The Pet Food Forum & Jesse Jackson...huh???

I'm in Chicago for a few days attending the Pet Food Forum, which is billed as a premier event for the pet food industry. It is a combination of informative seminars, technical presentations, a mini-trade show floor with suppliers, and plenty of networking opportunities (aka "schmoozing") with the main players in the pet industry.

Now that I've nearly put you to sleep, let me say that it's an interesting time to be here, with all the buzz about the continuing pet food recall. Plenty of sidebar conversations, hallway gossip, and theories abound.

My journey here yesterday was relatively uneventful, although once again, I could not understand who all those tacky people were crammed on my personal plane. I guess my private jet wasn't so private after all.

One interesting note was that on my not-so-private jet, the Reverend Jesse Jackson sat in the same row as me, across the aisle. Now I've never been impressed by Rev. Jackson, and I certainly don't agree with his politics but I must say, I was even less impressed with him after observing him in flight for nearly four hours. He seemed somewhat of an elitist, barking out orders to the flight attendants during the flight. Oddly enough, when I finally got my bag from luggage claim hell and made my way to the hotel, who did I run into at the hotel front desk? The Reverend Jesse Jackson! One of his people was checking him in while he waited off to the side. He seemed a little tired by this point, and I can't blame him after a long late night flight, even if it was all the free cocktails that were slowing him down. I didn't bother saying hello. I figured he wouldn't be much interested if he knew I am a fiscally conservative, log-cabin republican from Palm Springs with a fictitious British housekeeper named Mrs Danvers anyway.
-Rick Rockhill