Husker Cats

Our campus has a population of feral cats. The official policy is to leave them alone unless they exhibit symptoms of disease. These "campus cats" are an environmentally friendly, cheap form of vermin control.

That's no small matter on a campus that is a registered botanical garden and arboretum with lots of vegetation for wildlife to enjoy, and where integrated pest management is used to minimize pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers. So far there has been no harm done by the cats, and they do a great job of keeping critters out of our buildings.

However, some people in our campus community feel there are too many cats, and worry about their welfare. These folks have formed an organization called Husker Cats to help stabilize the feral cat population. The group is approved though not funded by UNL. Maybe it's a good idea to question the hands-off policy. Perhaps veterinarians should be allowed to trap, vaccinate, and spay or neuter the cats then release them back on campus. I would be delighted if everybody does their homework and engages in respectful dialogue that results in a win-win solution!

To see more photos of our campus cats, visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/lincolnlog/sets/72157594144148334/

How Students Can Make a Difference

A good, short video about ways students (anyone, actually) can get involved in the 2008 election. There's still time to make a difference!

Policing Networks is Expensive

Preventing illegal file sharing became the responsibility of colleges and universities in the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008. This was a boon for the motion picture and recording industry associations, which lobbied hard for it.

My university recently offered a free music collection to students through iTunes U. I assume this is an effort to discourage illegal P2P sharing.

A recent survey by by The Campus Computing Project found annual costs per institution range from $29,000 to $408,000, and when personnel time is counted large institutions can easily spend more than half a million per year to enforce the law.

Shout-out to the SHO

Scott was surprised that my 1998 Taurus SHO averaged 27 miles per gallon on our trip. I want muscle under the hood, but with good aerodynamic design and faithful maintenance, I get that and good mileage too. My car has over 105,000 miles on it, and we added another 670 on this trip.

Impressions of a Town

We kept mainly to the riverfront and historic sites but there’s a lot more to Hannibal, including a regional hospital, police department, newspaper, and radio stations. It’s a town of about 18,000 with all the amenities, troubles and politics that you’d expect. Knowing full well that my experience here was very brief and shallow, here are a few observations that I didn’t expect.

First, the culture has a southern tone and flavor. Most of the people we met have southern accents, which surprised me. The largest religious denomination is Southern Baptist. The one item on almost every menu is “tenderloin.” That’s a small cut of pork, fried or grilled, served on a hamburger bun. I had one at the Rumor Has It bar, where it was the special that night. They served it grilled with no condiments or garnishes of any kind, on an airy, white-bread bun. I think the meat was seasoned with salt and pepper. It tasted great.

Second, we saw more people smoking than we do in Lincoln. The restaurants and bars have smoking sections (the inn where we stayed is non-smoking). Anti-smoking attitudes don’t seem to have influenced this area, although our hosts said there’s a petition circulating to institute a ban.

The third thing I noticed is the integration of black and white people in public. Hannibal's population is 90% white and 6.5% black. There were interracial couples with children, eating out with both sets of relatives. People of all ages were at the festival and in the bars in mixed-race groups. I saw several store proprietors greet customers of another race with a hug. I’m not used to seeing blacks and whites hanging out together the way they do in Hannibal; it was nice to see that.

Beginning a New Job

It's the end of my first day at the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center. The staff welcomed me warmly and kept me busy with orientations, technical set-ups, and meetings. They did a lot of work to prepare (this is a new position) and had the telephone, e-mail account, computer log-ins, nameplate on the door, and a detailed agenda ready for my arrival. The only thing missing was time to go through a week's worth of e-mail messages.

I'm impressed with their organization and enthusiasm. I'm also exhausted, but looking forward to diving back in tomorrow!

Impressions of a River

The Mississippi River is impressive by any standard. It forms the third largest drainage basin in the world. It runs for 2,340 miles, almost all of them navigable due to an extensive system of locks and dams. At least 300 species of birds migrate along it, and more than 200 fish species live in it. Countless works of literature, music, and visual arts feature the river.

The few days we spent beside this tiny section of the Mississippi were informative. While on the river, we saw interesting examples of why it's nicknamed "The Great River Road." First we saw a huge, glistening white yacht. I'm talking about an ocean-going, four-stories above the water, enormous, billionaires' playpen sort of yacht.

