Live @ Midwest Damage Prevention Training Conference - Coffee with Jim and James Episode 166

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Dies are falling. [00:00:25] Speaker B: And also the air is very dry. [00:00:28] Speaker C: Man, my lips are chapped from being out on that golf course between the sun and the wind. [00:00:33] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:00:35] Speaker C: And I play such good golf, allegedly. No, I really don't. I did chip one in yesterday, which, you have to understand, this course is really. It's probably a. On my list of courses I've played and the shape it was in and everything. A top three course in real life. It was that good. It was so hard, but it was so much fun as a scramble. And we had a great team. [00:01:04] Speaker B: What did you like? What were your top three things you liked about the course, though? Because. [00:01:07] Speaker C: Absolutely gorgeous. Every inch of it, fairway wise. And everything was like, manicured. I mean, it was like hitting off carpet. And I know you're from Florida, y'all the best climate for golf courses. I get it. Like, in Georgia and stuff like that. But I mean, up there, too, Ohio and stuff always have great courses, right? So up here, Indiana, like same, man, it was great. Hardest screens probably I've ever played on. But again, fun. The putts as a team, when you have people that can putt and understand and can really learn off each other's putts. We had a blast yesterday. It was me, man. See if I can do it. You ready? [00:01:49] Speaker B: I'm waiting. With bated breath. [00:01:51] Speaker C: It was me. [00:01:52] Speaker B: Yes. [00:01:52] Speaker C: Got that one. [00:01:53] Speaker B: We got that twice. [00:01:53] Speaker C: Shane Hart from utilicate. It's a hard one to say. Him and I were cart partners. Adam Hooper from Heath. Great dude, excellent golfer. We saw him get out and we knew he was going to. Thankfully, he was on my team. [00:02:17] Speaker B: Yeah, thankfully. He's got the golfer body, meaning that he's very tall and he's got long arms. [00:02:22] Speaker C: The ball. And he puts, man, he was throwing darts at the pen, so he was great. And then Gerald. Gerald. [00:02:32] Speaker B: Gerald. [00:02:33] Speaker C: Gerald. [00:02:33] Speaker B: No, it's Gerald. [00:02:35] Speaker C: Which I cannot for the life of me think of Gerald's last name. Yeah. [00:02:38] Speaker B: And he's from the city of. [00:02:41] Speaker C: It's a city of. [00:02:42] Speaker B: Oh, jeez. [00:02:43] Speaker C: It's not too far from here. He was amazing, too, and we had a blast. And the weather was top notch. We were worried about it being cold. [00:02:53] Speaker B: Well, yesterday morning it was 35 degrees when we walked, I think it was 640. You and I walked outside. [00:02:58] Speaker C: It was still dark. [00:03:00] Speaker B: Frost on all the cars. [00:03:01] Speaker C: Listen, I left some things in the dryer, I think, at home that I meant to. Oh, that you meant a few layers. Yeah, a few layers were missing that I thought were in my bag. And I didn't bring a big coat. I was glad to wear this this morning. I wore all my warm stuff yesterday on the golf course. [00:03:20] Speaker B: My mind living in Florida, one, I lost track of all seasons. And that really happened when I moved to the south from Minnesota. When I lived in Minnesota, you had seasons and you knew it. When I moved to Texas for the first time, it really took me like two years to get indoctrinated. Now moving over to Florida, it is like, I mean, it's beautiful weather, seasons in Florida, hurricane and then everything else. [00:03:44] Speaker C: I was going to say 430 at Sizzler season. [00:03:48] Speaker B: That's for the early bird special. [00:03:50] Speaker C: Yeah. Jimmy knows. If you know, you know, you know. Excellent. We got the thumbs up. [00:03:57] Speaker B: We just got the thumbs up. She's going to be on the podcast next. [00:04:01] Speaker C: Full transparency. Last night we recorded a podcast intro and for. We didn't even tell people where we're at. [00:04:10] Speaker B: Jimmy, Midwest damage prevention training conference. The longest title I have heard, but it really is applicable. [00:04:17] Speaker C: It's a mouthful. [00:04:18] Speaker B: And just real quickly, before you go into that, eleven years it's been here. It started as a grassroots effort here in the midwest to help folks with damage prevention. And it has grown and grown and grown over 700 people. But anyways, last night we were at the reception. [00:04:33] Speaker C: Yeah. And we had planned the entire week, the entire time to record from the hall. Last night at the boogie boogie bash, which was the theme this year was 1950s 50s for those that don't know, which I don't know. So I learned it this year. Getting ready for this event is they have a kind of a kickoff reception, a bash. And this year they had live music. Again, the first time. We didn't know. [00:05:05] Speaker B: We didn't know. [00:05:06] Speaker C: It's our first time. Every time we've been, there's a theme and people dress up and I'm going to put air quotes around this for the audio listeners. Costume. And so 1950 character, character. There you go. So it could be anything, right? It could be a baseball player from that time. It could be just dressed in that kind of gear. It could be anything around that theme. [00:05:31] Speaker B: So what did we see, though? Let's explain what I saw. Poodle skirts. A lot of ladies were wearing the poodle skirts, the white tennis shoes that were very much of that era. The gentleman were wearing the rolled up jeans. [00:05:44] Speaker A: Rolling. [00:05:45] Speaker C: Rolled know cigarettes in your know, nothing like Ben Warren. If you know Ben Warren, you got visual with cigarettes rolled up in his sleeve. Like, who are you kidding, man? What is that? [00:05:56] Speaker A: Where'd you borrow those? [00:05:57] Speaker C: He's like, it's a deck of cards, let's be honest. So it was great to see all those folks, number one, having fun. If there's anything, if you've never been to a damage prevention event, these folks have fun. I mean, point blank, that's what they do. Awareness is a big part of the damage prevention industry. And so a lot of these people work in marketing and events, and a lot of what they do is liaison work. So getting people together and doing these things, I will say I've been to a lot of events in a lot of segments in our industry, and this one always is fun. Damage prevention, well, it is. [00:06:36] Speaker B: And when we say fun, that's an important thing. We have to have fun every day. Everybody here takes this extremely seriously. [00:06:43] Speaker C: What do we say at Energy world net? There's no reason it can't be fun. [00:06:47] Speaker B: It needs to be fun, because when you have fun, you're more productive, you have great thought processes, great knowledge sharing. That's what's happening here. And so even last night at the boogie woogie bash, again, people were having fun. But you see these conversations going on. You see operators talking with contractors and you see people talking to equipment manufacturers and understanding how this can help the process go a little bit more. So I really am a proponent of it because when people are having fun, they're having discussions, we're having discussions. These friendships, these relationships continue, they strengthen, they grow. And that's the thing that we always say about echo Chamber, James, is that when we get out of our echo chamber, we're in an echo chamber here. Let's be realistic. We're with 700 people that are all like minded, but how do we take this back and how do we, again, use it day in and day out? And most importantly, share