Lincolnite

I spent most of my weekend up in Fremont reffing soccer. I started with three games yesterday, and I made it through four games today. Today's games were mighty interesting, considering they were mostly played in the rain and mud. When the day began I didn't think there was any way we were going to make it through the slate of games. The rain was one thing, but the periodic lightning is what really kept us from going. But the lightning stopped around noon, and we managed to get in every single game. The quality of play wasn't anything too spectacular, generally speaking, though I did center a very competitive U-19 girls match that ended 1-0, and I was AR1 on an exciting U-18 boys match that the underdog won 3-2 by coming from behind in the second half. Speaking of reffing, I have received my first six assignments for the college soccer season. No centers yet, but I'm crossing my fingers. The current assignments only go through Labor Day, so there are still lots and lots of opportunities for me to get some centers this season.

People, if you like chicken breast fingers, brave the traffic mess and head over to the Raising Cane's on 48th across from Best Buy. I left a brief note about this over at Swoof's blog earlier today after rushing in for a take out order, but I just can't get that experience out my mind. OK I realize that deep fried chicken fingers aren't exactly a gourmet dish, and are in the minds of many people yet another staple "fast-foodish" type of entree you will find in most casual restaurants (many people I am sure associate them with the ubiquitous bags of frozen fried chicken breast tenders you can find in any store). To make a winning fried chicken finger that sticks out amidst all that is already available, you really have to knock it out of the park. In my opinion, eating the Cane's breast fingers was the gastronomical equivalent of listening to Miles Davis' "Ascent" (In A Silent Way, 1969) for the first time. The Raising Cane's chicken breast fingers were definitely juicy (not dry like so many others offered in restaurants), with a fresh-taste unrivaled by the other fast food chains, and a relatively minimalist batter that let the chicken meat do most of the talking. In other words: tasty pieces of heaven in my mouth.

I listened to the NET Radio broadcast of the Ben Nelson and Pete Ricketts debate today. I don't think either man came out a winner. Here are some of my reactions:

• Pete sounds like John Kerry on speed. Like Kerry, he is artificial, he is over-rehearsed, and he has a hard time sticking to the topic at hand because he keeps trying to recite the lines from the flash cards he practiced with. The only difference between Pete and John Kerry is that Pete talks much faster.
• Pete likes cheesy personal anecdotes. "Y'know, I was talking to a woman in Kimball, Nebraska..."
• Both of them talked too much, attempting to bury their answers beneath a bunch of rhetoric.
• Ben got sloppy with his language a few times. His stem cell answer was a disaster because he kept appearing to change his mind, but what he was really doing was using the same language to refer to two different concepts. That could come back to bite him.
• Ben managed to point out that, like Pete, he is filthy rich, and he sounded just as condescending toward us "normal" people. That was a similarity his campaign didn't want to point out.
• Pete went off on a bizarre rant about No Child Left Behind in the middle of a question about college expenses. That was bad enough, but then he came back to it on the rebuttal, making the gaffe even worse.
• Did anybody catch that Noble (?) Valley, Wyoming reference Ben tried to throw in Pete's face? What was that all about? It was something about drilling for oil in Wyoming rather than Alaska. Pete followed with something along the lines of "I don't think I'm familiar with that," to which Ben replied, "I think you do..." Then the moderator cut them off.
• Ben got in at least a half dozen really solid zings at Pete's expense. Pete didn't really get any in. He was too uptight to be that spontaneous.

Mr. T also caught the debate. Here are some of his reactions:

• Both Ben’s experience and Petey’s inexperience showed, although this is not too surprising.
• A little surprised that Petey’s stance seems to be actually left of Ben’s on immigration.
• Noteworthy that Ben named the Chuckster in response to the Iraq question. Obviously trying to garner favor among the Bush Republicans.
• Surprised that Petey didnt seem to mention "Nebraska values" once.

If Lincoln really does lost the traffic engineer position, regular folks like you and I might need to step up to the plate to help move traffic smoothly around the city. For this Friday Five, I present five of my suggestions:

1. Actively plan for more roundabouts in both new and old areas
2. In the middle of the night, turn off the usual traffic signal cycle and replace it with a more sensible four-way stop or other set-up, as local conditions allow
3. Plan for through streets every half-mile, rather than every mile, as the city expands
4. Clear up the confusion over who has the right-of-way at unmarked intersections in residential areas, especially where local conditions imply something different than what city ordinance states
5. Give pedestrians more rights at marked intersections

Shigellosis is back in town. The infection, spread via the "fecal-oral" route, seems to pop up every few years. Wash your hands.

You can count me in as one of those people who just happened to have car problems yesterday as well. My car is a chronic victim of vapor lock during the summer (which can make for some interesting experiences while on the highway). Last night my car killed and wouldn’t turn over so I left it in the 18th and Washington neighborhood where I had been, and came back for it this morning, to find out it still wouldn’t turn over. Because of situations like this, I keep a phone book in my car, and discovered that – to my luck – Hanquist Service was literally a block away on 17th and Washington. I gave him a call, and Hanquist came over right away. I went to work, and by 11:30 AM got a call from Hanquist telling me he had fixed the issue (turned out to be an electrical issue and not vapor lock this time), and $ damage was minimal. Besides the 16th and O location of Economy and Performance, its nice to know there is another reliable auto service in central Lincoln.

