Love in the Time of Radiation Poisoning

Austin Dispatches
 No. 139
 April 1, 2011

“Melanie Ordones Welker” decided to squelch my good mood in the middle of our third dance.

“You don’t have to keep looking at me during the dance,” she said.

I had to hear this while choreographing? My expression remained unchanged.

She swallowed and continued. “Some of the other women have been complaining about it to me, too. It unnerves even me.”

I was thinking of a response when the song ended. She placed her fingertips on my forearm – that perennial woman’s gesture of fake intimacy1 – and said something about complaining for my own good, so I could better enjoy dancing, before she scooted off the dance floor to talk to a friend.

That’s when I knew she was full of shit. Nobody actually criticizes you in the middle of what you’re doing for your own good. Most people can’t face that they’re deliberately antagonistic in such situations, so they spew self-exculpating verbiage. Women are particularly prone to this, usually in cars while a man is driving.

And we’d been interacting so well the past few months.  The start of that evening in February at Dallas Nite Club, during our greetings, she said she’d considered not coming out because of continuing dance-related aches and pains, but decided she ought to appear for the sake of her friends and acquaintances.

“Yeah, there’s nothing like sharing your misery with other people,” I said.

She stuck out her tongue. Then she laughed.

After our last dance, I wandered off the floor and out of Dallas, half annoyed, half amused, to ponder my response. I don’t need someone’s pique disrupting a social network I’ve so painstakingly cultivated. I know how women gossip. But immediate direct confrontation, which could be spun to make me seem the antagonist, was always an unrealistic option.2 Her criticism was wrong, too. 

For whatever reason, all my life people have just blurted out what they think of me. They do this even when more circumspection would be best for them. Regardless, women in my life have commented on my “staring,” but subsequent dialog revealed it wasn’t quite the issue it seemed at first blurt. Miss KT mentioned it early in our love affair. 

“It’s like you can see into my soul,” she said.

“Oh, is that what I’m looking at.”

“You have major attitude! Why do you have such attitude?”

“’Cause I’m Dan Eisler, baby.”

“Do you have a legitimate reason?”

If Welker were as unnerved as she claimed, she’d never present a cheek for me to buss as a greeting, never laugh at my jokes, and never ask me to dance.

Welker didn’t name these other women, but if they’re who I think they are, I was disinclined to dance with them already. Because they’re the kind who’ll always find something to bitch about. Who the fuck needs them? That’s partly how “Padma Botelho” flunked her screening for girlfriend potential.  She couldn’t follow my lead or anyone else’s – a common problem with contemporary women on the dance floor – and then complained afterward. Botelho finally complained once too often, so I stopped enduring her: stopped asking her to dance, stopped talking to her, and stopped acknowledging her presence, even though on the scene she’d become a regular … but not an insider. This distinction determined my response. If she’d figured out what happened, any complaints to the other women wouldn’t impact me. In the same situation with an insider, I’d have to be friendlier, though I still wouldn’t ask her to dance. I still thought Botelho might catch on, but she never has. As a bonus, she’s turned exceedingly grateful the few times since that I’ve deigned to acknowledge her, and even dance with her, almost always at her request. She’s even improved as a dancer. Best of all, I don’t have deal with her fucking attitude.3 

(At this point, you’re probably wondering why I complain about some woman having an attitude when I flaunt mine. I do shtick, which is different from being some genuinely chronic miserable asshole, or in the case of a woman, a bitch.)

In a related twist, that night at Dallas, I witnessed Botelho and Welker become acquainted after all these years of attending the same dances. I worried that their talking to each other might lead to one or both having an epiphany. Somehow I think they’d be irked, rather than relieved, if they realized I thought they weren’t good enough for me. But a couple of weeks later, I calculatedly danced with Botelho, and concluded she was still oblivious. She didn’t even remember the substance of their conversation – assuming it had any.

When I go out, I must look at women to read their body language. This practice has saved me a lot of time and rejection. I’ve witnessed several dancers, far better than me, consistently turned down because they don’t use this technique. Whereas women will dance with me about 90 percent of the time I ask. Once on the floor, I can gauge how the dance fares by their expressions. I can also flirt as part of the dance. Judging from their expressions over the years, my partners really enjoy that.4 

Finally, I consulted a couple of women friends of mine about Welker’s plaint. They both laughed. One said I have what the romance novels call a “piercing gaze” – not to be confused with what happens in a San Francisco tattoo parlor.

