Podcasts about UHG

United Healthcare Under Criminal InvestigationJae breaks down the Wall Street Journal's report that UnitedHealth Group, a giant company, the nation's largest health insurance carrier is under criminal investigation for possible Medicare Advantage fraud. From risk coding mechanics to the 50% plunge in UHG stock, learn what this means for the 35 million Americans on Medicare Advantage—and why your annual plan review has never been more critical.In This Video00:00:00 Criminal Probe Unveiled00:02:00 Medicare Advantage by the Numbers00:04:00 UHG Stock's 50% YTD Collapse00:06:00 Demystifying Health Insurance Pricing00:08:00 Risk Coding & Extra Payments Explained00:10:00 Funding Member Benefits: Dental, Vision & More00:12:00 DOJ Allegations vs. Carrier Justifications00:14:00 Your Right to Change Plans Annually00:16:00 Anticipating 2026 Plan Reshuffles00:18:00 Integrating Medicare with Financial Planning

On today's show:  10am-11am Report on mental healthcare in Emergency Departments identifies serious challenges at UHG and Portiuncula Irish authors raise concerns over Meta's alleged AI use Today is Good Friday – we talk to Fr. Charlie McDonnell

Possible indicator of life on a distant planet; mass shooting at Florida State; fake moderate Democrats; Mike Lindell pleads being broke; Roblox; DFL candidate Denise Slipy joins the show; UHG takes a big hit in the stock market; International Falls city council meetings; no consequences for real crimes.

Trump’s annual physical; attack on Pennsylvania governor Shapiro; important electronics exempted from China tariffs; El Salvador president visits Trump; Penn and Teller return to the Renaissance Festival; person arrested at UHG campus; Emily Koski exits Minneapolis mayoral race; sports report; Senate district 6 candidate has some wild political views; podcaster faces sentencing for sending nude…

How broken the Trump administration and GOP really are; Kanye West has a bad weekend; Trump aluminum tariffs; Fort Bragg name restored; Trumpists turn their derision on the Pope; Timberwolves ownership debate appears to be settled; F. Scott Fitzgerald statue stolen; UHG threatens retaliation against critics; White House press conference; Boundary Waters threatened again’ Minnesota…

On today's show:  9am-10am TD claims Galway has been left behind after Storm University of Galway expands female entrepreneurship programme nationwide Report claims Ireland will need to build 93,000 homes a year up to 2031 15 million euro OPD at Merlin Park to open next week as appointments move from UHG

Tony Fitzpatrick, Director with the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, on the large number of patients on trolleys in UHL and UHG.

On today's show:  10am-11am Galway City park vandalised with swastikas Galway 2020 representatives summoned before Galway City Council for "Oireachtas style" questioning Research shows why Irish professionals are leaving for Australia and what they think the government could do to convince them to stay We'll hear from the kids who attended UHG's Teddy Bear Hospital

Sub to the PPM Patreon to access "The Claims Adjustor" Parts I & II. The first 5 hours of our invasive post mortem of the Brian Thompson assassination, dissection of its conspiratorial background including assorted swirling UHG scandals, and diagnosis of both the sus & mundane aspects of Luigi Mangione's biography are already live on the PPM Primo Feed. Catch up today before Pt. III lands: patreon.com/ParaPowerMapping Preliminary materials for PPM's methodical auditory investigation into the Brian Thompson assassination. A series structured around a tiered analytic heuristic, which we'll use as a lens when examining the assorted crime scene ephemera, purported shooter Luigi Mangione's background, the online & media discourse borne of it, and possible interlocks and unexpected coincidences that could hint at the beginnings of a breadcrumb trail towards some larger, concerted conspiracy that triggered the clipping of the United Healthcare CEO. The tiered heuristic is organized in descending order of likeliness (in Klonny's humble opinion): Theory #1 - PATSY.  Luigi is a patsy & he's being framed, be it by intelligence or some configuration of powerful interests incorporating capitalists & the political elite. The real Claims Adjustor is still out there. Subtheory #1.A - He's tangentially or directly connected to an underlying conspiracy involving UHC, perhaps the historic personal data hack from earlier this year, cybersecurity co Palo Alto Networks, the Pelosis, etc Subtheory #1.B - He's being framed wholesale and his familial ties to the Pelosi's blood relatives are sheer coincidence; Luigi was selected for scapegoating because of cosmetic & circumstantial reasons—basically he fit the bill of the killer Theory #2 - ASSET.  Luigi is the perpetrator, but he was put up to it #2.A - He's an asset that's now being burnt (he may have been led to believe he would be sheltered from legal blowback) #2.B - He's still an asset, but an MKed one, and perhaps it's part of his programming to willingly take the fall. He's playing a role, in effect. Theory #3 - PARALLEL CONSTRUCTION.  Luigi is the perp, and he's actually a genuine vigilante with a platform & grievance, righteously picking a fight with our depraved healthcare system & the insurance co's that predate upon us and/or possibly surveillance capitalism. But part of the reason for the inconsistencies in LE's investigation and the official narrative comes down to parallel construction—in order to pull the wool over the public's eyes and prevent the discovery of newfangled and invasive surveillance tech involving facial recognition that we didn't even know existed or at least were unaware the degree to which it's widespread, the feds & local law enforcement concocted the harebrained McDonald's story and the supposed tip that was called in... All to conceal these realities.  Theory #4 - PURE VIGILANTE Last and least likely is that law enforcement is telling the truth in this instance, that Luigi is in fact a vigilante, perhaps someone with a personal gripe against the industry over past claim denial wrongs (despite reports he was apparently never on UHC insurances, per MSM news reports, although there were also articles seemingly speculating about the possibility the loss of his grandparents could have been a precipitating factor), or perhaps his motivations stemmed from his closeup view of the degrading, repulsive realities of our healthcare system by virtue of his time working at Lorien Health Services, the nursing home facility company that his parents own and operate ... [FULL NOTES VIEWABLE ON THE PPM PATREON] Songs & Clips: Jesse Welles - "United Health" BScott2Hot - "Don't Save Her - Mario Song"

The killing of UntiedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has been viewed in one extreme as a wake up call to corporate America and in another extreme as the start of a glorious Red Guard revolution. The problem with both views is that they neglect to consider important details. First, the AP reported that bullet casings had the writing Deny, Defend, Depose though a few hours later the NYDN reported they read Deny, Defend, Delay - reference to a book about health insurance companies called Delay, Deny, Defend. Second, the shooter's manifesto was published in several places with different spelling and grammar. Third, and most importantly, United Healthcare, owned by UnitedHealth Group, is still facing ongoing lawsuits over their business practices despite Brian's murder. Brian alone faced court battles prior to being killed while the parent company UHG, was facing congressional inquiry into the largest health data breach in history. That breach affected 100 million people exposing their names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, and government identity documents, such as Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, and passport numbers. Additionally, the  breached health care information encompasses diagnoses, medications, test results, imaging and care plans, health insurance information, and financial information related to claims and payments. Change Healthcare is one of the largest handlers of health and medical data, processing patient insurance and billing across the U.S. healthcare sector, including thousands of hospitals, pharmacies, and medical practices. And so in the midst of this, not to mention how UHC was overcharging the government, a CEO is shot by a wealthy, successful, handsome young man who supposedly rallied against woke ideology online. Something doesn't add up. His designation as the Smiling Assassin may remind us of James Holmes as the Joker, or Aaron Alexis reportedly hearing voices in his head. These are the minds of the paranoid that Joker attracts in Batman. These tricksters create schism and drive wedges. Ultimately, no matter what one thinks the obfuscation of Due Process in favor of blindly murdering people without trial, or in the middle of trail, stinks of two things: anarchy-communists revolutionaries and powerful people who wanted a guy dead but who are happy to pin a hit on a random kid. -FREE ARCHIVE (w. ads)SUBSCRIPTION ARCHIVEX / TWITTER FACEBOOKWEBSITEPAYPALCashApp: $rdgable EMAIL: rdgable@yahoo.com / TSTRadio@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tst-radio--5328407/support.

Neste episódio do Podcast Líder de Elite, exploramos o impacto transformador da liderança inclusiva com Neivia Justa, uma líder visionária que compartilha sua jornada pessoal e profissional. Prepare-se para uma conversa que aborda desafios, conquistas e inspirações, mostrando como a diversidade e a inclusão podem criar organizações mais humanas e eficazes. Ouça e descubra insights valiosos para liderar com propósito.

Irish Cancer Society Dr Michael McCarthy consultant medical oncologist, UHG explains the disparity

In this episode, Dr. Peter Brier and Nurse Practitioner Kelly McCormack discuss how patient, hospital, and healthcare data can be at risk from cyberattacks. The recent Change Healthcare data breach is examined. UnitedHealth Group's (UHG) subsidiary was victimized by a ransomware attack that impacted more than 100 million individuals. The doctors discuss this HIPAA report and consider what patients might do to protect themselves.The subject is also considered here.

On today's show:  10am-11am Figures reveal level level of UHG's sepsis deaths  Connacht tribune headline Taoiseach pledges to advocate for Palestinian recognition  Heidi Walter of A Way Home Canada will explain what can be done to combat Youth Homelessness  ‘Galway Talks with John Morley' broadcasts every weekday morning from 9am on Galway Bay FM.

Today I'm sharing my two cents about a saying I hear in Christian circles about breakfast that has me rolling my eyes. Uhg, it's such a disordered concept. You'll hear me share from 1 Kings 19 and other Bible verses to back my thoughts on why I think you SHOULD fuel before your quiet time in the mornings. Connect with Nyla: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nyla's IG ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nyla's website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Nyla's second podcast, On the Job with God⁠

On today's show: 9am-10am Disabled Drivers Association reiterates parking difficulties highlighed by carer trying to park at UHG   IALPA recommending acceptance of Labour Court proposals  Arts festival launches with a bang – we hear from its artistic director and Chief Executive  Mental Health Charity urges Galwegians to turn On Out of Office during Holidays ‘Galway Talks with John Morley' broadcasts every weekday morning from 9am on Galway Bay FM

What happens when healthcare giants falter in the face of cyber threats? Today, we dive into the critical need for better cybersecurity investments, continuous training and education and robust cybersecurity standards. We will explore the fallout from UHG's cyber incident and break down three fiery letters from Congress demanding accountability and stricter regulations for cybersecurity practices in healthcare. More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/464

On today's show:    10am-11am Last elections saw more spoiled votes than capacity of Croke Park Man walking the Wild Atlantic Way after brother's death at 29 from ME Oranmore carer tells of parking ordeal at UHG last week Connemara Oral Recordings sought in exciting new heritage project   'Galway Talks with John Morley' broadcasts every weekday morning from 9am on Galway Bay FM

Dublin-based FIRE1 today announced that the first Irish patient has been successfully implanted with its FIRE1 System for remote heart failure monitoring. The innovative system has the potential to positively impact thousands of people living with heart failure in Ireland every year and alleviate the burden on hospital emergency rooms. The successful implantation took place at University Hospital Galway in the First in Human Clinical Investigation of the FIRE1 System in Heart Failure Patients (FUTURE-HF). The study will assess FIRE1's novel solution to improve outcomes for those living with heart failure. Irish medtech company FIRE1, whose CEO, Conor Hanley, was recently announced as a 2024 EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, seeks to transform heart failure management by enabling patients to monitor and control their fluid volume themselves with a device at home, similar to how continuous glucose monitoring transformed diabetes care. Fluid overload is a classic clinical feature of heart failure, which affects approximately 90,000 Irish people and is a leading cause of hospitalisations, including high admission and re-admission rates in Ireland. FIRE1 CEO and President Conor Hanley said, "I am especially pleased to announce our first patient in Ireland. This represents a true clinical research success for Ireland, being one of the first systems of its nature to be developed, manufactured, and now in a clinical trial in Ireland. It showcases Ireland's capability for groundbreaking medical innovation with the potential to change healthcare delivery globally. The FIRE1 team is steadfast in our mission to help millions of people around the world living with heart failure to get their normal lives back, but it is very special to be able to give access to people here at home. It is gratifying to see the physician interest in our novel technology. I would like to extend my thanks on behalf of the whole FIRE1 team to the fantastic staff at UHG, and most importantly to the patients who continue to put their trust in us and participate in this important research." The FIRE1 sensor is implanted into the body's largest vein, located in the abdomen, known as the inferior vena cava (IVC) and works by continuously measuring the size of the IVC, giving a marker of the amount of fluid in the body. High levels can increase the risk of breathing difficulties and a build-up of fluid in the lungs, which lead to an emergency hospital admission. The patient wears a belt reader around the abdomen for around a minute a day to take a reading from the sensor and the data is sent to the patient's clinical team at the hospital. The system is designed to alert whenever the patient's condition deteriorates. Professor of Interventional Cardiology and Translational Medicine at University Hospital Galway (UHG), Prof Faisal Sharif performed the implant. "We are delighted to bring this new, transformative technology to Ireland for the first time," said Prof Sharif. "The procedure was very straightforward, minimally invasive and the patient was confident using the FIRE1 system and taking the readings. The data we will get from this patient will give a new window into heart failure management and has the potential to dramatically improve our understanding of this patient's condition, and to enable proactive changes in medications that will keep them healthy and at home. We hope to implant further patients at UHG while recruitment is still active."

