Paul Ryburn's Journal

For the past month I’ve written about Beerby, the social network where you can check in the beers you’re drinking, see what beers your friends are drinking, and earn “badgers” for certain beer-drinking accomplishments. Last night, I was reading through Twitter and discovered that there’s a similar social network for people who love tea.

It’s called Steepster. On this network, you can see what teas your friends are drinking and get recommendations from them. You can also write a tea journal. You can view a map on their website of places to drink tea near your current location. You can connect your Steepster account to Facebook and Twitter and broadcast your teas on those networks.

It’s different from Beerby in that there’s no smartphone app, at least that I could find – you manage your account and record your teas via the Web.

Probably not a network I’ll ever join, but I thought it might be of interest to some of you.

Credit for finding this, by the way, goes to an account I follow on Twitter, @abbisiler. I’ve never met her in person but she runs a social media business, Local2Social, in eastern Arkansas. I think I started following her when I missed BarCamp Memphis but was using Twitter to keep up with what was going on there.

In other news: Thanks to the people who invited me to the house party on Main last night. Had a good time, and what a cool apartment on Main.

Up early… my presence has been requested at brunch at the Majestic Grille, as we say goodbye to a friend whose job is moving to another city. Future Sunday Fun Days will be less fun without him here.

In early 2006, an important part of the week for our Sunday brunch crew was sifting through the electronics ads in the Sunday paper. John D, Mikey, Otto and I and whoever else was part of the crew at the time would carefully read the Best Buy, Target and Circuit City ads. Now and then I’d find an especially good deal on a laptop or MP3 player or USB drive, and since I was already writing this blog I’d post a “Deal of the Week.”

After I’d been doing it about a month, I got an e-mail from the Commercial Appeal. They were expanding what they were doing with blogging, and wanted to bring “Deal of the Week” to their site. So we struck an agreement. The money I’d be getting ($10 a week) was inconsequential – for me the big thing was that I could tell people I was writing for the CA! The largest print publication in town! I’d hit the big time. After a couple of years of blogging, I thought, I’d gone legit.

So, for most of 2006, I took my laptop to Sleep Out Louie’s every Sunday, sifted through the ads, and posted a deal. Meanwhile, I continued to write my personal blog, the one you’re reading now, as my own project.

As the year went on, the Deals became just another thing I had to get done on Sunday, and the glamour of writing for a big, important media corporation kind of wore off. On the other hand, I was having a lot of fun writing this blog. My readership went from about 100 a day at the beginning of 2006 to 600-700 by the end of the year (and almost none of it was referral traffic from Deal of the Week). I found out that the Flyer was reading my blog for story ideas. I found out that people at the Center City Commission read my blog. When I complained about crime Downtown, people listened and things eventually got done. This blog started showing up very high in Google results for searches on many Downtown businesses. I placed in the Flyer’s Best of Memphis poll for the first time that year, for this blog, not Deal of the Week. I found that I had a voice, and it was my voice, not my identity as a writer for someone else.

In December 2006 I notified the CA that I was quitting. I didn’t need it anymore.

Why am I bringing this up now?

In the past couple of months, I’ve found some very good Twitter accounts to follow. They’ve tweeted stuff going on in Memphis that would have otherwise missed my radar. Through their retweets I found even more good Twitter accounts. I really benefited, both in terms of stuff to do personally and for content on my blog, for having followed them.

Last night I met the owner of one of those accounts, and found out that her tweets had actually been an audition, sort of an online job interview. The CA had told her, and several others, to tweet for a month, and if the CA liked what it saw, they’d be hired.

The person I talked to last night ended up not getting the job. However, it does not change the fact that she was tweeting EXCELLENT stuff. I want to encourage her, and others like her, to keep it going. Build your own brand and don’t worry about the CA. You’re building an identity. You’re building an asset. It’s frustrating sometimes that it’s not an asset convertible to a full-time paycheck, but it’s still an asset that will benefit you in unknown ways down the road.

Besides, there are a lot of advantages to being independent. I don’t have to get my work approved by a copy editor. If a local business screws up, I can rant on them without being worried about offending an advertiser. I can post sidebar links to my Amazon stores, which are starting to make a significant bit of money. I don’t drop the f-bomb much on this blog anymore, but when I feel it’s necessary I can and I will. I can devote an entire month of posts to the subject of tube tops. I can help a local ad agency create a buzz about a fake bath house supposedly to be located Downtown.

So, in summary, to those Twitterers to whom I’m referring: Keep it up. Don’t give up just because you didn’t get the job you were trying for. You’ve built a valuable asset. Keep going. Keep adding value, and unexpected opportunities will come your way.

Huge congratulations to Trolley Stop Market, which was named by Jennifer Biggs of the Commercial Appeal as Memphis’ best restaurant of 2010 (tied with Sweet Grass). I’ve only eaten there a couple of times, I’m ashamed to say, but when I did the food certainly lived up to the compliments in Biggs’ article. The market features dishes made from locally grown food – tasty treats like Neola Farms meat loaf, Lake’s catfish, and Whitton Farms veggies. Delicious pizza too. Trolley Stop Market is located at 704 Madison, on the Madison Avenue trolley line.

This CA article points out that for the first time since 1978, Memphis finished the year with less than 100 criminal homicides. Despite what you hear on the news, Memphis is getting safer. Thank you to all the police officers out there for your fine work!