So what have I done about what Welker said? Nothing. What have I done about Welker? I avoided her for about six weeks, not all of it deliberately. I stayed away from salsa socials she organizes, with lessons in exchange for a cut of the door fee. She needs that money, too, because she’s been out of work for a long time. So a relationship that once held the prospect of romance has degenerated into a struggle for dominance and money – like everything else in life these days. 

Nevertheless, enough alternate venues sustained my regular excursions. What’s more, her friends on the salsa scene haven’t exactly been reluctant to dance with me since that night. If anything, they might’ve been a little more eager than before. They also haven’t said anything negative about my appraising looks.

Finally, I attended a black-and-white-dress salsa social Welker hosted on the 23rd downtown at Enzo’s, an Italian restaurant and nightspot better than the early reviews indicated. (“Melanie, you’re looking duochromatic this evening.”)

Welker was really happy to see me, but I ignored her for most of the evening. She asked me to dance around the time I would’ve been planning to leave anyway. She didn’t complain or bring up our last dance.

“It’s good to see you again,” she said at the song’s conclusion.

I could tell in her eyes she meant it. She also knew something was wrong, but didn’t know what. Probably forget all about her prior outburst. But I left satisfied matters had returned to the status quo ante.

Austin Death Watch

Austin’s power elite is back to bickering openly in a way not seen since councilwoman Jennifer Kim’s re-election defeat three years ago.  Turns out the chiefs of diversity, women and nonwhites especially, hold the same low regard for each other they do for straight white men.5

While they’re playing a new round of “my group is more aggrieved than yours,” the elite is still so ensconced in power that it can continue with impunity to mismanage the city and surrounding territory, in all types of substantive matters.

The Mar. 20 Statesman asks whether the South by Southwest festival has outgrown Austin’s capacity.6 We at Austin Dispatches have been pointing this out for years.7 In fact, downtown Austin just isn’t arranged to handle any sort of big event, or even two mid-sized events simultaneously, without creating gridlock that effects Interstate 35 and MoPac Expressway.8 One bright note is that City budget cuts axed First Night Austin, the family oriented New Year’s Eve downtown.9 

The Texas Transportation Institute rates Austin’s normal traffic the third-worst in America.10 That’s saying something, when compared to Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Texas;  Los Angeles and Seattle – all cities where I’ve driven. The Texas Transportation Department wants to shift large trucks from the local stretch of Interstate 35 to the State Highway 130 toll road. This was the original intent, but the trucking companies have calculated it’s still cheaper to use I-35. Now TxDOT wants to lower the tolls by 25 percent, but it’s constrained by its bond obligations when it borrowed money to build SH 130.11 Also, TxDOT concluded lowering the tolls won’t actually improve I-35’s congestion.12 Atop it all, Statesman columnist Ben Wear reports the toll authorities’ own records show tens of thousands of accounts with multiple unpaid tolls. Recently, one Plugerville man stiffed TxDOT about 4,000 times, racked up more than $80,000 in fees and fines, and after conviction on a single count of not paying a $1.60 toll, walked out of court having paid a total of $410: toll, fine, and court costs.13 

Meanwhile, the City Council voted to extend parking meter charges into evenings and Saturdays.14 A twit on Twitter wondered why only two people showed up at the Council meeting to oppose the decision.15 That’s because everyone else was looking for a parking space. Meanwhile, the City Code Compliance Department has cited Casa de Luz, macrobiotic restaurant, spa, and all-around holistic alternative center, for not having enough parking spaces.16 

Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, has introduced a bill to permit privately run toll lanes for U.S. Highway 183 and MoPac Expressway. The MoPac lane between Lady Bird Lake and Parmer Lane would be in the middle. Too bad if you have to change lanes.17

Instead, you could join the 800 people who actually use MetroRail, but Cap Metro would be unhappy about that. Because now Cap Metro is fretting the trains will be overcrowded.18 Already a train collided with a truck in Cedar Park on Mar. 24.19

In other infrastructure matters, Austin Water’s plan for water conservation would cost the utility $100 million in lost revenue by 2020.20 Rolling blackouts hit Austin Feb. 2 during the freeze – but I’ll describe that later.21

Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo fired yet another officer, this time for ignoring a 911 call about an impending suicide to eat dinner instead and then lying about it during the internal investigation.22 At this rate, Acevedo will have fired every cop in town and we can abolish the police department at considerable savings to the annual City budget. Besides, the Statesman reports the police solve only 5 percent of burglaries.23

Robert Jensen, last seen in Austin Dispatches waxing wroth over hetereonormative pornography,  declaimed in a Feb. 10 lecture that “examined the demise of the American dream and his concern of the public’s inability to recognize its downfall.”24 Granted, Jensen is a poster boy for just the sort of pointy headed pseudo-intellectual that gives Austin – and academia – a bad name, but where’s this credentialed fool been the last four years?  The public’s discourse has been preoccupied with the downfall of the American dream, even if it can’t agree on the causes beyond the Obama administration.  Jensen said all this during our below-freezing weather while wearing a T-shirt, according to the photo with the Daily Texan’s Web version of the story. Maybe he planned to die of hypothermia to atone for U.S. imperialism.

