Friday, June 17- We were live at the Texas Gas Association O&M Conference last week. Coleman Sterling, Becky Palmer, Justin Mullin, Brent Straub, and Jack Cordry joined the show, along with lots more. Tune in and see which other guests hopped on.
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Episode Transcript
[0:00] [music]
Jim Schauer: [0:23] We are here. We’ve made it. I love it.
James Cross: [0:25] We’re live at our Opening Reception.
Jim: [0:27] TGA &M, 2022.
James: [0:29] We survived golf today.
Jim: [0:32] Oh, barely.
James: [0:33] Whoo.
Jim: [0:34] 101 degrees, 109 degrees…
James: [0:36] Hot.
Jim: [0:36] was the heat index.
James: [0:38] It’s still hot.
Jim: [0:40] I’m still recovering.
James: [0:41] I got my core temperature back down. I’m feeling better. Looking around, look at this hall buzzing. We’ve got guests all around. We’ve got people looking everywhere.
Jim: [0:49] People, look at it. They’re lining up to get on board.
Jim: [0:51] We have Tal Centers. We have Becky Palmer. We got James Hulse. We got people everywhere.
James: [0:57] People everywhere…
Jim: [0:58] wonderful.
James: [0:58] Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to grab some people around, bring them on, try to skin this thing, try to bring you into this conference if you weren’t able to make it, so stick around.
Jim: [1:08] We’ll see you.
James: [1:09] Man, it’s good to be live, ain’t it?
Jim: [1:11] All right, brother.
James: [1:12] We’ll be back.
Jim: [1:12] We’ll be right back.
Jim: [1:13] We are back.
James: [1:14] Boom.
Jim: [1:14] Just like that, one leaves, one comes in. Randall Hackworth, Wade Trim.
Randall Hackworth: [1:20] Good morning, everyone.
Jim: [1:22] How are you doing, Randall? Randall is a…
James: [1:24] Nine‑time guest.
Jim: [1:26] At least three times.
Randall: [1:28] Two.
Jim: [1:28] Was it two?
Randall: [1:29] Two on the Jim & James show.
James: [1:32] Oh.
Randall: [1:32] I was the first one, by the way…
James: [1:35] The other six were on the other…
Randall: [1:37] inquiring minds might want to know that.
Jim: [1:40] OK.
James: [1:40] Wow.
Jim: [1:41] Wow, aggressive.
James: [1:43] Breaking, breaking. Randall, we’re back at TGA. We’re live. How’s it feel to be out, and about doing our thing again?
Randall: [1:51] It feels fantastic. Normalcy, I love it. I love it, absolutely love it, especially coming here to Texas. Everybody’s friendly, most everyone.
James: [2:00] Mostly here.
Jim: [2:01] For the most part. They drive crazy here. Nah, I shouldn’t say that. Florida…
James: [2:04] I drove all day today.
Jim: [2:06] Because I don’t like to drive. I’m not a very good driver. I don’t like to drive, so he chauffeured me around today. It works well.
Randall: [2:12] That’s nice.
Jim: [2:12] I screamed half the day.
Randall: [2:14] Can I ask you a question of today?
Jim: [2:16] Please.
Randall: [2:16] Y’all enjoying the heat? This heat’s amazing.
James: [2:18] It’s so hot.
Randall: [2:19] It’s to the core.
James: [2:18] It was so hot today. We played golf, and it was too hot. I’ll be honest.
Jim: [2:28] It was really hot.
Randall: [2:29] More power to you golfers in that heat.
James: [2:32] We eked it out, barely.
Randall: [2:34] Did you play?
Jim: [2:33] Oh yeah. I guess you could call it playing. I hit the ball.
James: [2:38] Cussed a lot.
Randall: [2:40] Did you whiff?
Jim: [2:41] Oh, I whiffed a lot. It was not good.
Randall: [2:45] I feel better now.
Jim: [2:46] Randall Hackworth, Wade Trim.
Randall: [2:47] All right, guys. Thank y’all.
James: [2:49] We’ll be back.
Jim: [2:49] Thank you.
Jim: [2:49] As promised, we are back. Guess who we have with us, James?
James: [2:53] I stumbled upon her, stumbled upon her.
Jim: [2:56] She saw us. We may have sent out a scout to…
Jim: [2:59] help with this, we may have. Becky Palmer.
Becky: [3:01] I wasn’t running away.
James: [3:03] Repeat guest.
Jim: [3:03] Repeat guest. She was a virtual guest during the pandemic.
James: [3:07] I remember.
Becky: [3:08] That’s right.
James: [3:07] She came on before we even had any followers. She was just…
Jim: [3:12] We only have three right now.
James: [3:14] It’s fine.
Jim: [3:15] Becky, welcome.
Becky: [3:17] Thank you.
Jim: [3:17] Please, would you introduce yourself, and to the audience and tell a little bit about what you do at Atmos as well as for the TGA?
Becky: [3:23] Absolutely. I’m Becky Palmer. I’m president of the West Texas Division of Atmos Energy. We’re located out in Lubbock. We serve from Amarillo, Lubbock, down to the Permian Basin area. We’re super excited to be back here at the TGA, to be back in person, and seeing folks.
James: [3:43] It’s great to be live, isn’t it?
Becky: [3:46] Yes. We have had a six‑and‑a‑half hour drive on in here today, but we made it. It’s a long, winding way from Lubbock to New Braunfels.
Jim: [3:53] I will say this. I’ve been to your facility out in Lubbock, back in my Big Bend Energy days. It is a world‑class facility.
Becky: [4:00] It’s a fantastic facility.
Jim: [3:59] If you are in Lubbock, you do need to stop by and see it. It’s cool.
Becky: [4:03] That’s right. Come see us. Absolutely.
James: [4:03] We’re live. We’re blessed to be back. Man, thank you so much…
Becky: [4:11] Thrilled to be here.
James: [4:12] Any finals? Anything?
Jim: [4:13] No.
James: [4:14] I don’t think we’ve made one up this time.
Jim: [4:17] We haven’t yet.
James: [4:19] We’ll think on it. Maybe Becky can help us. We’ll be right back.
Jim: [4:24] Thank you.
Becky: [4:25] Thank you. Good to see everybody.
Jim: [4:27] We’ll be right back.
Jim: [4:11] Again, we are back. We barely walked away, James, barely.
James: [4:30] We snatched up a new guy.
Dr. Matt Joiner: [4:31] New guy.
James: [4:32] New old guy.
Jim: [4:33] Who is this again?
James: [4:35] The…
Jim: [4:35] Is this the Dr. Matt Joiner? Matt, thank you for stopping by.
Dr. Joiner: [4:41] Thank you.
Jim: [4:41] Pleasure.
Dr. Joiner: [4:41] Thank you, James.
James: [4:42] Matt has been to TGA before, but we have been on hiatus, for those that didn’t know.
Jim: [4:48] 2019 was the last time that we had been at the TGA live.
Dr. Joiner: [4:52] I remember.
Jim: [4:53] Ages…
Jim: [4:54] ages.
Dr. Joiner: [4:54] Yes, at the Embassy.
Jim: [4:58] What’s it like for you? Do you like being back? Is this a fun event? First of all, tell the audience what you do at Energy Worldnet. What’s your area of responsibility?
Dr. Joiner: [5:06] Vice president of Education.
