Lincolnite

I'm back! You're all giddy, I can tell. I'm still a little behind this morning so I'll just go with a couple quick items before resuming my usual posting habits tomorrow:

1. JournalStar.com got a refreshed look, I see. I'll have to explore the new features a bit.
2. The Journal Star canned Paul Fell? That's too bad.
3. Are we still talking about the cable TV bruhaha? Sheesh.
4. Congratulations to Lincoln Industries!

Good evening, y'all. Sorry I went AWOL for a couple days. I got taken down by some sort of virus or demon or something on Wednesday, and it pretty much wiped me out. Fever of 103, fatigue, aches, all that good stuff. Now I'm in Des Moines preparing to referee at the 2007 US Youth Soccer Region II Championships. What? Referee right after being sick as a dog? Yeah, I'm an idiot. I may have some things to write about Des Moines. I can't say much about the town as a whole, but I'm fairly impressed by the downtown area. Now it's time for me to hit the sack. I have reffing to do tomorrow!

Meatball reported that King Taco is now open on Highway 2 in the former Taco Inn location. Be sure to let us know if you stop by. One of these days I should offer incentives for the first person to patronize new businesses and bring back photos. Hmm... Also, word is in that Jimmy John's will be one of the tenants in the nearly-complete building at 33rd and Pioneers. People tell me that JJ's makes Teh Bestest Sammiches EVAR!!1! but I've never been a huge fan. Maybe I'm broken. Add YAMJ (Yet Another Mexican Joint) and YASJ (Yet Another Sandwich Joint) to your scorecard.

I recently noticed that several of the new houses on Vine Street east of Antelope Valley are really into flags. The first time I drove past I thought perhaps I had stumbled onto a parade route. I wonder if the flags -- a combination of U.S. and other nations' flags -- are required by a landlord or homeowners association contract or something. The flags give the stretch a nice, "cute" look. Now if they could just make sure there are always children outside jumping rope and blowing bubbles, it would be impossible to drive by and not say "Awww!"

OK, OK, she isn't really a liar. But she is a tease for headlining her column "Big news from Antelope Valley". (Yeah yeah, she may not have even been the one to come up with the headline.) Here I got all excited, when in fact the "big news" is just hypothetical news about some hypothetical projects. Harrumph. Y'all know I'm just ribbing Ms. Winter, right? I enjoy her City Hall Notebook column. I probably learn more from her weekly column than I do from all of the rest of the articles in the Wednesday paper combined. Such as: Crandall Arambula, the Portland, Oregon, consulting firm that headed up the Downtown Master Plan, wants to write the design standards for Antelope Valley. To that I say: bah humbug. Maybe that's too harsh. I'm not anti-Crandall Arambula. I'm just not excited about them. I don't want Antelope Valley to look like the vision held by some group from Portland, and I don't want Antelope Valley to look like every other project Crandall Arambula works on. I want Antelope Valley to look like Lincoln.

I can't say I understand the Journal Star's timing with their ongoing report on stem cell research issues. The Unicameral isn't discussing it; the Unicam isn't in session. The University of Nebraska Board of Regents isn't discussing it; they aren't likely to discuss it as long as federal policy doesn't change (i.e. until at least 2009). The topic won't really be important to the presidential candidates until January. So why is the LJS spending so much time talking about it now? Their efforts seem almost wasted relative to other windows of opportunity they could have taken advantage of.

Three identical houses for sale. Charming, early 20th Century architecture. All-new interiors and exteriors. Each is worth over $200,000, but you can get yours for only $130,000! Buy now!

Yesterday's post by Scott Adams made me try to think if I have ever had a close encounter of the celebrity kind in Lincoln. I haven't, as far as I can recall. Have you? My only real celebrity close-encounter was the time I nearly stole Larry King's cookie at the Rose Bowl. I had a press pass for taking photographs of the Cornhusker Marching Band's pre-game and halftime performances from the roof of the press box. I was thinking about picking up this cookie when Larry King himself appeared from nowhere, said "I forgot my cookie", and then disappeared into one of the private suites with his reclaimed dessert. Edited to add: I can't believe I forgot this story. One day while I was in grad school a couple friends and I ate at Yia Yia's. As we left, we brushed shoulders with a small group of people headed inside. One of my friends froze and stared. I asked what was up. "You don't know who that was? That was Connor Oberst. Bright Eyes. You guys don't know him?" We didn't. Then my friend did one of the strangest things I've ever witnessed. He closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and dreamily said "Oh man, you can still smell him."

Lincolnite Jesse Whidden sent in this tip several days ago, but it got buried in my inbox. Sorry for the delay, Jesse, and thanks for the tip!

Taco Bueno is coming to Lincoln. I noticed last weekend that a building on N 27th. St. (near Wal-Mart) that could only be a Mexican fast-food restaurant was nearing completion. A quick Internet search confirmed that it will be a Taco Bueno.

In other taco news, King Taco is (supposedly) coming to the former Taco Inn on Highway 2 / 9th Street / 10th Street / whatever that street is called just south of Van Dorn. It has been "coming soon" for a while now.

I like the concept behind Lincoln's new digital billboards. Most importantly, they aren't nearly as obnoxious or distracting as the naysayers swore they would be. If I were an advertiser, though, I'd be very annoyed at the short 10-second display time. Ten seconds often isn't enough to fully digest all the content on a sign. And ten seconds is only if you catch the sign at the beginning of its display cycle; you're more likely to only see the sign for a portion of that 10-second window. I can see the digital billboards being great for promoting a brand (e.g. RibFest, Nebraska State Fair), but not for disseminating details about that brand. And if your brand isn't already well-known, you're going to have a very difficult time with a digital billboard. That's my take, anyway.

In contrast to Verizon's experience, things aren't going so well at 48th and O Streets. That intersection is a good example of why I don't like it when government gets too wrapped up in that sort of project. Limited involvement by local government can sometimes be good, or even necessary. But more often than not, taxpayers get less than they were promised more slowly and with more difficulty than promised. The intersection of 48th and O is prime real estate. The redevelopment shouldn't be so difficult. Should it?

Jeff Korbelik reviews 9 South Chargrill in today's LJS. I'm bummed I wasn't able to make it there first, but considering the review's knock on 9 South's service, I'm glad The Missus and I didn't try to take Robbie there. Iffy service + energetic toddler = trouble.

Sometimes I think the Journal Star spends as much time talking about Omaha as they do about Lincoln. Today's article focuses on Omaha's so-called "cultural renaissance". Good for them. No, seriously. Because more often than not, what's good for Omaha is good for Lincoln. A portion of Omaha's success is likely to come to Lincoln in the form of "hand-me-downs" (thanks, big brother!). On top of that, any time a new door opens for Omaha, Lincoln has an opportunity to get there first. That's the most interesting part. How do you think Omaha's successes help Lincoln? How do they hurt us? Is the Omaha hype just that, or is it real?

Lincoln has been criticized as a difficult place to do business. Verizon doesn't think so, and that's great news. In fact, according to Kent Gregory, one of the developers, he has "never had a project go through a city as quickly as this project in Lincoln". Now that's what I like to hear.

Noticed today that Jones Coffee at 11th and G is now open. Apparently it opened sometime earlier this week, but I didn't notice it until walking back from work tonight. One of the owners left a note here earlier in the year with a description, and it sounds pretty cool. Score for me I only live a stone's throw away. This neighborhood could use a nice wireless coffee place, and I like their ethics. I have a feeling it will probably be popular with the students in the area and others who like coffee and locally-owned business. I'll try and head over there this weekend.