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Author and financial expert, Chris Whelan, joins Keith as they explore the intricacies of the housing market's potential future. Chris drops an intriguing prediction of a possible 20% price correction. They dive deep into the complex world of real estate, examining the pandemic's significant impact on mortgages and economic trends. The conversation reveals the behind-the-scenes challenges of the housing market, from government interventions to the nuanced effects of interest rates and forbearance programs. They unpack the struggles in commercial real estate, particularly highlighting the unique challenges in markets like New York's rent-controlled properties. Chris's new book "Inflated: Money, Debt, and the American Dream" promises an insightful journey through America's economic transformation, tracing how the nation evolved from an agrarian society to a global economic powerhouse. Show Notes: GetRichEducation.com/556 For access to properties or free help with a GRE Investment Coach, start here: GREmarketplace.com GRE Free Investment Coaching: GREinvestmentcoach.com Get mortgage loans for investment property: RidgeLendingGroup.com or call 855-74-RIDGE  or e-mail: info@RidgeLendingGroup.com Invest with Freedom Family Investments.  You get paid first: Text FAMILY to 66866 Will you please leave a review for the show? I'd be grateful. Search “how to leave an Apple Podcasts review”  For advertising inquiries, visit: GetRichEducation.com/ad Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Get our wealth-building newsletter free— text ‘GRE' to 66866 Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Complete episode transcript:   Automatically Transcribed With Otter.ai    Keith Weinhold  0:01   Welcome to GRE. I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, what's the state of the housing market for the next five years, and could what's happening in the foreclosure market affect it? I see relative housing market price stability. My guest sees cracks. This could be somewhat of a debate today, then two great new cash flow and real estate markets in the same state that we're helping your portfolio with on get rich education, mid south home buyers, I mean, they're total pros, with over two decades as the nation's highest rated turnkey provider. Their empathetic property managers use your ROI as their North Star. So it's no wonder that smart investors just keep lining up to get their completely renovated income properties like it's the newest iPhone. They're headquartered in Memphis and have globally attractive cash flows and A plus rating with the Better Business Bureau and now over 5000 houses renovated. There's zero markup on maintenance. Let that sink in, and they average a 98.9% occupancy rate, while their average renter stays more than three and a half years. Every home they offer has brand new components, a bumper to bumper, one year warranty, new 30 year roofs. And wait for it, a high quality renter, remember that part and in an astounding price range, 100 to 180k I've personally toured their office and their properties in person in Memphis, get to know Mid South. Enjoy cash flow from day one. Start yourself right now at mid southhomebuyers.com that's mid south homebuyers.com.   Corey Coates  1:56   You're listening to the show that has created more financial freedom than nearly any show in the world. This is get rich education.   Keith Weinhold  2:12   Welcome to GRE from Edison, New Jersey to Edinburgh, Scotland, where I am today, and across 188 nations worldwide, I'm Keith Weinhold, and you are back for another wealth building week on get rich education. Today's guest came to me recommended. It came from a guest that we've had on the show here before, Jim Rickards and his daughter Ally Rickards. His name is Christopher Whelan. He has a distinguished background. Comes from a prominent family, and he's the author of a new book that just published a few weeks ago. His father, Richard Whelan, was the biographer of Joe Kennedy, and was advisor to presidents and Fed chairman and today's guest, his son there, Chris. He has done a lot of work in DC. He lives just north of New York City today. So I guess coming recommended from Jim Rickards and learning a few things about today's guest helped me want to host him on the show. So though I'm just meeting him for the first time right here on the show, as it turns out, I learned that he has mentioned on other channels that real estate prices could correct down 20% and fall back to 2020 levels. I absolutely don't see how that's possible in any way. I'm going to bring that up with him, so we'll see. This could turn into somewhat of a debate. Like I said last week, I believe that significantly falling housing prices. That's about as likely as grocery store prices falling back to 2020 levels. Yes, I am in Edinburgh, Scotland today. It's my first time here. My mom, dad and also my brother's entire family came over from the US to meet up. It's been great. We're taking in all the best sites, Edinburgh Castle, other castles, the Scottish Highlands, Loch Ness, though I don't believe in any Loch Ness monster at all. I mean, come on, what a hoax. And we're seeing some other sites, though it didn't really interest the others, which I could understand. I visited the home where Adam Smith once resided, and I might put my video about that on our get rich education YouTube channel, so you could check that out over there. Of course, Adam Smith is considered the father of modern day economics for his work on supply versus demand and the GDP concept, the invisible hand, concept, much of that work conveyed in his magnum opus, The Wealth of Nations, published in 1776 as for the present day, let's meet this week's guest, including me, meeting him for the first time.     I'd like to welcome in a first time guest. He's the author of a widely acclaimed new book. It's named inflated money, debt and the American dream. It just released, and the book couldn't be more timely with the multitude of challenges related to inflation, many involving the housing market in his earlier books, he's been known, frankly, for just telling his readers the truth. He's worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in politics and as an investment banker for more than 30 years. Today, he runs Whalen Global Advisors. You've seen him on CNBC in the Wall Street Journal, and now you're hearing him on GRE Welcome to the show. Chris Whalen.   Chris Whalen  5:43   Thank you, Keith, appreciate your invitation.    Keith Weinhold  5:45   Whalen is spelled W, H, A, l, e, n, if you're listening in the audio only, Hey, Chris, we're in a really interesting time in the economic cycle. We all know the Fed has a dual mandate, high employment and stable prices. What's interesting to me is, late last year, they cut rates by a full 1% and this is despite inflation being above target. Makes me wonder if they care more about high employment and they're rather willing to let inflation float higher. What are your thoughts?    Chris Whalen  6:18   I think historically, that's been the case. You know, the dual mandate Humphrey Hawkins, that drives the Fed's actions today was a largely socialist compromise between the Republicans and the Democrats. The Democrats wanted to guarantee everybody a job after World War Two, the legislation was really about soldiers and people who had served their country in many, you know, places around the world, for a long time, and then you would have the depression. So you had a whole generation or more of people that were looking for help when they came home. And that's what this was. But today, you know, there's another mandate, which is called keeping the treasury bond market open. We saw it was during COVID in 2020 President Trump got up, declared that people didn't have to pay their rent or their mortgages, and then didn't do anything. There was no follow up. At the time, folks in mortgage industry kind of looked at each other funny for about 60 days and said, What's going to happen? Because they have to advance principal, interest, taxes and insurance to protect the house. The first rule in mortgage finances protect the asset. But it all worked because the Fed dropped interest rates to zero and we had a boom. We refinanced two thirds of every mortgage in the United States, and that cash flow allowed the finance forbearance for millions of Americans. Now the unfortunate part, of course, was home prices went up double digits for six years. So why we had no affordability today? So, you know, it helped, but it certainly didn't help in some ways,   Keith Weinhold  7:48   mortgage loan forbearance back in the COVID era about five years ago, where you could basically just skip your mortgage payment and then they increase the overall duration of your loan period.   Chris Whalen  8:00   That's right. So you know, your government market, your conforming market, were falling. They also had various schemes, state forbearance for non agency loans. Nobody thought at all about the multifamily sector and the developers that didn't get paid for two years. And we're feeling the impact of that. Of course, today, that's probably the biggest pain point in US economy today is commercial real estate and multi family real estate, and neither one of them involves a consumer. So it gets no attention at all. You read about it in the specialty press, but that's about it.    Keith Weinhold  8:34   And by talking about multi family not affecting the consumer, you're just talking about who's on the owner side there?   Chris Whalen  8:40   precisely if all of the consumers have problems, you'd hear about it, and you do, especially in some of the blue states. I live in New York, so we have some of the more aggressive rent stabilization, rent control laws in the country. And they go back to World War Two. They go back almost a century,   Keith Weinhold  8:58   right? It's those people in the one to four unit space in residential real estate investing that really got the help there.    Chris Whalen  9:06   Well, at least, you know, the world didn't end. Imagine if all of those people had gone to foreclosure. The industry wouldn't have done that. Of course, they would have thrown up their hands and cried for help. But the point is, they made it work. But the cost of making it work that zero interest rate regime that the Fed put in place is still being felt today. If you look at banks which typically have prime large mortgages on their books, the loss given default is zero. Home prices are so high that if somebody actually goes to foreclosure, they sell the house, they pay off the loan easily, and there's usually a large residual left, which would go to the homeowner. So today, you know, if somebody gets in trouble, we do a short sale, we do a deed in lieu, and off they go. And that's why the stats don't show you the pain that many American families are feeling today, because about 60% of all payoffs of one to four family mortgages are people who. Are exiting the market, they're not going to buy another house. So what that means is that the cost of home ownership, or whatever other factors are involved, has made them make the decision not to go to another home mortgage.    Keith Weinhold  10:13   Yes, we have this historically low affordability that's beginning to be reflected in the home ownership rate. It's trended down from about 66 to 65% recently, we continue to be in this environment here, Chris in the one to four unit space, where those existing homeowners are in really good shape. They have record high equity levels of over 300k A lot of them have their home paid off. About 40% of American homeowners own their home free and clear, and of the remainder, those borrowers, 82% still have a mortgage rate of under 5% and of course, that principal and interest payment stays fixed. So even if there's economic hardship, it's pretty easy for people to make their payments and stay in their homes.   Chris Whalen  11:02   Well, it certainly is for most of the marketplace. If you look at the bottom 20% the FHA market, also the VA market, there's a little more stress there. There's still an awful lot of people who are in various types of forbearance in that market. That's going to end in October. So the Trump administration is pushing most of the rules back to pre COVID approaches for delinquency, for example, what we call the waterfall. And what that basically means is that if an FHA borrower gets in trouble, they'll have one shot at a modification where they lower the loan cost and stick part of the loan out the back to be paid off when the house is sold. If that doesn't take, if they don't re perform, then they're going to go to a foreclosure. We just ended another program for veterans. You know, they had three weeks notice, so now you're going to see a lot of veterans going to foreclosure. Unfortunately.   Keith Weinhold  11:56   yes, this administration is basically making sure that people are responsible or resume their payments. We've seen that student loan repayments needing to resume as well. Most foreclosure rate types are still pretty low, but yes, FHA foreclosure rates are higher than those for conventional loans.    Chris Whalen  12:15   Yeah, the interesting thing is, the veterans delinquency rate is half of the FHA rate, and even though people in uniform don't make a lot of money, they pay their bills. Yeah, it's quite striking.   Keith Weinhold  12:25   Why don't you talk to us more about areas where you see distress in the housing market before we talk about more inflation? Chris, the   Chris Whalen  12:34   key areas of housing stress at the moment are commercial real estate that has become underutilized. COVID drove a lot of this, but also the fact that industries could change their work practices. It could have people work from home. Look at housing. We sent everybody home in 2020 while we increased headcount by a third to address a surge in lending volume. It was insane. I gotta tell you, we were hiring people that we didn't see for months that changed the business model assumptions for a lot of industries. A lot of them moved out of blue states and went down to Florida and Texas. In the mortgage industry particularly, and so we have a lot of older real estate particularly, that is suffering. It has dropped in terms of appraised values. You also have higher interest rates and higher cap rates, that is to say the assumption of returns on the part of investors. So that hurdle has made a lot of these properties impaired, essentially. And then the other subclass is older multifamily properties. Think about those beautiful old apartments in the middle block up on the east side or the west side of Manhattan. They're not big enough to be viable, and so they have become this kind of subprime asset class, much in the way if you recall the signature bank failure, they typically bank these sorts of real estate properties, and now there's nobody that wants them. I think you're going to see some very specific pain coming out of HUD, and also Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because they bank some of these smaller properties that really aren't bankable by commercial banks. That's what it comes down to. If you're going to read about this and hear about it a lot in the commercial market over next several years. And again, you know, the losses on bank owned multifamily properties today are averaging 100% so that means that there are a lot that have more expenses than simply losing the full loan amount. And you know, if you want to have a bank loan, they're not taking these properties. They don't want them, right? So the bank, REO rate, if you look at the data from the FDIC, is zero. And what that tells you is that they can't sell the properties they don't want them, because if they take ownership, the city's not going to let them abandon the property. They'll have to keep it and maintain it. It's a tough situation. This is. Has evolved over the last 20 years or so, because consumer incomes have been kind of stagnant in real terms. But the cost of operating a property in New York City is not going down. It's going up quite a lot, and the legislation we've seen from Albany doesn't allow owners to recapture expenses, doesn't allow them to renovate apartments. So if I have a rent stabilized apartment, I'll use a real example, in a beautiful building on Central Park South right, to renovate a unit that's been occupied for 20 years, new kitchen, new bathroom, sir, everything services. That's $150,000 so if I'm the owner and I can't recapture that cost. What do I do? I lock the door, I gut the apartment, and I lock the door, and I hope that the laws will change in the future, because I can't rent it, my insurance underwriter will not allow me to rent out an apartment that's not brought up to code. That's New York law, but the folks in Albany don't care about that. We have some really unreasonable people in positions of authority, unfortunately, in some of these states, and you talk to them about these issues, and they don't care. They just pander to consumers, regardless of whether or not it makes sense or not. And that's just the way it is.   Keith Weinhold  16:15   Those evil landlords, quote, unquote, most right evil. They're just mom and pop investors that are trying to beat inflation with real assets, and they have real expenses. Rent Stabilization basically just being a genteel term for rent control, which gives no one an incentive to improve a property for sure   Chris Whalen  16:35   and it reduces the availability of housing ultimately, because nobody builds. You see that in New York right now the home market is pretty tight, up to the conforming limit for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac so you figure a million, 1,000,002 here in New York. But above that, it's quieted down quite a lot. There's compression in some of the higher end homes. And you know, if you go down south, you see a different problem, which is over building. They didn't want to build here, so they went down to the Carolinas and Texas and Florida. There's a huge amount of both multi family condo type developments and single family homes too. But above that average price level way above half a million dollars.   Keith Weinhold  17:15   Sure, it's made this dynamic where things have been flip flopped in the Northeast and Midwest, where the populations aren't growing very fast, those markets have been appreciating more than those in the high growth southeast, all coming back to supply. They're not bringing on enough new supply in the Northeast and Midwest, Chris has just laid out a few reasons for that, due to this high regulation. And then in the southeast, a high growth area, even though that's where people are moving, we're not getting much appreciation there, because you're able to build and that supply is able to keep up with demand. Well, Chris and I are going to talk more about the housing market and about inflation. When we come back, you're listening to get rich education. Our guest is Chris Whelan, the author of a great new book. I'm your host. Keith Weinhold.   the same place where I get my own mortgage loans is where you can get yours. Ridge lending group and MLS, 42056, they provided our listeners with more loans than anyone because they specialize in income properties. They help you build a long term plan for growing your real estate empire with leverage. Start your pre qual and even chat with President Caeli Ridge personally. While it's on your mind, start at Ridge lendinggroup.com. That's Ridge lendinggroup.com.    You know what's crazy? Your bank is getting rich off of you. The average savings account pays less than 1% it's like laughable. Meanwhile, if your money isn't making at least 4% you're losing to inflation. That's why I started putting my own money into the FFI liquidity fund. 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We're talking with the author of a great new book, Chris Whelan, it's called inflated money, debt and the American dream. Chris, I see the residential housing market and their price points as being resilient. I'm kind of looking around and seeing if you have any places where you think that there are any cracks in that? I've heard you talk elsewhere about a housing price correction. Were you talking in the one to four unit space? And how do you think that could happen?   Chris Whalen  20:31   I didn't come up with that idea. I did a biography of my good friend Stan middleman, who's the founder of freedom mortgage. It's a real rags to riches story of a successful entrepreneur, a great guy, by the way, is a beloved man in the mortgage industry. And so what he believes is that cycles are about a decade in terms of human behavior. And he says misery on the eights, which is kind of a cute way of saying it. And what Stan is basically saying is you eventually see so much price appreciation that affordability goes to zero. You run out of buyers, is another way to put it. And then once the Fed gooses it, he thinks we see an interest rate decline this year next year, perhaps you get rates to run a little bit. You get volumes to jump the way they did last summer. You remember, in the third quarter, we had great volumes in the mortgage industry, carried everybody through to the end of the year, and then after that, he says, we get a price correction, maybe back down to 2020 21 levels. So we're talking about a 20% price correction, and we're talking about the loans that have been made in the last few years being underwater. That's something we haven't talked about in a long time. We haven't talked about that since 2008 so I think that Americans inevitably have to see some kind of a correction. What the Fed did was wrong, what they did was excessive. I write about that in the end of my book, but unfortunately, the result is home prices that have galloped along, and eventually you got to reset it. Part of its supply coming online. Part of it is simply, like, I say, you run out of buyers, and when it's simply that purchase buyer who is either all cash or happens to have the deposit, and that's all you have. And there's no flexibility for people that want to get into the market. You know, that's tough. I could recall Paul Volcker years ago, we were talking about that in the book too. He ratcheted down home prices. He raised interest rates so much that home prices went down, and a lot of builders went out of business who had had a lot of snls go out of business, and, you know, the previous decade. So that was a tough time. We didn't even start to do that this time around, because they were afraid to the Fed is worried about keeping the Treasury market open, so they are afraid of deflation, which unfortunately means you don't get those opportunities to get into the market. I remember my parents, when I was very young, they would buy busted homes in Washington, DC. It was a great way to make a lot of money, and in five years, the House would double. That's the kind of market Washington was   Keith Weinhold  23:05   in my opinion, I don't see how there could be any substantial residential home price correction. Historically that happens when there's a wide swath of homeowners that get into financial trouble, like I was talking about earlier, the homeowner is in great financial shape today. In fact, since World War Two, we've only seen home prices drop substantially during one period. That was that period around 2008 and that's when we had conditions that are opposite of what they are today. We had loans underwritten with liar loans. We had an over supply of homes, like I was saying earlier, inflation can't touch one's principal and interest payment. We're still under supplied with homes. Most experts don't think we'll get that into balance for at least five years. I really don't see how home prices could fall substantially. I also don't see how they could rise substantially, like, say, 10% due to that low affordability, but I expect continued stability in prices?    Chris Whalen  24:02   Well, we'll see. I'm not as sanguine about that, because a lot of people feel house rich on paper, but when the bottom of the stack is really hurting as it is now, FHA delinquency rates really are in probably the mid teens. You don't see that yet in the middle with the 727, 40 FICO type borrowers. But I think over time you could, and if, again, it depends on the economy and some other factors, but I'll tell you right now, you're already seeing a correction in the hyad the bottom half, no. And there's a supply problem here, which I agree with you on. It's going to keep those home price is pretty firm. And even where I am in New York, for God's sake, Keith, there's no construction here. So we just had a house across the street from me go from million one. I live in Sleepy, hollow New York, and you know, this is typically around the conforming limit for prices for most of these homes, and it went for 150 $1,000 over the ask, it was crazy. Went in two weeks now, during COVID, we saw this sort of behavior, and we thought, Well, okay, you had zero interest rates. I got a 3% mortgage, by the way, awesome. But here we have a situation when markets cooled down a lot, and yet the lack of availability is really the driver. So in that sense, I agree with you, but I do think the high end could correct rather substantially.   Keith Weinhold  25:24    And of course, in multi family apartments, that's different. That's where values in a lot of markets have been depressed by more than 30% they were subject to those interest rates being jacked up, and we're still going to see balloon loans mature and people default on those in apartments. The pain is not over with air, but at some point that's going to bottom out, and that'll be a buyer opportunity in apartments.   Chris Whalen  25:47    Well, the thing is, new stuff is going fine. It's what happens is when the new gets built, the older assets down the road get discounted. That's really what's going on. People love new as you know, these kids love a new house, as opposed to an older house.   Keith Weinhold  26:02   Yes, that'll help reset the prices in the new market when you can compare those to what existing values are. Well, Chris, talk to us more about your new book and what the overall thesis of the book is in these critical times.    Chris Whalen  26:16   Inflated is meant to help people understand how our country went from agrarian, sleepy, isolationist America in the 1900s to being the dominant economy in the world and the provider of global money. We talk about how we got here. We talk about Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt and many other characters. Obviously, we had to talk about Andrew Jackson, who is now embodied in our president, Donald Trump. We try and frame how this is all going to evolve in the future. And my thesis is basically the global currency role is something you get during or after a war. We took the baton from Great Britain after the First World War, and then by the end of World War Two, everybody in the world was broke, except for us. It was last man standing. And so rebuilt the world. We let everybody take advantage of us, and now President, who's saying, Nope, we got to change this. I think if it wasn't Trump, it would be somebody else. To be honest with you, Americans are tired of high inflation. They're tired of some of the other costs that come along with being the global reserve currency, so we try and frame all of this in an understandable way. And I particularly talk about housing during COVID and how that all really, I think, changed things for many Americans. Home ownership has been one of the basic ways we create wealth in this country, and the fact that we didn't have an opportunity for people to get in cheap with a fixer upper or a house that was foreclosed. You know, I think it's unfortunate, but the system just can't tolerate it. We've gone in 2008 and then in 2020 through two very significant crises when the government bond market stopped working. So we talk about that as well.   Keith Weinhold  28:03   I don't predict interest rates. I think it is really difficult to do you mentioned earlier about the prospect for lower interest rates coming. Everyone wants to know about coming. What's your outlook for the future of interest rates and inflation for just say the next five years? Chris,    Chris Whalen  28:19   I think interest rates will drop. That is to say what the Fed controls, which is short term interest rates. In the next year or so, we'll have a little bit of a boom as a result. But I think the concern about the federal deficit and US debt, the volatility caused by President Trump's trade strategy, and just general I think a sense of uncertainty among investors is going to keep long term interest rates higher than we saw during COVID And really the whole period since 2008 the Fed bought a lot of duration and took it out of the market, so they kept rates low. They're not going to do that as much in the future. I don't think they'll buy mortgage securities again, they are very chastened by that experience. So if they don't buy mortgage backed securities, and if the banks don't become more aggressive buyers, and I don't think they will, then you know, the marginal demand that would drive mortgage rates down is just not going to be there. Banks have been holding fewer and fewer mortgages and mortgage backed securities on their books for 35 years. If you look at the growth in the industry, the dollar amount of one to four family mortgages hasn't changed very much. So when you look at it that way, it's like, you know what's wrong? Two things. They want to only make mortgages to affluent households. They want to avoid headline risk and litigation and fines and all of that. And I think also, too some of the Basel capital rules for banks discourage them from holding mortgages and mortgage servicing rights, which is an area I work in quite a lot.   Keith Weinhold  29:55   It seems to me, like increasingly, the powers. It be the United States government just won't let the homeowner fail. They want to do so much to promote home ownership over the long term, we see relative ease with getting a mortgage. We've seen lower down payment requirements during other times, including COVID. We see the government jump in with things like mortgage loan forbearance and an eviction moratorium for renters. They just don't want to let people lose their homes. It just seems like there's more propensity to give homeowners a greater safety net than ever. Well,   Chris Whalen  30:29   we've turned it into an entitlement. Yeah, and Trump is changing that at the federal level. The states, the blue states, are going to continue to play that game at the state level, and they can even have state moratoria. But what's going to happen, and I think sooner rather than later, is you may see the federal agencies start to tier the states in terms of servicing fees, simply to reflect the cost. It takes over 1400 days to do a foreclosure in New York. Gosh, that is a big problem. You can lose the lien in New York now, it takes so long. So I think that, you know, from an investor perspective, from a developer perspective, it's not an attractive venue. That's just the reality. Then you even California is as progressive and as activists as it is, you can still get a foreclosure done very quickly using the trustees. It's just a totally different situation. If there are complications, you can get into a judicial foreclosure, which will take longer. But still, California works. New York is deliberately dysfunctional. We have people in the state legislature who are in foreclosure themselves, and they keep passing these laws. So, you know, I think at the federal level, you're going to see it roll back to pre COVID, but I will say that forbearance, both with respect to the agency and conventional market and private loans, is kind of the rule. Now we work with the borrower much more than we would in the past. It's it is really night and day.   Keith Weinhold  32:00   Chris, your new book has gotten a lot of acclaim. Let us know anything else that we should know about this book, and then if we can get it in all the usual places   Chris Whalen  32:10   you can buy it at Barnes and Noble Amazon. I have a page on my website, RC, waylon.com, with all the relevant links. But the online is the best way to get it. Most of the sales are on Kindle anyway, but well over 90% are online, so we don't have to worry about physical books. I think we'll be doing some book signings in the New York area. So we'll definitely let you know about that.   Keith Weinhold  32:33   One last thought is that the rate of inflation means more to a real estate investor than it does to a layperson, maybe five times as much or more, because when we borrow for an income property, our asset floats up with inflation. That part's really just a hedge on inflation. Our debt gets debased by inflation, which is really a mechanism for profiting from inflation over time. And then, thirdly, our cash flow tends to go up even faster than the rate of inflation, since our principal and interest stays fixed, so real estate investors can often be the beneficiary of inflation. It's sort of strange to go root for a force like inflation that can impoverish so many people. But what are your thoughts with respect to real estate investors and inflation?   Chris Whalen  33:19   Well, you know, it's funny when Jerome Powell at the Fed says that they have a 2% inflation target, my response is, well, we better have at least 2% inflation if we're going to make commercial real estate work. Commercial real estate went up for 75 years after World War Two. I can remember when I was in the rating business at Crowell bond ratings going to see some of the banks here in New York, their multifamily books had only seen the equity underneath the asset go up and up and up. In other words, the land ended up being 90% of the value, you know, 1520, years after the purchase and the improvements were almost worthless simply because the land appreciated so much. Now that has changed since COVID. A lot of commercial real estate, particularly has gotten under a bit of a cloud. You've seen falling prices. However, in parts of the country that are growing where you have a positive political environment, positive economic environment, you're still seeing fantastic growth in both commercial and multifamily markets. So I think being very careful and patient in doing your homework in terms of picking venues is more important now than ever before. You know, I'll give you an example. Down in Florida, we're building new malls every day. The mall down the road that's 15 years old. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's 15 years old. And so the price discounts that you're seeing for existing assets are rather striking. Same thing down in the Carolinas, down in, you know, Atlanta, and going down to the Texas growth spectacle, I'm always astounded by what's going on in Texas. They built so much in that whole area around South Lake, out by the airport. It, they're going to basically subsume used it. So, you know, in those markets, you have great opportunities, but you also have over building. And so we're going to see some cycles where they're going to be deals out there for projects that maybe were a little too ambitious have to get restructured, and astute investors can come in and do very well on that   Keith Weinhold  35:20   like we often say around here, in real estate investing, the market is typically even more important than the property itself. The name of Chris's new book, again, is inflated money, debt and the American dream. It has an awful lot of intersections with real estate investors and how they can play inflation. Uh, Chris has been a terrific conversation about the real estate market and larger market forces. It's been great having you here on the show.   Chris Whalen  35:47   Thank you, Keith. Let's do it again.   Keith Weinhold  35:49   Yeah, some good insights from Chris, a smart guy. And gosh, what a really sad state for rent stabilized apartments in New York City, where landlords of some of those properties, they would have to spend sometimes hundreds of 1000s of dollars in order to bring them up to code, but then they couldn't charge enough rent to offset those expenses due to government intervention and price fixing, so landlords just lock up the property vacant. And this sort of harkens back to when we were talking about some of this last year, when we had documentary film maker jen siderova on the show with her film called shopification, and it was about how rent control slowly makes neighborhoods fall into disrepair. All right, Chris and I had some difference of opinion there on the prospects for a home price correction. I think I made most of my points. He did, though, talk about running out of home buyers. If I have him back, maybe I'll pick up right there. More buyers are baked into the demographics, like I think I shared with you one time the US had its highest ever birth rate years between 1990 and 2010 more than 4 million births per year for a lot of those years. Just to review this with you, you might remember that 2007 was the US is peak birth year. Add 38 years to that for the average first time homebuyer age, and that housing demand won't even peak until 2045 and it will continue to stay high for a few years after that. So that's where the demand is just going to keep coming from, just piling on. And when I say that loan conditions have eased for American homeowners, like I did there during the interview, of course, what I'm talking about is the long term. I mean, lending conditions got more rigid after 2008 and with the adoption of Dodd Frank. What I'm talking about is, before the Great Depression, it was most common to have to make 50% to 60% down payments on property, and you had to repay the entire note in five to 10 years. I mean, can you imagine how that would hurt affordability today and then later, by 1950, 15, year loans were the common one. I mean, even that would impair affordability today. Today, 30 year loans are the common one, and you can put as little as 3% down on a primary residence. A lot of people don't know that either. It does not take 20% on a primary residence. So that's what I mean about the relative ease of credit flow today. Now, Chris has knowledge about other parts of the real estate market that I don't for his work inside DC and in other places like the foreclosure market. We talked about some of that right after the interview. For example, He was letting acronyms like NPL roll off his tongue, and I had to ask him what that meant. That's a non performing loan. Check out Chris's new book. Again, it's called inflated money debt in the American dream. And again, his website is RCwhalen.com and Chris also has a great sense of history, which we didn't get into, longtime real estate guys radio show co host Russell gray and I will discuss monetary history here on the show soon. Like I said, I'm coming to you from Edinburgh, Scotland this week, even if you don't see great sites, you know, it's interesting just walking the historic streets here, if you're an American that's visited here before, you surely know what I mean. And I told you that I'd let you know, the current real estate transaction I'm involved in is paying $650 a night for the hotel here in Edinburgh. Yes, that's a lot. I've actually paid less for fancier places in Dubai, but this hotel here is on the Royal Mile. Of course, I could have found less expensive accommodations elsewhere.    Speaking of less expensive, here's an announcement. And we have new investment property providers at GRE marketplace, two of them, the markets are both in Oklahoma, and they are Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma as a state, is known for landlord friendly eviction processes and legal systems, kind of the opposite of New York. So this makes your property management more predictable. Now, when we look at this city, OKC has the lowest priced new single family rentals. I can think of it under 160k Yes, that really puts the exclamation point on inexpensive and favorable rent to price ratios often exceeding 1% which is obviously attractive for cash flow, meaning a 150k single family rental could yield over $1,500 in rent. There's high rental demand in certain sub markets. We have scouted out those exact places for you in the OKC metro, like Edmond Moore spelled M, O, O, R, E, and Midwest City, all supporting consistent rent income, though it was once really oil dependent, OKC has diversified economically, reducing your risk tied to commodity cycles and ok sees local economy that's supported by industries including aerospace, energy, health care and logistics. Then there's Tulsa. Tulsa has the highest cash flowing new build duplexes, perhaps anywhere in the US that I know about. On the single family rental side, a lot of Tulsa investors can find properties under 150k with monthly rents again exceeding 1% of the purchase price, clearly ideal. So yes, both Oklahoma City and Tulsa are now on GRE marketplace. You can either visit the pages and see them there, or one of our qualified, experienced GRE investment coaches. Meet with them. They can help guide you to the very best deals and show you the specific property addresses available right at this time for whatever best meets your needs. If you're looking to either start or expand to another market and you seek cash flow, you really need to consider Oklahoma. Yes, it is free to have a strategy session with an investment coach, whether that's for Oklahoma or other investor advantage regions. I often like to leave you with something actionable. You can start at GREinvestment coach.com start book a meeting for a free strategy session remotely. That's at GREinvestment coach.com, until next week, I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, don't quit your Daydream.   Dolf Deroos  42:51   Nothing on this show should be considered specific, personal or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, financial or business professional for individualized advice. Advice, opinions of guests are their own. Information is not guaranteed. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss. The host is operating on behalf of get rich Education LLC exclusively.   Keith Weinhold  43:14   You know, whenever you want the best written real estate and finance info, oh, geez, today's experience limits your free articles access and it's got pay walls and pop ups and push notifications and cookies disclaimers. It's not so great. So then it's vital to place nice, clean, free content into your hands that adds no hype value to your life. That's why this is the golden age of quality newsletters, and I write every word of ours myself. It's got a dash of humor, and it's to the point because even the word abbreviation is too long, my letter usually takes less than three minutes to read, and when you start the letter, you'll also get my one hour fast real estate video. Course, it's all completely free. It's called the Don't quit your Daydream letter. It wires your mind for wealth, and it couldn't be easier for you to get it right now. Just text gre to 66866. While it's on your mind, take a moment to do it right now. Text, gre to 66866.   The preceding program was brought to you by your home for wealth, building, getricheducation.com.

