Lincolnite

That's two strikes for 48th and Pioneers. According to Matt "He'd Better Not Be Making This Up Cuz If He Is It's A Really Cruel Joke" Olberding, Paul's has closed. That just plain sucks. I'm having a hard time keeping my reaction in PG territory. Paul's was an excellent local restaurant: great food, good people, quaint atmosphere, neighborhood location. Apparently the one thing it was missing was customers, although the lunch crowd always seemed healthy when I was in there. I have to admit, I'm partially to blame for the closure. I cut down on my meat consumption this year and look what happened. Thanks for the grub while it lasted, Paul's. Damn.

I'm posting this only because Mr. T has an unhealthy obsession with the story, and in his absence I guess I have to step up and do the dirty work. Nebraska's most infamous fat man Patrick Deuel is back in the news as part of the Journal Star's "Epilogue" series. For those of you who don't want to read the article for yourselves but who still have a morbid curiosity about what he's up to: he's still fat and he's getting fatter. That pretty much sums it up. I'm not here to judge Mr. Deuel. I don't care that he's fat, nor do I care that he continues to make life decisions that probably should have killed him a long time ago. It's his life and his body. We all make decisions for ourselves that are objectively stupid; the consequences of Mr. Deuel's decisions just happen to be shocking in a way that gets media attention. I'm glad my more mundane stupidity isn't of much interest to folks. There are some good policy discussions to be had relating to the role of government in his health care, but that's not really a topic I want to dive into right now. Feel free to dig into it in the comments, if you like. Seriously, there's some good stuff there. Anyway, there you have it, Mr. T. I know you've been dying for an update.

I was looking at ticket prices for Marcus Theatres yesterday. I was surprised to see there's a $0.50 tax on military personnel for matinees: Oops.

I got a kick out of reading this article about the arena-related "occupational tax" and how it is applied before the sales tax, meaning that sales tax applies to the occupational tax as well as the original bill. In other words, the occupational tax is itself taxed. Well, not according to the State. The Nebraska Department of Revenue falls all over itself trying to explain why one tax being applied to another tax is not, in fact, a tax on a tax. There may be a difference on paper, but the fact is few people care about that technicality. If two taxes show up on a receipt and one tax affects the other tax, that's a tax tax in most folks' minds. Period. Which gets me wondering: will most places itemize the new tax on receipts? Can all modern POSs handle that sort of thing? I suppose they probably can, but I really have no idea. If the occupational tax were just wrapped into each item's cost nobody would ever notice, just like we don't notice that we already pay taxes on taxes -- such as paying sales tax on things that have already had sales taxes applied on them at earlier stages in its lifecycle. The DOR isn't going to win this one. But their attempts sure are entertaining.

Police Chief Tom Casady has a nice visualization of data comparing DWI cases before and after the bar closing time change from 1:00am to 2:00am. The short version, based on preliminary data: offenses have shifted later, as one would expect. Anyway, go give the post a look. These will be data to keep an eye on over the next year or so.

Did you ever notice that there are a few street signs that say "Pioneer Blvd" rather than "Pioneers Blvd"? I don't know what my point is. Considering how much I drive (and run) along the street I guess it has just always bugged me. It seems like there are fewer sans-s signs than there used to be. Perhaps they're slowly being replaced. Have you noticed any other situations like that around town?

It's a belated edition of Where in Lincoln today. Mr. T is globetrotting, so today's photo comes from guest WIL photographer Kevin. UPDATE: Zingo! andrew started things off quickly by posting the correct answer -- the Post Office at 13th and Calvert -- mere minutes after the photo went up. Good job, Andrew!

This wouldn't be a very good Lincoln-related blog if I didn't praise a few local businesses when they deserve it. Here are three cheers for three local outfits I've dealt with recently. First up is Simply the Best Autos on 46th and Cornhusker. We needed a reliable used minivan to haul around our three boys -- the back seat of the Sonata just wasn't cutting it any more, especially since two of the three are still in car seats. Thanks to a friend-of-a-friend recommendation I stopped by to see Robin Calcara. He gave me a great deal on the van as well as on my trade-in. The process was personal and informal. Simply the Best specializes in school cars, but they have a variety of vehicles to choose from. Next up is Overhead Door of Lincoln (466-3667). This was another business recommended to us. One of our torsion springs broke on our garage door. Somebody came out, made some recommendations, and put in a temporary fix until he could get the necessary parts. He came back about a week later and got it up and running in no time. The cost was right on target with what they told me (a bit lower, actually) and the process was quick and painless -- well, except for the chunk I took out of my finger when I first tried to diagnose the problem on my own. Finally a shout to Andy's Appliance Repair. Our dishwasher started causing us trouble. Not wanting to flood the house, I called in reinforcements. Clay tore apart the dishwasher but unfortunately all he was able to do was eliminate the dishwasher as the cause of the problem. (He also complimented our taste in dashwashers.) Although he couldn't go any farther without straying from "appliance repair" and into "plumbing", he narrowed down the location of the problem enough that I got up the courage to try tackling it on my own. I made a mess that required a shop-vac and five scented candles to overcome, but I did eventually find (and fix) the problem right where Clay told me it'd be. So thank you, local business folk!

This isn't related to Lincoln in any way, I'm just curious. I've asked this question of many people over the years and some of the responses have been very interesting. Santa doesn't drop by 625 Elm Street. We made the decision to ask for the bypass back when Robbie was a baby. Since that time Robbie has figured out on his own the difference between fact and fiction. This year things are a little trickier. We now have an 8 and a 3 year-old who came into our house with different expectations about His Jolliness. Nevertheless, we remain on the fat man's Do Not Call list. I have a feeling he may stop by grandma's house instead, grandmas being the way they are. So the question: does Santa stop by your humble abode?

Well, I know what I'm doing with my boys next September.

Well, not exactly. But you may see more advertising on public properties or at public events. It sounds icky at first blush, doesn't it? But hey, our world is slathered in advertisements already. Heck, you are probably covered in ads right now. (Quick, count the number of logos, brand names and so forth on your clothes.) Brewsky's Ballfield sounds better than 40th & Highway 2 Field anyway. For what it's worth, I've long felt that the bike path bridges over 14th, 27th, 48th, 84th, and Highway 2 (any others?) would be great spots for either advertising or for large murals. Or advertising disguised as large murals. If anybody uses that idea I want my commission. In barely-related news, the Journal Star used a horrible photo of Chris Beutler to illustrate this story: For how long has Lincoln been run by an Oompa Loompa? The resemblance is uncanny, at least on my non-color-corrected monitor. Orange skin aside, out of all the photos the LJS must have of Beutler, why would they ever choose that blurry mess? The mind boggles.

I surely can't be the only one who wants to buy this house and move it out to rural Lancaster County to reopen it as a bed and breakfast. I have $16 in my wallet and a little more in the bank. Think it'll be enough?

I delivered newspapers for several years. I began in fifth grade, delivering the Lincoln Journal on an afternoon route in my neighborhood. Eventually the Journal and Star merged and it became a morning route. I delivered in rain, sleet, snow, ice, hail, wind, heat, and a tornado warning or two. But I never did achieve my dream: Helping rescue somebody and being hailed as a hero in the newspaper. Oh well. There was always that one cat that thought I was pretty darn cool. I guess that's something.