Paul Ryburn's Journal

As usual, I started the evening at the Saucer last night, but I knew I needed to move to another bar before the post-Tiger game rush hit. So I moved south to Max’s Sports Bar, where I found that Nikki once again had on a tube top.

Tube tops in November have become the latest fashion trend, and Nikki is leading the way. Of course, the unseasonably warm weather has helped, but I’d like to see tube tops become a year-round fashion statement.

My 4th plate party at the Saucer will be held sometime before the end of November, and I was thinking of doing a contest in my blog to invite one of my readers to the party… but never mind, the contest is over before I even invented it. Nikki won. I told her she’s invited to my plate party. I also told her she had to wear a tube top, no matter the temperature outside.

It’s Saturday morning and I’m doing laundry and cleaning the apartment. As I was cleaning, I found a travel reimbursement check from work for over $600. It read, “Void after 90 days” and was dated August 19. Guess it’s a good thing I didn’t put off cleaning for one more week! A trip to the bank is in my immediate plans.

No, I’m not at BarCamp… it is a fantastic event with excellent topics and speakers, but the 8 AM start time is simply TOO FRIGGIN’ EARLY. 8 AM is an unnatural time for me to even be awake, much less doing something that requires intellectual activity, and I already have to conform to that schedule five days a week. Not interested in making it six. If they’d started it at 9, or better yet 9:30, I’d likely have attended. I’ll have to keep an eye on Twitter today, in the hope that attendees tweet some of the key points that they learned.

Congrats to the Tigers on their lopsided victory over Centenary last night. Hopefully the immense amount of talent on this team will gel over the next three weeks to the point where we can take down #7 Kansas the first week of December.

Outta here for now… only plan for today is to stop by Lansky and cash in a $50 coupon. May post again later.

Forwarded from CCC safety director Larry Bloom:

Please be aware that there is now an active burglar/thief downtown—Elbert Hubbard, black male, aged 45, last seen wearing a black t-shirt and rolled up blue jeans. I have attached Mr. Hubbard’s picture for your reference.

Hubbard has been an extremely active thief in the Medical Center area and specializes in taking small, expensive items such as laptops. His M.O. is to walk into buildings that are open—or break the door handles to gain entry—and make himself at home until he finds valuable property to steal. Hubbard is an opportunist and will go into commercial or residential buildings.

This date at approximately 12PM he was seen in the Claridge House apartments taking a backpack as well as looking through vehicles. Our CCC security officers spotted him and gave chase, but lost him. Hubbard dropped the backpack with his personal identification in it, so we are positive we are dealing with Mr. Hubbard. Our officers and MPD bike officers are actively looking for Mr. Hubbard at this time.

It would appear that Mr. Hubbard has moved to the downtown area because of the heat that is on him in the Medical Center area. If you see him, please call MPD because he has only one goal in mind, and that is to steal. He was just released from Shelby County jail this week for Criminal Trespass at the VA Hospital. Furthermore, Mr. Hubbard is a suspect in a break-in that occurred at Methodist LeBonheur last night.

While we normally strive to make our visitors welcome, Mr. Hubbard can be considered a definite exception.

I want to start off by saying thank you to the people who e-mailed and texted me congratulating me on poker last night. “We all wanted to win,” commented one person who played, “But once it got down to heads up, a LOT of people in the bar were rooting for you.” Thanks and I really appreciate it. I won’t be able to make it to poker the next two Thursdays, but I do plan on spending more time at Max’s in the coming weeks.

Yesterday as I was walking around Downtown, I noticed a sign in Havana Mix’s window saying that they’re having a birthday party today from 4 to 11. Sounds like it would be a lot of fun for smokers. Among other things the sign said “free buffet.” Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

The Flying Fish has been offering Tiger Challenges on its Facebook page (friend Flyingfish Memphis to see them). On the night of Tiger home games, if the Tigers reach a certain milestone (such as scoring a certain number of points), you can bring your ticket stub in after the game to get something for free. Tuesday night it was a cup of gumbo. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will try to get a free ticket to the game so she can show up at the Fish afterward.

I see that the Fish is also taking pre-orders for whole fried Thanksgiving turkeys.

Hollywood Disco is having a Turkey Ball the night of Friday, November 26. Guests are encouraged to dress as sexy pilgrims and Indians. There will be a turkey ball bowling contest. Doors open at 10 PM.

