Podcasts about cokes

What would you do if a ghost left you a smoke detector as a warning? In this unforgettable tale from 1970s North Carolina, a young man moves into a quiet trailer—unaware that a woman had once ended her life on that very same ground. It starts with flickering lights and odd sounds… then escalates to footsteps, missing Cokes, and a midnight encounter with a ghostly woman in a green dress. Friendly or not, she made sure her presence was known. This is a haunting you won't forget—especially if you're listening alone… at night. If you have a real ghost story or supernatural event to report, please write into our show at http://www.realghoststoriesonline.com/ or call 1-855-853-4802! Want AD-FREE & ADVANCE RELEASE EPISODES? Become a Premium Subscriber Through Apple Podcasts now!!! https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/real-ghost-stories-online/id880791662?mt=2&uo=4&ls=1 Or Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/realghoststories Or Our Website: http://www.ghostpodcast.com/?page_id=118 

The McGraw Show 7-18-25: Colbert, Mexican Cokes, Busch Shooting Range & Wood Paneling by

In this very special video episode of Nymphet Alumni, we convene in Hell's Kitchen to perform our first-ever mukbang. Filmed the evening after our tiki-themed Substack launch party, we attempt to recover with 30 Chick-fil-A nuggets, two Cokes, two large fries, one chicken sandwich, and six Crumbl cookies. Along the way, we unpack the economics of fast food franchising, explore the theological divide between Protestant and Mormon desserts, debate the integrity of Chick-fil-A's pickle batter and more. Bon appétit! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nymphetalumni.com/subscribe

Tony Cokes, a professor of modern culture and media at Brown University, is transforming the moving image to shine new light on some of history's darkest moments. By using text, music, found footage, journalistic writing and more, Cokes recontextualizes traumatic moments in American history and creates video-based artwork.  He is one of three local MacArthur “Genius” grant awardees, and the final installment of our annual series, “The Genius Next Door.”

Number stations, what are they? Listening to some recordings.Austin Metcalf, Sumo doesn't like Texas, curated reality, faux outrage.Psy-ops always have tells.Using twins is the perfect way to fake things.Even if it's fake, it's real.Sumo's adventures with a real-life black man, and stickers.Being mad is easier than being happy.The system is not in control, you are.Rule #1: They always have to tell you. The devil can never lie, one-eye symbolism.How money works.Rule #2: Everything is a contract.More Linkswww.MAPSOC.orgFollow Sumo on TwitterAlternate Current RadioSupport the Show!Subscribe to the Podcast on GumroadSubscribe to the Podcast on PatreonBuy Us a Tibetan Herbal TeaSumo's SubstacksHoly is He Who WrestlesModern Pulp

ALOHA KALLE, heute mit einem besonderen Highlight: Conrad (Coke), der „Mann der ersten Stunde“, ist wieder zu Gast! Und dieses Mal wird es richtig persönlich und intensiv, denn Kalle teilt die Geschichte seiner gesundheitlichen Rückschläge der letzten Monate. Coke möchte wissen: Warum läuft Kalles Training seit Monaten so schleppend? Was war da los? Kalle gibt einen ehrlichen Einblick in seine gesundheitlichen Herausforderungen und beschreibt, wie er plötzlich mit einem Herzproblem zu kämpfen hatte. Es war, als würde er ständig fünf Ironmans gleichzeitig laufen, obwohl er nur im Bett lag. Doch die gute Nachricht: Kalle ist mittlerweile wieder fit und bereit, in zwei Wochen voll in seine Saison zu starten! Nach vielen Monaten der Unsicherheit ist er nun wieder auf dem Weg zurück – körperlich und mental. Und er erklärt, warum regelmäßige Puls-Messung so wichtig ist, um solche Probleme frühzeitig zu erkennen. Aber auch Coke kommt nicht zu kurz: Er spricht über seine Vorbereitung auf die Saison, seine Ziele und wie es ihm körperlich geht – alles läuft top, und er ist voller Zuversicht, was die kommenden Herausforderungen angeht. Die beiden Gründer des ALOHA KALLE Podcasts genießen den offenen Austausch. Wir hoffen, ihr seid genauso gespannt auf diese ehrliche und inspirierende Folge. Hört rein – es wird persönlich, authentisch und motivierend! #AlohaKallePodcast #Herzrasen #KallesComeback #Saisonvorbereitung #GesundheitImFokus #TrainingUndFitness #Bestform #FitnessReise #GesundheitUndSport #PulsMessung #FitZurSaison #KampfGegenHerzrasen #CokesErfolg #IntensiveVorbereitung #Herzgesundheit #MentalUndKörperlichFit #ComebackStory #SportMotivation **Triathlon Coaching** https://personal-triathloncoach.com **Steady:** http://steadyhq.com/aloha-kalle **ALOHA KALLE Strava-Club:** https://www.strava.com/clubs/aloha-kalle **ALOHA KALLE Instagram:** https://www.instagram.com/aloha_kalle/ **Marcus Herbst Instagram** https://www.instagram.com/marcus.herbst/ Conrad Kebelmann Instagram https://www.instagram.com/conrad.kebelmann/ **Website Die Sportmacher GmbH** https://www.diesportmacher.de/

SUMMARY: Jacob and Paul wear their LSU and Care Bears pride, respectively. Matt has a new schedule and location for shows in Arizona while his nieces follow the more notable Donnelly brother in athletic excellence. Also, LeBron is ready to throw down, goober Cokes, unusual parents, and a daddy/daughter date with a surprise ending. Plus Scoop Mail, Scoopardy, and Jacob says "spatchcock."

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 15th of March, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Old Testament, in the Book of Habakkuk 2:2:“Then the Lord answered me and said:“Write the visionAnd make it plain on tablets,That he may run who reads it.”Write the vision down - do you have a vision? You know what they say, “If you are aiming at nothing, you are sure to hit it!” We need a vision. We need a short-term vision, and we need a long-term vision. A short-term vision is to live day by day for Jesus, and the long-term vision is to reach that goal which you believe the Lord has called you to. Proverbs 29:18 says: “Where there is no vision, the people perish;…” The New King James Version says: “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint;…” What does that mean? It means if you have no vision, then you have nothing to get up for in the morning. If somebody phoned you and said, “I have heard that you have been selected to play for the national team", whether it be rugby or soccer or cricket, you are not going to be eating hamburgers and drinking Cokes. No, you are going to be up in the morning. You are going to be training and getting ready for the call. Many years ago, I used to get up in my pick-up, (yes, there is a a movie made of it, that's right. It is called Ordinary People), get up early in the morning, drive my pick-up into my maize fields and preach to the maize plants. That is no word of a lie. I had a vision. My vision was to be able to tell multitudes of people about the love of Christ, to tell them that Jesus loves them and has got a plan for them, and I would preach to those maize plants, and then a gentle wind would come and I would pray the prayer of commitment and all the maize plants would bow their heads! But you know, the beautiful thing about that in that movie was, those maize plants, slowly but surely formed into people, and of course we know about what has happened in the Mighty Men phenomenon around the world. Over 20 Mighty Men conferences this year, in places like France, New Zealand, Australia, Canada - all over the world. And I had a vision to preach to the multitudes. Well, it has happened!What is your vision today? Ask Jesus to give you a clear-cut vision. Aim for it and go for it, and He in His time will bring it to pass.Jesus bless you and have a lovely day,Goodbye.

Send us a textTo say that Joe Beatrice is seasoned would be doing the veteran spirits industrialist a disservice. His brand of blended beverages has always delivered drinkers with a diverse array of offerings sure to both please and surprise those who are not willing to limit themselves to their Jack & Cokes or Miller Lites. Should you be choose to accept the mission of adventure into exotic finishes and interstate blends, the options at your fingertips may present themselves as limitless. Does Joe find them as such? Perhaps, unless two podcasters criticize his methods and wonder if they could have been altered, meritless or otherwise. On today's episode of This is my Bourbon Podcast, Joe Beatrice is welcomed back to celebrate and elaborate on all things Barrell while giving us the chance to pick his brain on what makes barrels tick. We hope you enjoy, and thank you for supporting TIMBP.Become a patron of the show at http://www.patreon.com/mybourbonpodcastLeave us a 5 star rating and review on your podcast app of choice!Send us an email with questions or comments to thisismybourbonshop@gmail.comSend us mail to PO Box 22609, Lexington, KY 40522Check out all of our merch and apparel: http://bourbonshop.threadless.com/Leave us a message for Barrel Rings at 859.428.8253Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mybourbonpod/Twitter: https://twitter.com/mybourbonpodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mybourbonpod/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisismybourbonpodcastPayPal, if you feel so inclined: PayPal.me/pritter1492Link to our Barrell Rye Armagnac Finished Pick: https://shop.whiskeyinmyweddingring.com/products/barrell-private-release-rye-1a03Support the show

Sunday- 3-02-25 Pastor Scott Hanson

WATCH THE FULL EPISODE ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL HERE!Manaia Stewart joins ACC Head G Lane to digest what happens in a Wanaka Stag Do and what it would take for the lads to get to a protest on a Saturday (0:00)... Next, the fellas go over one of the greatest opening weekends of Super Rugby ever (9:50)! Then fear ensues as the Black Caps win the Tri-Series (19:00) before addressing the beef between USA and Canada during the fight fest on ice (27:10)! Finally, they get to your feedback in 'Yours Please' (30:30). Brought to you by Export Ultra! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AWP Episode 206 “If the grass is long, cut it!” Coke Wallace of Midnight Sun Safari's, Alaska's foremost horseback guide outfitters! Daniel Buitrago, Brandon Fifield & Chad Aurentz invite the man, the myth & the legend Coke Wallace in studio all the way from Healy AK to share his compelling story and history guiding horseback in the mighty Alaska Range. Cokes first wolf @ 8, the big move to AK, the shower house 26 pack in the Brooks Range, Israel Payton 84 inch bull, the archery bull that got away, put a trillion toward conservation, Primary cause of predatory Dall sheep mortality, Joe Juan & the 40's, Wilson the Ranch Dog, Coke's 30 years @ Sheep Show, Bob Degrosy from Idaho, The Frank Galato award, towards to tunnels foundation, 1.3 million to the cause, a love for the danish, river crossing in crocs, “real men don't shake it, they ring it” the wolverine suite, Eastern Sportsman Show, How'd he get the name Coke?, Daniels horse, Rudy from Alberta, getting split in half, struggles of raising horses in AK, Jim McCan, Same Day Don,   Visit our Website - www.alaskawildproject.com Follow us on Instagram - www.instagram.com/alaskawildproject Subscribe on YouTube - www.youtube.com/@alaskawildproject $upport the show on Patreon - www.patreon.com/alaskawildproject  

This week on Pivot The Path, we're thrilled to welcome our second guest to the podcast—James Nitties, a true journeyman of the game. A former PGA Tour player, two-time Australian PGA winner, and current Korn Ferry Tour broadcaster, James brings his signature Aussie flair to the conversation.Scott and James dive into all things golf, from his early days playing for meat pies, Cokes, and Mars bars with his mates to competing at the highest level on the PGA Tour. They also explore his thoughts on our mantra of helping golfers ‘Own Your SSWING.' Now, as a Korn Ferry Tour broadcaster, James channels that same passion into highlighting the next generation of elite golfers striving to reach the main stage.Tune in for a fun, insightful, and unfiltered look at the game through the eyes of a player-turned-broadcaster. Be sure to catch James on Korn Ferry!James Nitties with 9 birdies in a row!Follow our Social Media for all the best moments from the show:Pivot The Path Instagram - click here!SSWING YouTube - click here!SSWING Website - click here! SSWING Instagram - click here!Join the SSWING Newsletter - click here!Your Weekly Drive: The Friday Fix for Golf Movement & Mastery

Alright! You wanted the best, you got the best. The greatest rock n roll horror movies ever in a neat and organised list. It's Horror Rocks. I watched, rated and ordered 74 movies from 1971 to 2024 in order to attempt to figure out just what exactly could be the greatest of them all. Joining me on my journey are several guests, drinking several Jack and Cokes over a glorious 4 episodes full of ripping riffs, pummelling drums and voices so stretched they are at breaking point. This is Horror Rocks. It's a pretty long journey this one, part 4 of 4 in fact. I am going to give you the time codes below so if you don't want spoilers then, please, avert your eyes.You can now support A Year in Horror via the Patreon.Theme Music by Max Newton& Lucy Foster.Email the podcast at ayearinhorror@gmail.comDon't bother following the podcast on Facebook. But feel free to...Follow me on Twitter.Follow me on Instagram.Follow me on Letterboxd.Below are the timecodes for all the different segments and my guest links. Feel free to let me know where you think I got it wrong or right and of course stay safe out there & I'll see you next month.0.31 - The Devil's Candy (w/ Kelly McNeely)31.50 - Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey41.26 - The Worst 10 Horror Rocks Films51.00 - The Gate 57.42 - Lords of Chaos1.06.00 - Green Room1.14.01 - Outro

Alright! You wanted the best, you got the best. The greatest rock n roll horror movies ever in a neat and organised list. It's Horror Rocks. I watched, rated and ordered 74 movies from 1971 to 2024 in order to attempt to figure out just what exactly could be the greatest of them all. Joining me on my journey are several guests, drinking several Jack and Cokes over a glorious 4 episodes full of ripping riffs, pummelling drums and voices so stretched they are at breaking point. This is Horror Rocks. It's a pretty long journey this one, part 3 of 4 in fact. I am going to give you the time codes below so if you don't want spoilers then, please, avert your eyes.You can now support A Year in Horror via the Patreon.Theme Music by Max Newton& Lucy Foster.Email the podcast at ayearinhorror@gmail.comDon't bother following the podcast on Facebook. But feel free to...Follow me on Twitter.Follow me on Instagram.Follow me on Letterboxd.Below are the timecodes for all the different segments and my guest links. Feel free to let me know where you think I got it wrong or right and of course stay safe out there & I'll see you next month.0.31 - Also Rans (Part 4)09.47 - Hellbender (w/ The Adams Family)43.32 - The Driller Killer48.57 - Also Rans (Part 5)53.36 - Faust: Love of the Damned (w/ Ian Martineau)

Alright! You wanted the best, you got the best. The greatest rock n roll horror movies ever in a neat and organised list. It's Horror Rocks. I watched, rated and ordered 74 movies from 1971 to 2024 in order to attempt to figure out just what exactly could be the greatest of them all. Joining me on my journey are several guests, drinking several Jack and Cokes over a glorious 4 episodes full of ripping riffs, pummelling drums and voices so stretched they are at breaking point. This is Horror Rocks. It's a pretty long journey this one, part 2 of 4 in fact. I am going to give you the time codes below so if you don't want spoilers then, please, avert your eyes.You can now support A Year in Horror via the Patreon.Theme Music by Max Newton& Lucy Foster.Email the podcast at ayearinhorror@gmail.comDon't bother following the podcast on Facebook. But feel free to...Follow me on Twitter.Follow me on Instagram.Follow me on Letterboxd.Below are the timecodes for all the different segments and my guest links. Feel free to let me know where you think I got it wrong or right and of course stay safe out there & I'll see you next month.0.31 - Smile 205.35 - Also Rans (Part 3)12.01 - Terror on Tour (w/ John Tantalon)44.29 - Hard Rock Zombies (w/ John Fleck)53.36 - Uncle Peckerhead (w/ Alexander Heff)

Alright! You wanted the best, you got the best. The greatest rock n roll horror movies ever in a neat and organised list. It's Horror Rocks. I watched, rated and ordered 74 movies from 1971 to 2024 in order to attempt to figure out just what exactly could be the greatest of them all. Joining me on my journey are several guests, drinking several Jack and Cokes over a glorious 4 episodes full of ripping riffs, pummelling drums and voices so stretched they are at breaking point. This is Horror Rocks. It's a pretty long journey this one, part 1 of 4 in fact. I am going to give you the time codes below so if you don't want spoilers then, please, avert your eyes.You can now support A Year in Horror via the Patreon.Theme Music by Max Newton& Lucy Foster.Email the podcast at ayearinhorror@gmail.comDon't bother following the podcast on Facebook. But feel free to...Follow me on Twitter.Follow me on Instagram.Follow me on Letterboxd.Below are the timecodes for all the different segments and my guest links. Feel free to let me know where you think I got it wrong or right and of course stay safe out there & I'll see you next month.0.00 - Introduction09.10 - Also Rans (Part 1)19.04 - Also Rans (Part 2)23.15 - Blood Tracks (w/ Patrik Sporrong)55.35 - Trick or Treat (w/ Niki Jones)

Bill Gates talks about regretting his divorce, Lady Gaga says art is subjective and the Jessicas are apparently besties. Plus Mike has the Dirt and there are a bunch of new Cokes floating around out there! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Bill Gates talks about regretting his divorce, Lady Gaga says art is subjective and the Jessicas are apparently besties. Plus Mike has the Dirt and there are a bunch of new Cokes floating around out there! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bill Frost (CityWeekly.net, X96 Radio From Hell) and Tommy Milagro (SlamWrestling.net) talk The Bachelor, The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, Paradise, The Tom Green Renaissance, Mythic Quest, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, You're Cordially Invited, Common Side Effects, Funny Woman, the unfortunate but 'Merica 2025 appropriate return of Duck Dynasty, Bill's Movie Korner: Paranoia and Bummer, Rasslin' News, Uma Thurman on Dexter: Resurrection, Fraiser 2.0 canceled, the Saturday Night movie on Netflix, Hight Potential, Abbott Elementary, and The Lincoln Lawyer all renewed, and more. Drinking: Whiskey & Cokes made with Bourbon from OFFICIAL TV Tan sponsor Outlaw Distillery.* Yell at us (or order a TV Tan T-shirt) @TVTanPodcast on Threads, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, or Gmail.* Rate us: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, YouTube, Amazon Podcasts, Audible, etc. 

In this holiday episode of Confessions of a Reluctant Caregiver, we bring humor, honesty, and reflection to our caregiving journey over the last year. Join us as we look back on the highs and lows of caregiving, with no topic off-limits!Natalie discusses the launch of our new Care Forward initiative, which connects individuals in need with local resources, while JJ shares a heartwarming moment baking brownies with our mom—a reminder of both progress and challenges. We also dive into deeper, more complex topics, including anticipatory grief and Jason's ongoing health concerns.As always, we balance the tough conversations with some light-hearted fun. The episode wraps up with a "lightning round" where we recount our most challenging, proud, and funny caregiving moments, including the story of our mom stockpiling Swiss Cake Rolls and Cokes at the nursing home.Looking ahead to 2025, we're excited to continue supporting caregivers with more podcast episodes, caregiver retreats, and ongoing efforts to make a difference in the caregiving community.Support the showConfessions of a Reluctant Caregiver Sisterhood of Care, LLC Website: www.confessionsofareluctantcaregiver.com Like us on Facebook! Tweet with us on Twitter! Follow us on Instagram! Watch us on Youtube! Pin us on Pinterest! Link us on LinkedIn!Tune in on Whole Care Network

It’s no secret we covered US politics extensively this year. Later this month, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States of America. Maybe you're not quite ready to dive back into the political news cycle just yet. Enter, the perfect remedy. Our friends over on the Cancelled podcast have given Trump is day in court. Listen to Donald Trump Part Two: Yelling At A Child & The Most Embarrassing Tantrum In History, here. Follow Cancelled THE END BITS Support independent women's media Check out The Quicky Instagram here Liked this episode? Mamamia is curating 100 hours of summer listening. Check it out here GET IN TOUCH Share your story, feedback, or dilemma! Send us a voice note or email us at thequicky@mamamia.com.au CREDITS:Hosts: Clare and Jessie Stephens Executive Producer: Talissa Bazaz Audio Producer: Leah PorgesBecome a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Yanni Constantin first saw America, his eyes filled with tears. And was before he truly knew what freedom and liberty were. Later, he would move here and discover things like burgers, fries, Cokes, and guns. He became a citizen, he opened a business, and started a family. Listen to Yanni tell more wild stories about the ride that brought him here and why this is the best country on earth. It's a good one. 

Bill Frost (CityWeekly.net, X96 Radio From Hell) and Tommy Milagro (SlamWrestling.net) talk Interior Chinatown, Heretic, Venom: The Last Dance, Secret Level, Dream Productions, No Good Deed, Paris & Nicole: The Encore, Dexter: Original Sin, Carry-On, Saturday Night Live: Chris Rock, Yellowstone, Somebody Somewhere, The Madness, The Agency, Rasslin' News, Severance, The Apprentice, Landman, The Sticky, and more. Drinking: Whiskey & Cokes made with bourbon from OFFICIAL TV Tan sponsor Outlaw Distillery. * Yell at us (or order a TV Tan T-shirt) @TVTanPodcast on Threads, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, or Gmail.* Rate us: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, YouTube, Amazon Podcasts, Audible, etc.

