Dinner and a Movie

Tonight is one of those fun events that's kind of good news/bad news. As part of my company's annual Fall Manager's Conference, we get to see a movie, and then eat dinner at a great place, all on the company dime. The downside is that it is employees only--i.e., no spouses, great aunts, or long lost half-brothers. So after working 4 straight nights at Kroger, I have to spend (ok, technically, I don't have to) one more night away leaving my wife to fly solo. I guess in a couple of months, she'll have Nicholas to entertain her on a night like this (and if you're wondering what's going on in Russell babyland, don't forget to check out the Russellbaby.com website and blog!)

First, it's off to the Malco Paradiso, probably my favorite Memphis theater. It has a dinstinct Italian feel, a cutesy little cafe, and even a Wi-Fi area (although I can't really picture somebody toting a laptop into a theater, unless you're using the storage space for Milk Duds or something). The movie of choice is this weekend's chart topper, Flightplan. I haven't seen any trailers for it, except for a quick commercial I think, but it looks good. I think the pretense is a bit quirky--"I got on a plane with my daughter, and now I can't find my daughter"-- but I'm sure they'll do their best to make it not as far-fetched (would that be "close-fetched?"). I'm also taking my camcorder, and I'll be downtown at the Greyhound station tomorrow morning selling bootleg copies.

For dinner afterwards, it's off to Peabody Place, and an incredibly awesome and unique experience (according to rumor)--Texas de Brazil. I have heard pretty much the same thing from everybody who has eaten there--"A little pricey, but it's great food, and it's worth it." Kristi and Joe went there for their anniversary, and they highly recommended it to us for a special occasion (and I think "free dinner" is special enough). So I'm anxious to check the place out, and the fact that's it's free makes it even better. I took it easy on lunch so that I'll be good and hungry. Stay tuned for reports.

Happy Birthday Steve(n)!

Today, my ole cuz Steve hits the milestone that I did 2 1/2 years ago--the big 3-0. I really didn't take it that hard, but a lady in my office (who I didn't know when she was 29) said that turning 30 was really, really hard for her. I don't know--is it a man vs woman thing? I remember thinking that it was mildly tragic that my age was now beginning with "thirty-__". For some reason "twenty-eight" seems like it's in the same category as "twenty-two", which still makes you young. But slowly and surely, I'm realizing that I'm beginning to repeat all those folks that told me "You are such a baby!!!" Just think, people who are old enough to legally buy cigarettes were born in 1987 (the year I started high school), and those turning 21 were born in a year that the late Ronald Reagan was elected to his 2nd term. Geez.

Anyway, have a great day, Steve. Or Steven (I called you "Steven" first and old habits die hard). I won't bother embarassing you by delving into my memory bank and pulling out all kinds of memories for the world to see--enjoy your day with your wife and kids, as I'm sure they'll make it that much more special. No more milestones, I don't suppose, until 40--and I definitely don't wanna go there yet.

It's Not Right, but It's Definitely Left

"If it's not a hand-out, if it's not free, if it requires a little work, they don't care for it."

Channel 3 (Sorry, Steve) did a story last night that I believe is a microcosm of society. Of welfare and food stamps and probably to some degree the WIC program. Here you have lots and lots of people lined up for a free government handout, yet some admittedly "don't want to work." You know what, neither do I. But to pay things like my utility bill and buy groceries, I have to.

400-600 people were given opportunities for a job ranging from 6 to 12 bucks an hour, and only 40 of them took it or qualified. Some flunked a drug test (hmmm.....had to have money for that, I'm guessing), and still others failed a background check. Muy interesante indeed.

I can't really offer any answers on how to fix it, but I do know that if you ever start tightening the screws at all, you'll hear cries of racism and who knows what else. But this is a problem. I have sacked groceries for people who buy them on a food stamp card, and then load them into a Lincoln Navigator or Cadillac Escalade. I had a man just a couple of weeks ago come in and withdraw ALL the cash off of his EBT (Electronic Benefit Trasfer; food stamp card) account. $264. Now, I have no earthly idea what he's gonna do with that $264, but if he was gonna use it to buy stuff like toilet paper, dog food, or diapers (i.e., stuff you can't buy with the EBT food credit), why wouldn't he just leave it on there?

