Living in Midtown for 1.5 years allowed me to frequent restaurants and shops that I had long since been going to from my college days. I knew many places in that part of town and had no problem keeping my eating out diverse.
Well last July my wife and I moved to the Eastern part of Memphis. It's not quite Memphis, but it's not quite Cordova or Bartlett either. Since I rarely did much out in these parts I had to reacquaint myself with the area. Something that took me a while to do was to find a new favorite Chinese restaurant.
I love Chinese and I often eat it (not only at restaurants, but my wife cooks some great Chinese too). Since moving we hadn't gone out for Chinese in a long time so I decided it was time we hunted about. We first tried China Moon, a place located on Stage and Elmore. It wasn't even worth a negative review. We then tried China Wok over on Dexter near Germantown Pkwy (around the corner from the Kroger there).
First off, the service was great. The guy behind the counter was friendly and courteous. He made polite chit chat and gave some good recommendations. He also gave me a free two litre of soft drink since I spent more than $30. The other staff members I interacted with were also very nice and polite. The speed of this place was great. I was in the restaurant for maybe 10 minutes. My order was taken and my food was in my hand in a blink of an eye. I have never had such speedy service.
Having such quick service meant that my food was piping hot when I got it and still extremely hot when I got home a few minutes later. Not only was it hot, but it was very tasty (although the General Tso's could be a little spicier). I have absolutely no complaints about this place. It's all around great. Something else I liked was that if you have a large order they will give you a cardboard box for it.
If you look for prices online you will find cheaper, outdated prices. Don't get mad with the staff though. It's not their website that has the old prices and the new prices aren't that more expensive.
Monday, January 21, 2013
The Memphis Historical Trail
I've lived in Memphis for about 13 years, since the fall of 2000 (really only 8 years as I spent 5 in Japan). Needless to say I learned quite a bit about my city in those years. I know that it sits on top of an aquifer that provides excellent quality drinking water. I know that it was an important city in the early development of the nation and I know that it was a focal point in music for a very long time and saw the rise of many music stars. But there was a lot I did not know and didn't even think to think about.
I never really thought about the actual development of the city and what made it the way it is today. Sure I knew Memphis has been around for a long time, but never thought on exactly what happened since its founding or what historic events may have happened here. I love history and now that I look back on myself I'm a bit disappointed in myself that I never took the time to really get to know my home. That all changed this past weekend.
I went on a hike throughout downtown Memphis. The hike is commonly referred to as the Memphis Historic Trail. It winds through downtown to the outskirts of Midtown and back. As with most historical trails you walk from point to point answering questions and reading plaques and reading from the trail guide. The points range from the founding of Memphis to the Civil War to the Golden Age of Memphis music.
The walk is long and covers a lot of ground and goes into several different areas of downtown. You need to be prepared with water, food, good boots/shoes and the hike guide. You may also want a map and a compass if you are not familiar with Memphis. One nice thing is that you pass by several restaurants and shops so that if you are not 100% ready your equipped you can easily get food and other previsions while on the trail. I actually wished my group had stopped at a restaurant cause my feet were pretty tired and I could've used the rest. The hike covers about 12 miles so be ready to go that far.
You do go through some dodgy areas so you should use caution while hiking through. You also have to cross some busy streets so be smart about it. I didn't feel too worried, but there were some instances that were a bit sketchy. You will encounter homeless folk. Most of them are harmless, but still exercise caution when dealing with them. It's probably best not to give handouts.
You start the hike at the I-40 visitor center and finishes back there. You can find the PDF file of the trail guide here.
Overall it's a great hike. If you want to learn more about Memphis, this is where you can do it. Good luck and happy trails.
I never really thought about the actual development of the city and what made it the way it is today. Sure I knew Memphis has been around for a long time, but never thought on exactly what happened since its founding or what historic events may have happened here. I love history and now that I look back on myself I'm a bit disappointed in myself that I never took the time to really get to know my home. That all changed this past weekend.
