Lincolnite

Lincoln's so-called "Fairness Ordinance" won't see the ballot any time soon. A quick recap: the City Council passed the ordinance, which expands local anti-discrimination protection to gays, lesbians, and the transgendered, a couple months ago. A subsequent petition drive got enough signatures to either nullify the ordinance or put it to a vote. City officials promised to put it to a vote. Eventually. For some reason Carl Eskridge, who sponsored the original ordinance, seems to be the one in the driver's seat. It's pretty obvious that he won't put it on the ballot until he thinks it can win, and apparently Mayor Beutler is set to go along with his wishes. That's going to come across as dirty politics to many Lincolnites. And for good reason; it is dirty politics, at least from the perspective of those who oppose the ordinance. Those on the other end of things probably prefer a term more like "common sense". One of the reasons the issue won't appear on November's ballot is -- supposedly -- the recent (alleged) vicious assault a local gay woman. What a convoluted tale that is! I'm not sure I follow how that event relates to a fall vote. Is the argument that people who think the event never happened will "retaliate" against the LGBT community by voting against the ordinance? That seems like a weird leap to me. Then again, voters are weird. (I learned that early and often while pursuing my degree in political science.) Ultimately, delaying the vote will only partially blunt the impact of the (alleged) assault. You can bet your booty that it'll come up again and again as the vote nears. For now I guess we sit back and wait. I can't say I'm crazy about that idea.

Are there any aspiring soccer referees out there? If so, you'll definitely want to register for the upcoming new referee clinic to be held August 25 and 26 at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital. The requirements are pretty basic:

1. Be 13 or older by August 31
2. Pay $48.00
3. ...there is no 3rd requirement

I'm now a certified USSF Instructor and I'll be teaching the course. I don't know that I can guarantee that it'll be a laugh a minute -- yeah, some of the material is on the dry side -- but we do try to have a good time. The payoff can be pretty substantial if you want it to be. Kids and college students often find reffing to be a great way to make money and stay in shape. Adults of all ages referee for all kinds of reasons, such as making some supplemental income, getting fit, learning about soccer, or just having a hobby. Or your goal might be advancement. My father started reffing while he was in his 40s and now he's the State Referee Administrator, the top referee position in Nebraska. I got my start at 16 and now I officiate everything from 9 year-olds to Division I college soccer to semi-pro matches. Give it a think, and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask me. I'd love to see you and/or your kids at the clinic.

All three of my kids are in school today. Joey is a 4th grader at Zeman, while Robbie and Keishor, are in 1st grade and kindergarten at Elm Street Schoolhouse -- also known as our kitchen table. They're growing up quickly. Robbie, for example, shocked the hell out of me the other day when he read me an entire book. I mean, I knew he was learning to read. But watching him read an entire book by himself won't stop catching me offguard any time soon. I wish the best to all your little (and not so little) munchkins starting up school today, and a hearty good luck to all the teachers, administrators, secretaries, and other school personnel out there. Here's one for you. My mom works in the office at an elementary school in town. How many clueless parents do you think will come in after today asking when the first day of school is and how they get their kid(s) enrolled? It happens every year, believe it or not.

Mandatory water restrictions are now in effect throughout Lincoln. If you don't follow the rules, Fletch will come to your house and do unspeakable things to you.

The City of Lincoln has tried many times to increase bus ridership. To a large degree it has been a quixotic quest characterized by unrealistic hopes and flawed approaches. Not always, though. Sometimes they get it right, even if the outcome isn't always what they dream. The monthly pass price decrease that may become a part of the final budget is a good example of getting it right. By dropping the cost of a monthly pass from $45 to $17, Lincoln is undertaking a drastic experiment. It's a worthwhile one. I'm skeptical that pass purchases will jump the 300% needed to result in revenue neutrality, but the dramatic change should certainly have some effect. Let's see what happens. If you're on the bubble about getting a bus pass, this change should push you over the edge. If you could be taking the bus but you haven't really given it a fair consideration, at $17 per month you'd be a fool not to think about it. I rode the bus to school and work for years. Sure I have some stories to tell; that's the nature of public transit. At the same time I saved thousands of dollars in gas, parking fees, and vehicle maintenance, and I got to read, study, and work on crossword puzzles rather than fretting about traffic. The tradeoffs were worth it for me, and they may be for you, too. Or you could do what I did and just start working from home. But that comes with its own perils...

