Podcasts about Lombard

Reset architecture sleuth Dennis Rodkin takes us to the Sheldon and Harriet Peck Homestead, a confirmed Underground Railroad site in west suburban Lombard.

As you can see by the title, Corey and I share the same last name! We're not related, but actually have similar upbringings. How I came across his instagram is actually a pretty funny story and worth the listen. Originally from upstate NY, Corey has lived on both coasts and in the middle right in Chicago. He currently works in tech sales, but his career in sales actually started with an infamous freight brokerage very well known to Owner/Operators as not being the best. He goes into his time in the TQL machine and shares some of their inside baseball on how they sell freight. You can find Corey on Instagram @clombard2

Tony Prisk is in his eleventh season playing second trumpet with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Prior to taking the job in Philly, Tony played second trumpet with the Houston Symphony.See a pattern developing? It's not an accident, and it's not because Tony doesn't have what it takes to be "the man".In this episode, we discuss the value of specializing in a niche, such as playing second trumpet in a major symphony, (and why some people feel like they're "settling" for their position in the Philadelphia Orchestra), an exhortation on Charlier's Etude #2, why our ego often gets in the way of finding our purpose as musicians and as human beings, and much more.Here's a bit of what you'll hear in this episode:-Tony describes life in a top 5 orchestra...01:15-Putting the ego aside, and embracing the role you've been given...06:20-Tony's personal trumpet journey...08:15-How you "tell a story" with written music notes on a page...16:30-Is self-expression or "blending" the ideal in an orchestra?...23:50-The value of specializing in a role such as second trumpet in an orchestra...33:45-The advice Tony Prisk would tell his younger self...41:15-Plus whatever your discerning ears deem worthy of your time and interest...About the Guest:Anthony Prisk joined The Philadelphia Orchestra as second trumpet in August 2013. He came from the Houston Symphony, where he was second trumpet for 11 seasons, and the New World Symphony, where he was a trumpet fellow for four seasons. In the past 20 years he has played internationally with several orchestras and music festivals, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Grant Park Festival Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony, the Boston Symphony, the Moscow Philharmonic, and many others. He has participated in several music festivals, including Classical Tahoe, the Cabrillo Music Festival, the Spoleto Festival USA, the Tanglewood Music Center, the Pacific Music Festival, the Music Academy of the West, and the Aspen Music Festival. Mr. Prisk won two international trumpet competitions through the International Trumpet Guild and Second Prize in the National Trumpet Competition. He was a soloist with the New World Symphony, the Temple Wind Symphony, the Texas Medical Center Orchestra, and several youth orchestras. He can be heard on numerous recordings with The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the New World Symphony, the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, and the McGill Symphony. Teaching is a passion for Mr. Prisk. He is currently on the faculty at Temple University and the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. He can also be found teaching at summer music festivals including the Philadelphia International Music Festival, the Luzerne Music Center, and the Monteux School and Music Festival. He is also involved with the All City program sponsored by The Philadelphia Orchestra.Mr. Prisk received his bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois, where he studied with Ray Sasaki and Michael Ewald, and his master's degree from McGill University, where he studied with Paul Merkelo. His other main influences were John Hagstrom, Michael Sachs, and David Bilger. Mr. Prisk is originally from Lombard, IL, in the suburbs of Chicago and currently resides in South Philadelphia.

Monday, we brought you the story of Mark Frerichs, a 60-year-old American contractor from Lombard, Illinois, who was kidnapped and held in Afghanistan for 32 months. U.S. officials believe he was held by the Taliban-allied Haqqani group. Frerichs was freed in September 2022. In the second part of his first TV interview, he joins Amna Nawaz to discuss his captivity and release. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Contractor and U.S. Navy veteran Mark Frerichs was kidnapped and held hostage by Taliban forces for over two and a half years. He was released as part of a prisoner swap last September and is now adjusting to freedom and life back in America. Amna Nawaz went to Lombard, Illinois, where he's staying with family, to sit down with Frerichs for his first television interview since being freed. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

1.6.23 - Janis Kearney // Pres Kabacoff & Edwin Lombard by Crosstown Conversations

Psalms 45

Luke 1:26-33

Hi friend! Merry Christmas! As Christmas Day is fast approaching and preparations are going on, let's not forget that Jesus is the reason for the season. How can we live and reflect Christ's love through our actions during this season and beyond…and even in our marriages? We are excited to have a conversation around a topic that does not only affect us as individuals but also our marriages…: Spirituality! What does Spirituality entail? Does it make a difference in our marriages and relationships?  How does investing in our spiritual growth affect our marriages? Does it contribute to building stronger marriages? and more! Tune in to listen to this conversation with our Special Guest on the show - Pastor Jacques Lombard  Pastor Jacques (PJ) has been married for 23 years to his amazing wife Thea and they are blessed with 2 children. He has been a Pastor for 14 years. He recently relocated to Canada from South Africa and is the Lead Pastor at Christian Life Assembly in Peace River, Alberta. He is passionate about healthy marriages and healthy leaders. We are pleased to have Pastor Jacques on the show. So, stay tuned and get ready to be enlightened as we delve into the topic of discussion for today: Spirituality and Marriage. You can connect with Pastor Jacques Lombard on: Website: www.christianlifeassembly.ca Email: info@clapr.life Facebook: @ChristianLifeAssemblyPeaceRiver ............................................. LET'S CONNECT: Join Our Community! To Join the Happy Married Family Tribe: Open this link to join our *WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/LsLM3CiFjXHB4gViYhvEtQ (*This WhatsApp Group is for community notifications only. We won't be spamming your WhatsApp inbox. We will send you a link to the Happy African Marriage Podcast weekly episodes and a link to our monthly live zoom hangout/ meetings) For questions/inquiries/marriage coaching:   Email: coach@happymarriedfamily.com        

The Tree of Wooden Clogs, by Catholic director Ermanno Olmi, depicts a year in the life of four peasant families living on a tenant farmhouse in late 19th century Lombardy. The actors are non-professionals, real local peasants speaking their Bergamasque dialect, recreating their normal life on camera (even if in the trappings of a century earlier). The result is a stunning vision of a now-bygone culture that grew out of close contact with the land. Though the film is not nostalgic in longing for the good old days, Olmi (himself a son of Lombard peasants) did say, “I firmly believe that peasant culture in the world is, at this moment in the history of humanity, the only ‘culture' worthy of that name.” This film can be seen as a culmination of the neo-realist movement that had developed decades earlier with films like Bicycle Thieves and Rome, Open City; but Tree of Wooden Clogs is more neo-realist than the neo-realists, with an almost documentary quality and a purer commitment to depicting a way of life rather than a plot. Olmi was not part of the elite, Marxist-dominated establishment of Italian cinema, and Wooden Clogs drew heavy criticism for depicting peasants who did not revolt against their economic situation. In fact, though the film does not shy away from showing that the peasants' relation with their landlord is marked by injustice, it also shows them quite indifferent to the revolutionary goings-on we glimpse at the margins of this film. Olmi instead wanted to “tell history outside the official channels”, and find wisdom in a less "clamorous" history, by listening to the “whisper of the generations”. This "whisper of the generations" very much includes the simple Catholic faith of the peasants. The great beauty amidst hardship is depicted in a most unassuming way, with Olmi allowing reality to unfold itself through contemplation rather than imposing a stylized structure on the film. He described his approach to filmmaking thus: "There is something in reality that is stronger than you. So what are the terms of the conflict? Am I the one who must tame reality? But it's so good to be tamed by reality. Because it's always surprising. This also happens with love." The Tree of Wooden Clogs was included in the Vatican's 1995 list of important films under the category of Values. A little later, Ermanno Olmi and his film school were given a papal medal by St. John Paul II. In discussing this film, James and Thomas are joined by film scholar Maria Elena de las Carreras and filmmaker/critic Nathan Douglas. Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

In this episode of IoT Podcast: Over the Air, Ryan Prosser, CEO of Very, is joined by Stuart Lombard, Founder & CEO at Ecobee. They discuss how Ecobee has been challenging the big names in the IoT industry. They also discussed the idea behind the Ecobee thermostat product and how it has been integrated into smart homes to improve the owner's experience.

What is it like living with a disability when only 15 other people live with your diagnosis?  Dylan Lombard is such a talented and kind human. I hope you enjoy listening.  Connect with Dylan:  Dylan's Website: https://dylanlombardphotography.co.uk/ Dylan's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/be_yourself_dylan/?hl=en  Dylan's Email: enquiries@dylanlombardphotography.co.uk Connect with Peta: Instagram: @petahooke Website: www.icantstandpodcast.com Email: icantstandpodcast@gmail.com Episode Transcript: https://www.icantstandpodcast.com/post/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of 8000 Promises Greg Lombard Rea shares his journey to becoming a father by adoption, discovering TBRI and a new professional calling, his journey with grief and loss and parenting through his wife's death and how TBRI became a great tool for him through all of these seasons of life as he learned to TBRI himself. This episode is not just for adoptive parents. It's for the parent ready to do the work of integrating their past so they can be more available to the people in their present, it's for the adult adoptee who needs to know that parents are doing their work to be healthy, it's for the widow or the widower who hopes to keep the legacy of the one they lost alive and most of all, it's for the people who want to see how Jesus can come to life in the way we live our lives. Greg is an adoptive dad since 2008, a post adoption support specialist who has worked with children, teens and young adults. Greg has parented with another and Greg has parented solo in between he has parented with illness in the family. Before becoming a TBRI practitioner Greg served over 40 years as a pastor. He plays guitar for fun, is a type 4 on the Enneagram and he is actively doing work to continue to integrate his story and care for his nervousFind more about Greg at his website theadoptionfriend.com and on Facebook at Gregory Lombard Rea or Adoption Friend at on Instragram AdoptionFriend. Instagram: AdiTilfordWrites, Facebook at AdiTilford-Author and at my website AdiTilford.com. You can now subscribe to my monthly newsletter for the blog, the pod and fun tips for saying Yes to God's promises for your life. You even get a free downloadable printable that I made for Bryan Post's 3 up 3 down strategy found in episode 11. Resources Mentioned throughout Episode 13 The Empowered Parent Podcast ; Why Traditional Parenting Doesn't Work for Our Kids S03 E14 Dr. David Cross, Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development Cindy Lee and the Halo Project Anchor Bible App Melissa Corkum and Lisa Qualls , The Adoption Connection & overcoming blocked care Joshua Becker - becoming minimalist Robyn Gobbel - big baffling behaviors --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/adi-tilford/support

Also in the news: Charges pending for suspect involved in police shootout in Lombard; Chef shoved onto CTA tracks after coming home from his job; Some Chicagoans say inflation is affecting holiday gift giving and more.

Grazyna Słomka opowiada m.in. o szansach na Europejskie Nagrody Filmowe 2022, które zostaną wręczone 10 grudnia podczas uroczystej gali w Reykjaviku, analizuje wyniki rankingu na najlepsze filmy wszech czasów brytyjskiego magazynu "Sight and Sound" oraz poleca polskie filmy "Ucieczka na srebrny glob”, „Simona”, „Lombard” oraz świąteczny „Dawid i elfy”. Zaprasza Monika Sędzierska Von Monika Sedzierska.

Also in the news: Charges pending for suspect involved in police shootout in Lombard; Chef shoved onto CTA tracks after coming home from his job; Some Chicagoans say inflation is affecting holiday gift giving and more.

Also in the news: Charges pending for suspect involved in police shootout in Lombard; Chef shoved onto CTA tracks after coming home from his job; Some Chicagoans say inflation is affecting holiday gift giving and more.

Emperor Frederick II has knocked the Milanese for six at Cortenuova. Their war cart, symbol of communal freedom has been captured and taken into Cremona in triumph. The Lombard league that once defeated his grandfather Barbarossa is falling apart and pope Gregory IX is cowering in the Lateran Palace. What shall he do now? Negotiate peace or go for complete submission? This decision will seal his fate and that of his entire family…Website with transcripts and additional information is available here:The music for the show is Flute Sonata in E-flat major, H.545 by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach (or some claim it as BWV 1031 Johann Sebastian Bach) performed and arranged by Michel Rondeau under Common Creative Licence 3.0.As always:Homepage with maps, photos, transcripts and blog: www.historyofthegermans.comFacebook: @HOTGPod Twitter: @germanshistoryInstagram: history_of_the_germansReddit: u/historyofthegermansPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/Historyofthegermans

Fleur was the first female firefighter to die on duty in peacetime Britain with extensive full thickness burns involving the entire head and neck, chest, upper part of the abdomen, trunk, both upper arms, forearms and hands. Avon Fire Brigade (now Avon Fire and Rescue Service (AFRS)) were called to a fire at 12:46 on the 4th February 1996 at Leo's Supermarket, Staple Hill, Bristol.The Fleur Lombard Bursary Fund could give you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Funding is available for operational and support staff, from any fire and rescue service in the UK. Find out more HEREListen to every episode & Debrief ever made, get full access to discounts, insider info & support the ongoing work of the podcast by clicking HEREA big thanks to our partners for supporting this episode.William Wood WatchesHAIX FootwearPlease subscribe to the podcast on YoutubeEnter our monthly giveaways on the following platformsFacebookInstagramFitness For the Frontline is coaching designed specifically to reflect the physical elements of the role of a Firefighter for those applying for, currently serving in or retired from the fire service.Designed by Firefighters for FirefightersJoin our Facebook group HERETry the program for FREE HERE Get notified of each Podcast episode as soon as they come out by clicking HEREPlease support the podcast and its future by clicking HERE and joining our Patreon Crew

Cette émission sponsorisée par les éditions du Lombard reviennent sur la création du 40eme album de Thorgal avec le dessinateur Fred Vignaux et le scénariste Yann. 

December 4, 2022 Wade Lombard www.heritageoffaith.com

Una de las zonas europeas donde han nacido más genios musicales está en Italia, al norte de Roma y junto al Mediterráneo. Allí encontramos regiones como Lombardía, Liguria, Toscana y Piamonte, donde nacieron verdaderos genios: Paganini, Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti y Monteverdi son los 5 elegidos por Carlos para disfrutar de la mejor música del mundo. En este viaje musical, cultural e incluso gastronómico nos acompaña la organista y musicóloga milanesa Irene De Ruvo, quien repite tras su buena experiencia la semana pasada y Andrea Zanoni, nacido en Recco, Liguria y que es un auténtico crack de la comunicación como ha demostrado en España durante los últimos 32 años. Esperamos que vengas al viaje con hambre de buena música y de lo que te apetezca porque el tren con destino al noroeste de Italia está a punto de salir. Así es Hoy Toca, el programa de Clásica FM que te quiere sorprender.