Follow @tmj_mem_jobs to receive tweets about available jobs in the Memphis area. Apparently there’s a site called tweetmyjobs.com, related to this Twitter account, where you can sign up for tweets about job listings in more specialized areas.

Last day of warm weather. Ladies, why not follow the example of Nikki November in the previous post, and show off those tube tops one last time tonight?

That has got to be one of the best stripper names ever.

Actually she’s not a stripper. But it’s November and it was 80 degrees outside today and Nikki has a tube top on. Compliments to her for that.

I won poker tonight at Max’s. Had a good time talking to Jean/Kitty. Jean is scared I will mention her in the blog or on Twitter. I had a great time talking to you tonight Jean. So there you go. Your worst fears have been realized; you’ve been mentioned. Had a great time talking to Mikey as well.

Home now. Got a Senor Huey made as a turkey burger to go.

First of all, happy Veteran’s Day and a big thank you to everyone reading this who has served in our armed forces. I’ve noticed a lot of love for veterans on Facebook and Twitter today, and that’s a very, very good thing.

If you couldn’t make it to Downtown Night with the Grizzlies last night, I hear that there may be another one in the spring.

Do you have an old TV or computer monitor you need to get rid of? There will be a Downtown e-recycling drive at Central Station next Monday from 3 to 6:30 PM. They’ll take all unwanted old electronics off your hands. $5 fee for CRTs up to 32 inches; $15 fee for CRT products larger than 32 inches. All other electronics are free to recycle. They’ll be handing out coupons from Maggie Moo’s.

I see that MPACT Memphis will have its next “Happy Hour with a Twist” for its members at Trolley Stop Market next Tuesday, November 16. Open bar, an opportunity to network with young professionals and hear about nonprofits in the community, free appetizers. If you’re not a member you can attend for $5. If you haven’t been to Trolley Stop Market yet, you’re missing out on a Downtown treasure, with delicious locally grown food. Free appetizers? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up. Actually, the 16th is during Downtown Dining Week, so she might not.

That’s all for now… I plan on playing poker at Max’s Sports Bar tonight. I plan to get there as early as possible, to make sure I get a box and avoid getting an undesirable seat. The PBR will flow and hopefully good cards will flow my way as well!

Downtown Night at the Grizzlies was a success, with reception in Opus Restaurant and then the game. Here are a few pics.

A Downtown tradition happens this coming Sunday afternoon at the Flying Saucer… Funny Hat Day. The second week of November, up until last year, was traditionally the week of the COGIC convention in Memphis, and “saints” would arrive in suits and dresses and gaudy hats. So about five years ago, some Downtowners decided to buy funny hats of their own, and sit in the window of the Saucer as the COGIC people passed by. We’d watch them, and they’d watch us, and sometimes we’d have our picture taken together.

This year COGIC has moved to St. Louis, but Funny Hat Day lives on. Get a funny hat and join us in the window of the Saucer around 1 PM Sunday. Not sure where to find a funny hat? Go to A. Schwab on Beale Street, which has tons of them. Some of the other Beale gift shops have funny hats too.

It has been announced that the usual Thanksgiving night party will happen at Earnestine & Hazel’s from 8 PM to 3 AM. $5 cover benefits CASA of Memphis. Jello shots, punch, DJ. I’ve been to this for a couple of years now, and it’s one of the best parties of Thanksgiving weekend.

Couple of good Lifehacker articles I want to share today. Some people have told me that they work at companies that heavily restrict the amount of Web surfing they are able to do. Well, here’s a workaround. Lifehacker posted about a service called Web2PDF. You e-mail the service, requesting a web page, and it e-mails a copy of the requested page to you. Very useful for getting around content filters… I understand why workplaces ban access to specific sites, but banning web browsing in general seems ridiculous and counterproductive.

Another good Lifehacker post discusses a Chrome/Firefox extension that prevents you from making drunk status updates. Heh… there have been a few times when I could have used that one.

And finally, some very sad news in case you haven’t heard… the Bookstar at Poplar and Highland will close in January. I will miss that place. I’ve spent many days there browsing the shelves and working on my laptop in their coffee shop. I imagine there will be some good clearance sale prices in the weeks to come.

