CWJJ Episode 121: SGA Natural Gas Connect Live: Part 2

Thursday, June 30- This week’s episode is part 2 of the SGA Natural Gas Connect Conference. Nick Pero, GinaMarie Rundo, Andy Lawton, Tyler Bruce, Joel Fincher joined the show, along with lots more. 

Quick Links:

James Cross on Linkedin
Jim Schauer on Linkedin

Episode Transcript

 [0:00] [music]

Jim Schauer:  [0:25] We are back.

James Cross:  [0:26] We are.

Jim:  [0:26] Day two, SGA Natural Gas Connect, I couldn’t be more excited, James.

James:  [0:31] Man, we had a busy day, busy morning.

Jim:  [0:34] Hectic.

James:  [0:35] We were on a panel.

Jim:  [0:37] It was great. You moderated.

James:  [0:38] LNG, in the LNG room, the LNG track, I guess, for SGA.

Jim:  [0:43] It was a track from 8:00 to 11:30.

James:  [0:46] I thought it went well. Listen, I was very honest. I don’t know a thing about LNG, but I do now. I knew a lot more than I gave myself credit, but I never had been put on the spot. You know how panels are. I wasn’t on the panel, but being moderator, you’ve got to be nimble, got to be quick.

Jim:  [1:04] You’ve got to ask the right questions. You have to know the questions. I tried to do a flow sheet for James, and he looked at and he pretty much…

James:  [1:10] I was like, “That’s a great idea.”

Jim:  [1:12] Don’t worry about,” threw it away and then went after it. It was really fun, though. I think we impacted a lot of folks. It was a neat…

James:  [1:16] It was cool because it was smaller. The group was small.

Jim:  [1:19] Definitely.

James:  [1:20] It was almost like a small group. It was a small group. You know what I’m saying.

Jim:  [1:24] Also, virtual, it was a hybrid, so we had people…

James:  [1:27] We just had conversation all the time, which ended up being good. I liked it. It was good.

Jim:  [1:33] It was great.

James:  [1:32] Then we had Chris and Danny do a presentation as well. They did it. Steve’s doing one right now.

Jim:  [1:41] Right now, as we speak.

James:  [1:43] He did one this morning, so lots of good EWN action here.

Jim:  [1:46] It’s a lot of good EWN action. I think that’s key to this, too. A lot of people ask about why we do “Coffee with Jim & James,” why do we go to conferences, why we sit on committees. Because we want to give back.

[1:58] James, you put it the best, “Give it all away.”

James:  [2:00] Give it all away.

Jim:  [2:01] Just give it back.

James:  [2:02] Man, there’s already been moments like that within this event and just being together, where we’re activating on stuff. We’re already talking about ways to even get more involved. I’m excited to get back and really put some things into action.

Jim:  [2:16] Especially when people reach out to us and ask, “Hey, would you consider helping us on blank?”

James:  [2:22] For sure. For sure.

Jim:  [2:23] Would you consider this?”

James:  [2:25] Are we not getting audio, Sebastian? You’re freaking me out right now. Sebastian’s peeking around like things aren’t happening that should be happening.

Jim:  [2:34] We’re good. He’s OK.

James:  [2:35] Phew! False alarm? Do you see green. All right, we’re good.

Jim:  [2:40] Do you worry?

James:  [2:42] No. I’m fine. It’ll be fine.

Jim:  [2:44] I’m worried about James.

James:  [2:45] It’s freaking me out, man.

Jim:  [2:46] I’m worried.

James:  [2:46] It’s freaking me out.

Jim:  [2:48] It’s OK, man. It’s OK. You need a back rub.

James:  [2:50] We do. We’ve been doing this two weeks straight.

Jim:  [2:53] Yeah, two weeks. We have a lot more weeks coming up too, which is getting back into the swing of things. It’s definitely…

James:  [3:01] Yeah, conference shape.

Jim:  [3:02] I used to travel all the time pre‑pandemic. I would travel, what, 150 nights out of the year. Just getting back into the swing when I…

James:  [3:10] That’s a lot.

Jim:  [3:12] Look at you and I’m traveling every week, that’s a huge undertaking. It’s important to balance everything, mentally, physically, emotionally, family life, the whole bit.

James:  [3:20] We got a busy day today.

Jim:  [3:22] Yes.

James:  [3:23] Also, to round it out, we’ve got…

Jim:  [3:25] It’s going to be very busy.

James:  [3:26] We’re fixing to get on with Mr. Nick Pero.

Jim:  [3:29] From our friends at Versiv?

James:  [3:31] Artera over there. We’re pumped about that. We’re going to do a…

Jim:  [3:35] Look at it. They’re all kind of…

James:  [3:36] It’s like his entourage.

Jim:  [3:38] Oh, it’s getting…

James:  [3:39] It’s intense.

Jim:  [3:40] They’re grilling him right now.

James:  [3:42] They are.

Jim:  [3:42] Say this. Don’t say that. Do this.

James:  [3:45] What was that?

Jim:  [3:45] Whoa, that’s aggressive.

James:  [3:46] Oh, we didn’t do it. We didn’t silence our devices. That’s probably what it was.

Jim:  [3:49] We’ll be all right.

James:  [3:50] All right. Hey, we’re going to grab some guests, and we’ll be right back.

Jim:  [3:53] Stay tuned. We’ll be back.

Jim:  [3:57] Back and better than ever.

James:  [3:59] We are.

Jim:  [4:00] Guess who is here.

James:  [4:01] What do we ran into? We just hung out with him a couple weeks ago.

Jim:  [4:06] We did.

James:  [4:06] We couldn’t get away…

Jim:  [4:07] No.

James:  [4:08] Without seeing him again.

Nick Pero:  [4:09] You can’t get rid of me.

Jim:  [4:11] You know what, though? It’s like a family member. It’s like Cousin Eddy that keeps coming around in the RV.

James:  [4:17] I don’t know if that’s a compliment.

Nick Pero:  [4:18] I don’t know how I should take that.

Jim:  [4:20] Well, because…

James:  [4:20] Nick Pero.

Jim:  [4:22] He’s a friend.

James:  [4:22] Where from?

Jim:  [4:23] Artera.

James:  [4:25] That’s our new mission today. We’re going to make sure everybody knows that.

Jim:  [4:28] Laura Morrow.

James:  [4:29] Do you hear that, Laura? Full disclosure, we’re going to record a full episode in a little bit with Nick that will air later on, but we can do this without having on for a second. We’re talking about SGA?

Jim:  [4:44] Yeah. Come on.

Nick Pero:  [4:45] Absolutely.

Jim:  [4:45] That’s what we’re here about. Let’s talk about this. What do you think about SGA? What’s your favorite part? What are you excited about? What gets you going?

Nick Pero:  [4:52] I really like the camaraderie we have, and get this to see the customers, and obviously being out again after a couple years of laying low there for a while for COVID, but just seeing everybody, and getting in the booths, and talk with customers and see what’s going on.

James:  [5:09] Nick, are you recovered from EWNCON? That was an intense week, man. The heat, everything added together. You played golf, right?

Nick Pero:  [5:17] I did. I did. Well, I was there. I was there. [laughs]

Jim:  [5:21] It doesn’t say you played well.

James:  [5:24] It was warm.

Jim:  [5:25] It wasn’t that warm. It wasn’t that bad.

James:  [5:27] Last week we played golf in…

Jim:  [5:29] Oh no. Never again.

James:  [5:31] New Braunfels.

Jim:  [5:31] Texas Gas Association.

James:  [5:32] It was 106 degrees, heat index…

Jim:  [5:35] 140. People were dropping.

Nick Pero:  [5:38] Being from Cleveland, anything over 75 is a heatwave. [laughs]

James:  [5:41] You’re a fair‑weather golfer.

Jim:  [5:42] This week is hot here. We’re in well over the 110s in the heat index here, but it’s OK. It’s great having you here.

James:  [5:51] Does everyone know, Nick? Did we even say? Did you even say anything?

Jim:  [5:54] Nick Pero, Artera, introduce yourself. Tell them what you do.

[5:56] [laughter]

Nick Pero:  [5:57] As little as…No. [laughs] Nick Pero with Artera Services. My title’s sustainability and innovation leader, so anything and all things to do with ESG, sustainability, innovation, and really work to support all of our operating companies.

James:  [6:13] I thought y’all were in marketing. Look at all this back here.

Nick Pero:  [6:16] [laughs]

James:  [6:17] It’s like somebody planned it.

Jim:  [6:19] Laura. I’m sorry…

Nick Pero:  [6:21] [laughs]

Jim:  [6:21] did I say that out loud?

James:  [6:22] We spent a lot of it time back there making that happen. I’m pretty proud of it, Nick.

Jim:  [6:26] It’s nice.

James:  [6:27] We are. We’re booth mates, just right around there, all the Artera.

Jim:  [6:32] Artera has a huge presence here. I’m seeing one, two, three, four, five, six different booths.

James:  [6:38] We like when we’re neighbors.

Jim:  [6:40] We have a fun time.

James:  [6:42] We have a good time. All right, Nick, good to see you.

Jim:  [6:47] We’re going to kick you out for a few minutes. We’re going to get you back on in a little…

James:  [6:55] We’ll bring you back on, do a real one.

Nick Pero:  [6:59] Sounds good. Looking forward to it. [laughs]

Jim:  [7:01] Another guest in a second.

James:  [7:03] We’ll be back.

James:  [7:04] I think we’re back.

Jim:  [7:06] Are we hot?

James:  [7:07] I like the cold open. I like a good cold open, where…

Jim:  [6:56] We’re in.

James:  [6:55] you just go.

Jim:  [6:55] Let’s go.

James:  [6:56] We’re back here with Gina Rundo.

Jim:  [6:58] GinaMarie.

James:  [6:58] I always leave it out.

Jim:  [7:02] I like the…

James:  [7:03] What do you want me to say?

GinaMarie Rundo:  [7:06] I could just go by G.

