CWJJ Episode 120: SGA Natural Gas Connect Live: Part 1

Thursday, June 24- We were live in St. Louis, MO last week at the SGA Natural Gas Connect Conference. 

Quick Links:

James Cross on Linkedin
Jim Schauer on Linkedin

Episode Transcript

 [0:00] [music]

Jim Schauer:  [0:25] James, we made it. Hello everybody. Welcome to SGA Natural Gas Connect.

James Cross:  [0:31] St. Louis.

Jim:  [0:33] We are here. It was a breeze.

James:  [0:35] No big deal. No pictures on the scorecard is what I tell people all the time. This is one of those moments. We had a little miscue with shipping. Nobody’s fault, just the time.

Jim:  [0:47] It happens. Now, people might be thinking because we’re facing a different way today.

James:  [0:52] Oh, no.

Jim:  [0:53] Did things show up or not? They did, and it’s lining up this whole part of the wall. You’re going to see that.

James:  [0:58] It looks great…

Jim:  [0:59] Yeah, you could see that more.

James:  [1:00] but we did have a little bit of a mishap in shipping and it was tough to get everything here. About an hour and a half ago, this place looked totally different, but Tim showed up and knocked it out. Polish this thing up. We headed back, freshened up, and we’re live.

James:  [1:21] Is that what we call it? Freshen up?

Jim:  [1:23] Kind of. I don’t know what you call it

James:  [1:25] Oh, my goodness? This is great.

Jim:  [1:26] As you can tell, we did turn the shot around because what we were thinking was. What we don’t see a lot of the time is what the action looks like in the conference.

James:  [1:34] Right?

Jim:  [1:35] We all see it. We always see us reacting and stuff like that.

James:  [1:38] Waving to people.

Jim:  [1:39] We’re taking the sacrifice here because we don’t know what’s going on behind us.

James:  [1:43] I’m worried about that.

Jim:  [1:44] As you all see.

James:  [1:46] People can be doing the rabbit ears behind us, I mean that whole thing.

Jim:  [1:50] They could be doing anything.

James:  [1:50] But you know what, if they do I’d love it. I think it’d be a great moment.

Jim:  [1:53] We’ve already had a great response for the show. I know a few people were wondering what we were doing over here. But then the other thing is seeing our friends that do know the show, knowing that we’re going to bring this here and stopping by and checking in on us and like “what’s happening?”

James:  [2:11] Absolutely.

Jim:  [2:11] Because they knew we were kind of struggling over here to get everything together but we got it all together. We’re ready to go. Man, St. Louis is hot.

James:  [2:20] Oh no, it’s not even hot.

Jim:  [2:22] On a whole other level.

James:  [2:24] It’s hotter than hot.

Jim:  [2:23] I don’t know what the heat index was today, 115?

James:  [2:27] Close probably 120 is what I heard, so…

Jim:  [2:29] Rough out there. So humid here. I love St. Louis for the little bit I’ve been here, but if it’s this hot, I’m going to have to pick another time of year to be back.

James:  [2:39] I think in the fall time would be absolutely beautiful. You know, when the leaves are changing?

Jim:  [2:43] Yeah, for sure.

James:  [2:44] Romantic.

Jim:  [2:47] We got a big day or a big night tonight. Opening reception here at SGA, where we’ve got the reception tonight that we’re in right now. We’re going to bring some folks on and then after this, we’re going to…

James:  [2:59] Anheuser‑Busch.

James:  [3:00] to tour the…

Jim:  [3:01] The plant, I believe?

James:  [3:02] No, no. It’s at the stadium.

Jim:  [3:04] Oh, is that what it is?

James:  [3:05] It’s the Anheuser‑Busch.

Jim:  [3:07] I heard we were going to be able to see the horses and everything. That’s all I heard.

James:  [3:11] I don’t know how it works. That’s all at the stadium. We’re going to go do that later. That’s cool. I’ve never done that. You’ve never been in St. Luis, myself.

Jim:  [3:19] You’ve never been to St. Luis? You haven’t?

James:  [3:23] First time for me.

Jim:  [3:20] Oh no, I’ve been here many times and I will tell you, this is reminiscent of years of the past. When I was here during the summer months, it was hot and it was humid. Now, you wouldn’t think that for being in the midcontinent, but it’s living up to its past.

James:  [3:33] Yeah, I also thought it was hot in Texas when we left, and that’s definitely hot here too. We didn’t leave anything behind.

Jim:  [3:39] That’s all right.

James:  [3:40] Tomorrow, we’ve got a couple of things going on. We’re in the gym. The fourth time’s tomorrow. Three or four?

Jim:  [3:49] Us or the company?

James:  [3:50] The company as a whole.

Jim:  [3:51] Steve Allen?

James:  [3:52] Steve Allen’s got two spots for panel and he’s speaking PSMS of course. We’re on a panel, I’m moderating and you’re on a panel for LNG.

Jim:  [4:03] To bring up some of the past LNG experiences, we’re going to talk about that. I sit on the LNG committee which is great. Andrew Park and I will be on that panel.

James:  [4:12] Then we have Chris Isaacson and also Danny who will be joining to talk about normalization of deviance. A cool topic especially in our industry, in regards to safety, but what I love about that one, I’ve got to see it. Brian Dresel has done it for us, but it takes like stories that we all know.

[4:36] Maybe it’s The Challenger or maybe it’s the Costa Cordia. I always mess that name up. The ship that got stuff, remember the cruise ship?

Jim:  [4:48] Yeah.

James:  [4:49] The things that you let slide over and over in training and you don’t really enforce it. Think about the last time there’s been a fire alarm go off and you didn’t get up and run. Did you? You just kind of went, “Is this real?”

Jim:  [5:03] Yeah.

James:  [5:04] That’s normalization of deviance.

Jim:  [5:06] Let’s get an explanation of this.

