Lincolnite

Remember, The Dave/Tom/Dave race isn't the only issue worth heading to the polls for today. Here are two other issues that should attract you to the polls:

• Amendment 1, to raise the pay of state Senators to $21,000 per year. In my opinion it would be worth our money to pay even more than this, but $21K is a start over the laughable $12,000 we pay right now. If we want somebody other than rich folks running for Senator, we need to pay them something they can live on. I'm voting for.
• Parks bond, to pay $2.7 million to buy 130 acres of land along the South Beltway for eventual development into a linear park. I don't buy into all of the hyperbole being used to push this issue (the radio commercials are awful), but I do value green space, and Lincoln's success with trails through linear parks (Highway 2, Antelope Park, Capital Parkway) should be replicated. I'm voting for.

If you're too antsy to wait until tomorrow morning to see the results, the Lancaster County Election Commissioner's website has what you're looking for.

I'm in the midst of an inexplicably good mood. It's a great feeling. I haven't received a raise, I didn't get the day off work, I didn't win the lottery, and I didn't get The Call. But I've had a smile on my face all throughout this ordinary, unspectacular day. I have been a little short on good moods these past couple weeks, so frankly it's about dang time I had one of these days. I'm a good mood kind of a guy. Being cranky just isn't in my nature, despite my nom de web. And please don't confuse my frequent cynicism for a foul mood. I'm usually happy even when I think the world is stupid. I plan to milk my good mood for all it's worth. I'm going to get some work done outside, play with the pup, and maybe even take a walk around the neighborhood if the rain holds off long enough. You know what would really top off the evening? An ice cream truck. If that happens I don't see how it will be possible not to believe in divine intervention.

OK people, it's time for your predictions. Who wins the Republican nomination Tuesday, Dave or Tom? Or, uhh, the other guy.

Today is the first of four days of no officiating for me. Hot dog! Don't get me wrong, I love reffing soccer and umping baseball. But reffing District soccer last week kind of wiped me out. I received an invitation to referee at the State Tournament, but I haven't been given my specific assignments yet. All of the brackets have some interesting potential this year, so it'll be fun to watch how things shake out. The biggest surprise, in my opinion, is the absence of Elkhorn in the Class B boys bracket. They probably should have been playing in the finals, but instead an ill-timed loss to a weak team at Districts -- coupled with their regular season losses to Class A teams -- was enough to lose their wild card. As for my plans, tonight I'm going to mow, work in the garden, and prep the flower bed. I should also call around to figure out how much it's going to cost me to get that stump out of the yard. Better yet, anybody have any dynamite laying around? By the way, a while back I mentioned that a couple cilantro plants had sprung up this spring. They're going crazy now. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it all. If you have cooking plans that involve cilantro, let me know.

Lincoln was pretty quiet over the weekend. There was the marathon, of course. Daisy had a good time checking out the runners. I was too distracted by a guy running barefoot to pay much attention to anybody else. The Haymarket Farmer's Market kicked off for its summer run. And students at UNL headed home for the summer. The big news for this week is, without a doubt, the primary election tomorrow. Don't forget to vote, if that's your druthers.

Don't forget, folks, the Lincoln Marathon is Sunday morning. Expect delays if you plan to drive anywhere between Downtown and Highway 2, 10th Street and 70th Street. Better yet, why not get out and offer some encouragement to the runners and wheelchair racers? Here are some tips:

• Cheer, clap, hoot, and holler for everybody. They really appreciate it.
• Use your creativity and humor. There's nothing wrong with the traditional "Good job!", but creative encouragement gives the runners something to think about other than "Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow."
• Give a special shout-out to the National Guard runners from around the country who come to Lincoln just for the race.
• You may think hosing down the runners with your sprinkler would be appreciated, but you'd be wrong. Wet shoes suck.
• Always make sure you have plenty of space before you try to cross the course. If you get in a runner's way, he may very well kill you. And frankly, if I were on the jury, I'd acquit him.

Most importantly, have a sense of humor. The marathon will dominate the streets Sunday morning. Being cranky won't help anything. Every year I see a traffic cop have to berate an idiot driver or two. Don't be that idiot.

City Council member Patte Newman went on the record earlier this week as opposing eminent domain abuse in the Taste of China situation. She simplified things thusly:

No honest hard-working taxpayer should ever have to live in fear of their government.

I think most Lincolnites agree. So why not make the sentiment official policy? The City Council should prohibit the (ab)use of eminent domain to steal property for private gain. Period. Can I have an amen?

I really don't care for articles like today's story on Star Tran riders. There's nothing inherently wrong with that sort of story, but more often than not the stories emphasize public transit riders' weirdness and/or poorness. Colleen Kenney's article today is no exception. The result of this sort of article is twofold. First, it biases people against Star Tran. When they read quotes like these, who can blame them?

"There's some weird people. Over time, you get a feeling who to sit by and who to avoid" "Here we usually just see poor people and students."

