Paul Ryburn's Journal

Joe’s Wines and Liquors will host a beer tasting Downtown at the Cotton Museum on Thursday, October 23.  They’ll pour 25 beers for sampling, along with some hearty autumn fare.  The e-mail I was forwarded says that all the craft breweries will be represented, along with a few new ones that are just establishing a foothold in Memphis.  More info to come soon.  I actually don’t have info on how to get tickets yet, because the e-mail I got forwarded was for their wine club members only, who had first chance at the tickets.

The beer tasting was discussed among the team last night at trivia.  The Nuh-Uh Girl:  “Will they have FOOD there?  What kind of food are they going to serve?  I’ll go if there’s food.”  Geez.

The Rapscallions took second at trivia last night, adding a $25 gift certificate, bringing our total to $220.  However, it’s interesting to note that the team that beat us was named “Paul Ryburn’s BFFs.”  Yes, Michelle and Jenny finally found a way to win at trivia, by inviting about 20 of their friends and co-workers to join them.  This week they won fair and square, with no arguments about point totals or unclear questions, beating us 136 to 127.

Tasteless comment of the week:  Air Traffic Mike:  “It’s John Lennon beer glass night?  Shouldn’t that be a shot glass?”  After thinking a little more, he followed up with, “Or a John Lennon beer glass and a Mark David Chapman shot glass.”

If the Flying Saucer ever opens a restaurant in Moscow, I wonder if they’ll do Lenin glass night, instead of Lennon glass night?

Congratulations to my trivia teammate Eric on his appearance in the Commercial Appeal this morning, in a great article about the Memphis Grizzlies’ mentoring efforts in the community.

Turbo Dog is the Fire Sale today… yuck.  Don’t forget, folks, Bardog Tavern has $2.50 PBR, all the time.  If it weren’t for the Lennon glass I’d bypass the Saucer altogether today.

I’ll be at “Bands, Beer and Bums” at Jefferson Davis Park for about an hour before I go get the Lennon glass.  The rain will have moved out of here by the time the music starts at 5:30 and it should be a fun time.   After I pick up the Lennon glass I’ll head over to trivia at Jillian’s with Mikey and Pete the Trivia Guy. $2 drafts, $3 Jager bombs, cherry bombs, and grape bombs.

Check out this great article by Richard Cohen on RealClearPolitics.  He thinks the media completely dropped the ball in their analysis of Sarah Palin’s performance in the vice-presidential debate.

It’ll never happen, but wouldn’t it be interesting to see Palin debate Hillary Clinton?  Hillary would eat her for lunch.

Do you come home after a night out and send drunk e-mails you later regret?  If you use Gmail, there’s a new feature in Gmail Labs that may be of interest to you.  “Mail goggles” allows you to set certain times of the day when you will probably be drunk if you’re e-mailing.  During those times, you’re forced to answer a set of math problems within a certain time limit to prove that you’re sober enough to send e-mail.

Hmmm… I see this becoming a feature on phones within a year to prevent drunk texting… and it’ll probably be added to WordPress soon to prevent drunk blog posts.  Although, if that option ever appears, I’ll keep it turned off, because I think my drunk posts are some of my best ones.

Restaurant.com has a new promo:  Enter code DISCOVER at checkout and get 50% off dining gift certificates.  So the $25 face-value certificates, normally sold for $10, can be had for $5 through October 12.  These are accepted at Big Foot Lodge, Blue Fin, Stella, McEwen’s, and many other Downtown restaurants.  Click the link to search for restaurants Downtown, or in your neighborhood, that accept them.

Here’s info on the CCC’s “Bands, Beer, and Bums” concert tomorrow night in Jefferson Davis Park as part of its Downtown Alive! series:

Food, beer and wine vending starts at 4:30, music around 5:30.  The bums will be there by… oh, heck, the bums are always there.

On Friday, October 24, the Orpheum will celebrate its 80th anniversary with three Memphis institutions: music, beer, and BBQ.  They’ll have a fundraiser at the Warehouse, Front at GE Patterson, called “Rock n’ Roll, Brews, and Q,” and your $25 admission gets you in the door (which opens at 7), Corky’s BBQ until 9, wine and Boscos beer all night long, access to a silent auction featuring art by Mike Maness and David Lynch, and music by John Paul Keith and the One Four Fives.  Band starts at 8:30.  You can get your tickets at the Orpheum’s website or you can call 901-525-3000.

And that’s the lunchtime update.  Back to paginating data grids.  Ready to kick some ass at trivia tonight.

