Weekend at The George

Jeff and I spent this weekend in College Station at BCS' newest hotel, The George, for our anniversary. It's a cool hotel! We stayed at The Stella last year and The George is pretty similar in style, with modern Texas decor.

Book flag wall in the lobby

Flag wall close-up

Ha!

The hotel is in a new office/retail/restaurant center called Century Square (where "married students housing" used to be, catty-corner across University from Zach, for those of you who were there in the 80's). There are a bunch of restaurants and shops right there, so you wouldn't have to get in your car through a weekend, if you didn't want to. Nice little hotel pool, live music by the Century Square fountain, breezy seating by the pool.

We just hung out and relaxed, but we did hit some restaurants. Napa Flats is a "California cuisine" chain with an Austin location, but we hadn't ever been, so we went there Friday night. It was great. Both of us had pasta there. FABULOUS calamari, too, with polenta breading.

We had Kolache Rolf's for Saturday breakfast. They still had a pretty good selection late morning. It was delicious.

We hit Grub's Burger Bar for dinner Saturday night. The burgers were a little overcooked, but the food was very good in general. We weren't asked how we prefer our burgers cooked, so I assume they cook them all to well-done.

Royalty Pecan Farms in Caldwell does a tour that is very interesting and informative. It's also a really pretty place to visit! We went on Saturday.

Nutlets! (That's their actual name.)

Just a few of the many things I learned on the tour:

1. Pecan trees produce quality pecans every other year, and every tree in North America is on the same schedule.
2. You can keep pecans fresh in the freezer for up to 5 years, according to the Pecan Council... up to 10 years, according to the tour guide's personal experience. Also, they can be thawed and refrozen over and over!
3. This particular farm has no problem with squirrels, because they are surrounded by a lot of crop land on all sides. Squirrels can't cross that space without being picked off by predators, so they don't really try it. (If only we were surrounded by crop land at home! Gah!)

My favorite Royalty Pecan Farm flavored pecans in the gift shop- cocoa blanca (that's white chocolate y'all) and maple balsamic. They also have wines and a fan-cooled, shaded patio for sittin'.

Nice weekend!

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Travis County Jury Duty Day

I've received three jury summonses (yes, that is the plural, I checked) in my life. The first was in Houston, when I was about 19. I showed up to a room with several hundred people. They pulled 60-70 into the voir dire process for one court, then the next 60-70 for another court, etc., until they finally let the remainder of us leave. I never even made it to voir dire.

The next time I received a summons was when the kiddo was a toddler, so I claimed the exemption and wasn't required to show up.

A few weeks ago, I received my third one. Travis County uses an online process and I was assigned to show up for a criminal district court. This time, I went directly to a specific courtroom with 74 others for voir dire.

Sadly, I don't have any secrets for parking at the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center. Everyone had woeful stories of parking. Having someone drop you off and pick you up is easiest (thanks Jeff!). There is currently only street parking near the building, but I heard it fills up by about 7:30 am. There aren't any public garages very close, although you can walk a few blocks up/down some steep hills in that area. All the construction downtown has many public parking lots rented/full with construction employees. Cap Metro will get you there, but I didn't talk to or hear anyone say they had taken it. From my part of town, I would have had to leave about an hour earlier to take a bus than I did just being dropped off.

If you are able to get a metered street spot and are not able to keep the meter fed through the day, the court will (currently anyway) dismiss your ticket. You just mail it in and let them know you were in jury duty. Most people found street parking somewhere, but not necessarily close. The bailiff was very clear that if you park in an illegal spot, private parking, or are towed, etc., they do NOT cover those expenses, so be sure you are parked in a legitimate public parking space and are just ticketed for not paying the meter.

I was supposed to be there at 9 am. I arrived at the building at 8:40. The officers at the security checkpoint at the entrance to the building were super-friendly and I was through security in about 30 seconds with a couple of people in front of me. It gets crowded towards 9 am, of course, and people who arrived closer to 9 reported security was pretty fast, but the elevators had an enormous line. People were told to take the stairs, but the bailiff (after a few people arrived very winded) said that wasn't necessary. The lines move quickly and you would be late only by a couple of minutes, which is okay.

On arrival, we checked in with the bailiff in the hallway outside the courtroom. He gave each of us a form to fill out with our preference for jury duty payment (whether you want to take the check, or donate all or part of it). We were also assigned a juror number at check-in. We were supposed to arrive at 9 am, and were in the hallway until about 10 am. The chairs were comfortable and the hall was nice and cool, so it was totally fine. Bring a book or an iPad or laptop to pass the time.

Our jury pool was numbered 1 to 74. I was number 14. I figured I was in the running to get chosen, and sure enough, it was true. The prosecution and defense attorneys remove all the prospective jurors they don't want, then just start at juror number 1 and name jurors in order, skipping the ones they removed. The juror numbers were assigned randomly, so it's fair.

When we went into the courtroom, after the judge, defendant and both sides' attorneys were set up, we were seated in numerical order, starting with number 1 right up front, in chairs with our juror number on a paddle.

The prosecutors spoke first, and talked for about 1.5 hours (although it seems that they were supposed to only have an hour). They went through a lot of general terms and concepts involved in our specific case, and asked questions to the group. We usually answered by raising our numbered paddles. People were sometimes called on to give specific answers or additional details. There was only one question where each one of us was asked to answer individually.

We had a 20 minute recess, during which a few people were dismissed. They were just the people who had very obvious problems with serving on this particular case, like someone who knew the judge, someone who had been a victim of that same type of crime, and stuff like that.

