Podcasts about tbd

Steve, Justine, Tim, Katie & Matt M. talk Jim Gaffigan visiting the ABV Barrel Shop. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve, Justine, Tim, Katie & Matt M. talk the "bourbon evolution" of Matt Modica. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve, McNew, Kathy, Ryan, Matt W. & Justine talk about distilleries that aren't as big as they used to be in terms of social media buzz. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

FAA reorganization and shutdown prep, Airbus A220 stretch, certification as a trade tool, UPS MD‑11 retirement, 777X engine snag, fatal Challenger crash, iconic aircraft, new NASM galleries, aviation career issues, aviation-themed music, and a future DC‑3/CH‑47 fly‑in. Aviation News FAA Adds Departments, Shuffles Roles The new FAA reorganization differs from the previous structure mainly by centralizing safety oversight, creating new modernization and advanced technology offices, and consolidating internal support functions under new top-level offices. A new, agency‑wide Aviation Safety Management System (SMS) Organization implements a single safety system and risk-management strategy across all FAA lines of business, rather than having safety functions and metrics siloed in multiple offices as before. An Airspace Modernization Office is dedicated to rolling out the “brand‑new air traffic control system” and overseeing broader NAS modernization, which previously was handled within the Air Traffic Organization and other units rather than a single, focused office. An Office of Advanced Aviation Technologies integrates UAS, eVTOL, AAM, electric, and supersonic aircraft into the NAS. These functions were formerly spread among UAS integration, NextGen, and various certification/AVS branches. A new Administration and Finance Office consolidates the functions of finance, information technology, and human resources. Previously, they were distributed across multiple lines of business and staff offices. A Policy and Legal Office pulls together policy, legal, stakeholder engagement, financial assistance, and the agency's rulemaking/regulatory office. Previously, rulemaking and policy lived mainly within Aviation Safety and other distinct policy offices. The Administration and Finance Office, Policy and Legal Office, Air Traffic Organization, and the new safety and modernization offices all report to the Administrator. Shutdown Plan for FAA Involves 10K Furloughs The FAA's plan for the short-lived partial government shutdown was to furlough more than 10,000 FAA workers and withhold pay for 13,835 air traffic controllers. Exclusive: Airbus to kickstart pre-sales for a larger A220 jet, sources say Airbus is considering launching an A220 stretch – the A220-500 with around 180 seats. This is a “simple stretch,” meaning the same wings, the same engines, and a longer fuselage. The Airbus Board approval is required before the A220-500 can be formally launched. Trade War Skies: Understanding Trump's 2026 Decertification Order on Canadian Aircraft In a January 30, 2026, social media post, President Donald Trump announced the “decertification” of all Canadian-manufactured aircraft if Gulfstream aircraft were not certified by Canada. The President alleged that Canada has “wrongfully, illegally, and steadfastly” refused to certify U.S.-made G500, G600, G700, and G800 jets. If Transport Canada did not act immediately, a 50% tariff would be implemented. Over 5,400 Canadian-built planes are registered in the U.S. This sent shockwaves, if not panic, throughout the industry. With time, clarification has come: The order would apply to new aircraft airworthiness certificates and wouldn't ground the fleet. The IAM (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) urged a separation of safety regulation and political grievances. “You can't weaponize the certification process,” said union leaders, emphasizing that aviation safety should remain an independent pillar of global travel. Some feel Transport Canada is holding off on certifying the G700 and G800 mainly because they are not willing to mirror the FAA's temporary fuel‑icing exemption. The Canadian regulator wants the full cold‑weather and icing compliance demonstrated first. UPS won't resurrect MD-11 fleet after deadly crash, takes $137M charge UPS is retiring its fleet of 27 MD-11 aircraft and, in the process, writing off $137 million after-tax. The MD-11s will be replaced with twin-engine Boeing 767-300 cargo jets. In response to the grounding of the MD-11 fleet, UPS repositioned some aircraft from outside the US, expanded transportation by truck, and leased planes from partner airlines. During an earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Brian Dykes said, “Over the next fifteen months, we expect to take delivery of 18 new Boeing 767 aircraft, with 15 expected to deliver this year. As new aircraft join our fleet, we will step down the leased aircraft and associated expenses. We believe these actions are consistent with building a more efficient global network positioned for growth, flexibility and profitability.” Boeing's certification ‘hangover' drags on with new 777X issue Also, Boeing has identified an engine durability issue with the General Electric GE9X engines that power the 777X, although CEO Kelly Ortberg says this will not impact the first 777X delivery in 2027. Also, Ortberg signalled to investors that the company plans to increase 737 MAX production this year to 47 from 42 planes per month. Boeing has been preparing a fourth MAX production line in Everett to produce 737 MAX 10s, although the aircraft has yet to receive certification. Boeing posted job openings for the line, and the tooling is complete. Tracing the hours after a fatal plane crash in Bangor The Bombardier Challenger 600‑series business jet crashed during takeoff from Bangor International Airport in a snowstorm, killing all six people on board and triggering a complex, weather‑hampered investigation. The business jet was operating a private flight from Bangor to Europe with two crew and four passengers from the Houston area. The plane had been deiced and was cleared for takeoff on runway 33 around 7:40–7:45 p.m., in heavy snow, with visibility down to about three‑quarters of a mile and several inches of snow on the ground. Within roughly a minute of takeoff clearance, controllers halted all traffic after the aircraft crashed on or near the runway, coming to rest inverted and on fire. Possible lines of inquiry include: Wing contamination and ice buildup are known risk factors that have contributed to past Challenger‑series accidents. Aircraft performance and whether the wing stalled on takeoff. Deicing procedures and timing relative to takeoff, including whether holdover times were exceeded. Crew qualifications, training, and recent duty history. Mechanical condition of the aircraft and any anomalies captured on the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, which have been sent to the NTSB in Washington. Mentioned National Air and Space Museum Announces Plans To Celebrate 50 Years The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum opened on July 1, 1976, as a gift to the nation for the U.S. bicentennial. Five new galleries will open to the public on the museum's 50th anniversary, July 1, 2026, and in time for the nation's 250th anniversary.  Galleries opening July 1, 2026: Flight and the Arts Center Jay I. Kislak World War II in the Air U.S. National Science Foundation Discovering Our Universe RTX Living in the Space Age Textron How Things Fly Galleries opening in the autum 2026: At Home in Space (Oct. 30) Modern Military Aviation (Veteran's Day, Nov. 11) This completes the museum's multi-year renovation. Soar Together Family Day at Innovations in Flight: World War II on the Homefront Check this site for information about the National Air & Space Museum’s annual Innovations in Flight event. The DC-3 Society is planning an inaugural DC-3 Society DC-3 Fly-In. Date and location TBD. See the January 2026 Newsletter. Video: 737 St. Erasmus’ Airshow, Full Music Album, by SPEED BRAKE ARMED https://youtu.be/lcY3uU8uG2E Video: 737 Airshow America, by SPEED BRAKE ARMED. https://youtu.be/-Sl5WvWRhWo Video: HARS CONNIE – The Years Fly Past – Wings Over Illawarra 2016 https://youtu.be/duSOTbanz-8?si=13bcDNa5Sfv9JgPq Music In a blast from the AGP past, Brother Love provides opening and closing music from the Album Of The Year CD. (On Facebook.) Hosts this Episode Max Flight, our Main(e) Man Micah, and Rob Mark.

Steve, Justine, Tim, Katie & Matt M. talk about the state of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail at the moment. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve, McNew, Kathy, Ryan, Matt W. & Justine talk a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle selling for a record price. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

It's our February catch-up episode, which means we're covering a little bit of everything — real life updates, mom chaos, and the random obsessions that are getting us through winter.Whitney kicks things off with a recap of the wild Nashville ice storm that left them without power for days. Freezing temps, no electricity, kids stuck inside, and parents doing the absolute most to keep everyone fed, warm, and entertained. The cabin fever was real, routines were gone, and survival mode was fully activated.Candace recaps Gasparilla season — the chaos, the fun, the exhaustion, and the classic post-event realization that “this was amazing” and “I need three business days to recover” can both be true.Then we get into our latest fixation: Heated Rivalry. We're recapping it, talking about why we're so obsessed, and yes… the obsession spiraled far enough that Candace signed Alice up for hockey. (Influenced by TV? Maybe. Regrets? TBD.)Candace also shares what's been weighing on her with applying to private schools — the process, the pressure, and the deeper layer underneath it all: re-evaluating why they want to go that route in the first place, and what actually feels aligned for their family versus what just sounds like the “right” move.If you're feeling maxed out, stuck in winter chaos, and using a TV obsession as a personality trait right now… welcome. You're in good company.Keep up with the Moms and join the conversation on our socials:

Steve, McNew, Kathy, Ryan, Matt W. & Justine talk about Key West 2027… be there or be square! TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve, McNew, Kathy, Ryan, Matt W. & Justine talk about Buffalo Trace's new festival at the distillery the month of February. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve does some investigative work on a mystery patreon supporter. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve talks about the cask strength offering from Jim Gaffigan's Fathertime Whiskey Company. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

This week on The Chad & Cheese Podcast, AI finally does what it does best: get companies sued. Eightfold gets dragged into the legal spotlight over secret AI scores, mystery data enrichment, and a definition of “responsible AI” that seems to change depending on which slide deck you're watching. Meanwhile, Randstad says everything's awesome while 40% of workers quietly grab a second job to keep the lights on. Cool cool cool. Totally normal economy. Then it's off to Davos, where billionaire AI CEOs confidently explain why white-collar jobs are disappearing, physical labor is the future, and—don't worry—the government will totally figure it out. The pie will grow. Your slice? TBD. Layer in Amazon and UPS layoffs, CEOs detachment from reality, and enough coded language to power a dystopian bingo card—and you've got an episode that asks the real question: If AI is so smart… why is everything getting dumber?

Steve recaps what happened at the 2026 Key West Distillers Summit. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve, Miss Beka Sue, McNew, Jeff and Ryan get together as the group comes back after the annual trek to Key West. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

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Given the heart-breaking events in the US this week, ODA will present a series of offerings from both hosts, Rev. Liên Shutt & Rev. Dana Takagi.This episode is from a talk at Access to Zen, Rev. Liên's sangha.Rev. Dana's commentaries will drop in 1-week. We'll then offer more responses; formats TBD. Feel free to reach out to us at Info.Access2Zen@gmail.com. Please take good care meanwhile!HOST:Rev. Liên Shutt (she/they) is a recognized leader in the movement that breaks through the wall of American white-centered convert Buddhism to welcome people of all backgrounds into a contemporary, engaged Buddhism. As an ordained Zen priest, licensed social worker, and longtime educator/teacher of Buddhism, Shutt represents new leadership at the nexus of spirituality and social justice, offering a special warm welcome to Asian Americans, all BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, and those seeking a “home” in the midst of North American society's reckoning around racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia. Shutt is a founder of Access to Zen (2014). You can learn more about her work at AccessToZen.org. Her new book, Home is Here: Practicing Antiracism with the Engaged Eightfold Path. See all her offerings at EVENTS

Steve, Miss Beka Sue, McNew, Jeff and Ryan talk about some new places to visit in 2026 in Kentucky. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Now with 100% more consternation! Or less. Not sure where we landed on consternation. Steph Lau has gotten some good experiences over the years. Some published, some TBD. But at least we have thus far been graced with ABOMINABLE SNOW DANCER, and will be graced with MEDUSA'S PET ROCK later this year! And more to come! Steph, you'll have to come back on so we can talk more about pancakes and pastries.    _________   This episode's book reviews:  THE CAVE DOWNWIND OF THE CAFE by Mikey Please DESERT QUEEN by Jyoti Rajan Gopal, illustrated by Svabhu Kohli   The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on IG @hellomaddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com    Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes. You can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com     Love the podcast and wanna support more episodes like this? Find Community Shoutouts, Merch and our Patreon here!!    Find us on Bluesky @joshmonkwords, @brennajeanneret, and @jonseym0ur and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment!

Steve, Miss Beka Sue, McNew, Jeff and Ryan talk about a collection estimated to sell for over 1.5 million. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve ranks the regulars of the ABV Barrel Shop. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve, McNew, Jeff, Joe and Matt M. talk about how their local distilleries are doing. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve, Miss Beka Sue, McNew, Jeff and Ryan talk about why Miss Beka Sue is home and taking a break from wintering in Key West. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

"It was in Calhoun Illinois where I first learned I had a groin," the story goes. And that was the first line of Annie's novel (TBD). Find out why small government optimism is back, baby! Unrelated to the groin thing.

