Lincolnite

Current temperature: 72 degrees. Tomorrow evening's forecast: snow. I love March in Nebraska.

Buffmeat recently announced that a new restaurant is going in to the Arbor Day Foundation building at 12th and P, but he isn't yet able to say which restaurant. The Missus hoped for Jason's Deli, while I put in a plug for PepperJax Grill. According to an anonymous commenter at Biz Buzz, it will in fact be a new Panera. We'll have to wait for the official announcement to verify that claim. Frankly, I think that location is a great spot for any of those three possibilities. You know the city and the Downtown Lincoln Association are rooting for a successful restaurant to go in there because it helps give just a tiny boost to the P Street Marketplace concept they've been pushing with little success these past several years.

I haven't yet been able to "get into" this recession. That is, despite all the scary, doom-and-gloom talk, I just don't feel all that concerned. Why not? Well, this map from the New York Times explains part of it. Lately I've been wondering if Lincoln will largely escape the recession's wrath, or if we will catch its tail whip, not really feeling its effects until near the end. What say you, you amateur economists?

The air handling and window improvements I understand. But cosmetic changes and cafeteria remodeling at Hawthorne? Isn't it a tad early to be planning those things when we don't even know what facilities the building will house?

The high school soccer season begins today and continues through mid-May. The Journal Star's Brent Wagner's City soccer capsules and state soccer ratings are online. I won't comment on any specific teams or individuals since I will be reffing many of their games this season. I will say that, on average, I suspect the level of play in Lincoln will be a bit higher this year than last year. We'll see. I'm also interested in the fact that there are several first-year coaches this year in Lincoln. Oftentimes a new coach is a good thing -- he or she brings in new energy and new techniques, for example. Having so much of that happening across the city is worth watching. I have five game assignments within 48 hours across today, tomorrow, and Saturday. Then I follow that up with two games on Tuesday. I should be plenty tired less than a week into the season. I am ready to go. I haven't done this much pre-season training in years. Plus, I'm just ready to hit the field again after four months of mostly soccer-free living. Will any of you be keeping an eye on the high school soccer season?

Well, maybe not cheap. But no more expensive than last year. Lots of folks pursue further education in the midst of an economic downtown. The current situation is no exception. Thus, plenty of folks are tickled pink about Southeast Community College's decision not to raise tuition for 2009-2010. In contrast, over the past 7 academic years tuition increased averaged 6.63%. I have never attended SCC so I can't personally vouch for its programs. Overall, local opinion of SCC seems to run fairly positive. Anecdotally, my sister is an SCC grad and she has a very good job now; other SCC grads I know who have commented on their education generally have positive things to say. I'm not sure what local employers think about an SCC education. How many new applications do you think this news about SCC will generate for them? Or looking at it from a different perspective, how much of an impact will this have on UNL's applications?

A couple weeks ago I posed a question about the legality of u-turns in the vicinity of 56th, O, and Cotner at intersections that are marked with signs prohibiting left turns. Shortly thereafter I learned that the City planned to post new signs clarifying the situation. Last night I finally had a chance to drive by the area. Sure enough, the new signs are up! Now if I can just get the City traffic folks to look into the timing of some of the traffic lights around town...

Yesterday I caught sight of a sign that said Adventure Golf (56th and Old Cheney) will open for the season on Monday the 23rd. That made me wonder what other spring openings are drawing near. I know the Dairy Queen on North 66th Street has already opened; they opened early this year thanks to them getting the boot from Gateway. The Lincoln Zoo still has another month to go. What other openings have happened or will happen soon?

Local auto repair shops are cringing now that Mayor Beutler has announced 310 blocks worth of arterial street resurfacing. 310 blocks is a lot, so get used to the idea of orange cones, detours, and inconveniences. Judging by this list, pretty much every corner of Lincoln will be affected:

• A St. from 17th to 27th, 63rd to Imperial Dr.
• Adams from I0180 to 14th, 57th to 62nd
• Cornhusker from Russell to 70th
• Holdrege from 19th to 25th, N 33rd to 47th, N 70th to N 79th
• Old Cheney from Salt Valley View to Hunts
• O St. from 15th to 44th, Wedgewood to 84th
• P from 17th to 27th
• Pioneers Blvd. from 32nd to 54th
• Saltillo Rd. from US 77 to 70th (Lancaster County selection)
• Sheridan from South to Calvert
• Van Dorn from 33rd to 48th, Normal to 70th
• Vine from 70th to Sierra
• Y from 18th to 27th
• NW 1st from Highland to Fletcher
• S 27th from Alpha to A
• N 33rd from P to Holdrege
• 40th and Superior bridge deck
• S 56th from South to Randolph
• N 70th from Adams to Vine

Darn it! It's not even the first day of spring and already there are tiny little weeds in my garden. The battle begins!

Did you know that the guy who (apparently) coined the word "blogger" and who started Twitter is from Nebraska? Evan Williams has had quite a career. What are you doing to change the world?

It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all. It's a small, small world.

What's with the cheerful song this morning? Well, it's relevant to this post, for one thing. But more than that, I just want to get it stuck in your head. Spread the joy by humming it, whistling it, or belting it out as you go throughout your day! Because nobody doesn't like having Small World stuck in their head. One of the things that makes me smile about Lincoln is you can run into people you know or people who know you just about anywhere you go. I have had several such experiences just in the past couple days. Take Sunday, for example. The Wilsons attended a potluck supper -- who doesn't love a good potluck? -- for an adoption group we belong to. While there I met a man who knew me indirectly through some of my high school friends, and who was involved with Young Life with my sister back in the early 90's. Or take last night, where we ran into an elusive friend from high school over a supper of waffles, whose sister just happens to work with Mrs. Beerorkid. Some people consider Lincolnites' interconnectedness a bug, but I consider it a feature. There are enough people in town so there are always new folks to meet. Yet once you've been here long enough, you can count on periodically running into folks you know -- or folks who know you -- in the least expected places. Have you run into any long lost friends or acquaintances lately?

You folks have convinced us. The Missus and I have finally decided to lose our landline and go mobile-only. Finally we will be rid of the annoying phone calls for Charles Hagel and the periodic batches of annoying debt-collection phone calls that continue despite our assurances that we are not the debtors they are looking for. The next person to have our number will inherit those problems, plus whatever garbage we happen to leave behind. We will probably cut the cord in a week, after we've had time to ensure that everybody who needs to know our mobile numbers knows them. Speaking of which, if any of you are callers to the Wilson house and you don't have our mobile numbers, let us know.