Introduction

[SabrinaFaire]

Hello. I'm new here. I suppose you could have guessed that from the subject line, eh? My husband and I are considering moving to Omaha from the Chicago suburbs. I've driven through a couple of times, he's never been. We're coming to visit in a month. We're thinking of moving this summer, depending on how the job search goes. I'm not sure if we'll go to Council Bluffs or Omaha. I guess it depends on what we like when we visit. My brother and his soon to be wife are moving to CB because of his job. We've been wanting to move for awhile now and thought, well why not Omaha? So far the research I've done leads me to think it's a pretty nice place. Even if everyone I tell says "Omaha? Nebraska??" LOL Mostly we're looking for a place where we can find decent jobs and be able to afford a house. Chicago is not really a place to find affordable housing. We'll rent for a year, at least, though. Anyway, we're both in our early 30s, no kids, one cat. He's the geeky DnD, Magic The Gathering, Comic Book, SciFi type, and I'm the geeky girl, SciFi, Fantasy, Video Game girl type. We both like walks on the beach and candlelight dinners. Oh, wait, wrong kind of introduction.

[Craig]

Welcome to the Omaha Forums! Yes, Omaha is great here i highly recommend you move here as it is a great city

[Big E]

You may need to define "good jobs" first.  There are plenty of places to find employment here, but don't expect a plethora of white collar jobs with a huge long term up side.  They're just tricky to find and when you do, there's usually been someone in it for 20 years with 20 years left.  Major employers are Union Pacific, ConAgra, and Mutual of Omaha.  I'm sure others will throw in some more names.

Omaha is the king of affordable housing, especially in suburbia.  We never experienced the huge upswing in real estate, so we're not experiencing the huge downside everyone else is right now.  If you're looking to buy, there may not ever be a better time than right now.  I would also recommend looking in the Midtown and downtown area if you're not dead set on the burbs again.

Don't worry: there are plenty of nerds here.  Most of us are on this very forum.

Coming from Chicago, you'll laugh at people here when they complain about the traffic.  Rush hour is about 4 minutes long and "gridlock" means "going 25 MPH for those 4 minutes".

-Big E

[Coyote]

Welcome to eOmahaForums Sabrina!

[adam186]

Welcome Sabrina!  What do both of you do for a living now?  I'm sure we have something similar in Omaha.  Also, like Big E said, Omaha is one of best when it comes affordable living (especially for a city our size).

You'll love Omaha!

[SabrinaFaire]

Welcome Sabrina!  What do both of you do for a living now?  I'm sure we have something similar in Omaha.  Also, like Big E said, Omaha is one of best when it comes affordable living (especially for a city our size).

You'll love Omaha!

I'm an Administrative Assistant. He owns his own store, but he's selling it and wants to get into an IT role. My brother said he's going to try to get him a job at his company, which would be great. We'll see though.

[SabrinaFaire]

Coming from Chicago, you'll laugh at people here when they complain about the traffic.  Rush hour is about 4 minutes long and "gridlock" means "going 25 MPH for those 4 minutes".

Ha! Yeah. Especially since it took me three hours to go 25 miles on Tuesday.

[nativeomahan]

Some thoughts:

Omaha is like a mini-Chicago, about 1/10th the size, with about 1/10th the traffic, sprawl, restaurants, nightlife, etc.  The first thing you might notice is our lack of tall buildings (that always struck me after I returned home to Omaha from trips to Chicago).  The people are basically from the same stock, Irish/ Italian/ German/ Hispanic/ African American.  Our accents are more stereotypically Midwestern than you are apt to hear on the street in Chicago.  Our weather is about the same.  Actually, I think Chicago weather as a whole is worse than Omaha...less snow and rain here, but we are not exactly the banana belt, as anyone living here in February can attest.

You might miss the ability to fly non-stop almost anywhere in the world you want to go, as you can in Chicago.  But we are equal-distant from all of the coasts, and usually only 1 connection or stop from anywhere you want to fly.

One thing we don't have is beautiful Lake Michigan.  We are a bit water starved in terms of sporting and tourist type activities.  No large amusement parks, either.  But our city parks are quite nice, and we have a large forest (Fontenelle Forest) which is a great place to go to make the urban jungle disappear.

While our restaurant scene lacks the big name chefs or the critical mass of business and tourists to support a lot of high end restaurants, we have recently had a bit of an explosion of high end eateries come to town.  One thing I love about Chicago is the huge number of outdoor cafes and brasseries that line many city streets.  While we certainly don't have those numbers, more and more places here do offer expanded outdoor seating in temperate weather (it does happen).  The Top 10 Omaha restaurants would certainly compare with restaurants in the top 50-100 in Chicago.  And while our city restaurants don't offer near the variety of cuisines that you can find in America's largest cities, we have a surprising array of options, and more are opening all of the time.

Good luck in your decision-making.

[SabrinaFaire]

Thanks, nativeomahan. We live in the FAR north suburbs of Chicago. We could almost say we're a suburb of Milwaukee, but really, who would ever admit to that? LOL We aren't able to take advantage of the benefits of living in the city now, really. Having a big airport is nice though. Heh, honestly I keep thinking "Oooh we could get an apartment near a shopping center! No more driving 20 minutes to Chili's!" I am a bit concerned about the pizza situation though. I like me a good Chicago Style stuffed pizza now and then, but mostly I'm going to miss the thin cracker like crust cut into squares that I can only find in the Chicago area.

