Lincolnite

Ever since we brought Robbie home from Boston, the Wilsons have enjoyed heading to SouthPointe Pavilions on Friday nights in the summer for their Friday Nights Live concert series. Tonight marks the series' return for the 2008 season. On stage will be D'Funk. If you happen to be out there tonight, be sure to look us up. Robbie tends to keep himself pretty visible, so just look for the two year-old with the rockin' dance moves being followed by his two parents who have no dancing ability whatsoever. We are usually near Sartor Hamann or in the kids' area just to the south. Are any of you planning to go tonight?

Mayor Beutler is in a tough spot. He's in charge of a City facing a $6 million problem. If he proposes cutting the wrong services, he'll get eaten alive. If he proposes new generating new revenues (ahem, raising taxes), he'll get eaten alive. If he ... well, you get the picture. So what should he do? Actually, that isn't a rhetorical question. The City Council has all but issued a pre-emptive "No!" to a property tax increase. I'm hardly one to complain about government officials refusing to raise taxes. Yet I haven't actually seen any Council members propose any concrete solutions. For that matter, I haven't heard any concrete solutions from anybody. Where do we find $6 million in City government?

Being a severe weather fan is weird. On the one hand, forecasts like today's get me all hopped up. I love the action of a good mix of rain, hail, wind, and lightning. On the other hand, of course, there's the fact that all that stuff can be really damaging, or even deadly. It's hard to talk about how "cool" a storm is when it kills somebody or destroys their home. That leaves me to hope for lots of talk but not much action. It's not quite as exciting, but hey, I don't really want my house (or yours) to end up scattered across town. How many severe weather fanatics do we have out there? What was your most memorable experience?

I had no idea that LES will bury your power lines for free. The only thing you have to pay for is for an electrician to come out and change the meter entrance to your home. That is awesome. I hate the way the power line (and cable line) awkwardly cross my yard and attach to my house. I have talked about having those lines buried since we first moved in, but I held off because I assumed the cost/benefit ratio would be unfavorable. Do any of you know how "destructive" the burying process is to the ground? Unless I get to tell them what path to follow, the wires would go straight through my garden. Assuming they prefer the straight-as-an-arrow path from the main line to the house, I'll probably have to wait until after my garden is finished producing for the year.

Every time I travel to Albuquerque I marvel at how efficiently you can drive around town. How is it that traffic moves twice as efficiently in a city twice Lincoln's size? I'm not talking about traveling on the freeway, either. I'm talking about driving through town on regular ol' arterials. One of their secrets isn't so secret: many of their major roads are six lanes wide. That certainly helps keep things moving. But that doesn't explain it all. I have always wondered how Albuquerque keeps traffic moving when so many of their arterials are lined, mile after mile, by driveways for businesses. Unlike Lincoln, which tries to minimize direct access to businesses as much as possible, Albuquerque seems to tolerate it with very few problems. Granted, it makes for an ugly roadside, but it doesn't seem to have hurt traffic flow one bit. If anything, it seems to have contributed to the city's superior vehicle movement. Fewer collector roads means fewer stop lights. Fewer stop lights means less traffic interruption. Less traffic interruption means you get where you're going sooner. We managed to drive 10 miles through the heart of the city in 15 minutes at 5:30pm. I can hardly imagine doing that in Lincoln except at 3 in the morning. I have no doubt there are dozens of factors at play that help make driving easier in Albuquerque than in Lincoln. For example, Albuquerque is less dense than Lincoln (~2,500/square mile versus ~3,000/square mile). I suspect that at least some of the contributing factors could be emulated here. I sure wouldn't mind giving it a try.

Sheesh, I leave town for a few days and come home to find that you guys left a big mess all over my yard. Branches, twigs, leaves. At least my oak and maple trees were kind enough to stay standing. Were any of you among the lucky few who got to spend some time without power? The Missus, Robbie, and I spent the weekend in Albuquerque where we witnessed my sister-in-law's 47-second [sic] marriage ceremony, hung out with family, and ate mass quantities of quality New Mexican grub. The eating began with carne adobada at Sadie's of New Mexico and ended days later with the last bite of a green chile chicken burrito from La Hacienda Express while flying somewhere over eastern New Mexico. I should have photos from the trip posted in the next few days.

She didn't make quite as big of a splash with her departure from her high school soccer coaching position as another coach did recently (ahem), but Lincoln Southeast coach Linda Wilson's retirement (no relation) is still pretty big news. She was an asset to the local soccer community. I actually tried out for Coach Wilson's team when I was a freshman. But can you believe it, she cut me! That was back in the dark ages when freshman had to make the varsity squad or they couldn't play high school ball. After that I tried out for the track squad and, well, I had a much more successful track career than I ever would have had as a soccer player. So, thanks for cutting me, Coach Wilson! (No, really!) Now I'm curious who her replacement will be. There were rumors going around this season that one of her former players was in a good position to take over, should she ever leave. Hmm.