Then the defense spoke for about 30-40 minutes. (There is a lot of information that the defense wants that is answered during the prosecution's presentation, so they get less time.) The defense questions were a bit more specific, having gotten a feel for people during the initial questioning.

We had another recess, during which the people who had any problems with serving that had come up since the original sign-up, like illness, could talk to the judge about being dismissed. Many of those people were dismissed during that recess. That recess was a long one, maybe 30-45 minutes.

The rest of us filed back into the courtroom and the judge called names of selected jurors. At that time, I had about 8 people before me, so I figured I was in, but no! They chose a couple of people before me, then juror #15 and continued on. I had mixed feelings, because I really wanted to be on the jury, but of course it isn't too bad being dismissed either.

They let the jury go to lunch and dismissed the rest of us. It was about 2pm, but seemed to be running much later than it normally does. There is "real food" in a nearby building, but there are also vending machines and a snack bar on the first floor at the back of the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center.

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Weekend in San Antonio

Kathy and I spent the weekend in San Antonio last weekend. We did the SA Food Tour, which was super fun! It's a three-hour downtown walking tour that stops at several restaurants, at which we had reserved tables for our group and got a signature dish. Our favorite stop on this particular tour was La Panadería, a bakery and sandwich shop, where Chef/Co-Owner José Cáceres (from Mexico City) talked with all of us and shared his and brother David's famous tequila almond croissant, and the chocolate concha.

Um, yep. Tequila. Almond. Croissant. Holy moly, that thing is heaven. It is crispy-edged, cloud soft middle, croissanty almond perfection. (You may have seen it on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on Food Network.)

He told me they are opening a downtown Austin location soon. Woohoo!

The tour also stops at a few San Antonio touristy and not-so-touristy spots along the route, like the Alamo, for photo ops and a little history.

After the tour, we wandered around downtown and had drinks at Haunt and a late dinner at Rebelle, both in the St. Anthony Hotel. Dinner was AMAZING. Rebelle's decor and vibe is so cool, with a lot of glass and shiny materials. (Here are a couple of photos.) Everyone was taking pictures with (and on- there was some drinking) the restaurant's gorgeous glass tile lion. We shared small plates there, which were all very unique and delicious.

Sunday we went to the San Antonio Botanical Garden. I could swear I had been there years ago, but it didn't look at all familiar. It is beautiful, with an astonishing variety of plants. Lots to see. I really loved it. Don't miss it, if you like that sort of thing!

The only thumbs down of the weekend was the downtown bar/street noise Saturday night. If you're not staying up until at least 2:30 am, you'll want to get a hotel room away from downtown. It was crazy loud, even a few blocks from the Riverwalk.

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Saturday Life Hints

I don't use a lot of brown sugar, so despite my awesome OXO Good Grips vacuum-sealed containers, it still gets clumped and rock solid in there over several months. Well, I bought some sort of "nonclumping" brown sugar a while back. While it is fabulous at not clumping, it is absolutely crappy at being brown sugar. It doesn't dissolve into anything- batters, salad dressings, sauces... Anything. I don't recommend it, other than perhaps for sprinkling over oatmeal (if you eat disgusting oatmeal *shudder*). Just stick with normal brown sugar.

Another tip- I bought a balance ball for my kiddo and hubby to stretch their backs to relieve back pain. I thought they could lean over it on the floor, but it's a little difficult to get down on the floor and back up with advanced age back pain, so just put it on a chair or the sofa and lean over it to stretch. The 55cm ball works well on a chair, but definitely get the 75cm size if you're going to use it on the floor.

Y'all know I hate when people use "cheers" as a verb (referring to toasting with alcoholic beverages). Well, Andy Cohen used it as a verb, in the past tense, the other day! Yep. "You cheersed..." he says. Oy. Vey. I think I'm going to have to accept it, now that it's become overwhelmingly present in conversation. *sigh*


Saturday 9: Standing on the Corner (1956)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, four friends congregate on Main Street to look longingly at pretty girls. In your town, where is the best place for people watching?

SoCo

2) This song was written for the Broadway musical, The Most Happy Fella. Who is the happiest person you know?

Cathy

3) The members of The Four Lads met at Toronto's St. Michael's Choir School. Growing up, did you attend parochial or public school?

public

4) The Four Lads always wore jackets and ties when they performed. Do you enjoying dressing up? Or would you rather keep it casual? 

casual

5) While this song was a hit for The Four Lads, they were completely overshadowed in 1956 by Elvis Presley and "Heartbreak Hotel." Who do you think dominates today's music scene?

Bruno Mars

6) The Wizard of Oz aired on TV for the first time in 1956. Sam was never crazy about those flying monkeys. Tell us about something that frightened you when you were a kid. 

I went through a phase where I couldn't fall asleep because I could hear the ticking clock down the hall on my mom's desk. I imagined it was creeping down the hallway, getting closer and closer. Yikes.

7) What scares you now?

scorpions

8) Since this week's song is about pretty girls: 1956's Miss America was Sharon Ritchie of Colorado. Today Colorado has the distinction of being the home of more microbreweries than any other state in the union. Which are you most particular about -- your beer, your wine, or your coffee?

Beer. I'll drink just about any wine or coffee, but crappy beer is the worst.

9) Random question: We all have small, irritating habits, like soup slurping or not replacing the cap on the toothpaste. What's your nasty little habit?

leaving socks and shoes around the house

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