Opportunity of a Lifetime

About a month ago I got an email informing me of an upcoming opportunity to go and meet Mr. Warren Buffett, the "Oracle of Omaha", investor extraordinaire. Typically I try to steer clear of all things finance as I am more of a qualitative person, but this was simply an opportunity not to be missed. How many times in life do you get the chance to ask one of the most (arguably THE most)successful business men in the world any question you want? I quickly responded to the email for additional information, filled out the application and crossed my fingers that I would be selected as only 27 students from BYU were invited including both MBA and undergraduate students. Lucky for me I was chosen and so I forked out the money for a plane ticket to Omaha (never thought I would go to Omaha)for the opportunity of a lifetime. Seriously you don't pass on an opportunity like this!

Thursday afternoon I flew to Omaha. Unfortunately it seems that no one flies directly to Omaha from SLC, so I spent ~ 7 hours traveling. Can I just say that I don't love the Denver airport? I had a 3 hour layover where part of my time was spent trying, unsuccessfully, to ditch the creepy guy hitting on me... the joys of travel. Anyway...I finally got to my hotel at around 11:30pm and we were checked in and settled by midnight. Then Chloe, Julianne, Michelle and I all stayed up talking until 1:30 or so.

Friday morning came around and we were up by 6:30. We had supposedly had a pre-meeting meeting at 7:30. So after an awful night's sleep (I don't sleep well when sharing a room with people. I am always paranoid that I might make some noise that will disturb them. I don't even sleep walk or talk in my sleep. I am crazy and think that rolling over or shifting positions might wake someone who is in another bed up. Ridiculous, I know) we were ready to go. Apparently the pre-meeting meeting was canceled and we didn't to be anywhere until 9:15. I was somewhat annoyed.

We left our hotel and headed to the Berkshire Hathaway office building. Unfortunately the street signs were down due to construction and we ended up driving the wrong way down a one way street for several blocks. It was pretty hilarious. Our meeting with Mr. Buffett didn't start until 10am, but we went early to get the front seats, and get them we did. I was on the 3rd row, which was the furthest back any of the BYU students sat. A few of the guys were so close that Warren Buffett actually spit on them, which makes me glad I wasn't on the front row with them... I had a two row spit shield. :)

Mr. Buffett wasn't at all what I expected him to be. I expected him to be somewhat pretentious and overbearing; instead he was like an adorable grandpa giving great advice. I expected him to be very career and business oriented, but instead he talked a great deal on the importance of family, how being a parent is the most important job we will ever have and how important it is to marry someone who makes you want to be better. Instead of speaking about how awesome he is, he spoke of how blessed and lucky he has been and how bless we are and how we need to remember that we are in the luckiest 1% of the world population. He did not, however, disappoint on his famous one- liners.

Some of the gems included to following:
• "Wall Street had to cancel their Christmas pageant. They couldn't find three wise men. They also had a hard time finding a virgin, but they always have that problem."
• "Look for businesses that an idiot can run because eventually one will."
• "The key to a lasting marriage: marry someone with low expectations"
• "Everything that comes out of Washington is going to have problems."
And my favorite: A complete collapse of the banking industry is about a likely as "Ben Bernanke running off to South American with Paris Hilton."
After our 2.5 hour Q&A session, Mr. Buffett treated us all to lunch at Piccolo's a restaurant that reminded me of a place that my grandpa would go. It had a little bit of a diner feel and the world's biggest disco ball - seriously it was ginormous! Lunch was our choice of Chicken Parmesan, Cod Fillets, NY Strip Steak or a Veggie Burger. I was in Omaha and Omaha is famous for their steak, so I, along with pretty much everyone else, went with the steak. It was delicious! We finished lunch off with a root beer float, at Mr. Buffett's request. (Such a cute grandpa thing to do!!)

After pictures, we all went outside to have our picture taken with Warren. He was SO fun! He was such a great sport to take group and individual photos with everyone. He was also hilarious. He would go along with whatever you wanted him to do. He even got down on one knee like he was proposing for one of the girls from NYU, traded glasses and coats with people along with several GQ/sport coat over the shoulder posses. He stayed as late as was needed so that everyone got their photo with him.

I have to admit that for a guy who has a lot of money, he sure doesn't dress like it. His suit had a stain on the lapel and his tie was crooked for most of the photos. Chloe and I did our photo with him and then before I did my personal photo with him I asked if I could "help him out" and I straightened his tie. After I fixed his tie, he made some joke along the lines of, "You are kind of picky about who you take a photo with aren't you." To which those of you who know me know the only correct response is, "You have no idea!" All in all it was a great trip and truly an opportunity of a lifetime!