– Sitting here at Otherlands in Midtown, flipping through the latest issue of the Memphis Flyer. I see that an idea that has been talked about Downtown for a couple of years now – a hookah bar – has come to life out by the University of Memphis. The University Lounge at 663 S. Highland is now open 7 days a week, and invites guests to come by and smoke flavored tobacco in one of its hookahs. They have about 20 different varieties of non-nicotine, non-tar sisha tobacco. Check their MySpace page for more details – says they also have gourmet coffees, desserts, appetizers, couches, dimmed lights, Sirius satellite radio, and an LCD TV. And also – they said the magic words that will likely convince me to stop by in the near future – no, not “tube tops” – they have FREE WIRELESS INTERNET!!! I’ll try to get out there and write about this place sometime in the month of June.
– Still seeing a lot of cops out on the major streets with radar. It made me think back to the late ’70s, the heyday of CB radio, used by a lot of people to warn each other of speed traps. Remember this?
“Breaker breaker one-nine, breaker breaker one-nine, be on the lookout by mile marker 2-4-7, we got a Smokey the Bear hiding under the bridge.”
“That’s a big 10-4, good buddy.”
Gave me an idea for a new invention – kind of an update on the CB warning system using modern technology. These days a lot of people have GPSs in their cars. What if someone built a GPS system so that, when you drive past a cop with a radar gun, you could push a button and mark the location – “here.” The coordinates could then be uploaded to a satellite, which updates a map for drivers showing all reported speed traps, with different colored icons indicating whether the report was 0-10 minutes ago, 10-20 minutes ago, or 20-30 minutes ago. I wonder if anything like that has ever been done? Any reason why it wouldn’t work?
Of course, you can just buy radar detectors, but I like my GPS idea because there’s a communal feel to it. People helping each other. I guess it could have other uses besides tracking radar cops too. Downtowners could use it to report the locations of bums in the area, to let others know what streets to avoid if they don’t want to be panhandled.
– Plans for this evening: Going to stop by City House Salon and get my hair cut right after I get out of the rat race for the day. After that, since I’ll be in the area I think I’ll finally have dinner at Pearl’s Oyster House. (There’s a write-up on Pearl’s in the Memphis Flyer today – see page 46). Then I may stop by and see a friend who has a condo in the area. If I make it to the Saucer at all tonight it’ll be later in the evening.
– Speaking of the Flyer – if you’re a Rio Loco fan, check the restaurant section of the Flyer. Rio Loco has been running a “buy 1 entree, get 1 free” coupon recently and it’s in this week’s issue too. It says “$7.50 value” so I think they’re referring to the “Combinaciones” part of the menu, where you can choose from about 30 different combinations for either $7.19 or $7.49.
– Fellow Downtown blogger Amy thinks she’s figured out who I was referring to yesterday in my “restaurants that don’t get it” post – and she disagrees. And I have no problem with that whatsoever. It’s good to have another Downtown blogger who writes well saying positive things about the neighborhood. She also mentions some other restaurants who in her opinion “get it.” Her blog has the comments feature turned on, so if you agree or disagree about the restaurants she listed, you can leave her some feedback. And, of course, you can e-mail me as well.
– Again, back to the rat race for another four and a half exciting hours of cubicle sitting.