Paul Ryburn's Journal

Let’s catch up with what has been going on this weekend… Friday night I ran into Meredith (see the previous post, in the green tube top) and her roommate Melissa on Second Street, and they decided to come to Sleep Out’s with me. So we hung out and drank for a couple of hours, and the green tube top came up in conversation. Meredith revealed that when she wears tube tops, she wears them the proper way (they can be worn “with” or “without” – the proper way is “without”). When I got home, I pulled up her pic in Paint Shop Pro and zoomed in 8x to observe the tube topography, but that stupid St. Patrick’s day lei around her neck is in the way.

Last night I returned to Sleep Out’s, and found that the usual band, Pam & Terry, had the night off. However, the band that was playing in their place, Ken & Robyn Greene, were OUTSTANDING. It’s a two person band, with Ken on lead vocals and guitar and Robin on electric violin. They have an incredible repertoire, with Ken singing absolutely perfect vocals on everything from Elvis to classic rock to the Smiths. They played a lot of ’80s and a lot of Smiths… Sleep Out’s regular John D. thought he had died and gone to heaven. Not surprisingly, heaven looks a lot like a bar to John D.

Ken and Robyn will be performing this Friday at ReMax on the River (500 S. Main) at the South Main Trolley Art Tour, and they will be performing August 5 at the Farmers’ Market, so you have a couple more chances to see them downtown.

Later in the evening, Semi-Charmed Kat called and wanted to meet up. I owed her a beer and she was interested in collecting. I think Semi-Charmed Kat regretted hanging out with me by the end of the evening though. She just bought a house in East Bumblefuck and I was making fun of her neighborhood nonstop.

“Just think, Kat, you can get in your SUV that gets 9 miles per gallon and drive down Germantown Parkway and weave through all the soccer moms in their minivans and drive to a strip mall and go to the Cordova Fox and Hound.”

“Or you can drive 5 miles in the opposite direction to another strip mall and go sit at the bar at Houston’s and talk to the couple next to you about how lucky they are not to have to pay city property taxes on their house which looks just like every other house in their incredibly boring neighborhood.”

“Or you can drive 3 miles in the opposite direction and go to a different strip mall and go to…”

At that point, Kat interrupted me. “Paul, if you say Mulligan’s I’m going to slap you.” I’ll admit, I was about to say Mulligan’s.

Kat tried to defend East Bumblefuck. Hey, there are some advantages. For example, her neighborhood has a drive-thru Chick-Fil-A and downtown doesn’t. Finally Kat realized that she wasn’t winning the argument and instead directed me to look at her boobs, which were packed into a slutty black dress.

“I want to see these Romanians you talk about in your blog all the time,” Semi-Charmed Kat said. “Are any of them working tonight?” So Kat and I walked to a nearby restaurant where a Romanian was waitressing. We took seats at the back bar.

A few minutes later, the Romanian appeared and Semi-Charmed Kat made a Semi-Charmed Katty comment. “She’s short,” was the first thing Kat said. Meow! She mentioned that fact several more times too. “Paul, she’s a pretty girl,” Kat said, “but she sure is short.”

Speaking of Romania… Romanian president Traian Basescu will visit the U.S. this week, and will meet with President Bush on Thursday. They will discuss bilateral relations. Now, as you know I have not always been the biggest fan of George W. Bush. Nevertheless, I support him 100% on this initiative. I pledge to do everything I personally can this week to encourage Romanians to have relations with Americans. Sometimes you gotta be a patriot.

All right… it’s 1:00 and I’m back at Sleep Out’s for brunch. I’ll be here until at least 7. I hear there will be boobs and whipped cream later on. Wondering if there will be a photo album tomorrow. Happy Sunday and you never know, the laptop still has some battery so there may be a second post.

(Edited Friday mid-afternoon: Just found out about another event going on tonight that sounds very promising – the Round 2 semifinals of the Memphis Blues Society challenge, happening at both the Tap Room and the Blues Hall on Beale. Event starts at 7 PM. Finals are tomorrow night, and the winner goes on to the International Blues Challenge next February. For more info about the IBC check out The Blues Foundation’s website.)