Next, we saw a rusty grain barge, floating low in the water. It was anchored and waiting for a tugboat to push it upriver. (We lucked out and happened to see that the next day.) The captain said it holds something like three dozen grain elevators' worth of seed. Over one billion bushels of grain--about 60 percent of all grain exports--move via the Mississippi River annually. That matters a great deal to Nebraska, and it was interesting to see how it happens.

The last vessel we saw during our one-hour cruise was headed downriver, pushing 15 barges. The whole assemblage had to be at least three quarters of a mile long; it took a good five minutes to pass our riverboat in the opposite direction. I was awestruck by the sheer magnitude of the loads and energy required to move them.

A sensory impression I'll remember is the humming sound of insects and birds coming from the islands. It was louder than the riverboat's engine, which is to say very loud, and had a throbbing rhythm. The parks service takes a hands-off approach to the islands in this area. There are no cleared areas or manufactured paths, though in a couple of places I saw animal trails to the water. The vegetation is a tangled mess, a paradise for insects and birds I'm sure!

Historic Folklife Festival

The annual Autumn Historic Folklife Festival celebrates a particular time and place, that is Hannibal, Missouri during Mark Twain's lifetime. This year's official Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher (right) played hosts all weekend.

Blacksmiths, weavers, printers, woodworkers, quilters, musicians and artists demonstrated their traditional skills in booths that lined the historic downtown streets for many blocks. Modern arts and crafts, food, and furnishings were also for sale. We purchased Christmas gifts for family, and fancy yarn that I offered to turn into a winter scarf for Scott.

It's a big, well-organized event. All the locals seemed to be either working a booth to raise money for their organizations, selling products from their businesses, or shopping along with the tourists.

Besides shopping and snacking at the festival, we took a one-hour tour aboard the Mark Twain riverboat. We also enjoyed the "Mark Twain Himself" show in the Planter's Barn Theatre. It was an entertaining and fitting end for the day.

Starting to Relax

On our first day of vacation, we enjoyed an easy drive on smooth, uncrowded roads. We took Nebraska Highway 2 to Nebraska City, 1-29 to St. Joseph, Missouri, then Hwy 36 to Hannibal. This is family farm country, and the pastoral scenes and fresh, sweet-smelling air soothed our senses. We saw grain pouring like a thick ribbon of liquid gold--which it sort of is--from a silo into a truck. Herds of grazing cattle, hillsides sprinkled with sheep, pastures dotted with horses, and brightly painted harvesting machines made peaceful, colorful compositions through our windows.

We're delighted with our room at the Dubach Inn, and relished an excellent supper at the bistro two doors down from here. We watched a movie in our private sitting room and slept soundly in a dark, quiet room on a comfortable bed. After enjoying good coffee for an hour in our room, our breakfast in the dining room was sensational. Kristine served a fruit crepe (pictured) with cinnamon scones, followed by an egg soufle and spicy turkey loaf. She got the guests talking, and made us feel comfortable by telling us her story.

This was our first night in a bed and breakfast, and so far, the experience is exceeding our expectations.

Saying Goodbye

Today is my last day in the job I've held for four years. My personal knick-knacks, files, music, and reference books are packed. I'm leaving for the best reasons, that is, to advance to a higher pay grade and take on a new challenge.

But it feels weird knowing that I'll leave this office, this home away from home, and I'm not coming back. My coworkers will say goodbye during a coffee break, in a few minutes. My boss is bringing chips and dips for everyone to snack on while we go through the ritual of parting ways.

I'm glad they care enough to do it, but I'm afraid it will be awkward or make me sad. These people were, for the most part, very good to me. I'll miss my assistant--not just her help but her friendship too. I find myself sighing a lot. What's the word for this feeling? Pensive, I guess.

I'm glad we planned a vacation between the end of this job and the beginning of the next one. It will give me time to relax and make the transition from these feelings to excitement and anticipation of the new job.

Cell Phones Turn 25

It's hard to believe that cellular phones have been around for 25 years already. In the beginning, when I saw images of drivers in Los Angeles holding phones to their ears, I was amazed. They were so expensive that car phones, let alone cell phones, seemed like a luxury only highly paid executives and trust-fund socialites would ever enjoy. What a failure of my imagination!