About to head to Downtown Night at the Grizzlies… very excited about my awesome club-level seat and the opportunity to chat with my neighbors and Grizzlies staff! Also, a lot of my friends are excited about seeing Levon Helm tonight at the Orpheum. It’s a big night in Downtown Memphis!

Click here to print out a gift card good for $50 off any purchase of $150 or more at Lansky at the Peabody or Lansky 126 through November 15.

If you prefer to shop online, you can go to www.LanskyBros.com and use coupon code LANSKY10 to get the discount through the 15th.

Attn Lee: Hmmm, sounds like we need to do some Robert Graham shirt shopping this weekend.

This afternoon I was checking out the proposed list of topics for Saturday’s BarCamp at EmergeMemphis, and this one caught my eye. Pay special attention to the last sentence:

You’re Boring and You Suck at Social Media.
Fail hard and fail often. That’s the unwritten rule of Social Media for most people. In this presentation we’ll walk you through the various levels of stinking up the joint when it comes to Facebook and Twitter. From the most basic mistakes of not using spell-check, we’ll navigate through the more intermediate failures, finally ending on the most glaring social media errors, such as why it might not be a good idea to tweet about having diarrhea. – Ian Lemmonds

The sad thing is, I actually know people who need to attend this session. Not only will they hopefully learn not to tweet about diarrhea, but constipation, indigestion, flatulence, and other bodily functions as well. Then there needs to be a part 2 of this seminar, where they learn that those things are inappropriate in face-to-face conversation too.

Then again, there’s an app for everything these days. Yesterday I talked about Beerby, the app that lets you share information about beers you’re drinking. Maybe there should be an app for people who want to share information about their bodily functions.

Know what it could be called?

“iBM.”

Two popular Downtown restaurants will be closing temporarily for renovations. Circa will be closed this week as it undergoes a transformation into John Bragg’s new concept, a chef’s pub. It will be called Bar None – “Best Bar Food, Bar None.” Chef Antony Feld will be in the kitchen. Menu will be previewed next week during Downtown Dining Week. If you have Circa gift cards, they will be honored at both Bar None and the soon-to-open East Memphis Circa location. Menus both both locations will be posted on Circa’s website in a few days.

Huey’s Downtown location will also be closing for renovations. It will be closed November 14-21, and reopen for lunch on the 22nd. The place will still look like Huey’s, but a newer Huey’s, and improved facilities for servers will be installed. I’m sure the renovations will be nice, but it means I have to make alternate arrangements for Paul’s Drunkass Food as I stumble home at night.

There’s an article in the Commercial Appeal today about the planned redevelopment of the Pinch neighborhood near the Pyramid. With Bass Pro moving in, planners want to purchase land within the boundaries of Front and Third, Jackson and Shadyac and redevelop the area with a mix of restaurants and retail. This sounds very cool… I frequently “head south” to the shops, restaurants and bars on South Main, but rarely do I “head north.” Looks like I’ll have a new direction to wander in the coming years.

Lifehacker article of interest to Downtowners: What alcohol actually does to your brain and body

I want to clarify something about tomorrow’s Downtown Night with the Grizzlies: You can’t walk up to the ticket booth at game time and ask for the deal. You need to call Carl Rosen in advance to purchase your tickets. For $50 you get a $99-value club level seat to watch the Grizzlies vs. Mavericks, food and beverages, and an hour and a half to mingle with your neighbors in Opus Restaurant. Carl will be taking orders for Downtown Night tickets until noon tomorrow, and you can reach him at 901-205-1445.

Congratulations to Division II school Indianapolis on their 79-64 victory against the Tennessee Vols basketball team last night. Yet another embarrassment for Bruce Pearl and his team. I’m guessing Tennessee will be out of the Top 25 for a long, long time beginning next week. Wonder if UT is a step closer to showing the Bruchebag the door after last night. By the way, this reminds me, does anyone want to purchase an orange blazer that’s only been worn three times?

I had fun recording my beers on Beerby last night, and I’m well on my way to earning the Conquistador badger (that’s not a typo – you earn badgers, not badges) for drinking a lot of Mexican lagers. My frequent consumption of PBR will get me the Hipster Superstar badger fairly quickly, too. This is a game I can rule! I already have several Beerby friends and I get to see what beers they’re drinking.

Unfortunately I won’t be able to check in my beers tonight, since it’s trivia and I can’t have my phone out. We have $350 accumulated toward our next party and hope to make it to the 400 mark tonight.