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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Survey Time

Yet another criminal (most recently that sex cult actress from Smallville...  umm... what the WHAT) ran off to Mexico to escape prosecution. Remember that whole thing when Trump said Mexico was sending their criminals to the US? Yeah, I think the net crossing of criminals has always gone north to south.

That reminds me, I need a new passport.

Saturday 9: Love Don't Cost a Thing (2001)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) Love may not cost a thing, but everyday stuff does. What's the most recent thing you bought? How much did you spend? 

I made a Target run that cost about $80 in randomness.

2) This video begins with Jennifer Lopez on the phone, on a veranda with a view of the sea. What's the view from the room you're in right now? 

the forest behind our house

3) She sings that she doesn't want her lover's gifts or money, she just wants his attention. Let's change that a bit. Which would you prefer: a gift that was personally chosen but you know you'll never use, or cash?
I prefer a gift someone picked out.

4) She met her first husband, dancer Cris Judd, while working on this video. She met Ben Affleck, to whom she was once engaged, while working on a movie. Think of those you're closest to -- where did you meet them?

I met Jeff in a college class. Met Cathy in 7th grade PE. Met Scott-n-Julie when our girls were in preschool. Knew Kathy from high school, but first really interacted with her at the research program we did at UTMB.

5) She and her current boyfriend, former Yankee Alex Rodriguez, are both workout fanatics. How often do you exercise? 

Practically never.

6) Her high school nickname was "La Guitarra," because her curvy shape reminded her friends of a guitar. Share a high school memory about you and your friends.
I was just thinking the other day about the many times we were up all night outside the record store, waiting in line for concert tickets going on sale at 10am the next morning. It was sometimes boring, sometimes superfun, depending on who was in line. The best times were when someone had a boom box, playing that artist's music, and everyone singing along.

7) JLo just completed filming her third season playing a police detective on NBC's Shades of Blue. Did you see anything memorable on TV this past week?

Maroon 5 singing "Wait" on The Voice

8) Jennifer Lopez posts often on Facebook, and Twitter, and Instagram. Do you feel you spend too much time on social media, do you wish you posted more often, or do you try to avoid it altogether?

I try to avoid it. I only go on Facebook anymore if someone addresses me directly, it's someone's birthday, or I want to check the neighborhood group for the latest news.

9) Random question: You're at a yard sale and come upon an unusual little knick-knack that would make the perfect gift for your best friend. The tag says $7. You think that's rather high for a castoff. Do you pay it? Do you pass on it? Or do you try to get the seller to lower the price?

A perfect gift? Of course, I would pay it! I'm terrible at haggling. 

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HomePod Ad 'n Stuff

Here's an awesome story about the making of the Apple HomePod commercial. Turns out, there aren't any CGI effects. It's all mechanical. Wow! SO cool! Watch the "making of" video and the complete 4 minute ad through the link below.

This Look Inside Spike Jonze’s Apple Ad Is as Fascinating as the Film Itself

I had lunch with Kimberly on Monday! She was in San Antonio for a national school board convention. (She's a school board member where she lives.) We email fairly regularly, but I haven't seen her in a few years, so it was really nice to catch up in person. I reeeeally wanted to take her to Lüke, but I read that it closed last year! Waaah. Omigosh, their onion tart is divine. Now we have to go to New Orleans to have it.

Kimberly told me she has had foot pain ever since she ran her first marathon last year. I think that is a great reason to NEVER RUN A MARATHON. That was her advice as well.

I was just looking at the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Quote of the Week in the blog sidebar (>>). We loved the first season. The second season was sort of hit or miss. Then the third season took a very strange turn into some serious issues. It isn't funny and the songs aren't great. Not sure what happened to the show, but it turns out it was cancelled after the 3rd season, so we probably won't finish the rest of the episodes. Changing the Quote of the Week to Bethenny Frankel. That should provide a wealth of amusement for a while!

I cleaned the thick layer of green powder (oak pollen) off the patio furniture and patio floor yesterday.  It takes forever to scrub it all down. I know it's still raining pollen until May, but just looking at it made me cough. Everything's new and shiny now. Ahhhhh...

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Baby It's a Brand New Day

Is any daytime show NOT nominated for a daytime Emmy? Just wondering.