[5:08] [crosstalk]
Dr. Joiner: [5:08] We have about 17 people who spend all day, every day working on content, making sure our clients and prospective…
[5:18] [crosstalk]
James: [5:18] The king of the Oxford comma…
Dr. Joiner: [5:21] The king of the Oxford comma…
James: [5:23] there he is.
Dr. Joiner: [5:23] all over the world, baby.
Jim: [5:24] I’m not really sure what that means, but that’s OK. I have Matt. Matt knows what that means.
Dr. Joiner: [5:29] Company edits, baby.
James: [5:30] Matt, so you’ve been out a little bit this year. You’ve been out and about. I know you went to ANGA. I think you’re speaking again, coming up pretty quick.
Dr. Joiner: [5:38] Yes, next week.
James: [5:39] It’s not old hat to be out and about, but what is it like to be out, back with TGA?
Dr. Joiner: [5:43] It’s awesome. I tell you what, events like this really drive home for me, over and over again, how Energy Worldnet is all about relationships.
[5:52] We talk over and over again in our instructor‑led trainings about how you guys do business, and how it’s powerful, how it connects people, how it is emotional intelligence, and everything in between.
Jim: [6:10] Emotional intelligence, thought leadership. Really, the people in this room, the hundreds of people that are here, they do interconnect. If somebody needs something, they may not have the answer, but they know…
Dr. Joiner: [6:20] They know where to go.
Jim: [6:22] and to get it.
Dr. Joiner: [6:23] Absolutely. You bet.
James: [6:24] Absolutely. Man, it’s good. Our industry’s so big, so small at the same time. We hear it all the time. Looking around, it’s good to see people buzzing…
Dr. Joiner: [6:35] It really is.
James: [6:35] good to see.
Dr. Joiner: [6:36] It’s an awesome experience.
James: [6:37] Good for the heart, good for the soul.
Dr. Joiner: [6:38] It is.
James: [6:38] Matt…
Dr. Joiner: [6:38] Thank you.
James: [6:39] have a good conference.
Dr. Joiner: [6:40] Appreciate it.
James: [6:41] We’ll see you, brother.
Jim: [6:40] Thank you, brother.
Dr. Joiner: [6:42] Thank you, sir.
Jim: [6:44] Appreciate it.
James: [6:44] We’ll be right back.
Jim: [6:46] Be back.
Jim: [6:42] We are back, and who do we have this time?
James: [6:48] I know. We see him everywhere we go.
Jeff Henderson: [6:49] Everywhere.
Jim: [6:50] Is he following us, or are we following the Jeff…
James: [6:54] Look at his hair…
Jim: [6:55] Oh.
James: [6:55] It keeps getting taller and taller, a little higher.
Jim: [6:55] Jeff Henderson is on point. Jeff, please introduce yourself to the audience.
Jeff: [7:00] Hey, I’m Jeff Henderson. I work for SiEnergy energy. I’m the director of operations down in our Houston office.
James: [7:05] How was golf today?
Jeff: [7:08] Hot.
Jim: [7:08] On a scale of 1 to 10, give it to me. How hot was it?
Jeff: [7:13] 11.
Jim: [7:13] That was 11, yeah. It was 101, with a heat index of 109. It was crazy‑hot.
Jeff: [7:19] My truck said 105 on the way home.
James: [7:21] It makes it really hard to choke down this coffee.
James: [7:23] Jeff, we’ve seen you back to back…It feels like back to back weeks.
Jeff: [7:29] It does.
James: [7:29] You were at EWNCON.
Jeff: [7:31] I was.
James: [7:23] How did that go? What did you think about EWNCON…
Jeff: [7:36] I thought it was great. I thought it was great. I wish I could have stuck around on Wednesday to see all the training stuff you guys did.
Jim: [7:43] That was a great day. We had a lot of positive feedback…
Jeff: [7:46] I had a meeting in Austin. I had to get through, but now the conference on Tuesday was awesome. Tim Kennedy was fantastic.
James: [7:52] It was cool.
Jeff: [7:53] Yeah. Next time I want to see his R‑rated presentation.
James: [7:56] I have it…
Jim: [7:56] Here’s our next guest right there.
James: [8:00] but we’re not going to talk about that.
Jim: [8:01] He’s coming up.
James: [8:03] The version he sent the last thing, the naming of the file was the funniest part. We’ll talk about that off‑record.
Jeff: [8:08] I’ve heard stories.
James: [8:08] He was awesome.
Jim: [8:10] He was great, it’s fantastic.
James: [8:12] How is it being live again at TGA?
Jeff: [8:16] It’s nice. It’s good to see people out. Good to see people I haven’t seen and almost what like three year.
Jim: [8:22] 2019 was the last one, last year we did live.
Jeff: [8:25] Yeah, but it’s been nice to get out, and kind of get back to normality.
Jim: [8:28] No kidding.
James: [8:29] All right brother we’ll see you later.
Jeff: [8:31] Good to see you all.
James: [8:33] Good to see you, brother.
Jim: [8:35] We’re handshaking.
James: [8:31] I can’t wait to see what your hair looks like next time.
Jeff: [8:37] We’ll change it up tomorrow.
Jim: [8:38] We’ll be back.
Jim: [8:39] Are we live?
James: [8:40] We’re live.
Jim: [8:41] All right, we’re back and repeat how many times has Ryan been on?
[8:45] James Nineteen times.
Ryan Ellis: [8:46] I don’t know. I’ve lost count.
James: [8:47] That’s the first and the most important in the back of his truck.
Jim: [8:49] Oh yeah, epic one with the virtual background, too.
James: [8:54] He moved one time, and we caught a glimpse and I said, “Are you in your truck, man?” And he goes, “Yeah, you caught me.”
Ryan: [9:00] Hey, some of us have to work. We can’t all sit around behind desks all day, you know?
James: [9:07] I’ll tell you what, it doesn’t feel like we’re working today, does it?
Ryan: [9:10] No, this feels awesome.
Jim: [9:11] It was perfect on the golf course, but we’ll just leave it there. Look, Tal Centers is going to get on in a second. Ryan please tell the audience, who you are with? What you do? Give me a breakdown.
James: [9:22] If they don’t know. I think you get credits.
Ryan: [9:24] May be a little bit. So Ryan Ellis with Groebner, director of sales, for the Southern Region. I think this is our 47th Year.
Jim: [9:33] All right.
Ryan: [9:34] I brought you some good, fresh‑off‑the‑press news.
James: [9:37] Oh, here it is.
Ryan: [9:39] Groebner is officially a WBE company. So if you guys need help with your diversity spend, come see us.
Jim: [9:46] All right? We were just here for…
James: [9:49] One more time.
Jim: [9:49] It’s Groebner is now a WBE company?
Ryan: [9:54] Yes. We’re women‑owned business. That is getting your diversity spend. Find your nearest Groebner.
Ryan: [10:04] Exactly.
James: [10:05] Love it.
Ryan: [10:06] Oh, there you go.
Jim: [10:08] I see big things with…
Ryan: [10:09] As of last Friday. So its super fresh.
Jim: [10:12] All right, I think we’re breaking it. We’re ahead of “Fox News” right now.
Ryan: [10:16] Yep, absolutely, for sure.
James: [10:19] Thanks, brother. Good to see you, man.
Jim: [10:22] Have a good one…
Ryan: [10:23] I was expecting a hard question or something.
Jim: [10:26] That will be the next time.
Ryan: [10:25] Fair enough.