Wow. Two and a half days without a post. For me that’s a long time. Been busy dealing with car repairs and a lack of sleep, among other things. Today’s lunchtime post is brought to you by the free Wi-Fi at Sleep Out Louie’s.

There’s a sample ballot for the August 3 election in today’s Commercial Appeal. It’s well worth the time to print it out and study it in advance, so that you’re prepared when you get to the voting machine. That way, you won’t get lost in screen after screen of candidates. Remember, early voting is going on now, and don’t forget to check the boxes next to Steve Cohen and Novella Smith-Arnold when you go in.

The CA also had a review of an Ethiopian restaurant, the Blue Nile. That food looks so good… there’s a pic of an Ethopian combination platter with vegetables, lamb, chicken and beef. Instead of using a fork you scoop it up with flatbread called injera. Reasonable prices too – it says entrees are $9 to $12. Now that the car is out of the shop, I may have to take the drastic step of driving all the way out to East Bumblefuck to give this place a try.

I also read in the CA that Arkansas has banned smoking in most businesses that allow customers under 21. The ban includes most restaurants and some bars. Wow. Wonder if it will come to Tennessee next. I have very mixed feelings about such a ban. I personally think cigarettes are disgusting but it’s something I put up with for the sake of my friends. If such a ban were implemented in Tennessee, it would absolutely kill the vibe at Sleep Out’s. Everyone would be going outside every five minutes for a smoke break. Now that I think about it, I may well be the ONLY regular who doesn’t smoke. If a referendum for a ban came up, I honestly don’t know if I’d vote for it.

All right… let’s see what’s happening this weekend…

Tonight there’s a fund-raiser for the Red Cross at the Happy Mexican from 6 to 8. $10 donation. Door prizes, food and drink specials, and Los Cantadores will perform. The Happy Mexican is on Second, about four blocks south of Beale Street.

Don’t know if I’ll make it to the fund-raiser or not… we’ll see. Later in the evening, I’ll probably hit Big Foot, where I want to try some of the drinks on their new signature drink menu. Even later I may stop by another downtown hotspot, a place that only has one signature drink – a 40.

On the drive down here, I noticed that Off Beale Live is opening tonight. Off Beale Live is the new club in the old Six-1-Six building, at 616 Marshall.

The only plan I have so far for Saturday is a business meeting at 4:00. Fortunately, I was able to schedule the meeting at the Second Street branch office. Business meetings always go better when you have beer and waitresses.

This is beginning to sound like a broken record, but on Sunday night I’ll be going out to a bar to hear… you guessed it… The Dempseys. I must hold the world record for attending Dempseys shows. Wait, no I don’t, Thomas does. I’m probably second though. Anyway, Sunday will be a special night because I’ll be going to my absolute favorite place to hear the Dempseys play.

And you might be surprised to hear that it’s not a bar where the waitresses wear miniskirts.

And it’s not a bar that has waitresses from Romania.

It’s downtown Huey’s. The first place I ever heard them and in my opinion, the downtown location that offers the best acoustics and the best band/crowd interaction. They haven’t played downtown Huey’s since December.

Trouble is, I may be so drunk Sunday night that I don’t even remember seeing The Dempseys. Of course, I’ll be doing Sunday brunch at Sleep Out’s around noon, and Emma has told me to stick around until 4 for dollar jello shots. She says she’s making twice as many as last week, and all different colors.

Shout out to Meredith, who was at Big Foot Wednesday night. Hang on, let’s post a pic of Meredith:

Meredith had the green tube top on when I saw her Wednesday. Meredith should wear the green tube top every day. You know, kind of like Marge Simpson always wears the same dress. It was nice to meet Meredith’s roommate Melissa, who also had a tube top on.

All right. Back to the rat race for four more hours.