In the real world, the Statesman has concluded Travis County’s only the 57th most “liberal” (i.e., social democratic) in the United States, well behind such predictable cesspools as Marin County, Calif., and New York County, a.k.a. Manhattan Burough.25 The local “liberals” are “liberal” only so far as they can beat other people in social status games and insulate themselves from the effects of their foolish public policies.26 Beyond that, they only care about them and theirs, and the rest of us can get fucked. The lower ranking is also helped because the sort of people who usurped power in Travis County in the early ‘70s, to vex and oppress the rest of us, have been appearing in the obituaries with increasing frequency.  

Three years after an arson fire at the Governor’s Mansion, state police think a local anarchist group did it.27 This speculation presumes real contemporary anarchists are capable of anything besides figurative self-immolation. Verloc they ain’t.28

The Statesman reports a “nonprofit that operates education and job training programs for youths is struggling with severe money problems that have led to layoffs, sporadic employee paychecks, bad debt and trouble with” its regulatory agency.29 Sounds like the kids are getting a real introduction to the modern workplace.30 

Political Follies

Kris Bailey, candidate for the Place 3 Council seat, hopes to challenge the elite’s approach to governance. However, all news sources for his Jan. 29 campaign kickoff downplayed the real story: the re-appearance of A.Whitney Brown, years after the ‘80s yuppie WASP, mainly associated with “Saturday Night Live” during its first extended stretch of being insufficiently funny, had stopped impinging on my consciousness.31 “Brown, who now lives in Austin, said he came by his support for Bailey and opposition to marijuana laws honestly, having been busted in Texas years ago for possession of two joints, for which he served a year in prison.”32

Not only did a hitch in the hoosegow fail to wipe the smirk off Brown’s face, but it cost us taxpayers to keep him there, and failed to keep him from returning to Texas.33 He shouldn’t’ve been jailed for pot possession.34 He should’ve been executed for his abysmal attempts at comedy. Dying before an audience every Saturday night isn’t enough.

Bailey’s announcement overlapped the last business of the 2010 elections: Republican insurgent Dan Neil finally conceded defeat to incumbent Democratic Donna Howard in House District 48, after the extended recount process whittled her lead from 16 down to four votes. If Howard hadn’t sought office to begin with, the whole ordeal could’ve been avoided.35 

Cultural Canapés

The state budget shortfall is finally prompting second thoughts about offering incentives for filmmakers, TV producers, game developers and commercial creatives to shoot in Texas. That reopens the wound from box office hit “Machete,” which was denied state incentive funds last year because of its racial content. In the narrative promoted by the Chronicle and the Texas Observer, it’s obvious that government should subsidize the arts, even commercially viable projects, and only mean, evil people like Alex Jones could object to subsidies for depictions of Mexicans slaughtering whites.36 

Now, I saw “Machete” in the theater opening day and think it’s one of the 11-best flicks of 2010. (Although, since I saw only a dozen 2010 releases, my comments could be mistaken for damning with faint praise.) But Mexicans might object to a couple of guys named Rodriguez portraying them as dumb, inept, prone to violence with and without the influence of mind-altering substances, and standing around with their thumbs up their asses until some mean-looking guy shows up and tells them what to do. These are the shock troops for the Reconquista?

Moreover, the historic rationale for Mexican animosity is erroneous. The Mexican government invited gringos into places like Texas37 because most Mexicans sensibly avoided an area inhabited by coyotes, roadrunners, marauding Indians, and cacti,38 for which the U.S. government later paid its counterpart a total of $25 million, back when the dollar was worth something.39 But you don’t hear Mexicans sympathizing for the Indians.  The few Tejanos around had a disproportionate influence on Texas culture,40 and were the leading advocates for Texas seceding from a Mexico under the dictatorship of Santa Anna.41 Mexicans didn’t start crossing the international border (not the other way around) and staying in significant numbers until the Second Mexican Civil War erupted in 1910.42 The history espoused in “Machete” only exists in the minds of teachers running ethnic grievance programs at state colleges, and successful writer-directors.