ELISA ORLANSKI OURS Elisa Orlanski Ours is at the top of the architecture and design world game. She is a highly regarded designer, educator, and industry leader who currently serves as Chief Planning & Design Officer at Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group. A founder of the firm's Planning & Design department, Elisa has been instrumental in transforming the relationship between the design and the real estate industries, fusing architectural marketing with strong design principles throughout all phases of residential, hotel, and amenity space planning.  Elisa's portfolio boasts an impressive array of projects, ranging from master plans and hotel- branded developments to individual villas, with NYC highlights including 220 Central Park South, 56 Leonard, Hudson Yards, One High Line, and historic landmark conversions like The Greenwich Lane and The Apthorp. Through her work with Corcoran Sunshine, Corcoran New Development, and the brand's affiliate network, she has consulted with developers including Silverstein Properties, Related, Rudin Management, and Vornado Realty Trust, and has shaped the architectural landscape of New York City through collaborations with architects including Robert A. M. Stern, BIG Architects, Foster and Partners, Selldorf Partners, KPF, SOM, Yabu Pushelberg, Thomas Juul Hansen, Champalimaud, and Rockwell Group. Elisa has also had the privilege of working on the first NYC residential development with Herzog and de Meuron, Shigeru Ban, David Chipperfield, Studio Gang, Jean Nouvel, Zaha Hadid, Studio Sofield, Adjaye Associates, and Michaelis Boyd.  Elisa holds a BA in architecture with a concentration in computer science from Barnard College and a master's in architecture from Columbia University. She is a dedicated working mother of two young boys who is actively dedicated to her community, supporting the NYC public school system and the Architecture League. She serves on the board of Southworth Development, an owner and operator of six golf resorts. ELISA RELATED LINKS Corcoran Sunshine AIA NYC Center for Architecture Salone del Mobile - Milano Architectural Digest GENERAL INFO| TOP OF THE GAME: Official website: https://topofthegame-thepod.com/ RSS Feed: https://feed.podbean.com/topofthegame-thepod/feed.xml Hosting service show website: https://topofthegame-thepod.podbean.com/ Javier's LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/javiersaade  SUPPORT & CONNECT: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/96934564 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551086203755 Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOPOFGAMEpod Subscribe on Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/site/podcatcher/index/blog/vLKLE1SKjf6G Email us: info@topofthegame-thepod.com   THANK YOU FOR LISTENING – AVAILABLE ON ALL MAJOR PLATFORMS  

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Info 2024 The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City draws massive crowds, well over 1,000,000 people yearly. So, getting the correct info and knowing where to go can make all the difference between a positive and poor experience. Here's what you need to know.

Michael Mina, whose hospitality group boasts about two dozen restaurants across the United States (and one in the UAE), trained in New York City. But he hadn't opened a restaurant in Manhattan ... until this summer when he and his team launched Bourbon Steak on Central Park South. On the occasion of the opening, Michael sat down with Andrew for a conversation that covers his Egyptian heritage, the glory days of 1990s New York restaurants, and his growth as a chef and operator. Huge thanks to Andrew Talks to Chefs' presenting sponsor, meez, the recipe operating software for professionals. Sign up today for a basic  (free) or premium membership. And please check out our fellow meez network podcasts and newsletters! THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:Andrew is a writer by trade. If you'd like to support him, there's no better way than by purchasing his most recent book, The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food (October 2023), about all the key people (in the restaurant, on farms, in delivery trucks, etc.) whose stories and work come together in a single restaurant dish.We'd love if you followed us on Instagram. Please also follow Andrew's real-time journal of the travel, research, writing, and production of/for his next book The Opening (working title), which will track four restaurants in different parts of the U.S. from inception to launch.For Andrew's writing, dining, and personal adventures, follow along at his personal feed.Thank you for listening—please don't hesitate to reach out with any feedback and/or suggestions!

Today on our episode #400 (!) of All in the Industry® — a true milestone; Shari Bayer is on-location with her guest Michael Mina, award-winning chef, founder and executive chairman of MINA Group, a collection of over 30 chef-driven concepts, including PABU, Sorelle, MINA's Fish House, The Bungalow Kitchen by Michael Mina, and Bourbon Steak, across the Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York, Hawaii and beyond. Born in Cairo, Egypt and raised in Ellensburg, Washington, Michael began his epicurean journey at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, and gained hands-on experience working in Chef Charlie Palmer's kitchen at the upscale Aureole in NYC. Now Michael has returned to where his career started with the opening of Bourbon Steak New York, his first NYC restaurant located inside the newly renovated JW Marriott Essex House New York on Central Park South. Michael has been honored with numerous accolades over the years, including a Michelin star at MICHAEL MINA, James Beard Foundation's “Who's Who of Food & Beverage” inductee, Bon Appétit's Chef of the Year, and most recently named one of the “50 Most Powerful People in American Fine Dining” by Robb Report. Michael and his collection of restaurants have been featured across national media outlets from Food & Wine, to Food Network & TODAY, and he has cooked for three U.S. presidents: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Shari sat down with Michael at Bourbon Steak New York over the summer to talk about his impressive career and restaurants, and why he decided to open now in NYC. Today's show also features Shari's PR tip to stay the path; Speed Round; Industry News on Hurricane Helene and how it's impacted the F+B community in Asheville and beyond -- sharing a recent message from acclaimed chef and restaurateur Katie Button of Curate and La Bodega by Curate in Ashevile; and how we can help (see links below); and Solo Dining experience at Quique Dacosta's 3-Michelin star, namesake restaurant, Quique Dacosta, in Denia, Spain, where Shari had an extraordinary solo lunch and travel adventure, taking the ferry from Ibiza to Denia for a daytrip. Here's to 400 Episodes! Thanks, as always, for being a part of All in the Industry®. Ways to support the F+B community and more affected by Hurricane Helene:NCRLA - NC Restaurant & Lodging Associationrecovery.ncrla.orgSouthern Smoke Foundationsouthernsmoke.orgWorld Central Kitchendonate.wck.org••• Listen at Heritage Radio Network; subscribe/rate/review our show at iTunes, Stitcher or Spotify. Follow us @allindustry. Thanks for being a part of All in the Industry®. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support All in the Industry by becoming a member!All in the Industry is Powered by Simplecast.