In this latest episode of Those Guys, we discuss way too many topics Gladiator 2 Our movie lists Fountain Cokes Handicap Bathrooms Thanksgiving Bloody Lips and so much more

The road to recovery.by senor longo. Listen to the ► Podcast at Connected.I was in the hospital for a week. I shuddered when the doctor showed me the x-rays of my knee. It had been fractured into seven pieces. The ligaments were all torn to shreds and the upper end of the shin bone; the tibia; were also shattered. I had received an artificial patella; the kneecap; and the ligaments were all reattached. That was why I was in traction; to prevent the ligaments from shrinking. The hardest part of the surgery was the removal of all the tiny bone chips; more than thirty of them. Had they remained in my knee I'd feel terrible pain whenever I walked.Rose brought all my books and assignments to the hospital for me. She was driving the truck; I had no idea she could even drive a manual transmission. My parents came almost every night as did my future in-laws, but the constant in my life was Rose. It was late one evening after all my visitors had gone that Rose got that gleam in her eyes. She pulled the screen around the bed, lowered the blankets and pulled out my cock. “Don't Rose; I'm sure it's dirty. They don't wash me there.”“If you think that'll stop me you have a lot to learn. Now lie back and enjoy.” I was hard in seconds; I had missed our nightly forays into the wonderful world of sex and I had missed cumming at least once every single day. More than that I had missed the intimacy with Rose; holding and caressing her, hearing her scream in ecstasy. Her mouth was on me in a second; her tongue showed me just how much she had missed me. I came in an embarrassingly short time. Rose sucked it all into her throat then cleaned my cock and balls with her tongue. She covered me and pulled the screen back. We were both surprised to see one of the nurses standing there with a huge smile on her face.“You weren't the first and you won't be the last. I was young once, too. I'm so glad you have each other. You're obviously very much in love.” She took my temperature and checked my bandages before leaving. “The swelling is down quite a bit so I think they'll put your cast on tomorrow. Then you'll be able to get out of bed and walk. I'm sure you'll enjoy using the bathroom instead of the bedpan. Okay, I'll be back in an hour with your nightly medications.” She turned and left. I was embarrassed that we'd been discovered, but Rose just took it in stride.I was taken by gurney to another room the following morning. Three orderlies had to lift me from the bed, one carefully handling my leg. They used the same procedure to lay me onto an exam table. The orthopedic surgeon entered a minute later, checking what I assumed was my chart. “You're coming along very well, much better than anticipated. You'll be able to walk now with crutches, but I'll still want you to keep the weight off your leg. You'll be able to return to school in another week, but promise me that you'll take it easy. I suggest you get a friend to help you with your books.You won't be able to carry them while you're using the crutches. Okay, let's get this cast on you.” My leg was wrapped in gauze and cotton padding from just below my crotch all the way to my toes before the plaster bandages were wrapped around, making a strong protective case over virtually my entire leg.“You must try to keep this dry for the next two months. Then I'll want to remove it so I can check your progress. We may be able then to put on something lighter. Sorry, but it'll be sponge baths for you until this comes off.” He adjusted the crutches to fit me and assisted me down the hallway to my room. I sat in a chair for the very first time in almost a week. I'd never take that for granted again. I was sitting there when Rose rushed in from school. She was always at the hospital fifteen minutes after dismissal.Rose ran across the room to kneel by my side. She held my face to hers. She was crying when she moved back. “Don't cry, Rose.” I wiped the tears from her face with my lips as I kissed her over and over. “I don't want you to cry for me, Rose. I'm going to get better and we're going to be fine. I won't be able to play football, but that's okay. I only had another seven games, anyway. Then I'd probably never play again.”“You might play with our children.”I grinned. “Planning ahead, eh? I think I'll still be able to handle that, maybe even a little basketball or baseball; just so long as I don't have to roller skate. I tend to fall a lot.”“Oh; Paul, how can you joke about this? I've been so worried about you.”“What's the alternative, Rose? Should I sit around feeling sorry about everything that's happened? I'd rather look forward to being with and loving you.”“You're right, of course, Paul. We can't change what's happened, but we can change what's going to happen. I'm going to be closer to you now than your own skin.” She hugged me and I felt that nothing had ever felt better. We talked about school, our friends and families. I asked her how Uncle Carl was feeling about our relationship.“Believe it or not, he's much better about it since your injury even though he knows I'm going to stay with you.”“What do you mean; stay with me?”“Oh, didn't I explain? Your dad's office is being converted into a temporary bedroom for you; and me. I'll be there every day to help you get dressed and undressed and to wash you and help you to the toilet.”“The toilet?”“Yes, the toilet; I've already discussed it with your doctor. You'll probably be able to stand and pee, but he doesn't think you'll be able to get up from the toilet if you have to poop.”I couldn't resist a giggle. “Poop?”“Yes; poop! And don't be surprised if I have to wipe you. I'm going to wash you. If I don't, your mother will have to do it. Who would you prefer?”“You, but I'll really look forward to a shower.”“Me, too; I also talked to the doctor about that; no solo showers for a couple of weeks once the cast is off. He says your leg will be weak for a few weeks. By then you won't want to have one by yourself.”“Hell, I don't want one without you now. I just never thought we'd be showering together; not for quite a while, anyway.”The banter continued for another half hour until I began to yawn. Rose helped me up and into bed. She covered me, kissed me, and told me to sleep. She didn't have to; I was asleep in seconds. I wasn't used to the strain of being vertical with my leg yet. I was also still flushing the narcotics they'd used for pain relief from my body.Rose was still there when I awoke around nine. “What are you eating, Rose? I don't want you to get sick at my expense.”“Don't worry I'm eating more than enough. I have a sandwich after school every day and I usually grab a snack while you're sleeping. See; here's my candy bar in my purse. Okay, now?”I held my hand out for her. She took it and I pulled her to me. Her lips met mine; my tongue met hers. It was our first romantic kiss in almost a week. We held it for what seemed like forever only to be interrupted once again by the nurse. Rose told me about the arrangements tomorrow to take me home. She'd go to school for the morning, but be here at the hospital by noon for my discharge and to drive me home. I couldn't wait.I donned the tee-shirt that Rose had bought me yesterday, but I needed help with the underwear and shorts. I was thankful that a male orderly was selected for the job. I stepped into the single sandal and hobbled forward on my crutches into the wheelchair. My leg was elevated and I bid farewell to my room, praying I'd never see it again. We went down in the elevator and out to the lobby. Rose stood by the truck door. I'd never been so happy to see her. She helped me up to the seat and threw my crutches into the truck's bed. The nurse handed me my books and we were off.“I never knew you could drive a stick.”“I couldn't, but Uncle Stan taught me. It was quite a challenge, believe me. I must have grinded the gears a hundred times before I figured it out. I'm doing a lot better now. You can relax.” She let her foot off the clutch and off we went. I was surprised at how well she was doing. I did relax; all the way home.Mom was there to help me from the car. I managed the walk to the front porch easily, but was stymied by the steps. I didn't know how to proceed until Rose helped me once again. “Put your good leg up first then pull the crutches and bad leg up after. Repeat for each step.”“Let me guess; the doctor told you.” Rose just smiled and laughed. Then she helped me up the stairs. Mom and Rose were by my side all the way into the living room. I eased my way into the couch. Rose lifted my leg onto a hassock then she brought me a Coke. She delivered it with a kiss. Mom laughed. It was good to be home. I was sitting there resting when Mary ran in from school. She hugged me, but carefully. “Don't worry, kiddo; I'm not made of glass.”She hugged me again and whispered into my ear, “I need to talk with you later. Okay? It's private.” I nodded and she ran into the kitchen. I wondered if I'd ever run again. I struggled to get up, understanding what Rose had said about the toilet. She scolded me for trying to get up by myself as she led me to my new temporary quarters.Dad's study had been rearranged. The arm chairs had been moved to the garage as had the table and the large world globe. A double bed had been moved in and made with sheets, a blanket, and four pillows. “Four pillows,” I asked.“Yes; three for you and one for me; you'll be sleeping on your back and the doctor wants your leg elevated. We also think you'll need a few pillows for sitting up in bed.”“How many will we need when we make love? We've never done it in a real bed, you know?”“Well, under ordinary circumstances I'd say that I'd be your pillow, but for a while I think you'll have to be mine. Of course, we'll have to be home alone to actually make love. I'm afraid I'd scare the living daylights out of your family.”I hugged her to me and asked her to bring Mary in. “She wants to speak with me privately, Rose. I don't know what it's about. Do you mind?” Of course, she agreed, closing the door a few minutes later.I looked at my sister closely, probably for the first time in years. I could see her blossoming sexuality in the formation of her breasts and hips. “Okay, kiddo, what's up?”She sat on the bed, looked up anxiously, and asked me, “Paul; how do you know you're in love?” Wow, what a question.“I don't know what to tell you, Mary, except that when the time comes you'll know. There's no billboard in the sky or little voice in your head that tells you. I wouldn't worry about it for a few years. You're still pretty young to worry about that.”“Okay then, can you teach me how to kiss?” Oh God, what a welcome home!“Okay, Mary obviously I'm not going to demonstrate on you so why don't you ask Rose to join us?” She did a minute later. I motioned her to sit next to me. “Mary wants to know how to kiss so I think we need to demonstrate.” Rose's eyes lit up. We moved Mary to the other side of the bed where she'd have a good view as I leaned forward and Rose met me. We kissed for almost a minute while Mary looked on. I continued my explanation when Rose was willing to release me. “See how loose and flexible Rose's mouth is?” I demonstrated by working Rose's jaw much to the amusement of Rose and Mary both. “You need to keep your mouth open.” So, of course, Rose opened up so far that a cantaloupe could fit easily. Mary and I laughed, exactly as Rose had intended. “And, you'll want to use your tongue.”“Even I know that!” I hugged Mary as we all had a good laugh. Then I got serious again.“Is all this for anyone we know? Don't worry, we won't say anything and we won't tease you either.”Mary's head went down as she blushed deeply. “Eric,” she whispered.I hugged her again. “I like Eric. I think he'd be great for you, but don't be discouraged if it doesn't work out. You're both very young and things can change. Does Eric know how you feel?”Once again the head went down. “Yes, he tried to kiss me last time we went to visit you in the hospital. I didn't; not because I didn't want to; but because I didn't know what to do.”I looked to Rose. I knew what I'd do, but I wanted her opinion. “If I were you, Mary I'd kiss him the next time you have an opportunity which I think might be tonight. Mom and Eric are coming to dinner. Maybe we can get you outside; alone.” Mary hugged Rose and, then me, and we were alone again.Aunt Celia and Eric came at 5:30 and they brought dinner; two large pizzas, one sausage with extra cheese, and the other a “kitchen sink” with sausage, pepperoni, onion, green pepper, black olives, and mushroom. I opted for my favorite; the sausage. Rose and I ate at the living room coffee table where I could stretch out my leg. Eric and Mary also sat with us, but on the floor, their drinks on the table with ours. The parents sat in the kitchen. I “asked” Mary and Eric if they would please take the empty pizza boxes and paper plates out to the trash cans in the back yard. Mary winked at me when she left. I knew the job should take two minutes or less from prior experience. They were gone more than ten. Rose and I were silent when they returned. Mary winked again. Rose and I couldn't resist laughing. I stifled it by kissing her which silenced both of us.I was home three nights when Mom told us, “We're going out a bit to play some miniature golf. We'll be gone at least an hour. In fact, we'll phone you at least ten minutes before we come home.” I knew immediately what was up; my dad hated miniature golf and I knew they'd never go out on a Wednesday; a school night. Rose closed and locked the door and helped me into the shower for my sponge bath. She showered once I was done. It was a quick one for both of us. We were barely dry when we tumbled into bed. Rose was all over me in a second. Her lips found mine and her breasts rubbed all over my chest.We'd slept together in the same bed Monday and Tuesday nights and we'd been naked. Rose had sucked me off Monday and I'd reciprocated with her sitting on my face, but we had wanted to make love in the worst way. My hands found those delectable nipples, and her hot wet cunt.Meanwhile, my cock felt like it had never been harder or thicker. It was so hard it actually hurt. Rose lifted her body over mine, taking care to avoid contact with my cast. A moment later I watched with interest as I disappeared into her slender body. Dear God, I had wanted this so badly and, apparently, so did Rose.Her eyes glassed over almost immediately as she crushed her muff into me. I gripped her ass, feeling the tiny tremors running through her body almost immediately. I drove into her as best I could considering my infirmity. Thank God I had cum just two days ago, otherwise I'd probably cum in an instant from her frenetic motions on my cock. I knew that Rose was somewhere else; somewhere few women would ever find; when she suddenly froze. I saw and felt the massive convulsions race through her body and I heard her unearthly scream that went on and on. She continued to ride me for several minutes as I emptied into her, until we fell quiet, barely moving. Only our slow breathing showed that we were actually alive.Rose looked up about five minutes later. “I love your mother and I love you.” I pulled her to me for a long lingering kiss as my softened meat fell out of her. Rose pulled me up and back to the shower. I stood with only my good leg inside because the floor was now wet as she washed me again. I stepped out so she could step in. Semen ran down her legs. We dressed and were back in the living room by the time Mom phoned, acting as though nothing had happened once they returned even though everyone knew different. We were dressed in our pajamas; a tee-shirt and gym shorts for me, one of my tee-shirts and a pair of pink short shorts for Rose. We only wore them while in my family's company. In bed we were always naked.CHAPTER 7I learned very early why the doctor wanted me to stay home for a week before returning to school. Getting around on one leg could be exhausting. I had a lot of adjusting to do; I practiced walking up and down stairs several times every day. Port Jefferson High School was three stories high with no elevator. It was a very old building.Rose continued to bring my assignments home every day. I wanted to spend my afternoons and evenings with her, but I also knew how important it was for her to do her work. I always joined her at the dining room table to do homework even though I could just as easily do it during the day.Rose and I were seated on the couch Saturday morning when the doorbell rang. It was Mr. Gentile and Mr. Cosgrove, the club president. Suddenly, I saw my full scholarship disappearing down the drain. However, that was not the case. They had come just to see how I was doing. We sat and spoke for more than an hour. I introduced Rose as my fiancé which pleased both her and my mother. I decided we needed to go out one afternoon next week.I never did know why Uncle Carl allowed Rose to stay with me while I recovered, but I was glad he did. Despite all our kidding about my “pooping” I found the very first time that my stiff leg made it impossible for me to reach the toilet tissue. I was so frustrated when I called for Rose. Not surprisingly she was waiting for me right outside the door. She helped me to stand then wiped my ass until I was clean. Then she helped me pull my briefs and shorts up my legs, fastening them around my waist. She kissed me and helped me out the door as though what she had done was an everyday occurrence. Actually, it would become an everyday occurrence until I'd get rid of this damned cast.Monday morning we were up early. I took a long time to dress, even longer than Rose who had to do her hair and minimal make-up in addition to helping me. We were off to pick up Eric before driving to school. Arrangements had been made for me to enter through the gym so I wouldn't have to struggle up the seventeen steps that led to the front entrance. I waited for Rose to park the truck and we walked to the main office where I turned in my illness excuse note. I was offered a library aide to carry my books, but I turned around to show my knapsack on my back. I kissed Rose good-bye and walked to my locker. I hadn't gone even fifty feet when I ran into trouble in the person of Ryan. “Ha ha. Look at you now. I'm going to find Rose and I'm going to squeeze those nice titties of hers until she cries and there's nothing you can do about it.”I hobbled right up to him and dropped my crutches to the floor. Ryan hit the floor only a second later, the result of my fist colliding with his nose. “Get up, you bastard. If you think I need two legs to beat a piece of crap like you; .” I felt two hands on my shoulders. Turning I saw my buddies Elmer Morris and Eli Strand. I became an athlete through hard work and hustle. Elmer and Eli worked hard, but they also had real athletic ability. They lived here in Port Jefferson in what would best be described as the Negro section of town. Elmer was a six feet, two inch 185 pound speedster who starred in basketball and baseball, as well. Eli was six feet, three inches and 245 pounds; a tackle in football as well as a star in basketball and baseball, too. We had been great friends ever since ninth grade. I'd been to each of their homes and they'd been to mine. My crutches were returned to me and Eli spoke quietly, “Listen, asshole, if you touch Rose or any other girl like that you're going to wish you were dead.” He was never able to say another word. We were interrupted by the principal, Mr. Vanderhoff.He took Ryan and me to the office with Elmer and Eli coming along as “witnesses.” Ryan denied saying anything, but it was three against one with Eli and Elmer backing my story. “I'd probably suspend you, Paul except that I doubt I'd accept that kind of talk about my girlfriend.”“It's actually worse than that, Mr. V; Rose is my fiancé. We'll be married at the end of the year.”Ryan rarely knew when to keep his big yap shut and today was no different. “You're not taking the word of them over me; the word of those Negroes over that of a white person.” I looked at him with a hatred I never knew I could have, but it was nothing compared to the look on Eli's and Elmer's faces. Mr. V admonished him, but I knew he was in BIG trouble now. Eli and Elmer were dismissed while Mr. V warned Ryan and me. He wanted us to shake hands, but I refused. “You can suspend me or give me detention, but you can't make me shake hands with him. Don't worry; I won't hit him again if he only keeps his big trap shut.” I was given time to go to my locker before struggling up to the second floor for my English class.One of the students graciously vacated his seat in the front of the room so I could have room for my leg. I was glad to be back in school again where I could interact with my teachers and the other students. I'd also see Rose at various times during the day, too. I had just reached the end of the lunch line and was wondering how I was going to get my tray to a table when Rose walked up and took it from me. She led me to her table where I sat with her, her friend Heather, and Eli and Elmer. I knew why they were sitting here; they wanted responsible witnesses. I understood even better when Ryan walked across the hall into the lavatory. A ninth grader was following him, but he was pulled back by one of the linemen on the team. Four big players went in after Ryan; two whites and two Negroes. A fifth stood guard while Ryan was pummeled inside. Five minutes later the four walked out, paper towels drying their hands. Ryan hadn't shown himself by the time we left for our next class. When we saw him at the close of school he was missing several teeth. Of course, we had seen nothing.The following afternoon I asked Rose to drive into downtown Port Jefferson almost to the harbor where we left the truck and walked into Mr. Cosgrove's jewelry store. We were there to buy a ring. I had given my dad a check over the weekend and he'd cashed it yesterday. Mr. Cosgrove welcomed us and showed us several rings within my budget, promising us a twenty percent discount. We walked out with a simple solitaire of a half carat in a thin gold band. Rose loved her ring; I already knew that she loved me.We went home and Rose showed Mom the ring. “I think we'll have to go out again tonight, Paul. I'm sure we'll be gone at least an hour.” Once again, Rose bathed me, dried me, and fucked my lights out, screaming into the night. She was nothing less than incredible.The days and weeks flew by and finally it was time for my cast to be removed. The doctor sawed through the plaster and removed the padding and gauze. I was appalled when I saw my leg. It was filthy; covered with dirt and dead skin. Worse, my muscles had atrophied from lack of use. My leg was cleaned and my knee x-rayed. The doctor had good news for me; I could wear a brace in lieu of another cast. I was overjoyed! I'd still need a month or more of physical therapy, but I would be walking by Christmas and driving, too. Best of all, I'd be able to wipe my own ass now.I worked even harder now. I was all caught up with my class work and attended physical therapy every afternoon after school. I was exhausted by the time Rose drove me home. I enjoyed taking a shower again and taking it with Rose made it all the sweeter. I needed her to help support me, but the way she did it; well, it was fantastic. She pressed her lush body up against mine, pushing those D-cup breasts with their firm nipples into my chest and back while her arms encircled my body. I'd tell Ryan all about it, but he'd left school and never returned. We'd heard that he had a broken nose and two broken ribs, among other injuries in addition to the dental problems we'd seen earlier. More than a hundred students were questioned by the school authorities, but no one saw anything, not even Ryan. He had just stepped up to a urinal when the lights went out. He was grabbed by big hands, punched and kicked. His head was forced into the urinal and it was flushed. Personally, I was sorry he wasn't using the toilet.Christmas was wonderful that year. My physical therapy had come along well and I was able to walk on my own at last. I still needed the brace, but only for safety. Another month would put it behind me. My muscles had responded to all the therapy and had grown back to almost normal. Rose still lived with me even though I'd moved back upstairs. The double bed was moved into my room and the furniture originally in Dad's study was returned. I stored some of my clothes in the attic so Rose could keep some in my closet and dresser. We were like a happily married couple although we weren't quite married yet.Aunt Celia, Mom, and Rose started preparations for our wedding right after the New Year. St. Anthony's was reserved for the final Saturday in June. St. George's County Club would cater the reception. Now they began the search for a dress in earnest. I asked Rose about it several times, but she refused to say a word. I selected Brian as my Best Man, with Eric, Eli, and Elmer as ushers. Rose asked Heather to be Maid of Honor with Mary and two other friends I barely knew as bridesmaids.It was June before we knew it. In other years I had always looked forward to the annual athletic banquet. I knew I hadn't earned a letter this year so I was surprised when I received an invitation. Rose took the truck home that afternoon and she was shocked when she returned; she had been invited, too.The banquet always takes place on the first Wednesday of the month, long before we had to study for our finals and Regents exams. Rose and I drove to the school that night where we were welcomed by our friends, all of whom knew about our impending wedding. The cafeteria was decorated nicely as usual as we found our seats. We sat with Eli, Elmer, Brian, and a few other football players. The award presentations began after dinner. I wasn't at all surprised to learn that Elmer was selected as the Football and Basketball MVP. Eli was Baseball MVP. I sat and applauded when my friends were called to receive their letterman's sweaters. The program was almost over and we still had no idea why we were there. Principal Vanderhoff stepped to the podium. “As many of you know, our ex-coach John Cappy fought a valiant battle against cancer before passing three years ago. He was one of the finest men I've ever known and he was certainly one of the most courageous. The Board of Education has decided to honor him with the John Cappy Memorial Trophy to be awarded to the school's most courageous athlete. Our first recipient is Paul Lockwood. I know I don't have to tell you about his courage or determination.”I was stunned. I was still filtering the announcement when everyone present stood to applaud. I was so weak-kneed when Rose pulled me to my feet. She tried to push me forward, but I clasped her hand and whispered, “Please come with me, Rose.” She really had no choice; I wasn't about to release her. I shook hands with the principal, my coach, and the athletic director while it was explained that the huge trophy would be placed in the showcase at the main entry. My name had already been engraved on a small silver rectangle screwed into the base. I received a small wooden plaque as a remembrance and stepped up to the podium.“Well; this was totally unexpected. You can see just how courageous I am; I needed Rose to be here with me for moral support. Actually, I doubt that I'd even be able to be here if not for Rose. She stayed with me every day and night in the hospital and then at home, too. Since we'll be married in about two and a half weeks I'm going to skip over all the things of a personal nature that she did for me. She drove me to school and to therapy every day and she was there every weekend to help me, too. Honestly, I think the award should go to her.” I stepped back and Mr. V stepped up to the microphone again.“It's good that Rose is here with you Paul, because we have a plaque for her, too. We agree that she has gone more than the extra mile for you. We have decided to recognize Rose her as our “Most Dedicated Fan.” I couldn't help myself; I hugged her right there in front of almost three hundred students, teachers, and parents. Not a single person laughed; they all applauded. I stepped back so Rose could speak.“Thanks.” She retreated, took my hand, and we walked back to our table. Everyone wanted to see our plaques. You'd have thought I'd been named All-America. The event broke up a few minutes later and I drove Rose home. We were elated when we walked in the door.I had to study for Regents Exams in Calculus, Physics, and Spanish 4. Rose had Geometry, World History, and Chemistry. Of course, we had other final exams, too. It was a busy time for both of us right up until the last week when things came to a screeching halt. The last few days of school were used for teachers to grade exams so we weren't either expected or wanted to be there. Rose wanted to go to the beach; I was reluctant. Finally, Rose sat with me and calmed me. “Paul, you have an ugly scar on your leg. It wasn't your fault or your responsibility. The fault belongs to a vile person, not you. How many times have I seen it? Hundreds, at least; have I ever fainted? Put on your suit and a shirt. I'll change and we'll go to the deli for some sandwiches and Cokes.”She led me upstairs to my; our; room and we stripped. Rose helped me with my suit; I still couldn't bend my knee enough unless I was very deliberate and slow. Ten minutes later we were out the door with Mary en route to pick up Eric. I drove with Rose squeezed in next to me. Mary sat on Eric's lap. Half an hour later I drove down Sill's Gully. The beach was still deserted when I placed the blanket onto the pebbles.Rose ran her hand over my rough knee, her fingers feeling the indentations from each of the hundred stitches not even neatly arranged in two almost parallel lines that were still visible on my puckered skin. My knee was ugly; that was the simple truth of it. It was ugly and deformed and it barely worked. I could walk fairly easily, but I still couldn't run. The only positive was that my leg's muscles had responded to the months of therapy and were back to normal. Now if I could only bend my knee all the way. I had flexibility exercises I did every day, but the progress was exceedingly slow.I lay back on the blanket with Rose lying on top of me. Our sexuality was an open secret as was Mary and Eric's. She embraced him much as Rose did me. Soon we began to make out, Rose once again expressing her love for me physically, just as she did virtually every night. We had tried to control our lust for each other, but our love was too strong. One night way back in February we found our way to making love; to fucking each other until we couldn't move. Our orgasms were punctuated by Rose's scream. Mom laughed like crazy the following morning and when Rose blushed she pulled her close for a hug and kiss.“Never apologize for being so orgasmic, Rose. Most women would kill for that. Be proud of what your body can do for you, but please; do it earlier in the evening so we can sleep.” We all laughed like crazy, even Rose and especially Mary.To be continued in part 5. by senor longo for Sex Stories.

