[Note: Originally posted a year ago 2/1/2011 on Joe Spake's Weblog -You think things have changed with QR codes and how they are used over the past year?]

It’s that time of the year.  The first day of February triggers something in lovers or wannabe lovers, as we start trying to think of romantic things to do for those we hold close.  I was inspired yesterday, while in an online chat with the ever-insightful  Bill Wendel about Valentine’s ideas. Everyone has seen the little candy hearts with phrases of affection.  The candies by Necco and Brach’s are everywhere during the first half of the month, and are ubiquitous symbol of the Valentine’s Day celebration.

So if you are looking for something a little different, why not make some little QRs to share the love.  Put them on mini cards, stickers, or t-shirts. You can generate QR Codes from text, which generates a much less complex code that will still scan, even when greatly reduced.   Make some different QRs that target those popular phrases:  I LOVE YOU, BE MY VALENTINE, SO FINE, MY BABY, YOUR ROCK MY WORLD, and leave them around for your techie lover to scan.  I have thought about little stickers on Valentine’s gifts and cards, and even making big confetti to spread around in public places. Share your ideas.  Give it a try and let me know how it works out.

Made your QR Valentines yet?

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 <— I don’t know why I can’t bring myself to push that button

I’ve ignored my friends who have told me that Facebook has an absolute, drop dead date for Facebook users to cut over to Timeline.  I think for a Baby Boomer, I have done pretty well rolling with all the changes that FB has put me through over the relatively short time they have allowed the public to play on their little site.  And I have adopted social media across the board too, much to the puzzlement of my age peers.  Part of the reason for any success I have had in social media is  an attitude of looking forward and not looking back.  The timeline in my brain starts now and goes forward.  Sure I have some great memories, but those memories are to be relished and shared with those who are close – not with the whole world.

I know FB is free; and I know how to tweak security settings.  It just seems that there are parts of all of our pasts that we just don’t want dredged up.  It looks like I can’t hide much longer. Today Mashable reported that Facebook will be forcing everyone to get on the Timeline within the next few weeks.  As promised back in December, 2011, users will be notified at the top of their home screen that they have 7 days to get their Timeline tuned up and turned on.

I really fear Timeline because as we dig into the past, something like this could surface:

So now the question is, do I push the button and start working on my Timeline, or wait until I am under the 7 day gun?  Are you already on Timeline?  How’s it working for you?  Have you been hiding like me, or have you just never heard of Timeline at all? Your comments, whining, and rants are welcome.

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Katy on the empty streets of Hot Springs

I like to vacation when other people aren’t vacationing.  Which is why we like to vacation in January. The townhouses were all pretty empty at Sunbay in Hot Springs, Arkansas, except for ours.  The famous bar at the Arlington Hotel was empty when we stopped by for Martinis.  Not many tourists walking and gawking on Central, except us. We had some nice walks, met some interesting local artisans, and generally relaxed.

Here’s what I learned on vacation:

1.  If you feel guilty and go to a gym, don’t use equipment you aren’t familiar with.  I tried out some Nautilus machines, and had strained muscles for the rest of the vacation.

2.  Many locals in resort towns have no idea what all the outsiders that come to town do there.

3.  Getting my car repaired, including a scheduled major maintenance, at the dealership in Hot Springs was much cheaper and faster than getting the work done at home.  And they gave me a free loaner car.

4. No matter how good of a gambler you think you are, you don’t always have a winning day.  Our vacation dates overlapped the first 2 days of racing at Oaklawn.  Each day we sat near people who were seasoned gamblers, with tip sheets.  We all had net losses, but at least Katy and I enjoyed it.

5.  You never seem to get to the pile of books you brought along that you have been meaning to read.

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Hoppin’ John – Black Eyed Peas at their best

Hoppin' John

Eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day is a Southern good luck tradition.  Turnip or collard greens are also a part of the tradition and are plentiful in most Meat+3 Southern diners, and many Southern cooks prepare greens often.  But not the lowly black-eyed peas. Some don’t like the taste; you don’t see black-eyed peas in restaurants much; and legend has it that the peas were used as animal feed until the Civil War…but you can Google that.

I am here to share my rendition of the consummate black-eyed pea dish – Hoppin’ John (probably lots of legends about that name too..Google it.)  This is a hearty dish than can be served year round.  Goes great with greens and cornbread. There are hundreds of versions.  Here’s mine:

Joe’s Hoppin’ John

Ingredients-
1 pound dry black eyed peas
1 medium onion
1  green bell pepper
1 cup chopped celery
1 can minced tomatoes and peppers (like Rotel^®)
2 tsp Dry Italian seasoning
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 Tbs minced Garlic
2 tsp (or more) powdered Cajun seasoning (I like Konriko)
Tabasco Sauce to taste
4-6 cups cooked rice.