If Robert Rodriguez really wants to be edgy, he can make a vigilante movie based on the crime news from Cleveland, Texas. A group of black teen-agers raped an 11-year-old Mexican girl and recorded it on their cell phones. Whites in the judicial system and the media have been trying to obscure the story to avoid a brown vs. black race war.43 For example, the Mar. 30 Statesman reprints a New York Times article that omits the race of the assailants.44 For their part, the blacks have been complaining about “white racism.”45 Somehow I doubt Rodriguez has the cojones to cinematically exploit the situation.

On the Town

St. Patrick’s Day, I returned home after insufficient luck with the colleens at a salsa social where less than half the crowd wore green. In the apartment parking lot, a drunk couple dressed all in black thought I was their designated driver, snuck up the driver’s side of the car to surprise me, but only momentarily, as my training and sobriety restored my advantage in seconds.46 Even in his drunken stupor, the “man” of the couple realized his mistake and attempted to apologize, staggering forward to shake with his free hand. “Sorry about that, dude.”

But he just annoyed me further. These dumbasses had no idea how close they came to death. 

“Back off,” I snapped in a tone usually deployed for disciplining dogs, and fixed them both with a jailhouse stare. They whined further but edged away as I maintained my guard.

Neighborhood News

e139fig1 The morning of Feb. 4, children and pets frolicked in the powdery, 2-inch snow, the first in four years.47  The happy mood didn’t last, of course. By late afternoon, when the snow melted to reveal the blond grass yard segments at the complex, a sprinkler pipe in my building burst and triggered the smoke alarms. We adults sauntered out of their apartments and stood around scowling at each other while the maintenance crew fixed the problem. Then a water pipe burst and deprived us of water, hot or cold.

A week later, my refrigerator conked out and the maintenance crew had to replace it.

Police have charged a high school chick with the Feb. 15 robbery of a Chase Bank near Parmer and Metric Boulevard.48 On Feb. 28, I witnessed the aftermath of a frontal collision at Gracy Farms Lane and Stonehollow Drive. On Mar. 21, I witnessed the aftermath of an auto collision at Gracy Farms and the northbound frontage road of MoPac.

Borders is closing its bookstore at The Domain as part of the chain’s bankruptcy reorganization.49 Sodade Coffee House has closed in the Gracy Farms Center strip mall.50 An Asian supermarket at Parmer and Metric has closed.51

H-E-B altered the layout in the back its store at The Market at Parmer shopping plaza. Ownership of the Austin Commons strip mall has changed hands.52 Aloft hotel at The Domain reopened after water damage from Tropical Storm Hermine in October.53

A Fiat dealership and a styling salon have opened at The Domain.54 A medical clinic and coffee shop/networking space have opened nearby.55 St. David’s North Austin Medical Center launched an institute for robotic surgery within the center.56 A computer store replaces the Fashion Cleaners at the Stonehollow Place strip mall.57 Big Daddy’s burger joint replaces Bagpipes Pub in the Crossroads shopping center.58 Furniture store Copenhagen Imports moved to Braker Lane where Eurway used to be.59

Also at Crossroads, I’m getting into fighting trim at the new James Bond Fitness, by playing baccarat for several hours with shadowy tycoons bent on world domination, followed by a pack of cigarettes and two vodka martinis (shaken, not stirred).60 

Business Roundup

Tom Davis the Pagan pontificated Feb. 19 at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin about how to prepare for the inevitable unavailability of oil and global warming.61 Davis is the type who’s always wrong about everything, so much so you wonder how he ever survived to old age.  Anyway, the important thing is that since he believes we’re running out of oil, that means it’s far more plentiful and accessible than is generally acknowledged, and you’ll have to dump your energy investments at their peak, sooner rather than later.62