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Hello, Darlings!OOHH is BH back? YES IT IS!We could chat about Dorit's cigarette work for hours, but there is also so much more...Ericka stifled her "I knew it", Kyle constantly not answering anything that we wanted to know, full-fat Cokes, PK's alcoholism, and Dorit laying the groundwork to RULE THIS SEASON.Guys, it's going to be a good one!Enjoy! PS-I'm also going to touch on the final part of the RHOC Reunion! Access bonus episodes on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paul Loves Rose: Part 1Paul loves Rose. Rose loves Paul. Problem is they're cousins; or are they?by senor longo. Listen to the ► Podcast at Connected.Introduction:This story takes place in the 1960's in rural Long Island, NY. It's the story of two “relatives” who become a lot more than friends. NOTE: Some of the terms used would be politically incorrect today, but were appropriate then. Paul is a popular student who gets all the pussy he can handle. He knows though that a much slower approach is needed with his naïve "cousin" Rose.CHAPTER 1It had been a long hard day made even longer and harder when my mower ran out of gas. Now I'd be late to the dance. There weren't many at the nearby church so they were pretty special. I had rushed through my dinner, much to the annoyance of my mother, and ran upstairs into the shower. Five minutes later I was dressing in my navy blazer, a white button-down shirt, striped tie, and grey flannel slacks. A quick combing and my hair was as ready as it was going to be. I kissed Mom, waved to Dad, and was out the door to my truck. Twenty minutes later I was searching in vain for a parking spot. Finally, after another ten minutes I found one; across the street and a block away. I walked hurriedly back to the large brick building.It appeared that I had arrived just in time. Rose was backed up against a wall as some bruiser who looked to be about ten years older was peering down her dress. I could see the terror in her eyes. Rose and I are the same age; eighteen; but she's really naïve. She should be a junior like me, but she's only a freshman. She's not stupid, on the contrary. She was terribly sick for more than a year and a half when she was eight and nine so she missed two whole years of school. She's better now, thank God. Now, all I have to do is rescue her.I walked up with a huge smile on my face, stepping right between the gorilla and Rose. “Hi, hun; sorry I'm late.” I kissed her cheek as I took her hand. “C'mon, let's dance.” I pulled her away before her erstwhile suitor could react. He may have been twice my size, but I'd bet I had twice the IQ. I wrapped my arms around Rose and pulled her close, wondering if she'd say anything about the proximity of our bodies; she did.“Kind of close for cousins, Paul; wouldn't you say?” Rose raised an eyebrow.“Yeah, but; we're actually not quite cousins.” I clarified.“What does that mean; not quite cousins?”“Essentially, we're not cousins. We're not related. Care to have me explain?”“Yes, I'm confused.” Rose said with a bewildered look. Confused was good. She hadn't moved that luscious body with its big round breasts and that sweet firm ass away from the straining erection that was pointing down my left leg.“Okay; let's go back a few years. I've always called your mom ‘Aunt Celia' and you've always called mine ‘Aunt Martha,' okay, so far?” She nodded. “I call your dad ‘Uncle Carl' and you call mine ‘Uncle Stan.” If we're related how come we've never seen each other at family gatherings?To be real cousins one of your parents and one of my parents would have to be siblings; you know, like brothers or sisters; but you're never at any of our family functions and I've never been to any of yours. I asked my mom about it last year.”“Okay; so what did she say?”“She said that she and your mom grew up next door to each other in Queens and were best friends all through school. They were so close that when they married and had kids it was natural to have them call each other aunt and uncle, especially when our dads got jobs at the Lab.”“I don't believe it.”“Okay, how about a bet?” The music had stopped, but we were still dancing. I loved it. “If I'm right I'll pick you up next Friday night at seven for a date; a movie and ice cream after.”“And if I'm right?”“I'll pick you up at seven next Friday night, but not for a date. We'll do whatever you want instead.” She leaned back a bit and held her hand out to shake. I kissed her cheek instead.“Oh, thanks for the rescue. He was getting pretty obnoxious.”“I noticed. It was the least I could do for my girlfriend.” She laughed then realized we were the only ones dancing and walked off the floor with me following closely behind.I had always loved Rose, even back to when we were both six. That was when we moved into the same neighborhood; my family from Oak Ridge, Tennessee and theirs from Alamogordo, New Mexico. My dad and hers had taken jobs at the Brookhaven National Lab in nearby Upton out in rural Suffolk County, Long Island. It was a real reunion for our moms and the first time our families had met. Rose and I hit it off right away, especially because she was a real tomboy. She could actually pass, catch, and kick a football better than I could until I made it to junior high and was almost as good at baseball and basketball, too. By then she'd been sick and held back. I still saw her every day in school. Our small community had a K thru 8 school. In ninth grade we all went to Port Jefferson High about twenty miles away.Back then it was a familial love; the kind one has for a brother or sister, or even a cousin; but over the years it had grown in a different direction. I'd kept it a secret for several years, but; no longer. As time passed we'd both grown into young adults. I was now 6 feet, 2 inches weighing an even 200 pounds. I played football; linebacker and fullback; and baseball; center field; on the Port Jeff varsity until my lawn mowing business took precedence in the spring. I had a muscular build, my body developed by years of lifting weights and working out in our basement. I worked almost every day during the summer mowing lawns and doing yard work. I had twenty lawns that I mowed weekly at seven dollars each. Most of my clients rounded up to an even ten for a much appreciated tip. I earned between $150 and $200 a week which was pretty decent money at the time. I was saving for college even though I was hoping for some kind of scholarship.Rose had also grown up; into a beautiful young woman. Rose stood 5 feet, 8 inches, and if I had to guess; maybe, 115 pounds. She had a gorgeous body, the kind that made my classmates drool. Only my threats of a severe beating had saved her from being pawed repeatedly. I knew she had never been on even a single date. Her illness had made her extremely shy and her parents were overly protective. She was fine with me, but most other guys terrified her. Rose had the kind of black hair that looked reddish under certain kinds of light. She wore it short, exposing her slender graceful neck. Rose had the most delightful brown eyes and a cute slender nose over full sensual lips.We had a great time at the dance, probably dancing more than sixty percent of the fast ones and all the slow ones. I especially loved the slow ones. I thought that Rose had already figured out that we weren't real cousins; she moved really close to my body. I was sure she could feel my thick erection, but she never pushed away. We left at eleven, driving to the local soda fountain where I treated to banana splits. Rose had hers with three flavors I wouldn't ever consider. Me; I loved every flavor of ice cream so long as it was chocolate. We joined another couple from school and had a wonderful time. We left at 11:45 so I could get her home by midnight.I parked the truck and walked her to the door. “Want to come in, Paul?” Rose offered.“Thanks, Rose, but I have a really busy day tomorrow. Mr. Eaton is putting in a stone wall and I'm helping him. He promised me $50 for the day so I have to be ready to work. Good night, Rose. I had a great time.” I leaned in to kiss her cheek, but she turned her head at the last second. My lips touched hers briefly. It was like a bolt of lightning passed between us. She noticed it, too. Her eyes showed her shock. I waited until she was inside before driving the five blocks to our house.Once in the house Rose walked into the living room to speak with her mother. Her dad always went to bed at eleven; her younger brother Eric was always in bed and sound asleep by ten. “Mom, can I ask you something?”“Of course, Rose; how was the dance?”“Oh, it was wonderful.” Rose said with a dreamy happiness. “Paul rescued me from some big guy who was getting nasty with me. He pretended he was my boyfriend. ““Oh, good for him!” Mom was relieved. “Paul's always looked out for you.”“Oh, mom; while we were dancing he told me that we weren't really cousins. Is that true, Mom?”“It is true that our families are not related by blood, but Martha and I are closer than most sisters are. We might as well be related.”“Okay; so; then; we're not really cousins, at all; are we?”“No, even though you might as well be.”“Then I should tell you that I have a date Friday night.”“Oh? Who with?” Mom asked while yawning.“With Paul, Mom. We had a bet and I lost, but I'm kind of glad. Does that make any sense?”Her mom smiled then responded, “Yes, dear; it does. Now let's get to bed, shall we?”CHAPTER 2: Paul's MorningMy parents were both in bed when I got home so my usual inquisition took place at breakfast the following morning. I told them I'd had a wonderful time and that I had a date Friday night. “Do we know her, Paul,” my mother asked.“Yes, Mom it's with Rose.” I went on to tell about the bet. I could see my mother thinking as I spoke.“I hope you plan to be a gentleman, Paul. I don't want to see her hurt in any way.”“Yes, Mom, you know I will and I'd never hurt Rose. You know I love her.” She did, but not in the way I meant. I excused myself and ran out the door, looking forward to a hard day's work. Mom didn't like me skipping church, but knew it was for a good reason.I saw Rose on Monday morning when I picked her up for the ride to school. It was better than waiting for the bus and a lot quicker, too. She seemed unusually happy this morning. She spilled the beans even before I had the chance to ask her. “We have a date, Paul. I can't wait; a real date.” I reached across the bench seat to squeeze her hand. Next thing I knew she slid across to sit next to me. I could see how thrilled she was. I held her hand almost all the way to school; except when I needed two hands to drive and shift gears. I gave her a brief peck on the lips once we were at school. This became a daily routine.Friday night I was at her door at 7:00 sharp. Aunt Celia answered the door and invited me in. “My goodness, Paul; Rose has been looking forward to this all week. She's been on cloud nine. I hope you have a good time.”“I'm sure we will, Aunt Celia. We always enjoy each other's company. I'll have her home by twelve.”“I think we can make it one, Paul. I don't want to stand in the way of you two enjoying yourselves.” I heard a noise and turned to see Rose descending the staircase. She looked beautiful; even more than usual. I took her hand and led her out to my truck. My truck; it was a 1952-53 Ford. I got it at a junk yard. Most of the parts were from a '52, but some, like the seats, the bed, and the transmission were from a 1953. They were basically the same and the price was great; $100!We drove all the way to Port Jefferson Station, named, no doubt, for its proximity to the older town of Port Jefferson and the end-of-the-line station of the Long Island Rail Road's northern spur. We sat in the theater balcony and held hands while we sipped our Cokes and nibbled popcorn. About half way through the movie I put my arm around her shoulders; I was extremely pleased that she didn't object at all. After the movie we drove down the hill to Grammas' for ice cream, exactly as I had promised. It was still early so I drove us to the north shore beach. We sat in the parking lot overlooking the beach and Long Island Sound beyond. The moon's reflection glistened over the tiny waves.We sat quietly, just watching the water. Normally, I'd be making out with my hand up my date's skirt, but this was Rose. I knew she had no experience and I definitely didn't want to scare her. There'd be other dates and other opportunities. I went to turn on the radio, but Rose stopped me.“Paul; have you brought other girls here?”“One or two, but none like you.”I could see her smile even in the dim light. “What did you do with them? Can you tell me?”“That's not something a gentleman discusses, Rose.”“Did you kiss your girlfriend?”“Not yet, but I was thinking of doing it in about a minute.” She looked up at me. I leaned down to her and our lips met. She was tentative at first, but after a few seconds her arms gripped my neck pulling me to her as our lips mashed into each other. I'd had plenty of kisses, but none as sweet or loving as that one. The kiss lasted for more than a minute before Rose broke it.“I liked that, Paul. I liked it a lot.”“Me, too, but next time try opening your mouth a bit so our tongues can touch.” She gave me a questioning look, but separated her lips about a quarter inch before leaning up for another. I gently pushed my tongue between her lips and teeth. She jumped back in shock then smiled and moved in again, opening her mouth wider. This time her tongue beat me to the punch. It wrestled with mine, moving between our mouths. Rose was obviously a quick study. She was a great kisser.Her face was red when we broke it.“Yeah, I agree. It was incredible.” I concurred.“Is that all you did, Paul?”“No, there were other things, but I don't think you're ready for them.”“Can you at least tell me?” Rose was going to open Pandora's Box come hell or high water.“Touching, mostly; her chest, her pussy, my cock.”Rose gulped several times as I detailed what couples often do while, uh, ‘watching the submarine races'.“Like I said, you're not ready for that; not yet, anyway.” I tried to help her understand that we both knew two women who would skin me alive if they thought I took advantage of her. “Rose, maybe sometime in the future. The idea is to give each other pleasure, but you have to be ready; and you have to be willing.”“I think I want you to touch me.” Rose assured me.“No! Touching is something like kissing. Both parties have to be involved and It'll be a while before you're ready to touch my cock, won't it? I love you, Rose, so I'm not going to rush you into anything; and especially not that. You'll know when you're ready.”I leaned down, opened my mouth and waited, but not too long. Rose was all over me in a second. We kissed for more than an hour, but nothing more. We both knew she wasn't ready. I got her home by 12:50. We kissed again outside the door and she went in. Ten minutes later I was home.I had a feeling my mother would be up waiting and I was right. “So; how did it go?”“Great, Mom; we both had a wonderful time.”There was a lull then she spoke again, “Did you try to kiss her?”“No, Mom, but she did kiss me,” I grinned before continuing, “several times, in fact. We're going out again tomorrow. Danny Shea is having a party.”“Just don't forget what I said. I don't want to see her hurt.”“Don't worry, Mom. I'm not going to hurt her. I love Rose and I'm in this for the long haul.” I'd told the truth even if I hadn't fully explained my love for Rose. I didn't say anything, but I was certain a very similar inquisition had occurred with Aunt Celia and Rose, just as I was sure our mothers would compare notes early tomorrow morning. I wasn't worried; I hadn't done anything to be ashamed of.I picked Rose up at eight Saturday night. Danny Shea lived only about five miles away in the next village down the highway. We parked on the road and walked hand-in-hand to the front door. The music was almost deafening as we walked in. We met with Danny who offered us beer from a keg. It was tempting, but we opted for sodas instead. I could see that some of the kids were drinking a lot; some were already tipsy and it wasn't even 8:30. I could also see that there were too many kids at the party and that Danny's parents were nowhere to be seen. This could be a recipe for disaster. We stayed until ten dancing almost every dance. Rose actually kissed me in the middle of one.Once I noticed several guys becoming argumentative I knew it was time to leave. We were just getting into my truck when the first police car arrived. We were questioned, but even the cop could see we hadn't anything to drink. “I'm glad you're sober. I hate to find kids killed in traffic accidents.”“Yeah, that's the biggest reason why I only have beer at home,” I replied. We were gone a minute later.“Why'd we leave, Paul? I was having such a good time.”“Because there's going to be trouble, Rose; some of those kids are drunk. There was no supervision and, believe me, there will be some fights unless the cops break up the party. We may be eighteen and legally able to drink, but that doesn't mean we should. I'm responsible for your safety. I'm not taking any chances with you. You mean a lot more to me than a couple of beers.” She looked up at me and kissed my cheek. I drove around the block and headed to the miniature golf where I let Rose beat me.“I know you're better than that, Paul. You let me win, didn't you?”I laughed then held my hands up in a defensive position. “Who, me?” She joined me in laughing then she hugged me, looked into my eyes and kissed me. It was long and sweet, our tongues dueling for minutes. She broke it, but only to whisper, “Take me to the beach.”All the beaches where we live are private with the exception of an occasional town, county, or state park. We have two beaches in our association; Sill's Gully where one can drive all the way to the beach and East Path near our houses. That's a walk down a long and winding path in a ravine. It's also a long walk back up. The homeowners have improved it, installing benches and a boardwalk where feasible. I drove to Sill's Gully. It was named for a big rock; Sill's Rock; about a half mile straight out from shore in almost twenty feet of water at high tide. There are probably a million rocks on the north shore of Long Island. They all came from New England during the last ice age when they were pushed by a massive glacier and deposited once the glacier receded. I hoped the parking lot would be empty. It was. Rose wanted to go onto the beach so I pulled an old blanket from behind the seat. We walked holding hands under the moon's light.We sat on the blanket, Rose snuggling close to me. It was April and it was chilly. I took off my sweatshirt and pulled it over her head. The waistband got stuck on her breasts until I made a concerted effort to pull it out away from her body. “You did that on purpose.” I said.“Of course, I'm not an idiot, you know.” Rose laughed then leaned forward, pressing those glorious orbs into my chest as she kissed me. Ending our dates on the beach became one of our favorite things.We dated every Friday and Saturday night and we often saw each other at family functions like birthday parties or cookouts. Our parents seemed to accept our relationship. I know that my mother no longer interrogated me after every date and Rose's mom always welcomed me when I picked her up.We had dated for more than a month, doing everything teenagers could imagine. I had even taken her over to Coram to the drive-in there. We bought the obligatory Cokes and popcorn, returning to the truck while it was still light. It was fun watching the young kids in the playground, many of them clad in pajamas, while their parents looked on. I recalled looking forward to the movie, but we never saw more than ten minutes at a time. The following week we went to another dance, this time at school. One thing about school dances, they ended early; at eleven. Rose and I left around 10:30. I asked Rose if she'd like to get some ice cream, but she shook her head. “You know where I want to go.” I drove to our favorite place; the beach at Sill's Gully.Rose joined me on the blanket. One second I was sitting and looking at the water, the next I was lying back with Rose on top of me. She gripped my head as she ground her lips into mine. Her large globular breasts pressed into my chest. I could feel her hard nipples through our clothes. Her legs were wrapped around mine. We kissed and kissed until she broke it. Looking directly into my eyes she spoke quietly, “I'm not as naïve as you think, Paul. I may not have done as many things as you, but I know what they are and how to do them; and I want to do them, too. But first, I think I need to confess something to you. Promise you won't laugh at me?”“Of course, Rose. I'd never laugh at you.”“Okay; here goes; back when we started to see each other; Mom thought I was so thrilled to have a real date. I was thrilled, but because the date was with you. Now; the hard part; I'm sure you know that I love you. I realized about a year ago that it wasn't the same kind of love it was when we were younger. I thought I was a freak; being in love with my cousin, so I was thrilled to learn that we're not.” Rose admitted.I couldn't control myself. I broke out in wild laughter. After only a few seconds I could see that Rose was at the verge of tears.Leaning up I brought her face to mine. “Oh, Rose; I'm definitely not laughing at you. I'm laughing at me.” She gave me a look that told me she thought I was crazy. “You see, Rose I've been terrified; struggling with how to tell you exactly the same thing. I love you; I'm in love with you. I've been in love with you for; longer than I care to admit. I think you're the most wonderful person I've ever met and I love being with you. I love kissing you and holding you.”“Touching me?” she asked.“Yes, that will come when you're ready. I know a lot of guys who think that mauling some girl's tits is fun, but it's only fun if you're using it to make her feel great.”“Paul; I'm ready. Make me feel great; please.” She placed her hand on my thigh. My cock responded immediately. I could see that she could feel it; feel it grow. “Oh, Paul it feels so big. Can I see it?” I moved her hands to my belt buckle. It was open a few seconds later.She fumbled with the button on my shorts then pulled my zipper down. She turned to me and kissed me. It was quick but sweet and hot. “I've dreamed of this for so long. It's what I think of when I masturbate. Dreaming of you always makes me so hot.” Rose admitted as she pulled down my shorts and my briefs; my cock sprung up, swinging free in the cool evening. Rose hesitated not at all in touching and stroking me. “Oh; it feels so hot and I can't believe the skin is so soft and smooth. That's kind of a contradiction, isn't it; hard on the inside, yet so soft on the outside.” She shocked me when she leaned down to kiss the tip, testing the sponginess with her lips.“Go ahead, Paul; open my blouse. I want you to touch my breasts.”My hands found her blouse buttons, opening them easily despite their tiny size. She shrugged out of the blouse and helped me with the bra's clasp. I gasped at her beauty. Her breasts were perfectly symmetrical, sitting high on her chest despite their size. They were big; easily a handful for my big muscular paws with their dark brown areolas and hard wrinkled nipples. Despite my strength I knew to be careful and delicate as I massaged them and rolled her nipples between my fingers.I could sense how turned on Rose was becoming. Even in the dim light I could see her arousal; the way she threw her head back, moaned, and arched her back. What the hell would happen when I touched her pussy? I found out a few minutes later when she jumped up and slipped out of her slacks; her panties following a second later.“Jeez, Rose I hope nobody comes down here. You're naked.”“No; I'm wearing my sneakers.” I groaned at her humor. “Well,” she continued, “you could join me, you know.”“Not much point, is there? If anyone shined a flashlight on me I'd be arrested for indecent exposure, for sure. I'll say one thing; being in love with you sure is interesting. Let's see if I can make it more fun for you.” My mouth replaced one of my hands at her breast while the other explored between her legs. My fingers pushed through her thick curls to find her wet; pussy juice literally running down her thighs. My middle finger ran up and down her slit, tickling her clit several times before finding its way into her tight tunnel. Rose's moans became loud groans as she humped my hand. She continued like this for more than five minutes and it was a good thing I was paying attention. She had straddled my hips and was about to lower herself onto my cock.“NO!” I pushed her up then pulled her to me.“Don't misunderstand me, Rose. I'd love to make love with you; I dream of that day; but not here and not now. We're not doing it without protection. If you got pregnant; well, I don't want to even think about the consequences. I love you, Rose. We'll do it, but under better circumstances and when we're prepared properly.” I pulled her in for a kiss. We hugged for a while, as her passions tapered off, then we dressed and I took her home.That special time came two weeks later. We went again to the Coram drive-in, leaving around eleven so we could get to the beach by 11:30. I had laundered the blanket during the week so it would be clean and soft for what we both wanted so badly. I stopped off in the afternoon, on the way home from school, to buy some condoms. Rose had stayed in the truck at my insistence, but peeked into the bag once I had returned. At first she gasped then she had jumped into my lap and engaged me into a torrid kiss before we resumed our trip home.Our touching had become more daring and more frequent over the past weeks. Rose had confided that she masturbated furiously after our dates.“You get me so hot, Paul. I could never sleep until I can get relief.” I had admitted doing the same. We both thought we were ready now for the next step.I laid the blanket carefully onto an area that was clean of any seaweed and where the pebbles were small and plentiful. North shore Long Island beaches were a combination of sand, rounded pebbles, and rocks. I'd learned at an early age that lying on the pebbles was much more comfortable than lying on the sand which would pack down and become as hard as a rock. Rose and I stood together and kissed as she ran her hands up the back of my shirt. I ran mine down the back of her shorts. We were so hot for each other; our clothes were off in less than a minute.This was the third time we'd been naked together on the beach. Last Friday night we played miniature golf again knowing that we'd be done early. Rose laughed when I let her win again. We came to the beach and undressed each other, eagerly. “Have you done this before, Paul?”“Not exactly like this, Rose. I'm doing this because I love you. The other times were pure lust. I'm sure I lust after you even more, but I also love you terribly.” We kissed then and I pulled her down with me to the blanket. We would both cum, but tonight we would masturbate each other. I lay next to Rose, fondling her right breast with my left hand while I suckled at her left. My right hand went straight to her dripping wet cunt. I wasn't at all surprised to find it gushing with delicious juice. My fingers found her tunnel and fucked her at a frenetic pace. Her hand found my cock, but I restrained her. I wanted to make sure that she had a very pleasurable experience, one she'd want again and again. She writhed in her ecstasy; and when I moved my finger to her clit she came so hard she screamed at the top of her lungs until she collapsed into my arms.I clutched her back by running my arm between her legs and my hand over her butt. I could feel her humping against my forearm as her orgasm went on and on. Finally, it ended with a sigh, as though all the air had been forced from her lungs. I moved to hold her, but she was quicker; her lips mashed into mine as though all her passion was escaping through her mouth. I looked down to find she was almost unconscious. I held her gently until she stirred. “Oh, Paul; what was that? It was so incredible; overwhelming.”“I'd say you had the mother of all orgasms. Do you remember screaming for like thirty seconds?” She looked incredulous. “You did. I hope nobody calls the cops.”“I didn't do that, did I?” Rose was astounded at my accounting of her climax. I just nodded and pulled her in for yet another sensational kiss. She broke it a minute later to ask, “Can we wait a bit before I take care of you?”“Of course, I'll wait forever for you. You know that.”“I don't want you to wait that long. I want to take care of you just like you took care of me. Besides, I want to see how that big hard thing you have really works.”I laughed. “I only have one piece of advice, Rose; move to the side. Don't aim it anywhere near your face unless you want an early bath. Don't forget, the water's really cold now.” She looked unsure so I continued, “When I cum I'll probably shoot two or three feet into the air. You don't want to get in the way. I doubt your folks would be too thrilled to have you come home with semen in your hair. Mine would probably kill me.”“Don't worry. I'll protect you.” Even Rose had to laugh at that one. “Okay, I'll stay out of the way.” I pulled her to me for another kiss. I felt her hand on me as our lips came together. Her tongue flicked in my mouth as her hand gripped and stroked me. She kissed me passionately, but broke it after only a few seconds. “Sorry, but I want to see this.” She sat up to stroke me with both hands. She gripped me tightly, her hands moving faster and faster.My breathing became rapid and shallow as my orgasm approached. Suddenly, the familiar feeling was there. “Rose!” But instead of aiming away from her body she twisted my cock so my first spray hit between her breasts. The second struck just a trifle lower. All in all she took seven forceful rivers of slick white semen onto her magnificent body before the final weak eruption flew a mere six inches from my cock. I lay there on the blanket totally drained.To be continued in part 2. by senor longo for Sex Stories.

