies-Bulls game Monday, where he presented MIFA a check for $20,000 for its Plus-1 program. Plus-1 helps families in need keep their utility bills paid. View a photo of the check presentation here. The kids in Memphis are so lucky to have a positive role model in Z-Bo.

If you have an iPhone 3G or earlier, you don’t have an official upgrade path to iOS5. However, there’s a jailbreak called Whited00r that will let you stuff iOS5 on your older phone and enjoy many (but not all) features. More details here. I’ve never jailbroken an iPhone before, but I know that Whited00r has been around for a while and is one of the more reputable jailbreaks. Jailbreaking voids your warranty, but if you own a 3G or older you’re out of the warranty period anyway.

(Edit: Crap, I had the Silly Goose party listed as tonight. It’s tomorrow.)

There’s a Woot-off going on right now at Woot.com. Having watched past Woot-offs, I think it’s highly likely that there will be a Bag of Crap for sale sometime between 1 and 5 this afternoon. If you see it, buy immediately and pray that your order gets through before the servers crash. You never know what you’re getting, but a few people have received TVs and Xboxes among their crap.

Gotta cut it off here, but I easily have enough news left over for a second post this evening. Preview of tonight’s post: Eat unlimited soup, drink unlimited beer, win a bike, and possibly more.

LaunchMemphis is extending the entrepreneurial culture to our teens. Friday and Saturday of this week, they’ll hold a shortened version of their intense 48-Hour Launch program. Event won’t actually be 24 hours, but 4-7 PM Friday, 10-5 Saturday at Hutchison School on Ridgeway. Participants will pitch an idea, create a viable business model and product, and finally present the fruits of their labor to the public. Instructors will be the LaunchMemphis team and local industry experts. I don’t know how many high school students read my blog, but this is an incredible opportunity to form an entrepreneurial mindset. Well worth giving up your Friday evening and Saturday, especially in January when the weather is lousy anyway. $25 to participate and you can register here. Parents, if your kids ask you for money so they can attend this, I highly recommend you give it to them.

First there was planking, then owling, then Tebowing… now it appears the latest trend is Z-boING. According to the Facebook fan page, Z-boING is “The act of mimicking Z-Bo’s defensive stance, preferably while wearing a headband… and you get style points by utilizing your surroundings for a mouthpiece.”

Paulette’s is offering 3-course dinners for $20.12 every Monday in January. That info probably would have been more useful if I’d posted it yesterday, but I didn’t know at the time, and hey, you still have two Mondays left.

The Memphis Daily News blog has another update about plans for A. Schwab’s. The new owners of the store seem very interested in preserving the history of their store and Beale Street. Very, very happy to see it. There’s a lot more to Beale than Big Ass Beer and “Mustang Sally.”

Weird weather today… high around 70, low tonight in the 20s. If you think today’s weather is something to complain about, check out this map of highs and lows 30 years ago today, known as “Cold Sunday.” Memphis had a high of 33 and a low of 0. The entire US east of the Rockies experienced some of the most frigid temperatures ever recorded.

Plans for tonight: I’ll probably hit the last hour of Flying Saucer’s happy hour (most pints $1 off) as usual, then head over to the Blind Bear for poker with Jamie at 8. Actually, I plan to get there a little early and make sure I get a seat with a TV view. At 8 tonight, Mike Anderson and the Arkansas Razorbacks take on Slimy Calidouchebag and the #2 Kentucky Wildcats on ESPN. It’s time to CALL THOSE HOGS!!!

If you operate a WordPress blog and want to participate in the anti-SOPA demonstration this week, go to this article and scroll down to the bottom. There are two plugins for WordPress. One will replace your blog on one day only, January 18, with a page you can customize. The other will add a “STOP SOPA” ribbon to the top of your blog.

Thanks to Robo for making me aware of these plugins.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Keeping lunch break short because I have a ton of work piled up. I’ll possibly do another post after work.

Started the day at the Majestic Grille for brunch. This legal Tennessee moonshine was sitting on the shelf and I speculated whether it was a call to 1-800-BAD-IDEA. Air Traffic Mike reminded me that, other than a period last year when the Downtown Monkey did karaoke, he had a trademark on that phone number. I decided to leave the moonshine for another day.

Next stop was the Flying Saucer. They had the NFL playoffs on with sound.

Don’t eat the yellow snow. Rogue Yellow Snow IPA. Very hoppy.

Blind Bear opened at 3 for “Hung Over Like a Bear” brunch. This is their sausage and egg burrito.

