Tuesday, March 18, 2008

What do NYMEX, Mamma Mia and Bloomberg TV All Have In Common?

The answer: I was at all three of these last week in NYC.

The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) was neat to see firsthand. Traders are an interesting lot.

Went to Mamma Mia on Broadway last Thursday - it's a fun musical, and the songs are definitely catchy - all ABBA all the time. Brought back memories of college days, especially "Dancing Queen" (or Dancing Quinn?) - a perrenial favorite at keggers!

Finally, at Bloomberg Television on Wednesday with the Premier of Saskatchewan, I had a total six degrees of separation moment. We were waiting in the green room for the premier to go on TV, and so I introduced myself to this guy, who was already sitting in the green room. He said he was there with Grover Nordquist, who was being interviewed about his new book - he also heads up Americans for Tax Reform. I asked this guy if he minded if we turned up the volume on the other TV screen so we could hear the Premier speaking. So the Premier starts talking about Saskatchewan's CO2 sequestration project, where they pipe CO2 from North Dakota to the province. The guy says, "Hey, my home state!" I said, "You're from North Dakota?!?!?" He says, "Yeah, Bismarck." Me: "Hazen." He looks at my card again and says, "You're not related to Jeb Bodine by any chance are you?"

Turns out, he was in Jeb's frat, used to visit Bonzers and Whitey's, so he knows "Tessy" as he calls her, and he also remembers Fran, too. Incredibly small world - ND connection, sitting in the green room at Bloomberg TV in NYC. You never know who you'll run into.

Fran's in Brazil right now - and I'm meeting up with Bethany Axtman tomorrow for dinner at Bistro Vendome. Should be fun!