OoOoOoOoOoh... it's another spOoOooky episode of Boyfriend Material! Dust off your cobwebs and sharpen your fangs because this week, Harry is diving into your dating HORROR stories. Will Jenny finally solve her head lice dilemma? Can Morgan's ex put down the double rum and Cokes for good? And will Elizabeth's date ever get help for his anger management issues? Tune in for all of these stories... and more. But first, back by popular demand, Harry kicks things off with another hilarious round of Girl Trivia. Because after all, what really is a balayage?Follow and connect with all things @BoyfriendMaterial across Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube. Have a great week, you naughty possums!

How does the Federal Reserve's latest rate decision influence your financial future? With inflation taking a roller-coaster ride from 9% to a more manageable 3%, we explore the Fed's motivations for this rate cut and its broader implications for your portfolio. Reflecting on the history of inflation—from the days of 10-cent Cokes to today's prices—we consider what the future holds for consumers and investors alike. As we dissect the market's response, we'll also touch on recent job reports and the Fed's commitment to steering the economy through these choppy waters. Whether you're planning for retirement or evaluating your next big investment, this conversation provides insights to guide your financial decisions.

This is the Live Call-in Show from this past Sunday night, October 6, 2024!  Tonight, Mike and Scott are back together and we had a lot of fun during this show!  First, we had a great discussion of the newly-released Cake Bake Shop menu coming to Disney's Boardwalk.  $28 cake slices?  $8 Cokes? $11 orange juice?  Will it be worth it?  Hear our thoughts!  We also discuss availability at the resorts this fall/winter and what might be driving this scarcity and talk about reasons to get out to Disney's Aulani Resort & Spa!  Come join us in the BOGP Clubhouse this week at www.beourguestpodcast.com/discord.  Please visit our website at www.beourguestpodcast.com.  Thank you so much for your support of our podcast! Also, please follow the show on Twitter @BeOurGuestMike and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/beourguestpodcast.  Become a patron of the Be Our Guest Podcast over at www.patreon.com/BeOurGuestPodcast.  Thanks to our friends at The Magic For Less Travel for sponsoring today's podcast!

We're here to let you know about the latest food trend! Join Intern John, Shelby Sos, Rose, Hoody, and Erick as we try protein diet coke while sharing your stories about trusting your gut! Plus an all NEW War Of The Roses and a batch of John's Little Secrets! All that and more with Intern John & Your Morning Show!  Make sure to also keep up to date with ALL of our podcasts we do below that have new episodes every week: The Thought Shower Let's Get Weird Crisis on Infinite Podcasts 

Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders, senior defensive lineman Shane Cokes and senior safety Cam'Ron Silmon-Craig fielded questions from the media in the Champions Center on Tuesday.

Iliza has more advice for Taylor Swift ticket holders and encourages a lost lesbian to be honest sooner rather than later.  Get access to all the podcasts you love, music channels and radio shows with the SiriusXM App! Get 3 months free using this show link https://siriusxm.com/iliza and code ILIZA.

Wells Fargo Bank employee found dead in her cubicle 4 days after last scanning into work. South Korea district offers 1 million won just for starting romantic relationship. Husband admits adding cocaine, MDMA to wife's Cokes in hopes he would marry her daughter. // SUPPORT by joining the Weird AF News Patreon http://patreon.com/weirdafnews  - OR buy Jonesy a coffee at http://buymeacoffee.com/funnyjones - Check out the official website https://WeirdAFnews.com and FOLLOW host Jonesy at http://instagram.com/funnyjones

Welcome to the Cancelled courtroom Donald John Trump, reality star, businessman, former president and current presidential candidate. Donald is no stranger to a real courtroom but today is all about his petty crimes like drinking 12 diet cokes a day, claiming bodies are like batteries and not thinking through the logistics of a particular wall.  Now, if you genuinely tried to do a Cancelled episode about Mr Donald, you'd be going for a decade so instead the episode covers SOME of the bizarre you may have forgotten about. Plus, more of your lazy gewl stories. A LIST OF EVERYONE WE'VE CANCELLED ALONG THE WAY: The OlympicsDrew BarrymoreIt Ends With Us DramaBenniferLady Gaga SEND US YOUR LAZY GEWL STORIES: podcast@mamamia.com.au END BITS:If you're looking for something else to listen to why not check out our award winning parenting podcast How To Build A Human.Or click here to listen to the hosts of Mamamia Out Loud open up about creativity and how they stay inspired.  CREDITS:Hosts: Clare and Jessie Stephens Executive Producer: Talissa BazazAudio Producer: Leah Porges Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.Support the show: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Special episode where CJ and Sean talk about their favorite, world sporting event- The Olympics. We laugh about how an Australian professor might have danced so poorly her sport has been thrown out of any future Olympic consideration; how some swimmers are pounding Cokes to eat away at the polluted water; and the weird and often funny career opportunities that Olympic athletes have to jump on once the games are over.

This episode is presented by Downtown Colorado Springs, The Ute Restaurant and the Banning Lewis Ranch Brew Fest. Find out more about our sponsors at the links below: https://www.downtowncs.com https://www.theuterestaurant.com https://www.cshba.com/brew In this episode of tap&table, co-hosts Ryan and Matthew talk all things hospitality and cocktails with Colby Schaffer and Shayne Baldwin in the district e11even speakeasy location. 90% of those of you who read this aren't subscribed, and it would mean the world to us if you'd like, subscribe and even hit the bell for notifications of our upcoming episodes! We have some amazing next guests lined up, so it means a lot that you've taken the time out of your day to watch/listen to our podcast. Follow tap&table on Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/tapandtablepodcast⁠ Follow tap&table on Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/tapandtablepodcast⁠ About tap&table: tap&table is a comprehensive food and drink podcast for the Pikes Peak region presented by Matthew Schniper (Side Dish) and Ryan Hannigan (Focus on the Beer/Focal Pint). Combined, Matthew and Ryan have 30+ years experience covering food and beer here in Colorado Springs.  Our aim is to elevate voices and ideas directly from the local service industry community with commentary, insight, guests and the TableStakes product-of-the-week segment. By default, each episode will be nomadic by nature, recording via pop-ups in various unique local spaces, to provide texture and ambiance from those environments.

Bill Frost (CityWeekly.net, X96 Radio From Hell) and Tommy Milagro (SlamWrestling.net) talk Loot, The Fall Guy (Watch! Harder!), IF, MoviePass MovieCrash, Camden, Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult, We Are Lady Parts, The First Omen, Mayor of Kingstown, Ren Faire, Adventures in CarnyLand, MILF Manor, Reginald the Vampire, Rasslin' News, R.I.P. The Girls on the Bus and Still Up, Star Trek: Discovery, Doctor Who, Hacks, and more. Drinking: White Rum & Cokes and Athletic Free Wave Hazy IPA from OFFICIAL TV Tan sponsors Outlaw Distillery and Boozetique.* Yell at us (or order a TV Tan T-shirt) @TVTanPodcast on Threads, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, or Gmail.* Rate us: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, YouTube, Amazon Podcasts, Audible, etc.

155 | This Tuesday is our Club Discover Happy Hour! Instead of our usual 3 news articles, we get personal. So grab a drink, and let's catch up on everything from childhood sleepovers to poking fun at husbands to our 2nd round of 75 Medium. Welcome to “Discover” where food news meets pop culture. Hosted by a western tastemaker & millennial cattle rancher @‌NatalieKovarik and a sought after dairy sustainability speaker & millennial dairy farmer @‌TaraVanderDussen - Discover is your go to podcast for food news. Every Thursday your hosts dish up their entertaining and informative thoughts to keep you in the know & help you “discover” what's new in the world of food. Connect on a more personal level with your hosts by JOINING “CLUB DISCOVER”. Our once weekly newsletter where Natalie & Tara share all their latest discoveries from what they are watching, eating, cooking, reading, buying, listening tom wearing and more. It's the insider scoop on all the things your hosts are LOVING AND DISCOVERING!!!! THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!!!! COZY EARTH: luxury goods that transform your lifestyle Code “DISCOVER” ARMRA COLOSTRUM: Our favorite supplement Code “DISCOVER” TOUPS & CO: 100% natural tallow based skincare & makeup Code “DISCOVER” AGSURE: Insurance that specializes in agribusiness. Contact them at 505-377-3897 WILDGRAIN: Artisan breads, pasta & pastries directly to your door Code “DISCOVER” ENCHANTMENT VINEYARDS Family-owned winery & the only ingredient in their wine is grapes. No additives. Code “DISCOVER20” & THANK YOU TO OUR MAIN SPONSOR CASE IH. To the men and women at Case IH, farming is a way of life. A life they live every day on millions of acres across North America. Get to know the farmers who work at Case IH and see how they bring that perspective into everything Case IH does. Visit Case IH to see their stories and even share your own. Built by Farmers - Case IH. Please note this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.

Our Hero judges are back to test out snacks sent in by loyal jammers. In this episode we eat way too many chocolate covered gummy bears, buffalo wing pretzels, Sour Patch Kids, and wash it all down with some oddly flavored Cokes. Cinnamon is also here to give her review.

Conan speaks with Brie in Utah about mothering six sons, her post-Mormon experiences with coffee and alcohol, and owning her own bridal shop. Plus, Conan designs his very own bridal gown. Wanna get a chance to talk to Conan? Submit here: TeamCoco.com/CallConan