My girlfriend and her sister play dueling practical jokes on me. By TruthWithaTwist. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. I was midway through my first year of Graduate school, getting my MBA, when my girlfriend, Tara, asked if I wanted to drive to her family's house a few hours away for the weekend. It was her Mother and Step-Father's 20th wedding party and I jumped at the chance to get away from campus for a few days. The party was scheduled for April 2nd, but their actual anniversary was April 1st, which was a running joke in the family. The chance to get away sounded great and I knew that Tara and I would always find ways to entertain ourselves on long car rides.I had started dating Tara at the beginning of the year, upon arriving at school. Tara was 3 years older than me at 28 years old. She had high cheekbones, silken brown hair and brown eyes that were expressive and sultry. She was the type of woman who could get you instantly hard with a smirk and sparkle from those eyes. Her body was amazing. Perfect tear-drop C-cup breasts, toned stomach and an ass that was just full enough to fill out the best pair of jeans. Within weeks of meeting, Tara and I became the “couple” in our friend group. Privately, we were a typical sex-focused young couple. Fortunately, we were both fairly adventurous and were willing to stretch the limits of our sexual fun. On Halloween, we found ourselves on the roof of my apartment building having sex dressed at Batman and Catwoman. One day, we decided to slink into the small town's only Adult Store where we bought a selection of toys to share, from handcuffs to vibrators to anal toys. After losing a bet on an Auburn/Alabama game on a Saturday, Tara found herself tied naked to the couch in my apartment for the duration of Sunday's Bears game as I alternated between watching the game and using her as I pleased. So, the idea of a road trip, even to her parents' house, was always a promising scenario. We didn't have classes on Friday so were on the road just after noon. It would take about 5 hours to drive to her house, so we filled my Jeep Cherokee with our bags and hit the road. I had met her parents before but it would be the first time I was meeting her younger sister, as well as her twin step-brother and step-sister. I was hearing that we were going to be doing some family-stuff on Saturday (visiting grandma, picking up stuff for the party, etc.) and then they were hosting an “anniversary brunch” at the house on Sunday. Since we both knew there would be no opportunity for frolicking while in her parents' house, Tara and I planned on heading out Sunday afternoon and stopping for the night somewhere along the way since we had no classes until Monday afternoon. Tara dozed off right out of town and started stirring after an hour or so of sleep. She was floating in and out of sleep, adjusting herself in the seat and staring out the window. I was focused on the road when I heard her mumble, “Oooh. Check that out” while looking out the window. Looking over, I saw her gesturing toward a billboard for the regions “Most Romantic Resort”. “Hot tubs! Private Cabins! Fireplaces” were all highlighted on the billboard. There was a picture of a couple cuddling in front of a fireplace to complete the obvious vibe they were going for. Tara grabbed a pen and scribbled down the phone number on a scrap of paper she found. She then grabbed my phone and called the property. I could only hear one side of the conversation where she was asking if there were rooms available, what types, how much and all those details. At one point, she reached into her purse, took out a credit card and read the number to the person she was talking to. After she hung up, she gave me an update. “So cool! They have cabins for Sunday night! The rate includes a dinner package in their restaurant; and listen about our room! It's a private cabin and it has an all-season hot tub, fireplace and she sold me on the ‘Romance Package' whatever THAT is” she laughed. “Well, I guess we're staying there, huh?” I chuckled back. “Of course! How can we pass up a cheesy romantic cabin in the hills, with dinner AND a romance package!” “So what the hell is in the Romance Package?” “I have no idea. The girl on the phone asked if we ‘would be interested in the Romance Package for an extra $35' what was I gonna say? No? Besides, it'll be fun. If we can get out of my parents' place by 4ish on Sunday, we could get there, have dinner, grab some drinks and then have fun in our cabin!” “But I still want to know what's in the romance package” I pressed, again. “Seriously? That's your big question? I have no idea. But it's a romantic resort we've never heard of, in the middle of nowhere - so I'm betting it's some of that kind of stuff from Spencer's Gifts. Y'know, flavored massage oil, blindfold, fake rose petals!” She started laughing at the expected lameness of the package. “Call back. Maybe there's a deluxe romance upgrade!” I laughed back, “See if we can get the handcuffs, vibrator, lube and a goat for $20 more!” I got a solid punch in the arm in addition to her response, “What the fuck is wrong with you? Of course you'd want that kind of stuff. Is that what you want? Me tied up in a remote cabin with a bunch of toys and a goat?” “I mean, besides the goat…..” I started, which earned me another punch in the arm. We settled back into the drive and were quiet for a few more minutes. When I looked over, I saw that Tara was definitely getting “fidgety” in her seat. 'You ok?“ I asked. “Um….I hate to actually admit this to you, but the thought of the cabin, you talking about tying me up, I'm actually getting wet.” Tara was slowly rubbing her thighs together, trying to build some friction. Her eyes were closed and her right hand was starting to rub her breast and nipple through her shirt. The subtle motions continued until she finally exclaimed, “Fuck….now I'm horny as shit.” She unbuckled her seatbelt and unbuttoned her jeans. Lifting her hips up off the seat, she slid her jeans and black panties down over her hips. Her pussy was now in clear view, she was mostly shaved, with a small landing strip. She settled back into her seat and thrust two of her fingers into her mouth. I watched as she got her index and middle finger nice and wet. With her eyes closed, she moved her hand down to her pussy and began to stroke up and down her lips. A moan escaped her as her fingers danced up and down, spreading her moisture over her most intimate area. She used her other hand to spread herself open as she started to flutter a finger on her clit. I had seen her masterbate enough to know this was her favorite approach to orgasm. A finger, vibrator or tongue flicking and dancing directly on her clit while having something penetrate her was a guaranteed path to a climax for her. As much as I wanted to reach over and touch her myself, I was struggling with a bunch of things, from watching the erotic scene next to me, to the constraints of my tightening jeans, to staying focused on the road. As I tried to watch her without getting us killed, I simply asked, “What are thinking about, babe?” “I just want to cum. I want you buried inside me, fucking me. I want you to bend me over, take me and fuck me hard.” I could tell Tara was getting close to coming, because she had this habit of getting red and flushed all across her chest when she came. When orgasms were especially intense, the splotches would extend all up her neck and into her cheeks. It was the tell-tale sign of a major Tara orgasm. Her hand picked up speed as I tried to push her over the edge. “Yeah? You looking forward to a good fuck? But what about your ass? You know how much I love your ass. Just think, when we have our cabin, I'll get my dick nice and wet in your pussy… I'll grab your ankles push them back so you are spread wide open.” Her hand was a blur at this point, she had worked two fingers from her other hand into her pussy while she continued the assault on her clit. “Uh….yeah….tell me….make me cum” she moaned. “I'll work that hard, lubed cock into your ass. Not thrusting yet. Just slowly pressing harder as I slide further into your hole.” “More…. almost there.” I reached down and adjusted my cock which was now uncomfortably wedged in some terrible trifecta of boxers, denim and seatbelt. I told her the rest of my plan. “I could reach over, pick up the vibrator and push it into your pussy, babe. When I turn it on, you'll feel me slamming into your ass, while the vibrator fills your pussy up. You'll feel me through the walls of your pussy pressing up against the toy, making us into one big vibe. Buzzing, thrusting, filling you up until you explode your hot juices all over the….” “Argh; Uhg; Uhg”. Tara's entire body clenched, spasmed, and shook for a moment. Her fingers kept dancing on her clit, but were slowing down as she recaptured her breath. She reached out and started to grab her breast before realizing that her hand was still covered in fluids. She flopped back in her seat, her chest and neck covered in bright red splotches, her legs still spread, gasping for air. For a minute, she looked like she had passed out, but slowly she got her breath and pulse back to normal. She said, “Fuck, dude. I'm going to show up at my parents house reeking of sex. We have to stop somewhere so I can clean up.” “Really? Not my fault. You started it with the whole hot tub, romance package thing. Consider this punishment for banishing me to the guest room for next 2 nights.” “I'm serious. Pull over when we can so I can get cleaned up.” She then added with a smirk, “And enjoy those blue balls that are gonna kick in REAL soon, smart ass. Maybe that will be my April Fools gift to you! Keep you hard all weekend, but not let you have any sort of release?” We did end up stopping at a rest plaza so Tara could get herself together. I stretched out for the last hour of the drive, trying to ignore the growing discomfort from my lack of personal release and hoping that Tara's didn't go through with her idea of a “fun” April Fools joke. When we finally pulled into the house, it was your typical suburban home. The family all came out to greet us. Henry and Lois, Tara's parents were the first ones out. They looked like two, normal American parents. Henry had a salt and pepper beard, and was a bit taller and heavier than me. Lois had a definite resemblance to Tara, but was shorter, stouter and jovial. In all honesty, I could 100% see them both using some white hair spray, padding and putting on costumes and being Mr. & Mrs. Claus at the local church or Christmas parade. I had met them before, so I was greeted with hugs and warm welcomes. Next up were Tara's much younger twin half-siblings, Josh and Denise. They looked to be at the start of their awkward teenage years with graphic t-shirts and overall disinterested looks on their faces. We worked our way into the house with our bags. Lois started, “Tara, your room is all set. Jason, we have a guest room upstairs next to Lindsay's room for you.” That's when we heard a voice from upstairs. “Hey bee otch. What's up?” I looked up and did a double take. I had seen pictures of Tara's younger sister Lindsay, but they were older pictures – from family vacations at Disney and the like. The young woman coming down the stairs instantly let me know what Tara looked like 8 years earlier. They could have been twins. Same hair, same eyes, same smile. Worse for me, she had the same body as Tara – just a bit firmer and younger. I could tell because Lindsay was dressed in a half-shirt showing her school logo and a pair of gray sweats emblazoned with PINK down the leg. Tara and Linsday hugged, while Lois hung her head with a voice only a mother can generate, “Really Lindsay? You couldn't have put on something other than what you sleep in to greet them?” “I did! I put on a bra!” laughed Lindsay as she purposely jumped up and down a bit. “Lindsay! Go get changed! We're going to Alfredo's for dinner. Now!” Henry's voice had that “father” tone that left no room for debate. We all separated to our rooms. Tara's was at the top of the stairs, then the twins rooms on each side of the hallway, then a bathroom, then Lindsay's whose room was next to mine in the corner. Henry & Lois had their room on the main floor down the hall from the kitchen where we walked in. We all went to dinner, got home, watched TV, and people slowly began drifting off to their rooms. I was tired from driving, so I went up and got settled in. I could hear people shuffling around as read a book in bed. In the room next door, I could hear Tara and Lindsey chatting and laughing as I dozed off. Saturday came and it was a cool, damp day. We all came down for breakfast and Tara and I maintained that awkward, “showing affection, but not being gross or inappropriate” you do around parents. We all had our list of errands to do that day. I was picking up booze for the party, plus some tables and linens since I had an SUV. Henry and Josh helped with some of it and we made multiple trips back and forth to stores all day long. Tara helped Lois pick up her dress and went to visit her grandma. For dinner, pizza and salads were ordered for the house and we all just went over the plan for the next day. Caterers were coming at 10 with the food, they were going to prep, cook and serve for when the party started at noon. Tara and Lindsay were going to help Lois get ready (they were renewing their vows to start the festivities) while Josh & Denise were told to get dressed and keep the house neat. After dinner, Tara asked if I wanted to go to the local pub. It was your typical local bar with beers, basic pub food and all locals. “Can I come too?” said Lindsay. There were some strange looks around the table until Lois said, “I think you have to be 21 on weekends.” “Not if you sit at a table at the bar, not the bar, itself. There are kids in there all the time.” Rebutted Lindsay. “Besides, if I go, I can drive home so you two can drink!” Tara jumped in, “Mom. Don't worry about it – I never get to see my sister, she can come along. Let's all get changed and go in 30.” With that, we cleaned up, freshened up, and went out to my car. As soon as we got in the car, the sisters starting giggling. Tara turned and looked at her sister in the back seat, “Ok to eat at the table. You are unreal!” “It's true….. technically!” Lindsay retorted. “OK, but since you're visiting from Connecticut, wouldn't you rather sit at the bar with the grown ups?” They then degenerated into torrents of laughter. “Ok”, I asked. “What am I missing?” Tara finally smartened me up, “Linds has a fake ID. Literally everyone knows about it ….. except Dad. Since he serves on the college faculty, we don't want him to have to lie, so we keep it from him. But yeah literally everyone else knows. Mom, me, the bartenders, everyone knows that "Becky” here just turned 20.