Paul Ryburn’s Journal

Friday night I finished work on my latest website… I linked to it from all my other sites but never got around to announcing it here on the blog.  So here it is:

College Logo Watches, as you might guess from the name, sells watches featuring the logos of major colleges and universities… about 100 of them total.  They have watches in all sizes and styles, from cheap plastic kids’ watches to beautiful executive models.

There’s a new blogger in town… check out Buck’s Blog.  Buck lives in Cordova and works Downtown, and started a new blog recently.  I’m especially proud of his blog because he took a lot of advice from my How to start a blog series of articles.  Looking forward to keeping up with Buck via his blog in the future.

I found a fun new toy to play with recently.  For a while now, I’ve had a widget called Earthquake Watch installed on my Google homepage:

I check it every day to keep up with earthquakes around the world.  However, recently I clicked on the + and - buttons in the upper left corner, and realized what I had - it’s a miniature version of Google Maps, right there on my homepage!  So I’ve had fun the past week zooming in on different parts of the world.  This morning I’ve been zooming in on Kamchatka, which is the peninsula at the far northeastern end of Russia.  Looks like there are plenty of volcanoes on the peninsula, and you can zoom in pretty close on them.  Pretty interesting stuff.  Fun to play with when you get bored at work.

I think the Procter & Gamble company is going a bit overboard with some of their commercials.  This weekend I was watching the Olympics, and one of those Charmin commercials came on with the big bear and the little bear.  The little bear had apparently used inferior-grade toilet paper, and as a result the big bear had to wipe dingleberries off its butt.  Did we really need to see that?  We get it, Charmin is superior toilet paper, we really don’t need the visual demonstration.  Too bad they can’t bring Mr. Whipple back from the dead - now those were some great commercials.

All right.  Time to head to work.  Tonight the Rapscallions dominate trivia at the Saucer, 7 PM.

I felt sick this morning, so I e-mailed the lead dev and told him I was taking a day off, then knocked myself out with NyQuil - that fends off about 90% of potential colds and illnesses for me.  Sure enough, it worked - I woke up around noon feeling much better.  “Oh, cool, I can watch the noon news, I never get to,” I thought, and clicked on the TV and turned to Channel 5.  The news wasn’t on, however - the Olympics were.  That makes sense - the Olympics only happen once every four years and are important enough to pre-empt the news.

The Olympics were not, however, important enough to pre-empt Days of Our Lives, which came on at 1 PM.  Really?  So it’s OK for us not to be informed, but heave forbid we miss our daily dose of mindless trash.  No wonder society is in such a sad state these days.  I left the TV on for the first five minutes and found Waste of Our Lives to be even more unwatchable than I remember.  If my building’s windows opened all the way, I would’ve pitched the TV out the window.

Just checked Real Clear Politics… bad news for Barack Obama today.  In their “no toss-up states” map, Obama now holds a very thin lead over McCain, 275 electoral votes to 263.  He was up in the 320s, but Ohio, Virginia, and Colorado now show McCain leading in the polls (although all are within the margin of error).  This election is far from over.  Those three states, along with Florida, Indiana, and New Hampshire are the ones to watch - Obama and McCain are within 2% of each other in those states.  The Obama campaign is organizing convention watch parties for Thursday, August 28, the night he accepts the nomination.  If there are any local ones, let me know about ‘em and I’ll post the info.

A Downtown Memphian is flying out to L.A. this week to compete on Jeopardy.  I’ll post more details about the date the show will air at a later date.

In case you missed the newspaper over the weekend, the Commercial Appeal ran several Downtown-related stories:

• A story on a Downtown Memphis ghost tour offered by Backbeat Tours.  They’re the ones with the old bus that parks outside Blues City Cafe on Beale Street.
• A story on the Ghost River Brewery and its plans for the future.  They are the microbrew arm of Boscos, brewing at the corner of Main and Crump.
• And, today the CA had an article on the dance classes at the Downtown YMCA.

Surfing around today, I noticed that Mpact Memphis has a new website.  Looks good!  Their calendar is starting to fill up with fun things to do, ways to get connected, and ways to spread the good word about Memphis.  I haven’t done anything with them in a while and even let my membership lapse.  I need to re-join and check out what they’re doing these days.

And lastly but not leastly, you may have seen countdown clocks in Downtown bars.  The Saucer used to have one to count down the number of days, hours, and minutes, and seconds until the Olsen twins turned 18.  McGuinness had one counting down to St. Patrick’s Day.  Well, now it looks like Big Foot Lodge will get a clock of its own:

If you sit at Big Foot’s bar when bartender Meghan is working, you’ll have access to this information.  However, it isn’t always delivered in a timely fashion, as you may have to sit there for 8, 10, sometimes even 15 minutes before Meghan rolls her eyes, lets out a loud sigh, and tells you how many hours and minutes are left before her shift is over.  The countdown clock ensures that patrons constantly have access to this important data.  It’s also more accurate, delivering the remaining time down to the second.

