I opt for the Deli at the Tremont. I know they give a discount to jurors.

I use to go to Minatos when it was at Madison and Charles and now i go to the Thai and sushi place which has moved into the same spot. It is a bit of a walk but a good deal and good food for lunch.

Most jurors get an hour or so tops for lunch, and that does not count the time it takes getting out of the courthouse (sometimes 10 min wait for elevator in both courthouses and usually no stair option), and then back in the courthouse, through security, and the elevator wait again (20 minutes total at least).

Best to eat close by - that only leaves you about 30 mins to walk somewhere, stand in long line, order, eat, and walk back.

Best bets for decent close food are Cypriana, Tremont Deli (walk fast), Java Joe's, and the canteen in Courthouse East (the old post office), which is known for its chicken salad and the proceeds I think go to charity. And there is a relatively okay deli with entrance near the metro stop at calvert and fayette, very nice people, no where to sit and eat, though.

Other places that don't have great food but if you're willing to brave it: Sugarbees, Song's Chicken, the chinese place across Baltimore St from Java Joe's. And there is a Quiznos and a Subway right near the courthouse, long lines at both.

Sounds like you work downtown Mary. Are you a secretary in the courthouse?

Walk three blocks to rosina gourmet. Water St. I believe.

If you are going to go as far as the Tremont deli, across the street in the food court are good Jamaican (usually slow, though) and edible pizza (usually pretty fast).

A block north is the mini-Dagwood in the WIE.

Were it winter, I'd say go one more block west to Park, and get some soup (fast) at Bouillabaisse Cafe.

kenny banya, if you don't get why asking someone with a female user name if they are a secretary at a courthouse that has women judges, lawyers, sheriffs, etc. is offensive and demeaning, I probably can't explain it to you.

Are you a janitor there, by any chance?

Mary says there's usually no stair option in the courthouse. I sincerely hope there's no fire or other emergency.

Lissa, with name like Kenny Banya (Seinfeld), I'm pretty sure the intent was to make an intentionally bad joke. There will be no need to call out the NOW Guard to suppress sexism.

And what's the deal with Ovaltine. The jar's round. The labels round. Why don't they call it Roundtine?

The Plaza Deli on St. Paul is a great spot. The Plaza Deli Reuben is fab-u-lous. There is a regular, numbered menu item reuben as well, but I heavily prefer the one that isn't on the numbered menu. The 10 percent discount and friendly service are a plus. Last time I had jury duty, they played Meet the Parents (uncensored) - talk about awkward. It was awesome.

RE: the stairs - if you are serving on the petit jury in the Mitchell Courthouse, all I found when I was there was the stair option. They have a beautiful staircase. The elevators were hard to find. I imagine that Mary was possibly refering to another courthouse, or another section of the Mitchell building. The stairs I found were on the north end (Calvert St) side of the building near the jury entrance to the building.

...And while I'm at it, let's not forget that two wrongs don't make a right, but three do.

I went sort of katti-cornered to the courthouse. Down some stairs. I'd tell you it's name if I could remember it because I did the salad bar and a bottle of water and it came to over $10. Geeze for 10 bucks there should be bread....

Oh, yeah! and some chick was working the room, asking for money!

Mary, you forgot the (minumum) 10-15 minutes it takes to find the ladies' room before the elevator!

RoCk, Lissa's not the only one who was offended. For me, I'm just not ever reading anything Kenny Banya has to say.

If you think about it, you'll know who Kenny Banya really is, and it's not RoCK. Don't let him pull your chain. EL

RoCK, if you think NOW is a bastion of feminism, you are about 35 years out of date.

They played Meet the Parents the day I was there! It was sometime around the middle of April.

Eve - it sounds like we were there around the same time! Did you notice the lady that snuck in the bathroom to take her smoke break a few times? Talk about bold - the bathroom was attached to the the jury waiting room.

As Bob UU pointed out, there are plenty of stairs in the main courthouse. The secondary courthouse (in the old Post Office building) is another story. I hate it when I get called to a courtroom in that building.

BobUU - I went to lunch from one of the court rooms in the Old Court House. None of the water fountains worked, nor the bottled water cooler. The Ladies' Room was down 3 dark halls and around 3 corners from the court room.

