Lincolnite

While I was reading an article about the latest LPS teacher salary contract, I noticed this very common quote from a teacher:

"None of us went into teaching for the money."

Maybe that's part of the reason teacher salaries are so low. (Or perhaps I should say "low", since I know the notion that teachers are underpaid is far from universally accepted.) Perhaps if teachers entered the profession with higher expectations, salaries would respond in kind. Or maybe I shouldn't stir up this topic since I know it will just lead to rants about how teachers are overpaid, or about the dozens of ways teachers are hosed by the system, or any of scores of related rants that come up whenever teacher pay is discussed. Oh well, it's a Friday. I suppose a little ranting is called for. Have at it.

I'll cut right to the chase: don't go to Planet Sub. Not yet. They have a few (dozen) kinks to work out right now. The Missus and I ate there today. Dave K was there (4th comment) too:

I went there for lunch, and it was a complete disaster. ...after 45 minutes I called it quits and got my money back. Mr. Wilson, I saw you in line...and thought about telling you how long you were going to wait, but I really wanted to read your take here. How did things go?

Gee, thanks, Dave! Actually even had you warned me I still would have stayed. I get a certain masochistic kick out of visiting restaurants in their early days. Sometimes it works out great, and sometimes, well, it doesn't. Besides, it was fairly obvious that there were some problems. Several people asked for their money back after having waited for a while, and I noticed that restaurant staff brought out the same orders twice on a couple occasions, demonstrating some significant backstage disorganization. The long and short of it is that the time between when The Missus and I ordered and when we received our food was about 50 minutes. That wasn't a typical wait time, though (typical was probably in the 15-25 minute range). I'm pretty sure our food went to the wrong people. (Damn that couple in the corner booth!) Plus, we didn't make a fuss very early because we were talking about some important things so we hardly noticed. Still, 50 minutes for a sub? The list of problems I noted at Planet Sub is too long to list here. And frankly, I don't feel like kicking them while they're down. I'm telling you flat out not to go to this restaurant for at least a couple weeks. That alone should tell you all you need to know. Give them some time to work things out. If they still suck in mid- to late-June, then I'll pounce. I should mention that The Missus and I ended up getting our money back for our meal. The manager (?) did a reasonable job of taking care of us once she discovered our plight. She probably should have comped our next meals too, though. That way she either gets us back in the door to give them another chance, or we hand off the coupons to somebody else so they can give the restaurant a chance.

The Department of Roads is short on cash, so it wants to push back some projects a few years. One of the projects that may be delayed? Lincoln's South Beltway. Ouch. The DOR is working with a smaller budget but facing higher costs -- an unfortunate combination. But I can't say I feel too sorry for a department that thinks that the entirety of Highway 2 from Van Dorn to just past 56th Street must be resurfaced this year. There's a project parts of which could very easily be delayed. I don't doubt there are plenty of others around the state.

I have heard a fair bit of murmurring about this topic lately, with several people arguing that it will (or should) cost Mayor Seng her job in the next election. I wonder what you folks think, so here's your topic: Resolved: Fire Chief Mike Spadt should be fired. Discuss.