“ Lindsay chimed in with, "I mean, I literally went to school with half the people that work there. The fact that they all know to call me Becky is Ah-mah-zing!” The bar was less than 10 minutes away, so we got there quickly and settled in at the bar. The whole night was a ton of fun. Tara and Lindsay…er…Becky….knew everyone. We drank Rolling Rock by the bucketful. Every time you turned around, someone else was buying a bucket of beers to share or a round of shots. The girls and I had migrated to a high-top table in the corner and the booze was definitely kicking in. When I ordered a couple of cokes in a row, Lindsay delicately asked, “Dude. What the fuck?” “Well, I figured you're not going to be in any shape to drive, so I figured I better stop now.” “HA! Why do you think we came up with that plan? It's only a 10 minute walk home if we cut through the high school grounds. We're gonna tell Dad that I didn't realize you drive a stick shift and I couldn't drive. Then, you can come and get the car in the morning!” The girls laughed, high-fived, and the night continued. I had some serious body weight on the sisters, but Man….could they put away the booze. Tara got up to use the restroom, which left me and Linsday alone. After a minute, she looked me in they eye, gave me a strangely-familiar sultry smile that I had seen from her sister and asked, “Like the shirt?” I looked at the shirt, with the clueless look only a guy can give and answered, “Yes, it looks great on you.” In truth, it was a nice top. It was a black and grey top that had a modern pattern throughout. The sleeves were different in that from the shoulders to the cuffs, there were criss-crossed pieces of fabric that left a lot of skin exposed. It wasn't really form-fitting, but Lindsey's pert breasts were definitely noticeable in it. “I actually got it from Tara. She left it behind after Christmas break and I snuck in and stole it from her. I just love the pattern. I think the sleeves are so cool.” Then, with her sister's trademark smirk she added, “ I really like the extra…. pattern and …. texture on the front.” Oh shit. I felt like one of those sitcoms where the main characters past flashes by in a quick montage … and I remembered the shirt. For my birthday in December, Tara and I went to New York City for the weekend. We went to a club and she wore that exact top with a pair of skintight leather pants and heels. We had been drinking and flirting and teasing all night long. BY the time we got back to the hotel, we fell into the elevator and started making out intensely. As we worked our tongues down each other's throats, I started unbuckling her belt. When I grabbed her wrists, she prepared herself for me to start undoing her pants and going after her pussy. Instead, I undid the belt halfway, threaded it through the webbing of her shirt cuffs and rethreaded it through the belt loops. Suddenly, she was like a prisoner with her hands cuffed behind her back. I continued to maul her mouth with mine until we heard the 'ding' of our floor. I walked her in front of me, with her hands bound until we got to our door. I fumbled out our key card and opened the door to our room. I pushed her inside and locked the door behind us. One of the most attractive things about Tara is that she would never back down. As I led her into the room, she got sharp sarcastic tone to her voice and said, “Nice, smart guy. But you can't get my pants down like this, can you?” “Who said I wanted what's in your pants?” I then pushed her so her legs hit the end of the bed. Before she could fall backwards…. I pushed her down and slid her forward onto her knees. She got the sexiest smile as I unbuckled my pants, dropped my boxers and simply said, “Suck.” Tara opened her mouth and enveloped my cock. She didn't start with anything delicate like licking and kissing, it was straight-up sucking. I'm average in the dick size department, so she took me in deep, getting all the way to my balls with ease, she came back and kept going with increasing suction. As I started to groan in pleasure, she began kissing the sides of my shaft until she got down to my balls. She took one, then, the other and licked and sucked on them. Then, it was back to my cock. She went back and forth, making it feel as good as any pussy I had ever been in. She backed off for a minute with I still remember as one of the sexiest sentences ever. “Either untie my hands so I can do this right, or grab me and fuck my face.” I chose the latter. I grabbed two fistfuls of her hair and started aggressively fucking her mouth and throat. To her credit, Tara kept up the suction and using her tongue as best she could while being forced on to my cock. Her eyes were watering a bit and as the pressure built, her saliva was dripping off her chin to the hotel carpet. Finally, when I hit my limit, I started to explode. The first two bursts went down her throat, but then I shocked her again. I pulled my cock from her mouth and let the remaining cum coat her face, mouth and the top of her shirt. When we finally finished, she said, “You fucker. This was a new shirt. But, with the grey pattern, I may just leave it like this. Everyone will think it's part of the shirt, but you and I know I'm wearing your cum around my neck like a medal every time I have it on.” All of this came flooding back to me in the bar as I struggled for words, “Uh…well, it looks great on you… Linds… er… Becky. I mean…. fuck.” Tara walked back to table to see my bright red face and Lindsay beaming. “He figured out the shirt didn't he?” Then to me, “Sorry, babe. You'll learn to understand my sister's weird sense of humor.” Lindsay added, “C'mon! Think of it as an April Fools joke! I mean, the look on your face was awesome.” “April Fools joke?” I questioned as I looked back at Tara, “How does she even know about that shirt?” “Babe. You're an only child. You don't understand how much sisters like to share things.” “What do you mean share?” I fumbled. That earned me a solid punch in the arm from Tara, which seemed to be happening fairly often on this trip. “Ew! Gross! I meant stories! Not men! This isn't some porn you watch when I'm not over your place, you sicko! So, don't get your "twin cest” fantasies all wound up in your head, you ass!“ "Fuck……” was pretty much all I could mutter as we went back to drinking. After another hour or so, we walked home. It was chilly, which helped us to sober up a bit, but we were still pretty buzzed. We walked in the door just after midnight and went to our rooms. At about 2:30, I felt something stirring on my bed. As I opened my blurry eyes, I could see the darkened form of Tara in our College's Sweatshirt and a pair of purple checkered panties slowly straddling me. “Shush. Everyone's sleeping” she whispered, “We have to be quiet.” She started gyrating those purple panties against my swelling cock while she kept her hands behind her on my thighs. My cock was rock hard and started to emerge from the fly in my boxers. I could feel the wetness of her pussy coming through her panties starting to lubricate my cock. As she started to moan, she lifted my hands under her sweatshirt to her tits. I grabbed a handful of her bare tits and started to feel her nipple stiffening. That's when it hit me. Twice. In the same second. Tara didn't own purple panties. In fact, she hates the color purple. Next, those weren't her tits. They were close. They were amazing. But they weren't Tara's. All of a sudden, I was like John Cena kicking out of a pin, or more accurately a fish flopping around on land. “Lindsay! Get off” I whisper-yelled and I gave her a solid shove. She landed on her ass at the foot of the bed. I was expecting tears, I was expecting a commotion, I was expecting to be killed by my girlfriend or her father. Instead, I got another smirk. “Oh well, I tried. April Fools?”  And she got up and left the room as quietly as she had entered. For the second time in as many days, I was left with a solid hard on, with the scent of an incredibly hot woman left behind. Needless to say, I got an awful night sleep. Between the alcohol, the late-night visit, and a raging hard-on, I had lost the sleep battle. I was also seriously wondering if I was somehow going to be blamed, then killed for the events of the night before. I needed to burn off some stress and the remaining alcohol, so I got up at 7:30 with the sun streaming through a crack in the window and threw on my running gear. I hit the empty neighborhood streets and started to sweat out everything from the night before. At the end of my loop, I ran back by the bar and picked up my car. As I arrived back at the house around 9:00 with coffee and donuts (in case I needed a bribe), everything seemed normal. I visited with everyone, went upstairs to grab a shower and get changed to help out for the day. When I came down at 10:15 – everything had gone to Hell. Lois was sobbing, Henry was on the phone yelling. Tara and Lindsay were trying to offer suggestions, while Josh and Denise stared silently. Pulling Tara aside, I asked, “T – what's going on?” “Turns out the caterer fucked up. They dropped off the food while you were upstairs, but they aren't staying to prep it, cook it, set it out or serve it. Lo is losing her mind, Henry is ready to punch someone.” Henry was screaming into the phone, “And I know more people in this town that I will destroy your business, do you understand?!?” “Hey Lois?” I tried to interrupt. But Lois couldn't stop crying, “Oh, girls, it's ruined. We can't get all this done in time for the guests.” “Uh….Tara? Henry?” I attempted to get anyone's attention. “Thanks For Nothing, Henry Yelled; and slammed the phone!! "Oh Henry…..Wah!” As they hysterics built to a crescendo, I finally spoke loudly enough to cut through the noise. “Uh, Anyone? Just Stop for a second!” While Lois was still whimpering, there was at least some silence. “No offense, but I'm literally standing right here. You know I spent all of college working in restaurants and bars, right? Plus, all my work experience is with caterers and managing events. I literally oversaw a functions department that did weddings for 2,000 people at a hotel in Dallas. I think I can handle 50 friends and family.” Tara was the first to speak, “Oh, my God, J ……thank you. But you can't do all this yourself. I'll help?” “Nope. But here's what I need: You get Lois ready like you planned. Henry, you and the kids finish cleaning up and putting up the tables and stuff. When the flowers get here, show them where it all goes. Linds – you knew a bunch of people working at the bar last night. Can you start texting, calling, whatever, and see if ANY of them can get their asses over here for a quick $100 bucks today? You and I will run that crew.” Lois finally was starting to calm down. “Are you sure, Jason? You're supposed to be a guest.” “Don't worry about it. This is literally what I do. Consider this my gift to you. I'll just keep the salt & pepper shakers that say 'Henry and Lois' for my place!” Henry gave me a big bear hug and said to me and Lindsay, “Tell your friends $200 each. If you can get them and pull this off, I'll pay anything.” And with that, everyone started their tasks. I grabbed the prep instructions the caterers had left and started to figure out timing and how the ovens worked. I was looking for some baking trays under the cabinets, when Lindsay came down and told me she had one bartender, a waitress and a waiter on their way. “Awesome. Any idea when they'll get here? I'm gonna need some help in here.” “Dude. I woke them up after they worked a night shift. Be glad we got who we did. I'll tell you what, I'll help you for now, then when they get here I'll get changed. That way, I'll know what's going on too. Once the party starts, I can be the runner for you and them.” I stood up, walked over and gave Lindsay a big hug. Once again, I felt her amazing tits – this time pressed up against me through her sweater. With that, we started working. I was scribbling on a pad I found, how I was going to schedule out the food so we had it flowing the whole time. Lindsay was unwrapping all the food trays and putting them in different parts of the kitchen at my direction. Time flew by and at noon the servers started showing up. Ed was actually one of the bartenders I met the night before. I had Lindsay show him to the patio, where the makeshift bar was set up. Then I told her to get dressed for the ceremony. I took Leslie & Marc and told them how we were laying things out. As soon as the ceremony ended, we wanted champagne poured and passed out for a toast. While they did that, I'd put the cold platters in the family room and living room. Then, we had time to start pulling the hot food, which they would pass from room to room. As the guests arrived, things picked up. The rooms were small and tight. Leslie, Marc and I were running around with platters of food and clearing old plates. Of course, we were also taking requests from people who were too lazy to walk the 30 feet to Ed at the bar. At about 1:30, I was in the kitchen, on the ground trying to reach into the back of a cabinet for a cake platter. I heard the familiar click-click of high heel shoes and squirmed out of the cabinet. I looked over to see that I was within a tongue-length of an amazing pair of legs perched on a pair of black heels. My eyes traveled up to see that Lindsay was wearing a short, pleated yellow skirt with a white blouse that accentuated her amazing tits. “You need anything, boss?” she asked. “Uh…no Linds. All is good here.” She took a half step forward and could have straddled my head and answered, “You sure?” “Lindsay, c'mon, kid, you gotta stop with the flirting. You're killing me.” Without moving, she continued, “I may have been drunk last night, but I figured out what tipped you off it wasn't me. First, it was my tits. You've felt Tara's enough to know mine weren't hers. I should have kept your hands outside the sweatshirt, Next, it was the panties. Tara hates purple. So, I fixed that, too,” With that, she lifted her skirt to show me her naked pussy. It's not an understatement to say it was amazing. The lips were shaved bare, but she kept a very thin, very fine landing strip that ended at the top of her cleft, just like her sister. Everything looked perfect and it was all…right…there. “I mean you haven't had a chance to stop and eat. Don't you want a snack?” Sounds of people heading our way made Lindsay drop her skirt, grab a platter of desserts and leave the room with a flounce. “I swear” I muttered to myself as I readjusted my dick yet again, “one more little prank from her and I'm gonna murder someone this weekend.” At this point, I was tired, sweating, and laying on the tile floor of a kitchen, trying to hide my erectness. Finally, after a few hours, the party started to wind down. Friends left, some family members remained. The immediate family all started to get changed out of their dressy clothes. At about 4:30, Tara found her way to the kitchen just I was cleaning up with the team. “Babe. Thank you so much. I talked to my parents and told them we are going to head out. Go get yourself together and let's get on the road. If anyone deserves a good dinner tonight, it's you.” I went upstairs and took my first good look at myself in the mirror. I was covered in food remnants and splatters. I undressed and threw on jeans, and a new shirt. I packed up my stuff, grabbed Tara's bags and loaded up the car. We went back in to say goodbye to everyone. Henry and Lo were still with some remaining guests on the patio. The kids were playing video games. Lindsay was with some cousins and friends drinking a glass of wine. Fortunately, she was dressed in a pair of shorts, t-shirt and keds. Henry and Lo couldn't stop hugging and thanking me. The kids gave me high-fives. Lindsay gave me what ended up being a fairly chaste hug. As we pulled away, she said to Tara, “You've got a good one, T!” As I made my way toward the door, Henry reached out to me again, taking me another big bear hug. I've got some size, but I thought he was going to break my ribs. He pulled away and said, “You're a good man, Jason. Thank you.” With that he stuck out his hand for a final handshake. Having worked in restaurants for years, I felt the familiar “gentlemen's tip” moving some folded bills into my hand. “Don't say a word” he said quietly. You saved us today and if the servers got $200…that's the least I can do for you.“ I thanked him, hugged him again and discreetly put the money in my pocket. Tara and I hopped in the car and started heading to Midnock Valley Resort. We had about a 3 hour drive and we just chatted about the party in general. About an hour in, Tara asked me, "So, did she hit on you?” I didn't know how to answer…so I went with a blank stare. “Babe. It's ok. She does it all the time. It's some little sister thing. Wants to prove that she can be as grown up as me. But the good news is, if you had done anything – she would have told me right away and tell me you're a scumbag.” “But…..” “Sisters before Misters. It's the golden rule.” “Thank goodness you're hot” I joked, “Because that may be the most fucked-up and lamest thing anyone has ever said to me.” With that, we started laughing and settled in for the rest of the drive. To be continued.. By TruthwithaTwist for Literotica.