My husband, a property manager at the time, was an early adopter. He had to get physical therapy because his neck froze up from holding "the brick" with his shoulder while driving and writing. When they became affordable for personal use, I got a tiny Motorola and gradually became dependent on it. After my 19-year-old assistant showed me how to schedule reminders on my cell phone calendar, I officially couldn't live without it any more.

I always liked watching Star Trek. To me, the "communicators" that allowed the crew to talk to each other from anywhere no matter how far apart they were, were just as futuristic as space travel in warp speed and the ability to beam up. Our cell phones aren't as powerful and convenient as the voice-activated combadge transponders they wore on their uniforms, but we're getting there. And when those come out, I want one!

Do you want your boss's job?

77% of survey respondents said they don't. Furthermore, women are less likely to want the manager's job than men. What's up with that?

Researchers noted the respondents' main reasons for spurning a management job were the challenges of dealing with budgets and personnel. Can someone explain why women, in particular, would be afraid of those tasks?

Every adult woman I know makes the majority of spending decisions and takes the lead on "personnel issues" for her family. Why would American women, who generally rule the monthly budget and coach their family and friends to success as a matter of course, be afraid to do the same things at work? I don't get it.

Celebrating Tradition

Our friends, Todd and Susan, hosted the "Harvest 0f Traditions" community celebration at their barn yesterday. I was impressed by the presentations of all the organizations and artists that participated: Nebraska Folklife Network; Slow Food Nebraska; Lincoln Irish Dancers; Blue River Czech Accordion Combo from Wilber, with Sue Underwood on the Ceske Dudy. The loveliest team of mules I've ever seen pulled the hayrack.

Why Hannibal?

Some of the reasons I chose to vacation in Hannibal, Missouri:

The riverside location, economy, and culture is different from home.
31st Annual Autumn Historic Folklife Festival
Tourist attractions galore, from Mark Twain bookstores,and museums, to agritourism and spelunking
11 Bed & Breakfasts...we're staying at the Dubach Inn

We look forward to exploring the landscape, absorbing what we can of the local culture, and contributing to their local economy!

Five-Day Getaway

When you live in a small city in the middle of a vast country, and have limited time and money, planning a short vacation that offers a change of scenery and interesting activities can be a challenge. (In my family, I'm the travel agent. My husband is going, but prefers not to get involved in the planning.)

My first idea was Memphis, Tennessee. We haven't been there before, and we both thought it would be fun to visit Graceland. We only have 4-1/2 days, so we didn't want to spend a lot of it en route. I have booked many itineraries through Memphis because the airport is pleasant and easy to navigate, and flights between there and Omaha were quick and on-time.

But when I looked for flights this time, I found that we couldn't fly directly to Memphis. Our airports in Lincoln and Omaha have lost so many itineraries to cutbacks in service that the only cities we can fly to nonstop from Lincoln are Minneapolis, Detroit, Chicago and Denver. The planes are tiny, too.

So I looked for interesting places within driving distance. If you're not from the west, it can be hard to imagine the distances that are part of our personal landscapes. We would love to explore the Nebraska sandhills, but the nearest available lodging is a 7-hour drive from here. From there, we would do a lot more driving to get to some of the areas we want to visit. We used to have public flights from Lincoln to western Nebraska, too.

Kansas City and Des Moines are easy to reach, they're great cities and we'll visit again, but we want to go someplace we haven't been to before.

I chose Hannibal, Missouri as our destination.

Why do we write for others?

Many of my peers in educational offices are suspicious of new media. I recently asked my professional association's national e-mail list if they use social networking sites to communicate with students, parents or other constituents and if not, why not? The responses were overwhelmingly negative, with a judgmental undertone that surprised the list administrator.

I respectfully disagree with my peers. I think humans have a natural urge to write things for others to see, whether it's on a rock in New Mexico, in a servicewoman's diary, or on Blogger.com. This natural urge should be encouraged and nurtured, which New Media does.

For people with access to the technology, their cartoons, poetry, music, books, photography, essays, and anything else they figure out how to create and post online, are available to a potential audience of millions. That's motivational!