Day 186

Live from Omaha, Nebraska, corn fields and all. Cross this state off of my list. The last two days have been beautiful weather-wise. It reminded me of my days in Lawrence. It was a bright sunny couple of days - 75 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, with a little wind. That is the good part of Omaha. This town is schwag. Talk about nothing to do. The downtown is ok for a small city and the people are friendly, but I've seen more toothless hillbilly's in the last two days than I care to mention. I wasn't exactly meeting with executives if you know what I mean - just a bunch of small re-distributors of ours. The best was when my rep and I stopped in at the end of our day yesterday for a beer at the local bar, which was the American Legion. I was sitting there amongst 15 or so geriatrics drinking their beers and looking at their bingo cards. I got back to my hotel around 7 CST (we passed on our dinner - thank goodness), with a ton of work to do and a 5:30 AM wake up call. Got a lot of good work done out here though.

Back to the quick notes:
-Gotta give mad props out to Sean Fox on his big 30th b-day yesterday. I know Sean was a little apprehensive about turning the big 3-0, but he is doing well with it today. I've known Sean now for 12 years (although he claims he didn't know me that first year), and have been there with him through a lot - great KU home wins at the Fieldhouse and bad KU tournament losses on TV, our "gay trip" to California when we drove the coast (the attached photo from the trip says it all), having him stand with me as I married Leah, and being his best man when he married Nancy in April. The next step is finding him a job in C-Town so he can make that natural move that would make Nancy very happy. It wouldn't make his family too happy, but I'm selfish on this one.

-Yesterday was also the date of my parents anniversary, which would have been their 36th. I've said this before, but they were such amazing role models as a couple. I still to this day have never seen a couple as in love as they were. They had such a good thing going and my mom has so many great memories that she can look back on. I spoke to her yesterday and she sounded surprisingly good. She is quite a tough woman, that mother of mine.

-I guess this has turned into a "friend of TD's" report, but I am overjoyed to announce that my girl Jaimo is pregnant, due just over a week after Leah. I couldn't be any happier for Jaimo and Steve. The definitely deserve it. Steve's parents live right around the corner from us, and we were lucky enough to get a visit from the great Gail Schneider with a plate full of her famous chocolate chip cookies. They lived up to all the hype.

-After 10 years at his previous employer, my guy Ags started his new job yesterday. I haven't heard about it as of yet, but he was real jacked up for his new challenge.

-I don't know if you caught it, but on MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann on the 5th anniversary of 9/11 absolutely lit up President Bush and his administration for allowing 5 years to go by with essentially no resolution to the attacks. This is a must watch clip. Can be found with this link: Olbermann rips W

-What about this guy who went into a college in Montreal, started shooting at people, and eventually was killed by police. He ran in wearing a black trench coat and a mohawk, killed two people and wounded 19. What kind of crazy world do we live in where someone would do something like this. The thing about this is, these things happened almost every day. Funny how now that I am an expecting father, these things are really starting to get to me even more than they did before. Speaking of which - times sure have changed. I actually read an entire article yesterday about proper eating patterns for young kids, how America's youth is getting fatter and fatter and exercising less than any other generation. I actually have to start thinking about these things now. Unreal. Where did the days go where all I cared about was who I was betting on that night?

-How about the Northern Arizona University backup Punter who stabbed the Punter who beat him out for the job in the leg so he could get the job? Unreal right? Its a 2006 Tonya Harding techinque. People are strange.

Song of the Day: "Omaha" by Counting Crows