I went on a hike throughout downtown Memphis. The hike is commonly referred to as the Memphis Historic Trail. It winds through downtown to the outskirts of Midtown and back. As with most historical trails you walk from point to point answering questions and reading plaques and reading from the trail guide. The points range from the founding of Memphis to the Civil War to the Golden Age of Memphis music.
The walk is long and covers a lot of ground and goes into several different areas of downtown. You need to be prepared with water, food, good boots/shoes and the hike guide. You may also want a map and a compass if you are not familiar with Memphis. One nice thing is that you pass by several restaurants and shops so that if you are not 100% ready your equipped you can easily get food and other previsions while on the trail. I actually wished my group had stopped at a restaurant cause my feet were pretty tired and I could've used the rest. The hike covers about 12 miles so be ready to go that far.
You do go through some dodgy areas so you should use caution while hiking through. You also have to cross some busy streets so be smart about it. I didn't feel too worried, but there were some instances that were a bit sketchy. You will encounter homeless folk. Most of them are harmless, but still exercise caution when dealing with them. It's probably best not to give handouts.
You start the hike at the I-40 visitor center and finishes back there. You can find the PDF file of the trail guide here.
Overall it's a great hike. If you want to learn more about Memphis, this is where you can do it. Good luck and happy trails.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
An alternative to the typical dinner and a movie date
I'm sure many of you feel burned out on the ol' dinner and a movie date night. Even with friends its boring to do the same thing over and over again. Finally a Memphis institution has come up with an awesome alternative. Instead of spending loads of money to sit in a crowded and possibly noisy auditorium, you can spend less money and do something that might build a practical skill. Range USA (RUSA), a shooting range, has a great deal called "Date Night".
Date Night allows a couple (or two bros or gals) to rent a lane, get a box of 50 rounds of ammo each, a target each and dinner (it's really good food too). All of this is just 40 dollars. You can barely do dinner and a movie for that price. Also, if you don't own your own firearm you can rent one from RUSA. Generally gun rentals will run you about 10 dollars depending on the type of gun you decide to rent.
Date night isn't everyday. They only offer it on Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays. Also, the range can get pretty crowded on those days so it's good to get there early. I'd say getting there around 5 or 5:30 would be best. I got there last night at around 6 and it was pretty crowded. Didn't get finished until after 8. Still it was a great time and I got to shoot about a hundred rounds (the wife didn't want to shoot so I shot alone).
In my opinion this is an excellent alternative to the mundane dinner and a movie. If I was still on the dating scene this would be a prime place I would take my date. You should go check it out for yourselves.
Here is the contact info:
Range USA Inc.
2770 Whitten Road
Memphis, TN 38133
901-213-4774
Date Night allows a couple (or two bros or gals) to rent a lane, get a box of 50 rounds of ammo each, a target each and dinner (it's really good food too). All of this is just 40 dollars. You can barely do dinner and a movie for that price. Also, if you don't own your own firearm you can rent one from RUSA. Generally gun rentals will run you about 10 dollars depending on the type of gun you decide to rent.
Date night isn't everyday. They only offer it on Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays. Also, the range can get pretty crowded on those days so it's good to get there early. I'd say getting there around 5 or 5:30 would be best. I got there last night at around 6 and it was pretty crowded. Didn't get finished until after 8. Still it was a great time and I got to shoot about a hundred rounds (the wife didn't want to shoot so I shot alone).
In my opinion this is an excellent alternative to the mundane dinner and a movie. If I was still on the dating scene this would be a prime place I would take my date. You should go check it out for yourselves.
Here is the contact info:
Range USA Inc.
2770 Whitten Road
Memphis, TN 38133
901-213-4774
The Almadura Apartments
Back in the winter of 2010 I was on the hunt for a new apartment. I wanted one quickly and with minimal move in costs. I found that in the Almadura apartments.
