Monday, November 22- Ryan Ellis, Michelle Trapp, Chris McCabe, Colin Shaub, Sheila Kraft, Taylor Kolbus, Danny Hertz, Terry McConnell, and Douglas Weishaar all stopped by the booth while at Southern Gas Association Natural Gas Conference.
Quick Links:
Ryan Ellis on Linkedin
Michelle Trapp on Linkedin
Chris McCabe on Linkedin
Colin Shaub on Linkedin
Sheila Kraft on Linkedin
Taylor Kolbus on Linkedin
Danny Hertz on Linkedin
Terry McConnell on Linkedin
Douglas Weishaar on Linkedin
Episode Transcript
[0:00] [music]
Jim Schauer: [0:23] Welcome back. Day two at SGA. We are inundated with friends today. They’re lined up, James. I can barely see anything.
James Cross: [0:31] There’s three or four people within a…
Ryan Ellis: [0:34] It was two, but…
James: [0:36] One of them left.
Ryan: [0:36] There’s a few that way.
James: [0:38] We’ll keep it going.
Jim: [0:39] Hey, our good friend Ryan Ellis, Groebner, is here with us today. Ryan, say hi to the illustrious audience.
Ryan: [0:46] Illustrious.
Jim: [0:47] Yeah. It’s a big word.
Ryan: [0:48] That’s good.
Jim: [0:49] Watch out.
James: [0:49] You can’t call Chris that.
[0:50] [laughter]
Ryan: [0:53] As usual guys, thanks for having me on the show. Especially here live at SGA…
James: [0:57] Live.
Ryan: [0:58] On day two. Whew. Good stuff.
Jim: [1:01] I got a quick story.
James: [1:02] Oh, let’s go.
Jim: [1:03] Ryan, long time friend, we go way back, arrived yesterday and had a presentation at 9:00 AM, which we were helping emcee. A lot was going on.
[1:13] His flights were delayed, delayed, delayed. He finally got in, I think yesterday morning at 7:30, took an Uber and changed in the back of the Uber. There’s now a restraining order.
Ryan: [1:25] Shout out to Kathy, by the way. Uber driver in Charlotte.
James: [1:29] Five stars?
Jim: [1:30] He made on time.
Ryan: [1:31] Definite five stars.
Jim: [1:32] He made it in time and was ready, in a suit, for his presentation. That is the way like I said before, the way Groebner rolls.
James: [1:40] He did better than I did, because I didn’t make the session.
Jim: [1:43] You were, you were…
James: [1:44] I was rolling around building this booth while Jimmy was emceeing.
Jim: [1:47] I was lollygag‑, I mean, I’m sorry, I was spreading the love.
Ryan: [1:51] You were leading discussion.
Jim: [1:53] Thank you, sir.
James: [1:54] Oh, is that what you call it?
Jim: [1:56] Question and answer.
James: [1:58] Jim has a knack for showing up. He’s that guy that shows up when you’ve just finished moving the couch and he’s like, Hey…
Ryan: [2:07] What can I help with?”
James: [2:06] Yeah. He’s that guy. [inaudible] qualified.
Jim: [2:11] Everybody needs one of those friends, don’t you?
Ryan: [2:15] Honestly, I can’t say too much because that was kind of me yesterday after I got in. By the time we did the show and everything, my guys were back down building the booth too, so.
Jim: [2:26] Well you went from Tulsa, to Phoenix, to Charlotte.
Ryan: [2:29] That’s true.
Jim: [2:29] So you went across the country?
Ryan: [2:32] Overnight. Yeah.
James: [2:33] It’s good to be busy, isn’t it?
Ryan: [2:34] Yep. It is.
James: [2:36] Let’s talk about the last two weeks, or three really. Being back. We were at AGA, now SGA this week. What’s it been like getting back out?
Ryan: [2:47] It’s so great getting to see people again. Don’t get me wrong, we get to see each other on Teams and Zoom and all of that. That’s all great, but being able to shake somebody’s hand, being able to tell stories, not be six feet apart like we are here, it’s pretty awesome.
Jim: [3:08] It is.
James: [3:10] We’ve heard that a lot, obviously. Everybody’s just happy to be back, fellowship. There’s a lot of innovation in the halls. You see some new products coming out, some new technology everywhere. Lots of good stuff.
Ryan: [3:24] There is. The last time we talked, we’ve talked about the PA12 and that was, the session yesterday was talking about that. We’ve got that in our booth. We’ve got live fusion demos happening. We’ve got a few other new products.
[3:41] We’ve walked the floor this morning and talked to some different folks. I see Performance has their new black stripe pipe in their booth. We’ve seen in some new signage out. We’ve seen a lot of different things here at the show.
James: [3:57] Podcasts.
Ryan: [3:58] Yeah, live podcast.
Jim: [4:00] Wait a minute.
Ryan: [4:00] In the booth.
James: [4:01] Award‑winning.
Ryan: [4:03] Award‑winning. Congratulations by the way.
Jim: [4:05] Thank you.
Ryan: [4:06] For those of you that weren’t there last night. These guys won an award at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, so now they’re both famous and notorious.
James: [4:16] Notorious. We were always notorious. If you were wondering what that loud sound is, that sounds like someone’s building something in the background, that’s actually the cornhole boards being used over there, so carry on.
Jim: [4:30] That’s good. It’s vibrant.
Ryan: [4:31] It’s good to be social.
Jim: [4:32] Absolutely.
James: [4:33] We couldn’t have done that on Zoom. Would’ve been awkward.
