Lincolnite

I was so excited when I discovered Mexicali Bullfrog, the tiny Mexican eatery tucked away near 70th and O. I went there three times in three weeks. Then they went and closed up shop. Fortunately, I then discovered Smokehouse Deli, just a stone's throw from my house on the southeast corner of 48th and Highway 2. It's another tiny place, easy to miss but impossible to forget. Thinking about Bullfrog and Smokehouse, I realize that there are probably several similar tiny joints all around town that only the privileged few know about. Sadly, the small size that gives these places their charm is also one of the major reasons so many of them don't last very long. What other "unnoticeables" -- those special, hidden restaurants you hold near and dear -- are hiding around town that the Lincolnite community should know about?

It is Homecoming week at UNL, and that means an excuse for a mid-week tailgate party. HuskerFest takes place Thursday night from 6:00 to 8:00pm at Ed Weir track just North of Memorial Stadium. There will be free food from Valentino's, cheerleaders, drawings and giveaways, games for the kids -- the works. Plus, you can meet Mike Rozier and Johnny Rodgers. And if you're among the first 300 Alltel customers to whip out your phone or phone bill, you can win autographed items from Rozier and Rodgers. If you need a fresh shot of Husker enthusiasm -- and who doesn't right now? -- or if you're just looking for some free food, stop by tomorrow night. Psst: While you're on campus, don't forget to check out the Homecoming floats.

If you haven't already had your fill of Dawes- and Hawthorne-related proposals, Keith Prettyman has another one for you: keep Dawes open while Goodrich undergoes renovations. I don't frankly care which route the School Board chooses. I want them to pick the option that creates the most efficient and effective school system possible. Problem is, nobody seems to be able to describe with any clarity how any of the proposals -- including retaining the status quo -- achieves that goal. There are lots of lofty claims, but very little substance. In fact, the only claim anybody has made that seems to hold any water is that neighborhood schools offer benefits to the local area over larger, more distant schools. Until somebody starts providing facts that clear up the uncertainties around the various school closing options, it's going to be very difficult to support closing Dawes and/or Hawthorne.

Congratulations to Stephen and Jennie Mossman of Lincoln, 2007 Angels in Adoption award!

I think most drivers have a "secret" road or two they rely on to speed up their travels around the city. Well, I do, anyway. The roads aren't actually secret, of course. It's just that folks don't seem to use them as much as they could. Instead, most people stick to the classics -- the 27th Streets and the O Streets of the city. Suckers. Here's one example: During the evening rush hour, Capital Parkway can get clogged up coming out of Downtown, with slowdowns stretching as far as 48th Street. Why bother with that mess, when it is much easier and faster to take 16th Street to South to Sheridan? That's just one of my examples. Do you have any speedy "shortcuts" you utilize in certain situations? What are they?

Don't worry, they aren't closing down the O Street bridge just yet. Instead, construction will begin soon on a new bridge at 21st to 22nd Street. That's right, over dry land. One of these days there will be some water under there. Hopefully.

I want to congratulate The Missus for donating yet another ponytail to Locks of Love, "a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis". This was The Missus' fourth donation, putting her well on her way to donating an entire hairpiece (each of which requires 6-10 ponytails). If you have the ability to grow a ponytail measuring at least ten inches, please consider donating it.

The Journal Star reported on Sunday (article not online) that some land purchases near 20th and R may be for a new Assurity Life Insurance headquarters. The headquarters would replace Assurity's two current sites at 15th and K -- which will likely go to the State -- and 40th and Pine Lake. If true, it would be a nice boost for the Antelope Valley Project and may help change some cynical Lincolnites' perceptions that the AVP is little more than "a ditch and a road". (Nope, I'm not telling who said that.) Any headquarters Assurity builds would have to be relatively large; their current facilities house 400+ employees in 150,000 square feet. Presumably they would want a larger facility, plus room for expansion.

Finally, got my new Rebel XTi in the mail the other day. This is just an outstanding digital SLR, and I am very pleased with this purchase. Score one more for image stabilizing lenses. Kudos to anyone who can identify where this photo was taken by the way. I'm going to be a photo posting doofus like Jwilt soon.

Interesting decision at North Star High School, where Principal Nancy Becker decided to bar students from other schools from attending the upcoming Homecoming dance. The move is safety-related in response to the recent theft of guns from Scheels. At some level the school's response makes sense. It's easier to sniff out trouble when you know everybody than when you are among strangers. Fair enough. But among the kids arrested so far in the theft, most attended North Star, and one didn't attend school at all. Perhaps they should invite students from other schools but not their own for maximum safety. I really shouldn't second-guess the decision. Dr. Becker has an excellent track record with LPS. And really, it's not so much that I disagree. It's more that I am not convinced that the move provides anything more than an extra sense of security, rather than security itself. That, and it creeps me out that a bunch of administrators sat around and had a discussion in which the words "Virginia Tech at North Star" were probably uttered. I'm glad I don't have to regularly think about those things.

95 Rock -- formerly 95.1 on your FM dial -- is dead. In its place say hello to ... 95 Talk! Woohoo! Well, ok, I'm not actually all that excited. Talk radio on FM? Yawn. Not that it made sense to have two classic rock stations in town owned by the same company. On the plus side, 95 Talk played some awesome transition music this evening: a techno version of the instrumental theme -- not the pop song -- from The Neverending Story. No really. Instantly, my 1993 Ford Tempo turned into a giant, flying white dog. I raised my arm in the air as I shouted, "Falcor!". Together Falcor and I swept through the air and scared all of my old elementary school bullies. Then ... wait, what was I talking about again? Oh yeah. 95 Rock is dead. 95 Talk is born. Whoop.

Lincolnites enjoy complaining about traffic signals around town. A traffic engineer responds: Go View the entire strip.

I have way too many things on my mind right now. It's causing me a bunch of stress (some good, some bad), and I need to get it off my shoulders. So here's a quick mind dump: Robert is awesome. I know I've said that before. I'll say it again. (And again.) I really enjoy spending time with him, and I know The Missus does, too. He is gradually beginning to pick up some new words, which is nice. He has always been a vocal and communicative kid, but not much of a verbal kid. To hear him say "buh!" while pointing at birds in the sky is a lot of fun. (But geese waddling on the ground, according to Robert, are most definitely not birds.) He is also finally branching out in his food choices. For so long the poor kid gagged every time something with a funky texture went into his mouth. Now he is able to try a variety of different solid foods and find the ones he likes based on taste, not based on whether or not he upchucks. The biggest surprise so far: he likes onion rings. Work is going well. I'm busy busy busy. That's great, but it's also a source of significant stress. It's a good stress, though. Working on several different projects for several different "bosses" really taxes the brain. I love it, and if I can keep the money coming in, I'll keep doing it as long as I can. The big stressor of the week comes from an incident in a college soccer match on Tuesday. Over 89 minutes into the game -- that's less than a minute left -- there was a foul. Then a chest bump. Then a tackle. Then a really hard tackle. When all was said and done, one player from each team was ejected for fighting, and two other players were cautioned (yellow carded) for related offenses. I have very few qualms with how my assistants and I handled the situation. I was positioned exactly where I needed to be positioned on the field. My AR and I quickly identified the offenders and prevented others from joining in. Once everything calmed down, we stepped back and extremely carefully broke down the situation to make sure we "cleaned up" by the book. We reviewed the sanctions with the captains and each of the coaches. All in all, our response was nearly textbook, and I have been told so by the athletic conference commissioner and my referee chapter's president. So why am I so stressed? I think it's just my nature. I don't like messiness in my soccer matches. Ejections are messy. Ejections for fighting are even messier (harsher penalties). A thousand people could tell me I handled the situation as well as could be expected, and still I would review the situation over and over in my head. Plus, it's just plain stressful having to so carefully review the situation and report it to all the people I've reported to. First, the other referees and I talked for nearly 30 minutes after the match. I have spoken twice with the athletic conference commissioner. I have filled out forms and written supplemental reports. I've sent and received a bunch of e-mails. Goofing up during the administrative phase can be just as damaging to my career and to the teams as if I had goofed up during the match. One big positive item is that the incident was caught on video, and I now have the video in my possession. I've never before seen myself on video in a "crisis" situation. The video is short (some parts of the "clean-up" are edited out) but very helpful. For example, I mis-remembered how the whole thing started. It's a great lesson in perception, memory, and reality. My positioning on the play was as good as could be expected, given the context of the play at the time. I closed the distance quickly when trouble first started. At the time the last player earned his ejection, I was literally one foot away from the action. I don't like the way I show cards to players, though. I look too angry, like I'm trying to bop them on the head with the card. I'll need to change that. Then there's the injured player laying on the turf in the middle of all the action, sprawled out, not moving. It looks bad on the video, but no way was I going to let trainers come onto the field until I knew the situation had calmed down. The last thing I needed was trainers getting into it with players. Anyway, that's enough of that. There's my mind dump. Time to get back to work!

This doesn't really have anything to do with Lincoln, but I'm posting it because I'm tired of seeing people fall for these scams. Why would any normal person write a check for thousands of dollars extra -- using a check that doesn't even have their name on it, I might add -- and then ask you to send them the difference? What possible explanation can you come up with that would cause that to make sense?

Yesterday it was Mexican fast food of questionable quality. Today: Downtown sandwich shops. The Journal Star's "The 402" section features a dozen Downtown sandwich shops today. How would you order them, from your favorite to least favorite? My order:

1. Bison Witches. OK, #1 and I'm already cheating because this isn't even on The 402's list. But c'mon, they sell sandwiches, they're Downtown ... what's the deal, 402?
2. Highnooners. I don't get there very often, but it's a nice little, local, simple sandwich joint.
3. Doozy's. The place is almost always packed. They must be doing something right.
4. Danny's. I haven't been there in years, but when I worked nearby I used to love going there for a small sandwich and some soup on a cold winter day.
5. Brown Baggers. Their new location is very cozy, and I love the brown bag lunch.
6. Planet Sub. I like the indoor/outdoor seating area.
7. Subway. I've eaten more than my fair share of meatball subs at Subway.
8. Roost. The sandwiches are good, but I'm not a big chicken salad guy. If I were, this would be higher on the list.
9. Quiznos. I've tried to like Quiznos, but it's just meh fo rme.
10. Jimmy John's. Sorry JJ's lovers, but this just isn't my thing. The new JJ's on 33rd and Pioneers looks like it's nearly ready to open, by the way.

I have never been to:

• Erbert and Gerbert's
• Manhattan Deli
• Bread and Cup