Steve Justine, Katie, Linda and Matt W. we talk about what makes the ABV Barrel Shop such a big success. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve, McNew, Jeff, Joe and Matt M. take some guesses as to why cocktails go so expensive. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

DARKER THAN EXPECTED!! Percy Jackson & The Olympians Season 2 Full Reaction Watch Along:   / thereelrejects   Visit https://huel.com/rejects to get 15% off your order Percy Jackson 2x7 Reaction:    • PERCY JACKSON Season 2 Episode 7 REACTION!...   Gift Someone (Or Yourself) An RR Tee! https://shorturl.at/hekk2 Another season comes to an end as Greg & Tara give their Percy Jackson Season 2 Finale Reaction, Recap, Breakdown, Commentary, & Full Season Spoiler Review! Greg Alba & Tara Erickson react to Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2, Episode 8 — the epic season finale, as the Disney+ series brings the Sea of Monsters storyline to a climactic, prophecy-shifting conclusion. With Camp Half-Blood on the brink of destruction and Cronos's manipulation finally laid bare, this episode delivers large-scale action, major mythological reveals, and lasting consequences for Percy and his friends. After an emotional parting with his mother, Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson sneak back into Camp Half-Blood in an attempt to help get the Golden Fleece to Thalia's tree. Standing in their way is Luke, jilted from Cronos's influence & deception, leading a makeshift army of monsters & demigods to burn Camp Half-Blood to the ground, forcing Percy into another emotionally charged confrontation that tests loyalty, destiny, and free will as an all-out battle breaks loose at the camp. The chaos culminates with Clarisse reaching Thalia's tree with the Golden Fleece, only to trigger a massive blast resurrecting Thalia... In the aftermath, Percy experiences a powerful dream-vision with his father Poseidon, confirming the Titans have been freed & enlisting Percy and Tyson's help in the war to come. Later, a reinstated Chiron recounts the truth of Thalia's past and the message once delivered to her by the Furies. The episode's final revelations land hard when Zeus (Courtney B. Vance – The People v. O.J. Simpson) is revealed as Thalia's father, attempting—and failing—to bend her toward the prophecy and his protection. Thalia's reunion with Annabeth in the final moments signals a future where Cronos may once again seek to twist destiny itself. And we get a cheeky li'l post-credits scene with Circe (Rosemarie DeWitt)! Season 2's Cast of Characters includes: Percy Jackson (Walker Scobell), Annabeth Chase (Leah Sava Jeffries), Grover Underwood (Aryan Simhadri), Clarisse La Rue (Dior Goodjohn), Luke Castellan (Charlie Bushnell), Thalia Grace (actress TBD), Sally Jackson (Virginia Kull), Tyson (Daniel Diemer), Chiron / Mr. Brunner (Glynn Turman), Dionysus / Mr. D (Jason Mantzoukas), Hermes (Lin-Manuel Miranda), & More! Follow Tara Erickson: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TaraErickson Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/taraerickson/ Twitter:  https://twitter.com/thetaraerickson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Solving problems for all you wonderful Problemistas. Also sharing our favorite aggressive computer commands, and Alex shares comedy bits from her 2027 Netflix special (TBD). Just click play, it'll all make sense. Once you're done, we encourage listeners to develop a healthy kink for commenting. Go ahead and share your theories on the allure of eating butt, and your openness to a good first date blumpkin sesh.We're looking to skyrocket up to the top 100 wild and wonderful self help podcasts! We think this is the answer.Enjoy!Record your questions here: https://www.therapyjeff.comKeep up with Alex at https://alexandramoskovichpsychotherapy.comJeff's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@therapyjeffJeff's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therapyjeffListen to more podcasts like this: https://wavepodcastnetwork.comHead to https://www.factormeals.com/solved50off and use code solved50off to get 50% off your first Factor box PLUS free breakfast for 1 year.DISCLAIMER: The insights shared in this podcast are for educational and entertainment purposes only, and should not be seen as a substitute for professional therapy. The guidance is general in nature, and does not equate to the personalized care provided by a licensed therapist. The callers are not therapy clients.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Steve Justine, Kathy and Tim mail it as the team leaves for Key West. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve, McNew, Joe, Jeff & Matt M. talk about whether or not people might start to be over Dry January. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Moyamoya Syndrome Stroke Recovery: Judy Kim Cage's Comeback From “Puff of Smoke” to Purpose At 4:00 AM, Judy Kim Cage woke up in pain so extreme that she was screaming, though she doesn't remember the scream. What she does remember is the “worst headache ever,” nausea, numbness, and then the terrifying truth: her left side was shutting down. Here's the part that makes her story hit even harder: Judy already lived with Moyamoya syndrome and had undergone brain surgeries years earlier. She genuinely believed she was “cured.” So when her stroke began, her brain fought the reality with everything it had. Denial, resistance, bargaining, and delay. And yet, Judy's story isn't about doom. It's about what Moyamoya syndrome stroke recovery can look like when you keep going, especially when recovery becomes less about “getting back to normal” and more about building a new, honest, meaningful life. What Is Moyamoya Syndrome (And Why It's Called “Puff of Smoke”) Moyamoya is a rare cerebrovascular disorder where the internal carotid arteries progressively narrow, reducing blood flow to the brain. The brain tries to compensate by creating fragile collateral vessels, thin-walled backups that can look like a “puff of smoke” on imaging. Those collateral vessels can become a risk. In Judy's case, the combination of her history, symptoms, and eventual deficits marked a devastating event that would reshape her life. The emotional gut punch wasn't only the stroke itself. It was the psychological whiplash of thinking you're safe… and discovering you're not. The First Enemy in Moyamoya Stroke Recovery: Denial Judy didn't just resist the hospital. She resisted the idea that this was happening at all. She'd been through countless ER visits in the past, having to explain Moyamoya to doctors, enduring tests, and then being told, “There's nothing we can do.” That history trained her to expect frustration and disappointment, not urgent help. So when her husband wanted to call emergency services, her reaction wasn't logical, it was emotional. It was the reflex of someone who'd been through too much. Denial isn't weakness. It's protection. It's your mind trying to buy time when the truth is too big to hold all at once. The Moment Reality Landed: “I Thought I Picked Up My Foot” In early recovery, Judy was convinced she could do what she used to do. Get up. Walk. Go to the bathroom. Handle it. But a powerful moment in rehab shifted everything: she was placed into an exoskeleton and realized her brain and body weren't speaking the same language. She believed she lifted her foot, then saw it hadn't moved for several seconds. That's when she finally had to admit what so many survivors eventually face: Recovery begins the moment you stop arguing with reality. Not because you “give up,” but because you stop wasting energy fighting what is and start investing energy into what can be. The Invisible Battle: Cognitive Fatigue and Energy Management If you're living through Moyamoya syndrome stroke recovery, it's easy for everyone (including you) to focus on the visible stuff: walking, arms, vision, and balance. But Judy's most persistent challenge wasn't always visible. It was cognitive fatigue, the kind that makes simple tasks feel impossible. Even something as ordinary as cleaning up an email inbox can become draining because it requires micro-decisions: categorize, prioritize, analyze, remember context, avoid mistakes. And then there's the emotional layer: when you're a perfectionist, errors feel personal. Judy described how fatigue increases mistakes, not because she doesn't care, but because the brain's bandwidth runs out. That's a brutal adjustment when your identity has always been built on competence. A practical shift that helped her Instead of trying to “finish” exhausting tasks in one heroic sprint, Judy learned to do small daily pieces. It's not glamorous, but it reduces cognitive load and protects energy. In other words: consistency beats intensity. Returning to Work After a Moyamoya Stroke: A Different Kind of Strength Judy's drive didn't disappear after her stroke. If anything, it became part of the recovery engine. She returned slowly, first restricted to a tiny number of hours. Even that was hard. But over time, she climbed back. She eventually returned full-time and later earned a promotion. That matters for one reason: it proves recovery doesn't have one shape. For some people, recovery is walking again. For others, it's parenting again. For others, it's working again without losing themselves to burnout. The goal isn't to recreate the old life perfectly. The goal is to build a life that fits who you are now. [Quote block mid-article] “If you couldn't make fun of it… it would be easier to fall into a pit of despair.” Humor Isn't Denial. It's a Tool. Judy doesn't pretend everything is okay. She's not selling toxic positivity. But she does use humor like a lever, something that lifts the emotional weight just enough to keep moving. She called her recovering left hand her “evil twin,” high-fived it when it improved, and looked for small “silver linings” not because the stroke was good, but because despair is dangerous. Laughter can't fix Moyamoya. But it can change what happens inside your nervous system: tension, stress response, mood, motivation, and your willingness to try again tomorrow. And sometimes, tomorrow is the whole win. Identity After Stroke: When “Big Stuff Became Small Stuff” One of the most profound shifts Judy described was this: the stroke changed her scale. Things that used to feel huge became small. Every day annoyances lost their power. It took something truly significant to rattle her. That's not magical thinking. That's a perspective earned the hard way. Many survivors quietly report this experience: once you've faced mortality and rebuilt your life from rubble, you stop wasting precious energy on what doesn't matter. Judy also found meaning in mentoring others because recovering alone can feel like walking through darkness without a map. Helping others doesn't erase what happened. But it can transform pain into purpose. If You're In Moyamoya Syndrome Stroke Recovery, Read This If your recovery feels messy… if you're exhausted by invisible symptoms… if the old “high achiever” version of you is fighting the new reality… You're not broken. You're adapting. And your next step doesn't have to be dramatic. It just has to be honest and repeatable: Simplify the day Protect energy Build routines Accept help Use humor when you can And find one person who understands Recovery is not a straight line. But it is possible to rebuild a life you actually want to live. If you want more support and guidance, you can also explore Bill's resources here: recoveryafterstroke.com/book patreon.com/recoveryafterstroke This blog is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please consult your doctor before making any changes to your health or recovery plan. Judy Kim Cage on Moyamoya Stroke Recovery, Cognitive Fatigue, and Finding Purpose Again She thought Moyamoya was “fixed.” Then a 4 AM headache proved otherwise. Judy's comeback will change how you see recovery. Judy’s Instagram Highlights: 00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction 01:43 Life Before the Stroke 11:17 The Moment of the Stroke 19:56 Moyamoya Syndrome Stroke Recovery 25:36 Cognitive Fatigue and Executive Functioning 34:50 Rehabilitation Experience 42:29 Using Humor in Recovery 46:59 Finding Purpose After Stroke 54:19 Judy’s Book: Super Survivor 01:05:20 Conclusion and Final Thoughts Transcript: Introduction and Guest Introduction Bill Gasiamis (00:00) Hey there, I’m Bill Gasiamis and this is the Recovery After Stroke podcast. Before we jump in a quick thank you to my Patreon supporters. You help cover the hosting costs after more than 10 years of doing this independently. And you make it possible for me to keep creating episodes for stroke survivors who need hope and real guidance. And thank you to everyone who supports the show in the everyday ways too. The YouTube commenters, the people leaving reviews on Spotify and Apple. The folks who bought my book and everyone who sticks around and doesn’t skip the ads. I see you and I appreciate you. Now I want you to hear this. My guest today, Judy Kim Cage, woke up at 4am with the worst headache of her life and she was so deep in denial that she threatened to divorce her husband if he called 911. Judy lives with Moyamoya syndrome, a rare cerebrovascular condition often described as the puff of smoke on imaging. She’d already had brain surgeries and believed she was cured until the stroke changed everything. Judy also wrote a book called Super Survivor and it’s all about how denial, resistance and persistence can lead to success and a better life after stroke. I’ll put the links in the show notes. In this conversation, we talk about Moyamoya Syndrome, stroke recovery, the rehab moment where reality finally landed. and what it’s like to rebuild life with cognitive fatigue and executive functioning challenges and how Judy used humor and purpose to keep moving forward without pretending recovery is easy. Let’s get into it. Judy Kim Cage, welcome to the podcast. Life Before Moyamoya Syndrome Judy Kim Cage (01:43) Thank you so much, Bill Bill Gasiamis (01:45) Thanks for being here. Can you paint us a picture of your life before the stroke? What were your days like? Judy Kim Cage (01:51) Hmm. Well, my life before the stroke was me trying to be a high achiever and a corporate nerd. I think so. I think so. I, you know, I was in the Future Business Leaders of America in high school and then carried that forward to an accounting degree. Bill Gasiamis (02:04) Did you achieve it? Judy Kim Cage (02:20) and finance and then ⁓ had gone to work for Deloitte and the big four. ⁓ And after that moved into ⁓ internal audit for commercial mortgage and then risk and banking and it all rolled into compliance, which is a kind of larger chunk there. But ⁓ yeah, I was living the corporate dream and Traveling every other week, basically so 50 % of the time, flying to Columbus, staying there, and then flying back home for the weekend and working in a rented office for the week after. And I did that for all of 2018. And then in 2019 is when my body said, hang on a second. And I had a stroke. Bill Gasiamis (03:17) How many hours a week do you think you were working? Judy Kim Cage (03:19) Well, not including the treble, ⁓ probably 50-55. Bill Gasiamis (03:26) Okay. Judy Kim Cage (03:26) Oh, wish, that wasn’t that that really wasn’t a ton compared to my Deloitte days where I’d be working up to 90 hours a week. Bill Gasiamis (03:37) Wow. in that time when you’re working 90 hours a week. Is there time for anything else? you get to squeeze in a run at the gym or do you get to squeeze in a cafe catch up with a friend or anything like that? Judy Kim Cage (03:51) There are people that do. think, yeah, I mean, on certain particular weekends and my friends, a lot of my friends were also working with me. So there was time to socialize. And then, of course, we would all let off some steam, you know, at the pub, you know, at the end of a week. But ⁓ yeah, I remember on one of my very first jobs, I had been so excited because I had signed up to take guitar lessons and I was not able to leave in order to get there in time. ⁓ so that took a backseat. Bill Gasiamis (04:40) Yes, it sounds like there’s potentially lots of things that took a backseat. Yeah, work tends to be like that can be all consuming and when friendships especially are within the work group as well, even more so because everyone’s doing the same thing and it’s just go, Judy Kim Cage (04:44) Yeah, definitely. Absolutely. We started as a cohort essentially of, I want to say 40 some people all around the same age. And then, you know, as the years ticked by, we started falling off as they do in that industry. Bill Gasiamis (05:19) Do you enjoy it though? Like, is there a part of you that enjoys the whole craziness of all the travel, all the hours, the work stuff? it? Is it like interesting? Judy Kim Cage (05:31) Yeah, I do love it. I actually do love my job. I love compliance. I love working within a legal mindset with other lawyers. And basically knowing that I’m pretty good at my job, that I can be very well organized, that it would be difficult even for a normal healthy person and challenging and that I can do well there. And yeah, no, was, when I had put in a year, when I was in ⁓ acute therapy, ⁓ I had spoken with a number of students and they had interviewed me as a patient, but also from the psych side of it all, ⁓ asking, well, what does it feel like to all of a sudden have your life stop? And I said, well, ⁓ and things got a bit emotional, I said, I felt like I was at the top of my game. I had finally achieved the job that I absolutely wanted, had desired. ⁓ I felt like I’d found a home where I was now going to retire. And all of a sudden that seems like it was no longer a possibility. Bill Gasiamis (06:55) So that’s a very common thing that strokes have over say who I interviewed. They say stuff like I was at the top of my game and there’s this ⁓ idea or sense that once you get to the top of the game, you stay there. There’s no getting down from the top of the game and that it just keeps going and keeps going. And, I think it’s more about fit. sounds like it’s more about fit. Like I found a place where I fit. found a place where I’m okay. or I do well, where I succeed, where people believe in me, where I have the support and the faith or whatever it is of my employers, my team. Is that kind of how you describe on top of your game or is it something different? Judy Kim Cage (07:41) I think it was all of those things, ⁓ but also, you know, definitely the kindness of people, the support of people, their faith in my ability to be smart and get things done. But then also ⁓ just the fact that I finally said, okay, this was not necessarily a direct from undergrad to here. However, I was able to take pieces of everything that I had done and put it together into a position that was essentially kind of created for me and then launched from there. So I felt as though it was essentially having climbed all of those stairs. So I was at the top. Yeah. you know, looking at my Lion King kingdom and yeah. Bill Gasiamis (08:43) just about to ascend and, and it was short lived by the sound of it. Judy Kim Cage (08:49) It was, it was, it was only one year beforehand, but I am actually still at the company now. I ⁓ had gone and done ⁓ well. So I was in the hospital for a few months and following that. Well, following the round of inpatient and the one round of outpatient, said, okay, I’m going back. And I decided, I absolutely insisted that I was going to go back. The doctor said, okay, you can only work four hours a week. I said, four hours a week, what are you talking about? ⁓ But then I realized that four hours a week was actually really challenging at that time. ⁓ And then ⁓ I climbed back up. was, you know, I’m driven by deadlines and… ⁓ I was working, you know, leveraging long-term disability. And then once I had worked too many hours after five years, you know, I graduated from that program, or rather I got booted out of the program. ⁓ And then a year later, I was actually, well, no, actually at the end of the five years I was promoted. So, ⁓ after coming back full time. Bill Gasiamis (10:20) Wow. So this was all in 2019, the stroke. You were 39 years old. Do you remember, do you remember the moment when you realized there was something wrong? We’ll be back with more of Judy’s remarkable story in just a moment. If you’re listening right now and you’re in that stage where recovery feels invisible, where the fatigue is heavy, your brain feels slower. or you’re trying to explain a rare condition like Moyamoya and nobody really gets it. I want you to hear this clearly. You’re not failing. You’re recovering. If you want extra support between episodes, you can check out my book at recoveryafterstroke.com slash book. And if you’d like to help keep this podcast going and support my mission to reach a thousand episodes, you can support the podcast at Patreon by visiting patreon.com/recoveryafterstroke. All right, let’s get back to Judy. The Moment of the Stroke Judy Kim Cage (11:16) Yes, although I was in a lot of denial. ⁓ So we had just had dinner with ⁓ my stepdaughter and her husband ⁓ and ⁓ we were visiting them in Atlanta, Georgia. ⁓ And we said, OK, we’ll meet for brunch tomorrow. You know, great to see you. Have a good night. It was four in the morning and I was told I woke up screaming and I felt this horrible, horrible worst headache ever ⁓ on the right side. And I think because I have, I have Moyamoya syndrome, because of that and because I had had brain surgeries, ⁓ 10 years or back in December of 2008, I had a brain surgery on each side. And that at the time was the best of care that you could get. You know, that was essentially your cure. And so I thought I was cured. And so I thought I would never have a stroke. So when it was actually happening, I was in denial said there’s no way this could be happening. But the excess of pain, ⁓ the nausea and ⁓ it not going away after throwing up, the numbness ⁓ and then the eventual paralysis of my left side definitely ⁓ was evidence that something was very very wrong. Bill Gasiamis (13:09) So it was four in the morning, were you guys sleeping? Judy