Here I am in Omaha, Nebraska. I have a meeting for two days in your typical hotel conference room. My plane landed around 7ish, so once I arrived at the hotel, the front desk clerk recommended dinner at Upstream Brewing Company located in Omaha's Old Market District, which is basically what I would like to see St. Louis' Soulard Market and Laclede's Landing to become eventually. Soulard Market is closer to getting there than Laclede's Landing - which seems to be crumbling more and more: but I digress.
Dinner For One, Please
Eating in a restaurant alone has never been something I'm comfortable with, probably from the sheer aspect of I don't want people to think that I don't have any friends. Yes - I know that's crazy. Anywho...
My beer of the evening was the Firehouse Red Lager, and it was excellent! I almost bought the Firehouse Red Lager t-shirt, but I held back. Dinner consisted of fish and chips, one of Upstream's classic meals. I thought it was just "eh", "okay". I didn't even finish the fries.
The Shady Dude Across the Bar
As I ate dinner, enjoying the great atmosphere, absorbing the sounds of people talking and laughing, humming along to some classic rock, and watching the U.S. gymnasts win gold in the London Olympics, I felt a presence. No - this wasn't Ghost Hunters. This was the shady dude across the bar staring at me. At one point, I turned around to see if anything interesting was going on that I was just missing out on. Nope. I was the eye candy. Not sure how I felt about that. Kinds of weird. So, I changed my eye placement and started watching the gymnasts on another television. My avoidance strategy made me feel better.
No Phoning Home
It's nice every now and then to go without my cell phone. It's almost daring and impulsive. You're out of reach, untouchable, no satellite dish tracking your moves. However, as I sat alone at the bar, I wanted to catch up on email, text, and check in on my social webs. No go. It was a very odd feeling. My "WOO" strength kicked in and I started chatting up the guy next to me. We both agreed that the female gymnasts give fake hugs. Not cool.
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