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Monday, December 29, 2014

pop-we Dinner Club Reviews Plank Seafood and Provisions

Foodie Kris had the population-we™ (pop-we) Dinner Club walk the Ye Ole Plank at Plank Seafood and Provisions in the Old Market, located at 1205 Howard Street in Omaha, NE. Combining a seafood grill with a coastal inspired oyster bar. Creating an array of dishes: BBQ, Rockefeller, Po’ Boy, BLT, Albacore (type of tuna) sliders, as examples. During happy hour oysters are $1, with no minimum. When making reservations for large parties--make sure to inquire about the happy hour specials--as they do not always honor happy hours specials to groups as we found out. However, after a chat with the manager the happy hour drink menu was available to our dinner club.

Overboard Oyster Shot.
Plank combines new and old in their décor. As you walk through the door you are greeted by the hostess stand. To the left is a modern oyster bar, where a couple club members had oyster shots, which are shucked as well as created in front of your eyes. On the other side of the building is the dining area that features modern booths with recycled wood tables and chairs. Suspended from the ceiling is a frame of a boat, which adds to the character of the space.


The menu has many interesting choices for seafood and some non-seafood options. I debated and decided on the Anchor Steam Battered Fish and Chips. The batter was crispy but the cod was flaky, tender, and tasty. The chips (fries) had good flavor but I would have preferred them to be cooked a bit longer to give them a firmer texture. For appetizers, I was able to sample the Potato Crusted Calamari. Personally I thought the calamari was a little chewy but others disagreed with me. The smoked tomato basil sauce and garlic citrus aioli were nice compliments. It was also served with zucchini chips that people thought were tasty and fun.  

After compiling the surveys from the other foodies the pop-we Dinner Club gives Plank Seafood and Provisions a 4.02 star average on a scale of 1-5.


Atmosphere/Decor – 4.27
Albacore Sliders.

Cleanliness – 4.09

Wait Staff – 4.36

Menu – 4

Food Presentation – 4.09

Food Portions – 3.82

Food Taste – 4.36

Cost (was the cost worth meal?) – 3.36

Noise Level – 3.82

Overall Experience – 4

For more information regarding directions, Plank's menu, visit their website at http://plankseafood.com/.

Fellow population-we™ readers, if you've been to Plank leave us a comment and tell us what you thought?

Want to do this yourself? To review how to start your own dinner club, visit our January post about doing just that. Remember it is a template; tweak it to fit you and your friends' tastes. pop-we Dinner Club: good food…good friends…good times.

-population-we™ blog post by Brian Brown
© 2014 population-we, LLC 
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Monday, December 22, 2014

Merry 5 Days of Scuba Ornaments

The most cherished Christmas items this holiday season hang from a limb, ornaments. For many nothing is more Christmassy than decorating a Christmas tree. The Brown's Christmas tree is always the focal point at our house during the holidays. These days Brian and I have a new type of ornament that hang from our Christmas tree thanks to a club we belong to. Each year, ornaments are center stage at Greater Omaha Scuba Club's (GOSCUBA) annual holiday party too. At the party, GOSCUBA conducts a present exchange. Those not familiar with a present exchange: participants bring a wrapped present, draw a number and in return get to pick a present at their turn. GOSCUBA's exchange is a bit different--ornaments are based around scuba diving.

Last year we ran 12 Days of Ornaments; instead this year we decided to share a snippet of scuba or sea-themed ornaments from the GOSCUBA ornament exchange.

Scuba ornament 5: Sea Turtle ornament, which is often mistaken for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. #ornaments


Scuba ornament 4: Sea Turtle scuba ornament No. 2. #ornaments


Scuba ornament 3: Mermaid scuba ornament. #ornaments


Scuba ornament 2: Pufferfish scuba ornament. #ornaments


Scuba ornament 1: Stingray scuba ornament. #ornaments



You too can participate in 5 Days of Ornaments. Are you an ornament lover or collector too? If so, comment below on what your favorite ornament is. Merry 5 Days of Scuba Ornaments to all of our population-we™readers!

-population-we™ blog post by Becky Bohan Brown
© 2014 population-we, LLC 
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Monday, December 15, 2014

Made-For-TV Top 10 Christmas Movies

It's that time of year, made-for-TV Christmas movie time! I truly don't know what my fa la la la la  fascination is with these shows? I mean in some of the made-for-TV-movies the story lines are so obvious and the acting is downright campy; no matter, the shows always seem to put a smile on my face.

