Paul Ryburn's Journal

I found an interesting story on Time Magazine’s website this morning:  A textbook company plans to give its books away. If more and more professors adopt free textbooks, this could spell the end of the ridiculously overpriced textbook publishing/college bookstore industry.  It would also make a college education more affordable to everyone.

Every week, Pete the Trivia Guy offers trivia teams 5 bonus points for buying a beer from a particular country or region. Last night it was German beer. Some weeks it will be beer from the Southern U.S., or from Great Britain, or one of the other popular beer-brewing regions.

Pete came over to us and commented, “If the bonus beer is Belgian beer, you’d be able to get the points with one of these,” and he held up a Budweiser. Heh. The Anheuser-Busch sale is rocking the world of beer.

Save the date: Tuesday, August 5 will be National Night Out and there will be a big party in the South Main area. More details to come, but there will food and games for children and the opportunity to meet the police officers who keep Downtown safe.

RealClearPolitics has updated their electoral map, which now shows 255 electoral votes solid or leaning Obama, 163 solid or leaning McCain, and 120 toss-ups. That leaves Obama just 15 votes short of the magic number to win the election. RCP still considers Ohio a toss-up, but recent poll averages have Obama up 4.5 percentage points there. Its 20 electoral votes would be all he needs to win. He’s also leading in toss-up states New Hampshire, Indiana, and Colorado. Nevada is a tie and there’s no poll data for New Mexico.

About to grab lunch from Court House Deli and head back to work…

A Discovery Channel blogger recently visited Downtown Memphis, and surprise, surprise… he was hit up by panhandlers asking for money.  In fact, he was approached by my new least favorite bum, who is going around telling people he is collecting money for St. Jude.  Talk about the scum of the earth… claiming to represent a children’s charity in order to finance his next bottle.  That guy makes the parking scammers look like Mahatma Gandhi by comparison.

Anyway, the Discovery Channel writer posted one of the best articles on panhandling in Memphis that I’ve seen.  He makes the distinction that homelessness and panhandling are different problems, and points out that most of the homeless do not panhandle.  He goes on to explain that the scammers we see down here – the people charging to park cars in metered spaces, selling copies of the Memphis Flyer, etc. – are painting the true homeless in a negative light.  That’s a vital point that needs to be emphasized, that people come down here, see the BUMS running their scams, and that becomes their mental image of “the homeless” and as a result, they feel less motivated to give to organizations that help the homeless.

If you’re as sick of these bums as I am, don’t forget that we have an online forum called Handling-Panhandling where you can contribute information about the people who try to scam you.  Sharing info is the best way to identify which ones are the criminals/scammers, so that the Downtown safety patrol and the police (both of whom monitor the forum) know who to watch out for.

Just found a neat software tool at work and figured I’d post it.  If you do a lot of stuff with PDFs, this might be a nifty program to have.  It’s called PDF Tools and you can get it here.  It can split one PDF into multiple ones (which is why I needed it), or it can join many PDFs into one.  It can also encrypt and decrypt PDFs if you need them to be secure, and it can put a text or image stamp on a PDF.  It can also create a PDF from a source XML file.

By the way, the website where you can download the program, FreewareFiles.com, is one of my favorite places to go when I need free software.

Cool thing I was e-mailed this morning: The Memphis Barbecue Map. It’s a Google map with locations of BBQ restaurants pinpointed. Now that’s a handy map to have.

There’s going to be an Obama meetup this coming Sunday, July 20 in Midtown. Let me start right off with the most important detail of this event: THERE WILL BE A KEG. It will be at 4 PM at the home of Adam and Amy Hill, at 440 Garland in the Evergreen Historic District. They will have a PA set up and are trying to confirm that Rep. Steve Cohen will attend. Free beer… what a great reason to attend a political rally!  Here’s a link to the event, called Midtown Memphis for Change, where you can RSVP.

I forgot to mention that when I stopped by the Red Rooster last night, the bartender asked me what I wanted, and I looked at the taps and said, “Ummm I don’t know, I guess just a Miller Lite.”

“Are you sure?” he asked. “We have $1.50 Newcastle tonight.” Hmmm, really? If the Rooster is going to do buck-fifty beer, it may become a regular stop on my Sunday night agenda (and probably other people’s as well, once word gets out). It was a little slow yesterday but I have the feeling that will change once people hear about $1.50 Newcastle at the Rooster. Could become a good spot for locals to hang out on Sunday evenings.