I didn't see any stairs in the Old Building. None.

Suzie's Soba on the corner of Calvert and Fayette caters to jurors (according to their stingy neon-marker sign).

Eve, there are stairs right next to the jury assembly room. Now I'm wondering which building you mean when you say Old Courthouse.

when i had a three-day jury duty last year, i went to suzie's soba one day and they didn't have very much on offer. i went to rosina gourmet one day and had an expensive but good sandwich. i went to werner's the third day, and had a decent lunch, but werner's has really changed since the new owners came in. cheaping out on a lot of things. ugh.

There is a courthouse to which potential (I'll guess that more than half those called on "my" day either never showed or were excused) jurors report. There is a building across what looks like a square. I believe I heard the building to which we did not report referred to as the Old Building.

OK, as long as we're on jury duty: when my group was led into the courtroom and assigned to sit in the seats on the right-side, the left side of the spectators seats was filled with people who were standing as close to the aisle as possible, glowering at us as we entered. It was, of course, a drug trial.

Lissa, as we've discussed before, most everything about me is 35 years out of date, which is not easy considering my body is only 34 years old.

I know this is weird, but I've been hoping to get called for Jury Duty since I turned 18 and registered to vote. How come I can't get a break when no one else wants to do it?!

No I am not a janitor there, but my friend Bob Saccamano is. Maybe I know who "Mary" is and was teasing her.

Or maybe I'm an insensitive male charicature. How can women be judges when they're too busy doing their nails, gabbing with other skirts, and buying hats?

Ugh, Mondays.

CantonKate, I've been called to jury duty each of the last three years. My wife, the PoliSci major has never been called. We moved out of the city three weeks ago... her papers arrived in the mail last Wednesday. It was perhaps, one of the funniest events of my life watching her realize what was inside that envelope.

CantonKate, I've always wanted to do jury duty (the more civic duty I do, the more right I have to complain), but I've only been called twice, and one of those times, I was moving out of state the week before.

I've been registered to vote for 26 years.

Lissa, if you're citizen when are you going to drop the Canadian spelling of parlour, humour, labour, and endour?

Yes, spelling words with needless "u's", watching hockey, and advocating single payer health plans. Why I even bet she is a fan of "kids in the hall" and has The Rush Box Set on cassette tapes. And there is rumor of a tatoo of Pierre Trudeau. It is obvious that Lissa is a Canuck, and it is ah-boot time we outed her as such

and Loverboy on 8-track

A Canuck Interlouper! How dare your people horde the high octane Molson! Oh wait, it's our arcane liquor laws in action there.

OMG, ain't it great that we don't have language police, like the Acadamie Francaise?

I love the Kids in the Hall, although I like Rick Mercer better. I'm not so big on Rush. The Tragically Hip and the Cocteau Twins are much better. I wouldn't actually mind a tattoo of Pierre Trudeau. I loved that man.

Yea, I figured everything but Rush would have been on target with you, but when it came to Canadian bands all I could think of was Rush, Red Rider and Brian Adams. I figured no one would get the Red Rider reference, and I didn't want to accuse anyone of being a fan of Brian Adams.

These Canadians are spooky. They walk among us and we can hardly tell, except for the flannel shirts and politeness.

Start talking incessantly about Trailor Park Boys and you'll get spotted.

I'm crushing your head.

An affectation for British or Canadian spelling seems to be a characteristic of certain denizens of the Sandbox, going all the way back to the late, lamented Robert (the Single One).

You all better back off or Lissa will start speaking in Anglo-Saxon.

Laura Lee, I have no doubt!

I live in the county, not the city, and have only actually had to appear for jury duty once in more than 30 years. My husband has never been called (I have a theory that it's because he's registered as an independent voter).

Eve, I can relate to the experience you describe. Years ago my car was stolen. They arrested a guy found driving it and we were called to the trial to testify that I had not given this guy permission to drive my car. We took our teenaged son along to give him a little lesson in the American justice system. Midway through the trial it became apparent that my car had been turned into a pimpmobile and the two guys who masterminded the whole thing were sitting behind us, commenting on the procedures while the skinny kid took the rap. Not exactly the lesson I had in mind!