Who wants to ride in a noisy bus with weird people? And although most people won't admit it, I think there is a strong bias against riding with "poor people and students", both due to the various stereotypes that go along with those titles, and due to the fear of association with those stereotypes. The second result is that it makes bus riders look bad. It extends stereotypes to everybody who rides the bus. When Joe Public reads the article, he sees a story about: a guy without a car; a student; a poor woman with kids; a disabled woman; foreigners; a scandal-monger; and an abused woman. That's hardly the crew Joe Public wants to mingle with. Now when he looks at a bus with this article fresh in his mind, what is he likely to think about the riders on board? In all fairness to Ms. Kenney, I'm not accusing her of seeking out an inaccurate slice of the bus-riding public. There are weird people on the buses, and there is an impressive diversity among the riders. It's just that these articles always seem to end up making buses and their riders sound less "good" than the author probably means to. I have been a regular Star Tran rider for over four years now. I've met almost all the characters: talkative guy; intoxicated guy; indescribably stinky guy; talks-to-herself lady; crying baby; horrible mother; obnoxious teenager; and so on. But for the most part they are no more or less a drain on my day than the obnoxious drivers I would have to put up with had I driven. Most of the time my ride to and from work is loud (from the bus, not the riders), but relaxing. Perhaps I'm over-analyzing this sort of article, but I don't think that's the case. It took some members of my family two years to "accept" that I am a bus rider, in large part due to generalities they had come to know as fact after reading this sort of article, or from talking to one-time riders. It seems to me that it is relatively common for people to miss the point of these articles.

Five things Lincolnites say that outsiders find unusual:

1. Sack: As in, "Would you like your groceries in a paper sack or plastic sack?"
2. At: As in, "Where are you guys at?"
3. Scoop: As in, "I don't want to scoop my sidewalk today."
4. We sure don't: As in, "Do you have gooseberry pie today?" "No, we sure don't."
5. Anything and everything about the weather.

I won't say too much about the District semifinal I reffed at Seacrest last night except this: it was a very fun, very engaging game, and the players kept me very busy for all 80 minutes. I probably ran as much as I have ever run in a soccer match, both because of the style of play being utilized by both teams (very fast, very aggressive), and because I had to always keep near play to prevent the guys from beating on each other any more than necessary. I ended the match with five yellow cards, my high for the season. My father recently purchased a GPS device for runners so that he can track his movement patterns and distance traveled while reffing. I wish I had had the device last night. I'll bet I covered 5-7 miles over the course of the match. I almost never stood still, and my opportunities to walk were pretty rare. I have the District final match on Friday and I'm hoping they won't make me run quite so much. If one of the teams gets in that I think will get in, then I know their style is pretty controlled. Still, you never know what will happen come game time. Oh, and I was on TV last night. I think I managed not to look like a complete doofus.

The Lincoln Southwest Silverhawks boys soccer team lost to Millard South last night 0-1, ending the season they began at #1 with an 11-5 record. They won't be going to State this year. The Silverhawks' State snub raises some interesting questions about the way the NSAA makes District assignments. Currently teams are assigned to Districts before the season begins. Come District Tournament time, that can lead to goofy situations like we saw this year, where 9 of the top 10 teams were in three of the six Districts. District A-1, for example, included Lincoln East, Lincoln Southwest, and Millard South, each of which deserved their shot at State. So there's the downside of the NSAA's current approach: good, deserving teams will get screwed and be denied a State berth. But the plan isn't entirely without merit. The current districting plan roughly groups teams by geography, so travel time and expenses are decreased. (But not minimized -- that would make for all-Omaha and all-Lincoln Districts.) The current plan also assures that Central and Western Nebraska are represented at State. Let's be honest, one doesn't have to try very hard to argue that some of those teams don't deserve to make State based on merit alone. But a strong argument can be made that it is in the interests of many of the parties involved to assure that Nebraska west of York is represented at the State Tournament. I don't have a good answer, but Southwest coach Andrew Ferguson would sure like to find one, if only so that other teams don't face the same fate in the future.

I'm glad to see that the Star Art auction raked in $250,000. That's less than Tour de Lincoln's $430,000, but it's still a substantial sum for the YWCA. Star Art didn't resonate with the public the same way Tour de Lincoln did. Speaking only of myself, for example, whereas Tour de Lincoln genuinely attracted my interest, Star Art rarely drew my attention. Maybe I'm more of a bike guy than a star guy. I dunno.

LPS and school districts nationwide are ditching regular pop in favor of diet versions, sports drinks, fruit juices, and water. I don't know how much the move will do to decrease childhood obesity (the stated goal), but maybe it will at least cut down on a few of the sugar-induced jitters teachers have to put up with. Then again, sports drinks and fruit juices can have just as much sugar as pop, and students are free to bring pop from home. I had to drive to work today and I caught a portion of the Todd and Tyler Show on Z-92. They touched on this topic, along with the sugary cereal debate. Rather than sounding like a bunch of rebels -- which is supposed to be their image -- they sounded more like cranky old men. "Back in myyyyy day...." When they pulled out the line "Kids these days..." I had to change stations. Will somebody please slap me if (or probably when) I start doing that?

I found incontrovertible proof this morning that bird flu has arrived in Lincoln. It has to be here. What else could possibly explain the giant splatter of poo from an obviously distressed bird in the middle of my driveway? I mean, the thing was huge, roughly equivalent to the daily poo output of an entire commercial chicken farm. I tried to take a photo but it was so big I couldn't fit it all into the frame. That poor bird must have really been hurting. I knew it was bad when even Daisy refused to go near. I think I may need to declare my driveway a Superfund site.

Have you ever noticed that when the Big Dogs get nervous about a project, the Little Dogs get slapped with a whole lot of extra work in the form of new reporting requirements, extra meetings, and so forth? How, exactly, is that supposed to help or encourage the Little Dogs to work harder and finish the project on time? Grr. Not that this little rhetorical exercise has anything to do with real life. I'm just sayin'. Really. I swear.