Lincolnite

Hastings got violent in their soccer match against South Sioux city when "Jeff Richardson got off a shot that knocked off the head of a South Sioux City defender". Ouch!

Lincoln began the State Soccer Tournament with seven teams. Now two teams remain (PDF). Lincoln Southwest beat Westside in the first round on the Class A boys side of things. The Pius X girls play this morning at 9:00am in their first match of the tournament. Game summaries from the Journal Star:

• Lincoln East boys lose to Millard West
• Lincoln Southwest boys beat Omaha Westside
• Kearney boys beat North Star
• Lincoln Lutheran boys lose to Omaha Skutt
• Millard West girls take down Lincoln Southeast
• Lincoln Southwest girls lose to Omaha Westside

I know what they're going for, but I still think it sounds funny that there needs to be a planning open house for a "natural" play area in Belmont Park. Can you plan a natural space? In any event, there's some validity to the notion that most kids don't spend enough time interacting with nature. And no, picking a lone dandelion in an otherwise immaculate yard doesn't count. The Wilsons don't need a "natural" play area. We live very close to Beal Slough, the creek that runs along much of Highway 2. It's a perfect play area, and it has the benefit of not having been planned as a play area. What other areas in town are excellent "natural" play areas? Wilderness Park and portions of Pioneers Park are obvious candidates, as is Tierra Park. Any others?

I'm about to head out of town so no commentary from me on this one, unfortunately. I would love to hear what you folks have to say about the LPS budget proposal. Good? Bad? Ugly?

Last night we had some friends over to play pitch (10-point). That got me started thinking about how people play different card games in different pockets of the country. And unlike differences in pop vs. soda usage, which tend to be regional, local differences in preferred card games seem to vary quite a bit down to the community level. When I think about card games that I identify with Lincoln, the first that comes to mind is 10-point pitch. That's probably because that's the game that dominates my family's gatherings. What other card games are associated with Lincoln or southeast Nebraska?

Happy graduation, grads! Happy Mother's Day, moms! Sorry I'm late. I've always been a little tardy with these things. I spent several hours this weekend at UNL's soccer field officiating games for Toro Soccer Club's Spring Showcase of Champions. The event featured premiere level U14 girls teams from Iowa, Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma. The setting, with the field sitting in Memorial Stadium's shadow, and the good weather made for a wonderful event. A couple of the referees and a few of the visiting coaches and spectators hit the town on Saturday night. It sounds like Downtown had quite the party atmosphere in the wake of UNL's graduation earlier that day. I can't speak for Lincoln's overall economy, but it sounds like Lincoln's bars performed very well over the weekend. On Sunday, The Wilsons took a family outing for Mother's Day. But I'm not going to tell you about that. Instead, you will have to guess. Did any of you do anything especially nifty over the weekend?

Senator Mike Johanns is cutting pork from his diet -- political pork, that is. He won't pursue earmarks for Nebraska because he "simply do[es] not have confidence that the earmarking system is open, transparent and based on merit". Well, no, of course it isn't. That's why we call it pork and not "legitimate government expenditures". Congressional earmarks are a dirty business. Which isn't to say all earmarks are bad. The ugly processes used to pass earmarks are the the problem; the bizarre expenditures are a side effect. On the plus side, this means Sen. Johanns is exercising some sound principles. The dark side of his decision is that most everybody else is still fighting to get the Feds to pay for projects that really ought to be funded by local, state, or private entities (or not at all). Is this a good move by Johanns? Just a bit of political grandstanding? Or perhaps a grand waffle, since just a month ago he said he would support certain projects?

A recent post on Taste of Lincoln made me remember that I haven't yet been to Phat Jack's at 40th and Cornhusker. I just don't get to or think about that area of town very often. I should. I mean, the food looks just like BBQ should, and it sounds like other than some initial concerns about portion sizes, Lincolnites love it. Have you been to Phat Jack's yet? What's your verdict?

It won't come as any surprise to most of you that The Wilsons are ready to expand our family. Robert is just about to turn three and we feel like the timing is right. As with Robbie, we will adopt our second child. So what does this have to do with you? Actually, I'm not just telling you about our plans for something to talk about. You may be able to help. You see, over the past several weeks we have been presented with a couple potential opportunities to adopt a child via "nontraditional" circumstances -- that is, not via an agency like we had planned. Neither opportunity went very far, but it made me realize something very important: whether we all know it or not, there are people among our acquaintances, friends, and family who want to consider or choose adoption, but they need help, or they want to place their child with a family they know and trust but they don't know anybody who is adopting other than those 1-800 numbers in the newspaper. After a recent out-of-the-blue situation with a "friend of a friend" I thought to myself, maybe we are focusing too far from home. One of the reasons The Missus and I elected not to adopt internationally is because there are oodles of kids here in the USA who need a family. Well, maybe our focus is still too broad; maybe our next child (or children) is somehow connected to you, or your friend, or your co-worker. I hope it doesn't sound like I am "shopping" for a kid. (Though sometimes the adoption process does feel like that.) Rather, I just want it to be known that we are a family looking for a child (or children) looking for a family. In all likelihood we will adopt our next child via traditional channels. But maybe not. If you or somebody you know wants to talk to us, use the e-mail address mrwilson at lincolnite dot com.

I know I've written on this before, but I still don't get LB278, which allows municipalities to permit pedestrians to walk in the street and ask for money under defined circumstances. Nothing in the law would explicitly allow big city-style panhandling and window washing, though I suppose a municipality could permit such a thing if it wanted to. Instead, specific fundraising groups could, with Lincoln's approval, legally walk among cars stuck in traffic after the latest Husker game. I'm having a difficult time seeing the public benefit to permitting pedestrians to walk in the street and harass motorists for cash. Interestingly enough, it seems that firefighters are the bill's big supporters. Firefighters? Why do firefighters want to collect money from me while sucking exhaust fumes in traffic?

No, this has nothing to do with Lincoln. But people, we must band together and save the pika! Pikas are little critters that live in rocky areas high in the mountains out west. I first met pikas when my dad and I went hiking in the Uintas Mountains in Utah for the first time several years ago. I didn't know what they were, so I dubbed them rock hamsters (no relation). Frankly, I think my name is far better than pika, a name which makes it seem like they eat chalk. Anyway, for whatever reason -- I blame altitude sickness -- I immediately fell in love with pikas. For Pete's sake stop wasting so dang much energy so we can halt global warming and help the poor little guys. Save the rock hamsters!

Well heck, I didn't expect Ken "The Hammer" Svoboda to lose in yesterday's election. Though honestly he didn't really seem to try that hard for reelection, did he? Maybe I'm perceiving him incorrectly, but he just didn't seem to have much fight in him this go-round. For that matter, few people seemed to fight very hard on his behalf. Our new City Council members are Jayne Snyder, Adam Hornung, and Gene Carroll. Congratulations to the three of them! I'm sure I'll have plenty to say about them over the next few years. Hmm, with this new blood on the Council, maybe we can finally get a Councilmember or two to start actively blogging, Casady-style. To the newly-elected members I ask: Are any of you willing to be that transparent? I would love to help you get started.

Sorry for the relatively light load of posts lately, and for the relatively substance-free content of many of those posts. It's getting toward the end of the high school soccer season and I'm getting worn down. Heck, I lost three pounds over the last 48 hours. Why? Try 380 minutes of soccer in 27 hours, thanks to 3 out of 4 of my District games going through overtime and into shootouts. Sheesh! At least the spectators are getting their money's worth. I'll make it up to you once I get over my calorie deficit. Anybody up for a game? Let me know in the comments what game you'd like to play.