Jim:  [7:05] Can I ask a question? Are you a little raspy today?

GinaMarie:  [7:08] I am a little raspy.

Jim:  [7:10] Was that because you were talking so much to clients and prospects and people visiting the booth?

GinaMarie:  [7:15] That’s exactly right.

Jim:  [7:16] I’m telling you, one of the hardest working people I know in the industry. She goes 100…

James:  [7:21] 100 miles an hour, hardest person to get on your schedules.

Jim:  [7:22] Wait a minute. Before we get going in that, can you look that way for a little bit? Is that a TRACER…

James:  [7:28] Look…

GinaMarie:  [7:29] Oh, I see what he did there.

James:  [7:30] product placement.

James:  [7:33] I like it. Gina, we saw you not too long ago at EWNCON. Have you recovered?

GinaMarie:  [7:39] Great event. I recovered. Let me just say, guys, one of the best events I’ve attended.

Jim:  [7:46] Seriously?

GinaMarie:  [7:47] Seriously.

James:  [7:47] One of them, or the best?

GinaMarie:  [7:49] The best. There it is, the best. No, in honesty.

James:  [7:52] [inaudible] draws it out of them.

Jim:  [7:56] I am a little…what’s that?

James:  [7:57] Biased. [laughs]

Jim:  [7:58] No. We’ve been to great events in the industry and I know that seriously, EWNCON is up there in the top. I would say top three events that I have ever been to and mean that sincerely. I’ve been to some great events. Thank you for sharing that.

GinaMarie:  [8:13] I encourage anybody to attend if they haven’t. A lot of good people there, lots of good partnership opportunities.

Jim:  [8:21] Did you learn something?

GinaMarie:  [8:23] I did. I learned something and I got to meet more great people.

James:  [8:26] We were. We had some big conversations there, that’s what I like. There was a lot of innovative people there that wanted to talk and share ideas.

Jim:  [8:35] What’s that called? Brainstorm session.

James:  [8:38] Big word.

Jim:  [8:39] Boom, boom.

James:  [8:42] Gina, I just watched a video a little bit ago of this new campaign and you were in it.

GinaMarie:  [8:50] Oh, yeah?

Jim:  [8:51] Yes.

James:  [8:51] Are you an ambassador?

GinaMarie:  [8:53] I am an ambassador.

James:  [8:54] Let’s talk about it.

Jim:  [8:55] Can you give us the three words that are being…

GinaMarie:  [8:57] I sure can.

Jim:  [8:59] Because I know them.

GinaMarie:  [9:00] Believe, act, impact. You got it.

Jim:  [9:03] We got it.

James:  [9:04] We’re going to become so we’re workshopping an idea actively right now to where we become honorary ambassadors.

GinaMarie:  [9:12] I love it.

Jim:  [9:13] For Artera, which is really supportive…

James:  [9:14] Because I see it as an industry.

Jim:  [9:15] We want to support the industry.

James:  [9:17] Put that in Laura’s ear. Laura.

Jim:  [9:19] Laura Moral.

James:  [9:20] Make it happen. You’re on board?

GinaMarie:  [9:22] I’m on board. Let’s do it.

James:  [9:24] How is SGA going?

GinaMarie:  [9:24] SGA is really good.

James:  [9:26] A cool event last night?

GinaMarie:  [9:27] Yeah, very good event. We got to go on the Budweiser tour and see the Clydesdale.

James:  [9:34] I made out with Clydesdale.

Jim:  [9:37] It was a little uncomfortable when the…

James:  [9:40] Did it got in?

Jim:  [9:41] It was cursing him.

James:  [9:44] I got it on camera.

Jim:  [9:45] I saw. Trust me.

GinaMarie:  [9:46] No, was a neat event.

Jim:  [9:48] It was a wonderful event.

James:  [9:48] That’s cool.

Jim:  [9:49] I loved it.

James:  [9:50] You know what I thought as I walked through there? Think of the brick layer that landed that job.

Jim:  [9:55] Oh, my gosh.

James:  [9:56] Holy cow.

Jim:  [9:57] A lot of those buildings were 1891. Again, 1891.

James:  [10:02] They went forever, like that clock tower and stuff. Very cool tour.

GinaMarie:  [10:07] The best thing, we survived the heat.

James:  [10:09] Oh, you know what the best part of the tour was, when they took us in the cold room.

Jim:  [10:14] Oh yeah, 50 degrees.

James:  [10:15] You walked that whole time and you’re like, “Oh, man. I don’t know about this tour.” Then you walked in that room, you’re like, “I think I can be here.”

Jim:  [10:23] It was great.

James:  [10:24] Hey, we are glad you are here.

GinaMarie:  [10:26] Always fun, guys.

James:  [10:27] It’s always good, always represent…

Jim:  [10:28] Our great friend Gina, Keith, everybody at Versiv.

James:  [10:31] We’re booth neighbors.

GinaMarie:  [10:33] Love being neighbors.

James:  [10:34] It’s always better with friends.

GinaMarie:  [10:35] Yep.

James:  [10:35] All right, we’ll be back.

Jim:  [10:36] Thanks.

GinaMarie:  [10:36] Thanks, guys.

Jim:  [10:38] We have a friend of mine. I have seen Andy throughout the industry. The interesting thing about Andy is every time I see him and I want to talk to him, he’s on the phone or on his computer, on his phone, on his computer.

Andy Lawton:  [10:49] You got to look busy, at least so people think you’re working.

Jim:  [10:53] Oh, wait a minute. Maybe he was avoiding me.

Andy:  [10:54] [laughs]

Jim:  [10:54] Andy Lawton, please introduce yourself to the audience. Tell them what you do, who you’re with.

Andy:  [10:59] Hi, folks. I’m Andy Lawton with Pond & Company. I’m the director of our Natural Gas Engineering group there. We service a lot of the same clients that you guys work with across the industry. We really enjoy working with them, providing them services, and building relationships. That’s what we’re here for, right?

Jim:  [11:13] Absolutely.

James:  [11:14] Man, you have a voice for radio.

Andy:  [11:15] A face for radio, that’s what most people say.

James:  [11:17] No, I’m telling you.

Andy:  [11:18] [laughs]

Jim:  [11:18] He’s got that voice right now…

James:  [11:20] You have that VO voice. That voiceover voice.

Jim:  [11:23] Andy Lawton, PE.

James:  [11:24] You ought to look into that. We’re booth neighbors.

Andy:  [11:25] We are booth neighbors.

Jim:  [11:26] This isn’t the first time.

James:  [11:28] No. Where were we, AGA?

Andy:  [11:31] I think it was AGA in Orlando last year.

James:  [11:33] I do, too.

Andy:  [11:34] We were pretty close to you guys.

Jim:  [11:34] Weren’t we also right around the corner in Columbia?

James:  [11:36] That’s when we met Pond…

James:  [11:37] Oh yeah. We were, too.

Andy:  [11:39] I think we were.

James:  [11:40] Was it you?

Andy:  [11:40] I don’t think I was there in Columbia.

Jim:  [11:41] You weren’t in Columbia.

Jim:  [11:42] We saw each other at AGA, though, in New Orleans.

Andy:  [11:44] Probably someone who was much better looking than me was at that one.

Jim:  [11:47] He’s self‑deprecating. That’s why I love you.

James:  [11:49] Love that.

James:  [11:50] You’d do well on a podcast.

Andy:  [11:52] [laughs]

James:  [11:51] We’re good at that. It’s cool. How’s the event been?

Andy:  [11:55] It’s been good, I’ve had a lot of good connections making here so far. Getting back in front of folks, getting some of the classes, getting some good sessions there.

James:  [12:05] Some good sessions yeah. Great ones on LNG. The panel today.

Jim:  [12:09] Oh, epic.

Andy:  [12:10] Yeah I heard there was some really smart folks talking about that.

James:  [12:12] It was one of the best

Jim:  [12:14] It was the best one I attended, it’s the best panel I was on all day.

James:  [12:17] It was, it was. Did you go the Anheuser‑Busch thing last night?

Andy:  [12:24] I did not make it to the Anheuser‑Busch thing last night, unfortunately.

James:  [12:26] Missed opportunity there.

Andy:  [12:27] Were you guys there? It was a great time?

Jim:  [12:28] We were. It was really fun. The funnest part for me, not just the socializing and the networking, but we went on a tour. A lot of this was built in the 1800s, 1891.

Andy:  [12:38] It’s old. I’ve been to that facility before, it’s pretty cool.

Jim:  [12:41] Ah it’s amazing dude it’s like a movie set. You could really do a movie there.

James:  [12:45] I don’t know but there were a few pipelines there that I could get behind.

Jim:  [12:48] Oh, I see what you did there.

Andy:  [12:52] So one of the tours they let you do a special VIP tour there if you pay a little extra and they’ll take you into the vat and they’ll actually open the valve that the beer comes out of and you can literally stick your head in under there and just like.. it’s crazy. That is a transformative experience there.

Jim:  [13:06] We would probably lose James I’d have to come

James:  [13:09] On the next episode.

Andy:  [13:11] That’s the on‑location shot there I think.

James:  [13:12] Second day will not be recorded I’ll tell you that.

Jim:  [13:16] That’s why we do these conferences for the comradery for the networking for the learning for all those things but also to get experiences in the cities that we visit.

James:  [13:24] Everywhere I go I try to find something like that and that was a blast last night. I took a selfie with a Clydesdale. I couldn’t do that on a normal Tuesday. Was it Monday?

Andy:  [13:36] Those horses are living better than we do. Let’s just acknowledge that.

James:  [13:39] They were amazing. That one was awesome.

Jim:  [13:41] It was kissing your cheeks…

James:  [13:42] I want to go back.

Jim:  [13:43] Oh geez. You’re gonna go on a date with a Clydesdale.

James:  [13:45] Andy, thanks for stopping by man.

Andy:  [13:49] Thank you, guys. Appreciate you having me on the show.

