Lincolnite

I'm leaving for San Antonio this afternoon. We'll drive to either Oklahoma City or Dallas, stay the night, and then continue on to San Antonio in the morning. Tomorrow night we'll watch the Huskers play UCLA at the Alamodome, and we'll probably watch the earlier game as well. Friday we'll do touristy stuff. Friday night we're going to the Capital of Texas Nebraskans' Husker Huddle:

Friday, December 16, 2005 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Steers & Beers Steakhouse 849 E. Commerce, #101 Rivercenter Mall (on the Riverwalk) San Antonio, Texas

Stop by if you'll be in the area. You should be able to find me pretty easily; I'll be the one in red. Assuming Thursday night brings good news, on Saturday we'll probably hang around the downtown/Riverwalk area to get primed for that evening's match. After the match -- and the appropriate amount of celebration -- we'll hop in the car and drive through the night. We should be back Sunday afternoon. I'm going to try to blog throughout the trip, so hopefully I'll be posting photos and updates periodically. That assume's my father's laptop doesn't crap out on me, though. One of these days I'll get my own laptop... Are any of you headed to San Antonio? If so, it'd be great to see you at the Husker Huddle. If not, I hope you plan to try to catch the matches on TV. GBR.

The school board went and did it: Lincolnites will vote on a $250 million bond issue on February 14, 2006. I hope they know what they're doing.

I was pleased to see Lincoln On Board this evening while grocery shopping at Russ's on Washington and 17th. Lincoln On Board is based on the "Monopoly" game, where you can buy property, accrue wealth, etc.. Predictably, the 3 food establishments you could buy were Runza, Valentino's and Lazlo's. The list of sponsors (who appear on the real estate) is available at Leadership Lincoln's site. Example, "you ran out of gas, go to U-Stop" etc. I was surprised to see that, if memory serves me - the University of Nebraska was "for sale" as well. Perhaps a subconscious nod to the Dave Hergert debacle? In anycase, although I'm a bit old for these sorts of games, it may make for a nice gift for any City of Lincoln fanatics out there (Mr. Wilson, etc.). It is also noted that proceeds go to Leadership Lincoln, an organization I am somewhat familiar with that does good things, particularly in their youth programs. And no, I am not a member or alumni of Leadership Lincoln.

Matthew Koso today pled guilty to the crime of first-degree sexual assault of a child. The crime is punishable by one to 50 years in prison. Methinks we won't be seeing Mr. Koso for a while.

Mayor Queen Seng finally went public with her decision to veto any City Council decision in favor of building a Wal-Mart at 84th and Adams. Seng's decision is ostensibly based on the notion that Wal-Mart is inappropriate for a "neighborhood center" commercial area. The reality is that Seng, like many community leaders around the country, thinks that Wal-Mart -- rather, another Wal-Mart -- isn't "good enough" for Lincoln. She is wrong. Lincoln is not in a position to be picky about who chooses to conduct business here. Yet time after time Lincoln's civic leaders choose to take business-unfriendly positions, robbing the community of countless tax and investment dollars. Gallup fled to Omaha. Tractor Supply Company chose Waverly. And on and on. Seng's arguments against Wal-Mart ring hollow. She complains that a Wal-Mart is not consistent with the typical "neighborhood center" in Lincoln. Commercial area designations in the Comprehensive Plan -- "neighborhood center", "community center", and "regional center" -- are suggestions, not hard and fast rules. Seng knows that, as does anybody who has paid attention to land use in Lincoln over the years. The Comprehensive Plan is amended and outright violated all the time. That's how it should be; market forces are much better indicators of appropriate land use than are planners looking into their crystal balls several years or decades down the line. Seng complains that a Wal-Mart could increase traffic to the point that new roads will be required. Note that word "could". It's a classic lazy argument. It means "I don't actually know, but I'll plant the idea in your head to try to sway your opinion." Even if improved transportation infrastructure is required, it would not be inconsistent with expectations for that area. It's a growing area (hence Wal-Mart's desire to build there). Improved roads are a certainty with or without Wal-Mart. Blaming the need for new roads on Wal-Mart alone is a red herring. Seng also frets that a neighborhood center should have, as the article puts it, "a variety of stores and services, similar to the neighborhood center at 27th Street and Nebraska [Highway] 2, with a Russ's, Shopko and other assorted stores." Nowhere is it written that a) those services are required in a neighborhood center, or b) that those services must be provided by separate stores. A Wal-Mart Supercenter offers the exact same services as the Russ's, Shopko, bank, and restaurants at 27th & Highway 2. Wal-Mart's crime? Putting all of those services into one store. I am also angry with Seng for playing political games with this process by refusing to state her position until yesterday, forcing the City Council to delay their vote for a week, and confusing the developers. Once again Seng's actions demonstrate her anti-economic development worldview. I'm not saying that Wal-Mart is the best option for 84th & Adams. I don't know what the best option is. But Mayor Seng is playing political games and offering lame excuses for wanting to deny millions of dollars of economic input into the local economy. There are intellectually honest reasons to oppose the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter at 84th & O that don't rely on anti-Wal-Mart hysteria and elitist conceptions of what's "good" for the community. Colleen Seng has not offered up a single one.