Kim Cage (13:14) ⁓ yeah, we were in bed. Yep. And yeah, I woke up screaming. According to my husband, I don’t remember the screaming part, but I remember all the pain. Bill Gasiamis (13:24) Yeah, did he ⁓ get you to hospital? Did he the emergency services? Judy Kim Cage (13:30) I apparently was kind of threatening to divorce him if he called 911. Bill Gasiamis (13:38) Wow, that’s a bit rough. Oh my lord. Judy Kim Cage (13:41) I know. mean, that could have been his out, but he didn’t. Bill Gasiamis (13:45) There’s worse things for a human to do than call 911 and get your support. Like marriages end for worse things than that. Judy Kim Cage (13:53) because I’ve been to the ER many, many, many times. And because of the Moyamoya, you would always, it being a rare disease, you would never be told, well, you would have to explain to all the doctors about what Moyamoya was, for one. For two, to say if I had a cold, for instance, that Moyamoya had nothing to do with it. Bill Gasiamis (14:11) Wow. Judy Kim Cage (14:19) But also, you know, they would give me an MRI, oof, the claustrophobia. I detested that. And I said, if you’re getting me into an MRI, please, please, please, a benzodiazepine would be incredible. Or just knock me out, whatever you need to do. But I’m not getting into that thing otherwise. But, you know, they would take the MRI, read it. and then say, hours and hours and hours later, there’s nothing we can do. The next course of action, if it was absolutely necessary, would be another surgery, which would have been bur holes that were drilled into my skull to relieve some sort of pressure. ⁓ In this particular case, the options were to ⁓ have a drain put in my skull. and then for me to be reliant on a ventilator. Or they said, you can have scans done every four hours and if the damage becomes too great, then we’ll move on. Otherwise, we’ll just keep tabs on it, essentially. Bill Gasiamis (15:37) Yeah. So I know that feeling because since my initial blade in February, 2012, I’ve lost count how many times I’ve been to the hospital for a scan that was unnecessary, but necessary at the time because you, you know, you tie yourself up in knots trying to work out, is this another one? Isn’t it another one? Is it, it, and then the only outcome that you can possibly come up with that puts your mind at ease and everybody else around you is let’s go and get a scan and then, and then move on with life. Once they tell you it was, ⁓ it was not another bleed or whatever. Yeah. However, three times I did go and three times there was a bleed. So it’s the whole, you know, how do you wrap your head around like which one isn’t the bleed, which one is the bleed and It’s a fricking nightmare if you ask me. And I seem to have now ⁓ transferred that concern to everybody else who has a headache. On the weekend, my son had a migraine. And I tell you what, because he was describing it as one of the worst headaches he had ever had, I just went into meltdown. I couldn’t cope. And it was like, go to the hospital, go to the hospital, go to… He didn’t go, he’s an adult, right? Makes his own decisions. But I was worried about it for days. And it wasn’t enough that even the next few days he was feeling better because I still have interviewed people who have had a headache for four or five or six days before they went to hospital and then they found that it was a stroke. it’s just become this crazy thing that I have to live with now. Judy Kim Cage (17:26) I essentially forced Rich to wait 12 hours before I called my vascular neurologist. And once I did, his office said, you need to go to the ER. And I said, okay, then that’s when I folded and said, all right, we’ll go. ⁓ And then, ⁓ you know, an ambulance came. Bill Gasiamis (17:35) Wow. Judy Kim Cage (17:53) took me out on a gurney and then took me to a mobile stroke unit, which there was only one of 11, there were only 11 in the country at the time. And they were able to scan me there and then had me basically interviewed by a neurologist via telecall. And this was, you know, before the days of teams and zoom and that we all tested out ⁓ from COVID. ⁓ yeah, that’s. Bill Gasiamis (18:35) That’s you, So then you get through that initial acute phase and then you wake up with a certain amount of deficits. Judy Kim Cage (18:37) Yeah. my gosh. ⁓ Well, yeah, absolutely. ⁓ Massive amounts of pain ⁓ from all the blood absorbing back into the brain. ⁓ The left side, my left side was paralyzed. My arm fell out of my shoulder socket. So it was hanging down loosely. ⁓ I had dropped foot, so I had to learn to walk again. Double vision and my facial group on the left and then. Bluff side neglect. Bill Gasiamis (19:31) Yeah. So, and then I see in our, in your notes, I see also you had diminished hearing, nerve pain, spasticity, cognitive fatigue, ⁓ bladder issues. You’d also triggered Ehlers-Danlos symptoms, whatever that is. Tell me about that. What’s that? Moyamoya Syndrome Stroke Recovery Judy Kim Cage (19:56) So I call myself a genetic mutant because the Moyamoya for one at the time I was diagnosed is discovered in 3.5 people out of a million. And then Ehlers-Danlos or EDS for short is also a genetic disorder. Well, certain versions are more genetic than others, but it is caused by a defect in your collagen, which makes up essentially your entire body. And so I have hypermobility, the blood, I have pots. So my, my blood basically remains down by my feet, it pulls at my feet. And so not enough of it gets up to my brain, which also could, you know, have affected the moimoya. But Essentially, it creates vestibular issues, these balance issues where it’s already bad enough that you have a stroke, but it’s another to be at the risk of falling all the time. Yeah. Or if you get up a little too fast, which I still do to this day, sometimes I’ll completely forget and I’ll just bounce up off the sofa to get myself a drink and I will sway and all of a sudden Bill Gasiamis (21:07) Yeah. Judy Kim Cage (21:22) onto the sofa or sit down right on the floor and say, okay, why did I not do the three-step plan to get up? ⁓ But sometimes it’s just too easy to forget. Bill Gasiamis (21:37) Yeah, yeah. You just act, you just move out of well habit or normal, normal ways that people move. And then you find yourself in a interesting situation. So I mean, how, how do you deal with all of that? Like you, you go from having experienced more and more by the way, let’s describe more and more a little bit, just so people know what it is. Judy Kim Cage (22:02) Absolutely. So, my way is a cerebrovascular disorder where your internal carotid progressively constricts. So for no known reason, no truly known reason. And so because it keeps shrinking and shrinking, not enough brain, blood gets to your brain. So what the brain decides to do to compensate is it will form these collateral vessels. And these collateral vessels, which there are many of them usually, you know, the longer this goes on, ⁓ they have very thin walls. So due to the combination of the thin walls, and if you have high blood pressure, these walls can break. And that is what happened in my case. ⁓ Well, the carotids will continue to occlude, but what happens is, ⁓ least with the surgery, they took my temporal artery, removed it from my scalp, had taken a plate off of my skull and stitched that. temporal artery onto my brain so that it would have a separate source of blood flow so that it was no longer reliant on this carotid. So we know that the carotid, sorry, that the temporal artery won’t fail out. ⁓ So usually, ⁓ and this was my surgery was actually done at Boston Children’s Hospital ⁓ by the man who pioneered the surgery. And he was basically head of neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s because they more often find this in children now. And the sooner they find it, the fewer collateral vessels will form once the surgery is performed. Bill Gasiamis (24:17) Okay, so the long-term risk is that it’s decreased, the risk of a blade decreases if they do the surgery early on too. I love that. Judy Kim Cage (24:25) The rest. But I was diagnosed at the age of 29. So I had quite a while of these collateral vessels forming in what they call a puff of smoke that appears on the MRI. ⁓ And that is what, you know, Moyamoya essentially means in Japanese, is translated to in Japanese, it’s puff of smoke. Bill Gasiamis (24:50) Wow, you have been going through this for a while then. So I can understand your whole mindset around doctors, another appointment, another MRI. Like I could totally, ⁓ it makes complete sense. You you’re over it after a certain amount of time. Yeah, I’m the same. I kind of get over it, but then I also have to take action because you know what we know what the previous Judy Kim Cage (25:07) Absolutely. Bill Gasiamis (25:19) outcome was and now you’re dealing with all of these deficits that you have to overcome. Which are the deficits that you’re still dealing with that are the most, well, the most sort of prolonged or challenging or whatever you want to call them, whatever. Cognitive Fatigue and Executive Functioning Judy Kim Cage (25:34) The most significant, I guess it’s the most wide ranging. But it is. ⁓ Energy management and cognitive fatigue. ⁓ I have issues with executive functioning. ⁓ Things are, you know, if I need to do sorting or filing. ⁓ That actually is. one of my least favorite things to do anymore. Whereas it was very easy at one point. ⁓ And now if I want to clean up my inbox, it is just a dreaded task. ⁓ And so now I’ve learned that if I do a little bit of it every day, then I don’t have, it doesn’t have to take nearly as long. ⁓ Bill Gasiamis (26:26) What it’s dreaded about it is it making decisions about where those emails belong, what to do to them or. Judy Kim Cage (26:33) Oh, no, it’s just the time and energy it takes to do it. It drains me very quickly. Because you have to evaluate and analyze every line as you’re deciding what project it belongs to. And there’s a strategic way to do it in terms of who you normally deal with on each project, etc. etc. This chunk of time, calendar dates you’ve worked on it, etc. But, know, That might by the time I get to this tedious task, I’m not thinking about it strategically. ⁓ Yeah, I’m just dragging each individual line item into a little folder. ⁓ So, ⁓ but yeah, like the cognitive deficits. gosh. mean, I’m working on a computer all day. I am definitely a corporate desk rat or mouse, you know, on the wheel. ⁓ And a lot of Excel spreadsheets and just a lot of very small print and sometimes I get to expand it. ⁓ And it really is just trying not to, well, the job involves making as few errors as you possibly can. Bill Gasiamis (28:01) Yeah. Judy Kim Cage (28:02) ⁓ Now when I get tired or overwhelmed or when I overdo it, which I frequently frequently do, ⁓ I find out that I’ve made more errors and I find out after the fact usually. So nothing that’s not reversible, nothing that’s not fixable, but it still is pretty disheartening for a perfectionist type such as myself. Bill Gasiamis (28:30) Wow. So the perfectionism also has to become something that you have to deal with even more so than before, because before you were probably capable of managing it now, you’re less capable. yeah, I understand. I’m not a perfectionist by all means. My wife can tend to be when she’s studying or something like that. And she suffers from, you know, spending Judy Kim Cage (28:46) the energy. Bill Gasiamis (29:00) potentially hours on three lines of a paragraph. Like she’s done that before and I’ll just, and I’ve gone into the room after three hours and her, and her going into the room was, I’m going to go in and do a few more lines because she was drained or tired or, you know, her brain wasn’t working properly or whatever. I’m just going to go do three more lines and three hours later, she’s still doing those three lines. It’s like, wow, you need to get out of the, you need to get out. need to, we need to. break this because it’s not, it’s not good. So I totally get what it’s liked to be like that. And then I have had the cognitive fatigue where emails were impossible. Spreadsheets forget about it. I never liked them anyway. And they were just absolutely forget about it. Um, I feel like they are just evil. I feel like the spreadsheets are evil, you know, all these things that you have to do in the background, forget about it. That’s unbelievable. So, um, What was it like when you first sort of woke up from the initial stroke, got out of your unconscious state and then realized you had to deal with all of this stuff? I know for some time you were probably unable to speak and were you ⁓ trapped inside your body? Is that right or? Judy Kim Cage (30:19) I was in the ICU. I was paralyzed on the left side, so I was not able to get up, not really able to move much. ⁓ I was not speaking too much, definitely not within the first week. I was in the ICU for 10 days. ⁓ And yeah, I just wasn’t able to do much other than scream from the beam. ⁓ And then I, once I became more aware, I insisted that I could get up and walk to the bathroom myself. I insisted that I could just sit up, get up, do all the things that I had done before. And it being a right side stroke as well, you know, I think helps contribute to the overestimation or the… just conceitedness, guess, and this self-confidence that I could just do anything. Yes, absolutely. And I was told time and time again, Judy, can’t walk, Judy, can’t go to the bathroom, Judy, you can’t do these things. And I was in absolute denial. And I would say, no, I can, I can get up. And meanwhile, I would say that Bill Gasiamis (31:30) Delusion Judy Kim Cage (31:51) husband was so afraid that I was going to physically try to get up and fall over, which would not have been good. ⁓ And so, you know, there was, there were some expletives involved. ⁓ And, ⁓ and then eventually once I was out of the ICU, ⁓ I didn’t truly accept that I couldn’t walk until Bill Gasiamis (32:00) but. Judy Kim Cage (32:20) one of the PT students had put me into an exoskeleton and I realized that my foot did not move at all, you know, like a full five seconds after I thought I picked it up. And I said, wait, hang on, what’s going on here? And I said, ⁓ okay, I guess I have to admit that I can’t walk. And then I can’t, I can’t sit upright. I can’t. You know, and like you had mentioned, you know, I had lost the signals from my brain to my bladder. They were slow or whatnot. And I was wetting the bed, like a child at a sleepover. And I was pretty horrified. And that happened for, you know, pretty much my, pretty much all my time at Kratie, except I got the timing down. ⁓ eventually, which was fantastic. But then when I moved to post-acute, ⁓ then I had to learn the timing all over again, just because, you know, of different, rules being different, the transfers being different, and then, ⁓ you know, just ⁓ the timing of when somebody would answer the call button, et cetera. Bill Gasiamis (33:45) Yeah. Do you, what was it like going to rehab? I was really excited about it. I was hanging out because I learned that I couldn’t walk when the nurse said to me, have you been to the toilet yet? And I said, no, I hadn’t been to the toilet. We’re talking hours after surgery, you know, maybe within the first eight or nine hours, something like that. And I went to put my left foot down onto the ground. She was going to help me. She was like a really petite Asian. framed lady and I’m and I’m probably two feet taller than her, something like that, and double her weight. And then she said, just put your hand on my shoulder and then I’ll support you. So I did that. I put my hand on her shoulder, stepped onto my left foot and then just collapsed straight onto the ground and realized, ⁓ no, I’m not walking. I can’t walk anymore. And then I was then waiting. hanging out to go to rehab was really excited about that. ⁓ What was it like for you? Moyamoya Syndrome Stroke Rehabilitation Experience Judy Kim Cage (34:48) Initially, well, do you so you mean. ⁓ Bill Gasiamis (34:56) Just as in like, were you aware that you could ⁓ improve things? Were you kind of like, we’re gonna overcome this type of stuff? Because you had a lot more things to overcome than I did. So it’s like, how is that? How do you frame that in your head? Were you the kind of person who was like, ⁓ rehab’s around the corner, let’s do that? Or were you kind of reluctant? Judy Kim Cage (35:19) It was a combination of two things. One, I had been dying to go home. I said, I absolutely, why can’t I go home? I was in the hospital for three weeks before we moved to the rehab hospital. And once we had done that, I was there basically for the entire weekend and then they do evaluations on Tuesday. And so I was told on Tuesday that I would be there for another at least four to six weeks. And so that was even before therapies really began. So there was a part of me saying, I don’t care, let me go home and I’ll do outpatient every day and everything will be fine. At least I get to go home. But then the other part. Bill Gasiamis (35:52) Thanks. Judy Kim Cage (36:11) said, okay, well, once I realized I was stuck and that I couldn’t escape, I couldn’t go anywhere, ⁓ I actually, I did love therapy. ⁓ I loved being in speech therapy, being in OTE, being in PT even, because my girls were fantastic. They were so caring, so understanding. They made jokes and also laughed at mine, which was even better. And when you’re not in therapy, especially on the weekends, you’re just in your room by yourself. And you’re not watching TV because that input is way too heavy. Listening to music. maybe a little bit here and there. ⁓ You know, all the things that you know and love are nowhere to be found, you know, really. ⁓ Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. And I get claustrophobic in the MRI, in the hospital, et cetera. yeah. Bill Gasiamis (37:14) Oscillating. Yeah. I was on YouTube, searching YouTube videos that were about neuroplasticity, retraining the brain, that kind of stuff, meditations, type of thing. That really helped me on those weekends. The family was always around, but there was delays between family visits and what have you that couldn’t be there that entire time. ⁓ So I found that very interesting. And you know, rehab was a combination of frustration and excitement, excitement that I was getting the help, frustration that things weren’t moving as quickly as I wanted. ⁓ And I even remember the occupational therapist making us make breakfast. And I wouldn’t recommend this breakfast for stroke survivors. I think it was cereal and toast or something like that. And I remember being frustrated, why are they making me make it? My left side doesn’t work. Like I can barely walk. I cannot carry the glass with the tea or anything like that to me. What are these people doing? They should be doing it for us. I wasn’t aware. I wasn’t aware that that was part of the therapy. I just thought they were making us make our own bloody breakfast. I thought these people are so terrible. And it took a while for me to clue on like, ⁓ okay. Judy Kim Cage (38:44) you Bill Gasiamis (38:52) They want me to be able to do this when I get home. ⁓ understood. Took a while. I’m thick like that. Judy Kim Cage (39:00) Fortunately, wasn’t made to cook until close to the end. And also during outpatient, I was tasked to make kind of a larger, you know, crock pot dinner so that, you know, I could do that at home. Meanwhile, the irony of it all is that. I can cook and I used to love cooking, but I don’t do it nearly as much as I used to. So that skill did not really transfer over. ⁓ I have Post-it notes up by the microwave that tell me right hand only because if I use my left hand, the temperature differential I will burn myself ⁓ without even realizing it or even reaching for a certain part of a pan that I think is going to be safe and is somewhat heat resistant. And I touch it and then poof, well, you know, get a burn. So there are post-it notes everywhere. There’s one by the front door that says, watch the steps, because I had a couple of times flown down them and gashed my knee. Bill Gasiamis (40:13) Yeah. Judy Kim Cage (40:26) And it’s amazing actually how long a Post-It note with its temporary stick will stay up on a wall. Bill Gasiamis (40:35) Well, there’s another opportunity for you there, like do a project, ⁓ a longevity of Post-it Notes project, see how long we can get out of one application. Judy Kim Cage (40:46) Yeah, well, this one actually, so I think it was three months after I had moved in, which would have been 10 months into my stroke recovery. And that’s when I fell down these steps. And that’s when I put up the Post-It note. it has been, a piece of tape has been added to it. but it only fell down, I think, a couple of years ago. Bill Gasiamis (41:18) Yeah. So 3M need to shift their entire focus. I feel like 3M. Yeah. I think 3M needs to have a permanent ⁓ post-it note application, but easy to remove. if I want to take it down, like it’s permanent once I put it up, but if I want to take it down, it’s still easy to remove and it doesn’t ruin my paint or leave residue. Judy Kim Cage (41:44) They do actually have that tech. have it for, they call it command. It’s what they have for the hooks for photos and whatnot. And then if you pull the tab and then release it, it will come off and leave the wall undamaged, but it will otherwise stay there for a long. Bill Gasiamis (42:04) Yes, yes, I think you’re right. Most of the time it works, yes. Okay, well, we’re moving on to other things. You’ve overcome a lot of stuff. You’re dealing with a lot of stuff. And yet, you have this disposition, which is very chirpy and happy, go lucky. Is it real, that disposition, or is it just a facade? Using Humor in Moyamoya Syndrome and Stroke Recovery Judy Kim Cage (42:29) No, no, it’s real. It’s real. ⁓ I think I’ve always ⁓ tried to make light of things. ⁓ Humors, probably my first defense mechanism. ⁓ And I think that helped out a lot ⁓ in terms of recovery. And also, ⁓ it put my therapist in a great mood. Also, because not many people did that apparently. You know, most people curse them off or, you know, were kind of miserable. And there were times when I was