Lincolnite

My apologies if Lincolnite loads a little slowly or oddly (i.e. the page doesn't load entirely) today. I'm told there's a bottleneck somewhere leading to Lincolnite's server. There is no problem with the server itself.

All in all I had a pretty decent weekend. I didn't get nearly as much trash pick-up done as I would have liked, but I think I had a pretty good excuse. I received a last-minute plea to help train some new Little League umpires for the upcoming season. At first I was pretty bummed that I wouldn't have a photo of a big stack of trash bags to show off today, but the training session went really well, despite the fact that I ad libbed the entire thing. Trash pick-up along Beal Slough will just have to continue indefinitely until I get it all collected. On Saturday I had the pleasure of centering the Lincoln Lutheran vs. Elkhorn boys soccer match, featuring the top two teams in Class B. As I expected it was a great match. Elkhorn ended up winning 2-0 with goals in the 75th and 76th minutes. Look for an exciting rematch at the State Tournament. An assessor was present in the stands so my assistants and I received some great feedback following the match. The assessor seemed pleased with my performance overall. He only really dinged me for two things, both of which I agreed with, and both of which are easily fixable. He must have thought, after seeing me a couple times this season, that I'm doing fine, because Saturday night I received my assignments for districts. I'm not only assigned to the state's strongest district (4 teams in the top 10 in wildcard points), but I'm assigned to two centers, including the district championship match. That bodes well for some good assignments at the State Tournament, including my goal for the season, earning a center in one of the four State Championship matches. On Sunday I umped a couple baseball games, both of which went extremely smoothly, save for a 30 minute lightning delay. My partner was a Wesleyan student who was umpiring in Lincoln for the first time. He did a great job. I finished off the weekend with a trip to Crawdaddy's with The Missus and Husker Pilot, who just returned from AMS (Academy of Military Science). Welcome back, HP!

Can we please declare an end to the overuse and abuse of headlines in the form of "Opponent Hooks 'Horns" and "'Horns Hook Opponent"? Pretty please?

I am disturbed. Somebody arrived at Lincolnite looking for yak urine fertilizer. Not only that, but Lincolnite is the #1 result. Which was the offending page? Why, a rant about bad chili at Bison Witches, of course. And just to clarify, I finally got up the nerve to go to Bison Witches again about a month ago. The chili was excellent.

Ugh, it's that point in the soccer season when referees who have been doing a lot of games start to feel tired and worn out, and injuries start popping up. I am surprisingly energetic, despite a history of problems with in-season fatigue. But I've been bit by the injury bug. First came what appears to be an anterolateral shin splint in my right leg. It doesn't bother me much when I walk or run forward, but changing directions, running backwards, and side-stepping are all somewhat painful. Then last night I developed what could be a much more serious injury. (Where "serious", in this case, means that it could really screw up my ability to referee for a while.) Not five minutes into my first game last night I felt a twinge, and I instantly knew what had happened: groin strain. The last 75 minutes of that game were not especially enjoyable. I then had to go ref a youth game immediately afterwards. The muscle felt like it loosened up a little, but I still had to be pretty cautious. I hoped that a good night's sleep would magically cure me. It didn't. So here I am, a referee with a respectable chance of earning the honor to center one of the state championship games, and I'm injured. Just to make things fun, I'm scheduled to center what should be a great match between two of the state's best boys teams on Saturday, and last I heard an assessor plans to be there. (That's a good thing, by the way. It's hard to get better without being critiqued by an assessor now and then.) I don't want to, but I may have to bail out of some of my game assignments next week to allow myself some time to heal. If anybody has any magic healing potions or techniques, I'm all ears!

I am going to withhold commenting on Mayor Seng's proposed concealed carry ban for a while, but I couldn't pass up this quote from the Journal Star article on the topic:

[Police Chief Tom Casady] said it's rare for citizens to protect themselves with concealed weapons. He can only recall one incident in 32 years of law enforcement.

Uhh, Tom? That's because concealed weapons were illegal during that time.

