For a while now I have wanted to try out Hoover’s Cooking. Mainly because of their chicken fried steak. But also because they have a lot of good southern foods on the menu.

I had the homemade lemonade which was served in a large pitcher style cup. And I also had the chicken fried steak, butter beans, and mustard greens. Jon had the broiled catfish, mashed potatoes and gravy, and Caribbean rice. It was pretty good. But it left us too full to try out the desserts.

For lunch, I tried out the newer Salt Lick in Austin. It is located on 360 south of the bridge. And it is different enough from the original one. It is more upscale. Although they do still have BBQ plate choices… And they do offer to sell meat by the pound, which is nice.

I wonder what happened to the plans to open a branch in Round Rock next to the Dell Diamond?

Jon and I ran across this tiny electric car in the IBM parking garage.

How, odd. That is not what I expect from this neighborhood…

This thread on BGG got me motivated to get my old computer out of the closet and take a picture of it.

My what progress we have made… Have 101 programming tips & tricks books been around that long?

There was quite a surprise when I opened my malibou light to replace a burned out light bulb. I found a whole ecology inside! Of course, there was light and air, but also flora, predators and prey. My last surprise inside a Malibou light was an ant farm. It was filled to the brim with dirt… and ants.

My new mangler is definitely different than the old. I got a surprise stocking today. I wonder what Santa will give me… Heres hoping for a lump of Anthracite.

I went out to the Wurstfest for some beer and wurst. It is pretty amazing that the festival has been going on for 47 years now, yet this is the first time that I have gone. The drive might have something to do with it. It is in New Braunfels, Texas. Which is a 76 mile trip.

Once again I was a little bit worried when it sprinkled on the way down. It has not been raining here for a while now. Why does it have to rain when I go do something? Fortunately, it didn’t rain while we were walking around. And it only rained once very briefly when I was indoors.

I skipped eating breakfast in expectation of gorging myself silly at the fair. I started off with five different pieces of wurst on a stick. They were all pretty good. The last one surprised me since it was sweet. Was it a dessert wurst? Next up was the quintessential potato pancakes and applesauce. This was by far the most popular dish at the fair. The line was long (two lines — one on each side) and there were always people in line. But the wait for the pancakes to cook was worth it. On a whim, I tried the funnel cakes (shouldn’t that be funnel donuts?). It was tasty and greasy. But I should have gone with the theme and ordered some strudel.

The beer was great. I tried four different German beers on tap starting off with the Warsteiner Dunkel. Next was the Spaten Oktoberfest and then I tried the Paulaner Munich Lager. I finished with the Warsteiner Premium Lager.

The entertainment was okay. The best act was the Fire On The Mountain Cloggers. They were really energetic and high energy.

The only downer of the day was that I lost my phone! It must have slipped out of my pocket during one of the cramped seating sessions. Of course, I only noticed that it was missing on the way home…

Sigh. I guess that is fate telling me to get a new phone. Signing up for a new phone was not easy. Especially when you do not have a home phone. But fortunately I was finally able to get the web to work for both reinstating my phone number and resetting my iTunes password.

Almost cloudless day
Plane cleaves sky in half
Conundrum ensues!