An Unremarkable Walk

Nothing exciting has been happening around here lately, so I decided to regale you with a tale of my morning walk.

It's a really nice day in Memphis. At 9:00am, the temperature was 70 degrees. That is cool, literally! Also it was hardly humid. So I decided I needed to get a refreshing iced coffee to start the morning right. We only have one car which Das Fenster drives to work. This means I must rely on my own 2 feet to get around town. (Before all the bike fanatics start telling me to get a bike, yes, I recognize that the bicycle is a convenient form of transportation. But we have nowhere to store a bike here. Someday when we have a garage, or a shed, or space to hang up a bike hook, I'll look into it.)

The closest Starbucks is 1.3 miles away. The prospect of a 2.6 mile round trip walk for coffee seemed daunting. Instead, I decided to head down to the closest main road near our apartment and see what I could find. What did I come across? McDonalds. Since I'm trying not to be snob here, I opted to give it a chance.

Have you ever had iced coffee from McDonalds? This was my first time trying it. The cashier asked if I wanted to add a flavor. Assuming the coffee might be gross, I added vanilla to be on the safe side. The resulting beverage tastes like watery vanilla syrup with a hint of coffee flavoring. It also has a strange fruity aftertaste. Bizarre. At least it looks nice sitting on my window sill.

With the Monopoly promo going on, I upgraded to a medium beverage, hoping that the extra 20 cents would result in me winning an awesome prize. It did not. However I do have St. Charles Place and New York Avenue tickets now. If you need these ones and want to split a prize, we may be able to come to an agreement :)

Being Friendly

I think I lived in Seattle for too long. I don't know how to make friends anymore. Did I catch the Seattle Freeze? Maybe I did, because I think I project feelings of disinterest onto others. Like, I feel like other people probably aren't really interested in being my friend because they've already got plenty going on in their lives and were perfectly content here before I came along. At the same time, sometimes people here genuinely are trying to be friendly and welcoming, but I'm not sure how to respond.

Example: we went to a church on Sunday where an older lady wrote down her name and phone number, plus the neighborhood where she lives. She gave me the slip of paper and said, "Here - now you know someone in Memphis!" But I was confused. What, exactly, should my next move be? Do I call her up and say, "Hello, friendly grandmother-type, this is Salmonista, the newcomer with whom you discussed the beauty of the Seattle waterfront as viewed from your Alaskan cruise ship. Would you like to invite us over for dinner now?"

Then again, we've only been here for 2 months. I should probably adjust my expectations. Friendships might take a little longer to form. For now, I'll be content to have a few acquaintances.

What a deal!

We discovered a cheap movie theater option here - Palace Cinema. They have current movies, not like 3 month old shows, and they've got a great deal called "Econo Hour." Every day, movies with a start time between 5-6pm are $4 each. Wow, it's like the good ol' days of matinee prices!

We saw Pacific Rim yesterday. My synopsis: it's like Transformers, except in the ocean, and they're fighting aliens instead of Decepticons. The movie was not exactly my cup of tea, but it was cheap so who cares :)

Liquor Laws

Every state seems to have their own unique approach to alcohol sales. Growing up in the Northwest, I wasn't aware that some states allow hard alcohol to be sold in grocery stores until I was surprised to see a whole aisle of booze in a California Von's. When I first moved to DC, I spent a good 20 minutes wandering my neighborhood Safeway to find the non-existent beer section. Actually, I never really did figure our the rules there - some stores carried beer/wine, but others didn't. I think they required a special permit or something.

Here in Memphis, our local Kroger has a full refrigerator case of thoroughly unappealing beer choices. (I settled for Fat Tire for post-move-in refreshment.) But there is definitely no wine to be found. We only brought 2 bottles with us from Seattle and they are the good ones that we're saving for a nice dinner party. So today I finally made it over to the liquor store, the place where one must go for all wine and hard alcohol purchases. The store itself was huge and had a wide selection of overpriced mediocre wine. I mean, we're talking $12 for a bottle of Columbia Crest Two Vines that would be like $5 on sale at Safeway in Seattle. There were hardly any options under $10.

I guess I got spoiled living close to a Trader Joe's before...