Ryan: [4:36] Kind of hard to throw bags through the computer.
Jim: [4:39] I tried it one time. IT is still after me because of that whole incident, but we won’t go there, right, CJ?
Ryan: [4:45] I’m not going to throw any names out there, because I don’t want to throw friends under the bus, but I did hear an amazing story last night at the Hall of Fame.
[4:59] We have some folks associated with our company that are big into golf, and have one of the really nice golf simulators that you hit the screen and everything. We have some other folks that attended an event and were asked to hit a few balls.
[5:24] These screens have computers associated with them, and the CPU is a glass CPU. The story was, somebody shanked the ball and hit the glass and shattered the glass on the CPU.
Jim: [5:41] Ooh.
James: [5:42] Whoa.
Ryan: [5:44] The response was just, “That sucked,” and continue on.”
Jim: [5:49] Wasn’t me.
Ryan: [5:50] Pretty cool.
James: [5:51] For the record, he is not talking vaguely about us.
Ryan: [5:54] Not EWN, totally throwing ourselves under the bus.
James: [5:57] I’ve never shanked a golf ball in my life, [laughs] today.
Ryan: [5:59] Well you’re better than I am. I suck at golf.
Jim: [6:02] On a scale of 1 to 10, a broken CPU, would that be 10? 10, Joe Serrett…
James: [6:08] 10, Joe with the confirmation, UPSCO friends.
Ryan: [6:12] People coming by everywhere.
James: [6:14] We love it.
Ryan: [6:15] Kind of nice. Unfortunately, the computer’s not a 360‑degree camera so everybody can see…
Jim: [6:21] It could be. Oh, the Marines are rolling in.
James: [6:25] Uh‑oh.
Ryan: [6:26] Uh‑oh.
Jim: [6:26] It’s about time…
James: [6:27] We are live, Ted. We are live. Boom.
Jim: [6:29] He comes rolling through. I thought he was storming the beach.
James: [6:35] Ryan, we are exited to see you. It’s good to see you in person again.
Ryan: [6:39] Absolutely, guys. Great to…
James: [6:40] Looking forward to that invite.
Jim: [6:41] Wait a minute. Let me just give a shout‑out here.
James: [6:44] Shout‑out Groebner marketing.
Jim: [6:47] Good job.
James: [6:47] That is a good one. Oh, we can’t really show it off. I was just saying, look at that. Handshake, oh, solid.
Jim: [6:56] Lookit, our friends at UPSCO…
James: [6:59] Hecklers heckling.
Jim: [7:02] Is that somebody from Bell Gas out there, too?
James: [7:04] Oh.
Ryan: [7:05] Incoming.
James: [7:05] Want to bring it home?
Jim: [7:07] We’ll bring it home. Thanks, everybody, for watching. We’re going to go out and grab a few more guests. We’ll be right back after this moment. Take care.
Ryan: [7:13] You guys come down to the booths.
Jim: [7:14] See Groebner right down the ave. Road? Aisle.
James: [7:16] There you go.
Ryan: [7:19] That’s it. See you all in a bit.
[7:22]
Jim: [7:22] We are back. Once again, we have our great friend, Michelle Trapp from Michels pipeline to join us for a few seconds. She is very busy.
James: [7:29] She is.
Jim: [7:30] She’s running a booth over there that has people lined up.
James: [7:33] Lined up, I can see them.
Michelle Trapp: [7:36] Single‑handedly, I am running our booth.
Jim: [7:37] You are.
Michelle: [7:38] Because we have such busy people that they could not help me out.
Jim: [7:42] You want to give a shout‑out to Tammy Bomia?
Michelle: [7:44] Hey, Tammy! Thank you. And my boss, Pete. I mean, Tammy’s your boss, Pete’s my boss. Hey Pete! [inaudible].
James: [7:51] Hey Mikaela. That’s my boss.
Michelle: [7:53] [laughs] That’s what we need to do. We need to promote our bosses as well. Right?
Jim: [7:59] She is, you are.
James: [8:00] My wife and Coleman are my bosses.
Jim: [8:03] I’d agree with that.
Michelle: [8:03] There you go.
James: [8:05] And my daughter.
Michelle: [8:05] There you go.
Jim: [8:05] Michelle, just a few seconds. We don’t want to take a lot of your time because we know that you’re busy. Thoughts about AGA, SGA, all the conferences, getting back in the swing of things. What do you think?
Michelle: [8:15] I’m pretty sure…
James: [8:16] One word first, and then you can use a million words.
Jim: [8:19] What’s your word to describe this? All of it.
Michelle: [8:22] Grateful.
Jim: [8:22] OK.
James: [8:23] Oh, man.
Jim: [8:24] I like it.
James: [8:24] Love it.
Michelle: [8:24] So grateful that we’re here. I’m pretty sure I sound like a broken record when I say we are all so happy to be back in person.
James: [8:32] Oh my goodness.
Michelle: [8:32] Right? Exactly.
James: [8:34] But we are. It’s not like we’re being fake. That is the story we heard over and over and over.
Jim: [8:40] It’s true though. Getting back together, seeing people face‑to‑face. We’ve been seeing each other. You’re a huge fan of “Coffee with Jim and James.” Wait a minute…
James: [8:47] Huge fan.
Jim: [8:48] The award‑winning Coffee with Jim and James.
Michelle: [8:51] Award‑winning.
James: [8:52] Get out of town.
Jim: [8:54] Anyways, we’ve seen each other for a year and a half on LinkedIn, so to speak.
James: [8:59] Big LinkedIn champion over here.
Jim: [9:01] Huge.
