2005: Late Spring in Omaha

After packing up in Sandpoint I left for Toronto.  My quasi girlfirend of sorts had gone off with another guy and I needed to clear my head and get out of the house.  He life in boxes was stacked to the ceiling and It was choking the life out of my spirit.  At my mom's we went on a few boat rides, visited the club but mostly we hung out and visited.  It was very relaxing and I was able to focus on my goals and make plans for the future.  It was time to leave the partying of the past ten years behind and move on too a "grown up: life.. Not in a sense of stoggyness but in being responsible for my career and final realizing the goasl I had set so long ago.  Mom always has a way of helping me to do that.

I returned to Sandpoint to pack up my car and head out to Omaha where my sister siad there is over 5,000 restaurants.  I should have no trouble getting ajob there.  The house was supposed to be empty.  I had been gone over  amonth and  R.A.E. should have emptied her stuff.  But there is sat.  What a fool I had been.  I took my stuff left hers and headed out.

The drive across country in my $500 Subaru went smoothly. I just added oil at every stop even if I did not need gas.  I slept in the car to save money and after 3 days I reached my sisters house.  It took longer than I had expected due to major summer road work.  I was fortunate enought to pass through sturgis in early September.  Talk about motorcycle madness.  I have never seen so many Harley's.  They owned the roads that week. 
I arrived in Omaha and landed at my sister's house.  My neice and nephew were super excited to see me. I was glad to see them.  My sister and her husband Tim were very hospitable.  They set me up in a room and helped me practice interviews.  She helped me figure out which restaurants were better than others.  I applied for jobs all day. Walking blocks and blocks of the downtown area, the new western strip malls and anywhere in between.  IT turns out that just during the time I was there that over 500 new restaurants had opened up in the new developments out past 156th street.  They were not hiring becasue they already had their chefs.  The restaurants downtown that had been hiring were not becasue there sales dropped to all the new sales out west.  Ouch what bad timing.  I finally had an Interview with Biaggi's, an upscale Italian Chain specializing in Fresh authentic Italian with a great plan for management.  I worked a night on the line and as the expiditer.  The Chef and the manager watched as I took control of the line with only a few hours under my belt here.  It felt good that the years of experience were coming through.  They offered me the chance to go train at their main store for 3 weeks I believe it was.  But that would take about a month to get the paperwork done.  Who has that kind of time to wait.  It had already been a month since I arrived in Omaha and I had run out of money.  The next day I received a call from the Minnehaha Country CLub in Sioux Falls.  I had applied for the Executive Chef job there and They wanted to interview me.  With no money I was really worried that I would miss this chance.  I called my friend Karin and told her. She was a blessing from above.  "I'll Send you some money Western Union" she said so you can get to the interview.  WOW!! So she sent me money I was expecting 20 or 30 bucks. She sent $200. The interview in Sioux Falls went fantastic, the interview practice had paid off.  I had gotten the job.
    
So the Vagabondchef was on the move again.  This time to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  never in my entire life did I thinnk I would end up there.  It turns out that my Grandma had grown up in North Dakota and had visited Okaboji growing up on family vacations.  It turns out I did have roots in the Dakota's.  Life is a lesson.  Enjoy the journey.