What a day. This year, Mike, Pete and I decided that the
stars have aligned and it was time for us to make the journey to Omaha to see
The Oracle.
I arrived in Kansas City on Wednesday night where Pete
picked me up from the airport and we drove toward Lincoln, NE. We ended up
sleeping in Pete’s truck at a rest stop on the side of the highway. We picked
Mike up Thursday morning in Lincoln and headed for Omaha. Thursday and Friday
were relaxing days where we were able to catch up and just hang. Friday night I got my first taste of “Networking with Mike Morton”. We went to the YellowBRKers meeting for a cocktail hour. In retrospect, it was the best opportunity to network and get to meet people. We met some interesting people despite my absolute disdain for “networking”. We went to Borsheim’s for the shareholders cocktail hour. It was a complete zoo and we left immediately. It’s unfortunate that Berkshire has had to split thus allowing any clown to become a shareholder. We went to Gorat’s for dinner where we had a nice meal and met some good folks.
We arrived at the CenturyLink Center at 4:45am Saturday
morning. We were nowhere near the front of the line. Mike was able to meet
Mohnish Pabrai standing in line, which was awesome for him. It was a dead
sprint once the doors opened to our seats in section 125.
What a day it was. Over the last 7 years, I have learned a
lot from the teachings of Warren and Charlie. Saturday was just confirmation
that I am on the right track. Listening to them speak, I found that their
values are exactly the same as mine. Most importantly, we don’t act like Wall
Street. I don’t have a Wharton MBA. I don’t network with other fund managers. I
love being negative on an idea before being positive. The day reinspired me to
be a fund manager.
We went to Whitney Tilson’s after party, which turned out to
be a scam. He was there but so were 100 leaches that fall into the “networking”
people mentioned above. Pete and I, tired of having the same conversation over
and over, made a B-Line for the door. Going downstairs, we crossed paths with
Ajit and got a picture that I can’t wait to hang on my wall.
Overall, it was one of the most inspiring days of my life. I
am so glad I spent the money to go see Warren and Charlie before there is no
more Warren and Charlie. I plan to send a letter to Charlie, in hopes of
becoming his protégé. I will be able to tell constituents and descendants alike
about the day I spent with Warren and Charlie.
For a better penned entry, see Pete McBride at:
http://harveysrun.com/2012/05/07/the-woodstock-of-capitalism/
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