So this morning I went to the parking garage and started the car. It started fine, but the SERVICE ENGINE SOON light came on and stayed on for about a minute. The ABS light came on and stayed on. The emergency brake light flickered on and off continuously. The air wouldn’t turn on at all. So instead of turning left on Monroe and driving to work, I turned right on Monroe and drove to the Saturn dealership. Never fails. Every time I build up some money in my checking account, the car decides to spend it for me. Of course, it’s 12 years old so I guess it’s expected to do that.

So now I’m at the dealership, and it looks like Saturn is rolling out an entire new line of cars for 2007. There’s a two-seater convertible called the Sky which does not look like a Saturn at all – it looks like an expensive sports car. Cruising around in the Sky during the summer months – during “tube top weather” as I call it – would be fun. It lists for $24-27K, according to the pricing literature.

There are also two other models coming out – the Outlook, an 8-seater SUV, and the Aura, which looks like a mid-sized coupe. Again, these cars don’t look like Saturns as we currently know them at all.

They have a Sky in the showroom, and I snapped a picture of it with the digicam. I don’t have the USB camera cord with me so I can’t post it right now though. Looks like the Aura and Outlook are too new to have arrived at the dealerships yet.

At least they have wireless here. Actually, I don’t think Saturn does specifically, but one of its neighbors has an unsecured wireless network that I was able to hop on to. Signal’s real weak though. I’m going to publish this while I can and get a little surfing done.

Fellow blogger Semi-Charmed Kat won the free beer (see previous post) by pointing out what was wrong with my Pint Nite post (see two posts ago) – it did not contain a tube top mention. It wasn’t intentional at the time – I posted it Monday night and then Tuesday as I was on my way to work, I thought, “Oh no! I forgot to mention tube tops!” Most likely Kat will collect on the free beer Thursday night.

My mother sent me a CNN breaking news update: Two Republican senators have told CNN that evacuation fees will be waived for Americans being helped to leave Lebanon. So they won’t be billed for their transport plus interest as I reported in an earlier post. Finally, Congress has done something right. I’m glad.

The Rapscallions lost again at trivia tonight, and trivia traitor Pam’s team came in second and got a $25 certificate. There was a very good question though – name the first gymnast to score a perfect 10 on the uneven parallel bars, which of course was Nadia Comaneci from Romania. Personally, I think the reason we’ve been doing so badly as of late is because there aren’t any Romanian waitresses at the Saucer this year to inspire us.

Attn bloggers: fellow blogger Serrabee is trying to put together a Blogger’s Bash for August. See Rock’n’roll Minor Planets: Blogger Bash, anyone? for details. Anyone who writes a blog is invited to attend, although it looks like they may do separate sections for political and non-political bloggers. You can post comments to her post suggesting dates and venues. I missed the June Bash but will try to make it to this one.

It’s 3 in the morning. Can’t sleep. Been clicking on the random article link on Wikipedia to entertain myself. So far I’ve gotten pages on

• civil unions between same-sex couples in Croatia
• Strange, a music video compilation by Depeche Mode
• Oak Grove, a subway station in the Boston area
• a list of rivers in India
• Roboform, a password management software system

I still haven’t bought a wireless router. Now I’m wishing I had so I could lie in bed and surf the web. But since I don’t have one, I guess I’ll hit the post button and go read a book until I fall asleep or until the alarm clock goes off, whichever comes first.

I can’t believe that none of my dear readers have e-mailed me yet and pointed out something that they noticed about the previous post (the Pint Nite post). First person to figure out what I’m talking about and e-mail me wins a free beer.

Today’s lunchtime post is being written on Otherlands’ Wi-Fi connection. Been walking around looking at the flyers people have left here. Here’s something that looks pretty interesting: Meisner Acting Class for the Creative. Looks like it’s intensive acting classes that will benefit anyone in the creative arts. They’re having a fundraiser on Saturday, July 29 starting at 8 pm, with Amy LeVere, Saturna, an art auction, short films, and trailers. Click the link for more details about either the classes or the fundraiser.

There are also flyers for Steve Cohen and Novella Smith-Arnold in here. Otherlands patrons have good taste in politicians.