All right.  Gonna go take a nap.  Back later if I find more stuff to post.  Wow, it’s almost 3 PM, can’t remember the last time I went that late in the day without posting.

Yesterday I was surfing around Amazon looking at local books, and searching for AutoZone Park I came across a book entitled Eat This! 1,001 Things to Eat Before You Diet. Amazon offers excerpts from the book relevant to what was searched, so I clicked the excerpt link to read. The author was talking about foods from Philadelphia, and mentions their ballpark, then asks in passing: “Can you get anything edible at the ballpark near you? Best ballpark food I remember: Candlestick Park in San Francisco [no longer a ballpark], and Autozone Park, in Memphis.”

A fine compliment for Autozone Park, and well-deserved.  Just last week PETA recognized the park for being among the most veggie-friendly in the country, and everyone raves about its BBQ nachos.  People often get dinner before or after a ball game when they watch the Redbirds, but the food at the park is so good, it’s a place where you can get dinner while watching the Redbirds.

Speaking of food:  Today’s the last day for the 50% off sale on the discount restaurant gift certificates.  Get ‘em by using the restaurant search box on the bottom of the right sidebar of this blog.  Use code GOODBUY at checkout to get the 50% off deal.  That gets you $25 restaurant gift certificates, which normally are already a good value at $10, for only $5.

Second update in about an hour. Realized I had some stuff I forgot to blog in the last post.

Yesterday, I listed the season schedule for Bravo Memphis, the arts group for young professionals, and listed reasons to join: Exposure to the arts, and a social and networking hour before each event. Well, I just looked at the calendar they gave me, and realized there’s an additional reason to join this year: Yuengling Beer is sponsoring Bravo. So if you love Yuengling, it looks like you’ll be able to get “Vitamin Y” at every event. (John D: “Whaaaaaaa? They’re not going to have Bud Light? Paul, do you think they’ll refund my membership?”)

Updated info on Leonard’s BBQ Buffet opening for dinner Wed through Fri nights. Their BBQ buffet is slightly more than lunch, $13.73 (probably priced that way to bring it to an even $15 with tax), still not a bad deal. Complete list of what’s on the buffet: BBQ pork ribs, BBQ pork shoulder, BBQ beef brisket, smoked chicken, spaghetti and meat sauce, corn whiskey pudding, baked beans, turnip greens, mac & cheese, green beans, cole slaw, potato salad, cinnamon butter roll, banana pudding, and ice cream.

If you don’t want the buffet (but why would you NOT???) they also have sandwiches (pork shoulder and beef brisket) and dinner plates (shoulder, brisket, rib). They also have chicken plates and vegetable plates. They have to-go and catering menus. Their 6-rib plate is $12.36… why anyone would get that when you can get the buffet for $1.37 more and eat all the ribs you want is beyond me, but I know some people don’t like to eat from buffets. Me personally, I gots no problem with it. Even my health guru AL admits that BBQ buffets are a guilty pleasure of hers.

Found a useful website this morning… getmooh.com, which is short for Get Me Out of Here. Have an awkward date or uncomfortable social event tonight? You can get on this website and leave a time and phone number, and it will call you at that time. You can then pretend it’s a friend or relative with an urgent matter that requires your attention, giving you an excuse to leave.

Here’s another useful site, especially for bloggers. Quick intro to the site: Several weeks in a row, I meant to blog about the Wednesday night trivia at the Peabody’s Corner Bar. But I’d get distracted on Wednesdays and forget, and then remember Thursday morning, when the information is of the least use to my readers. So yesterday I found a site called HitMeLater, which forwards any e-mails you send to it back to you at a specified time. So I could send a reminder to wednesday@hitmelater.com, and get the reminder back on Wednesday. If I need it in hours rather than days, I can send it to a number as the e-mail address, e.g. 8@hitmelater.com to get it back in 8 hours. This one’s going into my toolbox for sure.

All right, now I’ve completely emptied my queue of news updates. Time to get outside and scrounge up something new to post about tomorrow.

