my warren buffett moment

warren buffett - the oracle



get this man a cherry coke!



if you're in omaha....head down to Gorat's for meatloaf!

(related to the ug thread.)

i remember looking ug the day i met the oracle of omaha warren buffett

this was in the fall of 2001.

i was reminded of this episode last night when a gf and i were talking about anxieties related to not waking up on time for an early morning meeting.

i'm not too sure if this is a common anxiety. or just an isolated phenomenon.

anyways the story goes something like this

while i was doing a post grad program in Chicago, the dean of my faculty scored a students' visit to Omaha Nebraska to spend a day with Mr Buffett.

interested students were to send 200 words to the dean's office explaining why they should get the spot to meet the world's second richest man after Bill Gates.

i was among the 8 students who got chosen to sip cherry coke and talk stocks with the guru.

i think i won cos i was the token international kid and also cos i'm quite sure that my whiney please pretty please please worth of 200 words kinda drummed into the judging panel's minds that i REALLY wanted to be in Omaha.

so i got my ticket to omaha.

the dean who was ecstatic about meeting warren buffett showed it by setting the early-morning off on a grand billionaire tone.

he got us a limo to take us to the airport.

but his excitement clearly stopped at flying with class. we got booked on southwest.

"the limo will be at the faculty's car park at 4 am"

being the planner that i am i decided to sleep at 9 pm so that i could wake up all fresh and ready to meet my first billionaire.

9 pm
wired mind filled with small talk scenarious with Mr Buffett.

10 pm
i check my alarm clock for the 10th time to make sure i have the settings right

11 pm
"oh no why am i not asleep yet?"

12 am
"maybe i should go get a cup of hot choc milo drink to help me sleep."

1 am
"should i call him warren or mr buffett"

2 am
"should i still attempt to sleep? i need to get up in an hour's time"

3 am
"i'm so sleepy..."

at 3 am, i rolled outtta bed looking like a wreck. i dunno if you've noticed this about pple who've not slept at all. they look ugly. their skin tone changes - it gets a little darker and patchy... your facial pores get a little more obvious and your eye bags are heavier. not a fetching look.

so on the day i met my first billionaire, i looked like a sleepless homeless rag.


*** *** ***

the car that greeted us at the omaha airport was a taxi driven by a grandma.

"oh, so you're all here to see warren buffett....."

she then commenced to tell her passengers the life story of warren buffett from the time he was kid to who he was today.

he's clearly omaha's poster grandpa

*** *** ***

when i finally saw warren buffett for the first time. it was uneventful.

he was just like any other guy.

i figure'd if you had billions in your pockets.. you'd be someone like mr warbucks (as seen in Annie). but Mr. buffett was very normal on all counts. he was likeable, polite, funny and down to earth. he even drove us in his jaguar to the place we had lunch a famous steakhouse called Gorat's.

the only time he bossed anyone around was when he shouted: "Can someone get me a Cherry Coke?"

*** *** ***

At Gorat's, it was recommended that we stick to the safest bet. the meatloaf and bread with mashed potatos.

the mains at gorat's cost about $10-ish.

i remember telling myself as i took my first bite of the famous meatloaf recommended by Mr Buffett himself... "waahhhh this is saaaaalty."

and i was totally appalled when the oracle sprinkled freely even on more salt on his plateful of salty meatloaf.

and then as he made small talk over the meal.... he casually opened what looked to me a like a BILLION packets of sugar for his iced lemon tea.

woahhhhhokaaaaaay.

so his trick is to keep things sweet and salty.

now... sitting at the lunch table with Mr Buffett meant if you wanted to get noticed you be better participate in the collective conversation and say something intelligent and memorable.

even the dean was fighting for some air time.

at that point in time, i had ZERO knowledge about how the stock markets work. altho i was in grad school as an aspiring business reporter.... i was only into week 3 of the program when we were still figuring who's name was what, and where the library was on campus... the only kind of reporting work i've done previously was only entertainment reporting - which saw me breaking stories like who was filing a divorce from who.

so as a conversation thread was nearing a lull, offering the opportune time to steal the spotlight.... i was debating in my head whether i should go with a serious hard businessy news topic or more of a soft businessy news topic...

as soon as my question came out from my mouth i knew i had kinda made the wrong move... cos it sounded even more stupid saying it out loud...(vs just saying it in your head).

"so why is i have noticed that in Asia it's called coke light but in the US it's known as diet coke?"

i asked Mr Buffett - widely known cherry coke addict and a high-profile investor of the coca cola brand.

oooookay.

"did i just ask that?" or was i still thinking out loud.

he annihilated my own self confusion without missing a beat.

"i think it's cos in Asia ... people are more conscious about their appearances... so drinking something called a diet coke would imply certain things that would normally be avoided..."

hmmmm

okay. fair enough.

"where are you from in asia" Mr Buffett asked me.

"I'm from Singapore," i replied wondering if i should have for the sake of national pride changed my national identity.

"you're the second singaporean i've met in my life," the oracle replied.

"who was the first?" i asked, feeling kinda of unique in his eyes.

"lee kuan yew" he said.

woahhh. me? a No. 2 after Singapore's founding father.

very interesting.