James:  [5:06] You just slowly bring your trend line down to where or what your training is at the level it should be. Cool session, they’re going to be leading that. We’re all over the place tomorrow. Then we’re going to be doing the show live all day tomorrow. Recording live from the hall.

Jim:  [5:23] Absolutely. We’ve had a ready by term, a bevy of people coming up and they’re going to. That’s a good term, but they’re going to be on. I saw Mason from CenterPoint coming on, he wants to be on. So many folks.

James:  [5:37] Kinder Morgan everywhere. We’re seeing a lot of people.

Jim:  [5:41] I flew with Kinder Morgan yesterday. That was fun seeing Andrea.

James:  [5:45] Lots of friends. Hey, we’re going to do our best to bring this back. Be patient with us. We’re excited as everybody else and we hope to bring on some awesome guests.

Jim:  [5:54] Let’s get this party started.

James:  [5:56] It’s good to see you, man. Two weeks in a row.

Jim:  [5:58] Oh, man.

James:  [5:59] We don’t even know how to act.

Jim:  [6:01] You’re a little verklempt.

James:  [6:03] Yeah. All right.

Jim:  [6:05] We’ll be right back.

Monique Roberts:  [6:06] This is great.

James:  [6:08] I love it. Oh, sorry, I forget we were doing a show.

Monique:  [6:11] Are we live?

Jim:  [6:12] We are live.

Monique:  [6:12] I am so excited to be here with y’all. I’ve been waiting patiently to pay you guys a compliment.

Jim:  [6:18] Wait a minute. Hold on.

Jim:  [6:19] This is like the opening pitch. [humming] .

[6:21] [laughter]

James:  [6:21] Ready? Come on, do it.

Monique:  [6:26] OK. You guys just had an event and my former boss and also, effectively, family member, Jeff Weis attended.

Jim:  [6:35] Oh, he did? We had a great time.

Monique:  [6:36] The accolades that he gets, he’s like, “They knew how to put on a show. The content is just top‑notch. They’re innovating. They’re moving things forward. They’re networking. There’s nothing wrong.” He’d be hard‑pressed to find something wrong with you all. He had a great time.

James:  [6:55] I had only met Jeff once prior to that, and it was for half a second. I got to spend time with him at the game and several other times, and he has just Talked and talked and he emailed back.

Jim:  [7:09] Oh, he was right on it.

James:  [7:12] Yeah, he was all over it.

James:  [7:14] We already scheduled him.

Monique:  [7:16] He thinks you guys are the bee’s knees and he has great taste. My nickname for him is el jefe de la playa grande.

Jim:  [7:24] What does that translate to?

Monique:  [7:25] El Jefe de la playa grande, he is the boss of the big beach. I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him about why that’s his nickname.

Jim:  [7:34] Oh, there’s a story there.

James:  [7:36] That’s a whole other thing.

Jim:  [7:38] Did we even introduce Monique?

James:  [7:39] I don’t even know what’s happening.

Monique:  [7:40] Oh, sorry.

Jim:  [7:41] Please.

James:  [7:42] Things have changed since the last time, so please tell us about who you’re with and what’s going on.

Monique:  [7:46] Monique Roberts, and I’m very excited to be here with these guys. Sorry, I got a little fan girl on these guys. Sorry about that.

Jim:  [7:53] When’s the first time we met? AGA, was it?

Monique:  [7:55] We did. We met at AGA and I was introduced to you guys.

Monique:  [7:57] We were booth neighbors, but also Mike Lamont, who’s a very good friend of you all, who introduced me to you guys.

Jim:  [8:02] Yeah.

James:  [8:03] He’s doing a great job.

Jim:  [8:05] Wait. Hold on. Knocking it out of the park.

Monique:  [8:09] Seriously. Lamont and Heidi, if guys aren’t watching their podcast. Eventually, I’m going to talk about me. Usually, I lead with me.

James:  [8:18] That’s better. I like it.

James:  [8:18] We only have two minutes, and that was three minutes ago, so…

Monique:  [8:21] OK, Monique Roberts, I’m the Executive Director of the PODS Association. We are a nonprofit, member‑driven organization that is comprised of majority operating companies. Then also service companies, who come together to innovate, to move the ball forward insofar as asset knowledge management.

[8:39] Data integrity, we focus on data tables specifically to pipeline. Two things that we’re putting out this year ‑‑ the reason why I’m here ‑‑ I’m actually giving a presentation on Wednesday morning.

James:  [8:49] No free sponsors.

Monique:  [8:50] Yeah, sorry, plug.

James:  [8:52] No, I’m kidding.

[8:53] I’m going to talk specifically about how we’re taking the data model that we’ve been used to for 25 years now. Next year’s our 25th anniversary of PODS.

Jim:  [9:01] Oh, wow.

James:  [9:02] Wonderful.

Monique:  [9:02] I know. I’ve only been with them for less than a year. That’s why I look young and beautiful still.

[9:07] We are releasing this new module that’s going to take it outside of just the integrity management realm of data model and data management, but all the way to new construction to support your entire asset of knowledge management programs.

Jim:  [9:22] Let’s let the audience know if they want to know more. If they want to explore this, this is…

Monique:  [9:27] Pods.org. It stands for Pipeline Open Data Standard, pods.org. We just launched a brand‑new website last week. If anybody wants to complement me on it, please send me an email.

Jim:  [9:40] Pods.org. That’s the key right there.

Monique:  [9:42] Yes, pods.org. You got it.

James:  [9:45] I’m going to give you an invitation right now, and I know Jimmy will as well. We’d love to have you come on the show for a full episode.

Jim:  [9:52] Yeah.

Monique:  [9:52] Oh, that’d be awesome.

James:  [9:53] We need to set that up.

Monique:  [9:53] That would be so awesome.

James:  [9:54] I’m sure we’re going to cross paths maybe in Louisiana.