You're wondering where to watch these holiday TV movies? Now through Christmas they're easy to happen upon; you can find the movies on a myriad of cable and satellite channels. I'd check your local listings for times. In some cases, you can even watch them on-demand at Internet streaming media outlets too. 

I know there's a cult following for these budget holiday shows. This time of year, my dearest friends and relatives constantly find ourselves always talking about our favorites. Anyone online can't help but notice the made-for-TV Christmas hype too. In this social media age hashtags are a flutter everywhere with made-for-TV holiday titles. 

population-we™ readers, join me as I rank my Top 10 favorite made-for-TV Christmas movies according to cable networks, on-demand media and genres below: 

Network: ABC Family
Genre: Action/Adventure
Plot Summary:  "Christmas Bounty" (2013) puts a twist into the typical love triangle scene. A former bounty hunter turned school teacher determined to keep her past a secret finds herself rushed back into the family business. At the same time she struggles with feelings for her new Manhattan man and former New Jersey bounty hunter boyfriend. A lot of action scenes in this movie.

Genre: Historical
Plot Summary: "Silent Night" (2012) is the true 1818 story behind the popular Christmas carol, Silent Night. In a small Austrian town, a young new assistant priest tries to bring the church closer to the common people but instead clashes with his superior. In the end, the young priest embraces the true significance of the Holy Night.

Network: ABC Family
Genre: Comedy
Plot Summary:  "Kristin's Christmas Past" (2013) is set around a time traveling 30-year-old who winds up in Christmas past offering advice to her younger self.

Network: Hallmark
Genre: Romance
Plot Summary:  "A Holiday Engagement" (2011) dumped by her fiancé she may or may not find true love when she hires an actor to pose as her fiancé for the holidays.

Network: Lifetime
Genre: Family
Plot Summary: "Moonlight & Mistletoe" (2008) finds a Boston toy executive returning home to help out her dad after a fall. She finds the all-year Christmas village, Santaville, outdated and near bankruptcy. Watch as the main character is whisked away in a love triangle between a shy woodworker and financial advisor. 

Network: Lifetime
Genre: Action Adventure
Plot Summary:  "Special Delivery" (2008) follows a bonded courier in the Pacific Rim who is tasked with delivering a 15-year-old teenager to her mom by Christmas. Based mostly in Hawaii, this babysitting detail turns into a Magnum PI episode with plot twists throughout.

Network: ABC Family
Genre: Comedy
Plot Summary:  "Christmas in Handcuffs" (2007) is the tale of a desperate woman who literally kidnaps & handcuffs a stranger and parades him as her boyfriend at her parent's house for Christmas.

Network: Lifetime
Genre: Family
Plot Summary:  "Christmas in Paradise" (2007) follows two families looking to escape bad holiday memories by vacationing over Christmas at a Caribbean resort. In the process, both families come together and learn some Puerto Rican culture as well as the magical Christmas story of the three kings.

On Demand: Netflix
Genre: Historical
Plot Summary: "Silent Night" (2002) is a fact-based World War II story set on 1944 Christmas Eve, which finds a German mom and son seeking refuge in a cabin on the war front. When she is invaded by three American and German soldiers; she successfully convinces the soldiers to put aside their differences for one evening and share a Christmas dinner.

Network: ABC Family
Genre: Romance
Plot Summary: "A Holiday for Love" (1996) unrolls as a business executive is sent to a small town to assess which of the workers in a local factory should get laid off but instead falls in love with a single mom.  

I guarantee, nothing makes the holiday stress melt away faster than watching made-for-TV holiday movies. So, merry made-for-TV Christmas movie watching!

(Editor's note: Do you have a favorite Christmas TV movie that didn't make this year's list? If so, leave a comment below or on Facebook.)

-population-we™ blog post by Becky Bohan Brown
© 2014 population-we, LLC 
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Monday, December 8, 2014

Boys Town A Omaha Landmark Revisited

There are many important landmarks in my area that I have never visited. That is not the case with Boys Town. During the off season for softball from around ages 13 to 16, I attended a free pitching clinic held at Boys Town for youth in the Omaha, NE area regardless of whether or not you were on a team. I may have had inkling or more about the mission of Boys Town, but I was blind regarding much of the good works that took place at Boys Town despite my familiarity between the walls of the field house week after week where I practiced the windmill pitching form.