James: [10:26] Oh, look.
Ryan: [10:27] There you go.
James: [10:28] I’ll be back.
Jim: [10:25] It is non‑stop. i can’t even keep up right now. When…
Jim: [10:38] Tal Centers.
James: [10:39] He just skirted in here.
Jim: [10:42] When Tal comes in, we stop. Will introduce yourself to the audience. Let them know a little bit about you.
Tal Centers: [10:49] Tal Centers with CenterPoint Energy out of Houston, Texas. I’m the chair this year for TGA.
James: [10:54] I’m sorry. Say that one more time.
Tal: [10:56] I’m the chairman this year for TGA.
James: [10:57] What does that mean? What does that…?
Tal: [10:59] What it means is, we’re off of COVID, and we are back meeting in person this year, and it is a great time. I mean, we’ve been two years in lockdown, and it can only be great to have all of our associate members out here…
James: [11:10] No doubt.
Tal: [11:11] and the interaction, and the people. We got a great turnout with over 300 people this year.
Jim: [11:14] Which is fantastic.
Tal: [11:16] Fantastic. Here in New Braunfels…hot in Texas, ready to roll.
Jim: [11:20] I think Tal…
James: [11:21] You should have done the open list.
Jim: [11:24] He is made for this. Made for it. A little bit of fact, I used to work for Tal Centers back in 2008, ’09.
Tal: [11:34] Did you work for me, or did I work for you?
Jim: [11:38] No…
James: [11:38] I’ve never felt more relatable to that comment right there.
Tal: [11:39] Yeah. Absolutely.
James: [11:40] It’s good to see you.
Tal: [11:41] It’s good to see you guys.
Jim: [11:43] Absolutely. It’s going to be a great conference.
Tal: [11:45] We’re got some great speakers coming in tomorrow. We got Wayne Christian coming in on Wednesday, going to talk to us, our chief executive, Scott Doll’s coming and talking to us.
James: [11:55] Oh, good.
Tal: [11:55] Talking about ESG. Then we’re going to have a nice breaks to get back here, and let the group meet with the associate members, and find out what all is going on in the gas industry. This is important. It’s the backbone of energy, natural gas…
James: [12:09] You got to come on the show, man, preach the gospel.
Jim: [12:13] I think it’s just going to be coffee with Tal.
Tal: [12:15] Oh, no.
Jim: [12:16] That’ll be good. Thanks, man…
Tal: [12:16] Be good.
Jim: [12:17] We are back live. Magnolia River is in the house. My new friend.
James: [12:28] Hold on. Straub.
Brent Straub: [12:28] Yes, sir.
Jim: [12:34] Please, introduce yourself.
Brent: [12:35] Brent Straub, Magnolia River vice president of Business Development. Been with the company about four months‑ish. Not new to the industry but new with the company.
Jim: [12:45] We met you in Colombia. He was at SGA.
James: [12:48] We were trying to figure out…
James: [12:50] We probably were introduced, but you know how the…
Brent: [12:54] Yeah. It was my first introduction of the Magnolia River conference circuit.
Jim: [13:00] You guys do a great job with conferences something. You guys are very much like Energy Worldnet that were not even a dozen. It’s 50, 60, 80, 100 conferences a year. You guys do a great job.
[13:12] Wait. I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t do a little shout out to one of your newer employees, Summer Shower. Marketing and design is short there. Anyways, we got to know Brent in Colombia. Now, it’s wonderful seeing you in here.
[13:28] What do you think of…Is this your first TGA event?
Brent: [13:30] First TGA event. It’s going well so far. Better from 7:00.
James: [13:35] Did you play golf today?
Brent: [13:36] I did not play golf.
Jim: [13:37] You are a smart man.
Brent: [13:38] Really awesome. It got hotter as I was coming west.
James: [13:43] Next year we’re just going to do a TGA River Flow.
Jim: [13:45] That’s not a bad idea. I’m in. I like that…
Brent: [13:50] I don’t think anybody has shown up to this after the River Flow.
James: [13:52] Tell you what, Brent, man, hope you have a good conference. Appreciate you stopping by…
Brent: [13:58] Thanks for having me.
Jim: [13:59] Absolutely. It’s great having you on Good Friday…
James: [14:01] It would be nice to meet you again.
Brent: [14:02] Thank you.
James: [14:03] Next please.
Brent: [14:03] Absolutely.
Jim: [14:04] We’ll be right back.
Brent: [14:06] Thank you, guys.
Jim: [14:06] James, we are back. Day two, TGA O&M, New Braunfels.
James: [14:14] Getting close man.
Jim: [14:14] This is man. Oh it’s happening. It is absolutely happening. How did you do yesterday? You have a good first day.
James: [14:19] I did. It was long. It was hot. Golf took a lot out of me. It was wild to think that we came straight off of that, and went right into the reception. Then we recorded, we had some great people on yesterday.
Jim: [14:32] We had Tal Centers from CenterPoint, we had Becky Palmer from Atmos…
James: [14:37] Dr. Matt Joiner.
Jim: [14:39] The Dr. Matt Joiner and others.
James: [14:41] We’re going to have many more. We got so excited last night at the reception that we didn’t even shut it down.
Jim: [14:49] Yeah, we didn’t do a wrap up.
James: [14:50] We didn’t wrap it up.
Jim: [14:51] No.
James: [14:51] We got so excited yesterday. We had so many friends here, and we got to talking. Then we had to get out of here. They were basically kicking us out.
Jim: [14:58] The lights are going off. That was it.
James: [15:00] You know the whole bit.
Jim: [15:02] That’s OK. That’s all right, though. That was one of the strongest intros into the conference last night. It was fantastic…
James: [15:11] see people, and just a few of the conversations that went on. The goal was just looking around, and seeing everybody fellowshipping and just being back. TGA has had a long hiatus since 2019.
Jim: [15:22] Since 2019. Yep.
James: [15:25] Neat to see everybody back, and together. Seen so many people.
Jim: [15:28] Yeah. It’s wonderful.
James: [15:30] I hadn’t seen since 2019, which is weird to say. Jimmy, we got another jam‑packed day today. We’re going to pull on some more guests. We see a lot of people are hoping to get the Darrell Cherry asking how he thinks this event’s going.
Jim: [15:43] Yeah, we’ll get Darrell on.
James: [15:45] What else? I’m speaking here in a couple hours. We’re going to break out session on kick‑starting a culture. First time doing that in a while, and I’m pumped about that. My favorites.
Jim: [15:57] You do a very good job of that, and being our chief cultural officer, it’s kind of in his blood. Really. You do have a passion and purpose for it. It’s wonderful to hear you do that.
James: [16:06] Just doing my job.
Jim: [16:06] When’s the last time you gave that live? Not virtually but live.
James: [16:11] I have several versions of it. One of it is internal also. We do an internal version of it for our own employees. I’ve got to do that recently.
[16:20] Honestly, since EWN had a little bit of additions to it, and I’m excited to kind of re‑unveil this version. I think it’s a newer cleaner version. If you need it on an agenda, I know a guy.
Jim: [16:35] I tell you, it’s wonderful. For conferences like this, so many people are very used to operations, and maintenance, and those topics. When you bring…
James: [16:43] You have some art, which are great.
Jim: [16:45] They’re perfect. They’re wonderful.
James: [16:47] A break from the norm of what we’re used to out here. Then you know who has culture? Every single person. Whether you’re involved or not. Get involved, right?