Worst title for a computer programming language ever: “Ruby on Rails.” What were people thinking when they came up with that name? It sounds like a really bad bondage porno movie that you could rent at one of the adult video stores on Getwell.

Got a note from The Orpheum that Rocky Horror Picture Show has been added to their Summer Movie Series.  It will be shown on Friday, September 19 with tickets available for purchase two hours before the start of the show.

If you’re trying to figure out what to do tonight, I’ve got two words for ya:  PINT NITE.  Dat is all da people need to know.  $2.75 for your choice of about 70 different pints of beer.  I’ll be at the Saucer shortly after I get off work at 5 PM.  My 14-beer Pint Nite personal record still stands, but maybe tonight will be the night.

Yesterday I got forwarded a great article by the Memphis Blues Society, listing places in Memphis to hear authentic blues.  Warning:  The article bashes Beale Street a fair bit, so if you’re a Beale lover you may want to skip the first six paragraphs or so and just scroll down.  But it goes on to list the Blue Worm, Reba’s Place, Wild Bill’s and some others that are worth knowing about.  I’m bookmarking it because I get asked this question all the time.  You can read the article here.

In the news:  This morning I was checking out Dr. Booze’s blog and discovered that Belgian brewer InBev has bought Anheuser-Busch, maker of Bud and Bud Light.  So I guess Bud Light is now “Belgium’s beer” rather than “America’s beer.”  John D: “Wha… wha happened?  Paul, how do I book a plane ticket to Brussels?”

Also in the past 24 hours, Dr. Booze reported on the best and worst alcoholic drinks to consume if you’re on a diet.  He also had a report about Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood going on a 2-week vodka binge and hooking up with an 18-year-old waitress (Wood is 61).  He’s so far out of it that Keith Richards is telling him he needs to sober up.

I missed brunch for the second week in a row, doing website work until 3:30.  Then I hung out at the Flying Saucer, where the Fire Sale was a new beer called American Lager made by Bud (or now, by InBev).  It was not bad.  It’s the tap with the American flag handle.  Glad to see them putting some new and different stuff on the $2.75 Fire Sale.

Then I had a great dinner.  Cafe 61 had seafood lasagna as one of their specials, and I couldn’t resist.  It was actually more of a seafood manicotti, but whatever… it was outstanding.  Their food has been superb every time I have gone in.  Definitely going to keep my eye on their sandwich board for specials in the future.

After that, I walked south to Calhoun’s and hung out at Max’s bar for a couple of hours, then hit the Saucer for round two, then the Rooster, then Hoop’s Bar.

Apologies to the Majestic Grille for missing both weeks of their two-week rotation for Sunday brunch (we do two weeks Majestic, two weeks Downtown Monkey on a rotating basis).  I just had stuff come up that distracted me.  Next week I’m going to do a full Sunday Fun Day, 11 AM to 11 PM.

Time to get ready for the long commute across the trolley tracks to work.

The 9th District Congressional debate is tonight at 8 PM on WREG Channel 3. Be sure to watch or DVR it – should be a good one. The debate pits incumbent Rep. Steve Cohen against challengers Nikki “No Substance” Tinker and Joe Towns.

Speaking of Steve Cohen, there’s going to be a fundraiser reception and then a party for him Downtown next Saturday, July 19. The reception will be at 543 S. Front at 6 PM and the minimum donation to attend is $100. There will be delicious food donated by Chef Arnold Dion of Daily Grill, and of course the opportunity to talk to Steve himself. To RSVP or for more info contact Joan Robinson at joan@dccrealtors.com or Brice Timmons at 901-274-5100.

Then at 8 PM, the party moves to The Warehouse at Front and GE Patterson. There will be bands, celebrities lined up by Kris who owns the Warehouse, and food and drinks. Minimum donation for the party is $25, with a student minimum donation of $10 and free to unregistered voters. Besides supporting Steve, it’s a chance to spend an evening in one of Downtown’s best party spaces, and rub elbows with prominent neighbors. Should be a good time.