James:  [13:50] We’ll keep it down over here.

Andy:  [13:52] Its OK, you guys do what you got to do because they come see you guys then they come see us.

Jim:  [13:54] Oh, I see what they do there.

James:  [13:57] You’re a smart man. We’ll be right back.

Andy:  [13:58] Thanks, guys.

Jim:  [14:00] We’re coming in again. Are we live? Are we ready to go?

James:  [14:04] I think so. We got Birmingham in the building.

Tyler Bruce:  [14:07] Birmingham.

Jim:  [14:09] I said, “Listen, Miller Pipeline, my buddy Kevin Miller,” I said, “Let’s get Kevin on.” Everybody said, “Kevin’s not here,” and they went down the list. They volunteered Tyler. No.

Jim:  [14:18] Tyler, you are a trooper, brother.

James:  [14:17] I said, “Tyler, come get on.”

Jim:  [14:18] Come on.

James:  [14:19] He goes, “I don’t want to do this.”

Jim:  [14:25] He did say that.

Tyler:  [14:27] [laughs]

Jim:  [14:27] You’re going to do great.

James:  [14:24] I did a quick run‑through. He’s good. Tyler, introduce yourself. Let everybody know…

Tyler:  [14:32] I’m Tyler Bruce. I’m with Miller Pipeline. I’m over the Hydrovac fleet in the south. I manage them.

Jim:  [14:40] Ooh, that’s highfalutin, brother. Keep going.

Tyler:  [14:45] I manage them, also do training, make sure service is done on them, and pretty much look over them, make sure we’re more efficient with them, and doing things safely.

Jim:  [14:58] What would be an application for that? When does somebody call you in? What do they have going on?

Tyler:  [15:04] If a guy has a problem with a vac, he’s going to call me.

James:  [15:06] Oh gosh.

Tyler:  [15:08] At that point, we go through steps to try to isolate the issue. If we can’t do that, then we’ll jump into calling somebody with a little bit more knowledge on the issues.

[15:19] First off, they call me. Then, at that point, I make the decision if we need to bring somebody else in.

Jim:  [15:28] I like it. I like it.

James:  [15:30] Me too, man.

Jim:  [15:31] Go ahead.

James:  [15:31] We were at the Anheuser‑Busch thing. What I was telling Tyler was when I go places, sometimes people come up to me and they say, “Hey, I got my OQs done.”

[15:46] [laughter]

James:  [15:48] Didn’t you say something to me, right?

Tyler:  [15:50] I did, yeah.

James:  [15:51] I just did my training last week.

Jim:  [15:52] That was you that did that…

James:  [15:54] No. He just said that to me and like, “Oh, I know Energy Worldnet. I did my training last week.” Sometimes people come up to me in the show. I’m almost just like, “I have a bit about it, right?” They come up, and they go, “Hey, I got my OQs done.” I’m no longer just checking a manual report.

James:  [16:17] I would laugh, and I go, “Good. Good, we were checking.” All right? Anyway, we had a laugh about that.

Tyler:  [16:24] Yeah, that was pretty good. I agree.

James:  [16:26] Well, how’s the SGA? You’ve been traveling a little bit this year? Is this thing coming out?

James:  [16:29] coming back out.

Tyler:  [16:30] This is the first one coming out since COVID.

Jim:  [16:32] It is. This is your first one coming out?

Tyler:  [16:36] Yes.

Jim:  [16:36] OK.

Tyler:  [16:36] Yes, since COVID. When they told me, “Hey, you’re going to go?” I was like, Heck yes. I have been ready for this.”

Jim:  [16:44] Good for you.

Tyler:  [16:44] Yeah.

Jim:  [16:45] It’s so weird, isn’t it? We’re going from the virtual to actually being in person.

Tyler:  [16:49] It is. It is.

James:  [16:50] Have you met anybody within the greater Artera company at the show that you’ve only met in a little box?

Tyler:  [16:57] Oh, yeah, definitely.

James:  [16:59] Awesome.

Tyler:  [16:59] That was neat getting to see them and a lot of people you don’t see all the time. Getting to see all those guys and meeting new people, it’s what I like doing. I like talking to people. I like connecting with them. You learn stuff everywhere you go.

Jim:  [17:14] We were given Tyler a hard day. You could tell he’s a very outgoing…He’s like me. Things just bounce off. He’s really easygoing. You’re a great guy to know. I mean, proud to call you our friends.

Tyler:  [17:26] I appreciate it.

James:  [17:26] Tyler, it’s nice to meet you, brother. Have a good…

Tyler:  [17:28] Nice to meet you.

James:  [17:29] Look, you did it, man. It’s that easy.

Jim:  [17:31] That was easy peasy. It’s like we were just talking.

James:  [17:35] He’s like, “Is it over already?” That’s what everybody says.

Jim:  [17:39] Check them out.

James:  [17:40] All right, we’ll be back.

Tyler:  [17:42] Appreciate it.

Jim:  [17:43] James, once again, our new…more friends.

James:  [17:42] Everything.

Jim:  [17:43] I didn’t realize it, but they’re under the Artera umbrella.

James:  [17:46] Who isn’t these days? We? Did something happen? I don’t know what’s happening.

Jim:  [17:51] Joel.

James:  [17:52] Joel, welcome to the show. Do you want to introduce yourself?

Joel Fincher:  [17:55] My name is Joel Fincher. I’m the director of Business Development with the utility industry, with HydroExcavators, LLC.

James:  [18:01] Did you hear that voice?

Jim:  [18:03] That voice sounded like he was on AM radio Saturday…

Jim:  [18:07] nights…

James:  [18:08] Holy cow.

Jim:  [18:09] spinning the vinyl. I love it.

James:  [18:11] You should do voiceover.

James:  [18:11] This is the second one in a row. Who else was that that was talking earlier?

Jim:  [18:17] Andy.

James:  [18:17] That was perfect.

Jim:  [18:18] Andy had that voice, too.

James:  [18:19] What do y’all do for a living? Oh yeah. Sorry.

James:  [18:21] That’s right.

Jim:  [18:22] Tell us about your business.

James:  [18:24] Yes, sir.

Jim:  [18:24] How do you positively impact our industry?

Joel:  [18:27] All righty. HydroExcavators, LLC, provides hydro‑excavating services across the southeast, and we do have a northern branch as well.

[18:34] We do a lot of work in the power industry, the gas industry, in the power industry doing a lot of…Once they have a line strike or something like that, we can go in, open up the dirt, show you the strike, preventing any kind of further damage.

Jim:  [18:51] You carefully go in, remove everything so it’s there to be seen. Then they can assess the situation, fix it, and then go back.

Joel:  [18:59] Absolutely. Basically, what we do is loosen up the dirt with a high‑pressure water system, like a pressure washer. Then we’ve got vacuum systems on our trucks that sucks the dirt up in the back of our truck. You pull up on the side, you tell these look like spaghetti, that’s where you can call us.

James:  [19:15] You’re saying I could do this with a pressure washer and a shop vac?

Joel:  [19:19] Kind of sort of.

James:  [19:20] It’d just take a while?

Joel:  [19:21] That’s probably what they started off with.

Jim:  [19:22] What is the pressure on that vac? These are big vehicles.

Joel:  [19:28] They are.

Jim:  [19:28] They have large tanks on them…

Joel:  [19:29] They are.

Jim:  [19:30] And a big hose that comes down. I’m just helping the audience realize. They’ve probably seen these out there. They have no idea what they do. What the pressure on those?

Joel:  [19:37] We’ve got a variable water pressure on the water. We can roughly go from 500 psi…

James:  [19:42] Whatever you need, right?

Joel:  [19:43] To about 3000 psi. Depending on the utility…

James:  [19:45] Type of soil.

Joel:  [19:46] The situation, just to make sure we don’t damage anything, including tree roots, if that’s what it needs to be. Then the vacuum systems on our truck are rated for about 6000 cfm. As far as the air space, moving 6,000 cubic feet per minute, roughly about a 300‑mile‑an‑hour wind speed on an eight‑inch hose.

James:  [20:05] Whoa.

Jim:  [20:06] Did you hear that? I’m being very serious right now.

James:  [20:11] That’s intense.

Jim:  [20:10] When you start to talk about 500 to 3000 psi on water, that is serious stuff.

Joel:  [20:17] It makes a big difference.

Jim:  [20:18] Is there an OQ or a certification on that? I’m being serious about that.

Joel:  [20:21] In the gas industry, we do have all of our operators, the OQ…

Joel:  [20:25] force, all the required…

Jim:  [20:27] Are you trained on that operation?

James:  [20:29] It’s more training and certification on that product, yeah?

Joel:  [20:31] We have a pretty intense training program. On the onboarding process, we basically pull everybody in, do 40 hours of Internet training, introducing them to the trucks, doing a lot of the OSHA 10s ‑ first aid, CPR, and things of that nature. Then we started a 90‑day‑minimum intense training program.

James:  [20:53] Hands‑on?

Joel:  [20:55] Absolutely. Introduce the new hires into every component of the truck. Get them feeling not only competent but confident. That way when we turn them loose they’re able to…

Jim:  [21:05] By the way, I want to use that again ‑ confident and competent.

James:  [21:08] Love that.

Jim:  [21:10] Because that’s serious. That’s dangerous stuff. If you don’t know what you’re doing, that could be…

Joel:  [21:14] That’s right. The operator, when they get on that job, they are in charge of that job. They’ve got stop‑work authority. Everything they need to be able to do, it’s their job.

Jim:  [21:24] I like that.

James:  [21:25] Very cool. Joel, it’s been nice to meet you.

Joel:  [21:27] Absolutely, it’s been nice to meet you. I hope you have a good show, man.

James:  [21:29] Thanks for stopping.

Jim:  [21:30] Thanks for coming on. Any time, man. You can come on and read the phone book. Is there phone books anymore?