James: [9:01] We’re best friends, basically.
Michelle: [9:02] Yeah, exactly. If we were on Facebook, that’s what we would be…
James: [9:05] We’re LinkedIn official, all of us.
Michelle: [9:08] You are a good promoter of LinkedIn.
Jim: [9:11] Yeah, all of us.
James: [9:12] No free sponsors.
Jim: [9:13] You know what, though we’re good promoter of the industry by what we’re doing. By the stories that Michels share, that we share, that Energy Worldnet share. I mean, it’s really a good thing, and that’s the validation for me, is that when people come up and say, “Wow, I learned this,” or “I do this a little bit differently,” or “That helped me.” That’s what makes it for me.
Michelle: [9:31] Exactly. I just can’t help but say thank you to all of the sponsorship and the vendors and the associate membership. Because if it was not for us, our customers wouldn’t come, right? We make it attractive…
Jim: [9:47] Fun.
Michelle: [9:48] And fun, definitely fun.
James: [9:50] We’re doing a podcast live from SGA. Who’s ever done that in the world?
Jim: [9:55] Is that a first?
James: [9:56] Another first. Right here, with Michelle Trapp.
Jim: [9:59] That should be an award.
James: [10:02] We just won the award for best podcast episode of SGA.
Michelle: [10:06] Yeah. We got this
Jim: [10:07] I guess so. Michelle. Thank you for joining us. We know that you’re very busy.
Michelle: [10:12] Oh my God, This is awesome.
Jim: [10:14] We appreciate you and everything that you do.
Michelle: [10:15] Thank you, guys.
James: [10:16] Thank you so much.
Michelle: [10:18] We appreciate what you’re doing. This is awesome, this is getting our word out.
Jim: [10:19] It’s a team environment and we’re going to have Pete on…
Michelle: [10:22] Yes, we’re going to bring Pete [inaudible] and he’s going to do the official.
James: [10:25] We’re going to hunt it down right now.
Michelle: [10:28] Yeah, there’s my other boss. I’m blessed to have [inaudible].
Jim: [10:33] That’s my version of my Tammy, although my Tammy looks a lot better than that version right there.
Michelle: [10:39] I am blessed.
James: [10:40] All right.
Jim: [10:40] All right.
James: [10:41] Good to see you.
Jim: [10:41] Thank you, Michelle.
Michelle: [10:42] Good to see you.
Jim: [10:44] See you all soon. Bye‑bye.
[10:45]
Jim: [10:46] We are back at SGA in the afternoon, Chris McCabe is here. What did you just say, Chris, about the award‑winning Coffee with Jim and James show?
Chris McCabe: [10:56] Probably need to listen to it.
James: [10:57] Especially now that you’re a guest.
Chris: [11:00] Yeah. I think.
James: [11:02] It’s a good time to start. That’s usually when most people start, that’s why we try to pump out a lot of episodes.
Chris: [11:06] [laughs] It’s just constant turnover.
James: [11:08] I guess I’ll subscribe, since I was on it. Where do I do that?”
Chris: [11:11] You said everywhere though, right? Everywhere that they got podcasts.
James: [11:15] Yeah. Everywhere, on all major platforms, or you can just follow us on LinkedIn and watch the videos when they come across. Anyways, if you’re an audio person, you can listen the audio, like boring.
Jim: [11:26] Put in the background.
James: [11:27] Or you can see our beautiful faces right every week for the rest of your life.
Jim: [11:31] Oof, I might be [inaudible]. Whatever.
James: [11:35] Chris, tell everybody, give us your elevator pitch. What do you do?
Chris: [11:39] Elevator pitch? I’m with Chris Georges Sales, or CGS Inc. We’re out of Knoxville, Tennessee. We’re a family owned business. We are a factory rep and distributor for natural gas products in the southeast United States.
[11:51] It was started in mid ’70s by my grandfather on my mom’s side. He did it. He worked after World War II. He came up through AGL and started working in the natural gas industry then, and became a factory rep, and then started his own company in the ’70s there and we’re here now.
Jim: [12:15] Third generation, you are.
Chris: [12:16] Third generation. Yes sir.
Jim: [12:17] Outstanding.
James: [12:17] That’s the namesake of the company?
Chris: [12:19] Yes, CGS, Chris Georges is Chris Georges of Chris Georges Sales.
James: [12:22] That’s awesome.
Jim: [12:23] A lot of our friends in the industry know your dad, Pat.
Chris: [12:25] Pat McCabe. I’ve heard for better or worse he’s made an impact. [laughs]
James: [12:30] I don’t know why I’ve heard that name.
[12:33] [laughter]
James: [12:33] But I have heard it. That’s awesome. How’s SGA going?
Chris: [12:37] It’s good. I’m enjoying it. It’s good to see everybody. It’s been two years since I’ve seen some of you all. Both the wife and the dog were looking at me funny through COVID like, “Get out of the house.”
James: [12:50] Something wrong. Same. My wife asked me every week, “Is this the week y’all go back to the office? Are y’all thinking about closing the office? Are you sure? You’re sure you need to do that?” I’m like, no. I don’t know if it’s good for my marriage, but it’s been good for my production.
Jim: [13:07] I think it’s been a learning time. I think it’s both good and bad, and I shouldn’t say that. Good, and learning. Not bad, but you learn from things that are a little bit different.
Chris: [13:18] You learn from the difference or the bad.
James: [13:20] Boy, I’ve learned a lot, this past year, about myself…
Jim: [13:25] That’s very true.
James: [13:26] About my friends.
