I'm back from my broker-dealer-advisory firm's annual meeting. I have not been to one of these for maybe seven years — my previous BDA was local, and the annual meeting usually lasted four or five hours one day mid-week.
This three and a half day meeting was in Denver. I had not been to Denver since the 1970s, and I got there a few days early to meet with customers and SMA managers. The Mile-High City seems to be a city where capitalism and get-in-touch-with-your-inner-hippy seem to meet in a happy way. Even my customer — a highly placed executive — rides his bicycle to work most days. Speaking of bicycles, they are everywhere in Denver.
The BDA education was great; I think I must have hit at least 10 workshops. The food was wonderful, and the weather sensational. There were so many workshops, with platform meetings sandwiched in, that my brain is still trying valiantly to digest information. I also got to meet a lot of folks who had only been telephone voices before.
The 16th Street Mall takes up blocks and blocks and has electric buses running each way, but no cars. There are hundreds of shops and restaurants, book stores, plazas and more. Denver seems to know how to do such things, unlike most cities. Because of its deep-thinking about how to get folks downtown, it gets folks downtown.
I'm back at home now, and readers should know that the Tulsa State Fair is present. Last Sunday, my wife and I went with friends, and the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association rib-eye steak sandwich was better than ever, as were the spiral-cut potatoes. (The spud equation's answer is: the way to turn two potatoes and some peanut oil into $6.50, which makes me think that maybe I'm in the wrong business.) We also saw some pretty good mandolin fiddlers at a contest sponsored by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. I didn't notice if the World's Largest Pig exhibit was there this year, but there were plenty of animals and lots of strange things to eat, including the deep-fried hamburger in a Krispy Kreme donut. (No, we didn't succumb.) Maybe we'll go back next weekend, but probably not for the donut creation.