Monique:  [9:57] I hope so. I’m going to be in Louisiana…

James:  [10:00] At the LGA?

[10:01] Monique. Yeah.

Jim:  [10:02] At the LGA Safety Conference?

Monique:  [10:04] Next week I’m going to be in Louisiana for the Louisiana Pipeliners Fish and Rodeo, which is going to be in Grand Isle, which is going to be off the hook. Next month is LGA, Louisiana Gas Association in July.

Jim:  [10:13] The LGA Safety Conference.

James:  [10:14] Here’s my formal invite, and we’ll make this happen. Why don’t we record it live at LGA?

Monique:  [10:18] Oh.

Jim:  [10:19] LGA is the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th, I believe.

James:  [10:23] We’ll see.

Monique:  [10:24] Correct.

Jim:  [10:24] Yup.

Monique:  [10:25] En français?

James:  [10:26] No.

Monique:  [10:25] Should we do it en français? [French] Why not? We’re going to Louisiana, we will do it in French.

Jim:  [10:31] We need to get subtitles. We need to get subtitles.

James:  [10:32] That’ll be cool.

Jim:  [10:34] We’re going to do it. Thanks for stopping by.

Monique:  [10:36] Thanks, guys. Thank you so much.

James:  [10:37] Thank you for coming on.

Monique:  [10:38] Oh, my God. I feel so special that you guys asked me to do this. Thank you so much.

James:  [10:43] Where’s Andrea? Andrea went out.

Jim:  [10:45] Shit.

James:  [10:45] We’ll be right back.

Jim:  [10:45] Welcome back.

James:  [10:46] She’s so scared right now.

Jim:  [10:47] Andrea and I have been friends. We were just trying to figure out for, let’s just say maybe over a decade for many years.

Andrea Chamblin:  [10:56] Yes, let’s go there.

Jim:  [10:58] 8 to 10 years. I get on the plane yesterday from Atlanta. I’m coming here and I sit down on my seat and all of a sudden from across the aisle, somebody hits my arm nicely. They just go like that and I look over and I’m like, “Andrea, is that you?”

Andrea:  [11:13] My mask was on. [laughs]

Jim:  [11:14] I didn’t even recognize her. I was like…

James:  [11:17] That happened. We did that a week ago at EWNCON. You had your mask on or not. I swear, we were right there and we didn’t say a word.

Jim:  [11:26] We were.

James:  [11:26] Then I saw her later and I was like, “Wait a second.”

Jim:  [11:28] 15C and 15D.

Andrea:  [11:31] Yes.

Jim:  [11:31] Right across from each other.

James:  [11:32] Love it.

Jim:  [11:32] Andrea, welcome. Thank you for being on.

James:  [11:34] Welcome to the show.

Andrea:  [11:35] Thank you.

Jim:  [11:35] She’s quite a trooper. Why don’t you introduce yourself to the audience?

James:  [11:39] Absolutely.

Jim:  [11:39] Tell them a little bit about the company you’re with might be named Kinder Morgan and what you do for them.

Andrea:  [11:44] OK. My name’s Andrea Chamblin. I am with Kinder Morgan. It’ll be 20 years. Next year or the year after…

James:  [11:51] This is where I make the joke that you started when you were four?

Andrea:  [11:55] It feels like it. It’s been a lifetime. I’m the OQ manager. I am out of Alfred, Georgia. Managed the OQ program with my other manager on the up in Portland.

[12:07] All things OQ for all of the assets, whether it’s natural gas, hazardous liquids, or whatever else we got. If it’s OQ, that’s it.

James:  [12:14] That’s why we’re best friends.

Jim:  [12:16] Yeah, we’ve known her…

James:  [12:17] We run in the same circles.

Jim:  [12:19] Yeah, we do.

James:  [12:20] OQ is a pretty tight circle.

Andrea:  [12:22] It is.

James:  [12:22] It really is.

Andrea:  [12:24] It is.

James:  [12:23] We’ve seen you. It feels like it’s back‑to‑back weeks, but it wasn’t that long ago you came out to EWNCON.

Jim:  [12:30] Three weeks ago.

James:  [12:31] Here, we are again. We’re back out in the wild a little bit as you can imagine. How’s it been getting out and seeing everybody?

Andrea:  [12:39] It’s been good. It’s been good to see some people and be able to put some actual faces, even on Zoom.

James:  [12:45] New people. Absolutely.

Jim:  [12:46] You met Tammy Bomia. My wife, Tammy Bomia, who you guys have been talking on the phone about. Tammy was like, “I got to meet her” and you were like, “I got to meet her.”

Andrea:  [12:54] For six months.

James:  [12:55] So cool.

Jim:  [12:55] Yeah. They’ve been talking about certifications and blah blah blah.

James:  [12:59] Then you get to see people like us.

Andrea:  [13:01] Right.

James:  [13:02] That you’ve missed so dearly.

Andrea:  [13:04] You get to see who is using filters on Zoom because you’re like you look nothing like you looked on those Zoom calls.

James:  [13:10] I just use really good angles. My wife has taught me to.

Jim:  [13:12] Hold the camera up.

James:  [13:14] I have a camera mounted up on the ceiling that I look up at. Really good.

Andrea:  [13:19] [laughs] There are techniques to this now. It’s been good getting to see people in person, talk to them, and figuring out what they’re doing.

James:  [13:28] There’s a lot of training here at the SGA Natural Gas Connect. Is there any training that you’re super pumped about or kind of geeking out about?

Andrea:  [13:37] There is one on regulators. Who are they and what do they do? I think they are legal.

Jim:  [13:43] Interesting. State and federal regulators.

Andrea:  [13:47] I’m going to go to that from a legal perspective, though. What do they do?

James:  [13:51] That’s cool. That’s cool.