[17:02] We have another reception a little bit later. We’re going to get to spend some time. We’re going to grab some people. Jimmy, do our thing. Bring “Coffee with Jim and James” to the TGA.
Jim: [17:10] Wait a minute. Does that mean I need to go out, and actually talk to people? Mingle?
James: [17:16] We’re going to have to figure out what that was.
Jim: [17:18] Full disclosure, Cayley had to find me, and drag me back. She did a great job. She’s our wrangler this week.
James: [17:23] All right. Jimmy, it’s good to be alive. Day two.
Jim: [17:27] Absolutely.
James: [17:28] We’re going to be back with some guests.
Jim: [17:30] I’ll see you in a bit.
Jim: [17:31] We are back once again with our good friend, Mr. Jack Cordry. He’s joining us. James?
James: [17:36] Long time guest. Oh, how long ago was that, Jack? 18 months? 20 months?
Jim: [17:41] One of the first shows? Yeah, it was.
Jack Cordry: [17:43] It was number three or…
Jim: [17:45] It was in April, May 2020.
Jack: [17:47] It was the horse hockey event.
James: [17:49] Oh, we don’t talk about that.
Jim: [17:51] We can’t say horse hockey team.
James: [17:52] Can we edit that?
Jim: [17:52] We’re fine. Horse hockey’s good.
James: [17:54] Most viewed…
Jim: [17:55] Episode?
James: [17:56] Horse hockey episode ever.
Jack: [17:56] That’s very specific.
James: [18:00] Very technical.
James: [18:00] Jack, how you been?
Jack: [18:02] Doing great, enjoying it here at the TGA, having a great time, a lot of good information. Railroad Commission’s putting out a lot of really good stuff…
Jim: [18:11] Really good stuff, yeah.
Jack: [18:13] actually set it on PHMSA, didn’t fall asleep. He was hilarious, had a great breakdown…
Jack: [18:17] PHMSA.
James: [18:17] Who did…
Jim: [18:18] Was that Bill?
Jack: [18:18] That was Bill.
Jim: [18:19] Bill Lowry?
Jack: [18:19] Hilarious.
Jim: [18:20] He’s good.
James: [18:20] He is good.
Jim: [18:21] With the safety glasses?
James: [18:22] Love it.
Jack: [18:23] He got to the very end of it, said, “There’s only 12 more slides to go.” A screen came up, and everyone’s like, “Ugh.” The next screen had eight slides in one. He’s like, “All right, questions.”
Jim: [18:30] That’s Bill.
James: [18:32] Oh, man. I love it.
[18:34] [crosstalk]
James: [18:34] I missed it.
Jack: [18:32] Way to shut it down.
Jim: [18:33] He’s got that dry sense of humor. Jack, tell us a little bit about LC…wait, LSCS. I always…
James: [18:40] LSCS, Lone Star.
Jim: [18:41] LS, Lone Star Consulting Services.
James: [18:43] Everybody knows them.
Jack: [18:44] Lone Start Consulting Services, we’re a group that does a lot of evaluations, trainings, certifications, pipe joining. We do a little bit of everything. We work with a lot of companies working on their O&M programs.
[18:58] A lot of stuff we’re seeing is the match‑up. We’re seeing deficiencies from the evaluation point to the CDTs, and then jump up from that to what they’re actually testing on, and then, from that, matching their O&Ms.
[19:11] We’ve been doing a lot of work lately in the Northeast of going up and down that ladder, reverse engineering it. It was written by engineers, so we’re trying to bring it down to English.
James: [19:19] Hold on, you said Northeast. Are you only in the Northeast?
Jack: [19:22] No. We’re anywhere the phone rings. We’re in Texas right now.
James: [19:26] Has truck, will travel…
Jack: [19:28] Has truck, will travel.
James: [19:26] Or he’ll fly, or he’ll walk.
Jack: [19:29] Has wings, will fly.
James: [19:30] Awesome.
Jim: [19:31] Beautiful.
James: [19:31] Jack, how’s it being back out? It’s been a while, since TGA, we’ve been together as a group. You survived golf yesterday.
Jack: [19:39] It was only 107, managed to shoot a very good game because we had three good players, and then I showed up. That helped out a lot. Being back with TGA, to see human beings again…
James: [19:54] Put a hand on…
Jim: [19:55] Oh, my gosh.
Jack: [19:56] and not have to go through, and screens and backgrounds.
James: [20:01] Jack, you’re on mute.
Jack: [20:03] and all of this stuff. “Once again, hit the button, hit the button,” so none of that or the kids running around or those kind of things. It’s really good to see everyone back. I had EWNCON a couple weeks ago, fantastic…
James: [20:14] It’s good to take that in, and just go straight into TGA.
Jack: [20:19] and then coming to this one, so really good seeing a lot of people. It’s funny. It’s been years. I hate to say that, but realistically, it’s been years.
James: [20:27] Sure, three years.
Jack: [20:28] You see these people, and it was like yesterday. They’re like, “Hey, what are you doing? Hey, how’s that last project?” “That was three years ago. We’re done it.”
Jim: [20:34] It just picks right up, though. It picks right up.
James: [20:38] I would say it’s even better.
Jim: [20:41] Because people are appreciative.
James: [20:42] Even some of the walls that we had. I’m not talking about any in particular. I’m just saying, we’ve all been so far away. We want to see what everybody has been doing. We want to see the innovation. That’s the coolest part of being back out.
Jim: [20:57] Absolutely.
James: [20:57] Being in‑person.
Jim: [20:58] Has gone all these.
James: [21:00] Seeing what everybody has been working on, right?
Jim: [21:01] Yeah.
Jack: [21:01] Yeah, that’s one of the things. We looked at some new pipe over here that they’re coming out with. I hate to say it, during that COVID, you had three years of downtime, and people’s programs are getting so much better. Their training is developing better.
[21:15] Their standalone programs, the things that they’re doing. The innovations that some of these people are coming out with because they had nothing else to do for three years.
Jim: [21:22] Is that the P28 or whatever that pipe is called over there?
James: [21:25] It’s P12.
Jack: [21:26] Yeah, P12.
Jim: [21:27] P12.
James: [21:26] We had them on…
Jim: [21:27] Yeah, that’s right, and Groebner.
James: [21:29] Groebner.
Jack: [21:29] A couple hundred pounds of pressure. That’s fantastic. We’re always to that 100‑pound, that was our ceiling. They just blew the ceiling out. Now, all over sudden, we’re doing everything.
James: [21:42] Jack, we were just talking with Brian Kendrick from Sapphire. He was telling us, they’re standing up data centers for crypto mining.
[21:48] [crosstalk]
Jim: [21:48] With LNG, running generations.
James: [21:51] Are you kidding me? Really, he was talking about grow houses in legal states that are behind all these things that you might not think, is still natural gas. Some of those innovations happening, in these last 24, 31 months.
Jack: [22:06] It’s incredible. It’s mind blowing.
James: [22:08] It’s unreal to think that.
Jack: [22:10] One of the things I saw a minute ago, Tal Centers was talking about it, he threw it up on the screen in the main room, the price of gas, and then electricity. You see electricity, and you see…
James: [22:21] We’re trying to pull that. We need to get that.
Jack: [22:25] Going on, and then you see at the top. It’s just amazing.
James: [22:29] Inconsistent.