My girlfriend and her sister play dueling practical jokes on me. By TruthWithaTwist. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. I was midway through my first year of Graduate school, getting my MBA, when my girlfriend, Tara, asked if I wanted to drive to her family's house a few hours away for the weekend. It was her Mother and Step-Father's 20th wedding party and I jumped at the chance to get away from campus for a few days. The party was scheduled for April 2nd, but their actual anniversary was April 1st, which was a running joke in the family. The chance to get away sounded great and I knew that Tara and I would always find ways to entertain ourselves on long car rides.I had started dating Tara at the beginning of the year, upon arriving at school. Tara was 3 years older than me at 28 years old. She had high cheekbones, silken brown hair and brown eyes that were expressive and sultry. She was the type of woman who could get you instantly hard with a smirk and sparkle from those eyes. Her body was amazing. Perfect tear-drop C-cup breasts, toned stomach and an ass that was just full enough to fill out the best pair of jeans. Within weeks of meeting, Tara and I became the “couple” in our friend group. Privately, we were a typical sex-focused young couple. Fortunately, we were both fairly adventurous and were willing to stretch the limits of our sexual fun. On Halloween, we found ourselves on the roof of my apartment building having sex dressed at Batman and Catwoman. One day, we decided to slink into the small town's only Adult Store where we bought a selection of toys to share, from handcuffs to vibrators to anal toys. After losing a bet on an Auburn/Alabama game on a Saturday, Tara found herself tied naked to the couch in my apartment for the duration of Sunday's Bears game as I alternated between watching the game and using her as I pleased. So, the idea of a road trip, even to her parents' house, was always a promising scenario. We didn't have classes on Friday so were on the road just after noon. It would take about 5 hours to drive to her house, so we filled my Jeep Cherokee with our bags and hit the road. I had met her parents before but it would be the first time I was meeting her younger sister, as well as her twin step-brother and step-sister. I was hearing that we were going to be doing some family-stuff on Saturday (visiting grandma, picking up stuff for the party, etc.) and then they were hosting an “anniversary brunch” at the house on Sunday. Since we both knew there would be no opportunity for frolicking while in her parents' house, Tara and I planned on heading out Sunday afternoon and stopping for the night somewhere along the way since we had no classes until Monday afternoon. Tara dozed off right out of town and started stirring after an hour or so of sleep. She was floating in and out of sleep, adjusting herself in the seat and staring out the window. I was focused on the road when I heard her mumble, “Oooh. Check that out” while looking out the window. Looking over, I saw her gesturing toward a billboard for the regions “Most Romantic Resort”. “Hot tubs! Private Cabins! Fireplaces” were all highlighted on the billboard. There was a picture of a couple cuddling in front of a fireplace to complete the obvious vibe they were going for. Tara grabbed a pen and scribbled down the phone number on a scrap of paper she found. She then grabbed my phone and called the property. I could only hear one side of the conversation where she was asking if there were rooms available, what types, how much and all those details. At one point, she reached into her purse, took out a credit card and read the number to the person she was talking to. After she hung up, she gave me an update. “So cool! They have cabins for Sunday night! The rate includes a dinner package in their restaurant; and listen about our room! It's a private cabin and it has an all-season hot tub, fireplace and she sold me on the ‘Romance Package' whatever THAT is” she laughed. “Well, I guess we're staying there, huh?” I chuckled back. “Of course! How can we pass up a cheesy romantic cabin in the hills, with dinner AND a romance package!” “So what the hell is in the Romance Package?” “I have no idea. The girl on the phone asked if we ‘would be interested in the Romance Package for an extra $35' what was I gonna say? No? Besides, it'll be fun. If we can get out of my parents' place by 4ish on Sunday, we could get there, have dinner, grab some drinks and then have fun in our cabin!” “But I still want to know what's in the romance package” I pressed, again. “Seriously? That's your big question? I have no idea. But it's a romantic resort we've never heard of, in the middle of nowhere - so I'm betting it's some of that kind of stuff from Spencer's Gifts. Y'know, flavored massage oil, blindfold, fake rose petals!” She started laughing at the expected lameness of the package. “Call back. Maybe there's a deluxe romance upgrade!” I laughed back, “See if we can get the handcuffs, vibrator, lube and a goat for $20 more!” I got a solid punch in the arm in addition to her response, “What the fuck is wrong with you? Of course you'd want that kind of stuff. Is that what you want? Me tied up in a remote cabin with a bunch of toys and a goat?” “I mean, besides the goat…..” I started, which earned me another punch in the arm. We settled back into the drive and were quiet for a few more minutes. When I looked over, I saw that Tara was definitely getting “fidgety” in her seat. 'You ok?“ I asked. “Um….I hate to actually admit this to you, but the thought of the cabin, you talking about tying me up, I'm actually getting wet.” Tara was slowly rubbing her thighs together, trying to build some friction. Her eyes were closed and her right hand was starting to rub her breast and nipple through her shirt. The subtle motions continued until she finally exclaimed, “Fuck….now I'm horny as shit.” She unbuckled her seatbelt and unbuttoned her jeans. Lifting her hips up off the seat, she slid her jeans and black panties down over her hips. Her pussy was now in clear view, she was mostly shaved, with a small landing strip. She settled back into her seat and thrust two of her fingers into her mouth. I watched as she got her index and middle finger nice and wet. With her eyes closed, she moved her hand down to her pussy and began to stroke up and down her lips. A moan escaped her as her fingers danced up and down, spreading her moisture over her most intimate area. She used her other hand to spread herself open as she started to flutter a finger on her clit. I had seen her masterbate enough to know this was her favorite approach to orgasm. A finger, vibrator or tongue flicking and dancing directly on her clit while having something penetrate her was a guaranteed path to a climax for her. As much as I wanted to reach over and touch her myself, I was struggling with a bunch of things, from watching the erotic scene next to me, to the constraints of my tightening jeans, to staying focused on the road. As I tried to watch her without getting us killed, I simply asked, “What are thinking about, babe?” “I just want to cum. I want you buried inside me, fucking me. I want you to bend me over, take me and fuck me hard.” I could tell Tara was getting close to coming, because she had this habit of getting red and flushed all across her chest when she came. When orgasms were especially intense, the splotches would extend all up her neck and into her cheeks. It was the tell-tale sign of a major Tara orgasm. Her hand picked up speed as I tried to push her over the edge. “Yeah? You looking forward to a good fuck? But what about your ass? You know how much I love your ass. Just think, when we have our cabin, I'll get my dick nice and wet in your pussy… I'll grab your ankles push them back so you are spread wide open.” Her hand was a blur at this point, she had worked two fingers from her other hand into her pussy while she continued the assault on her clit. “Uh….yeah….tell me….make me cum” she moaned. “I'll work that hard, lubed cock into your ass. Not thrusting yet. Just slowly pressing harder as I slide further into your hole.” “More…. almost there.” I reached down and adjusted my cock which was now uncomfortably wedged in some terrible trifecta of boxers, denim and seatbelt. I told her the rest of my plan. “I could reach over, pick up the vibrator and push it into your pussy, babe. When I turn it on, you'll feel me slamming into your ass, while the vibrator fills your pussy up. You'll feel me through the walls of your pussy pressing up against the toy, making us into one big vibe. Buzzing, thrusting, filling you up until you explode your hot juices all over the….” “Argh; Uhg; Uhg”. Tara's entire body clenched, spasmed, and shook for a moment. Her fingers kept dancing on her clit, but were slowing down as she recaptured her breath. She reached out and started to grab her breast before realizing that her hand was still covered in fluids. She flopped back in her seat, her chest and neck covered in bright red splotches, her legs still spread, gasping for air. For a minute, she looked like she had passed out, but slowly she got her breath and pulse back to normal. She said, “Fuck, dude. I'm going to show up at my parents house reeking of sex. We have to stop somewhere so I can clean up.” “Really? Not my fault. You started it with the whole hot tub, romance package thing. Consider this punishment for banishing me to the guest room for next 2 nights.” “I'm serious. Pull over when we can so I can get cleaned up.” She then added with a smirk, “And enjoy those blue balls that are gonna kick in REAL soon, smart ass. Maybe that will be my April Fools gift to you! Keep you hard all weekend, but not let you have any sort of release?” We did end up stopping at a rest plaza so Tara could get herself together. I stretched out for the last hour of the drive, trying to ignore the growing discomfort from my lack of personal release and hoping that Tara's didn't go through with her idea of a “fun” April Fools joke. When we finally pulled into the house, it was your typical suburban home. The family all came out to greet us. Henry and Lois, Tara's parents were the first ones out. They looked like two, normal American parents. Henry had a salt and pepper beard, and was a bit taller and heavier than me. Lois had a definite resemblance to Tara, but was shorter, stouter and jovial. In all honesty, I could 100% see them both using some white hair spray, padding and putting on costumes and being Mr. & Mrs. Claus at the local church or Christmas parade. I had met them before, so I was greeted with hugs and warm welcomes. Next up were Tara's much younger twin half-siblings, Josh and Denise. They looked to be at the start of their awkward teenage years with graphic t-shirts and overall disinterested looks on their faces. We worked our way into the house with our bags. Lois started, “Tara, your room is all set. Jason, we have a guest room upstairs next to Lindsay's room for you.” That's when we heard a voice from upstairs. “Hey bee otch. What's up?” I looked up and did a double take. I had seen pictures of Tara's younger sister Lindsay, but they were older pictures – from family vacations at Disney and the like. The young woman coming down the stairs instantly let me know what Tara looked like 8 years earlier. They could have been twins. Same hair, same eyes, same smile. Worse for me, she had the same body as Tara – just a bit firmer and younger. I could tell because Lindsay was dressed in a half-shirt showing her school logo and a pair of gray sweats emblazoned with PINK down the leg. Tara and Linsday hugged, while Lois hung her head with a voice only a mother can generate, “Really Lindsay? You couldn't have put on something other than what you sleep in to greet them?” “I did! I put on a bra!” laughed Lindsay as she purposely jumped up and down a bit. “Lindsay! Go get changed! We're going to Alfredo's for dinner. Now!” Henry's voice had that “father” tone that left no room for debate. We all separated to our rooms. Tara's was at the top of the stairs, then the twins rooms on each side of the hallway, then a bathroom, then Lindsay's whose room was next to mine in the corner. Henry & Lois had their room on the main floor down the hall from the kitchen where we walked in. We all went to dinner, got home, watched TV, and people slowly began drifting off to their rooms. I was tired from driving, so I went up and got settled in. I could hear people shuffling around as read a book in bed. In the room next door, I could hear Tara and Lindsey chatting and laughing as I dozed off. Saturday came and it was a cool, damp day. We all came down for breakfast and Tara and I maintained that awkward, “showing affection, but not being gross or inappropriate” you do around parents. We all had our list of errands to do that day. I was picking up booze for the party, plus some tables and linens since I had an SUV. Henry and Josh helped with some of it and we made multiple trips back and forth to stores all day long. Tara helped Lois pick up her dress and went to visit her grandma. For dinner, pizza and salads were ordered for the house and we all just went over the plan for the next day. Caterers were coming at 10 with the food, they were going to prep, cook and serve for when the party started at noon. Tara and Lindsay were going to help Lois get ready (they were renewing their vows to start the festivities) while Josh & Denise were told to get dressed and keep the house neat. After dinner, Tara asked if I wanted to go to the local pub. It was your typical local bar with beers, basic pub food and all locals. “Can I come too?” said Lindsay. There were some strange looks around the table until Lois said, “I think you have to be 21 on weekends.” “Not if you sit at a table at the bar, not the bar, itself. There are kids in there all the time.” Rebutted Lindsay. “Besides, if I go, I can drive home so you two can drink!” Tara jumped in, “Mom. Don't worry about it – I never get to see my sister, she can come along. Let's all get changed and go in 30.” With that, we cleaned up, freshened up, and went out to my car. As soon as we got in the car, the sisters starting giggling. Tara turned and looked at her sister in the back seat, “Ok to eat at the table. You are unreal!” “It's true….. technically!” Lindsay retorted. “OK, but since you're visiting from Connecticut, wouldn't you rather sit at the bar with the grown ups?” They then degenerated into torrents of laughter. “Ok”, I asked. “What am I missing?” Tara finally smartened me up, “Linds has a fake ID. Literally everyone knows about it ….. except Dad. Since he serves on the college faculty, we don't want him to have to lie, so we keep it from him. But yeah literally everyone else knows. Mom, me, the bartenders, everyone knows that "Becky” here just turned 20.“ Lindsay chimed in with, "I mean, I literally went to school with half the people that work there. The fact that they all know to call me Becky is Ah-mah-zing!” The bar was less than 10 minutes away, so we got there quickly and settled in at the bar. The whole night was a ton of fun. Tara and Lindsay…er…Becky….knew everyone. We drank Rolling Rock by the bucketful. Every time you turned around, someone else was buying a bucket of beers to share or a round of shots. The girls and I had migrated to a high-top table in the corner and the booze was definitely kicking in. When I ordered a couple of cokes in a row, Lindsay delicately asked, “Dude. What the fuck?” “Well, I figured you're not going to be in any shape to drive, so I figured I better stop now.” “HA! Why do you think we came up with that plan? It's only a 10 minute walk home if we cut through the high school grounds. We're gonna tell Dad that I didn't realize you drive a stick shift and I couldn't drive. Then, you can come and get the car in the morning!” The girls laughed, high-fived, and the night continued. I had some serious body weight on the sisters, but Man….could they put away the booze. Tara got up to use the restroom, which left me and Linsday alone. After a minute, she looked me in they eye, gave me a strangely-familiar sultry smile that I had seen from her sister and asked, “Like the shirt?” I looked at the shirt, with the clueless look only a guy can give and answered, “Yes, it looks great on you.” In truth, it was a nice top. It was a black and grey top that had a modern pattern throughout. The sleeves were different in that from the shoulders to the cuffs, there were criss-crossed pieces of fabric that left a lot of skin exposed. It wasn't really form-fitting, but Lindsey's pert breasts were definitely noticeable in it. “I actually got it from Tara. She left it behind after Christmas break and I snuck in and stole it from her. I just love the pattern. I think the sleeves are so cool.” Then, with her sister's trademark smirk she added, “ I really like the extra…. pattern and …. texture on the front.” Oh shit. I felt like one of those sitcoms where the main characters past flashes by in a quick montage … and I remembered the shirt. For my birthday in December, Tara and I went to New York City for the weekend. We went to a club and she wore that exact top with a pair of skintight leather pants and heels. We had been drinking and flirting and teasing all night long. BY the time we got back to the hotel, we fell into the elevator and started making out intensely. As we worked our tongues down each other's throats, I started unbuckling her belt. When I grabbed her wrists, she prepared herself for me to start undoing her pants and going after her pussy. Instead, I undid the belt halfway, threaded it through the webbing of her shirt cuffs and rethreaded it through the belt loops. Suddenly, she was like a prisoner with her hands cuffed behind her back. I continued to maul her mouth with mine until we heard the 'ding' of our floor. I walked her in front of me, with her hands bound until we got to our door. I fumbled out our key card and opened the door to our room. I pushed her inside and locked the door behind us. One of the most attractive things about Tara is that she would never back down. As I led her into the room, she got sharp sarcastic tone to her voice and said, “Nice, smart guy. But you can't get my pants down like this, can you?” “Who said I wanted what's in your pants?” I then pushed her so her legs hit the end of the bed. Before she could fall backwards…. I pushed her down and slid her forward onto her knees. She got the sexiest smile as I unbuckled my pants, dropped my boxers and simply said, “Suck.” Tara opened her mouth and enveloped my cock. She didn't start with anything delicate like licking and kissing, it was straight-up sucking. I'm average in the dick size department, so she took me in deep, getting all the way to my balls with ease, she came back and kept going with increasing suction. As I started to groan in pleasure, she began kissing the sides of my shaft until she got down to my balls. She took one, then, the other and licked and sucked on them. Then, it was back to my cock. She went back and forth, making it feel as good as any pussy I had ever been in. She backed off for a minute with I still remember as one of the sexiest sentences ever. “Either untie my hands so I can do this right, or grab me and fuck my face.” I chose the latter. I grabbed two fistfuls of her hair and started aggressively fucking her mouth and throat. To her credit, Tara kept up the suction and using her tongue as best she could while being forced on to my cock. Her eyes were watering a bit and as the pressure built, her saliva was dripping off her chin to the hotel carpet. Finally, when I hit my limit, I started to explode. The first two bursts went down her throat, but then I shocked her again. I pulled my cock from her mouth and let the remaining cum coat her face, mouth and the top of her shirt. When we finally finished, she said, “You fucker. This was a new shirt. But, with the grey pattern, I may just leave it like this. Everyone will think it's part of the shirt, but you and I know I'm wearing your cum around my neck like a medal every time I have it on.” All of this came flooding back to me in the bar as I struggled for words, “Uh…well, it looks great on you… Linds… er… Becky. I mean…. fuck.” Tara walked back to table to see my bright red face and Lindsay beaming. “He figured out the shirt didn't he?” Then to me, “Sorry, babe. You'll learn to understand my sister's weird sense of humor.” Lindsay added, “C'mon! Think of it as an April Fools joke! I mean, the look on your face was awesome.” “April Fools joke?” I questioned as I looked back at Tara, “How does she even know about that shirt?” “Babe. You're an only child. You don't understand how much sisters like to share things.” “What do you mean share?” I fumbled. That earned me a solid punch in the arm from Tara, which seemed to be happening fairly often on this trip. “Ew! Gross! I meant stories! Not men! This isn't some porn you watch when I'm not over your place, you sicko! So, don't get your "twin cest” fantasies all wound up in your head, you ass!“ "Fuck……” was pretty much all I could mutter as we went back to drinking. After another hour or so, we walked home. It was chilly, which helped us to sober up a bit, but we were still pretty buzzed. We walked in the door just after midnight and went to our rooms. At about 2:30, I felt something stirring on my bed. As I opened my blurry eyes, I could see the darkened form of Tara in our College's Sweatshirt and a pair of purple checkered panties slowly straddling me. “Shush. Everyone's sleeping” she whispered, “We have to be quiet.” She started gyrating those purple panties against my swelling cock while she kept her hands behind her on my thighs. My cock was rock hard and started to emerge from the fly in my boxers. I could feel the wetness of her pussy coming through her panties starting to lubricate my cock. As she started to moan, she lifted my hands under her sweatshirt to her tits. I grabbed a handful of her bare tits and started to feel her nipple stiffening. That's when it hit me. Twice. In the same second. Tara didn't own purple panties. In fact, she hates the color purple. Next, those weren't her tits. They were close. They were amazing. But they weren't Tara's. All of a sudden, I was like John Cena kicking out of a pin, or more accurately a fish flopping around on land. “Lindsay! Get off” I whisper-yelled and I gave her a solid shove. She landed on her ass at the foot of the bed. I was expecting tears, I was expecting a commotion, I was expecting to be killed by my girlfriend or her father. Instead, I got another smirk. “Oh well, I tried. April Fools?”  And she got up and left the room as quietly as she had entered. For the second time in as many days, I was left with a solid hard on, with the scent of an incredibly hot woman left behind. Needless to say, I got an awful night sleep. Between the alcohol, the late-night visit, and a raging hard-on, I had lost the sleep battle. I was also seriously wondering if I was somehow going to be blamed, then killed for the events of the night before. I needed to burn off some stress and the remaining alcohol, so I got up at 7:30 with the sun streaming through a crack in the window and threw on my running gear. I hit the empty neighborhood streets and started to sweat out everything from the night before. At the end of my loop, I ran back by the bar and picked up my car. As I arrived back at the house around 9:00 with coffee and donuts (in case I needed a bribe), everything seemed normal. I visited with everyone, went upstairs to grab a shower and get changed to help out for the day. When I came down at 10:15 – everything had gone to Hell. Lois was sobbing, Henry was on the phone yelling. Tara and Lindsay were trying to offer suggestions, while Josh and Denise stared silently. Pulling Tara aside, I asked, “T – what's going on?” “Turns out the caterer fucked up. They dropped off the food while you were upstairs, but they aren't staying to prep it, cook it, set it out or serve it. Lo is losing her mind, Henry is ready to punch someone.” Henry was screaming into the phone, “And I know more people in this town that I will destroy your business, do you understand?!?” “Hey Lois?” I tried to interrupt. But Lois couldn't stop crying, “Oh, girls, it's ruined. We can't get all this done in time for the guests.” “Uh….Tara? Henry?” I attempted to get anyone's attention. “Thanks For Nothing, Henry Yelled; and slammed the phone!! "Oh Henry…..Wah!” As they hysterics built to a crescendo, I finally spoke loudly enough to cut through the noise. “Uh, Anyone? Just Stop for a second!” While Lois was still whimpering, there was at least some silence. “No offense, but I'm literally standing right here. You know I spent all of college working in restaurants and bars, right? Plus, all my work experience is with caterers and managing events. I literally oversaw a functions department that did weddings for 2,000 people at a hotel in Dallas. I think I can handle 50 friends and family.” Tara was the first to speak, “Oh, my God, J ……thank you. But you can't do all this yourself. I'll help?” “Nope. But here's what I need: You get Lois ready like you planned. Henry, you and the kids finish cleaning up and putting up the tables and stuff. When the flowers get here, show them where it all goes. Linds – you knew a bunch of people working at the bar last night. Can you start texting, calling, whatever, and see if ANY of them can get their asses over here for a quick $100 bucks today? You and I will run that crew.” Lois finally was starting to calm down. “Are you sure, Jason? You're supposed to be a guest.” “Don't worry about it. This is literally what I do. Consider this my gift to you. I'll just keep the salt & pepper shakers that say 'Henry and Lois' for my place!” Henry gave me a big bear hug and said to me and Lindsay, “Tell your friends $200 each. If you can get them and pull this off, I'll pay anything.” And with that, everyone started their tasks. I grabbed the prep instructions the caterers had left and started to figure out timing and how the ovens worked. I was looking for some baking trays under the cabinets, when Lindsay came down and told me she had one bartender, a waitress and a waiter on their way. “Awesome. Any idea when they'll get here? I'm gonna need some help in here.” “Dude. I woke them up after they worked a night shift. Be glad we got who we did. I'll tell you what, I'll help you for now, then when they get here I'll get changed. That way, I'll know what's going on too. Once the party starts, I can be the runner for you and them.” I stood up, walked over and gave Lindsay a big hug. Once again, I felt her amazing tits – this time pressed up against me through her sweater. With that, we started working. I was scribbling on a pad I found, how I was going to schedule out the food so we had it flowing the whole time. Lindsay was unwrapping all the food trays and putting them in different parts of the kitchen at my direction. Time flew by and at noon the servers started showing up. Ed was actually one of the bartenders I met the night before. I had Lindsay show him to the patio, where the makeshift bar was set up. Then I told her to get dressed for the ceremony. I took Leslie & Marc and told them how we were laying things out. As soon as the ceremony ended, we wanted champagne poured and passed out for a toast. While they did that, I'd put the cold platters in the family room and living room. Then, we had time to start pulling the hot food, which they would pass from room to room. As the guests arrived, things picked up. The rooms were small and tight. Leslie, Marc and I were running around with platters of food and clearing old plates. Of course, we were also taking requests from people who were too lazy to walk the 30 feet to Ed at the bar. At about 1:30, I was in the kitchen, on the ground trying to reach into the back of a cabinet for a cake platter. I heard the familiar click-click of high heel shoes and squirmed out of the cabinet. I looked over to see that I was within a tongue-length of an amazing pair of legs perched on a pair of black heels. My eyes traveled up to see that Lindsay was wearing a short, pleated yellow skirt with a white blouse that accentuated her amazing tits. “You need anything, boss?” she asked. “Uh…no Linds. All is good here.” She took a half step forward and could have straddled my head and answered, “You sure?” “Lindsay, c'mon, kid, you gotta stop with the flirting. You're killing me.” Without moving, she continued, “I may have been drunk last night, but I figured out what tipped you off it wasn't me. First, it was my tits. You've felt Tara's enough to know mine weren't hers. I should have kept your hands outside the sweatshirt, Next, it was the panties. Tara hates purple. So, I fixed that, too,” With that, she lifted her skirt to show me her naked pussy. It's not an understatement to say it was amazing. The lips were shaved bare, but she kept a very thin, very fine landing strip that ended at the top of her cleft, just like her sister. Everything looked perfect and it was all…right…there. “I mean you haven't had a chance to stop and eat. Don't you want a snack?” Sounds of people heading our way made Lindsay drop her skirt, grab a platter of desserts and leave the room with a flounce. “I swear” I muttered to myself as I readjusted my dick yet again, “one more little prank from her and I'm gonna murder someone this weekend.” At this point, I was tired, sweating, and laying on the tile floor of a kitchen, trying to hide my erectness. Finally, after a few hours, the party started to wind down. Friends left, some family members remained. The immediate family all started to get changed out of their dressy clothes. At about 4:30, Tara found her way to the kitchen just I was cleaning up with the team. “Babe. Thank you so much. I talked to my parents and told them we are going to head out. Go get yourself together and let's get on the road. If anyone deserves a good dinner tonight, it's you.” I went upstairs and took my first good look at myself in the mirror. I was covered in food remnants and splatters. I undressed and threw on jeans, and a new shirt. I packed up my stuff, grabbed Tara's bags and loaded up the car. We went back in to say goodbye to everyone. Henry and Lo were still with some remaining guests on the patio. The kids were playing video games. Lindsay was with some cousins and friends drinking a glass of wine. Fortunately, she was dressed in a pair of shorts, t-shirt and keds. Henry and Lo couldn't stop hugging and thanking me. The kids gave me high-fives. Lindsay gave me what ended up being a fairly chaste hug. As we pulled away, she said to Tara, “You've got a good one, T!” As I made my way toward the door, Henry reached out to me again, taking me another big bear hug. I've got some size, but I thought he was going to break my ribs. He pulled away and said, “You're a good man, Jason. Thank you.” With that he stuck out his hand for a final handshake. Having worked in restaurants for years, I felt the familiar “gentlemen's tip” moving some folded bills into my hand. “Don't say a word” he said quietly. You saved us today and if the servers got $200…that's the least I can do for you.“ I thanked him, hugged him again and discreetly put the money in my pocket. Tara and I hopped in the car and started heading to Midnock Valley Resort. We had about a 3 hour drive and we just chatted about the party in general. About an hour in, Tara asked me, "So, did she hit on you?” I didn't know how to answer…so I went with a blank stare. “Babe. It's ok. She does it all the time. It's some little sister thing. Wants to prove that she can be as grown up as me. But the good news is, if you had done anything – she would have told me right away and tell me you're a scumbag.” “But…..” “Sisters before Misters. It's the golden rule.” “Thank goodness you're hot” I joked, “Because that may be the most fucked-up and lamest thing anyone has ever said to me.” With that, we started laughing and settled in for the rest of the drive. To be continued.. By TruthwithaTwist for Literotica.