Wash and sort peas and soak in 8 cups of water for 8 hours, and pour off soaking water.  Boil hamhock for 20 minutes.  In a stock pot add all ingredients, except rice; stir, and add enough water to cover the mixture.  Bring to a slow boil and cook 45 minutes, then simmer for another 30 minutes. [Note: I was taught as a child to cook until the peas literally fell apart- if you like the texture of refried beans, cook it longer than instructed.]  When peas are tender, check seasons for your taste.  Serve over rice, or mix in rice just before serving.

This can also be done in a crock pot.  I will append crock pot instructions to this post the next time I do it.

Enjoy!

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Live in the heart of the city

Memphis is not as old as some of the other famous Southern towns or even some of its less famous suburbs.  Antebellum homes are pretty rare.  It was a pleasure to work with Shelley and Mike on the purchase of  a circa 1854 home in the Uptown neighborhood.

Stacey Wiedower tells the story of Mike and Shelley’s move from New Mexico/Wyoming to inner city Memphis in her feature article in today’s Commercial Appeal.

I love working with buyers and sellers of unusual and historic properties in Downtown, Midtown, and East Memphis.  Contact me if I can help you.

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No matter what your religious or political beliefs, there is a special thread that connects  all of us during this time of the year.  Thanks to all of you who have followed this blog.  Have a wonderful holiday with your followers and friends, and lets have high hopes for healthy, peaceful, and prosperous 2012.

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UPS came up with this catchy holiday jingle.

When its planes in the sky for a chain of supply that’s logistics.
When the parts for the line come precisely on time that’s logistics.
A continuous link that is always in sync that’s logistics.
There will be no more stress ’cause you’ve called UPS, that’s logistics.

It’s a pretty high impact ad.  We hear the word logistics more often these days than we used to, especially here in Distributionville, Memphis, Tennessee.   Bottom line: Logistics is Getting Stuff There – from origin to destination.  So here is my holiday logistics story.

Time Line

December 3 – I sent some .jpg files to Snapfish for normal 4×6 prints, requesting standard shipping.  I like Snapfish; they are efficient, quick, inexpensive and produce good quality prints.  In this case, though,  it took them 10 days in the lab.

December 13 – Snapfish turned my completed order over to Streamlite (a logistics company).  Streamlite tracks the packages they handle.  The best I can tell.  They find the best shipping solutions for companies like Snapfish (That’s Logistics!).  According to Streamlite’s tracking, my package arrived in Memphis 2 days later.

December 15 – Scan reads Location: “Jet Cove Annex 381″   “Activity: Accepted by USPS“.  Obviously the package had made it to Memphis.  There are 2 notes under the scan info: “Expect delivery in 2-4 business days.” and No further events will be provided for this package.”   Might as well have said, “not our problem anymore.”

December 19 – Began to look real hard for the package.   Asked a USPS employee, who didn’t seem familiar with the Streamlite process.  Another USPS employee referred me to USPS.com.  After a number of emails to Snapfish, they refunded my order.

December 20 – Called Streamlite to inquire what could have happened to my package since it had arrived in Memphis 5 days before.  A very polite customer service rep empathized nicely and told me they had no control after turning a package over to USPS.  She also told me they had been advised by USPS, that packages Streamlite rendered to USPS might not be delivered for 10 days.

December 22 – I related all this to Snapfish via email, and they advised to give it 2 more days, and if it didn’t arrive, they would re-ship the order priority.

December 23 – Package Arrives

[note: during this same time period, I ordered a camera part from Shanghai, China.  It was shipped China Post-USPS, and arrived in 12 days from order date.]

A three-way fail

So if I were the type who gets angry at such things, who would I blame for this 20 day turnaround?   Snapfish took 10 days just to process my order.  Streamlite seems to have done their job efficiently, but readily denies responsibility beyond the time they had the package in their possession.  They did put the bulk postage on the package turning it over to the post office as “Standard Mail”.   The USPS’s estimated time of delivery (from the usps.com site) is 2-9 days, however it includes the disclaimer “The USPS does NOT guarantee delivery of Standard Mail”.  So USPS met their rather loose commitment, getting the package to me 8 days after they accepted it.  So everyone’s cool, right?

Well, that’s logistics!