Jack: [22:26] The gas line is straight across, and everything else has climbed, and then electricity sitting way up here in production. Everyone is like, “Go electric.” Look at the chart, people.
Jim: [22:36] It’s three times, the cost right now.
James: [22:38] The facts are the facts.
Jack: [22:39] Jim, no one wants to looks at that. We have to edit the facts.
James: [22:41] It’s like I brought it back.
Jack: [22:44] There it is.
Jim: [22:47] What was the term that Tal used today about facts? You can’t ignore the facts, or just because something…It was a quote, and I didn’t tell him…
James: [22:57] We’re going to have Tal on.
Jim: [22:58] Yeah, for a full episode.
James: [22:59] He’s so passionate about it.
Jim: [23:01] He is.
James: [23:02] Jack, man. Good to see you in person.
Jim: [23:05] Thank you, brother. Appreciate you stopping by.
Jack: [23:04] No problem, guys.
Jim: [23:04] Always a pleasure.
Jack: [23:05] Have a great day.
Jim: [23:05] Jack Cordry, everyone. We’ll be right back.
James: [23:07] Bye‑bye.
Jim: [23:08] We are back. A bevy of people have been coming by to and fro and out…
James: [23:14] I don’t know what a bevy is.
Jim: [23:14] A bevy is a lot, in my world.
James: [23:17] We’re going to have to google that.
Jim: [23:19] No, don’t google it. You might get in trouble. Anyways, our good friend, Justin is here. Wait, is he back to the future, or is he…?
Justin Mullin: [23:27] From the future.
Jim: [23:28] From the future. Please introduce yourself and tell everybody who you are.
Justin: [23:34] I’m Justin Mullin. I’m with From the Future. I’ve known these guys for a few years.
James: [23:39] We’ve been around. We’ve been around, right? We’re run in some of the same circles.
Justin: [23:43] Some of the same circles, yeah.
James: [23:44] We’ve done a lot of work together.
Justin: [23:45] Real glad to be here, my inaugural session on the podcast. I’m happy about that.
Jim: [23:52] Is this the first?
Justin: [23:53] Yeah.
Jim: [23:53] OK.
James: [23:54] We just saw Justin. He was at EWNCON a few weeks back when we’re recording this when we’re live at TGA, as we’ve said. How is it, man? What are you all working on? What’s happening?
Jim: [24:05] Yeah. Tell a little bit what we got to see today over there. That is phenomenal.
Justin: [24:09] Yeah. Thanks guys. We got to show you all a little bit about our Fusion VR training. What we’re able to do is actually allow people to be able to train for fusion polyethylene pipe fusion. They’re able to use it in VR so they can practice to perfection.
[24:30] They can have the freedom to fail. They’re able to have consequences. They’re able to go through different scenarios and situations that are not typically able to be replicated in real life.
[24:46] We can create weather conditions. You may be trying to do a hot fusion on a hot day or a cold day. Those weather conditions can certainly change how you might do your fusion.
James: [24:57] It’s so neat to hear Justin talk, because you got to understand, we’ve kind of grown up together in this industry a bit. There was a time when he would have just been sitting over there, listening to us talk about fusions or whatever it might be.
Jim: [25:13] Now, they’re creating it.
James: [25:14] I mean, he was over there basically walking us through how to fuse some poly pipe in VR.
Jim: [25:20] He had the hot plates in VR.
James: [25:23] He did it all.
Jim: [25:24] It’s set on. He’s like, “Now, this is 435 degrees,” and he touches it virtually and you hear this, “Ow.” It’s really cool, really cool.
James: [25:32] It is. Talk a little bit, you all worked with some industry folks, and you all…That thing look sharp.
Justin: [25:41] Thank you for that. I appreciate that. We’ve worked really hard to get it right. Right now, we’ve been working with [indecipherable] who is a subject matter expert.
James: [25:51] Who’s over there.
Justin: [25:52] Their expertise in this field is very, very high level, and so they were able to work with us on helping us get the process right.
James: [26:01] You could tell the detail that was put in. That’s what I was talking about the little things. The renderings of the equipment, it’s real equipment, it’s the equipment you’re using. It makes a difference to users when they’re in there trying to learn.
Justin: [26:20] The idea is for our folks to be able to do it in a lot less time, and they’re able to retain the knowledge a lot better. They’re able to be a lot…Much higher engagement is going to help them to learn it, and be much more proficient with it.
[26:37] When you’re doing pipe fusion training, typically in real life, it’s taking multiple days, and you’re using a ton of material that we throw away.
Jim: [26:45] Definitely.
Justin: [26:46] Here we’re not using any material or equipment. They’re able to do it at their home while their trainer is at their office.
Jim: [26:53] The beautiful thing you said, and I’ve said this for years about VR is the freedom to fail. That you’re in an environment that, should you make a mistake or should you need to relearn something, it corrects you right away so you know what you need to do.
[27:04] You cannot use that wipe to do both sides. You need to use a wipe for each side of the pipe. It helps you, and helps you retain that. I think it’s wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. I am a huge proponent.
James: [27:15] Justin, we going to have to sync up again.
Justin: [27:17] Appreciate you guys.
James: [27:18] Man, good luck.
Justin: [27:19] Appreciate you guys.
Jim: [27:17] Absolutely. Thank you, brother. Appreciate you.
Justin: [27:20] My pleasure. Thank you all.
James: [27:22] Good luck for the rest of the conference. We’ll be right back.
Jim: [27:26] Everyone, we are back once again with the man of the hour.
James: [27:27] What’s your title? Are you the king of TGA? Is that what it is?
Darrell Cherry: [27:31] Emperor.
James: [27:32] Emperor?
Jim: [27:32] Emperor?
Darrell: [27:32] Yeah.
Jim: [27:33] I like that. With a red coat? No, a blue coat? You noticed [indecipherable] .
Darrell: [27:37] Very seldom.
James: [27:37] Man, it’s done.
Darrell: [27:37] Not nearly as often as I need to.
Jim: [27:41] Darrell Cherry is joining us, president of the TGA. I have known Darrell since 2008, my friend.
Darrell: [27:49] I have been doing this since 2004. It’s been a lot of fun. I’ve been a member of the association a lot longer than that, but they were changing leadership, and it looked like something I might be able to do.
Jim: [28:05] You do it well.
Darrell: [28:07] Thank you very much. I appreciate that. It’s a good thing that nobody has the script.
James: [28:13] Man, I said that same thing a couple of weeks ago at EWNCON. My team was beating themself up over a few things and I said, “No one knows what got missed or what got hit.”
Darrell: [28:24] The difference in a good actor and a great actor is if a good actor misses his line, he gets all crazy, but if great actor misses, he just goes right on.
Jim: [28:37] Nobody knows the difference.
Darrell: [28:39] Nobody knows.
Jim: [28:39] I tell you, I got drawn into the conference world at EWNCON to see it from your side. I’ve gone to conferences for years and years, but actually being part of or the host of one, it’s a whole another thing to do.
James: [28:50] That’s true.
Darrell: [28:51] The other side of the desk is somewhat different.
James: [28:53] Really different.
Jim: [28:55] It’s incredible. This is a wonderful conference [indecipherable] .
Darrell: [28:57] By the way, y’all’s conference was fabulous.
Jim: [28:59] Did you like it?
Darrell: [29:00] I did, except for the falling down part.
James: [29:02] Don’t talk about that.