this information not just with our coworkers in our industry, but really when we think about damage prevention, the family, the person, anybody that has at home and is going to put a bush in the backyard or in the front yard needs to call eight one one first, just to make sure they're safe, first and foremost. [00:07:58] Speaker C: Yeah. Click to dig. [00:08:00] Speaker B: Oh, sure. [00:08:01] Speaker C: That's the new campaign, whatever it is. And it's funny you say know, we're here to build relationships and how important they are to this segment as well. That's how we got here. Yeah. [00:08:15] Speaker B: Great story. [00:08:16] Speaker C: I did not know Steve Allen before he joined energy World. I didn't personally, I never met him. I didn't do work out in the industry. So you may have, you may have seen him speak or seen him on an agenda while you were at dig Pen, but for me, I wasn't in the industry yet. Right. Yeah. So my first exposure, I only had a couple of years until Steve Allen told me last night. He's been here five. [00:08:42] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:08:42] Speaker C: That's incredible. I've only been here two and a half more years than that. So seeing him here, and he invited us multiple years to come here. He told us how great this event was. And not that we don't believe people, but truthfully, Jimmy, we go to a lot of events as energy world net, and specifically even more for coffee with Jim and James. And so we hear every event is awesome. [00:09:10] Speaker B: Yeah, we do. [00:09:11] Speaker C: And that's not a knock to any event, but they are, and they all have their. So it takes us a while to take LGA. How long did it take me to get to LGA? Is there any question in my mind that LGA is important anymore? [00:09:27] Speaker D: No, not at all. [00:09:29] Speaker C: Who's the biggest advocate in the world for LGA? [00:09:31] Speaker E: You are. [00:09:31] Speaker D: Yeah, you've surpassed me. [00:09:33] Speaker B: And I was the one beating the drum because again, a lot of times you can think, okay, Midwest damage. Okay, that's about Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan. Well, it's really not. It's much more. It's almost national. LGA 192 195. That is a national event from California to northeast, people come to that. And that's a thing that you have to explore it. You have to get out, you have to really see, understand, feel, and really dive in with both feet. One thing, though, I will say though, that's really important is know with the Midwest damage, I think too, with energy Worldnet and also with damage prevention Academy being part of us now, I'm not saying that I think we're evolving and growing and opening up so many other areas for energy world net learning. And I think for us, the damage prevention world, I've always been, for 25 years, been involved with it. But I think now as a service. [00:10:36] Speaker C: Though, like you used it as a service, more so as an industry segment, it wasn't that for you, it was more of something you had to do to comply. [00:10:46] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:10:47] Speaker C: So you only saw one part which was really, I'm going to be frank, the pain in the butt. That was the ticket system, and to some people still is the ticket system that needs reform. And we continue to reform and work through and new techs coming and there's people building on top of parts. But probably when you were in the thick of being a contractor, it was not the most favorable process. [00:11:11] Speaker B: No, you probably really did have to. [00:11:14] Speaker C: Call before you did we did. [00:11:17] Speaker B: And I will say sometimes you might have been very expressive in your language during some time. Allegedly, when you're doing a project and I'll throw myself under the bus sometimes it was putting the cart before the horse and not really sticking. I wouldn't say sticking to it, but really making sure that you do your due diligence up front, planning what you're going to do. How is it laid out? When are you going to call? When's it going to get marked? When is digging going to start? Is that all laid out? Because if you expect to wake up on a Monday morning and expect to be digging by 07:45 a.m. And you haven't called yet, guys, I have not done my job. [00:11:56] Speaker C: And let's take it a step further. Right. That's the part we're here for here. But let's tie it all together because there's a bigger picture there. If you are waiting to get that response on a ticket, to only find out that your person is not qualified or trained or certified and or your equipment, absolutely. [00:12:16] Speaker B: Your equipment hasn't been calibrated, inspected, or. [00:12:18] Speaker C: Maintained properly, and you're shut down after that. After waiting that whole time and finally getting the clear to break ground, to disturb ground, you can see why this makes a lot more sense. We've always been passionate about damage prevention for years. Our vision is to make the world a safer place to work. [00:12:39] Speaker D: Absolutely. [00:12:39] Speaker C: That starts with damage prevention. If we can prevent any of this from happening, we have better chances of making the world a safer place. [00:12:48] Speaker B: You're right for all of us to work. I agree, and you brought up a great point. Some of our discussions lately with project managers in the engineering world, where they're planning these projects and they're saying, hey, February 15, we're going to start this project. And I just ask a simple question, who are you going to have working on it? And like you said, the equipment. And are they qualified, and will the equipment be passed all their inspection ready to go on the 15th? Not today. [00:13:16] Speaker C: Now we have emissions where you need to be worried about. And is all that being logged in, and are those same machines calibrated and been redeployed? Because all of that plays into it. [00:13:30] Speaker B: Yeah. Again, the project managers kind of geek out on it because they're managing the project and they're thinking about the future, and they're like, oh, wait a minute. Yeah, I can find out. Everything's good today. But on February 15, that's when the rubber hits the road. And am I good for the entire length of the project. Is the project a two day project or is it going to be two and a half weeks? And so they have to look from the 15th out to the end of that project just to make sure that everything is good, because if you have a worker that all of a sudden, on the 20th, their oqs need to be redone, so to speak. Absolutely. Anyways, it's wonderful being here. And again, that is just an example of some of the discussions that we're having here. And that's some of the things where people bounce ideas off each other and they gain something and they go back and they say hey, to the team. Hey, let's make sure we check on this, because it really does all go together. [00:14:23] Speaker C: Yeah. So, Jimmy, we're here through. Well, really today. This is our full day of recording. We're right outside the breakout session halls, which, when I say breakouts, there's only, like, three going at a time. And these are huge, Jimmy. They look like they seat 250. [00:14:43] Speaker D: Yeah, I was going to say 300 people. [00:14:45] Speaker C: And they're set up theater style, right? [00:14:48] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:49] Speaker C: Isn't that what that's called? [00:14:50] Speaker B: Yeah, it's called theater style. Rows and rows and rows. [00:14:53] Speaker C: Literally, they are piled in there. The keynote room we were in this morning having breakfast, which is just wrapping up now, which when I said I was