Paul Ryburn's Journal

I discovered something that may be of use to people who use the Facebook app for the iPhone. When I do a status update from the app, or comment on someone else’s status, or upload a pic, the app crashes. About half the time, the update, comment or pic makes it to Facebook before the crash; the other half the time, not. Very frustrating.

Here’s what I’ve learned to do. I’ve learned to open touch.facebook.com in the Safari browser when I want to post something to Facebook. It’s fast, no crashes, and then I can go back to the Facebook app to see what I posted and follow my timeline.

Last night one of my blog’s readers told me she keeps up with me on Facebook, and it made me think, maybe I need to pay more attention to Facebook and less to Twitter. I’ve been focusing on Twitter more lately because of the buggy FB iPhone app, but there are some advantages to FB: I don’t have the 140 character limit, and I have twice as many friends on Facebook as I do followers on Twitter. I think I’ll try to balance out my posting to both better from here on out.

I also want to comment on something I’ve been seeing recently: People getting all upset because people unfollow them on Twitter. This is the way I look at it: If people don’t unfollow me from time to time, I’m doing something wrong.

Like my blog, I view my Twitter account (and my Facebook account) as extensions/expressions of who I am. That means if you follow @paulryburn, you will get tweets about Downtown events and deals I discover from time to time. It also means, because I have my iPhone and my Echofon app with me all the time, that you also get Paul’s Drunkass Tweets, where I tweet about #tubetops I see when I’m out, the war on #douchebags, and stops for Paul’s Drunkass Food. You also get my Foursquare check-ins, which means you get notified that I’m at the Saucer a whole lot. I’m not afraid to drop the s-bomb or the f-bomb when I feel my mood calls for it.

I realize that’s not for everyone. So if you unfollow me, I have absolutely no problem with it. But I’m not gonna stop being me. When I was little, my mother taught me that I should strive to be thought well of by everyone. With all due respect to her, I think that’s horrible advice. You’ve got to be yourself, and let others think what they will.

All right, after six paragraphs, it’s finally time to get to the news. Tweet4Habitat is doing its first Tweetup ever. It will happen at South of Beale on Thursday, June 17. You’ll get to meet others interested in helping Memphis Habitat for Humanity, and you can make a donation if you choose. Don’t forget that a donation is also made every time you include the #tweet4habitat hashtag in your tweets.

Saturday I walked past Joey’s New York Deli & Pizza at 97 N. Main (in the Renaissance Apartments) and got a copy of their menu. The guy who handed it to me said they’re open “from about 7 to 7.” They serve breakfast in the mornings – pastries, croissant sandwiches, bagels. For lunch/dinner they have pizza, cold plates, and deli-style sandwiches. They told me that everything is made fresh.

Speaking of pizza, I continue to hear that the pizza at the new place around the corner from Crepe Maker (Third at Peabody Place) is outstanding. They sell it by the slice or the pie.

Gonna make a quick run to Target in the remainder of my lunch break… as always, I’ll be at trivia night at the Saucer, at 7 PM.

A lot of people misunderstand how mayorships on Foursquare work.  They think you can just keep checking in many times in the same day and it makes a difference.  It doesn’t.

The mayor of a venue is determined by the most checkins over the past two months, with only one checkin per day counting.  As you can see… I’ve checked in 60 days in the past two months at the Saucer.  Perfect score.  So, Lil’ Kim, Venus, and anyone else trying to get the mayorship, give it up.  The mayorship is on lockdown.

Home from Pint Nite.  Talked to Pam, who is going to try to make up for throwing a beer away at the March beer fest by wearing a tube top.  Good call.

Breaking news:  City and Performa have settled their lawsuit.  Performa will no longer manage Beale Street.  More details here.

I saw this on Facebook and thought it sounded very interesting:  A brewpub in Austin that is a co-op. You don’t have to be a co-owner to eat or drink there, but it’s pretty cool to think that you can own your neighborhood bar.  This idea has been discussed Downtown before, especially right after Sleep Out Louie’s closed, but nothing serious ever came of it.  Maybe we should look at copying the idea for Memphis.

The South Main Association is sponsoring a sidewalk sale Saturday, June 19 from 8 AM to 2 PM.  Residents and merchants can sign up for a 5′ x 10′ booth ($25 fee) between Nettleton and St. Paul, and sell whatever they choose within their space.  Go to southmainmemphis.net to register for a booth.

I’m making a list of Downtown bars that will be open and will have specials for the USA vs. England soccer match this Saturday at 12:30 PM.  If you’re doing something and want it in the blog e-mail me at paul@paulryburn.com.  Yesterday I saw that Local Gastropub will be open for all World Cup games and will have Ghost River specials during games.  South of Beale has already said they’ll be open for USA vs. England and will have free food samples from their new menu (wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up).

All right, time to hit Publish and head to Pint Nite.  Wait, am I forgetting something?  … I think I am!

There ya go.  Lauren from Calhoun’s in a tube top.  Don’t say I never did anything nice for ya.

Time for BEER!

I was surfing Amazon this morning and found this:

Wildfox The Trashy Tube Top in Black,Tops (Sleeveless) for Women

Last night I strolled over to Christine by Shelton Clothiers for their grand opening celebration.  I felt a little self-conscious about going to an opening of a women’s clothing store, but it turned out to be a great party, with lots of Downtowners coming out to congratulate our friend Christine.  I pulled out the camera, but experienced problems almost immediately – it gave me the “memory card full” error after only two pics.  So I had to rely on my backup camera, which is my iPhone.

A view of the store from the entrance

The front counter

Next-door neighbor Circa put out quite a buffet.  Too bad the Nuh-Uh Girl was out of town.