Andrea:  [13:51] What do they have to be aware of? They’ve got a pretty good little good track from a legal stand, so that. Then there is one on hydrogen.

James:  [13:59] I saw that.

Andrea:  [14:01] I want to get into it and then I also usually go to anything that’s operations, even though I’m OQ. You need to know about operations.

Jim:  [14:09] It’s not a bad thing.

Andrea:  [14:09] It’s not about OQ all the time. It’s good to get to know how things actually work because I’ve seen some interesting things in the past here.

Jim:  [14:17] We were just talking about that. That while we take the show on the road, not only do you want to get more live like we’re doing now in the hall and such. We actually want to go out in the field. When we visit an area, if there is one of the utilities or pipelines that’s doing a project, see if we can actually go over and see that.

James:  [14:35] Drop an invite.

Jim:  [14:35] Yeah, please let us so we would love to come out.

James:  [14:38] When we come out to shows, we’d like to go out in the field in that area and, time or not, it doesn’t matter to us. Just to show work that’s really going down.

[14:49] When we’re talking with these folks, whether it be about ESG or about LNG, wouldn’t it be cool to then chase it out there showing it in action? That’s really what we want to do. So this is a plea. We need your help.

Jim:  [15:08] Please, help us out, invite us. We will not turn down an invite, I’ll tell you that much, within all reasons.

Andrea:  [15:14] And you’ll be on your best behavior, right?

James:  [15:16] I will.

Jim:  [15:16] You know me.

James:  [15:17] We’re a safety company. We follow the rules.

Jim:  [15:20] Why did she look at me when she said that?

James:  [15:21] I don’t know. She knows you.

Andrea:  [15:23] If you’re looking for confirmation, you’ve got to say it out loud so that you can get it on.

Jim:  [15:26] I will be on my best behavior. I will follow every PPE protocol as well as job site.

James:  [15:33] all that.

Jim:  [15:34] Whatever, I’ll be the best.

Andrea:  [15:37] Thank you for your time.

Jim:  [15:38] Thank you for joining us. I know that’s so.

James:  [15:40] It’s such a treat that we got to see you, something like twice in a month’s time.

Andrea:  [15:44] I’m staying.

James:  [15:45] It’s not a bad problem. We’ll be back.

Andrea:  [15:47] Bye.

Jim:  [15:49] We’re back again.

Joe Serrett:  [15:51] We’re doing this again.

James:  [15:52] Here we are again.

Jim:  [15:53] This is special when we have Mr. Joe Serrett from UPSCO/Connections for Life.

James:  [15:59] His hundredth time on the show.

Joe:  [16:01] I have been on the show.

James:  [16:02] Sixteen times

Joe:  [16:03] I have definitely been on the show.

James:  [16:04] Definitely.

Joe:  [16:04] I always feel like I’m interviewing for the third member.

James:  [16:08] I’ve never thought of it that way.

James:  [16:12] This is why we love coming here is because we get to hang out with our friends and…

Joe:  [16:20] A lot of fun.

James:  [16:21] we’re back live SGA Natural Gas Connect.

Joe:  [16:26] In St. Louis, Missouri, it’s hotter than 75 degrees now.

James:  [16:29] The hottest.

Jim:  [16:30] It’s a stifling heat right now.

James:  [16:32] I think hot is the vibe. That’s for sure. Everyone is walking around going…

Jim:  [16:36] You know what we started to do? We started to Scotchgard the inside of our clothes. The sweat pours out the bottom.

Joe:  [16:42] I did not do that.

Jim:  [16:43] It sounded good though.

Joe:  [16:44] I feel like you’re the only guy that even knows what Scotchgard is. [laughs]

Jim:  [16:47] I’ve dated myself.

James:  [16:48] Joe, we tried something new this time, and we turned around.

Joe:  [16:52] I saw that.

James:  [16:53] You saw the shot. I don’t know if you went on that side yet, but the shot is cool because…

Joe:  [16:56] Because of the traffic.

James:  [16:56] we can actually see what’s going on. It kind of sucks for us.

Joe:  [17:04] I thought about that when we were…I don’t remember where we…AGA I think it was. We talked about that. Where do we set up? We are always worried about the background noise impacting the microphone.

Jim:  [17:15] Clinton Hicks.

James:  [17:16] Hopefully, with Clinton’s help, we’re doing good. We upgraded our mics and went with a full setup because we weren’t doing that before. We were using…

Joe:  [17:26] It’s hard to get that background out.

James:  [17:28] The last time these have worked great. We hope this is working. If not, what are you going…

Joe:  [17:35] Do you have three or four?

James:  [17:34] We do have a fourth. We didn’t pack it though.

Jim:  [17:36] When we’re mobile, three is it. We’re lean and mean.

James:  [17:42] Me and Jim will snuggle and do one if we have to.

Joe:  [17:44] I got you.

Jim:  [17:45] We’ll get on the same mic.

Joe:  [17:47] Guys, we have our 100th episode coming up, finally.

James:  [17:50] Connections For Life,” 100 episodes.

Jim:  [17:52] All right. What is going to happen on the 100th? Can you tell us or is it a secret?

James:  [17:56] 100 episodes, man.

Joe:  [17:57] I’ll give you a little sneak peek. It’s going to be interesting because we are going to be for the first time able to record together in the same room.

Jim:  [18:08] Oh, you’re going to do it together?

James:  [18:09] Not on the road, just together.

Joe:  [18:13] We’re going to be together at our corporate office. I thought it would be cool because when we started this with COVID we couldn’t be together. We thought for the 100th one it would be cool to be together.

James:  [18:24] That’s a great idea.

Joe:  [18:26] So we’re doing that next week.

Jim:  [18:27] Really?

Joe:  [18:28] We’re looking forward to that.

James:  [18:30] When would that air? In a couple of weeks? Next week?

Joe:  [18:32] Probably next week.

