The hill

Ok, spring is slowing moving out. The windy cold days are giving way to windy warmer days and that means summer is not far away. Soon, it will he hotter than fist place at the CNN microphone after a congressional vote.

To me, this is the offical start of biking season. I have been out a couple of times already and have one big ride in. It was a 20 mile one a couple of weekends ago. The first 10 miles went fine and I was really happy with the shape I was in. Then, I turned around and realized I had been riding with the wind. That part made it clear I wasn't ready for ESPN's Race of the Goats. Old goats I mean.

Anyway, I am living in a nifty place right now. It's a week stay new hotel and anyone who knows me knows hotels are just fine with me. They don't have to be fancy, either. I am as happy in an old run down one next to a Denny's as the Las Vegas Hilton. There is just something about hotel living that agrees with me.

This one is built on a new street in a new neighborhood in a new part of Lincoln. It's so new that some of the sidewalks are not complete so some of them end and you have some dirt to navigate or as the case more recently, mud. At the bottom of the hill that leads to my little hotel is one of Lincoln's major streets. It's a four lane divided one that comes off of Interstate 80 and the speedlimit is medium zoom--not the best place for a biker. I mean mountain biker, pedal type.

If you look south from the intersection, you will see it. I think it could have been developed as a ski slope. If you don't raise your glance, your eyes will rest about half way up. In bike terms, this one is a challenge--somewhere down there in the 1:1, 1:2 gear range by the time you get to the top. Frankly, I run out of bike and juice before I get there so rather than get off my bike and walk it up the rest of the way in humiliation. I take another route. This one take you around the big hill and up a different, more gentle grade to nirvana--Wal-Mart and HyVee.

About 1/3 of that approach is around and through a new Lincoln high school complex. It's big. Bigger than all of my home town Hartington. I am sure it cost more to build than all of Hartington, too.

I decided to take the easy way because I stepped in a hole coming off the bus yesterday and apparently injured my goatusmus maximus. No, I didn't injure my butt or "glute." The goatamus is the muscle that runs along the bottom of your foot. It
doesn't have the best ability to stretch and take abuse like it did when I was a 55 year old kid. As a result, I am in some pain and convinced myself that what I needed could be found by biking to Wal-Mart.

It was a beautiful night and an easy ride so it was a good decision on my part. I bought some ibuprofen, one of those heating bags you can microwave, and some cool whip to go with my chocolate ice cream.

After all, just because I am injured doesn't mean I don't need to keep up my strength.

What killed our culture

I can still remember Bun, my dear departed Mom, giving me strict instructions on how to greet people as I walked down busy Main Street in Hartington, Nebraska.

"Now you look people right in the eye and say hello. If you know who they are, then you say Hello Mr. So and So or Hello Mrs. So and so. You never call an adult by their first name unless they give you permission to do so, understand?"

I was a little confused. There were Robinsons, and Stouts, and Haleys, and O'Mearas, and Shumways, but I never did meet the So and Sos. Go figure.

Anyway, that advice propelled me to great hights in Hartington. I became popular as a young man on his way to somewhere. Nobody has that figured out yet, but I was on the way.

I went on to college at Huskerville, in Lincoln, Nebraska. Every Nebraska kid wanted to go there and watch football. It took a few years to figure out why I was there and get technical with a major. Mom's advice served me well and I managed to get into a great Fraternity. Soon, I was the first college grad in the family and was on my way to Connecticut to go to work for the Good and or Glorious Remington Arms Company. "Hello Mr. Mitchell. Hello Mr. McAndrews. Hello Mr. Larson, OK, hello Einar."

Mom's rules helped me climb the corporate ladder. Well, make that a footstool because I only stayed at Remington for four years. I came back to Huskerville to open an advertising agency and watch more football.

Then it happened. Society stopped saying hello. Society stopped looking one another in the eye unless you had a tin cup and looked a little bummie. People's heads bounced up and down and some looked like they had the palsey as their bodies slinked along the sidewalks, oblivious to anyone and anything.

Everyone seemed to have a headband on and ear cups. The Sony Walkman had arrived and it was no longer important to meet and greet and be social. You could sing and walk and talk to yourself and not pay attention to anyone and anything.

My mom would not have liked this change unless she knew you could listen to Nebraska Football anywhere with one.

And the poor So and Sos would be lost in the I-Pod shuffle. Too bad. They were probably very nice people.

The Mexican Government Response

President Bush is going to make a speech tomorrow night. (I hope it doesn't bump 24!)
He is going to tell us how he plans to secure the border and improve his ratings. At least that's what they were saying on Sunday morning TV shows.

Frankly, I am worried about this speech. Presidente Fox has already summoned the Chinese Ambassador to learn how the wall idea really worked. Insiders in Mexico say there is a new government department in the works if the wall idea goes through.

They may create a Departmente de Escaler.

Fox may hire the president of Pepsi to run his new Department of Ladders. Now granted, Pepsi has long been climbing the profit ranks right behind Fox's Coca-Cola, but that is just not the right guy for the job. (Note the American giving advice already before any speeches are made or departments formed. I sound like Senator Patrick Leahy I know.)

But I can't help it. If the Mexican's want their Department of Ladders to work on our wall, they need to hire someone with ladder experience. Perhaps the CEO of Mennards or Home Depot would be a good choice. (I would have tossed Wal-Mart in there but I am not sure their ladders are tall enough or stout enough for a Mexican attack like this.)

And if we deploy the National Guard, that's a whole different ball game. They will just install ladder hooks on the humvees and drag them all to a military surplus outlet.

Good Lord. God Lost!

Nebraska football rules Nebraska. Well, at least it use to. President Nixon came to Lincoln in 1971 to present the first national championship trophy to Coach Bob Devaney. The roar from the crowd led Nixon to say..."well you should run for office."

Devaney never did run for an office. The program was passed on to his fair-haired coach, Tom Osborne. Osborne had a bunch of chances to win the national championship but never got it done until the mid 1990's. After that, Nebraska was always in the hunt. So far, there are five national championship trophies in the Nebraska trophy room.

Tom Osborne, or as we call him TO, retired and went on to other things. He ran for Congress and won. TO started a mentoring program called Teammates which is spreading across the country. The university named the football field after him even though he didn't want that to happen. They named a new sports complex after TO and his wife Nancy. He wasn't big on that idea either.

TO is a soft-spoken man of faith. He has unquestioned moral character. He would be right up there with Boy's Town founder Father Flanigan, Johnny Carson, and Willa Cather for most admired Nebraskans. He had plans for one more big deal.

TO wanted to be Governor of Nebraska.

But there was already a Republican Governor named Dave Hinemann. Most Nebraskans were satisfied with the job Governor Dave was doing. After all, he went to Cuba and cut a nice deal to sell Nebraska grain and beans. He has cut taxes. Best of all, he is likeable and approachable. Governor Dave seems like, well Governor Dave. Nothing fancy. Nothing stuffy. Just Governor Dave.

I can only imagine the sinking feeling he had when he learned that TO was going to try to beat him in the primary. Some folks said it would be a landslide for TO.

But Governor Dave won. He beat a living legend.

There may be a lesson here that most folks might look past. Every politician running in Nebraska say they represent "Nebraska Values." On election day, Nebraska values voted. The message is loud and clear: If someone is doing a good job, there is no reason to fire him.

I am sorry that TO lost. But I would have been sadder if Governor Dave lost. He earned the right to stay Governor of Nebraska.