Joel:  [21:41] [laughs]

James:  [21:38] I don’t know if there’s phone books. But shoutout to Shawn, your president. He and I became buddies today. We’ll see him in a little bit too.

Joel:  [21:44] Thank you, guys, for having me on.

James:  [21:45] Thanks, brother.

Jim:  [21:46] Appreciate it.

James:  [21:47] You bet. We’ll be right back.

James:  [21:46] We had fun today as a group.

Jim:  [21:49] It was a…Oh, Cindy [inaudible] is walking by.

James:  [21:52] Cindy is walking by. We are live from SGA Natural Gas connect.

Mary Savalle:  [21:57] Oh, we’re live.

James:  [21:58] We are. We cut. We do a cold open. We just go in.

Jim:  [22:02] We change it up a little bit.

Mary:  [22:04] That’s fine.

James:  [22:04] You can talk through it. You can point people out when they walk by. You can do whatever you want.

Mary:  [22:08] I feel like I got this.

James:  [22:09] There’s no rules. [laughs] You’ll do fine. We had a blast with Mary this morning in the L&G room track.

Jim:  [22:17] Track. About three sessions. We did 8:00 to 11:30.

James:  [22:22] They even let me join.

Jim:  [22:24] Mary was our keeper, master of…

James:  [22:29] Wrangler?

Jim:  [22:30] Yeah.

Mary:  [22:30] OK, that works.

Jim:  [22:31] Mary, please introduce yourself.

Mary:  [22:34] I’m Mary Savalle. I am the senior manager of committee engagement with the SGA.

[22:42] Did he just choke?

Jim:  [22:43] You OK?

James:  [22:44] I choked on my water. I’m back.

Mary:  [22:50] I just thought you were making fun of me.

Jim:  [22:52] You, all right?

James:  [22:53] I didn’t want to cough on a microphone.

Jim:  [22:56] You scared me!

James:  [22:56] I choked on my water.

Jim:  [22:57] I almost had to give him the Heimlich!

James:  [22:59] Goodness gracious.

Mary:  [23:00] I was like, wow. It was that bad, huh? [laughs]

James:  [23:03] I got choked up just thinking about it.

Jim:  [23:05] Jesus. That’s emotional. You want to [inaudible] .

James:  [23:07] Sorry. We are live. Do you all want to start over?

Mary:  [23:09] I’ve been supporting your group for, what, the last two months now?

Jim:  [23:12] Yes. The LNG group, yeah.

James:  [23:15] What I was going to say was…

Jim:  [23:16] Please.

James:  [23:17] I felt like an honorary member today.

Jim:  [23:19] You were.

Mary:  [23:19] You were.

Jim:  [23:20] You are.

Mary:  [23:21] You were on stage as part of the team.

Jim:  [23:24] OK, let me break this out. I’m on the LNG committee. Mary is our SGA sponsor or person that kind of wrangles us.

Mary:  [23:32] Right.

Jim:  [23:33] I was going to be the moderator for a panel. Everybody dropped off, so I volunteered James. James joined and fit in like a glove. He’s an honorary member.

Mary:  [23:43] I have to tell you, he came with no cards, and he was totally prepared.

James:  [23:49] I’m, like, professional at this. Look, I mean, it was kind of funny because somebody said…I told them what I was doing. They said, “Do you know anything about LNG?” Listen, we do this show. We’ve had tons of…I’m not an idiot.

Jim:  [24:05] No.

James:  [24:07] What was funny was I said, “No, but wouldn’t you want that person that’s a moderator to ask a whole bunch of questions?” They were like…

Jim:  [24:17] He was asking legitimate questions.

James:  [24:17] Legit? OK. I just wasn’t myself.

Jim:  [24:22] It was beautiful.

Mary:  [24:23] Something pretty cool that happened, I took pictures this morning. I posted it on LinkedIn. There was somebody that responded that said, “Oh, the LNG group. I would love to be a part of that.”

James:  [24:34] That’s what we do for a living…

Jim:  [24:37] That’s success.

James:  [24:38] to make opportunities like that happen.

Mary:  [24:40] I let her know that I would send her all the information and then…

James:  [24:42] Please tell the world.

Jim:  [24:43] That’s why we do this.

Mary:  [24:45] to get it on board.

Jim:  [24:45] That’s how we use social media to get the word out and to get those people to join us.

James:  [24:49] Mary, we tell people all the time that instead of bellyaching and be in the peanut gallery that…

Jim:  [24:56] Take a seat.

James:  [24:56] there are plenty of seats at the table if you would like to join in and make a, in effect, change in this industry. That’s good to hear. That makes me feel really good.

Jim:  [25:06] That’s your word. That’s your word.

Mary:  [25:08] Honestly, sometimes people don’t even know that exists.

James:  [25:11] I never knew.

Mary:  [25:12] I didn’t either. I think that there’s plenty of opportunity, but how cool with this one being so new and…

James:  [25:20] Yeah, it’s cool.

Mary:  [25:21] being, I guess, not so new since I learned this morning.

James:  [25:23] You’re doing it right. Ma’am, very cool.

Mary:  [25:27] Yes. Thank you, guys. I appreciate it.

James:  [25:29] It’s been a cool event.

Jim:  [25:28] You’re the best.

James:  [25:29] Nice to meet you.

Mary:  [25:30] Nice to meet you.

James:  [25:32] We’ll be back.

James:  [25:35] Back at you.

Jim:  [25:37] I had the privilege of having lunch with the…

James:  [25:41] The Jon Smith.

Jim:  [25:42] Jon Smith.

James:  [25:43] The fakest name in the business.

Jon Smith:  [25:45] Fakest, yes.

Jim:  [25:46] You think about it…

James:  [25:48] They could add an H in there, be…

Jon:  [25:49] Hey, no. You had to do something to make it unique. I grabbed my parents with that.

James:  [25:52] I try to make sure John…

Jon:  [25:53] It’s not Jonathan. It’s Jon.

James:  [25:55] Really?

Jim:  [25:55] That’s it.

Jon:  [25:56] That’s it.

James:  [25:56] We got Israel’s name?

Jon:  [25:58] Yeah. Exactly.

James:  [25:59] You a real person.

Jon:  [26:00] There’s always a story behind the story, guys.

James:  [25:56] It is.

Jim:  [26:03] Can I tell the story about how we first met without the apropos?

Jon:  [26:06] Yeah.

Jim:  [26:07] In a year and a half ago, whenever it was, we were shooting to get you on Coffee with Jim & James when you were CEO of Hydromax, USA, and all of a sudden we couldn’t get through to Jon, but we had his handlers.

James:  [26:22] All the handlers.

Jim:  [26:23] We had four vice presidents, a cheap cultural office. We had this and they were interviewing us days, days, days. They finally said, “We think you’re going to be OK. We’ll let him do it.” He comes on.

[26:35] Next thing you know, we all become best friends. We’re hanging out now. Now, we’re texting each other, whatever. That’s a great thing. Jon Smith, welcome to the show. Once again, you are our big guest.

Jon:  [26:45] Thank you. That’s all stuff I didn’t know it was going in the back. After that, I was like, “Just access. We’d have access.”

James:  [26:52] Just have access.

Jim:  [26:52] He green‑lighted us.

Jon:  [26:54] Green light definitely.

James:  [26:55] Best friends for sure.

Jon:  [26:57] Exactly. That’s what’s this industry is about.

Jim:  [27:04] It is. It absolutely is.

Jon:  [27:04] It’s about relationships. That’s how we as an industry get things done. What’s great is I’ve seen at this show at SGA, this year, a big discussion, and James you’ll definitely appreciate this in your role about diversity, inclusion.

[27:20] You look at the diverse nature of this show, you’ll get a diverse nature of what this industry is becoming. That is really positive for the future. That is really strength for the future of this industry.

James:  [27:30] It is. That’s why you’re right.

[27:31] [PA announcement]

Jon:  [27:33] That’s the corridor tournament.

James:  [27:34] You’re right. I figured we have good outdoor mic.

Jim:  [27:37] We got great mics.

James:  [27:38] Hopefully, it works.

Jim:  [27:40] We’ll find out.

James:  [27:41] This was the test of it. Why we got new microphones was this very reason.

Jon:  [27:44] There you go.

James:  [27:45] Where were we?

Jim:  [27:47] We were going to ask Jon about, here’s a couple of things cooking in like ready irons in the fire.

James:  [27:52] Irons in the fire.

Jon:  [27:53] Irons in the fire.

Jim:  [27:54] Bring us up to speed on what we got going on.

Jon:  [27:56] I’m going to bring you up to speed. It’s going to be a little bit centered around what I’m doing as my company now, but it’s really about what the industry’s doing.

[28:03] That’s the great thing about being able to step…Some people call it stepping back but stepping forward…

James:  [28:08] Slowing down a little bit.

Jon:  [28:08] you’re on your own. Slowing down a little bit but also being able to focus on what really, I think, matters in this industry today, safety, innovation, technology, strategy, M&A, those types of things that really have come out.

[28:23] One of the great things I’ve got going on right now, I’ve got a great client that’s a supplier up in Canada. They’re a potential supplier. They’ve been working with GTI for years. They’ve got a great new product.

[28:35] I’m just going to bring this up. It’s called Lorax Systems. I bring them up not as a plug but I’m bringing them up as an example. One of the things, and I’ve had some discussions with the supply chain committee here especially, is that we don’t know what we don’t know.

[28:50] For instance, if I told you right now there is a valve you could put on a meter set before the regulator that would communicate via cellular that you have an over‑pressure situation or an overflow situation and shut it and then tell you it shut it…By the way, you could integrate methane, water detection, fire detection, all these different things into that knowledge…

Jim:  [29:17] To shut it off.

Jon:  [29:18] to shut it off automatically.

Jim:  [29:19] Merrimack Valley…

James:  [29:20] Got it.

Jim:  [29:21] Over pressurization, right there, solution.