I did eventually make a selection (Bacardi Pineapple Fusion, if you must know) and went to the register. The two employees asked if I'd found any wines I liked - when I came in, I had asked about the Pacific Northwest section. Not wanting to tell them that their prices were totally ridiculous, I said I was just checking our their selection because I recently moved from Washington. I told them I'd been surprised that grocery stores didn't sell wine here. I also mentioned the "Costco law" that allows regular stores to sell liquor now in WA. Apparently that was the wrong thing to say as this started a monologue by who I'm guessing was the owner about Memphis liquor laws. Here were his main complaints:

• A person can only own one liquor store
• Liquor stores must be located at least 2,000 feet away from all schools and churches
• Some people want to change the law to allow grocery stores to sell wine, which would negatively affect his business and all the other small business owners

I tried to explain that liquor stores in WA were previously government-run, so the changed law actually opened the industry up to new businesses. But I'm not sure he was listening to me then.

Tennessee liquor laws

US map of "wet" and "dry" counties

In conclusion, I don't know why this stores prices were so much higher than what I'm used to. Perhaps they have higher taxes on alcohol in TN. Or, maybe since there isn't very much competition in the alcohol market, the few stores that are open can jack up their prices. Is it time for me to get into the moonshine business??

Volunteer Circuit Rider

Someday I may have a week (or more) off work here. If that happens, here's what I think I'll do:

Volunteer Odyssey

Volunteer Odyssey is a 7-day volunteering/blogging tour of the Memphis non-profit scene. While open to everyone, this program is specifically geared for those between jobs who are on the hunt for their next great opportunity and looking for a way to give back in the process. The program is time intensive, requiring 6-8 hours daily during the Odyssey Week. It’s our hope that those who complete the program will become more involved with the Memphis non-profit scene, sharpen their job skills, and “pay it forward” within Volunteer Odyssey by mentoring the upcoming participants during their own Odyssey Week.

Myths about Memphis

This city is a complex creature. The more I learn, the more I want to know. For more on the story, read the latest from Smart City Memphis and find out why the author believes Memphis is not a "backwater city," among other things.

Walking in Memphis

People keep telling us the weather is "unseasonably cool" here for July, so we took advantage of it to have an outdoor adventure yesterday. We decided to check out some of the tourist attractions right here in our new city.

We went to Mud Island River Park, located right on the Mississippi River. The park itself is free, but to get there, you either have to walk over the 1/3 mile bridge (free) or ride the monorail ($4 round trip). Also there is a museum that requires tickets. We had a coupon (of course) so we got two-for-one admission that covered the train and museum.

After our *exciting* 3 minute monorail ride, we disembarked to a nice view of the river.

We checked out the Mississippi River Museum, which I found moderately interesting. The best parts were the two full-sized boats inside that you could walk through. One was a passenger steamboat, and the other was a gun boat from the civil war. In my opinion, though, the museum lost focus somewhere in the middle with too many non-river-related Civil War displays, and then a whole section devoted to music in Memphis. I mean yes, music is a big deal here, but they didn't explain what Elvis had to do with the river...

Next, it was time to stroll along the scale model of the river!

The model is .5 miles long and represents the lower Mississippi from where it joins up with the Ohio River in Cairo, IL to the Gulf of Mexico.  

This is the delta in New Orleans.

And here's the model of where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico.

I feel much more educated about the river after visiting this park!

So, next stop was dinner at Rendezvous BBQ, a Memphis classic. It's a really big restaurant compared to most other BBQ places we've been to. I think the baked beans might be my favorite in the city so far! The brisket was good. The ribs could've been more tender. The slaw was grosser than normal. It tasted like mustard and was rather sour. In the interest of fairness, I should mention that I don't like coleslaw in general. And the rolls were bland and not homemade. So, it was about 3.5 stars for us, out of 5.  

After licking our fingers clean, we walked over to the Peabody Hotel. I believe it's the fanciest hotel in town. The lobby is ornate! They do this thing every day where a parade of ducks walk through the lobby to swim in the fountain, and then they parade out of the fountain and back to their home on the roof. Our visit didn't coincide with the duck march, but that's ok. 

The famous fountain.

