Lincolnite

I learned to ride a bike on the sidewalk in front of our house on South 44th Street. My first bike was a hand-me-down: my sister's garish pink Huffy with white tires and streams on the handlebars. You can imagine how excited I was to receive a "boy" bike for my birthday. I bring this up because Buffmeat asked for some information about good places to teach a child to ride a bike without training wheels. We are looking for flat, level areas that "give" a little upon impact. Various parking lots are, of course, an option. But falling off a bike in a parking lot can be awfully unpleasant. Do you have any suggestions? Buffmeat lives on the north side of town, if that affects your input.

There are officially just two political parties in Nebraska these days. No "third parties" have met Nebarska's qualifications to be officially recognized. Sorry Nebraska Party, Greens, and Libertarians. You are now all nonpartisans.

Kent Seacrest isn't looking so well these days: A promo for the Journal Star I don't ever remember seeing on TV:

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?