Tennessee has already attempted to right this ship by forcibly weaning people from the TennCare teat, but as long as there is a system in place where "The federal government does not require people to be responsible for their own actions," there will always be budget problems.

Fear of the Unknown

I'm entering uncharted waters when I leave work today: I'm going to a place that I've never been before, and letting a total stranger cut my hair.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to haircuts--I think this is probably more of a guy option than a female one. But anyway, there's the "I only let (insert name here) cut my hair, because she's been doing it since I was 12," and then there's the apathetic, "I just walk into Fantastic Sam's/SuperCuts/A Great Cut/Shears R Us and plop down in the chair and let them do their thing." I have been a member of the former group for sometime. I found somebody that I like, knows not to cut the crown of my head too short (makes it stick up), etc etc. She's probably been whipping her scissors around my scalp for about 5 years. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

I need a haircut. Badly. I ran into my haircut chick this week at the grocery store, and asked her what her schedule looked like. "I've had to cut back on hours--I'm working 11:00-2:00 this week." Something about having to share a car w/ her daughter b/c she was hit by an uninsured motorist. Great, you're only available during a time of day that I'm usually working or getting ready to go to lunch. So today I cut my lunch short, and thought I'd drop by at 1:50 or so, hoping I might get lucky (not THAT way). Nope--she was outta there. Tomorrow isn't an option because Leah and I have baby classes over at the hospital. Sunday is out because, oh yeah, hair chick doesn't work that day, either (plus, I think I have a tee time).

So, today I'm gonna waltz right into this place called Sport Clips that kinda caters to men anyway (hey, I'm one of those!). Rumor has it that they have SportsCenter and football-type testosterone stuff on the TV's, so I think I'm at home already. Trouble is--I'm outta my comfort zone, too.

Title-town

Did I miss the parade? All championship-winning teams have parades, right? With convertibles and ticker-tape and the Mayor and the trophy and all that hoopla? Did I miss it?

Yes, Memphis is now on the sports map. Problem is, it's the map of the minor league of the minor league teams. The Memphis Xplorers claimed their version of the Super Bowl by winning the Arena Cup 2005 game. The ironic thing was that their opponent was a longtime Memphis sports rival--Louisville.

Attendance at their games was apparently notoriously and embarassingly low. Of course, there might be several reasons for this. They play in Desoto County, at the Civic Center. That's quite a drive for somebody from, say, Collierville or Germantown or Cordova. Granted, seeing the Grizzlies downtown isn't a short distance either, but if I were a bettin' man, I'd guess that the Mississippi venue is at least 50% further. Would attendance be better if the games were at the Forum? I guess we'll never know.

Who knows, perhaps arena football fans in town (all 3 of them) still feel scorned since the Memphis Pharaohs packed up and left town several years ago. OK, that's far fetched.

Honestly, I contribute it to marketing. Period. Maybe the schedules are all over Southaven and Hernando--I don't know. From my standpoint, I have seen NOTHING to remind me that they are playing, no reminders during game week, and certainly no incentive to go. You know, promotions and stuff. Put schedules on billboards. Or on the counter at Mapco or Exxon. Do SOMETHING so that if I'm even remotely interested, you reel me in. Heck, you can go to Logan's and see a poster with the Titans schedule. Or the Grizzlies' current month schedule. Stuff like that. But if all you're doing is flashing "Game Today" or something like that on the marquee in Southaven, then maybe you should change the name and get Memphis off of it. Heck, maybe THAT'S where the parade was.

Football Eve

It was a bleak, cold day in February. Early February. A Sunday, as a matter of fact. That depression that hits every year, usually in late January, began to sink in. Although the calendar had given us a few more days, in the end, it was inevitable. I knew that what stood in front of me was a seemingly insurmountable mountain of time, yet that time would heal the wounds, as the old saying goes. But the 7+ months of darkness that stood in front of me (and those who go with me) could only begin to heal with the dawn of the next morning.

Yes, I'm talking about the end of the NFL football season. And the beginning of a new one. The NFL season kicks off (don't you just LOVE that cliche?) with a Thursday night edition of Monday Night Football. Which means Sunday afternoon now means something else besides waiting for my wife to wake up from a nap and alphabetizing my CD's for the jillionth time.