Send us a textMeg tells the tale of how a group of rent controlled tenants bested Donald Trump. Jessica reports on the press conference announcing Christie Brinkley as the first super model to control her image and brand.Please check out our website, follow us on Instagram, on Facebook, and...WRITE US A REVIEW HEREWe'd LOVE to hear from you! Let us know if you have any ideas for stories HEREThank you for listening!Love,Meg and Jessica

Jenny confronts her stepfather then we take a long honeymoon!by Sénor Longo. Listen to the  ► Podcast at Connected.After lunch we walked together along the waterfront, watching the ferry to Bridgeport dock, disgorge its cargo of cars and trucks then fill its decks with those waiting to cross the Sound. The ferry was a great alternative to driving into and through New York City before heading north. I had always used the ferry when going to Boston or Cambridge, saving two or more hours and a boatload of hassle every time.Mom gave us a ride back to the station at 3:40 for the 4:06 train back to Penn Station. I was pleased to see Mom and Jenny hug before we climbed the ladder onto the train. We waved to Mom as the train pulled out.“Did Mom say something to you while you were hugging?”“Yes, she gave me some advice.”“Oh?”“Yes, she told me you were nothing like your father. I already knew that. I can't see you ever cheating and I know I would never cheat on you so I guess we're stuck with each other, forever.”I leaned in for a kiss that lasted longer than it should considering where we were then I whispered in Jenny's ear, “I certainly hope so.” Jenny didn't have to answer. Her eyes said all I needed to know.We had just changed trains in Huntington when I mentioned to Jenny that I thought we should get her a car. She seemed to think about it for a minute then chimed in, “Okay, but not a Honda. Your car is okay, better than okay, but after spending so many years barely getting by I'd like to splurge, get something a little extravagant. Is that okay?”“Of course; we can go out and look as soon as we're back home.” Jenny kissed me then whispered in my ear and I knew I was the luckiest man on the planet. She planned to prove it as soon as we were in our room.I stopped at reception to ask if they had a doctor on staff. Luckily, they did and I asked for an appointment tomorrow morning. I received a phone call fifteen minutes later telling me that Dr. St. Claire would come to my room at 11:30 tomorrow morning and that he wanted to know what the problem was so he could be prepared. “Tell him my arm is in a sling because of a knife wound I received last Saturday night. I want to make sure there's no infection and have the bandages changed.” I was assured that he would receive the message.Jenny had a smile on her face as she led me to the bedroom. She had just removed my shoes and socks when my cell rang. I looked at the screen and wondered, who the hell is Frank Garcia? I answered thinking it might be the doctor. I hadn't been paying much attention to his name. My caller was a detective for the NYPD who wanted to meet with me tomorrow morning, saying he had news regarding my assault and battery case. I suggested he meet us at reception at 8:30 and we'd treat him to breakfast. He nixed the breakfast, but did say he'd accept a cup of coffee. I had just ended the call in time. I could see that Jenny was getting impatient.“You were right, Doug; it was a long day. I enjoyed being with your mother, but the ride back was really boring.”“The Long Island Railroad is strictly a commuter line. There are people who do that very trip five days a week; the price of living in that area, I guess.”“Where did you live when you were working?”“Closer in, much closer in; I lived and worked in Hicksville which is on another line. There are three; North, Central, and South.”“Interesting, but not now; I have my mind on something else.” She almost tore the clothes from my body and a minute later hers followed. “Now, don't forget who's doing the doing.” I just laughed as she gently lowered me to the bed. I lay in the center of the big king bed with my right arm out to the side, exactly as instructed while Jenny showed me just how much she loved me. She rubbed her swimsuit model's body over mine, her nipples moving into my mouth and hand as we kissed and kissed and groped each other unashamedly.I had two fingers in her, my thumb on her hard swollen clit as she stroked me furiously. There was a time in the not so distant past when that was my only means of relief. A lot had changed since Jenny had come into my life. I'd hoped to marry, but never imagined it would be to a goddess like Jenny. It was all I could do to resist pulling her onto my rod, that's how hot I was for her. She must have been clairvoyant because just seconds later she moved up onto my body and rubbed me into her dripping slit. I had closed my eyes, but heard her moan as she slid down until our bodies met.I couldn't help myself; I began to move with her, driving my cock as deeply into her as humanly possible. Jenny was right; it was a very long day and my arm didn't make it any easier. It felt as though I was being stabbed over and over as the day progressed. However, what I was feeling now with my wonderful wife was worth everything I had endured.Let's face it; there are only so many variations for sex. Sure there're oral and anal, although I didn't find the thought of that terribly appealing, and there's genital sex. I'd had plenty of manual sex over the twenty-plus years before meeting Jenny. In spite of the obvious limitations, sex with Jenny was never dull. She had such energy and so much love to share that I was never bored. Tonight was as exciting as ever even though I was exhausted. The pain in my arm had given me a miserable night's sleep. I'd slept through the night, but Jenny had told me I was tossing and turning the entire time.Jenny tried something new on me tonight, flexing her vaginal muscles and squeezing my cock like never before. “Oh God!” I was practically screaming as I came and came again until Jenny covered my mouth with hers. She covered my face with kisses once I had settled down. I could barely speak, but somehow I managed to croak, “You didn't.”“That's not important. You'll get me tomorrow. I know how tired you are. Why don't we get room service? That's something I always wanted to do.”“What about Lady? She has to eat and we have to put her out.”“I can do both. I know it's dark, but I won't go into the park and I'll have Lady with me.” I thought about it for a minute before struggling to get out of bed. “I'll come with you then a quick shower and we can call down for food. How does that sound?” Jenny gave me a sour look, but helped me to get up and dress. I fed Lady and ten minutes later we stood together in the park. Several young toughs walked nearby, but continued past us when Lady growled. One group even recognized Lady from the TV news as they shouted, “Nice going, man,” and other congratulatory remarks. All the same I was pleased when we were safely inside the Plaza's lobby.We ordered steaks, probably the best choice for room service, baked potatoes, and a pitcher of iced tea. It was served on our coffee table as I signed the bill, but gave the server his tip in cash. Jenny and I ate quietly, but a few minutes later she asked, “What do you think the police want?”“Not sure, but I don't think they want to arrest me. If they did the detective wouldn't have phoned. He would have been here waiting for me. He said he has some info on the case so I guess we'll find out in the morning.” Room service sounds romantic, but the food is often cold by the time it's delivered. Tonight it was okay, but it was better than going out. We ate, showered together as we did every night, and climbed into bed, Jenny, as always, on my left side with her head on my chest. I lay back on the pillow and was gone in seconds.CHAPTER 12.There were two men in cheap suits standing in front of reception as we walked up. “Detective Garcia,” I asked.“Dr. Preston, good of you to see us. This is my partner, Tim Rooney.” I shook hands lefty and introduced Jenny. We walked together into the Plaza's food court where we were seated in a booth. Jenny and I ordered breakfast and they ordered coffee even though I invited them to join us.“At these prices I'd be broke in less than a week. What kind of work do you do, Dr. Preston?”“Actually, Det. Rooney; I'm officially retired although I did get an assignment to write a short program last week. That's what I do; write computer programs. I wrote all the programs in the ‘Idiot' series.”“Those are really good. I used one to learn Spanish.”“Yeah, but you still speak with an Irish accent. I can barely understand you.”“What would you know? You were born in Brooklyn; talk about an accent!”Jenny and I laughed. “I suspect life with you two is never dull.”“We have to make jokes when we can,” Det. Garcia explained. “Sometimes our work can be really morbid. Why don't we get to business?” He stopped for a moment to stir some real cream into his coffee. “Mmmm, that's good. Okay, we got the report from the vet on your dog. I'm sure you know it came back clean. We learned that your assailant was high on meth; methamphetamine. He's still in Bellevue in the prison ward and his arm is a mess. The doctors put several screws in it, but they still think he'll have trouble for the rest of his life. Of course, the whole thing was entirely his fault so I doubt that any of us have even a tiny bit of sympathy.“We've spoken to the DA in charge of the case and he'll go to the Grand Jury next week. There's no reason for you to attend or testify, but I can tell you that he's going for attempted murder in addition to assault with a deadly weapon. There'll be some other charges thrown in; there always are. I have your cell number so I can contact you, if necessary.”“Do you think I'll have to testify? And Jenny?”“It's hard to say. It might go to a plea bargain because he has no criminal record. This guy had a great job on Wall Street so he has plenty of money; maybe too much. I assume your suit was ruined. Any idea how much it cost? We'll ask the judge for you to be compensated for your loss.”“Actually, I do know. I had just bought that suit from a tailor in Hong Kong. It cost me $3,000 and the shirt was $250, both of them custom made for me. I'm more concerned with Jenny's dress. She tried to stop the bleeding and it was covered with blood. I gave it to the hotel for cleaning so I expect to get it back today. It was brand new, just bought that day. Do you remember what you paid, Jen?”“Yes, just over $2,000 with tax, unfortunately. I loved that dress.”“Well, if it's ruined we can see about getting a replacement. We can go to the store and ask them to order one just like it.” Jenny responded by leaning over to kiss my cheek. The detectives left a few minutes later, but not before Det. Rooney said, “I wouldn't mind getting a dog like this for my family. Mind telling me what you paid for her.”“I think a shelter pet is more in your future. Lady cost me $65,000.”Garcia laughed like hell as he slid out of the booth. “Tim, get a goldfish and I'll spring for a bowl.”They shook hands with me and left, still laughing.“They seem like good guys, Doug.”“Yeah, they probably are, but I don't envy them their jobs. They see the worst of humanity every single day. We had a neighbor who was a cop when I was growing up. His wife couldn't stand the uncertainty of his going to work and never knowing for sure if he was coming home alive or in a box. She left him and took his three kids. A few months later he took his own life. I can still remember the sound of the shotgun in the middle of the night.” Jenny's eyes showed the shock she was experiencing.We finished breakfast and returned to the suite just in time to see the bellman walking down the hall with her dress. Jenny took it out of the plastic bag, but even I could see that they were unable to remove the bloodstain completely. Jenny was almost in tears when I asked her for the receipt. A minute later I was on the phone with the store. I explained what had happened and, like everyone else in the city, the manager had seen the report on the news. She said she would have to contact the supplier, but would get back to me as soon as possible, probably sometime this afternoon.After ending the call I sat in the easy chair and gazed out the window. “What would you like to do this afternoon? I think we should do some sightseeing. Most of the people who live here have never been to the top of the Empire State Building or taken a cruise around Manhattan. There's also the American Museum of Natural History only a few blocks away or the Central Park Zoo. It's one of the world's best.”“Let's wait until the doctor has examined you. I'm not taking any chances with your health.” And then in what I was sure was her sternest voice, “And neither are you. I'm planning on growing very old with you, having lots of kids and even more grandkids. We'll have other opportunities to sightsee.” Then to show me how serious she was she leaned down to kiss me.It was almost eleven when the maid knocked. Jenny answered the door and the maid said she would return later. “No, come in, please; just take care of the bedroom and bathroom today.” I rose and gave her a ten dollar tip. This was a big suite and I always tipped the maid every day. I didn't think that ten bucks was too much when the suite was running me $5,000 a night.Jenny and I relaxed as we waited for the doctor to arrive. Fortunately, he was a few minutes early. He handed Jenny a card that gave his name as Henri St. Claire, M.D., Internal Medicine, with a Park Avenue address. He explained that he was technically retired, but kept his hand in by working when needed for the hotel. Taking note of my sling he asked me to remove it so he could examine the wound.“Ah, I see the doctor inserted a drain,” he said once he had peeled the bandage away from my skin. “That was an excellent idea. These days these kids who think they're practicing medicine don't take the time or effort to do things right. It will take only a few minutes to remove it.” Digging into his bag he removed several paper towels and dropped a long thin flexible tube that he pulled from the wound into them, dropping the mess into a waste basket. Then, using his nose, he sniffed all around the stitches before nodding with satisfaction.“Had there been an infection there would be an odor of mortification, of the decaying pus created by the body fighting off the bacteria. That's the biggest concern with a knife wound. I'll bandage it again for you and all you'll have to do is see your own physician in another week to remove the stitches. Do you need any additional pain medication?”“No, I still have some and I prefer not to use them. They make me woozy and I can't stand it. What about this sling? Do I have to use it?”“I think you might wear it for another few days until you get home again. The city is crowded and you could be jostled.” I was dejected by that, but Jenny was elated. She was going to take care of me even if it killed me. Dr. St. Claire was with me about twenty minutes and left, telling me that his charges of $250 would be added to my hotel bill. I thanked him as he strode out the door.“See; I told you to wear that sling.”“I give up; you win.” I was a bit dejected until Jenny carefully replaced my arm into the sling then wrapped her hands around my head and kissed me deeply. The kiss went on and on until she broke it, asking if we could still make it to the zoo. I got my backpack from the closet and put Lady's bowl into it even though I knew there were places for dogs to drink where we were going.It was still morning so I suggested we go up to the Bronx. “We have plenty of time so why don't we go to the Bronx Zoo. It's bigger and; I think; better than the one in Central Park.” Jenny agreed, saying that she would defer to me since I had much more experience here than she did.Once out on the street we crossed over Central Park South so Lady could take care of business then we walked a few blocks east until we reached the subway station for the 5 train. Using my credit card I bought a Metro Card with six trips on it, paying for Lady even though I knew she would be entitled to a free passage. The trip north took less than thirty minutes. We walked up onto East Tremont Avenue very close to the Asia Gate of the Bronx Zoo. I knew this area well; it was where my father had often brought me years ago before I learned that he was a serial cheater.Jenny and I had a ball. She loved the zoo and many of the children asked if they could pet Lady. The highlight of the day came when we accidentally stumbled onto feeding time for the tigers. The trainer dropped a huge slab of what I assumed was horsemeat into an empty cage. It was on the left of three in a row. He lifted and dropped a door that led outside from the center cage. About three minutes later a tiger; a BIG tiger walked in and turned toward the meat. Once he was in a door we hadn't noticed before dropped between the two cages, sealing that one away. Next the trainer dropped another slab into the cage on the far right. The door outside dropped a few more times and an even bigger tiger walked in, moving immediately toward the meat. Soon that cage was isolated, leaving only the center cage empty. The process was repeated, but everyone present gasped when this tiger walked through the door. It looked to be twice the size of the first.“Excuse me, sir,” I asked as I approached him while we exited. “Do you know how much that tiger weighs? I don't think I've ever seen a cat that big before.”“You're probably right. He's the biggest one I've ever seen, too. He was weighed a few months ago, 619 pounds. Did you know that the tiger is the largest cat, followed by the lion and the jaguar third? They're all capable of being man eaters, but the tiger is the worst, by far.” Jenny and I thanked him and went on our way, eager to see what was next in line down the path.We finished around five and left through the same Asia Gate to the subway. Jenny was confused when we walked onto the platform for the number 2 train. “Doug, didn't we take the 5 train this morning?”“Yeah, we did, but this one will bring us closer to our restaurant. We're going to the Carnegie Deli for dinner. I think you'll like it.” Walking up to the street level at 59th West meant that we were about four blocks from the deli. Blocks in Manhattan were about three times as long going east and west as they were going north and south. Even at this hour with the sidewalks crowded with workers on their way home, the trip only took us twenty minutes.We were given a table by the window. I ordered without even looking at the menu. “We'll split a Zorba and a hot pastrami sandwich, two cream sodas, and can we get some water for my dog?”The waitress had just left when Jenny whispered, “Doug, splitting a salad and a sandwich? Are you sure?”I leaned across the table to kiss her. “Trust me. You'll have more than enough to eat and we'll definitely want to save room for dessert.” I had just placed Lady's bowl on the floor by the edge of the table when the waitress returned with two tall glasses filled with ice and the light amber cream soda along with two with water that she told me were at room temperature. Those she poured into Lady's bowl. Lady looked to Jenny for permission to drink, receiving it just as the waitress returned with a huge Greek salad and two bowls.I made an attempt to toss the salad and spooned a healthy portion into Jenny's bowl. There was still some left over when I had filled mine. We had just finished when our sandwich appeared. “Thought I'd better bring another plate for you. Good luck,” she said with a chuckle. Jenny looked at the sandwich with her mouth open. It was easily eight inches tall with lean pastrami piled high between two thin slices of rye bread.Using two hands I removed one half and passed the other to Je