Lissa,
I agree, the Tragically Hip are pretty good. Dan Aykroyd has been a big fan of theirs and promoted them in his House of Blues places.

I saw Rush in concert once. During the intermission, I accidentally caught the seat I was sitting in on fire. Back then, you could smoke in the Civic Center. I put it out quickly but still drew a cheer from the rest of the place.

RoCK, I appreciate your discretion. No one should be accused of being a Brian Adams fan. You might want to look up Two Dead Trolls in a Baggie or the Arrogant Worms. Especially the former's hig, "The War of 1812."

PCB Rob, I'm green with envy. That is so cool, catching your seat on fire at a Rush concert.

I should go find one of the sections of Beowulf on feasting, and copy and paste it in here. I'm sure you all would really enjoy it in the original.

PCB Rob, did you know that the Tragically Hip do a cameo role in "Men with Brooms," the world's only curling comedy? Awesome soundtrack, too.

the world's only curling comedy

Well, that's a relief!

Fly by night, away from here
Change my life again
Fly by night goodbye my dear
My ship isn'
t coming and I just cant pretend

What the hell am I talking about in that song? And more importantly, is it just me, or does everyone think it sounds like I took a hit of helium first?

the world's only curling comedy--is there a curling tragedy?

is there a curling tragedy?

Wouldn't that be redundant?

Mary is right about the time-sucking elevators.

If you are lucky enough to still be in the jury room at lunch, you can just exit out the St. Paul street side, no stairs or elevator.

But if you are in a courtroom on another floor, it's trickier. And if you are in Courthouse East (the old post office across Calvert from the courthouse with the jury room), there is no stair exit option unless you are on the second floor. And many times only one elevator is working and it's a 10 minute wait for the next one (which only holds about 6 people). The trick is to get on when you can, even if it's going the wrong direction; otherwise, it will be full when it comes back to your floor and then no lunch for you.

Oh, and bring a lot of hand sanitizer. There is often a lack of hand soap in the ladies' rooms.

The Beatles did an early comic take on curling in Help - a funny movie that's stood the test of time!

All the kids who took calculus in high school seemed to like Rush. I, however, never got either one.

RoCK, I took calculus in high school, but wasn't into Rush.

Then again, shortly after that I pissed off all of my math and science teachers by deciding to major in music in college.

How I ended up programming computers is a long and sordid story.

Rush was more for the Ann Rynd freaks.

Hal, I'm a medievalist by training. A friend once told me every medievalist she knew ended up working with computers in some intense fashion.

Besides, music is very mathy.

Lissa,
I went to the Rush show just because everyone else was really into them. To me, they were okay, but I wasn't a huge fan. We were in section 2, right up against the right wall of the Civic Center.

Rush decided that they would set themselves up a bit back from the edge of the stage, and had a huge fancy Persian rug laid out for Alex and Geddy to stand on whilst they did their show.
Because of this, we could only actually see them occasionally, when they ventured to the very front of the stage. So mostly we just saw a very brightly lit rug during their show.
At one point, I even fell asleep. The only time I ever took a snooze at a rock concert. And I have seen plenty.

Much to my friends' dismay, I always referred to Geddy as "the snooty-a$$ crooner".

I will say that they put on a very musically-tight show.

I think Rush has a lot of talent, but the band has always had a geek following.

SALESMEN!

SALESMEN!

OOOOOOHHHHHHH SALESMEN!

Lissa, I started off as a medievalist as well. (Wonder if there is a gene for that ...)

That sucks, PCB Rob. When you pay good money to see a band, you should get to see more than a rug.

Dahlink, I don't know, but my mother once told me she'd never have converted to Catholicism if she could have been a medievalist, so perhaps.

Why was Grendel able to waltz in and carry off a bunch of guys whenever he wanted? Because there was too much feasting (read: drinking) going on! But on the other hand, "Godes yrre baer" so he was going to lose in the end. Just sayin'.

On topic addition: there was a buffet on Calvert a block south of the courthouse which had an interesting variety of belly-fillin' food if one was adventurous. That was over a year ago, though. I don't know if it's still there.