So, Lauren Shazam'd (Shazammed?) the Bubly jingle I mentioned the other day.

Lauren, her first listen: No. That is not JC.

LOL

It turns out, it isn't a jingle at all. It's a song called "Good Morning," by an Austin musician named Max Frost. Hmm!



Great tune! I still think his voice and this song have a Chasez sound (which is a total compliment). He even rhymes "day" and "me." It's gonna be MAY... hehe

In other music news... I think my favorite contestant on The Voice this season is Bryn. I can't believe she is only 14. Her voice is really different and wonderful. If she can work on being more comfortable on stage, she'll be a force.



Kelly is a fantastic addition as a coach!

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Relief

Austin's serial bomber is deceased as of this morning, and soon we'll be able to tune down our hyper-vigilance. It's been very surreal seeing something like this in our community.

Brian Manley should definitely become permanent APD chief, as he was the voice of both strength and calm this month, during this ordeal.

I have a few questions still. I'm super curious about the general area of town where the two mailed packages were headed. Don't really know why it matters to me, but it just feels like an unfinished story there. Also, I'm wondering how a guy in a wild blonde wig and wearing gloves didn't strike a Fedex employee as odd, especially when we're all so paranoid about packages right now. Not to place any blame on the employee at all, but it's just strange to me. Jeff said it's Austin and the guy probably sees ten people in weird wigs every day.

True.

Anyhoo... we're all breathing easier now, hopeful that there won't be any more deaths or injuries caused by this person. (That's a nice word for him, but I'll leave it at that.)

Whew!

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A Malapropism Walks Into a Bar...

This little gem is making the rounds on the interwebs:

A dangling participle walks into a bar. Enjoying a cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the evening passes pleasantly.

A bar was walked into by the passive voice.

An oxymoron walked into a bar, and the silence was deafening.

Two quotation marks walk into a “bar.”

A malapropism walks into a bar, looking for all intensive purposes like a wolf in cheap clothing, muttering epitaphs and casting dispersions on his magnificent other, who takes him for granite.

Hyperbole totally rips into this insane bar and absolutely destroys everything.

A question mark walks into a bar?

A non sequitur walks into a bar. In a strong wind, even turkeys can fly.

Papyrus and Comic Sans walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Get out -- we don't serve your type."

A mixed metaphor walks into a bar, seeing the handwriting on the wall but hoping to nip it in the bud.

A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves.

Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They converse. They depart.

A synonym strolls into a tavern.

At the end of the day, a cliché walks into a bar -- fresh as a daisy, cute as a button, and sharp as a tack.

A run-on sentence walks into a bar it starts flirting. With a cute little sentence fragment.

Falling slowly, softly falling, the chiasmus collapses to the bar floor.

A figure of speech literally walks into a bar and ends up getting figuratively hammered.

An allusion walks into a bar, despite the fact that alcohol is its Achilles heel.

The subjunctive would have walked into a bar, had it only known.

A misplaced modifier walks into a bar owned a man with a glass eye named Ralph.

The past, present, and future walked into a bar. It was tense.

A dyslexic walks into a bra.

A verb walks into a bar, sees a beautiful noun, and suggests they conjugate. The noun declines.

An Oxford comma walks into a bar, where it spends the evening watching the television getting drunk and smoking cigars.

A simile walks into a bar, as parched as a desert.

A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, drinking to forget.

A hyphenated word and a non-hyphenated word walk into a bar and the bartender nearly chokes on the irony.

I laughed out loud when I got to the synonym. So great.

Saturday 9: On and On (1977)
Unfamiliar with this week's song. Hear it here.

1) This song describes the plight of "poor ol' Jimmy," who caught his girlfriend kissing someone else. Have you ever spied on a romantic partner?

Nope.

2) In this song, Stephen Bishop sings that he "smiles when he feels like dying." When did you recently put on a happy face, even though you really weren't all that happy? 

I have a balance disorder since taking Levaquin for bronchitis about 15 years ago. Whenever I'm feeling dizzy, I'm almost always covering it as best I can.