A rumor is floating around the office that two puma sightings have been reported in Lincoln, one in Wilderness Park and one near 14th & Superior. I can't say that I'm surprised. There's certainly plenty of food (deer, for example) to go around, and the regional puma population has been increasing over the years. I'm actually a little excited by the prospect of puma in the area. I love wildlife -- even the scary slash-your-throat-and-eat-you kind. Public safety comes first, though, so although I certainly don't want this (these?) puma(s) to be killed, I understand there's a good chance that's what will happen.

I may not be reading Senator Ben Nelson's comments correctly, but doesn't it sound like he pretty much agrees with President Bush's Iraq strategy (err, "strategy")?

The Bush administration needs to establish "measurable goals and standards" that guide gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops as Iraq increases its own military capability, Ben Nelson says. "We can’t just pull up stakes and leave," the Democratic senator said in a Lincoln interview. "We shouldn't cut and run," he said. "But Iraq has to win the war."

Odd that our Democratic senator echoes our Republican president's remarks, while our Republican senator sounds more like a Democrat on this issue.

The Journal Star reports that Nebraska is in the top half of states in terms of households with internet access. We sit at 23rd among the states. What really caught my eye was the statistic that only 55 percent of Nebraska households have internet access. 55 percent. I can't believe nearly one-half of Nebraska's households don't have internet access. Clearly I have been a spoiled, spoiled man.

If you are reading this post, you've arrived at Lincolnite's new server. Welcome! I'll be working on technical matters for the rest of the weekend to make sure nothing was lost during the server transition. If you think something got goofed up during the move, I'd really appreciate if you would drop me a note in the comments. Thanks!

Today marks the three thousand two hundred eighty seventh day The Missus and I have been a couple. (That's 9 years to those of you who don't feel like dividing by 365.) Our first date was lunch at the Village Inn on Van Dorn Street. We had just finished marching in a very chilly Star City Holiday Parade with the LSE marching band. (Take THAT you ninnies!) Like a typical boy, I was way too nervous at the time to remember much of anything about the date. The Missus, on the other hand, like a typical woman, recalls every tiny detail: what we wore, what we ate, and so on. It was a mere one month later that we first held hands. I know, I know, we were depraved. Holding hands after only one month? Horrors! Surely we shall wind up in heck. The Missus and I are going to mark the start of our tenth year together with a quiet dinner at The Oven, probably followed by dessert at Ivanna Cone. Feel free to drop in at either place and pay our bill for us. (Kidding!)

