I’m in Minneapolis tonight for the Society of American Business Editors and Writer’s (SABEW) Annual Conference. I thought I’d give you a few highlights of today’s excellent programming.

Apprentice runner-up Rebecca Jarvis and her mother, Chicago Tribune personal finance columnist Gail Marks Jarvis were speaking about her experience when I arrived in Minneapolis this morning (a little late, thanks to constant rain, and a cancelled 6:30am flight).

Rebecca, who is now working for CNBC as an assistant reporter to learn the ropes (she’s been there about a month), seems as poised and self-assured as she did on TV. She’s the oldest 24-year old I’ve ever met. But hearing her talk about the experience of being on the Apprentice was more interesting than I thought it would be. At the last moment, she had heard that Randall said he’d quit rather than share the job with her. So, she was surprised, but not really surprised, when he opted to not share the job.

On the other hand, Rebecca said she did it for the experience, not because she actually expected to get a job with Donald Trump. The day after the Apprentice Finale, she was beseiged by offers, of which she said perhaps 50 were very real jobs with very real (read:Fortune 500) companies. She took the CNBC job because it was her dream.

Hey, we all gotta have dreams.

May 1, 2006