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Panorama of Mississippi River flood crest at Memphis - May, 2011

Disaster sells, obviously

Four of the most read posts on Joe Spake’s Weblog in 2011 were directly related to this year’s record flooding on the Mississippi River from the Memphis perspective.  Interestingly the 6th most read post, about the Memphis ice storm of 1994, was written in January of 2010, and has been read consistently ever since (Maybe I accidentally worked some SEO magic.)  Here are the Joe Spake’s Weblog Top 10 for 2011:

1.  Mississippi River flooding- You ain’t seen nothing yet  (April 4, 2011)  - The water was high in April, but not nearly as high as it would be in May.

2.  Flood Stage (April 26, 2011)   – Actually the Mississippi River rose over 14 feet higher than the official “flood stage”.

3.  NOAA raises Memphis flood crest prediction to 48 feet (May 2, 2011)

4.  Why I am not following you back on Twitter  (June 19, 2011)   – It seems that everyone wants to get involved in Twitter, but few want to put forth the effort to engage.  Think back to how much Twitter has been in the news, or actually shaped news in 2011.  The growth of the 140 character messaging system will continue.

5.  Quick guide to Mississippi River Conditions  (January 31, 2011)   – Written before the magnitude of the flood was anticipated.

6.  The Memphis ice storm of 1994  (January 30, 2010)   – That ice storm is probably the most memorable weather event of my life – a true perfect storm – The ice that caused the damage was mostly gone by noon.

7.  Joe’s Google+ tips – #1 – controlling the content of your stream (July 10, 2011)  - Google+ joined the social media field this year.  Will it be a viable  competitor for Facebook?  Will G+ find it’s niche?  The jury’s still out.

8. Memphis begins to feel the flood (April 28, 2011)  - River rising!

9.  For the love of figs – a new hobby (August 8, 2011)  - Having access to figs and pears gave me the incentive to take up canning.

10.  Memphis ghost schools – a photo essay (February 27,2011)  - Memphis City Schools has a lot of neglected and abandoned properties in their inventory.

Side note:  Images of the flood garnered over 100,000 views on my Flickr photo sharing site.

If you have been a regular reader of this blog,  please comment on the Top 10 or any of your favorite posts from 2011 that didn’t make the cut.  More to come in 2012!

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Maybe the bike lanes weren’t such a bad idea after all

Madison Ave, Midtown Memphis, with dedicated bike lanes

It was interesting to read in the Commercial Appeal last month that some of the businesses that opposed the bike lanes on Madison Avenue are now putting their energy into making Madison Avenue a better place – a street that is pedestrian, and bike friendly, safer and more beautiful – home to shops, restaurants, commerce and the arts, in a comfortable mainstream urban environment.

Mark Weber, one of the former opponents of dedicated bike lanes has started a website in support of bicycling on Madison.  Weber, owner of the Mail Center at 1910 Madison, says that a number of Madison merchants are adopting a more positive attitude towards bike lanes and the Mayor’s plans to beautify the street; and that a major kickoff of the initiative will probably occur next spring with a “grand opening” of the bike lanes.

Two trips down Madison

I am been around Midtown most of my life, and I have always thought there was something special about Madison – from Stewart Brothers Hardware to Overton Square, Huey’s, Zinnie’s, the Lamplighter, Ardent, and all the businesses, eateries, and bars that have come and gone – there’s just something magical about Madison.

Before the milling, paving and re-striping,  I did a windshield video of the stretch of Madison where the bike lanes were proposed:

I have high hopes for Madison being Midtown’s and Memphis’s showcase street for for urban aesthetics, sensible transportation, commerce, and residential living.

What do you think?  Please leave a comment.

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Will the Nineteenth Century Club fall victim to the track hoes?

Nineteenth Century Club

The Nineteenth Century Club is a philanthropic and cultural women’s organization.  The organization bought the magnificent house at 1433 Union Avenue in 1926.  The mansion was originally built for Rowland J. Darnell in 1909 and was one of many mansions that lined the stretch of  in Midtown. Now it’s the last one standing, the next door neighbor of Taco Bell.  The area is now home to fast food joints, strip shopping centers, and modern office buildings and retail.

The property is for sale for  $1.5 Million.  I know many of us would hate to see the building demolished, so let’s hope an angel arrives in time with the ideas and money to save this house from the wrecking ball.  If you are, or know such a person, there are plenty of us who will happily help you will all necessary due diligence.

An estate sale was held last weekend, and I was able to get  photos of some of the interior details.

There must be someone in the world who has the resources to preserve this property. Let’s do everything we can to help make that happen.

Note:  I get most of my historical  Memphis architecture information from Memphis – an Architectural Guide, by Eugene J. Hohnson and Robert D. Russell ( 1990 – University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, TN), which has now become rather hard to find, as evidenced by this Amazon link

Memphis: An Architectural Guide

Price: $79.95

(1 customer reviews)

5 used & new available from $79.95

 affiliate link

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