Plans for tonight: Trivia. Beer. Waitresses. I have heard that our pop-culture expert The Nuh-Uh Girl won’t be there tonight, so we may be in trouble this week if there are a lot of entertainment questions. I’ve been studying up though. I want revenge on Pam the Trivia Traitor.

Tomorrow at lunch I’ll be driving downtown to Sleep Out’s. For those of you wondering why I would drive from my work at the eastern edge of Midtown all the way downtown for lunch, let me explain. It’s chicken alfredo pasta day. That’s the reason. Really.

Well, that and I’ve also received a tip that if I show up, I may decide to end Tube Top Month Extended a couple of weeks early and proclaim it Tank Top Month instead.

Thursday night I’ll be hitting the Peabody rooftop early in the evening (around 7 or 7:30) and then around 9 I’ll head over to the Flying Saucer, where The Dempseys will be playing at 9:30. At some point I may meet up with fellow blogger Semi-Charmed Kat, who flaked out on me last night. She’ll be downtown for the Ptolemy happy hour thing.

If you can’t make it to see the Dempseys downtown on Thursday, they’ll be playing at the East Bumblefuck Saucer on Friday.

… And lunchtime’s over. I’ll end this post with a shout-out to my good friend Chuck D. Have a good afternoon everybody….

Tonight I’m posting from the Flying Saucer, at Pint Nite. I’m at the end of my third beer so this will probably turn into a drunk post by the end. I have Sunday drinking pics for you… but first, you have to listen to me rant about our stupid-ass federal government for a little while.

The government is evacuating U.S. citizens from Lebanon to the island nation of Cyprus, due to the recent hostilities between Lebanon and Israel. So today, I was cruising CNN, MSNBC, all the news sites, catching up on the latest developements, when I came across this tidbit of information: “The U.S. government does not provide no-cost transportation,” writes the State Department. They are making each evacuee sign a promissory note that they will pay the government back for the cost of the trip to Cyprus, plus interest.

WTF? The government has spent $400 billion blowing up Iraq, and they they’re not willing to spend a few million to get Americans out of harm’s way. I wonder how many of our citizens will turn down the offer because they don’t want to go into debt, and will risk getting killed in the process. Absolutely ridiculous and it shows how far off track this government’s priorities have gotten. Who matters in this country? Not you. Unless you’re a corporation.

Now I was already ticked off after reading that MSNBC story, but then I started surfing other sites. One of my daily stops is Nine O’Clock, an English-language website that reports the latest news from Romania. They’re evacuating citizens from Lebanon as well. Nine O’Clock reports that 283 Romanians evacuated from Lebanon arrived home today. “The Foreign Ministry intends to cover the costs of the evacuation from the emergency consular fund,” it says.

So Romanian citizens got out for free (except for a $50 fee to get a visa into Syria) and the U.S. is sending everyone a bill. You know that our government has gone to hell in a handbasket when RO FUCKING MANIA takes better care of its citizens than we do. Unbelievable. It would have been easy for Congress to pass an emergency bill covering the costs. But they didn’t. Each and every one of the 535 members of Congress deserves to be thrown out of office on their keister for that. Republicans and Democrats both.

Heh. I don’t think I’ve heard the word “keister” since All in the Family went off the air. Remember how they used to talk? They’d refer to the toilet as the “turrrlet.” Oil was “earl.” If they were sitting here in the Saucer with me they’d probably refer to it as the “Sasser.” Mistakenly thinking the bar was named after former U.S. Senator Jim Sasser, of course. I wonder if Jim Sasser would have voted to make Americans pay their own way out of a war zone. Of course, we’ll never know because he was beaten in the 1994 general election by Bill Frist. Bill Frist, by the way, is an asswipe.

All right. So much for the ranting part of the post. Let’s get on to the good stuff.