James:  [18:33] Awesome. 100th episode.

Joe:  [18:34] If we can do it right. Then what we also decided to do is, we talked about like, “What guests should we have on. Who should we bring on?” We kind of threw around ideas, and what we’re doing is having our marketing girl do a compilation of all of our favorites…

Jim:  [18:47] That’s nice.

[18:48] Joe …so we can talk over our favorite.

James:  [18:50] It’s just me over and over. [laughs] . It’s going to be an awkward James.

Joe:  [18:53] It’s basically just your interview.

Jim:  [18:53] James.

Joe:  [18:54] You’ll get a little something.

James:  [18:56] You’ll get plenty of James’ interviews from last time.

Jim:  [18:56] James is everybody’s favorite.

Joe:  [18:58] You know what’s crazy that that’s…

James:  [19:00] Jo’s one of my favorites, and I’m not saying that because you’re here.

Joe:  [19:04] You’re the only one with pride.

James:  [19:04] No, it’s legit.

Joe:  [19:05] You’re the only one that’s pride.

James:  [19:06] We have done it enough that it wasn’t pulling stuff. We were just talking, and the answers were really real. We really didn’t prep y’all for those questions, and so it was a real conversation.

Joe:  [19:20] With real, honest answers.

James:  [19:21] It was emotional.

Joe:  [19:21] Yeah, it was.

James:  [19:24] That’s what I loved about it.

Joe:  [19:25] It was. We’ve talked about this so many times, and I don’t want to be boring you to death, but can you guys believe that we’re sitting at SGA almost two and a half years later?

James:  [19:37] No.

Joe:  [19:38] You guys have a show, and we have a show?

James:  [19:41] Not at all.

Joe:  [19:42] One of the things that was really cool for me, and why I thought it would be cool to do the compilation, is it forced me to go back and watch all…not all, but a big part of the ones that we’ve recorded. It was like, man, I’ve met 80, new people.

James:  [19:58] Oh, my goodness.

Jim:  [19:58] From the show?

Joe:  [20:00] From the show.

James:  [20:01] No doubt about it.

Joe:  [20:02] I met 80, new people that I would have never had this opportunity to talk to you before. I run into people all the time, like C.M. Nelson. Do you guys know C.M.?

Jim:  [20:14] Yeah.

James:  [20:14] Yeah.

Joe:  [20:15] I never knew C.M.

James:  [20:16] I’ve never met him, but I do know who he is.

Joe:  [20:18] I got to meet him for the first time in Houston when Chad and I went down there. We had lunch with him and Jane Braun, who I’d never met either. We met on the show.

Jim:  [20:26] You hadn’t met Jane either?

Joe:  [20:26] No.

James:  [20:27] I’ve never met her in person.

Jim:  [20:28] You haven’t?

James:  [20:29] No, we just missed.

Joe:  [20:29] We had lunch with her.

Jim:  [20:31] Makes sense.

Joe:  [20:32] I keep in touch with them. [laughs] They’re my friends now.

Jim:  [20:37] That’s a beautiful takeaway, Joe.

Joe:  [20:39] That’s awesome.

Jim:  [20:39] I’m being sincere about that that at least we have the technology today to bridge that gap during that time and go with it.

James:  [20:47] I’ll add on to that, and then we’ll get out of this. We do this every time. It’s like 45 minutes of Joe…

Joe:  [20:53] We ramble on.

James:  [20:54] Teddy came out for EWNCON. I’m sure he’s giving you hell about it.

Joe:  [20:58] I couldn’t make it, because I had COVID.

James:  [21:01] It happens.

Joe:  [21:04] I did. I went to New Orleans. This is 100 percent going to happen. I’m going to print a t‑shirt that says, “I went to New Orleans and all I got was COVID,” because that’s what I got.

Jim:  [21:13] From AGA.

Joe:  [21:13] I was at APGA.

Jim:  [21:15] APGA, OK.

Joe:  [21:16] Yeah, with Stewart and Salter. Rob Darden couldn’t come because he had COVID, [laughs] and then I got it.

Jim:  [21:22] He was going out of the country, so he had to get healthy because otherwise…

Joe:  [21:28] It was a bit difficult. I went to New Orleans, got COVID, and your show, your EWN Conn, was literally the next week.

Jim:  [21:34] I’m glad you couldn’t come because of that reason.

James:  [21:38] I just wanted to say Teddy came up to me, and we had a lot of time to talk. We really did. We had a lot. It was a friendly conversation. I know that sounds weird, but it was like he was proud for us, proud for me.

Joe:  [21:56] All the time, he was so proud of you guys.

James:  [21:58] It wasn’t an industry thing, and it wasn’t about the show, and it wasn’t about energy world or nothing. It was just like, friend‑to‑friend, going, “Man, enjoy it. Y’all killed it.”

Joe:  [22:08] It’s just been a lot of fun.

Jim:  [22:09] That’s the key to this. Every…

James:  [22:12] I didn’t know Teddy before. I didn’t know Joe before. There’s that.

Jim:  [22:14] That all grew from this.

James:  [22:16] I didn’t.

Jim:  [22:17] We have to think about it.

James:  [22:20] All the listeners are like, “We know.”

Jim:  [22:20] We’ve got to think about Joe.

James:  [22:22] Every time you’ll belabor it.

Jim:  [22:24] We could belabor the bad stuff about COVID and all the quarantine and all that.

Joe:  [22:28] Before we go, I have one question for your guys.

Jim:  [22:29] What is it?

Joe:  [22:30] I know you’re not hockey fans, but do you know who’s in the Stanley Cup?

Jim:  [22:34] I do, the Lightning, the Tampa Lightning.

James:  [22:36] Is it the Canadians?

Joe:  [22:37] No.

Jim:  [22:38] My son lives there, in Tampa.

Joe:  [22:38] Close.

James:  [22:38] The Canucks?