I joined a very cool website last night:  Stock.xchng (that’s not actually the URL of the site, but rather its title - URL is sxc.hu).  Joining gives you access to millions of stock photos that people have uploaded and made free for the public to use.  As someone who builds websites, this thing is a gold mine.  I used to have membership to a clip-art site which charged anywhere from $14.95 a week to $159 a year, depending on how long I remained a member.  Now that I’ve found stock.xchng, I doubt I’ll ever have to pay for photos again.  If you build websites, or if you’re in the advertising, PR, or marketing biz, this is worth bookmarking.  You have to register with the site to access the photos, but it’s worth it.

Didn’t go out last night… I was too exhausted to socialize, but not too exhausted to finish work on my next website.  I’ll wait ’til Monday to announce this one, because it strikes me as the kind of site people will shop when they get bored at work.  If you can’t wait ’til then, snoop around a little and you’ll find it.

I also did plenty of web surfing last night.  One of my favorite bloggers is a guy named Chris Guillebeau, who writes a blog called The Art of Nonconformity (just the title alone says why I like it).  He’s a world traveler, and yesterday he released a product called The Unconventional Guide to Discount Airfare.  It’s an e-book you can buy and have delivered immediately via download.  I don’t fly much so it’s not for me, but if you like to travel, this book can probably save you a lot of money.  The advantage of it being an e-book is that he’s offering free updates for life, a good thing since their airlines are constantly changing the way they do business.

The MBJ reports that a new restaurant is going into the old Conte’s Italian Restaurant space on Madison just east of Second.  It will be called Smitty’s Place and will serve mainly Southern food, but there will be burgers and healthy items such as salads as well.  It will be open Mon-Fri 11-2 for lunch and also Fri-Sat nights for dinner.  There will be live entertainment Fri-Sat nights, with a format yet to be determined.

I also did some Facebook surfing last night.  I think I previously mentioned that Big Foot Lodge has a group members can join.  This is a great way for businesses to stay in touch with their biggest fans.  On the group, Shawn poses the question, “Where should Big Foot Lodge #2 be?” and asks for feedback.  That’s Web 2.0 for you, being able to ask advice from the people who know you best - your loyal customers.  You can’t buy that kind of expertise if you pay a consultant with an MBA ten grand a week.  To answer the question:  It kills me to say it, but I think a second BFL would totally work on Germantown Parkway.  The place has one of the best dessert menus in town.  Kids would be SCREAMING for their parents to load them into the SUV and take them to get those cookies a la mode, the 18-scoop Yeti sundae, the peach cobbler.  Also, the 34 oz. Coors Lights would be a huge hit out there.  Coors Light is the champagne of East Bumblefuck.

While on Facebook, I noticed that RSVP Magazine had a fan group as well… and wouldn’t you know it, one of the first people to join was fellow blogger East Bumblefuck Kat.  I guess three weeks from now, I’ll be watching her and her Ptolemy Krewe friends chase the RSVP photographers around at Art on Tap.  Wow, Kat hasn’t posted since July 20… I guess “last night I sat on the porch of my cookie-cutter house in Cordova and watched the grass grow” doesn’t make for a very exciting update, so she hasn’t bothered lately.

No, I didn’t join the RSVP fan group, in case there was any doubt.

I’m surprised this hasn’t happened here yet… in Pittsburgh, there was a report that a homeless man was stabbed after an argument with another homeless man.  The reason?  They were arguing over who was the better panhandler.  Man… you know you’ve reached rock bottom when “I’m a better bum than you” is all you have to brag about.

All right… time to get the day started.  Tonight I am going out, although I have no idea where.

All right, time to post some of the stuff I haven’t had time to type up.

The Red Rooster has dressed their rooster up for Elvis week.  See photo below.

Heard back from a reader who tried Safari which is now open for lunch.  She said the food is not really tapas, but wraps and a few sides.  She had the falafel wrap and her friend had the chicken schwarma wrap, both of which they described as fresh and a nice size to fill you up.  She was also impressed with the service.  Looks like the place is off to a good start.  It’s just south of Main and Huling in the space that used to be Wendell’s World Beat Grill.

According to this MBJ article, there may be a potential buyer for the Gassner Building, the slanted building across from the ballpark on Madison.  However, this may not be good news for those who want to preserve historical buildings… according to the article, an unnamed New York firm wants to buy the building for $1.1 million and raze it.  Memphis Heritage is involved in the fight to save it.  The building, built in 1974, has been vacant for years.

Shout-out to Guy in College, a blogger from Germantown who linked to me recently about the Daily Grill closing.  I’ve now heard that the “name Memphians are familiar with” that may be placed on the restaurant is possibly Interim.  Glad to hear that… I had a hunch it might be renamed Sleep Out Louie’s and am glad to hear I was wrong.