I may be sketchy on the exact chronology or my feelings at the time, but I will try to relay my impressions as best as possible about my becoming increasingly aware of the mission of Boys Town.

When I heard that my maternal grandfather wanted to take visiting family to Boys Town, I remember being surprised that he would pick this as a tourist attraction. Although I did not make the trip, I recently learned that Becky Bohan Brown had this opportunity with grandpa.

In my 10th grade year in high school, I needed to do a speech for religion on someone who I considered to be a modern day prophet. I noticed that we had a biography about Father Flanagan and probably picked him out of convenience. I do not remember any of what I read and little of what I said. I do recall expressing in my closing that I hoped there would be someone like Father Flanagan there for me if I ever were in need.

Turning channels and finding the 1938 movie “Boys Town” had the greatest impact in helping me realize just how big of impact Father Flanagan had on the world.

I believe the first time seeing the film on television was during my high school years because I remember standing before the bronze statue “He ain’t heavy, He’s my brother” with much appreciation from the newly gained context.

I recently liked Boys Town on Facebook and have checked out their web site. I feel their official pages are among some of the best that I have seen with a constant stream of positive news. Throwback Thursdays have new meaning with quotes from Father Flanagan and pictures from his era. Just recently, I read there about Father Flanagan working to help orphans living in sewers in war torn Japan after WWII. My heart was warmed as I went to a link where Boys Town youth expressions of gratitude. One youth related how the Thanksgiving at Boys Town would be like the traditional one with good food and the trimmings shared with others at Boys Town. Another youth gave thanks for the sobriety that she never thought possible prior to Boys Town. Each story is unique, but I know there are youth who have been nurtured through the years at Boys Town who have seen and experienced things prior to Boys Town that no one should experience in a lifetime. Boys Town has been the difference right when they needed it.

I think I was well into my thirties when I learned the real significance that Boys Town was to my maternal grandfather as I spoke with him about his experiences there. He had worked there briefly as a landscaper doing contact work and knew Father Flanagan personally. He told me that he was a wonderful man. Grandpa was the second youngest of nine children born to loving German and Dutch immigrants. I am not sure about the older children, but it was necessary for the younger children to start working around age 12. According to my great aunt, they could come home at night if they were close enough. My grandpa lived and worked on farms. He experienced the good and the bad of living conditions. At one farm, he worked on an empty stomach and soon left there. After returning to his sleeping quarters at another farm, he found another person in his bunk and moved on that night. Fortunately, there was a good family that he lived and worked with in Nebraska and even moved with them to Colorado.

I think that my Grandpa must have had quite a rapport with the youth as he told me that Father Flanagan wanted to hire him on a permanent basis. Seeking year around work, he changed careers and become a highly skilled welder. Through the years, my grandpa stressed the importance of having a trade. Father Flanagan strongly believed in teaching young men a trade. Although times have changed, there are still many good paying jobs for those skilled in a trade and others that are there for four year degrees. In 2014, 109 of the seniors who resided at Boys Town graduated. Looking at the break down of 48 students bound for community college, 15 students entering the work force, 3 bound for cosmetology school and 15 for the job corps suggests an emphasis on vocational training and also higher education.

Boys Town was founded in 1917, the same year that my grandpa was born. In 1921, Father Flanagan moved Boys Town to the outskirts of Omaha and welcomed boys from different backgrounds and creeds. The 160 acre farm would be away from what he considered to be the ills of congested city life. His philosophy that there is no such thing as a bad boy only a bad environment is the underpinnings of Boys Town. His belief that the cost to society would be more expensive down the road if youth were not given the needed environment lives on today at Boys Town.

In 1973, Monsignor Robert Hupp became the head of Boys Town. During his time, a shift from dormitory life to the Family Home Program was made. Girls also began living at Boys Town during his leadership.