miserable too. Absolutely. But, but I probably took it out more on my husband than I did the staff. And he, and he would call, you know, I said, I was so mean to you, Rich. was so mean to you. And he said, yeah, you were nicer to the nurses than to me. And I. I apologized for it, but at the same time I’m like, yeah, but sometimes, bud, you are so annoying. Bill Gasiamis (43:33) You had it coming. Judy Kim Cage (43:34) Yeah. Why are you so overprotective? Why do you point out every crack in the sidewalk? Why do you know, you still say I have to stop to tie up my hair when we’re walking on the sidewalk, you know, because you’re not supposed to do two things at once. ⁓ Yeah. So I felt as though I would make jokes all the time. I when my left hand would start to regain function. I called it my evil twin because I didn’t even recognize that it was mine. But then I would give it a high five every time I started gaining function back. And I would say things like, yeah, hey, evil twin, congrats. Or ⁓ I would say, I guess I don’t have to clean the house anymore. I don’t have to use my left hand to dust. I’m not capable of doing it. So why do it? Bill Gasiamis (44:29) Yeah. Judy Kim Cage (44:30) And I’m like, let’s always look for the silver lining. And it would usually be a joke. But, you know, if you couldn’t make fun of it or think about the ridiculousness of it, then I think it would be easier to fall into a pit of despair. Bill Gasiamis (44:48) I agree with you and laughing and all that releases, know, good endo, good endorphins and good neurochemicals and all that kind of stuff really does improve your blood pressure. It improves the way that your body feels, you know, the tightness in your muscles and all that kind of stuff. Everything improves when you laugh and you have to find funny things about a bad situation to laugh at, to kind of dial down the seriousness of the situation. can you know, really dial it down just by picking something strange that happened and laughing at it. I found myself doing that as well. And I’m similar in that I would go to rehab and they would, you know, we would chit chat like I am now with you and would have all sorts of conversations about all kinds of things. And the rehab was kind of like the, the, it was like the vessel, you know, to talk shit, have a laugh. ⁓ you know, be the clown of the rehab room. And I get it, everyone’s doing it tough, but it lightened the mood for everybody. You know, was, it’s a hard thing. You know, imagine it being just constantly and forever hard. And it was like, I don’t want to be that guy and wish they have fun as well. And, and I think my, my, my tough times were decreased as a result. Like, you know, those stuff, mental and emotional days, they, they come, but they go. then you have relief from them. And I think you need relief. Judy Kim Cage (46:23) Absolutely. Otherwise, just could feel perpetual and just never ending. ⁓ And why or how could you possibly survive feeling that way? Bill Gasiamis (46:39) Yeah. So who are you now? as in your, how does your idea of who you are sort of begin to shift after the initial acute phase and now six years in, almost seven years into your stroke journey? Finding Purpose After Stroke Judy Kim Cage (46:59) I think I am. I’m pretty confident in who I am, which is funny. ⁓ I ⁓ actually lean more into making more jokes or ⁓ lean into the fact that things don’t, they don’t have nearly the importance or the impact that you would otherwise think. ⁓ One of my sayings, I guess I say all the, you know, how they say don’t sweat the small stuff. my big stuff, like big stuff became small stuff, you know. So it would have to be something pretty big in order for me to really, really, you know, think about it. And a lot of the little things, you know, the nuisances in life and stuff, would usually just laugh or if I tripped or something, then I would just laugh at it and just keep moving on. ⁓ And I think, you know, It’s funny because some people will say, ⁓ gosh, like stop, you know, there is toxic positivity, right? And there’s plenty of that. And ⁓ I stay away from that, I think. But when I try to give people advice or a different outlook, ⁓ I do say, well, you you could think of it this way, you know. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows and flowers and, you know, care bears, but it is, you know, but it, but you can pull yourself out of a situation. You can try to figure out a way to work around it. You can, you know, choose differently for yourself, you know, do things that you love. You know, you’re only given a certain amount of limited time on the earth. So how do you want to spend it? And if you are on your deathbed, you know, would you have, do you have any regrets? You know, like you did read the books about, you know, that, ⁓ why am I forgetting? Doctors ⁓ that perform palliative care and, you know, they’ve written books about you know what people’s regrets have been after, know, once they are about to pass and you know, that not taking action was a regret. You know, like why didn’t I do this? Or why didn’t I do this? Why didn’t I try this? Like really, what would have been the downfall to trying something? ⁓ And I find that, you know, aside from just naturally being able to see things to laugh at or, or positive sides of things. ⁓ I tried, like, I wish that people could experience that without having gone through what we went through. ⁓ but that’s virtually impossible. I think. Bill Gasiamis (50:18) I think it’s impossible, totally, 100 % impossible because everybody thinks they’re doing okay until they’re not. You just cannot prevent somebody from going through something by taking the learning first. The learning has to come second. Sad as that is. Judy Kim Cage (50:39) ⁓ Well, and we all think we’re invincible to a large extent. ⁓ But ⁓ I think what I’ve been trying to do or me now, I’ve always, you know, volunteered in various ways, but now I take and hold extra value in being a mentor for other stroke patients. Bill Gasiamis (51:03) Yeah, yeah, that’s Judy Kim Cage (51:04) And for, you know, individuals that even just come up to me and talk about all of their medical problems, it doesn’t matter if it’s circulated or not, you know, it’s medically they’re like, there’s some white matter on my MRI, what do think I should do? I’m like, it’s not that simple of an answer. I think you should go to the doctor. Get on a list. Bill Gasiamis (51:29) Yeah. Your journey seems like you’re growing through this adversity, like as in it’s very post-traumatic growth type of experience here. Something that I talk about on my book, the unexpected way that a stroke became the best thing that happened. Not something that I recommend people experience to get to the other side of that, of course. But in hindsight, like it’s all those things that you’re describing. Judy’s Book: Super Survivor And I look at the chapters because in fact, you’ve written a book and it’s going to be out after this episode goes live, which is awesome. And the book that you’ve written is called Super Survivor. And indeed that is a fitting title. Indeed it is. How denial, resistance and persistence can lead to success and a better life after stroke. Right? So just looking at some of the chapters, there’s a lot of overlap there, right? And one of the chapters that there’s overlap in is the volunteering and purpose. I’ve got parts of my book that specifically talk about doing stuff for other people and how that supports recovery and how the people who said that stroke was the best thing that happened to them, the ones that I interviewed to gather the data, one of the main things that they were doing was helping other people, volunteering in some way, shape or form. And that helped shape their purpose in life. and their meaning in life. And it’s how I got there as well. It was like, okay, I’m gonna go and prevent stroke. I’m gonna go talk on behalf of the Stroke Foundation. We’re gonna raise awareness about what stroke is, how to take action on stroke, what to do if somebody’s having a stroke. And I started to feel like I gained a purpose in my life, which was gonna to not allow other people to go through what I went through. And then, With that came public speaking and then with that came the podcast and then the purpose grew and it became really ⁓ all encompassing. It’s like, wow, like I know what my mission is. I didn’t seek to find it. I stumbled across it and the chapter in my book is called stumbling into purpose because you can’t think it up. You just have to take action and then bam, bam, it appears. Like, is that your experience? Judy Kim Cage (53:53) ⁓ Well, so much of my identity had been wrapped up in my occupation. ⁓ And so when, you know, the stroke first happened, et cetera, but then as time has passed, ⁓ yeah, I’ve absolutely found more meaning in providing comfort to other stroke patients. whether it’s because they see me as inspiring that I was able to recover so quickly or that I was able to go back to work, you know, permanently. And just to give them hope, really. And ⁓ when I was in acute, I felt as though like, We do so much of the recovery alone ⁓ and there isn’t a ton of, you know, of course our therapists are fantastic and they’re, you know, they’re loving and they’re caring. But in terms of having to make it through, you know, certain darkness alone or, ⁓ you know, just feeling sorry for yourself even sometimes, or feeling like, hey, I can do everything, but nobody’s encouraging that. because they think it’s dangerous. ⁓ I had wished that, you know, there were more people who could understand ⁓ what survival and then recovery was, you know, truly like. And so I had read that in a number of books before hearing people tell me their stories in person because Emotionally, I absorbed too much of it. ⁓ I wanted to, I think I passed that five-year survival mark of the 26.7%, which I know varies for everybody. ⁓ at the same time, I said, wow, I did, I made it to the other side, I beat these odds. I think I wanted to keep it secret from all the people I worked with. which I still have actually, it won’t be for too much longer. ⁓ But ⁓ just being able to share that and to be vulnerable and to say all the deficits that I have and what I have overcome, ⁓ I think it’s also given people some hope that they can, if she was able to do it, then maybe it isn’t as tough as I think it is. Bill Gasiamis (56:43) Anyone can. Yeah, I love that. That’s kind of my approach to, you know, I’m just a average, humble, normal, amazing guy. You could do it too. You know, I could, I could teach you to what you need to do is learn. ⁓ but that’s true. It’s that it’s that we are, I get, I get people come on the podcast going, I’m so nervous to meet you. You’re on the, I’m on your podcast. Dude, you don’t know who I am. Like if you think I’m the podcast guy, you’ve got no idea. I’m in the back of my, in my garden, in a shed. what was something that’s meant to be a shed that looks like a studio and amazing and all this kind of stuff. Like, dude, I’m just. Judy Kim Cage (57:29) would not have known if you hadn’t told me. Bill Gasiamis (57:32) That’s right, because looks can be deceiving and that ideas that we get of people are just, you know, they’re just not accurate until we get to spend time with people and understand them. And I always try and play down who I am so that people can see that I am just a regular guy who went through this and had no, no equipment. had no ⁓ knowledge. had no skills overcoming learning. Like I just, I picked up what I needed when I could just so that I can stumble through to the next hurdle and stumble through that one and then keep going. I really want people to understand that even the people who appear to be super fabulous at everything, like they’re just not, nobody is that, everyone is just doing their best they can. Even the guy who’s got more money than you, a bigger house, whatever, a better investment, all that stuff, they’re all faking it until shit hits the fan and then they’ve got to really step up to be who they are. You know, that’s what I find. But attitude, mindset, ⁓ approach, know, laughing, doing things for other people all help. They are really important steps, you know. The other chapter that kind of. made me pay attention and take note ⁓ was you talk about the night everything changed, complicated medical history, lifesavers, volunteering and purpose, the caregivers, ⁓ easing back into life, which I think is a really important chapter, returning to work, which is really important. then chapter nine, life after stroke continued. That kind of really is something that made me pay attention because that’s exactly what it is, right? It’s life after stroke. It’s like a continuation. It’s a never ending kind of ⁓ unattainable thing. Judy Kim Cage (59:27) It just keeps rolling on. doesn’t stop. You know, even if you’ve gone through a hardship and overcome it, it doesn’t mean that life stops. You’ve got to keep learning these lessons over and over and over again. Even if you don’t want to learn them, however stubborn you are. ⁓ And I, you know, I one thing that I had written about was that I had resented ⁓ you know, what I had gone through for a little while. I said, why do I still have to learn the same lessons that everybody else has to learn? You know, if I’ve gone through this kind of transcendental thing, why do I still have to learn, you know, these other things? But then I realized that I was given the opportunity ⁓ from surviving, was given another chance to be able to truly realize what it was like to be happy and to live. And I’d never, I mean, I had, I had been depressed, you know, for an anxious for years. And, you know, I’ve been in therapy for years and, ⁓ you know, it really wasn’t truly until kind of getting this push of the fast forward button on learning lessons that it truly became happy, like true, true happiness. And I said, wow, that was the gift. And then to try to pass that on. Bill Gasiamis (1:01:10) It’s a pretty cool life hack. A shit way to experience it, but a pretty cool life hack. Judy Kim Cage (1:01:15) Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely don’t I don’t recommend it I don’t Bill Gasiamis (1:01:20) Yeah. You get the learning in a short amount of time instead of years of years of wisdom and developing and learning and overcoming, which you avoided up until your first, you know, 38 years. And then, you know, you then, and then you kind of all of a sudden go, okay, well, I really have to buckle down and do these, ⁓ these modules of learning and I’ve got no choice. And I was the same. ⁓ and I have my days, I have my Good days, bad days, and I even recently had a bit of a day where I said to my wife, I got diagnosed with high blood pressure, headaches, migraines, a whole bunch of stuff, and then just tomorrow, I’m I’ve had enough. Why do I need to to be diagnosed with more things? Why do I need to have more medical appointments? Enough, it’s enough. I need to stop this stuff. It’s not fun. And then it took me about half a day to get over myself and go, well, I shouldn’t be here, really. Technically, Somebody has three blades in the brain, you know, I don’t know, maybe 50 years ago, they weren’t gonna make it. So now you’ve made it also high blood pressure. If you had high blood pressure 50 years ago, there was nothing to do to treat it. It was just gonna be high until you had a heart attack or ⁓ a brain aneurysm burst or something. And it’s like, I get to live in a time when interventions are possible and it is a blip on the radar. Like just all you do is take this tablet and you’re fine. Not that I revert to give me the tablet solution. I don’t, I’m forever going under the underlying cause. I want to know what the underlying cause is trying to get to the bottom of all of that. But in the meantime, I can remain stable with this little tablet and ⁓ decrease the risk of another brain hemorrhage. So it’s cool, know, like whatever. And that kind of helps me get through the, why me days, you know, cause They’re there, they come, they turn up, especially if it’s been one day after the next where things have been really unwell and we’ve had to medical help or whatever. When it’s been kind of intense version of it, it’s like, okay, I don’t want any more of this. So I get the whole, I’ve experienced the whole spectrum in this last 13, 14 years. We’re coming up to, I think the 20th or 21st, I think is my, maybe the 25th of my anniversary of my brain surgery. Jeez, I’ve come a long way. It’s okay. It’ll be like 11 years since my brain surgery. A lot of good things have happened since then. We got to live life for another 13 years, 11 years. I keep forgetting the number, it doesn’t matter. Yeah. Judy Kim Cage (1:04:17) Mine will have been my 17th ⁓ anniversary of my brain surgery ⁓ will be in January, sorry, in December. And then the seventh anniversary of the stroke is in January. So lot of years. Bill Gasiamis (1:04:33) Yeah, yeah. A lot of years, a lot of years, great that they’ve happened and I’m really happy with that. Keep doing these podcasts, makes me forget about myself. It’s about other people, so that’s cool. know, meet people like you, putting out awesome books. And when I was going through early on, there wasn’t a lot of content. It was hard to get content on stroke surviving, recovery, all the deficits, all the problems. That’s part of the reason why I started this. And now I think I’ve interviewed maybe 20 or 30 people who have written a book about stroke, which means that the access to information and stories is huge, right? So much of it. ⁓ Your book comes out in early December. Where is it going to be available for people to buy? Conclusion and Final Thoughts Judy Kim Cage (1:05:20) It is currently available to download ⁓ through the Kindle app and through Amazon. The hard copies will be available to order through Amazon and hopefully in other booksellers, but that’s TBD. Bill Gasiamis (1:05:39) Yeah, well, we’ll have all the current links by then. We’ll have all the current links available in the show notes. ⁓ At the beginning of this episode, I would have already talked about the book and in your bio when I’m describing the episode and who I’m about to chat to. So people would have already heard that once and hopefully they’ll be hearing it again at the end of the episode. So guys, if you didn’t pay attention at the beginning, but now you’re at the end, it’s about to come. I’m going to give all the details. Judy Kim Cage (1:06:07) stuck around. Bill Gasiamis (1:06:09) Yeah. If you stuck around, give us a thumbs up, right? Stuck around in the comments or something, you know? ⁓ Absolutely. Thank you so much for joining me, reaching out, sharing your story. It is lovely to hear and I wish you well in all of your endeavors, your continued recovery. yeah, fantastic. Great stuff. Thank you so much. Thank you. Well, that’s a wrap for another episode. want to thank Judy for sharing her story so openly. The way she spoke about denial, rehab, reality, cognitive fatigue and rebuilding identity is going to help a lot of people feel less alone. If you’re watching on YouTube, let us know in the comments, what part of Moyamoya Syndrome stroke recovery has been the hardest to explain to other people for you? Was it the physical symptoms or is it the invisible ones? like fatigue and cognition. And if you’re listening on Spotify or Apple podcasts, please leave a review. It really helps other stroke survivors find these conversations when they need them most. Judy’s book is called Super Survivor, How Denial Resistance and Persistence can lead to success and a better life after stroke. And you’ll find the links in the show notes. And if you want more support from me, you can Grab a copy of my book at recoveryafterstroke.com/book, and you can become a Patreon supporter at patreon.com/recoveryafterstroke. It genuinely helps keep this show alive. Thanks again for being here. Remember you’re not alone in this recovery journey and I’ll see you in the next episode. Importantly, we present many podcasts designed to give you an insight and understanding into the experiences of other individuals. Opinions and treatment protocols discussed during any podcast are the individual’s own experience and we do not necessarily share the same opinion nor do we recommend any treatment protocol discussed. All content on this website and any linked blog, podcast or video material controlled this website or content is created and produced for informational purposes only and is largely based on the personal experience of Bill Gasiamis The content is intended to complement your medical treatment and support healing. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical and should not be relied on as health advice. The information is general and may not be suitable for your personal injuries, circumstances or health objectives. Do not use our content as a standalone resource to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease for therapeutic purposes or as a substitute for the advice of a health professional. Never delay seeking advice or disregard the advice of a medical professional, your doctor or your rehabilitation program based on our content. If you have any questions or concerns about your health or medical condition, please seek guidance from a doctor or other medical professional. If you are experiencing a health emergency or think you might be, call 000 if in Australia or your local emergency number immediately for emergency assistance or go to the nearest hospital emergency department. Medical information changes constantly. While we aim to provide current quality information in our content, we do not provide any guarantees and assume no legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, currency or completeness of the content. If you choose to rely on any information within our content, you do so solely at your own risk. We are careful with links we provide. However, third party links from our website are followed at your own risk and we are not responsible for any information you find there. The post Moyamoya Syndrome Stroke Recovery: How Judy Rebuilt Her Life After a “Puff of Smoke” Diagnosis appeared first on Recovery After Stroke.