If you cannot compromise; Challenge!By FinalStand. Listen and subscribe to the podcast at Steamy Stories.Every person is alone. That is the definition of Free-will.In this chapter sex is mention, but not described.Caution: there is a good deal of ‘back-story’ in this chapter.(A Step back in time: that Weekend, between Oneida and Nicole)The weekend… I’d had plenty of relaxing sex over the weekend, bonded with Oneida somewhat while we biked Saturday morning, had sex with Gael, junior of House Bendis (the woman who let me borrow her phone so I could invite Buffy, Helena and Desiree to my little induction ceremony), then had a late afternoon date with Nikita.Escorting Yasmin and her son to the airport for the start of her Havenstone training after dinner was unsettling. The boy, Braulio, seemed worried, Yasmin was glad to see me, really glad to see me then finished if off by commenting that she could tell 'something had changed’. I affirmed her hunch without going into the details. As Yasmin’s mood improved, so did her son’s. I wished her luck. She told me I’d need it more.Late Saturday night I was invited to a party by Libra. Brooke showed up date-less (she WASN’T jumping into a new relationship) so she glommed onto me; us. Marla and Libra had a huge phone fight about her (Marla) not being 21 yet, thus not invited to the party. Felix was there having reconnected with Gene because he had both a glib tongue and an awe-inspiring sexual arsenal.Felix’s attempts to recoup any ground with Brook failed miserably. She had her own bitterness toward Trent, her memory of me handing her panties under an outdoor cafe’s table as a trophy Felix had taken the night before and displayed openly in my office, and my own masculine support to draw strength from.Felix and I did not verbally, or socially, spar. He accepted the verdict of our first contest and, for all his faults, he acknowledged that my victory had worth and obeyed his conscience on the matter. If anything, he was visually more respectful than ever before. I wasn’t his equal; no man and definitely no woman was; yet I was now a competitor he would have to give his very best to defeat.Sunday morning had been just me and Odette. We’d cuddled on the sofa, watched some TV and then I took her to Havenstone for time in the pool. I kept the overly-aggressive Amazons at bay while getting Odette used to the idea of regular exercise; hanging out with Timothy and I required greater endurance than her sedentary youthful stamina provided.An early afternoon invite to a 'pick-up’ basketball game at the community, two-court, outdoor lot with Jason, the bar-back from the Yuppie bar, brought me back in contact with Katy Lee Baker, aka Delivery Girl. Odette tagged along. It also brought me in contact with the local 'wild-life’. A Latin King clique was starting to operate in the area and Jason’s crew were the native inhabitants who took exception to this.We played for about half an hour were everyone learned I was a big, fat liar. I was actually good at basketball, despite my earlier claims at ignorance. The Kings showed up, drove off the younger teens playing on the other court. A few more of those jokers showed up and it was now 'our turn’ to make space.That went over like a shit brick. The Kings outnumbered us a good two-to-one, but Jason wasn’t backing down. I was struggling to convince Jason that discretion was the better part of valor when some of the new Latin King arrivals tried to play with a few of the local ladies who had come down to watch their menfolk pull off their shirts and get sweaty.Poor Odette; she had been in the company of so many powerful, confident and lethal women she’d forgotten she wasn’t one. A King grabbed Katy Lee’s breast. Odette hit the asshole in the stomach, put a shin to his nuts and finished him off with grabbing his head and driving it into her upward moving knee, dropping him like the sack of shit he was. But wait, he had five buddies.Poo was being served up and the electric switch was about to be flipped.“I’ll be back to help in a moment,” I growled to Jason as the gang members jumped Odette. Katy Lee and a slightly older woman rushed to Odette’s aid. The Kings didn’t ignore my approach, peeling off two to 'deal with me’. They really shouldn’t have hit Odette because now I was angry.The feces hit the rotary wind machine. With their last shows of bravado, I lay into the closest bastards. The sixteen year old was hesitantly pulling out his .32 ACP while reconsidering his poor life choices as I hit his buddy so hard he went airborne, two teeth and a fountain of blood coming from the ruin I’d made of his face.Gun guy was next. I clamped my left hand on his right, gun-toting wrist then drove my knee into his elbow. The elbow snapped upward with a sound reminiscent of a car backfiring. His screams drowned out the thud of his gun dropping to the court surface. For the three remaining Latin Kings I was closing with, a terrible social reality came crashing in.Gangs rely on several tools to exert power; a propensity for violence, illegal finances, a fierce reputation, and superior numbers. By the look on my face, they discovered that their numbers didn’t bother me in the least. I knew exactly who they were and didn’t give a damn. My desire to destroy them was motivated by something far stronger than any currency, and I was clearly better at this whole violence thing than they seemed to be.They had their pride and the fidelity with their gang, plus their intimidation tactics were going wrong so fast, they couldn’t process the disaster quickly enough to alter course. These guys were not professional warriors by any stretch of the imagination. 'Warriors’; perhaps. 'Professional’; definitely not. Their ability to rapidly adapt to a changing situation was woefully under-developed.In gang hand-to-hand combat, you bunch up your members, overrun a foe and beat him to the ground. Fighting a practitioner of Brazilian jujutsu, standing close to one another is the LAST thing you want to do. I was a whirlwind of destruction, fed by the understanding that Jason’s bunch needed me back real soon.The asshat who tried to use a knife on me got his hand pinned to the court for his audacity. I repeat, threatening Odette had infuriated me. At center court, Jason had his hands full and then some. The Latin Kings had the edges in both numbers and ferocity. The only other hometown boy holding his own was this thick, solid Puerto Rican guy named Bennie; the rest were in trouble.I started with the four-on-one stomp-down on one of Jason’s friends; I’d missed the guy’s beat down. My inner Amazon was leading the charge. Unlike all my previous encounters, I was intentionally causing pain. I wasn’t trying to drive them off, or render them hors de combat. No, my desire was to strike terror in their hearts, inflicting suffering in order to eradicate my foes’ resolve to fight.Knees snapped, bones broke, faces were stomped into the court and internal organs ruptured. Even my erstwhile allies were aghast at the wickedness with which I treated our enemy.“Ah…Cáel…are you okay?” Jason mumbled when the last King went down. He’d have a shiner on his left eye soon and his lip was split and bleeding. I hadn’t come through unscathed either.Havenstone had seriously upped my pain threshold. Jason wasn’t really asking about my physical well-being anyway. I had to get ahead of this…predicament.“Let’s get this trash off the court,” I commanded. The boys hesitated until Jason picked up one of my semi-conscious victims.“Come on 'Pendejo’, leave and don’t come back,” Jason yanked the man up and began shoving him toward the gate he and his buddies had arrived by. The rest of Jason’s friends joined in and we began cleaning up the place. One gangster decided he was too hurt to be moved. I’d rammed his shoulder into the goalpost, breaking his collarbone. He was crying about the pain he was in.I pulled him up. He was around 1,75m tall and 125 kg. I wrapped my hands around his thick bull neck and slowly raised him up off the ground. His face was reddening, his good hand was trying to break my hold and his legs were flailing about in the open air.[In Spanish] “Pain, Asshole? No, pain is me having to come back here and hunt you and your vermin buddies down,” I seethed.“I don’t live here. These men are not my friends. You touched my girl and I am God Almighty when it comes to defending those of my household. I am not in a gang. I am not a criminal. If you, or your gang, come within a block of this place, I will become Death. Today, there are too many witnesses. This is your reprieve; your moment of grace,” I snarled.“Use it wisely. It will not happen again,” I finished in a fury. I dropped him to his wobbly feet, catching his good hand before he fell over. That act of compassion after my dire threat confused the guy.“Go,” I returned to English. The rest of the Latin Kings walked, stumbled, were dragged from the court.“Who are you again?” Bennie inquired.“Cáel Nyilas,” I grinned. “I’m an Aerospace Engineer working on the feasibility of having hamsters running on their wheels being used to recharge batteries on manned flights to Mars.”“Hamster wrangling has to be one tough profession,” Katy Lee snickered as she and Odette came up.“Come on now,” Jason winced as he licked his lip.“Brawling is about panic, anger and the management of those two forces,” I told them. “I was the only one in this fight in control of himself, so my actions look out of proportions to what really happened.”“They were kicking our asses,” Bennie chuckled.“Not as bad as you guys think,” I consoled them. “None of you guys ran, or curled up in a ball. That allowed me to pick my fights. I clearly have more hand-to-hand combat experience, but none of that would have mattered had you guys freaked out.”There was some truth in what I said. Had they panicked, I would have grabbed Odette and Katy Lee then fled as well. Since they toughed it out, and the Latin Kings exerted virtually no command and control, I was able take on the gang members in small, bite-sized chunks. My training and experience took care of the rest.This also made the somewhat traumatized ballplayers feel proud about the cuts and bruises they’d received. Now they realized they had 'won’ this scuffle, they’d played their parts courageously and had all been instrumental in a successful stratagem. The fact that none of them knew that when the blows were raining in it meant nothing.The women who’d come out to watch the game then witnessed the beat down knew their men had been brave, taken their licks and routed their enemies. Martial ardor, baby! 'Defending’ a woman does not diminish her. It increases her odds of dealing with insults and threats in a positive manner.Women who look down on women who use their pussies to better themselves are being stupid. It is the equivalent of having a complete toolbox and only using the hammer. The women were going to give up some level of sex to reward the men. The men, in turn, had an example of the kind of behavior that would get them what they wanted; defending your ladies equated to feminine reward.That did not mean penetration; life was far more complex. It did mean she would hang around you, talk to you and trust you (most likely more than she should). Guys still had to seal the deal, figure out what she wanted and deliver. That had been the working arrangement between men and women for most of the last 80,000 years.What I didn’t know at the time was that I was being spied upon, that this spy called Buffy; my 'spear and shield’; and Buffy would gather up some Security Detail chicks. Why would SD help? Some morons had tried to murder the Head of House Ishara and that wasn’t something the Amazons would tolerate.That Latin King clique was contemplating revenge. They were about to get schooled by the Grand Mistresses of that brutal and unforgiving Art form. I could never let Odette know. After all, to her they were someone’s sons, brothers and husbands. My chilling rationalization was that, for whatever reason, the Latin Kings had redefined themselves as carnivores, preying on the rest of mankind.They should have studied what nature was really like. Predators had predators of their own. They’d been big, bad caimans, snatching all that came to the water’s edge. In nature, the caiman was careful because jaguars hunted and ate caimans. In the urban jungle, there were things far more dangerous than gang-bangers living in the shadows that jealously guarded their spot as apex predator.Odette and I exited the field. I’d have to catch Katy Lee another time. I was to get the bad news from Ulyssa and her sister about the death in her family. Timothy, Odette and I worked out some more as Odette and I took turns relating the fight to Timothy. He reminded us that the Latin Kings were a powerhouse in the city as well as nationwide. Nicole called at the point I was ready for bed and the rest was family history.(Monday morning)I locked my bike up as normal. When I saw the security guards eyeing me funny, I grew cautious.“Is there a problem?” I asked the woman scanning my ID. She was fearfully hesitant. “Wait, are you worried that I’m pissed about Friday morning?”“We were only doing our jobs, Cáel of Ishara,” she told me.“Oh,” I chuckled. “So that IS what is bothering you.” I smiled at the group. “Of course you were doing your jobs. I would have been surprised if you hadn’t and I’m certainly not angry about what went down. You acted in defense of Havenstone and I never saw it any other way.”That gave them some relief. My next problem.“Has anyone from the Security Detail called about me?” I asked. “I don’t see anyone here to pick me up this morning.”“I’ll call them,” she offered.The answer was that they weren’t expecting me, but I could come down if I desired. That was promising. My ID card worked for the lower levels now. Walking past the Armory was intriguing…in that they barely noticed me. In the prep room for the shooting range there was…nothing. No guns for me to try out, or even look at.I went to the firing range looking for one of my 'friendly’ SD ladies. They were all giving me the cold shoulder. Naomi told me why; Constanza. The SD were very angry with my interference in justice for Constanza versus Pamela. Since Naomi had been there when the entire incident went down, I didn’t laugh in her face. I got coldly furious instead.If I wanted a firearm, I could go to the Armory and check one out, so that’s what I did. The guards there weren’t helpful either. Inside was; well; everything. I called up SD and asked them to send an armorer to help me make some selections. Ten minutes later, the lady had still not arrived. That made me laugh. They were tit-for-tatting the wrong guy. Glasses and ear protection came first.I left the Armory with my weapon of choice for the day, a full bandolier and a crate of ammo. I could see the SD chick’s guarding the Armory eyes bug-out. I grinned and headed for the shooting range. They surreptitiously called somebody. Knowing that, I hurried myself along, passing straight through prep room for the firing line. I was a man on a mission.See, I could be a raging prick when I wanted to be. Those SD babes should have talked with any number of the Amazons who already knew me. I had made it clear; make my life difficult if you wished, but accept whatever payback I could imagine. Respecting House Ishara wasn’t even a question. For pummeling me over Constanza, they were about to get a whole new kind of Righteous Pricking, courtesy of the house they refused to treat with equality.An Amazon finished firing off a clip for her personal defense weapon and was checking her pistol’s slide action.“Excuse me,” I said as I stepped up. She was about to scream something. Most likely 'stop!’ Since I had no intention of complying, I didn’t wait; or stop.For me, I was suddenly wondering what the precise blast radius of a 40 mm grenade was. I pulled the trigger anyway. I swear by Ishara-turned-Ishtar, I hit that target right in the 10 ring. The explosion the grenade caused when it hit the back wall rendered my claims moot. Even with eye and ear protection, I could barely hear anything because of the ringing echo, or see anything because of the dust.The flashing yellow lights and klaxons going off indicated something bad had happened. Bad wasn’t done yet. I walked to the next stand where the Amazon had ducked down while she oriented herself to the threat.“Good morning,” I yelled at her. Then I aimed and prepared to squeeze off my second round.With all the dust in the air, I could barely make out the outline of the target I was shooting at. Accuracy at this point was unnecessary. This bitching toy seemed to kill everything. Third station; third shot and the Amazons were starting to figure out what was going on. Some moron was firing a grenade launcher within an indoor firing range.Before the fourth shot they figured out it was me. Now those bitches had a problem. The lead Amazon tried to get my attention despite my constant attempts to ignore her. I resolved the issue by tapping my six-shot bang-bang and indicating I had two shots left…and I used them. Only when I stopped to reload did the ladies screw up the courage to exhibit some kind of physical resistance.Naomi pulled off my ear protection.“What are you doing?” she shouted at me. She wasn’t being rude. All our ears were ringing.“I’m being left to my own devices, you 'failures’ to every concept of loyalty, respect and faith,” I replied to the entire group.“Constanza called House Ishara an abomination, insane and diseased,” I spat out my hate. “I spared her life when I should have had her stricken from the roles of her house and butchered her like some beast. I showed mercy and this is how the Security Detail responds? Congratulations, you have earned my contempt.”“But why are you using a grenade launcher; indoors?” Naomi struggled to understand.“Oh,” I smirked. “Because I can. I’m superior to all of you here so I can do what I want and you have to suck it up. I am the Head of a First House so none of you have a choice. Every one of you chose to show me no respect and, out of respect for your lack of respect, you get no respect.”They were trying to figure how to work around that when I upped the ante.“I’m also going to direct the other members of House Ishara to come down here at random times and fire off grenades, use flamethrowers, or; how about tear gas; tear gas sounds good.”“That would degrade the readiness of the Security Detail,” the first Amazon protested.“Not my problem. Take your complaints to Elsa or Saint Marie. Make sure to start your complaint with exactly how you behaved toward me; but use the names Beyoncé, Ursula, Katrina, or Messina instead of mine,” I glared. “Now excuse me. I have a box full of high explosives to work through.” And off I went.There were 25 shooting lanes. I had fired off my 22nd grenade when Elsa showed up.