I am not sure the term “unstoppable” is good enough for our guest Denise Meridith. Denise was born in Brooklyn NY and, in part, attributes her “get things done” attitude to her upbringing in New York. As a child she wanted to be a veterinarian, but such was not to be. Denise explains that colleges back then didn't consider women capable of assuming veterinarian positions. So, Denise got a BS degree in Wildlife Biology.   She then joined the U.S. Bureau of Land Management where, for 29 years, assumed a number of position including serving as the deputy director. We get to hear stories of her time with the bureau and how she moved around, something that was fairly common for government employees for awhile.   After serving with the bureau for more than 20 years Denise was offered “early retirement” due to the long time she served there. After retiring she became the CEO of Denise Meridith Consultants Inc (DMCI), a public and community relations firm. In 2019 she also became the CEO of The World's Best Connectors LLC, a virtual community for C-suite executives that helps other executives enhance their connections with family, employees, clients, government & the media. If running two companies weren't enough Denise also has formed a 501C3 nonprofit organization, Read to Kids US Inc to promote literacy and family bonding.   See what I mean about being unstoppable? Denise is quite engaging and I am sure you will discover that the time listening to our conversation goes by quickly and you may even wish to give this episode a second listen.   About the Guest:   Denise Meridith is a highly accomplished senior executive, entrepreneur and thought leader, with more than 40 years of success in government, technology, sports, and entertainment. When sexism denied her access to her childhood dream of becoming a veterinarian, she earned a BS in Wildlife Biology from Cornell University and became the first professional woman hired by the Federal Bureau of Land Management. During her 29 years with the Bureau, Meridith served in multiple states and, while Deputy Director in Washington, DC, she oversaw 200 offices, 10,000 employees and a $1.1 billion budget.   After early retirement from the Federal government and for the past 20 years, she has been CEO of Denise Meridith Consultants Inc (DMCI), a public and community relations firm. Since 2019, Meridith has also been CEO of The World's Best Connectors LLC, a virtual community for C-suite executives that helps other executives enhance their connections with family, employees, clients, government & the media. Recently she created a 501(c)3 non-profit Read to Kids US Inc to promote literacy and family bonding.   During the past 25 years in Arizona, Denise founded the Phoenix Black Chamber of Commerce, Linking Sports & Communities (a youth sports non-profit for 14 years), and was a Governor-appointed member of the original Arizona Sports & Tourism Board. She helped win approval for State Farm Stadium for the Arizona Cardinals.  In academia, she taught sports marketing for undergraduates at Arizona State University and business operations for executives at eCornell. As a freelance reporter, she has even written 1000 articles about small businesses. Denise Meridith has won many awards for business and community development in Arizona.   ** ** Ways to connect with Denise:   FREE OFFERS:   JOIN DENISE MERIDITH'S MAILING LIST   http://tinyurl.com/3ttt5rsu   Make your first New Year's Resolution Now: Schedule a 15-min call to see if Denise Meridith's Gen X & Baby Boomer Executives Regaining Your Mojo  counseling or masterminds starting in January are right for you https://calendly.com/dmci2021/mastering-the-metaverse   LEARN MORE ABOUT Denise Meridith:   By reading her self-biographies published on Amazon: o   Thoughts While Chillin'  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1791662323 o   The Day a Roof Rat Ate My Dishwasher https://www.amazon.com/dp/1729211127   Social Media:   Facebook:    http://www.facebook.com/denise.meridith.7 LinkedIn:     http://www.linkedin.com/in/denisemeridtih Twitter:  @MeridithDP2023       About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/   https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.     Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well, a pleasant hello to you wherever you happen to be. I am your host, Michael Hingson. And you are listening to unstoppable mindset. We're really glad you're with us. And today we get to talk to Denise Meridith, who has a really interesting story, a few factoids, and then we will just go from there. She as a child wanted to be a veterinarian, but had some sexist issues. And they wouldn't let her do it. I want to know about that. I think the world has changed in that regard. Some but nevertheless, when she was wanting to do it, it was different. She is the first female professional hired by the Bureau of Land Management. And that's fascinating. And she's got a lot of other things to talk about. So I don't think we're going to have any problem filling up an hour Denise. So I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset. And thanks for being here.   Denise Meridith ** 02:13 Well, thank you, Michael. I appreciate being invited. Looking forward to it. Well,   Michael Hingson ** 02:18 why don't we start then, with you talking a little bit about the the early Denise the child and all that, you know, what, where you grew up and some of that kind of stuff. And what made you interested in being a veterinarian and you know, we can take it from there? Sure.   Denise Meridith ** 02:34 Well, I am born in Brooklyn, like so many people in New York City, a lot of people born in Brooklyn, and then they migrate different boroughs.   Michael Hingson ** 02:43 Where are the best bagels in Brooklyn? Well, I   Denise Meridith ** 02:47 didn't stay there long enough to find okay. Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 02:53 Well, okay, we're the best bagels and Queens.   Denise Meridith ** 02:55 We had so many people grew up in New York City. Every block will have a good bagel. So yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 03:03 I know. That's why I asked the question, trying to be cute. It's just like I lived in Chicago for five years. I was born in Chicago moved out when I was five. And so I don't know when things like Garrett Popcorn started. But I know that whenever I go through Chicago, I do need to go to get popcorn in O'Hare. Or if I'm in the city that I'll go to one of the places downtown. We do. We do tend to do some of the things in the world buy our food. What can I say?   Denise Meridith ** 03:29 Yes. All right. If that's hotdogs, yeah, that would be asking you where to get their best hotdog in Chicago. Sure.   Michael Hingson ** 03:34 When they're in Chicago pizza, which is different than New York pizza, but that's okay, too. Yeah, they're both great. Ah, what a world anyway.   Denise Meridith ** 03:44 Yeah, so I sort of grew up in knots, whatever I did grew up in Queens, and I had what I call a Norman Rockwell childhood. If you seen his paintings and pictures, that's pretty much my childhood, but some Boxster ovaries, three houses, that type of thing. My dad had grown up on a ranch in Texas. So that's why he moved to Queens. You want more land around his house there. And so we had a big lot in our house became the center of attention in the neighborhood. We had the barbecues parties. We had a finished basement with a pool table and ping pong table and all that stuff. So we were at the center of things. My dad was a renaissance man, he believe it I didn't ride horses when he grew up. He thought horses would work. He couldn't understand why people rode horses for fun once he became an adult, so instead, he hears the musician. Big bands, he played in big bands,   Michael Hingson ** 04:41 what did he play   Denise Meridith ** 04:43 any horn and also the drums and also the guitar. Anything he can get his hands on? He was an Army and Army veteran. So I played an Army band as well. He was Avature tennis player, a poet, professional photographer, you name it. You did it. And then my mom was a community organizer. So church, PTA, anything that needed somebody in charge she was it. So when you merge those two together, you get me. So I liked a lot of pay for things. My mom, she belonged to the animal association or now Humane Society. So I had all kinds of pets growing up. So it's logical that I would want to be a vet. Because there's not too many professions in New York. It could be go to Broadway and I did take dancing lessons most of my life. But you could go to Broadway, you could be a doctor, you gotta be a lawyer or bid. That was pretty much it. So I picked the vet, because Cornell was in New York one. Yeah. Got vet schools and world. Yes. When I got up there, I found out that they weren't too keen on women being vets, they were just letting like one woman a year and into vet school. And pretty much to be that woman. I knew it was gonna be me, because there'll be somebody who pretty much grew up on a farm or something, or whose parent wasn't? Preferably who went to Cornell.   Michael Hingson ** 06:08 What was what was their logic? I mean, of course, I'm looking at it from today's standpoint, and today's point of view, but what was there was   Denise Meridith ** 06:19 physical physical, that went on weren't capable being that's the women, the few that I let them know, you had to be a small animal that they work with horses or anything like that. So which I thought was pretty ironic. Could you pick up all the women, cow girls and stuff? Yeah. Why? Why they would think women in fact, why went to Cornell, I had a lot of offers when I went to Cornell, was because I had the best equine contract program in the country. And I do like horses. So anyway, I got to do a lot of horse stuff there without being a vet, my roommate, actually was from a town, she just wanted to live in a dorm. So no breaks, all the kids go, you know, I guess what I do now biking, or vaping, or something. We would go horseback riding during breaks. So during lunch, or any kind of break, after school, we would go horseback riding. So it was pretty ideal setting for me growing up. And going to that point, the ideal part of it, of course, was what a lot of people don't know about the North. isn't that different from the south in a lot of ways and that I integrated junior high school, all white, you're in high school, I integrate it in a whole white high school. Cornell there were, like 75 African Americans in my entering class of 3000. So I had a lot of experience, being in the first study only our breaking glass ceilings. So that was my growing up. And my bed story how I got not to be a bit of what happened with that was, which was fortuitous, or actually more beneficial was that I wound up majoring in wildlife biology. Have any women but they didn't say they didn't want any women. So it was a lot different atmosphere there. So three women, three women graduated with degrees in wildlife biology.   Michael Hingson ** 08:23 What did you do with it? Then when you got that degree? My   Denise Meridith ** 08:27 first job was as a wildlife biologist, believe it or not? The Bureau of Land Management. So that was I got to be the first woman in that agency.   Michael Hingson ** 08:37 Were there a lot of challenges in getting that job? Or were you pretty well accepted? Right from the outset? Or what?   Denise Meridith ** 08:44 There was always going to be challenges. Yeah. Dave, and but essentially, and that was I interviewed earlier today. And it reminded me when you're a senior in college, now, you don't just go online, put in entries, but you would have to write write letters. So people remember that you had to write letters to them and agency companies asking to be considered. And I as a wildlife biologist, there are not a lot of options are state government. Maybe that's not likely because people die in place and the state government openings there.   Michael Hingson ** 09:21 So what was what year was it that you graduated?   Denise Meridith ** 09:25 I was graduated 73.   Michael Hingson ** 09:27 Okay. All right. All right. Yeah. Because I'm thinking of of things like it was much later than that was like 23 years later. Well, it was actually more than that. It was like 26 years. It was like 1999 my fourth guy Doug Linney became ill with glomerular nephritis and the, the emergency vet or actually the specialists that we took her to was a woman in in a veterinarian facility that was mostly women. So, clearly there was a lot of change. But anyway, that   Denise Meridith ** 10:03 Yeah, well, it's I would say it's all women. Now you've made pretty   Michael Hingson ** 10:07 hard, but very much a lot. It is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's   Denise Meridith ** 10:11 timing is everything. Yeah, that's hardly very few men anymore. I don't sure exactly why. But there are very few men anymore in that field. So I wrote my letters to places that would harm wildlife people. So Fish and Wildlife Service in a Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. The Park Service and Forest Service both told me they didn't hire women. That was pretty plain. And what's interesting now and I talked to younger people, sort of horrified. People could say that then it wasn't. It wasn't uncommon. It wasn't thought to be different, or rude or discriminatory or anything. They. And so now, you know, I wish I kept the letters. You didn't keep going wasn't anything different. Before, right, and forest service offered me a job as a secretary, they liked my degree from Cornell. They thought I'd make a pretty good secretary. So the Bureau of Land Management is the only one that said, okay, and probably I said, it's a perfect storm. Why I got that particular job. That job had been vacant for two years. They couldn't find anybody   Michael Hingson ** 11:21 to take it. So they figured what the heck, we'll give her a try.   Denise Meridith ** 11:24 Yeah, all right. Gotta have somebody in here sooner or later. So I took that job and which was in Las Vegas, of all things of all places. And it was turned out great with an office, small office 25 people or so in office, the average age was 27. Because nobody wanted to live in Vegas at that time. We had a if you can imagine. People that age in Vegas, we had a great time. We had a great time to that office. And it's a lot of fun. I was one of six wildlife biologists in the state. Because now people have seen all the movies and the shows and everything. But at that time, while kingdom was it, the only show it mentioned, you know, that wildlife Marlon Perkins. Yep. So he was an inspiration to me and everybody who went into the field and at that time, but there weren't many of us. So I had 10 million acres to play with by myself.   Michael Hingson ** 12:26 With a lot of fun and what was it you were to do with those 10 million acres?   Denise Meridith ** 12:30 Wildlife Biology it pretty much studying patterns and populations, identifying ingredient species, we need to do the preserve them. What the big change for me was I went to school in upstate New York. And my first job was in the desert of Nevada. Yes. Completely different wildlife. So I got to learn a lot about a lot of different wildlife. In fact, the main wildlife there was desert tortoises, and my favorite, yeah, they're nice. And pup fish and the old era. That's about it.   Michael Hingson ** 13:09 That's about it. Well, I had desert tortoises as pets growing up. And then we lived in Mission Viejo and California in 1982 through 1989. And my in laws lived, but 2025 miles away in San Clemente. And one day they were outside and a tortoise came walking up their driveway. And they advertise because they wanted to find it. They figured it was so Taurus that belonged to someone and nobody ever claimed it. And I said I would love it. So we named him et turtle because his face was like ET. And he lived with us for for a number of years. And then the gardener left the gate open and he got out but it was fun. He loved cantaloupe. He loved rose petals.   Denise Meridith ** 14:02 Yeah, yeah, they're interested in pets. I had one one time that also got out. And it's something you don't think about, you know, think about you know, you think of dogs running away. You don't think your Taurus is gonna run away but   Michael Hingson ** 14:17 curious. Yeah. Well, it happens Mukunda What do you do, but by the same token, it was fun when he was around with us. And he figured out that we had a screen door in the backyard that went into the house and wouldn't latch but he figured out he could use his front feet and open the door and come in. That's great. And what he liked to do is go live right in front of the refrigerator because the refrigerator was nice and warm and and that caused great consternation with our cat who couldn't figure out what he was so   Denise Meridith ** 14:55 that's good. Well, they're smarter than we think. They are. Yeah, Well, people are asking me today Well, earlier as if you will have a master's degree in public administration, and I said, Yeah, I have a people degree and an animal degree. Yeah. And believe me, the people agree as a lot harder. Oh, yeah. Animals wildlife would do fine on its own. Okay. The reason why we have wildlife biologists is to actually figure out what to do with about the people, much   Michael Hingson ** 15:28 more than the animals. You're right. Exactly. So you became a wildlife biologist? And how long did she do that?   Denise Meridith ** 15:36 I did that for a couple of years there in Vegas. And then what I figured out was that while being from New York, you know, I'm very decisive, or aggressive or assertive, is that biologists don't make decisions. They make recommendations, I figured that out. It was like, I could do a lot more for wildlife being in more decision making capacity. So I switched from wildlife biology to environmental science, because the environmental scientists are the ones that wrote the environmental assessments, and the rules and regs and all of that type of thing. And so I was able to do a lot more for wildlife, from that position than I did from being a bog biologist.   Michael Hingson ** 16:25 Was that also in Las Vegas? Yeah,   Denise Meridith ** 16:27 so I did that for two years. And then after that I was on the road I moved at that time, which is different now. Because I assumed government can't afford it. They wanted you to move every three or four years, just like the military. So you did. So that was four years time ago. Again, because still a bit. Some people think the good old days or the bad old days, depending on what side you're on. couldn't really get another job as a first woman. And most of the western areas, they're back east where I was hired in and our job was in Silver Spring, Maryland. So I hopped back after that, I hopped back and forth across the country. Guess where the best opportunities?   Michael Hingson ** 17:18 Were you've been in a number of positions where you're kind of the first or first woman to do it. What were what were some of the others? Yeah,   Denise Meridith ** 17:28 every job in the bureau after that pretty much was the first. No, I was the first the somebody but I was deputy for resources and New Mexico, Santa Fe, New Mexico. I was associate state director lesson number two person in California. That was great. I was the head person and eastern region, which covered 31 states, West that bordered on that nice for the Mississippi. And then I was the first in only woman. Personnel call a deputy director in the United States, for the Bureau of Land Management. And Washington, DC during the Clinton Administration. That's pretty much in charge. It's a political visit the directors political position. So the deputy is sort of the one that sort of runs things as us almost a CEO type of Ryan. Oh, and that I had 10,000 employees and billion dollar budget and 200 offices. So that was very exciting.   Michael Hingson ** 18:34 A little bit more expensive to live in DC than in Vegas. And but but I don't know, today, Vegas is getting pretty expensive.   Denise Meridith ** 18:41 Yeah, I guess it's funny because Vegas even then was relatively expensive to other parts of the Southwest. Luckily, I moved to DC, you know, so long ago, and then I kept my house and move away and don't move back. I was in DC a couple of times, luckily kept my house. So it was that the thing with the government. The other reason that government doesn't move you all over the place now is that they will buy your house. And I'm sure they can't afford to do that type of thing anymore. Yeah. If you? Yeah, if you didn't want to sell it, or you couldn't sell it, the government would buy it   Michael Hingson ** 19:16 and move you. Do you still have your house in DC now. Now? Yeah,   Denise Meridith ** 19:20 I kept it I'd be very well off. But oh, yeah, I left it. So I moved to LA. Well, it's interesting selling my house in DC I could afford two houses. In Phoenix. I didn't buy two houses. Probably should have done that too. But I how low the price of the housing was here. Yeah. And now since pass COVID Since everybody knows that figured out. It's a wonderful place to live. I think it had the highest rise in prices in the country. Well, Phoenix. This past year   Michael Hingson ** 19:54 gets pretty hot in the summer. Now I live in Victorville. So we're on the high desert weekend. had over 100 in the summer, but you get a lot more hot for longer periods of time than we do. We'll be in the high 90s Low hundreds or so. But Phoenix tends to get hotter.   Denise Meridith ** 20:12 Yeah. Why about saves that has no humidity whatsoever.   Michael Hingson ** 20:15 Right? Most cases where I am pretty much the same thing. Yeah.   Denise Meridith ** 20:20 So here are the ideal temperature is probably 100 100. And Summertime is fine. Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 20:27 That's when it gets to 110 115. It's a little bit a little bit different.   Denise Meridith ** 20:32 And we haven't been having much of that. So I guess climate change. We haven't been having as much of that. lately.   Michael Hingson ** 20:38 You did this summer, though, right? This past summer.   Denise Meridith ** 20:41 This summer. Yeah. But it was like one stretch. Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 20:47 It did make national news. You're right. But still,   Denise Meridith ** 20:49 it was just like, a week or two. And I will trade that for 11 months and perfect. Navi   Michael Hingson ** 20:56 I hear you.   Denise Meridith ** 20:59 So but yeah, Victorville that was in my my area, you know, and I was I had a California here. So high desert was pretty interesting. It's like two different countries. In Northern California and Southern California.   Michael Hingson ** 21:15 Well, in Southern California, the high desert is different than the Inland Empire somewhat and both different than right on the coast. So So what do you do? It's, it's, it's the way it is, but it was 26 this morning when I woke up. Yeah. Oh, not too bad. And it was high was 59. I was pretty impressed with it. It went up by 33 degrees. So that's pretty cool. Oh,   Denise Meridith ** 21:43 neat sense of the word. Yeah. And we were having a fit here. Because it was a high was like 59 or 68. We're ready to jump out windows here. It was. I don't know. And nothing is here. We complain about it being cold. But we don't have jackets. You know what I mean? We don't have Cokes? We don't have anything that would make it not fairly that bad, right.   Michael Hingson ** 22:12 For a while I lived in the Bay Area. And there were times up in Novato where we could get over 100. But typically, it wasn't too bad. So we didn't have an air conditioner in the summer.   Denise Meridith ** 22:22 Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, I lived in Sacramento. The class difference. Yeah. Yeah, that was hot. But I would tell people, you know, they come visit. And of course, you have to take them to San Francisco. They're coming to visit you. They're really not coming to visit you. So I need to always forewarn them. Okay, San Francisco, it's got to be cool. The same? And still, everybody's surprised and they get the air for Cisco. And freeze.   Michael Hingson ** 22:48 Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. Like Mark Twain said, he said this. I spent a what a winter there one week in the summer or something like that. But yeah, well, so how long did you stay with the Bureau of Land Management in   Denise Meridith ** 23:02 29 years, I was with them. Oh, my gosh, yeah. And I left. After I left the DC current administration, when I was had the 200 offices. And even a 200 officers didn't bother me as much as the issue is in DC. I'm a very, like I said, sort of decisive kind of person, I like results. And DC is not designed for that. You know, it's not nobody's fault. It's just not designed to make decisions. So I wanted to go back where you could actually do things, have projects that are finished, etc. So after a couple of years, I moved to Arizona, where I am now. So I've been here for 28 years. And it was great when I moved back here as the state director, and I wound up designating for national monuments. So helping get the Arizona Trail doesn't made it I upgraded all the RV parks, a lot of campgrounds, etc, etc, etc. So I was able to do things. And I love that.   Michael Hingson ** 24:14 And then what did you do? And   Denise Meridith ** 24:16 so when I left Oh, they had an early out, which they don't do that anymore, you but they used to say, Okay, have they like every so many years they would say okay, you can leave if you have based on yours, not your age. So guess what, since I started two weeks out of college, I had a lot of years and no age, so I got to retire super super early in life. And what I did is Denise married a consultant Incorporated, which is a public and community relations firm. It's actually wound up doing a lot of the same things, tourism recreation. Thanks for the outdoors I helped. Also well thanks like I Have the get the stadium built the NFL stadium built here. Several other spring training stadiums designated not just a lot of parks and star help get them designated a lot of things like that. So I did, yeah, pretty similar types of work. Except I'm from the private industry president.   Michael Hingson ** 25:22 So what made you leave BLM and start your own company? Just because of the out the years? Yeah,   Denise Meridith ** 25:30 yeah. Hard to pass that up. Or retire at that age. So yeah, got that. And and you know, it's can make up what I used to preach to people, they didn't believe me, because people go, Oh, government, so boring, and bla bla bla bla bla bla, well, it ceases to be boring when you have a pension and health care. Right. So well,   Michael Hingson ** 25:55 I can make it as fun as you want at all. It's all about mental attitude to   Denise Meridith ** 26:00 Yeah. And I was less than working for the Bureau of Land Management, because what you had, it's all scientists. Right? So this geologists, it's science, people doing science, happiest people in the world, you know, so I really enjoyed. I enjoyed them, they were enjoying their work, I enjoyed them. It was just, to me a wonderful opportunity to work with people for that long, who enjoy their work. And it's not too many people who can say that anymore. But it was unusual that why in government with our agency.   Michael Hingson ** 26:38 So you what, what made you start the company, you just wanted to continue doing the same sorts of things. And that was the easiest way to do it. Or, yeah,   Denise Meridith ** 26:47 I probably should have stayed retired now. Now, I've enjoyed what I've done. But essentially, two weeks after retirement, the story was, well, two weeks after retirement. And I'm thinking boy, gee, I can do anything. How does this you know, it's sort of a shock when you're working all the time. And like, when I was in DC, I was on the road 75% of the time, so And Arizona, I travel a lot. Oh, I could do anything. So a friend of mine called and said, Well, why don't we go to the movies, and it was like the middle of the day. And I thought, oh my god, this is good. Go to the movies. So we went to see a movie very bad. Well, I know I shouldn't but and I came back and water was coming out my front door. I've sunburst blah, blah, blah. I spent the next five weeks in a hotel. And so the only thing I can think is that I was lost my mind. Because it had happy hour every night. When I invited somebody else to join, join me and happy hour, and they go, Oh, nice. What is great opening job opened up and I think I had too much wine. This great opening open up but heading up this nonprofit. You should take a look at that. And so I did. Some I retirement didn't last very long. So I ended up that nonprofit. And I've been doing something ever since.   Michael Hingson ** 28:15 Just what was that nonprofit?   Denise Meridith ** 28:19 It was the Arizona Trail Association. You know, they were one of the longest trails in the United States. And it goes from border to border from the northern border, Arizona, New Mexico. And spectacular trail. Because Arizona is beautiful. So it's a very beautiful trail. But they were having problems getting it designated. Because yes, politics and I understand politics. I help them. Actually it was me and John McCain got together and helped get that trail designated. But I'm sort of a restless person. Sorry, I was only there for a year with them. I had my own Disney spirit consultants started anyway. So then I just did a variety of things. I like projects start finished start finish. Until about, you know pretty much on my own. until five years ago, I decided, well, why don't you get a whole group of people who like to do that. And that's when world's best connectors was started. So the current organization that I manage, and what it just made up of a bunch of folks like myself, they all have their own businesses. But we get together and people throw out ideas and we jump on them or not. We're consulting firm. If n were CEO, the CEO, we're not B to B or C it'd be all those things. We're CEO, the CEO, that what we do is help other executives what problems they come in, they need a tech person, they need a HR person, they need whatever come to us. We either have a person like that, or we can get them a person like that. So that's what we've done in the past five years   Michael Hingson ** 30:03 is disease murders consultants still functioning? So you have two companies? Yeah.   