That’s Christine on the right.  Where’s the tube top section, Christine?

Christine’s husband Tom Shelton, on the right, entertaining guests.

Outside the store, a band played.

I don’t know much about women’s clothing, so it’s hard for me to give much of a review of the store.  I will say this:  I imagine it’s going to be a lot like Shelton Clothiers down the street, in that it will emphasize personal service.  If you need help picking out the perfect outfit, I’d bet Christine and her staff would be great people to turn to for advice.

Thanks to Christine for a great party, and I hope the store will be a key part of Downtown shopping for years to come.

All right.  This iPhone is not going to be sufficient for 4-5 days until the new camera arrives.  I have the 2005-07 camera on the charger.  It’ll be with me this week.  I hope I remember how to use it.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH20 14.1 MP Digital Camera with 8x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Black)

I’ve been having problems with my current camera this past week.  It’s giving me a “memory card full” error after only about 50-75 pics.  Given that this is Tube Top Month and I need the ability to take lots of pics at any time, that is completely unacceptable.  So I ordered the camera pictured above, recommended by a friend who has the same model.  I’ll lose a little bit of optical zoom (8x, as opposed to 10x on the camera I have now), but it’s slimmer and won’t be so horribly bulky in the pocket it has to share with an iPhone.

It should be here by next weekend.  In the meantime I’ll do the best I can with my current camera’s limited firepower.

I previously posted that South of Beale will open early (12:30 PM) next Saturday for the US vs. England World Cup game.  Well, I’ve since learned additional information, and it will make the Nuh-Uh Girl very happy.  They just tweeted on their @southofbeale account that they will have FREE FOOD SAMPLES while they last for the game.

I’m not sure if the Nuh-Uh Girl is a soccer fan, but I’m pretty sure she’ll be willing to become one for a couple of hours if there’s free food involved.

The Nuh-Uh Girl, who is currently in New Orleans, will miss out on a free food event tonight though.  Christine by Shelton Clothiers is having their open house from 5 to 9 with food from Circa, beer and wine.  Even though I’m not in their target market, I guess I’ll stop by to cover the event for the blog.  (and maybe drink a beer too)

Last night my friend Lee and I were drinking beer at the Saucer.  “Let’s go next door and see how Brick’s doing,” he suggested.  So we walked over to the Silly Goose.  I had the camera.

All right, on to the news, and the pictures make a good lead-in because my first item is about the Silly Goose.  INSIDE SPORTS is conducting a talent search to find a sexy reporter, and they’ll be at the Goose on Tuesday.  Registration will take place at 4 PM, and then they’ll do auditions from 4:30 to 7 PM.  After that, it’s time to party!  They didn’t mention specific attire, but I think a tube top would be a good thing to wear to this event if you plan to audition.

BJ Chester-Tamayo, chef at Alcenia’s, was mentioned in this week’s Meet the Chef feature in the CA.

Watching the conference realignment rumors with great interest… looks like Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor and Iowa State may be screwed.  Wonder if the end result could be Memphis and Kansas in the same conference?  That would sure make basketball fun to watch.

Fun night last night… before ending up at the Saucer and then the Goose, I went down to Calhoun’s for a while.  GREAT crowd.  I played cornhole outside and actually didn’t do too bad.

No plans for today.  Not driving out east to Italian Fest. Just saw that Franziskaner is the fire sale, so maybe I’ll walk over to the Saucer and have a beer with Danny.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that Lansky at the Peabody had created a coffee table book detailing the store’s 65-year history. Hal Lansky was on Live at 9 this week to talk about the book. The interview can be seen on YouTube here.

One of my New Year’s resolutions (yeah, I know it’s June) is to use Evernote more. It’s a fantastic note-taking tool. It has text recognition, so you can take photos of documents and then find text within them. There have to be 101 uses for Evernote that I haven’t discovered yet. They made a great move yesterday, when they brought one of my favorite authors, Tim Ferriss, on as an advisor. Tim is the author of The Four-Hour Work Week, and in this interview he discusses some of the ways he uses Evernote to save time.

South of Beale normally opens at 4 PM, but they’ve announced that next Saturday, June 12, they’ll be open at noon for the US vs. England soccer match.

If you’re a summer intern, or if you have summer interns, check out this excellent Leadership Academy program. It helps interns in town for the summer get connected in the community, and to develop friendships while experiencing all the great things Memphis has to offer. This is a program that really works – back when I was active at MPACT Memphis, they did something similar and saw an increase in the number of interns who returned to Memphis to take full-time permanent positions after graduation.

I’ve been asked to ask a favor of my blog readers. Go to the Flying Saucer, and order Spaten products (Spaten Lager, Oktoberfest, or Franziskaner) from Whitney, pictured below.

There’s currently a contest going on where the Saucer employee who sells the most Spaten products gets a prize. Whitney, by the way, didn’t ask me to make this announcement – people who want to see her win did. And it’s an opportunity to throw a tube top pic on the blog, so, win/win.

For ideas for stuff to do this weekend, check out Kerry’s post on her I Love Memphis blog. It’s a good resource to check every Friday as you plan your weekend.

Time for lunch… thinking Arby’s today.  No big plans for tonight, but I’ll be at the Saucer for happy hour and see where the evening takes me after that.

I did my usual Peabody rooftop pre-game at the Saucer last night.  I told the girls the rooftop theme was “Jersey Shore,” and they wanted to do my hair for the event.  The result was a Snooki style poof.

Rooftop party was good… threat of rain made for a smaller crowd than usual.  Not a lot of people dressed up Jersey Shore style (other than the douchebags who dress like that every night).  Also, fewer tube tops than I had hoped to see.

Back at lunchtime with an update.