My life changes dramatically. Wow, does it ever!by Sénor Longo. Listen to the  ► Podcast at Connected.We left the airport at 12:43 and pulled up in front of the Plaza fifty-one minutes later. The bell staff couldn't get to our bags fast enough. Ten minutes later we had registered and were shown into our suite. It was exactly as requested; more than nine floors above the street with views of Central Park just across the street. I locked our few valuables in the safe and we removed our clothes to the dresser and closet.Once that was done we went down in the elevator so we could get Lady into the park. I had brought a garden trowel and a supply of plastic bags to dispose of her wastes. Her bowls and a ten pound bag of Dog Chow would do for the next five days. We crossed at the light and stepped into the park.“So this is Central Park. It's beautiful and so big.”“It really is great, Jenny, but it's a good place to stay away from after dark. It can be dangerous, with groups of street punks looking for an easy mark.”“Is that why we brought Lady?”“It's part of the reason. I'll buy you more than a hundred thousand dollars in jewelry. That alone is reason to be careful. Of course, if we get robbed, just hand over the cash and the jewels. They can be replaced; you can't.” Lady had sniffed around a few trees before squatting to do her business. I was right behind her to clean up her mess which was fortunate because a city cop was only twenty feet away on the footpath. I knew the law in New York City was often ignored, but not by me. I dropped the bag in a trash receptacle and we crossed the street to the Plaza then turned left, walking about a block and a half to Luke's Lobster for their lobster roll and Cokes.After lunch we went back toward Fifth Avenue and turned south. A block later we entered Harry Winston's. The service here has always been, well, let's just call it “attentive.” A fortyish woman greeted us. “I was told to ask for Martin,” I said as I handed her one of my business cards from when I was C E O of Software for Idiots, Inc. She retreated to the rear of the store, returning less than two minutes later with the manager. My contact at Vanguard had phoned him to discuss the transfer of funds. He was told it had been done probably dozens of times and was one of their preferred means of payment. There were no credit card charges and payment was immediate. I asked to see an assortment of engagement rings.Jenny was offered a seat at a low glass counter as Martin first measured her finger while an assistant brought out four trays, each of which had at least twenty rings of various sizes and designs. She looked at me then told me, “I don't want to spend too much.”I grinned as I replied, “For you there's no such thing as too much. Find the one you love and ignore the price. We're here to spend money and I have more than enough to buy out the entire store.” I leaned down to kiss her. I could see her shock in her eyes. She knew I was rich, but I was much richer than she thought. I'd explain everything to her tonight.Martin showed her maybe twenty different designs to see what type of ring she wanted. Once that was decided there was the question of size. Jenny was a tall woman, but slender even after gaining weight over the past few months. Her fingers matched her body; long and slender. Even though I could afford the biggest ring in the store, a really big ring looked ridiculous on her finger. She finally decided on a blue-white stone of two carats in a yellow gold setting. I thought it was perfect.“Okay, wedding rings next. We were married yesterday.” This was easier; Jenny loved the first one she was shown; a band that surrounded her solitaire on all sides with a circular ring of smaller diamonds totaling three carats. My matching ring was a simple band of gold with three small matching diamonds. We put them on immediately. I could see the love in Jenny's eyes when she looked up at me, but I wasn't done yet.“Earrings next; let's see what you have. I want to see some posts and some bangles; some gold and some with gemstones.” Jenny bought ten sets of earrings, some with diamonds and other gemstones and others in fourteen karat gold. I loved the one-karat diamond studs. She wore them when we left the store, but kept the ratty posts she had worn since the day we met. “They were a gift from my father, my real father before he died.” Martin had them cleaned and placed them in a Harry Winston box along with our purchases.I also bought her three necklaces and three diamond and gold bracelets. They all looked wonderful on Jenny. The final tally was more than $300,000. Martin phoned Vanguard and gave them the agreed on code that I provided; sixteen alphanumeric characters. The funds were transferred from my account in a second and confirmed by their bank in less than a minute. Martin offered a guard to accompany us to our room and we gratefully accepted even though we had our own guard in Lady.Jenny took me to bed when we returned to the room, claiming that we needed a “nap.” Some nap; I thought a nap meant sleep! Trust me; we didn't sleep, not even a little, but I never complained, not even once. She rubbed that delectable body over mine, pushing her nipples into my mouth as her hands sought my cock and ball sac. Moving down, she kissed my head, ears, face, and finally; my mouth. Her tongue teased me, darting in and out of my mouth as it wrestled with mine.She pulled back, but just long enough to tell me, ”I love you, Doug and I always will. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. I can't imagine a better man or a better husband.” Then, as if to prove her point, she wrapped her hot tight canal around me and slowly eased herself down my pole.Making love with Jenny was never dull or boring. She rode me today with an even stronger sense of determination than ever. I looked down to see her clit grinding into me. Her legs, stretched at 180 degrees, forced her nubbin from its hood. It was engorged; red and swollen; in her ardor. Jenny's actions showed how much she wanted to cum and, of course, she was having an incredible effect on me, too.My hands on her hips could feel the tiny tremors coursing through her body, growing in intensity with every mutual thrust. After almost fifteen minutes her motions became irregular, frenetic, and uncontrolled. She was thrashing wildly when it finally hit. I was sure she was going to scream as she often did when we were in our bed at home, but she moved down to clamp her lips into mine at the last second. My mouth swallowed her unfettered roar as well as her unfettered passion. Her actions triggered my reaction. I came as hard as she did, lifting her bodily with my thrusts five times until I collapsed onto the sheets, Jenny's body compressed onto mine.We lay there for several minutes recovering from the stresses we had put our bodies through. I lightly ran my hands over her silken skin, absolutely amazed that this wonderful creature actually loved me; that she had so willingly agreed to be my bride and share my life.Jenny slowly raised her head and spoke, “Doug, do you remember when you gave me that two million dollars?”“Of course, you needed that credit to help establish your identity and, if you hadn't married me you would have had to pay taxes on it. See how lucky you are.” I couldn't resist a brief chuckle.“Well, I've been thinking. I need to give that back to you. Also, I think I should sign some kind of agreement that I wouldn't get any of your money if we ever divorced.”I looked up, an expression of shock on my face. “You're thinking of divorcing me?”“Oh no, I'm so sorry. I'm never going to do anything like that. I love you more than I love my own life. I just don't want you to think I married you for your money. I survived when I was broke before and I could do it again if I had to.”“Thank you for both offers, but my answers are ‘NO' and ‘NO.' I told you that I had more than a hundred million, but that was a white lie. Well, maybe not a lie, but not the whole truth either. When representatives of the brokerage firm approached me they first offered me five hundred million. I learned a long time ago to never accept a first offer. I told them I'd probably make that much in my first two years if I sold the program for five hundred dollars a pop. Overall, I planned on ten million sales internationally over a five year span. After that they'd peter out to maybe 100,000 a year.Using those figures and what I knew about their projected commissions I managed to bump them up to one point five billion. That's what I sold the company for. After taxes I still had roughly 800 million. I'll go over my investments with you when we get home again. Keep the two million for pocket money.”“Two million? Pocket money? Damn Doug, you're incredible; no wonder I love you so much.” She didn't kiss me then, but she did snuggle up really closely to my body then she laid her head on my chest and fell asleep. I remained awake, but just barely, until it was time to shower and dress for dinner.“What should I wear?” I could tell that Jenny was nervous so I kissed her before replying.“I'm wearing my navy blue golf shirt; the one with the thin white horizontal stripes and my tan microfiber slacks with my cordovan loafers; what they call smart casual dress. Of course, nobody will even notice me, not with you there.” She decided on a teal silk top that buttoned all the way to her neck, but was sleeveless, with tan linen slacks and matching flats. She added her diamond pendant. It was simple, but elegant. We took Lady down with us in the elevator and across to the park where she urinated onto the lawn. Then we crossed Central Park South and strolled down Fifth Avenue before turning right onto 58th Street West. From there it was a short walk down the block to Quality Meats.I'd eaten there before and the food was great although expensive, but we were in Manhattan where everything was expensive. A simple room at the Plaza would set you back more than $500 a night. We walked in just in time for the reservation the concierge had made for us. Not a single comment was made about my service dog. After ordering drinks we agreed on the shrimp cocktail and tomato salads before ordering the porterhouse for two, medium rare. For sides we had the roasted crispy potatoes and grilled mushrooms. I was stuffed by the time we finished, but Jenny wanted to try the warm apple tart. Where did this woman put all this food?We walked back to the Plaza, Jenny taking my arm. We were approached by a panhandler about halfway back. Lady was automatically on alert, but he passed us by with a “thanks” when I slipped him a twenty. He'd probably drink himself into a stupor, but I'd demonstrated my kindness. Maybe it would even help, maybe.Jenny and I flopped into the big bed, naked as always. “We need to go to sleep, my darling. You have another big day ahead of you.”“Me? What about you, Doug?”“I have an important meeting to attend. Remember the phone call I made on the plane? I'll be tied up for a few hours, but I'm sending you shopping; clothes this time.”“But, I have no idea where to go.”“I know so I've arranged a little surprise for you. You can take Lady with you. Just trust me. You're going to have a wonderful time.” I kissed her again as we pulled the blanket over us. She made herself comfortable, her head on my chest and her leg over my thigh. I whispered, “Good night, my love,” but Jenny was already asleep.CHAPTER 8.We were up early, as usual, and dressed; me in a suit and tie, Jenny in casual clothes. We walked Lady over to the park and returned to the Plaza for breakfast. It was 9:45 when we left the restaurant and walked to the concierge. There was a woman waiting there for us. “Margo,” I asked.“Yes, you must be Doug and this is obviously Jenny. I'm pleased to meet you.”“Jenny, Margo is a professional shopper. She will accompany you and help you select appropriate clothes. Just remember, Margo, that we live in North Carolina where their idea of formal is wearing socks with your sneakers.”“What's my limit?”“Please don't go over fifty thousand without letting me know. That's the limit on Jenny's card.” I reached into my pocket, retrieving a platinum Master Card with Jenny's name on it and an envelope for Margo's services. Jenny signed the card then turned to kiss me. “You'll have a limo for the day. Have fun. Think of me often.” I kissed Jenny again, petted Lady and watched as they strode to the door. I could just hear Margo telling Jenny that she had a perfect body for clothes. “I'll bet you're a perfect size six,” was the last thing I heard. I watched them enter the limo as the doorman summoned a cab. I was on my way to Wall Street.I was offered coffee in the executive conference room, but I declined. It wasn't that I didn't trust these crooks, but I had no reason to either. They wanted something that only I could provide and for that they'd pay. Everyone rose when the C E O strode confidently into the room; everyone except me. I actually reclined in my chair until I was almost horizontal. “Dr. Preston, I'm William Chambers, the C E O, how are you this morning?”A tall reedy man with hollow cheeks followed and spoke before I had the chance to reply. “Morning, I'm Erik Stoehl, Executive Vice President for Technology.”“I'm okay, but truthfully I'd rather be with my wife. What's on your mind?”“We have your program on our network. What is the maximum number of users the program can possibly handle at the same time? Do you know?”“When I designed the program I envisioned it for a single user; one program, one user. I can understand why you'd want it on your network where you'd have complete control over it; where it could never be stolen or misused. How many users will depend on your servers plus what I program it to accept. How many users do you want?”“Can it handle 20,000?”“It can, but it would be slow as shit flowing uphill. You'd be better off with ten or twenty programs running simultaneously. I could rig them to work together, to ‘cooperate' for lack of a better term.”“Couldn't we do that? We have programmers on staff, you know.”“Knock yourselves out,” I said, getting to my feet. “Give me a call when they've completely fucked it up then I'll be able to charge you ten times as much.”“What will you charge us for this?”“Not much, only fifty million.”“That's absurd, ridiculous.”“Fine, but you need to check our contract before anyone touches it.”“Why?”“You have a license to use, not permission to make any changes. I still own the copyright. The program will log any attempts to change it and forward them to my email. They'll make great evidence for the lawsuit which will cost you billions. Worse, it will let the cat out of the bag. Everyone will know how you managed to average returns of three percent over the past year when everyone else was lucky to break even. Then you'll have other programmers working their asses off for your competitors and every night before they go to bed they'll be on their knees praying to God to thank me for the millions they'll be making. Meanwhile, you'll be stuck in litigation and; the worst possible scenario; the program will shut itself off and your programmers will only make things worse because it will, about two weeks later, erase itself from your servers.“You paid me 1.5 billion for this program. How much have you made over the past year using it? How many clients have you, um, acquired, from your competitors because you've been able to put together the best results in the industry? You didn't pay me all that money because I'm an idiot. I'll gladly do the work for you once I'm back in North Carolina.”“Don't you have to be here to do it? Our servers are here in this building.”I couldn't resist smirking as I pulled my laptop from my case. My fingers moved at the speed of light as I successfully hacked into their system. The C E O blanched when I turned the screen to him. “Your security is fairly typical. Luckily, my program has three multi-level firewalls that will keep even the most talented hackers out. But, since I wrote them, I can get in whenever I want. I'm here with my new bride and I'd like some quality time with her. I'll start on it Tuesday afternoon. It will take you longer than that to get the contract together and for my attorney to review it. I anticipate a month or less. Any questions?”“How the hell did we wind up doing business with someone like you?”“You came to my house, remember? You bought my business. I didn't ask you to; you practically insisted, but I'm not angry. If not for you I would never have met my wife. Incidentally, you made more than fifteen billion using the program last year and you'll make so much next year you'll think the fifty million you're going to pay me is chicken feed.”“I'm Fred Hutchinson, the chief programmer here. May I ask how you plan to accomplish this?” In contrast to his boss Fred was short and squat, a bad combination at best, made all the worse by his almost totally bald head.“Yes you may.”“But? How are you going to do it?”“Oh, I thought you were asking if you could ask how I was going to do it. You certainly can ask, but I'm not going to answer. Even if you knew how you still couldn't because of the safeguards I've build into the program. You'd have to enter the security code the first time and the chances of doing that correctly are roughly one in ten to the eighteenth power. That's one in a billion billion and since there's no identifiable place to enter it you'd have to guess. It's an impossible task. I did this to protect both of us; to protect my proprietary rights and to protect you from unauthorized entry to the code. Even I can't remember the password so I have it programmed into my server at home where it's interwoven into thousands of lines of code in dozens of programs. I'll write the patch at home, enter the program, upload all of the other programs as well as the coordinating software and then watch as you test it. I don't foresee any problems, but one never knows.” They didn't like the scenario, but what could they do? I'd much prefer to spend all my time with Jenny and they would have to pay for my inconvenience.Their attorney met with me for another three hours to hammer out the details. By working through lunch we were finished by 2:30 and I caught a cab back to the Plaza. I changed my clothes and went down to the lobby to wait for my bride.She made an entrance that would have made a Hollywood star jealous. In she walked with her service dog and three bellmen, each of which was carrying about a dozen large shopping bags. I rose as Jenny ran into my arms. “I take it you had a good time.”“Good? Oh Doug, it was marvelous. We began at Macy's. That store is so big! Then we went to Bergdorf-Goodman. What clothes they had! We stopped for lunch and then we went to some fancy boutiques. That's where I got this purse. Like it?” I did; it was very stylish and looked great on Jenny's shoulder.“Did you hear Margo tell me she thought I was a perfect size six? She was right. Everything I tried on fit me perfectly. I had a hard time choosing.” I stopped her for a moment and turned to the bellmen. Handing each a ten-spot I asked them to take the bags up to 1027. “Isn't the suite locked, Doug?”“Of course, but they have master keys. Let's go in for a snack then we can go up and dress. Wehave tickets for the theater tonight. We're going to see “Hamilton.”“Oh Doug, Margo told me all about it. I can't wait. I have the perfect outfit. I think you'll love it.”“Let's get up to our room; we hav

