Ethnic Easter Tradition in MTO

I decided to set up my 'Easter Tree' this year after many years of not doing so. Of course everything I do reminds me of things of the past. My ancestors were from Bohemia (grandpa's family) and Moravia (grandma's family) (B+M=Czech) and my dad's mother would set up an Easter Tree from time to time. It wasn't so pretty as this Hallmark Store variety. Hers was more organic. From how I remember it, it was just a branch cut from a tree or bush decorated with rich and darkly colored goose eggs. None of those sissy chicken eggs for her. She would punch out one end of the egg and then color them. How she got the colors so dark is still a mystery to me because I think all she used was Paaz egg color. The colored eggs were then stuck on the tips of the branches.

Anyway, as a kid, see such an exotic thing at your grandparent's house was always cool to me.

I also remember people cutting pussy willow branches around easter and putting them in vases on tables as an early spring decoration. I don't redily connect this with Easter celebration but I guess it could have been. Will have to check with the family on the one. Not to mention the potato planting on Good Friday to ensure a sucessful harvest. For some reason I just can't picture planting pototos next weekend but I am sure everyone did it back then.

It Is Not About Money, It Is About MORE Money

I have been trying to figure out why I am so upset about the imminent loss of Rosenblatt Stadium and the abandonment of a site with years of tradition. You know, the grandma and apple pie kind of thing. Instead your electred officials, acting like dictators, have turned their backs on the voters, the tradition of CWS and Omaha history once again (no surprise there) in supporting the building of a new antiseptic concrete stadium set in a Disneyland like sterile landscape.

Interestingly my out of town friends think Rosenblatt is just fine as it is for fans. It is loved and enjoyed by most 'big city' folks for its ability to invoke a sense of nestalgia and simpler time. That would be a time when the NCAA, baseball and sports at large was not just about making MORE money, amping up on drugs or persuing a rock star life style.

Remember the movie with the famous saying "Show me the money"? What we all fail to remember is that the decision and support for abandoning Rosenblatt is not about local business and the NCAA making money off the College World Series but about making even MORE money. Yes, developers, speculators, the NCAA and the Chamber of Commerce will all be making loads more money. Some of this money then in turn winds up in the pockets of our local politicians in the form of campaign donations. They call it special interest politics.

These groups can't be satisfied (or happy) with the Omaha we love and know. That would be those things that make Omaha unique and different from all other places on earth. No, according to the Mayor and Jack we have to be like everyone else and make our city like every place else.

Marketing101 tells you that you never want your product or service(read stadium) to turn into a commodity (just like every other stadium in the nation). You do that by differentiation of your product or service. WE already have the best differentiated product and in an updated historic stadium that sits nobly on a hill top. The site where for 50 years the CWS has been held and that has a nestalgic feel that can't be replicated anywhere on earth in any modern stadium. What we are loosing is our competetive edge and it will come back to haunt and cost us down the road.

Saffron Gates of Central Park NY

"The Gates" by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude in New York's Central Park. The recent HBO documentary really documents how the mid winter art installation brought trongs of New Yorkers into the park in the middle of winter. If you can rent, check out at the library or watch on HBO I strongly encourage it.

Young Professionals Perspective Wanted? YES

Snaps for the Omaha Young Professionals Council for trying to make our city more receptive to young professionals and boy does this city need to! In order to attract the innovative/new economy types of professionals and starter businesses, here in Omaha, we have to pay more attention to making the quality of our life in Omaha better not just focus on lower taxes for businesses which has largely been the myopic focus of the Chamber of Commerce, local & state politicians and business leaders.

Here is what I wrote in the essay part of the survey that I completed for YPC. I hope you all do the same.

"Quality of life (not lower taxes) at the neighborhood level and functioning city government is high on my list of priorities to change about here. Our deferred maintenance on things such as city parks is impacting my view of my quality of life. As a city focus less on tired old industries/business (the economic status quo) and become friendlier to entrepreneurs who create "new economy" jobs and home grown business."

In a Hole, Literally

Well, the water line (not water main) broke for 3 of the 4 of us on this street. Given the fact we negotiated a pretty nice rate with the plumber ($2800ea) all 4 of us got new water supply lines. Oh, how wonderful is full water pressure and the end of 100 years of pipe corrosion. Only one hickup. The old water line supplying 3 of the 4 houses completely failed after only 2 of the 3 were hooked up to the new. Hence, my immediate neighbor to the east had to temp engineer a water supply by connecting their garden hose to my yard faucet and reverse feed their house with water via their garden spigget. All is well now.