James: [29:04] He’s trying to file a claim, but other than that, no.
Jim: [29:09] I’m a witness.
James: [29:09] Darrell, we’re back. It’s been three years now.
Darrell: [29:13] It’s been three years.
James: [29:14] Pretty much.
Darrell: [29:14] It was three years ago the last time we did this. We did, of course, the virtual method, and it was pretty successful. Actually, last year during a virtual meeting, we had over 500 people attend for various pieces of it. This year we’re not having that same virtual view in a hybrid meeting. At least the guys in audio‑visual are making me look good.
Jim: [29:42] Looking really sharp there.
James: [29:44] Tough job.
Jim: [29:44] That was really sharp in there.
Darrell: [29:45] Those guys are really good.
James: [29:47] They really are.
Darrell: [29:48] They’re part of CenterPoint. CenterPoint has taken that on as a program, and I really appreciate that very much. Appreciate all the guys like yourself that are here supporting the association.
James: [30:00] Darrell, I don’t know if you know it, but our goal. We’re doing these live here at the show, is to bring the conference back. Talk to as many people. Bring the city back, bring the conference back to those that weren’t able to make it. We’ll be airing this later in the week, and hopefully some people will get a window into this event a little bit more.
Darrell: [30:20] We had over 300 sign‑ups. We don’t quite have that many actually in attendance.
James: [30:26] A little bit of attrition, no big deal.
Darrell: [30:27] I think the last time I looked, we were right around 30 that hadn’t been here yet, so 10 percent attrition seems like a lot.
James: [30:35] It’s normal. Actually, it’s good.
Darrell: [30:38] Yeah.
Jim: [30:38] That really isn’t bad at all.
Darrell: [30:40] No.
James: [30:41] We’re a busy industry. Sometimes things come up, and we got to work.
Darrell: [30:44] We’re very proud of the turnout that we’ve got, and the engagement.
Jim: [30:50] Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Darrell: [30:52] The engagement, it’s been fantastic. When you look in the room, and the whole room is full, it makes the speakers really…
James: [30:58] Light up.
Darrell: [30:59] It gives them a feeling that they’re important enough to be speaking. [laughs]
James: [31:03] I love a good small group. When I don’t have to have a microphone, that’s my perfect size, for sure.
Darrell: [31:09] How did y’all breakout go?
James: [31:11] It was good.
Darrell: [31:12] Good.
Jim: [31:12] We had 23, 24 people in there.
James: [31:15] It was a small group, but like I said it was that right‑sized group.
Jim: [31:18] It was good. Everybody was engaged. They liked that.
Darrell: [31:22] Get a lot of feedback, and questions, and such.
James: [31:23] A lot of people coming up, talking about it.
Jim: [31:25] Yeah.
James: [31:26] They’re all, “Great event. Thanks for having us.”
Darrell: [31:29] Thank you very much. Thank you, guys for being here.
Jim: [31:30] What’s our next event?
Darrell: [31:31] Our next event is going to be, we’re going to have some…
James: [31:34] We got round tables coming.
Darrell: [31:38] Roundtable, yeah, there’s the word.
Jim: [31:39] Is that for late summer, into the fall?
Darrell: [31:42] In the fall…
James: [31:43] Safety roundtable.
Darrell: [31:44] Safety roundtable, distribution roundtable and transmission roundtable.
Jim: [31:49] I sit on the transmission committee, so I should be at that one, my friend.
Darrell: [31:52] Yes, I know.
Jim: [31:53] I do.
Jim: [31:54] Wait, I have.
James: [31:56] He’s back y’all.
Darrell: [31:56] Once upon a time.
Jim: [31:57] Yeah.
James: [31:58] All right, Darrell. Thank you, sir.
Jim: [31:59] Thank you, sir.
Darrell: [32:00] Thank you, guys.
Jim: [32:01] Appreciate it, absolutely.
Darrell: [32:01] Appreciate it.
James: [32:02] We’ll be right back.
Jim: [32:01] We’ll be right back. I do.
Jim: [32:04] Welcome back. We are back with our friends. Actually, a CenterPoint friend of mine. We have legacy CenterPoint.
James: [32:10] Old school.
Jim: [32:10] Old school.
James: [32:11] All back.
Jim: [32:12] Yes. We have a little bit of throwback. Ladies, would you please introduce yourself, and your organization to the audience?
Diana Perossa: [32:18] Yes. I’m Diana Perossa with Engineered Utility Solutions.
Larissa Jackson: [32:22] I’m Larissa Jackson.
James: [32:23] Same company.
Diana: [32:25] Yes.
Jim: [32:25] Same companies, yeah.
James: [32:27] We’re bringing people on. We’re back live. We’re at TGA O&M in the exhibit hall. It’s been a great first couple of days, right?
Diana: [32:36] It has, yes.
Jim: [32:36] It’s been good and busy, yeah.
Diana: [32:37] Yeah, busy.
James: [32:37] Some highlights, we’re back in person. How’s that been? How’s it been, and I want to hear both perspectives, right? Because you’ve been in the industry long, you have not, from what I understand.
Larissa: [32:49] Correct.
James: [32:51] What’s that first look at our industry been like, and then how’s it been to be back?
Diana: [32:58] It’s great to be back. I keep saying as inappropriate as it sounds.
James: [33:01] Uh‑oh.
Diana: [33:02] It feels good to be able to see, touch, feel people.
James: [33:05] Yeah, shaking hands and kissing babies, right?
Diana: [33:08] Yes, it does. When we were getting ready to come here, she was asking what was it going to be like. I told her, “For me, it just feels like a family reunion.”
Jim: [33:16] It does.
Diana: [33:17] We know each other.
Jim: [33:19] Doesn’t it?
Diana: [33:20] Yes, and we check on each other’s families. We want to make sure…
James: [33:25] We do.
Diana: [33:26] How we’re doing. Are we thriving? Are we surviving? Where are we? What end of the spectrum?
Jim: [33:32] Yeah.
James: [33:33] It’s been a while.
Jim: [33:17] Three years has been long.
Diana: [33:31] Has been very long.
Jim: [33:32] As you slip through, we just pick right up, like people walking in.
Jim: [33:36] Hey, it’s good to see you.”
James: [33:39] What about for you, first show?
Larissa: [33:40] First show. I have just entered into the gas industry for four months and so therefore, I don’t know…Everybody is new faces, but I can feel a vibe of a family reunion.
Jim: [33:54] A vibe.
Larissa: [33:55] To me, it’s very impressive because it doesn’t feel like it’s cutthroat. You could provide the same service and yet, you have a welcoming embrace from everyone. Everybody wants to understand.
James: [34:12] It gets cutthroat way later.
James: [34:13] That’s later, when once we’ve beat it down. Over time, you just get beat down, and then you really get cutthroat, right?
Jim: [34:23] Come on. Clearly your throat [indecipherable] .
James: [34:23] We talk about how big the industry, and how small it is.
Jim: [34:29] At the same time.
Diana: [34:30] Yes, at the same time.
James: [34:31] It’s a good way we speak about it. It feels like, “The vibe is cool.”
Diana: [34:34] It is. I love that with the TGA, it’s almost like our brand. Is that we support one another, that’s been a universal theme, right? We’re [indecipherable] with each other.
Jim: [34:43] It’s almost like we’re members of the TGA first, and then members of our company, second.
Diana: [34:47] Agreed.