G'day, all! Sorry I've not been posting very often lately. I've been programming some backend code for the soon-to-be-opened Events section, and whatever spare time I've been left with has been consumed by shopping for a new host for this website. I've been dying to comment on a few happenings around Lincoln, though, so here are some quick thoughts, in no particular order:

• I'm still disappointed that the School Board wants to try to rush a bond issue for a February special election. I'm very concerned about the very real possibility of its failure.
• Why are certain figures in city government against a new McDonald's and gas station/convenience store on Capital Parkway, across from Lincoln High? Two words: elitist snobbery.
• Isn't it funny how Lincolnites claim to want economic development Downtown, and yet so many Lincolnites are against the sale and renovation of the K Street power plant and/or the McDonald's and gas station I mentioned above? Curious. Very curious.
• Mayor Seng attends ribbon cuttings and banquets and light turnings-on (like the Friday lighting of Sunken Gardens). Does she actually do any, y'know, mayor-y things? She is more of a figurehead than a leader. Methinks we should change her title to Queen Seng.
• Lincoln ranks 9th out of 10 regional cities in terms of restaurants per capita. That seems so hard to believe, considering how many restaurants have opened in the past ten years. Then again, ten years ago we were in pretty sorry shape, restaurant-wise. Remember how giddy Lincolnites were when Applebee's came to town? I may curse Applebee's a lot, but I'll give them credit where credit is due: their Old Cheney location opened the gates to the restaurant variety Lincoln has today.

The Missus and I will be among the thousands at the Qwest Center cheering on the Husker volleyball team this weekend. Do you have your tickets?

I love being in a good mood. I like being that guy who doesn't get grumpy, the guy you can count on for a humorous quip at just the right time. Getting mad or annoyed or frustrated just isn't any fun. I try to keep a rosy outlook as much as possible. But the day has barely started and I'm already annoyed. First, it's freezing in here. I can't feel my toes. Second, I've already received two phone calls from a very rude guy who wouldn't be nearly so frustrated if he would just RTFM. I'll take responsibility if I screw up, but if you're rude to me because you're too stupid or stubborn to read the instructions that I worked so hard to prepare for you, I will quickly take to disliking you. I just know he's going to go whining to my boss. That's not a problem for me because I know my boss is with me on this issue. But that means my boss will have to deal with this guy, thus putting a damper on his Monday morning. I'm on the lookout for number three, since these things tend to come in trios. I suppose the good news is that once number three hits I'll be done, because these things never come in fours or fives. Uhh, right? I think I can actually see my breath...

Ugh. Lincolnite is back, after an unplanned -- and very, very unwelcome -- 16 hour outage. The site was suspended by my host ostensibly because some sort of "formmail" script or other CGI mail script had been compromised. That's complete crap, for two reasons: 1) I don't run those kinds of scripts; and 2) a check of the server logs proves that no such scripts were ever accessed, least of all at the time the site went down. The site was being spammed at the time it went down, but the "attack" was in the form of repeated access by a single rogue spambot. I've blocked that bot for now, but we'll see how long that lasts. Spammers may be jackasses, but they aren't stupid. I've been reasonably happy with my host for over a year now, so this is very disconcerting. Not only did they shut down my site, they gave me a baloney excuse for it being shut down, and the support staff's responses to my requests for information had a distinct "cut and paste" feel to them. Even when I got them to put the site back online all I had to say was "I deleted the scripts you requested" -- a lie, since no such scripts existed in the first place -- and their response was, in short "We're glad we could help!" Uhh, whatever. I can't be too angry, since I'm not exactly paying big bucks to have this site hosted. If I really want Lincolnite to be a robust site, I really need to move to a better host. I already have one in mind, but boy, I sure don't want to go through all the hassle of moving. Talk about a pain! Anyway, my apologies for the unplanned outage. Let's hope it doesn't happen again.

How come nothing like this ever happened while I was at Southeast? Students cited for having sex at Lincoln high school