“Cáel of Ishara, why are you destroying this training area?” she inquired calmly.“Working through a crate of grenades. I thought that would be obvious,” I joked.“Is there something wrong we should talk about?” Elsa was keeping her anger in check.“Your underlings were chronically disrespectful. Since positive reinforcement failed; being nice to any of your weakling-bullies was counter-productive; I decided to employ the stick treatment,” I met her gaze.“Stop destroying the firing line…please,” Elsa ground out through clenched teeth.“You are right,” I nodded. “I need to take a few of these upstairs to the pure-blood gym. There is a lot more damage I could do there. This place is already a mess.”Desiree’s voice broke the silence. She must have come in with Elsa.“Cáel,” Desiree yawned. “How do you want to resolve this crisis? That doesn’t involve setting off seismic sensors all over New York City, that is?”“Hmmm…fine, every member of the Security Detail is to write a romantic poem then read it aloud to a 'Runner’ while at that 'Runners’ workstation,” I invented a punishment. “Ishara is the Goddess of Love as well as Oaths. It is a fitting tribute to her that romantic verses from the heart be created and spoken aloud.”“It is also fitting that the recipients be 'Runners’, since it will unite them in both their appreciation of love and their anger with me for throwing my weight around like every other Full-Blood who thinks they are better because of some quirk of birth,” I concluded.“It will be done,” Elsa intoned. That part of the matter was settled. Elsa looked at my grenade launcher. An unhappy sigh escaped my lips as I handed it over.“Elsa, I’m coming for weapon’s practice again tomorrow,” I informed her. Now I was going to burn off some time in the pool then get to work, or so I hoped. I hadn’t gotten away with this because I was Cáel Nyilas, or the Head of House Ishara. I got away with it because Elsa didn’t want to see the faces of the Council when she explained what her people had done.The Council members treating me like offal was their business. Other Amazons deciding that they could treat ANY member of the Council that poorly wouldn’t fly; reference to the fate of Leona. Why had SD treated me poorly? Constanza. If they repeated my conversation with Constanza that cost her an eye, the outcome was known by all. Constanza would cease being an Amazon right before she died.I made it to Katrina’s office four minutes before seven only to find Katrina absent while Daphne, Brielle and Pamela were hanging around. Dora and Fabiola followed me in. Everyone made it before the deadline, Katrina last of all. As Katrina began the meeting, Brielle left. Pamela and Katrina ignored one another.My work review was far better than normal. I’d sold Anthrax to a terrorist cell, but it had turned out to be a mislabeled Anthrax antidote instead, so all was good. Daphne was trying to figure out how her glowing report over my efforts had been so misconstrued. My assigned boss for the day was Rosette, one of the senior members of Executive Services.“Katrina, I need a moment of your time; in private,” I requested as the meeting broke up.“As Cáel, or the Head of House Ishara?” she asked.“Neither,” I replied. She waved the others away with Tigger shutting the door. Pamela remained seated. Katrina shot me a look concerning Pamela’s presence.“I don’t control her,” I shrugged. “She hangs around me for her own reasons.” Katrina nodded. I walked to the edge of Katrina’s desk, put my palms on its cool surface. “Katrina, I am the Grandson of Cáel O'Shea, I met Brianna O'Shea earlier this morning, she knows who I am and was brought to town because some genetic research done on me.”“Brianna knows where I work and who I work for, as in you. Pamela said the word 'Protocols’ and Brianna backed off, but I’m sure she wants to see me again. I’ve warned my Dad about what happened and to destroy everything associated with my Mom. By the way, Brianna looks exactly like my Mother did when I was first born; exactly,” I emphasized.Had the situation not been so completely fucked up, I would have treasured the steamrollered look on Katrina’s face.“She is with something called the Illuminati. She doesn’t know about me and House Ishara. When Brianna tried to figure how this Protocol/Truce thing involved me, Pamela stonewalled her,” I added.“Pamela, I can understand Cáel not immediately bringing this to my attention,” Katrina’s cool exterior reasserted itself. “He doesn’t know what’s going on. You do.”“I didn’t feel inclined to do your job for you, Katrina,” Pamela gave a rapier-thin smile. “Besides, you are part of the brain trust that sent him home Friday night cloaked in ignorance, not I.”“Cáel,” Katrina turned back to me. “How did you meet Brianna O'Shea?”“I met a lawyer, screwed her to multiple orgasms in the Women’s room of some bar, met her again plus her lawyer buddies and Sunday night she called me to her downtown office to fuck her into enlightenment; which I did,” I sighed.“She was working on a case involving DNA ownership, which is oddly germane to my current predicament,” I grinned.“Cáel, we need you to report to medical for more testing,” Katrina ordered.“I apologize, but House Ishara does not believe that would be in its best interest so Cáel must decline,” I nodded. “Will there be anything else?”Will battled Will to no outcome. She nodded and I left. Pamela ghosted along behind me. Rosetta intersected my path and off we went. I was given no clue as to my assignment; no surprise. I texted Buffy: 'Nothing new happening. Pick me up at 5:30 Wed. morning.’ That meant there was no new development on the committee to help House Ishara pick 'Runners’.I had played nice. Katrina and Hayden had dodged me on Friday afternoon. This morning, she owed it to me to show some kind of progress. That wasn’t what she offered. I had made a concession, they refused to reciprocate, so now I was free of any obligation to consider their wishes. I wanted more 'Runners’ and come Wednesday morning, I was adding twenty.Working with Rosette (and Pamela) was a triple-barreled experience. Errands were the largest bulk of our time, but the rest was other mundane tasks of the most basic sort. Within the workload were instructions in the craft of being unseen. Executive Services was more than laundry and daycare; it was about not disrupting the lives of clients.A side benefit of that was learning how to move through any group and not be memorable; to not give off the subtle clues that you were an outsider. Not only could a group of executives hold a conversation without an ES person disrupting their trains of thought, people trained to look for threats wouldn’t be tipped off to your presence either. It was peon-craft for beginners.Executive Services personnel weren’t ninja; they were inconsequential. As I had bubbled to Katrina on day one, Executive Services got to go everywhere and learn how everything worked. What I didn’t appreciate was that was how Counter-Intelligence worked too. From what I wedged out of Rosette, Counter-Intelligence had never uncovered a successful internal conspiracy.They had ferreted out multiple peripheral programs meant to gather information on Havenstone, but no Amazon had been critically compromised; which meant several Amazons had been blackmailed yet gone to ES before doing any damage. Rosette appreciated that fanatic devotion, but she’d never hold complete faith in it. Her job was vigilance.(What is really going on?)The third barrel was the real unhappy news. For all their illegal activities, Havenstone was not the Sinaloa Cartel. There were not a global criminal organization that invited international law enforcement scrutiny. So why did they devote so much time and energy to security? They weren’t alone in the shadows of world-wide civilization.At the top of the pile was the Illuminati. They were a hydra controlled by a ruthless, cutthroat conclave; membership uncertain. They were a Darwinian meritocracy until the top tier of leadership, where a group of smaller secret societies and families monopolized the real influence. Their biggest strength, and weakness, was that most of the people in the organization didn’t even know they were part of the Illuminati.After that was a mishmash of groups with different abilities that made rating them difficult. The Condottieri were rather simple; they sold mercenaries and weapons to anyone with the coin with the sideline of promoting conflict by any means necessary. The Nine Clans…that sounded familiar…were assassins in the truest sense of the word.Hashshashin, Ninja, Thuggee, Black Lotus, Coils of the Serpent, Brotherhood of the Wolf, the Black Hand, Cult of the Jaguar and the Ghost Tigers. They were not just murder for hire, but murder to advance their cause. Harmonious existence was bad for business, so they stirred up rivalries and conflict in every corner of the globe.The Egyptian Rite Masons sounded sublime. They weren’t. They may have been a secret order older than the Amazons, claiming descent to the days of Imhotep. The Egyptians were the oldest enemy of the Illuminati. The Egyptian Rite’s goal was a global autocratic government, were the Illuminati wanted a capitalist oligarchy in charge of global commerce; with the Illuminati pulling all the strings. The Egyptian Rite were not restricted to Egypt anymore; membership was open to all races and genders.The Earth and Sky Society were not New Agers. They were the descendants of Genghis Khan and were devoted to the reincarnation of the Greatest World Conqueror of all time. Before tossing them into the rubbish bin of bad ideas, know that Genghis was the largest single genetic contributor (via rape) to the human gene pool since the mystical Eve. To be a member you had to have a genetic link to ole Genghis.The Seven Pillars of Heaven were an ancient Chinese Secret Society out for; you guessed it; World Domination. To be a true member of this group you had to be Pure Han Chinese and a man, or bound to one. Needless to say, Havenstone and the Seven Pillars did not get along. The final bit of information; these groups were what was left of the Great Secret Societies; the survivors.Havenstone’s place in all of this chaos was complicated. By mid-5th century BCE, the Egyptians were aware of the Amazons. The Amazons were not causing problems for the Egyptians, so they parted on decent terms and that was that. By the first century ADE, the political landscape had changed. Amazons had penetrated Roman society and brought Latin houses into their structure.Amazingly, the Egyptians contacted the Amazons again, figured out the Amazons only wanted co-existence so co-existence they got. In the late 4th century, the Amazons returned the favor. The Amazons told the Egyptians something horribly bad was coming across the Eurasian steppes and the Egyptians better batten down the hatches. A few decades later, the Huns were pressing on the Roman Empire’s frontier.What is not generally know is that in the ranks of Hunnish horde were the Sarmatians, successors to the Scythians, who had allied Amazons in their ranks. This gave the Amazons, thus the Egyptians, contacts on both sides of the Roman-Attila conflict. By the mid-5th century the two secret societies parted ways once more.Their relationship had been useful, but not close. From the Amazons viewpoint, it was the equivalent of getting good gossip at the fish market. The Egyptians appreciated the intelligence, but wanted, and didn’t get, military assistance in propping up the Roman Empire. For the Amazons, the fall of the Western Roman Empire was the trigger for a massive Diaspora.A few houses decided to tough it out in Western Europe and its packs of warring Germanic tribes. Others travelled to Egypt and from there, down the Nile to Ethiopia and Central Africa. A third group travelled farther East than ever before, eventually settling in Southern India. Of course, the World never stands still.In the late 8th century, the Illuminati was founded as a mercantile society trying to restructure the shattered Western and Central European economies. It turned out that there was a major pass over the Alps between eastern Italy and southern Germany that was a safe transit region. The Illuminati decided to seize it. The Egyptians popped up, revealed to the infant Illuminati that they didn’t want them to do that, but were ignored.The Egyptians were out to rebuild European civilization, which meant, in their eyes, you didn’t go around butchering those who were restoring law and order. The Egyptians went to the mountain pass and warned the Amazons there what was coming their way. The Illuminati convinced a local Lombard warlord that the pass would be a nice addition to his territory and off he went.Two months later, their bully boy hadn’t returned. Neither had any of his men. Never ones to retreat from failure, the Illuminati sent another force and those guys were never seen again as well. This time the Egyptians showed back up to warn the Illuminati that those people whose land they’d been trying to steal were sick of their meddling and were coming to settle matters.Would the Egyptians help the Illuminati deal with this threat, now that it was out of the mountains? The Egyptians politely declined stating 'better the sitting stone you know than the rolling one that sets things around it on fire’. The Illuminati fled from their first base and that is the reason why they hate the Amazons and Egyptians to this day.Mind you, the Illuminati had no idea who lived in that mountain pass at that time. A few decades after the incident, the Amazons relocated northward. Being good stewards over their lands had given up unwelcome rewards; namely people came to them seeking sanctuary. Amazons can be rather cold-hearted. That does not mean they kill you for knocking on their door.When the number of refugees became too great, the houses voted for migration over slaughter. The Amazons travelled to the Black Forest, dispersing from there, and left the people behind to become known as the Swiss. Everywhere, Europe was tough for the Amazons in the Middle Ages. Heavily male-dominated Germanic cultures in the North, Islamic culture in the South, piracy in between and an epidemic of warfare all around.It was in Sub-Saharan Africa where the Amazons prospered the most. There, migrating populations worked in their favor, as did the style of warfare generally practiced. Perversely, the increase in the East African Arabic slave trade worked in the Amazon’s favor. Not only could they 'liberate’ captured populations; males for breeding and women for recruits; it encouraged local tribes to temporarily ally with the Amazons to fight off the slavers.The Subcontinent turned out to be a mixed bag. In the South, Amazons prospered and grew in numbers and houses. The problem was that they became too strong. Normally they would have spread out, but Eastern India proved more hostile than acceptable and further East looked like a crap-shoot. China didn’t look welcoming at all.So, the Indian Amazons were caught up in a series of wars when Northern powers tried to move South and the Southern lords were in some serious need of aid. The issue was there were multiple players in the shadows pulling the strings. One day, the Egyptians came knocking. The Egyptians knew the Amazons well enough to not try to draft them into their cause.They simply told the Amazons who the key players were and what they were trying to do. Why would they do this? It was obvious. Amazons existed for two reasons; live free and make baby Amazons. Those other asshole Secret Societies were threatening both of those goals. Warfare is doubly hard on a female population and women spending years in combat aren’t making babies.Take into account that during this time period a massive amount of the world’s population lived in India. Add to that the Amazon numbers were respectively tiny (invisible) and Every Secret Society they were fighting didn’t think much of women. A few thousand gurgling last breathes later and two of India’s oldest Secret Societies were gone, or eviscerated.Why had they left the other, Islamic, secret society alone? The Islamic society operated in the populous North, not the jungle-covered South. Why did they leave the Amazons alone? The Amazons exhibited a shocking capacity for violence. The Muslim group was a 'secret’ Secret Society. The Amazons were a 'hidden/don’t fuck with us’ Secret Society.A side effect of the war in India was the creation of another Secret Society; the 9 Clans. They weren’t nine back then, but thanks to the Amazons and Egyptians, this East Asian group picked up the Thuggee and, within a century, the Hashshashin. Things were about to get even more interesting.For the Amazons in India, life existed off the beaten path so it took a year for the Amazons to realize those 'dirty little men’ who had shown up in some western Indian ports were, in fact, Europeans; in a European-built ship. They didn’t know Portuguese, but they knew Latin and with a little bit off effort, they got an updated history of Europe.Amazons had been meeting regularly every thirty years, or so, to choose the next High Priestess and exchange notes. These meeting did not include studies of technological, political, or social improvements. Stealing the twenty-first ship to show up, the Amazons sailed home; Europe, that is. They stopped off in East Africa to spread the good news then, upon landing, went to tell their European sisters that their pilgrimages were no longer a matter of torturous overland travel.They could use nifty ships like these instead. With that came even better news; some Genoese, nut-job, failure of a mathematician had discovered a brand new land and they were going to check it out. The decision was made. The Indians were going back home. Their Europeans sisters were going to 'acquire’ some instructions on how to sail a ship then 'obtain’ some ships and divide them up among the three strongholds.Europe would be heading to the west, Africa would sail around the Cape of Good Hope (not yet named that), back toward Europe to link up their communication network (and in time, bump into Brazil), and India would head east to the South-east Asian archipelago, sailing around the hostile Asian kingdoms. Hopefully, the fleet sailing west and the one heading east would meet one day. Unfortunately, North and South America stood in the way of that dream.The 'little’ hitch in this plan was who those ships belonged to. Nearly half the commerce of Europe at the time was either controlled, or influenced by, the Illuminati. The Amazons were running off with their equipment and profits; whoops. A cherry on top to that 'whoops’ was that the Illuminati were only starting to come out of a bloody war with the Condottieri.The Condottieri had started out as a business venture/strong arm of the Illuminati. In classic Illuminati fashion, the leaders of the