Technically, I am on a business trip since I’m giving a presentation at a conference here in Omaha, NE at Creighton University– I guess I’ll write about that later on the official blog– but I thought I’d post a few miscellaneous and unofficial notes on the trip out here so far. For what it’s worth.
- Got to the airport my regular two hours before the flight and I had about 90 minutes to kill. Which is fine– I would much prefer to be way too early than a little late. And which was also good because I sat at the wrong gate for about a half-hour before I realized what was going on.
- The plane was a fairly small jet, not a “puddle-jumper” prop engine deal, but not exactly plush, either. I think it sat about 40 people. Anyway, things are going fine when all of a sudden, there is a loud “WHHOOOOOSHHH” noise in the cabin. I turned to the woman sitting next to me, who had also turned to me, and we both had a “what the…?” expression on our faces. Turns out there was a “minor” leak with some kind of door, but we weren’t losing cabin pressure, so the problem was determined no big deal. And I guess it wasn’t since we got here, though the rest of the flight was noisy, sorta like leaving the window in the car cracked while on the interstate. It seemed to get colder, too.
- The woman I was sitting next to was a sociology professor at U of M-Flint. Small world.
- Inexplicably, I saw a woman getting on and off the plane clutching a box that (according to the box, at least) had a pyrex glass cassarole dish in it. An odd carry-on choice.
- So far, downtown Omaha, NE is nicer than I would have thought. Here are a few pictures from a brief afternoon walk:
This is a park/walkway of some sort right downtown about a block from my hotel.
There’s an area here called “Old Market.” It’s not a huge area (but hey, neither is Greektown in Detroit) with a whole bunch of cool little restaurants and stores like this one.
Here’s another shot of the Old Town area.