going to go grab some stuff, really? I snuck in there. Did you? I did. That's cool. Which was cool. [00:15:08] Speaker B: Not that I don't. But you always embrace that. [00:15:10] Speaker C: I'm hoping we get lucky. Maybe we can talk to him, too. But there's so much going on here this week. These rooms are huge. The keynote room was set up. We did some rough math, didn't we? It's probably set up for 800 or 900 this morning. So when we say this event is bigger than just a regional or state level, we mean it has the vibes. What I mean, is it being non jurisdictional in nature, like LGA, like, where they're pulling people in from all over that are stakeholders that want to be here for the right reasons? I love it. Yeah, love it, love it. We're going to grab some people, bring them on. Throughout the week, I'm hoping to have Steve Allen. I want to hear some of the origin stories here. We've told him. Told him. Can you tell Steve Allen stuff? I don't think so. [00:16:02] Speaker B: Well, you can highly suggest to Allen. [00:16:05] Speaker C: We sent him an email. I hope he got it. No, but we'll ask him politely if he would please flex his. Who's your muscles and bring some of his folks on to this is his world. It really is. [00:16:25] Speaker B: He already said last night, and he understood. He was like the music slot. I'd rather bring him by today. This morning he was thinking about the PSMS panel that's going to be on here today, bringing them by, maybe doing a group chat real quick. He talked about some, quote unquote huge operators from the state of Indiana. He also talked about some regulators. He's on it. [00:16:47] Speaker C: He introduced us to a ton of people last night. So last night, just to put a bow on all that last night, we decided not to record there. It was so loud. And so we're going to kick off this podcast. We'll bring some people on. It's going to be lively. Right behind us, a Christmas season. If you were here, you could see it. Check out some of the shorts. If you're not watching those on LinkedIn. I mean, is there a better way to consume things these days than little micro videos? [00:17:18] Speaker B: It's great for the fast stuff throughout the day where you can take a quick break and watch those. This podcast version is great. When you're in the car and you're. [00:17:26] Speaker C: Making that trip to LinkedIn needs listen, LinkedIn free of charge, unless it makes a lot of money and you need to pay me royalties. You need to make a business shorts video section on LinkedIn where you can make TikTok style videos about business things so that we can consume. Use the same video feed you're using now, what you used to upload, but just use the same tech and feed it back to us as a feed like TikTok, but only about business. You're missing it. That's what I do on TikTok. I consume business related stuff and life hacks. Why wouldn't we want the same on LinkedIn? That's what we go there for. So build it free of charge. Jeez. Okay, that's all I got, Jimmy, we're here all week. Let's do it through tonight. It's good to see you two weeks in a row. [00:18:22] Speaker B: Yeah, then we got a little bit of a break, and then we're in Alabama. Alabama pipeline safety conference, one of the hosting bingo. And it may sound strange, but that was my first time last year, if you know, you know when all of a sudden I thought it would be like twelve people for ten minutes. All of a sudden I walk into this room, there's over 300 people, and it was over 2 hours. They had over $8,000 worth of prizes. [00:18:49] Speaker C: I know people think we have a mic. And we get to do material and bits all the time. But we don't get to really just freestyle anymore. We used to do those freestyle episodes. Oh, yeah. This is about as freestyle as it gets. But when you give us a mic for 2 hours and let us just uncontrollably do material. I'm already working on my jokes. [00:19:12] Speaker B: Well, this is where freestyle led to. Was this because originally we were so rigid the first year? I mean, honestly, things written down. We haven't written down things in ages. Okay. We are who we are and we go with who we are. You know my style, I know yours. And then the guest is along for a crazy ride for however long that is. [00:19:36] Speaker C: Sometimes when me and you are out and we record. And Ashley's just as bad now, too. When we're all out, it's even worse. But you can get back and there's so much content to parse through, so much gold. And everything's recorded and everything's video, too. Between that and the bloops and everything, Ashley probably looks like a raccoon digging in the trash can. When we come back, just pulling stuff out. [00:20:03] Speaker A: What is this? [00:20:04] Speaker D: I go on LinkedIn last night. It was like, I don't know, 930 10:00 and all of a sudden there's. [00:20:08] Speaker B: A clip of me singing. Put your. [00:20:12] Speaker C: That's great. [00:20:13] Speaker B: That's enough singing. [00:20:14] Speaker C: Well, we'll bring some folks on. Stay tuned. [00:20:16] Speaker B: Yep. [00:20:19] Speaker C: Oh, man, I played golf yesterday and my back was already hurting. Now it's really hurting. That's really what this podcast is about, Jimmy. Hurting is being old and being tired and gray. Yeah, and gray. We talk about how our back hurts. For me, it's the different beds, I. [00:20:41] Speaker B: Think what we talk about. Yeah. What we talk about. Now we're getting to the point of what doesn't hurt. [00:20:46] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a good. [00:20:50] Speaker B: You know, when we can sit down with our good friend Jimmy and have a few minutes to share some good messages. It's always a great day. And I tell you, he walked around the corner this morning and saw each other and my just. [00:21:03] Speaker C: It's just all of our eyes lit up because Jimmy and I have been communicating. We've communicated. So we talked. Let's see, were you at Texas eight? [00:21:16] Speaker A: One. [00:21:16] Speaker C: One. [00:21:16] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. You came on with. Sorry, it was a blur. [00:21:20] Speaker C: We've been to a few. So Ashley was there. You weren't there. [00:21:23] Speaker B: No, I was not there, which is cool. But again, our whole journey took place at CGA in Orlando. And again, I'll harp on it relationships and friendships in the industry. When we can do things great together, it helps everybody in the industry. So, Jimmy, before we go further, would you please introduce yourself to the. [00:21:44] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:21:45] Speaker F: Jeremy Wang with Creative Partners LLP and I do a lot of consulting and some investments in this beautiful damage prevention industry. [00:21:53] Speaker C: Yeah. And we said back in the common ground alliance. Right. And we had you on, and that was right when the 55 challenge came out, right? [00:22:04] Speaker F: Yes. They threw down, Sarah threw down a gauntlet. [00:22:08] Speaker C: Everybody's eyes got wide. [00:22:10] Speaker F: It's good. I mean, it's almost like JFK's. We're going to go to the moon before the end of the decade. [00:22:16] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. [00:22:17] Speaker C: Let's figure it out. [00:22:18] Speaker B: You need to have a goal. [00:22:20] Speaker F: If we're easy, it would already have been done. [00:22:22] Speaker C: Yeah. So you're from the indie area, and so it makes sense why you're here at the midwest damage prevention training conference. But for those maybe that don't understand, you've been here before, right? [00:22:38] Speaker F: Yeah. Beautiful french lick. It's almost like, goes back to previous time. And it's a gorgeous hotel in the