Most likely due to my living in Omaha, NE, my Great Uncle Wayne Bohan informed me that he donated to Boys Town. He was originally from Adair County, Iowa and had been a large animal veterinarian and a mayor of a small town in Minnesota. This was one of the few in person exchanges with my great uncle, a man known for being outgoing, giving bear hugs and having a hearty laugh. As we conversed, I sensed that he felt good about supporting such a worthy cause. The fact that 90 percent of the money donated to this 501(c) 3 nonprofit goes to help youth shows that they are very efficient in their organization.

In 1977, Boys Town opened Boys Town National Research Hospital ® in Omaha, NE. This hospital is nationally respected in the field of speech and hearing and continues to expand its services.

The statistics of 2013 paint a picture of Boys Town making a difference across the county as more than 28,000 children and 7,000 families received direct youth care services. 82,000 children and 40,000 families received health care services.

There are more than a dozen Boys Town sites across the nation. Boys Town reach will continue to expand across the county with community initiatives identifying the areas of greatest need. This will result in facilities being opened in neighborhoods and local and diverse residents will be hired to staff these facilities.

Over the years, I have known adults who were once residents of Boys Town including one who had been voted Mayor. I have known dedicated Family Teaching Couples, adult mentors and teachers at the school at Boys Town. I have not set foot on Boys Town’s grounds since high school, but I have continued to feel its influence.

Boys Town Quotes:

“I know when the idea of a boys’ home grew in my mind, I never thought of anything remarkable about taking in all of the races and all of the creeds. To me, they are all God’s children. They are my brothers. They are children of God. I must protect them to the best of my ability.” - See more at: http://www.boystown.org/about/father-flanagan/father-flanagan-quotes#sthash.AI3aILZg.dpuf

“The poor, innocent, unfortunate little children belong to us, and it is our problem to give them every chance to develop into good men and good women.” - See more at: http://www.boystown.org/about/father-flanagan/father-flanagan-quotes#sthash.AI3aILZg.dpuf

Sources for Blog Post:

Official Boys Town Web Site and official Boys Town Facebook page

Graduation Summary for 2014 Document

Boys Town 2013 Annual Report


-population-we™ blog post by Barb Bohan
© 2014 population-we, LLC 
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Monday, December 1, 2014

I Heart Celebrity Causes Highlights Carrie Underwood's HSUS

As a society we like our celebrities and tend to support the causes they endorse with this status. Our celebrities are those that entertain and inspire us such as those that act in the movies, on television and the stage, our favorite musicians, athletes from our favorite teams or provide national pride representing at the Olympics, the authors of our favorite literary works and those that provide contributions in the world of art. Each month in this new population-we™ (pop-we) series, I Heart Celebrity Causes, a celebrity will be chosen and the cause that they promote will be looked at.

I Heart Celebrity Causes!
This month is the sixth installment of I Heart Celebrity Causes the focus is on Carrie Underwood and The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Underwood was the Season Four winner of American Idol and that catapulted a music career that to date has seen her win six Grammy Awards, eight American Music Awards, 11 Academy of Country Music Awards and 16 Billboard Music Awards. She has had 14 songs reach number one on the country charts and has over 14 million in album sales worldwide.

HSUS is one of the charities which Underwood donates heavily to and she has also done several PSA spots for them. The organization is celebrating it's 60th year. In that time it has grown into the largest animal protection organization in the country. They advocate for laws that provide animal protection, campaign for reforms in industries that affect animals, investigate cases of animal cruelty and provide animal rescue and emergency response. The HSUS also cares for animals in clinics, emergency shelters, sanctuaries and wildlife rehabilitation centers.

The organization operates several animal care centers around the country which help thousands of animals needing healing and care. The Cleveland Armory Black Beauty Ranch offers permanent haven for over 1,200 domestic and exotic animals. The South Florida Wildlife Center rescues and rehabilitates over 12,000 animals each year. In Barnstable, Mass., there is the Cape Wildlife Center, which provides emergency care and rehabilitation for wildlife. The Duchess Sanctuary in Oregon provides a refuge on 1,120 acres for horses that were abandoned, neglected or were homeless.

More information on state-by-state efforts can be found at the HSUS website. If you are interested in making an online donation you can give now at HSUS.

Most importantly, Bravo to pop-we I Heart Celebrity Causes--Carrie Underwood--for her HSUS efforts!

-population-we™ blog post by John Bohan
© 2014 population-we, LLC 
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