Joe:  [22:40] No, the Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

James:  [22:43] I knew that.

Joe:  [22:45] Sorry, my Rangers didn’t make it. They put up a good fight, but Tampa’s a better team. They won, and I’m OK with that. From you guys, let’s do a prediction right now. Who’s going to win?

James:  [22:53] Say those two teams again?

Joe:  [22:54] The Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Jim:  [22:56] I’m going to tell you right now, my vote is for Tampa.

James:  [22:58] Are these baseball teams? It seems like baseball.

Jim:  [23:01] No, hockey.

Joe:  [23:01] Hockey. I know you’re from Texas but…

Jim:  [23:03] My son got me on the ice at Tampa.

James:  [23:06] I’m so sorry, guys. Hey, Danny, is the Avalanche going to win?

Danny:  [23:05] Yes, we’ll win.

Joe:  [23:07] Avalanche is how many?

James:  [23:08] Avalanche by 16. How does it work?

Joe:  [23:12] Wait a minute, Avalanche? You’re taking Tampa, I’m going to take Colorado. They play a seven‑game series, so whoever wins the first four games…

James:  [23:18] Do I have to wear something on my show? I’m not doing that.

Joe:  [23:21] No, I just want to know in how many games, is it going to take for this?

James:  [23:23] 16 games.

Jim:  [23:24] No, it can’t take that long. Seven’s the max.

Joe:  [23:26] Seven games, you’ve got to win four.

Jim:  [23:28] I was just kidding.

Joe:  [23:27] How many games? You can max out at seven.

Jim:  [23:30] Can I go six and a half?

Joe:  [23:31] No.

James:  [23:32] How would I know this?

Jim:  [23:32] I’m going to go seven because you’re going to try to…

Joe:  [23:35] You’re going to go eight, seven, all the way to the end.

Jim:  [23:38] You’re going to stretch it out.

Joe:  [23:40] What about you?

James:  [23:41] Five.

Joe:  [23:36] I was going to say five but I’ll go six.

James:  [23:42] We’ll do both five, and then we’ll figure out how to break the tie when they’re not…

Jim:  [23:46] Let’s go with five, six, seven.

James:  [23:49] We don’t know yet. We’re not going to talk about that one there. We have hot mics.

Jim:  [23:52] Allegedly a wager.

Joe:  [23:53] Stake dinner.

James:  [23:53] All right, that’s fair.

Jim:  [23:56] I like it.

James:  [23:56] Joe, good to see you, brother. Thanks, brother.

Joe:  [24:00] As always, appreciate it.

James:  [23:56] We’ll be right back.

Jim:  [24:01] Good to see you. What do I love about this? Non‑stop. Boom, boom, boom.

James:  [24:07] A hundred miles bucks an hour.

Jim:  [24:10] In, out, in, out.

James:  [24:11] You’ve been watching it from the other side.

Chris Isaacson:  [24:12] Now I’m on the inside.

Jim:  [24:14] He wanted to be on. Chris was, kept going like this.

James:  [24:16] He was like, “Guys, wade me on. Wade me in,” so we called him in. He’s in.

Chris:  [24:20] Tag me in.

James:  [24:19] He’s in. Chris Isaacson.

Chris:  [24:20] We’re in.

Jim:  [24:21] I was going to say, do the little intro. Tell the audience who you are, what you do.

Chris:  [24:24] Chris Isaacson and just fabulous to be with you, gentlemen, today.

James:  [24:28] That’s a lot.

Chris:  [24:29] It’s been a while.

James:  [24:29] It’s been since AGA. We were at AGA in Orlando, and we did this thing for the first time.

Chris:  [24:35] That was fantastic.

James:  [24:36] Here we are, like an old hat. Jimmy and I have been doing it two weeks in a row.

Jim:  [24:40] It is.

James:  [24:42] We’re basically professionals now.

Chris:  [24:43] Did you guys have to dust yourself off for this, or is it just…

James:  [24:45] Just every morning.

Jim:  [24:46] All we do.

James:  [24:47] That’s how I start my day.

Chris:  [24:48] [laughs] Brush your shoulders off?

James:  [24:50] Brush the haters off.

Jim:  [24:50] You ready for this, it’s like water that we put back in the tray and we refreeze it. We just get back in the game.

Chris:  [24:56] Right in.

Jim:  [24:57] You like that? That was a good analogy.

James:  [24:59] Love it.

Chris:  [24:59] [laughs]

James:  [24:59] Chris, we’ve got the A‑team here today. We always bring the A‑team. All our teams are A‑team. We’ve got a great group of people here. Y’all are speaking tomorrow?

Chris:  [25:10] We are.

James:  [25:11] First thing in the morning. I talked about it in the intro, normalization of deviance and…

Jim:  [25:16] It’s a great topic and a great safety topic.

James:  [25:19] Sometimes we let training slide and bringing things back on track. You and Danny are going to be doing that in the morning.

Chris:  [25:26] Bright and early.

Jim:  [25:27] What time?

Chris:  [25:27] 8:00.

James:  [25:29] Chris loves the first light of the day. He’s a first‑light‑of‑the‑day kind of guy.

Chris:  [25:33] Just wake everybody up.

James:  [25:34] He’s pumped.

Jim:  [25:36] Let’s be honest. I am the first light of the day. Chris is like, “Can I do it at nine o’clock at night?”

James:  [25:41] Chris turns on a little bit later.

Joe:  [25:44] That’s also where those lights come in.

Jim:  [25:47] They do.

James:  [25:48] For sure, 100 percent. Chris, you haven’t been out this year. You’ve been out this year to the conference?

Chris:  [25:51] No, first, big one.

James:  [25:53] Where are you going?

Chris:  [25:55] I went to the other one like that too. I went to a small one right when we kicked everything up. This is the first time back to the real deal.