Home
 Archives

NOTES
1 Wolfe, Tom. The Bonfire of the Vanities. New York City: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1987: 317.
2 Browne, Harry. How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World: A Handbook for Personal Liberty, rev. ed. Great Falls, Mont.: Liam Works, 1998: Ch. 18.
3 James, Darius. That's Blaxploitation! Roots of the Baadasssss 'Tude (Rated X by an All-Whyte Jury). New York City: St. Martin's Press, 1995: 113.
4 Caro, Mike. Caro’s Book of Poker Tells: The Psychology and Body Language of Poker, 2nd rev. ed. New York City: Mike Caro University of Poker/Cardoza Publishing, 2003.
5 King, Michael. “Expiation Day.” AC 11 Mar. 2011: 16.
6 Corcoran, Michael, and Ricardo Gandara. “Injuries, Angry Fans, Unofficial Overflow Hit Sour Notes.” AAS 20 Mar. 2011: A1+; Plohetski, Tony. “Austin Gets SXSWamped.” AAS 19 Mar. 2011, final ed.: A1+.
7 AD No. 26 (Apr. 27, 2001); AD No. 91n1 (Jul. 2, 2006); AD No. 105 (Feb. 27, 2008).
8 AD No. 108 (Apr. 28, 2008); AD No. 138 (Jan. 13, 2011); Prochaska, Hedda. “SXSW: Friend or Foe?” Austin Lifestyle Mar./Apr. 2011: 52.
9 AD No. 89 (Mar. 29, 2006); Faires, Robert. “First Night Austin.” AC 8 Oct. 2010: 37.
10 Wear, Ben. “Austin Rises to 3rd on Bad Traffic List, Though Level of Congestion Has Idled.” AAS 21 Jan. 2011, final ed.: A1+.
11 Ayala, Melissa. “Proposal May Cut Traffic, Add Tolls.” DT 3 Feb. 2011: 1-2; Dirr, Jacob. “TxDOT Considering Reducing SH 130 Toll Rate for Truckers.” ABJ 21 Jan. 2011: 5+.
12 Wear. “Texas 130 Toll Break Likely for Truckers but Might Not Move Many.” AAS 24 Feb. 2011: B1.
13 Wear. “No Swift Justice for Those Skipping Out on Their Tolls.” AAS 28 Mar. 2011: B1.
14 Wear. “No More Free Parking at Night.” AAS 4 Mar. 2011: B1.
15 Dunbar, Wells. “Under Advisement.” AC 11 Mar. 2011: 18.
16 Kanin, Mike. “Have Customers, Need Macrobiotic Parking.” AC 11 Mar. 2011: 24.
17 Wear. “Privately Run Toll Roads Back in Fast Lane.” AAS 24 Mar. 2011, final ed.: A1+.
18 Dunbar. “Cap Metro: The Fewer the Merrier.” AC 17 Sep. 2010: 18-19; Wear. “Packed Trains Are Mixed Blessing for MetroRail.” AAS 20 Mar. 2011: A1.
19 Nichols, Lee. “MetroRail vs. Pickup Truck.” AC 1 Apr. 2011: 24; “None Hurt in MetroRail Collision.” AAS 25 Mar. 2011, final ed.: B2.
20 Dunbar. “Austin Water: The High Cost of Saving.” AC 4 Feb. 2011: 16.
21 Baltimore, Chris. “Bitter Cold Brings Rolling Blackouts.” The Austin Times 4 Feb. 2011: 1; Copelin, Laylan et al. “Questions Loom About Outages.” AAS 4 Feb. 2011, final ed.: A1+; Munir, Huma. “University Power Plant Guards Against Blackouts.” DT 3 Feb. 2011: 1-2; Plohetski et al. “Blackouts Roil Central Texas.” AAS 3 Feb. 2011, final ed.: A1+.
22 Plohetski. “Officer Fired Over Handling of Suicide Case.” AAS 21 Jan. 2011, final ed.: A1+.
23 Vail, Isadora. “Big Problem, Little Justice.” AAS 25 Mar. 2011, final ed.: A1+.
24 James, William. “UT Professor Talks of Strife American Acts Create in the World.” DT 11 Feb. 2011: 5.
25 Selby, W. Gardner. “Travis County Is Hardly the Most Liberal in the Land.” AAS 16 Feb. 2011: B1+.
26 Sowell, Thomas. The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy. New York City: Basic Books, 1995.
27 Smith, Jordan. “Naked City.” AC 25 Feb. 2011: 16; Ward, Mike, and Steven Kreytak. “Three Tied to Arson Inquiry.” AAS 18 Feb. 2011: B1.
28 Conrad, Joseph [Jósef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski]. The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale, rev. ed. 1921. Rpt. New York City: The Modern Library, 2004.
29 Ball, Andrea. “A Wrench in the Youthworks.” AAS 28 Mar. 2011, final ed.: A1+.