Five Lincoln restaurants I miss:

1. King's
   A chili cheese dog and chocolate shake (with the tin!) sounds mighty tasty right now.
2. Jabrisco
   Black and white soup, anyone?
3. Rock 'n' Roll Runza
   I miss the original RnRR, not that crappy fast food version.
4. Eighth Street Iron Works
   I only got there once, mere days before it closed, but the experience was memorable. Anybody have their meatloaf recipe?
5. Jax
   The Missus and I went to Jax for many of our "formal" dates.

Don't forget to Clean Your Corner of Lincoln this weekend. When I first decided to do this I didn't realize I had chosen Earth Day weekend, but all the better I suppose. Pick your favorite corner of Lincoln -- any public area -- and do your part to clean it up. As I originally announced I'm going to clean up along Beal Slough between 40th and 48th Streets. I'm just not sure when I'm going to be able to do it. I should be able to get in an hour or two both Saturday and Sunday mornings, but then I have two soccer games to ref on Saturday, and three baseball games to ump on Sunday. To achieve my goal of a complete clean-up of Beal Slough I may have to extend my work over several subsequent days. It's not what I had originally planned for myself, but ultimately what's important is that the job gets done. I will be at the creek on Saturday morning for at least a few hours. I hope to see you out and about this weekend. Whether you pick up a lone cup blowing in the breeze, or a truckload of trash, I hope you take some time to Clean Your Corner of Lincoln.

Today is 4/20. Giggle. The Missus and I supped at Outback last night. We hadn't been there for ages, nor had we been near 48th and 'O' since the construction began. It felt strange blowing through that intersection without stopping. The food at Outback was pretty decent, and the service was very good, if a tad too perky at times for my tastes. We ended up sitting next to two middle-aged women having a girls night out, which was a bit of a downer. They bitched about, well, just about everything, but as far as I could tell none of the stuff they talked about was really that big of a deal. Smile, ladies! You're eating good food, you're with nice company -- quit complaining about stupid crap and enjoy the moment. Today through the weekend look to be beautiful spring days. I hope you have plans to get outside and enjoy them.

The Lincoln Journal Star's political leanings are no big secret, and it's not like they have any obligation to be "fair and balanced". (Any news organization that says it is without bias is lying.) But this morning's article by JoAnne Young on Bush's budget cuts struck me as particularly slanted and sloppy. Actually, I'm just moaning because articles like this remind me how much I miss finding real news and intellectual stimulation in my newspaper. Oh well, the Journal Star is what it is. And lately, it's like reading a print version of Lifetime.

The City Council opted to hire a private attorney rather than use the City attorney after being sued by Developmental Services of Nebraska (DSN). The five Council members who voted against allowing DSN to add a fourth individual to three of its group homes will be questioned under oath regarding the case. DSN argues that the City's policies are discriminatory and create a shortage of housing in violation of federal law. The lawsuit itself doesn't bother me. These sorts of things happen, and ultimately they help clarify what everybody's responsibilities are in terms of protecting individuals' rights. I am a little concerned about the Council deciding to hire a private attorney, however. The action seems unnecessary considering the City has its own attorney on the payroll. I know several of my regular readers have legal training. What's your take on this? Is it a reasonable action, or does it strike you as unusual?

Swoof, over at Eatin' in Lincoln, has noted that Lincoln is about to be greeted by a Raising Cane's restaurant near 48th and 'R' (obnoxious website warning). Apparently it's a chicken finger joint with a bunch of locations in Louisiana. As far as I can tell, their menu includes chicken fingers, fries, and cole slaw, in various combinations. (Fingers, fries, and cole slaw; fingers, extra fries, and cole slaw; lots of fingers, lots of fries, lots of cole slaw; and so on.) I don't know about you, but I can hardly contain my excitement. One quick question for the grammarians out there: what's with the apostrophe in Raising Cane's? Raising Cane's what? Raising Cane's blood pressure? Raising Cane's car insurance premiums?

I am suffering some extreme Oso withdrawal. I didn't get my weekly Oso fix last week, so it has been two whole weeks since I last had a tasty Oso burrito. I'm gonna make it there today, though, darn it. I can't wait for my jerk chicken burrito with black beans, chipotle crema, jalapenos, and habanero salsa. Mmmm... 12:30 can't come fast enough.

Since that whole thing with the fire department taking over ambulance services went so smoothly, Mayor Seng would like to get into the gas business. I bet I know where she'll propose to put it.