Steve shares some of the bourbon headlines from Google. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve Justine, Katie, Linda and Matt W. we talk about the merits of Whiskey Row. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve Justine, Matt M., Kathy and Tim talk about how bourbon media (again). TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve Justine, Katie, Linda and Matt W. complete a bracket challenge to determine the best distillery to visit. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve Justine, Kathy and Tim talk about the status of seltzers. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve, McNew, Joe, Jeff & Matt M. talk about McNew's trip to San Diego. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve Justine, Katie, Linda and Matt W. talk about January in the bourbon industry. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

In this episode, 10 Family Office Myths exposed (and debunked). https://youtu.be/j1cgcZZcRBM Welcome back and Happy New Year on the Wealth Actually podcast. I’m Frazer Rice. We have a fun show today where we talk about 10 myths in the family office space. Mark Tepsich, who runs the family office governance practice at UBS is here as we dish into the ideas and concepts that are misunderstood in the family office world. Summary This conversation delves into the complexities and myths surrounding family offices, exploring their structure, governance, and the unique challenges they face in wealth management. The discussion highlights the importance of understanding the specific needs of families and the role of family offices in managing complexity and preserving wealth across generations. It also addresses common misconceptions about family offices, including their necessity, governance, and their relationship with institutional investors. Takeaways Family offices are established to manage complexity in wealth.Not all family offices are the same; each has unique needs.Governance frameworks are essential for effective family office management.Many family offices outsource functions rather than internalizing them.The myth that 85-90% of family offices shouldn’t exist is false.Shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves is a debated concept in wealth preservation.Family offices need to adapt to the evolving needs of families.Investment functions in family offices are often secondary to administrative roles.Family offices are driven by complexity rather than just size.The future of family offices may involve more direct investment opportunities. Chapters: Family Office Confidential 00:00 Understanding Family Offices: Myths and Realities02:02 The Complexity of Family Office Structures04:37 Debunking Common Myths About Family Offices06:17 The Role of Outsourcing in Family Offices07:54 Generational Wealth: The Shirt Sleeves Myth10:51 Flexibility vs. Permanence in Family Offices12:48 Governance and Decision-Making in Family Offices15:49 Investment Functions in Family Offices18:05 Size vs. Complexity in Family Offices20:09 Family Offices vs. Institutional Capital21:19 The Aspirational Nature of Family Offices23:30 The Relationship Between Family Offices and Institutions25:36 Technology in Family Offices: Current Trends29:03 Family Offices and Private Equity: A Comparative Analysis Myths 85-95% of FO’s should not exist vs. “there is no such thing as a family office’ Family office internalize everything A Family Office Anchored by an operating business is the same that is one funded solely by liquidity event Shirtsleeves to Shirtsleeves is myth Family offices are designed to be permanent’ Family Offices don’t need high end (almost SOX) like governance Family Offices are driven by net worth (no, by complexity) Family Offices are built on a robust investment function (no, it”s complexity management- often rooted in bookkeeping and accounting) Family Offices are like institutional Capital (no, many more motivations than pure returns- including whimsy and the knee-jerk ability to override the IPS) Family Offices are the right result for a career (they could be, but it is extremely unlikely- a lot of things have to be “just right” and there is little to know patience for development Family Offices make great wealth clients (very much depends on the function and the product- they can be difficult consumers) Family office tech is best – in – breed (No and it probably never will be) Family offices shun Large institutions (Surprisingly, no- needed for deals, expertise, and most importnatly financing and introductions) Keywords family offices, wealth management, governance, investment strategies, family dynamics, myths, financial planning, family wealth, complexity management, family governance Transcript: Family Office Myths Busted Frazer Rice (00:04.462): Welcome board, Mark. Mark Tepsich: Hey, Frazer, good to see you again. Appreciate the opportunity. Frazer Rice: Likewise. So let’s get started first. We’re going to go into some of the myths around family offices. But you really participate in kind of an interesting subset of that in terms of helping families design and govern them. What exactly does that mean on a day-to-day basis for you? Mark Tepsich: Yeah, good question. So, you know, it means a couple of things, right? So if you think about a family office, you have families that are at the inception point, right? Where things are getting too complex for them. They need to set up some sort of infrastructure. And it’s really like, what is a family office? What can it do for me? What are the pros, cons, and trade-offs? Where do I start? What’s the infrastructure, the systems? Who do I hire? How do I structure a compensation? So you’ve got families maybe coming at it. From post liquidity event, maybe coming at it from, we need to lift up, lift out this embedded family office out of the business to, hey, we’re an existing family office. We’ve got, you know, we’re evolving, right? The family’s growing, their enterprise is changing, the world around us is changing. People are leaving the family office, the next gen’s getting incorporated into the family office in some way. We’ve got some questions that could be, how do we engage the next generation through the family office? Mark Tepsich (01:21.614): How do we make decisions, communicate around our shared assets and resources, which could be a portfolio, maybe even a business, or hey, how do we come together and hire? What is this profile of this person look like? Who should we hire and not hire? What’s the structure of their compensation, carry co-investment, leverage co-investment? What’s the tech stack look like across accounting, consulting, reporting? Now, how do we insource and outsource? So it’s sort of. I like to call it organizational capabilities. So, you know, sometimes it’s soup to nuts, like starting from zero, other times it’s, we’ve been around for a long time, but we have a couple of questions. So that’s kind of my day to day. And, you know, I’ve been living this really since 2008 pre-global financial crisis. Frazer Rice So we’re going to go into, I think, some of the craziness of the family office ecosystem where we have people who wear many hats, people who wear masks, some people who are jokers and other people who are really good technicians and provide a lot of great insight. One of the things you were talking about is that the different types of mandate can be different. And I think maybe one of the first myths we should tackle is the The bromide that if you’ve seen one family office, you’ve seen one family office, which is thrown around at every family office conference and everybody chuckles for a minute and then it sort of washes away and no one cares anymore. What do you think about that statement? Mark Tespich (03:19.006): So I don’t necessarily think it’s true. And here’s what I mean. Let’s make an analogy to this, right? A business needs certain core infrastructure to just operate, right? And using accounting back office, you know the inflows, the outflows, you know, if you’re make a decision, these are the steps you have to go through. And so a family office, right? It needs to incorporate that, but it needs to incorporate it with the family and the family enterprise that is existing for that family, right? So, yeah, each family office is different because each family is different, but that’s like saying you’ve seen one business, you’ve seen one business, right? The strategy could be, the culture could be different, but, you still need some core operating infrastructure. And again, there’s accounting infrastructure, and that’s the basics, right? So there’s a curl of truth, but largely I think that it is false. Well, and at the same time, yes, families are different, but in general, families are trying to get to the same place, which is, know, they want to steward the wealth. They want to make sure it benefits the family and the other constituencies. And they want to make sure that it’s preserved over time. And those functions, you know, it’s very infrequent. You’d find the functions not there. And so how you get from A to B may be different, as you said, but there are a lot of universal truths to setting one of these things up. Frazer Rice So one of the other myths that we’ve come across is the idea that 80 to 90 percent of family offices shouldn’t exist. is, people and families set these up for, let’s call it the wrong reasons. Maybe it’s fear of missing out, maybe it’s great cocktail party chatter, maybe it’s an overdiagnosis of their needs. What do you think about that? Mark Tepsich Again, false. know, family offices are largely a function. They largely exist because there’s a market scale here. And what I mean by that is when you look under the hood at a family office, you’ve got basics of an accounting firm. You’ve got basics of an investment slash wealth management firm. You’ve got the basics of a legal slash tax firm. And then you’ve got essentially everything in between. And when you look at professional service firms out there, They can’t provide all of those under one roof, whether compliance or regulatory reasons. But the other reason is because no business model out there can really scale the complexity that each one of these families has. So yeah, you could outforce a lot of this stuff, but at the end of the day, family offices often exist because of a market failure. so, false, 85 to 90 % of family offices should exist. Frazer Rice (05:41.164) One of the other things, I’ve been around enough of these getting set up, is that the family office, if we get into sort of a technical structure, such that you set up a structure so that you’re able to deduct the expenses related to administering the wealth around that, that’s a valid reason to do things in addition to the organizational component. So I agree with you that there’s, to say that they shouldn’t exist is sort of belying the notion that these functions should take place internally. And I think you spoke to that. And I guess that gets to another myth, which is that family offices should internalize all of these functions. You just talked about it a little bit, that that’s not a great business model either. Mark Tepsich No, mean, yeah, so, you know, 85 to 90 % of family members out there, you just use that statistic, outsource a fair amount of things, right? And what that means is let’s just use tax counsel, for instance, right? This is something that these issues exist in every family office, they exist for every individual, but at the end of the day, should you have, you know, a tax counsel in-house in a family office that’s only doing, you know, income tax advisor work? Probably not. For 95 % of family offices because the frequency just isn’t there, right? So, you if you look at general councils alone, right? So they should have a broader mandate than income tax. should have well-transferred estate planning. Every family has those issues, but do they have the frequency to warrant bringing that individual, that professional and the rate, the cost? Probably not. a lot, you know, most family offices outsource a fair amount of whether it’s investment management, manager selection and due diligence. So false. Most fair amount offices do outsource a fair amount. Frazer Rice (07:31.374) One the things, this is one of my favorite controversial topics in the family office ecosystem of vendors that are out there is this notion that shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves is a myth. that the, and for those who don’t know what that means is, know, the first generation has generated the wealth, the second one enjoys it. And then the third one for a variety of reasons is ill-equipped to carry the wealth forward. And then everyone kind of goes back. It transcends culture. It’s lily pad to lily pad. You know, there’s a British version and a Russian version and whatever version. But the advice ecosystem around this is such that there’s a lot of debate about the statistics that have, quote unquote, proven that. And I can listen to that and say, yes, those may be very narrow. But there is a myth out there that shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves is a myth. Maybe you have some comments on that. Mark Tepsich Man, this is a tough one. I will say this will probably be the toughest one. So I think once a family becomes wealthy, right? And you can kind of define that as, the wealth, meaning the financial wealth will last a few generations with really out, with really nobody working, right? Let’s just define it that way. It’ll last a couple of generations if you make some not dumb decisions, we’ll call it. I think such as the financial markets today, right, as long as you’re diversified, you will stay wealthy. Does that mean you are going to have the same amount per capita over time? Maybe not, right? So if you look at it today, is a nuclear family of four, and you look at it 50 years from now, and the family is 30 people, right? I don’t know what the growth rate would have to be on those assets. So I think the family will remain wealthy whether they remain, you know, on a per capita basis, right? That’s a different story. I think what this is missing, however, I think the numbers kind of overshadow what this is getting at. I think when you look at it, when you take a step back, that first generation wealth creator, right? Will the family continue to be builders and entrepreneurs down the road? Frazer Rice (09:50.26) That I think that’s the question. Will they continue to kind of reach their full potential? I think that is that should be the focus. I’m going to punt on this one. I think it’s TBD and it’s there’s no set answer. I think the idea that the returns, To get back to your point is that as you go from generation to generation, the complexity increases, I’d say geometrically. Whereas the assets in many ways are going to be designed to increase linearly. And so at some point it may be 14 generations down the line when you’ve got 300 people that you have to take care of, are those assets gonna be in place to be able to support the level of living that people expected in generation one, two, and three? I think that’s the equation we’re all trying to fight. And so I’d say while Shirt Sleeves to Shirt Sleeves isn’t necessarily a prophecy, it’s definitely something that has to be addressed. So I’m gonna say that the fact that Shirt Sleeves to Shirt Sleeves is a myth, I think that’s the myth. Mark Tepsich So that’s where I draw my line in the sand there. think there’s an equation you constantly have to fight. Okay, so here’s another one. Family offices are designed to be permanent. I happen to think that they start out trying to be permanent, but in actuality, they really have to be more flexible and flex with the needs of the family, even at the first or second generation. Yeah, I would agree. Often they’re established for a good reason, right? That reason is complexity. Whether that complexity continues to exist for the family is a different story, right? You might have a business being sold. The family might just say, “hey, we don’t need to do all these direct investments, these alternate investments. Let’s just keep it simple, keep it passive.” I don’t think they’re designed to be permanent. I think families don’t really think about that too much. They want to exist for probably the existing generation that’s leveraging it and they wanna transition it, to your point, be flexible over time. But I don’t think anyone like a business, right? If you think about a business, the business generally speaking, it’s meant to exist in a perpetuity. That’s why you have a business, right? It’s not a sole proprietorship, but a family office, I think it’s TBD, right? So, you know. I don’t think anyone’s setting up a family that will say this is going to exist a thousand years from now. And I think if they came out and said that, think that it would add question and motivations. Frazer Rice Maybe we may be welcoming the Martians, we may be speaking Mandarin. There’s a thousand things that could happen in between here and then, that’s for sure. Here’s a myth that I think you and I are both going to agree is one, which is that family offices, for the ones that we think are going to try to persist, don’t demand necessarily Sarbanes-Oxley or high-end governance. Mark Tepsich I think as family offices mature, meaning as the family evolves, they do need some sort of decision-making framework. Especially if they’re going to really come together and act like somewhat of an institution. What I mean by that is, under the hood of a family office or under the hood of a family, let’s say there’s 10 family members. Let’s say there’s 20 to 25 trusts within that. You know, you could come together and pull your assets, right? And pull your resources. That’s part of the reason for having a family office. And so you just have a larger pool of capital. When you’re doing that, you do need governance. Okay? But if you’re gonna have, it’s just like, hey, we’re gonna have our separate portfolios. We’re not gonna come together and have pooled investment vehicles. You might not need an investment company, okay? And there might be good reasons to have an investment committee. In fact, many the investment committees I see, they’re not like college endowments where, we got eight people or nine people on here. We need to agree at least have five people to agree to allocate to this manager or change the allocation or change the IPS, depending on where that authority resides. I often see many investment committees for families, hey, we’re just collaborative in nature. We’ll get together. We’re going to have a meeting and talk about different strategies. Different advisors, things we should be doing. But if they’ve always had to agree at the family business level, they might not wanna have that same construct in the family office slash investment portfolio. If they’ve always struggled, know, come into agreement at the family business, now they’re gonna like, hey, we’re gonna recreate this dynamic. don’t have a binding construct. In fact, we ran a report, it’s coming out hopefully in the next couple of weeks. on family enterprise governance and a component obviously is the investment committee. 70 % of the investment committees out there are advisory in nature, meaning they don’t make binding decisions. They take it back to the trustees or whoever the authority is and they say, hey, here’s what we think, right? So individual family investors, whoever that is, co-trustees, it’s a, okay. So I do think governance is important, but it depends on what you mean by that, right? Should there be an IPS in place? I 100 % think that each family investor should have an IPS in place. The biggest mistake I see there is, hey, we’ve got this shared pool of capital. We’ve got 50 trusts. We’ve got one single IPS, right? I think that is a big mistake. don’t think that’s good governance. So it really depends on what you mean, but I think, yes, there should be some decision-making framework that you’re following. Otherwise, what exactly are you? Adhering to it, right? Like, what is your framework? What is your decision making tree? Frazer Rice (15:53.902) On top of that, possible myth. Family offices are built on a robust investment function. I mean, yes, there are some that are like that, right? You know, there’s a big names out there, MSD, Pritzker, so on and so forth. Those are the exceptions rather than the rule. Most family offices, 85 to 90 % are formed to manage the complexity, right? So again, otherwise you’re gonna have all these outsourced providers and that just doesn’t make sense when you’re trying to make a decision, because you need all the different parts to come together. They’re often built as administrative functions first, rather than, we’re gonna go start the next, you know, a private equity firm. that’s false. Frazer Rice The, as I like to say, probably to the boredom of a lot of people who talk to me a lot is that a lot of these really are built on a bookkeeping or an accounting spine. You’ve got to manage the inflows and outflows of everything and keep track of what you have or else you can have a great investment function, but things are going to spill all over the place. Mark Tepsich (17:30.872) I’ll never say, yeah. mean, and that actually goes back to good governance, right? So I always say, it’s not provocative. I’ll say, listen, this is not a provocative answer, but you need to create that first. And most of the people that are considering this rate are business owners. So they’ll intuitively get that. In fact, that function might exist somewhere at the business, but it’s really not organized. And without that function, like, it’s hard to make a decision, right? If you’re going to allocate 20 % of your portfolio, to private equity drawdown vehicles. got cap calls, capital commitments, distributions, like that needs to be budgeted and forecasting, right? So a lot of these families will have, one nuclear family can have three to four homes, 10 bank accounts, 20 entities. It’s not like a single piggy bank that you could take cash out of and move it every which way, right? Those are owned by different vehicles, different trusts, different assets and things like that, so. Frazer Rice Here’s a myth that I espouse which is Family offices and whether you have one or not is driven solely by size whether you have five billion or two hundred million or something like that that if you aren’t a certain size you shouldn’t have one and if you’re Of a certain size you must have one. Mark Tepsich That’s a myth. It’s driven by complexity first. I’ve seen, I’ve spoken to people that are worth two to $3 billion. It’s concentrated in a few stocks, meaning like they were early stage employees, right? They’re still in it. They’re getting a healthy dividend at this point. Guy talked to couple years ago. He had two homes, two cars, probably 95 % of his network was tied up into two separate securities that were probably traded. And he’s like, I don’t think I need a family office. You want to know what one was, what it could do from. And I’m like, listen, if you don’t have the complexity, it probably doesn’t make sense. Okay, if you can make a decision within whatever framework you have, whatever complex you have. Now, the other, you know, there is a cost factor to it, right? It gets easier to start a family office, meaning hire a couple of people, if you’ve got the… asset base for it to make sense on a cost perspective. So most of the time it’s driven by complexity, but cost does become a factor, right? If you’re worth a hundred million dollars, you’re to go hire 10 people. That probably doesn’t make sense. Frazer Rice (19:28.342) Right. Well, on top of that too, if you, and there’s a sort of the difference between a family office driven by a liquidity event and meeting that’s, that’s all you have versus a family office that’s tethered or sorry, a family business that’s tethered to it, that is also generating cash flows to help pay for things that that’s a big part of the decision. Because if you’re hiring people, you know, a CIO minimum, absolute minimum is probably $500,000. They’re going to need people, you know, you’re looking at at least 3 million. just to get the thing up and running before you start figuring out what you actually have to do. And so the concept that the size is going to dictate completely, it underscores sort of that cost component that you described there. Frazer Rice This is an interesting one and I like this concept to talk about. Family offices are like institutional capital as investors. Mark Tepsich Again, myth, there are some, again, there are some that are like institutions. They have the size and the sophistication. Oftentimes you see them, they’re former PE or hedge fund founders, right? That just aren’t doing any more of it. They made their wealth in the financial ecosystem, in the markets. And so they’re very sophisticated. But by and large, I mean, they’re sort of quasi-institutional, right? So I’ve seen multi-billion dollar family offices that Again, they’re more of the administrative hub rather than, we’re gonna be splashing around and playing in the markets and using a lot of leverage and doing a lot of control equity investments. So by and large, it’s the myth. 85 to 90 % are institutional-like. They are there to fill a need and that need is complexity management. Frazer Rice Here’s one on a different angle, which is family offices are the goal for people in the wealth management industry to work for, meaning family offices are a great aspiration for people who work in the industry and that that’s universal. Mark Tepsich (21:34.35) Myth, I think it’s an option. I think it’s interesting. I think it is a growing opportunity for folks that work in, you know, maybe wealth management or investment management or the financial ecosystem. But you didn’t, again, family has been around for a long time, but they’ve really only became, you know, kind of popular post global financial crisis with the rise of PE because of ZERP. You know, I’ll talk to a lot of people that are like in the hedge fund ecosystem looking for a change, right? And I say like, listen, like these opportunities for you are out there, but it depends on the family. It depends on their compensation philosophy as on the culture that you’re going to have to live within. There’s a lot of key man risk. Is it an opportunity? Yes. But again, it is, it is family office by family office. Frazer Rice I tell people too, it’s for people who are used to having lots of clients or lots of institutional support that is going to be a shift. It’s different to have one client. It’s different to have a scenario where the business of a family office, the business model of that particular family office can change on a dime. And if you don’t share the last name of the family you’re working for, you could be in a tough spot. Mark Tepsich Yeah, “we’re gonna build out a sustainability impact portfolio. We’re gonna build out, we’re gonna have a direct investment initiative. We’re gonna allocate whatever, a few hundred million dollars to it.” That person, that professional gets there and then a year or two or three years goes by and the strategy changes because a family member too had to change a heart. And then it becomes, okay, why am I here? Where am I gonna go now? So again, they could be great opportunities. I had a great experience.but it really just depends on the family. Frazer Rice (23:26.894) Here’s one, and you’ve got UBS over your shoulder there, so this is dramatic foreshadowing in some ways, but I think it bears talking about. It’s that family offices shun the large institutions, and that they want it bespoke, they want something peculiar all the time. What do you think about that? Mark Tepsich No, I mean, it goes back to the earlier myth that, you know, basically we’re saying family office should, family office do outsource a lot, right? So again, most family offices are five to eight people, right? I call it family office island, meaning you’re there on the island and you’re like, what is going on outside of the island or off of the island? You know your island really well, right? You know the family, know all the facts inside and out, but they are, I mean, there’s a reason why all these institutions, including UBS, has built out the resources to cater to family offices, right? I’m the perfect example. They brought me on to help our clients build family offices, right? They would not do that if it was gonna cannibalize their business. So they could be great clients and other times it’s like, hey, we’re very insular and we’re gonna keep everything close to the vest. Again, it’s family office to family office. But by and large, they’re great wealth clients. Frazer Rice No, and they also, you know, they need institutions to partner with of size, whether it’s at custody or lending or any number of other functions that are out there. Sometimes, you know, the RIA space is such that, you know, they try to be all things to all people and the appeal of being in, you know, the billionaire space. It takes a lot of people and a lot of effort and frankly a different business model to deal with that and to just sort of wander in and say we’re great and we can do these things. I think that’s a short road for a lot of institutions. Frazer Rice (25:17.602) Again, like we are brutally honest too. And I’ll, and here’s what I mean by that. Well, like we’re rated a lot of things, but I’ll say like, listen, there’s things that we can’t do for you. We can’t be your accounting back office, right? Like we just don’t offer that. We don’t have it. We’ve got a couple firms that would do that. They’re pure plays on it. So they’ve got to be good at it. but you know, use the various institutions for what they’re good for. They’re, know, again, that’s why you’ve got a family office. You can kind of pick or choose and be agnostic as to what you’re using them for. Frazer Rice If we wind down here a couple of last ones: The tech that family offices rely on is going to be best in breed. Mark Tepsich I, listen, I have this power station all the time with family office meeting, like what, what, you know, what tech providers should we be looking at? Listen, family office have grown in, right over the past 10, 15 years that there’s not a question. they’re historically, right. had to use in a family office, had to take basically institutional tools, try to repurpose them for the family office and they just, they’re just kind of clunky, right? The family office is still a cottage industry. If you’re trying to sell the family offices, you’re selling the two firms with five to eight employees, right? So the tools are going to continue to get better. But in my opinion, they’re always going to lag the institutional tools and kind of sophistication. But that’s also because institutional tools are very kind of narrow and deep, whereas the family office tech tools, you’ve got the accelerated reporting, but it needs to link to the accounting. That’s an issue. And so the family of standard day is left with like a bunch of disparate fragmented systems that have a challenge talking to each other. With that said, AI, I’ve been talking to a lot of these sort of mom and pop shops, I’ll call them. They’re firms that are trying to incorporate AI to break down these walls. So it’s not fragmented disparate systems. I use the analogy of it’s like jailbreaking an iPhone. I don’t know where this is gonna be in a couple of years, but I think the tools are going to continue to improve. But again, you’re probably not going to take a family office tech tool and deploy it at institutional scale. So if that answers your question, I guess it’s a measure. Frazer Rice First of all, I think it’s going to take a long time before something, quote unquote, replaces Excel, which is still a powerful tool that is flexible and does what it says it’s going to do. And people use it sometimes at their own peril to be the underpinning of everything. the one thing I would add is that the mom and pop software components, I think, have a lot of great ideas. The total market to sell into that, though, does not necessarily make for a great software business. As you say, to get those tools that are specific and required at the family office level to be profitable, you got to figure out a way to sell that into something bigger. I’m not sure there is anything bigger. Mark Tepsich (28:49.358) Yeah, I mean, you’d be better selling it to, you know, small businesses, right? So, I mean, the tools are going to get better, but there’s been a lot of interest recently in the past couple years. I don’t think, I think most of them are not going to survive. I don’t want to say there’s only going to be a couple winners, but on the Consolidated Reported Front, I really think there’s only going be a couple winners because you need scale. And again, family office, if you’re looking to make a decision, you’re like, well, okay, well, 5,000 users use Adapar and 50 use this other platform. So which one are you gonna choose? You don’t wanna onboard to the one that has 50 and then three years down the road, they’re out of business, or there’s fold or something like that. So with scale comes a little bit of security that at least you know that a lot of other people are using. You could point to that. Frazer Rice Last question. Family offices will rival PE firms in terms of influence in the investing market? 85 to 90 % will not rival PE firms. That’s not what they’re set up for. That’s not the goal of most family offices. Again, it’s complexity management. Will some rival PE firms? Yeah. But again, you… Listen, I’ve seen some family office go out there and raise their party capital. When they do that, they’re not a family office anymore. They might have a component in there, but they’re private equity firms. What you’re getting at is private equity firms are raising a fund every couple of years. Can a family office do that? No, because once they do that, they will be a private equity firm. So PE by and large has an infinite capital source, as long as they are good at what they do, right? So with that said, you know, there’s a lot of entrepreneurs that are are post liquidity events have played in the direct investment space, they really wanna do it. They’re still young, right? They’re billers, operators created. They wanna do it from a different vantage point. They’re coming to a realization: “that w”We need to start a fund.” I really love that story because again, they’re founders and operators. They didn’t come from the financial ecosystem first to do this. So I think they’re putting a different spin on PE. I think it’s great for the PE industry as a whole, by the way. And I think, if you’re a founder or a business owner, you might have an easier time taking an equity investment from somebody like that, who’s known in that specific industry that they made their money in, who’s had to make payroll. And they probably have a different timeline than normal PE that’s looking to flip every three to five years. So I think as an investor, I think that would be an interesting investment opportunity, right? And so it’s like, okay, well, part of my PE allocation, you know, This might look interesting. I hesitate to make, you know, I’m not an investment person, so. Frazer Rice Great stuff. Mark, how do people find you and reach out? Mark Tepsich I’m on LinkedIn. I would attempt to just spell my name with my email address at ubs.com, but it’s very lengthy. You just hit me up on LinkedIn. But, Frasier, I appreciate the time. This was great. Frazer Rice I’ll have that in the show notes and as a final parting, we sort of listen to people say, the family space is getting loud. I’m not sure it is. I think the vendors are more loud than the family offices are. I don’t know what your experience is there. Mark Tepsich 100%, the family members themselves are still quiet. You don’t see them out there on LinkedIn. It is the ecosystem to your point around them that is getting loud, right? It’s LinkedIn. It’s like, you know, every time I’m on there, it’s like somebody’s got something to say about families, which is good. Again, if you think about every boom in history, they attract people, right? You could say the same thing about AI, right? But again, it’s become loud, but that’s the industry. It’s not the family offices themselves. Frazer Rice Great stuff. Thanks, Mark. Mark Tepsich Thank you, Frazer. Appreciate it. FAMILY OFFICE DEFINED MORE ON FAMILY OFFICE DESIGN WITH ED MARSHALL https://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Actually-Intelligent-Decision-Making-1-ebook/dp/B07FPQJJQT/