30 Gordon, David M. Fat and Mean: The Corporate Squeeze of Working Americans and the Myth of Managerial Downsizing. New York City: Martin Kessler Books/The Free Press, 1996; Meyer, G.J. Executive Blues: Down and Out in Corporate America. New York City: Franklin Square Press, 1995.
31 Shales, Tom, and James Andrew Miller. Live From New York: An Uncensored History of “Saturday Night Live”, 1st. ed. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 2002: 569.
32 King. “Teapot Partying With Bailey.” AC 4 Feb. 2011: 18.
33 Perkinson, Robert. Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire. New York City: Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt and Co., 2010: 246-306.
34 Szasz, Thomas. Our Right to Drugs: The Case for a Free Market. New York City: Praeger, 1992.
35 Eaton, Tim. “Neil Ends Contested Seat Fight.” AAS 19 Mar. 2011: B1+; Hicks, Nolan. “Austin Democrat Secures Seat With a 16-Vote Victory Margin.” DT 9 Nov. 2010: 2; Whittaker, Richard. “Howard Wins in a Squeaker.” AC 18 Feb. 2011: 18; Whittaker. “Victory for Howard, Travis County.” AC 25 Mar. 2011: 20.
36 Rosenblatt, Josh. “Revenge of the B-Movie.” Texas Observer 21 Jan. 2011: 22-23; Whittaker. “Is That a Wrap for Incentives?” AC 28 Jan. 2011: 38-40.
37 Fehrenbach, T.R. Seven Keys to Texas, rev. ed. El Paso, Texas: Texas Western Press, 1986: 3.
38 White, Richard. "It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own": A New History of the American West. Norman, Okla.: U of Oklahoma P, 1991: Ch. 2.
39 Kluger, Richard. Seizing Destiny: How America Grew From Sea to Shining Sea. New York City: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007: 502-503; White, op. cit., 82.
40 Fehrenbach. Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans, rev. ed. New York City: Da Capo Press, 2000: Ch. 36.
41 Fehrenbach, T.R. Lone Star, op. cit., 182, 186, 200, 223; Lewis, Ann S. “The Other ‘Alamo.’ ” AC 16 Jan. 2004: 49.
42 Irving, Clifford. Tom Mix and Pancho Villa. New York City: St. Martin's Press, 1982; Stowell, Jay S. The Near Side of the Mexican Question. New York City: George H. Doran Co., 1921: 106-107; Womack, John Jr. Zapata and the Mexican Revolution. New York City: Alfred A. Knopf, 1969.
43 Goines, Donald. Cry Revenge. Los Angeles: Holloway House Publishing Co., 1974.
44 McKinley, James C., and Erica Goode. NYT. “Girl Was Repeatedly Raped Over Several Months, Police Say.” AAS 30 Mar. 2011: B1+.
45 Horswell, Cindy. “Cleveland on Edge After Rape Charges.” HC 11 Mar. 2011: 1.
46 Street Smarts, Firearms and Personal Security: Jim Grover's Guide to Staying Alive and Avoiding Crime in the Real World. Boulder, Colo.: Paladin Press, 2000.
47 Plohetski. “Wearing Winter White.” AAS 5 Feb. 2011, final ed.: A1+.
48 “Woman Charged in Robbery.” AAS 16 Feb. 2011: B2.
49 “Headlines.” AC 18 Feb. 2011: 14; “In the News.” CIN Feb. 2011: 5.
50 AD No. 109n14 (May 11, 2008); “Impacts.” CIN Mar. 2011: 5.
51 “Impacts.” CIN Mar. 2011: 5.
52 Deis, Amy. “Austin Commons Development Gets a Houston-Area Buyer.” CIN Mar. 2011: 1+; Dirr. “Projects Slated for N. Austin.” ABJ 4 Mar. 2011: A3+.
53 AD No. 130n29 (Feb. 17, 2010); “Now Open.” CIN Mar. 2011: 4.
54 “Now Open.” CIN Mar. 2011: 4.
55 “Now Open.” CIN Jan. 2011: 4.
56 Roser, Mary Ann. “St. David’s Bringing Robotics Institute to Austin.” AAS 24 Mar. 2011, final ed.: A1+.
57 AD No. 72 (Oct. 24, 2004); AD No. 134n54 (July 10, 2010).
58 “Closed.” CIN Mar. 2011: 5.
59 “Relocation.” CIN Mar. 2010: 5.
60 Dr. No. Eon Productions, 1962; Griswold, John. Ian Fleming’s James Bond: Annotations and Chronologies for Ian Fleming’s Bond Stories, rev. ed. Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, 2006: 320.
61 Renovitch, James. “Calendar.” AC 18 Feb. 2011: 62.
62 Gold, Thomas. The Deep Hot Biosphere. New York City: Copernicus, 1999.