My girlfriend and her sister play dueling practical jokes on me. By TruthWithaTwist. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. I was midway through my first year of Graduate school, getting my MBA, when my girlfriend, Tara, asked if I wanted to drive to her family's house a few hours away for the weekend. It was her Mother and Step-Father's 20th wedding party and I jumped at the chance to get away from campus for a few days. The party was scheduled for April 2nd, but their actual anniversary was April 1st, which was a running joke in the family. The chance to get away sounded great and I knew that Tara and I would always find ways to entertain ourselves on long car rides.I had started dating Tara at the beginning of the year, upon arriving at school. Tara was 3 years older than me at 28 years old. She had high cheekbones, silken brown hair and brown eyes that were expressive and sultry. She was the type of woman who could get you instantly hard with a smirk and sparkle from those eyes. Her body was amazing. Perfect tear-drop C-cup breasts, toned stomach and an ass that was just full enough to fill out the best pair of jeans. Within weeks of meeting, Tara and I became the “couple” in our friend group. Privately, we were a typical sex-focused young couple. Fortunately, we were both fairly adventurous and were willing to stretch the limits of our sexual fun. On Halloween, we found ourselves on the roof of my apartment building having sex dressed at Batman and Catwoman. One day, we decided to slink into the small town's only Adult Store where we bought a selection of toys to share, from handcuffs to vibrators to anal toys. After losing a bet on an Auburn/Alabama game on a Saturday, Tara found herself tied naked to the couch in my apartment for the duration of Sunday's Bears game as I alternated between watching the game and using her as I pleased. So, the idea of a road trip, even to her parents' house, was always a promising scenario. We didn't have classes on Friday so were on the road just after noon. It would take about 5 hours to drive to her house, so we filled my Jeep Cherokee with our bags and hit the road. I had met her parents before but it would be the first time I was meeting her younger sister, as well as her twin step-brother and step-sister. I was hearing that we were going to be doing some family-stuff on Saturday (visiting grandma, picking up stuff for the party, etc.) and then they were hosting an “anniversary brunch” at the house on Sunday. Since we both knew there would be no opportunity for frolicking while in her parents' house, Tara and I planned on heading out Sunday afternoon and stopping for the night somewhere along the way since we had no classes until Monday afternoon. Tara dozed off right out of town and started stirring after an hour or so of sleep. She was floating in and out of sleep, adjusting herself in the seat and staring out the window. I was focused on the road when I heard her mumble, “Oooh. Check that out” while looking out the window. Looking over, I saw her gesturing toward a billboard for the regions “Most Romantic Resort”. “Hot tubs! Private Cabins! Fireplaces” were all highlighted on the billboard. There was a picture of a couple cuddling in front of a fireplace to complete the obvious vibe they were going for. Tara grabbed a pen and scribbled down the phone number on a scrap of paper she found. She then grabbed my phone and called the property. I could only hear one side of the conversation where she was asking if there were rooms available, what types, how much and all those details. At one point, she reached into her purse, took out a credit card and read the number to the person she was talking to. After she hung up, she gave me an update. “So cool! They have cabins for Sunday night! The rate includes a dinner package in their restaurant; and listen about our room! It's a private cabin and it has an all-season hot tub, fireplace and she sold me on the ‘Romance Package' whatever THAT is” she laughed. “Well, I guess we're staying there, huh?” I chuckled back. “Of course! How can we pass up a cheesy romantic cabin in the hills, with dinner AND a romance package!” “So what the hell is in the Romance Package?” “I have no idea. The girl on the phone asked if we ‘would be interested in the Romance Package for an extra $35' what was I gonna say? No? Besides, it'll be fun. If we can get out of my parents' place by 4ish on Sunday, we could get there, have dinner, grab some drinks and then have fun in our cabin!” “But I still want to know what's in the romance package” I pressed, again. “Seriously? That's your big question? I have no idea. But it's a romantic resort we've never heard of, in the middle of nowhere - so I'm betting it's some of that kind of stuff from Spencer's Gifts. Y'know, flavored massage oil, blindfold, fake rose petals!” She started laughing at the expected lameness of the package. “Call back. Maybe there's a deluxe romance upgrade!” I laughed back, “See if we can get the handcuffs, vibrator, lube and a goat for $20 more!” I got a solid punch in the arm in addition to her response, “What the fuck is wrong with you? Of course you'd want that kind of stuff. Is that what you want? Me tied up in a remote cabin with a bunch of toys and a goat?” “I mean, besides the goat…..” I started, which earned me another punch in the arm. We settled back into the drive and were quiet for a few more minutes. When I looked over, I saw that Tara was definitely getting “fidgety” in her seat. 'You ok?“ I asked. “Um….I hate to actually admit this to you, but the thought of the cabin, you talking about tying me up, I'm actually getting wet.” Tara was slowly rubbing her thighs together, trying to build some friction. Her eyes were closed and her right hand was starting to rub her breast and nipple through her shirt. The subtle motions continued until she finally exclaimed, “Fuck….now I'm horny as shit.” She unbuckled her seatbelt and unbuttoned her jeans. Lifting her hips up off the seat, she slid her jeans and black panties down over her hips. Her pussy was now in clear view, she was mostly shaved, with a small landing strip. She settled back into her seat and thrust two of her fingers into her mouth. I watched as she got her index and middle finger nice and wet. With her eyes closed, she moved her hand down to her pussy and began to stroke up and down her lips. A moan escaped her as her fingers danced up and down, spreading her moisture over her most intimate area. She used her other hand to spread herself open as she started to flutter a finger on her clit. I had seen her masterbate enough to know this was her favorite approach to orgasm. A finger, vibrator or tongue flicking and dancing directly on her clit while having something penetrate her was a guaranteed path to a climax for her. As much as I wanted to reach over and touch her myself, I was struggling with a bunch of things, from watching the erotic scene next to me, to the constraints of my tightening jeans, to staying focused on the road. As I tried to watch her without getting us killed, I simply asked, “What are thinking about, babe?” “I just want to cum. I want you buried inside me, fucking me. I want you to bend me over, take me and fuck me hard.” I could tell Tara was getting close to coming, because she had this habit of getting red and flushed all across her chest when she came. When orgasms were especially intense, the splotches would extend all up her neck and into her cheeks. It was the tell-tale sign of a major Tara orgasm. Her hand picked up speed as I tried to push her over the edge. “Yeah? You looking forward to a good fuck? But what about your ass? You know how much I love your ass. Just think, when we have our cabin, I'll get my dick nice and wet in your pussy… I'll grab your ankles push them back so you are spread wide open.” Her hand was a blur at this point, she had worked two fingers from her other hand into her pussy while she continued the assault on her clit. “Uh….yeah….tell me….make me cum” she moaned. “I'll work that hard, lubed cock into your ass. Not thrusting yet. Just slowly pressing harder as I slide further into your hole.” “More…. almost there.” I reached down and adjusted my cock which was now uncomfortably wedged in some terrible trifecta of boxers, denim and seatbelt. I told her the rest of my plan. “I could reach over, pick up the vibrator and push it into your pussy, babe. When I turn it on, you'll feel me slamming into your ass, while the vibrator fills your pussy up. You'll feel me through the walls of your pussy pressing up against the toy, making us into one big vibe. Buzzing, thrusting, filling you up until you explode your hot juices all over the….” “Argh; Uhg; Uhg”. Tara's entire body clenched, spasmed, and shook for a moment. Her fingers kept dancing on her clit, but were slowing down as she recaptured her breath. She reached out and started to grab her breast before realizing that her hand was still covered in fluids. She flopped back in her seat, her chest and neck covered in bright red splotches, her legs still spread, gasping for air. For a minute, she looked like she had passed out, but slowly she got her breath and pulse back to normal. She said, “Fuck, dude. I'm going to show up at my parents house reeking of sex. We have to stop somewhere so I can clean up.” “Really? Not my fault. You started it with the whole hot tub, romance package thing. Consider this punishment for banishing me to the guest room for next 2 nights.” “I'm serious. Pull over when we can so I can get cleaned up.” She then added with a smirk, “And enjoy those blue balls that are gonna kick in REAL soon, smart ass. Maybe that will be my April Fools gift to you! Keep you hard all weekend, but not let you have any sort of release?” We did end up stopping at a rest plaza so Tara could get herself together. I stretched out for the last hour of the drive, trying to ignore the growing discomfort from my lack of personal release and hoping that Tara's didn't go through with her idea of a “fun” April Fools joke. When we finally pulled into the house, it was your typical suburban home. The family all came out to greet us. Henry and Lois, Tara's parents were the first ones out. They looked like two, normal American parents. Henry had a salt and pepper beard, and was a bit taller and heavier than me. Lois had a definite resemblance to Tara, but was shorter, stouter and jovial. In all honesty, I could 100% see them both using some white hair spray, padding and putting on costumes and being Mr. & Mrs. Claus at the local church or Christmas parade. I had met them before, so I was greeted with hugs and warm welcomes. Next up were Tara's much younger twin half-siblings, Josh and Denise. They looked to be at the start of their awkward teenage years with graphic t-shirts and overall disinterested looks on their faces. We worked our way into the house with our bags. Lois started, “Tara, your room is all set. Jason, we have a guest room upstairs next to Lindsay's room for you.” That's when we heard a voice from upstairs. “Hey bee otch. What's up?” I looked up and did a double take. I had seen pictures of Tara's younger sister Lindsay, but they were older pictures – from family vacations at Disney and the like. The young woman coming down the stairs instantly let me know what Tara looked like 8 years earlier. They could have been twins. Same hair, same eyes, same smile. Worse for me, she had the same body as Tara – just a bit firmer and younger. I could tell because Lindsay was dressed in a half-shirt showing her school logo and a pair of gray sweats emblazoned with PINK down the leg. Tara and Linsday hugged, while Lois hung her head with a voice only a mother can generate, “Really Lindsay? You couldn't have put on something other than what you sleep in to greet them?” “I did! I put on a bra!” laughed Lindsay as she purposely jumped up and down a bit. “Lindsay! Go get changed! We're going to Alfredo's for dinner. Now!” Henry's voice had that “father” tone that left no room for debate. We all separated to our rooms. Tara's was at the top of the stairs, then the twins rooms on each side of the hallway, then a bathroom, then Lindsay's whose room was next to mine in the corner. Henry & Lois had their room on the main floor down the hall from the kitchen where we walked in. We all went to dinner, got home, watched TV, and people slowly began drifting off to their rooms. I was tired from driving, so I went up and got settled in. I could hear people shuffling around as read a book in bed. In the room next door, I could hear Tara and Lindsey chatting and laughing as I dozed off. Saturday came and it was a cool, damp day. We all came down for breakfast and Tara and I maintained that awkward, “showing affection, but not being gross or inappropriate” you do around parents. We all had our list of errands to do that day. I was picking up booze for the party, plus some tables and linens since I had an SUV. Henry and Josh helped with some of it and we made multiple trips back and forth to stores all day long. Tara helped Lois pick up her dress and went to visit her grandma. For dinner, pizza and salads were ordered for the house and we all just went over the plan for the next day. Caterers were coming at 10 with the food, they were going to prep, cook and serve for when the party started at noon. Tara and Lindsay were going to help Lois get ready (they were renewing their vows to start the festivities) while Josh & Denise were told to get dressed and keep the house neat. After dinner, Tara asked if I wanted to go to the local pub. It was your typical local bar with beers, basic pub food and all locals. “Can I come too?” said Lindsay. There were some strange looks around the table until Lois said, “I think you have to be 21 on weekends.” “Not if you sit at a table at the bar, not the bar, itself. There are kids in there all the time.” Rebutted Lindsay. “Besides, if I go, I can drive home so you two can drink!” Tara jumped in, “Mom. Don't worry about it – I never get to see my sister, she can come along. Let's all get changed and go in 30.” With that, we cleaned up, freshened up, and went out to my car. As soon as we got in the car, the sisters starting giggling. Tara turned and looked at her sister in the back seat, “Ok to eat at the table. You are unreal!” “It's true….. technically!” Lindsay retorted. “OK, but since you're visiting from Connecticut, wouldn't you rather sit at the bar with the grown ups?” They then degenerated into torrents of laughter. “Ok”, I asked. “What am I missing?” Tara finally smartened me up, “Linds has a fake ID. Literally everyone knows about it ….. except Dad. Since he serves on the college faculty, we don't want him to have to lie, so we keep it from him. But yeah literally everyone else knows. Mom, me, the bartenders, everyone knows that "Becky” here just turned 20.“ Lindsay chimed in with, "I mean, I literally went to school with half the people that work there. The fact that they all know to call me Becky is Ah-mah-zing!” The bar was less than 10 minutes away, so we got there quickly and settled in at the bar. The whole night was a ton of fun. Tara and Lindsay…er…Becky….knew everyone. We drank Rolling Rock by the bucketful. Every time you turned around, someone else was buying a bucket of beers to share or a round of shots. The girls and I had migrated to a high-top table in the corner and the booze was definitely kicking in. When I ordered a couple of cokes in a row, Lindsay delicately asked, “Dude. What the fuck?” “Well, I figured you're not going to be in any shape to drive, so I figured I better stop now.” “HA! Why do you think we came up with that plan? It's only a 10 minute walk home if we cut through the high school grounds. We're gonna tell Dad that I didn't realize you drive a stick shift and I couldn't drive. Then, you can come and get the car in the morning!” The girls laughed, high-fived, and the night continued. I had some serious body weight on the sisters, but Man….could they put away the booze. Tara got up to use the restroom, which left me and Linsday alone. After a minute, she looked me in they eye, gave me a strangely-familiar sultry smile that I had seen from her sister and asked, “Like the shirt?” I looked at the shirt, with the clueless look only a guy can give and answered, “Yes, it looks great on you.” In truth, it was a nice top. It was a black and grey top that had a modern pattern throughout. The sleeves were different in that from the shoulders to the cuffs, there were criss-crossed pieces of fabric that left a lot of skin exposed. It wasn't really form-fitting, but Lindsey's pert breasts were definitely noticeable in it. “I actually got it from Tara. She left it behind after Christmas break and I snuck in and stole it from her. I just love the pattern. I think the sleeves are so cool.” Then, with her sister's trademark smirk she added, “ I really like the extra…. pattern and …. texture on the front.” Oh shit. I felt like one of those sitcoms where the main characters past flashes by in a quick montage … and I remembered the shirt. For my birthday in December, Tara and I went to New York City for the weekend. We went to a club and she wore that exact top with a pair of skintight leather pants and heels. We had been drinking and flirting and teasing all night long. BY the time we got back to the hotel, we fell into the elevator and started making out intensely. As we worked our tongues down each other's throats, I started unbuckling her belt. When I grabbed her wrists, she prepared herself for me to start undoing her pants and going after her pussy. Instead, I undid the belt halfway, threaded it through the webbing of her shirt cuffs and rethreaded it through the belt loops. Suddenly, she was like a prisoner with her hands cuffed behind her back. I continued to maul her mouth with mine until we heard the 'ding' of our floor. I walked her in front of me, with her hands bound until we got to our door. I fumbled out our key card and opened the door to our room. I pushed her inside and locked the door behind us. One of the most attractive things about Tara is that she would never back down. As I led her into the room, she got sharp sarcastic tone to her voice and said, “Nice, smart guy. But you can't get my pants down like this, can you?” “Who said I wanted what's in your pants?” I then pushed her so her legs hit the end of the bed. Before she could fall backwards…. I pushed her down and slid her forward onto her knees. She got the sexiest smile as I unbuckled my pants, dropped my boxers and simply said, “Suck.” Tara opened her mouth and enveloped my cock. She didn't start with anything delicate like licking and kissing, it was straight-up sucking. I'm average in the dick size department, so she took me in deep, getting all the way to my balls with ease, she came back and kept going with increasing suction. As I started to groan in pleasure, she began kissing the sides of my shaft until she got down to my balls. She took one, then, the other and licked and sucked on them. Then, it was back to my cock. She went back and forth, making it feel as good as any pussy I had ever been in. She backed off for a minute with I still remember as one of the sexiest sentences ever. “Either untie my hands so I can do this right, or grab me and fuck my face.” I chose the latter. I grabbed two fistfuls of her hair and started aggressively fucking her mouth and throat. To her credit, Tara kept up the suction and using her tongue as best she could while being forced on to my cock. Her eyes were watering a bit and as the pressure built, her saliva was dripping off her chin to the hotel carpet. Finally, when I hit my limit, I started to explode. The first two bursts went down her throat, but then I shocked her again. I pulled my cock from her mouth and let the remaining cum coat her face, mouth and the top of her shirt. When we finally finished, she said, “You fucker. This was a new shirt. But, with the grey pattern, I may just leave it like this. Everyone will think it's part of the shirt, but you and I know I'm wearing your cum around my neck like a medal every time I have it on.” All of this came flooding back to me in the bar as I struggled for words, “Uh…well, it looks great on you… Linds… er… Becky. I mean…. fuck.” Tara walked back to table to see my bright red face and Lindsay beaming. “He figured out the shirt didn't he?” Then to me, “Sorry, babe. You'll learn to understand my sister's weird sense of humor.” Lindsay added, “C'mon! Think of it as an April Fools joke! I mean, the look on your face was awesome.” “April Fools joke?” I questioned as I looked back at Tara, “How does she even know about that shirt?” “Babe. You're an only child. You don't understand how much sisters like to share things.” “What do you mean share?” I fumbled. That earned me a solid punch in the arm from Tara, which seemed to be happening fairly often on this trip. “Ew! Gross! I meant stories! Not men! This isn't some porn you watch when I'm not over your place, you sicko! So, don't get your "twin cest” fantasies all wound up in your head, you ass!“ "Fuck……” was pretty much all I could mutter as we went back to drinking. After another hour or so, we walked home. It was chilly, which helped us to sober up a bit, but we were still pretty buzzed. We walked in the door just after midnight and went to our rooms. At about 2:30, I felt something stirring on my bed. As I opened my blurry eyes, I could see the darkened form of Tara in our College's Sweatshirt and a pair of purple checkered panties slowly straddling me. “Shush. Everyone's sleeping” she whispered, “We have to be quiet.” She started gyrating those purple panties against my swelling cock while she kept her hands behind her on my thighs. My cock was rock hard and started to emerge from the fly in my boxers. I could feel the wetness of her pussy coming through her panties starting to lubricate my cock. As she started to moan, she lifted my hands under her sweatshirt to her tits. I grabbed a handful of her bare tits and started to feel her nipple stiffening. That's when it hit me. Twice. In the same second. Tara didn't own purple panties. In fact, she hates the color purple. Next, those weren't her tits. They were close. They were amazing. But they weren't Tara's. All of a sudden, I was like John Cena kicking out of a pin, or more accurately a fish flopping around on land. “Lindsay! Get off” I whisper-yelled and I gave her a solid shove. She landed on her ass at the foot of the bed. I was expecting tears, I was expecting a commotion, I was expecting to be killed by my girlfriend or her father. Instead, I got another smirk. “Oh well, I tried. April Fools?”  And she got up and left the room as quietly as she had entered. For the second time in as many days, I was left with a solid hard on, with the scent of an incredibly hot woman left behind. Needless to say, I got an awful night sleep. Between the alcohol, the late-night visit, and a raging hard-on, I had lost the sleep battle. I was also seriously wondering if I was somehow going to be blamed, then killed for the events of the night before. I needed to burn off some stress and the remaining alcohol, so I got up at 7:30 with the sun streaming through a crack in the window and threw on my running gear. I hit the empty neighborhood streets and started to sweat out everything from the night before. At the end of my loop, I ran back by the bar and picked up my car. As I arrived back at the house around 9:00 with coffee and donuts (in case I needed a bribe), everything seemed normal. I visited with everyone, went upstairs to grab a shower and get changed to help out for the day. When I came down at 10:15 – everything had gone to Hell. Lois was sobbing, Henry was on the phone yelling. Tara and Lindsay were trying to offer suggestions, while Josh and Denise stared silently. Pulling Tara aside, I asked, “T – what's going on?” “Turns out the caterer fucked up. They dropped off the food while you were upstairs, but they aren't staying to prep it, cook it, set it out or serve it. Lo is losing her mind, Henry is ready to punch someone.” Henry was screaming into the phone, “And I know more people in this town that I will destroy your business, do you understand?!?” “Hey Lois?” I tried to interrupt. But Lois couldn't stop crying, “Oh, girls, it's ruined. We can't get all this done in time for the guests.” “Uh….Tara? Henry?” I attempted to get anyone's attention. “Thanks For Nothing, Henry Yelled; and slammed the phone!! "Oh Henry…..Wah!” As they hysterics built to a crescendo, I finally spoke loudly enough to cut through the noise. “Uh, Anyone? Just Stop for a second!” While Lois was still whimpering, there was at least some silence. “No offense, but I'm literally standing right here. You know I spent all of college working in restaurants and bars, right? Plus, all my work experience is with caterers and managing events. I literally oversaw a functions department that did weddings for 2,000 people at a hotel in Dallas. I think I can handle 50 friends and family.” Tara was the first to speak, “Oh, my God, J ……thank you. But you can't do all this yourself. I'll help?” “Nope. But here's what I need: You get Lois ready like you planned. Henry, you and the kids finish cleaning up and putting up the tables and stuff. When the flowers get here, show them where it all goes. Linds – you knew a bunch of people working at the bar last night. Can you start texting, calling, whatever, and see if ANY of them can get their asses over here for a quick $100 bucks today? You and I will run that crew.” Lois finally was starting to calm down. “Are you sure, Jason? You're supposed to be a guest.” “Don't worry about it. This is literally what I do. Consider this my gift to you. I'll just keep the salt & pepper shakers that say 'Henry and Lois' for my place!” Henry gave me a big bear hug and said to me and Lindsay, “Tell your friends $200 each. If you can get them and pull this off, I'll pay anything.” And with that, everyone started their tasks. I grabbed the prep instructions the caterers had left and started to figure out timing and how the ovens worked. I was looking for some baking trays under the cabinets, when Lindsay came down and told me she had one bartender, a waitress and a waiter on their way. “Awesome. Any idea when they'll get here? I'm gonna need some help in here.” “Dude. I woke them up after they worked a night shift. Be glad we got who we did. I'll tell you what, I'll help you for now, then when they get here I'll get changed. That way, I'll know what's going on too. Once the party starts, I can be the runner for you and them.” I stood up, walked over and gave Lindsay a big hug. Once again, I felt her amazing tits – this time pressed up against me through her sweater. With that, we started working. I was scribbling on a pad I found, how I was going to schedule out the food so we had it flowing the whole time. Lindsay was unwrapping all the food trays and putting them in different parts of the kitchen at my direction. Time flew by and at noon the servers started showing up. Ed was actually one of the bartenders I met the night before. I had Lindsay show him to the patio, where the makeshift bar was set up. Then I told her to get dressed for the ceremony. I took Leslie & Marc and told them how we were laying things out. As soon as the ceremony ended, we wanted champagne poured and passed out for a toast. While they did that, I'd put the cold platters in the family room and living room. Then, we had time to start pulling the hot food, which they would pass from room to room. As the guests arrived, things picked up. The rooms were small and tight. Leslie, Marc and I were running around with platters of food and clearing old plates. Of course, we were also taking requests from people who were too lazy to walk the 30 feet to Ed at the bar. At about 1:30, I was in the kitchen, on the ground trying to reach into the back of a cabinet for a cake platter. I heard the familiar click-click of high heel shoes and squirmed out of the cabinet. I looked over to see that I was within a tongue-length of an amazing pair of legs perched on a pair of black heels. My eyes traveled up to see that Lindsay was wearing a short, pleated yellow skirt with a white blouse that accentuated her amazing tits. “You need anything, boss?” she asked. “Uh…no Linds. All is good here.” She took a half step forward and could have straddled my head and answered, “You sure?” “Lindsay, c'mon, kid, you gotta stop with the flirting. You're killing me.” Without moving, she continued, “I may have been drunk last night, but I figured out what tipped you off it wasn't me. First, it was my tits. You've felt Tara's enough to know mine weren't hers. I should have kept your hands outside the sweatshirt, Next, it was the panties. Tara hates purple. So, I fixed that, too,” With that, she lifted her skirt to show me her naked pussy. It's not an understatement to say it was amazing. The lips were shaved bare, but she kept a very thin, very fine landing strip that ended at the top of her cleft, just like her sister. Everything looked perfect and it was all…right…there. “I mean you haven't had a chance to stop and eat. Don't you want a snack?” Sounds of people heading our way made Lindsay drop her skirt, grab a platter of desserts and leave the room with a flounce. “I swear” I muttered to myself as I readjusted my dick yet again, “one more little prank from her and I'm gonna murder someone this weekend.” At this point, I was tired, sweating, and laying on the tile floor of a kitchen, trying to hide my erectness. Finally, after a few hours, the party started to wind down. Friends left, some family members remained. The immediate family all started to get changed out of their dressy clothes. At about 4:30, Tara found her way to the kitchen just I was cleaning up with the team. “Babe. Thank you so much. I talked to my parents and told them we are going to head out. Go get yourself together and let's get on the road. If anyone deserves a good dinner tonight, it's you.” I went upstairs and took my first good look at myself in the mirror. I was covered in food remnants and splatters. I undressed and threw on jeans, and a new shirt. I packed up my stuff, grabbed Tara's bags and loaded up the car. We went back in to say goodbye to everyone. Henry and Lo were still with some remaining guests on the patio. The kids were playing video games. Lindsay was with some cousins and friends drinking a glass of wine. Fortunately, she was dressed in a pair of shorts, t-shirt and keds. Henry and Lo couldn't stop hugging and thanking me. The kids gave me high-fives. Lindsay gave me what ended up being a fairly chaste hug. As we pulled away, she said to Tara, “You've got a good one, T!” As I made my way toward the door, Henry reached out to me again, taking me another big bear hug. I've got some size, but I thought he was going to break my ribs. He pulled away and said, “You're a good man, Jason. Thank you.” With that he stuck out his hand for a final handshake. Having worked in restaurants for years, I felt the familiar “gentlemen's tip” moving some folded bills into my hand. “Don't say a word” he said quietly. You saved us today and if the servers got $200…that's the least I can do for you.“ I thanked him, hugged him again and discreetly put the money in my pocket. Tara and I hopped in the car and started heading to Midnock Valley Resort. We had about a 3 hour drive and we just chatted about the party in general. About an hour in, Tara asked me, "So, did she hit on you?” I didn't know how to answer…so I went with a blank stare. “Babe. It's ok. She does it all the time. It's some little sister thing. Wants to prove that she can be as grown up as me. But the good news is, if you had done anything – she would have told me right away and tell me you're a scumbag.” “But…..” “Sisters before Misters. It's the golden rule.” “Thank goodness you're hot” I joked, “Because that may be the most fucked-up and lamest thing anyone has ever said to me.” With that, we started laughing and settled in for the rest of the drive. To be continued.. By TruthwithaTwist for Literotica.

