All right. Everybody settled in? Pencils sharpened? Very well. China and Adrian live in Omaha, Nebraska, which is a state bang in the middle of the USA. About a 5 hour flight to either New York or LA. About one hour to Chicago.
Our principal religious figure here is Warren Buffet, the third-richest man in the world, and resident of our fair city. He plays bridge, he's pals with Bill Gates, he likes Cherry Coke, he lives in a house that looks like it belongs to a prosperous orthodontist.
You may have heard of him. We're happy for that. He's good for the brand.
Another major religious figure here in Nebraska is Tom Osborne-- seen here in a simple devotional painting-- one of our three (hey, that's more than Delaware) members of the House of Representatives. And what exactly qualifies him to sit in the world's greatest deliberative body in order to speak for the good people of our state?
Why, he was the coach of the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers for several years. Many people very seriously lament that he had to step down to a less important job. This is largely accurate.
Nebraska is the birthplace of Arbor Day. I'll bet you didn't know that.
Better yet, I bet you didn't know that we're in a feud with Iowa over who REALLY is the birthplace of Arbor Day.
You people on the coasts are so caught in up your petty little squabbles that you miss out on this kind of juicy material.
Omaha has 5 Fortune 500 companies headquartered here (Berkshire Hathaway, ConAgra, Peter Kiewit, Mutual of Omaha, and Union Pacific). We have a population in the metro area of about 700,000, and we're growing like crazy. (The Blakes' arrival was clearly the tipping point.)
Another significant religious figure is beloved local TV anchor Pat Persaud. Every town has one of these-- the local TV personality who can really punch those signoff lines like: "Have a happy.....AND SAFE (long pause, hold eye contact) holiday weekend." Oh, the empathy. Not insincere in any way.
Also very fond of referring to our local broadcast area as "The Heartland." Considering we're the 77th largest broadcast market (just behind Rochester, NY and Paducah, KY), this may be a little generous. Isn't "The Heartland" pretty much anywhere they don't sell Prada but they do sell John Deere? Don't get grabby, Pat.
(By the way-- Watch out Paducah-- here we come!)
Autumnal scene of Vala's Pumpkin Patch. If we have our way, they'll be tearing this down and putting in a new Costco very soon.
As I awaited Lily from her Pre-School Halloween party out in the parking lot, (Pierce and I had overstayed our welcome as he began to pilfer the candycorns that had been brought as a treat for Lily's class) I noticed the preponderance of Minivans outside the school. I don't know why this caught my eye. I suppose I revel in Suburbia (sometimes). It's all just so... Nebraska, and I mean that in the nicest sense (I think).