View from the rooftop deck.

The last stop for the evening was a free concert at the Levitt Shell amphitheater. It was the last concert of the season, which we didn't know until we got there. It was a lovely night to be outside enjoying some "water ice" from Parker's.

The show was a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Memphis chapter of the Recording Academy. I think these people vote on who is going to win Grammy awards. Or they nominate them. Or both. I was rather confused. There were a lot of "in-group" references during the show to supposedly famous people that I'd never heard of. The music varied from toe-tapping rock and folk to sleep-inducing ballads. People made speeches, showed videos, and generally patted themselves on the back for such projects as helping musicians displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

So, there's a sampling of the fun stuff there is to do in Memphis! Now when y'all come visit, we're ready to play tour guide :)

The Things You Learn from Meetup

Before I met Das Fenster, my idea of a fun boardgame was Taboo or Scrabble. I had no idea that there was a whole universe of other games out there with categories like "strategy" or "Euro." In Seattle, my opinion of the game groups DF went to was that most of the people there were socially awkward nerds who couldn't make friends in a normal manner, so they joined these groups of misfits. (Except for DF, of course - he joined the groups because he was new to the city and didn't know anyone, and he was the "cool dude" outlier!) I attended numerous game gatherings in our years there but was often turned off by the fierce competition, the geekiness to which I could not relate, and general unfriendliness.

Now, here we are in a new city, and we have to make friends somehow. We aren't hermits! So yeah, we've joined a couple Meetup.com groups for gamers, as in, people who like to play board games. Who would've thought that I'd eventually start calling myself a gamer?? And the weird thing is that, so far, I've actually enjoyed going to these gatherings! Most of the people are very friendly and welcoming. They like to play all sorts of different games, are mainly looking to have fun, have good snacks, don't seem like creepers...

Last night we played this new game called 2 Rooms and a Boom. I think it's still in the Kickstarter/production phase, but one of the group members got an advance copy or something. It was fun and intriguing! It's kind of like an advanced version of Mafia. One team has a "bomber" and the other team has a "president." Your goal changes depending on what team you're on and what your role is. I'm not the best at being secretive/deceptive, but it was fun anyway to try and figure out all the pieces of the puzzle. And each round is timed to keep the game moving along quickly. Read more about it on Board Game Geek!

(OMG, I can't believe I just linked to BGG. Maybe *I'm* the nerd now...)

Atlanta

Work took me to Atlanta for a quick trip earlier this week. It was my first time to ATL airport since I was about 12 and my family got stuck there during a thunderstorm delay. This visit was much more pleasant, and I actually got to leave the airport, so I can legitimately say I've visited the state of Georgia now.

Observation: I got called "honey," "love," and "sweetie" by people in service professions. 

Conclusion: Atlanta is a bit more affection that Memphis, where I've only been called "sweetie" so far.

Observation: Despite hardly going outside at all, I somehow got about 5 mosquito bites the first day I was there.

Conclusion: Georgian mosquitoes are vicious, stealthy bloodsuckers.

After I was done with job responsibilities on Tuesday afternoon, I decided to hop on Atlanta's metro system called MARTA at the airport to go explore downtown. It turned out to be more of an adventure than I'd bargained for! A stop or two from the main downtown transfer point, a couple guys got on the train loudly advertising, "Purses! Purses! You can buy them for $45 in the stores, but we've got them for $5 here!" This behavior seemed to be a violation of the "No Vending" rule that I'd seen on the list of MARTA rules clearly posted in each car. Also, one of the sellers sat down next to me and tried to flirt with me. I gave him my best indifferent scowl and he got off the train shortly thereafter. That was kind of an odd experience.

Leaving the weirdos behind, I walked over to Centennial Olympic Park where there are fountains laid out to look like the Olympic rings. They were doing a choreographed musical/water performance and lots of people were there enjoying the show. It was cool! I should have taken a video. But here's a picture at least!

This park is right next to the CNN building and other attractions like the Aquarium and World of Coca-Cola. I couldn't believe the Coke placed charged $16 for adult admission! I mean, how much money have I given them over the years by buying their products, and now they want me to pay that much to go learn about their products and be enticed to buy more merchandise? Uh, I think I'll pass.

