It’s been KILLING me to sit out in the desert known as Horn Lake all day, without access to a copy of the Memphis Flyer’s Best Of issue. I’ve had to rely on pictures posted to Facebook and Twitter and the #BOM11 hashtag to get what results I could.
I knew I didn’t place in Best Blog, and as I posted yesterday, I’m OK with that. I have to admit though, I thought to myself, “If a blog that sucks beats me, I’m going to be a little upset.” Turns out that didn’t happen. Three of my favorite blogs took the top spots. I Love Memphis, Eat Local Memphis, and Dining with Monkeys were the winners. All three are deserving of the accolades they received today. Congratulations to Kerry, Thomas and Stacey!
I ordered a new toy today. The Amazon Kindle Fire
BRIDGES USA‘s headquarters at 477 N. Fifth St. (at A. W. Willis Ave.) is the first commercial “green” building in Memphis. Tomorrow night from 5:30 to 7 they are offering tours of their HQ. They’re requesting a $10 donation, and refreshments will be served.
The Madison Hotel has announced a new fall series, Autumn Fest Atop the Madison, which kicks off next Tuesday, October 4. At 6 PM Earthfolk Yoga songstress Ashlee K. Thomas starts it up, and then Bravo’s “Platinum Hits” TV star Karen Waldrup takes the stage at 7 and headlines the night until 10. $7 cover. A rooftop party on a Tuesday night is definitely something different and will be a welcome addition to the Downtown calendar.
The Flyer’s Memphis Beer Beat blog has a new entry recapping recent beer festivals and demos. Read it here.
CBS Sports’ Garry Parrish visited two of ex-UT coach Bruce Pearl’s former assistants in Florida to see how they are doing. View his report here. To summarize, they’re not doing well. They’re living on greatly reduced salaries, facing foreclosures on their houses in Knoxville, separated from their families. Meanwhile, Pearl landed a cushy marketing job in K-ville, took multiple vacations this summer, and held on to his mansion.
Parrish points out that the assistants were really in a catch-22. The way college athletics works, you just don’t rat on your boss in the face of an NCAA investigation. You’ll be blackballed for being disloyal. Unfortunate but that’s the system. So they kept quiet, knowing they’d face sanctions that could destroy their careers.
You know, one of my favorite books is The 48 Laws of Power. One of the laws is that you must learn to avoid certain people who will send your life spinning in a negative direction. You have to develop what I call “craydar” (my new favorite word in Urban Dictionary) or in Pearl’s case, maybe “douche-dar” would be more appropriate. When your craydar goes off, you have to avoid getting tangled up with those people professionally, romantically, or however, at all costs. No matter how charming they are, good things will not come from being around them. They will take you down. Pearl’s assistants learned this the hard way.
That’s all the news I have for now. I received an invite to the Best Of party (thank you to the Flyer for that – I said for years that when I dropped out, I hoped I’d still be invited to the party), but I’m going to remain Downtown and let the winners have the spotlight. Time to grab a copy of the Flyer and a beer at the Saucer, and dig into the results.