Just learned about this one this morning:  www.fivethirtyeight.com

If you follow the election closely and you like statistics, that site my appeal to you even more than my all-time favorite RealClearPolitics.  Not only does it have electoral maps (and I’ll say it again, there sure is a lot of blue on that map), but it has other cool stuff, like the probability of, say, Obama winning Colorado if he loses Ohio.  There’s also a map analyzing the ROI on advertising money spent in each state.

Last night I hung out at Pint Nite with my new BFFs for a while, then moved on to Bardog Tavern where I had the Woof Woof Chow Chow Sliders (hot dog sliders).  They were very good.  One thing I like about Bardog is that they have a different menu each day.  Most of the items are there every day, but there are a few that get rotated in and out.  I like that, it keeps things interesting.

So tonight is trivia at the Saucer, which means it’s time for the Rapscallions to hand my BFFs Jenny and Michelle and their St. Jude team another defeat.  In addition to trivia, the Presidential debate starts at 8:00 – not exactly sure how the Saucer is going to handle both of those at the same time, since trivia won’t be done until 9 or so.

All right, time to go sit in a cubicle all day and do really exciting stuff like paginating data grids.  Maybe I’ll approach the problem as Sarah Palin would – I’ll study the problem, figure out what a maverick would do, and then do that.

I decided to check out the Red Rooster’s NFL Sunday promotions yesterday.  Here’s what I found:

You can get a huge pitcher filled with any domestic beer for only $5.

All the Rooster’s pizzas are half-off on NFL Sundays.  That meant that “The Don,” a huge pizza topped with all the Rooster’s meats, vegetables, and cheeses, was only $10.  I was only able to finish half of it and they gave me a to-go box for the rest… the box never made it home though, I ran into Downtown homeless person Scratchy on the street and gave the rest of the pizza to him.

Poster listing the Rooster’s football specials.  If you prefer bottles instead of drafts, you can get a bucket of 5 domestic beers for $10.  The people there just couldn’t have been nicer.  They put my pitcher of beer in a bucket of ice to keep it cold, and they told me to let them know if there was a particular game I wanted to watch on one of the Rooster’s many TVs.

This is one of Downtown’s best eating and drinking values, and it’ll continue through the remainder of football season.  Definitely something to check out if you’re a football fan, or if you just like cheap beer and food.

This is unusual… I arrived at the Saucer about 1:30 for Sunday Fun Day, and I’m the only member of the Sunday brunch crew here!  This never happens, but I shoulda predicted it… half the gang is out of town for a bachelor party, and most of the others are on a scooter ride.

Since I’m all by myself, I think I’ll do things a little bit differently.  I’ll have a couple beers here, and work on my latest and greatest website for a little while.  Then I’ll take the laptop home and hit some of the Sunday football spots I normally don’t get to check out.  I’ll give the Rooster a try, where Sam (my vote for Best Memphian of 2008) hosts the weekly NFL watch party.  They have half price pizza during NFL games, so that might be a winner for lunch.  I’ll also check out Jillian’s, which is trying to draw more locals for their NFL Sundays.

A few beer recommendations before I go:  Dogfish Head Pumpkin Ale is now on tap at the Flying Saucer.  I had one last night and it was OUTSTANDING.  Lots of pumpkin flavor and cinnamon.  Unfortunately it’s not a Pint Nite beer, so even if you come in tomorrow to try it, you’ll have to pay full price ($5.50).

They also have Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale in bottles, which is very good too.  Last year it cost $4, but prices for transporting beer have risen considerably since this time a year ago, so don’t be surprised if it’s more.

Also available once again in bottles:  Dogfish Head Midas Touch.  This beer is based on an ancient beer-brewing formula, from around the time of King Midas.  Bottles are very expensive (I think $12, but don’t hold me to that) but worth every penny.

All right.  Gonna drink a little beer then go watch some football.

My “today’s reason to drink” widget on my Google homepage tells me that it’s International World Teachers’ Day, and suggests that everyone toast their favorite educator.  Therefore, the first beer I consume this afternoon will be in honor of Memphis City Schools teacher/Wheel of Fortune winner The Nuh-Uh Sister (pictured at left, in tube top).

My friend Pete is an MCS teacher too, but I’ll honor him by handing him several losses at pool.

It’s true.  Last night was Hoop’s Bar’s last night, and EP’s is already closed.  I stopped by about 10 for one last PBR can.  The place will be sorely missed.