3) Stephen Bishop always wanted to be a musician, and as a child he began playing the clarinet. Did you take lessons -- dance, art, music -- as a child? If yes, did you take them because you enjoyed them, or because your parents made you take them?

I took dance and piano. Loved dance, suffered through piano. Sorry, Mom!

4) When he was 12, inspired by The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, he switched to the guitar and began writing songs. Tell us about someone or something that influenced your career path.

My high school physics teacher (and JETS sponsor) helped me choose an college major that combined my medical interests with my engineering and technology pursuits. Although I didn't work in that field, I still ended up with a career that combines healthcare and technology.

5) Stephen Bishop attended Will C. Crawford High School in San Diego. This school requires students complete 20 hours of community service every year. Tell us about an organization, cause or campaign you volunteered for, either as a student or an adult.

Laura and I volunteered at Dennis Quaid's Charity Golf Classic at the Avery Ranch Golf Club in 2003, benefiting Austin area children's charities. It was superfun! Lauren met one of her idols at the time- Jake Thomas from Lizzie McGuire. (Her other crush at the time was Ryan Pinkston, the foul-mouthed kid on Punk'd. Incidentally, Ryan is now playing Jack's married boyfriend, Officer Drew, on Will & Grace... Yes, that was quite a tangent, but wasn't it interesting?... )

6) In 1977, when this song was popular, Seattle Slew won racing's Triple Crown. Sam's mother has always been afraid of horses. Is there an animal you're uncomfortable with?

Large dogs have to win me over. I'm usually very uncomfortable around them.

7) Also in 1977, moviegoers waited in line for hours to see Star Wars. What's the longest line you waited in recently?

Probably Chipotle. That place is always packed.

8) The mini-series Roots first aired in 1977. Today Americans are spending more time and money than ever to research ancestry. How far back can you trace your family tree? 

I currently have one line traced back to Lord Hansculf De Englefield, from England, born in 1056.

9) Random question: It's often said that nobody's perfect. How about you? What quality keeps you from being perfect?

my cooking

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Waco Weekend

People always talk about Waco like it's a tiny town, but I think of it as a medium city, so I was quite surprised to find out how very small it actually is! Turns out, Waco has a population of only 135,000. (For comparison, Bryan/College Station has over 255,000.)

Other than my not feeling well most of the weekend, Jeff and I had fun visiting various attractions around town. We went to the Dr. Pepper Museum, which was recently renovated to add another whole building. It's a lot more than just Dr. Pepper.

Toured the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, which is very interesting, and has a LOT of guns. Some of the guns were super-pretty. I was actually quite impressed with the designs. There are 2 female Rangers in the state currently, one of whom is in Austin. Also, I learned that the Lone Ranger character was a former Texas Ranger. (WHAT? I had no clue.) In the early days, rangers had to make their own badges, because the state didn't provide them, so there are a lot of different styles of them on display.

We walked across the Waco Suspension Bridge, which is actually one of the coolest places! It's part of the Chisolm Trail, originally constructed in 1870 as a toll bridge for wagons, pedestrians and cattle to cross the Brazos River.

We also went to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. It's a great place with tons of memorabilia from all sorts of Texas sports. There is an enormous, separate hall exclusively for the former Southwest Conference, where each school has its own exhibit. That was really neat!

We drove around Baylor campus. Their basketball arena with the gold roof is WAY cool!

We stopped at the university's bear habitat, where we (and several children) were very disappointed to discover there were no bears. There was a sign that said the staff take the bears on field trips out in the wild sometimes, so I hope they were having fun somewhere.

We stayed at the Hotel Indigo, which I very highly recommend! The hotel is beautiful and modern. The room was spacious and nice. The staff couldn't have been friendlier or more helpful. We had a view of the ALICO Building (where in downtown Waco does one NOT have a view of the ALICO Building- ha!), which we learned is the home of the American-Amicable Life Insurance Company (ALICO).

My favorite dinner was at Twisted Root Burger Co., which is everywhere in Texas EXCEPT Austin. Yummo!

We have a second Waco trip planned with Scott-n-Julie to do the Magnolia Market and Mammoth National Monument. Magnolia Market was close to our hotel, and even on an off-season Saturday, that place is overflowing with visitors. We'll be going during the week, thankyouverymuch!

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