For dinner, I decided that I should try a traditional southern favorite, chicken & waffles. Gladys Knight's restaurant was in the neighborhood, so I went there. The first couple bites were kind of strange, but then the flavors started to grow on me. My verdict is that, of course people would like this combo! It has salt, sugar, and fat - all the things our brains supposedly crave.

On the way back to the airport, two different possibly homeless people asked me for money. One guy asked for "about $3" so he could get into an overnight shelter. (Sidebar: do homeless people actually have to pay to use shelters in Atlanta?) Then, a woman got on the train on with a sign saying she is Deaf, can I please give her money, God bless, etc. I shook my head "no." She moved on down the car. No one obliged. This behavior seemed to be a violation of the posted "No Panhandling" on MARTA rule...that was also odd.

My conclusion on Atlanta: your Metro is sketchier than DC's, but your food is tasty and most people seem friendly and helpful. Maybe I'll have to come back and visit longer next time! But I'll definitely bring Das Fenster so he can lay the smack down on any squirrely purse vendors.

Civil War: Corinth & Shiloh

For our first local roadtrip, we decided to explore Civil War history by visiting the Corinth Civil War Interpretive Center in Mississippi and the Shiloh National Military Park in Tennessee. I've been to a couple other Civil War sites before - Gettysburg, Manassas - but there's always more to learn.

The Corinth center had a lot of informative displays and movies, and it explained all the different tensions that had been building the US for quite some time before war finally erupted. There were actually two battles of Corinth. But before the first one really got started, the Confederates slipped out of town under the cover of night, avoiding a full-scale fight. The second one happened a few years later when the Union was occupying Corinth and the Confederates tried to reclaim the town, but they were unsuccessful. The Union victory meant they maintained control over a critical railroad junction for supply and troop movement.

Incidentally, I also found out that "Union" troops can also be called "Federal" or "United States." "Confederates" are also called "Rebels," which I knew.

After touring the historic site, we stopped for lunch at Martha's Menu where we tried the very affordably priced local eats. Something called a "slug burger" was on the menu. After being assured it did not contain actual slugs, we decided to order one. It's a mix of beef, pork, and soybeans that are ground up, formed into a patty, and deep fried. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture. But take my word for it - it was really weird. Apparently slug burgers a delicacy in northern MS. I'm guessing it's an acquired taste.

Our next stop was Shiloh. This is a huge and very well preserved battle field. We rolled in just in time to hear the "boom!" of the cannon demonstration. The visitors' center isn't as nice as Corinth, but they've show a great 45-minute film about the two-day battle that really helps you understand what happened. Shiloh was one of the bloodiest battles in the war. Over 23,000 people were killed, wounded, or went missing. A lot of the deaths occurred after the fighting due to infections and diseases. 

At the park, there is a 20-stop driving tour of important locations. It was a nice day for a drive, except that bugs/bees kept trying to fly in our windows. But I probably shouldn't whine about a few insects, since I have the luxury of cruising around in my Mazda instead of slogging through miles of mud carrying my rifle and trying not to get shot...

 The old Shiloh Church, where the name of the battle came from.

Present day Shiloh United Methodist Church, built in stages over a few decades. You can see how they changed from river rocks to brick construction.

The Tennessee River near Pittsburg Landing, where Union reinforcement arrived after Day 1 of fighting and helped turn the tide in favor of the Union on Day 2.

It was an interesting and informative day exploring our new surroundings!

Honoring Veterans

Up until about a week ago, I was unaware that all the branches of the military have their own "theme song" complete with lyrics. We recently attended a concert called "Patriotic Pops." Towards the end, the band played each song, and the veterans from that branch were supposed to stand up. So, I heard all of them and realized that I recognized the Army, Air Force, and Marine songs from somewhere in my pop culture knowledge bank. (Sorry, Navy and Coast Guard.) Also, I found out that the words to the official Army song are not "and the caissons go rolling along." My, what an informative concert!

Then tonight at a local 4th of July event, the band did the same thing - played all the songs and asked the veterans to stand and be recognized. Is this like a normal Tennessee thing? It's new to me!! They never even did this at the "Capitol Fourth" celebrations I attended in Washington DC.