Yesterday I had two bottles of champagne, two mint juleps, a duck fart, two jello shots, and several beers. At one point I walked home for about 10 minutes and fired up the laptop. I had an e-mail from fellow blogger Kat (she moved her blog; I need to ask permission before I post the new URL) asking when we’re going to hang out again. In my drunken state, I replied, “I don’t know but you better wear a slutty outfit and it’s probably going to get taken off.” This morning I found that message in my Sent box, and was trying to figure out if I should e-mail an apology. Things got busy at work so I never did. Now I’m sitting here at the Saucer and Kat just called. “Paul! Where are you? I’m coming downtown!” Guess the apology is unnecessary, then.

So last week I mentioned that I’m probably the only person in Memphis not to have a picture on MySpace of himself at a bar drinking with Mendi. Well, that problem has been addressed. See below:

Mendi is captain of her Sunday drinking team and brought the team in for a bottle of champagne at Sleep Out’s. Mendi is awesome. There will be more on the Sunday drinking team later in this post.

Around that time I was playing NTN Trivia and receiving some very stiff challenges from my friend PDS, who was there with former downtowner Tracy. In fact, PDS managed to beat me three times in a row. It has become an established rule that if you win an NTN Trivia game at Sleep Out’s, you have to do a victory dance. Here are a few pics of PDS’s dance:

A few days ago, one of the Romanian girls asked me if she could bite my neck. Not being one to turn down physical advances from gorgeous, sexy European women, I said sure, go ahead. Afterward I remembered what region of Romania she was from… Transylvania. Now look what happened:

Later in the evening I ran into the Sunday drinking team on the patio of Swig. Here are a couple of candid photos of Mendi:

And a photo of Sunday drinking team member Jessica:

In other news, congrats to Philip who writes the excellent Life in and Around Memphis blog – his blog recently won an award as one of the best blogs in Tennessee. A well deserved award. Philip’s site is one I check frequently to keep plugged into the Memphis scene.

Ptolemy Memphis is having a happy hour at the Redbirds game Thursday night. Ptolemy is one of the Carnival Krewes and is basically a year-long party. I’m not a member, but a lot of good people are (including Philip and Kat mentioned in this post). The happy hour is open to the public, so if you’ve ever thought about joining Ptolemy, this is a good chance to check them out. If you’re interested, e-mail me and I’ll put you in touch with Philip for the details.

I’m still not drunk. Kat hasn’t called. The Saucer is filling up with people and they’re all guys. This sucks. I’m hitting the Post button and logging out. See ya…

This one’s going to start off on sad note, sorry.

One night a few years ago, on a Saturday night I had plans to meet up with some friends at Raiford’s. As many of you know, I like to dress up when I go there, and I selected a baby blue leisure suit to wear, along with disco medallion and platform shoes. As I walked down the Main Street Mall, one of the local homeless guys called out to me. “Dude! That suit is bad-ass, man. Where did you get that suit? You lookin’ sharp, bro.”

From that point on I’d usually see him a few times a week. He’d often be sitting on the bench in front of Family Dollar, or I’d see him walking around on Main Street or Second Street. “Suit man!” he’d call out to me. He rarely asked for money – maybe one time out of 10. Usually he just wanted to talk.

He’d see me walking down Main on a Friday night and call out, “Suit man! How come you ain’t got the suit on?”

He’d see me walking down Main at 10:00 on a Tuesday morning and call out, “Suit man! How come you ain’t got the suit on?”

Last summer, my friends called and said, “Hey, we’re thinking about going to Raiford’s Friday night. Want to go?” Of course I said yes – doesn’t take much convincing to get me to Raiford’s. I was excited. Finally, the guy would get to see me in the suit. That would make his day.

Walking around that week, I saw him on his usual bench. “Look for me Friday night,” I told him. “I’m going to have the suit on!”

That Friday, I walked around all over downtown with that suit on looking for him. People thought I was out of my mind. Why was I wandering around in a blue leisure suit? Finally I found him. “Suit man!” he said. “Lookin’ sharp!”

A few months later, he disappeared. To tell the truth, I didn’t even notice. There were other homeless guys sitting on that bench.