Better New Year’s Eve than most yesterday. I started the day at the Flying Saucer, where I enjoyed an afternoon of conversation and beer with good friends. The Saucer closed at 6 to get ready their New Year’s Eve party, and I headed home to rest for an hour. By the time I came back out it was raining cats and dogs, so I took the unusual step of taking an umbrella with me to South Main. Trolley Night was more or less rained out, so I just parked myself at Max’s Sports Bar. Here are some pics.

Full photo album here (about 70 photos, I didn’t count.) Don’t forget that Max’s is open early today for bowl game action.

It’s about 5:30 on New Year’s Eve, and I’m home waiting on a line of thunderstorms to pass through Downtown Memphis. On the way home, I stopped by City Market and picked up these Vegi Chips. Looks like green beans, carrots, onions, zucchini and squash. Tasty. Even better, I had a little dill ranch dip left over from last night’s run to Kooky Canuck. That really goes well with the vegi chips.

(Edit: Sonny Salt and these chips? Winner.)

Going to let the rain pass through, then back out.

Someone e-mailed me the following question:

“Hey Paul, what’s the safest route to take out of Downtown tonight, given that a lot of cops will be out? I don’t want to get pulled over.”

Happy to answer this question. The safest route is the one your cab driver takes, after you call 577-7777 and request that a cab be sent to your location.

Seriously, don’t drink and drive. I’ve heard from multiple sources that the cops are really going to be all over the place looking to bust DUIs. It’s just not worth it to try and avoid them.

Okay, I will give one piece of advice. If you’re driving and you see a traffic light that has been set to flashing red, come to a COMPLETE STOP before you proceed. I can pretty much guarantee you there’s a police car somewhere just out of sight.

Happy New Year everyone. Be safe tonight.

A lot of Downtown bars stay closed during the day January 1, opening at 5. It kind of makes sense – at most bars the staff is there until 5 AM cleaning up after Amateur Night, er, I mean, New Year’s Eve. They deserve to get some rest. However, it sucks for Downtown regulars, who want to get out, drink a beer and watch some football.

Max’s Sports Bar is an exception. They will be open early today and tomorrow, they have cold PBR on tap, and they will have the bowl games on their 10 TVs. So if you’re looking to get out tomorrow, that would be the place to go. Max’s is the bar formerly known as Calhoun’s, on G.E. Patterson next to the Cheesecake Corner.

For those who will be out today and who want to keep up with the weather, Memphis’ most accurate and thorough weather forecasts can now be viewed from your phone. MemphisWeather.net has a mobile site at pda.memphisweather.net. I added it to my home screen on my iPhone.

Chatter I’m seeing on Twitter is not looking good… tornado warnings north of Little Rock already. That stuff is headed this way.

As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m not a huge fan of New Year’s Eve. Venues charge ridiculously high cover charges. You have to fight your way through crowds. Long lines to get drinks and use the restroom. Plus, it’s “amateur night” when all the people who don’t know how to party come out. Most places, including some of the bars where I hang out regularly, will downright SUCK tomorrow night.

That said, here are a few suggestions for places that might not suck:

– Kooky Canuck. They’re having a New Year’s Eve party with $2.50 Bud Light, $2 champagne, and a DJ. No cover. Shawn and Lana know how to throw a party. Yeah it will likely be packed, but if you enjoyed their Halloween and Christmas party, you’ll probably have a good time there for NYE.

– Rehab Disco. They’re not doing a cover either. $15 bottles of champagne, balloon drop at midnight. Gotta respect a business that could rip its customers off with an exorbitant cover, but chose not to.

– Paula & Raiford’s Disco. I haven’t heard of anything special that they’re doing, but come on, it’s Raiford’s so it’s guaranteed not to suck.

– South Main. They’re doing their usual last-Friday-of-the-month Trolley Night from 6 to 9, with a “Trolley Drop” at 9. Much more laid-back than most of the other parties going on NYE. A lot of the Downtown locals will be here.

Those are just a few picks. If you want an overview of all your NYE options in Memphis, you can’t do much better than this excellent Memphis Flyer article.

Yellow Cab has tweeted that the best place to catch a cab tomorrow night is in front of the Orpheum, due to street closures. 577-7777 is their number and you can follow them at @MemphisTaxi.

Speaking of New Year’s Eve sucking, MemphisWeather.net says there is a possibility of severe storms tomorrow night. If you’re going to be outside, you better have a plan to take cover. More info about tomorrow night’s weather on MemphisWeather.net’s blog. Oh – also – once the storms move through, the temperatures will drop from the 60s/70s into the 40s, so you might not want to go with shorts and flip-flops for NYE attire. (Tube tops are encouraged, though. Speaking of which, I’ve been told that blog celebrity Nikki November has a new tube top dress to wear tomorrow night. I’ll try to get pics.)

In other news: If you use WordPress, you need to update to 3.0.4 immediately. A security flaw was uncovered that the new version fixes. Head WordPress guru Matt Mullenweg rates this update as “critical.”

Entrepreneurs: Don’t miss this CA article to learn how you could receive $15,000 in startup funding and access to some of the best mentors in the city.

Liberty Bowl parade is at 3. I’ll be working and will miss it. I see that Georgia’s visit to town has brought my favorite blogger/MILF out of hiding, but it’s unlikely that I’ll see her at the Saucer later on because she has the girls with her.

Off to lunch… a few more hours and the 3 day weekend begins.