Things That Are My Favorite About Memphis

Also known as: Why Memphis is Starting to Grow on Me OR Reasons I'm Happy I've Decided to Stay In Memphis

Well, much to everyone's surprise (including my own), I've decided to stay in Memphis for another year. Earlier in 2008, I went through the process of applying for post-doctoral fellowships. For those not in psychology, this is somewhat akin to a medical fellowship (with my current internship being sort of like residency). Although I will officially be Dr. Butzon on August 2, 2008 (Can you believe that?! I can't.), I will not be able to become a licensed psychologist in most states without some additional supervised work experience. In other words, most states aren't quite ready to unleash me on the unsuspecting public quite yet. Thus, I had to apply for a post-doctoral position to gain additional experience. I applied to several great places, and I received interviews and job offers from some of my top picks. Among them, I was offered a position with Emory in Atlanta (at the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Clinic/Maternal Substance Abuse Program at the Marcus Institute). Now, everyone (and I mean everyone) was sure I would take this position because (a) it's closer to home (i.e., family), (b) it's Emory, and (c) it's not Memphis. BUT, I was also offered a position at the Boling Center for Developmental Disabilities in Memphis. This is the place where I've gotten my feet wet with a type of therapy I've been interested in for years (Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, aka PCIT). Staying at the Boling Center would not only allow me to get much more experience in PCIT, but would also allow me to train some other folks in this type of therapy (which would allow me to train people on my own when I'm a "real" psychologist). In addition to the rockin' PCIT, I'd also get great assessment experience at the Boling Center, particularly with young kids and kids with suspected developmental disabilities. So...after much stress and debate, I decided to stay in Memphis for my post-doc. This means that I will be in the Blues City until at least August 2009. However, given the list below, I'm not yet packing my bags for my exodus.

So, without further delay, my favorite things about Memphis:

1. Memphis in May: For this one I don't just mean the great month of festivals that take place every year in May (although my experience with them so far has been quite wonderful). The weather in Memphis this May has been phenomenal, and it makes me just want to be outside. Spring is one of my favorite seasons, and I think May will take the cake for my favorite spring-time month this year.
   
2. Central BBQ: Amazing barbeque! The ribs are delicious, pulled pork to-die-for, and the homemade potato chips are terrific. This is just a great place to go for lunch, dinner...whatever. (Plus, the smell of the smoker outside is enough to make your full belly yearn for more delicious pork.)
   
3. Good BBQ in general: Now, I'm a true Southern girl, so I'm kind of particular about my bbq. I don't get into the arguments of dry vs. wet, vinegar-based vs. ketchup/other-based (although in SC the bbq is mustard-based), I just love good pork barbeque. Thankfully there is plenty to be had in Memphis. I don't know what I'd do if I moved some place that didn't have good barbeque and sweet tea.
   
4. Good food in general: And while we're on the topic of my stomach, let me just say that Memphis has some truly delicious food. At first, I was disappointed because I wanted food that was familiar (like some Barberito's tacos or Cups coffee or Big City Bread raspberry muffins). However, once I gave Memphis the chance to show me her own take on the culinary arts, I have not been disappointed. I've had great sushi, awesome steaks, delicious fish, and even killer muffins (at the VA, no less!) all in Memphis.
5. Walking along the Mississippi: Can you think of anything cooler than walking your dog along the Mississippi River as the sun is setting over Arkansas? It's pretty great.
   
6. Interstate commerce: Given Memphis's proximity to Arkansas and Mississippi, it is sometimes necessary to go out-of-state to do my shopping. I still think it's quite funny to head over the river or go south into Mississippi to go to Wal-Mart or the pet store.
   
7. Living downtown and walking to all sorts of fun places: Now, unfortunately, I'll be moving out of my prime location downtown in a few weeks. However, I've loved living within walking distance to the Peabody, Beale Street, the Mississippi River, and great restaurants. I'm excited to move to a bigger place in Midtown, but I have certainly loved living downtown.
   
8. Not having to follow the speed limit: One positive aspect of both #1 and #2 of the "Why I Hate Memphis" post is that, with all the bad drivers and crime going on, cops really have more important things to do than pull me over for speeding. I mean, I don't drive insanely fast, but I don't even bat an eye going 10 mph over the speed limit on the highway.
   
9. No state income tax: For folks who pay taxes, it is nice to have that little bit of extra that you're not giving to the government.
   
10. Living in the past (aka-Central time): I still get a kick out of the fact that I'm an hour behind most of my friends and family "back east." I love leaving messages saying "It's five o'clock my time, six o'clock your time." I enjoy staying up to watch the evening news and a little late-night TV and still going to bed at 11:00. The downside: I don't always make it home in time for the six o'clock news because it comes on at five.
    
11. Great music: I mean, the home of the Blues and Elvis Presley?! As one of my friends often says, even mediocre musicians in Memphis would be considered great musicians anywhere else.
    
12. Nice places to run and workout: I'm so happy to have a great Y downtown where I can workout and train. And running around downtown and Mud Island is wonderful! Now, I have to admit that the Memphis facilities can't hold a candle to the Ramsey Center at UGA, but could any place really do that? I don't think so.
    
13. The wonderful people I have met here: Save the best for last. This really is my favorite thing about Memphis. I've met some great people here, and I am so thankful for that. I think about what life might have been like if I'd taken the post-doc in Atlanta. Sure, I'd be much closer to the amazing friends that I have back in GA/SC/NC. Sure, I'd still have met great people here. However, I wouldn't be able to put in the time and effort into truly getting to know the people here on more than a superficial level. I feel that there is most definitely a purpose for me staying in Memphis, and this last "favorite" thing could be a big part of that.
    