One of our two rats, Chucky Cheese, died overnight. Poor Chucky. He was about 2 and a half years old. He came down with what we thought was pneumonia several weeks ago and he lost a lot of weight. He seemed to be doing better, slowly regaining weight, but apparently it wasn't enough. Rest in peace little rat buddy. I guess today's homeschool lesson is on death and mourning. That leaves us with just Splinter. So what next? Should we try to slowly introduce a new friend for Splinter? Or does that not go well with rats? If we leave him solo, are there any activities we should provide him with so he doesn't get too bored? I could read up on this sort of thing online, of course, but I always appreciate advice from friends and acquaintances more than that from strangers.

I don't very often talk about my work here on Lincolnite. Today I have to change that because I'm pretty darn proud of what we've done. I present the brand new Food for the Hungry website. I have provided web development services to FH for a while now. This new website is the result of ... well, let's just call it a lot of hard work. I was responsible for much of the backend work, including ExpressionEngine (EE) implementation, custom EE add-on development, javascript coding, and that sort of thing. I'm pretty proud of how things worked out behind the scenes. Despite all my years of experience with EE, this old dog still managed to learn a few new tricks. I may write up a full "How'd We Do That" type of post later. For now I'm just enjoying the warm feeling of relief that comes with launching a new website.

Just over three years ago the #LNK twitter hashtag was born. Shortly after that I announced the creation of inLNK.in, a very simple website that collects and displays tweets that include the hashtag. Since inLNK.in's creation, folks have used #LNK in their tweets over 78,600 times -- or over 71 times per day. The hashtag gets used in all kinds of different ways, some more appropriate than others. But all in all it has been a great thing for local Twitter users. To celebrate inLNK.in's 3rd anniversary I've created a simple stats viewer. With it you can view user rankings, tweets by individual users, and tweets by date. You can discover, for example, that I'm the 19th most prolific user of the #LNK hashtag, with 516 tweets. Or you can see what happened on April 14, 2012 to generate 411 #LNK tweets -- the most for a single day. I know many of you aren't into Twitter, and I can certainly understand why it's not for everybody. Nevertheless, the data collected by inLNK.in seems pretty interesting to me. There's lots of fun stuff buried in there. Give it a look when you have some time.

New restaurants have been popping up all over Lincoln lately, and Downtown's already-packed dining scene in particular is booming right now. One of the latest to open is Wahoo's Fish Tacos, located between Noodles & Co. and the Children's Museum on the northeast corner of 14th and P, in the former Rock 'n' Roll Runza location. Wahoo's is a small national chain with locations in Hawaii, California, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, New York, and now Lincoln. They began in 1988 in California. The chain now features over 50 restaurant locations. Lincoln's location is on the east end of the heart of Downtown's major dining district. With its proximity to UNL's campus and oodles of Downtown businesses, Wahoo's can't blame location if it doesn't find success. The interior has seen a wonderful remodel since the Runza days. Customers can enter via P Street or the parking lot on the north side of the building. A gentle ramp or a few stairs take patrons to the front counter. Perhaps a dozen indoor tables -- plus a few more outside -- offer plenty of seating options. There is also a small bar for those who prefer that style of seating. Add in the open ceiling and ample, south-facing windows, and you've got yourself a very pleasant dining atmosphere. My one complaint: the music was a few decibels too loud. Service is as you would expect for a fast-casual restaurant. Customers order at a counter, above which is a large and legible menu. Printed menus are also available for those who prefer to hold something in their hands. Employees were extremely friendly and eager to help on our visit. In fact, I was surprised how many employees were on hand. Perhaps they expected a big Saturday lunch rush? Long-time readers of my restaurant reviews know that I like to ask employees what I should order. The woman behind the counter didn't hesitate to give me her recommendations. Wahoo's menu primarily features tacos, enchiladas, burritos, and "bowls" of rice, beans, and other fillings. Choices for fillings for the various menu items include: chicken, carnitas, carne asada, fish (grilled or cajun), shrimp (extra charge), and a vegetarian mix. Prices per person are generally going to run in the $5 to $9 range, depending on how much you order and whether or not you order a drink. Those prices are exactly in line with fast casual standards in Lincoln. Our bill for two, two-item combos with waters to drink came in at just over $14. After ordering, customers fetch their own drinks and place a number on their table. Our food took approximately five or six minutes to come out. That's a bit slow for the most pressed-for-time Downtown diners, but it's within reasonable limits for most folks. Meals are served on "real" plates with "real" silverware -- no red plastic baskets or plastic utensils here. And again, the folks who brought out our food were very friendly and all smiles. Wahoo's is a fast casual joint along the lines of Panera. One's expectations, therefore, are that the food and presentation are above fast food standards, but not quite up to "sit-down restaurant" standards. How does Wahoo's do? They pass with flying colors. Food presentation is excellent, far beyond fast food and on par with many restaurants at which you'd expect to leave a tip. Items are plated relatively neatly, the ingredients appear fresh, and the food appears freshly prepared. Contrast this with some of Panera's pre-assembled sandwiches. Both my dining companion Mr. T and I ordered the two-item combo. Combos are served with your choice of rice (seasoned white or brown) and beans (cajun white or whole black). I went with one spicy fish taco and one grilled fish enchilada with spicy green sauce, while Mr. T opted for two tacos, one carne asada and one spicy fish. Both plates also included a light tomato pico and a lime wedge. My fish taco included cabbage, pico, and a somewhat spicy green sauce. It was fresh and light. I'm not a cabbage fan -- I forgot to request that they substitute lettuce instead -- but I was pleased to find that the cabbage's flavor was mild and complementary to the taco. The grilled fish enchilada was tasty and I particularly liked the cheese and sauce. The fish itself seemed a bit heavy for my tastes; perhaps it was a touch overcooked? For my first side I went with the brown rice. It was ... brown rice, a bit plain, but with a nice enough natural flavor. I went with the white beans for the other side. I quite enjoyed and was surprised by their spiciness, but some folks will find it too potent and will instead want to opt for the black beans. Mr. T went with two tacos, one cajun fish like mine, and one carne asada. The carne asada featured tasty marinated and grilled steak that won't hold up to the best stuff you'll find on the border, but was good coming from a fast casual restaurant in Nebraska. It featured lettuce, rather than the fish taco's cabbage. Mr. T went with the white beans like me, but he chose the seasoned white rice rather than the brown. He described the rice as light and fluffy and not over-seasoned. All in all I was extremely pleased with Wahoo's and I'm eager to go back. In fact, I was surprised by my own level of surprise with Wahoo's. I didn't realize it beforehand, but apparently I went in with a bit of a bias against the place. So much for that. In fact, if I worked Downtown I have no doubt that Wahoo's would quickly become a frequent lunchtime stop for me. Looking at all of the quality food options Downtown, I consider that a fair compliment.