[13:27] [laughter]
Jim: [13:30] We’re going to go right into the mental health segment right now.
James: [13:32] We have a little bit of time.
Jim: [13:34] James, please let it all out.
[13:36] I will say, though, just getting back to the trade shows. I did 6,000 steps yesterday before noon. Before noon. I’m telling you just getting back in the swing of things, it’s different.
Jim: [13:51] It is.
James: [13:51] My feet are throbbing right now, just for the record. I am not in conference shape.
James: [13:57] No, we need to get back into it.
Chris: [13:58] My knees were hurting after I set up my booth.
James: [14:02] Mine too, because Jim didn’t show up to set ours up.
Jim: [14:04] No one noticed that.
James: [14:06] He planned some kind of emceeing gig, side hustle, during that time. Then he showed up as we really dusted off the final, put the final touches and he’s like, “Oh y’all messed that up. Y’all need any help?”
Jim: [14:22] Can I help guys? I’m here to help.” No, we helped out our friends at Groebner and Evonik with emceeing or doing the…
James: [14:30] Learning lab.
Jim: [14:31] Yeah, the learning lab, question and answer. James was going to be there, but because of last‑minute dynamic and fluid ability, we could not set up till yesterday morning. I took one for the team and I went up there to be on stage.
James: [14:46] The funny part about that, not to bring that up, was that I’d forgotten about it. I really had, because I was building the booth. Jim showed up and I was giving him a hard time. He turned it around and was like, “I’m sorry. I had to emcee a learning lab, by myself.” I went, “Oh…” So we’re all good.
Jim: [15:04] We’re good. You know what? That’s the dynamics of the yin and yang relationship we have, right? When one pivots, the other one slides. When one is dynamic, the other one is fluid.
Chris: [15:14] Doesn’t fluid and dynamic kind of mean the same thing?
[15:18] [laughter]
James: [15:20] How’s it feel being on an award‑winning… This your first podcast?
Chris: [15:25] It is my first podcast. It is. I listen to quite a few, so I guess I had to get on one eventually.
Jim: [15:31] I’ll tell you what, if you want to be back on and on a full episode some time…
James: [15:34] Absolutely. I would love to hear the origin story.
Chris: [15:37] Yeah, I’ll get the dates down.
James: [15:39] That’s one of my favorites. We got all kinds of folks on. We had Rhino on, remember?
Jim: [15:44] Yeah.
James: [15:45] They talked about the origin story. We talked to so many folks that’s told their garage stories, and I feel like you’ve got some great ones that we need to hear.
Jim: [15:53] That would be fun.
Chris: [15:54] I’m in.
James: [15:56] Let’s do it.
Jim: [15:57] Thank you, my friend. It was good to see you.
Chris: [15:58] Thank you. I appreciate it.
James: [15:59] It was good to see you.
Chris: [16:02] Absolutely.
James: [16:01] Let’s do it again.
Jim: [16:01] All right now.
Chris: [16:02] We’ll listen, promise.
Jim: [16:03] We’ll see you in a few minutes.
[16:06]
Jim: [16:06] Welcome back to the award‑winning Coffee with Jim and James. Can I say that again?
James: [16:11] That’s the first time we’ve ever said that.
Jim: [16:12] Award‑winning, and I want to just say that for a third time, award‑winning Coffee with Jim and James.
[16:17] It’s Colin Schaub from…Ready for this? We did a shout out yesterday. I’m going to redo it for Larissa CSNRI, no dash. CSNRI, got it?
James: [16:29] Yeah, that’s perfect. Colin, how you doing?
[16:30] Colin Schaub: I’m good. Thanks for having me, guys.
Jim: [16:32] Thanks for coming by.
Colin: [16:33] It’s an honor to be on an award‑winning podcast.
James: [16:35] I’m telling you. You’re the first one to say that.
Colin: [16:38] All right.
James: [16:38] Colin, tell everybody by a little bit about what you do.
Colin: [16:41] OK. I work in outside technical sales for CSNRI. We make, primarily, engineered composite solutions. Obviously, we’re here at the SGA show, Southern Gas Association.
[16:51] Our primary space of operation is in the oil and gas industry, but we do branch out into other aspects of civil utilities as well.
Jim: [16:58] Whoa, that was an elevator speech if I ever heard one.
James: [17:02] You’ve been practicing.
Colin: [17:02] Yeah, all night in the mirror.
Jim: [17:04] I like it. Anybody you want to give a little special shout‑out to at CSNRI?
Colin: [17:09] How about your amazing wife?
Jim: [17:12] I’m sorry. I wasn’t even…
James: [17:13] What a setup.
Jim: [17:14] Was that like a softball?
Colin: [17:15] It was like a beach ball.
Jim: [17:17] You have the microphone now, sir.
Colin: [17:19] Tammy’s the best. She’s charged with revising our entire training regimen, which needed to be done from the ground up.
[17:27] Fortunately, we’re using a wonderful service called Energy Worldnet. I don’t know if you guys have heard of them. We’re trying to bring it all in‑house, get all the resources in one place for easy access. I’m excited to see what that’s going to look like.
Jim: [17:40] Can I say that would almost be like having a certification platform cloud‑based, like a qualification, so people can do it?
Colin: [17:48] I think you could probably safely say that.
Jim: [17:51] I just wanted to make sure I was listening correctly throughout the time.
James: [17:54] I will tell you, I have an inside track, same as the team that does the design work. I’ve seen a lot of it, and it looks really good.
Colin: [18:02] That makes me even more excited.
James: [18:03] Tammy’s breathing down our neck every single day.