My girlfriend and her sister play dueling practical jokes on me. By TruthWithaTwist. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. I was midway through my first year of Graduate school, getting my MBA, when my girlfriend, Tara, asked if I wanted to drive to her family's house a few hours away for the weekend. It was her Mother and Step-Father's 20th wedding party and I jumped at the chance to get away from campus for a few days. The party was scheduled for April 2nd, but their actual anniversary was April 1st, which was a running joke in the family. The chance to get away sounded great and I knew that Tara and I would always find ways to entertain ourselves on long car rides. [[MORE]] I had started dating Tara at the beginning of the year, upon arriving at school. Tara was 3 years older than me at 28 years old. She had high cheekbones, silken brown hair and brown eyes that were expressive and sultry. She was the type of woman who could get you instantly hard with a smirk and sparkle from those eyes. Her body was amazing. Perfect tear-drop C-cup breasts, toned stomach and an ass that was just full enough to fill out the best pair of jeans. Within weeks of meeting, Tara and I became the “couple” in our friend group. Privately, we were a typical sex-focused young couple. Fortunately, we were both fairly adventurous and were willing to stretch the limits of our sexual fun. On Halloween, we found ourselves on the roof of my apartment building having sex dressed at Batman and Catwoman. One day, we decided to slink into the small town's only Adult Store where we bought a selection of toys to share, from handcuffs to vibrators to anal toys. After losing a bet on an Auburn/Alabama game on a Saturday, Tara found herself tied naked to the couch in my apartment for the duration of Sunday's Bears game as I alternated between watching the game and using her as I pleased. So, the idea of a road trip, even to her parents' house, was always a promising scenario. We didn't have classes on Friday so were on the road just after noon. It would take about 5 hours to drive to her house, so we filled my Jeep Cherokee with our bags and hit the road. I had met her parents before but it would be the first time I was meeting her younger sister, as well as her twin step-brother and step-sister. I was hearing that we were going to be doing some family-stuff on Saturday (visiting grandma, picking up stuff for the party, etc.) and then they were hosting an “anniversary brunch” at the house on Sunday. Since we both knew there would be no opportunity for frolicking while in her parents' house, Tara and I planned on heading out Sunday afternoon and stopping for the night somewhere along the way since we had no classes until Monday afternoon. Tara dozed off right out of town and started stirring after an hour or so of sleep. She was floating in and out of sleep, adjusting herself in the seat and staring out the window. I was focused on the road when I heard her mumble, “Oooh. Check that out” while looking out the window. Looking over, I saw her gesturing toward a billboard for the regions “Most Romantic Resort”. “Hot tubs! Private Cabins! Fireplaces” were all highlighted on the billboard. There was a picture of a couple cuddling in front of a fireplace to complete the obvious vibe they were going for. Tara grabbed a pen and scribbled down the phone number on a scrap of paper she found. She then grabbed my phone and called the property. I could only hear one side of the conversation where she was asking if there were rooms available, what types, how much and all those details. At one point, she reached into her purse, took out a credit card and read the number to the person she was talking to. After she hung up, she gave me an update. “So cool! They have cabins for Sunday night! The rate includes a dinner package in their restaurant; and listen about our room! It's a private cabin and it has an all-season hot tub, fireplace and she sold me on the ‘Romance Package' whatever THAT is” she laughed. “Well, I guess we're staying there, huh?” I chuckled back. “Of course! How can we pass up a cheesy romantic cabin in the hills, with dinner AND a romance package!” “So what the hell is in the Romance Package?” “I have no idea. The girl on the phone asked if we ‘would be interested in the Romance Package for an extra $35' what was I gonna say? No? Besides, it'll be fun. If we can get out of my parents' place by 4ish on Sunday, we could get there, have dinner, grab some drinks and then have fun in our cabin!” “But I still want to know what's in the romance package” I pressed, again. “Seriously? That's your big question? I have no idea. But it's a romantic resort we've never heard of, in the middle of nowhere - so I'm betting it's some of that kind of stuff from Spencer's Gifts. Y'know, flavored massage oil, blindfold, fake rose petals!” She started laughing at the expected lameness of the package. “Call back. Maybe there's a deluxe romance upgrade!” I laughed back, “See if we can get the handcuffs, vibrator, lube and a goat for $20 more!” I got a solid punch in the arm in addition to her response, “What the fuck is wrong with you? Of course you'd want that kind of stuff. Is that what you want? Me tied up in a remote cabin with a bunch of toys and a goat?” “I mean, besides the goat…..” I started, which earned me another punch in the arm. We settled back into the drive and were quiet for a few more minutes. When I looked over, I saw that Tara was definitely getting “fidgety” in her seat. 'You ok?“ I asked. “Um….I hate to actually admit this to you, but the thought of the cabin, you talking about tying me up, I'm actually getting wet.” Tara was slowly rubbing her thighs together, trying to build some friction. Her eyes were closed and her right hand was starting to rub her breast and nipple through her shirt. The subtle motions continued until she finally exclaimed, “Fuck….now I'm horny as shit.” She unbuckled her seatbelt and unbuttoned her jeans. Lifting her hips up off the seat, she slid her jeans and black panties down over her hips. Her pussy was now in clear view, she was mostly shaved, with a small landing strip. She settled back into her seat and thrust two of her fingers into her mouth. I watched as she got her index and middle finger nice and wet. With her eyes closed, she moved her hand down to her pussy and began to stroke up and down her lips. A moan escaped her as her fingers danced up and down, spreading her moisture over her most intimate area. She used her other hand to spread herself open as she started to flutter a finger on her clit. I had seen her masterbate enough to know this was her favorite approach to orgasm. A finger, vibrator or tongue flicking and dancing directly on her clit while having something penetrate her was a guaranteed path to a climax for her. As much as I wanted to reach over and touch her myself, I was struggling with a bunch of things, from watching the erotic scene next to me, to the constraints of my tightening jeans, to staying focused on the road. As I tried to watch her without getting us killed, I simply asked, “What are thinking about, babe?” “I just want to cum. I want you buried inside me, fucking me. I want you to bend me over, take me and fuck me hard.” I could tell Tara was getting close to coming, because she had this habit of getting red and flushed all across her chest when she came. When orgasms were especially intense, the splotches would extend all up her neck and into her cheeks. It was the tell-tale sign of a major Tara orgasm. Her hand picked up speed as I tried to push her over the edge. “Yeah? You looking forward to a good fuck? But what about your ass? You know how much I love your ass. Just think, when we have our cabin, I'll get my dick nice and wet in your pussy… I'll grab your ankles push them back so you are spread wide open.” Her hand was a blur at this point, she had worked two fingers from her other hand into her pussy while she continued the assault on her clit. “Uh….yeah….tell me….make me cum” she moaned. “I'll work that hard, lubed cock into your ass. Not thrusting yet. Just slowly pressing harder as I slide further into your hole.” “More…. almost there.” I reached down and adjusted my cock which was now uncomfortably wedged in some terrible trifecta of boxers, denim and seatbelt. I told her the rest of my plan. “I could reach over, pick up the vibrator and push it into your pussy, babe. When I turn it on, you'll feel me slamming into your ass, while the vibrator fills your pussy up. You'll feel me through the walls of your pussy pressing up against the toy, making us into one big vibe. Buzzing, thrusting, filling you up until you explode your hot juices all over the….” “Argh; Uhg; Uhg”. Tara's entire body clenched, spasmed, and shook for a moment. Her fingers kept dancing on her clit, but were slowing down as she recaptured her breath. She reached out and started to grab her breast before realizing that her hand was still covered in fluids. She flopped back in her seat, her chest and neck covered in bright red splotches, her legs still spread, gasping for air. For a minute, she looked like she had passed out, but slowly she got her breath and pulse back to normal. She said, “Fuck, dude. I'm going to show up at my parents house reeking of sex. We have to stop somewhere so I can clean up.” “Really? Not my fault. You started it with the whole hot tub, romance package thing. Consider this punishment for banishing me to the guest room for next 2 nights.” “I'm serious. Pull over when we can so I can get cleaned up.” She then added with a smirk, “And enjoy those blue balls that are gonna kick in REAL soon, smart ass. Maybe that will be my April Fools gift to you! Keep you hard all weekend, but not let you have any sort of release?” We did end up stopping at a rest plaza so Tara could get herself together. I stretched out for the last hour of the drive, trying to ignore the growing discomfort from my lack of personal release and hoping that Tara's didn't go through with her idea of a “fun” April Fools joke. When we finally pulled into the house, it was your typical suburban home. The family all came out to greet us. Henry and Lois, Tara's parents were the first ones out. They looked like two, normal American parents. Henry had a salt and pepper beard, and was a bit taller and heavier than me. Lois had a definite resemblance to Tara, but was shorter, stouter and jovial. In all honesty, I could 100% see them both using some white hair spray, padding and putting on costumes and being Mr. & Mrs. Claus at the local church or Christmas parade. I had met them before, so I was greeted with hugs and warm welcomes. Next up were Tara's much younger twin half-siblings, Josh and Denise. They looked to be at the start of their awkward teenage years with graphic t-shirts and overall disinterested looks on their faces. We worked our way into the house with our bags. Lois started, “Tara, your room is all set. Jason, we have a guest room upstairs next to Lindsay's room for you.” That's when we heard a voice from upstairs. “Hey bee otch. What's up?” I looked up and did a double take. I had seen pictures of Tara's younger sister Lindsay, but they were older pictures – from family vacations at Disney and the like. The young woman coming down the stairs instantly let me know what Tara looked like 8 years earlier. They could have been twins. Same hair, same eyes, same smile. Worse for me, she had the same body as Tara – just a bit firmer and younger. I could tell because Lindsay was dressed in a half-shirt showing her school logo and a pair of gray sweats emblazoned with PINK down the leg. Tara and Linsday hugged, while Lois hung her head with a voice only a mother can generate, “Really Lindsay? You couldn't have put on something other than what you sleep in to greet them?” “I did! I put on a bra!” laughed Lindsay as she purposely jumped up and down a bit. “Lindsay! Go get changed! We're going to Alfredo's for dinner. Now!” Henry's voice had that “father” tone that left no room for debate. We all separated to our rooms. Tara's was at the top of the stairs, then the twins rooms on each side of the hallway, then a bathroom, then Lindsay's whose room was next to mine in the corner. Henry & Lois had their room on the main floor down the hall from the kitchen where we walked in. We all went to dinner, got home, watched TV, and people slowly began drifting off to their rooms. I was tired from driving, so I went up and got settled in. I could hear people shuffling around as read a book in bed. In the room next door, I could hear Tara and Lindsey chatting and laughing as I dozed off. Saturday came and it was a cool, damp day. We all came down for breakfast and Tara and I maintained that awkward, “showing affection, but not being gross or inappropriate” you do around parents. We all had our list of errands to do that day. I was picking up booze for the party, plus some tables and linens since I had an SUV. Henry and Josh helped with some of it and we made multiple trips back and forth to stores all day long. Tara helped Lois pick up her dress and went to visit her grandma. For dinner, pizza and salads were ordered for the house and we all just went over the plan for the next day. Caterers were coming at 10 with the food, they were going to prep, cook and serve for when the party started at noon. Tara and Lindsay were going to help Lois get ready (they were renewing their vows to start the festivities) while Josh & Denise were told to get dressed and keep the house neat. After dinner, Tara asked if I wanted to go to the local pub. It was your typical local bar with beers, basic pub food and all locals. “Can I come too?” said Lindsay. There were some strange looks around the table until Lois said, “I think you have to be 21 on weekends.” “Not if you sit at a table at the bar, not the bar, itself. There are kids in there all the time.” Rebutted Lindsay. “Besides, if I go, I can drive home so you two can drink!” Tara jumped in, “Mom. Don't worry about it – I never get to see my sister, she can come along. Let's all get changed and go in 30.” With that, we cleaned up, freshened up, and went out to my car. As soon as we got in the car, the sisters starting giggling. Tara turned and looked at her sister in the back seat, “Ok to eat at the table. You are unreal!” “It's true….. technically!” Lindsay retorted. “OK, but since you're visiting from Connecticut, wouldn't you rather sit at the bar with the grown ups?” They then degenerated into torrents of laughter. “Ok”, I asked. “What am I missing?” Tara finally smartened me up, “Linds has a fake ID. Literally everyone knows about it ….. except Dad. Since he serves on the college faculty, we don't want him to have to lie, so we keep it from him. But yeah literally everyone else knows. Mom, me, the bartenders, everyone knows that "Becky” here just turned 20.