James:  [26:01] You’re really getting back to it.

Chris:  [26:02] Real deal.

Jim:  [26:02] What do you think? What do you feel? What are you feeling inside when you walk in?

Chris:  [26:04] It’s great. There’s all the energy. They let him in early. Everybody got to come in early because they were like they felt the energy out there.

Jim:  [26:11] There were maybe 200 people waiting for him.

James:  [26:13] We were talking. We already told the audience this place, about two hours ago, looked a little bit different.

Chris:  [26:18] A skeleton.

James:  [26:19] There’s no pictures on the scorecard.

James:  [26:20] This place looks amazing. People are coming by. They’re doing VR there. This place is lit up. All of our….

Chris:  [26:29] Our partners.

James:  [26:29] our friends are back there. Yeah.

Jim:  [26:31] Wait, is that Artera behind us?

James:  [26:34] Yeah.

Jim:  [26:34] Yup.

James:  [26:34] Did we strategically place…

Jim:  [26:35] I’m not sure what that said.

James:  [26:39] Last call.

Chris:  [26:40] Last call at that.

James:  [26:41] You know what that means?

Chris:  [26:39] I guess that’s us. Isn’t it great? I’m happy to be here. I’m glad you guys are back. The energy you guys bring, top‑notch all the time.

Jim:  [26:51] You bring energy too, bro.

Chris:  [26:53] Always.

James:  [26:53] I’ll see you, brother.

Chris:  [26:55] Thank you.

James:  [26:56] All right, man, we’ll be right back.

Jim:  [26:56] Naturally, we are back.

James:  [27:00] That’s what happens. When we leave, we come back.

Jim:  [27:03] It just happens like this, and our good friend Jo Ellen. Jo Ellen, please introduce yourself to the audience. Tell them who you are, what you do, and why you’re here.

Jo Ellen Scott:  [27:11] I’m Jo Ellen Scott, and I work for EN Engineering. I work with pipeline safety management systems and regulatory strategy.

James:  [27:20] Now that makes sense, because Steve…

Jim:  [27:23] Steve Allen brought you over to…

James:  [27:25] Steve’s such a PSMS. He loves it.

James:  [27:24] Every person he brings is into that. Y’all all run together. You don’t get far.

Jo:  [27:34] Sorry. I worked for a utility when Steve was still at IURC. He’s a recovering regulator. You have to forgive him.

Jim:  [27:42] He is a recovering regulator, ex‑GPAC.

James:  [27:46] We don’t judge him not one bit.

Jim:  [27:48] We just walk around like this.

James:  [27:49] We love him just as so.

Joe:  [27:53] What do you think about being back at the SGA?

Jo:  [27:54] It’s awesome. It’s been a while.

James:  [27:57] Has it?

Jo:  [27:57] It’s so nice to be back with people.

James:  [27:59] Is this your first time out in a while to a conference, or did you get to give a couple?

Jo:  [28:03] There have been two others. We’ve had two other presentations already this year.

Jim:  [28:03] Are you presenting with Steve here or not?

Jo:  [28:09] I’m presenting, and I’m presenting with Steve.

James:  [28:12] Twofer.

Jim:  [28:13] That’s going to be a good one. You’re on your own?

James:  [28:16] Are you on a panel will Steve?

Chris:  [28:17] A whole panel.

Jo:  [28:18] Yes, I’m on a panel with Steve.

James:  [28:20] Who else is on that panel? If you have all the info for it, feel free to plug it.

Jo:  [28:25] I’m presenting at session two. We’re talking about lessons learned from implementing a safety management system. It’s a follow‑up to a presentation that my vice president, Jim Francis, did it at AGA.

Jim:  [28:39] Shout out to Jim.

Jo:  [28:40] Hi, Jim. There was some interest in hearing a little bit more about that. I’ll be sharing from that implementer’s side. Using those lessons learned, what we found, and then also what we find as we work with other utilities, and what can be helpful. I’ll also be presenting some alternate approaches, where to start, how do we start, how do we measure maturity, all those things.

James:  [29:10] I’m a nerd about it too. I get to do a lot of Steve’s PowerPoint. I used to.

Jim:  [29:16] You used to.

James:  [29:17] I don’t do a lot now. I got to learn it all through his eyes. I would be in a meeting with him saying, “What does this mean,” so I could understand it. I learned it through that. That’s how I got exposed, originally.

Jim:  [29:33] You remember, it’s a journey, not a destination.

James:  [29:36] That sounds like Steve.

Jo:  [29:38] Absolutely, it is a journey. It can feel very daunting, but it’s all about intentionality and understanding.

Jo:  [29:45] It’s all about intentionality and understanding the long‑term implications of our actions. It’s not necessarily just about the things we put in the ground. It’s about how we manage our day‑to‑day business, and what are the messages we’re sending with our actions. One of the utility companies has a logo, a motto, “Actions speak louder”.

James:  [30:12] That’s cool.

Jo:  [30:14] We can say we have certain values. We can say that safety is important. We can say that continued support is important. Until we really understand the implications of as a manager, as a supervisor, I yell at somebody when they bring me an issue, is that really helping? Is that really what we want long‑term?

[30:35] It’s about not only understanding what the guys out the field are doing. It’s also about understanding and managing what we do in the office or anywhere we might be.

Jim:  [30:47] She and Steve speak the same language.

James:  [30:49] Same language.

Jim:  [30:50] They’re like two peas in a pod. They’re going down this path.

James:  [30:53] This panel’s going to be amazing.

James:  [30:54] It may last 14 hours, but because it’s Steve…

James:  [30:59] It’s Steve, totally Steve.

Jim:  [31:00] Not you, Jo Ellen.

James:  [31:01] I’m sure you’re fine. I’m sure. It’s awesome. Thanks for the panel, for stopping by, for the work you’re yet to do everywhere. We’re having Jim Francis on, next month?

