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Well, Nebraska, what can I say about you? As forsaken as that state sounds, it actually wasn’t too bad. I mean, at least they had a Buffalo Wild Wings and I was there with 12 other people who were at least almost as interested in sports and journalism as me. All in all, it was a very nice way to ease into a summer full of sitting in front of a computer screen editing stories for The Miami Herald. And I never thought I’d say it, but Lincoln, Neb., was a nice place for this all to happen.

I’ve had a few people comment since my last post about the fact that they did not think the room I was living in on campus was too bad. Please people. There’s only so much a person can get from a picture, and smell is not one of those things. I think we just about decided that the room was used to store the track team’s uniforms during the school year before they could be laundered. It was a smell that I could get used to, and at the same time, it was a smell I was afraid to become accustomed. After five or so minutes in the room it became an odorless toxin that I was afraid would smother me while I slept. But I survived—with most brain cells in tact.

Spur of the moment thought: This is the most disorganized I’ve ever seen an airport in the limited number of times I have used them in my life. I’m sitting here in the DFW Airport during a three-hour layover while I wait for my flight to Tyler. Two flights have been moved to other gates while I’ve sat here; two flights were overbooked and the crews were looking for two or three people on each flight to volunteer to take a later flight tomorrow; one plane sat at its gate well past its departure time; and the airline decided to stop one plane for maintenance, so its passengers were put on an entirely different flight. We’ll see what adventure they have in store for me on my flight to Tyler.

Speaking of layovers, I’ll be in Tyler in a couple of hours. I’ll be in town for a grand total of 31 hours in which time I must sort through all the things I took to Nebraska, sort through the things I brought back from college and pack up my Corolla with everything I want to take to Miami for the summer. Then there’s Lindsey’s graduation and a 4 a.m. departure time Sunday so my dad and I can get well down the road on our 20-hour drive to South Florida.

I was glad to see the good, old Tyler Independent School District moving its graduation ceremony back indoors to the Oil Palace after three years under the hot May sun at Rose Stadium. I seem to remember writing an editorial about how an outdoor graduation in Texas during May was a poor choice—an editorial that made me the voice for those against this plan on a television news story. Well three years later and scores of gallons of sweat from underneath graduation robes and shirts, ties and dresses, TISD has come to its senses. Why didn’t they just let me make all the decisions?

Scrumtrulescent

I should be ashamed of myself, shouldn't I? As I crept closer to day 50 without a blog post, I'm sure I should come crawling back to my adoring public, apology in hand. So, to the four of you, I'm sorry. Now, I'm done feeling bad about that.

It's a really good thing I never intended for this thing to be a running diary of the life and times of Jonathan Smith. As I think back to all that's happened over the last 50 days, I'm amazed at that it's all happened since April 1. And I would hate to feel obligated to give a blow-by-blow of the last 50 days. I mean, there was that whole Melody Townsell saga in which several popular political blogs ended up posting links to my Optimist story. My first year as Optimist editor came to a close. There was even an ongoing obsession with the Romanian rock song "Dragostea Din Tei," by O-Zone (insert four-minute break here to pull out my iPod and listen to the song ... OK, so I listened to the song twice, so that was really like eight minutes). Then I spent exactly 10 days living in the same state as my girlfriend before packing it up and heading north to the oasis that is Lincoln, Neb.

Flying into the state on Sunday, I thought my worst nightmares about Nebraska were going to be realized. Even from the air, it's a boring looking state. The roads are all constructed in a perfectly perpendicular grid. And I knew Nebraska was predominately farmland, but it looked more like scorched earth from the air. Apparently, the corn fields are pretty barren this time of year, so flying overhead, it simply looks brown and burnt.

Lincoln, itself, isn't too bad though--at least, not for someone who doesn't need a lot of entertainment venues and whatnot. There's a cheap $2 theatre near campus as well as a nicer one, and an Arby's has been built a mere one block from the dorm. I do consider myself an expert on Lincoln now--at least the part surrounding campus. I kind of accidentally went walking Monday night for about three hours. When I got back, I figured up how far I walked. It came out to something like eight miles. There can't be that much more to the city around campus.

Having spent the last three summers on three different college campuses (ACU, Georgetown and now the University of Nebraska-Lincoln), I've decided to begin a list. It will be a list of things I never want to hear ACU students complaining about again until they have experienced something different. Campus parking has probably been one of the oldest mainstays on the list, but even since being here I've discovered that some campuses charge $200 per semester for a parking permit, and they still oversell the permits so students aren't even guaranteed a spot. But perhaps the most grievous addition to the list this summer has been dorm room accommodations. Say what you want about residence hall policies and rules at ACU, but please do not let me hear you complaining about the halls themselves until you've spent significant time at dorms at other universities. I'll just let this pictures do the talking:



Now, if I were to see that, I wouldn't be too grossly appalled; afterall, the refrigerator/freezer thing is pretty cool. But if I were to see this picture, the first thing I might ask is what the rest of the room looks like from behind where I took the picture. But considering I had to stand at the back of the closet to even get this much in the viewfinder, I don't think me turning around to take a picture of a closet will would be too revealing. That's right. My back is against the farthest back wall. I did not use any amount of zoom to frame this picture. This is the entire room. Not too bad for two guys living out of one suitcase each for two weeks. But imagine spending a whole semester in this place. And these are considered the upperclassmen dorms. Nothing says good morning to your nice warm feet after just waking up in the morning than that nice cold, drab tile. I won't even get into the funk left by what I can only hope was the past inhabitants of the room. This picture doesn't show the can of air freshener we bought to combat it. So ACU underclassmen, be warned. I've lived in Mabee. I've lived in McKinzie. I've lived in Smith. All luxurious accommodations compared to this cell.