James: [34:48] That was deep cut.
Jim: [34:49] That’s true though.
James: [34:51] We’re there first.
Jim: [34:51] That’s absolutely true.
James: [34:52] Maybe TGA will use that next year.
Diana: [34:54] Maybe.
Jim: [34:55] Darrell? Where’s Darrell at? We have a tagline for you, Darrell.
Diana: [34:58] Where’s the coming chair? We can help them with their tagline.
Diana: [35:00] Paul.
James: [35:01] Paul Kennedy?
Diana: [35:01] Paul Kennedy. Isn’t he the incoming chair?
James: [35:04] Yeah. We got some influence there. We’re going to work on Paul.
Jim: [35:08] We know Paul.
James: [35:09] All right. Hey, it’s been great to see y’all, great to catch up.
Diana: [35:13] Thank you
James: [35:13] Nice to meet you.
Jim: [35:14] Thank you.
James: [35:15] Welcome to the industry.
Jim: [35:16] Absolutely.
James: [35:16] We hope you stay forever.
Jim: [35:18] Thanks ladies.
Larissa: [35:19] Thank you.
James: [35:20] I was once new, too.
Jim: [35:22] You were.
James: [35:22] So were you.
Diana: [35:23] Yeah, me too.
Jim: [35:24] Obviously, many years ago.
Jim: [35:26] Many years ago.
James: [35:28] All right.
Jim: [35:29] Anyways.
James: [35:29] We’ll be back.
Jim: [35:30] We’ll be right back.
Jim: [35:31] We are back once again live. We cannot even get a foot away from…there we go. A foot away from the booth without somebody wanting to come on board with our new friend, Robert. Robert, welcome to you.
Robert Holmes: [35:43] Absolutely.
James: [35:42] Robert made that name tag, I swear. He did.
Jim: [35:45] Please introduce yourself, and tell folks what you do.
Robert: [35:49] I’m Robert Holmes with CenterPoint Energy, operations supervisor out of the North District Houston area with CenterPoint, the gas side…
James: [36:00] Nice.
Robert: [36:01] operations.
Jim: [36:01] Who do you report to?
Robert: [36:03] I report to Miss Lynette Sealy.
Jim: [36:06] Oh, an old friend of mine from my CenterPoint days, and Vinson Sealy, names I know well.
James: [36:12] Know well, recruited…
Robert: [36:13] Maybe we can get her on here one day.
Jim: [36:16] She’s been holding off.
James: [36:18] She’s booked.
Jim: [36:20] We saw the rider, and I don’t know if we can do all that. How many TGA events have you been to?
Robert: [36:26] This is my first one.
James: [36:27] Here it is.
Jim: [36:28] This is inaugural?
James: [36:27] We’ve been waiting for someone like you, Robert.
Robert: [36:32] They’ve been sweating me the whole time.
Jim: [36:30] What do you think? Do you like it?
Robert: [36:35] I love it.
Jim: [36:33] What’s the biggest takeaway so far?
Robert: [36:36] Networking, meeting new people. Reaching out, and met a lot of good people out here.
James: [36:42] A lot of CenterPoint here. Have you met anybody today that you’ve only met virtually before?
Robert: [36:47] Not today.
James: [36:51] All right.
Robert: [36:52] I did meet one person that’s very beneficial to our department, our area.
Jim: [36:57] Who’s that?
Robert: [36:57] What was the name? Dana Brown.
Jim: [37:03] Dana Brown.
James: [37:04] From the crowd.
Jim: [37:04] Shout out to Dana Brown.
Robert: [37:06] Dana Brown, she’s used to the fire department and deals with a lot of emergency response. That would be me. So, I was able to reach out to her so she can call me directly if they have an issue.
Jim: [37:19] I love that, that’s wonderful. That’s a good thing.
Robert: [37:21] Yes, sir.
Jim: [37:21] Absolutely great to meet you.
James: [37:23] It was a great conference, man.
Jim: [37:25] Thanks for joining us. Look at this, a newbie who just wanted to get right on the show with no hesitation. We’ll be right back.
Robert: [37:30] All right, thank you, guys.
Jim: [37:31] Good afternoon everyone. I am joining us back together in a very official capacity right now to welcome our next guest. Our next guest is very important to James and I, he would be Coleman Sterling, our CEO.
James: [37:48] And our boss.
Jim: [37:49] I don’t think he’s ever seen one of our podcasts like this. This is my, always my behavior on podcast, sir.
Coleman Sterling: [37:55] Yeah, I’ve seen your bucket.
James: [37:58] Yeah, he knows.
Jim: [37:59] [laughs] Yeah, that’s right. I couldn’t…Hey, I tried to.
James: [38:03] I wouldn’t say I watch it, but I’ve seen it.
Coleman: [38:04] Been on a couple.
James: [38:06] He has been on a couple, been a while.
Coleman: [38:09] How’s the podcast going here, live at TGA?
James: [38:04] This is our first time to bring it to TGA since TGA’s been on hiatus, but we did do the game show and virtual.
Jim: [38:20] We did.
James: [38:20] Remember that?
Jim: [38:21] Yeah, that was fun. That was…
James: [38:22] They didn’t invite us to do it in person, which, I think, says a lot about it.
Jim: [38:26] But it was a great virtual event. It was fun. It added some excitement to it. Coleman, again, I did introduce you a little bit. You’re our CEO. You also have a role with the Texas Gas Association, too. Would you please let our audience…
Coleman: [38:40] I do, I do. I have a couple of roles. One of the roles is I’m a board member of the TGA itself, and I’m also a board member of the Texas Gas Association Scholarship Committees.
Jim: [38:50] Two separate events.
James: [38:51] Which is really cool.
Coleman: [38:55] Yeah, two separate things.
James: [38:56] Which is really cool.
Coleman: [38:58] Yeah, well, we got to give out a lot of our scholarships today. TGA every year at the O&M meeting, we give out ten scholarships, two for technical schools, and the other eight for your traditional academic schools.
Jim: [39:09] So how much are those scholarships for?
Coleman: [39:10] 2,500 a piece.
Jim: [39:12] Not bad. That’s great, and that comes from the members that do live auctions, golf events, whatever, correct?
Coleman: [39:18] All kinds of events. Yeah, we got a lot of fundraising events throughout the year that we’re able to bring the money in.
James: [39:24] That’s really why we play golf, right, Coleman?
Coleman: [39:26] That’s exactly why I play golf.
Jim: [39:28] That’s the only reason yesterday in 101‑degree temperature.
James: [39:32] That’s for sure.
Coleman: [39:32] It was 106.
Jim: [39:33] Was it?
James: [39:35] It felt like a lot more.
Coleman: [39:37] 106 degrees, but it’s for the kids.
Jim: [39:38] It is.
James: [39:38] It’s something we have to do.
Coleman: [39:41] Really, it really is, though. I mean, it’s freaking amazing, because I also get the opportunity to read all the applications for the scholarship.
Jim: [39:45] Oh, yeah.
Coleman: [39:46] I tell you, these kids are absolutely amazing. How they write, what they say, what you’re doing, their community service, their extracurricular jobs. That’s amazing, yeah. Makes me look back whenever I was 18, getting out of high school like, wow, I didn’t…
James: [40:01] Should have made better choices.
Coleman: [40:03] I’m really impressed with them.