My, what a...superficial reading of Beowulf. The mead and beer of the time was something like 2% alcohol, at best, so I'm sure those warriors were all just really, really drunk. Right.

Dang, Lissa, it was a joke.

Jules W., Why was Grendel able to waltz in and carry off a bunch of guys whenever he wanted? Maybe because without that there wouldn't be much of a plot? I always felt that the business with Grendel's Mere was a later addition--what do you think, Lissa? It felt somewhat tacked on to me.

Dahlink, the last section always felt a bit Christian to me. I wouldn't be surprised if a monk hadn't tacked it on.

On the other hand, how do we tell what is the authentic version in an oral culture?

Lissa, did you ever read J.R.R. Tolkien's criticism of Beowulf? If I recall correctly, he argued that the whole thing was informed by Christian ideas--but it has been decades since I read that.

Yes, Dahlink, I far prefer Tolkien's non-fiction to his fiction. His Beowulf criticism has stood up fairly well, and his paper on the monster in Beowulf is still read.

Since Beowulf was written down by Christian monks, it was certainly influenced by Christian ideas and concepts. A couple hundred years earlier, those nuances probably weren't there.

Tolkien was a Christian, too, and he also read nuances and subtext into Beowulf that I don't think were originally there.

I've got my own biases, though. That is one of the things about literature - the reader always filters it through their own experiences and culture.

Absolutely right on all points, Lissa. But I have a fondness for the Ring trilogy and the original Hobbit book. Maybe it's because the guy in college who first showed me The Hobbit used to greet me as his "furry-footed friend."

I loved the Hobbit and the LoTR the first time I read them. They were magical. The second time, I hated them.

Have tried a few times since, can't make it 6 pages.

No other books have done that to me. I read Watership Down once a year religiously for 10 years, read it again a few years ago, and while I no longer enjoyed it, it wasn't ruined.

I feel like such as an ignoramus. I have never read a book for a second time. Now I have gone back and read sections of books again, but never a cover to cover repeat.

I liked Lord of the Rings the second time. The early parts that were presaging later parts made a lot more sense having seen the later parts before.

I may possibly have read it a third time, but definitely not more than that.

I rarely ever read anything twice, but I make an exception for Jane Austen.

I've read To Kill A Mockingbird quite a few times and in different stages of my life too. It stands the test of time IMHO!

_To Kill a Mockingbird_ bored me to tears, possibly because I had to read it for school and am not a Southerner. It wasn't as bad as _Paradise Lost_, though.

Haven't managed to make it through any of Austen's books. My best friend, who has a degree in Jane Austen, thinks this makes me morally and intellectually bankrupt.

I hate Austin too. And furthermore, I also re-read Carl Hiaasen novels because I always forget how they ended.

Take that, Academia!

I loved To Kill A Mockingbird. I knew how everyone sounded and what the town looked like.

me too, Eve. And Gregory Peck in my mind WAS Atticus Finch.

And, that should have been "Austen" before - typo on my part!

Lissa, I'm with you on Milton, but we have to agree to disagree on my beloved Jane.

And Joyce W., I agree with you on "To Kill a Mockingbird"--both the book and the movie. For those who are curious about Harper Lee and why she never published another book, I can recommend "Mockingbird" by Charles Shields.

Thanks, Dahlink. I would very much like to read that. There are rumours that TKAM was actually penned by Capote who evidently was Harper Lee's close friend.

Joyce W., this book pretty much lays to rest that rumor about Capote writing Harper Lee's book, if I am recalling it correctly.

Did you see the movie "Capote" with Philip Seymour Hoffman as the title character and Catherine Keener as Harper Lee? Brilliantly done, we thought.

I've read the Hobbit and TLOTR more than once, and loved each journey. I've also read Stephen King's Dark Tower series more than once too, especially since it took him 30 years to complete it.

Lately though, I haven't been reading too many books. Been busy with the mags like Time and the Atlantic.

My latest Fantasy series addictions are the Vorkosigian Saga and the Honor Harrington's. Both are ripping good yarns, the latter in the style of Horatio Hornblower in space, the former...well, you have to read them to believe just how good they are. Oh, and Discworld, of course.

On a more highbrow level, nothing has grabbed me recently, unless reading all of Ruhlman's culinary books counts.