Fixtures

El Jarro de Arturo, July 19, 2008

San Antonio is getting weird on me. 700 Executive AT&T Jobs are leaving for Dallas because the airport is shitty. Traffic is just awful (congestion nearly everywhere on a Saturday) and there are virtually no public transportation options that come across as reasonably convenient -- Leaving the parking lot of El Jarro de Arturo, I saw a woman sitting there waiting on the access road for a bus. I have never seen a bus on that road. I wonder how long she waited. The rising price of gas is obnoxious, too; most of us are used to cheap gas, but as it hovers near $4 per gallon, people are getting a little crazy. There are more cyclists on the road than ever (yet you are still just as annoying! Lobby for bike lanes and wait for them before you ride in the middle of traffic) and fuel costs are a topic for daily discussion.

Nearly everything about this city sucks at change.

Sometimes, however, it's a good thing:

I'm glad there are places like El Jarro that are still around. Yes, El Jarro has upgraded the sign and expanded the patio, but the inside has been the same for as long as I've been alive. Waiters that can remember your usual for years are a blessing. It's the kind of place that doesn't exist outside of its local market -- it is too authentic to be a novelty.

The rest of the city is not so much a blessing.