Sheesh, there are a LOT of new restaurants coming to Lincoln right now. I haven't been able to keep up. Fortunately beerorkid has a little writeup of Honest Abe's Burgers & Freedom, a GUP family restaurant. Sounds like the sort of place a fan of burgers and wry wit might enjoy.

The Mayor is holding a press conference this morning to beg Lincolnites to use less water. Let's face it folks, at this point the most Lincoln-friendly and green option is to let your lawn go brown. I'm no lawn pro -- if you saw my lawn you'd know that instantly -- but my quick and dirty research suggests that lawns can be kept healthy, if dormant, on around 1/2 inch of water per week. Be a pal and help decrease Lincoln's overall water usage, won't you? That doesn't just go for residential customers, of course. I'm also looking at you, commercial property owners who insist on watering your parking lots at 4pm. I wonder what the water usage stats look like if you break down residential, commercial, and industrial usage. I don't see the information I'm looking for on Lincoln Water System's website, but there's a good chance I'm not looking in the right place. Perhaps one of you knows where we can see that breakdown.

One of these men was sentenced to 2-4 years in prison for firing a weapon once (LJS mobile link) into the air to break up a fight. One of these men was sentenced to 1 year in prison for firing a weapon three times (LJS mobile link) to break up a fight, wounding two friends in the process. I'll let you guess which man got which sentence, or you can follow the links to find out for yourself.

The Lancaster County Super Fair starts today and continues through August 11. As in past years, admission may or may not be free. Supposedly you have to pick up a ticket from Russ's, Super Saver, or Casey's in order to get free admission. Otherwise admission is $2. On the other hand, they've said that for the past two years yet not once have I ever seen anybody collecting tickets or $2 at the gate. There are Casey's locations on North 70th Street at both Adams Street and Havelock Avenue (on two corners!) if you need to pick up your tickets at the last minute. 10/11's story on the fair's judges reminds me of my days helping out at the County Fair back when I was a teen in 4H. My friend Chris and I spent a lot of hours at the fairgrounds. We used to ride our bikes there before 7am and we'd leave after supper. We helped set up displays, put ribbons on items, and took care of other general tasks in the 4H area. My favorite activity was helping out in the concessions stand. Boy oh boy, I had that stuff down to a science. I helped train other groups as they came in for their shifts. It always amazed me how difficult some people would make the job for themselves. The Fair's buildings are open from 10am until 10pm. The midway is open from 5pm until midnight on weekdays, and 1pm until midnight on weekends. Remember, however, that last year the midway was pretty tiny and pathetic for the first few days before expanding later. If you're a midway fanatic you may want to investigate what's actually on site before you commit your money.