Condottieri didn’t know precisely who they were working for. In fact, they thought they were independent. When the Illuminati yanked that leash, it snapped and the blood-letting began.The Illuminati had more money than the Pope and the subtle ability to call upon the kingdoms of the Mediterranean World. What did the Condottieri have? A small cadre of loyal, professional fighting men and the best strategic and tactical minds in the West; the ones the Illuminati had recruited into the Condottieri in the first place. Whoops yet again.The Illuminati had every resource under the Sun. The Condottieri knew they were screwed, but they’d been in fucked up situations before and battled through. They needed to stay alive until the path to victory presented itself. Re-enter the Egyptians and the 9 Clans (still not 9 yet). The Egyptians?The Egyptians made a butt-load of money on the silk and spice trade’s overland routes. The Western Europeans/Illuminati were about to cut them out of that. The Egyptians needed time to reposition themselves. The revolt of the Condottieri was a gift from the Divine and suddenly the mercenaries had funds and ships.The 9 Clans? The Illuminati was a 'Does it All’ organization. If the Illuminati won, who would need assassins? This was class warfare, pure and simple. Even with three-on-one, the Illuminati fought back and fought well. The Amazon predations were not the deciding factor in the war. It wasn’t even their war. Soon enough, the Amazons were buying their own boats and going elsewhere.The Illuminati doesn’t forgive, or forget. For some reason, they took the Amazon thefts personally, despite its negligible impact. Maybe it was that all the other players were regionally invested while the Amazons seemed to be dog-piling them. The fact that Amazons had existed in Europe for nearly 2500 years either didn’t occur to them, or they didn’t care.Flash forward to the start of the 20th century. Through the discrete use of marriage-assassination, land grabs and the basic lawlessness in the Western United States, rural South America, Australia and the islands of Southeast Asia, the Amazons had grown vastly in numbers and economic influence.The Egyptians come knocking once more. Unlike past encounters, they were bringing an offer of alliance. The Illuminati controlled key assets in the British Empire and were using those chokeholds to eliminate their rivals. This was not news to the Amazons. Their holdings in India and the Dutch East Indies had been under pressure of the Illuminati for a century.Ever since the Illuminati nearly ground out the Thuggee (one of the 9 Clans), the Egyptians and Amazons have been constantly harassed. This was not the first warning the Egyptians had brought. The Amazons hadn’t want a war with the Illuminati and they certainly didn’t trust the Egyptians. This time they agreed to go to war though.Why? Two things; totally unrelated. First, the Illuminati and the Seven Pillars of Heaven had agreed to carve up Asia. Amazons lived in Asia and they were no man’s chattel. Secondly, the Women’s Rights movement was in full swing. The Amazons had nothing to do with it. Those were outsider females. What interested the Amazons were the legal ramifications of Women’s Equality.The Amazons were poised for a massive increase in their financial footprint. With the Illuminati out of the way, or at least, preoccupied, they could seize assets and have time to fortify before they could be attacked. Women’s Equality would allow this to take place. Basically, the Amazons were going to exploit the blood, sweat and tears of women to advance their agenda.From all accounts, the only groups that recalled the Amazons last foray into Secret Society politics were the Amazons and Egyptians. Certainly no one had enlightened the Condottieri. They started smacking around some Amazon bases in Europe and unleashed 'Hell on Earth’. With the help of the Egyptians, they got to it in Amazon fashion.A General of the Condottieri and his family were eating at a Naples eatery when five women dresses like nuns walked in and shot up him, his entire family plus some bodyguards. When the response team showed up, they killed them too. A few police were added to the obituary column as the Amazons escaped. Welcome to Amazon warfare.The Condottieri were furious over such a public breach, as well as the losses. They swore a vendetta. The 9 Clans happily informed the Condottieri that a 'War of Extermination’ was the Amazon default setting. The Condottieri were not afraid; not yet. See, there was another secret society called La Solidaridad.Working on intelligence from the Illuminati, La Solidaridad overran an Amazon compound in Argentina. They thought it would be funny to take the survivors as sex slaves. Maybe the Illuminati was experimenting to see just how pissed-off Amazons could get. Maybe La Solidaridad hadn’t read their Homer, especially those parts concerning Ancient World vengeance.It took the Host six months to start things rolling then the carnage began. They made damn sure the men knew they were being hunted by women. They weren’t there to out-macho the men, or make a point. Every night, they attacked the men and their families in the cities and towns. For safeties sake, La Solidaridad retreated to their country estates. Huge mistake.A good number of them had to have hunted at some point in their lives. How they missed being 'flushed out into the open’ was beyond me. Out in the countryside, there was nowhere to hide. Walls meant little because Amazons were incredibly fit and trained to fight at night. Most of the families the Amazons killed. They were the lucky ones. The survivors? By using a new Edison device, they took some home movies of the fates of those men.The Amazon’s favorite tactic was to shove lit sticks of dynamite in the men’s asses then steer them toward the closest river. One guy actually made it. His relief didn’t last long. The Amazons had done something to turn the normally safe caiman population into rabidly aggressive swarmers. Bitches; insanely, sadistic bitches.In eighteen months, La Solidaridad had ceased to exist as an organization and never recovered. The Illuminati used that time wisely to beat down the Egyptians, Earth and Sky, and the 9 Clans, aided by the Seven Pillars. Having concluded their first order of business, the Amazons sent their home movie to the Condottieri.It wasn’t mercy toward the Condottieri. I was psychological warfare. The Amazons needed the Condottieri off-balance so they could go after their real enemy. It seemed the Illuminati had instructed La Solidaridad on how to 'intimidate’ the Amazons; through rape, torture and enslavement. Specifically, it was Cáel O'Shea who set the tragedy in motion; Granddad.Beyond Granddad being impossibly fucking old, he had possessed some seriously out of control animosity where Amazons were concerned. Before the Amazon’s could implement their hunt, the 9 Clans intervened. The Illuminati had been giving them real problems and they saw a way to gain some breathing space. Had the Amazons and 9 Clans been in communication, the World might be a very different place today.Instead, the heir to the Austria-Hungarian throne was wacked by the Black Hand, some Serbian numbskulls took the fall and the rest of us got World War I. Oddly enough, this one murder accomplished the goals of the 9 Clans, Amazons, Egyptians and Earth and Sky Society. The British Empire still stood, but was wrecked. China was much worse off than that.Before the Amazons could gain their vengeance, the Egyptians negotiated a cease-fire between groups. The Amazon Council was furious yet unwilling to fight the Illuminati alone. They kept down their bile…and waited. In the post-War period, the Amazon/Illuminati feud ate much of their resources (probably the Egyptian’s intentions all along).A truly dark side of this struggle was the Amazon support for the Nazis. Did the Amazons switch course? Yes, but not for the reasons most people would think. Jews, gypsies, communists and homosexuals going into camps didn’t worry them one bit. What did? Let’s go back in time to those women in the Swiss Alps who headed north.A great many of them went North then East…to places like Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. It wasn’t so much a matter of whimsy as one of terrain and population. All the best farmland was in western Germany, the Low Countries and France. That’s where the Germanic peoples settled. Behind them, to the East, were the Slavs.The Slavs had three things the Amazons liked; low population density, weak social hierarchies and crappy land. That meant they could live in relative isolation, not be subject to an all-powerful king and not be inundated with migrating hordes wanting to steal their dank swamps, deep forests and isolate meadows.Sometime in early 1939, right after the Third Reich snatched up Bohemia, some Amazon augur decided to open up Hitler’s Mein Kampf to see what was going on i.e. to see when Hitler would get around to jumping on England; the whole reason the Amazon were supporting him. What she found out was bad, bad, bad! The genocide of a bunch of people they could care less about? Not a problem.Invading the Slavic lands? What? Russia/Soviet Union hadn’t been the big foe in WWI and they certainly were not Germany’s greatest enemy at the moment; Britain was! Drang Nach Osten? That was an undefined migration of Germans back into Slavic lands that ended over 600 years ago? Their Eastern European sisters were in grave danger from a lunatic.The common sense response (for Amazons) was to kill the Hitler. They couldn’t get close, so they took their problem to their old allies, the Egyptians and 9 Clans. Those two saw nothing wrong with the way things were developing. The Amazons swallowed their pride and went to the Illuminati who seemed rather enchanted with the idea of the fascists and communists annihilating one another.They had no way to safely approach the Soviets. Pulling their sister houses out of Eastern Europe was no longer an option; the other Secret Societies would be looking for that and try to figure out where the Amazon home bases were. The Amazons decided to make a fight of it. They were not going to charge panzers with spears.No, they started setting up caches of supplies and weapons in the most inaccessible places imaginable. The hope was that as Nazi Germany was grinding Communist Russia to dust, they could smuggle out their people in the chaos to Sweden then points west. The problem was WW II didn’t work out that way. Great Britain got spanked at Dunkirk and Poland, France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Luxemburg and Norway all surrendered to the Nazi blitzkrieg.Then the Germans invaded Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia went under, but the Soviet Union didn’t fall. Much to the Amazon Council’s horror, resistance units began to interact with the local Amazons in an effort to improve their mutual survivability. Tales of mysterious female fighter, appearing to slay their enemies then disappearing into the wilderness filtered to both the Stavka (Russians) and SOE (British).The SOE discovered an answer to the mystery in mid-1942, by way of the fledgling US OSS. The Americans 'found’ three female Army recruits who volunteered for such a mission. A month later, the partisan bands with those agents found the 'Forest Women’ and all the lights came on. Unknown to the public World, the Amazon Council decided that the best hope for their kinswomen was to bring down the Nazis and ride out the Allied conquest.All of that might have been a happily little footnote except for what happened next. Hundreds of Amazons fought; no surprise; yet they didn’t fight alone this time. Men and women of the local populace fought side by side with these lethal warriors. They shared battle plans, food, fire and medical care. That huge cultural barrier created over two and a half millennia began to erode.They bled together and were forced from time to time to place their lives in each other’s hands. They witnessed one another’s courage and sacrifice. They watched them bury their dead, nurture their young and weep at their pain. Whenever things looked darkest, the Amazon would turn to their partisan partners and say with utmost confidence 'we have survived worse; so can you’.The seminal event happened on the night of February 17th, 1944. For two years, the fractured, wounded women that are ever-present wherever there is war began to attach themselves to the Amazon bands. At first they were little more than annoyances. In time, the Amazons tried to turn these women into something 'useful’. Later, a few earned the right to follow the Amazons into battle.On that February night, two ladies were inducted into House Živa. This was hardly the first time outsider women were brought into the Host, but this circumstance was unique; induction in the middle of a war, having proven themselves in battle before their now-sisters. From that action; not the last in that conflict; was born the concept of the 'Runners’.With the end of WWII, the Amazons emerged more powerful than ever. The three strongest groups in the United States were the Egyptians, Illuminati and the Amazons. The Amazons profited the most; having started with the lowest profile and having infiltrated both the government and business sectors during the war effort.Using the Freemasons, the Egyptians reaped great benefit from the US war effort too. Always forward-looking, the Egyptians helped the Amazons as well. Still, not everything was rosy. For the Public World, World War II ended in September of 1945. That was barely a blip in the Secret Societies’ radar. The calamity came on the 10th of December 1949.Using their pawns in the Chinese Communist Party, the Seven Pillars had re-unified China and were back on the world stage. Earth and Sky and the 9 Clans were dealt a setback. A fourth secret society involved in the Chinese struggle was absorbed by the 7 Pillars. The problem was that all the societies were locked in a bitter struggle yet devastated and over-extended.The 9 Clans, fearing the ratcheting up of Cold War intelligence-gathering services by multiple national governments asked for a global truce. The Amazons were dangerously exposed and over-extended. The Illuminati decided this was their time to strike and nothing could deter them. Into this backdrop, came the news to the Amazons that they had serious genetic issues.That led to the First Directive; the recruitment of 'Runners’ as an established program as well as the explosion of what I knew as Executive Services. In a truly bizarre twist, U.S. and Soviet agents found themselves engaged in cat-and-mouse games with European NATO agents. Amazons had penetrated the proto-CIA during the war in an effort to reach their European sisters.In Eastern Europe, many of those partisans went over to the Communists when the Soviets overran their countries and looked favorably upon their erstwhile allies from the War. They couldn’t match the influence that the many of the other secret societies possessed. Instead they pulled upon existing, personal relationships.I worked with a negative result of those days; Desiree, or more accurately, Desiree’s parents. I was also walking with the final resolution of that crisis. The Secret Societies proved they could work just as fast as the UN. In three decades they had resolved nothing and were spending more and more time on damage control.Three events converged. The Illuminati had figured out the full-blooded Amazons were dying out so they knew they could win a game of attrition. The rest of the groups were coming to the conclusion that wiping out the Amazons was the easier course of action. The Amazons had, without a doubt, located the leader of the Illuminati, Cáel O'Shea.O'Shea was in sight of his goal; the extermination of the Amazons; when a lone Amazon got to him first. O'Shea’s death sent titanic shockwaves through the Illuminati. There was a scramble for the top spot, fear over how much the Amazons knew about their inner workings, and how the other secret orders would take this bit of news.The Illuminati recoiled from the event, agreed to a truce and that led to the protocols that kept Brianna from dragging me off; gunshot wounds and all. That had been the state of affairs for the last thirty years. Again, the World had not stood still. China was an economic powerhouse, the EU grew stronger, and wars of political ideology had been replaced by religious-based terrorism.The Amazons were at a critical juncture in their history. The 'New’ Directive was their best chance at staving off extinction and the Houses were fighting it kicking and screaming. The First Directive wasn’t being implemented properly. If nothing changed, the Amazons would be dragged under by the weight of their own bigotry.But wait! There was this idiot with no conception of history getting in the way of Amazon extinction; the decline toward oblivion that six murderous factions were waiting for. In this epic there were no 'friends’, only 'allies of convenience’. The Egyptians weren’t buddies. They simply preferred others to fight their battles for them.The Amazons fit that bill nicely, but if they were dying out, the Egyptians would be more concerned in filling the Amazon void than mourning over the Host’s grave. The Illuminati and Seven Pillars were enemies. Though there was little animosity between the Earth & Sky and the Amazons, the E&S were based on perpetuating the legacy of the World’s greatest rapist.The 9 Clans were the 9 Clans and their business was all about the precise application of death. They had no friends and if they pretended to be your friend, it was only so they could position themselves to kill you. It was only business. They rarely played with debts, obligations and vendettas. Still, if a member of the 9 Clans said they owed you, it was worth the assassin’s weight in Iridium.As a bonus, the 9 Clans were gender-neutral. Outside of the Amazons, they had been using females in their numbers the longest. Because of this, the 9 Clans tried to interact with the Amazon using women from their own ranks, minimizing the sexual tension between the groups. The Condottieri had also began recruiting women into their ranks over the past twenty years.Their leadership was still all-male with the added complications of the unresolved Naples killings and the brutal destruction of La Solidaridad. Also, while the Amazons were not business competitors, they didn’t employ the Condottieri either. All these micro-wars had been very good for the Condottieri, allowing them to build up quite a stable of talent and a huge war chest.If the Amazons recovered, the global map would change. How so? Madi and Rhada weren’t from Cleveland, but from India where unresolved crimes against women were too common. Palli Chandra, the VP of International Finance and Ngozi from my spa