Lost of people that I work with are very much into college football and not really into NFL. I'm just the opposite. I used to be of the belief that the pros were the overpaid pampered crybabies playing, and the college boys were the purists who were truly playing "for love of the game" (that would make a good movie title, by the way). Then you have the Albert Means story, and plenty others like it, that shows the "underground" that exists in college recruiting, and it might not be such a pure and untarnished sport after all. Throw in the fact that the two colleges I attended (Vanderbilt and Memphis) have football teams that rival women's cross country in popularity, and it's easy to see why the Titans get the "everything stops" treatment, and the Michigan Wolverines get the "who gives a flip?" I watch the marquee matchups, local interest games, the bowl games, the national championship, etc. but if Wyoming is playing Oregon on ABC, I just might turn the channel and try to find Paige Davis flashing her adorable little tummy on Trading Spaces.

Week 1--Titans @ Steelers. In years past, this was a great intra-division rivalry, and they're still whining about the playoff game and our kicker's "acting" when their stupid guy ran into him in the first place. I'm not too optimistic, given the fact that we essentially blew up a team that went 5-11 last year, and the boys from steel town were one game from the Super Bowl. Maybe we can make it look respectable.

I didn't really follow all of the offseason moves, so I won't make any futile playoff predictions and Super Bowl bets, but I will predict the success (or lack thereof) for my team: A lot of rookies were forced into action last year, so we've got a lot of unheralded experience. A healthy Steve McNair and a talented, only-recently-been-noticed receiver in Drew Bennett, and a couple of talented running backs should helps us win some games. Our key, as it always has been, is staying healthy. My prediction: 8-8, missing the playoffs for the 2nd straight year. We'll be 0-2 versus the Colts, and 1-1 versus Houston and Jacksonville.

This Thing's a Gas

This gas thing is really a trip. In a very annoying sort of way. While I concede that there are definite issues with supply in some areas (notably Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama), I firmly believe that one thing--panic--is transforming a moderately concerning situation into something much greater.

This week, I've heard that gas stations were gonna be closing at an appointed time. I've heard that gas is about to immediately jump to $4.00/gal. Amazing how these rumors get started and get everybody in a tizzy. Here we sit, in Memphis, TN, where there is a refinery running at regular capacity, yet stations are running out of gas not because there is some big shortage, but because everybody is freaking out and running to the gas station, essentially creating a pseudo-shortage!!

It's absolutely CRAZY. One of my closing duties at Kroger is to count down the money till at the fuel center when it closes at 10. We ran into an issue Wednesday night, in the form of cars 6-8 deep at 10:00P. In order to maintain our personal safety, we pretty much decided to not close right then, but we were running low anyway. So we just let them keep pumping until we were out. Which happened about 30 minutes later. Yesterday we got a delivery around 1:00P, I think, and last night we were out of regular and running low on premium. This is ridiculous.

I blame stupidity. I blame the press. I blame the gullible people who believe that somehow, there really is a coordinated effort to close all gas stations at a certain time. You mean to tell me that there were rumors in Florida and South Carolina too? Amazing. Gullible people must be everywhere.

El Fin de Semana

As Mrs. Coleman said in 9th and 10th grade Spanish class, "Gracias a Dios es viernes!" Thank God it's Friday!

It's been a long week for me--one of those weeks where the 2-job thing is magnified by numerous other activities, which in turn makes me feel like I've been going non-stop since Monday morning at 6:30AM. Of course, normal work schedule is 8:30-5:30, but my nights this week consisted of the following:
* Monday: At Kroger till 10:45 or so
* Tuesday: Quick dinner, then off to Baptist Hospital for Women for our 7:00-9:00P Preparation for Childbirth class.
* Wednesday: At Kroger til 11:45P or so
* Thursday: At Kroger til 11:00P

This isn't a PMS--poor me syndrome--session. Just saying that I'm a bit worn out and ready for a restful weekend. Tomorrow may entail some yard work and house cleaning, but for the most part, I ain't doin a whole lot for the next couple of days. And I'm looking forward to it.