[thenewguy]

Thanks, nativeomahan. We live in the FAR north suburbs of Chicago. We could almost say we're a suburb of Milwaukee, but really, who would ever admit to that? LOL We aren't able to take advantage of the benefits of living in the city now, really. Having a big airport is nice though. Heh, honestly I keep thinking "Oooh we could get an apartment near a shopping center! No more driving 20 minutes to Chili's!" I am a bit concerned about the pizza situation though. I like me a good Chicago Style stuffed pizza now and then, but mostly I'm going to miss the thin cracker like crust cut into squares that I can only find in the Chicago area.

Surely there are pizza places i'm unaware of in Omaha, but i know for sure that you can get really good pizza like that in Council Bluffs  Pizza King is the place, and they cut their pizza into squares!  As for stuffed pizza, i know that Old Chicago (restaurant here) had/has a Chicago style pizza (go figure) that was pretty good when i had it.  Granted, it was a while ago, but it was the first place i had one like it.  Otherwise you can get a Chicago style take and bake from Papa Murphy's which isn't too bad either.  There's another thread that talks about Omaha pizza places, too, that outlines a good selection of places.  I don't have that link, but it's in the "dining/culture" section.

[Omababe]

I like me a good Chicago Style stuffed pizza now and then, but mostly I'm going to miss the thin cracker like crust cut into squares that I can only find in the Chicago area.

Omaha really doesn't have a Giordano's or Gino's East type place.

We don't have any Portillo's like places either.

La Casa (Leavenworth St.) has a thinner crust pizza, but I'm not sure it's the kind you're talking about.

Chicago is a great place for restaurants! I swear I gain 5lb each time I go there!

[Brad]

Or instead of starting another discussion on Pizza, check this one out:

http://eomahaforums.com/phpBB/viewtopic ... ight=pizza

[thenewguy]

(yep, that's it; that's the one i was making a reference to...damn you people and your opening of 2 browsers at once )

[nativeomahan]

Thanks, nativeomahan. We live in the FAR north suburbs of Chicago. We could almost say we're a suburb of Milwaukee, but really, who would ever admit to that? LOL We aren't able to take advantage of the benefits of living in the city now, really. Having a big airport is nice though. Heh, honestly I keep thinking "Oooh we could get an apartment near a shopping center! No more driving 20 minutes to Chili's!" I am a bit concerned about the pizza situation though. I like me a good Chicago Style stuffed pizza now and then, but mostly I'm going to miss the thin cracker like crust cut into squares that I can only find in the Chicago area.

We are NOT a pizza starved outpost on the edge of Siberia.  I too love Chicago for the stuffed pizzas, but guess what, one or two pieces and I have to throw in the napkin and stop eating.  You will probably fall in love with one or more of the following pizza joints in Omaha...although they are not Chicago style:

Zio's...La Casa...Big Freds...Giovanni Santini's...Frank's...and I am sure others.

[nebport5]

Sabrina, I live in the n.w. Chicago burbs...I'm thinking of moving back to Omaha too.  One of the things I miss the most is Omaha pizza.  What are the thin crust places you like in the Chicago area?

[zedmib]

Welcome to town and the board! I am also a DnD (now EQ2,sorry no WoW for me ) Scifi guy. Omaha does have a couple of good stores to keep you supplied. Ground Zero Hobbies, on Fort Crook road in Bellevue and about 50th and L ST in Omaha, and Dragons Lair on 86th? and Blondo. One thing we lack is a good Scifi/fantasy convention. I try to go to Kansas City for Conquest on Memorial Day weekend.

[SabrinaFaire]

Sabrina, I live in the n.w. Chicago burbs...I'm thinking of moving back to Omaha too.  One of the things I miss the most is Omaha pizza.  What are the thin crust places you like in the Chicago area?

Jimano's is good, they're a newer chain. I'm up in Antioch, we happen to have one here. I used to like Rosati's but I got really sick last time I had it. Probably unrelated, but I associate it with their pizza. There's a place in Elk Grove Village (I think) called Papa's Pizza on Nerge and Plum Grove Rd. I love their thin crust, but I don't get down there very often.

Welcome to town and the board! I am also a DnD (now EQ2,sorry no WoW for me ) Scifi guy. Omaha does have a couple of good stores to keep you supplied. Ground Zero Hobbies, on Fort Crook road in Bellevue and about 50th and L ST in Omaha, and Dragons Lair on 86th? and Blondo. One thing we lack is a good Scifi/fantasy convention. I try to go to Kansas City for Conquest on Memorial Day weekend.

LOL Well, when I say DH is a geek, he actually owns a store like that now. He's in the process of selling it so we can move. Perhaps we'll check out those stores when we come visit. I played WoW for awhile, didn't care much for it. DH played it until he maxed at 60 (this was awhile ago). I actually liked EQ2 better, but my computer didn't run it too well and I honestly got bored with it after level 20. I HATE grouping and you pretty much have to after 20. Chicago has a con, Wizard World, but DH doesn't care much for it. He's driven down to Indy for GenCon several times. We went to a Star Trek con here back in October. It sucked. He got to go to ComicCon this past year. I'm not sure if he'd want to go again. Once he sells the store he can't deduct these trips any more!

[Lizard]

Hey, once you get into Omaha let me know... I'm from Lake Geneva, WI (D&D Central) originally, might as well be a Chicago suburb now.  :)  I've lived here for almost 10 years, with my husband and daughter (and another kid on the way in August).  We're in our mid 30's, pretty big geeks too and are always looking for others to hang out with.  We play EQ as well, the first one.  Omaha is a great city, hope you like it here!