James: [40:04] It’s cool to see some of them. They stuck around afterwards, and then also before, and just kind of ask questions to people in our industry. I don’t know, it’s really neat to see the people that those scholarships are going to…
Jim: [40:18] I saw a couple of the gentleman there. They were using the restroom beforehand. They were like, straightening up in there, and making sure they’re all set.
Coleman: [40:24] Yeah, they got to get up on stage.
Jim: [40:25] It was good.
James: [40:27] Got to play the role, right?
Coleman: [40:28] It’s good.
James: [40:28] All right. Well, Coleman, we’re going to let you get back to it, man.
Coleman: [40:32] Thank you.
Jim: [40:33] Thank you for your support. Coffee with Jim and James would not be here without his support.
James: [40:37] What a champion.
Jim: [40:37] He is, absolutely.
James: [40:39] There’s been times when we went back to the table and weren’t sure, and you were always the champion for us.
Jim: [40:42] Absolutely. He was like, you can do it. Two years because of this gentleman.
Coleman: [40:46] Watch these guys. They’re great.
Jim: [40:47] We’ll be right back. Thank you.
Jim: [40:50] All right. We are back. We just had a…
James: [40:53] Lot like our first conference.
Jim: [40:56] Whoa, easy now. Take it easy.
James: [40:59] Careful. Obviously, we’re live.
Jim: [41:00] We are.
James: [41:01] Because we would cut that if we weren’t.
Jim: [41:03] No, we’d leave it in. It’s real. It’s what happens.
James: [41:05] Yes, it is.
Jim: [41:05] With us is our good friend that we have known for years.
James: [41:10] Champion of the show. Never been on.
Jim: [41:14] No, he has not been on Mr. Brian Kendrick. Brian, please introduce yourself to the audience.
James: [41:20] It flipped around again, man. Nobody will know who you are.
Brian Kendrick: [41:23] I’m a rookie. I apologize.
James: [41:26] Brian, give us your elevator pitch.
Jim: [41:30] Yeah, sure tell us who you are and what you do.
Brian: [41:32] Quick story.
James: [41:33] I can’t wait.
Brian: [41:35] The first natural gas industry event that I ever attended was the TGA O&M in 2016.
James: [41:41] Was I there?
Brian: [41:41] I don’t think you were.
James: [41:46] 2017 it must have been.
Brian: [41:47] I was there. We were in San Marcos.
Jim: [41:49] Yes, at the Embassy Suites. Actually, at that time I brought Little Brian along, I said come on, you’re going to learn about the gas industry.
Brian: [41:58] They made me buy a jacket, a white button‑down, boots, jeans, not skinny jeans.
Jim: [42:04] He had skinny jeans.
Brian: [42:05] No skinny jeans.
Jim: [42:06] He did.
James: [42:06] It’s weird when you tuck the skinny jeans into your boots. I think.
Jim: [42:11] We’ll just leave it at that.
Brian: [42:12] I don’t know what kind of people you’re hanging around.
Jim: [42:14] Brian tell the audience who you’re with, and what you do please.
Brian: [42:19] Brian Kendrick with Sapphire Gas Solutions. We’ve gone by a couple names past few years, Big Bend Energy, Big Bend Solutions.
James: [42:25] Heard about them.
Brian: [42:27] Jim actually hired me at the time, the CEO, Big Bend Energy, so a lot of history there, industry.
Jim: [42:36] Great history.
Brian: [42:38] We’re here promoting LNG, CNG, RNG, hydrogen virtual pipelines. We deliver energy whenever pipelines are either not available due to integrity outages, planned or emergency or where infrastructure just doesn’t exist. The end‑user needs access to gas, so we truck it in. I love it.
James: [42:58] I was talking to Cayley about what it is, the gap that y’all feel and how important it is. She was like, “The things you never even know go on in this world.” I’m excited. I know a little bit later, we’re going to sit down with Brian. We got a show coming, a full show we’re going to do live from here. We’re going to dive into that more.
Jim: [43:18] Absolutely.
James: [43:18] Pretty pumped about that. Brian, how’s it to be back at the TGA? It’s been almost three years. How’s it feeling? You missed yesterday, man.
Brian: [43:26] I did.
James: [43:26] Which may have been a blessing.
Jim: [43:28] Oh, it was hot.
Brian: [43:29] It was hot.
James: [43:29] Oh, on the golf course.
Brian: [43:31] I used to suntan, yeah.
Jim: [43:30] I should have missed it, too.
James: [43:33] How’s it being back?
Brian: [43:35] It’s great to be back. I mean, you can’t replace being in person for anything. Technology is great to use. It’s been useful for sure. It’s had its uses, but get back, seeing people face‑to‑face, shaking hands.
James: [43:49] Something like kissing babies.
Jim: [43:50] Oh, boy. Listen to that, you two.
James: [43:52] Yeah, shake and bake.
Brian: [43:53] Excited to be back in person.
James: [43:54] Man, good to see you, brother.
Jim: [43:57] Thank you. Thank you for stopping by.
Brian: [43:58] Yes, sir. Welcome.
James: [43:58] Have a good show. We’ll be back.
Jim: [44:00] Be back.
Jim: [44:01] James, I was about to say, or you’re about to say, day two is in the books, but it’s not, my friend.
James: [44:08] Yeah, we still have dinner tonight.
Jim: [44:09] We’re still going.
James: [44:10] We’ve got a fancy dinner somewhere. I can’t remember. Where is it?
Jim: [44:14] I don’t know. Someplace nearby.
James: [44:15] It’s very local.
Jim: [44:15] Yeah.
James: [44:16] Very German.
Jim: [44:17] Oh, there we go. I like that. That’ll be good.
James: [44:21] Yeah, it should be cool. It was a good day. We were just kind of talking about how many folks came on, but also just awesome folks, and a lot of perspectives we got to pull out, man.
[44:34] We had a lot of great guests, a lot of repeats, people that’s great to put hands on as I’ve heard over and over, a lot of things. We had a lot of people come up, and thank us for what we’ve been doing. Tell you what…
Jim: [44:45] That’s the fun part. That’s the fun part. I like that.
James: [44:47] in what we’re doing. We’re making a difference. That makes me very proud.
Jim: [44:52] If we change one person’s life to be a little bit more positive, or a little safer, or a little bit better, then we’ve done our job. Right?
James: [44:59] Yeah. We got a little bit in the morning. We’re going to come back, and see more folks that we’ve been waiting on. Then we’ll shut it down tomorrow. Tomorrow is the last day.
Jim: [45:10] Today, we’re shutting down day two as far as exhibit hall, but we’re going to continue on to the dinner.
James: [45:15] To the dinner tonight, yeah. Then, man, we’re off to SGA just like that.
Jim: [45:21] My goodness. We travel to SGA on Sunday, brother, Sunday.
James: [45:25] Back‑to‑back weeks on this one. That one is a big one, too. I’m sure those folks are gearing up for that event. It’s going to be a big one.
Jim: [45:34] I’m excited.
James: [45:35] We’re live there, too.
Jim: [45:36] Oh, yeah. We are. We’re bringing the whole show.
James: [45:38] Are you in conference shape?
Jim: [45:40] I’m getting there. I’m getting there, I think.
James: [45:43] I don’t know.
Jim: [45:43] I don’t know.
James: [45:45] We’ll be back tomorrow.
Jim: [45:47] See you in the morning. Take care.
James: [45:49] Bye.
[45:49] [music]
Transcription by WatchingWords