Creativity is Dangerous

Since I'm only working 5 hours a day now, and my commute consists of walking from the living room to the spare bedroom/office, I have a lot of free time on my hands. I've been trying out a few new recipes to keep myself busy. Last night I decided to make a roast chicken, but this was my first time using this method from Cooks Illustrated magazine. The recipe called for pre-heating a pan in the oven at 450 degrees, then transferring the (whole) chicken to the pan, breast up, to allow the thigh meat to get a head start on cooking.

I probably should have realized this recipe required maneuvers that are above my skill level.

When the oven beeped that it was preheated and ready to roast, I grabbed a pot holder and took the pan out of the oven. I was using a 12 inch oven-safe skillet. The chicken was covered in olive oil and herbs/spices, sitting on a cutting board next to the sink. So I was met with a dilemma - how do I transfer this raw chicken into the pan without a) burning myself, b) burning a hole in the counter top or c) spreading salmonella everywhere?

I tried to use a big pair of tongs to pick up the chicken, but that didn't work because I couldn't get a good grip. Then I tried using the tongs to slide the chicken off the cutting board, but it didn't want to slide very smoothly. Then I dropped the pan on the faux-wood floor. So, I decided to pick up the cutting board and oh-so-delicately plop the chicken in the pan. Sizzzzzzle! That was a hot pan. Chicken/oil droplets sprayed all over the place. (So much for avoiding salmonella contamination.)

It was time to get the bird in the oven. Still wearing a pot holder on my left hand, I picked up the skillet and turned to the oven. But the pan was a lot heavier now with a chicken in it. So without really thinking, I put my right hand on the handle to steady the load. OUCH! That was not a good idea! My palm made pretty significant contact with the edge of the handle which, as you may recall, just came out of a 450 degree oven.

Quickly, I plunged my hand under running water. That's what you're supposed to do for a burn, right? But I had a feeling this burn was pretty bad. Das Fenster was still at work and wouldn't be home for at least 30-45 minutes. I started to think through all the worst case scenarios in my head. What if I went into shock? Should I call am ambulance? We don't even have our new insurance cards yet. What urgent care am I supposed to go to? I don't have any friends here who can help me! I JUST BURNED A HOLE IN MY HAND AND AM GOING TO DIE OF SEPSIS FROM MY SALMONELLA-CONTAMINATED WOUND!!!

Trying to regain control of my swirling thoughts, I resumed dinner prep one-handed with my other hand on a towel-wrapped ice pack. Aside: cutting potatoes with one hand is challenging. I looked up advice online about burn first aid. The Mayo Clinic said ice was bad. Curses. So I switched to holding a jar of mustard that had been in the fridge. It had a nice cooling effect. But as soon as I took the jar away, my hand felt like it was on fire. When the mustard got too warm, I traded it for a can of mango juice. Then I got a glass of ice water and held that for awhile. (I decided ice water was ok, since it's not pure ice.)

After grossing myself out via a Google Image search for "burns," I decided my injury was probably a 1st or 1.5 degree burn. That's good, but it still hurt. A LOT. It had been about 5 hours since the incident and was getting to be time for bed, but I couldn't bear to be away from a cold source for more than 30 seconds. What was I going to do???

The internet came to my rescue when I found this: Aluminum Foil Treatment for Burns

I don't even know how I wound up on this website, but after reading several strangers raving about how aluminum foil eliminates burn pain, I decided to give it a try. I slathered some aloe vera gel on the affected area and wrapped my hand in a large piece of foil. For good measure, I put a sock over my hand to keep the foil in place. Then, I waited. (The waiting was hard, because our cable also went out last night. It's also no fun to play on your phone with one hand. It was not a good day.) After a few minutes, the pain had definitely diminished. I no longer felt like I wanted to chop my hand off. After about 10 minutes, the pain was almost gone - maybe a twinge now and then, but nothing compared to how horrible it had been. To be safe, I left my hand wrapped in foil overnight (that was weird...), and when I woke up, I felt great! The burned spot is just a little tender today.

Here is some photographic evidence that it's important to be careful when trying new recipes.