Jim:  [31:14] Yeah, we are.

James:  [31:15] We just booked him.

Jo:  [31:16] There you go. We’re excited.

Jim:  [31:16] Maybe we might have to have you sneak on there with Jim.

Jo:  [31:20] A little…

James:  [31:21] A little cameo. We’ll see you in the background.

Jim:  [31:24] We’ll be back. Thanks.

James:  [31:27] Jimmy, we’re back.

Jim:  [31:30] We are back.

James:  [31:31] Just like that.

Jim:  [31:32] Who happens to stop by…

James:  [31:35] It’s just one after another, after another, after another. Is that your friend, Tim?

Jim:  [31:37] Tim Jackson. I’ve known Tim for years, and years, and years. The best thing about Tim, he is the ultimate cowboy. When you see him, he is a cowboy through and through yet he lives outside of Cincinnati.

[31:47] The thing with cowboys, they really like to have our jeans starched. Tim drives over an hour to get his jeans starched.

James:  [31:56] Is that true?

Jim:  [31:56] That’s a true story.

Tim Jackson:  [31:57] That is true.

Jim:  [31:58] How many times have I told today, because I know that?

Tim:  [32:01] At least four times, and just today.

Jim:  [32:02] At least.

James:  [32:03] Look, I got a little crease in mind today. It kind of fell out. It is humid here.

Tim:  [32:09] It’s very humid here.

James:  [32:10] Holy cow, it’s hot.

Jim:  [32:11] Tim, please introduce yourself to the audience. Tell them who you with, what you do, what your passions are.

Tim:  [32:16] Tim Jackson, I’m a Southern Cross. Then, with them 10 years, your field service provider whatever you need. Leak survey, metering, locating, just give us a call. We’re here to help.

Jim:  [32:30] Any of that stuff, you there to help?

Tim:  [32:32] That’s right.

James:  [32:33] Tim, when did you get in? Did you fly in?

Tim:  [32:36] No.

Jim:  [32:36] No, I know the answer to this.

Tim:  [32:37] I drove in.

James:  [32:39] We rode in on his horse.

Jim:  [32:41] If he could, he would have, trust me.

Jim:  [32:44] A true cowboy. It was nine hours.

Tim:  [32:46] Five and a half.

Jim:  [32:46] Five and a half, OK.

Tim:  [32:49] From Cincinnati.

Jim:  [32:49] That’s not too bad. We’re talking about airfare, air flights lately. A lot of delays and everything, and Tim’s like, “Nope I’m just going to drive.”

Tim:  [32:57] You’ll never forget that.

Jim:  [32:58] You are faster driving than an actual flight.

Tim:  [33:00] Then you were fine.

James:  [33:02] No doubt about it.

Jim:  [33:01] Not a doubt.

James:  [33:03] Not even close. So, SGA we’re at the opening. We are about to go, but you’ll go to Anheuser‑Busch today?

Tim:  [33:10] No, I will pass on that.

James:  [33:11] That’s probably good. Make good choices, Tim.

Tim:  [33:13] Get a good night’s sleep, I’m out of here early in the morning.

James:  [33:16] That’s me in the morning, how things are.

James:  [33:18] We’ll see how that went. We got a full day tomorrow. You’re excited about any of the training or you’re checking out some of it?

Tim:  [33:26] Looking forward to what I can learn…

James:  [33:27] There’s a lot of sessions.

Tim:  [33:29] and meet some new people.

Jim:  [33:29] Good, that’s the key in these, meeting new people, right?

Tim:  [33:33] You’re exactly right.

Jim:  [33:33] Seeing old friends, but we just pick up right where we left off.

Tim:  [33:37] Yes.

James:  [33:38] Cool. All right. Hey Tim, good to see. Good to meet you. Did we meet before? I feel like.

Tim:  [33:45] Probably so.

James:  [33:46] We’re going to say we did, but we met again today for the first time.

Jim:  [33:50] For the first time today?

James:  [33:51] Yes, we do.

Jim:  [33:52] Sounds that side.

James:  [33:53] All right, we’ll be right back.

Jim:  [33:55] See you in a minute. James?

James:  [33:57] Man, that was quite the run. I’ve only been here an hour and a half. I know this will only translate to ‑‑ one, two, three ‑‑ 20 minutes of content, but to record a 20‑minute of content in that amount of time, we got to hunt people down. They come by, we’re having conversations. It’s been busy.

Jim:  [34:17] It is scheduling though too, I mean it’s on the fly. But somebody will wait, then also they’ll get pulled by somebody else.

James:  [34:25] And, you don’t want to interrupt, what’s we’re here for. You look, and somebody’s talking to somebody. I mean, it’s happening everywhere. Look, everywhere. Look out that way. I wish they could see it that way.

Jim:  [34:38] Yeah, we got people from panel [inaudible] right next we’re going to be tomorrow.

James:  [34:42] Over there. That’s why I buzzed over.

Jim:  [34:45] It was a great opening session.

James:  [34:47] We got a full day tomorrow, we’re going to do the same. You know what we do, and then we got to be on a panel, we got to do all of the things tomorrow, so it’s going to be a busy day.

Jim:  [34:57] LNG committee, it’s going to be going strong tomorrow morning. I’m excited for that. We start at 8:00 AM and then you’re moderating at 10:20. It’ll be fantastic.

James:  [35:06] You know, it’s my first time moderating ever.

Jim:  [35:10] Are you serious?

James:  [35:10] I mean, I feel like a moderate…

Jim:  [35:12] You moderate here every day.

Jim:  [35:13] Anyways.

James:  [35:16] It’s a good deal. All right, we’ll shut it down, we’ll be back tomorrow.

Jim:  [35:20] Sounds good. Until then.

James:  [35:21] Bye‑bye.

Jim:  [35:22] Stay safe.

Transcription by WatchingWords