So last night about 11, I went out, heading toward Blues City to see The Dempseys. As I walked down the Main Street Mall, a guy in a wheelchair rolled up to me. I started to walk away, since I didn’t recognize him and figured he was there to ask for money.

“Hey man! Hey! Remember me? You know me!” It took me a minute… he didn’t look like any of the guys in wheelchairs I had seen downtown before. Then he said, “Where’s the suit, man?” And I realized it was him. “Yeah, man, they cut my legs off, diabetes, you know, so I’m in a chair now.” Wow. I had seen him walking around for years, and how his legs were gone. And yet, he still had the same smile on his face. He hadn’t changed a bit except for the legs.

Maybe I’ll take a Tuesday morning off work sometime soon and put the baby blue leisure suit and walk around downtown, just for him. So what if the rest of the city thinks I’ve lost my mind.

Okay… on to happier things…

I went and saw The Dempseys last night. They had a great crowd… there were several girls dancing their hearts out in front of the stage. One of them had a tube top on but it stayed up. Blast!

In between sets I went over and sat at the bar at George Paul’s Last Call and watched TV, and saw a commercial for a DVD set that looked really cool. It’s called The Midnight Special, and it’s performances from a TV show of the same name that ran from 1972 to 1981. There are videos from bands of all genres of that era – Elton John, Ray Charles, Blondie, the Bee Gees, Aerosmith, etc. Looks like a fun DVD set.

So now it’s Sunday. I just posted my Deal of the Week on my Commercial Appeal blog. Here are the plans for the day:

11 AM – 2 PM: Sit at Sleep Out’s and drink
2 PM – 5 PM: Sit at Sleep Out’s and drink
5 PM – 9 PM: Sit at Sleep Out’s and drink

As you can tell, I have a full day planned. After 9 I may do something different, like go to the Flying Saucer and drink. And see the waitresses.

I would like to extend my compliments to NTN Trivia, provider of the video crack that keeps my ass glued to the chair at Sleep Out’s all day. They used to interrupt the regularly scheduled trivia with a game called “Raceday,” having to do with the week’s NASCAR race. Now I’m sure Charly would do well at that game, but could we have a non-redneck trivia option too? BOOGITY, BOOGITY, BOOGITY, LET’S GO RACIN’, BOY! So anyway, just now, Raceday was about to come on, when a new screen came on.

“Vote for what you want to play next – (1) Raceday or (2) Countdown.” Countdown is the normal trivia game. Needless to say, the bar voted 100% for Countdown. Goodbye, Raceday!

And hello, champagne. Time to put the laptop up and get this party started.

For the first time I actually participated in Fish Races last night at Sleep Out’s. Here’s how it works: They set up two rain gutters near the front of the bar. Two people compete at a time, one in each gutter, dropping a goldfish out of a styrofoam cup into the gutter, behind the start line. Each competitor then squirts his or her fish with a water gun, encouraging the fish to start swimming. First fish to cross the finish line wins. Winner advances, NCAA tournament bracket style, and the overall winner gets a $50 bar tab.

I think I got a defective fish, though. My fish would swim about six inches forward, and then get scared and go back behind the start line. No matter how many squirts I gave him with the water gun, he wouldn’t keep going. What a stupid fish. Doesn’t he realize that his purpose in life is to swim really fast so I can win a free bar tab?

After Fish Races I headed up to Blues City Cafe to see the Dempseys… I got there at 9:30 and as I walked in they were on stage saying, “We’ll be right back after a short break, folks.” WTF? I thought The Dempseys weren’t supposed to even come on until 10:00 or 10:30. I went to the back bar (George Paul’s Last Call) for what seemed like 30 minutes, which is the length of their usual break. But it was more like an hour… oops. I walked back over and the first thing I heard was, “That’s it for tonight, folks. Thank you.” and Ron the drummer got on the mic and said, “Paul! Where you been?” I missed the entire show!

Later on I found out that both The Dempseys and The Gamble Brothers had been booked for the weekend. Last night, The Dempseys went on early with the Gamble Brothers to follow. Tonight, the order is reversed so The Dempseys will take the stage about 11. Maybe I’ll try again tonight. I sure have been hanging out at Blues City a lot lately, wonder what’s up with that?

