The Never Ending 'To Do' List

So it's just past 7p.m. eastern time and I'm sitting in O'Hare airport waiting for my flight back to New York City. When I first started writing my blogs I talked a lot about the behind the scenes activity. More of the page six aspect of what I do when I go on the road.

This week has been insane! Since arriving back from vacation on Sunday evening at midnight (airplane delays), every day has been busier than the next. From the 4 a.m. wake up call, quick shower, to writing the blog, prepping for the show, doing the show and post editorial analysis, writing thank you's, meeting with colleagues and executives, there hasn't been a minute to spare. I think I've slept 20 hours in 5 nights. Not good . Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. This week alone I had lunch with one of the top executives in the real estate and private equity world, I gave a speech at Columbia University's Business School, did three interviews with magazines or print publications about the channel, flew to Chicago to do an incredibly cool and top secret story that will run in the next week and helped plan my father-in-law's 60th birthday party.

Tomorrow, (assuming my plane does leave O'Hare....I have not had good luck at this airport), I'll do my two shows, write three blogs, track (do a voiceover for a piece that will run on Monday morning), do a photo shoot for a magazine and then do an interview with another magazine. In the late afternoon I'll meet my architect (I'm working on a small project on our very small beach house) and then off to my father-in-law's party. Have you caught your breath....I haven't!!!! If you only knew the 14 other things going on

BUT.....this is what it's all about! This week alone I met and interviewed some truly remarkable people. On this morning's show I interviewed Former Transportation Secretary Norman Minetta. He is such a terrific guy. We talked about government bailout's and all the hype surrounding the Fed's decision to rescue Bear Stearns. We compared the Bear bailout to the bailout he orchestrated for the airline industry post 9/11. It was a $15 billion bailout. One that he thought was necessary given the fact that he grounded all air traffic for almost a week immediately following 9/11. He also noted that the airlines paid the $15 billion back ahead of time. The best part was talking to him when the cameras turned off. He is now the vice chairman of a consulting company here in New York City. He is still in contact with all of the heavy hitters. Don't forget he was also the Secretary of Commerce in the Clinton Administration.  We talked about the race between Clinton and Obama and how that is hurting the party. We talked about McCain and how this is a great opportunity for him to sit back and observe although I pointed out to him that he needs an economics czar or a plan that suggests some kind of change from the current Administration. He talked about the potential names for VP on the McCain ticket. He wasn't too sure about Romney or Huckabee but he did mention Tom Ridge. I never thought about him. He talked about the conservative base and how McCain has to try to appeal to them. It was a fascinating conversation with a very smart man. He was disarming. In fact charming. I could have talked to him for hours.

Another highlight was visiting my alma mater at Columbia the other night. I spoke at the business school about my background, how I got into television from Wall Street and what the job is like. It was a lot of fun being there. The students were young, smart and eager to start their new jobs. About five minutes into the speech the door to the lecture room opened and my mom walked in. A great surprise! I stopped, laughed and told everybody it was my mom and everyone started laughing and clapping. It was so sweet! The great part about speaking to students is that you can be who you are and they ask the best questions. One of the students asked me about my most terrifying and embarassing moments in television and it brought back many scary but wonderful memories. Sometimes I forget that I have only been in television for five years. I still feel like I've been doing it for three months. I think that's a good thing !!!! One of the really interesting things that I learned from the students was that the kids who got offers from Bear Stearns were told by JP Morgan that their jobs were guaranteed assuming the deal went through. Good news for them. Most of the other students, the vast majority, had already excepted job offers.

Ok I'm going to leave it here for now. I'm on the plane and hoping we depart. I won't get home until midnight and I have to get up at 4 so I better try to shut my eyes. Tomorrow is a busy day with the unemployment and non-farm payrolls number. This number will be huge for the market especially given today's very disappointing weekly jobless claims number. See you in the morning. Sweet Dreams!