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The flight was great, only a minimal amount of screaming by "Layla", the baby riding next to me. A textbook landing by captain John was greatly appreciated.

I'm picking up my rental car right now. I had reserved a Lamborgini but in light of the recent gas prices I've decided to slightly downgrade to a Hyundi Accent. The speed difference is negligible as far as I can tell.

I'm off to the hotel on the west side of Omaha. I chose a hotel 15 minutes away from the Qwest center to save money and put me around familiar grocery and food establishments.

Well this is a new one, we just sat at the gate for a half hour while they used "fix-a-flat" on the plane landing gear. I'm banking on it holding up just fine, I've used that stuff a handful of times with 0% success rate. Luckily Bill gave me the most recent copy of Swimmer Magazine, there are some great articles in here!

As I was waiting at the gate, I see a gentlemen who looks like a masters swimmer. I took the opportunity to introduce myself, as soon as I said my name he smiled and said "Kevin Doak, I know that name!".

It turns out I just met Bill Volckening, the editor of "USMS Swimmer Magazine"! I had a great, although brief conversation about his recent meeting to discuss 2009 magazine topics as well as my journey from my first 2005 masters meet to qualifying for the trials without a coach. He let me know he would like to do a small story about me at some point in 2009.

Everything is great! I got a good healthy breakfast and then a safe ride to the airport from my friend Sarah. The security line looks long but I should be fine on time.

I'm going to really enjoy posting on the road, before it involved lugging around my laptop to make a post for the world to enjoy, now its as easy as sending an email.

I implemented a new blogging system so I can update it on the go, please update your bookmarks to:

http://kevindoak.com/blog.php

Thanks for understanding.

Just wanted to make sure it works!

I got a nice long nap today, I feel rested. I'm packing tonight for a week in Omaha.

Wow, only 3 days left! I had a good practice today, it was nice and short, a few fast 50's and some underwater kicking. I'm proud to say I've been solid 27's from a push in a 50 meter back. I believe this is right where I should be for this point in time. I'd like to make some realistic predictions of my prelim time. I've been studying exactly what it takes to swim well on a race pace 100 backstroke. I would really like to make the semifinal session which is top 16. I believe it will take a 55 mid to make it back, perhaps faster.

I'm the second oldest person in the 100 back. Second only to Randall Bal by a few months. It's a real shame I'm gonna have to beat up on these kids :)