Colin: [18:07] As she should be.
James: [18:08] To get an update on it, but it’s very, very close to completion.
Jim: [18:11] It’s really close.
James: [18:11] We’re excited to see some of the first renditions of that. Colin, how’s the show going?
Jim: [18:16] Yeah, what do you think?
Colin: [18:18] Honest opinion?
Jim: [18:18] Yeah.
Colin: [18:19] A little slower than I anticipated, but it’s been good to interact with folks such as yourself and some of the contractors and stuff that are around, who we do work with day in, day out during dig season. It’s good to see some of those faces.
[18:30] A little light on the end users, but that’s going to happen. We’re still partly in a pandemic.
James: [18:35] No doubt.
Jim: [18:36] We are.
James: [18:38] I would say SGA put the best foot forward here. I know we always want bigger numbers. We always want more operating partners. But the truth is that’s out of their hands and in lot of those cases.
Colin: [18:51] Absolutely.
James: [18:51] We understand that.
Colin: [18:53] Yeah.
Jim: [18:53] Yep.
James: [18:55] Little bit slower, but also, it’s given us a lot of time to fellowship with the people that are here.
Jim: [19:01] Quality versus quantity at times, right?
Colin: [19:04] Right.
James: [19:04] Shout out to SGA. Again, I said it when we were at AGA, just stepping out here and being the proving ground and setting the tone for what we hope ’22 will be.
Colin: [19:16] Yes. Amen.
James: [19:17] We have to get out here and some of us prove it, and then go motivate others to join us. It’s been good. Obviously, I’d love to have 2,000 people here.
Colin: [19:29] Maybe next year.
[19:30] James. Yeah, absolutely. I think we’re going to be raring to go by next year.
Colin: [19:34] The foundation’s here. The vendor showed up.
James: [19:36] No doubt.
Colin: [19:36] Classes have been good. Content’s there.
Jim: [19:39] Yeah.
James: [19:40] Absolutely.
Jim: [19:40] Lots of tracks. Lots.
Colin: [19:43] These companies…
James: [19:43] Their awards were some of the highlights. [laughs]
Jim: [19:46] Wait a minute. When was that award ceremony?
Colin: [19:49] Tell me, what was the award that you guys received?
James: [19:51] Corporate communication.
Jim: [19:53] and a shout out.
James: [19:55] Shout out for sure.
Jim: [19:56] One, we made the finals, which is a absolute honor.
Colin: [20:00] Sure.
James: [20:00] Absolutely.
Jim: [20:01] Two, we were nominated along with ONE Gas and Spire, award‑winning unto themselves organizations, so to be in that same breath with those was unbelievable. Then, to actually achieve the award, couldn’t believe it. Unbelievable.
James: [20:18] Really neat. A lot of validation over the last couple of weeks for work that we’ve done for almost two years now.
Jim: [20:26] Seeing it live.
James: [20:27] Coming together, doing it live, we always wanted to do this live. We had plans to do this live all along, but we just hadn’t had the opportunity. Coming out here and doing it, seeing the reception.
Colin: [20:39] I told you guys yesterday, when we weren’t on the air, but I said the same thing. “It’s good to see a [inaudible] podcast take a foothold.
James: [20:46] Energy.
Colin: [20:46] in this industry specifically. There are others out there, but you guys have a fun, casual twist on it, and it’s been so…
James: [20:53] Are there others out there? I’m just kidding. We’re sharing the booth with UPSCo, Connections for Life, love those guys.
Jim: [20:59] They have gold‑plated microphones.
Colin: [20:59] They do have gold‑plated microphones.
James: [21:01] They don’t have the pimp [inaudible] of microphones.
Jim: [21:04] We’re going stealth. I like the look. It matches the mugs. It all blends in.
James: [21:10] We’re sharing a booth with UPSCO, great partners of ours, super. We love those guys, love their show. We’ve spent a lot of time with them over the last 18, 20 months.
Colin: [21:24] Working together, ideas.
James: [21:27] I met them not one single time in person until about 10 days ago.
Colin: [21:31] They’re your best friends?
James: [21:33] I feel like we’re best friends.
Colin: [21:34] Love it, that’s beautiful.
Jim: [21:36] It is good.
James: [21:37] Colin, great to see you, brother.
Colin: [21:39] James, Jim. You guys are awesome.
James: [21:40] Always for being on with us.
Jim: [21:43] Yup, I’m sure I’m going to hear Colin’s voice when I’m back home talking to Tammy. He’ll say, “Go at it, solving customer’s solution at CSNRI.” Marissa, don’t forget that.
Colin: [21:52] and look at you. Thanks, guys.
Jim: [21:53] Have a great day. Next one coming up next.
[21:55]
Jim: [21:55] Welcome back, everyone. As we walked away from the booth for a second, our friends at Magnolia River…
James: [22:00] Good friends, best friends.
Jim: [22:02] wonderful friends joined us. A little tidbit, though, we were involved in a pit‑crew race contest last night, James, contest.
James: [22:12] I wouldn’t say it was a contest. [laughs]
Jim: [22:13] We were in first place for at least two minutes, maybe three minutes, until the award‑winning pit crew team took their place. Jack, who was on the tire, and who was on the fuel?
Sheila Kraft: [22:27] Jack, tire, fuel.
James: [22:29] Tire.
Jim: [22:30] What was your time?
[22:31] Taylor Kolbus: 7.99.
Jim: [22:32] Whoa.
James: [22:33] Put that in perspective.
[22:34] Taylor: It wasn’t even close.