For the second Saturday in a row, I didn’t go out. Stayed up until 5 AM again building my next website and reading Web marketing books. And now it’s a little after 8 AM and for the second Sunday in a row, I’m already awake and back at the computer. I’m going to skip Sunday brunch for the second week in a row and continue my website work. I hate to miss so many brunches but I have major momentum on my projects and I can’t afford an entire day of being wasted.

I’ve given up on the idea of using Drupal to build my next site. I wanted to get experience with it but there were just too many issues. So last night, I deleted it and installed WordPress on the new site. WordPress, of course, is the software I use to write this blog, but it’s matured into a complete content management system and can now be used to develop complete sites that aren’t blogs.  Plus, it’s written in PHP, the same language I’m starting to use at work, so if I have to tinker under the hood I’ll learn stuff which may benefit me on the job as well as off.

I’ll be out at some point later today, though, once I’m happy with the progress I’ve made building sites.  At some point I’ll probably have a Big Ass Beer on Beale; stop by the Saucer to see my waitresses and the Sunday brunch crew; and later in the evening I’ll try to make a stop at the Red Rooster for Sam night.  Sam is now sporting a mohawk.  I remember when pro wrestler Terry Taylor went to the WWF and styled his hair into a mohawk and started calling himself the Red Rooster.

Outta here for now.  Time to get some stuff done…

Back when I used Blogger to publish my blog, I had an AccuWeather sidebar that showed Memphis temperature, radar, 4-day forecast and national map. When I moved to WordPress at the beginning of 2008, I got rid of it because I had other things to deal with (mainly, importing 1500 posts).

The weather sidebar is now back. Scroll down and look to the right to see it. Hope you find it useful in planning your day.

Last night was a fun night. I can’t give it an A+, because if it were an A+ night there’d be a Romanian girl asleep in my bed right now. But it was definitely an A.

As I went out I thought to myself, “You know what I haven’t done in a while? Bought a Call-a-Cab at Wet Willie’s to-go window and hung out on Beale.” So I wandered down there and got a medium Cab.

Then I hit the streets. Ran into a friend of mine who is now working at Pat O’s, my original Sleep Out Louie’s Sunday brunch bartender from 2003. We talked for a while and caught up. Then I ran into a guy who had never officially met but it was one of those “I’ve seen you around town for 15 years” kinds of things. Turns out he used to have a blog several years ago that was kinda like what I’m doing now. We grabbed a beer at Rum Boogie and discussed how to break stories, cultivating readership, monetizing websites, stuff like that. Great conversation.

While at Rum Boogie, I saw my buddy Chad and he told me that some of the gang was on Beale. Later in the evening I texted him and found out that he and my friend Otto and our guest from Mexico Angie were at Wet Willie’s. So I wandered over there. I knew better than to have a second Call-a-Cab and let them finish their drinks. Then we walked to Silky’s.

Silky’s was a LOT of fun. I don’t know why I don’t go in that place more often. Great band on the patio and lots of beautiful girls dancing (shout-out to Jacqueline, who was there). We got a table and a Diver. Since Angie’s friends from Monterrey read my blog to keep up with her, here’s a pic of her with the Diver:

Angie asked me what was in the Diver. Como se dice ‘everything?’

Otto departed and Chad and Angie and I decided it was time for a change of venue. I asked, “Do you want something on this energy level, or do you want to kick it up a notch, or kick it down a notch?” General consensus was “kick it up” and Chad made a great suggestion: “How about Raiford’s?”

Being a blogger has its perks: The owner’s of Hollywood Disco (Raiford’s) decided to give me a VIP pass, which gets me and a guest in free. I picked it up at the front door. I have a feeling that pass is going to get a lot of use in the months to come.

Ran into my friend Amanda, who was celebrating her birthday. Hang on, let’s post a pic of Amanda:

There ya go. That’s Amanda. On the right, obviously. Her birthday is actually Monday. Or maybe it was last Monday. Hell if I know. Anyway, if you see her out this weekend, buy her a drink.

Much beer was consumed and by 3 AM I was doing chin-ups on the chain on the DJ booth:

Lasted until about 3:20, then home. Not sure what I’ll be getting into tonight. Sometimes the nights when I go out without plans turn out to be the best nights.

Yesterday was a good day, for several reasons.