“ Lindsay chimed in with, "I mean, I literally went to school with half the people that work there. The fact that they all know to call me Becky is Ah-mah-zing!” The bar was less than 10 minutes away, so we got there quickly and settled in at the bar. The whole night was a ton of fun. Tara and Lindsay…er…Becky….knew everyone. We drank Rolling Rock by the bucketful. Every time you turned around, someone else was buying a bucket of beers to share or a round of shots. The girls and I had migrated to a high-top table in the corner and the booze was definitely kicking in. When I ordered a couple of cokes in a row, Lindsay delicately asked, “Dude. What the fuck?” “Well, I figured you're not going to be in any shape to drive, so I figured I better stop now.” “HA! Why do you think we came up with that plan? It's only a 10 minute walk home if we cut through the high school grounds. We're gonna tell Dad that I didn't realize you drive a stick shift and I couldn't drive. Then, you can come and get the car in the morning!” The girls laughed, high-fived, and the night continued. I had some serious body weight on the sisters, but Man….could they put away the booze. Tara got up to use the restroom, which left me and Linsday alone. After a minute, she looked me in they eye, gave me a strangely-familiar sultry smile that I had seen from her sister and asked, “Like the shirt?” I looked at the shirt, with the clueless look only a guy can give and answered, “Yes, it looks great on you.” In truth, it was a nice top. It was a black and grey top that had a modern pattern throughout. The sleeves were different in that from the shoulders to the cuffs, there were criss-crossed pieces of fabric that left a lot of skin exposed. It wasn't really form-fitting, but Lindsey's pert breasts were definitely noticeable in it. “I actually got it from Tara. She left it behind after Christmas break and I snuck in and stole it from her. I just love the pattern. I think the sleeves are so cool.” Then, with her sister's trademark smirk she added, “ I really like the extra…. pattern and …. texture on the front.” Oh shit. I felt like one of those sitcoms where the main characters past flashes by in a quick montage … and I remembered the shirt. For my birthday in December, Tara and I went to New York City for the weekend. We went to a club and she wore that exact top with a pair of skintight leather pants and heels. We had been drinking and flirting and teasing all night long. BY the time we got back to the hotel, we fell into the elevator and started making out intensely. As we worked our tongues down each other's throats, I started unbuckling her belt. When I grabbed her wrists, she prepared herself for me to start undoing her pants and going after her pussy. Instead, I undid the belt halfway, threaded it through the webbing of her shirt cuffs and rethreaded it through the belt loops. Suddenly, she was like a prisoner with her hands cuffed behind her back. I continued to maul her mouth with mine until we heard the 'ding' of our floor. I walked her in front of me, with her hands bound until we got to our door. I fumbled out our key card and opened the door to our room. I pushed her inside and locked the door behind us. One of the most attractive things about Tara is that she would never back down. As I led her into the room, she got sharp sarcastic tone to her voice and said, “Nice, smart guy. But you can't get my pants down like this, can you?” “Who said I wanted what's in your pants?” I then pushed her so her legs hit the end of the bed. Before she could fall backwards…. I pushed her down and slid her forward onto her knees. She got the sexiest smile as I unbuckled my pants, dropped my boxers and simply said, “Suck.” Tara opened her mouth and enveloped my cock. She didn't start with anything delicate like licking and kissing, it was straight-up sucking. I'm average in the dick size department, so she took me in deep, getting all the way to my balls with ease, she came back and kept going with increasing suction. As I started to groan in pleasure, she began kissing the sides of my shaft until she got down to my balls. She took one, then, the other and licked and sucked on them. Then, it was back to my cock. She went back and forth, making it feel as good as any pussy I had ever been in. She backed off for a minute with I still remember as one of the sexiest sentences ever. “Either untie my hands so I can do this right, or grab me and fuck my face.” I chose the latter. I grabbed two fistfuls of her hair and started aggressively fucking her mouth and throat. To her credit, Tara kept up the suction and using her tongue as best she could while being forced on to my cock. Her eyes were watering a bit and as the pressure built, her saliva was dripping off her chin to the hotel carpet. Finally, when I hit my limit, I started to explode. The first two bursts went down her throat, but then I shocked her again. I pulled my cock from her mouth and let the remaining cum coat her face, mouth and the top of her shirt. When we finally finished, she said, “You fucker. This was a new shirt. But, with the grey pattern, I may just leave it like this. Everyone will think it's part of the shirt, but you and I know I'm wearing your cum around my neck like a medal every time I have it on.” All of this came flooding back to me in the bar as I struggled for words, “Uh…well, it looks great on you… Linds… er… Becky. I mean…. fuck.” Tara walked back to table to see my bright red face and Lindsay beaming. “He figured out the shirt didn't he?” Then to me, “Sorry, babe. You'll learn to understand my sister's weird sense of humor.” Lindsay added, “C'mon! Think of it as an April Fools joke! I mean, the look on your face was awesome.” “April Fools joke?” I questioned as I looked back at Tara, “How does she even know about that shirt?” “Babe. You're an only child. You don't understand how much sisters like to share things.” “What do you mean share?” I fumbled. That earned me a solid punch in the arm from Tara, which seemed to be happening fairly often on this trip. “Ew! Gross! I meant stories! Not men! This isn't some porn you watch when I'm not over your place, you sicko! So, don't get your "twin cest” fantasies all wound up in your head, you ass!“ "Fuck……” was pretty much all I could mutter as we went back to drinking. After another hour or so, we walked home. It was chilly, which helped us to sober up a bit, but we were still pretty buzzed. We walked in the door just after midnight and went to our rooms. At about 2:30, I felt something stirring on my bed. As I opened my blurry eyes, I could see the darkened form of Tara in our College's Sweatshirt and a pair of purple checkered panties slowly straddling me. “Shush. Everyone's sleeping” she whispered, “We have to be quiet.” She started gyrating those purple panties against my swelling cock while she kept her hands behind her on my thighs. My cock was rock hard and started to emerge from the fly in my boxers. I could feel the wetness of her pussy coming through her panties starting to lubricate my cock. As she started to moan, she lifted my hands under her sweatshirt to her tits. I grabbed a handful of her bare tits and started to feel her nipple stiffening. That's when it hit me. Twice. In the same second. Tara didn't own purple panties. In fact, she hates the color purple. Next, those weren't her tits. They were close. They were amazing. But they weren't Tara's. All of a sudden, I was like John Cena kicking out of a pin, or more accurately a fish flopping around on land. “Lindsay! Get off” I whisper-yelled and I gave her a solid shove. She landed on her ass at the foot of the bed. I was expecting tears, I was expecting a commotion, I was expecting to be killed by my girlfriend or her father. Instead, I got another smirk. “Oh well, I tried. April Fools?”  And she got up and left the room as quietly as she had entered. For the second time in as many days, I was left with a solid hard on, with the scent of an incredibly hot woman left behind. Needless to say, I got an awful night sleep. Between the alcohol, the late-night visit, and a raging hard-on, I had lost the sleep battle. I was also seriously wondering if I was somehow going to be blamed, then killed for the events of the night before. I needed to burn off some stress and the remaining alcohol, so I got up at 7:30 with the sun streaming through a crack in the window and threw on my running gear. I hit the empty neighborhood streets and started to sweat out everything from the night before. At the end of my loop, I ran back by the bar and picked up my car. As I arrived back at the house around 9:00 with coffee and donuts (in case I needed a bribe), everything seemed normal. I visited with everyone, went upstairs to grab a shower and get changed to help out for the day. When I came down at 10:15 – everything had gone to Hell. Lois was sobbing, Henry was on the phone yelling. Tara and Lindsay were trying to offer suggestions, while Josh and Denise stared silently. Pulling Tara aside, I asked, “T – what's going on?” “Turns out the caterer fucked up. They dropped off the food while you were upstairs, but they aren't staying to prep it, cook it, set it out or serve it. Lo is losing her mind, Henry is ready to punch someone.” Henry was screaming into the phone, “And I know more people in this town that I will destroy your business, do you understand?!?” “Hey Lois?” I tried to interrupt. But Lois couldn't stop crying, “Oh, girls, it's ruined. We can't get all this done in time for the guests.” “Uh….Tara? Henry?” I attempted to get anyone's attention. “Thanks For Nothing, Henry Yelled; and slammed the phone!! "Oh Henry…..Wah!” As they hysterics built to a crescendo, I finally spoke loudly enough to cut through the noise. “Uh, Anyone? Just Stop for a second!” While Lois was still whimpering, there was at least some silence. “No offense, but I'm literally standing right here. You know I spent all of college working in restaurants and bars, right? Plus, all my work experience is with caterers and managing events. I literally oversaw a functions department that did weddings for 2,000 people at a hotel in Dallas. I think I can handle 50 friends and family.” Tara was the first to speak, “Oh, my God, J ……thank you. But you can't do all this yourself. I'll help?” “Nope. But here's what I need: You get Lois ready like you planned. Henry, you and the kids finish cleaning up and putting up the tables and stuff. When the flowers get here, show them where it all goes. Linds – you knew a bunch of people working at the bar last night. Can you start texting, calling, whatever, and see if ANY of them can get their asses over here for a quick $100 bucks today? You and I will run that crew.” Lois finally was starting to calm down. “Are you sure, Jason? You're supposed to be a guest.” “Don't worry about it. This is literally what I do. Consider this my gift to you. I'll just keep the salt & pepper shakers that say 'Henry and Lois' for my place!” Henry gave me a big bear hug and said to me and Lindsay, “Tell your friends $200 each. If you can get them and pull this off, I'll pay anything.” And with that, everyone started their tasks. I grabbed the prep instructions the caterers had left and started to figure out timing and how the ovens worked. I was looking for some baking trays under the cabinets, when Lindsay came down and told me she had one bartender, a waitress and a waiter on their way. “Awesome. Any idea when they'll get here? I'm gonna need some help in here.” “Dude. I woke them up after they worked a night shift. Be glad we got who we did. I'll tell you what, I'll help you for now, then when they get here I'll get changed. That way, I'll know what's going on too. Once the party starts, I can be the runner for you and them.” I stood up, walked over and gave Lindsay a big hug. Once again, I felt her amazing tits – this time pressed up against me through her sweater. With that, we started working. I was scribbling on a pad I found, how I was going to schedule out the food so we had it flowing the whole time. Lindsay was unwrapping all the food trays and putting them in different parts of the kitchen at my direction. Time flew by and at noon the servers started showing up. Ed was actually one of the bartenders I met the night before. I had Lindsay show him to the patio, where the makeshift bar was set up. Then I told her to get dressed for the ceremony. I took Leslie & Marc and told them how we were laying things out. As soon as the ceremony ended, we wanted champagne poured and passed out for a toast. While they did that, I'd put the cold platters in the family room and living room. Then, we had time to start pulling the hot food, which they would pass from room to room. As the guests arrived, things picked up. The rooms were small and tight. Leslie, Marc and I were running around with platters of food and clearing old plates. Of course, we were also taking requests from people who were too lazy to walk the 30 feet to Ed at the bar. At about 1:30, I was in the kitchen, on the ground trying to reach into the back of a cabinet for a cake platter. I heard the familiar click-click of high heel shoes and squirmed out of the cabinet. I looked over to see that I was within a tongue-length of an amazing pair of legs perched on a pair of black heels. My eyes traveled up to see that Lindsay was wearing a short, pleated yellow skirt with a white blouse that accentuated her amazing tits. “You need anything, boss?” she asked. “Uh…no Linds. All is good here.” She took a half step forward and could have straddled my head and answered, “You sure?” “Lindsay, c'mon, kid, you gotta stop with the flirting. You're killing me.” Without moving, she continued, “I may have been drunk last night, but I figured out what tipped you off it wasn't me. First, it was my tits. You've felt Tara's enough to know mine weren't hers. I should have kept your hands outside the sweatshirt, Next, it was the panties. Tara hates purple. So, I fixed that, too,” With that, she lifted her skirt to show me her naked pussy. It's not an understatement to say it was amazing. The lips were shaved bare, but she kept a very thin, very fine landing strip that ended at the top of her cleft, just like her sister. Everything looked perfect and it was all…right…there. “I mean you haven't had a chance to stop and eat. Don't you want a snack?” Sounds of people heading our way made Lindsay drop her skirt, grab a platter of desserts and leave the room with a flounce. “I swear” I muttered to myself as I readjusted my dick yet again, “one more little prank from her and I'm gonna murder someone this weekend.” At this point, I was tired, sweating, and laying on the tile floor of a kitchen, trying to hide my erectness. Finally, after a few hours, the party started to wind down. Friends left, some family members remained. The immediate family all started to get changed out of their dressy clothes. At about 4:30, Tara found her way to the kitchen just I was cleaning up with the team. “Babe. Thank you so much. I talked to my parents and told them we are going to head out. Go get yourself together and let's get on the road. If anyone deserves a good dinner tonight, it's you.” I went upstairs and took my first good look at myself in the mirror. I was covered in food remnants and splatters. I undressed and threw on jeans, and a new shirt. I packed up my stuff, grabbed Tara's bags and loaded up the car. We went back in to say goodbye to everyone. Henry and Lo were still with some remaining guests on the patio. The kids were playing video games. Lindsay was with some cousins and friends drinking a glass of wine. Fortunately, she was dressed in a pair of shorts, t-shirt and keds. Henry and Lo couldn't stop hugging and thanking me. The kids gave me high-fives. Lindsay gave me what ended up being a fairly chaste hug. As we pulled away, she said to Tara, “You've got a good one, T!” As I made my way toward the door, Henry reached out to me again, taking me another big bear hug. I've got some size, but I thought he was going to break my ribs. He pulled away and said, “You're a good man, Jason. Thank you.” With that he stuck out his hand for a final handshake. Having worked in restaurants for years, I felt the familiar “gentlemen's tip” moving some folded bills into my hand. “Don't say a word” he said quietly. You saved us today and if the servers got $200…that's the least I can do for you.“ I thanked him, hugged him again and discreetly put the money in my pocket. Tara and I hopped in the car and started heading to Midnock Valley Resort. We had about a 3 hour drive and we just chatted about the party in general. About an hour in, Tara asked me, "So, did she hit on you?” I didn't know how to answer…so I went with a blank stare. “Babe. It's ok. She does it all the time. It's some little sister thing. Wants to prove that she can be as grown up as me. But the good news is, if you had done anything – she would have told me right away and tell me you're a scumbag.” “But…..” “Sisters before Misters. It's the golden rule.” “Thank goodness you're hot” I joked, “Because that may be the most fucked-up and lamest thing anyone has ever said to me.” With that, we started laughing and settled in for the rest of the drive. To be continued.. By TruthwithaTwist for Literotica.