The apartment advertised looked large and comfortable. I went over to look one afternoon and was shown a loft apartment. It was a one room deal with a kitchen, bathroom and large closet. All in all it looked like a nice set up for a guy whose significant other was not yet in town. I took it, and received a half off deal on the deposit. I was happy with it and arranged to move in the following weekend.
After moving in I began noticing the typical problems that are associated with moving into a new place. Now this building was 89 years old at the time I moved in (it's 90 years old now). It had its quirks and peculiarities, but it was an okay place to live. Then I started noticing bigger problems. The windowsill seemed to be slightly rotted. The plumbing in the kitchen was in need of repair. I came home one day to find an orange colored mold growing on the floor near the kitchen (please note that when I went to work 8 hours earlier there was nothing on the floor). One morning I found mushrooms growing on the previously mentioned bathroom windowsill. When I returned from a several week vacation overseas, my apartment had become overran with roaches and spiders (disgusting creatures).
Each of these problems I promptly reported to the management. Usually they would be extremely helpful sounding and would "get the problem fixed immediately". More often than not it would be days if not weeks before the problem was jury rigged (rarely were things truly fixed). I called management five times to get the rotting windowsill fixed, yet it was nearly 6 weeks from the time I found the mushrooms and started complaining about the problem until it was fixed. The only way it got fixed was I cornered one of the managers and asked how to break my least due to the lack of repairing of the problem. It was fixed the next day.
This was a typical aspect of the Almadura. Sometimes when I complained about something the manager would merely say "That's part of the charm of living in a historic building." God how I tired of that response. I got that response almost every time I complained of something. No, it's not charming to live with huge roaches and giant spiders that hang out in your hung up clothes. It's also not cool to have mold growing out of your base boards.
Another annoying thing about this apartment was the other residents. At first there was a cool, eclectic group of people living there. But soon after I moved in, it became apparent that there was seemingly a revolving door in the place. People were constantly moving out. Eventually the Almadura filled up with younger college students. Not all bad, but the environment became more like that of a dorm than an apartment building. It was not a pleasant place anymore. The kids would often party in the parking lot, keeping everyone up whose apartment boarded the parking lot. The kicker is is that the roof was the designated as the party area.
That brings me to the next point: the roof. The roof and its view was what sold me on the Almadura. It was a great place to hang out until the sun went down and the roaches came out. They'd scurry all over the place, up people's legs and anywhere they could get to. When that problem was brought up to the management they vehemently denied having a bug problem. Yeah...No bugs...Don't believe that crap. They have bugs.
Now the Almadura is pretty convenient for downtown and midtown partying. There are some good restaurants nearby as well. But that's about it.
Overall it's not a very pleasant place to live. I guess if you really want to live in Midtown it's cool, but other than that it's not worth it. And I guess it's okay of the money, but I will never live there again.
The apartment advertised looked large and comfortable. I went over to look one afternoon and was shown a loft apartment. It was a one room deal with a kitchen, bathroom and large closet. All in all it looked like a nice set up for a guy whose significant other was not yet in town. I took it, and received a half off deal on the deposit. I was happy with it and arranged to move in the following weekend.
After moving in I began noticing the typical problems that are associated with moving into a new place. Now this building was 89 years old at the time I moved in (it's 90 years old now). It had its quirks and peculiarities, but it was an okay place to live. Then I started noticing bigger problems. The windowsill seemed to be slightly rotted. The plumbing in the kitchen was in need of repair. I came home one day to find an orange colored mold growing on the floor near the kitchen (please note that when I went to work 8 hours earlier there was nothing on the floor). One morning I found mushrooms growing on the previously mentioned bathroom windowsill. When I returned from a several week vacation overseas, my apartment had become overran with roaches and spiders (disgusting creatures).
