Lincolnite

I'll bet there were some maaaaad mothers on Sunday when Lincoln Southwest's roster of graduating seniors was replaced by those from Lincoln Southeast in the Journal Star. I know my mom would have been ticked off. Today's Journal Star fixes the error.

Twenty-five years after being purchased by NU Foundation, the former Whittier Junior High will finally get the makeover it deserves beginning next fall. As expected, the historic building will be converted into research space for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In addition, the University has committed to remodeling 13,000 square feet into a new childcare center that may hold up to 150 kids. It's about time.

I'm such a sucker for door-to-door salesmen. This weekend a very nice Time Warner salesman earned himself a commission when The Missus and I opted to take him up on his offer to upgrade our cable service from minimal (channels 2-22) to basic (2-80). We have special pricing for 6 months, at which point the price jumps about $25. I don't see us hanging on to cable at its full price, but who knows. It has been four years since we last had full basic cable. I only really miss a few channels (ESPN and Comedy Central, to name two). I wonder how quickly I will find that even with 80 channels there's still nothing on? Like I said, the salesman was very nice. He was an older gentleman who really knew how to secure a sale. He picked up on little details and would use them to steer the conversation. In fact, he reminded me a little of a psychic in that regard, trying to figure out which details to work with and which were dead ends. I let him follow one dead end for a while just to see where he went with it. When he found out that Robert's middle name is Solomon, he guessed that we might be religious folk, so he tried a few tales with religious themes. ("This one time I called on a minister's house...") We aren't religious, but he was a good story teller and he wasn't proselytizing, so I let him talk. He certainly isn't the only person who has made the "Solomon = religious" link. (In fact, Robert's middle name was the name given to him by his birthmother. Solomon was her brother.) The new service should be turned on by Thursday. A lot has changed in the world of basic cable. What should I watch? Stewart and Colbert are on my list, and Mr. T tells me I should check out Anthony Bourdain's show on The Travel Channel. Any other show tips?

After 46 years, Arturo's is no more. And without so much as a going away party. I only visited Arturo's once, and it happened to be just a few weeks ago. I was not impressed. For example, the article quotes Denise Roesler as saying that "[Arturo's] had the best chips and salsa in town". I found the staple to be average at best, and they weren't free like they are at most Mexican restaurants these days. In addition our service was humorously bad. It was our server's first night on the job and it was obvious that his training had consisted of "the kitchen's in the back. Now go wait some tables." Not that I'm cheering the loss of one of Lincoln's oldest restaurants, of course. If Arturo's was really as bad as my first impression implied, it would have closed long ago. Based on what I have heard from family and friends, Arturo's was usually a fine place to get a meal. Problem was, it wasn't on the tip of anybody's tongue when somebody asked "Where should we eat tonight?" The comments on the article over at the LJS site devolved into a debate over the effect of the smoking ban on Arturo's business. I'm no fan of Lincoln's smoking ban, as I have made clear in this space many times, but I think it's long past time for blaming restaurant and bar closings on the ban. Any place that was going to close is already gone. No, I have to suspect that Arturo's closed due to other factors. In any event, 46 years is a hell of a run. So long, Arturo's.

I hate to see a nice landmark like Zion Church go up in flames. Here's hoping the structure is sound enough that it can be at least partially repaired. Photos here and here and here.

Surprise. Jon Bruning announced his candidacy for the 2008 U.S. Senate seat yesterday at the Unicameral. Actually, Bruning "pre-announced" his announcement on Tuesday with a New York-based daily, where he had apparently been fund raising. As pointed out by a reporter at the Unicam announcement, it seems a little dubious for Jon to be talking big about representing small town Nebraskans against "carpet baggers" when the guy is getting as much out-state support as the next politician. Talking to the New York Sun probably wasn't the best media move Jon's campaign could have done the week of his announcement(s). Advantage: Chucky.

KLIN News reported that Lincoln Fire and Rescue is missing its ambulance response time goals so far in 2007. City ordinance requires LFR to respond in under eight minutes 90% of the time. In the first three months of the year, they didn't even come close:

• January: 85.98%
• February: 85.11%
• March: 83.78%

The new Fire Chief has his hands full ... if we ever hire one. See the Fire Department's own report (PDF) on response times.

Any volunteers?

Nebraskan Clayton Anderson is headed to space today. Launch time is 6:38 p.m. If you want to watch the launch live (or if you just want to watch a little NASA TV throughout the day), go here and click on "Launch Video Player" in the right column.

So you thought it was windy the past couple days, eh? That was just a light breeze. This is windy.

I like people like Mathew Wegener. He is excited about Lincoln, and I'm excited for him. Best of luck, Mr. Wegener.

According to a recent study (PDF), the arts and culture industry generates over $36 million in economic activity in Lincoln every year. That's not a ton of money compared to other industries, but hey, I'll take it. Learn more about Lincoln's art scene from the Lincoln Arts Council.

I am really fed up with reading article after article about school break-ins. Come on computer and electronics geeks -- I know you're reading this, don't try to deny it -- there has to be a simple and affordable way to cut down on these things. I'm thinking some motion sensors and a network of webcams could go a long ways toward slowing the damage and theft, or at least make it easier to catch the bozos who do this stuff. Or dogs. Very hungry, very angry dogs. I wonder how much money LPS loses every year to theft and vandalism? I would guess somewhere in the low six-figures.

Tonight will mark a significant departure from nearly a year of tradition for the Wilsons. For several years now The Missus and I have used Wednesday nights as our Date Night. Since Robbie showed up a year ago, he has always been invited to Date Night. But not tonight. Robbie is a toddler now, and we have discovered that toddlers and Date Night aren't very compatible. That leaves The Missus and I free to go just about anywhere for dinner. That's the good news. The (sort of) bad news is we may not be able to leave Robbie with a sitter every week (for reasons I won't get into), so Date Night might have to change from a night of going out to a night of staying in. That isn't the end of the world, of course. And we can always experiment with picnics. But if that's what happens, it will be different. So just in case tonight is our last weekly night out on the town for a while, I figure we should mark the occasion somehow. My first inclination is to hit 9 South Chargrill since we have already tried to go there twice and failed both times. But maybe we should go some place to mark the (potential) tradition transition. Or perhaps we should use one of the gift certificates we have sitting around. Hmm. I do know it has been too long since we have been to Ivanna Cone. If we end up anywhere near Downtown, we are soooo there.

A random thought for this morning: Now that Chris Beutler has settled into his new office, Ken Svoboda is back on the City Council, Roger Yant has faded back into the shadows, and Mike Deal disappeared altogether, I wonder what former Mayor Colleen Seng is up to? I know, I know, it's tempting to joke that she probably makes her own ceremonial ribbons at home and she cuts them with giant novelty scissors. Kidding aside, Ms. Seng has a lot of passion for this city and I hope she's putting it to use somewhere.