Social psychology expert Brant Elwood joins me to explore the fascinating and often troubling world of unconscious group dynamics. Brant brings a unique perspective, having spent four years as a field guide in wilderness therapy—accumulating over 10,000 hours working with small groups—before transitioning into organizational psychology and leadership consulting.We dive deep into the phenomenon of scapegoating: why groups unconsciously select certain members to carry their collective anxiety, how the scapegoat often cooperates with this unspoken contract, and what happens when that person leaves. Brant shares compelling examples from Tavistock group relations conferences and primate research to illustrate how these dynamics play out across species.I also share my own experience of being scapegoated in a T-group during grad school, and we explore how our childhood wounds create "Velcro" for these projections to stick. We discuss the role of humor as a potential escape route, what healthy leadership looks like, and why some organizations become addicted to crisis. The conversation takes a meaningful turn toward Nathaniel Brandon's work on self-esteem—what it truly means beyond the smarmy 90s version—and how a leader's unintegrated material gets amplified throughout an organization. This episode offers valuable insights for anyone navigating workplace dynamics or seeking to understand group psychology.Brant Elwood has a MA in Social-Organizational Psychology from Columbia University. He has held consulting roles and leadership positions within several therapeutic treatment organizations. During the pandemic, he directed a non-profit that utilized myth and archetypal theory to conduct rites of passage work with young men in the southeast US. Brant draws from the mythopoetic lineage of Robert Bly, Robert Johnson, and others in an attempt to establish a novel style of thinking about groups in communities and organizations. He first attended a Tavistock-style group relations conference in 2015. Follow him on X @thegrouplens. Find his book on Amazon: Gods, Heroes, and Groups: Relational Dynamics Through Mythic Archetypes.[00:00:00] Start[00:00:38] Introduction to Brant Elwood[00:01:40] Background in Wilderness Therapy[00:04:01] Tavistock Group Relations Conferences[00:15:59] The Psychology of Scapegoating[00:28:19] Projective Identification and Personal Wounds[00:40:47] Qualities of Healthy Organizations[00:45:30] Toxic Workplace Dynamics Case Study[00:54:21] Nathaniel Brandon's Self-Esteem Framework[01:09:00] Christian Perspective on Self-Worth[01:15:45] Crisis of Faith in Therapy Field[01:17:29] Where to Find Brant and His BookROGD REPAIR Course + Community gives concerned parents instant access to over 120 lessons providing the psychological insights and communication tools you need to get through to your kid. Now featuring 24/7 personalized AI support implementing the tools with RepairBot! Use code SOMETHERAPIST2025 to take 50% off your first month.PODCOURSES: use code SOMETHERAPIST at LisaMustard.com/PodCoursesTALK TO ME: book a meeting.PRODUCTION: Looking for your own podcast producer? Visit PodsByNick.com and mention my podcast for 20% off your initial services.SUPPORT THE SHOW: subscribe, like, comment, & share or donate.Watch NO WAY BACK: The Reality of Gender-Affirming Care. Use code SOMETHERAPIST to take 20% off your order.MUSIC: Thanks to Joey Pecoraro for our song, “Half Awake,” used with gratitude & permission. ALL OTHER LINKS HERE. To support this show, please leave a rating & review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe, like, comment & share via my YouTube channel. Or recommend this to a friend!Learn more about Do No Harm.Take $200 off your EightSleep Pod Pro Cover with code SOMETHERAPIST at EightSleep.com.Take 20% off all superfood beverages with code SOMETHERAPIST at Organifi.Check out my shop for book recommendations + wellness products.Show notes & transcript provided with the help of SwellAI.Special thanks to Joey Pecoraro for our theme song, “Half Awake,” used with gratitude and permission.Watch NO WAY BACK: The Reality of Gender-Affirming Care (our medical ethics documentary, formerly known as Affirmation Generation). Stream the film or purchase a DVD. Use code SOMETHERAPIST to take 20% off your order. Follow us on X @2022affirmation or Instagram at @affirmationgeneration.Have a question for me? Looking to go deeper and discuss these ideas with other listeners? Join my Locals community! Members get to ask questions I will respond to in exclusive, members-only livestreams, post questions for upcoming guests to answer, plus other perks TBD. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