Visits to the Consul's OfficeIn 7 parts, based on the posts by senorlongo. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novel. I used my shortwave radio for several things. Primarily I used it for entertainment—listening to music or news, or to check on the approaching weather. Twice I learned in advance of severe storms and we were able to take steps to protect our livestock. The other use was to communicate with people, either to order supplies, or to check on investments or legal matters. So it was during a regular check with my attorney and financial manager that I learned I had to return to the States. My uncle David, for whom I was named, had passed away, naming me as his primary heir. Great—now the rift with my mother would grow even wider. Uncle David was her brother and he had left her out of his will, no doubt because of her treatment of him, my father, and every other male in our families. She'd never see it that way, of course. It would be all his fault—or mine—but never hers. That was her biggest problem—nothing was ever her fault. She was always the victim, but only in her eyes. Everyone else always saw the problem for what it was; she was a domineering bitch who was clearly far superior to everyone else. Well, she had driven away my father and Scott and me, as well, with her constant nagging and bickering. Now it was about to get even worse, but only if I would let it. I was safe from her in Hosi's valley.I had to see to the disposition of the funds, and, of course, there were several papers I had to sign and the mails in South America weren't to be trusted. That wouldn't be a problem—I still had a valid passport. The problem would be what to do about Hosi.Living in the wilderness had its advantages, but the question would be how to prove that Hosi was a Brazilian citizen for a passport. I took her downriver to the nearest government office. Of course, we encountered the same bureaucratic bullshit that exists in every government. “May I see her birth certificate?” That's what the idiot asked after I had explained five times that we lived in an area of the jungle where there was no governmental control, something that existed in almost eighty percent of the Amazonian jungle. I explained again that we lived more than a hundred miles west of the nearest settlement, so how was Hosi supposed to get a birth certificate. I'd bet that few, if any of the tribes that lived in the jungle ever heard of a birth certificate, or the Brazilian government, for that matter.Tired of getting nowhere with this jerk, I headed for the American consulate. I was stopped by the Marines at the gate, but showed my passport and was granted admission. I was amazed when I walked into the office to find a picture of my old friend John Spillane on the wall. I was told he had been appointed Secretary of State by the new President. “Do you know him,” I asked.“Of course not, you can't expect the Secretary to know all of the thousands of department employees,” was the reply.“Well, I used to be a close personal friend when I worked for him at Al-Cor. Can you get a message to him—fax or email—and ask him if he would take a phone call with Dr. David Schneider?”“I can send a message, but I doubt he'll reply. Where can I reach you if he agrees?” I told the Consul where we were staying and thanked him. I received a message later that evening telling me to be back at the Consulate at 3:00 the following afternoon for a video phone call.We walked in to the Consul's office at 2:50 and were shown to the video room. I sat in front of the computer, Hosi at my side, and waited for the call to begin. “Hi, David what are you doing in Brazil?”I greeted my old friend and congratulated him on his appointment. I reminded him of my story when Mike Sullivan had died. I told him that I had met Hosi while I was wandering around the jungle and fallen in love with her. I had her join me so John could see her, too, as I explained my problem. “Could you intercede with the Brazilian authorities on our behalf,” I asked. John agreed to try and said he would get back to us in two days. I thanked him and rung off. Hosi and I returned to our hotel.“I don't understand what the problem is, David.” Hosi said.“In order to travel to my country you will need a passport.” I showed her mine. “It's a document that proves you are a Brazilian citizen. The valley where we live is in the country of Brazil. We will also need passports to return home again. It is complicated, Hosi, but that's what we will need. I hope you can get one because I will be away for several weeks and I will want you with me.”“Why is everything in your world so complicated, David?”“I don't know, Hosi. I suppose a lot of it has to do with terrorism.” I spent almost a half hour explaining about 9/11 and other examples of terrorism throughout the so-called civilized world. I could see Hosi thinking. After a few minutes she spoke, “That doesn't make any sense, David. Why would anyone think that would work?”“It never has worked, but that hasn't stopped some people from spreading their hatred throughout the world. Just getting onto an airplane has become incredibly difficult with hundreds of regulations. On some flights we could be required to go through security two or even three times.” I explained as much as I could about airport security.“All I know, David it that I feel secure in your arms. Will you put your penis into my mouth and my vagina?” She reached to remove my shirt and shorts. I knew there was something else I didn't like about civilization when I realized how much clothing I had to remove from Hosi's body. We had just fallen onto the bed when the phone rang. It was the American Consul asking if we could come to his office tomorrow morning at ten. I agreed, thanked him, and hung the phone onto its cradle. I returned to Hosi. We kissed tenderly as we did every day, but this time she pushed me onto my back and reversed into a “69.” Slowly, she took me into her mouth as I laid siege to her pussy with my tongue. Together we licked and sucked each other, our breathing becoming more rapid and ragged as we progressed. Hosi began to shudder as I massaged her G-spot with my tongue and shook wildly when I pinched her clit between my fingers.I gave her a few minutes to recover before turning her around to face and kiss me while I buried my cock deep into her. I thrust up strongly, bringing the two of us to mutual orgasms. I held her tightly as my cock erupted repeatedly into her womb. I pulled her to me, kissing her wildly as we recovered. We rested most of the afternoon, went out for dinner and returned to the hotel again for the evening.This was a much bigger and more modern hotel than our first one together so when I turned on the TV the screen went to a menu. Hosi asked me what all those choices meant. I knew I was in for a problem when I saw the word “Adult” on the screen. I had to explain to Hosi that these were movies about sex. That got her attention and she wanted to see one even though I told her several times that few of them were very good.I picked one that I thought had the most reasonable plot, confirmed the payment and sat back with Hosi to watch. Her first observation was that, “These women have very large breasts.” I laughed as I told her, “They're not real. A doctor like Dennis can make them bigger. Some men think bigger is always better.” Hosi looked at me as though I was crazy, but turned her attention back to the screen. An hour later the movie ended and I could see that Hosi was thinking. “David, didn't you tell Queen Aleppa that sex was usually done in private? Then why do these people do it when so many others can see?” I explained that the sex wasn't really between people who loved each other; they were actors—people playing a role. She shook her head, “David, I don't think I will ever understand your world.” I agreed with her, pulled her to me, kissed her tenderly, spooned with her and went to sleep.We walked together the following morning into the Consul's office. “Thank you for coming so promptly, Dr. Schneider. Would you please step over here?” He pointed to a portable projection screen where I noticed a photographer standing. I stood in front for a portrait and then positioned Hosi. The photographer thanked us and left.“May I ask what's going on, sir?”“Yes, of course, you and Mrs. Schneider are getting new passports—diplomatic passports ordered by Secretary Spillane. I have a communiqué for you. I'm sorry, but I must have it returned once you've read it.” I took the sealed envelope from his hand, opened it and led Hosi to a nearby couch. We read the letter together. I thought for a few minutes and reread it before returning it to the Consul who shredded it into the smallest pieces I had ever seen.“When will our passports be ready,” I asked.“In about twenty minutes. Secretary Spillane obviously wants you back in the States. You'll be flying business class on a plane this afternoon courtesy of the State Department. It's a non-stop directly into Dulles. A limo will meet you there and take you straight to his office. After your meeting you will be free to deal with your other business—sorry to learn of your uncle's passing.”Someone had been really busy—I had never mentioned my uncle to anyone outside the valley, but I wasn't about to turn down free tickets and I was eager to see my old friend John. We left with our passports and tickets in hand. We returned to our hotel to collect our meager belongings. I phoned the marina, telling Kevin we were on our way home and bought a small suitcase and some toiletries. We checked out and took a cab to the airport.I led Hosi through the maze that modern airports have become. We went through security, although our diplomatic passports greased the way for us. We were led to a special lounge where we ate and relaxed prior to the flight. I could see that Hosi was nervous, “Are you sure this huge thing can actually fly?” I reassured her and held her hand all the way on to the plane. I helped her with her seatbelt and kissed her cheek. I helped her with the complimentary headphones; watching her face when she first heard the music was priceless.We ate the mediocre food and slept most of the way; nine hours later we landed at Dulles, just outside Washington in rural Virginia. We breezed right through Immigration and Customs with our diplomatic credentials, meeting our driver just outside baggage claim. Half an hour later we walked hand in hand into the Department of State. We were obviously expected; we went right to the head of the line at security and were led directly into John Spillane's office. John rose to greet us as I introduced him to Hosi who was clearly awestruck by the entire experience.“Thanks for coming on such short notice, David. I can see from one look at your bride why you live in Brazil. You are truly beautiful, Hosi. That's an interesting name. Does it mean anything?”“Yes, sir,” Hosi replied, “brave warrior.”“Wow, that's an unusual name for a woman—brave warrior, eh? OK, David, I'm sure you are wondering what's going on.”“Yes, sir I never thought we'd both get U.S. passports and especially not diplomatic ones. You obviously have something in mind for us.”“Actually, it has to do with your uncle's will. We believe he has in his possession some papers that unfriendly nations would like to have. Your government would prefer to see them destroyed—burned or at least shredded.” He then went into detail about the papers which he thought would be in my uncle's safe.I knew my uncle was a naval architect and that he sometimes worked for the government. What he had were copies of top secret plans for a new submarine. He had been working on them at home when he died. John was pretty sure they were in his safe. As his heir I would receive the key from his attorney when the will was read. That would be two days from today just outside Groton, Connecticut home of the Electric Boat Company which was a division of General Dynamics, a huge contractor for the Department of Defense. Unfortunately, the reading of the will would bring Hosi and me into direct contact with my mother.I thanked John for all of his help and promised we would do what he wanted. Before we left John told me there might be some danger involved. I just laughed and told him I'd be safe with my brave warrior at my side. I doubted he realized just how dangerous Hosi could be.We took our limo to a nearby hotel, checked in, and took a nap. OK, it wasn't really a nap. We lay on the bed until Hosi said she wanted to try some of the things we had seen in the movie we rented our last night in Brazil. When I asked her which things she climbed up onto all fours, positioned herself at the edge of the bed and pointed to her pussy. I got up and stood behind her. I rubbed my cock into her slit—she was as wet as I was hard. I leaned forward and pushed easily into her tight cunt. I leaned forward as I rocked into her so I could massage her breasts and nipples with one hand while I found and rubbed her clit with the other. I massaged and rubbed and fucked and kissed her neck and back. It wasn't long before she surrendered to my assault, and good thing, too because I was getting really close. The friction within her cunt was more than I could bear. I pulled back and pushed my hips forward, driving deeply within her as I erupted, soaking her pussy with my hot white cream. We fell forward together laughing and kissing, “Welcome to the U.S. of A,” I whispered as I nuzzled her ear.“I think I'm going to like it here if every day is going to be like this one.”“Careful…you haven't met my mother yet.”“Oh, David she can't be that bad.”“Hosi…both of her children moved to live with you and neither of us bothered to tell her we were going. Does that tell you anything? My mother is an emasculating bitch. She hates men so, of course, she had two sons. She drove our father to an early grave with her constant nagging and complaining and she tortured both Scott and me when we were kids. No, it wasn't physical abuse, but she went out of her way every single day to criticize and belittle us. I doubt she ever told either of us that she loved us. Now she'll accuse me of twisting her brother against her even though we were more than two thousand miles away for more than a year. I'm glad I have you to protect me.” Hosi laughed, totally unaware that I was totally serious.We flew the next morning to Islip MacArthur Airport in Islip, Long Island. I rented a car and drove east on Route 25A toward Orient Point. From there we took a car ferry across Long Island Sound to Mystic, Connecticut right across the river from Groton and the Electric Boat Company where my uncle had worked for so many years. We saw several nuclear subs at the company's docks. I drove off the ferry and we looked for another motel. Once we found one we drove up to Foxwoods, the world's largest casino. I took Hosi with me to play blackjack. For a person who had never even seen a deck of cards before she was a remarkably quick study. We quit four hours later just about even which I explained to her was an accomplishment. We went to one of their finer restaurants, The Cedars Steak House, where I treated Hosi to a sumptuous meal. Hosi would never get used to being waited on, no matter how often I took her out to eat. Even in Brazil in the tiny backwater towns Hosi would sit wide-eyed as a waiter or waitress brought our food or cleared the table. Now, in an exclusive restaurant Hosi marveled at the number of people waiting on us. She marveled even more at the food. We ate little meat in our valley, relying on lamb and goat on those occasions when we didn't eat fish or some combination of fruits and vegetables.We returned to our hotel sleepy from all the food, but apparently not sleepy enough to discourage Hosi from fucking me. She turned on the TV, choosing again the “Adult” menu. I have to say this for Hosi—she was a fast learner. She could maneuver her way around these menus as well as if not better than I could. She picked one and nestled into my arms. She knew all about “69,” but now she was amazed to see one of the actors fucking the woman's ass. She turned to me, “David, have you ever done that? I would think that would be painful.”“Yes, Hosi I have done it and it can be painful—very painful. It can feel good—really good-- too, if it is done right. I'll explain the whole thing to you sometime, but not now—I'm too tired.” I really wanted to go to sleep but Hosi was into the movie, getting ideas to try on me. We turned off the set an hour later and assumed our normal position—spooning with my hand on her breast.I awoke the following morning not to a bright sunlight, but to a hot wet mouth around my cock. I peeked under the blanket and Hosi peeked back sheepishly, “I saw this in the…what is the word I want, David?”“Movie?”“Yes, that's it and I thought I would try it on you. Do you enjoy it?”“Hosi, I always enjoy your mouth on my penis, but you should know that those movies are not real. Hardly any of those things happen in real life.”“I know that, David. I remember that you explained all that to me, but I still want to do it.”“OK, but don't I get a chance to do you?” She grinned ear to ear and pivoted around. I inhaled deeply, savoring the aroma of the pussy I loved so well. I had heard that all women taste and smell differently, but I wouldn't know. I had only gone down on a handful of women before Hosi and I doubted I'd do any more, but I did know that I loved the smell and taste of her. I reached up to lick her just as Hosi swallowed my cock—she'd gotten awfully good in an awfully short time. I covered her delicious pussy with my mouth and sucked mightily. That got a huge reaction from Hosi as she gasped loudly. She fucked my cock with her mouth and I fucked her with my tongue. She'd had a head start on me and we hadn't fucked last night so I wasn't lasting very long. I moved my mouth to her clit as my fingers sought her G-spot. I knew she was close when she began to shake. Her body exploded in a massive spasm just as I bathed her tonsils with my cum. She rolled up to me, cum dripping from the corner of her mouth. She scooped it with her finger, licked it clean and kissed me as we swapped each other's fluids. I would have loved to stay in bed with her, but we had an appointment we had to keep. I pulled her to the shower.We ate a quick breakfast, but not at the motel—I always hated the so-called free breakfasts. We found a family restaurant where we enjoyed waffles and bacon with some orange juice. I used to be a big coffee drinker, but not in the valley where we mostly drank either water or some kind of fruit juice—we had ten different varieties. We arrived at the lawyer's office about ten minutes early. Of course, my mother was already there. I walked in holding Hosi's hand.“I knew you'd show up for this, David. You've always had your eyes on your uncle's money.”“Nice to see you, too, Mother. And for your information I haven't even spoken to my uncle for more than four years.”“I'm sure that's a lie you greedy bastard.”I almost laughed. If anyone was greedy it was her. “Believe what you want, Mother. Yesterday was the first time I've even been in the States for more than two years. We don't even have any phones where we live. When I say we I'm referring to me, my wife Hosi, your son Scott who also left without saying good-bye to you, and your nephew Kevin.”“Hoe…see? What the hell kind of name is that?”“It means ‘brave warrior' in her tribe's language and, believe me, she is. I've seen her put down two bruisers in less than a minute. Oh, by the way, not that I think you even care, but you're a grandmother. It's a girl named Kela. She's fifteen months old now. It hardly matters, though—you'll never see her, thank God. Now, let's get this over with shall we?”“Good idea, I'm John Keller, your uncle's attorney. Rather than read the entire will I'll summarize. That will save a lot of time—there's a load of legalese in here. Mrs. Schneider, your brother left you $10,000 with the instruction that I read the following passage verbatim: “Stella, you have been a Grade A bitch your entire life. You made your poor husband's life a living hell and mine wasn't much better. You tortured me when I was a child, but fortunately I was able to escape as an adult. If anything good comes from my death it's that you and I will be in different places for eternity.”“David, you inherit the remainder of the estate which I'll explain to you after I give this check to your mother.” He handed the check to my disgusted mother who rose and stomped out giving me yet another dirty and disgusted look.“I'd be careful of her if I were you, David. She strikes me as a vengeful person.”“She is, believe me. She has alienated virtually everyone who has ever known her. What my father ever saw in her is a mystery to me. Now can we go over the details?”“Of course…essentially he left you investments amounting to just over 4.5 million dollars and his house and boat.”“I'll want to see the house. I understand you have the key to his safe?”“Yes, you do realize that anything of value will have to be declared.”“Sure, if I find anything I'll bring it back here for you to handle. I'll want to sell the house and boat. You can give the proceeds to my mother, not that she deserves them. I'll never see her again and I doubt that I'll even attend her funeral. All the same, I'm not a vindictive person. Prepare whatever documents are required. However, I do not want her to get the house. She lives in a filthy broken-down apartment building; she can stay there.” I took the key, got directions and we walked out the door. I was just about to ask Hosi what she thought about my mother when she pushed me aside. Hosi rushed forward to meet my cursing club wielding mother as she rushed up the walk. Hosi grabbed her wrist and held her immobile while I got up from the ground. I walked back in and asked Mr. Keller to call the police. Hosi held my mother in such a way that she was unable to move or even drop the weapon until they came. She was charged with attempted murder and assault with a dangerous weapon. When we were asked for identification we showed the officer our passports so she was also charged with terroristic attack on a government official. That meant the FBI would be involved. By the time they straightened this out we'd be back in the valley. Meanwhile, Mom could sit in a cozy jail cell and stew.We found the house without much trouble; Hosi had a fantastic sense of direction. I walked in and shut off the alarm exactly as Keller had said. Hosi and I walked to my uncle's office and looked for the safe. Of course, she had no idea what we were looking for until I explained. Then she found it under the rug. I opened it and found the papers. We walked to the rear patio where I recalled my uncle had a gas grill. I removed the cooking surface and started the fire. I separated the papers and lowered them to the blazing grill; they caught immediately and were soon ablaze. We rested easier once they were a pile of ashes.Returning to the office we noticed there was also about $250 in cash and some old coins. I collected them in a grocery bag, closed the safe and drove back to Keller's office. I gave him the coins and told him to note the cash which I would keep. I told him to send my dear mother a letter stating that I had intended to give her the proceeds from the boat and house, but now she'd get nothing. I shook his hand after giving him the name of my investment manager and my bank info. He looked at it and asked, “Where is this bank?”“Just like it says there—Brazil; the main branch is in Recife, but ours is in some backwater little town you've never heard of about eight hundred miles up the Amazon.” Once again we left his office, but this time it was a peaceful departure. I drove back to Mystic, calling John Spillane's private number, telling him our mission was accomplished. We took the ferry back to Long Island and ninety minutes later we were back at the airport where I returned the car. We caught a cab to the Ronkonkoma Station where we rode a train into Penn Station in the middle of New York City. I was quiet during most of the ride as Hosi looked out the window. She turned to me suddenly, “Do you miss all this, David? It's so different from our valley.”“Hosi, there are a lot of great things here, but there are just as many bad.” I explained to her about crime, pollution, prejudice, traffic, poverty, drugs, terrorism, and as many other issues as I could think of. “We don't have any of that at home. We have clean air, clean water, no crime, no jealousy, and everyone works together. Plus, there is one other minor thing—you. We have all those wonderful things, but I'd live in the worst place on earth if I could be with you.” Hosi beamed, leaned across the seat and kissed me—warmly, passionately, and loaded with her love.We walked up from the station, emerging onto West 31st Street where we caught a cab to the Plaza Hotel at 5th Avenue and Central Park South. Hosi was never afraid, but she was certainly a little overwhelmed, primarily by all the people and, secondly by all the hustle and bustle of the city. I had wanted to treat Hosi to some of the wonders of Manhattan where I had lived for several years. We were escorted to our room by a bellman and, of course, he had his hand out for a tip even though we only had one small duffel. Hosi took a look out the window and asked me, “What's that, David? It looks like the jungle.”“It should be Central Park. It's a big area of woods and grassy areas in the middle of the city, but it can be a jungle at night. There's a lot of crime there—muggings—basically robberies by groups of men. Sometimes they're kids, but they can be just as dangerous. There are lots of police on patrol, but it's a big place.”“I think we should go for a walk after dinner.” I knew I should have chosen another hotel. Hosi loved a challenge. Hopefully, she wouldn't find one. We ate in one of the Plaza's restaurants, returning to our room around nine. I took a leak and put all my valuables into the room safe. When Hosi returned from the bathroom we went down for our walk. I noticed she had changed her clothes; she was wearing her tribal skirt and thong along with her familiar warrior's sandals. “Oh, shit,” I thought, “she is really hoping for trouble.” I just hoped they wouldn't have guns.We entered the park at its southern entrance and walked slowly up one of the many paved paths, holding hands and kissing occasionally. We walked for almost a mile, noticing several other couples also out for a walk. We kept to well-lit areas and saw several bike riding cops along our route. We decided to turn back and that's when I saw the four kids. I'll say kids, but they looked to be about twenty. They had been following us for who knows how long. “OK, Hosi here's your chance. These four guys look like trouble.”“Hey, man—give us your money and we won't hurt you or your woman.” It was the leader, a dark haired kid in those baggy pants I had seen a lot of hip-hop black kids wear in the past.“Oh, guys trust me; you definitely don't want to do this. You're going to be sorry you ever thought of it. You're in for a big and nasty surprise, besides we don't have any money with us.”“Yeah, well too fuckin' bad,” he replied as they stalked closer. He grinned as he continued, “You can see how we're shakin' we're so afraid. I guess that means we gotta cut you. Next time you'll know enough to bring money, right guys?” They laughed as they spread out about ten feet from end to end and moved in for what they thought would be the kill. Hosi pulled me behind her as she scanned the four. She almost laughed as she jumped four feet into the air. She kicked out with both feet, contacting the two center guys in the sternum before landing easily on her feet. Of course, if you asked Hosi she would never know the technical name for this body part, but she would be able to describe exactly what the impact of her hardened heels would cause.The two fell stunned by what had happened. They could barely breathe let alone move. Hopefully, they'd only have bruised ribs. They'd been taken out in less than a second. The other two didn't even have an opportunity to react. Now Hosi checked on the two outside thugs. Both had pulled knives, but the one on the right looked nervous—unsure of himself. Hosi turned to the left. He swung the knife in a vicious arc, narrowly missing Hosi's abdomen. I was sure he thought he was quick, but next to my wife he was more tortoise than hare. She grabbed his wrist and elbow as soon as the knife was past. She pushed the elbow and pulled the wrist; I could hear a horrendous crack. When Hosi released him his arm hung useless, broken just below the joint.Hosi turned to the nervous one, calling him to her with a waggle of her finger. He threw the knife to the ground and sprinted away. Hosi could have caught him easily, but I took her arm and turned her back toward the hotel. I put my arm around her and kissed her cheek. She giggled, “I told you it wasn't dangerous here in the jungle. Those boys were nothing compared to a jaguar.”“Yeah, but I killed the jaguar.”“No, darling…you killed the last jaguar.” I stood there dumbfounded until she whispered into my ear, promising me something special once we returned to our room. We made love so many times that night I couldn't count, riding me furiously every time, but, of course Hosi was up at the crack of dawn full of energy and vigor. She dragged me from bed and into the shower. She giggled as she washed me and rubbed my cock and balls. My poor organ was so exhausted it didn't even respond despite her best efforts. We had a quick breakfast and headed to Pier 83 at West 42nd Street and 12th Avenue. I bought tickets for the complete three-hour tour on the Circle Line. We sat on the upper deck in our sweatshirts with an unobstructed view. We could see all the way across the Hudson. I pointed out the Palisades on the Jersey shore across the wide river. It was only a few minutes before the ship pulled out and headed down the river. We took in the scenery as we listened to the commentary over the PA system. A tear came to her eye when we passed Ground Zero, the former site of the World Trade Center. Hosi couldn't understand how people could be so callous as to kill so many innocents.Hosi marveled at the Statue of Liberty and listened closely to the commentary here. Eventually we turned north into the East River where we could see the South Street Seaport and the Chrysler building. We passed Randall's Island and turned into the Harlem River before reentering the Hudson at Spuyten Duyvil, a deep gorge famous for its torturous currents. It hardly seemed that three hours had passed when we pulled back into the pier.We walked along 42nd while I told Hosi of the famous show and movie of the same name. We were accustomed to walking long distances so the thirteen block trek to the Empire State Building was nothing. I paid the fee and we rode the elevator to the observation deck. Hosi couldn't believe how big the city was, especially compared to the tiny cities we knew along the Amazon.We walked to the nearest Subway station where I bought tokens and we walked to the platform southbound. “Are we under the ground here? Is this safe?” Hosi asked.“It usually is,” I replied, “but sometimes there are thugs who try to rob people. It will be safe now; most of that stuff only happens late at night, and—no—we're not coming back here to find out. You'll have to take my word for it.” I laughed at her disappointment—we got off at Chinatown where we went for an enjoyable lunch.Lunch was enjoyable for several reasons. First, the food was great. Second, we both laughed crazily at Hosi's attempts to use chop sticks. At one point she asked if people actually use these horrible things. When I explained how many people live in China she thought I was making it up. I asked our waiter, an old acquaintance of mine from many visits when I had lived in Manhattan. We spent the afternoon walking around the South Street Seaport and Battery Park before taking another subway north and back to our hotel.We showered together—we always bathe together back in the valley—even though it was a tight fit. That worked out well for me as Hosi's delectable breasts pressed into me the entire time. Of course, my hard cock pressed into her. She laughed the first time she looked down, “I don't know who's enjoying this more. Let's finish up so I can take advantage of you. Do they have any of those adult movies here?” I cringed inwardly—if Hosi learned any more things to try on me I'd be lucky to make it back to the valley in one piece. We enjoyed a nice quickie as Hosi jumped me, pushed me back onto the bed and mounted me. Her face was one of utter contentment as she slid down onto my cock. I would have enjoyed a long nap, but I got us up around 6:30 so we could catch a cab down to Little Italy. I had made reservations at Angelo's on Mulberry Street. There were plenty of restaurants in Little Italy, now reduced to a bit more than two blocks due to encroachment from Chinatown. Most of those places were nothing more than tourist traps—second class food at first class prices—but Angelo's was truly a gem. I ordered the lamb shank and asagna for Hosi as I explained about Italian food. Few people realize that Italian was the basis for almost all other types of cooking, including French. We enjoyed a delicious salad along with a hearty Chianti Classico. I teased Hosi saying, “This is how wine should be made.” I was surprised when she agreed. Our entrees were fantastic—Hosi loved the lasagna, but when I gave her a taste of my lamb she wanted to switch. Not a problem; I loved Angelo's lasagna. We left around 9:30, catching another cab uptown.The following morning we stopped by Al-Cor, hoping to see some of my old friends. I ran into Harry Hanson in the lobby. He couldn't believe it was me, especially when I introduced him to my wife. He took one look at Hosi and shook his head, “How did an ugly coot like you ever marry someone as beautiful as her,” he asked. Hosi took a step forward before I had a chance to answer, but I convinced her that he was only kidding. Harry rounded up a few more buddies and we met for a brief reunion in one of the conference rooms; there were five of them plus Hosi and me.“How's everything with you guys,” I asked. I was surprised when the response was five frowns and looks of disgust. “What's the problem?”It was Steve Frazier who answered. He was the senior employee. “The new CEO is an asshole…oh, sorry Hosi. He is a complete idiot. He's going to take the company down and us with it. I'd do anything to get out.” The others agreed. I had an idea; I gave Hosi a look and she must have been thinking along the same lines. She nodded and smiled so I continued, ”If I remember correctly all you guys are single, right?” They nodded and a few said, “Yeah, why?”“Come to dinner with us tonight and I'll explain—The Plaza, suite 912 around six, OK? Good, we'll see you then.” We left to continue our sightseeing. We went back uptown, taking the subway again toward the Bronx where I took Hosi to the zoo. We walked slowly along the paths. Hosi did a double-take when she saw the size of the lions, but almost fainted when she saw the size of the tigers. I explained that they lived in Africa and Asia respectively, so we only had to deal with the jaguars which were bad enough. We laughed through the 4-D program with Dora and Diego. She laughed at the penguins and marveled at the giraffes and elephants. All too soon it was time to leave. I wanted to plan our meeting with my friends. We would start with drinks while I explained how Hosi and I had met. Hosi suggested she appear in her traditional tribal attire and when I looked down she said, “You did tell me that most men would kill to be able to play with these blobs of fat, didn't you? Well, I won't let them play, but I will let them see what's in store for them.” I had to agree it would be a big inducement.They were late, but I expected that—traffic of every kind is a bitch in the city at all times, but especially during rush hour. I heard a knock at the door at 6:20; Hosi slipped off to the bathroom to wait until she was called. I had bought several bottles—gin, vodka, rye, and scotch—and some mixers and offered everyone a drink. We sat around in the living room of the suite and I began,” The story you've heard about my last time in the jungle wasn't exactly true.” I explained what had occurred up to when we were captured.“What do you mean captured?”“We were captured by a group of…now don't laugh…Amazons...a tribe of warrior women. Hosi is one of them. C'mon in, Hosi.” She walked into the room resplendent in her skirt, sandals, and bracelet. Her breasts were standing proudly. The men's mouths were agape—wide open—as were their eyes. I continued, “There were about twenty of them all armed with bows and arrows and spears. They tied us up, but had peaceful intentions. They fed us and gave us some fruit juice. They paraded us all around the jungle to confuse us and eventually took us into a hidden valley. Care to guess why they wanted us?”“Obviously not to eat you,” Sean O'Reilly commented.“No, but I have been eaten a few times,” I joked, “…they wanted us to breed. So far I've had to fuck around sixty women, all looking much like Hosi—beautiful, tall, in great shape, with fantastic bodies. I had to return to get rid of the micro-transmitter, but I went right back to be with her. My brother is there with my cousin and my best friend who is a doctor. Right now there are roughly 100 pregnant women and next year they want another 100, and the next year and the next. I have Hosi; my brother has Reta; my friend Dennis has two, but my cousin Kevin plays the field. He's even impregnated the queen. So here's the offer….”We wound up talking most of the night, eventually ordering a couple of pizzas from a local restaurant. It was Hosi's first pizza and she approved wholeheartedly, asking if this was italian. The guys obviously approved of Hosi—they all signed up to join us. I told them to fly to Recife when they could and we'd pick them up for the trip up river. We made arrangements to contact each other by shortwave, agreeing on a time and frequency for our discussions.The following morning Hosi and I flew back to Washington where we met again with John Spillane. He asked about the plans even though we had already advised him that they were destroyed. He wanted to know how many sheets there had been and their sizes. Finally, he breathed freely, convinced we had done the job. He asked us to return the diplomatic passports to the consulate. We readily agreed; we saw no immediate need to leave the valley or the Amazon ever again. The following morning we flew back to Brazil, eager to see and hold our daughter. On the way I commented to Hosi, “Not bad…we did the country a great service and we're bringing back another five future residents.”“For a scientist, David you're not very observant. We're bringing back six new residents. I'm pregnant again.” I looked into those beautiful pale green eyes and told her how much I loved her. I really did—I was the luckiest man in the world.“For a scientist, David you're not very observant. We're bringing back six new residents. I'm pregnant again!” I looked into those beautiful pale green eyes and told her how much I loved her. I really did—I was the luckiest man in the world.I kissed her then leaned back as we took off, soaring into the sky. I reclined my seat as I told Hosi I needed sleep. “Somebody keeps me awake all night,” I kidded. She blew a kiss and I fell asleep. I was suddenly awakened by Hosi squeezing in to the seat with me. We were there maybe fifteen minutes when the flight attendant told us we had to have our seatbelts fastened—turbulent weather ahead. I unlatched my belt, ran it around Hosi and pulled it tight to refasten it. Hosi squeezed even closer into me. I looked up at her—words were unnecessary. I put my arm around her…laid her head on my shoulder and we fell asleep again. Unfortunately, I couldn't caress Hosi's breast. I couldn't wait for some privacy so I could demonstrate my love for her appropriately. We were awakened hours later by the attendant who told us we were about to land. Hosi returned to her seat; we moved them into “the full upright position,” and waited for the landing in Brazil.Our diplomatic passports enabled us to move swiftly through Immigration and Customs. We had our bag so we grabbed a cab to the American Consulate. Once again we were granted admission and escorted to the Consul's office. “Hello, again,” I began, “Secretary Spillane requested we return these to you. I doubt we will need them again.”“Yes, I received a cable from the Secretary. He is most appreciative of your efforts on behalf of your country. I have no idea what you did—and I don't really want to know—but he has given instructions to hold the passports here in the event that you will need them again. Also, I've been instructed to inform you that your mother has been sent to Gitmo and will stay there unless you intervene. Does that make any sense to you?”“Yes, unfortunately it does. My mother tried to kill me. If it weren't for Hosi I'd probably be dead now. Please tell John I said thanks, but I have no intention of doing anything for at least the next year. Then I don't care what they do with or to her. Thanks for your help; I do have one more request.” Knowing that the Consulate had all kinds of communications equipment I asked if someone would send a message to my brother. I gave them the time and frequency along with the brief message; it went out and was received at 9:00 that night.Hosi and I found a small hotel; on the way she asked me, “What is ‘gitmo?'”I explained it was short for Guantanamo Bay, a navy base on the island of Cuba, which was interesting because basically we were enemies. I explained the history and how the U.S. had established a detention center there for terrorists.”“Is your mother a terrorist?”“Not really, but when you attack someone with diplomatic status I guess that's terrorism. I'm sure she was more surprised than even we were. Truthfully, I don't really care.”We checked in for the night. The first thing she did was turn on the TV; luckily there were no Adult programs, not that Hosi needed them. After a plain vanilla start she had begun to show considerable imagination, wanting to try everything. Some of the positions she told me about were physically impossible for mortal men. I only prayed she didn't learn about BDSM. We went to a rodizio—an all-you-can-eat Brazilian barbeque restaurant—for dinner. The waiter stood there unbelieving at how much Hosi could eat. She must have had the world's fastest metabolism because she never gained even a single pound. Having slept on the plane we went out looking for some nightlife—anything so long as I didn't have to dance. So, of course, we wound up in a bar/club where there was loud music and crazy Brazilian dancing. I loved looking at it—it was sexy as hell when other people did it--but I knew from past experience that I looked like a scarecrow in a tornado. We sat and listened, ordering two beers until some guy came and asked Hosi to dance. I waved her on—I knew she could take care of herself and I wanted her to have a good time.Unfortunately that good time took a nasty turn when the guy put his hand someplace where only I was given permission to go. She slapped him, but the impact was more like a punch from Mike Tyson. He looked up startled from the floor to see Hosi stomping away, coming back to me at the table. “You've got to stop killing off the population,” I kidded her, but I kept an eye on her erstwhile dancing partner. He got up and walked away, but soon he was gesturing wildly to several friends who stole glances in our direction.Rather than turn Hosi loose I asked a waiter for the manager. When he came I acted indignant that my wife had been groped on the dance floor so badly that she had to slap her assailant. I pointed to where they were standing. Next thing I knew they were being escorted out. I prayed they'd have the good sense to leave.They didn't; they were there in the street when we left. “Gentlemen,” I began in my best Portuguese, “why don't we just call this a misunderstanding? My wife felt you insulted her and she reacted. Probably we're all square. Let's not overreact.” Naturally, there were some really insulting remarks aimed at my manhood. I had to explain in English to Hosi who was incensed, just what I wanted to avoid. She gave me her shoes and shooed me back to the building. It was brutal—I couldn't watch. In less than a minute all three men were lying, bleeding in the gutter. Hosi was just putting her sandals back on when the police arrived. I explained what had occurred and why, finishing by saying we didn't want to press charges. The officer laughed, agreeing that they had probably paid the worst punishment already, being beaten by a girl.I translated everything for Hosi—everything but that last comment. We didn't need her assaulting a policeman. We were just about to walk away when he asked how she did it. “Karate expert,” was my answer. He nodded knowledgeably in response. We walked slowly back to the hotel, arriving there in five minutes.I led Hosi to our room; it was pretty much what I would have expected in any medium to large city—small, quiet, and somewhat worn. I collapsed on the relatively small double bed. Hosi fell on top of me. “You know, you should be more careful, being pregnant, and all.”She pooh-poohed me, telling me that I was being silly. “You worry too much, David. I could handle them while I was giving birth. They were sissies.” “Maybe, but some day they'll have guns and you'll be dead. Then what will I do? What will Kela do?” That was all I had to say. She knew I'd survive, but her daughter…. she was contrite. “I don't know what came over me, David. I love it when you touch me there, but I don't want anyone else to do it.”“Then what you needed to do was leave the dance floor and come back to me. He would have gotten the message and nobody would have gotten hurt. Remember, this is supposed to be ‘civilization.'” She looked at me, saw that I was kidding and we both laughed. We rolled around on the bed and when we stopped we looked into each other's eyes. We couldn't get our clothes off fast enough. I ripped my shirt over my head and threw it—no idea where. I'd worry about it later, maybe tomorrow. My shorts were shrugged over my knees and past my ankles. Somehow Hosi was way ahead of me. She giggled as she pulled my boxers down my legs. She threw them into the air and dove onto me. “Is it OK if I touch you…there,” I asked kiddingly.“David, you can touch me everywhere and you can do anything you want to me.” I looked again into those marvelous green eyes and whispered, “I love you.”“Well, then, why aren't you fucking me?”“Well,” I said pensively, “I think that first I want to lick and suck your breasts and then I want to lick and suck your delectable pussy and then I think I'll finger your ass.” That got her attention! “And then…maybe I'll fuck you. Since that will take a while I think I'd better get started…OK?” By now she was laughing hysterically. I moved down to what she laughingly referred to as her “blobs of fat.” God, they were gorgeous, so beautifully formed…so terribly sensitive. I lowered my mouth, kissing her all over her breasts before moving to her areolas. Hosi's weren't huge, only about an inch and a half in diameter, but they were incredibly sensitive. Touching her areolas was more exciting to Hosi than touching, rolling, and pinching her nipples. She always squirmed when I licked them or touched them with my nose. I suckled each breast, actively reminding her of our lovely baby daughter. I moved farther south, licking my way to her navel. In my experience most navels were just there, you know--something in the middle of the belly. Hosi's was a major tourist attraction, right there in the middle of her six pack abs. Best of all, she was so ticklish there. Just run my tongue around it and she would squeal like a pig while she jumped around the bed. I kissed her abdomen and moved between her silky thighs. As much as I enjoyed the sensation of her smooth skin, that's just how much she enjoyed the touch of my whiskers—go figure!It never took much to get Hosi wet—a kiss, a caress, a cute joke, or my arm around her waist. After all this her cunt was like the Nile in spring, flooding the banks. Her thighs were covered in juice. I licked them clean, but it was a losing proposition. I took on the flow at the source, drinking directly from her cunt. I had just pushed my tongue into her tunnel when she shouted, “STOP!” I looked up, confused. “Turn around. You're not doing all that to me unless I can get even. Send that cock up here so I can suck it.” How could I argue with that kind of logic?I spun around and lay on my back. In a second Hosi was on top of me. “It would be so easy to wrestle with you, David. All I'd have to say is 'I'll suck your cock,” and you'd be on your back in a second.”“Bad joke,” I replied, “I hope your cock sucking will be better than that.”“You're usually satisfied, aren't you?” She leaned down to kiss the tip and then my cock disappeared. That was my signal to dive into her cunt. We went at each other for more than five minutes when I took a quick break, “If you keep that up we're going to have to postpone the fucking.”“OK, but you have to take care of me.”“Don't I always,” I asked as I dove back into her cunt.“Yethhh,” Hosi replied, her mouth full of hard cock. I rammed my finger into her, rubbing her G-spot furiously while I sucked her clit between my teeth. Hosi began to shudder and shake as she stepped up the action on my cock. I don't know how she could concentrate while she was shaking so badly but she did. I drove my hips up and my cock into her throat as I spurted into her six times. She came just as hard, drenching my face in her pungent musky cocktail. She rolled off and we lay there for more than a half hour recovering until she said, “We need some of those Adult movies.”“Oh God,” I groaned. “Let's go to sleep.” She nodded, climbed onto my naked body, and snuggled close, her head securely on my shoulder.To be continued, by senorlongo for SexStories.