area. And the hotel reminds me a little of the shining in a good way. [00:22:54] Speaker C: Yeah. And I said that last night to people, this hotel. So we're over at West Baden, which is beautiful. Yeah. It seems less haunted. And we love this place. Believe me, you'll know when you come here, there is a feeling you get. [00:23:11] Speaker F: I feel like saying red rum sometimes walking through the hallways. [00:23:14] Speaker C: I'm telling you, y'all should do that later. I think this hold hands. [00:23:18] Speaker B: I don't know about that. [00:23:20] Speaker C: That's content the world needs. [00:23:22] Speaker F: But it's a beautiful, it's a gorgeous hotel. If you haven't seen it, definitely come out. Mary, Patricia, Justin, and team puts on a great conference. That's more than mean. Every time I come, I learn something. [00:23:38] Speaker B: And that's saying a lot from you, because you are an industry icon and. [00:23:42] Speaker C: Champion for Jimmy's been to a lot of boondoggles. I trust him on this. No, we have. No, it is. You can tell people are here for the right reason. Obviously, it's damage. Jimmy, you. In fact, when we were at CGA, we had no idea, right. How much of an icon you are to this industry. Well. And how well respected you are. And so when we were there, people turned to you kind of like, now what? [00:24:14] Speaker A: Right. [00:24:15] Speaker C: How are we going to do this? How are we going to go to the moon? Like you said. And so now you've had a lot more time to think about that. But I've thought about sitting back down with you and asking that question. So what is it? What is it that we need to focus on right now more than anything in our. [00:24:30] Speaker F: Yeah, I think it's continuing the collaboration between stakeholders and within stakeholders. But beyond that, I think we have to focus more on the data and analysis of the data, the mapping. So I love it when I come to these things and see solutions like that from sitemap, by gprs or four m analytics and just, instead of just throwing more heads and hours at the challenge that are not scalable, but leveraging the data, the mountains of data that we're all collecting and sharing some of that data and analyzing it in an intelligent way and then providing it in a usable way for the industry to use in the field and in offices to reduce damages and improve safety. [00:25:24] Speaker C: There's so much data. [00:25:25] Speaker B: Yeah, so what I'm hearing, and again, he's a techie, I mean, this guy is through and through, but from what I'm hearing, allegedly from being an ex operator, from what I'm hearing is we have data. We need some sort of technology innovation and such to make it usable each and every day and especially out on the right of ways. [00:25:44] Speaker F: Absolutely. The industry works very hard. All these stakeholders work very hard at providing safety and locating and all that. And I think what we need to do is continue that hard work, but work smarter. [00:26:01] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:26:02] Speaker F: Okay. Work smarter with the data that we've, the mountains of data that we've collected that we have not analyzed enough and provided in usable, actionable forms enough yet. But I think we're getting there. [00:26:17] Speaker B: It makes sense. And again, as you stated earlier, about the 55 also in this, we need to have a goal. We know we're not going to get there immediately, but if we have the right steps and we're understanding, begin with the end in mind towards it. Yeah. [00:26:34] Speaker F: And the 50 of five, you have to have an ambitious goal, right? I mean, what if it's like ten and ten, right? We're going to reduce damages 10%? [00:26:46] Speaker C: Sounds like some of the legislation down the road. For another day. [00:26:51] Speaker B: For another day. [00:26:52] Speaker C: But it's the truth, right? Are we really solving for the right thing? And if we're really going to make a difference and we know things are going to increase, we know all these things, these aren't hidden. This data is out there, we're using that data. Why not use the other data? [00:27:05] Speaker F: Exactly. By having a quantum leap goal, like JFK said, having an ambitious goal will bring out the best in all of us, the best innovation brains technology, all that to achieve it. [00:27:19] Speaker A: Right. [00:27:19] Speaker F: If it were more, like I said, ten and ten. [00:27:23] Speaker C: Right. [00:27:23] Speaker F: 10% in ten years. [00:27:25] Speaker C: Okay. [00:27:29] Speaker F: I thought that was the goal. That is kind of the status goal, right? [00:27:32] Speaker C: Yeah. And then we'll reset it in five years. [00:27:34] Speaker A: Right. [00:27:34] Speaker C: I mean, that isn't going to get us where we want to be. [00:27:36] Speaker F: So the gauntlet has been thrown down and we need to do something different, better. Work just as hard as we're working, but work smarter. [00:27:46] Speaker C: Yeah. So what I'm hearing you say is work smarter and harder. Right. We're going to work hard. That's just who we are as an industry. But with a little more smarter tools and putting them in the right hands and taking a little bit, stopping and thinking for a second, we can take that jump. [00:28:07] Speaker B: X operator. Again, I'll say to me, in my mind, I'm hearing collaboration, that we need to collaborate amongst internally because we have a lot of silos. [00:28:16] Speaker F: Absolutely. [00:28:17] Speaker B: In organizations, but also the silos outside. We need to collaborate and get those to come together and work in harmony to achieve that. Because, again, you're right. And you're right, too. It's not going to be easy. But again, if we have the focus and the vision and the goal. [00:28:32] Speaker F: Yes, absolutely. [00:28:33] Speaker C: We're going to get there. One word to the folks that aren't here. What would you tell them? Why should they be? [00:28:38] Speaker F: Oh, it's a gorgeous place. It's a very unique venue. It's very educational. Like I said, I always learn something when I come here. And even the drive down here is nice. Right through the hills of southern Indiana. [00:28:52] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. [00:28:54] Speaker B: Be careful at night because of the deer. [00:28:57] Speaker F: The deer are very vicious and aggressive here. [00:28:59] Speaker C: I hear they are. Well, I said one word, but that was 77. So you filled that test. Hey, we appreciate you always coming, being champion of the show to see us. [00:29:11] Speaker F: This is like the Tres Holtas, the three j's. [00:29:14] Speaker D: Oh, it is. [00:29:15] Speaker C: Yeah. I like that. It's good. We can sub you in anytime. Thank you. Have you ever set your own alarm clock ahead? Yeah. So that you'll. It's a time warp, like, oh, I'm late. Go in the kitchen. It's fine. It doesn't work if you said it yourself, it's like hiding your own Easter eggs. Good call, Jimmy. We ran into a PSMS champion that's done a lot of work, and we vowed to Stephen and Ashley that anytime we did that, we were going to bring them on for a second just to stomp the value of psms. So, Jeremy, do us a favor first. Of all, who are you? Who are you with? And just tell us just as quickly as you can why psms is so important. [00:30:02] Speaker G: Sure. So my name is Jeremy Wyatt. I'm with Miller Pipeline. And I think PSMS is important for a few reasons. One, I think it encourages communication, like cross departmentally, you know what I mean? Kind of helps break down those silos. So you're looking for solutions and you're working through incidents or problems as a group. Right. You're not just pocket or departmentalizing these things. You're sharing