HELP GET SAMOURAI A PARDONSIGN THE PETITION ----> https://www.change.org/p/stand-up-for-freedom-pardon-the-innocent-coders-jailed-for-building-privacy-tools DONATE TO THE FAMILIES ----> https://www.givesendgo.com/billandkeonneSUPPORT ON SOCIAL MEDIA ---> https://billandkeonne.org/In this special series, Max shares why we're hosting and preserving the Unbounded archive at Ungovernable Misfits, and kick off a re-release series with Q (BTC QnA) — a renowned educator at the forefront of no-KYC Bitcoin, self-custody, and radical privacy. TBD and Q dig into the real stakes of “being your own bank”: practical, failure-resistant self-custody; why panic is the enemy; and how to build muscle memory through small, repeatable drills. Q lays out a sober threat model, arguing the biggest risk is often the user, not the thief and stresses keeping setups simple until your skills grow. They also unpack the Samourai/Whirlpool fallout, the cultural slide from sovereignty to speculation, and why node ownership, recovery competence, and careful passphrase handling matter more than ever.TBD and Q explore financial sovereignty as resilient wealth storage, borderless portability, and the freedom to transact — benefits unlocked only through true self-custody. Q shares red lines around KYC and custodial products, assesses today's privacy toolkit (JoinMarket, self-custodial Lightning, Ashigaru), and outlines a pragmatic stack for intermediate users, including running your own node and choosing tools that match your abilities. They close with what's coming from Foundation — the open-source Passport Prime designed to secure your entire digital life — and where to follow Q's work and education. Stay resilient, and enjoy the series as we continue with Diverter, Seth, Pavel, and Colonial in the weeks ahead.HELP GET SAMOURAI A PARDONSIGN THE PETITION ----> https://www.change.org/p/stand-up-for-freedom-pardon-the-innocent-coders-jailed-for-building-privacy-tools DONATE TO THE FAMILIES ----> https://www.givesendgo.com/billandkeonneSUPPORT ON SOCIAL MEDIA ---> https://billandkeonne.org/TWITTER: https://x.com/TheUNBOUNDEDPodYOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@TheUnboundedPodcast(00:00) Thank You TBD(01:55) INTRO(03:33) Radical Responsibility(08:51) Going Mainstream(12:59) Red Lines(15:25) Is Bitcoin Privacy Dead?(17:48) Lessons from the Samourai Arrests(25:57) What's Your Mental Framework?(30:48) The Non-Negotiables of Self Custody(33:16) Practical Stacks(36:32) Skill Dictates Tool Selection(38:50) Simplify and Streamline