First of all, I woke up and logged into my Amazon Associates account, which collects commissions from Mid-South Alcoholic Supply, Tube Top Boutique and my other stores. Discovered that I had earned more commission in the first 9 days of July than I had earned in all of June. Those stores started out paying for a couple of nights of drinking, and now they’re close to paying for a couple of weeks of drinking. Yay.

Then I went to work and got a new project. I’m off The Most Boring Project On Earth as soon as I tie up loose ends. Instead, I’m going to be working on cutting-edge projects using open-source software like PHP and MySQL. Really looking forward to that… I’ve used them for my own sites that I build on the side, but it will be my first chance to build enterprise-wide software using open-source tools.

After work, I went out and walked around for a little while… watched people walk to the Peabody rooftop party (didn’t go to it myself) and Country on Beale. Then I noticed one of Downtown’s regular bums waving a car into a metered parking spot at Main and Peabody Place. I took out my camera and put it in video mode, and recorded a minute-long video of him taking money for the parking space. Then I called the safety patrol. Unfortunately he saw me after I shot the video, and left the area.

Then I headed to the Saucer to catch the Dempseys. They played a great show last night… my friend from Monterrey, Mexico was there hearing the band for the first time. It’s always fun to watch someone watch the Dempseys for the first time, and just be blown away by how good they are.

Mid-way through the first set, the Saucer’s manager came and got me, and asked me to come to the office. I had an urgent phone call. It was the safety patrol, who had been trying to reach me, but due to the band I couldn’t hear my cell phone. The bum who I had recorded parking cars earlier was stupid enough to come back out, and they caught him trying to park cars on Beale by the Elvis statue. I ran down there and showed them my video, and he ended up in the back of a squad car. He didn’t go to jail because panhandling is a citeable offense only, but still, it sends the message that we’re tired of the scams these people run down here.

I returned to the Saucer in time for the second set, and discovered that I have a new candidate for BFF of the Month for August. Darbi who used to work there and her friend Kristin came over and said, “We have a proposition for you. Who says you can only have ONE BFF? Why not have TWO? We can both be your BFFs for August and have a BFF threesome.” Not a bad idea. They’re most definitely in the running for BFF for August. Attn Tanner who works with me: Kristin says what’s up.

Darbi, Kristin and I discussed now-dumped BFF 1.0 Meghan for a while. You know a phrase I never use to greet Meghan when I walk into Big Foot? “How’s it going, Meghan, are you working hard or hardly working?” No need to ask her that, because we all know what the answer is.

Darbi and Kristin also told me about a blog I should check out: Pretty in Pink Megan. If my blog is the epitome of Downtown, hers is the epitome of Germantown. To give you an idea what you’ll find there, her “about me” blurb says she’s a Southern gal in search of purpose, happiness, cute clothes, and that 2 carat cushion cut. Her profile lists her interests as shopping, dresses, her boyfriend, her Brussels Griffon puppy, yoga, traveling, and exercise. I think Darbi and Kristin expected me to hate her blog, but as someone who builds online stores, it actually could be useful to help me figure out what women are buying.

The Red Rooster sent out a MySpace bulletin entitled “are you riding the cock?” Heh… it’s a chance to win a free VIP party by sending them pics of you atop the giant red rooster that sits outside the club’s door.

I’ve decided what my next Web project is going to be (not work, stuff I do on the side)… I’m going to use the Drupal content management system to set up a store. I’m doing so for two reasons – partly because it will give me more flexibility than the store engine I’ve been using, and partly because I’ve wanted to work with Drupal for a while and this is a good excuse.

The sandals I ordered from Endless.com should arrive today. Maybe I’ll wear them out tonight.

Back to work. No idea what I’ll be doing this evening. Killian’s Red is the Fire Sale, which means the Saucer is not high on my priority list.

I just bought a cool new pair of sandals… they’re slides that are made in a village in Ethiopia, artisan-crafted, made with eco-sensible materials. And they were only 30 bucks! Found them at a store called Endless that sells men’s shoes and women’s shoes and women’s handbags and accessories. And they are offering free overnight shipping as a promotion, so I’ll have the shoes tomorrow.

I know I probably just killed work productivity in Downtown Memphis for the rest of the day, posting a link to a store that sells women’s shoes. Happy surfing!