best practices across the board. That's probably one of the biggest things. When I look at SMS and tying all the different should shelves together, it really just drives that communication and drives that continuous improvement across an organization. [00:30:41] Speaker B: Are you part of the LinkedIn PSMS community group? [00:30:45] Speaker G: Yes, I am. I am part of that group. I think they're doing amazing things. The sessions and the trainings and the 1 hour blocks and things like that are educational. And it's a great group. [00:30:55] Speaker C: So. Absolutely. Hey, you're at here. Hey, join us on there. It's pretty quiet in here. [00:31:02] Speaker H: It's pretty quiet. [00:31:03] Speaker C: And that's intentional, Jimmy. [00:31:05] Speaker B: That it's quiet in here? [00:31:06] Speaker C: Yeah, because we're running a podcast. [00:31:08] Speaker B: Well, we are running a podcast. [00:31:11] Speaker C: You got set up, my friend. Oh, you get set up, Darren. Out of nowhere, Darren just came in. [00:31:16] Speaker B: And he volunteered you like a delegator. [00:31:19] Speaker H: I just got back from Bedford and he said 245 you made upstairs. Thank God I was back already. [00:31:24] Speaker B: Well, and you were actually early. [00:31:26] Speaker C: That's called delegate and elevate. [00:31:30] Speaker B: Darren said Mike is going to be the best. Mike, do us a favor. Would you please introduce yourself to the camera? [00:31:35] Speaker H: I'm Mike Martin. I'm with USDI engineering and operations manager out of Indianapolis, Indiana. [00:31:42] Speaker C: Okay. [00:31:43] Speaker B: Tell us. [00:31:44] Speaker C: Yeah, tell us, what's a day in the life like for Mike? Tell us a little bit. How long you been in the industry? [00:31:50] Speaker B: Home life. [00:31:50] Speaker H: Well, so to start, I did six years in the US army. [00:31:55] Speaker B: Thank you for your service. [00:31:56] Speaker H: Two tours of service as a vehicle mechanic. So I made a big switch. Got in with Miller pipeline for about six years as a labor operator. From there I was with the Indiana utility regulatory Commission for two years. [00:32:07] Speaker C: Oh, nice. [00:32:08] Speaker H: And then from there, I somehow landed spot here at USDI. The guy that was there before me was on his way out and needed a replacement. And here I am. [00:32:15] Speaker C: All right, good. So the question we ask everyone in Indiana is, do you know Steve Allen? [00:32:22] Speaker H: I do know Steve Allen. [00:32:25] Speaker C: There's only one degree of separation on Steve Allen. In Indiana, he used to run the commission. Steve, he's a good dude. [00:32:34] Speaker B: He's a great. Said he's been in his heyday here. [00:32:38] Speaker C: With all of his friends. He's in his element for sure. [00:32:40] Speaker B: As he said, this is his. [00:32:44] Speaker C: How. How many times have you been out to this event here? [00:32:48] Speaker H: I think this is my 6th consecutive year. [00:32:50] Speaker C: Really? Yeah. [00:32:51] Speaker H: I think the first time I came, it was still upstairs and they had the room upstairs split in two. [00:32:55] Speaker B: Really? [00:32:55] Speaker H: So that's how small it was on vendors and things of that nature. So half of it was the ballroom, lunch, breakfast. The other half was where all the vendors set up. [00:33:05] Speaker B: Well, this was our first time here. And I'll tell you, that exhibit hall, which I don't know how many tens of thousands of feet it is, is packed. And actually where they have vehicles in there, it's so big. Truck, hydro trucks and such like that. [00:33:19] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:33:20] Speaker B: There is a boat, trailers, motorcycles. A whole bit. [00:33:23] Speaker C: That's great. Whole bit. [00:33:25] Speaker B: Let me ask you a question. We're in this environment where we're really learning a lot here and it's very innovative and there's a lot of things going on. But Monday is back to, so to speak, reality. What's your thought process about what you're learning here? Are you going to take this back and help with your team and those that you work with? [00:33:45] Speaker H: So a lot of what I take from this is more or less reg updates, getting with the state, how things are changing moving forward. Because a lot of what we do is operations and maintenance and things like that. Right. So for us to effectively help operate a client, we need to know how the rules are changing, how the regs are changing. So it'll help tremendously because I got to get back, rewrite some manuals, get some things updated. Locating is changing, get all that updated with my staff. So, yeah, that's mostly what I go back with is regulations. [00:34:17] Speaker C: Okay. All right. [00:34:18] Speaker B: That's great. [00:34:19] Speaker D: I mean, that's wonderful. [00:34:20] Speaker B: That's a great aspect of it. [00:34:21] Speaker C: The kind of echoes that we need to make when we leave these things for sure. So we're trying to motivate people out there that maybe have not come out here to french lick or to this event very quick. I would say one word, but nobody can pull it off. [00:34:38] Speaker A: No one has. [00:34:38] Speaker C: Maybe you can, in a word or two. Right. To motivate people to come back out or come out networking. He did do it. He did do it. That was all the words you want. [00:34:49] Speaker H: And that's the greatest part of this for me is you get out here, you get in front of all these other vendors, and you get to see the technological advances people are making in the pipeline industry, and just get to see guys that you only see maybe once a year. You get back out here and you see what's going on in everyone's life. And it's one of the better parts for me, is just to get out here and do the networking aspect of it. [00:35:11] Speaker B: It's critical in my work. [00:35:13] Speaker C: I mean, really? Did you wake up this morning and think you would be on a podcast? [00:35:17] Speaker H: Nope, not until my boss sold me out. [00:35:19] Speaker C: Yeah. Would that be Darren? Would that have happened if it wouldn't have been for. Right, right. All right, Mike, we appreciate you, brother. [00:35:31] Speaker A: Appreciate all the work you all do with us. [00:35:33] Speaker D: Thank you. [00:35:34] Speaker C: All's clients. [00:35:35] Speaker A: We'll be back. [00:35:38] Speaker E: Darn. [00:35:39] Speaker A: Steve, you did it. You convinced us. [00:35:42] Speaker C: He did. [00:35:43] Speaker A: You really did. All these years. 77 years of him. [00:35:50] Speaker D: What? [00:35:51] Speaker E: How old are you? I'll be 66 this month. [00:35:54] Speaker A: None of that. None of that will affect how we pay you or treat you as an employee. [00:36:04] Speaker E: Senior citizen. [00:36:05] Speaker A: I think we're crossing some HR hat. [00:36:08] Speaker D: I hope you do. [00:36:09] Speaker E: That's all right. I'm proud of every one of these white hairs. [00:36:12] Speaker A: You've earned them. [00:36:13] Speaker D: You have earned them. [00:36:14] Speaker A: We are in french lick. And that's really what I'm kind of nodding to, is that for as long as I've known you and what you said, you've been in energy world. Five years. Five years. So that's wild to think about, doing your powerpoints. It seemed a lot longer than five years. [00:36:37] Speaker D: Well, can I tell a quick story, too, before we get into that? Before he joined with us, I was given a PSMS presentation out in Las Vegas, and I was lost somehow. Steve and I got hooked up before he even started with us, and he spent hours with me, helping teach me. It was awesome. And I'm like. I kept thanking him profusely. And then fast forward over the