Each of these problems I promptly reported to the management. Usually they would be extremely helpful sounding and would "get the problem fixed immediately". More often than not it would be days if not weeks before the problem was jury rigged (rarely were things truly fixed). I called management five times to get the rotting windowsill fixed, yet it was nearly 6 weeks from the time I found the mushrooms and started complaining about the problem until it was fixed. The only way it got fixed was I cornered one of the managers and asked how to break my least due to the lack of repairing of the problem. It was fixed the next day.
This was a typical aspect of the Almadura. Sometimes when I complained about something the manager would merely say "That's part of the charm of living in a historic building." God how I tired of that response. I got that response almost every time I complained of something. No, it's not charming to live with huge roaches and giant spiders that hang out in your hung up clothes. It's also not cool to have mold growing out of your base boards.
Another annoying thing about this apartment was the other residents. At first there was a cool, eclectic group of people living there. But soon after I moved in, it became apparent that there was seemingly a revolving door in the place. People were constantly moving out. Eventually the Almadura filled up with younger college students. Not all bad, but the environment became more like that of a dorm than an apartment building. It was not a pleasant place anymore. The kids would often party in the parking lot, keeping everyone up whose apartment boarded the parking lot. The kicker is is that the roof was the designated as the party area.
That brings me to the next point: the roof. The roof and its view was what sold me on the Almadura. It was a great place to hang out until the sun went down and the roaches came out. They'd scurry all over the place, up people's legs and anywhere they could get to. When that problem was brought up to the management they vehemently denied having a bug problem. Yeah...No bugs...Don't believe that crap. They have bugs.
Now the Almadura is pretty convenient for downtown and midtown partying. There are some good restaurants nearby as well. But that's about it.
Overall it's not a very pleasant place to live. I guess if you really want to live in Midtown it's cool, but other than that it's not worth it. And I guess it's okay of the money, but I will never live there again.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Do your jobs!
This post was encouraged by two poor customer service experiences I had today.
The first involves Regions Bank. They called me this morning regarding an anomaly on my account. Apparently there was a discrepancy with my wife's information. We had just added my wife to the account last week. Wait, why didn't I add her during our first week of marriage? Well I shall tell you that little tale in order to give you some background of all the crap I've had to deal with Regions on.
Shortly after we got married we did indeed try to add her to the account. The lady at the branch we went to said that my wife needed an American ID in order to be placed on my account. Now, my wife had a visa from the American government with her picture on it and her Japanese passport. We also had with us during that first meeting our marriage license and her SS card. We left and then when her work permission card arrived we returned with hopes of finally putting her onto the account. We were denied. Apparently an ID issued by the Federal government isn't good enough. We left again. Finally my wife got her driver's permit (that's a whole other story) and we got around to the bank again last week.
While putting her on the account the woman who was working with us kept forgetting to fill out things and to record info off my wife's documents. It was a bit annoying and frustrating to say the least, but that's not it. We come to this morning when I get a call from the Regions branch that I opened the account with back in Nashville. They found some irregularities on the account due to some wrong information about my wife. Apparently the SSN didn't match up. So that tells me that the idiot who helped us last week messed up important stuff regarding our account and my wife's identity. To make things worse, the lady who helped us is the branch manager! Come on, if the branch manager can't do her job right who's to say that the tellers aren't screwing shit up.
I'm sorry to get heated over this, but banking stuff is important. There is very little margin for error. My account can possibly be frozen because of this. It had better not.
Now for the next customer service debacle I had to deal with.
On Sunday my wife and I finally bought wedding bands. We went to Jared's Jewelry out in Cordova. The guy was nice enough, but he started off by not listening to us. When asked what we wanted we told him bands, but he took us over to engagement rings to start off. That's the first mark against him and Jared's. We went through the selection process and picked out two rings. My wife's ring went through no problem. She picked it out and it was in her size and we were set with that. The ring I picked out, however, was not in my size so it had to be ordered. The guy went to the computer and a couple minutes later came back and said that it wasn't available at all. So I had to pick another ring. It's okay, but not really what I wanted. Again it wasn't available in my size in the store so they had to order it.