Steve and Darren try the limited edition release from Jim Gaffigan's Fathertime Whiskey. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve Justine, Matt M., Kathy and Tim talk about the impact of Canada's ban on bourbon for the industry. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve Justine, Kathy and Tim talk about how the bourbon industry is a pawn in a very political game. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Today's Headlines: Officials identified Renee Nicole Good — a U.S. citizen — as the woman shot and killed by an ICE officer in Minneapolis after he fired three rounds into her car at close range. Video shows Good waving agents around her stopped vehicle before they approached on foot. Despite the footage, Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem labeled her a “domestic terrorist,” a claim Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called “bullshit” while telling ICE to leave the city. Meanwhile, the administration says the U.S. will take over selling Venezuela's blockaded oil “indefinitely,” with proceeds routed through offshore accounts overseen by Trump — though Energy Secretary Chris Wright insists the money will eventually benefit Venezuelans. Trump also bragged that the U.S. seized a massive Russian-flagged oil tanker and, when asked what happens to the oil, replied: “We keep it, I guess.” On Greenland, leaders in Greenland and Denmark are rejecting any U.S. move to acquire the territory and have requested emergency NATO talks — warning it could destabilize the alliance. European partners are now prepping contingency defense plans of their own. In other news, Trump floated banning large investors from buying single-family homes (details TBD… allegedly coming “in two weeks”), while also publicly pressuring defense contractors to cap executive pay and ramp up production — singling out Raytheon as not sufficiently obedient. And in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis is calling a special session to gerrymander.  Resources/Articles mentioned in this episode: Axios: Woman killed by ICE in Minneapolis identified as Renee Nicole Good WSJ: U.S. to Control Venezuelan Oil Sales Indefinitely AP News: Trump says US has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela The Guardian: Marco Rubio says he will meet Danish officials to discuss Greenland next week Kyivpost: Germany Could Join Multinational Force From Outside Ukraine, Merz Says CNBC: Trump says U.S. to ban large investors from buying homes Axios: Trump threatens to nix Raytheon's defense contracts AP News: Gov. Ron DeSantis calls for special session in April to redraw Florida's congressional districts Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve Justine, Kathy and Tim talk about how the Beam announcement got screwed up. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve Justine, Matt M., Kathy and Tim talk about what happens when Beka is in Key West for an extended period. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve Justine, Kathy and Tim talk about what happens if Blanton's becomes a shelfie. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve, Justine, Matt, Kathy & Tim talk to John Donham talk about MapTap, a game he created. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

Steve and Darren try the 2025 release of Garrison Brother's Cowboy. TBD music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).   Important Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theabvnetwork Our Events Page: bourbonpalooza.com Check us out at: abvnetwork.com. The ABV Barrel Shop: abvbarrelshop.com   Join the revolution by adding #ABVNetworkCrew to your profile on social media.

To kick off the new year, we're continuing our Crewcast tradition of listing out a bunch of games with confirmed (and unconfirmed) release dates for 2026. Will GTA VI release this year? Is Marathon real? Can you get out of the car in Forza Horizon 6? Corrections for some of the release dates mentioned (mostly due to region differences): Don't Stop, Girlypop (January 29th); Nioh 3 (Feb 5th); Fatal Frame II Crimson Butterfly REMAKE (March 11th); Dynasty Warriors 3 Complete Edition (March 18th); 007 First Light delayed to May 27th; Phantom Blade Zero (Sep 8th); Halloween (Sep 8th); Control Resonant included in Q3/4 discussion does not currently have a specific window in 2026 DigitalTchotchke's Itch.io: https://digitaltchotchkes.itch.io/ iTunes Page: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/noclip/id1385062988 RSS Feed: http://noclippodcast.libsyn.com/rss Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5XYk92ubrXpvPVk1lin4VB?si=JRAcPnlvQ0-YJWU9XiW9pg Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/noclippodcast Watch our docs: https://youtube.com/noclipvideo Crewcast channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/noclippodcast Follow our games coverage escapades: https://www.youtube.com/@Noclip2 Learn About Noclip: https://www.noclip.video Become a Patron and get early access to new episodes: https://www.patreon.com/noclip Chapters: 0:00:00 - Intro 0:03:54 - Thanking our Patreon supporters! 0:06:28 - Our Most Anticipated Games of 2026 0:09:49 - The Games of January 0:26:15 - The Games of February 0:57:20 - The Games of March 1:16:22 - The Games of Q1 1:26:15 - The Games of April 1:29:13 - The Games of May & August 1:33:11 - The Games of September 1:37:24 - The Games of November 1:41:18 - The Games of Q3 & 4 1:45:25 - The Games of TBD 2:06:57 - Sign Off