years. The amount of information, the beautiful part. [00:37:02] Speaker E: Of being an advocate, and you are an advocate. [00:37:06] Speaker A: What's it like being a lobbyist? [00:37:08] Speaker I: A lobbyist? [00:37:09] Speaker A: I'm just kidding. We give steve crap all the time. But, steve, we're here in frenchlick. But I have to kind of point out something, and that's that me, you, and Jim, over the last two years, have spent a lot of time together. [00:37:29] Speaker C: We have. [00:37:29] Speaker A: We have been blessed. I mean, you have to admit, we've got to go a lot of places and do a lot of things, but together and over the last six to. I don't know. You tell us how long, but there's a chunk of time here. Recently, you were out, and so I know you got to come back at the last one, but this one must feel special. Homecoming. [00:37:50] Speaker E: Yeah. I had back surgery about four months ago, and last year I had some heart surgery, and it's like, damn, every time I get ready to get on the road with these things, something comes up. So I think I'm a $6 million man now, so I should be good to go for a while. Yeah. French lick. Well, this particular event, midwest damaged french and training conference. So it's special. It's just special. I know so many people here, and there's so many people that repeat coming down here. I mean, I always see my old gang from the IORC here. I'll see operators. Like, today, we had a stakeholders group panel discussion. Standing room only. [00:38:48] Speaker D: Go ahead. I was going to say you started the stakeholder group. [00:38:51] Speaker C: Yes. [00:38:51] Speaker D: When did you start that? [00:38:52] Speaker E: 2015. [00:38:54] Speaker D: Why again? [00:38:56] Speaker E: Okay, well, we had a one call law in the states since 1990, but it didn't have any enforcement teeth. [00:39:04] Speaker C: Okay. [00:39:05] Speaker E: Until 2009, the law was passed. 2010, the commission promulgated the rules to get it started. The governor appointed members on the underground plant Protection Advisory committee. And in probably 2011, possibly 2012, we actually started truly enforcing. [00:39:31] Speaker A: We're passing notes. [00:39:32] Speaker E: Okay. [00:39:33] Speaker A: Don't worry. [00:39:35] Speaker E: We started enforcing, and with civil penalties and fines and whatnot, it didn't take long before stakeholders, operators, locators, excavators, the call center, the commission inspectors that were working the cases, we had issues. It was growing pains. [00:39:57] Speaker C: Okay. [00:39:58] Speaker E: So in around late 2014, early 2015, we decided, I think we need to go ahead and establish the stakeholders group, get people together, and it's simple, just like, okay, the name common ground alliance, it makes an awful lot of sense. So what we did, we got together to try to identify common ground that we could all agree to and try to double entendre. Yeah. Try to find some low hanging fruit and make things better. And we did well. We had rules changed, we had legislations changed. And then in 2018, I left, and they continued. But then Covid hit, and it just kind of went away. [00:40:46] Speaker A: Sure. [00:40:47] Speaker E: And last year at this conference, actually, last year at this conference, somebody asked me if I would be interested in coming back. The board, the indian eight one one board had talked about resurrecting the stakeholders group and wanted to know if I'd be willing to come back and moderate it. And it's like, absolutely. I'm tickled. [00:41:11] Speaker D: I'm just tickled pink, man. [00:41:14] Speaker A: They are moving equipment right behind us. It's so cool. So neat. [00:41:18] Speaker D: We have an excavator. [00:41:20] Speaker A: I know you can't see it on the podcast version. That's what's terrible. [00:41:23] Speaker E: Well, this was a lot of people in here. I mean, we had what we had. We had three hvac. [00:41:32] Speaker D: Hydrogen, hydro, one, two, three cars. [00:41:37] Speaker A: We got a boat. [00:41:38] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:41:39] Speaker E: A bass tracker or no ranger. [00:41:42] Speaker D: Yeah, bass boat. [00:41:45] Speaker A: It's wild. That's so cool, Steve, you convinced us to make it out here to French Lake. Means a lot here. We talked to people that have been here all eleven years. How many years have you been here? [00:41:59] Speaker E: I think I've made it to eight, I think. [00:42:02] Speaker C: Eight. [00:42:02] Speaker D: Were you at the beginning? [00:42:04] Speaker C: Yes. [00:42:04] Speaker D: Okay, so maybe during the COVID years. [00:42:07] Speaker B: There might have been a little. [00:42:08] Speaker E: I didn't make those, but. Oh, look at that. I bet that's the first time you got a tracko in your. Oh, man, I want one of those. That'd be fun to have out on the farm, man. [00:42:23] Speaker A: We got them. That's funny. That's great. We're live in the accident. I'm telling you, stuff going on all around us. We're wrapping up here in French Lake, which is kind of bittersweet, I'm sure, but enough for Jimmy and I. We're ready to go on to the next. [00:42:39] Speaker E: We still got a half a day's of sessions tomorrow morning that I'll be going. [00:42:44] Speaker A: Yeah, we're on the road that this thing keeps trucking for. [00:42:48] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:42:48] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:42:50] Speaker A: We've been talking to people, Steve. Well, we've been asking people one question. [00:42:54] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:42:55] Speaker A: Which is, do you know Steve Allen? We really have. Seriously respected here. [00:43:02] Speaker D: You have a name in this community, this region. [00:43:07] Speaker E: It's probably primarily originally because of fear being the regulator in town. [00:43:15] Speaker A: People said infamous. [00:43:21] Speaker D: No, I can't even count how many people have said they didn't know you. I don't think there was anyone. Everybody has heard of you. A lot of people know you by personally. They know your history. They know your involvement here at french lick. And when we tell them a little bit of the connection, because a lot of people are still getting that. That we're all with energy world net. And they're like, wow, you get to work with Steve. We're like, all the time. And we get to have short conversations with Steve. Like, Steve calls up and says, hey, you got a minute? I'm like, yeah, I got 45. [00:43:54] Speaker A: Yeah, I get to work with Steve. Sure do. He's calling me right now. [00:43:58] Speaker E: Long winded. Long winded. [00:44:00] Speaker D: Well, you're not long winded. While he's passionate, you're passionate, and it shows through well, that's a great thing. [00:44:09] Speaker E: And that's a neat place to be at this point in one's career. Like I said, being an advocate is just really rewarding. And I've been given an opportunity to continue to focus on psms, focus on damage prevention, and focus on what's going on in DC. All three things. I mean, some people think, oh, regulation. You kidding? You think that's fun? Yeah, it's a ball. [00:44:35] Speaker D: Well, you know why? It's fun, to be honest with you. They're put in place for the greater good. And everybody has those in place when you think about it, really, to be efficient, to be reliable, and most of all, safe. That's my estimation of Steve. [00:44:50] Speaker A: I'm thankful for you, because if I had to read all those regs, I would go. So thankful for the Steve Allen. [00:44:59] Speaker D: Seriously, it's a time. [00:45:01] Speaker A: Talent and treasure all this set up as many times as I have to. [00:45:04] Speaker E: Just so you don't have to read a notice of proposed rulemaking. [00:45:07] Speaker C: Right. [00:45:07] Speaker E: Yeah, I got you. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed Indiana. [00:45:13] Speaker C: Beautiful. [00:45:14] Speaker E: Tomorrow morning when you leave to go back down to Louisville, I hope you get to have some sunshine so you can actually see parts of the Hoosier National Forest. [00:45:24] Speaker D: It's really mean. [00:45:26] Speaker E: Indiana is a pretty state, contrary to popular belief. [00:45:30] Speaker D: Well, it's gorgeous. [00:45:31] Speaker A: And the people are great opinions about it. I think it's great. I will say this property, the grounds here is amazing. I did not disappoint the west Baden portion over there that I loved it. I was in awe, the whole vibe. [00:45:46] Speaker E: You like the golf course? [00:45:47] Speaker A: Oh, man. I'm telling you, I told my parents this morning. [00:45:54] Speaker D: Did you? [00:45:55] Speaker A: They're timeshare people. Right. [00:45:56] Speaker C: Okay. [00:45:56] Speaker A: I was like, I promise you, there's people that this is a place like that. They'll be here. [00:46:04] Speaker D: Do they have timeshares here? All right, we'll see. Yeah, that's true. [00:46:11] Speaker A: Whether you're supposed to do it or not. [00:46:13] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:46:13] Speaker E: So I hope that you are able to get as many guests on the show as you would hope for. I got kind of bogged down with just seeing people, and one in particular. I want to give a shout out. I'll probably get in trouble for doing it. I want to give a shout out because I got to see Bassood Tahomtony. [00:46:36] Speaker C: Yes. [00:46:36] Speaker E: From FEmza. And we got to meet him today. Yeah, I spent some time with him today, and it's like. [00:46:43] Speaker A: She respectfully declined our interview, which I totally understand. [00:46:46] Speaker C: Yes. [00:46:47] Speaker E: Government. [00:46:48] Speaker A: That's why we ask. Till next time. It did not disappoint. All facets. This place delivered for us. Great. We'll be back. [00:47:02] Speaker D: I'm sure if we're invited back, we will be back. If we're not invited back, we'll come. [00:47:06] Speaker A: Back as attendees, because this is my wife. [00:47:09] Speaker E: So next year, the theme is space. [00:47:13] Speaker A: Okay. [00:47:14] Speaker E: So I didn't dress up this year. Last year, I came as a cowboy. I mean, I pulled out. [00:47:20] Speaker A: Be a space cowboy. Space cowboy. [00:47:24] Speaker D: Oh, boy. [00:47:25] Speaker B: Steve Miller, my man. [00:47:29] Speaker C: Oh, boy. [00:47:29] Speaker E: I don't know. [00:47:30] Speaker A: Steve and I can't hang out. We have too many good ideas. All right. Yeah, I'm just thinking about Steve. Thank you, sir. Thanks for inviting us out here. [00:47:38] Speaker E: Thanks for coming. [00:47:40] Speaker D: Thank you for encouraging and doing everything you do. Also getting the podcast here. [00:47:45] Speaker A: 100%. [00:47:46] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:47:46] Speaker A: And I will tell you, it is no wonder spending time here in Indiana this year, I've never been. I've been three times this year, and there's no wonder you protect it with everything you have. So thank you, sir. [00:48:00] Speaker D: Absolutely. [00:48:02] Speaker A: You're the best. [00:48:03] Speaker D: You're absolutely best. [00:48:06] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:48:06] Speaker D: Let's go before we get. [00:48:09] Speaker I: You don't know unless you try. [00:48:10] Speaker D: You know what? [00:48:11] Speaker A: We spoke a lot more with a lot less. [00:48:14] Speaker D: You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. So we're going to try it. [00:48:19] Speaker C: Who said that? [00:48:20] Speaker D: Zig Ziglar. [00:48:21] Speaker A: That is correct. [00:48:22] Speaker D: And I learned from the best right here. [00:48:24] Speaker A: That is correct. Hey, we're doing something different today. [00:48:27] Speaker C: Okay. [00:48:28] Speaker A: We've never tried before. [00:48:30] Speaker D: Groundbreaking. [00:48:31] Speaker C: It's not really that groundbreaking, but we're. [00:48:34] Speaker A: Running out of time here. People are literally, like, wheeling this place. [00:48:39] Speaker D: Out of here by the minutes. [00:48:42] Speaker A: The last interview lasted ten minutes because of a motorcycle. [00:48:46] Speaker D: Two motorcycles. [00:48:48] Speaker I: Maybe the loudest sound I've ever heard. [00:48:50] Speaker A: It was incredible. [00:48:51] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:48:52] Speaker A: Very cool. But what we're going to do is we have one last interview. So Shane and I played golf yesterday. One of the best golf days that I've had in a long time. [00:49:03] Speaker I: Yeah, played the course. [00:49:05] Speaker C: It was an amazing course. [00:49:06] Speaker A: Beautiful weather. Great company. Even better company, right? Great group. We played with Gerald from Kokomo. We played with Adam Hooper. Us, too. We were cart mates. [00:49:21] Speaker I: Cart 40, I think it was. Cart 40. [00:49:24] Speaker A: We crushed it. [00:49:25] Speaker D: You guys had a great time. [00:49:26] Speaker C: Yeah, man. [00:49:27] Speaker A: At 22 under. Yeah, it was wild. [00:49:30] Speaker I: It was around there for sure. [00:49:31] Speaker A: Let's give or take. [00:49:33] Speaker D: Was I doing the accounting or what? [00:49:36] Speaker A: Are you okay? Judy? The bug. [00:49:38] Speaker D: It's the allergies. Here. [00:49:42] Speaker A: All right. [00:49:43] Speaker D: We're all right. [00:49:44] Speaker B: Sorry about that. [00:49:45] Speaker D: I apologize. Well, yeah, I mean, there's a lot of fumes in here right now. I don't know, as allergies or whatever. I'm not used to the dry air up here. I mean, I lived in the midwest my first half of my life, and then now the second half down in the south where we have heat and humidity year round, Florida and so. But I'm doing good. [00:50:04] Speaker A: So, Shane, for those that don't know, you introduce yourself. I know you've been on before. [00:50:10] Speaker I: Yeah. So Shane Hart with Computers, Inc. We make utilicate and you excavate just ticket management software, a lot of features. It's a very world. We need some technology in this industry and it's there, but there's just so much to do. You could probably use a few more companies even. [00:50:27] Speaker D: Well, and we've heard today by many people that are deep in the industry that they feel that the next jump is going to be really embracing technology along with the vast amount of data that's out there and make it usable for the end user. That's been a common theme that we. [00:50:44] Speaker I: Heard today, I think at the CGA last year, he asked about 15, five. And my answer was communication. And even when you get yesterday, and his answer was the same thing. And it's like when you have that much things we have to do to communicate here, push data over there, it's not humanly possible. So you need these systems to come in and do some of that communication for you. And then even with the call center, they're going to get to APIs down the road where we can push stuff back quick. And a lot of things come in real time requests can come from everywhere. And that speed. [00:51:17] Speaker A: Yeah, we were talking on the golf course yesterday, just about even between our two companies and the synergies there, same conversation. I'm going to use a term from my past life, medical tech is interoperability. Right. Just allowing all these systems to talk and our data to intermingle and feel safe and secure and innovative