I got to play the role of altruist last night, and I received a mild burn on my hand as a result. A family's minivan had died at the entrance to a parking lot. It just happened to die right before I walked by, and it just happened to die directly on the route I walk from the bus stop to the ol' homestead. Sometimes fate makes being a good samaritan easy. Anyway, a 50-something grandmother, a 15-ish kid, and I got behind the van to push it into the parking lot while mom steered and baby sat quietly. Did I mention the van was resting on an incline? We made a little progress, then paused for a break. About that time another fellow stopped to help, and we quickly made it the rest of the way into the lot. The family was thankful and I got to feel good about helping out. I only wish I knew something about cars so I could have helped get them back on the road. Oh, and that mild burn I mentioned? It was from the back of the van. Daaaaamn that thing was hot. In the little time I pushed the van, I toasted my hand.

Surely Gunscribe isn't the only one among you who wants to check out Ribfest today. And yet he's the only one to have responded to my invitation to join The Missus, Robbie, and I tonight for some ribs. So I'll try to make this a little easier for you: at Mr. T's request, I'm going to do Ribfest for lunch today, too. If anybody is up for that, drop a note in the comments. If you come, don't forget your donation for the Lincoln Food Bank!

In the print edition of the Journal Star this morning there is an article about New Yorker Howard Rich, who is providing much of the money behind two Nebraska petition drives: a state spending lid, and a requirement that hospitals feed dying patients. Mr. Rich is described in the article as libertarian, and his group is called Americans for Limited Government. It is neither libertarian, nor a practice of limited government, to require in the state constitution that hospitals do certain things to certain people in certain conditions. It is an invasive regulation, and a socially conservative preference incompatible with libertarian understandings of the role of government. I'm just sayin'.

It seems like it doesn't happen very often, but Mayor Seng and I agree on at least a few things: portions of the City Council's proposed budget modifications stink. By dipping into carryover funds, for example, the Council's short-sightedness will decrease departments' long-term incentives to be fiscally responsible. Axing the city traffic engineer's position takes away an important individual responsible for dealing with one of Lincoln's perennial source of complaints. And taking the Aquila payout in one year rather than two is impatient and unnecessary. The Council's approach to budgeting feels almost amateurish. They went in with a specific number in mind (which is reasonable enough) and were willing to think as short-term as necessary to get there (which is not). I'm all for fiscal responsibility, small government, and so on. But stealing from the piggy bank is not an exercise in fiscal responsibility; it's an exercise in immaturity. Likewise, the decision to take away the traffic engineer position has a distinct odor of playground politics. Why, out of all the jobs in city government, that position? Why a position responsible for the source of one of Lincolnites' most common complaints? Are we to believe that one or more Council members' past run-ins with the current holder of that position have nothing to do with this decision? In all fairness the Council is in a difficult spot. It has to make cuts -- relatively substantial cuts -- to Mayor Seng's budget or it is accused of playing fast and loose with the taxpayer dime. But there isn't a lot of easily-accessible fat to trim. Sure, there are lots of potential cuts out there, but most are either small (requiring more work) or likely to stir up noisy constituents. Who is going to get too fussy about a boring ol' traffic engineer? How many Lincolnites will picket over spending all of Aquila's money this year, rather than over two years? On the upside, the Council wants to save taxpayers $2.8 million. That's worth noting. On the down side, a portion of what we save this year will come back to haunt us in the future. Most of the Council's proposed savings are not free.

Say goodbye to another Lincoln tradition: the Haymarket Farmers Market has banned pets as of September. Taking pets to the Farmers Market has been a tradition since the Market's opening. Complaining about them has been a tradition nearly as long.

Today is Budget Day for the City Council. Any guesses on what survives and what dies?

Who: You and your clan What: Ribs When: Thursday, August 10 @ 6:00pm Where: Outside Pershing Center Why: Because ribs are good, and you want to meet Robbie The Missus and I -- and, weather permitting, Robbie -- plan to hit Ribfest Thursday evening. Would anybody care to join us for some rib tasting? Here's what I'm thinking: if several of you want to join us, we can pool our money and get ribs from several different vendors, or better yet, all of them. Then we'll sit down, taste some ribs, and vote for our favorites. I will post the results here on Lincolnite. Any takers? Even if you aren't up for gorging on ribs, you're still welcome to join us. Heck, isn't the opportunity to meet Robbie worth the price of admission?

I haven't dug into the details yet, but I think it goes without saying that a $1.01 tax rate is much better than the Lincoln Board of Education's original proposed $1.05 rate.

Councilwoman Robin Eschliman wants to blame Star Tran's drivers for Star Tran's "empty buses", crappy routes, and other shortcomings. As a result, she voted against their new contract. That hardly seems fair. The drivers have very little, if anything, to do with the fact that Lincolnites don't ride the bus. Blaming the drivers for a less-than-perfect bus system is like blaming the waiter for the bad food on your plate. On the other hand, Ms. Eschliman may have a point in disapproving of the fact that the contract permits only 10% of employees to be part-timers. Take one look at Star Tran's route and driver scheduling and tell me how much sense it makes to rely primarily on full-timers.