Last week I went to Omaha.

Despite what my family and some people at work were thinking, the trip had nothing to do with my ex-wife. Nor were there any job interviews involved.

I went up there just to visit people I hadn't seen in years.

Well, I did have one specific reason for going. I need to keep that one a secret from this public forum.

It was very nice to see some of the people from the old days. I wish I could have seen more of them, but a lot of my old friends are/were in the Air Force and have moved on. Also the old Shanty bar burned down (Sad!) and the regulars from there seem to have all disappeared.

I did get to see a lot of my old roommate Mike and on Thursday I was pleasantly surprised to see Awesome Larry.

On Saturday night I managed to - well never mind.

One thing about this trip that I wasn't too happy about. I couldn't really give anyone much advance warning. I certainly couldn't post anything here about the trip before it happened. I don't know who reads this thing, and there's at least one person in the Omaha area that I absolutely didn't want to see.

I was actually pretty paranoid a couple of times that said person would show up at the hotel or at the bar. This would have certainly made me very unhappy, and may have even caused a nervous breakdown or something. What a pussy I am.

As it turned out the trip was worth it. It was not nearly as rejuvenating as my Seattle trip was last Fall. How could it be? Most of my friends from Omaha are gone. My 8-ball game sucks. The Shanty is gone.

I could list more problems with the trip, but I don't want to make it seem that I didn't enjoy myself.

Omaha is still, as I tell people frequently, The Best-Kept Secret in the United States. Just the right size, all kinds of restaurants, a great zoo, little traffic, blah blah blah.

I hope it doesn't take me another five years to visit there again.