This week, we're digging into the The B1M's latest long form video "The Skyscraper That Ended New York's Billionaires' Row". The rise of the skinny-scraper has been a phenomenon in the Big Apple... but the rise of 220 Central Park South is unlike anything New York City has ever seen before. Later in the episode, we cover:America's $5BN hospital upgrade = https://www.instagram.com/p/C0gTAOBsWHM/?img_index=1Tencent's dramatic new headquarters in Shenzhen = https://www.instagram.com/p/C0mkyUIMwmO/?img_index=1This episode was sponsored by Autodesk Construction Cloud. Learn more about the cloud based solution here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_Ku7EmS_GgWe end the show with an email from Josue Valdez.Get in touch! Podcast@TheB1M.comwww.TheB1M.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, and welcome to Beauty and the Biz where we talk about the business and marketing side of plastic surgery, and my interview with ASPS President, Dr. Gregory Greco. I'm your host, Catherine Maley, author of Your Aesthetic Practice – What your patients are saying, as well as consultant to plastic surgeons, to get them more patients, more profits and stellar reputations. Now, today's episode is called "Interview with ASPS President — with Gregory A. Greco, DO". I recently attended the California Society of Plastic Surgeons' annual conference held in San Francisco. (Union Square was surprisingly clean and quite pleasant and I hope it stays that way). They had several plastic surgeon heavy hitters speaking about hot topics such as how social media and technology are affecting this industry and their practices specifically. One of those speakers was Dr. Greg Greco who is a board-certified plastic surgeon in solo practice in NJ. He's doing that while also fulfilling the duties of current President of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). So, I invited Dr. Greco to be a guest on the Beauty and the Biz Podcast to talk about lots of things he touched on at the conference that included: The challenges of intense competition Social media do and don'ts Destination plastic surgery How A.I. will affect our industry ...and a whole lot more! Visit Dr. Greco's website P.S. Earlier this week, I talked about following up on leads and that starts with your receptionist. Get 87% OFF front desk training with this one-time offer….