James: [22:36] They told us we were amazing, the best one out there, and we have 13.
[22:40] Taylor: 13 seconds.
James: [22:41] Y’all halfed us.
[22:42] Taylor: Seven seconds.
James: [22:43] It’s all about the tire, though.
[22:44] [crosstalk]
[22:44] Taylor: That’s right.
Sheila: [22:45] It is.
James: [22:46] He was running the tires.
Sheila: [22:47] He is from Charlotte, or Asheville, and Tallahassee, so he’s been around [inaudible]
[22:51] Taylor: I grew up working on cars and stuff. I know how to use a lug wrench there.
Danny Hertz: [22:55] You can’t miss a lug. If you miss a lug you might as well…
James: [22:57] You might as well just stop.
[22:58] Taylor: You’re not getting sub‑eight.
James: [23:01] Drop the jack on them.
Jim: [23:02] Is that a NASCAR term? What did you just say?
[23:03] Taylor: No, I made it up.
James: [23:06] What was it?
Sheila: [23:07] Sub‑eight.
James: [23:08] I’m going to use that, sub‑eight. Professional. How’s the show going?
[23:12] Taylor: It’s going good.
Danny: [23:14] It’s going good.
James: [23:13] There’s more about this than pit stops and NASCAR.
Danny: [23:16] That’s really why we came here, though.
Sheila: [23:18] That was, at least, a primary reason.
James: [23:21] Why don’t everybody go down the line and say what you all do.
[23:23] Taylor: That’s going to be real easy.
James: [23:26] Good. Do it.
[23:27] Taylor: Go ahead, Danny.
Danny: [23:28] Yes. I’m Danny Hertz. I’m the Regional Account Manager for the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee.
James: [23:33] Shout out.
Danny: [23:34] Helping us get some more business in that territory.
James: [23:36] Look, we have all these fans around. All lined up.
Jim: [23:38] Yeah. Now, they’re showing up.
James: [23:40] They’re all Magnolia River people. No, I’m just kidding.
[23:44] [laughter]
Sheila: [23:45] I’m Sheila Kraft. I’m the Account Manager that covers the Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arkansas, all the way to California. South central, southwest.
Jim: [23:57] Wow.
Sheila: [23:57] We’ve got the BMOC over here.
[24:00] Taylor: Account Manager. Midwest, Rockies, Great Plains.
Jim: [24:03] Do you cover Minnesota too?
[24:06] Taylor: Ya, sure there, don’tcha know.
Sheila: [24:08] He has to talk with that accent to fit in.
[24:10] Taylor: Oh ya, sure. A little lutefisk up there. A little ice fishing.
Danny: [24:13] That was a little Irish there.
[24:14] Taylor: I don’t know.
[24:15] [laughter]
Sheila: [24:15] It was a blend.
[24:17] [crosstalk]
James: [24:17] Depends where you’re at exactly.
Sheila: [24:19] Yeah.
Jim: [24:19] Tammy, my wife, says all my impersonations sound the same. I said, “No, they don’t. In my head they are all different.” She was like, “No, they’re all the same.”
Sheila: [24:27] Yeah.
James: [24:29] We saw Sheila at AGA a couple weeks ago. Were you all at the AGA?
[24:34] Taylor: No.
Danny: [24:33] We were not.
James: [24:34] I’m sorry. I know we’ve all been out, but like conference‑wise, is this one of the first bigger ones?
Danny: [24:41] Yeah. Earlier this year, I was at CPGA, which is really small TGA. Then, we did RNG works recently, which is good.
[24:50] Taylor: Yeah, RNG.
James: [24:51] Oh yeah? I heard that was a good one.
Danny: [24:51] Finding our place in that market too.
James: [24:52] Very cool.
Danny: [24:54] That was big. That was bigger than this.
Jim: [24:55] No doubt.
[24:56] Taylor: They did a good job there.
James: [24:57] I heard good things from that show.
Jim: [24:58] It’s good getting back. It’s good seeing people, catching up, the whole bit. It’s exciting to go by the booths and see what’s going on.
James: [25:10] Even when we have 2,000 people here, we’re like, “Man, I wish there was some more people.” Getting out here, doing this, we got to get out here and get to work. We’re setting the tone for ’22. I think we’re going to be out there a lot.
[25:23] Taylor: Yeah. A lot of old friends [inaudible].
Jim: [25:24] Yeah.
James: [25:24] Hopefully, there’s no more pit stops or any kind of pit crew action that we have to battle.
Sheila: [25:29] We can just make a new contest.
James: [25:31] We need new…
Jim: [25:32] Do you have an idea?
James: [25:34] Co you have the video playing in front of…?
Sheila: [25:36] Yeah. [laughs]
Danny: [25:37] Look here. If we talk about how many views we’re getting, how this is going viral, I got the info.
[25:42] [laughter]
James: [25:42] Viral.
Danny: [25:42] Pretty much, this is going to be on YouTube, we’re going to…
Sheila: [25:47] It’s SGA. Viral…
James: [25:49] Basically, we’re starting a podcast now about pit stops.
Danny: [25:50] We have 1,100 views, almost 1,200.
Jim: [25:52] You have 40 views.
[25:54] Taylor: 1,200.
Danny: [25:55] 1,200.
Jim: [25:55] Oh, 1,200. I’m sorry.
[25:57] Taylor: That’s 60 likes, man.
James: [25:59] One of those is mine. I just want y’all to know. I’m a big champion.
Sheila: [26:05] That was epic.
