Traveling

I just barely made it out of Denver Tuesday night. The blizzards moved in on Wednesday morning and have shut down the entire city. This trip has been exciting, because I have had the opportunity to meet a lot of professionals and network in a very casual way.

My flight out of Denver was at Midnight, and I arrived at the airport rather early. There was only one restaurant open in the terminal at the time, so the place was packed. I happened to sit down next to a man who is a regional director for a large, well known firm that has a very large presence here in Denver.

On my way to my destination, I had a connecting flight in Newark. While not my favorite airport, it was exciting to be that close to NYC, if just for several hours (actually several hours more than I had planned). While sitting at the gate, waiting for my plane, the group of men next to me were discussing Thailand's decision to implement and then lift investment controls. After sitting and listening to the conversation for several minutes, I chimed in about the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, and how that was set in motion by investors fleeing from Thailand. This turned into an interesting discussion with one of the men who was clearly the "boss" of the group and very knowledgeable in world events and finance.

After discussing several finance topics, he asked me what I do, and I told him I am a student currently looking for a job. He whips out a card, hands it to me and tells me to keep in touch. He is president of a large IT company that works mainly with risk management software. I guess it was a productive trip.