Od Kataru przez Chicago po Lombard - polscy kibice w bojowych nastrojach przed meczem Polska - Argentyna na mistrzostwach świata. Rozmawiamy z Józefem Tokarczykiem, który jest w Doha, Arturem Jaroszczukiem, Krzysztofem Markiewiczem oraz księdzem Krzysztofem Janickim z parafii Miłosiedzia Bożego w Lombard. Zaprasza Joanna Trzos i Łukasz Dudka.  Podcast "Dziennika Związkowego" powstaje we współpracy z radiem WPNA 103.1 FM. Józef Tokarczyk (w środku) na stadionie w Doha przed meczem Polska-Argentyna  fot. Facebook/Józef Tokarczyk  

Special Guest Segment: Dr. Guy Citrin joins the show to talk all things gut, hormones and weight loss. - What is the best pre meal supplement to take? - What doctors miss in gut healing. - Stomach acid is everything! - Why heartburn medicine is unsafe. - The power of mindful eating. - The infection connected to auto immune disease. - Why is bile so essential in gut health? - New weight loss miracle. - The power of regenerative medicine. - Why are our hormones so disrupted? How to properly fix your hormones.   How to raise testosterone. Do testosterone shots work?  Cold water and hormones.  Knowledge Bomb: All about raising your BDNF and thus brain health.  - What is BDNF? - How is it connected to dementia? - How does exercise feed the brain? - How does stress destroy the brain? - Top 5 foods for brain health.  - Top foods to avoid. - What foods fo the gut and brain love most? - Is fasting good for the brain? - Do psychedelics help memory? “My mission is to provide balanced solutions to help you thrive with as little medication as possible.” – Dr. Guy Citrin Driven and warmhearted naturopathic doctor Guy Citrin, ND, dedicates his time and expertise to helping men and women improve their general health and quality of life at his private practice, Doctor Guy, in Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles. Dr. Guy combines innovative integrative modalities with functional, naturopathic, and conventional medicine for the best possible results. He has diverse experience, education, and training, and specializes in treating chronic disease, hormone imbalance, joint pain, gut health, anti-aging, and regenerative medicine. Dr. Guy received his naturopathic medical degree from the National University of Health Sciences in Lombard, Illinois. He was a resident at a renowned affiliate site through Bastyr University before relocating to Los Angeles. Dr. Guy is a member of the Endocrinology Association of Naturopathic Physicians, the California Naturopathic Doctors Association, and a nationally recognized speaker on gut health for Microbiome Labs.  He specializes in gut health, hormones, and regenerative medicine. However, he has a broad background and expertise in primary care and treats many conditions. He attempts to help the body heal naturally and therefore, take people off medication when it is safe to do so.   Many patients visit Doctor Guy feeling overprescribed and underappreciated. For Dr. Guy, he doesn't just want to make you feel better in the moment, but he wants you to feel better into the future. He believes that health truly is wealth, and he enjoys helping patients feel better and restoring richness and vitality on a deeper level. Dr. Guy's objective is to provide exceptional and personalized care that doesn't just mask the symptoms but improves With initial 90-minute consultations, Dr. Guy spends ample time with patients and leaves no stone unturned. New patients are welcome. Become the best version of yourself and get 15% off Ned products with code DRG. Go to helloned.com/DRG or enter code DRG at checkout.   To make it easy, Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/healthyself. Right now, you can get 15% off a starter kit with my code DRG. Just go to links.branchbasics.com/drg. Now is the time to start cleaning your space safely and efficiently! Right now LMNT is offering my listeners a free sample pack with any purchase. That's 8 single serving packets FREE with any LMNT order. This is a great way to try all 8 flavors or share LMNT with a salty friend. Get yours at DrinkLMNT.com/DRG.