While I was there I decided I was hungry, and decided to flip a coin to decide between the crab au gratin entree and a half rack of ribs. The ribs won. So I got a platter of ribs and fries and beans and slaw – it was huge, glad I didn’t order the full rack. While I had my back turned some of my ribs and fries got donated to the “Feed Romania” campaign. But that’s okay. I mean, we have to feel a bit of pity for Romania. America has produced all kinds of famous historical figures, including leaders like Washington and Lincoln, inventors like Ben Franklin and Thomas Edison, and sports heroes like Babe Ruth. But who is Romania’s most famous historical figure? A vampire. Dracula. That’s the best they can do. So if I can donate some of my rib platter to help Romania catch up, I’m happy to do it.

Anyway, it was a pleasure to sit at the bar and stare at that beautiful rack. I mean the ribs. Really.

While I was sitting inside Blues City, I looked out the window onto Second and the cops were really cracking down on the cruisers. I mean, they were on foot, approaching every car, and if you were doing ANYTHING wrong – even a tail light out – you got pulled over. It was good to see. I wrote a news article about it on the Residents for a Safer Downtown Memphis website, so click over there for the full story.

Don’t know if they’ll be back tonight, but if you plan on coming downtown to party, I highly recommend you appoint a designated driver or take a cab.

Earlier this afternoon I was sitting at the Saucer, and a guy came in wearing the following T-shirt:
“NOBODY LISTENS TO ME UNTIL I FART”

Walking back up to the Union Avenue branch office, I noticed a sign outside Sawaddii advertising that martinis are half-price for the ladies Wednesday and Thursday. So if you’re female, that might be a good pre-rooftop option on Thursdays.

And that’s it for now. I’ll be at Sleep Out’s for my normal brunch shift around noon tomorrow, but I have also heard that it will be a party after 4 – dollar PBR (although that’s every Sunday) and I also heard something about dollar jello shots. And although they’re not on special, I have a feeling duck farts will be consumed. Enjoy your weekend and be safe!

Today is the beginning of early voting for the August 3 elections. Depending on where you live, you could have to tab through as many as 23 screens on the voting machines – it’s the longest ballot in county history. So this is definitely one where you’ll want to early vote and avoid the long lines.

I want to mention a couple of candidates who I support. These are people I know personally and whom I admire and respect. I want to make it clear that I am writing to express my support of these candidates as Paul Ryburn, individual/citizen, not as Paul Ryburn, co-organizer of Residents for a Safer Downtown Memphis. RSDM does not endorse candidates.

For County Commission, District 2, Position 2 – Novella Smith Arnold – Novella and I met at the downtown Blue Monkey, where she would go for Sunday brunch after church. She and I talked on several occasions, and she is one of the most gentle, compassionate people I have ever met. We spent time talking about the things she saw as a prison and hospital chaplain, and about her push for HIV/AIDS awareness in prisons a few years back. She’s a Republican but her actions are those of a progressive. Very rarely have I met a person with such a kind, gentle heart. I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have representing me on the County Commission.

For US Congress, TN District 9 – Steve Cohen – I’ve admired Steve Cohen ever since I’ve been in Memphis. In 1996, when I was teaching at the U of M, one of my students arranged for me to meet him and get involved with his campaign (for the same Congressional seat, which was won that fall by Harold Ford Jr.) Steve is a man who stands by his priniciples – I can remember a couple of cases where he was the “1” in 30-1 votes in the State senate. This is a man who will not be controlled by special interests and will do what is right for the district. I also admire his persistence, having pushed for the state lottery for more than 20 years and finally seeing it through. The man truly has a passion for government, and almost 30 years experience. Get goin’, vote Cohen!