at the same time. And I think that's huge. It's going to be an amazing time. [00:51:47] Speaker D: It's been a great journey and I think you both know it, but I'm an ex operator, so I spent well over a decade with a major operator in the United States. And what I'm excited about is how all these portions actually help the end user that's on the right of way for he or she when they're out there to do everything correctly. And safely and properly. And know at the end of the day, they did their job well and safely. That to me is that's where I. [00:52:14] Speaker I: Get excitement about, well, the industry. We talk about some damages and you have the excavator and you have the locator. But there's 27 other stakeholders that these things affect that they don't even know these things are going on sometimes. [00:52:24] Speaker C: Right. [00:52:24] Speaker I: So keeping everyone safe, whether they know it or not, are directly involved or indirectly involved. It's kind of like a badge of honor. [00:52:32] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:52:32] Speaker I: Like, hey, everyone gets to go home safe, and we all kind of wear that as a crown. [00:52:35] Speaker D: I tell you what, that's the key. [00:52:37] Speaker A: I remember this guy's accent. You're going to start doing the thing. [00:52:42] Speaker D: I might. [00:52:45] Speaker I: Oh, yeah, sure. [00:52:46] Speaker A: There. [00:52:46] Speaker F: Don't you know? [00:52:46] Speaker D: Yeah, a little ludafisk up there. That's kind of spicy that they're ketchup. [00:52:51] Speaker A: Who, you? [00:52:52] Speaker D: Well, I lived in Minneapolis St. Paul for 15 some years and really embraced the north. Closest you can get. [00:53:01] Speaker I: I do drop some a's, but my wife's from Louisiana, so I throw in some y'all, too. [00:53:06] Speaker D: Oh, yeah. [00:53:06] Speaker I: I like to mix it up a little bit. That's right. A little bit of French here and there. [00:53:12] Speaker D: And actually, as a little side note, a lot of the Cajun in Louisiana actually came from Canadians 200 years ago that came down. And anyways, that's another story. [00:53:25] Speaker I: And the hospitality they brought there, too. [00:53:27] Speaker D: Hospitality about LGA and how great that event is. Oh, my gosh. [00:53:33] Speaker A: Have you ever been? [00:53:34] Speaker I: No, I haven't been, but every time I see Freddie and Roger from axe man, they say all these ones here, but the Louisiana, you gotta go. So Louisiana, we're putting on the map for this in January there for the Louisiana summit. And we're really excited. [00:53:48] Speaker C: We'll be there. [00:53:48] Speaker I: My home turf a little bit where I lived there for a few years and go hang out. [00:53:52] Speaker A: That hockey town. [00:53:54] Speaker I: It's a hockey town. [00:53:55] Speaker A: You didn't know that? [00:53:56] Speaker D: What? [00:53:57] Speaker A: Shreveport. Right. [00:53:58] Speaker I: Shreveport is a hockey town. They won the national title for the North American Junior Hockey League. [00:54:03] Speaker A: Really? [00:54:04] Speaker I: And it was Minnesota versus Shreveport. [00:54:08] Speaker A: Sent the Mudbugs yesterday. [00:54:10] Speaker I: They sent the mudbugs up in Minnesota. And I think they've taken the crown a couple of times in there. [00:54:15] Speaker D: Who knew? I've been in Shreveport a lot of times in my life. [00:54:18] Speaker I: I feel like Louisiana New Orleans. I'm like, they associate more with Dallas a little bit. [00:54:23] Speaker D: And, you know, the Dallas Stars were the Minnesota North Stars originally, and they dropped the connected. [00:54:29] Speaker I: Look at that. [00:54:30] Speaker D: I tell you what, we're starting to geek out a little bit, so let's talk tech again. Yeah, you guys get into that. But, hey, let me just say this, though. Can you imagine the day that when somebody is on a right of way and they either have some sort of goggles or some device, and they can see things and help them write point of sale, that point of sale or point of contact or whatever, when they're going to be digging. [00:54:54] Speaker I: That's just as x operating speed of information. Right. Put it right in their eyes. Get some contacts in there, even that say, hey, when you're working around it, you see it all the time. Solves a problem like paint can be moved around or you dig up. What do you do in those situations? And it's really the speed of information. It doesn't get faster than it being your goggles all the time. I don't know about the apple goggles, though. I think they had to send that back to design a little bit. [00:55:19] Speaker D: That's right. [00:55:20] Speaker A: So we're motivating people who added, this is Jimmy and I's first time here for this event, and I don't think people realize the great things going on here. This has really, I'd say, grown even a little bit more than regional in size and scale. I've been to a lot of state shows this year that were nowhere close, and I've been to a lot of regional shows. There were nowhere 700 plus. That's a fantastic problem to have in our industry. I think we're seeing a shift in a lot of places where operators, people are pulling back on their budgets a little bit, and therefore they're endorsing the state level and regional shows more. And this is a great example and specialty. Right. If you can get into a segment, definitely better, right? Yeah, this is a great example. [00:56:08] Speaker I: Oh, it makes it a community. Right. And that's really what it is. We're all trying to work safely, and it's a community of people. They're just trying to get talk about municipality. They want a good job done, right? So they might put out a bid, but they want someone to come in and do good work. That's all someone really wants. Do it safely, get the jobs done, and just keep moving along efficiently and tidy things up. [00:56:29] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:56:30] Speaker A: Well, hey, we're wrapping this thing up, man. We got a plane to catch in the morning. [00:56:34] Speaker C: We do. [00:56:35] Speaker A: Hopefully it's not planes, trains and automobiles. [00:56:37] Speaker D: Again, like my first day on Monday. [00:56:40] Speaker A: Holy. We still got to close this thing down. We moved twice today to capture as much as we could, right? We did. It's been busy day, but great event. I'm so glad Steve invited. Look at him. Like a proud papa. [00:56:54] Speaker D: Yeah. No, he's been talking to us for years and I cannot believe between the two of us that this is the first time for both of us. [00:56:59] Speaker A: Did you know Steve Allen before this moment? [00:57:02] Speaker I: I believe I heard the name a few times, but I've been coming here for about my fifth year or so. And the damage prevention game is strong here in Godfather, so. [00:57:13] Speaker D: Heard the names, so at least the man, the myth, the legend. [00:57:16] Speaker A: I think we take that as another. Yes. [00:57:19] Speaker D: I'm going to say yes. One degree of separation with Steve Allen. [00:57:23] Speaker A: Absolutely. Well, Shane, thanks for joining us. Always a pleasure. [00:57:29] Speaker I: You guys are a lot of fun. I always like hanging out. [00:57:31] Speaker A: Work on your golf too. [00:57:34] Speaker D: I'm not going to work on mine. [00:57:36] Speaker A: You came in boots, I came in. [00:57:37] Speaker D: Boots and a blazer. [00:57:39] Speaker I: That's why the scramble is good. Playing as a team. [00:57:42] Speaker A: Yeah. We were so good. We were the best team. It was so much fun. [00:57:46] Speaker D: That's what it's about, building relationships. [00:57:49] Speaker A: Till next time. [00:57:50] Speaker C: Thank you. Beautiful.