Jim: [26:02] Wait. With this, it is now going to be “Coffee with Danny, Sheila, and Taylor.” Let’s go. We’re out.
James: [26:08] That’s right. Need a rebrand.
Jim: [26:10] You know what? We’re going to Magnolia. They’re going to come here.
James: [26:12] Yeah.
Jim: [26:13] All right. Thanks, you guys.
Sheila: [26:16] Thank you.
[26:16] [crosstalk]
Jim: [26:17] Appreciate it.
Sheila: [26:18] So fun.
Danny: [26:19] Thank you.
James: [26:19] Absolutely.
[26:20] Taylor: [inaudible] do we clap?
Jim: [26:22] No. We just go like this, “We’re back…”
[26:23] Taylor: Oh, it’s like the…
Jim: [26:25] Yeah.
James: [26:26] We just fake it so people feel like it’s big time.
[26:28] Taylor: Yeah.
James: [26:29] [laughs] Take us out.
[26:30] Taylor: Yeah. You don’t even need the light. It’s just like, “Yeah. That’s what you have to do.”
[26:33] [crosstalk]
Jim: [26:35] Thank you everybody. We’ll be back.
[26:37]
Jim: [26:37] James, we are back. We barely got two feet out of the booth when all of a sudden, we saw our friends from Evonik run after us.
James: [26:45] Friends of the show.
Jim: [26:46] because of the award‑winning show now.
Terry McConell: [26:48] Congratulations.
Douglas Weishaar: [26:49] Award‑winning. Congratulations.
James: [26:51] Because of you, guys.
Douglas: [26:53] It’s awesome.
Jim: [26:54] It’s because of the guests and the audience.
James: [26:56] All of them. All six of them.
Jim: [27:01] Wait, that’s not actually in person.
James: [27:04] We’re live.
[27:04] [laughter]
James: [27:04] I’m just kidding. We are using some down time here, we’re not going to lie. As everybody’s in sessions, we are joking about the crowd that’s obviously not here.
Jim: [27:15] There’s…
James: [27:16] There’s eights of people.
[27:19] How’s the show going, guys?
Terry: [27:20] It’s going. We’ve had good communication, good conversation with some folks interested in the product. Traffic is a little light, but it gives us opportunity to have more in‑depth conversations with people that stop by…
Jim: [27:35] Quality versus quantity.
James: [27:37] That’s exactly the spin we put on it as well.
Jim: [27:40] Yep.
James: [27:41] No, we were laughing about it, but SGA putting this event on, obviously, we were just at AGA, we’re going to compare, but it’s not fair. It’s not a fair comparison.
[27:53] But we’ve seen a lot of people out. We’d love to see a lot more, but we always want to see more. If we had 2,000 people, we’d want 3, right? I think SGA’s done a great job. The event last night was awesome. I’ve never been to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Terry: [28:08] That was my first, and I live in Charlotte, by the way.
James: [28:11] What?
Jim: [28:12] What, you do?
Terry: [28:13] I’m local, yeah.
Jim: [28:13] And you’ve never been there?
Terry: [28:14] I’ve not been there. I’ve driven. I’ve admired the architecture.
James: [28:17] They’re going to kick you out of Charlotte.
Terry: [28:19] But I’m glad I got to get in.
Jim: [28:20] Thank you.
Terry: [28:21] Part of the whole awards ceremony. That was awesome.
Jim: [28:23] That was fun. That was really fun.
James: [28:26] I don’t want to toot our horn…
Terry: [28:28] Where is your award, by the way?
James: [28:28] Listen, it’s really heavy and sharp.
[28:32] [laughter]
James: [28:33] I was scared to bring it.
[28:34] [laughter]
Jim: [28:34] It’s in the hotel room.
James: [28:37] I almost broke it twice. Let’s not.
Terry: [28:38] Congratulations again.
James: [28:39] Thank you very much. What were you about to say?
Terry: [28:43] We were talking about the Nascar Hall of Fame.
Jim: [28:45] NASCAR.
Terry: [28:46] Local.
James: [28:46] It was a good event. Oh, sorry. So, y’all did a learning lab?
Jim: [28:51] Yeah, learning lab yesterday. Come on. Go ahead.
James: [28:53] How’d it go?
Douglas: [28:54] It was exciting. All right. We learned a little bit more about PA12.
Jim: [28:58] PA12 is actually.
James: [29:01] Have you ever hard of it?
Douglas: [29:02] Yeah. PA12, let’s check it out.
James: [29:03] Catch everybody up real quick.
Douglas: [29:04] Polyamide 12, it’s a nylon material being produced, goes into gas pipes.
James: [29:10] Hey, hasn’t it been out for a million years?
Terry: [29:13] A million and a half.
Douglas: [29:15] A million in terms of how long plastic’s been around. Yeah, that’s probably right. Yeah, I mean it’s a relative thing. 50 years. At least 50 years.
Jim: [29:23] MAOP though, 250 PSI bursted at 6,300 PSI.
Terry: [29:29] Loop Stress is at 61…?
Jim: [29:31] 6380. Yeah, pressure is about 1,800 PSI.
James: [29:34] This is what it feels like when the technology people come on that and Jim’s just sitting here…
Jim: [29:37] I bring my numbersout.
James: [29:38] Jim starts checking his phone, live, he’s just like…
Jim: [29:45] Technology. What? Is this a flip phone?
Douglas: [29:49] We’re we are approved for use up to 6 inches up to 250 PSI, so where most of your utilities would break at 60 or 80 or 100 and go from PE to steel, now there’s a solution to get them from wherever they’re cutting off to that 250 mark so they can put a plastic system in the ground, no cathodic protection.
