Lincolnite

I have a couple free tickets to Friday's 7pm Omaha Vipers game if anybody is interested.

So apparently bronchitis is going to be an annual tradition for me. I went through a nasty bout of it last October to kick things off. That round lasted about three weeks in total, it ruined a month's worth of soccer reffing, and I even threw out my back thanks to my coughing. This year my bronchitis symptoms began yesterday (with other symptoms starting Saturday). I wonder what this year's edition has in store! Ugh. Enough about me. How are you all doing? Families healthy? Jobs going well? Getting all packed up for a nice vacation?

Trader Joe's opened this weekend in SouthPointe. I didn't venture into the neighborhood, but what I hear from those who did is that the store was packed with people and pretty much empty of products. Lincolnites haven't been in this much of a food frenzy since Famous Dave's came to town. Did you make it to TJ's this weekend? Which was more entertaining, the shopping experience or people watching?

Mr. T treated me to breakfast at The Green Gateau yesterday morning. It was only my second trip to the restaurant, and frankly that seems like a big problem to me. The Green Gateau has a nice atmosphere and great food. Why don't I get there more often? I think the same can be asked of Lincolnites in general. The Green Gateau is almost never mentioned among Lincoln's notable restaurants. It seems most people know it's a respected establishment, yet it's quite easily overlooked. I know I forget about it pretty much all the time unless I happen to be driving up 10th Street. So far I've only tried breakfast at The Green Gateau. I'm going to make a commitment to try lunch and/or dinner as well. The menus look fantastic. Tell me your Green Gateau tales!

It's not often a Journal Star commenter gets a genuine chuckle out of me, but Richard D., you're my new hero. The Foster Care Review Board has released a new report saying, in short, that child welfare reform has gotten Nebraska exactly nowhere over the past ten months. (The report itself, as far as I can tell, isn't available anywhere online.) Todd Reckling, director of Children and Family Services, has something to say about that:

Many of you are aware that Jeff Korbelik has been doing his "Jeff's Top 5" feature in the Ground Zero for the past year or so. Each week he features his five favorite "somethings" in the Lincoln dining scene. It could be the best restaurants in a certain category, the best of a particular dish, or whatever. Now he's ending the series with his top five restaurants overall, but he's doing them one at a time. Number five on his list is Billy's. I'm trying to guess what the next four will be. Trouble is, it's not clear what his criteria are. For example he mentions the word "favorite" at one point, but he also uses the phrase "top 5". To me those aren't necessarily the same thing. The restaurants that I think are the "best" aren't necessarily the same as those that I would list as my "favorite". Favorite foods and restaurants are deeply personal and, as a result, sometimes wholly irrational. That being said, what do you think Korbelik's next four choices will be? Will he stick to the same "fine dining" theme? If so, he might finish out his list with the likes of jtk, Dish, The Oven, Blue Orchid, Bread & Cup, and Venue. Perhaps he'll be daring and mix up the genres, adding in local favorites like Paul's, a Morales restaurant (El Toro, La Mexicana, etc.), and Tina's. Or perhaps he'll really go over the top and mirror KFOR's "Best of Lincoln" poll and choose Amigo's, Valentino's, and Red Lobster. Any guesses?

The Hastings College men's soccer team continues to roll at the NAIA tournament, entering the semis with a solid 23-0 record. The Broncos' roster is loaded with Lincolnites: AJ Dingledine, Jordan Green, Nate Polak, Cody Poteat, Kenton Salomons, Justin Burns, and Aaron Mulgrue. Congratulations guys, and good luck in the next two rounds! The Hastings College women's soccer team is also having tremendous success. They are the first GPAC women's team to make it to the NAIA tournament. They stormed into the tournament in fine fashion, knocking off #1 Concordia (Oregon) 2-1 in the first round. Their match yesterday was postponed to today at 11:30am. Their roster also includes several Lincolnites: Brittany Toth, Megan Kreifels, Sara Berens, Taylor Nelson, Rachel Wenzl, Amanda Olson, Sarah Wenzl, and Alex Bechle. Good luck ladies!

Five Willows is dead. The fitness center that spruced up the horribly ugly former Food4Less location at 48th and Pioneers called it quits through the time-honored and ever-so-honorable method of slapping a note on the door. I hate it when businesses close up that way. I always wondered how long Five Willows could make it. Only the Jazzercise portion of the building ever seemed to get any use. (Jazzercise is separate and is still up and running.) The information I was able to gather over the years suggested that the business had to struggle from the start after the building's renovation process went far out of scope and over budget. If true, it may mean somebody will be able to take over the building for a steal, much like Lazlo's took advantage of the failure of Stackwoods. As a resident of the neighborhood I would love to see that kind of successful transition. Prairie Life, College View Edition? If you're sad that you can't exercise any more at 48th and Pioneers, may I offer up an alternate plan? Go eat at Paul's, just across the street from Five Willows. If you can't work out you may as well eat some darn good food.

Last night I tweeted this:

"I like it here because when I'm at your house I'm not scared and I feel safe." #reasonswearefosterparents

Nuff said. I also want to give an update on my earlier plea for clothing. A couple very generous Lincolnites stepped up and now are boys are looking sharp. The oldest boy (age 8) actually layered three different shirts on the first day with his new wardrobe because he couldn't decide which of his new clothes he wanted to show off most. Smiles abound. Thank you! If any of the rest of you have clothes for any age child that you would like to donate, please think of the Foster Care Closet. I know one common hold-up is the desire to save clothes to hand down to "somebody I know". That's understandable; I often feel the same way. But whereas you might some day know somebody who might want those boxes of clothes stuffed into your basement, there are lots of kids who could use those clothes right now. And frankly, you probably know some of them and don't even realize it. In other foster care news, DHHS has rechristened Nebraska's child welfare reform as "Families Matter". The new name doesn't appear to have shown up anywhere other than a letter we received last week. I assume it will kick in more in 2011. I'm still having troubles getting over the irony of the name.

Are there any places in Lincoln that make an awesome hot chocolate? I'm generally not a hot chocolate drinker -- I'll take my chocolaty beverages in the form of a milkshake, thanks -- but after spending a few minutes outside this morning, hot chocolate sounds really good. So which outfits do it the best?

As goofy as it sounds to me initially, John Bishop's suggestion that Pershing Center could host the WWE's hall of fame actually makes a lot of sense. Any holes I can poke in the suggestion are relatively insignificant. There's the minor problem that Lincoln isn't exactly a hotbed of tourist activity, but so what? Lots of tourist attractions are in fairly surprising places and they do just fine there. Besides, what would be a better complement for the National Museum of Roller Skating than a museum dedicated to the likes of Macho Man Randy Savage? I don't know what the WWE's criteria are for their museum but there doesn't seem to be a good reason to rule out Lincoln just yet. I say Mayor Beutler needs to don a singlet, hold a press conference, and get this ball rolling.

I'm a little distracted this morning. I engaged in some amateur plumbing and, well, cleanup is ongoing. OH GOD THE SMELL! I fixed the problem, though. Now then, where does The Missus keep all those smelly candles I'm always making fun of...