In today's episode, I will be speaking with Nunzio & Marc DeSantis of the intergenerational award-winning architecture firm, Nunzio Marc DeSantis Architects.   Nunzio's career began over 38 years ago at HKS, where he created the HKS hospitality group.  Since then, he has completed more than 60,000 hotel rooms throughout the world and is largely credited with having made Cabo San Lucas into the luxury vacation destination that it is today.   Marc's classical training at the University of Notre Dame and his three years of design experience at Robert A.M. Stern in New York bring a structured and classical perspective to the boutique hospitality firm. During his time with RAMSA, Marc worked on high-level residential projects including the design, interiors, and details of 220 Central Park South, 550 Madison Ave, and 555 W 22nd. Street.   Most recently, Nunzio Marc DeSantis Architects (NMDA) received international recognition for their work on Bishop's Lodge, Auberge Resorts Collection, a legendary landmark reimagined and modernized through a 75M renovation. Nunzio and Marc were honored for their work on the historic resort as winners of Architectural Digest's 2022 Great Design Awards.     In today's episode, we will be discussing: The energy created by a father and son partnership that blends the seasoned experience with young fashionable hunger and buckets loads of talent How to create a youthful team with the best real-life experience in the business How to master a niche and why focusing on one single sector has weathered recessions and developed deep robust relationships with extraordinary clients   To learn more about Nunzio & Marc visit their: Website: https://www.nmdarch.com/the-team/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NunzioMarcDeSantisArchitects/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nmdarchitects/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nunziomarcdesantisarchitects/   ► Feedback? Email us at podcast@businessofarchitecture.com   ► Access your free training at http://SmartPracticeMethod.com/   ► If you want to speak directly to our advisors, book a call at https://www.businessofarchitecture.com/call   ► Subscribe to my YouTube Channel for updates:   https://www.youtube.com/c/BusinessofArchitecture   *******   For more free tools and resources for running a profitable, impactful, and fulfilling practice, connect with me on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessofarchitecture Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enoch.sears/ Website: https://www.businessofarchitecture.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BusinessofArch Podcast: http://www.businessofarchitecture.com/podcast iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/business-architecture-podcast/id588987926 Android Podcast Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/BusinessofArchitecture-podcast Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9idXNpbmVzc29mYXJjaGl0ZWN0dXJlLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz   *******   Access the FREE Architecture Firm Profit Map video here: http://freearchitectgift.com   Download the FREE Architecture Firm Marketing Process Flowchart video here: http://freearchitectgift.com   Carpe Diem!  

A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts. www.catholicnewsagency.com - In the aftermath of the fire that gutted a church in Cameroon, Bishop Aloysius Fondong of the Diocese of Mamfé entered the ruins to retrieve the Blessed Sacrament and found the sacred Hosts and the ciborium containing them to be intact. On the night of September 16, armed men set fire to Saint Mary's church in the town of Nchang, located in the Diocese of Mamfé, and kidnapped five priests, a nun, and three lay people. The archbishop of Bamenda, Andrew Nkea Fuanya, said that the kidnappers have demanded a ransom. The prelate commented that there are groups that see the Church as an “easy target to make money.” https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252363/blessed-sacrament-found-intact-in-tabernacle-of-church-burned-by-armed-men-in-cameroon President Joe Biden on Thursday appeared to erroneously suggest that the Catholic Church makes exceptions for rape and incest in its condemnation of abortion. Biden made the remarks at a fundraising event for the Democratic National Committee at a private home in New York City's Central Park South neighborhood while discussing a Republican-backed congressional bill to ban abortions after 15 weeks into pregnancy. The president incorrectly said the bill has no exceptions for rape and incest. A White House spokesperson was not immediately available Thursday night to clarify what Biden meant. But any implication that the Catholic Church makes exceptions where abortion is concerned is incorrect. “Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church states. “This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed as an ends or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law.” https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252367/president-biden-catholic-church-abortion-teaching-exceptions A priest along with the former parish administrator of a Catholic church in Florida funneled nearly $1.5 million in parishioners' donations into a secret bank account for personal use, Vero Beach police said Tuesday. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252364/florida-priest-and-parish-administrator-embezzled-1-dollars-5-cents-million-from-parish-police-say Today, the Church celebrates the Italian Franciscan priest Saint Pio of Petrelcina, better known as “Padre Pio” and known for his suffering, humility and miracles. Born Francesco Forgione, he joined the Franciscans in 1903. He took the new name Pio, a modernized Italian form of “Pius,” in honor of Pope Saint Pius the fifth. He made his solemn vows four years later, and received priestly ordination in the summer of 1910. Shortly after, he first received the Stigmata – Christ's wounds, present in his own flesh. Against his own wishes, the friar's reputation for holiness, and attending miracles, began to attract huge crowds. Some Church officials, however, denounced the priest and had him banned from public ministry in 1931. Pope Pius XI ended the ban two years later, and his successor Pius XII encouraged pilgrimages to Padre Pio's friary. Known for patient suffering, fervent prayer, and compassionate spiritual guidance, Padre Pio also lent his efforts to the establishment of a major hospital, the “Home to Relieve Suffering.” Padre Pio died in 1968, and was declared a saint in 2002. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-pio-of-pietrelcina-603

Barry Schmidt is the Founder and Principal of Schmidt Construction Consulting, a project management and advisory firm helping investors, developers, landlords and tenants get better results on their building construction, renovation and fit out projects. Barry Schmidt is a former construction project manager with more than thirty years of experience in the New York City construction market. He has managed new construction projects and renovations valued from under $1 million to over $100 million, including the construction of the New York Public Library's Science, Industry and Business Library in the B. Altman Building and Scholastic Incorporated's corporate headquarters building in Soho. Mr. Schmidt holds an MBA in Management from New York University's Stern School of Business, and a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from the University at Stony Brook. For the past thirteen years Mr. Schmidt has operated his construction consulting firm, advising a variety of private and public sector clients including Ritz Carton on Central Park South, Carl Icahn Charter School, the US Federal Government and a number of small and large developers. https://www.linkedin.com/in/barry-schmidt-5797655/ The CRE SharkEye Show https://www.youtube.com/c/YishaiBreslauer The best 6 secrets of commercial real estate download free https://lnkd.in/dZkCUFR The CRE Crash Course - Everything you need in order to get the Must Have Skills for Commercial Real Estate, in only 2 weeks https://www.crelaunchpad.com/cre-crash-course

The family office managing the money of Alibaba execs Joe Tsai and Jack Ma recently purchased a condo at 220 Central Park South for around $190 million — a condo that last sold for $93 million. This extraordinary, almost 100 percent return shows how its becoming difficult to use comps as a way to compare luxury home sales across certain markets in the U.S. You'll hear from Hiten Samtani, The Real Deal's associate publisher, and Jonathan Miller, who runs an appraisal firm called Miller Samuel.

Subscribe to all Benzinga Podcasts at https://www.benzinga.com/podcastsWelcome to Money Mitch Stocks Watchlist - Winner Picks Under 5 minsMoney Mitch Tip Of The Day: If the market sentiment feels too bearish, wait to get confirmation on a good bullish day before dipping your toes.Markets In 5 Minutes - Subscribe to the FREE Benzinga Newsletter to receive daily market insights and news at https://www.benzinga.com/Pre-Market Gainers & Losers to Watch SolarWinds Corp (SWI)$10.21-39.70%Ardelyx Inc (ARDX)$2.10-72.27%GTY Technology Holdings Inc (GTYH)$7.99+16.80%NeuroBo Pharmaceuticals Inc (NRBO)$3.73+32.30%CommoditiesOIL66.67+0.18+0.27% GOLD1,817.80+9.00+0.49% SILVER25.19+0.04+0.18% Trending LinksEXCLUSIVE: Quantum Computing's CEO On Why Nasdaq Listing Matters: BenzingaQuantum Computing Inc, a pure-play quantum software company, announced its uplisting on the Nasdaq exchange last week.In light of the development, Benzinga caught up with QCI CEO Robert Liscouski.Alibaba Co-Founder The Mystery Buyer Of The 3rd Most Expensive Home Ever Sold In US: Report: BenzingaAlibaba Group Holding Ltd co-founder and billionaire Joe Tsai is the mystery buyer who closed a $157 million deal in Manhattan's most prestigious condo tower, CNBC reported Monday, citing sources.Tsai has bought two full-floor condo apartments at 220 Central Park South in what's believed to be the third most expensive home ever sold in the United States.Episode SummaryUse the trading tool Money Mitch uses to invest. Check out this link to Benzinga Pro to start to get 2 weeks FREE at pro.benzinga.comSectors and stocks on our radar today:$SPY $QQQHealthcare & Biotech looking to come back$INOKeep an eye on consumer cyclicals, grocery stores, consumer defensive stocksFollow us on Twitter Money Mitch @STORYInvestorsJoin us at Money Mitch 4:00 PM ET on BenzingaCheck out SPACs Attack 11:00 AM ET Weekdays on BenzingaListen To Other Episodes at Money Mitch Watchlist PodcastDisclaimer: All of the information, material, and content contained in this program is for informational purposes only.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/money-mitch-watchlist/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In late 2019, the real estate firm Knight Frank published a list of the most expensive streets in the world, i.e. the individual neighborhoods with outrageously pricey real estate. The top 10 list included four streets in New York City (57th Street, Central Park South, Fifth Avenue, and Park Avenue), three in Hong Kong, two in London, and one each in Los Angeles and Palm Beach. But global real estate changed immeasurably the following year in 2020. Places like Manhattan have seen a population exodus after 18 months of idiotic pandemic rules, rising taxes, and destructive woke policies, while other cities and neighborhoods have seen a surge in demand. So that top 10 list is certainly going to change. One of the places that may very well make an updated list of most expensive streets in the world is an upscale neighborhood in... Puerto Rico. We talked about this several times in the past-- Puerto Rico has some of the most attractive tax incentives in the world. People of just about every nationality can benefit for Puerto Rico's tax incentives. But they're especially attractive to US citizens. With the direction that the US is headed-- Marxist politicians, higher income taxes, higher estate taxes, wealth taxes, etc.-- a lot of people have become fed up and are leaving the US to take advantage of Puerto Rico's tax incentives. But this has created a major supply and demand imbalance in real estate; in the most popular expat neighborhoods, property prices have skyrocketed. And there are a few pockets of the Puerto Rican real estate market that have seen prices quadruple in the past year and are now as expensive as MONACO. Puerto Rico is not alone, of course. There are cities and neighborhoods all over the world that have seen major price increases. COVID-related migration is definitely a factor. But another key driver of higher real estate prices is central bank policy. As we discussed a few weeks ago on our podcast, the Federal Reserve in the United States has not only kept mortgage rates at record low levels, but they have printed hundreds of billions of dollars in the last few months alone to ‘support' the US housing market. This seems completely bizarre: the median US home price has never been more expensive. Most local real estate markets are booming. Why do these people think the housing market needs their support?? Viktorija and I devoted today's episode of the Sovereign Man's Freedom Podcast to housing; it's a topic that affects just about everyone, everywhere in the world, whether you're renting an apartment in Toronto, buying a house in Austin, selling a flat in London, or investing in a REIT in Sydney. We talk about some reasons WHY property prices have risen so much, and some key metrics to monitor to get a sense of where prices are going in the future. You can watch it here (on YouTube) or here (on SovereignMan.tv). Or download and listen to our podcast here:

In late 2019, the real estate firm Knight Frank published a list of the most expensive streets in the world, i.e. the individual neighborhoods with outrageously pricey real estate. The top 10 list included four streets in New York City (57th Street, Central Park South, Fifth Avenue, and Park Avenue), three in Hong Kong, two in London, and one each in Los Angeles and Palm Beach. But global real estate changed immeasurably the following year in 2020. Places like Manhattan have seen a population exodus after 18 months of idiotic pandemic rules, rising taxes, and destructive woke policies, while other cities and neighborhoods have seen a surge in demand. So that top 10 list is certainly going to change. One of the places that may very well make an updated list of most expensive streets in the world is an upscale neighborhood in... Puerto Rico. We talked about this several times in the past-- Puerto Rico has some of the most attractive tax incentives in the world. People of just about every nationality can benefit for Puerto Rico's tax incentives. But they're especially attractive to US citizens. With the direction that the US is headed-- Marxist politicians, higher income taxes, higher estate taxes, wealth taxes, etc.-- a lot of people have become fed up and are leaving the US to take advantage of Puerto Rico's tax incentives. But this has created a major supply and demand imbalance in real estate; in the most popular expat neighborhoods, property prices have skyrocketed. And there are a few pockets of the Puerto Rican real estate market that have seen prices quadruple in the past year and are now as expensive as MONACO. Puerto Rico is not alone, of course. There are cities and neighborhoods all over the world that have seen major price increases. COVID-related migration is definitely a factor. But another key driver of higher real estate prices is central bank policy. As we discussed a few weeks ago on our podcast, the Federal Reserve in the United States has not only kept mortgage rates at record low levels, but they have printed hundreds of billions of dollars in the last few months alone to ‘support' the US housing market. This seems completely bizarre: the median US home price has never been more expensive. Most local real estate markets are booming. Why do these people think the housing market needs their support?? Viktorija and I devoted today's episode of the Sovereign Man Freedom Podcast to housing; it's a topic that affects just about everyone, everywhere in the world, whether you're renting an apartment in Toronto, buying a house in Austin, selling a flat in London, or investing in a REIT in Sydney. We talk about some reasons WHY property prices have risen so much, and some key metrics to monitor to get a sense of where prices are going in the future. You can watch it here (on YouTube) or here (on SovereignMan.tv). Or download and listen to our podcast here:

In late 2019, the real estate firm Knight Frank published a list of the most expensive streets in the world, i.e. the individual neighborhoods with outrageously pricey real estate. The top 10 list included four streets in New York City (57th Street, Central Park South, Fifth Avenue, and Park Avenue), three in Hong Kong, two in London, and one each in Los Angeles and Palm Beach. But global real estate changed immeasurably the following year in 2020. Places like Manhattan have seen a population exodus after 18 months of idiotic pandemic rules, rising taxes, and destructive woke policies, while other cities and neighborhoods have seen a surge in demand. So that top 10 list is certainly going to change. One of the places that may very well make an updated list of most expensive streets in the world is an upscale neighborhood in... Puerto Rico. We talked about this several times in the past-- Puerto Rico has some of the most attractive tax incentives in the world. People of just about every nationality can benefit for Puerto Rico's tax incentives. But they're especially attractive to US citizens. With the direction that the US is headed-- Marxist politicians, higher income taxes, higher estate taxes, wealth taxes, etc.-- a lot of people have become fed up and are leaving the US to take advantage of Puerto Rico's tax incentives. But this has created a major supply and demand imbalance in real estate; in the most popular expat neighborhoods, property prices have skyrocketed. And there are a few pockets of the Puerto Rican real estate market that have seen prices quadruple in the past year and are now as expensive as MONACO. Puerto Rico is not alone, of course. There are cities and neighborhoods all over the world that have seen major price increases. COVID-related migration is definitely a factor. But another key driver of higher real estate prices is central bank policy. As we discussed a few weeks ago on our podcast, the Federal Reserve in the United States has not only kept mortgage rates at record low levels, but they have printed hundreds of billions of dollars in the last few months alone to ‘support' the US housing market. This seems completely bizarre: the median US home price has never been more expensive. Most local real estate markets are booming. Why do these people think the housing market needs their support?? Viktorija and I devoted today's episode of the Sovereign Man Freedom Podcast to housing; it's a topic that affects just about everyone, everywhere in the world, whether you're renting an apartment in Toronto, buying a house in Austin, selling a flat in London, or investing in a REIT in Sydney. We talk about some reasons WHY property prices have risen so much, and some key metrics to monitor to get a sense of where prices are going in the future. You can watch it here (on YouTube) or here (on SovereignMan.tv). Or download and listen to our podcast here:

Andrea and I met in one of my favorite cities in all the world...New York City. We were in the city documenting an event for a financial services hotel and she was speaking at a WIPA meeting at the legendary JW Marriott Essex House hotel on Central Park South. I was impressed by her presentation, professionalism and you know what they say, if you can make it in NYC you can make it anywhere. Fast forward just over a year and we are both providing inspiration, motivation and education to our fellow members of the events and hospitality industry as they suffer through the challenging times forced upon us by the pandemic. It only made sense that we chat about her experience, perspective, and business secrets that helped her go from stressed to successful to scalable. Your helpful take-aways from this week's episode include: - The balance between mindfulness and systems and structures in a successful and scalable business. - Andrea's secrets for when it is hard to find harmony amongst the insanity! She is even going to share her H.O.S.T concept with you. - Andrea shares the one common pitfall many if not most entrepreneurs struggle with as they run their businesses. Be sure to visit http://www.Peoplefistthenprofit.com for a ton of great content, free resources and links to the People First Then Profit Community Resources: Website: https://www.andreafreemanconsulting.com/ FB Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/uplevelcollective

Andrea and I met in one of my favorite cities in all the world...New York City. We were in the city documenting an event for a financial services hotel and she was speaking at a WIPA meeting at the legendary JW Marriott Essex House hotel on Central Park South. I was impressed by her presentation, professionalism and you know what they say, if you can make it in NYC you can make it anywhere. Fast forward just over a year and we are both providing inspiration, motivation and education to our fellow members of the events and hospitality industry as they suffer through the challenging times forced upon us by the pandemic. It only made sense that we chat about her experience, perspective, and business secrets that helped her go from stressed to successful to scalable. Your helpful take-aways from this week's episode include: - The balance between mindfulness and systems and structures in a successful and scalable business. - Andrea's secrets for when it is hard to find harmony amongst the insanity! She is even going to share her H.O.S.T concept with you. - Andrea shares the one common pitfall many if not most entrepreneurs struggle with as they run their businesses. Be sure to visit http://www.Peoplefistthenprofit.com for a ton of great content, free resources and links to the People First Then Profit Community Resources: Website: https://www.andreafreemanconsulting.com/ FB Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/uplevelcollective

Holden, very drunk and with wet hair, leaves the bar and walks to Central Park South to see if the ducks are there. He drops the record he wants to give to Phoebe, and it breaks. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/karla3507/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/karla3507/support

Central Park South and 57th St. between 5th and 8th Avenues, also known as Billionaire's Row On this week's show we will explore two New York streets, or more to the point, 3-block sections of two New York Streets: Central Park South and 57th Street between 5th and 8th Avenues, which is also known these days as Billionaire’s Row. My guest will be Rediscovering New York regular and the show’s Special Consultant, David Griffin of Landmark Branding. Segment 1 Jeff introduces his first guest David Griffin, founder, and CEO of Landmark Branding. David begins about his upbringing in Port Jefferson and how he got interested in NYC and architecture. David’s interest in architecture comes from his mother, who was adamant about taking him to museums when he was younger. Jeff asks David when and how Central Park South and the surrounding neighborhood got its name. CPS became prominent because of all the upscale hotels and restaurants built around it, many of which remain today. Segment 2 David and Jeff begin talking about the Essex hotel and its history. It is one of the largest Art Deco hotels in the world. They mention the New York Athletics Club, which is one of the most famous gymnasiums in the world. Members of the club would win over one hundred Olympic medals since its opening in 1868. Segment 3 David and Jeff talk about the historic Crown Building, which has very iconic French architecture. It has been a host to some of the most famous art galleries and parties in New York. The building was secretly purchased by the Phillipean government president, which leads to many lawsuits over its ownership during the 1980s. Jeff brings up the Osborne building, which has a unique architecture compared to the other buildings in the neighborhood. Segment 4 David begins talking about Carnegie Hall and its history. The architecture is very diverse, and the venue has hosted some of the most excellent classical musicians of all time. The music played there varied from jazz to pop. Jeff brings up the Rodan Studio, which is a building that has housed some of the most famous artists in the city.

For years we've been told the filming location for Lois Lane's iconic penthouse apartment in Superman and Superman II was located at 240 Central Park South. Todd Phillips knew something wasn't right. In Episode 31, Jay Towers & Jim Bowers get the real story on that famous location. The inside scoop! Plus how to find that tree Frisky was stuck in, and some new updates on some of your favorite Superman filming locations. We also learn the very special connection between Todd and Christopher and Dana Reeve. We're headed back to New York City to make some Metropolis Discoveries on the Caped Wonder Superman Podcast.