Denise Meridith ** 30:10 Well, I actually three, but we want if it gets too complicated, but no, I have a nonprofit to read to kids, us. I'm trying to get parents to read to the kids again, like they did in the old days. But the days for consultants where that comes in is, and really the reason that I met you really, at do a lot of conferencing and whatever. But I do coaching, professional coaching, or people, and particularly for Baby Boomers and Gen X, what I do is help them rediscover their mojo. That's what I call it. And so I think both of those groups pretty much had it made in the beginning of 2020. Yeah, they had figured it out. They were doing well, economy's doing well, it's all kinds of opportunities going. Everything looks fantastic. I as an example, was that in Miami for Super Bowl week with my group, a group from world's best connectors, and we were networking and going to a lot of special events, thinking of future partnerships, future contracts. And two weeks later, I come back COVID Close everything down. So and that happened to a lot of what happened, everybody but baby, I think Baby Boomers and Gen X is crooked, because it was more of a disappointment. He thought you had it figured out you could actually had everything made. And then when President says COVID stuff and pandemics over those people ran back to work. And guess what? Nobody only wants to came back. Nobody else was in the office. Yeah. Nobody else wanted to be in the office   Michael Hingson ** 31:57 and a bunch of them got COVID.   Denise Meridith ** 31:58 Yeah, so it was just, to me devastating for a lot of people in my age group. So what I do is, work with them. You can't go backwards, it's not going to change. It's not going to go back to what it was. What can we do to find your happiness? Again? A place in a position and a life that can make you happy again? Yeah, a lot of people don't notice that. Really? COVID gave them a second chance. Yes. Okay, you're gonna have another opportunity. Maybe they didn't even like that job. You know that they're complaining about low job anyway. So what can we do? They get you something that you do like or no job at all. That's delicate, and people have a hard time transitioning sometimes to retirement. And so I help people over those humps. That's what I tried to help you. So   Michael Hingson ** 32:55 you do a lot of coaching and helping people and so when I should explain to the folks listening out there that Denise and I met through PATA Palooza that people know what PATA Palooza is, we've talked about it a number of times on on unstoppable mindset. And for those who don't know PATA Palooza is a program that meets four times a year and the people who come are either podcasters interested in being podcasters, or want to be interviewed by podcasters. Pretty much. Those are the people that usually come. And Denise and I met there. And here we are.   Denise Meridith ** 33:29 Yeah, we had a, you know, I think a lot in common as far as the way we look at the world, and achieving things and being happy. So I yeah, I was very impressed with what you do what you've overcome. I do a lot of speeches. Well, now it's coming up on Black History Month. So for that Women's History Month back, but I get request, obviously. Because people want to know how, yeah, obviously, all these all these things could have been obstacles, not being a vet, that not, you know, getting certain jobs, they not getting promotions, all of that. You can look at that as an obstacle that it is, or you can figure out a way to overcome that. But   Michael Hingson ** 34:20 you But you made a choice, somewhere in your psyche, that you weren't going to let those kinds of things stop you and that you were going to continue to   Denise Meridith ** 34:28 move on. Exactly. And that's that's the only way to do it. Thanks for not gonna be equal, you know, and that's one thing that's sort of hard to take those true. Baby bonus. Well, what we see is what we see, what we see is what we get. So I if you think about I was a kid when Civil Rights Act was passed, and everybody thought everything was going to change. And it hasn't been something strange, but women can be better Now, you know, overall, they're still allowed to obstacle. So I worked with people, well, I not work with people, I hope to be a role model for people, and how not to give up. And, and I say, essentially, wonder closes, God opens another one to take it.   Michael Hingson ** 35:20 What's hot? What's ironic is so the same thing in a sense with the Americans with Disabilities Act, everybody thought everything was going to change, and it hasn't. Unemployment rates have dropped a little bit. But they're still incredibly high. Internet websites aren't accessible, for the most part. And we're not included in a lot of the conversations when you talk about diversity that doesn't generally include disabilities. So some of us like, like I and I've talked about it on the podcast here talk about inclusion, you either are inclusive, or you're not, there's no middle ground, you either are gonna be or you're not. But at the same time, the thing that we have, and continue to face is not included in a lot of the conversations. So I don't hear anybody talking about a disability history Awareness Month or anything like that, although there is a month dealing with disabilities, but it is not nearly as well discussed and mentioned and talked about, or included as other minorities, even though we're a larger minority than all of them.   Denise Meridith ** 36:24 Wow. And everybody has the potential to be in that group. And   Michael Hingson ** 36:29 everybody has the potential to be in that group. Every well. Well, of course, actually, in, in a technical sense, everybody is a member of that group, I believe that we've misinterpreted the definition of disability, and that disability is a characteristic that everyone has, it manifests in different ways like you can see, and your disability, at least one of your disabilities, is your light dependent, you know, the power goes out, what are you going to do, you gotta go off and try to find a light source. Thomas Edison fixed it mostly, but not totally. And so it still creeps in. So the bottom line is, everybody has a disability. You know, it's something that we, we we really should think more about, but there's a lot of fear. And people know that they can become a person with a physical disability or whatever. And so the fear keeps us from being really included, like we ought to be.   Denise Meridith ** 37:21 And I've always had empathy along those lines, whatever reason why parents whatever reason was, but I, when I became the director, the deputy director of the Bureau, Ada, just pretty much passed. Right. And so I hired a person to, you know, interpret that legislation for us and help people with that legislation. Or did that set off a firestorm? How couldn't you be wasting a position on that? Nobody cares about that, and nobody needs to know that. Anyway, so but I do what I do. Right. So So I went ahead. And in this case, she was a hearing impaired, but as soon as she got there, things changed people. Oh, I have a question. Oh, I don't understand this, oh, how can I do this better? And   Michael Hingson ** 38:19 of course, today, and of course, today, most people rightfully so would not be caught dead saying hearing impaired because people who are deaf or hard of hearing recognize impaired is, is a negative thing. And we're not even cared, you know, the, and that hasn't really translated into blindness, because so many people continue to say visually impaired, and it shouldn't be blind or low vision. Because why are we Why do you equate how much sight you have with whether you're impaired or not? And that's the issue that we're Why do you equate, whether you how much you hear is to whether you're impaired or not. That's the whole thing we have to change and it's just so hard to do, because it's so ingrained in society.   Denise Meridith ** 39:01 Yeah, that'll be GQ. T I A plus. As an example, you know, the it's just the getting across what we need to get credit. It's getting harder, not easier to talk to people about anything. All right. Unfortunately, it's getting harder. So but she went on to be pretty popular pretty, pretty much in demand. But I I'm doing right now, one of the projects that we're working on, and world's best connectors is business education for college athletes. So again, it sort of comes up. Most people when they think about the NCAA is ruling on name image and likeness, nio that kid's gonna get paid for playing. Like a football, man and men and footballs. That's the whole thing. And if you look at this statistic, that's where the money is. That's where it nio money is going, blah, blah, blah, man and football and so my group, we're looking at students overall. And our program is open to any student in any sport in any school. And I want people that want to go to the Olympics, I want Paralympic people, I want LGBTQ T people, I want any athlete. But again, that's different. People aren't saying that they're not thinking that at all. So we're going to be a little different that way. But I always have been different. But I think if anything, those other groups all need it more. Because right now 2% of NCAA athletes in college, become professional athletes. 2% Okay, 98% What are they gonna do afterwards? And, you know, college is not really prepared for them for that. It's no, but just they have different goals. Okay. And I don't begrudge them that they have different goals, different objectives. But what we're doing is teaching them how to create a business run a business. So they have something when they leave college, they leave our program with a business license. So they have something when they leave college, what they do with it after that, we up to them, but at least it gives them a chance and opportunity to be I say something besides a pitcher in a yearbook? Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 41:25 Which is something that certainly makes sense to do.   Denise Meridith ** 41:30 So where it's called Project Nylo. And so I encourage people to look into it. It's pretty simple. It's www dot project. Nylo. And I l.com Pretty simple, but the O is for ownership. And what we do is want to put ownership in the NFL, on the side of the good. Oh, that's just something different. Okay, now, I was gonna say, but you know, the things why I like liked you when I met you. And why I like your program, is there's such a need for educating the public about things. And it's getting harder and harder to do that. On paper. You know, to me, that's the anti intellectual approach that's being taken to so many things. It makes it more difficult. So I appreciate what you're doing.   Michael Hingson ** 42:27 You have you have in your life I'm sure had. Well, you talk a lot about mentoring, and you've been mentored a number of people who are some of the people who have been your mentors?   Denise Meridith ** 42:40 Um, yeah, it's interesting. Obviously, I didn't have many women. I didn't have any women mentors in Bureau, I was it so I became the permanent woman, mentor, and the Bureau of Land Management. But I did have a lot of male mentors. And that's one thing I try to get across to people know not to make stereotypes of people judgments about people you never know. My first mentor and Bureau of Land Management was older Anglo guy, and I say older, we thought he was really old, because he was 55. He's like, 2020 to 21, and whatever. So and he was a sagebrush specialist, right? That was his site. So you wouldn't think, and it was Republican conservative, you could go down the line. And we hit it off perfectly, which you wouldn't think so you can't make judgments about people. And he really helped me in the beginning, because like I said, I dealt with wildlife in New York. And we were in Nevada, though, he taught me a lot of desert, survival skills that I needed the half, and really helped me understand the bureau and it's what it did and how it did. It sounds like that. So Jim Bruner was my first mentor there. But then I had others while I'm away at hasty was the director of California for like, 30 years. He was the bureau director in California. He was awesome. Oh, God said and he would say, I like women better they work harder. Here's a big guy, Marine veteran, you know, tough guy and buzz cut until he died, you know? And so to have someone like that, except you Yeah, you know, promote you as like Kevin a year on pet Pitbull. Right. But it was very helpful. So I've had people like that. JOHN MCCAIN, ARIZONA. So I had mainly just because of the nature of the work I was said, mainly male mentors, mainly Anglo male mentors. So I do Estelle people keep an open mind about things you can learn from everyone. And I've had great support.   Michael Hingson ** 45:05 Was your mom, a mentor to you? Yeah,   Denise Meridith ** 45:09 yeah, I talked about that your parents if you're lucky. I'd be the first mentor. So I described my dad and everything that he did. And my mom was community organizer, a very strong, liberated woman, so to speak. And so for both of them, I got a little bit from both of them that helped shape me. And I, and really, they're the ones said, you could do anything? Honestly, you bet. They didn't say that, you know, they were very supportive. The track the track to get to Cornell is no easy track. In New York, it starts my mother figured it out. It pretty much started when I graduated from elementary school. I was valedictorian there. And she knew you had to get into the right Junior High School to get into the right high school to get to Cornell. Okay, she was that far ahead. So I'm thinking, so that's why I integrated the junior high school. And it was all white. I think there was 20 people of color in that whole school. And then I integrated the high school that I went to as well. And yeah, that was no easy thing. But I keep your eye on the prize and what you want out of it, what you got, and then that high school was sort of a feeder type of high school for for now.   Michael Hingson ** 46:40 Here's an off the wall question. Going back to mentors for a second. You mentioned John McCain. How about Cindy McCain?   Denise Meridith ** 46:46 Cindy is wonderful. Yeah, people I don't know, maybe most people outside of Arizona don't realize or the southwest. It was a it was a couple. Yeah. He was very important. And his decision making. And just being an I love them both. There was such a strong couple. And she's carried on she's so she has   Michael Hingson ** 47:17 you know, he was the visible one. Pretty much in the news and all that but she is clearly continue to move. Move forward in is a vibrant force in her own right, which is great.   Denise Meridith ** 47:30 Yeah, and she has I'm gonna approach her about my program, too. But hey, you know, it's Yeah, yeah. And politics in general. You know, I just don't have many I care right now, are Republican and Democrat. I've been independent all my life. So it hasn't mattered, obviously. But, but the just, we need people that have conviction, you know, and make honest decisions, not based on, you know, contributions or anything like that.   Michael Hingson ** 48:05 Yeah, that's really the issue is having true convictions. And we just don't see that much of it. In the world in general, like we should know.   Denise Meridith ** 48:13 And, you know, who knows when we'll get there again. But it's very price people. He people never really knew what he was gonna vote, you know, how he's gonna vote, even though he was a conservative Republican. So you could guess some of it. But he did a lot of environmental work this Yeah, I know, as I was working with him on it, right. So that would shock people. They would not think that would happen. But there were   Michael Hingson ** 48:37 a few decisions he made. I thought were a little bit strange, but you know, but that's okay. You You do what you can, but clearly, he was a man of convictions and, and was was one of the good ones. Yeah,   Denise Meridith ** 48:53 he was also effective. And that's one thing. There you go. You know, well, I don't know if we have to leave effective politicians anymore. But he brought a lot of money to the state. He was very obviously supportive of the military. So veterans, he did a lot to help veterans. He did a lot of, to me. Very important things that involve getting money, you have to get money to do good things. And he did. had, you know, did a good job of doing that. But, you know, so a lot of politicians now you don't see them getting money for anyone but themselves in a lot of cases. Yeah. It's pretty sad.   Michael Hingson ** 49:32 Yeah, we don't have the role models that we used to have them true models that you can look up to in terms of ethics and everything else. Yeah.   Denise Meridith ** 49:42 Sandra Day O'Connor, another person we lost. I said another wonderful person. I met her obviously through my stuff with the Bureau of Land Management. But again, you know, people couldn't predict. Yeah, she voted accordingly, you could not predict or assume, you know that she was going to do this or do that. He evaluated every issue that came up and, and, you know, stuck to her guns with it. She was very important. She also what I liked about her is that she rarely promoted education. Right now, Arizona, I don't know, I didn't look this past year are pretty much been number 49 out of 50. States and education. And she was did a lot to try to rectify that by really pushing education. She thought that people choose, right. Don't know enough about government. Yeah, it's not taught anymore. People don't know how government works. How, what is public service? Now that is, I know, Bureau and other federal agencies have a hard time getting anyone anymore. And believe me, we need civil servants. We need public servants. So who are honest, and they're just to do a good job. We need   Michael Hingson ** 51:09 to get leaders and it isn't just civil servants. They need to, to understand and other civil servants we need to grow leaders to write.   Denise Meridith ** 51:21 And I just really, a lot of people been discouraged. Like, even aside, even the science, they can't do science anymore. Right. So scientists are not happy campers as there used to be. Yeah, it's gotten very politicized. Yeah, exactly. So I don't know. But I, my, what I've decided from here on I have a few years left, maybe just a few. But anyway, is to legacy, my legacy, hopefully, would be developing future leaders. So that's what I'm doing. That's why I'm doing like this education program. We're gonna create a whole new generation of business leaders, which will be nice people that in the past, or qualities have been overlooked athletes, people don't think about them, except how fast I can run or how high they can jump. Yeah. And when you think about it, that discipline there that they had to go through to be to where they are charismatic, a lot of them are charismatic leader type people. And, you know, we're missing all of that, by just, you know, throwing them out if they can't run out in the field anymore. Yeah. I'm hoping to give them some alternatives. In turn, they can take that business degree, go back home, hire people in their area, and their community back home with a business degree and have a family business. You know, it's it's multiple, as the effects multiply dramatically, I hope, what they were doing with this program,   Michael Hingson ** 53:00 you mentioned earlier, read to kids tell me a little bit more about that.   Denise Meridith ** 53:04 Yeah, that's, that's my fun project. But I feel one I've been writing since I was 10 years. Well, probably before, but since I wrote my first book when I was 10 years old, right, dreading it, too. I was pretty good artists. But I'm concerned that people aren't. I think reading is the crux of a lot of things. Decision making, you know, rationality, everything, but my angle on it is in the past, parents rented our kids, it was one moment, you know, bedtime stories. One moment, bedtime alone, if your child quietly do something together. Now, it's pretty much an ima ComiCon fan, so not knocking marvel in particular, but now it's, you know, syndicated on another TV, watch Marvel until this time because parents are very busy. I got a lot of different jobs. It's just, to me, that's something that's been lost. And when I read the kids, us the mascot is my dog, my miniature poodle, airy, and he has five books on Amazon. And the adventures of airy are about what he's doing as he grows up so to speak. So   Michael Hingson ** 54:30 every right Harry writes his own books. Yeah,   Denise Meridith ** 54:33 he does a good job. This book sell more than my Yes. So his first haircut our first target went to the doctor right those types of issues, though he helps kids overcome those fears that they might have. But to be the key is there. I'm what I might our model is to read to a kid three to six years old 15 minutes a day. So you take that 15 minutes read in 15 Min. So we have a lot of authors in our group, you can read those books, 15 minutes. And that's just 15 minutes, which doesn't seem long, but it's, you know, face to face. Total attention, working on something together, and it just doesn't happen much anymore. Know what to say. And when we go to book shows or whatever, and type of thing, and so all the people that go to these giant, you know, now they still have a few, I was glad to find out a few giant book fairs going on. And one in Tucson, I guess. 100,000 people go to that one. It's pretty incredible. But everybody that will come up to our booth say, oh, yeah, my mom used to read to me. It's passed along. Yeah, passed along. And these people that are coming up to you are very educated, erudite people, right. So that's what I hope to do. And luckily, I had a RT O'Hagan and I'll give a shout out to him. He, during pandemic, he bought Aires books, and distributed them to nurses and hospitals. So that they could go home and read to their kids. And so you get nice letters. Oh, it's first time. My kid read out loud. Or it's the first time that ghost I hope that nice books that people would get some lessons from them dedicate my talk about? Oh, you didn't know that your kid was afraid of such and such? Yeah. You didn't know the kid was being bullied at school? Or you didn't know these things? It? Yeah. So it could open up a lot of discussions. So it's the region kids got us is that site. And it's just a little thing I do on the side. But I'm hoping it has some impact on parents, grandparents in particular, I thought grandparents were really sort of left out during COVID. You know, they couldn't even see anybody and got separated from their grandkids. My books are various books, obviously, you can get them on Kindle. You can get them on online. And so it's something that you can do now what technology you can do over what we're doing zoom, right. You can read to hear grant kid on the other side of the country through zoom. So that's what I'm hoping. Right now. I appreciate your asking about it. So the little thing I do on the side but reallocates us that's as my heart. It's something that I really like to see happen.   Michael Hingson ** 57:36 So how does the program work? What do you do?   Denise Meridith ** 57:39 What we do is just write books there online. And what we had breach over it, or we'll have starting again this year, is go to schools, you know, go to school, go to libraries. You know, Eric goes, I take Gary. And he goes, and we have, you know, the books there. And parents. Yeah, by the books we read. We have readings for our office from our, you know, our group COMM And I read some of the kids there, and whatever. So it's just getting kids excited about reading again. And parents like it too.   Michael Hingson ** 58:16 Alright, so I get to that is that is really cool. What books have you written?   Denise Meridith ** 58:20 I just have to have my own. But anyway, so he has five, but I have   Michael Hingson ** 58:26 He's got four paws though. So he's got a porter, right?   58:30 That's true thoughts, while chillin and a C h i l l i n what no G is really covers my career from being born in Brooklyn, I guess, up into my career through the Bureau of Land Management. So it's funny when you write something like that, and you call it an autobiography, because when you're young, you don't think you're gonna live that long. And then it was like, Gee, wow, I guess I had some more living to do I should write something else. So the other book is the sequel to that and it's called the year roof rat ate my dishwasher. Which people go I'd say what Okay. Roof rats are I don't know that their I guess their data. Arizona. I don't know. Anyway, we have roof rats here. A lot of people have different kinds of pests than their areas but we have roof rats, and they eat there. They have big teeth. And not like normal rats. They have big teeth. They climb trees and they eat through pipes. They eat through all kinds of things. So literally, the story opens so that book the first story is about the My dishwasher stopped working. And I had the guy come to repair it and he opened stuff up but he like jumps back and scrapes I go whoa. And he goes look at a pipe. So the rat should eaten through the PCV pipe. And that's why my dishwasher what's not working. And so what I wanted to do with this book is it's very much about Arizona. So it's an Arizona Survival Guide is what I call it. Arizona is a very particular place with very unique problems like roof rats. And so I talk about as a business person, how to survive here in Arizona, what kinds of things to consider and look out for. And I tried to tell people, it's a great place to live. People know that already. But there are some things that are different here that you have to look out for Scorpio, roof rats, rattle steaks, black nose, yeah, 115 degree temperatures now one ban. But I tried to keep it very upbeat. And I also tried to acknowledge people here in Arizona that are doing very positive things like McCain, I mentioned in there, people who, because Arizona doesn't get any recognition really has a very strange reputation outside of Arizona. And I wanted to get across that is very normal place. With it's a purple state that much into that, but it's we have people all kinds and all religions and all people think there are people of color hair for some reason, because it sort of looks that way if you walk through parts of Scottsdale, but it's gonna be majority minority state a couple of years. So there are plenty of people of color here. And it's just a wonderful place to live. So my second book while it's out, it's about me and people. I never hear what they've accomplished. It's also i My love you but who? Arizona.   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:51 So do you see desert tortoises these days?   1:01:56 I hear are Phoenix not anymore? Because it's so built up? Yeah. But the thing is, Phoenix is also spread out, believe it or not, it's the biggest city now geographically in the country. surpassed LA. So now it's the biggest Yeah. And so around the edges, people live around the edges. So they see tortoises, but they also see coyotes and rattlesnakes. So I, you know, I had my years as a wildlife biologist, I don't need that anymore.   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:29 Well, if people want to reach out and contact you, how do they do that? Okay.   1:02:34 Pretty simple. You could get my website that's about me is Denise. Meridith.   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:41 Can you spell that, please? Yeah, I   Denise Meridith ** 1:02:43 was about to do that. Oh, great. Yeah, that's people fill it in correctly. So thats D e n i s e m e r i d i t h.com. Meridith is normally spelt with two E's, so I don't get much junk mail. But it's denisemeridith.com is my website. And you can sort of go from there links you to all things, world's best connectors is the wbcs.com. Again, and my ComiCon routine, but we're the WBCs that's what we pretend to be. But it's t h e w b c s.com. And that's the other site they can go to. And I really welcome people to go in and read to kids.us if you want to see airy, and hear about airy, and get some kids books, but I really want to encourage people to read to their children and read to their grandchildren. It's like a lot of stars, Michael. It's getting to be a lost art. And if   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:43 people go to our our show notes, and so on. You have some gifts that you're giving away. Yes,   Denise Meridith ** 1:03:49 yes, I have. It's called the we're talking about mentors, right. So it's called a mentors almanac. One of the gifts that I'm giving away in which you can, and what it is is 365 tips on how to be a great leader. And so I have a sort of a mantra every day that you can use, that you can use in helping you mentor other people, and also hopefully help yourself at the same time. And then people can call me and when they go to my site, they can get the phone number there too. And set up a call with me about coaching. Again, I have masterminds. I'm starting a mastermind here, probably the end of the month, so call me about that. And I also do personal coaching private coaching. And while I emphasize Gen X and baby boomers I you know, really executive coach for anyone. It's just those groups are pretty in need. Right now of that. I get it kids through my events, like world's best connectors through my events with the educational program. So I'm going to be helping kids. I'm not discriminating against younger people. I'm going to be helping them. But I coach, Baby Boomers and Gen X primarily. Cool.   Michael Hingson ** 1:05:10 Well, again, I want to thank you for being here. This has been a lot of fun. Can you believe it? We've been doing it over an hour now, which   Denise Meridith ** 1:05:18 I appreciate it. It's, well, I went I'm once I met you, I know this is gonna be great. I think we're gonna stay in touch and do a   Michael Hingson ** 1:05:26 lot of good things. Well, I sincerely hope so and definitely want to do that. So I want to thank you again. And thanks for listening wherever you are, we really appreciate it. Whether you're listening or watching on YouTube or some other podcast source would really appreciate it. If you give us a five star rating we value your ratings very highly. And of course, needless to say, Love five star rating. So please do that. Love your opinions, any thoughts that you have about what we did today and we appreciate your opinions. If you know of anyone who ought to be a guest on unstoppable mindset. Denise, you as well. Please let us know we're always looking for additional guests, people who we can have on to tell their stories and talk about what they'd like to talk about. If you wish to reach out to me you can do so by emailing me at Michael m i c h a e l h i, at accessiBe A C C E S S I B e.com. You can also go to our podcast webpage, www dot Michael hingson.com/podcast. And Michael Hingson is m i c h a e l h i n g s o n So www dot Michael hingson.com/podcasts. And again, love those ratings really appreciate it. And we definitely want to hear from you and get your thoughts. So, one last time, Denise, I want to thank you for being here and taking so much time to be with us.   Denise Meridith ** 1:06:57 Thank you, Michael and I wish you continued success.   **Michael Hingson ** 1:07:03 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I