What does our actions show about our love for others? How do you love those who deliberately seek to be your enemies.? The bible teaches us to love perfectly. Jesus commands believers to love their enemies even when they do evil to them. It is not easy but in Matthew 5: 38 - 48 Jesus makes it clear that the purpose of the law was to help Israelites love one another. Listen to Eddie Lombard as he preaches on how God wants all believers to always seek to restore relationships with other people even at great personal cost not only once but several times, just as the Father loved us through his Son on the cross.

Rozmawiam o filmie "Lombard" (2022) Łukasza Kowalskiego -- moim gościem jest Karol Szafraniec, filmoznawca, kulturoznawca i edukator filmowy; autor podcastu "Audio/Wizualny".

The third episode of our Veteran Live Shows features US Army Veteran and Co-Founder of Project Refit Dan Lombard. Combat Vet, Purple Heart Recipient, and Co-Founder of Project Refit. Project Refit is a peer-to-peer support designed to combat isolation in veterans and first responders. I am currently pursuing my bachelor's in psychology. This is a great chat. Check out Dan's organization: https://www.projectrefit.us All episodes: Https://www.themisfitnation.com This episode YouTube: https://youtu.be/3PZCLhKO5BQ#Veteran #Army #Advocate #PurpleHeart Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to this Aphasia Access Aphasia Conversations Podcast. My name is Janet Patterson. I am a Research Speech-Language Pathologist at the VA Northern California Healthcare System in Martinez, California, and a member of the Aphasia Access Podcast Working Group. Aphasia Access strives to provide members with information, inspiration, and ideas that support their efforts in engaging with persons with aphasia and their families through a variety of educational materials and resources. I am the host for today's episode that will feature Dr. Sarah J. Wallace from Queensland, Australia. These Show Notes accompany the conversation with Dr. Wallace but are not a verbatim transcript. In today's episode you will hear about: clinical meaningfulness and research wastage: defining and addressing, minimal important change: defining and measuring, four “Monday Morning Practices” to create clinically meaningful outcomes.     Dr. Janet Patterson: Welcome to our listeners. Today I am delighted to be speaking with Dr. Sarah J. Wallace from the University of Queensland. In this episode we will be discussing the topic of operationalizing treatment success: what it means, the research efforts supporting this idea, why it is important to think about as we plan and deliver aphasia treatment, and suggestions for implementation in daily clinical practice. Dr. Wallace is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow, NHMRC Senior Research Fellow in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Queensland in Australia. She is also a Certified and practicing Speech Pathologist. Her research interests include communication disability in ageing and enabling and measuring meaningful change in language and communication impairment in individuals with post-stroke aphasia. She uses qualitative and mixed methods to explore the lived experience of communication disability and works in partnership with consumers and clinicians to co-produce clinical interventions and methodological approaches that support the production of meaningful outcomes.   Among her interests in aphasia assessment and rehabilitation is a focus on measurement of aphasia and rehabilitation outcomes, in particular, outcomes that are real and are meaningful to persons with aphasia. Sarah led the ROMA group, Research Outcome Measurement in Aphasia, a group that has published three papers reporting efforts to identify standard outcome measures used in aphasia research. In addition, with colleagues across the world, she published a paper examining methods of operationalizing success in aphasia treatment in research and daily clinical practice. Foremost in this body of work is what I perceive to be Sarah's desire to bring together ideas from persons with aphasia and their family members, assist clinicians and researchers to identify effective and efficient rehabilitation techniques, and to measure treatment outcome in a relevant and scholarly rigorous manner.   Welcome to Aphasia Access Conversations, Sarah, and thank you for joining me today.   Dr. Sarah Wallace: Thanks, Janet, for this invitation.   I would like to start today by acknowledging the traditional owners of the lands from which I'm joining today, the Turrbal and Yuggera people, and pay my respects to their ancestors and their descendants who continue cultural and spiritual connections to country.   Janet: Thank you very much. I appreciate that acknowledgement.   Sarah, throughout your career, you have published papers focusing on aspects of aphasia rehabilitation, many of which explore the topic of measuring and standardizing outcomes in aphasia rehabilitation. How did you become interested in exploring this aspect of aphasia?   Sarah:  Before I completed my PhD, I worked first clinically, as a speech pathologist, and later in a government policy role in the area of aged care quality and safety. I really loved both of these roles for different reasons. As a clinician, I could make a difference at an individual level. But with the government role, I realized the huge impact you can have when you're influencing practice from a systems level. So, when I went on to complete my Ph.D., I really knew that I wanted to do something big picture. At the time, there had been a few big studies coming out with no results. There was a lot of talk about how important it is to get research design right. Then as part of my work at the time, I was reading the World Health Organization, World Report on Disability, and that's where I really started learning about this concept of research wastage and the importance of having a really considered approach to the way we measure outcomes when you want to use data efficiently beyond an individual study. That really appealed to me, particularly given that, within aphasia, we tend to have small sample sizes and really need to make the most of the data that we collect.   Janet: Sarah, we often hear the term clinically meaningful in relation to aphasia outcomes. How would you define that term from the perspective of a person with aphasia? And also, from the perspective of aphasia clinicians and researchers?   Sarah:  This is an excellent question. This is something that I was really interested in during my Ph.D. It's this idea of what is a meaningful outcome. And who actually gets to decide that? And are we measuring what matters to the people who live with aphasia, and the clinicians who work with them? I remember reading at the time, and one of my favorite quotes is from a paper by a researcher called Andrew Long. He says, in practice what actually gets measured depends on who wants the data, and for what purpose. I really think that the idea of clinically meaningful depends on who you're asking, and why you're asking. As an example, in the studies that we conducted with people with aphasia and their family members, they thought improved communication was really important. But they also identified a range of outcomes that related to participation, to attitudes, to psychosocial well-being. But then things change when you look at a different stakeholder group. We also spoke to clinicians and managers around the world, and they identified a range of outcomes. But the really interesting part was that improved language itself wasn't actually considered essential. The top outcome that they came up with actually related to family members, that they understand how to communicate with the person with aphasia. I think what it comes down to is the message that I've really tried to share from my research is that different outcomes matter to different people. And we can measure them in so many different ways. And that this is something that we really have to think carefully about.   Janet: Listening to your responses to these first two questions, I can feel the energy! I can feel this passion looking at aphasia rehabilitation from a larger perspective, outside the actual treatment that gets delivered, and thinking about how we make sure that our treatment is the right thing, and is measuring the right thing, whatever, as you say, the right thing is. It depends on who's looking for the data. You've maintained that focus of how can we become a better entity, better clinicians, if you will, at the broader scope? Does that make sense to you?   Sarah: Yeah, it does, and that idea really resonates with me. I think that's definitely been a feature of the work I've done and the work that I continue to do. It's very focused on collaborative efforts and how we can make the most of what we have, so that we can ultimately improve outcomes for people with aphasia.   Janet: I do think we need to pay attention to this. We cannot just assume that if we give a test pre and post treatment, it is a meaningful outcome to a person with aphasia or to their care partners or to a third-party payer.   Sarah, you have led the ROMA group, that is Research Outcome Measurement in Aphasia. As I mentioned earlier that group published three papers describing standardized assessment measures suggested for use in aphasia rehabilitation outcome studies. Would you briefly describe the genesis of the idea for this work and the studies the group has published?   Sarah: Following on from what I mentioned earlier, this was during my Ph.D. Once I had this idea that I wanted to do something to help reduce research wastage in aphasia, I started reading more about approaches to standardizing outcome measurement and came across the work of the Comet Initiative, which is a group that brings together people who are interested in the development of standardized sets of outcomes, which they refer to as Core Outcome Sets. There's this idea that a Core Outcome Set is essentially the minimum outcomes that should be measured in treatment studies of a particular condition. And that really appealed to me. So, we went from there, we conducted a series of studies looking at different stakeholders, gathering thoughts and perspectives about what an important outcome actually is. We conducted a scoping review of outcome measurement instruments so that we could try and match those outcomes to available tools. And then we've had a number of consensus meetings, where we've tried to pair those two things together.   Janet: I think the work of the ROMA group is important, and being part of that group, it's exciting to watch the minds of people all over the world, contribute their various perspectives, and have discussions about the different measures and the value of the measures. While I think it's wonderful to work at this level, this broad level of perspective, at some point, it has to inform our daily clinical practice. How do you see that happening?   Sarah: Yeah, that's a really good question. Essentially, we conduct treatment research so that we can help clinicians and people with aphasia and their families to make informed decisions about treatments. What's going to help? What's the best treatment for a particular issue and for a particular person? To answer these questions, researchers need to measure the effects that a treatment has on a person, what we refer to as outcomes. When we're measuring different outcomes in different ways it makes it harder to compare data, to combine it across studies, and to draw strong conclusions about which treatments work best.   Core outcomes also need to be relevant, and this is the other part that has been really exciting to me. They should capture results that are important to people who live with that condition. Ultimately, I think that the clinical relevance of the ROMA Core Outcome Set lies in what it is hopefully doing - helping to produce the best evidence that we can get for aphasia treatments, so that those treatments can then be implemented into practice in order to improve the lives of people with aphasia and their families.   Janet: I think that those papers should be required reading for every speech-language pathologist dealing with people with aphasia, and also other rehabilitation professionals, because it helps if we can all be thinking in the same way, as you said, to think about treatment candidacy and does one treatment work better, or for a specific person. or someone with a particular aphasia profile, than another kind of treatment? How do we make good clinical decisions for our patients? That's exactly, I think, what you're saying.   I mentioned also earlier that with several colleagues, you recently published a paper titled Operationalizing Treatment Success in Aphasia Rehabilitation. That paper was published in the journal, Aphasiology. I am a great fan of that paper and would like to begin by asking you why it would be important, in your mind, to operationalize treatment outcomes, given the variability that we see among aphasia patients.   Sarah: Thanks, Janet. And yeah, and this is a great paper. It was led by Caterina Breitenstein and other researchers from the Collaboration of Aphasia Trialists. This paper is really trying to answer the question, “What is a successful outcome from treatment?” What are the ways in which we can actually measure that treatment success? This is such an important question because research will end in clinical practice and so much hinges on this decision? Whether a treatment is successful is going to depend on how we define success and whether we can measure that success in a way that can actually be captured.   Janet: Sarah, in light of your thinking about the different stakeholders, how might operationalizing treatment success differ for the various stakeholder groups that you've identified? That is, people with aphasia, family members, clinical and other medical professionals, medical administrators, and aphasia researchers?   Sarah: This is really that idea that different outcomes are important to different people. If we think about this from a societal perspective, or from a healthcare funders perspective, any treatment that's provided as part of clinical care needs to be cost effective. So that might be something that from a funders point of view is a really important outcome. For clinicians, the ability for someone to take part in conversations and to communicate in different settings and roles is something that, through my research, was identified as an important treatment outcome. Then from the perspective of people with aphasia, not surprisingly, it's improved communication. But it's all these other things as well. It's being able to participate in a conversation. It's having a sense of recovered normality and a feeling of autonomy and independence. So again, I really think it's the idea that it really depends on who you're asking, and the perspective that they're coming from.   Janet: Your comments make me think about work done by Jackie Hinckley and others about stakeholders being part of deciding research questions or research directions. It also makes me think about work done by Michael Biel and others about motivation and engagement. All of these, I think, have a bearing on the research or the clinical enterprise. Are people engaged? Are they willing to commit time and resources to a rehabilitation enterprise because they see value in it, and because they see that there's a likelihood of a good outcome. I believe that what you're doing in terms of thinking about operationalizing helps move us along in that direction.   Sarah: Absolutely. I think that's a really important point, that if someone can't see the relevance of what they're working on in therapy, for example, then they're not going to engage in that process. It really starts with goal setting, and really identifying, working with a person to identify, goals which are really going to be functionally relevant to them and to their day-to-day life. I think if you can get that part right, then everything else follows on from that.   Janet: In your paper, you and your colleagues describe the concept of minimal important change, as a way of determining clinically relevant improvement on an outcome measure, considering the average statistically significant change across groups, as well as statistical significance at the individual level. Can you unpack that concept for us and describe how it relates to daily clinical practice?   Sarah: Yeah, absolutely. This is a really exciting idea, I think. Basically, minimal important change, and it is called different things, but this is the term that we've chosen to use, is the smallest change score above which an outcome is experienced by someone as being relevant or meaningful. I really love this idea, because what we're essentially doing is applying qualitative meaning to quantitative change on an outcome measure. To put this in an example, what this might actually look like, what we're asking is, for example, if I do a Western Aphasia Battery, and then do it again, how many points would actually tell me that that person had experienced a level of meaningful change. So that's what we're trying to work out to determine these benchmarks for meaningful change. We've actually recently received funding for this work, which is really, really exciting. We're going to be undertaking a project, where we use an anchor-based method to establish minimal important change scores for the measures that are in the ROMA Core Outcome Set.   Janet: That makes a lot of sense, because I know in the paper, there are some formulas and statistical representations and discussions that might not be easily familiar to some of our listeners. It was a tough read in some parts of your paper, for sure.   Sarah: Yeah, it is. It's probably not the sort of paper that you sit down and read from start to finish, I think. Some of these concepts are complicated, and they are a bit dense, but I sort of see that paper almost as a reference guide. I think it's the sort of thing that you can come back to, and it does, you know, tend to make more sense over time.   Janet: You did give us one example about operationalizing outcomes with the Western Aphasia Battery and minimal important change. Are there a couple of other examples drawn from this paper that you might share, bringing it to the level of our daily clinical practice?   Janet: Sure. Well, I think, overall, one of the really nice things this paper does, is it actually explains that you can determine treatment success in a number of different ways. We go through concepts around, what approach would we take if we're trying to work out does this treatment work for this particular population, and how well does it work? Then we have different approaches where we're looking at who does it work for, looking at individual change on outcome measures. It really walks you through approaches for group level analysis, looking at mean differences between groups in research trials, versus approaches for determining individual therapy response and outcomes, like minimal important change, and like smallest detectable change.   Janet: Is there an idea or a thought, from this paper and from your work in thinking about operationalizing outcomes that you might give to our listeners that they can put into practice on Monday morning in their clinical practice?   Sarah: Absolutely. This is something I've given a lot of thought about recently, because I think it's one thing to have a very theoretical sort of paper, and to think about the minutiae of all of these issues, but I think for clinical practice it comes down to probably about four different things. (One) I mentioned earlier, I really believe that meaningful outcome measurement starts with shared goal setting. You need to work with your clients to really set meaningful goals that are relevant to them, that they are invested in, and that are going to help them to achieve the outcomes that are important to them.   (Two) The next thing I think, is thinking about, “I have these goals.” We have Clinical Practice Guidelines, we have research evidence, and I would encourage clinicians to use those resources to then really think, “Well, which treatments do we know are effective? Which treatment is most likely to work for the person that I have sitting in my clinic?”   (Three) The next part is when we really get to the measurement part of it, which is really thinking about what you want to measure. Thinking about those goals, thinking about your treatment, where would you expect change to happen following that treatment? Are you looking for a change in function? Or in a behavior? Or is it a feeling, is it confidence that you're trying to change or, someone's emotional wellbeing or an attitude? What is it that you're actually looking to change? (Four) Once you've determined what you want to measure, it's then thinking about what's the most appropriate way of measuring that? For something like confidence, the best way to measure that is that it really has to come from the person themselves. It's a PROM (Patient Reported Outcome Measure), it's patient reported, it's self-report. But there are many other ways that we can measure things: performance on a task; a report from a caregiver or significant other; it could be a clinician rating or report. It's really then thinking about what's the best way of measuring this? There are all these resources out there like the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab, or Stroke Engine. There are websites where they break these measures down and can give you some information about their psychometric properties. Do they measure what they say they measure? Is this tool reliable? Is it sensitive enough to actually pick up change? I think if you can consider all those things, then you're well on the way to successful measurement.   Janet: That's a tall order! But I think it's a good order. Perhaps if we started Monday morning with just one of those things, and felt comfortable implementing shared goal setting for example, and that became an easy-to-do, relevant part of our clinical work, then we might move on to the other points that you're making and gradually incorporate them.   Sarah: Absolutely. I think at a basic level make sure your goals match your outcome measures. Make sure you're measuring what you're actually trying to change, I think is the basic message.   Janet: Sarah, that sounds like a pearl of wisdom to me. What I would like to ask you as we draw this interview to a close, reflecting on your career beyond the ROMA papers and this paper that we've been talking about, operationalizing outcome measures, and reflecting on your research and clinical career, you've just dropped one pearl of wisdom. Are there any others or lessons learned that you would like to share with our listeners?   Sarah: Yeah, sure. Thinking about my career sort of in total, one of the real highlights of it has been collaboration. I think working together is my other pearl of wisdom, so to speak. I think when we work together and we collaborate, we use our efforts to the best, and in the most efficient way possible, we can reduce research wastage, and we can really put our combined efforts towards improving the lives of people with aphasia. Me personally, I'm involved in a group called the Collaboration of Aphasia Trialists and they have a brilliant website. They're a global network of aphasia researchers, with a lot of resources on their website, which are intended for clinicians to use. They have a particular emphasis on multilingual assessment and outcomes and treatment, which is relevant to all of us in the world that we live in. We're often seeing really diverse populations in the clinic. So, I think yeah, that's my other pearl.   Janet: Sarah, I am an ardent recycler and believe in reduce, reuse, recycle. You've mentioned twice now in our chat, about reducing research and clinical wastage. I think that's a great phrase I want to remember, so that we're not continuing to reinvent the wheel, or spending time and money and resources doing things over again, and wasting, I thank you for that term and that idea.   Sarah, thank you also for being my guest, and the guest of Aphasia Access, for this episode of Aphasia Conversations. I enjoyed our conversation, and I will also say, I think we could probably continue to talk for hours about several other topics, especially related to motivation and engagement and measurement, but we'll stop for now. I learned a lot of new things in reading to prepare for our discussion and also listening and talking with you. I think that your work in aphasia rehabilitation and change measurement is important, very important, not just from an academic point of view, or a third-party payer or funding point of view, but most importantly from the patient's point of view, so that we are delivering the best, most effective treatment we can in the most efficient manner. So, thank you for being my guest today.   Sarah: Thank you for having me, it's been a pleasure.   Janet: I also would like to take a moment to thank all of you, our listeners, for your continuing interest in Aphasia Access conversations. As a reminder, check the Show Notes for today's episode for any references or resources mentioned in today's podcast. For more information on Aphasia Access, and to access our growing library of materials, go to www.aphasia.access.org. If you have an idea for a future podcast topic, please email us at info at aphasia access.org. Thank you again for your ongoing support of Aphasia Access                               References, Links, and Podcasts References Biel, M., Enclade, H, Richardson, A., Guerrero, A. & Patterson, J.P. (2022). Motivation in aphasia rehabilitation: A scoping review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 31,2421-2443. https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_AJSLP-22-00064 Breitenstein, C., Hilari, K., Menahemi-Falkov, M., L. Rose, M., Wallace, S. J., Brady, M. C., Hillis, A. E., Kiran, S., Szaflarski, J. P., Tippett, D. C., Visch-Brink, E., & Willmes, K. (2022). Operationalising treatment success in aphasia rehabilitation. Aphasiology. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2021.2016594 Hinckley, J., Boyle, E., Lombard, D. & Bartels-Tobin, L. (2014) Towards a consumer-informed research agenda for aphasia: preliminary work, Disability and Rehabilitation, 36:12, 1042-1050, https://doi.org/10.3109/09638288.2013.829528  Long, A. F., Dixon, P., Hall, R., Carr-Hill, R. A., & Sheldon, T. A. (1993). The outcomes agenda: Contribution of the UK clearing house on health outcomes. Quality in Health Care, 2 49–52. https://doi.org/10.1136/qshc.2.1.49 Wallace, S. J., Worrall, L., Rose, T., Le Dorze, G., Breitenstein, C., Hilari, K., Babbitt, E.… Webster, J. (2019). A core outcome set for aphasia treatment research: The ROMA consensus statement. International journal of stroke : official journal of the International Stroke Society, 14(2), 180–185. https://doi.org/10.1177/1747493018806200 Wallace, S.J., Worrall, L. Rose, T.A., Alyahya, R.S.W., Babbitt. E., Beeke. S., de Beer, C….Le Dorze, G. (under review). Measuring communication as a core outcome in aphasia trials: Results of the ROMA-2 international core outcome set development meeting. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders.   Links Collaboration of Aphasia Trialists.  https://www.aphasiatrials.org/ Comet Initiative. http://www.comet-initiative.org/ ROMA COS. Core outcome set for aphasia research – The Collaboration of Aphasia Trialists Shirley Ryan Ability Lab. https://www.sralab.org/ Stroke Engine. https://strokengine.ca/en/   Aphasia Access Podcasts Episode #69: Motivation and engagement in aphasia rehabilitation: In conversation with Michael Biel Episode #88: Everyone's an expert: Person-centeredness in the clinic and research - A conversation with Jackie Hinckley