Jon:  [29:24] If I told you this technology’s existed for four years in our industry but we’re still looking to do early adoption, that’s one of the fun things for me. This type of technology…By the way, if there’s anybody out there who’s interested in this type of technology coming in…

James:  [29:41] We know a guy.

Jon:  [29:41] to address high‑risk situations, get ahold of me. This is saving lives. This is changing the safety parameters of our industry.

[29:52] It really is a dynamic that if you look at it, people should get excited about. Think about it. You’re just putting a valve in a meter set. That kind of stuff that I can do now really gets me excited to bring to the industry.

James:  [30:06] Today we have talked about AI. We’ve talked about machine vision. There’s more technology than there is LNG, my friend.

Jim:  [30:19] There is.

Jon:  [30:19] We talked about it all day.

James:  [30:22] I’m more at home here than you are today.

Jim:  [30:25] Whoa, he is.

James:  [30:27] You know what I mean?

Jon:  [30:28] Here’s the great thing about that, too.

James:  [30:31] I love it.

Jon:  [30:32] Those are not single and separate conversations. Even with what I’m talking about with a safety device, you could bring in AI risk modeling to identify where you start installing something like this, where you’ve got aging infrastructure, or something like that, where you’ve got a high risk.

[30:47] Then you’ve got a starting point. It’s not overwhelming. All of these technologies together can play to really make this industry a lot safer, a lot more methane compliant, and can really bring us forward when we start talking about things.

Jim:  [31:04] That’s a key right there. We’re hitting multiple, I don’t want to say pain points, but triggers or whatever, and these are all hot topics right now.

[31:12] I have to go back to that valve you’re talking about, that technology. I want that on my house. A lot of times I gauge stuff…

James:  [31:20] I want that on my wallet.

Jon:  [31:22] To be able to slap shut? [laughs]

Jim:  [31:26] Like that? [slap]

Jon:  [31:29] That’s a great analogy there.

James:  [31:30] We’ll talk about it. We’ll workshop it.

Jon:  [31:32] Think about it. The electrical infrastructure has circuit breakers, and I’ve said this for years. In gas, we don’t have a circuit breaker in our system. If something goes wrong, there’s nothing that’s going to trip.

James:  [31:43] No doubt.

Jon:  [31:43] You’ve got to have somebody manually go out and do it. This is one of the things I’ve done. The other thing I’m getting excited about that I’m talking to a couple of gas…

James:  [31:52] We could call this.

Jon:  [31:54] Yeah, I know.

Jon:  [31:54] You guys bring that out. The other thing is ESG.

Jim:  [31:59] Oh, we’ve talked about that twice so far.

James:  [32:02] 100 percent.

Jon:  [32:00] We’ve heard about that a bunch of…

Jon:  [32:02] Times today.

James:  [32:02] We’re pros now.

Jon:  [32:03] I’ve sat in a great discussion here at SGA on supplier diversity and all. I’m telling you right now, one of the things that I’m able to do is go in, I’m talking to a couple of gas distribution companies right now, helping them to establish their ESG programs. What does it mean?

James:  [32:17] At the end, it’s unconsciously incompetent. They don’t know where to start.

Jon:  [32:22] We don’t know what we don’t know, so coming in and be able to structure a program, structure the implementation, and then give them a scorecard so that now they can go measure themselves…

James:  [32:32] That’s cool.

Jon:  [32:32] Again, just trying to move the industry forward. It’s a great industry. I get excited about it.

Jim:  [32:38] You do. Jon bleeds excitement and enthusiasm, doesn’t he? Have you ever known him not to be enthused about something?

James:  [32:46] No.

Jon:  [32:47] Hey, it’s passion. It’s just passion.

Jim:  [32:49] You know what? It’s passion and purpose.

Jim:  [32:50] That’s a wonderful thing. When you have those, there’s no stopping you.

James:  [32:56] I want to tell a quick story. Nobody knows I’m going to do this, so bear with me. I’ll probably forget by the end. That’s what COVID did for me.

James:  [33:04] I don’t know what your symptom is. See, I did it.

Jim:  [33:08] Did you forget?

James:  [33:09] No, I’m just kidding.

Jim:  [33:11] Jesus.

James:  [33:10] When we got here, he freaked out a little bit. When we got here ‑‑ we talk about it in the open ‑‑ we had a little bit of shipping issues. It happens.

Jon:  [33:21] It happens.

James:  [33:21] There was a little bit of chaos at our booth because we had to build everything in about an hour and a half. Jon showed up, just as he is today, dressed to the nines, custom shirt.

Jim:  [33:33] What did he do?

James:  [33:34] He said, “Guys, guys…”

James:  [33:36] here, let me get into that.”

Jon:  [33:38] I gained a couple.

Jon:  [33:38] It may not stay up. It may fall down.

James:  [33:41] We did have to redo it, but it says a lot. It says a lot about you. It says a lot about our industry, but it’s that same kind of thing. We see somewhere where we can step in. Like what you were just saying.

Jon:  [33:57] Lending a hand.

James:  [33:58] Somewhere we can step in, somewhere where we can help, and we roll up our sleeves and we did it.

Jim:  [34:03] Why do we do that? Because it feels good to give, like you gave to us, and it comes around.

Jon:  [34:07] It does.

Jim:  [34:08] We paid. I love that.

Jon:  [34:08] You pay it, right? I’m a member of a couple of groups. One of them is actually called, Pay it Forward where I live in Omaha. We’re a group of executives in the Omaha area. We meet monthly, and we’ve got an online database where we get people who are vetted by us, who are looking for jobs but leave for positions executive types.

[34:29] We’ve even done managers. Then we also have a database of companies that we vet and we know that are looking for people. We try and marry those two together during the month and try to provide opportunities for people, so they’re not…So it’s just a little bit of pay it forward.

James:  [34:45] Yeah, that’s very cool.

Jon:  [34:47] Hey, but I’ve got to tell one story. You got to tell a story. I get to tell one story.

Jon:  [34:51] This goes back to your Be Brave.

Jim:  [34:54] Oh yeah, the question we asked you…

Jon:  [34:56] At DWN?

Jim:  [34:57] Yeah.

Jon:  [34:57] Again, the top‑notch, top‑notch gathering of professionals. Here’s the thing. I was sitting with someone who I really respect, a leadership coach. She was going to teach a class on executive presence. One of the things she asked us was about executive presence.

[35:18] The example I used was the answer I gave to you on Be Brave. I said, “Hey, it’s about people having the courage to expand their boundaries.” We talk about busting through boundaries. I consider that kind of walking off a cliff because people still need some familiarity.

James:  [35:32] Don’t be reckless.

Jon:  [35:34] You expand those boundaries into the uncomfortable. She was going to use that in this leadership session because that answer, but I still think of that “Be Brave” model you guys have.

Jim:  [35:45] That’s good. I’m glad that hit home still.

Jon:  [35:48] It really did.

James:  [35:48] That’s cool.

Jim:  [35:49] That’s fantastic.

James:  [35:50] Jon, we hope you have a good show, man. It’s always a pleasure.

Jon:  [35:52] It’s always a pleasure on you and these other speaker.

James:  [35:56] We’ll have to have you back on soon. We keep saying it, but we’re getting booked.

Jim:  [35:58] Pretty soon Coffee with Jim & James & Jon.

Jon:  [36:00] What? You’re going to have me as a guest host. You guys are going on vacation on the beach.

James:  [36:05] We actually talked about that. That’s great idea.

Jim:  [36:08] No, it is a great idea.

James:  [36:10] We’ll tag out, man.

Jon:  [36:12] That’s good.

James:  [36:13] You can tag out too.

Jon:  [36:15] I feel better.

James:  [36:17] We’ll be right back.

James:  [36:19] Now we do cold opens. We’re technically already doing that.

Nick Temple:  [36:22] We’re rocking right now.

James:  [36:23] We’re going on.

Jim:  [36:24] This is going right into it. Nick Phoenix from Temple. Reverse set. I did that on purpose. It took me a while to come up with that.

[36:34] [crosstalk]

James:  [36:32] He’s been working on that since the last time we saw you.

Jim:  [36:35] [laughs] I have. Our good friend, Nick Temple, who lives in the Phoenix area. An ex‑Minnesotan. He loves his time in Minnesota.

Nick Temple:  [36:45] True. Happy.

James:  [36:46] Minnesota.

Nick Temple:  [36:47] Yeah. Anyways…

James:  [36:49] Are you fully recovered from Minnesota? That’s the real question.

Nick Temple:  [36:52] No.

Jim:  [36:53] No. You never do.

James:  [36:54] Still digging out. Still shoveling snow to get to where I need to be.

Nick Temple:  [37:00] Yeah, but I’m happy to be here.

James:  [37:02] We just had you on the show. This will air before that show, but we just recorded for a special… I know you.

James:  [37:10] Ashley just walked up with a big old cooler. Get back there and show him.

Jim:  [37:15] How’d you win that? Come on. How’d you win this?

James:  [37:17] From HydroX.

Nick Temple:  [37:17] Wow. That is awesome.

Jim:  [37:19] [clapping] Congratulations.

Nick Temple:  [37:19] Way to go.

James:  [37:21] HydroX remains hooking it up.

Jim:  [37:22] That’s awesome. She’s ecstatic.

Nick Temple:  [37:24] Conferences are awesome, and they’re fun.

James:  [37:25] They are. Could you have done this? Last week, were you doing this?

Jim:  [37:31] No. I mean, we were. We were in TGA.

James:  [37:34] My bad. No, but you know what I mean? Like, even the bad days are good days here, because you’ll never see 600 people in a day.

Jim:  [37:43] Can I tell you one thing? Even if you’re in a little bit of not in a great mood, you come on the exhibit, all you saw, just walk around and start talking to friends, it gets you in a good mood.

Nick Temple:  [37:53] No doubt about it, man.

James:  [37:54] It gets somebody a big bear hug or they try to bear hugs you. [laughs] Whichever it is.