[30:12] By the way, same equipment that you utilize for your PE, so no expensive retooling required.
Jim: [30:18] And you can hook it up to a PE system with a transition piece.
Douglas: [30:22] You could, if you wanted to.
Jim: [30:26] I mean, yeah. That’s good, Doug, I like how you did that “If you wanted to.”
[30:30] But I want to use it and so it’s not an inhibitor where somebody says. “Oh, we’re only using PE,” you can start to migrate and do your journey into PA12 by linking into your existing system as it grows.
Douglas: [30:42] There could be advantages for wanting to do that.
James: [30:45] So, what’s next for you guys? What, y’all got on the boat? You going anywhere? Taking a break until January 4th?
Terry: [30:55] I don’t know of any other event that will be attending the rest of the year
Douglas: [30:59] Not the rest of the year, no. We got a lot a lot of follow‑ups to make in the last two shows. A lot of people to connect with. Then after the first year, we’ll do it all again.
Terry: [31:10] Start it all over. Yeah.
James: [31:12] I hope this set a tone with AGA a couple weeks back, and this year now. I hope it sets a tone for ’22. I hope people are ready to come out and get to work.
Douglas: [31:23] I’m ready.
Terry: [31:24] That’s the feeling we get.
James: [31:25] Good to see y’all. Thanks for coming back by…always good.
[31:29] [crosstalk]
Douglas: [31:30] Well deserved by the way.
Jim: [31:31] Well listen, we’re glad to call you our friends. Thank you for being our friends in the industry.
James: [31:34] It’s always nice to sit down with them.
Jim: [31:36] Absolutely, it’s always a pleasure. All right, we’ll be back after this short break, take care.
[31:40]
Jim: [31:41] James, put a fork in it. It is done.
James: [31:45] Done, done, done. Done‑ski.
Jim: [31:47] SGA is coming to a wind‑down for us, my friend. It has been a whirlwind.
James: [31:53] It really has. This one, I don’t know if it’s coming off the heels of AGA, coming off one and going to another, but I’m worn out after this one, just like you.
Jim: [32:06] Yeah.
James: [32:06] I need a nap. I need a shower, and I need a drink.
Jim: [32:10] We’ve been going nonstop. A lot of people don’t understand, though, that these are literally 12‑, 13‑, 14‑hour days, and I’m not being facetious.
James: [32:20] That’s just in the hall today. We’re going to spend 12 hours in the hall itself.
Jim: [32:24] Yeah, definitely.
James: [32:27] Then, that doesn’t count leaving here and having a dinner, meeting up with anybody that we need to before we head out. I mean, these are long days, man.
Jim: [32:37] It is.
James: [32:37] It isn’t odd to put a 16‑, 18‑hour day in at a conference. That’s actually pretty normal.
Jim: [32:42] It is. It’s tiring, it’s exhausting, but it’s very rewarding though too. Just as a side note, we have one more game show tonight. We’re going to host as Coffee with Jim and James.
James: [32:51] No doubt.
[32:51] Jim And then we are going to, I think wrap it up. Look, we have more fans stopping by.
James: [32:59] Flooded with fans right now. Look at that, [inaudible]. You want it? You got it?
Jim: [33:05] There you go. We are giving out…
James: [33:08] Look at that. I’m so sorry.
Jim: [33:09] As we record, we are giving out props to our fans.
James: [33:12] the last piece of swag.
Jim: [33:14] Yes, that’s the last one.
[33:16] Fan: Are you the guys form the Coffee…?
James: [33:18] We are the guys from the thing. We won the award last.
[33:22] Fan: You guys were amazing.
Jim: [33:22] That was us. We now can say the “award‑winning” show of Coffee with Jim and James. We have fans lining up.
[33:29] Fan: Where’s your…
Jim: [33:32] No, he won’t let me touch it. It’s locked in a hotel room.
James: [33:35] It’s in a vault somewhere in North Carolina.
Jim: [33:39] That’s it.
James: [33:41] Never to be talked about again.
[33:42] Fan: Congratulations.
James: [33:42] Thank you guys.
Jim: [33:43] Thank you. Appreciate you.
James: [33:44] Thank y’all. You all have a good one.
Jim: [33:46] That’s the life of trade show. People stop by. They want to connect. They want to say congratulations. They want to say, “It’s good seeing you. Let’s catch up a little bit.” That’s one thing about trade shows, fluid and dynamic. You cannot plan them.
James: [34:00] All the time, all the time. We got a game show left with the OPSCO guys. Jimmy, it’s been amazing again.
Jim: [34:06] Always, brother.
James: [34:08] We haven’t seen each other in person this often in two years.
Jim: [34:12] Look, more fans coming by. We better…
James: [34:14] Threes of fans walk in.
Jim: [34:16] Threes.
James: [34:17] Hey, it’s been awesome. SGA, thank you so much.
Jim: [34:21] Appreciate it.
James: [34:22] For the award, for the event, for stepping out there, setting the tone for our industry. Hey, there’s no pitchers on the scorecard, man. It’s good, and it’s good. We love you guys. Thank you for your support
Jim: [34:35] Love you all.
James: [34:35] Thank you for your support. See you at the next one.
Jim: [34:39] I’ll see people at LGA. Two weeks.
James: [34:41] I won’t.
Jim: [34:42] I’ll be there.
James: [34:42] I’ll see APGA, I may be there when this one comes out. I don’t know. We’ll see.
Jim: [34:46] See you in Louisiana. You all be safe, take care. Bye, bye.