I was so mad at myself last night. The Wilsons went on a walk around Holmes Lake and I forgot to take my camera. Grr. At first I was just annoyed. But as we walked I noticed dozens of great photo opportunities. I hope somebody from the Lincoln Convention & Visitors Bureau was out there, because I'm telling you, it was one postcard after another, all the way 'round the lake. There were the softball games; the folks fishing; the walkers; the bikers; the picnickers; the kids on the playground; the family preparing for a hiking trip by walking up and down the dam; the family goofing off by sliding down the dam on big blocks of ice; the guy chucking balls into the lake for his dog to fetch; and on and on. Norman Rockwell would have wet himself. It was the most time I've spent at Holmes Lake in a while, so I spent a lot of time evaluating the park's evolution. I am very impressed. There are only a couple things missing. First, they could use mileage markers on the path around the lake. Or maybe just a nice big sign that says "spot X is Y fraction of a mile from spot Z, and the entire path is Q miles long". Or maybe it would scare people from walking all the way around the lake if they knew the path is approximately 2.25 miles. (That's my rough estimate using the GMap Pedometer.) The other thing that's missing is, in my opinion, a biggie. Paddleboats. Holmes Lake is begging for paddleboats. Last night was so perfect, I would have paid good money to put the family on the water. The last time Holmes Lake saw paddleboats was, what, 20 years ago? I, for one, would like to see them make a comeback.

I recently had my best burrito ever at Oso Burrito, and it got me to thinking about all the different types of burritos I like to order there. My dad and I -- and often The Missus, Robbie, and sometimes a guest or two -- hit up Oso once a week, usually on Tuesdays. I used to order the same thing every week: the jerk chicken special. Now, though, I mix things up, alternating between fish, chicken, and potato. Here's how I had them make my favorite burrito yet:

• fish
• guacamole
• rice
• black beans
• lettuce
• cheese
• chipotle crema
• pico
• ginger garlic salsa

I'm telling you, it's concentrated awesomeness in a tortilla. How do you like your Oso?

What's this? A new pizza joint called Suite 1 has opened in the Haymarket at 8th and Q, beneath Magnolia's? Who knew? Well, Beerorkid knew, and he has posted his first impressions. I fully intend to go as soon as I can, but probably not for a couple weeks, unfortunately. For one thing I love that it's in the basement. My first -- and only -- authentic pizza experience in Chicago came in a basement restaurant. Mmm, good stuff.

According to a sign on the window, looks like Holyland Cuisine and Hookah Bar is moving in to the old location of the Pita Pit downtown at 13th and O street, right next to the new Subway where the old Taco Del Mar used to be. Is this the same Holyland Cuisine on 27th south of Vina Plaza? Anyone have any more information on this?

A hearty congratulations to Lux Middle School student Akshay Rajagopal for winning the Natinoal Geographic Bee! The win comes with a $25,000 college scholarship. Akshay didn't miss a single question in the preliminary or championship rounds. And what, you may ask, was the winning question? Here it is:

The urban area of Cochabamba has been in the news in recent years due to protests over the privatization of the municipal water supply and regional autonomy issues. Cochabamba is the third largest conurbation in what country?

I absolutely love it when Nebraska's politicians panic about gambling, as Governor Heineman and others are doing these days in response to a proposed Carter Lake casino. Watching them fall all over themselves in their scramble to condemn gambling and its effects on society is positively hilarious. Is there any political hypocrisy more transparent than a government's simultaneous celebration and condemnation of gambling?

After hours of muscle-straining labor, my garden finally looks like a garden again. It was a long process. First I tore out the old rock path that runs from the patio to the side yard, bisecting the garden. When I originally put it in I didn't lay down any weed blocker, and then I didn't maintain it very well. As a result, it aged poorly. Have you ever tried to remove a bunch of rocks that have lodged themselves in the underlying ground? What. A. Pain. Once I finally had (almost) all the rocks out, I reworked the ground and leveled things out. Then I laid out pavers to act as a border between the path and the garden. I wanted to line up the border pavers with the pavers that make up the patio, which required widening the path a couple inches on each side, not only for the pavers, but also to make room to install the plastic edgers that would hold the pavers in place. Then I thought, "Those old rocks are all dirty and dingy. I need new rocks. But what to do with the old rocks?" I just love creating more work for myself. I decided to extend the path around the side of the garage, using the old rocks next to the garage where they didn't need to be as pretty. That meant buying a bunch of new rocks for the garden path. Long story short, the new path through the garden is finished, and it looks awesome. Now to start work on the extended part that will go along the side of the garage. That part shouldn't take more than 3 or 4 hours. I also have most of my garden planted. This year's crop includes:

• Jalapeno
• "Fooled You" chile (look and taste like jalapenos but are much milder)
• Hungarian wax chile (I love these for a mild zing)
• Habanero (4 plants! What am I going to do with 4 plants worth of habanero?!)
• Serrano
• Cayenne
• A Thai chile I can't recall the name of (perfect for adding to summer veggie stir fries)
• Anaheim
• Italian roasting peppers (great for kabobs)
• Red, yellow, and green bell peppers
• Eggplant (a request from The Missus)
• Cucumber (most will go to my mom so she can make cinnamon pickles)

Yes, I went crazy with the peppers and chiles this year. I still need zucchini or some sort of squash. I also have a couple spots open for other plants, if anybody has any suggestions. Both spots are in full sun. One spot has loose, quickly-draining soil and is close to the house (so it will be warm). The other spot's soil is a bit denser and retains moisture better. Disappointingly, I didn't get any cilantro this year. After a couple years of cilantro practically taking over my garden, not a single plant came up this year. I don't know what I did to make it mad. What's in your garden this year?