Need a new watch?  Amazon is running a promotion where you can get an extra 40% off on select watches through August 18.  That’s a sweet deal… many of the watches are already listed at 25-70% below the manufacturer’s retail on Amazon, and that’s before the extra 40% discount, which is applied at checkout.

A very cool group called Funk de Ville played the Saucer last night.  9-piece band in costumes playing ’70s funk and disco music, lots of horns.  Sort of a cross between Dr. Zarr and FreeWorld, two of my favorites.

New Orleans band Dash Rip Rock plays Automatic Slim’s tomorrow night, August 16, at 10:30 PM.

Bowling news:  Jillian’s now has unlimited bowling on Monday nights for $10.  Also, I’ve heard that a Wii bowling league may be forming Downtown soon.  Details to come.  You won’t need to own a Wii to participate.

… And that’s today’s lunchtime post.  Not sure what I’ll be doing this weekend.  A lot of the gang is spending the weekend in Chicago, so except for a stop at a farewell party tonight, it’ll be up to me to find my own fun.

Last night was the Bravo Memphis kickoff event at Jay Etkin Gallery.  A co-worker and I did happy hour across the street at Onix (2 for 1 well drinks from 4-7 PM), then headed to the gallery.  The event was very well attended, couple hundred people at least.

The deal with Bravo is, if you join, you get to attend 8 arts events throughout the season.  Each has a social/networking hour with food, wine, and beer before the event starts, so it’s a great chance to get to know other young professionals.  Last night they unveiled the schedule for the coming year:

Wed 9/3 - Sister Myotis - Voices of the South

Wed 10/1 - Mini-Indie Film Fest - Indie Memphis

Tue 11/18 - Fences - Hatiloo Theatre

Fri 12/5 - Nut Remix - New Ballet Ensemble

Thur 1/15 - urbanArt - urbanArt Commission

Tue 2/3 - Chinese New Year - Belz Asian and Judaic Museum

Fri 3/13 - Backstage Pass with Adwagin Pratt - Memphis Symphony Orchestra

Thur 4/23 - Faust - Opera Memphis

They’ve extended their special offer through August 18 - join before then and get a single membership for $80 or a double for $125.  After that date, prices rise to $95/$145.  You can join here.

Memphis Limelight has info on the “Downtown Alive” fall concert series that the CCC will present over five Wednesdays from September 17 to October 15. It looks like this series will replace the “Bands, Beer and Bums” concert series the CCC held the past couple of summers in Court Square. The new series will move to a different location each week - one each in Gayoso Alley, Court Square, the National Civil Rights Museum plaza, Jefferson Davis Park, and Barboro Alley.

I think moving the concerts around is a great idea. It will add more variety to the series.  Looking forward to them.

Back later today with more… I still have four or five items I haven’t had time to type.

Bravo Memphis, the group for young professionals interested in the arts, has their season kick-off party tonight at Jay Etkin Gallery, corner of Main and Huling in the South Main Arts District, from 6 to 8 PM. The event is free to the public, and there will be booze and heavy hors s’ouevres.

At the event, Bravo will reveal its new schedule, which consists of group outings to a variety of arts events throughout the season. The events are usually scheduled about one per month, with a social hour with food, beer, and wine before each event, to give members a chance to network in addition to enjoying the arts. I don’t have a copy of the 2008-09 schedule yet but typically there are events such as visits to museums and art galleries, musicals, operas, ballets, that type of thing. If you’re new to Memphis, the social hour before these is a great way to meet other young professionals.

Memberships for the season will be sold at a special discount rate tonight - $80 for a single (regularly $95) and $125 for a double (regularly $145). Note that you don’t have to bring your significant other to join as a double - you can grab any person you can find at the event tonight and join as a double with them, and that gets both of you full membership privileges for $125 total, or $62.50 each.

In addition to food and alcohol, there will also be mini-massages by Natural Body and Spa, a spoken word performance by Tonya Dyson, and a demonstration by Cookertainment. Plus, you’ll get to browse the art of Jay Etkin Gallery, one of the best galleries in the region.

A co-worker and I are going to hit a happy hour nearby, then head to the event at 6, so if you’re going, I’ll see you down there.

Lots more to post today, just gotta find the time.

Leonard’s BBQ Buffet, on the Main Street Mall in the first floor of the Claridge House (Main at Adams), is now open for dinner from 5 to 8 PM Wed-Fri. Previously they have only been open for lunch.

If you work in another part of the city and don’t do lunch Downtown, you gotta check it out… for about $10 you get a buffet of ribs, pulled pork, BBQ chicken, smoked sausage, spaghetti, vegetables, breads, a salad bar, and desserts. Good stuff. One of my favorite places to go for lunch, but only when I’m really hungry.