Nick Temple:  [38:00] Yeah, man. I love it.

James:  [38:02] It’s worth it. It’s worth showing us.

Nick Temple:  [38:02] You see a lot of people that you haven’t seen, especially after COVID. There’s people that this is the first show that I’ve seen some folks.

Jim:  [38:11] This is because a lot of people seen enough with that Omicron, the last one, and missed the SGA in Colombia. This is a big coming‑out already for a lot of folks, getting back out to it. So much is wonderful. Anything big going on for Rhino these days we need to know about?

Nick Temple:  [38:30] We just have such a diverse product offering now with our new Trident Solutions umbrella. It’s been fun.

Jim:  [38:38] Do we still have for US Rhino?

Nick Temple:  [38:39] Yes. Still Rhino. Trident is our new parent name. Trident Solutions.

James:  [38:44] Got it. We’re cleaning it up today. We’re cleaning a lot of things out today.

Nick Temple:  [38:49] Because I get asked this a lot.

Jim:  [38:50] Here we go.

James:  [38:51] Sorry. I left you hanging.

Jim:  [38:51] That’s right. I’m used to it.

James:  [38:54] It’s our first time.

Nick Temple:  [38:55] We get asked a lot, “You guys still Rhino?” Yes, we’re still Rhino. We’re just now part of a larger organization. Because of that, we have more products to offer our customers, so it’s good.

Jim:  [39:09] That’s a good thing.

James:  [39:09] It’s a great thing, man.

Nick Temple:  [39:11] For sure. It’s awesome.

James:  [39:12] I only know because they like my stuff on Instagram. Let’s lean into that on how you’re an influencer now. [laughs] This dude is a big deal.

Jim:  [39:23] I know.

James:  [39:24] He’ll blame it on Spencer every time.

Nick Temple:  [39:26] I will.

James:  [39:27] He give him all the credit and [inaudible] .

Nick Temple:  [39:28] I will.

Jim:  [39:28] This is the real stuff though. This is the real McCoy with the influence.

James:  [39:37] Looking forward, did you catch any sessions today?

Nick Temple:  [39:40] I did not catch any sessions today.

James:  [39:42] No judgment. Had to work?

Nick Temple:  [39:45] [laughs] Yeah. I was on about 3,000 emails today because I didn’t catch it very many emails yesterday. That’s what I was doing today.

Jim:  [39:55] That’s perfect though. That’s OK, because you did what you needed to do so you could, in essence, come in here tonight.

James:  [40:02] Being present.

Nick Temple:  [40:03] I need to be present in mind.

Jim:  [40:04] You had so you can do this here?

Nick Temple:  [40:07] Yes. Very much so.

James:  [40:09] All right brother.

Jim:  [40:10] As always…

Nick Temple:  [40:12] Great to see you guys.

Jim:  [40:13] Always.

James:  [40:13] You better get to your booth. We’re in primetime.

Nick Temple:  [40:15] These guys keeping everybody connected.

Jim:  [40:18] We’re trying. We try match that.

James:  [40:20] We’ll be right back.

James:  [40:21] What a serious clerk there.

Jim:  [40:24] Look at the people.

James:  [40:24] Don’t look behind us. It’s like, “There are so many people.”

John Bozarth:  [40:28] I’m not looking behind me.

James:  [40:30] They are judging us.

Jim:  [40:30] It’s good people just walking by. There’s still tons of people from networking reception here Tuesday night.

James:  [40:35] Tons of people.

Jim:  [40:37] Our friend, John and I…Let me tell you a quick story. John and I met in the elevator in New Orleans at the Hilton Riverside. We were there for the AGA. We’re both on the elevator, and I looked at him and he looked at me and we looked at our badges and we’re like, “We should know each other.” That’s where we met. Was it?

John:  [40:55] It really was, yes.

Jim:  [40:56] I remember distinctly. John, please introduce yourself to the audience and tell them a little bit about what you do, who you do it for, and anything you want to talk about.

John:  [41:04] Sure. All right. Great. Hey, John Bozarth, the director of Pipeline Safety Compliance and Quality Management with Ameren Illinois. I have been in the industry for 20 years and…

James:  [41:13] Client.

John:  [41:14] client of EWN.

James:  [41:15] So we’ve heard.

John:  [41:16] It’s working really well for us, but we’re just here at SGA. We’re continuing to stay engaged, learning about advances in the industry and what EWN and others can do to help us advance everything we need to do to serve our customers and keep everybody safe. That’s the bottom line for me.

James:  [41:35] All right. That’s it.

Jim:  [41:36] That was perfect for me.

James:  [41:38] John, have you been out a lot? Since post‑pandemic, we’re coming back out. We saw you at AGA.

John:  [41:46] I’ve been out. I’ve been out on job sites too and just trying to get a good pulse of our crews and reacclimating on what our safety culture looks like. We have people that we’ve hired that hadn’t been in the operating center since they were hired.

[42:02] That’s a cultural shift for a utility that…It used to be when an engineer or an employee was hired, you knew them, right? Now, people are hiring, and you’re just meeting them for the first time. They’ve been in the company for a year or so.

Jim:  [42:15] It’s interesting you said cultural shift. James is our chief cultural officer. I was just putting the pieces together. It’s interesting.

James:  [42:23] I know a safety culture guy too.

Jim:  [42:25] Oh yeah, Mr. Steve Allen right over there.

James:  [42:28] He’s giving us the look like he knows something about safety culture.

Jim:  [42:31] He’s right off screen right now.

James:  [42:32] He’s giving us the look. He’s on next. I can feel it. Well, John, now we got…

James:  [42:37] Well, go ahead.

John:  [42:38] I was going to say speaking of Steve, one of the other things that we’re doing at Ameren is our pipeline safety management systems. That’s something that is going to move the industry. From my perspective, it’s taken compliance from something that’s reactionary, something that is strategic and proactive…

James:  [42:55] Proactive stance, yeah.

John:  [42:56] and allowing us to have that space to say, “What can we do to get better?” Steve and others that have come into the industry and help us along those lines with contractors who are a big part of the equation for safety for us.

[43:09] We’re putting stuff in the ground that we expect to have 70, 80 years of service and then really investing a lot of money for our customers, but it’s got to be done right. It got to be done right the first time. It’s not just about an inspector, it’s about a process. That’s what safety management systems is helping us get.

James:  [43:29] Man, what a plug. Well, John, we hope you have a good show, man. Appreciate you coming on with us.

John:  [43:36] Absolutely. Thank you.

James:  [43:37] Are you done? Are you…?

John:  [43:38] Are you done coughing in that hand?

Jim:  [43:39] No, I ain’t coughing at hand. I cough [inaudible] .

James:  [43:40] What a move.

Jim:  [43:41] Let’s get some…I coughed liked this. I have water in my mouth. Please, I feel bad for John. Look at…give him some hand…It’s right there. We’re going to use some right now. Thanks.

John:  [43:53] In all seriousness, appreciate you guys.

Jim:  [43:54] No, we appreciate you.

James:  [43:55] Thank you.

Jim:  [43:55] Appreciate everything you do for the industry.

James:  [43:57] All the work. We’ll be right back.

James:  [43:59] We’re live.

Heidi Frisbie:  [44:00] Awesome.

James:  [44:00] We’re back.

Heidi:  [44:01] Great.

James:  [44:02] One more time.

Jim:  [44:04] Our good friend Jon Smith was on a little bit ago. He goes, “Hey, I want to bring someone over who is…”

James:  [44:10] I think he called you his favorite protégé.

Heidi:  [44:14] Wow.

James:  [44:14] That say something.

Heidi:  [44:15] That’s a big compliment.

Jim:  [44:16] Then he said the future of our industry and high level of excellence beyond no compare, I think are some of the words that I said.

James:  [44:27] No impression. No pressure.

Heidi:  [44:28] I know. This a lot to live up to right now, so I’m just not sure if I can handle it.

James:  [44:37] It’s all down here for me, Heidi.

Jim:  [44:40] Welcome to the show, Heidi.

Heidi:  [44:42] Thank you.

Jim:  [44:42] Please introduce yourself and tell our audience what you do, where you’re located, anything you want to talk about.

Heidi:  [44:43] My name’s Heidi Frisbie. I’m the president and CEO of Tecvalco, USA. We are a WBENC‑certified women‑owned distributor, manufacturer, and fabricator service provider for the gas utility industry.

[44:57] Spent a lot of years of my career in energy, love the space, love the people. Super excited about, not just what we’re doing today in the industry with the energy transition and we’re excited to be a part of that. We manufacture out of Florida. I’m based in Cleveland. I like to spend more winter time in Florida.

Jim:  [45:14] Where in Florida can I ask?

Heidi:  [45:15] We are in Rockledge so we’re right on the Space Coast, which gives us great access to a welding labor.

Jim:  [45:21] I’m in West Palm right up the coast.

James:  [45:26] Built‑in friends.

Heidi:  [45:27] Come on over to the factory.

Jim:  [45:29] I’m going to.

Heidi:  [45:29] You should.

Jim:  [45:29] I love tours. I love to see.

Heidi:  [45:32] We would love to host you and that’s great to host [inaudible] .

James:  [45:35] Can I come?

Heidi:  [45:36] Yeah, of course.

Jim:  [45:37] Yes, of course.

Heidi:  [45:38] Everybody is invited.

Jim:  [45:38] We going to fly while he’s down to Texas, Dallas‑Fort Worth area, a little bit West of there. We’ve been wanting to get him to Florida. Whatever time I invited, he says, “Oh, I have to go to the grocery store.” We got to get him down.

Heidi:  [45:55] Yeah, Come on down.

James:  [45:56] Heidi, so how long did you say you’ve been in the Industry?

Heidi:  [46:00] I’ve been in the industry for about 15 years. I led Honeywell North America First Smart Energy for several years.

Jim:  [46:08] Oh, really?

James:  [46:09] That’s how you met Jon.

Heidi:  [46:11] Yeah.