Mike's interview with his old friend DJ Eldon. Recorded in Eldon's home in Albuquerque, NM on October 19, 2020. Topics discussed include: Meeting each other during the early 90s rave scene, born in 1959 in Albuquerque, growing up in a large Hispanic family, graduated top of his class at Del Norte, radio program at the University of Albuquerque, soul/r&b music, late night radio jumps, Neil Murray, Priests from the East, KUNM, FCC license, Eldonose Grier, on-air persona, Wolfman Jack, music director at KRZY, weekend on-air spot from midnight to 6am, meeting country music stars, The Caravan East, Willy Nelson, stagehand work, Waylon Jennings, University of New Mexico, Black radio, sending demo tapes, reel to reel editing, Frankie Crocker, seizing opportunities, moving to New York City, 220 Central Park South, Camp Rising Sun, Jeffrey Troy, Larry Levan at Paradise Garage (late 1970s), Richard Long sound system, good sound, David Mancuso at The Loft, creative mixing, Broadway dancers, locker rooms, baby powder, Body and Soul, Danny Tenaglia, Jim Burgess, playing in key and on beat, Jeno, Garth, Angel Marais, seamless mixing, personal vs. fan satisfaction, Marriott, cafe owner, long sets, London 1990, Beyond Ordinary, Toc and Nona, Industrial music, warehouse raves, resurgence of rave samples, housemusic.com, wallstreet.com, deep house, tea dance, rave inclusivity, tribal connections, outdoor raves, 9-11, musician producers, pandemic creativity, Jean Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, selling mixtapes, Mary Boone Gallery, subway noise, heartbreak, Andy Warhol, Studio 54, flash cubes, Crash, Francisco Clemente, subway graffiti, early Albuquerque graffiti, rave fliers, Mark Farina, DJ line-ups, dawn sets, 4am, hiring an architect, Tadao Ando, Tom Ford’s house, Frank Lloyd Wright, SAMO, Doze Green, the AIDS crisis, Area, the day job and producing raves.

From New York, the greatest city in the world, it's The Update with Brandon Julien! Today's road stop takes us to the southern end of Central Park at Manhattan's Grand Army Plaza along Central Park South. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/brandon-julien/support

Community advocate and President of New York’s-Central Park South Civic Association, Michael Fischer, is available to discuss the crisis-level homeless epidemic. The highest number since America’s Great Depression.

LISTEN LIVE - Monday-Friday 9-10:00 PM ET HERE: http://www.hagmannreportlive.comhttps://www.KeithHansonShow.comHelp us fight censorship by accessing our show on our own site.Keith Hanson Show Website: http://www.KeithHansonShow.comKeith Hanson Show Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KeithOnTheAirFollow Keith Hanson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealKeithHansonFollow Keith Hanson on Parler: https://parler.com/profile/RealKeithHanson

Ryan and Richard are joined by a very special guest:Ryan Sherman, co-founder of Century 21 MetropolitanRyan's Bio:As of 2020, Ryan has “personally” sold over $585,000,000+ in Manhattan/NYC Real Estate, SIX (6) transactions at 15 CPW, Two (2) at 432 P... Ryan and Richard are joined by a very special guest:Ryan Sherman, co-founder of Century 21 MetropolitanRyan's Bio:As of 2020, Ryan has “personally” sold over $585,000,000+ in Manhattan/NYC Real Estate, SIX (6) transactions at 15 CPW, Two (2) at 432 Park Ave., One (1) at 220 Central Park South and 100's of others throughout the city. The company he has co-founded has sold and rented over 1 billion in company sales / rentals with over two decades of experience. In 2014 our company became Century 21 Metropolitan. We are part of the largest Real Estate company in the world and leveraging our global presence to drive business to and from NY. We have over 2400 offices in Asia alone and 133,000 agents worldwide and 11,000 offices in 84 countries. Is your Real Estate firm global? Ryan Sherman’s entrepreneurial spirit is the driving force behind Century 21 Metropolitan. A truly creative business professional with an innovative view of Manhattan real estate, Ryan has over 25 years of highly successful Real Estate experience. As a founder of Metropolitan Residential Partners (now Century 21 Metropolitan) it was his intention to revolutionize the industry service standard. After experiencing firsthand the processes of Manhattan’s top real estate companies he felt that a smaller, boutique firm with personalized service could command the interest of the general public. Strategically he has woven this vision into the fabric of a new kind of real estate practice – focused very specifically on the family, on expectations that go well beyond square footage, on service that is extraordinarily responsive, and on marketing that is uniquely positioned. At his direction, the agents of C21 Metropolitan and C21 Commercial Metropolitan, New Harlem Realty and Century 21 Metropolitan Property Management provide their clients with the best possible buying or selling experience and attention to every detail. His brokerage agents are always accessible – via mobile phone, wireless email, voice and fax. Topics discussed:How Ryan's business and the real estate industry is adapting to the current pandemic.Working from home is the new norm and people didn't expect to enjoy it.Understanding the commission structure for real estate agents in NYC.Jeff Bezos' $80 million apartment in NYC: https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-buys-manhattan-penthouse-apartment-80-million-2019-6Ken Griffin's $238 million property: https://therealdeal.com/2019/01/23/ken-griffin-pays-238m-for-220-cps-penthouse-setting-record-for-priciest-us-home/How does the Covid-19 pandemic affect real estate value.What Ryan is telling his employees and his optimism even in this difficult time. Exciting projects for Century 21 Metropolitan including new website and social media strategy. A new technology-focused approach to real estate including a more aggressive commission structure to grow their business.Century 21 Metropolitan: https://www.c21metropolitan.com/Ryan's profile: https://www.century21.com/real-estate-agent/profile/ryan-sherman-P25366461Ryan's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/212centuryryans/Ryan's Instagram: @ryansherman_c21Under the Circumstances Instagram:

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Community advocate and President of New York’s-Central Park South Civic Association, Michael Fischer, is available to discuss the crisis-level homeless epidemic. The highest number since America’s Great Depression

In this off-season ep we cover the death of Mary Higgins Clark, the American Dirt scandal gripping publishing (and Oprah!), and the death of a giant literary butthole. Because the universe is full of whimsy, there’s an Irish angle to all of these stories. Books mentioned: Mary Higgins Clark, Mount Vernon Love Story; Jeanine Cummins, American Dirt; Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street; Sonia Nazario, Enrique's Journey; Óscar Martínez, The Beast; Tara Westover, Educated; Tina Brown, The Diana Chronicles; Jason Matthews, Red Sparrow; Barbara Pym, Crampton Hodnet; Jia Tolentino, Trick Mirror; Anne Leckie, Ancillary Justice. Sources/Further Reading: Mary Higgins Clark MHC obit, NYT.  MHC on Central Park South. MHC on Irish Storytelling. American Dirt NYT Review Slate Explainer Vulture Explainer Vox Explainer NYT Op-Ed: "Proof That the Publishing Industry is Broken" CNN Op-Ed: “What the American Dirt Author and I Have in Common” Alisa Valdes Rodriguez on Sandra Cisneros Who Gave You the Right to Tell that Story?  Eva Longoria Response Nail Art Centerpieces Stephen Joyce obit, NYT.  

FOR EPISODE 1 go to Patreon.com/notreally   The guys are joined by Chapo Trap House's Amber A'Lee Frost and legendary drag superstar The Lady Bunny! Listen as they hole up in a luxury hotel suite on Central Park South to discuss American political corruption, Pamela Anderson, the dems' conspiracy against Bernie Sanders, political awakenings, social media, surviving the AIDS crisis, Fox News afterparties, Wigstock, old drag versus new drag, and Bunny's decades-long career serving as the unofficial face (and wig) of New York City while sticking to the seditious underground ethos that drew her to the drag scene to begin with.  Check out The Lady Bunny in the HBO documentary Wig, and for more of Amber, support Chapo Trap House at http://www.patreon.com/chapotraphouse! Special thanks to Anna & Dasha for making this happen!

Community advocate and President of New York’s-Central Park South Civic Association, Michael Fischer, is available to discuss the crisis-level homeless epidemic, that has eclipsed 61,000 New Yorkers homeless – the highest number since America’s Great Depression

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In this episode the topic of discussion is getting you and your house ready for sale. Selling a home could be a long arduous process that has many different moving parts to it. For most people, this experience could be extremely overwhelming! Sellers need to think about which broker they're going to choose, which lawyer they want to represent them, where they're going to go next, and on top of all that... they've got to get their house ready! We're here to help clear the subject up a little and provide some insight into how to get it all done in a painless, quick manner. We also discuss current events, including a transaction that happened last week in Manhattan... The most expensive residential real estate transaction in the history of America - purchased by Ken Griffin, a hedge fund billionaire, for $238,000,000 at 220 Central Park South. We hope you enjoy the podcast! The Pesce & Lanzillotta Team, at Douglas Elliman

Today: The latest news, this week in history, upcoming events, and our concert calendar. Visit agreatbigcity.com/support to learn how to support New York City local news and allow us to keep bringing you this podcast. If you are a New York-based business and would be interested in sponsoring our podcasts, visit agreatbigcity.com/advertising to learn more. Test Ride a Lime Scooter 14 years ago on January 23, 2005 — The FDNY suffers "Black Sunday" when three firefighters are killed are four are injured in two separate fires. It was the deadliest day for the FDNY since the September 11th attacks. In the Bronx, at 236 East 178th Street at Grand Concourse, an early-morning three-alarm fire erupted in a building containing illegally-converted apartments. The frigid temperatures caused difficulties with frozen hydrants and firehoses. When the fire flashed through an apartment door, firefighters had no escape and jumped from the building. Firefighters Curtis Meyran and John Bellew were killed by the fall, with four others severely injured. The firefighters' deaths renewed interest in a safety device that is designed for those exact evacuation procedures but had been discontinued by the FDNY in 2000, but was still carried by one of the firefighters that survived the jump. Over the next year, the safety ropes were tested and issued to every firefighter. Later that day, temperatures became too high as a group of firefighters were investigating a basement fire on Jerome Street in East New York, and Richard T. Sclafani was killed in the blaze. Candles, holiday decorations, and electric heaters cause an increase in home fires during the winter, and the FDNY asks that all residents take precautions and inspect fireplaces, smoke alarms, and decorations for any potential hazards. Bombardier subway cars delivered with manufacturing defects — MTA will stop taking orders of Bombardier subway cars until manufacturing defects are solved MTA installing key-start ignitions on buses following string of thefts Alexander Graham Bell places the first transcontinental long-distance telephone call from New York to San Francisco. In Episode 1, the most expensive real estate sale of the week being the 95th floor apartment at 432 Park Avenue for $41.25 million, but this week's top sale broke an entirely new record. Hedge fund manager Ken Griffin bought the penthouse at 220 Central Park South for $238 million, setting a record for the highest price paid for a home not just in New York, but in the entire country. Survey Says: Bring on the Marijuana, But None For Me, Thanks Flights Delayed at LaGuardia Over Staffing Issues — Friday, January 25 A Great Big City has been running a 24-hour newsfeed since 2011, but the AGBC News podcast is just getting started, and we need your support. A Great Big City is built on a dedication to explaining what is happening and how it fits into the larger history of New York, which means thoroughly researching every topic and avoiding clickbait headlines to provide a straightforward, honest, and factual explanation of the news. Individuals can make a monthly or one-time contribution at agreatbigcity.com/support and local businesses can have a lasting impact by supporting local news while promoting products or services directly to interested customers listening to this podcast. Visit agreatbigcity.com/advertising to learn more. With your support, you can guarantee that A Great Big City will be here to tell future generations about manufacturing defects in the next next generation of subway cars. Park of the day Church Triangle Winter Tree ID Concert Calendar This is the AGBC Concert Calendar for the weekend beginning of Friday, January 25 Les Savy Fav and Patio are playing Elsewhere in Bushwick on Saturday, January 26th at 7pm. Rubblebucket and Diet Cig are playing Brooklyn Steel in Greenpoint on Saturday, January 26th at 8pm. Cindy Cane, Material Girls, ZZZwalk, and Kissing is a Crime are playing Baby's All Right in Williamsburg on Sunday, January 27th at 8pm. Bring Me the Horizon, The Fever 333, and Thrice are playing the Hammerstein Ballroom in Midtown on Tuesday, January 29th starting at 7pm. Infected Mushroom is playing the Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg on Wednesday, January 30th at 8pm. Thanks for listening! Find more fun things to do at agreatbigcity.com/events. Precycle bulk food store The historic extreme temperatures for the week were -2°F on January 28, 1925 and 72°F on January 26, 1950 Thanks for listening to A Great Big City. Follow along 24 hours a day on social media @agreatbigcity or email contact@agreatbigcity.com with any news, feedback, or topic suggestions. If you enjoy the show, subscribe and leave a review wherever you're listening and visit agreatbigcity.com/podcast to see show notes and extra links for each episode. Intro and outro music: "Start the Day" by Lee Rosevere

Benny Green og hljómsveit flytja lögin Sexy Mexy, My Girl Bill, Central Park South, Apricot og Thursday's Lullaby. Kenny Barron og hljómsveit leika lögin Here's That Rainy Day, Blue Monk, In The Meantime, Two Areas og Peruvan Blue. Kvartett Dave Douglas og Frank Woeste flytur lögin Emergent, Spork, Transparent, Mains Libres og Montparnasse.

Foossa’s David Colby Reed talks with New York City Council Member Keith Powers about civic engagement, housing, and criminal justice reform, including the planned closing of the Rikers Island jail complex. Council Member Keith Powers represents New York City’s 4th District, which includes the Manhattan neighborhoods of the Upper East Side, Central Park South, Grand Central Terminal, Tudor City, Waterside, Peter Cooper Village, Carnegie Hill, Stuyvesant Town, the United Nations as well as part of Yorkville and Turtle Bay. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/foossa/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/foossa/support

Ragini Singla graduated from Temple Dental School in 2009 and completed a general practice residency at Sacred Heart Hospital in 2010.  She owns FlossNYC, a boutique dental practice on Central Park South in Manhattan. She always knew she wanted to own her own dental practice, but found that the road to ownership wasn’t easy. She and her husband, Moki Goyal, started FlossNYC Practice Blueprint to break down the convoluted process for other aspiring owners.   Moki Goyal has over 20 years of experience in the tech space. He started his career in consulting, helping Fortune 500 companies implement enterprise software. He has extensive entrepreneurial experience building businesses utilizing web and video production in online education. Currently he is VP of Product Development at Edulence, hosting the online training for companies such as Lincoln Financial, AARP, and Merrill Lynch.  He is also Chief of Operations of FlossNYC and Practice Blueprint.   www.flossnycpracticeblueprint.com

Critically acclaimed author Patty Farmer and celebrated nightclub star Barbara Van Orden join Sterling and Stroili to discuss Farmer’s new book The Persian Room Presents (Vantage Press), a collaborative memoir of the (once) most elegant nightclub in New York City. Housed between 1934 – 1975 at the legendary Plaza Hotel at 5th Avenue and Central Park South, The Persian Room comes back to life in Farmer’s book through personal stories from such stars as Lainie Kazan, Jack Jones, Michele Lee, Carol Lawrence, Andy Williams, Julie Wilson, Tony Butala and many others ... including Ms. Van Orden. The Live Arts Calendar highlights Hello My Baby, a new musical conceived and written by Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner and Tony Nominee Cheri Steinkellner, presented by the Rubicon Theatre Company at The Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, CA. Ms. Van Orden shares an unusual moment from her performing career. Sponsored by Breakdown Services (http://www.breakdownexpress.com/)

The unstable economy is not just hurting workers, but their families as well -- including their pets. Unlike our suburban neighbors, who may surrender their pets to shelters or abandon them if they lose their house in foreclosure, some city dwellers are giving up their pets because they lost their high-paying jobs and the only affordable place is a "no pets" building. Jenn Bristol, head of Animal Haven SoHo, a combination adoption center and pet boutique, is finding more and more people surrendering their beloved pets after the Wall Street crash. Thankfully, even with the economy in the tank, some fundraising for pets (and people) remains strong. Come with us to Central Park South to the Jumeriah Essex House as we attend "Celebrity Dogs Unleashed", a fundraiser as unique as it is fancy. Famous people, from Robert Kennedy Jr., Menudo, and Rachel Ray (and everyone in-between!) were given the task of painting fiberglass Labrador Retriever models that best reflected their personalities with surprising results. More details on this episode MP3 Podcast -Homeless Pets Up, Stock Market Down & Celebrity Dogs Unleashed! with Diane West

This season of Southern Charm is truly a Thanksgiving gift - so how better to accompany some gluten free vegan paleo stuffing (....), or cookin dat turkey, or watching the balloons meander down Central Park South, than with this deep dive ep of TIP. Sarah is joined by her pal, a fellow member of Pillow Talk nation, Alison Leiby (writer, comedian, and co-host of the podcast Ruined). They deep dive their unbridled obsession with Craig Conover's emotional, professional, and boyfriend-al growth (and how to weigh that against his, ya know, other stuff), Shep's journey as an emotional maturity Benjamin Button, Olivia and Taylor's flawed friendship foundation, and the joys of watching Austen under the heat of that baked Alaska (and Craig's investigative journalism about New York). Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate! Thankful for AGs (and TIPers, which is not yet a thing).Support the sass: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/damegalliJOIN/LEVEL UP TO THE ANDY'S GIRLS PATREON, AND ENJOY BONUS EPS, INVITES TO SPECIAL ZOOM EVENTS, AND MORE: https://www.patreon.com/AndysGirlsFollow Sarah on social: https://www.instagram.com/damegalli/Highlighted Organizations Supporting Civilians in Israel and Gaza:Israel Trauma Coalition: The Israel Trauma Coalition provides a holistic-collaborative approach that includes knowledge, tools and resources for optimal emergency preparedness, professional support, focused on the rapid recovery of the individual, community and strengthening national resilience. https://israeltraumacoalition.org/en/Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF): PCRF is the primary humanitarian organization in Palestine, delivering crucial and life-saving medical relief and humanitarian aid where it is needed most. Access to essential resources like food, clean water, and healthcare is severely limited. Urgent action is needed. With your support, we can continue this vital work, ensuring that the over one million children of Gaza receive the urgent care they need and deserve. https://www.pcrf.net/Read "Jews Don't Count" by David Baddiel: https://www.amazon.com/Jews-Dont-Count-David-Baddiel/dp/000853019X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=318585KUJHCEG&keywords=jews+don%27t+count&qid=1697147929&sprefix=jews+dont+count%2Caps%2C105&sr=8-1Read "A Left That Refuses to Condemn Mass Murder is Doomed" by Eric Levitz/New York Magazine: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/10/a-left-that-refuses-to-condemn-mass-murder-is-doomed.htmlOur Sponsors:* Check out Bearaby: http://www.bearaby.com* Check out Drizly: https://drizly.com* Check out HelloFresh: https://www.hellofresh.com* Check out Uncommon Goods and use my code ANDYSGIRLS for a great deal: www.uncommongoods.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy