Lincolnite

Today's Friday Five is a simple game. I will name the features at (or near) each corner of an intersection except one. Your job is to tell me (1) what's at the remaining corner, and (2) which intersection it is. I will go clockwise around the intersection, but I won't necessarily start at the same corner every time. Example:furniture / bulls eye / chicken Answer: Best Buy (48th and R)

1. burritos / onion rings / groceries
2. movies / campers / pancakes
3. dirt / barber / bank
4. yoga / gas / popcorn
5. phones / cars / insurance

Here's an interesting Top 10 list: Lincoln's top 10 yellow pages headings in 2006 on windstreamyellowpages.com. The numbers in parentheses are the national ranking for each heading:

1. Restaurants (1)
2. Apartments (60)
3. Employment agencies (41)
4. Tattooing (>130)
5. Heating and Ventilating Contractors (54)
6. Doctors offices and clinics (2)
7. Insurance Brokers (12)
8. Hotels (28)
9. Hospitals (9)
10. Movie Theaters (17)

Most of the items look reasonable enough, but what's with #4? Are Lincolnites obsessed with tattoos relative to the rest of the country? A tip o' the hat to Simon for the list. Thanks, Simon!

Dang, the LJS is committing highway robbery with its upcoming Bundles of Joy insert. The annual BoJ insert features photos of babies born in Lincoln in the past year. They will print a photo of your precious little one for the low (ha!) low (ha!) price of 40 bucks. Ouch. But how can you not send in a photo of your child when you have grandmas and aunts and friends of friends harassing you about it? It's extortion, I tell ya. Anyway, look for Robert when the insert comes out. He'll be the cute one. 😉

A family of seven with lots of love but very little space in their house and who, as a result, have been living separately for years, will finally be reunited.

That's the description of this Sunday's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition broadcast featuring the Fullerton-Machacek family from Lincoln. I'm thinking about live-blogging^* the show. I've never done live-blogging before, but it could be fun, and this would be a perfect time to try it out. Would anybody join in? ^* I'm not sure if it would be easier to post live updates here in the blog (where non-registered people can post comments) or in the forum (where only registered members can post). It's possible that instead of live-blogging we'll actually be "live-foruming", but that lacks a certain je ne sais quois.

A couple weeks ago I wrote that The Missus and I planned to use (our interpretation of) the Ferber Method to help Robert sleep through the night. Things were going well initially, but then Robert got an ear infection. We halted the program temporarily. Now, though, we're back on track. In fact, this morning's 5:30am wake-up represented the third straight all-nighter for Robert. He goes down around 8:00pm and wakes up between 5:00am and 6:00am. I won't go so far as to say Robert is "cured" of his middle-of-the-night wakings. Only time will tell if that's true. (And even then, there will always be the occasional 2:00am waking.) I will, however, say that having a plan and sticking to it makes nighttime wakings incalculably more manageable. The Missus and I knew that all along, but we were, as so many parents are, hesitant nonetheless. I guess it's the stress of listening to a baby cry, combined with the discomfort associated with changing "the way we've always done it". I'll let you know if things suddenly take a sour turn. Cross your fingers!

This is my first day back at work since December 15. Here is a look back at some of the things that happened in that time:

• For the second time ever, I completely shaved my head. I even managed not to remove large chunks of skin like I did last time. The main difference this time is that I plan to keep it shaved for a good while. So far I've only noticed one annoyance: everybody seems to think it is their duty to inform the bald guy that he "really should wear a hat" on a cold day.
• Robbie fought off his first ear infection like a trooper. It really sucked seeing him not feel well. He's normally such an active, bubbly, friendly kid. While he was sick he hardly smiled or laughed, he didn't babble very much, and he didn't really want to play. Blah.
• Feeling in a grumpy, un-Christmasy mood? Spend Christmas with babies, boxes, wrapping paper, and bows. That's all you need.
• Robert changed so much in the past couple weeks. He's starting to figure out that crawling thing, slowly but surely. He has always been a stander, but now he really loves to stand. He learned how to pull himself up to standing. (The first time he did that was in his crib. Quite a surprise to The Missus when she walked in.) He has even learned how to walk, very very slowly, while pushing a little cart thingy. He's seven months old and he can walk himself across the room. Crazy! Still no teeth, though. Just lots of drool.
• Robert is entering the phase in which he freaks out when mom leaves the room. When dad leaves the room it's like, "Hey, that goofy guy left. Oh well". But when mom leaves the room, it's "Dear God, where did she go?! Mom! Mom! Come back!" Which, of course, really makes The Missus eager to go back to work. Fortunately he chills out after a few seconds. For now.
• I've been working on Lincolnite behind the scenes, along with some freelance web development work. I now have clients in Toronto, San Francisco, and upstate New York. Once I get a few items crossed off my to-do list I hope to start on some local projects.

I'm not typically one to pile on Lincoln's snow removal crew. In fact, more often than not I wish they would do less snow removal, not more, especially in residential areas where the plows are known to create more problems (e.g. blocked driveways) than they solve. But their latest efforts have really disappointed me. Public works director Karl Fredrickson claims that "all of the arterial streets had been plowed four times" by Tuesday. Given the back-breaking state of many of Lincoln's arterials, that's awfully depressing to hear. Fredrickson blames the meteorologists, and he has a point. Ken Siemek and company really goofed, and they continued to misread the storm even as it progressed. While it was obvious to everybody and their dog that the storm was putting down more than "2 to 4 inches", every weather source I checked continued to present a remarkably inaccurate picture of the situation. Still, it would be nice to hear Fredrickson say "You know what, you're right. Some of the roads do suck right now. Here's our plan..." Instead, he acts like there isn't a problem at all. Many Lincolnites have unrealistic expectations in regard to snow removal, that's true. But Karl Fredrickson's message to the public is insufficient, and he deserves the heat he gets as a result.

Mayoral candidate Ken Svoboda caused a little trouble recently with a telephone poll that Democrats allege was a campaign maneuver, and thus subject to specific laws. Svoboda's camp says nope, it was just an internal campaign poll. They're probably both right. Apparently one of the questions says Chris Beutler is "friends with Don Wesely", which the Dems perceived as an implied political attack. Svoboda's response: "Since when is that a negative?" Fair enough, Ken, but answer me this: Since when is that relative to this spring's mayoral race? While Chris Beutler has been sticking to the issues, Svoboda wants to be petty. That's one demerit for you, Ken.

Yeesh, I had hoped to have several posts up by 8:00am this morning, but a traffic tangle on South 27th Street gave me some unexpected relaxation time on the bus. I'll have some new stuff up soon.

Five observations as 2006 closes:

1. Blue Orchid got off to a rocky start, but overall it has had a great year. It is widely regarded as one of Lincoln's best restaurants, and for good reason. Congratulations to Witawas Srisa-an and Malinee Kiatathikom on their success.
2. Lincolnites got to show off for the cameras a few times this year. In the spring, a few Lincolnites became a few million dollars richer and they performed admirably on the national stage. I know I got a kick out of watching the press conference when they all took their turn at the microphone. This fall, one Lincoln family was blessed with a new house, thanks to Extreme Home Makeover. I can't wait to watch the episode early next year.
3. The Douglas 3 is gone, and the Star Ship is just days from demolition. In their place we're told two new jewels will rise. I'm crossing my fingers.
4. Between Mike Spadt's shenanigans and the Verizon bidding kerfuffle, public confidence in local government took a hit this year. How will that play in the 2007 elections?
5. Lincolnites gave $250 million to LPS, saw their property valuations jump, and recently got news that we're in for a rough ride in upcoming budget cycles. I suspect Lincolnites aren't feeling especially charitable right now. Look for some fiscal fireworks in 2007.

It's not quite the edgy strip of the future that I had hoped for, but Baby Blues is coming to the LJS comics on January 1. At least it's something different, even if BB is 16 years old and likely a bit stale by now.

Fresh from the rumor mill, I heard today that The Oven, one of Lincoln's best restaurants, is expanding to a second location. The new location will be in the 70th and Pioneers area, near Venue. Let me emphasize that this is just a rumor at this point, but it seems to be a fairly reliable one. If true, chalk up another victory for locally-owned restaurants.

It's Friday, and it feels like a good day for some light conversation. So let's chat about the Journal Star's comics section, shall we? First the good news: the ol' LJS has a better comics section than many, or even most, newspapers. But that doesn't mean most of the comics don't make me want to wash my eyes out with toilet water after reading them. Let's pick on a few. First up is Garfield. Garfield hasn't been funny in ten years, though I have to give Jim Davis credit for finally trying a few new things over the past couple months. In general, though, the last time I remember really getting a kick out of Garfield was back in 3rd grade when I used to try to draw the fat cat as well as Nate Voss. (I never even came close.) Right next to Garfield is Adam@Home. Adam@Home is just plain depressing. It's a comic strip about one of the worst fathers of all time. Adam isn't a bad father in a funny way, like Homer Simpson. Adam is simply an awful, terrible father. His three kids are destined to become a junkie, a prostitute, and a murderer. Hagar The Horrible suffers from the same problem as Garfield. And heck, I may as well throw in Hi And Lois, Beetle Bailey, Blondie, and Marmaduke into that list as well. Next up is Mary Worth. Please don't tell me I have to explain to you how much Mary Worth sucks. If Luann hadn't already jumped the shark, it did so over the past two weeks. The current story line involves the family dog. No big deal, right? Except in this story line the dog can talk, and he somehow made it up to the North Pole to hang out with Santa. Sure, it's probably a dream or something, but that's no excuse. Incidentally, Fox Trot pulled something similar last week with its "Oh no, we've turned into ginger bread men because we ate too many cookies!" story line. I have to think Bill Amend was on crack. In everybody's favorite After School Special of the comics page, aka For Better or For Worse, the strip is currently dealing with a grandfather who had a stroke, and now we're being led to believe that Michael might be killed off in a house fire. How uplifting. I had better stop there. The long and short of it is that I would love to see some new blood on the comics page. Any new blood. Heck, I would even take Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes re-runs, if such a thing were possible, just to mix things up a bit. I don't have an in-depth knowledge of all of the options out there, but if anybody from the Journal Star is listening, Aluminum Siding might be one to keep an eye on.

Looking for a last-minute Christmas gift for that special Lincolnite? Here are five ideas:

1. A tin of Colby Ridge popcorn. The white/cheese/caramel mix, of course.
2. A Pogo Card.
3. Tickets to an upcoming Nebraska Brass concert.
4. Lincoln On Board.
5. A Lincoln Children's Zoo membership.