James:  [46:12] Oh, checking out.

Heidi:  [46:13] I used to work for Jon, yes.

James:  [46:15] See, I was trying to just validate and verify his story.

Heidi:  [46:19] Yeah.

James:  [46:20] Now, I can trust you.

Heidi:  [46:21] That’s right.

James:  [46:22] That’s fair. All right. SGA. How’s SGA…Oh, you go ahead.

Jim:  [46:25] No, no, no, no. Ask her about SGA because Jon wanted me to ask her a question at the end. I got this one. Go, you go.

James:  [46:36] How’s SGA been?

Heidi:  [46:32] It’s been great. It’s always been great.

James:  [46:34] Any cool sessions?

Heidi:  [46:35] Well, I’m part of the supply chain committee.

James:  [46:37] Oh, that’s right.

Heidi:  [46:37] We did something on driving Supplier Diversity metrics. We also did like all…everybody wants to know about supply chain challenges right now. We have great discussions about that as well.

James:  [46:46] I heard it tied for first place. Best one with an LNG panel. That also took place today.

Heidi:  [46:54] Yeah, that’s a good one.

James:  [46:55] It was ours.

Jim:  [46:56] It was ours.

Heidi:  [46:57] It was a good one. Well, of course.

Jim:  [46:59] We might have taken second fiddle, but I’m not sure firmer today. Jon wanted me to ask you one question. We were at EWNCON in Arlington, Texas, had a huge show. Jon was here. We had him on. We asked all of our guests one very simple question.

[47:13] I’m going to ask you right now. Just say what comes to your heart at first.

James:  [47:18] Whatever’s in your heart.

Heidi:  [47:20] OK.

Jim:  [47:19] What does be brave mean to you?

Heidi:  [47:22] Be brave is willing to act without fear and taking a risk to be the best version of yourself for your company, your family, and your employees. It’s that simple.

James:  [47:33] Love it.

Jim:  [47:35] That could’ve been a commercial.

James:  [47:37] It was.

Jim:  [47:38] It is. That’s right.

James:  [47:41] Hey, Heidi, it’s been great…

Heidi:  [47:42] Absolute pleasure, guys.

James:  [47:43] meeting you.

Heidi:  [47:43] Thank you.

Jim:  [47:44] Thank you.

James:  [47:44] I hope you have a great conference.

Heidi:  [47:45] Pleasure. Thank you for what you do.

James:  [47:48] I bet we cross paths again in the future.

Heidi:  [47:50] Absolutely.

Jim:  [47:50] We will.

Heidi:  [47:51] Thanks, guys.

James:  [47:51] All right, we’ll be back.

Heidi:  [47:52] Take care.

Jim:  [47:53] We good?

James:  [47:54] We’re good. It’s a really well‑oiled machine, this show.

Jim:  [47:59] We are a casual intro now. I used to come in hot, and then we’re like, “You know what?” We’ll just be the way we are.” This is where…

James:  [48:07] Cold open.

Jim:  [48:08] Jason is joining us, a new friend. We met him yesterday. I tried to get him on the show. He said, “Maybe tomorrow.” Then tomorrow came, which is today, I said, “Today’s your day,” so Jason, welcome.

Jason Bathrick:  [48:18] Thanks for having me on. It’s great to be here.

James:  [48:20] Tell everybody who you’re with and what you guys do.

Jason:  [48:24] I’m the sales executive for GEOMAGIC Utility Solutions. We’re focused on full IT services that range from everything from customized software solutions for product protection, data management, integrity management, process management.

[48:42] We also offer services as well, so IT support, IT maintenance, even IT infrastructure to especially ensure that all of our customers needs can be met through either our offerings or expertise.

James:  [48:54] Another technology company.

Jim:  [48:57] I’m serious…

[48:58] [crosstalk]

James:  [48:58] You’re outnumbered.

Jim:  [48:59] I am outnumbered.

James:  [49:00] We’re all looking at it. I’m from technology, originally.

Jim:  [49:02] That’s his background.

James:  [49:02] Then, when we came here, I ended up right back in it. There’s a lot more tech on the floor today.

Jim:  [49:08] I’m being serious. We have seen a lot of it at this show, a tremendous amount of technology, which is wonderful, that’s coming into our industry. It’s been a long time coming, and we need it, we need it more and more.

James:  [49:19] You are a tech guy now. What I mean is is you’re not from a background of tech. The cool thing is when you get tech people together, we don’t really care. We’re not enemies of any kind. We start talking shop and that’s where the magic happens.

Jim:  [49:33] You guys start nerding out as I call it. This leads to that and this leads to that.

James:  [49:36] I just saw everybody at lunch perk up and I’m like, “We’re talking about AI.”

Jim:  [49:39] At Southern Gas Association.

Jason:  [49:41] That was cool to see that.

James:  [49:43] You’ve seen vision at Southern Gas Association.

Jim:  [49:46] The other things we talked about recently are thought leadership, culture, and all those things where three, four, or five years ago, we didn’t hear about it, which is exciting.

Jason:  [49:55] You guys are right. The cool thing about tech too is the fact that in this industry, everyone’s trying to help each other out to come up with some really good solutions to help the end customer out. For instance, we’re speaking with a lot of RMU on the hardware side. They want to partner with us and we get to manage their RMU data and stuff like that.

James:  [50:15] Pull data feeds.

Jason:  [50:15] We’re agnostic. We’re just trying to help people out and make sure that the customers can make the best decisions through data management processes.

James:  [50:23] Nerds.

Jim:  [50:23] Nerds.

[50:23] [laughter]

James:  [50:23] We’re all nerds.

James:  [50:25] We didn’t know it. What’s cool is, we talk tech but the engineers that are here are just as nerdy.

Jim:  [50:33] Sure, they are. Absolutely, without a doubt.

James:  [50:35] Their project managers are here, just as nerdy. I can’t say nothing.

Jim:  [50:39] No. Where do you live?

Jason:  [50:41] I live in Iowa City.

Jim:  [50:42] You do?

James:  [50:43] Oh, cool.

Jason:  [50:44] Yeah.

Jim:  [50:44] All right.

Jason:  [50:46] We’re a subsidiary. Our parent company is actually in Leipzig, Germany. They’ve been in business for over 20 years. Together, we’ve got over 100 customers worldwide in the energy space. We’re doing a lot of cool stuff with green energy. We’re also strategic partners with GE, so we’re helping them out with customized applications that go on top of GE’s small world.

James:  [51:08] Very cool.

Jim:  [51:09] He has that Iowa accent or I was picking up Minnesota. I thought it was Minnesota.

James:  [51:13] Close.

Jim:  [51:13] Like he came from over the border.

[51:14] [laughter]

James:  [51:14] He jumped there.

Jason:  [51:14] Where are you guys from?

James:  [51:16] I’m from Texas.

Jason:  [51:18] Texas?

James:  [51:19] Dallas‑Fort Worth.

Jim:  [51:19] Chicago, Minneapolis, Houston, West Palm Beach.

James:  [51:22] He’s a nomad.

Jim:  [51:23] Yeah. I am. I’m a gypsy.

Jason:  [51:25] Chicago is a great spot.

Jim:  [51:26] Oh yeah.

Jason:  [51:26] Loves me some Chicago.

Jim:  [51:27] Oh, yeah.

James:  [51:28] I do too!

Jason:  [51:27] I had to get out of there, though, because I was getting too big. There’s too many good restaurants.

James:  [51:32] Too much pizza.

Jim:  [51:32] The best pizza…

James:  [51:35] I agree.

Jim:  [51:35] and the best hot dogs.

James:  [51:36] I don’t know.

Jason:  [51:38] Yes sir.

Jim:  [51:38] Oh, I know.

James:  [51:40] Oh, I like it Chicago style, though. I won’t lie. I do.

James:  [51:40] You like it with tomatoes and the whole bit?

Jim:  [51:44] Oh. I mean, like…

James:  [51:46] I do too.

Jim:  [51:47] Fork and a knife. You know?

James:  [51:42] My man. My man.

Jim:  [51:43] Absolutely.

James:  [51:44] Jason, man, good to see you.

Jason:  [51:46] Thank you so much for having me.

James:  [51:49] Good to meet you.

Jason:  [51:51] Absolutely.

Jason:  [51:51] Appreciated.

James:  [51:51] Come back another time. We are on to the next one.

[51:56]

Jim:  [51:56] Did you notice, everybody, that I have been super quiet when we do the bringing on of the new scenes.

James:  [52:03] We’re trying something new.

Jim:  [52:05] Well, we are. It’s working. You know, Leslie, we used to come in high every time, like, “Here’s our next guest.” Finally, I think it might be fatigue, it might be just being mellow.

James:  [52:16] We just gave up.

Jim:  [52:17] We’re just…we’re just…

James:  [52:17] Cold opens. All day.

Jim:  [52:20] Cold opens. We welcome you to the show. Thank you for joining us, Leslie. Could you please introduce yourself to our audience and tell a little bit about yourself, the company, and what you do?

Leslie Wheeler:  [52:27] Sure. Absolutely. Well, thank you for having me. My name is Leslie Wheeler. I’m with Key Utility Partners. We are based out of Columbus, Ohio, [laughs] and we are a consulting company and we specialize in project management, construction management.

[52:48] We like to work for the utility companies, helping them to manage their major projects. We’ll also do a little bit of engineering, procuring, and constructing, as well. Permitting. So we have a wide umbrella of services that we offer.

Jim:  [53:05] I see a whole bunch of…

James:  [53:07] Are you PMP?

Leslie:  [53:07] I’m a certified PMP through the project manager.

James:  [53:11] Feel like she’s emailing me right now…

James:  [53:10] Telling me my projects are off track, here, right now. [laughs]

Leslie:  [53:16] It’s derailed.

James:  [53:18] Oh, man. Nathan.

Jim:  [53:20] Where’s Nathan Henson when you need him?