How do you stay competitive during uncertain times?   Here to share expert insights is Arie van Gemeren of Lombard Equities. He talks about navigating the political climate and the pandemic as a real estate investor and finding success on the West Coast. He also discusses his background in venture capital and how he is applying the skills and knowledge he learned there to multifamily.   Since founding Lombard, Arie has built the portfolio to over $50 million in assets and delivered excellent returns to the Firm's investors. Prior to founding Lombard Equities, Arie was a Principal at Rising Tide Ventures, a technology and healthcare investments firm, where he focused on FinTech and real estate technology companies. He previously worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co., and before this was an equity research analyst with Fisher Investments. Arie is on the Board of Directors for Bay Scholars, a Bay Area Philanthropy focused on delivering excellent education to deserving youths via the Catholic School System. He graduated from UC Davis with a dual major in History and Political Science.     [00:01 - 05:01]  From Wall Street VC to Real Estate Seeing that a lot of investors are not committing to venture capital, Arie felt like he could deliver better outcomes in multifamily investing Now they are aiming to be the biggest player in West Coast multifamily   [05:02 - 13:27] Investing in the West Coast and Thriving During the Pandemic Despite the issues in landlord restrictions and tenant laws on the West Coast, Arie believes there are a lot of opportunities there Don't let politics decide your investing Progressive cities attract talents and people are going to keep coming there Tenant right laws provide stability A lot of landlords are selling based on their political ideals and there are less buyers During COVID, they didn't have nonpayment problems because they invested in upstanding locations If you have good housing, you will get good tenants and they're the least likely to not pay   [13:28 - 18:48] Lessons Learned from Venture Capital Being VC, your reputation is very important and you have to get into deals with high outcomes Writing a memo down is really valuable because it can help in your thought process There is an enormous amount of pressure to always be in a deal, there should be discipline to slow down   [18:49 - 20:20] Closing Segment Reach out to Arie!  Links Below Final Words Tweetable Quotes   “Right-leaning landlords are selling based on political decisions. Like, let's go in and buy those properties. 'cause they're not thinking about this from the bigger picture.” - Arie van Gemeren “We're really focused on sort of white-collar neighborhoods and places with a great nightlife, a lot of fun that has a high caliber type employees or professionals that are living there or want to live there.” - Arie van Gemeren “You should play devil's advocate with yourself, and if you get through that process and at the end you're like, yeah, I got to do this deal, I just think it protects you, right?” - Arie van Gemeren -----------------------------------------------------------------------------   Connect with Arie at arie@lombardequities.com and visit their website at www.lombardequities.com.   Connect with me:   I love helping others place money outside of traditional investments that both diversify a strategy and provide solid predictable returns.     Facebook   LinkedIn   Like, subscribe, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or whatever platform you listen on.  Thank you for tuning in!   Email me → sam@brickeninvestmentgroup.com Want to read the full show notes of the episode? Check it out below:   [00:00:00] Arie van Gemeren: We do deals, right? And so, like, there is an enormous amount of pressure internally, externally to, like, to do deals, right? And so you have to constantly check that impulse, right? And as a syndicator, you know, you get paid to do deals. Like, you get paid a lot of money to do deals and you put up a lot of money to get deals done, right? So, like, the many pressures to like make you do a deal are huge.  [00:00:32] Sam Wilson: Arie van Gemeren is a former Wall Street venture capital executive turned real estate investor and entrepreneur. Arie, welcome to the show. [00:00:39] Arie van Gemeren: Thank you for having me, Sam. Good to be here.  [00:00:40] Sam Wilson: Absolutely, my pleasure. Thanks for coming on today. There are three questions, Arie, I ask every guest who comes from the show, in 90 seconds or less, can you tell me where did you start? Where are you now and how did you get there?  [00:00:50] Arie van Gemeren: I started in traditional Hyde finance. I was a stock market research analyst, went to a major Wall Street Bay, worked for a private family office and venture capital, and during that whole time, was investing in properties on my own behalf, my own money, and was doing well. You know, I like to think I was a good investor, and I certainly, the market helped me at the same time, started investing in the mid-2010s then, yeah, and then at some point, I realized I knew a lot of the individuals who were really interested in doing real estate, but were really good at what they did. And there was a really big opportunity to take what I was doing, kind of upsize it. So we started doing syndicated deals. I started my firm in 2020, the depths of the pandemic, right, when everyone kind of went home and was trying to figure out what to do. And that's when I decided to pull the trigger and kind of go start my company. And, yeah, we've been investing across the West Coast, in the United States, really focused on the San Francisco Bay area, Portland, and Seattle, buying core kind of inner city and close to inner city value add multifamily deals. We're up to a little over 200 units now across our portfolio and continuing to expand, have a bunch of stuff in contract right now and where are we going? We're, you know, trying to be one of the larger players on West Coast multifamily real estate and eventually extend out to Denver and Salt Lake City as well.  [00:02:07] Sam Wilson: That is awesome. So you've been buying property from 2010 to 2020, and in 2020, you said, you know what, I'm going to do my own thing. [00:02:16] Arie van Gemeren: Yeah, well I didn't start in 2010. I wish I started in 2010. I would be way better off now. I started it as in the mid, like, in the 2015, 2016 rates when I kind of started.  [00:02:27] Sam Wilson: Not a bad time to get in.  [00:02:29] Arie van Gemeren: Not a bad time. Oh, yeah, Not a bad time.  [00:02:32] Sam Wilson: No, for sure. Not a bad time, but you weren't getting the basement pricing, the bargain basement pricing that you would have in 2010. That's for sure. Either way, what was the compelling reason in 2020 for you to get into how you add multifamily, especially in the West Coast?  [00:02:47] Arie van Gemeren: So, you know, in venture capital, I was focused on, you know, property technology investing and financial technology investing and also raising capital, right, and I have met a ton of really interesting and influential family offices across the West Coast and in Mexico as well. And the commonality across them was there was a lot of suspicion of the venture capital business. Like, what's the cash flow? How secure is my investment? Like, is this going to make me money? I struggle with this. And most of these families had sizable real estate holdings. and you know, in 2020, tech investing sort of hit a big lull, and everybody was sort of waiting, right? And investors were not committing to venture capital. And I had seen in my own underwriting and my own deals that I felt like I could control the outcome a lot more with multifamily investment. So my thought process was, Hey guys, like we've been talking about VC, I don't know if you knew this, I'm doing real estate and this is kind of what I had been seeing happen, and I really believe in it. I know you do, too, because your family's been in real estate for a hundred years or whatever, whatever the story is, right? And so why don't we do something together, go in and kind of make this happen and, and do some deals together, right? And there was a lot more appetite and interest for that, and I think in an uncertain environment, the ability to kind of probability weight your outcome to be like, look, if I put conservative members in here, I assume rents drop when I have a higher cap rate on X, a whole bunch of stuff, I can still kind of tell you what your return's going to be, right? Versus pitching VC was like, it's a great idea, right? They have no revenue and it might happen, right? And if it works, it's going to be awesome. You're going to make a ton of money, but like, it's really likely it's not going to work with a harder pitch, right? So that was kind of why we launched this thing, right? And there's been a ton of investor appetite and interest.  [00:04:29] Sam Wilson: Yeah, that is almost two completely opposite ends of a sale. Like if you get lucky, we'll hit a home run and it'll be great. What do they call that? I'm going to probably use the right word 'cause it's not the space I'm in. They call it unicorn or something like that?  [00:04:43] Arie van Gemeren: Yeah, yeah, yeah.  [00:04:45] Sam Wilson: And that's what, you know, sets you right for life. Whereas what you're buying now is, I mean, it's stable, it's predictable, it produces revenue, and it's like, okay, you just clip the coupon and off we keep going. It's just not that, not that wild and crazy, but it sounds like one is a much easier sell. Tell me this. Portland, Seattle, Bay area, not typically, I know obviously it's there, people invest, there's lots of people buying, you know, value add multifamily in those areas, but by and large, the sentiment is fairly opposed, I would say. Buying in West Coast cities just from landlord restrictions to tenant laws, to all those things, you say that, that is a prime opportunity and those are great, great places to invest. Break that down for me.  [00:05:27] Arie van Gemeren: Yeah. I'll start with a fundamental lesson I learned in my stock market kind of equity research days. The CEO of my firm is a very large money management firm on the West Coast. You know, what I would always say, don't let your politics decide you're investing, right, 'cause, like, you have your politics, have your political views, whatever they may be. Don't let that control what you do from an investment perspective, because the two don't always go hand in hand. Like, you could really believe in something, but that doesn't mean that it should inform how you think about investing. So that was kind of, I had that framework right where it was. I don't agree with a lot of the West Coast politics and politics in many of these great progressive cities, but, like, it doesn't mean that there's not a great investment opportunity, right? And I felt like the word on the street and what I was hearing was a lot of like, you know, a lot of landlords in Portland and Seattle were like, this place is becoming a, you know, a disaster, and I got to get out of here. I got to take my money out. I want to go to a red state, I want to go to Idaho. I want to go somewhere else where it's, like, it's a much friendlier business environment and there's no denying, right, it is a friendlier business environment and I'm not contesting that at all. My contention was this, you know, major, like very progressive left-wing cities on the West Coast, have an appeal that is hard to dispute, right? Like, I mean you look at the Bay Area, you got Stanford, you got Cal, Santa Clara, like major, major university ecosystems, right, that are continuing to pump out graduates, very smart graduates right from all over the world. Like, the international families all would chill to send their children to Stanford and in Cal Berkeley, right? And they do and they send their kids there and other, and, like, very bright children who are graduating from school. That's a great crop of candidates for, you know, companies, right? And if you want to get the best graduates from Stanford, you got to continue to have a presence in the area for those internships to bring those kids up, right? And so I felt like there was a theme of, like, everyone's leaving and the Bay Area's going into a secular decline and, like, rent states are on the rides and these cities are going to be great 'cause business is great. And I'm not denying any of that. I'm just saying I thought that the backlash against the progressive stronghold was sort of overblown, right? So that was the first piece. The second piece is I actually take the contention that these cities with very protective tenant right laws are perversely good for investors, right? So little known fact, the guy that wrote the code for San Francisco Rent Control was one of the largest multifamily owners in San Francisco, and I'd heard it said that in conversation. He said, I love rent control. I love it because it puts a floor on all my assets. Like, I'm never going below that floor ever, right? I'm only going up and it provides a ton of stability for my building. And I love it. Like, I wrote that code and I like that code and I don't want it to go away. That gives me a competitive advantage. That was from a major, like, a major investor, right? And the things I've observed in these markets is rent control, like, difficulty building, right? Like, all these things, they actually increase supply or they decrease supply, right? So, like, you never have enough supply in these cities. And my observation and I think this is happening, right, many of the up and booming markets in the southeast, right, in Florida, and these different markets, in my opinion, are probably headed for an oversupply problem at some point, right? Because you have the population growing, but it's also, like, there's no limitation on supply. Like, developers can build and build and build. Arizona's a great example of that, right? Where it's like Arizona was hopping, like Phoenix, you know, the money was pouring into these cities, but like, it was very easy to build, right? By contrast, in Portland, as an example, like the city passed a law that, like, if you want to build a new building, 30 plus percent of the housing in it needs to be affordable, right? So if you put wages and material costs so that you know, have both gone up, right? Developers aren't building anymore and you can actually see permits drop off a cliff when that happens, right? But Portland's still growing, right? Like, Portland's growing it double the national growth rate. So is Seattle, right? So they're growing, but you don't have supply. So there's like a broken supply and demand function in these cities. And I think, thirdly, like, you know, we have a hundred years of anecdotal evidence to tell us that Florida is a boom and bust market, right? I mean, it's been going on, like, since the early 1900s. And I would argue that a lot of these, like, cities, like, Manhattan, I would put in the same bucket, right? Manhattan with San Francisco, Seattle, are much more of a smooth ride, right? Like you're not going to have huge dropoffs, you're just going to have a slow, steady kind of taking up. And I would argue that's pretty conservative for investors. So we took that thesis and we're like, look, right-leaning landlords are selling based on political decisions. Like, let's go in and buy those properties. 'cause they're not thinking about this from the bigger picture. They're just like, this place has become really unfriendly to me. I want to get out of here. It has become unfriendly, right? I'm not disputing that, but it's, like, but you can work around. And there's less buyers, right? So you're not competing with as many people. So there's a lot of reasons why, you know, it's worth fighting through the complexity. I think the return is there firstly.  [00:10:23] Sam Wilson: I think that's a very compelling thesis, and I've always said that any time you get governmental involvement in things, you know, especially when they start making just arbitrary rules, whatever it is, rent control, you name it. It creates a market distortion for looking for it. So I love your very clear explanation as to why you're finding opportunity and value in those markets. Obviously, decreasing supply and stable and or increasing demand, I mean, that's great for the investor. What are things, you know, as you went through COVID, as you went through 2020, how did you guys navigate some of those very tenant-friendly landlord laws maybe that would've kept tenants in your buildings that maybe weren't paying, things like that?  [00:11:11] Arie van Gemeren: So we did very well during COVID, and I think partly it's because we were really careful with location. One of our kind of core beliefs or tenants has been to only buy and already upstanding in great locations, right? So we're really focused on sort of white-collar neighborhoods, right? Like, places with a great nightlife, a lot of fun that have a high caliber type employee or professional that's living there, or wants to live there, right, your a 20 to 28-year-old software engineer, right? So, like, an example would be Capitol Hill in Seattle, right? Capitol Hill in Seattle. Like, you're within almost walking distance of Amazon's headquarters. It's got the highest concentration of happy hours, right, highly paid, and like pretty legitimate tenant profile. And because of that we had very, very little COVID-related delinquency, very little. And I know by contrast I've talked to guys that own very large portfolios, like, workforce housing-focused assets and their delinquency was much higher, right? Like, they were like 10 to 20% non-pay. And we were probably, like, 1% to 3% non-payment. I just think it's location, right? Like, I mean, you're just owning, if you own housing, that is attractive to young professionals, you know, like, they're the least likely to not pay, right? Because it's not good or them. So they're going to get their parents to help or they're going to pay, like, or they have a great job. Software engineers were not really affected. So, you know, we did that. I will say, you know, people in the Bay Area have gotten in trouble with the tenant protection laws, you know, where like Oakland and Berkeley and San Francisco are some of the last cities that still have an eviction moratorium, for example. And now I'm going to contradict myself, right? But this is some of the danger of this. It's like the city council of Oakland would like to never release the eviction moratorium. Their preference would be to like never let it go, you know, and my question is, like, so someone could not pay rent and you could never get rid of that tenant. And it's like, yeah, that's the stuff that's sort of scary where you're like, well, that's a good argument to not do it, right, because there is a political angle here that's a real problem. But that being said, there's already lawsuits working through the core to say, like, you're now impeding my right to my property right. And I'm pretty sure you can't forever prohibit someone from evicting a non-paying tenant in their building. So they'll get around that. But I mean, for us, we didn't really have to navigate COVID nonpayment.  [00:13:27] Sam Wilson: Arie, tell me this, you know, coming from a long history in venture capital, what are kind of some of the crossovers there? I know I know you went to, you know, the people that you were working and said, hey, I see opportunity here. Do you want to partner on this? But I guess, are there lessons that you learned in doing venture capital that you've then applied to what you're doing now in multifamily?  [00:13:48] Arie van Gemeren: Yeah, there's a couple, right? So deal flow in venture capital is very important, right? So at every beat, there's a lot of money in venture capital, and there's a lot of money because there's a lot of high returns, right? But the little-known fact in VCs is like being in the right deals where the high return comes from, right? And you have to get into those deals. So there's always entrepreneurs raising money. That doesn't mean it's a good investment, right? There's always someone asking for money and so you have two things happening, right? Your investors, your LPs are paying you a healthy salary and everything else to find deals. You have a natural, like, desire to put money to work because you've been given money to put the work, so you have to find deals, right? And so deal flow is one of the highest and most important things, but it's got to be a good deal, right? Very much like our business, right? Like we need to find deals, but it can't be a bad deal, right? So, you know, the process of finding deals in VC was very analogous, finding deals here, right? It's relationship building, it's adding value for people. It's being in touch with guys. It's demonstrating, you know, good characteristics that people want to do business with you and they want to work with you. I mean, being in VC, your reputation is very, very important, right, because entrepreneurs want investors that are thinking of them and are helping and, like, and providing value for them. And so, you know, as we know, brokers also want to work with buyers that close deals execute, do what they say they're going to do and they're honorable and they, like, they live by their work, right? And so there was a lot of the dialogue between those two, doing good deals is also really, really important, right? And so one of the tips I kind of learned from the VC business is to try to write an investment memo to myself, right, 'cause I'm really a firm of one right now, but when I have employees, I'm going to enforce that same thing. And we had to do that in VC because we had to get our deal through a committee. So you had to write a long-form memo, risks, opportunities, what could go wrong, why I like the team, a whole bunch of stuff, right? And I've found that the clarity of writing a memo down is really valuable. If you're writing a memo on a deal and you find yourself on every question trying to convince yourself, like, why you got to do this deal, but you feel like you're fighting resistance, it's a great warning sign, right? And I do think that the discipline of, like, putting it on paper, right? It could be a two-page memo, but it should be like a formulaic memo. Like, why I like this deal? What am I missing? Why would I argue against this deal? Like, you should play devil's advocate with yourself, and if you get through that process and at the end you're like, yeah, I got to do this deal, I just think it protects you, right? I mean, like, Buffett has that famous quote of like, you should think of the best thing as a punch card and you only have 10, right? And you should think of, like, if I do a deal, I only have nine left in my life. That should be how you think about doing a deal, right? If your deal is one of those 10, like, great, but, like, put it on paper, right? Like, do that. That was a cool thing I took from VC and I haven't seen a lot of guys in the syndication business doing that. I know that at bigger private equity real estate shops, it's very common, right? It's a Wall Street practice, it's a VC practice. But for younger guys, smaller guys, guys who are starting up, I do think it's a good practice to build.  [00:17:00] Sam Wilson: Oh, that's an amazing practice. And I love that I kind of feel like I do that when I'm reviewing a deal deck, right? When we're putting together our deal deck like that, it's kind of that same process, but maybe not as truncated, but maybe not as concise. There we go. That's the word I'm looking for. But I like that tip of going through that practice 'cause I'm certain you've uncovered along the way a few deals maybe that you shouldn't have done. [00:17:24] Arie van Gemeren: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah. The danger of being a deal guy or gal, right, is that like we do deals, right? And so, like, there is an enormous amount of pressure internally, externally to, like, do deals, right? And so you have to constantly check that impulse, right? And as a syndicator, you know, you get paid to do deals. Like, you get paid a lot of money to do deals and you put up a lot of money to get deals done, right? So the, like the many pressures to, like, make you do a deal are huge. And you got to like, you got to find a way to get out of that for a second, right? And get out of that cook pot and be like, should I do this deal, right? Because there's the broker's pressuring you to do it. The broker only gets paid if the deal gets done. Your attorney wants to deal to get done. Your investors want, you want against them. Your wife, your husband probably wants you to get it done 'cause you get paid. But you're like, you know, and you got to check that, right? It's really hard. It's hard. It's hard, right? I mean, it's a hard thing to do.  [00:18:16] Sam Wilson: It truly is. The discipline to slow down and say no, because you're absolutely right. Like, if you're not doing deals, if you're not consistently presenting opportunity to your investors, they go to other places. [00:18:28] Arie van Gemeren: Totally. Yeah, exactly.  [00:18:30] Sam Wilson: The reality of it. They're not waiting nine months for you to come back with your next deal and be like, oh, cool, I'm still sitting on that half a million dollars, I'm going to put in your deal. Like that, come on. So there is that constant pressure, like you said, for many, many sources to continue to put out deals. But I love the way that you think through that. Arie, it's been an absolute blast having you here on the show today. I certainly appreciate it. I've learned so much from you. I mean, the venture capital world is something I know absolutely nothing or very little about, so it's fun to get perspective from somebody that's been in it for such a long time. And then how and why you're finding opportunity there in the West Coast cities. I think you presented just an absolutely impressive case as to why, you know, you're investing there and why there's opportunity there. And then how you guys are working around some of the political and or market risks and finding opportunity there. So thanks again for breaking that down for us. Certainly appreciate it. If our listeners want to get in touch with you, learn more about you, what is the best way to do that?  [00:19:24] Arie van Gemeren: You can go to my website, www.lombardequities.com, and it's probably the best way. And then by, you know, my email is arie@lombardequities.com. So if anyone wants to reach out or chat, I'm always happy to talk with anyone, especially about this business. I love it and I can talk for hours about it. So, yeah, it's been a pleasure to be here, Sam. Thanks for having me.  [00:19:43] Sam Wilson: Thank you, sir. For those of you listening, that's arie@lombardequities.com. We'll make sure we also put that there in the show notes. Thank you again, Arie, have a great rest of your day.  [00:19:53] Arie van Gemeren: Thank you. 