On this week-in-review, Crystal is joined by metro news columnist and opinion editor for The News Tribune in Tacoma, Matt Driscoll! With two weeks left in the State legislative session, Crystal and Matt dig into several bills with potential for huge impact and needing public support to get across the finish line - HB 2114 (rent stabilization), HB 1932 (even-year elections), and SB 6105 (Stripper Bill of Rights). See the resources section for links to contact your legislators about each of these bills! Next, they discuss the promise of the City of Tacoma's detailed Anti-Displacement strategy, Mayor Bruce Harrell pledging no new taxes at his annual State of the City address, and no charges against the SPD officer who killed Jaahnavi Kandula. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Twitter at @finchfrii and find today's co-host, Matt Driscoll, at @mattsdriscoll.   Resources Why Seattle's Proposed Surveillance Mash-Up is a Lose-Lose with Amy Sundberg and BJ Last of Solidarity Budget from Hacks & Wonks   “Pass bill limiting rent hikes to help stabilize households” by The Seattle Times Editorial Board   “Seattle's LGBTQ Communities Demand Rent Stabilization” by Rich Smith from The Stranger   HB 2114 - Improving housing stability for tenants subject to the residential landlord-tenant act and the manufactured/mobile home landlord-tenant act by limiting rent and fee increases, requiring notice of rent and fee increases, limiting fees and deposits, establishing a landlord resource center and associated services, authorizing tenant lease termination, creating parity between lease types, and providing for attorney general enforcement.   HB 2114 - Send a comment to your legislators   “NPI's even year elections bill advances out of Senate State Government Committee” by Andrew Villeneuve from The Cascadia Advocate   HB 1932 - Shifting general elections for local governments to even-numbered years to increase voter participation.   HB 1932 - Send a comment to your legislators   “Why a dancer with Tacoma ties is fighting for WA's 'Stripper Bill of Rights'” by Matt Driscoll from The News Tribune   Strippers Are Workers Campaign   SB 6105 - Creating safer working conditions in adult entertainment establishments.   SB 6105 - Send a comment to your legislators   “Some Tacomans are being pushed out of their neighborhoods. The city wants to intervene” by Shea Johnson from The News Tribune   Anti-Displacement Strategy | City of Tacoma   “Mayor Bruce Harrell Promises to Deliver Bare Minimum at 2024 State of City Address” by Hannah Krieg from The Stranger   “$230 Million Deficit Hangs Over Annual Harrell Speech” by Doug Trumm from The Urbanist   “King County Prosecutors Decline to Charge SPD Officer for Killing Pedestrian” by Ashley Nerbovig from The Stranger   Find stories that Crystal is reading here   Listen on your favorite podcast app to all our episodes here   Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington state through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Tuesday topical show and our Friday week-in-review shows delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, the most helpful thing you can do is leave a review wherever you listen to Hacks & Wonks. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. If you missed our Tuesday topical show, our producer Shannon Cheng was guest host and welcomed back Amy Sundberg and BJ Last from Solidarity Budget to discuss how the City of Seattle is rushing to bring three surveillance technologies to the streets of Seattle with minimal public input. Make your voice heard at the final public meeting next week on Tuesday, February 27th at 6 p.m. Today, we're continuing our Friday week-in-review shows where we review the news of the week with a co-host. Welcome back to the program, friend of the show and today's co-host: Metro News columnist and opinion editor for The News Tribune in Tacoma, Matt Driscoll. [00:01:31] Matt Driscoll: Thank you for having me - it's always wonderful to be here. And of course, as luck would have it, hammering started in the background. Hopefully that's not too annoying, but yeah - it's great to be here. Thanks for having me. [00:01:42] Crystal Fincher: Excellent - love having you back. Well, we have a couple weeks left in this legislative session, which is scheduled to end on March 7th. Houses have already gotten done passing legislation that originated in their chambers, now the other chambers are taking up things. And there's a few bills that I wanted to talk about that are trying to make it through, that a lot of organizations have as policies, and that would be really impactful to residents throughout the state. The first one is one talking about rent stabilization - different than rent control - rent stabilization basically limits rent and fee increases during the year. So this is something that a lot of renters have been talking about. We've certainly covered the housing affordability crisis at length on this program, but it really is a challenge for renters facing seemingly endless rent hikes. And those rent hikes currently don't have any caps. We've seen instances of rent literally doubling in some places, but fees 20-30% increases annually, which is way beyond the cost of inflation, generally, and really challenging for people to be able to afford. This has been cited as contributing to income inequality, to our homelessness crisis, and to just regular affordability, to displacement. Really challenging, so one thing that has been in the works for over a year has been the effort to try and limit rent increases. This bill would limit rent increases to 7% during any 12-month period, which is still a pretty substantial increase for most people - but within the realm of reality and affordability and achievability for a lot of people. How do you see this bill? [00:03:38] Matt Driscoll: Yeah, I mean, it's really interesting and it is very similar to a citizens' ballot initiative that we covered here in Tacoma last election cycle, which did place some rent increase limits on local landlords and some caps on local fees. To me, it's kind of the other side of the coin - although this coin is probably not a coin, it has a bunch of sides. But we talk a lot about just the affordable housing crisis and the need to build more housing of all kinds, particularly affordable housing - being able to meet all sorts of different economic demographics with that. And this is another side of that, which is people faced with the crisis of housing, calling on lawmakers and policymakers to enact some protections and some regulations to keep them from just getting gouged and forced out financially. And particularly in this bill and in the initiative that ended up passing just barely in Tacoma, I mean, the rent increases and the fees that they still allow are not insignificant. And the fact that we see the pushback to it that we do, particularly from landlords' associations, and conservative lawmakers, really speaks to how out of whack the market is. If you can't get by by raising rent 7% annually, I think it raises questions. Now, there are, I think, some legitimate concerns about how far to crank that lever, because I personally believe at some point, if you do crank it too far, you are going to impact the "mom and pop" landlords who do exist, who are real providers of legitimate affordable housing to people and housing to people that they might not be able to get otherwise. So I do think you have to walk that balance. Certainly to me, this bill seems reasonable, but I'm sure for a lot of lawmakers, it comes down to that question of how much reach do you want the government to have in dictating what are supposed to be those free markets we love so much in this country. But really, this conversation is indicative to the crisis that's happening in cities across Washington and across certainly the West Coast, where the cost of housing is just greatly outpacing any income growth or job growth that we might have. People are freaked out, and rightly so. You talk about all the necessities, whether it's food or - there are safety nets for that. But I think the housing one is one that feels really close because there aren't safety nets. If you lose housing, you lose housing. If you need to go to a food bank, you can go to a food bank, but there's not a house bank. And so it'll be interesting to see what happens and then see where the momentum goes on this. [00:06:02] Crystal Fincher: It will be interesting to see where the momentum goes. And you raised a good point in talking about the Tacoma Renter Protection Initiative, which is similar to other renter protection initiatives and legislation we've seen in various cities throughout the state - whether it's Spokane, Bellingham, Tacoma, Federal Way, we've seen local communities across the state take action on this because this is plaguing communities. That housing expense is almost everyone's biggest expense and so if that is skyrocketing, that's taking families' available discretionary income, that's impacting the local economy, and obviously causing a lot of housing insecurity that is really putting a lot of people in tough positions, and communities in tough positions, and governments and how to deal with that. And it's so much more expensive to deal with once it gets to the crisis level - once someone is displaced or can't afford housing, loses their apartment. All of those are really, really expensive to deal with from a city and county perspective. So I am hopeful that this legislation passes. It's currently in the Senate and it faces an uncertain future, so this is going to be one where community feedback to all of your legislators is really going to make a difference on this - particularly your senators, because they're going to determine the fate of this. There are a number of people on the fence - some moderate to conservative Democrats who have voiced some concerns. Jamie Pedersen is working on this in the Senate - has expressed some reservations, but has certainly heard a lot of feedback from his constituents who overwhelmingly are renters in his district. We'll see how this turns out, but this is one where - for folks listening - if this is something that's a priority to you, reach out to your senators. Fortunately, we make it really simple in Washington to be able to send communications about legislation. We'll also put links in the show notes to make that easy. But they're going to need to hear from you on this - certainly would be a big step forward for the state in terms of renter protections here. Also want to talk about another bill, which we've certainly talked about before and recently in our conversation with Andrew Villeneuve in one of our Tuesday topical shows, that the Northwest Progressive Institute has been very active with. The even-year elections bill, which has advanced out of the House and then advanced out of the Senate State Government Committee. So it's looking fairly positive, but still has to go through some more hurdles. This would enable cities and towns to choose to hold their elections in even-numbered years instead of odd-numbered years. This is a big deal because turnout is much higher in even-numbered years. And as we've seen in the state of California, when we do put those other races - municipal races, local races - on the ballot with those national races, people still vote, still great turnout, even better turnout than they would see in those odd-year elections. We just got done with an election in November that had the lowest turnout since we've been keeping records here in Washington. It is a problem. We're deciding elections with sometimes close to only 20% of the residents participating in the election - that's not representative. I don't think that's doing anyone any favors. The more people who can participate, the better. I also sometimes hear - This is all a progressive conspiracy to turn things out because we see so many elections that trend progressive in the end. And one thing that I would remind people is Seattle is a very visible place. Seattle has more progressive voters than conservative ones, so certainly elections in Seattle and therefore King County do trend as ballots are counted in the final days - those late ballots certainly do trend in a progressive direction. That's not the case statewide. It really just depends on what the local population is. If we're looking at southwest Washington, for example, those often trend red in a lot of those swing districts there. It just really depends on what there is on the ground. And even in those situations, I still think it's better for more people to participate in elections, and voting, and deciding what their communities are going to look like. What do you think about this bill? [00:10:23] Matt Driscoll: First and foremost, Crystal, it's awfully generous of you to acknowledge that even where there are more conservative voters, it's better for more people to vote - that's very bipartisan of you, I appreciate that. This is one of those ones that makes me question myself - am I a super liberal hack? Because there really doesn't seem to be a good reason not to do this, in my mind. At the end of the day - participation in democracy, in our elections - the more people, the more registered voters we can get involved, the better. That's what we should all want. None of us should be afraid that our arguments should stand up and they don't - if they're in the minority, they're in the minority - that's the way it's supposed to work. I will say that there's also part of this that frustrates me because we do look at those even-year versus odd-year elections, and one of the reasons that this gets cast as perhaps a progressive-motivated thing or a progressive scheme is because in those odd-year elections, the voting demographic does skew older, whiter, landowner, property owner - that's real - and i guess the frustrating part about it is just progressives could vote. I just went through that election last November and it was brutal to go through the endorsements. I do think election burnout is real. It does feel like there's always an election. I think we got to be generous to the general public and realize that most people are just trying to get through their lives, and put food on the table, and get their kids to school, and all that. And I think we're asking a lot of them to constantly be kind of in election mode, which is certainly how it feels. But at the end of the day, if progressives are concerned about the disparity, they could just vote in odd-year elections and they just don't - historically - we talk about it every time until we're blue in the face, and then they don't. But full circle - this is about participation. Whether we like the reality or not, the reality is people don't vote in off-year elections nearly as much as they do in the even year. We have historical data backing this up. And I also think it's important to note that all this bill will do is give places the ability to do it. It doesn't dictate it. It's local control of it. If you want to make that change, you can. So to me, again, I don't see an argument against this. It seems like a no-brainer, but so little is a no-brainer when it comes to Olympia. [00:12:34] Crystal Fincher: I completely agree with what you're saying. And as this makes it through and follows the path that a lot of bills do, one of the things that happens is amendments are offered and sometimes accepted. So this passed the House. Once it did arrive in the Senate, it received some amendments that passed out of committee. I'm not in love with these amendments. One of them not only requires the city to basically opt-in legislatively and pass an ordinance to say we're going to do this, but now it requires a popular vote from the people. So the city has to both adopt an ordinance or policy by its legislative body- [00:13:10] Matt Driscoll: An odd year? Do they have to vote in an odd year? Is that part of the stipulation? [00:13:15] Crystal Fincher: You know, it probably is. And yeah, it would have to receive approval from its voters. Now, this is something where the voters vote for their city council or their town council - whatever their government legislative body is, usually a city council - who make decisions like this all the time. Putting this out to a public vote is a costly endeavor. Elections aren't free. You have to pay to administer them, it's costly, it's time-consuming. And as you say, this is probably going to be on another odd-year election ballot. This is pretty simple. I wish we would let people and the electeds that they selected make these decisions. I would love to see that amendment taken out before it does get to a final vote, but we'll see how it goes. It would be progress either way. Definitely better than nothing, but would love to see as much good as possible and not add another hurdle to this that is seemingly unnecessary and also costly at a time when a lot of cities and counties are dealing with budget deficits and are really trying to trim costs instead of add them. Another bill that you covered this week is about a proposed Strippers' Bill of Rights that's currently in Olympia. What is happening with this and what would it do? [00:14:29] Matt Driscoll: Yeah, I mean, I kind of became mildly fascinated with this over the last week because it was pretty new territory for me, to be honest with you. So basically, the background on it is adult dancers, strippers in Washington essentially lack a whole lot of protections that I was, for one, shocked to hear didn't exist - like requirements of clubs to have security. In recent years, there have been some slight upgrades, installations of panic buttons and stuff, but really it's kind of a Wild West out there in terms of staffing, and training requirements, and de-escalation requirements. And basically, whether you frequent strip clubs or not, just picture a strip club and think of all the things that you would assume would be in place to protect people and employees and the reality is that many of them don't exist currently. And so this bill would do a lot of that around training, de-escalation, that sort of thing - which all, to me, feel like no-brainers. And I think in the legislature's view - from the testimony that I've heard, at least in the House - it seems to be a shared sentiment. Where it gets tricky is this bill also opens the door for the legal sale of alcohol in strip clubs. And at least initially going into it, for me, it's a juxtaposition until you get into it. Because on one hand, you're talking about safety and regulations. And then - oh, yeah, we're going to add alcohol - and you're like, what the? that doesn't necessarily seem like that's about safety. But at the end of the day, as I learned and wrote about - and others have written about it plenty this session - essentially the deal for strippers is they pay a nightly rate, if you will, to work, to perform. They're independent contractors. They're not employees of the strip club. So you will end up owing $100, $200 just to start your shift. And then the money that you make in the process of your job, after you pay that back, that's what you make. One, that's clearly exploitative. It sets up bad situations, as you can imagine. But the reality of it is because there's no legal alcohol sales in Washington strip clubs, that's really the only financial model that exists for club owners. And so it puts pressure on them to exploit the dancers. And then that puts pressure on the dancers to maybe ignore warning signs about things that make them uncomfortable because they're all of a sudden in financial distress trying to pay what they owe just to work. So it just creates this whole set of tensions that I think - really a lot of the supporters of this bill would argue - really decrease the safety in these clubs. So this bill would do all of that - it made its way through the Senate, it's now over to the House, it's out of committee as of earlier this week. But the hang up is going to be around that alcohol point. I think most lawmakers seem to agree with the safety measures, but there's hang up around the alcohol and how that works. We could go into the weeds - some legislators think that the Liquor Cannabis Board already has the ability, they could just make a rule. Liquor Cannabis Board says - No, we need you to grant us the licensing authority, yada, yada, yada. It's all very complicated, but it's going to come down to the booze. [00:17:22] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, and this is really interesting - I personally am absolutely in support of this. Strippers are workers. They deserve protections that any worker deserves. Employers have an obligation to protect their employees, or in the case of independent contractors to protect the people who they are making money from when they work in their establishment. As you said, this does require adult entertainment establishments to provide dedicated security personnel during operating hours. It does establish restrictions on the leasing fees charged to not exceed what a dancer can make so they don't go into debt while they're dancing - that serves no one. It also requires adult entertainment establishments to provide mandatory training to their employees on first aid, conflict de-escalation, and identifying and preventing human trafficking, sexual harassment, discrimination, and assault. Expands certain safety requirements, including key padlocks for locker rooms, cleaning supplies, and certain safety signage. And then, as you said, it prohibits the Liquor and Cannabis Board from adopting or enforcing a rule that restricts the exposure of certain body parts or that restricts sexually-oriented conduct. That particular element, I believe, came out of the targeted enforcement of gay establishments in the City of Seattle - seemingly with these lewd laws - saying that those can't be in the proximity of alcohol, which just seemed really out of touch, antiquated, potentially a way to harass the LGBTQ+ community, and just not something that is consistent with the values - certainly that we hold in Seattle, but in Washington state, as we've shown. So I do hope this gets through. The alcohol issue - for me, I trust the strippers working in the establishment to know what's safe for them and if they're advocating for this and saying this is part of what we need to have a safe and sustainable environment, I trust them with that. There are plenty of situations where we allow alcohol where, if you take away the purity-attached issues to it, that seem to me to be dicey in a lot of situations. I'm also someone who it's just like - Wow, we have parking lots at bars. Doesn't that seem like it's setting up a very problematic thing? So that's a much broader conversation there. But if the strippers don't have a problem with it, I don't have a problem with it, really. They know the business and their environment much better than I do, certainly. [00:19:48] Matt Driscoll: Yeah, I just think the whole thing's fascinating because I was talking to Laurie Jinkins about this last week when I was reporting on it - and she comes from a public health background. And her basic reaction to it is the expansion of alcohol is not good - she points to health data. I think you can certainly make that argument, but it's very interesting what you hear from folks working in the industry, and they a lot of times will compare it to Oregon. And admittedly, I'm going to lose any Pierce County street cred here, but it's been a long time since I've been inside a strip club - but I've never been in one in Oregon. What they say is - Look, in Oregon, whether you agree with strip clubs or not, they're actually a place that legitimate people might want to hang out because you can get a drink and maybe you can get some food, and if that's what you're into - entertainment - it works for you. And guess what you have in Washington? Strip club, honestly, is almost the last place you would want to hang out unless you were really driven to go to a strip club. Door charges are insane, you're buying $15 Cokes, there's nothing to drink, there's nothing to eat, it's empty and kind of sad. And lo and behold, what do you get? You get the folks who are choosing to go to those establishments - and I'm trying not to paint with a broad brush here, but I think we can all imagine the scene that this creates. And then when you really talk about the fact that you've essentially created an economic model where the clubs in Washington rely on taking income straight from the dancers as opposed to everywhere else, where they make their income off the booze and the food - like every other sort of nightlife establishment. You can see how that would even out the relationship or the power dynamic between the dancer and the club, where here the club has all the incentive to suck as much as possible out of the dancer, and the dancers are in tough positions where they're trying to make it work. So I think it's fascinating. And again, this is not very satisfying, but it'll be very interesting to see where this goes in the coming days. [00:21:41] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely will be. And I agree, it will be very interesting to see where it goes. Moving on from legislation and where things stand there, there was something that I wanted to talk about that I found really interesting and perhaps a model that other cities may be able to look at, depending on how this turns out. And that is a plan from the City of Tacoma to prevent displacement in the city. And this is in addition to a housing affordability action plan that was adopted by the City that they seem to have been making positive progress on. But a specific anti-displacement strategy that consisted of 21 actions, including buying property to build affordable units in areas that have a high risk of displacement, requiring owners of subsidized properties to issue notices if they intend to sell, or opt-out, or refinance. But really saying it's as much of a problem that people are being economically displaced, forced out of neighborhoods - we're losing the culture and character of our neighborhoods, we're losing cohesive communities that are being displaced - and the fallout from that is undesirable. So often we hear in other conversations about zoning - maintaining the character of the neighborhood - well, the people are essential to the character of the neighborhood. And when the people are being lost, that's a problem that the City of Tacoma has recognized and is taking action on, which I think is very commendable. What do you see in this anti-displacement strategy? [00:23:12] Matt Driscoll: Yeah, I think it goes back to that multi-sided, not-a-coin thing I was talking about earlier. Well, we've got the need for housing and you've got policy pushing to place some regulations and protections for tenants. This is another part of that where cities, certainly in Tacoma, are recognizing that the economic realities and the housing realities in the city are, in fact, displacing untold number of people. We've been seeing it here for a long time. Hilltop is often painted, at least regionally, as the epicenter of it, where we've had Link Light Rail expansion and we've seen the housing going in, and if you see a lot of families that have been here for a long time getting pushed out. This is an acknowledgement of that from City leaders, and so I think it's commendable, they get credit. Of course, the cynic can me points out that cities, including Tacoma, are great at coming up with plans - we already had an affordable housing action strategy, and now we've got our anti-displacement strategy, and we passed our anti-racism legislation with 21 bullet points of what we commit to do. And at the end of the day, the proof's in the pudding and people are still getting pushed out. And so the hard part is the work of - is the city actually going to acquire land and do the sorts of things that it lays out as its vision? I've been here long enough to have seen lots of visions - very few of them have come to full fruition - it's usually you get pieces and then a crisis pops up or some other thing happens. And so we'll see what happens at the end of the day, but certainly if nothing less, it's an acknowledgement of those very same forces we started talking out with at the beginning of this show of just the crazy increases of the cost of living, particularly of the housing. I hear from Chamber of Commerce types sometimes who point out - You keep saying rents are skyrocketing and really it's raising similarly to everything else. Yes, everything's getting more expensive. And yes, in theory, there have been some income gains - although I think it's totally fair and accurate to say they have not kept pace with the cost of living. But I just think housing is that one that people feel just so closely and it feels so razor thin and desperate that lawmakers, city council - here in Tacoma - are hearing it loud and clear from their constituents who are actively being pushed out or just looking around and realizing that one wrong move and they would no longer be able to afford to live here. I don't take any shame in admitting that's certainly my family's situation - if we had not purchased our house when we purchased our house, we could absolutely not live where we live today. We would be in Parkland, somewhere other than that - and that's just the reality. And so again, we'll see what comes long-term, but it's an acknowledgement and it's an important one, and I think it's right. [00:25:40] Crystal Fincher: I also think it's right. This affects everybody. A lot of times I hear a lot of people say the same thing you did - Well, thank goodness we were able to buy our house at the time that we did because we certainly couldn't afford it now. This is an issue that is really affecting seniors in the community and whether they can age in place - whether they can remain in the communities that they have built their lives in, that they have relationships in, that is so important to maintaining their own safety net as perhaps their abilities evolve and change as they age. Lots of people need to downsize houses, need to have more accessible homes. And right now in many communities - certainly in Seattle and Tacoma, but also many of the suburbs - it is not possible to buy in the same area and get something similar that you would there. They're looking at a much different quality of life if they were to do that, or they need to move far away, basically, from perhaps family, support systems, the doctors that they've seen forever, the people who've been helping them in their lives for so long, and really lose touch with those things that keep them healthy and supported. And often their family too - and their families aren't able to afford to move in and live in the same area - it's really a problem that a lot of families are facing in this multi-generational way that is really, really troubling. And I'm glad this is being addressed. [00:27:05] Matt Driscoll: Yeah, it's just a subset of the folks being affected by this - you probably know the data better than I do - but if you want to be terrified at some point, look at the data about the number of people moving into retirement age and that age bracket in the next decade or more. It's a significant amount of people. And if we don't come to terms with the fact that our economy as it currently stands, particularly in relation to housing, is just cruel and out of whack right now - there are going to be countless people really with no flexibility, nowhere to move, creating those situations that you just described where you get stuck. You have a house you probably can't look after anymore. You can't afford to move anywhere else. You don't have whatever it would take to get into senior - I mean, it's terrifying. And so one small part of a bigger pie of the economic cruelty that we have, but it's a big one. And so I'm hopeful, but again, cities are great at the plans and the bullet points and the statements of great aspiration. The proof is in how it pans out. And so I think it's important for people to keep an eye on it and keep folks accountable, so it's more than just talk. [00:28:11] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely agree with that. Getting more into the details of this, there were a number of actions - I was happy to see that this was a pretty comprehensive report - there are metrics to track over the time. As plans from cities go, especially ones that we're seeing these days in major cities, it at least had a lot of detail - that they'll either follow or they won't - but certainly a lot less vague than some of the plans that we see elsewhere. Some of the other things included were expanding one-time cash assistance to keeping families housed, offering incentives for developers to build affordable housing in at-risk areas, prioritizing new units to be rented or sold to at-risk or displaced residents, focusing down payment homebuyer assistance in high-risk neighborhoods, or reducing the cost to build accessory dwelling units. In addition to proactive rental inspection programs or community land trust with the intention of preserving affordable housing, increasing funds to the City's tenant protection program and housing assistance contracts, or creating a property tax relief program. The strategy also called for the City to consider establishing a reparations committee that would research the possibility of reparations for historical racist policies, particularly because BIPOC communities have been disproportionately displaced. Those communities have been decimated - they're far less than half of what they initially were, and that percentage is still declining there. It is a challenge - they're being disproportionately displaced, and certainly reparations are being looked at in a variety of areas and is justified. We'll see how this does play out, but I'm excited. The plan excites me because it was quite detailed. We'll also link that in the show notes for people to read themselves and see the data behind the policies, the justifications behind them, the metrics that they'll continue to be tracking, and what their metrics for progress are. It'll be interesting to see, but we talk about affordability under a whole umbrella of a homelessness crisis, the housing crisis - but it is going to take addressing these discrete elements, each one by themselves, and a plan to address all of them. And I think Tacoma is certainly showing leadership so far in that area. Also want to talk this week about Mayor Bruce Harrell delivering his 2024 State of the City address. This is his third State of the City address since he has been elected, these addresses are annual. He touted some reductions in crime, which I'm sure everyone is happy to see. He talked about the CARE Department that they established, which has started with a small trial of a co-responder model during limited hours during the day. Hopefully we will see that expanded - certainly, to at least cover 24 hours throughout the day, and more than a handful of responders there - that would certainly be welcome. And I think polling continually shows that residents want to see this expanded and available at all times and in all areas. He also made news with basically a no new taxes pledge, which is very different than what he said before. He said that he'd be looking to implement progressive revenue. He convened a task force to look at different progressive revenue options because there's a $250 [million] budget shortfall that the City is going to have to deal with this year. And he basically said - Hey, we're not going to raise taxes. I'm not going to support any raising of taxes. Our challenges are much more fundamental to that. We need to basically look at every inch of the budget and re-examine what we're doing. This seems aligned with Council President Sara Nelson's pledge and op-ed where she said not only was she looking to not implement new taxes, but also cut taxes for business. This is also at a time when they're saying they're going to increase funding for public safety. So this seemingly indicates, particularly if they're looking at cutting taxes - but really either way, whether they do or don't cut any taxes - some pretty significant cuts for services and programs throughout the city that don't have to do with public safety. And this has a lot of people alarmed. How did you see the State of the City address? [00:32:31] Matt Driscoll: What I always enjoy about our conversations is I view all this stuff from afar, from Tacoma. I know what Tacoma and Pierce County budgets look like, and I know what Seattle and King County budgets look like -and there's part of me that looks at that, and if you guys can't figure it out with the resources you have already? But I also acknowledge that the challenges in a place like King County and Seattle are not insurmountable, but are sizable. And when you look at budgets and you look at the need for these services and potential of cuts, it's very real and it could be not good for a lot of people. From a broader perspective, I do think the dynamic and the shift that we've seen in Seattle is interesting - particularly as it relates to homeless response as an example of that, because there was a development where some funding appears like it's going to get taken back from the King County Regional Housing Authority. And I do think from the broad constituency that is now reflected in certainly the city council - and you could argue in Mayor Harrell's election as well - there's a dissatisfaction with the amount of money that we are spending towards trying to address some of these problems and the actual outcomes that we are seeing. And I think a lot of that is very natural because the positive outcomes of homeless response are difficult to track. People always want to break it down - we spent this much and we housed this many people. The reality is it's just not that simple. There's more human nature involved in that. But at the same time, I do believe - and I think Seattle in some ways can be the poster city for this - is it's understandable when people look at the more progressive side of homeless response and say - You're basically advocating that we can't sweep encampments, what we see around us is okay. But I think for most people, when they look around and the problems that they see and the suffering they see, it feels not okay. A lot of times, from one side of it, the solutions you get are really long-term. And because of the way these debates stick us into stupid corners, it starts sounding like you've got one side advocating for - Shut up about the encampment in front of your business, just deal with it. And I think that, at some extent, bleeds into the electorate where they start having pushback to that. And I feel like that's the tension point where Seattle's at - yes, it's a progressive city. Yes, people genuinely want humane responses to the homelessness crisis. They're not looking to criminalize people. They're not looking to make matters worse. They want to address the underlying root causes and the lack of housing and the lack of everything that we need. But at the same time, the status quo is unsustainable. I think you see that in some of this talk of re-evaluation of what we're doing, is it working? And those can be tricky evaluations because like I said, they're not always straightforward. And I think there's a lot of good work being done. And I think attempts to purely quantify it in hard data can be suspect. But at the same time, I don't think it's entirely wrong when people say we're spending a lot of money, we've been talking about this a lot, and all I see is it getting worse. And so that's a very rambly way of - my view on Seattle politics from 33 miles away. [00:35:33] Crystal Fincher: Well, there's a lot there to talk about. I absolutely agree that people see the problem getting worse and are frustrated by that. And hear the amounts of money that are being spent and are wondering if that's effective or not - because the amounts do sound big. With the budget in Seattle - Seattle is unique in the state, in the types of industry that it has and the types of companies that it has. And Seattle certainly gets a lot from those companies. But I also feel we absolutely need to talk about and acknowledge that those companies get a lot from Seattle. As of a few years ago, Amazon had more office space in the city of Seattle than any corporation in any other city in the country. So great - Amazon is hiring. But Amazon is also taxing our infrastructure. They're causing a lot of stress on the roads - people talk about potholes and trucks - and well, Amazon is impacting a lot of that. Amazon is a lot of the impacts on our transit network. Amazon is impacting just the use of our resources, right? And Amazon is benefiting from the great resources that the city of Seattle does provide. And again, this goes both ways. Certainly people benefit from being employed, but we can't say - And that's it, that's the end of the story. There's also the desire to have those corporations, some of the richest ones in the world in Seattle, pay their fair share. In our state - as we've talked about, our regressive state tax code without an income tax - I do think there's a very valid conversation, especially in a city that has as many high-earners and as many mega-corporations as the city of Seattle does, whether people are paying their fair share. And when you look at how residents in the city of Seattle vote, that answer continues to be - No, we don't feel like everyone's paying their fair share yet, and we need to move further in that direction. City government currently, both the council and the mayor, seems to feel differently. So that will be a continuing tension that carries on. We'll see what happens, but certainly looks to be a bumpy ride coming up. The last thing I wanted to talk about this week was the announcement that there are going to be no charges for the officer who killed a student, Jaahnavi Kandula, as he was driving 74 miles per hour down a city street - the speed limit is 25 miles per hour - responding to a call. This is the incident that a lot of people probably became familiar with because they heard another officer, who is also the vice-president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, mock her death - saying that her life didn't have value, basically laughing about it in just a really sick and sadistic way. No charges will be faced by that officer either. For the officer who was mocking, the rationale that the county prosecutor gave was that it's up to the Office of Police Accountability in Seattle to determine what, if any, discipline should be faced by that officer. And then for the officer who actually ran over this young woman, just saying there was not enough evidence to show that basically he was acting recklessly. And a lot of people's response to this has been if driving 74 miles per hour with no indication that it is in a different category of emergency, certainly - and really responding to a call that police are not needed at and that other cities don't have police responding to those calls, but that's a side issue - but hey, if that's not reckless, then what is? And so we're again in a situation where the law feels woefully inadequate. And we have the county prosecutor saying - Okay, but according to the law, this would be tough, if not impossible, to prosecute and get a guilty verdict. And people looking at the common sense of it and saying - But that just doesn't make sense. Can we drive 74 miles per hour on a city road and have no consequences for any actions, any harm that results from that? And so we're once again in a situation where our laws seemingly have endless loopholes or exceptions for people who work in public safety that don't seem to apply to the rest of us. How did you see this? [00:39:53] Matt Driscoll: Yeah, we're certainly tackling the big ones on today's show, aren't we? I mean, to me, and I realize that this is a difficult view to articulate fairly, and I'm going to try my best because people feel very passionate about it for a lot of reasons. But I think two things are true. One, creating the type of police force that we need does demand accountability. There has to be accountability. And I think right now, a lot of folks genuinely feel like there is no accountability. Attempts are made to hold police accountable for what many feel are reckless, or dangerous, or whatever behavior. The result we get is - well, it wasn't illegal, it was fine. And so accountability has to be part of that, but I don't think you can change police culture through accountability. I feel like what this situation represents is more the reflection of a police culture, particularly in the mocking comments. I don't know enough about the intricacies of this case to re-litigate it. I've read the same things you read - I know the speed, the lack of lights, I also know the prosecutor came back - the interviews with other people, that they heard it, that the student seemed distracted. I don't feel prepared to re-litigate that exact string of events. What I will say is when you're in an emergency or your family members in an emergency, you'd probably want the first responders driving 75 miles an hour - maybe not 75, but you get my point. I do think there has to be leeway in the law that gives first responders and cops the ability to do things that otherwise would be considered reckless. I think that needs to happen, but I think the problem we run into is that responsibility that we've given to a police force - the police force, their culture, doesn't reflect those values that are behind that. In a perfect world, if we had the police force we had, they would use these powers responsibly. But a lot of times what we see - and again, particularly in the commentary, that's what feels inhumane. The cop who was involved in the accident, it sounds like they were distraught at the scene - I don't know what's going on with them. But I know when people hear cops talking about this person's life in a way that assigns it no value, it feels like a reflection of police culture that feels above the law, and feels drunk on power, and feels reckless. So if this cop had been charged with this, I don't know what it would have changed. I do think accountability is necessary, but I think the bigger problem is the police culture we have. And maybe, best case scenario, we're in the process of slowly transforming our police forces to - hiring the type of people and weeding out the bad - I don't know if I have a lot of faith in that. But it's not going to happen overnight. My overarching point is - yes, you need accountability, but I don't think accountability can be your vehicle towards the change that we need, if that makes sense. [00:42:49] Crystal Fincher: It makes perfect sense. I completely agree with that. It's just a really, truly unfortunate situation. And this young woman deserved better - from everybody, at all points in time from this. And I hope we take this seriously as a community, both locally and statewide, and really do look at issues with culture and start to get to the root of that problem. And with that, I thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks on this Friday, February 23rd, 2024. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Shannon Cheng. Our insightful co-host today was Metro News columnist and opinion editor for The News Tribune in Tacoma, Matt Driscoll. You can find Matt on Twitter or X at @mattsdriscoll, with two L's at the end. You can follow Hacks & Wonks on Twitter at @HacksWonks. You can find me at @finchfrii, with two I's at the end, on all platforms. You can catch Hacks & Wonks on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts - just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get the full versions of our Friday week-in-review shows and our Tuesday topical show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the podcast episode notes. Thanks for tuning in - talk to you next time.

