[MattDen]

I just check out of the forums several times a day whats wrong with that.
We tend to be usually be on here at the same times for some reason.

Everybody outside enjoying themselves in Omaha?
People in Nebraska hardly know what outside is. They drive everywhere, they have a mentality that it makes no sense to bike or walk when they have a car.

The only time people take a walk there is usually at the mall.

The thing about Omaha is able-bodied people seem avoid anything that they have to walk more then a block to be. Ive never seen anything like it. Nebraskans will just sit and drive around parking lots for 30 minutes so they dont have to walk an extra 50 feet.

I feel sorry for people's dogs in this state, very few are ever walked. Even on sunny, 65 degree days Nebraskans will just sit around and dont walk or the dog or take a bike ride.

[star_gazer]

There you go... once again, let out your true colors.


Apparently Men's Fitness thinks otherwise... ranking Omaha in the top 25 fittest cities in the nation the past 2 years...

And as Mr. Henningsen shared already... Prevention magazine places Omaha in the top 25 in walkable cities.

We have over 80 miles of paved walking/biking trails... Omahans love to get out and walk... and you know the funny thing about weather... when you live in it, you appreciate it. A little cold weather never kept most of the fellow Omahans I know from being active.

http://www.omahatrails.com/


You're right... we are both on here about the same amount (well, actually, I think you're on here at least twice as much as I am... but I agree, I'm on here alot). The difference is... I'm sharing what I love... and you're sharing what you hate. Now, you tell me which is more healthy?

[kosnebbear]

Once again MattDen with your age 20 plus years are being much older than my 50 plus years of meeting people from all over the world which only makes you have all of the answers to everything about nothing. If you would just take a real life look at the things around you and show some thing called respect toward others then, and this is a very big maybe, you will see that you are wrong about life. Not all people in rural USA, and yes you will also see rural USA in Ohio or where ever you end up next, are not the terrible people that think that they are. America was first just one big rural area before it became a city. It is the rural people who make America what it is today and tomorrow. It is the rural people who provide you with the food you eat everyday. It would be interesting to see what you think about all of this say in 25 to 30 years from now. It would be interesting to see if you will have a different attitude toward life then MattDen. Like I said MattDen you don't understand people, if you did then you would understand rural Nebraska, because rural Nebraska is the people who live there. So your statement about understanding people is like trying to move water with a bucket with no bottom, empty of real understanding.

[kosnebbear]

Nice pictures Star gazer. I might post some of the city that I am in if any one is interested. If I get some that would like to see them then I will start a thread for you. I would love for MattDen to find some interesting statical data on this city.

[Macaroon]

I'm confused. MattDen, when exactly was it that you lived in Omaha? And what neighborhoods was it that you lived in? From all your postings about Nebraska and Omaha and how unfriendly the neighbors are and how unexciting the entertainment possibilities are for a twenty somethinger, it is apparent that you have had a very bad experience with Omaha. But I haven't seen from your postings exactly when it was that you had these terrible experiences with Omaha neighborhoods and entertainment districts.

I have read from your postings that you originaly are from Colorado and that you lived in Columbus, OH from 2002-2003. You lived in Louisville for a month in 2003. You were at MSUM, living in the Fargo area from late 2004 to early 2006 and you have been in Lincoln since 2006. Did you live in Omaha for the balance of 2003 and 2004 before moving to Fargo or was it prior to moving to Columbus? In any event it doesn't seem that you really have lived here long enough to have developed such a negative view of our city or the neighborhood in which you lived.

[Rumblebelly]

Good ol Matt never lets me down with his stereotypical attitude. Looks like I can always count on him to keep me entertained. I wonder what the complaint of the week will be next week? Nebraskans have dirty cars? Nebraskans eat like pigs? Nebraskans beat their kids? Nebraskans hate Jews? Nebraskans are baby eating aliens?

[Macaroon]

MattDen says:

People dont understand how small towns work. Most people like to envision small towns on the plains as green, victorian towns that are well-kept with a church and general store on every corner and where every one is happy and neighborly. The reality of it is in smaller towns you have one or two very affluent people who live in a mansion and the people in the town work 2 jobs for extremely low wages to feed their families which are usually with the small elite business establishment. People in small towns if they arent part of the extremely affluent tend to have time for work and family and not neighbors.
Small towns tend not to have a large middle-class like metropolitan areas do. They are either struggling to make ends to meet and dont have time to meet new people or very rich people who only associate with people in own social class.

And what small town was it that you lived in to gain this experience and insight? Talk about Lack of credibility. It sounds more like you are spouting generalizations, stereotypes and prejudices. And as a person who DID live in a small town for a significant part of my life, I can tell you that the "true reality" is closer to what you say people "envision" than what YOU call reality.

[MattDen]

Here is the reality of small town life
Average wage per job:
Keya Paha 17,243
McPherson 17,990
Hayes 19,081
Garfield 19,271
Boyd 19,292
National Averge 40,146

The wages are so low in parts of rural Nebraska that Omaha (Douglas County) Nebraska surpassed them in 1984 on wages, Wyoming surpassed them on wages per job in 1982.

Of course not to worry, I have been through rural Nebraska and they have huge mansions on big drainage ditches with brand new boats and SUV's where usually the people who run the communities live while the wages from the Bureau of Economic analysis speak for themselves with average wages per job in those five rural counties in the high 10's. The national average is 40,146. If you havent had deep roots in a small town for a century one would be lucky to even make the average wage per job if they are very lucky.

Rural Nebraska shows what this country would be like with-out a middle-class. Out there its either a constantly festive feast of excess or extreme poverty.

Small town business owners tend to really, really take advantage of the people working for them. Thats why the wages are so low. Unlike, big cities where there are checks and balances and people have a choice of employers to work for, small towns pride themselves on lack of options and they no limit on how much the small town aristocraticy can take advantage of the general populous. They pay their people about half as much as an average city if they are lucky and buy new trucks with the rest.

Besides, why are these small towns so angry that superstores are moving into rural areas and spacing stores usually every few hours apart. The reason is because you have these rich farmers with huge mansions in towns on huge private drainage ditches in rural counties and they usually have a brand new top of line truck also. The rich farmers have their own work hours so they can go out of town and shop the bargains that chain super stores offer. While the locals have to subjected to small locally owned main street grocery chains in small towns with stale bread, old produce thats been rejected by the superstore chains and the condition of these stores is usually filthy. I have been in small grocery stores going through this state on my way back to Denver. Its amazing what the people who are the small-town aristocracy will do make life hard on the average person who lives in there town.

I remember walking into a rural Nebraska grocery store just off I-80 and this was the evening and they had hot dogs in a warming pot that had been sitting there what seemed to have been since the morning in addition to that the store seemed to not have been cleaned for weeks. Not only that many aisles were barren and I was shocked at the prices for every day times compared to that are enjoyed at super stores.

[Macaroon]

And what small town was it that you lived in to gain this experience and insight? Talk about Lack of credibility. It sounds more like you are spouting generalizations, stereotypes and prejudices. And as a person who DID live in a small town for a significant part of my life, I can tell you that the "true reality" is closer to what you say people "envision" than what YOU call reality.

[TitosBuritoBarn]

Matt, save your breath. Just answer the simple questions of where you got your credentials. So far it seems you're basing your knowledge off of "driving through" the areas you claim to be expert on. That's not a credential. That's like trying to get a job as a doctor and having your only credential be "avid viewer of ER." Have you ever lived in Omaha?