Now here's where things go weird. The guy gave us both rings! My wife's ring and the showcase ring that I had picked out and they were now ordering in my size were placed in boxes and then in a bag. I asked the guy why they had to do that and he said it was standard for their store. I thought it was extremely odd to be taking a ring that I would have to give back in a few days. It didn't make any sense to me at all.
Well this morning the guy from the store calls me up and informs me that he was mistaken and that the ring that came in was not in the correct size and I'd have to bring back the ring. I was a bit pissed at this.
When I returned to the shop the assistant manager dealt with me. He explained that the ring that was ordered was a replacement for the display one that I had "bought". I did not buy the display one I was given it because the salesman didn't know what he was doing. They apologized for the inconvenience and went about refunding my order. They had to cancel out the original transaction and resubmit it in order to get the correct ring. By now I was getting more pissed. The way the guy was talking it sounded like it was my fault! I had thought it was a weird policy and even asked the salesman about it. My mom who was with us asked him the same thing before we left. He kept saying that was how Jared's did it.
Now I'm writing this to warn other people to be very careful when dealing with Jared's. They apparently do not know their jobs very well. I will also be writing Jared's corporate to let them know that their employees are not following the proper procedures.
The first involves Regions Bank. They called me this morning regarding an anomaly on my account. Apparently there was a discrepancy with my wife's information. We had just added my wife to the account last week. Wait, why didn't I add her during our first week of marriage? Well I shall tell you that little tale in order to give you some background of all the crap I've had to deal with Regions on.
Shortly after we got married we did indeed try to add her to the account. The lady at the branch we went to said that my wife needed an American ID in order to be placed on my account. Now, my wife had a visa from the American government with her picture on it and her Japanese passport. We also had with us during that first meeting our marriage license and her SS card. We left and then when her work permission card arrived we returned with hopes of finally putting her onto the account. We were denied. Apparently an ID issued by the Federal government isn't good enough. We left again. Finally my wife got her driver's permit (that's a whole other story) and we got around to the bank again last week.
While putting her on the account the woman who was working with us kept forgetting to fill out things and to record info off my wife's documents. It was a bit annoying and frustrating to say the least, but that's not it. We come to this morning when I get a call from the Regions branch that I opened the account with back in Nashville. They found some irregularities on the account due to some wrong information about my wife. Apparently the SSN didn't match up. So that tells me that the idiot who helped us last week messed up important stuff regarding our account and my wife's identity. To make things worse, the lady who helped us is the branch manager! Come on, if the branch manager can't do her job right who's to say that the tellers aren't screwing shit up.
I'm sorry to get heated over this, but banking stuff is important. There is very little margin for error. My account can possibly be frozen because of this. It had better not.
Now for the next customer service debacle I had to deal with.
On Sunday my wife and I finally bought wedding bands. We went to Jared's Jewelry out in Cordova. The guy was nice enough, but he started off by not listening to us. When asked what we wanted we told him bands, but he took us over to engagement rings to start off. That's the first mark against him and Jared's. We went through the selection process and picked out two rings. My wife's ring went through no problem. She picked it out and it was in her size and we were set with that. The ring I picked out, however, was not in my size so it had to be ordered. The guy went to the computer and a couple minutes later came back and said that it wasn't available at all. So I had to pick another ring. It's okay, but not really what I wanted. Again it wasn't available in my size in the store so they had to order it.
Now here's where things go weird. The guy gave us both rings! My wife's ring and the showcase ring that I had picked out and they were now ordering in my size were placed in boxes and then in a bag. I asked the guy why they had to do that and he said it was standard for their store. I thought it was extremely odd to be taking a ring that I would have to give back in a few days. It didn't make any sense to me at all.
Well this morning the guy from the store calls me up and informs me that he was mistaken and that the ring that came in was not in the correct size and I'd have to bring back the ring. I was a bit pissed at this.