James:  [53:23] I think Nathan grew his wings.

Jim:  [53:22] Oh my goodness.

James:  [53:21] He’d be so pumped to know we’re talking project management with somebody…

Jim:  [53:28] PMP, PMP.

James:  [53:28] I love it.

James:  [53:30] We talk about this all the time, though, Leslie, is that people believe…All right, I’m going to take our company. I just said this on the show the other day.

Jim:  [53:40] Do it.

James:  [53:40] I’m going to take our company. We say we’re going to a show. You’re a new employee. You don’t know. Now you’ve got to go to a show and you’re like, “All these people are going to be there. They’re all going to want to talk about,” for us, “OQ,” right?

Leslie:  [53:54] Yes.

James:  [53:55] What do we do?

[53:56] You go to a show and what you end up doing is you talk to people who are project managers. You talk to people who are engineers. You talk to people who are leadership. It’s not the person you’re looking for. They’re people doing jobs all across the industry. We joke because we have a really awesome project manager…

Jim:  [54:17] Yeah.

James:  [54:17] that runs our PMO…

Jim:  [54:19] Don’t look at me. It’s on me.

[54:22] [laughter]

James:  [54:22] It’s not Jimmy. Named Nathan Henson. He has been amazing for our company.

Jim:  [54:27] He’s fantastic, yeah.

James:  [54:28] We know firsthand how important PMO is.

Leslie:  [54:30] Absolutely, definitely.

Jim:  [54:33] Our CEO, Holden Sterling, is also…

James:  [54:37] He is, yeah. He is a PMP. We have several within our organization. They all keep us moving along.

Jim:  [54:43] It makes such a big difference.

Leslie:  [54:44] That’s what us, project managers, do.

James:  [54:47] We love you all deep down, but it does hurt a little bit.

Leslie:  [54:49] Yeah, because we hold people accountable.

James:  [54:51] I know.

Jim:  [54:52] I know. Why? Why do you do that?

James:  [54:55] I need a project manager in my life.

Jim:  [54:59] I know. It’s that accountability thing.

James:  [55:01] What do they call that? Life coaches?

Jim:  [55:04] Yeah.

Leslie:  [55:04] Yeah.

James:  [54:51] Leslie, how is it…?

Leslie:  [54:53] We don’t offer that, life coaching.

James:  [55:02] I don’t know if you’ve been out a lot, but we’ve been asking people because for some people, this is their first fourier back out into the industry. How about you? How’s it been being out? Have you been out a lot?

Leslie:  [55:13] We have not been out. This is…

James:  [55:15] First one?

Leslie:  [55:16] Yeah, this is our…

Jim:  [55:17] Is this the first show?

Leslie:  [55:17] It is.

James:  [55:18] You’re not the only one. There’s a bunch out.

Leslie:  [55:20] We’re excited to be out here and introducing.

James:  [55:21] Love it.

Leslie:  [55:22] It’s great to have the face‑to‑face contact.

Jim:  [55:25] 100 percent.

Leslie:  [55:25] Yes.

Jim:  [55:27] Was it a little nerve‑racking coming back out and go into it live versus all the Zoom interaction for two years?

Leslie:  [55:34] I would much prefer live.

Jim:  [55:35] OK, good. So do we, without a doubt, hands down.

James:  [55:39] I’m not mad at it at all.

Jim:  [55:42] I mean, hands down.

James:  [55:38] Leslie, we hope you have a great show.

Leslie:  [55:45] Thank you.

James:  [55:45] Thank you for joining us.

Leslie:  [55:47] Thank you for having me.

Jim:  [55:47] Yes, thank you for stopping by.

James:  [55:49] Excited to have you along.

Leslie:  [55:47] Thank you for allowing me to introduce our company.

Jim:  [55:51] Please, it’s our pleasure. This is great. This is what we’re here for.

James:  [55:54] Hey, we’ll be right back.

Leslie:  [55:55] All right.

James:  [55:56] They’re stripping it down. Jimmy, we will not be recording tomorrow. This is it.

Jim:  [55:59] At all in the morning? Nothing?

James:  [56:02] I don’t think so. 7:00 to 8:00, there’s not a lot that’s going to be going on.

Jim:  [56:06] OK. That’s fine. We can shut down now on a soft shutdown with the idea that…I have a feeling we may pull a little bit one hour tomorrow, maybe or not. You think that’s it?

James:  [56:20] We’ll see who’s available. It’s pretty light on that last day. We only got an hour. I’m just being a realist.

Jim:  [56:28] Yeah. OK.

James:  [56:29] It’s possible this is the end, my friends.

Jim:  [56:32] This might be the end. What was your takeaway of SGA this year? What were your highlights? What did you like?

James:  [56:39] I don’t get to be on a lot of panels. I’ve never got to moderate a panel. I’m not trying to promote what we did, but I’m just saying. For me, it was cool to get to do that. I really enjoyed it, and I would like to do it again, either be a panelist, which I really enjoy. Also, I kind of like moderating.

Jim:  [56:59] It was a pretty great job.

James:  [57:00] I feel natural because of what we did.

Jim:  [57:01] Yup.

James:  [57:02] I mean, I don’t care anymore. The show’s fun to do. It gives us so many opportunities, period, whether it be for literal sales in product or services to just friendships and to get to learn about what people are here doing.

[57:26] I’ll put you on the spot. Did you ever think that your industry would be inundated with as much tech as we heard and saw today?

Jim:  [57:39] Not at all. No, because I’ve been in it for 20‑some‑odd years. I always called it the nuts‑and‑bolts industry, for lack of a better term. Again, there’s always been technology. Don’t get me wrong. I get that, but the amount that I have seen just recently being introduced into the industry and us, the industry, learning about this has been fantastic.

James:  [58:02] We’re a tech company.

Jim:  [58:04] Oh, we are.

James:  [58:06] We’re surprised, and we’re part of it.

Jim:  [58:08] Yeah.

James:  [58:09] We’ve got VR going on right over here. We’ve got our own tech that is high class, but it’s neat to see other people rallying around the same thing.

Jim:  [58:21] Without a doubt. To have presentations on AI just blows me away, and not just presentations about AI but…

James:  [58:30] Sorry, technical difficulties.

Jim:  [58:33] Are we OK? Are we good?

James:  [58:38] Had to fix something.

Jim:  [58:39] You scared me. I thought I had to get the…

[58:40] [crosstalk]

James:  [58:40] Got all in your business.

Jim:  [58:45] That, and not just seeing the technology of AI but seeing how it’s actually being used now, today in our industry.

James:  [58:52] No doubt.

James:  [58:52] It’s not hypothetical anymore.

Jim:  [58:54] No, we saw live examples. This is what’s going on right now in finding cross bores and items like that.

James:  [59:01] I want you to know…Let’s see. I’ve been in this industry five, six years. I’m going to go back a little bit further. About seven years ago, man, I was very, very interested in machine learning, neural networks, AI. I could see how important it was going to be.

[59:28] That was in medical, so you could imagine how AI could help in medical.

Jim:  [59:32] Without a doubt.

James:  [59:33] Whether it’s looking at scans, whatever it is, the data that’s available, you would think that one’s a no‑brainer, but now being in a new industry, in natural gas, and seeing it applied totally different. It makes me feel really inspired about what we’re doing. I’m pumped about that.

Jim:  [59:58] It has me excited for, really, not just this next upcoming couple years but the next five to ten years. To see how this energy industry is going to change, transform, enhance, emerge is going to be exciting.

[1:00:11] Look at this. We have…

James:  [1:00:12] Right behind us, we’re doing VR. We are doing VR.

Jim:  [1:00:16] Right now people are playing with it.

James:  [1:00:18] Jimmy, we got a little bit of a hiatus live‑wise, right?

Jim:  [1:00:23] We do.

James:  [1:00:23] We will be right back in at LGA in July, so we’ll be doing that. In between that, so next week, probably when this airs, we have our first‑ever EWN Tailgate week. We’re bringing our entire company. Then we’re going to be doing some live shows from there, too.

Jim:  [1:00:43] We are.

James:  [1:00:44] I don’t know if you knew that.

Jim:  [1:00:44] I didn’t, but that doesn’t surprise me.

James:  [1:00:47] Finding out now.

Jim:  [1:00:48] That doesn’t surprise me. I would hope that and assume that we can do that.

James:  [1:00:50] For sure.

Jim:  [1:00:50] We are going to be back at the industry conference, besides going to our internal next week, LGA 192/195 Pipeline Safety Conference, New Orleans.

James:  [1:01:02] It’s my first time, not to New Orleans but to the…

Jim:  [1:01:05] To the LGA…

James:  [1:01:06] Pipeline Safety.

Jim:  [1:01:08] Fantastic event run by the Tatman Group, long, long‑term friends of mine.

James:  [1:01:13] Friend of the show.

[1:01:15] [crosstalk]

Jim:  [1:01:15] Yeah. David was on the show, absolutely. We’re looking forward to that.

James:  [1:01:20] I am, and…

Jim:  [1:01:21] That is a dynamic week.

James:  [1:01:22] Then we’re going right into fall. I’ve got a busy schedule. I’m speaking a lot in the fall. We’re going to take a little bit of a break from the industry stuff. We’ll bring one of ours back after tailgate week.

Jim:  [1:01:35] Let’s do it.

James:  [1:01:37] It’s good to be side by side.

Jim:  [1:01:39] All right, brother.

James:  [1:01:38] Hey, who knows. We might have another little chunk in the morning.

Jim:  [1:01:43] Maybe.

James:  [1:01:43] We’ll play it by ear, but this could be it. If it is, Jimmy, I’ll see you soon. See you next…

Jim:  [1:01:49] Absolutely, brother, as always. I wouldn’t do it with anybody else but you.

James:  [1:01:51] All right, y’all have a good one. God bless.

Jim:  [1:01:53] Y’all take care. Thanks for tuning in.

[1:01:55] [music]

   

Transcription by WatchingWords