Prowadzenie: Agnieszka Szydłowska Goście: Boguś Deptuła, Karolina Felberg, Błażej Hrapkowicz, Ola Salwa, Jacek Wakar Gość specjalny: Ziemowit Szczerek

Host Sean Lennon and Guest Co-Host Danielle Luhrsen welcomed Chicago Pro Wrestling Veteran Joey "The Pitbull" Cece back on PWE to talk about his upcoming match against Tylor Sullivan in a "Loser Leaves POWW Street Fight" at POWW WrestleRage 20 happening Saturday November 5th in Lombard, IL. It is sold out and will be streaming online PPV.Joey also talked about the other matches on the card, why he feels this will be a personal encounter with Tylor, his thoughts on the Team POWW will win against Team SCW in their ongoing feud, his nephew Joey Arriola now NXT Superstar Tony D'Angelo's upcoming return after injury to WWE TV, and more!https://www.facebook.com/POWWEntertainment for more infoFor more info To watch WrestleRage on PPV- https://infinitypoint.org/powwperviewFor the Official PWE Shirt shop at -https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/pro-wrestling-enforcer-logo.htmlFor Exclusive Pro Wrestling Articles and Updated Results for WWE, NXT, AEW, and Impact WrestlingLike the Facebook Page-https://m.facebook.com/PWEPodcast/And support your favorite Independent Wrestlers by buying Shirts and More at https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/

durée : 02:29:29 - Le 7/9.30 - par : Alexandra Bensaid - Martine Lombard, professeure émérite de droit public à l'université Paris-II Panthéon-Assas, auteure de "L'ultime demande" (Liana Levi), est l'invitée de 7h50. François Gemenne, politologue à l'Université de Liège, auteur principal du dernier rapport du GIEC est l'invité de 8h20.

Kathleen Murray was born and raised in Lombard, and that has given her the perspective of the people Kathleen wishes to represent. She has lived and worked all over the US as well as internationally during her time in college. In 2001 she purchased her childhood family home, with the intent to raise her children in the same home and the same city she grew up in. In this episode, Monte Larrick and Murray discuss what is facing Illinois, why she is running and why people should vote red come November 8th.

durée : 00:09:32 - L'invité de 7h50 - par : Alexandra Bensaid - Martine Lombard, professeure émérite de droit public à l'université Paris-II Panthéon-Assas, autrice de "L'ultime demande" (Liana Levi), est l'invitée de 7h50. Elle défend la modification de la loi sur la fin de vie dans plusieurs cas.

Ep198 is dedicated to the Dead Boys/Briefs/Suzi Moon/ Poison Boys show in lovely Lombard IL. Tom drove in, we all got hotel rooms, and we met Suzi Moon and band in a record store before the show.  Then we discuss the gig in great detail. What a fun Saturday it was, but wouldn't want to do that again in a hurry! Music by Electric Frankenstein, Misfits, The Queers, Poison Boys, Suzi Moon, The Briefs, Dead Boys and Bat Hearse. 

Sarah Lombard is a 27-year-old social media marketing, management, and creation professional from Scottsdale, Arizona. Prior to attending college, she enjoyed a very social teen life that included “the worst diet known to man”. She would “eat candy and cookies for lunch with some fries and coming home, starving, eating frozen dinners and spoons full of sugar”. At the age of 17 she began to get sick. She suffered monthly infections, stomach aches, lethargy, lack of motivation and anxiety. Her symptoms forced her to seek treatment from so many doctors she “lost count”. After being misdiagnosed with various illnesses and undergoing several procedures and tests, a co-worker recognized her symptoms and referred her to a Lyme Literate Medical Doctor (LLMD). A blood test confirmed her co-workers suspected Lyme disease diagnosis. Post diagnosis treatment began with clearing her “gut from yeast and parasites” followed by the “Cowden protocol with liquid tinctures for 9 months”. She then turned to “Disulfiram but it's an extremely hard regimen and it made [her] too sick to function so [she] had to stop”. If you would like to learn more about how Lyme disease inspired a young woman to use her professional skill set to socially serve the community, then tune in now! PS Ashley Marba special guest co-hosted this interview with Rich from Tick Boot Camp!

Z księdzem proboszczem Andrzejem Maślejakiem rozmawiamy o 25-leciu Parafii Miłosierdzia Bożego w Lombard. Zaprasza Joanna Trzos i Łukasz Dudka.  Podcast "Dziennika Związkowego" powstaje we współpracy z radiem WPNA 103.1 FM  

In this episode we chat with the owners of Noon Whistle Brewing out of Lombard, IL. They brought everything they have in stock for us to try, and we tried it all. Listen up for some great insights and new techniques in the brewing industry. These boys were fun to hang out with and had a lot of interesting knowledge to share. Let's go!

Esta semana Goga y Marisol repasan: - El cierre de temporada de Tadej Pogacar - Movistar y Enrico Más con un buen cierre de año. Entrevistas de Enric Mas (Esp-MOV) y Mikel Landa (Esp-TBV) en Lombardia ---Despedida de Alejandro y Vincenzo Entrevista de Alejandro Valverde (Esp-MOV) - Cierre de año de Sergio Higuita Entrevistas Sergio Higuita (Col-BOH) 4° en Lombardía y Daniel Martínez (Col-IGD) ---Otros corredores Un nuevo papel de Damiano Caruso con el TBV y Jesús Herrada (COF) en su cierre de año ---Rigo y su cierre de año, nuevos corredores Entrevista con Alexander Cepeda (Ecu-EFE) ---Total Energies el mejor de los Pro Teams para invitación World Tour 2023, con o sin Sagan. Entrevista Victor de la Parte (Esp-TDE) --Corredores del TREK Jon Aberasturi su primera temporada de WT a los 31 años, problemas de salud para Simon Pellaud --Cierre de Miguel Ángel López 4° en Giro de Veneto, Mundial de Gravel --Tour de Romandía Mujeres, gran cierre de Arlenis Sierra - Mundial de Pista

Hoy se disputó el quinto y último monumento de la temporada, también conocido como la carrera de las hojas muertes, el Giro di Lombardía, con un recorrido durísimo y apto solamente para los escaladores más fuertes. No fue ninguna sorpresa que los equipos de los 2 grandes favoritos, Movistar para Enric Más y UAE para Tadej Pogaçar controlaron la carrera. En la penúltima dificultad del día atacó el esloveno Pogaçar y solamente Enric Mas fue capaz de seguirle a defensor del título del año pasado. Pogaçar no tuvo ningún problema para ganarle al ciclista español y se llevó por segundo año consecutivo la victoria de la carrera italiana con final en la ciudad de Como.

Especial La Fuga desde Lombardía con Gabriele Gianuzzi y Mikel Ilundain. Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals

Ha acompañado al tenista murciano durante 20 años y lo hará hasta el final de su carrera, que se producirá hoy, sábado 8 de octubre, en la última etapa del Giro de Lombardía, a sus 42 años

Tout monde connaît le Bibendum Michelin mais aussi les pneus qui le composent. Tout le monde a déjà feuilleté le guide gastronomique Michelin voire les autres guides, les guides verts, des guides plus touristiques. Sans oublier les fameuses cartes routières dépliables de la même marque !? Mais si tout le monde connait tout cela, est-ce que tout le monde connait l'histoire de Michelin… ou plutôt des Michelin ? Car ils sont deux les frères Michelin, André et Edouard. Des frères qui au début du 20e siècle ont véritablement changé notre façon de voyager. Le temps d'une histoire, Nicolas Buytaers revient sur leurs idées innovantes en matière de pneumatique. Il évoque ces idées mais aussi les autres en compagnie de Cédric Mayen, le scénariste de la bande dessinée « Les frères Michelin, une aventure industrielle », récemment publiée aux éditions du Lombard !

Toda la actualidad del ciclismo está en El Leñero, traspasos, previa de Lombardía. ¿Qué pasó con Nairo Quintana? todo esto y mucho mucho más en El Leñero de hoyTodos los Lunes:2Am España, Italia y Francia9pm Argentina, Uruguay, Brasil y Chile8pm Bolivia, Cuba, Paraguay, Venezuela, Dominicana y Puerto Rico7pm Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, México y Panamá6pm Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras y Nicaragua