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01/05/2005: Apropos of Brock and Mike Hollihan (Hi, Mike!)...
discussing the wonderful (dammit, I really need to learn the HTML sarcasm tags) Midtown Memphis Trolley System yesterday, I'll just share something I saw on my way to lunch today.
For the record, I was in the 900 or so block of Madison Avenue. Basically, in the past couple years the city installed a trolley line running east-west on Madison from Somewhere Downtown (so I don't know exactly where; so sue me) to a little east of N. Cleveland St. As I walked towards Madison I noticed something which struck me as distinctly weird: it looked like a trolley was standing next to the curb on Madison headed east. Since the trolley tracks are basically in the left hand traffic lane, and the curb is, of course, on the right hand side of the street, this seemed definitely out of place. But as I approached I saw that what was at the curb wasn't one of our trolley cars, but rather one of those self propelled vehicles that looks like a trolley (probably a small bus/coach chassis with a trolley body on it). Yesterday I'd noticed some work on the tracks near Cleveland Street, and most likely they'd stopped running the trains on those tracks until they finished the work.
But I couldn't get the thought out of my mind, that we probably could have had a "trolley" line based on the trolley-buses for a lot less money than The Real Thing cost us....
Meanwhile, the Hollihan-Sides discussions sparked a bit of concern on the part of Brian Arner over at Resonance that there may be a bit of balkanization affecting the Volunteer State Blogosphere, noting that Bill Hobbs is apparently putting together a list of Nashville based blogs, while Brock and Mike were discussing the Memphis Blogger Icon that Mike whipped up on the spur of the moment.
Hopefully, Brian can rest a bit easier. I doubt that there are any plans for the Memphis blogosphere to secede from The Rocky Top Brigade (at least, those of us Memphis Bloggers who are members of the RTB). More likely, given how gregarious Mike is, and the fact that he's been the demented yet lovable genius behind the periodic insurrections known as The Memphis Bloggers' Bashes, I'd guess that he's just trying to develop a sense of community among Memphis bloggers.
That and get a few more people to show up at the next Bloggers' Bash.
Len on 01.05.05 @ 02:57 PM CST
Replies: 3 comments
on Wednesday, January 5th, 2005 at 5:47 PM CST, mike hollihan said
Hi Len! You are very right about the Memphis blogger icon. It's not about secession or separatism, but about pride of home and building community. I love being a member of the RTB (although I frequently end up in the MIA file) and my pride in being a Tennessean doesn't preclude civic pride.
Did you call me "gregarious?" LOL I actively avoid most social situations, believe me. I need excuses to *leave* home or hang out with other humans, not to stay *at* home with the cats.
Seriously, you nailed it Len. And when we gonna have the next BB? Is it still Eric's ball or has it been thrown back to me now?
on Wednesday, January 5th, 2005 at 7:04 PM CST, roboto said
Not to brag or anything, but our informal Nashville BB was myself and 4 attractive female bloggers (Nashv. Confidential; Saucy Librarian; Karmadegeon; and VivaL).
I bet Memphis can't beat that.
on Thursday, January 6th, 2005 at 9:31 AM CST, Len Cleavelin said
Hey, as The Guiding Light and Inspirational Genius of the Memphis Bloggers' Bash, you look positively gregarious next to me; if I didn't have to work and walk the dog several times a day I'd probably never see another person for months at a time.
I don't know who is responsible for calling the next BB; nobody's shot me a copy of the constitution and bylaws. My participation is pretty much "tell me where and when, and I'll be there".
As for roboto, the least you could do is post some pics of the Nashvegas BB, then, dammit!
[How on earth does he do it? Must be the Western shirt.... :-) ]