In this CE-approved episode of Articles On-The-Go, Hank Balch shares five keys to making the most of your 15 minutes of relaxation for yourself and your team: “Believe it or not, one of the most common frustrations and sources of conflict around the sterile processing break room has to do with fridge management. There are countless horror stories out there about stolen lunches, rotting produce, exploding Cokes in the freezer, lack of available…” To read this article, take the CE quiz & download your certificate, click here. Stay tuned for new CE-approved Articles On-the-Go releasing each week! Bookmark our new AOTG CE page here: https://www.beyondcleanmedia.com/articles-on-the-go #FightingDirty #HankBalch #BeyondClean #WeFightDirty™ Click To Subscribe on YouTube, iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or Spotify or Visit Our Website!

In episode 1598, Jack and Miles are joined by comedian and musician, Ian Lockwood, to discuss… Biden Impeachment Inquiry Is Here…Without Any Proof! This Is What It Sounds Like When Lobbyists Write All Your Words…, I Need Help Understanding This…MARINATED Diet Coke? And more! Biden Impeachment Inquiry Is Here…Without Any Proof! This Is What It Sounds Like When Lobbyists Write All Your Words… Check Out Ian Lockwood's Music Video for Orbo out now! LISTEN: Accordion by Abstract OrchestraSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's guest is Salvatore Buscemi.   Salvatore is currently serving as the CEO and Co-Founding Partner of HRN, LLC, a private multi-family investment office, Salvatore Buscemi has demonstrated a keen eye for successful investment strategies. He started his career at Goldman Sachs.   Show summary: In this podcast episode, Salvatore discusses the importance of networking and building meaningful relationships, especially in the investment industry. He shares his journey from considering medical school to raising $30 million for a fund at 29, and his ventures into life sciences and commercial real estate. Buscemi emphasizes the need for genuine interaction and understanding investors' preferences. He also discusses his upcoming book, "Investing Legacy: How the 0001% Invest," which offers insights into the current state of investments.   -------------------------------------------------------------- The importance of networking (00:00:00)   Salvatore Buscemi's background and career journey (00:00:53)   Investing in defaulted loans and impact-driven investments (00:02:38)   Networking and Building Relationships (00:09:29)   Being Busy vs. Being Meaningful (00:10:11)   The Law of Reciprocity (00:15:52)   Importance of building relationships with investors (00:18:20)   Helping investors by saying no (00:19:06)   Introduction to the book "Investing Legacy" (00:20:44) -------------------------------------------------------------- Connect with Salvatore: Twitter: https://twitter.com/SMBuscemi   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/salvatorembuscemi/   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/salvatore.buscemi.589   Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Salvatore-M.-Buscemi/author/B00O5IHPTC?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salvatore-buscemi/   Book: https://www.investinglegacy.com/book   Connect with Sam: I love helping others place money outside of traditional investments that both diversify a strategy and provide solid predictable returns.     Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HowtoscaleCRE/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samwilsonhowtoscalecre/ Email me → sam@brickeninvestmentgroup.com   SUBSCRIBE and LEAVE A RATING. Listen to How To Scale Commercial Real Estate Investing with Sam Wilson Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-scale-commercial-real-estate/id1539979234 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4m0NWYzSvznEIjRBFtCgEL?si=e10d8e039b99475f -------------------------------------------------------------- Want to read the full show notes of the episode? Check it out below: Salvatore Buscemi (00:00:00) - Your network is so important. It really is. And and the most extreme example of this is when somebody loses their job, they don't have a network. So they're groveling to all their friends. Right. And so, you know, there's no excuse for that today especially in LinkedIn. You have to treat your you know, you have to treat people like friends. You know, like really. And I think that there's been too much of an institutionalization that's been normalized now where, you know, coming after the pandemic, a lot of people are they're looking for that warmth and that intricate connectivity.   Intro (00:00:26) - Welcome to the how to Scale commercial real Estate show. Whether you are an active or passive investor, we'll teach you how to scale your real estate investing business into something big.   Sam Wilson (00:00:39) - Salvatore Buscemi is currently serving as the CEO and co-founding partner of Hrn, LLC. They are a private multifamily investment office, and he has demonstrated a keen eye for successful investment strategies. Sal, welcome to the show.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:00:53) - Sam, it's a pleasure and privilege.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:00:55) - Thank you.   Sam Wilson (00:00:56) - Absolutely. The pleasure is truly mine. Sal, there are three questions I ask every guest who comes on the show in 90s or less. Can you tell me where did you start? Where are you now? And how did you get there?   Salvatore Buscemi (00:01:06) - I started out after college not wanting to go to medical school because I passed out holding a tibia in the cadaver room, and I wound up networking because of the work I did for that doctor before I passed out. He had introduced me to his brother, who had just made partner at a firm that I would later work at called Goldman Sachs. At the age of 29, I left and raised $30 million institutionally from a Park Avenue investment manager. I was young, I was looking back. I was very driven. But there was an opportunity with Bear Stearns that collapsed, that was able to utilize my skills and network to be able to put together a $30 million fund institutionally, which a lot of people don't do unless you have that Wall Street pedigree.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:01:46) - And we had a lot of fun. The market's changed in about ten years ago. I started because of some of the families that I've worked with. They we went into like sciences because I was introduced to two partners of mine that have very illustrative careers in life sciences, managing money for the Rockefellers at the age of 26, 6 billion for them. And, you know, it's the same for Texas State Pension Teachers Pension Fund two as it related to the life sciences. So the deal flow that was coming in is great. And we built a whole consortium around that because a lot of people want to a lot of people have discretionary income and not only looking to place it into things like real estate, but also the other things that are a little more impact driven.   Sam Wilson (00:02:29) - That is a wild ride. Let's go back to the 30 million you raised right out of the gate on your own. What was that into?   Salvatore Buscemi (00:02:38) - That was into it was. It was interesting. It was sort of like the Big Short, but not really.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:02:42) - We were buying whole loans, right? Where if you look at the Big Short, they were looking at buying, you know, they were creating synthetics and then they were shorting them or trading them. So we were basically the kitchen sink for Bear Stearns. A lot of the stuff that came through, and this is during 2008. Now, a lot of people time thought that you couldn't short the housing market. Well, movies and books have been written to show otherwise, but it was really me connecting with someone who was a little older than me, but could see the fire in my eyes. I guess enough so that, you know, we were we put together this, you know, this, this, this fund that we were able to buy a lot of defaulted assets from Bear Stearns and some other banks that were going out of business.   Sam Wilson (00:03:21) - Got it. And what what did you do with them? So you bought all these defaulted loans and then what?   Salvatore Buscemi (00:03:25) - We bought low and sold just a little higher.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:03:28) - So what we were able to do is that we were able to clear title on these, the ones that we were going through the whole foreclosure process and then just selling them off to rehabs. Right. And they had as long as, you know, and the key to make it that really made that work, Sam, was to make sure you understood the metrics that they wanted as far as a profitability. And then this way that would affect your investment basis. So if, you know, these guys had to have a margin of like, I'm just saying 35%, for example, it makes it a lot easier for you to go into these deals knowing exactly what these guys want. And it was high velocity and we were able to do that. And then later I did it out in Las Vegas, too, with with commercial real estate, with private lenders. And I actually wrote my first book after that called Making the Yield, because a lot of people didn't know what hard money lending was, or private lending.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:04:09) - If you go to making the yield, you know you can get a copy. But and then after that, I wrote another book on fundraising because that was important to as well. People wanted to know, well what was the right way of doing this. And raising real money was actually came out about a year after that.   Sam Wilson (00:04:23) - What are so you've done a lot. Let's just start there. I hear, I hear, I hear the last 20 years and I go.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:04:29) - I like to say busy. I like to say busy.   Sam Wilson (00:04:32) - You've been busy. Okay. And it sounds like it's busy by choice. What drives you today to keep doing what you're doing? Like what's a what's a key motivator for you?   Salvatore Buscemi (00:04:43) - So we're not we haven't really done much in real estate. We do have 166,000 square foot Class-A industrial building we did in 2020, which has been performing very, very well because it's logistics and, you know, warehouse, light warehouse. But what gets me out of more out of bed in the morning right now is the impact that I've made.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:05:01) - And the track record that's starting, especially from this year. We've seen a lot of our, again, life science companies make a lot of improvements and strides as it relates to getting FDA approval for artificial defibrillator devices that every mother now will carry in her purse. Right. You can charge it with your iPhone. That is a big deal. And that came out in February. We also have a few other things that are happening to where people were. The ability to to really impact humanity is great to a lot of these wealthier families. And the ones that I'm talking about are over $100 million in net worth. They they're not looking for an extra zero, really. They're looking for that impact. They're looking for the bragging rights to go along with something. And we've been involved in a lot of deals right now where even outside of life sciences, we've had a tremendous impact on society. If you think about it, there's 260 million soccer players worldwide. We invested into a company alongside another large family called AI.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:05:53) - Scout. And Scout is a preeminent recruiting tool, and you'll hear some announcements, but they've already been chosen for Chelsea Football Club and a lot of the other Premier League sports, Premier League football teams in Europe, to be used for recruiting. And, you know, the impact that that is made is that in a town in East India where there's only one cell phone for 45 people, one kid was able to get recruited to Burnley, I think. So these are premier soccer clubs that are doing a lot of recruitment and the impact and the democratization of people through technology to be able to improve their lives is something that, you know, really, really draws to me. You know, it's like somewhere I don't have any kids and I'm not married, but at some point you got to look back and see who did you help, you know, what did you really do? And I think most people look at it from the altruistic standpoint where, you know, but look, I like to think big and I like to be alongside people who think just as big as I do to get into opportunities and to and to really communicate the strategy in a way where everybody can get their their hearts and minds around it.   Sam Wilson (00:06:50) - That is amazing. What do you do to put yourself in? Maybe at this point it just it's just the network that you've built. But how do you put yourself in front of these types of opportunities? Because those are pretty nuanced.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:07:04) - They you know, these are not my rule of thumb is the wider an opportunity is made available, the less valuable it is. Think about it. Everybody during the cryptocurrency days, do you buy Bitcoin? Why not everybody sneaking into your, you know, your DMs? I suppose it's a function of your network, but mostly your reputation. If I do not do what I was supposed to be doing with this one company, I would not have been invited to invest in space actually this past August. Right. And so that was an opportunity where I had to move fast. People could depend on me that we could move fast to do this. And we come to the table with money. So I think it's more or less a reputation, whereas people are looking for that certainty of execution, that you're actually going to write a check, you're going to do what you say you're going to do.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:07:44) - You are who you say you're going to do. And it's backed up by pedigree, too, as we talked about. And that gives people the creature comfort to say, hey, let's let Sal into this consortium. Let's let you know. Let's let them have a look. Now, that doesn't mean I'm going to invest. Don't get me wrong. I mean, I get invited to things all the time, but even more so than that, what I like to do is I like to keep the networking on a very high level and a very active level. Tonight I'm invited to three things I don't want to, you know, cigars and cognac mean I'm just going to meet with a bunch of people real quick. You know, it's like a gathering here in Miami. But, you know, if I meet one person of consequence or somebody who I can help, it's worth it, right? And it's just a short walk. And it's a very cool day in Miami today. So it's not like I'm going to be sweating on the way over there.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:08:25) - There's other events too. And I moved to Miami because and this is something I want your listeners to really understand. Your network is so important. It really is. And and the most extreme example of this is when somebody loses their job, they don't have a network. So they're groveling to all their friends. Right. And so, you know, there's no excuse for that today, especially in LinkedIn. You have to treat your you know, you have to treat people like friends. You know, like really. And I think that there's been too much of an institutionalization that's been normalized now where, you know, coming after the pandemic, a lot of people are they're looking for that warmth and that intricate connectivity. And, you know, that's a whole other, you know, a whole other conversation we can have on that.   Sam Wilson (00:09:01) - Right? No, I think that's great. That's absolutely great. Yeah. I mean, I'm reading here on your website or on your website, actually on your LinkedIn profile view or profile, it says, you know, you guys are multifamily office Advisor and you put a bunch of things in there.   Sam Wilson (00:09:13) - And one of the one of the phrases I think that was unique was it says in other, not unique because you actually use the word in it, but was catching was in other unique invitation only opportunities. And so I started thinking about like, okay, so what is Sal doing to get one of those unique invitation only opportunities?   Salvatore Buscemi (00:09:29) - Yeah. You're networking. You're always out there. And for people at home who don't live in Miami or New York City, where I'm from, you have zoom today. There's it's there are people I know who open up their calendars just so they can sleep. You know, where they're meeting with people all over the world. It sounds kind of crazy. And there are people who are eccentric who do that. You don't have to go that crazy. But it would be great if you could meet some people over zoom just to, you know, to continue to build a network meaningfully, not just clicking and accept and, you know, people will forget and also be interactive.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:09:58) - I'm always interactive on people. Whenever I'm on a on a podcast, I always repost it. I always talk about the good things that are going on. I talk about a lot of things that are going on, but that interactivity is more important not just on LinkedIn, but also through email as well.   Sam Wilson (00:10:11) - Right? Absolutely. Let's let's talk about the something that we mentioned here in the beginning of the show. I said, you've done a lot, and you said, I like to define it as busy. How do you make sure that you're busy is also meaningful?   Salvatore Buscemi (00:10:26) - I have two that's a very good point. And you have to look at it and find out what's the highest and best use of your time and how do you leverage that activity. So I like to first of all, number one. Today. We live in a digital age, right. And so you have to continue to attract attention, whether you're me, whether you're someone else or the worst case scenario, politicians, they're constantly attracting attention.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:10:49) - Right. Because attention is the new oil. And, you know, there's there's there's a lot to be said for that. So what I do is the highest and best use of my time are two things. Number one, creating content to post on LinkedIn I like LinkedIn. Twitter for me is like a nice site. Like every time I post something, somebody, you know, I think people are drunk on Twitter, to be honest with you. I just don't understand it. But it's, you know, it has it serves this purpose as far as democratizing the voice. The second thing, too, is that I'm always talking to investors, whether they're current or new. That's the highest and best use of time, current or new. And I'm being very careful about what they're telling me. If it's a new investor, what do they like to invest in? What don't they like to invest into? Sometimes they like investing in stuff we won't touch. That's fine. We can still be friends. But he's not going to get my email distributions maybe.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:11:37) - Right. So I mean it's it's you just have to be meaningful and thoughtful about it because there's just so much noise out there today. And if you really are looking to build those relationships and you're sending out the emails and you're continuing to do things that really set you apart from everyone else, you're going to start to build a brand for yourself. And your brand really is your promise. When you think nobody tells you that they all have these great. You know, if you ask Madison Avenue what a brand was, they say it's a nice logo. And I've been down these road. I know exactly what it looks like, but at the end of the day, people are investing in you in a brand first before they invest in any sort of entity.   Sam Wilson (00:12:10) - Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And we talked about that a little bit before we started hitting record, which as you said, that we've moved into this transactional sort of capital raising environment where people have lost that relationship edge. How again, you know, maybe I'll just ask the question again, maybe in a different way, but how do how do you.   Sam Wilson (00:12:30) - That's a lot of high touch. I'll just say that in raising capital, in maintaining those relationships, how do you do that in a way that is scalable?   Salvatore Buscemi (00:12:39) - Yeah. Um. Today, I think less is more. When I moved to Miami a year ago, it was off of the. It was still during the tech hype and ether and a lot of people around the tech ether. And then Silicon Valley bank happened. Right. What happened is, is that everybody who I'd meet would be a founder, and it would scare me because they come and they'd have their iPad underneath their arm. And I'm like, oh, no, I'm going to be pitched like, this is terrible. I have to sit through this guy's PowerPoint. And what I think happened is, and you could actually maybe chalk it up to the, to the Bitcoin era when that was supercharged was that people became very transactional. And when you're dealing with people, you know, if you're selling something like a book or, you know, even a car, you know, it's very transactional.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:13:26) - You don't really have a relationship with your used car salesman, right? However, when it comes to getting money from people, people will never give you their money without first giving you their time. They want to get to know you. And this is something that goes back to biblical times that, you know, getting someone to part with their treasure for a higher calling is probably the highest calling is in sales. When you think about it, you know, funding. Look at what we're doing now raising money, bundling for politicians, war companies, whatever. There's a lot of power there. And that's the highest and best skill set you could have is not necessarily being a sales person, but being very social and being, you know, and building that network and really enjoying it. If you don't enjoy it, that's fine. Find someone who does, you know, maybe online, you can help to do that. You know, with I, I'm sure there's going to be all sorts of gimmickry that's going to be coming out with that.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:14:17) - However, you got to make an effort. And I think, you know, for me, if I make, you know, if I'm on the phone, I like meeting new people. I get introductions all the time because they do what I say I'm going to do. If you make an introduction to someone, I'm going to be there two minutes early before the zoom to make sure everything works, just to make sure you don't look like an idiot. Even if this guy doesn't do a, you know, even if this guy and I, you know, never do business together or anything like that, it's a function of your reputation. And people today, I don't think they really they don't value their reputation as much as they used to. I think they're hiding behind, you know, the pixelation of what they want the world to see as far as their Instagram and their social media. But the transactional nature has only accelerated. But in order to counter that, you have to go in the other direction.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:15:00) - And when everybody zigs, you should probably zag. And that's just fundamental for all humans. I mean, nobody goes to the movie theater to read numbers. They all get there to be entertained and hear a story, become a storyteller. People really like that. But it will also help you build your network. And then when the time comes where you need to make and ask for that network and you hold off as long as possible, then you're going to be pleasantly surprised.   Sam Wilson (00:15:22) - Hold off as long as possible.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:15:24) - Yeah, I think a lot of people are saying, oh, I just met this person. I want to know they're going to write a check. Well, they don't know you. They barely know your company. You can't even communicate your company correctly. It's too technical, it's too deep, it's too granular. It's confusing people. Why don't you build a relationship with this guy first, to see if this is something he's really into, rather than just treating like an ATM. And for me, it's the more value you give someone first, the better off in the position you are.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:15:52) - It's the law of reciprocal reciprocation, reciprocity. And that's really what people are motivated people today. You know, it's like I send you a copy of my book, right? I mean, thank you for having me on your podcast. But, you know, like there's reciprocity there, right? I mean, the cost a little money. Yes, I autograph it, but it's something you'll always remember. And for those of you who are looking to raise money, starting out writing a book could probably be the best thing you could ever do.   Sam Wilson (00:16:15) - That's interesting, I love that. That's a great that's a great tidbit. And it is. You're right. I mean, I'll be honest. I don't know what I've got episodes wise. And again, I'm not toot my own horn here, but maybe 870 some odd episodes at this point. And wow. Yeah, I remember every guest who has sent me a copy of their book. Yes. And that's I mean, that's a lot. Maybe. I mean, not a lot.   Sam Wilson (00:16:37) - Not not a lot that I remember, but it's like, you know, there's probably five people maybe of that 870 that sent me a copy of the book, and I can probably name them all off to you. I'm like, oh, they did. Yeah, they did, they did, they didn't, they did. Yeah. And there's a lot of episodes unfortunately, because this is quick, it's a 30 minute show. Not even it's a 20 minute interview, a 30 minute at most, where you and I might interact and remember those people and go like, well, are they hundred and 70? I can name off the top five. That's that's pretty powerful. So I love that law of reciprocity. I hadn't even really thought about that until right now.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:17:03) - Imagine bringing a book to an investment conference. And just I mean, I come with a bag and I just with a Sharpie, and I'll just sit there and, you know, if it's someone of consequence, I want to get to know instead of giving them a business card, which everybody's going to forget or nobody really understands, you have a book here and you're like, hey, you know, and somebody else notices it, what are you reading? And then it just goes around, and then people wind up buying it for their friends, and, you know, it becomes a good Christmas gift, right?   Sam Wilson (00:17:27) - Oh that's cool.   Sam Wilson (00:17:28) - That's very, very cool. And I think this is one of the things we really want to talk about on the show today was raising capital in a in a difficult capital raising environment. It sounds like that's one of the tools that really you're using to help raise capital.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:17:40) - Right now it is you know, a lot of people have come to me and they've asked and they, you know, a lot of the things that we've covered. But I think there's also some sort of people forget that. Especially new founders. We don't invest in new founders because there's a level of immaturity there that we don't, you know, they just don't have the experience. But we don't invest in new founders for several reasons, because they're, you know, they're still learning the ways and they don't have the network to get out of trouble if they, you know, should get caught into any sort of financial trouble or if they need something. Um, we I always send emails out. We interactivity is the new currency today.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:18:20) - And if you are not interacting with your investors on a regular basis, only when you're asking for money, giving them bad news, or giving them a tax bill, you're really you're not you're not doing this business correctly. Everybody today, as I said before, you are your own brand. And if you're raising capital, I don't care if it's sort of like science company. I don't care what it's for. You need to make sure that you have that connection more than just once with those investors, and you treat them like real friends. To take it a step further, you know, as I was joking around with all these founders, with their iPad underneath their arms, they were all looking for marriage on the first date. And that's creepy, right? Because when you think about it, when you're raising capital from someone, it is a marriage, right? Mean it is a marriage. You're with these people. There's an exchange of money, right? There's, you know, there is a contract there.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:19:06) - And a lot of people don't think about it that way. They just think of their investors as just being, like, needy or annoying or not. But I always make sure that I'm of service first. There are people who call me, they'll send something to me, I know I won't, I won't like at all, but I just have to be the no man to tell them no. Does that make sense? Yeah, that'd be like, look, I know this isn't for you, but can you do me a favor? Um, can you look at this? It's for my brother in law. I don't really respect him. I'm just giving you the cliff notes, you know? And he's never been successful with anything. Can you just give me a reason not to invest in this? So I just write five reasons, you know, and then, like, okay. Thank you. Right. But I'm serving them, you know, I'm helping them and that's that's important. Right. And that's, that's the most important part of it is you want to make sure that you're helping them.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:19:51) - I've helped people read their college essays, you know, rewrite their college essays sometimes, um, and I've helped, you know, I've done some consulting for families, too, who are looking to build their own family office and their own investment platforms using, you know, specialized SPV structures, fund structures, joint venture structures. And it's worked out really well. But it all comes down to one thing. If you are not building relationships actively with investors, you're not going anywhere. There's always going to be deals there. There's always going to be something there. And the last thing you want to do is go groveling to an investor when you have a great deal, when you don't have any sort of reputation with them or any sort of really relationship with them, or track record. Really.   Sam Wilson (00:20:29) - Right. Oh, that's that's great. That's absolutely golden. Sal, thank you for taking the time here to come on the show today. Absolutely. Last question I have for you. You've got a new book coming out.   Sam Wilson (00:20:38) - I know you mentioned it there briefly, but just so we make sure we capture this here on the show. What's the title of it and where do we find it?   Salvatore Buscemi (00:20:44) - Investing legacy how the 0.001% invest. This is all the sacred lambs that I've taken and it's slaughtered using and corroborating ex bosses at Goldman Sachs. And you know, even a Rockefeller that I sit on a board with, with a with a genius biotechnology in Boston. This is really how the bias is today. And as you're starting to see the bifurcation, unfortunately, in the country of wealth where there's no middle class, it's just a richer getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. This is what people are really gravitating into. And there's really no mention of ETFs, but it talks about more or less the status of investments, like, you know, owning a professional sports team or being the guy that all your friends behind your back say, oh, I know the guy that owns that office tower over there. That's really what it is.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:21:28) - And anyone who's raising money, it would be a good fundamental insight into the psyche of how and what drives a lot of these people, because not all of them look like Warren Buffett and eat, you know, drink, you know, cherry Cokes and eat cheeseburgers. There's five different avatars I talk about in the book, and each one of them have different motivations. And I highly recommend to get the autograph version you go to investing Legacy.com forward slash book. That's investing Legacy.com forward slash book. It also is available on audible as narrated by author myself, so you can check it out there. Investing Legacy.com forward slash book. And yeah, people who buy the book will be automatically onboarded into our multifamily office platform so that you can actually see how we interact with our investors. So we'll treat you as an investor even if you're not one. Does that make sense?   Sam Wilson (00:22:16) - That's awesome. Sal, thank you very much for sharing that with us. We'll make sure to include that there in the show notes. Thanks again for coming on today.   Sam Wilson (00:22:22) - I certainly appreciate it.   Salvatore Buscemi (00:22:24) - Thank you so much, Sam. Appreciate you.   Sam Wilson (00:22:26) - Hey, thanks for listening to the How to Scale Commercial Real Estate podcast. If you can do me a favor and subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, whatever platform it is you use to listen. If you can do that for us, that would be a fantastic help to the show. It helps us both attract new listeners as well as rank higher on those directories. So appreciate you listening. Thanks so much and hope to catch you on the next episode.

Hour 1 of the Tuesday edition of The Armstrong & Getty Show starts with Russia & Cokes...veers towards Mailbag...stumbles into Trump...before an analysis of Prigozhin's lifestyle.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.