It’s just unbelievable that EP’s/Hoop’s is gone.  This time last year EP’s (Hoop’s didn’t exist yet) was PACKED.  The Thursday night parties were a must, with the club loaded with hot girls… it was unusual for me to leave before 1:30 AM on Thursday nights, which made for some rough Fridays but it was worth it.  Fridays and Saturdays were jam-packed as well.  There’s no way I would’ve thought the doors would be closed a year later.  I could write an entire post discussing the reasons why, but what’s the point.  Thanks to Hooper, Tony, Ross, Colin, Michael Patrick, and everyone else involved with Hoop’s over the past year for all the great memories, and thanks to EP’s management for always taking good care of me, and for your help chasing bums off Beale Street.

Paul Myers, the marketing guru who is the inventor of the Buy Paul a Beer concept that I shamelessly stole, reported this morning on a good site that may be of use to some of you… Ask500People, a site where you can pose a question and survey 500 people around the world.  The surveys appear on high-traffic sites – Paul asked a question and had 27 responses within half an hour.  This could be very useful in business/marketing.  You can get code to display the results of a survey on your web page or blog, and you can get a widget to display surveys on your blog.

There will be a black tie gala and fundraiser at Dish on Saturday, October 18 to benefit Memphis Roller Derby.  (Can’t believe I just typed “black tie” and “roller derby” in the same sentence.)  Called the “Derbytante Ball,” the ticket prices ($15 single/$25 couple in advance; $20/30 at the door) include dinner and beer.  There will be a cash bar if you want liquor or wine.  DJ Steve Anne will DJ, and my MySpace friend Tom Prestigiacomo will emcee.  Awards will be handed out to roller derby team members and notable fans.  Visit memphisrollerderby.com for more info.

I had someone suggest that I dress up as a certain Downtown bartender for Halloween… it’s a great idea, but part of my Halloween costume is being totally in character.  If I wanted to portray her accurately, I wouldn’t be able to drink.  Which pretty much rules out that costume.

I didn’t make it to the Downtown Olympics yesterday… was busy trying to find a WordPress template for my latest website creation, and I had to make a run out east to Target to buy a new garbage can.  I’m really proud of my new garbage can.  Anyway, I ran into the chief judge of the Olympics later on in the evening at the Saucer, and he said the event was very well attended, filling the back room of E&H.  He noted that the synchronized drinking event was the best.  I’m sure the official results will be posted on Memphis Limelight sometime soon.

I stopped by Bookstar yesterday, and flipped through Hot Chicks with Douchebags, the book.  Very entertaining… it explains how to spot a ‘bag (stuff like popped collars, hand signs, showing off really ripped abs, overly gelled spiky hair, etc.), offers advice on what to do if you’re dating a ‘bag, how to de-douche yourself.  I considered buying it but decided to wait and order it from Amazon instead, where I can get it for 5 bucks cheaper and combine it with other books to get their free Super Saver shipping.  The author of this book should’ve attended Thursday nights at Club Atlas this past spring; he could’ve got enough photos for an entire second book.

Guess I’ll wear my Hoop’s Bar shirt today in memory… brunch is at the Majestic but I probably won’t make it in time, so I’ll meet up with the gang at the Saucer for Pete’s weekly ass-beating at pool.  I see he’s at #195 on his UFO Club quest; I wonder if he’ll have them put “Pauly beat my ass at pool AGAIN” on his plate.

I just got an e-mail letting me know that Hoop’s Bar is closing tonight, after one last night.  I have not confirmed this with anyone in management yet, but the rumor comes from a very credible source.  If you want to say goodbye to Hoop’s you better head down there tonight.

Next Wednesday, Jillian’s will kick off a new  feature called Hump Day Trivia with Pete the Trivia Guy and Mikey.  Trivia competition for prizes will begin at 7 PM.  Although the trivia people from the Saucer will be calling it, Mikey tells me the format will be a little different.  “It’ll be kind of like Trivial Pursuit,” he said last night.

Currently the only place Downtown doing trivia on a Wednesday is the Corner Bar at the Peabody, where people are getting mighty sick of paying $4 + tax for a bottle of Bud Light.  Well, I’ve got good news for you… Jillian’s will run drink specials during trivia.  $2 drafts, as well as $3 Jager bombs, cherry bombs, and grape bombs.  I bet that will fill the place up.

Looking forward to it… I doubt it’ll become a regular weekly thing for me (one trivia night a week is enough) but I’ll certainly pop in from time to time for those $2 drafts.