All right… what else is going on…

Never made it to the Peabody rooftop for tube top watching last night. I was starving, and I decided to hit the Tap Room for dinner. If a beer joint sounds like an odd dining choice, keep in mind that they share an excellent menu with King’s Palace. I had the seafood pasta and it was outstanding. Although, it was awful hard to pass up the Chicken Pontabla – chicken covered with cheese and Cajun spices over potatoes. With that menu you just can’t miss. You have as much chance of getting a bad meal at the Tap Room/King’s Palace as you do of meeting an ugly Romanian girl.

Plans for this weekend… well, I don’t have a whole lot of plans. I’ll probably stop by Sleep Out’s tonight for Fish Races. Sunday I’ll be at Sleep Out’s for brunch, of course. And Monday I may go down there and eat during my lunch hour (they have Wi-Fi, so there may still be a lunchtime post). What can I say, it’s a good bar. They cleaned the lines so the PBR is good to drink again, and they definitely deserve my support after making an EXCELLENT hiring decision recently.

It’s also possible I’ll make a return trip this weekend to Blues City to see The Dempseys, who are playing there tonight and tomorrow at 10:30. Could end up there Sunday for FreeWorld as well.

Downtown development continues… this morning the Commercial Appeal ran an article on a new residential development at Union and Lauderdale, just east of Danny Thomas. Great to see downtown expanding eastward.

If anyone out there develops .NET applications and is looking for work, shoot me an e-mail. A recruiter called me yesterday looking for someone to do a 2-year contract working in ASP.NET/VB.NET, about 50% maintenance and 50% new code. Pay rate is very good. I can’t take the position because I’m in the middle of the City Schools contract.

Speaking of which, it’s time to go back to work and earn my money. Happy Friday afternoon.

I’m still at the Second Street branch office (see previous post). I’ve been hitting the water cooler pretty hard so this post may not make as much sense as the last one.

Apparently the Second Street branch office is changing the T-shirts they sell… a waitress, um, I mean, a branch office employee, is standing on a chair taking the “YOU’RE KILLING MY BUZZ” shirt out of the display case.

Snozberry is the band that is playing the Second Street branch office tonight. $3 cover. I saw them once before, about six months ago. I can’t remember anything about the music they played but I do remember one thing. They had these girls who danced in front of the stage and they were called “Band-Aids.” At one point the lead singer got on the mic and said, “Between the Band-Aids and the waitresses, I have masturbation material for the next month!” Er, I mean, between the Band-Aids and the branch office employees… oh, screw it, never mind.

Been cruising around MySpace… am I the only MySpace user in Memphis who doesn’t have a pic of themselves at a bar drinking with Mendi?

The new shirt that is going in the display case says “it’s not rocket science”… you’re among the first to know. She’s up on the chair again… ‘scuse me a second… (leaning way over)… okay, I’m back. I saw that shirt at the East Bumblefuck branch office on Sunday… what’s up with East Bumblefuck getting new shirts before downtown?

Earlier today at the Union branch office, there was a guy in a T-shirt that said, “let me drop everything and work on your problem.” I want to buy about 150 of those and have them shipped to my former company, the one that did rebates.

I also see a lot of guys wearing T-shirts that say “i (heart) hot moms.” I want a T-shirt that says “i (heart) romanian girls.”

There are two TVs visible from the big, long conference table at the front of the Second Street branch office… they’re both tuned to ESPN2, where a domino tournament is on. God… they could switch it to Oprah and it would be an improvement. Can TV possibly get any more boring than this? …wait, yes it can, forgot about golf.

Oh, another T-shirt I saw yesterday as I wandered through Peabody Place… “Oklahoma Bucks.” Hey dude, there’s a misspelled word on your shirt… that should be an “S.”

Looking for an elegant space for a private party? Stella just expanded into its basement. The space holds up to 100.

Last December, my friend Carmel and several of her girlfriends were sitting at a table at Stella. Dr. Bob was sitting at the bar and sent a round of drinks to their table. It could have something to do with the fact that Carmel was wearing a tube top.

Other than the Stella announcement, there was absolutely nothing in this post worth reading whatsoever. Now it’s definitely time for a nap. Logging out, shutting down…