When I returned to the shop the assistant manager dealt with me. He explained that the ring that was ordered was a replacement for the display one that I had "bought". I did not buy the display one I was given it because the salesman didn't know what he was doing. They apologized for the inconvenience and went about refunding my order. They had to cancel out the original transaction and resubmit it in order to get the correct ring. By now I was getting more pissed. The way the guy was talking it sounded like it was my fault! I had thought it was a weird policy and even asked the salesman about it. My mom who was with us asked him the same thing before we left. He kept saying that was how Jared's did it.
Now I'm writing this to warn other people to be very careful when dealing with Jared's. They apparently do not know their jobs very well. I will also be writing Jared's corporate to let them know that their employees are not following the proper procedures.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Memphis drivers
I hate driving in this city. Not only are there not many side roads, but the main roads are also very few. This is a weird city. It's huge, but it feels like there are not many roads. Or at least not many main thoroughfares. There are tons of streets, but they don't really go anywhere. You have a few main ones that you can take to go places and that's it.
On top of the slim choice of roads, you have very bad and inconsiderate drivers. Since I live in Memphis this is what I know. I know other cities have bad drivers, but it seems that Memphis is the capital of idiot drivers. While driving today I was almost hit three times and witnessed at least five instances of distracted drivers. People don't seem to understand the rules of the road in this city. Earlier this week the power was down in my neighborhood. Many people stopped at the nearby traffic signal (which was dead) and properly treated it as a four way stops. However, I saw probably fifteen cars heading west not stop. They just kept going through the dead light as if it were permanently green. This really pisses me off. It is common knowledge (or at least it used to be) that you treat a dead traffic light as a four way stop.
But I digress.
Manners are almost non-existent in this city. People cut people off all the time. People zip around almost causing accidents with no regard to anyone else. I often wish I was a cop just so I could dish out tickets. Memphis would get a lot of money if I were a traffic cop.
Another complaint I have with Memphis drivers is the lack of yielding. Yield signs are almost always ignored here.
I have never been somewhere that ignores so many rules of the road. I'm definitely curious about driving through the Western part of the country. I'm sure I'll update on my findings of drivers of other areas.
On top of the slim choice of roads, you have very bad and inconsiderate drivers. Since I live in Memphis this is what I know. I know other cities have bad drivers, but it seems that Memphis is the capital of idiot drivers. While driving today I was almost hit three times and witnessed at least five instances of distracted drivers. People don't seem to understand the rules of the road in this city. Earlier this week the power was down in my neighborhood. Many people stopped at the nearby traffic signal (which was dead) and properly treated it as a four way stops. However, I saw probably fifteen cars heading west not stop. They just kept going through the dead light as if it were permanently green. This really pisses me off. It is common knowledge (or at least it used to be) that you treat a dead traffic light as a four way stop.
But I digress.
Manners are almost non-existent in this city. People cut people off all the time. People zip around almost causing accidents with no regard to anyone else. I often wish I was a cop just so I could dish out tickets. Memphis would get a lot of money if I were a traffic cop.
Another complaint I have with Memphis drivers is the lack of yielding. Yield signs are almost always ignored here.
I have never been somewhere that ignores so many rules of the road. I'm definitely curious about driving through the Western part of the country. I'm sure I'll update on my findings of drivers of other areas.
Walgreens Take Care Clinic
Doctor visits can be a hassle. Gotta make an appointment go there and you almost always have to wait longer than your appointment time. I avoid doctor visits as much as possible, but sometimes I have to go. Something I've discovered in the last couple years is the Take Care Clinic. These little walk-in clinics are located at a couple Walgreens throughout Memphis (they are all over the US as well) are quick and convenient. They are manned by nurse practitioners and sometimes doctors. It's not the best care in the world, but it has worked for me several times and I will continue to use them for minor things. The one I go to is located at Poplar and Perkins. The doc is usually gone from 1-2 though. Do be careful as sometimes they don't listen to you and you may have to reiterate some things. It's mostly annoying. I shrug it off usually.
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