So, to elaborate, yesterday I got an email through my site from Jeff Zaslow, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. It said:

Please contact me asap. I’m a reporter from the Wall St. Journal working on a story about Bill Gates…and enjoyed your piece on what you’d do if you had his money.
I’m at [xxx-xxx-xxxx]…or e-mail me your number. I’m on deadline.
Many thanks.
Jeff Zaslow
THE WALL ST JOURNAL

So of course, the first thing I’m thinking is “total scam”, writers never write such short emails, or abbreviate part of a brand name, but a quick lookup of the email address and Jeff’s name confirmed it was probably for real. So I replied with my home number, told him to give me a call. During the second half of the mouse click, when the button returns to it’s unclicked state, my phone rang, and there was Jeff.

Jeff was fun to talk to. We immediately began talking about this blog entry, where I just sort of freestyle about what to do with Bill’s money. He’s curious about the obsession, how often I think about BGM (Bill Gates Money) and why I think a lot of people think about it.

The article that Jeff published represents me pretty accurataley, though he leaves out that I’m a co-founder of Price.com (which is fair, I guess) and that I mentioned nano-technology at least fifteen times when talking to him. Also, he suggests that I “wonder if Mr. Gates has ever cruised around the Internet, typed in ‘Bill Gates,’ and come upon [my] blog”. I actually don’t ever wonder that, though I remember Jeff asking me the question. I’m sure I said something like “I suppose it’s possible Bill Gates has read it.”

Overall, I thought it was a fun diversion from the daily tasks. Thanks Jeff! Don’t forget about the exercise machine I suggested Bill could design for himself to combat the weight gain from nano-cilia moving floors!