Things That Are "Not My Favorite" About Memphis

Also known as: Why I Hate Memphis OR Things I Won't Miss When I Leave This City

1. The crime: Hello! Car broken into, radio stolen...not fun.
2. The horrible drivers: They even make ME look like a good driver! Jeesh!
3. The weird smell: So, for some reason it smells kind of like a chicken processing plant sometimes. It's not all the time, and it's not a yummy-Memphis-BBQ kind of smell. It's clearly something strange, like a chicken processing plant. You might be saying, "Hey, Colby. How do you know what a chicken processing plant smells like?" Well, friend, I lived in Athens for five years, and much of that time I lived near the chicken plants on Tallassee Road. Also, there's a lot of rural-ality (yeah, I just made that up) around Athens and other places I've lived in my life, so one might expect that chickens (and the plants required to process them) would be hanging around. One would think that a moderately-sized city, such as Memphis, would not have such an aroma. One would be wrong. We are just across the river from Arkansas, though. Maybe that explains it.

This is just the beginning of this list. I'm sure it will get longer and longer as the year progresses. I'll also add additional points under the above gripes. (The bad drivers could be a blog post all on their own.) However, I wanted to get these out of my brain and posted into this cyberspace thing tonight.

The most disgusting week ever

About three weeks ago, I had, as the title suggests, the most disgusting week ever. It was so crazy and funny (after each event), that I thought I would share it with all of you. I'll begin at the end, which was the least disgusting thing of the week, and work my way back.


So on Saturday morning I wake up to take Rory for a quick little morning walk. On Saturdays, I like to sleep in; however, Rory does not. Therefore, we were up and outside around 6:30 for Rory to do her thing. When we came back inside, I decided to go back to sleep for a little bit to be truly lazy. Before heading back to bed, though, I had my own potty break. Perfectly normal and undisgusting so far... Well, I bought this new toilet paper at Walgreen's about a week before the incident, and apparently this is super-clogging paper. When I flushed, the completely reasonable amount of paper clogged the toilet and began to make the darn thing flood my bathroom. Luckily it didn't flood it too bad, and I was able to clean up the water. However, I had to stay up cleaning and mopping the floor, instead of getting more well-deserved sleep.

The day before, on Friday, I awoke as normal to take Rory for a walk. It was about 5:30 and still very dark outside. We walked up Union Ave. to Main St., as we sometimes do. As we were walking down Main St., Rory eyed one of Memphis's many rats scurrying along the sidewalk. The rat moved over into the shadow of a trolley stop, and I thought it was gone. However, as we approached the stop, the rat was close by. I guess city rats are slow because Rory managed to catch it in her mouth and proceed to shake it from side to side. Of course I began screaming "No! Drop it! Stop!" Guess what...noone came to help. Kind of makes you wary of what would happen if I was yelling "No! Stop!" because someone was attacking me. The rat must have moved in a way that scared Rory or something (or possibly hurt her) because she suddenly jumped a little bit and dropped the rat. The rat moved over into the shadows again, and we hurried home, hoping to not run into any more rodents.

So, the beginning of the whole disgusting week was a rainy Monday. I came home from work, changed clothes, and walked Rory. I decided to take out the trash before going to work out, so I got a bag of trash and a broken lamp to take down to the trash shute. As I'm tossing the lamp down the shute, I realize that I have also let go of my keys...into the shute. Yikes! I went to my apartment management office and told them what had happened. They were not very interested in helping me, and they said that maybe the maintenance folks would be able to help me the next day but not that day because it wasn't an "emergency." I told them that if they could at least show me where the trash went, I'd see what I could do to retrieve my keys. After telling me that they had no clue where the trash went, one of the leasing agents called the maintenance crew and found out where the door to the dumpster was located. She walked around the side of the building with me (in the rain!) and tried to unlock the door, but it was stuck. The other leasing agent then tried to unlock the door, and he was successful. I entered the little dumpster chamber to find two small dumpsters, one with a lid and one right next to it what was open with the shute emptying into it from above. I quickly climbed up on top of the lidded dumpster (all that working out and swimming/getting in and out of the pool really helped give me the oomph to get up there). I looked in and immediately spotted my keys at the bottom next to the only two bags of trash in the dumpster. The leasing agent handed me a broom handle that was in the dumpster chamber, and I used it to move the trash bags out of the way. I then unfolded a wire hanger that was on the floor of the chamber and commenced trying to "fish" out my keys. I hooked them several times, but they kept falling off before I could pull them up. I was still trying, when all of a sudden I heard a door open from above. I shouted "Don't drop your trash down here," and got out of the way just as a bag of trash descended toward my head. The trash bag covered up all of the work I had just accomplished, so I told the leasing agent that I had no choice but to hop in there and get my keys. So that's what I did...hop in, flip flops and all, and extract my keys from a puddle of dumpster sludge. I hopped quickly out of the dumpster and thanked the leasing agent for all his help. He replied "That's okay. I think that's the coolest thing I've ever seen." I immediately went home, showered thrice, and soaked my keys in bleach!

So there's the most disgusting week ever. Neither Rory nor I have shown any adverse effects from our adventures (such as, like the black plague or tetanus), so I guess we're okay.

Very first blog

So, I'm new to blogging and this is a bit weird. This is sort of a test to make sure it works. So...does it work?