Cast No Shadow

Another reason why Louisville is better than Memphis: 7% sales tax versus Memphis' whopping 9.25%! No wonder why the whole city seems like its in squalor. An extra 2%? Are you serious? Rush Limbaugh is still a big fat idiot, still claiming he wants Obama to fail. Doesn't he realize if Obama's plan fails, then America fails? You can disagree all you want with the President. I didn't agree with many of the Bush admin's policies, but I never wanted him to fail as a president. The whole Iraq war has been a disaster, costing many lives and dollars, but I didn't want his plan for war to fail, putting us in this mess. You know you're in a rough neighborhood when above the Neighborhood Watch sign, someone has scrawled "F*** the Police" above it. Thankfully it was early morning and below freezing, keeping most of the residents indoors.

Today was a good day in Memphis. It started with sleeping in, a quick workout for me, then a fabulous brunch at Owen Brennan's across the street. Perhaps the best brunch we've had. We were joined by our boss and Shram & his fiance. There was nothing on the buffet line that wasn't excellent. Some standouts: biscuits & beef tip and mushroom gravy, shrimp, oysters on the half shell, eggs Benedict, grits, smoked trout, Petit Fours, eclairs, bananas foster, and mimosa's. I can't believe we waited this whole time to get over there. I've seriously been full all day. The restaurant was authentic New Orleans (without the trash) with great decor and even a small jazz trio near the front door. After a nap, we went over to the comic shop, where I picked up KOTOR #38 , Terminator Salvation 1 (movie prequel), and Hellboy: The Wild Hunt #1 . The new artist for KOTOR, Dean Zachary , will be signing at Comics & Collectibles on Wed, but we will be long gone...

Nothing like an 11 hour work day to cap off the week, huh? Lots of work left to do, and the blinking 'check engine' light on the Honda has finally materialized into a problem; a really rough idle. The diagnostic tool says 3 cylinders are misfiring. So it could be a catastrophic problem or just incompatible spark plugs. Monday I'll buy some genuine Honda plugs and see if that fixes it, otherwise the shop will have one week to fix the CR-V before we head to Louisville. I don't think I should drive it 4 more weeks and then back home before getting it looked at, that's how bad its getting. Our little motley crew ate downtown last night at Rendezvous. Definately a dive. You have to go down an alley and down some stairs to get there. The style of ribs wasn't our favorite (we prefer smoked), but they were excellent ribs, dry rubbed and charcoaled. They weren't fall-off-the-bone, but still very tender and juicy. We'll try somewhere else or hit Cozy Corner before...

Not much of a weekend here in Memphis, due to my cold. We got out a little in our immediate area, but have yet to visit Beale St or get any bar-b-que. In my neverending quest for good beer, I tried Abita's Amber and was not impressed. It wasn't bad, but not great. However, I did find a good pale ale, Kona's Fire Rock. I only saw it at one store in Greensboro, and doubt I'll ever see it again, but I would recommend it. I like a good pale ale, but one that's not too hoppy. Dogfish Head's 60 minute is way too bitter; I'd almost hate to try their 90 minute. So far my favorite is Boulevard's Pale Ale, but you can only get it in the mid-west, so my national favorite is from Sierra Nevada. Due to a limited selection at the liquor store, I got Dogfish's Indian Brown Ale, but find it too caramel/coffee tinted. That same store did have a 750 mL of Rogue's Double Dead Guy Ale, a Silver Medalist at the 2008 World Beer Championships, bought in part beca...