I'm moving to Omaha, Nebraska, soon. Well I suppose soon is a relative term. I get to wait for my youngest to graduate from high school in the spring of '06. At that point we have a relocation deal and my new company (Conagra Foods, Inc) will buy my house, if I can't sell it and move me and mine to Omaha on their dime pets and all. I have been offered relocation deals in the past but clinging to my regional roots, have resisted the opportunity to pull up stakes and move out of Texas. After all, I have spent 95% of my life in Texas, went to Texas schools, got married in Texas, and raised my kids in Texas. I love Texas. I will miss the people, the places, the heat, and our mild winters. Texas is my home. But with the exception of the lousy job I had between 2002 and 2004, I have lived in Texas but worked on the road outside of Texas. I couldn't make a living in Texas so I consulted. Consulting is what you do if you have no marketable skills.

I have been to Omaha three times. The first time was to interview for this job. It rained. The second time was when I accepted the job and spent the week filling out forms and attending introduction meetings. It rained, all week. The third time is now. I am up here getting some face time after the success of my first project. It has been raining since I got off the plane…three days ago. I am told that it rains most of the spring, just after it snows most of the winter, which follows the fall…where it rains. They tell me there is a summer. The Internet description of Omaha's weather, says that the summers are wetter than the spring or fall.

Omaha is not a big place. It is about 1/3 the size of Fort Worth...maybe a little bit smaller. The airport is on the east side of the city and my new office is on the west side of the city. It took me 13 minutes to get here from the rental car parking lot and I took the long route so I could see the northern section of the city. I drove on the busiest highway, during rush hour, in the rain. I will not miss Dallas traffic. I think I may have had to tap my brake once. If it ever stops raining, I am supposed to drive around and look at neighborhoods were I might consider settling down with Sue once we make the move. I haven't moved in 16 years. That move was 3 miles from Addison, Texas to Carrollton, Texas. They have basements up here. I have always wanted a basement.

Another thing I am supposed to do while I am up here is look for a good Mexican Restaurant. Being from Texas (which has better Mexican food than Mexico) Mexican food is not a 'like to have' but a staple of our diet. I went to a place called Julio's that advertised itself as a Mexican Restaurant. They even said they were a “Tex-Mex” place so I went right in and ordered cheese enchiladas with a self proclaimed “Tex-Mex” (sauce), rice, beans, chips and salsa. They weren't even close. The refried, re-treaded, retired beans tasted almost as good as the can they came in. The rice (which had stuff in it) didn't taste like anything. There were no onions in the enchilada and I think the cheese may have been cheese whiz…without the usual Mexican authenticity. The chips had the consistency of saltine crackers but were powdery when you bit into them. They soaked up the salsa and got soggy. Reminded me of the weather. The salsa may have had some green peppers in it to mask the tomato sauce flavor. The tastiest thing on the table was the salt. Even the ice tea was weak. We may starve to death the first week.

Sue's parents were both from Council Bluffs, Iowa, which is right across the Missouri River from Omaha. They both moved to Texas but their families still live here. Sue has many aunts, uncles and cousins up here. We haven't been to Council Bluffs as a family since 1988 so I doubt I will recognize any of them. I remember them fondly as typically friendly mid-westerners. My son has no interest in moving to Omaha and has said he isn't coming with us. He says that everyone in Nebraska are nothing but a bunch of rural corn eating rednecks. Since he comes from a long line of rural okra eating rednecks he should probably find a different objection. I imagine if his assessment is true, I'll get along just fine with the people here. My son will be going off to college at the same time we will be moving. We are bringing Jennifer and the grandbaby. So I will know someone here besides my boss.