The Memphis Jazz Orchestra conducts their weekly rehearsal every Sunday night at Alfred’s from 6 to 9. This is probably the best time of the week to be in Alfred’s and is a good way to chill out and slow down as the week ends. Unfortunately chilling out was not in the cards for us…

Professional dancer BBQ Steve shows the Mad Hatter a few new moves.

Why is Joe racking? Because the Mad Hatter beat him at pool.

Photo of me with the Hatter. She had to be taught to position the PBR logo toward the camera. Also, she just (forbidden verb)ed a pickle, where (forbidden verb) is a proper noun which among Downtowners means “to eat off other people’s plates.”

Bums workin’ it on Beale Street

The Hatter at the Absinthe Room

So about 10:30 the idea came up to do a venue change to the Saucer.

“Is the Saucer a dance club?” asked the Mad Hatter.

“Yes,” I replied. Here’s a pic of the Hatter tearing up the dance floor of Club Saucer with Joe. Thanks to Cayla for putting up with us for the last hour of her shift.

Anchor Liberty is the $3 Fire Sale.

One of the most-asked questions at Downtown bars is “What channel are the Grizzlies (or Tigers) on?” I’ve watched bartenders and managers spend 5 minutes or more flipping through channel guides, trying to find Memphis games.

Well, now there’s an easy way to get an answer to that question. Follow @MemphisOnTV on Twitter. They tweet the channel and time that local teams will appear on. It’s powered by MemphiSport, who you can follow on Twitter at @MemphiSport and who you can listen to live every Saturday from 11 AM-1 PM on AM 560. Very nice use of a niche Twitter account, and it reminds me of what I do with @firesale. Twitter is the Swiss Army knife of the Internet.

Speaking of sports on TV: Last night I went to the Flying Saucer, and they had the NFL playoffs on, with sound, on the big screen. They’ve been putting playoffs and Tiger games on with sound, and you know what? They’ve been drawing much bigger crowds than usual. I’m glad to see management is finally realizing that if you put the sound on for games, customers will come in and spend money. It’s very simple really. I hope they do it consistently. When the sound is on there’s no place better in the Downtown core to watch a game (if you’re on the South end of Downtown, Max’s is the place to watch).

While I was watching the game, an iPhone commercial came on – the one with the little girl with the umbrella. It caused me to discover a feature on my iPhone I never knew existed. If you open a photo in your Camera Roll on your iPhone 4S, there’s an Edit button. One of the options at the bottom of the screen in edit mode is a little magic wand called Auto-Enhance. I decided to play with it, and pulled up a photo I took of the new, clean, improved Bardog that I took two weeks ago. Here’s the photo as I took it:

Not a bad photo by any means, but I always felt it didn’t do justice to how clean and shiny Bardog looked when they re-opened after renovations. So I ran the photo through Auto-Enhance and this is what it looked like:

WOW. Quite a difference, and that’s how Bardog actually looked! Auto-enhance really improves photos that were taken in less than ideal light. I played around with other photos on my camera roll. It made them much better about 50% of the time, somewhat better 40% of the time, and about 10% of the time it made photos slightly worse and I had to undo the changes. Overall, though, this is a feature I will be using a lot, especially when I want to post a photo directly to my blog or social media account from my phone, without taking it home to run through image editing software first. Surprised I’ve had my iPhone 4S for two months and am just now discovering this. I guess this illustrates why it’s a good idea to read the manual!

We have another bar anniversary to celebrate this week. The Silly Goose has announced their third birthday party for this Thursday night, January 19. Party starts at 9 PM. Drinks, party favors.

Question for my readers: A number of months ago I posted about a service which would send you fake phone calls and text messages at your request. You could text it commands like “CALL 3” and it would call your phone 3 minutes later. Very useful when someone has you trapped in a boring conversation in a bar, and you need a way to escape without appearing outwardly rude. Someone asked about this last night, and I searched both my old posts and Lifehacker (where I heard about it) but couldn’t find it. Does anyone remember the info? Just the name of the service would be enough. I can find the rest from there. If you can help shoot me an email at paul@paulryburn.com.

Best Twitter quote of the day comes from @jesus: “Sorry, I wasn’t ready for some football.” I guess we’re done hearing about Tebow until fall.

My plan for today is as follows: Mimosas at the Majestic at 11, beer at the Saucer at 12, Hung Over Like a Bear brunch at the Blind Bear at 3. If Saucer does indeed do big screen/sound for NFL I’ll update Facebook and Twitter with that info. Heck, I guess I could put it on the blog too, since I have the WordPress app on my phone.