My girlfriend and her sister play dueling practical jokes on me. By TruthWithaTwist. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. I was midway through my first year of Graduate school, getting my MBA, when my girlfriend, Tara, asked if I wanted to drive to her family's house a few hours away for the weekend. It was her Mother and Step-Father's 20th wedding party and I jumped at the chance to get away from campus for a few days. The party was scheduled for April 2nd, but their actual anniversary was April 1st, which was a running joke in the family. The chance to get away sounded great and I knew that Tara and I would always find ways to entertain ourselves on long car rides. [[MORE]] I had started dating Tara at the beginning of the year, upon arriving at school. Tara was 3 years older than me at 28 years old. She had high cheekbones, silken brown hair and brown eyes that were expressive and sultry. She was the type of woman who could get you instantly hard with a smirk and sparkle from those eyes. Her body was amazing. Perfect tear-drop C-cup breasts, toned stomach and an ass that was just full enough to fill out the best pair of jeans. Within weeks of meeting, Tara and I became the “couple” in our friend group. Privately, we were a typical sex-focused young couple. Fortunately, we were both fairly adventurous and were willing to stretch the limits of our sexual fun. On Halloween, we found ourselves on the roof of my apartment building having sex dressed at Batman and Catwoman. One day, we decided to slink into the small town's only Adult Store where we bought a selection of toys to share, from handcuffs to vibrators to anal toys. After losing a bet on an Auburn/Alabama game on a Saturday, Tara found herself tied naked to the couch in my apartment for the duration of Sunday's Bears game as I alternated between watching the game and using her as I pleased. So, the idea of a road trip, even to her parents' house, was always a promising scenario. We didn't have classes on Friday so were on the road just after noon. It would take about 5 hours to drive to her house, so we filled my Jeep Cherokee with our bags and hit the road. I had met her parents before but it would be the first time I was meeting her younger sister, as well as her twin step-brother and step-sister. I was hearing that we were going to be doing some family-stuff on Saturday (visiting grandma, picking up stuff for the party, etc.) and then they were hosting an “anniversary brunch” at the house on Sunday. Since we both knew there would be no opportunity for frolicking while in her parents' house, Tara and I planned on heading out Sunday afternoon and stopping for the night somewhere along the way since we had no classes until Monday afternoon. Tara dozed off right out of town and started stirring after an hour or so of sleep. She was floating in and out of sleep, adjusting herself in the seat and staring out the window. I was focused on the road when I heard her mumble, “Oooh. Check that out” while looking out the window. Looking over, I saw her gesturing toward a billboard for the regions “Most Romantic Resort”. “Hot tubs! Private Cabins! Fireplaces” were all highlighted on the billboard. There was a picture of a couple cuddling in front of a fireplace to complete the obvious vibe they were going for. Tara grabbed a pen and scribbled down the phone number on a scrap of paper she found. She then grabbed my phone and called the property. I could only hear one side of the conversation where she was asking if there were rooms available, what types, how much and all those details. At one point, she reached into her purse, took out a credit card and read the number to the person she was talking to. After she hung up, she gave me an update. “So cool! They have cabins for Sunday night! The rate includes a dinner package in their restaurant; and listen about our room! It's a private cabin and it has an all-season hot tub, fireplace and she sold me on the ‘Romance Package' whatever THAT is” she laughed. “Well, I guess we're staying there, huh?” I chuckled back. “Of course! How can we pass up a cheesy romantic cabin in the hills, with dinner AND a romance package!” “So what the hell is in the Romance Package?” “I have no idea. The girl on the phone asked if we ‘would be interested in the Romance Package for an extra $35' what was I gonna say? No? Besides, it'll be fun. If we can get out of my parents' place by 4ish on Sunday, we could get there, have dinner, grab some drinks and then have fun in our cabin!” “But I still want to know what's in the romance package” I pressed, again. “Seriously? That's your big question? I have no idea. But it's a romantic resort we've never heard of, in the middle of nowhere - so I'm betting it's some of that kind of stuff from Spencer's Gifts. Y'know, flavored massage oil, blindfold, fake rose petals!” She started laughing at the expected lameness of the package. “Call back. Maybe there's a deluxe romance upgrade!” I laughed back, “See if we can get the handcuffs, vibrator, lube and a goat for $20 more!” I got a solid punch in the arm in addition to her response, “What the fuck is wrong with you? Of course you'd want that kind of stuff. Is that what you want? Me tied up in a remote cabin with a bunch of toys and a goat?” “I mean, besides the goat…..” I started, which earned me another punch in the arm. We settled back into the drive and were quiet for a few more minutes. When I looked over, I saw that Tara was definitely getting “fidgety” in her seat. 'You ok?“ I asked. “Um….I hate to actually admit this to you, but the thought of the cabin, you talking about tying me up, I'm actually getting wet.” Tara was slowly rubbing her thighs together, trying to build some friction. Her eyes were closed and her right hand was starting to rub her breast and nipple through her shirt. The subtle motions continued until she finally exclaimed, “Fuck….now I'm horny as shit.” She unbuckled her seatbelt and unbuttoned her jeans. Lifting her hips up off the seat, she slid her jeans and black panties down over her hips. Her pussy was now in clear view, she was mostly shaved, with a small landing strip. She settled back into her seat and thrust two of her fingers into her mouth. I watched as she got her index and middle finger nice and wet. With her eyes closed, she moved her hand down to her pussy and began to stroke up and down her lips. A moan escaped her as her fingers danced up and down, spreading her moisture over her most intimate area. She used her other hand to spread herself open as she started to flutter a finger on her clit. I had seen her masterbate enough to know this was her favorite approach to orgasm. A finger, vibrator or tongue flicking and dancing directly on her clit while having something penetrate her was a guaranteed path to a climax for her. As much as I wanted to reach over and touch her myself, I was struggling with a bunch of things, from watching the erotic scene next to me, to the constraints of my tightening jeans, to staying focused on the road. As I tried to watch her without getting us killed, I simply asked, “What are thinking about, babe?” “I just want to cum. I want you buried inside me, fucking me. I want you to bend me over, take me and fuck me hard.” I could tell Tara was getting close to coming, because she had this habit of getting red and flushed all across her chest when she came. When orgasms were especially intense, the splotches would extend all up her neck and into her cheeks. It was the tell-tale sign of a major Tara orgasm. Her hand picked up speed as I tried to push her over the edge. “Yeah? You looking forward to a good fuck? But what about your ass? You know how much I love your ass. Just think, when we have our cabin, I'll get my dick nice and wet in your pussy… I'll grab your ankles push them back so you are spread wide open.” Her hand was a blur at this point, she had worked two fingers from her other hand into her pussy while she continued the assault on her clit. “Uh….yeah….tell me….make me cum” she moaned. “I'll work that hard, lubed cock into your ass. Not thrusting yet. Just slowly pressing harder as I slide further into your hole.” “More…. almost there.” I reached down and adjusted my cock which was now uncomfortably wedged in some terrible trifecta of boxers, denim and seatbelt. I told her the rest of my plan. “I could reach over, pick up the vibrator and push it into your pussy, babe. When I turn it on, you'll feel me slamming into your ass, while the vibrator fills your pussy up. You'll feel me through the walls of your pussy pressing up against the toy, making us into one big vibe. Buzzing, thrusting, filling you up until you explode your hot juices all over the….” “Argh; Uhg; Uhg”. Tara's entire body clenched, spasmed, and shook for a moment. Her fingers kept dancing on her clit, but were slowing down as she recaptured her breath. She reached out and started to grab her breast before realizing that her hand was still covered in fluids. She flopped back in her seat, her chest and neck covered in bright red splotches, her legs still spread, gasping for air. For a minute, she looked like she had passed out, but slowly she got her breath and pulse back to normal. She said, “Fuck, dude. I'm going to show up at my parents house reeking of sex. We have to stop somewhere so I can clean up.” “Really? Not my fault. You started it with the whole hot tub, romance package thing. Consider this punishment for banishing me to the guest room for next 2 nights.” “I'm serious. Pull over when we can so I can get cleaned up.” She then added with a smirk, “And enjoy those blue balls that are gonna kick in REAL soon, smart ass. Maybe that will be my April Fools gift to you! Keep you hard all weekend, but not let you have any sort of release?” We did end up stopping at a rest plaza so Tara could get herself together. I stretched out for the last hour of the drive, trying to ignore the growing discomfort from my lack of personal release and hoping that Tara's didn't go through with her idea of a “fun” April Fools joke. When we finally pulled into the house, it was your typical suburban home. The family all came out to greet us. Henry and Lois, Tara's parents were the first ones out. They looked like two, normal American parents. Henry had a salt and pepper beard, and was a bit taller and heavier than me. Lois had a definite resemblance to Tara, but was shorter, stouter and jovial. In all honesty, I could 100% see them both using some white hair spray, padding and putting on costumes and being Mr. & Mrs. Claus at the local church or Christmas parade. I had met them before, so I was greeted with hugs and warm welcomes. Next up were Tara's much younger twin half-siblings, Josh and Denise. They looked to be at the start of their awkward teenage years with graphic t-shirts and overall disinterested looks on their faces. We worked our way into the house with our bags. Lois started, “Tara, your room is all set. Jason, we have a guest room upstairs next to Lindsay's room for you.” That's when we heard a voice from upstairs. “Hey bee otch. What's up?” I looked up and did a double take. I had seen pictures of Tara's younger sister Lindsay, but they were older pictures – from family vacations at Disney and the like. The young woman coming down the stairs instantly let me know what Tara looked like 8 years earlier. They could have been twins. Same hair, same eyes, same smile. Worse for me, she had the same body as Tara – just a bit firmer and younger. I could tell because Lindsay was dressed in a half-shirt showing her school logo and a pair of gray sweats emblazoned with PINK down the leg. Tara and Linsday hugged, while Lois hung her head with a voice only a mother can generate, “Really Lindsay? You couldn't have put on something other than what you sleep in to greet them?” “I did! I put on a bra!” laughed Lindsay as she purposely jumped up and down a bit. “Lindsay! Go get changed! We're going to Alfredo's for dinner. Now!” Henry's voice had that “father” tone that left no room for debate. We all separated to our rooms. Tara's was at the top of the stairs, then the twins rooms on each side of the hallway, then a bathroom, then Lindsay's whose room was next to mine in the corner. Henry & Lois had their room on the main floor down the hall from the kitchen where we walked in. We all went to dinner, got home, watched TV, and people slowly began drifting off to their rooms. I was tired from driving, so I went up and got settled in. I could hear people shuffling around as read a book in bed. In the room next door, I could hear Tara and Lindsey chatting and laughing as I dozed off. Saturday came and it was a cool, damp day. We all came down for breakfast and Tara and I maintained that awkward, “showing affection, but not being gross or inappropriate” you do around parents. We all had our list of errands to do that day. I was picking up booze for the party, plus some tables and linens since I had an SUV. Henry and Josh helped with some of it and we made multiple trips back and forth to stores all day long. Tara helped Lois pick up her dress and went to visit her grandma. For dinner, pizza and salads were ordered for the house and we all just went over the plan for the next day. Caterers were coming at 10 with the food, they were going to prep, cook and serve for when the party started at noon. Tara and Lindsay were going to help Lois get ready (they were renewing their vows to start the festivities) while Josh & Denise were told to get dressed and keep the house neat. After dinner, Tara asked if I wanted to go to the local pub. It was your typical local bar with beers, basic pub food and all locals. “Can I come too?” said Lindsay. There were some strange looks around the table until Lois said, “I think you have to be 21 on weekends.” “Not if you sit at a table at the bar, not the bar, itself. There are kids in there all the time.” Rebutted Lindsay. “Besides, if I go, I can drive home so you two can drink!” Tara jumped in, “Mom. Don't worry about it – I never get to see my sister, she can come along. Let's all get changed and go in 30.” With that, we cleaned up, freshened up, and went out to my car. As soon as we got in the car, the sisters starting giggling. Tara turned and looked at her sister in the back seat, “Ok to eat at the table. You are unreal!” “It's true….. technically!” Lindsay retorted. “OK, but since you're visiting from Connecticut, wouldn't you rather sit at the bar with the grown ups?” They then degenerated into torrents of laughter. “Ok”, I asked. “What am I missing?” Tara finally smartened me up, “Linds has a fake ID. Literally everyone knows about it ….. except Dad. Since he serves on the college faculty, we don't want him to have to lie, so we keep it from him. But yeah literally everyone else knows. Mom, me, the bartenders, everyone knows that "Becky” here just turned 20.“ Lindsay chimed in with, "I mean, I literally went to school with half the people that work there. The fact that they all know to call me Becky is Ah-mah-zing!” The bar was less than 10 minutes away, so we got there quickly and settled in at the bar. The whole night was a ton of fun. Tara and Lindsay…er…Becky….knew everyone. We drank Rolling Rock by the bucketful. Every time you turned around, someone else was buying a bucket of beers to share or a round of shots. The girls and I had migrated to a high-top table in the corner and the booze was definitely kicking in. When I ordered a couple of cokes in a row, Lindsay delicately asked, “Dude. What the fuck?” “Well, I figured you're not going to be in any shape to drive, so I figured I better stop now.” “HA! Why do you think we came up with that plan? It's only a 10 minute walk home if we cut through the high school grounds. We're gonna tell Dad that I didn't realize you drive a stick shift and I couldn't drive. Then, you can come and get the car in the morning!” The girls laughed, high-fived, and the night continued. I had some serious body weight on the sisters, but Man….could they put away the booze. Tara got up to use the restroom, which left me and Linsday alone. After a minute, she looked me in they eye, gave me a strangely-familiar sultry smile that I had seen from her sister and asked, “Like the shirt?” I looked at the shirt, with the clueless look only a guy can give and answered, “Yes, it looks great on you.” In truth, it was a nice top. It was a black and grey top that had a modern pattern throughout. The sleeves were different in that from the shoulders to the cuffs, there were criss-crossed pieces of fabric that left a lot of skin exposed. It wasn't really form-fitting, but Lindsey's pert breasts were definitely noticeable in it. “I actually got it from Tara. She left it behind after Christmas break and I snuck in and stole it from her. I just love the pattern. I think the sleeves are so cool.” Then, with her sister's trademark smirk she added, “ I really like the extra…. pattern and …. texture on the front.” Oh shit. I felt like one of those sitcoms where the main characters past flashes by in a quick montage … and I remembered the shirt. For my birthday in December, Tara and I went to New York City for the weekend. We went to a club and she wore that exact top with a pair of skintight leather pants and heels. We had been drinking and flirting and teasing all night long. BY the time we got back to the hotel, we fell into the elevator and started making out intensely. As we worked our tongues down each other's throats, I started unbuckling her belt. When I grabbed her wrists, she prepared herself for me to start undoing her pants and going after her pussy. Instead, I undid the belt halfway, threaded it through the webbing of her shirt cuffs and rethreaded it through the belt loops. Suddenly, she was like a prisoner with her hands cuffed behind her back. I continued to maul her mouth with mine until we heard the 'ding' of our floor. I walked her in front of me, with her hands bound until we got to our door. I fumbled out our key card and opened the door to our room. I pushed her inside and locked the door behind us. One of the most attractive things about Tara is that she would never back down. As I led her into the room, she got sharp sarcastic tone to her voice and said, “Nice, smart guy. But you can't get my pants down like this, can you?” “Who said I wanted what's in your pants?” I then pushed her so her legs hit the end of the bed. Before she could fall backwards…. I pushed her down and slid her forward onto her knees. She got the sexiest smile as I unbuckled my pants, dropped my boxers and simply said, “Suck.” Tara opened her mouth and enveloped my cock. She didn't start with anything delicate like licking and kissing, it was straight-up sucking. I'm average in the dick size department, so she took me in deep, getting all the way to my balls with ease, she came back and kept going with increasing suction. As I started to groan in pleasure, she began kissing the sides of my shaft until she got down to my balls. She took one, then, the other and licked and sucked on them. Then, it was back to my cock. She went back and forth, making it feel as good as any pussy I had ever been in. She backed off for a minute with I still remember as one of the sexiest sentences ever. “Either untie my hands so I can do this right, or grab me and fuck my face.” I chose the latter. I grabbed two fistfuls of her hair and started aggressively fucking her mouth and throat. To her credit, Tara kept up the suction and using her tongue as best she could while being forced on to my cock. Her eyes were watering a bit and as the pressure built, her saliva was dripping off her chin to the hotel carpet. Finally, when I hit my limit, I started to explode. The first two bursts went down her throat, but then I shocked her again. I pulled my cock from her mouth and let the remaining cum coat her face, mouth and the top of her shirt. When we finally finished, she said, “You fucker. This was a new shirt. But, with the grey pattern, I may just leave it like this. Everyone will think it's part of the shirt, but you and I know I'm wearing your cum around my neck like a medal every time I have it on.” All of this came flooding back to me in the bar as I struggled for words, “Uh…well, it looks great on you… Linds… er… Becky. I mean…. fuck.” Tara walked back to table to see my bright red face and Lindsay beaming. “He figured out the shirt didn't he?” Then to me, “Sorry, babe. You'll learn to understand my sister's weird sense of humor.” Lindsay added, “C'mon! Think of it as an April Fools joke! I mean, the look on your face was awesome.” “April Fools joke?” I questioned as I looked back at Tara, “How does she even know about that shirt?” “Babe. You're an only child. You don't understand how much sisters like to share things.” “What do you mean share?” I fumbled. That earned me a solid punch in the arm from Tara, which seemed to be happening fairly often on this trip. “Ew! Gross! I meant stories! Not men! This isn't some porn you watch when I'm not over your place, you sicko! So, don't get your "twin cest” fantasies all wound up in your head, you ass!“ "Fuck……” was pretty much all I could mutter as we went back to drinking. After another hour or so, we walked home. It was chilly, which helped us to sober up a bit, but we were still pretty buzzed. We walked in the door just after midnight and went to our rooms. At about 2:30, I felt something stirring on my bed. As I opened my blurry eyes, I could see the darkened form of Tara in our College's Sweatshirt and a pair of purple checkered panties slowly straddling me. “Shush. Everyone's sleeping” she whispered, “We have to be quiet.” She started gyrating those purple panties against my swelling cock while she kept her hands behind her on my thighs. My cock was rock hard and started to emerge from the fly in my boxers. I could feel the wetness of her pussy coming through her panties starting to lubricate my cock. As she started to moan, she lifted my hands under her sweatshirt to her tits. I grabbed a handful of her bare tits and started to feel her nipple stiffening. That's when it hit me. Twice. In the same second. Tara didn't own purple panties. In fact, she hates the color purple. Next, those weren't her tits. They were close. They were amazing. But they weren't Tara's. All of a sudden, I was like John Cena kicking out of a pin, or more accurately a fish flopping around on land. “Lindsay! Get off” I whisper-yelled and I gave her a solid shove. She landed on her ass at the foot of the bed. I was expecting tears, I was expecting a commotion, I was expecting to be killed by my girlfriend or her father. Instead, I got another smirk. “Oh well, I tried. April Fools?”  And she got up and left the room as quietly as she had entered. For the second time in as many days, I was left with a solid hard on, with the scent of an incredibly hot woman left behind. Needless to say, I got an awful night sleep. Between the alcohol, the late-night visit, and a raging hard-on, I had lost the sleep battle. I was also seriously wondering if I was somehow going to be blamed, then killed for the events of the night before. I needed to burn off some stress and the remaining alcohol, so I got up at 7:30 with the sun streaming through a crack in the window and threw on my running gear. I hit the empty neighborhood streets and started to sweat out everything from the night before. At the end of my loop, I ran back by the bar and picked up my car. As I arrived back at the house around 9:00 with coffee and donuts (in case I needed a bribe), everything seemed normal. I visited with everyone, went upstairs to grab a shower and get changed to help out for the day. When I came down at 10:15 – everything had gone to Hell. Lois was sobbing, Henry was on the phone yelling. Tara and Lindsay were trying to offer suggestions, while Josh and Denise stared silently. Pulling Tara aside, I asked, “T – what's going on?” “Turns out the caterer fucked up. They dropped off the food while you were upstairs, but they aren't staying to prep it, cook it, set it out or serve it. Lo is losing her mind, Henry is ready to punch someone.” Henry was screaming into the phone, “And I know more people in this town that I will destroy your business, do you understand?!?” “Hey Lois?” I tried to interrupt. But Lois couldn't stop crying, “Oh, girls, it's ruined. We can't get all this done in time for the guests.” “Uh….Tara? Henry?” I attempted to get anyone's attention. “Thanks For Nothing, Henry Yelled; and slammed the phone!! "Oh Henry…..Wah!” As they hysterics built to a crescendo, I finally spoke loudly enough to cut through the noise. “Uh, Anyone? Just Stop for a second!” While Lois was still whimpering, there was at least some silence. “No offense, but I'm literally standing right here. You know I spent all of college working in restaurants and bars, right? Plus, all my work experience is with caterers and managing events. I literally oversaw a functions department that did weddings for 2,000 people at a hotel in Dallas. I think I can handle 50 friends and family.” Tara was the first to speak, “Oh, my God, J ……thank you. But you can't do all this yourself. I'll help?” “Nope. But here's what I need: You get Lois ready like you planned. Henry, you and the kids finish cleaning up and putting up the tables and stuff. When the flowers get here, show them where it all goes. Linds – you knew a bunch of people working at the bar last night. Can you start texting, calling, whatever, and see if ANY of them can get their asses over here for a quick $100 bucks today? You and I will run that crew.” Lois finally was starting to calm down. “Are you sure, Jason? You're supposed to be a guest.” “Don't worry about it. This is literally what I do. Consider this my gift to you. I'll just keep the salt & pepper shakers that say 'Henry and Lois' for my place!” Henry gave me a big bear hug and said to me and Lindsay, “Tell your friends $200 each. If you can get them and pull this off, I'll pay anything.” And with that, everyone started their tasks. I grabbed the prep instructions the caterers had left and started to figure out timing and how the ovens worked. I was looking for some baking trays under the cabinets, when Lindsay came down and told me she had one bartender, a waitress and a waiter on their way. “Awesome. Any idea when they'll get here? I'm gonna need some help in here.” “Dude. I woke them up after they worked a night shift. Be glad we got who we did. I'll tell you what, I'll help you for now, then when they get here I'll get changed. That way, I'll know what's going on too. Once the party starts, I can be the runner for you and them.” I stood up, walked over and gave Lindsay a big hug. Once again, I felt her amazing tits – this time pressed up against me through her sweater. With that, we started working. I was scribbling on a pad I found, how I was going to schedule out the food so we had it flowing the whole time. Lindsay was unwrapping all the food trays and putting them in different parts of the kitchen at my direction. Time flew by and at noon the servers started showing up. Ed was actually one of the bartenders I met the night before. I had Lindsay show him to the patio, where the makeshift bar was set up. Then I told her to get dressed for the ceremony. I took Leslie & Marc and told them how we were laying things out. As soon as the ceremony ended, we wanted champagne poured and passed out for a toast. While they did that, I'd put the cold platters in the family room and living room. Then, we had time to start pulling the hot food, which they would pass from room to room. As the guests arrived, things picked up. The rooms were small and tight. Leslie, Marc and I were running around with platters of food and clearing old plates. Of course, we were also taking requests from people who were too lazy to walk the 30 feet to Ed at the bar. At about 1:30, I was in the kitchen, on the ground trying to reach into the back of a cabinet for a cake platter. I heard the familiar click-click of high heel shoes and squirmed out of the cabinet. I looked over to see that I was within a tongue-length of an amazing pair of legs perched on a pair of black heels. My eyes traveled up to see that Lindsay was wearing a short, pleated yellow skirt with a white blouse that accentuated her amazing tits. “You need anything, boss?” she asked. “Uh…no Linds. All is good here.” She took a half step forward and could have straddled my head and answered, “You sure?” “Lindsay, c'mon, kid, you gotta stop with the flirting. You're killing me.” Without moving, she continued, “I may have been drunk last night, but I figured out what tipped you off it wasn't me. First, it was my tits. You've felt Tara's enough to know mine weren't hers. I should have kept your hands outside the sweatshirt, Next, it was the panties. Tara hates purple. So, I fixed that, too,” With that, she lifted her skirt to show me her naked pussy. It's not an understatement to say it was amazing. The lips were shaved bare, but she kept a very thin, very fine landing strip that ended at the top of her cleft, just like her sister. Everything looked perfect and it was all…right…there. “I mean you haven't had a chance to stop and eat. Don't you want a snack?” Sounds of people heading our way made Lindsay drop her skirt, grab a platter of desserts and leave the room with a flounce. “I swear” I muttered to myself as I readjusted my dick yet again, “one more little prank from her and I'm gonna murder someone this weekend.” At this point, I was tired, sweating, and laying on the tile floor of a kitchen, trying to hide my erectness. Finally, after a few hours, the party started to wind down. Friends left, some family members remained. The immediate family all started to get changed out of their dressy clothes. At about 4:30, Tara found her way to the kitchen just I was cleaning up with the team. “Babe. Thank you so much. I talked to my parents and told them we are going to head out. Go get yourself together and let's get on the road. If anyone deserves a good dinner tonight, it's you.” I went upstairs and took my first good look at myself in the mirror. I was covered in food remnants and splatters. I undressed and threw on jeans, and a new shirt. I packed up my stuff, grabbed Tara's bags and loaded up the car. We went back in to say goodbye to everyone. Henry and Lo were still with some remaining guests on the patio. The kids were playing video games. Lindsay was with some cousins and friends drinking a glass of wine. Fortunately, she was dressed in a pair of shorts, t-shirt and keds. Henry and Lo couldn't stop hugging and thanking me. The kids gave me high-fives. Lindsay gave me what ended up being a fairly chaste hug. As we pulled away, she said to Tara, “You've got a good one, T!” As I made my way toward the door, Henry reached out to me again, taking me another big bear hug. I've got some size, but I thought he was going to break my ribs. He pulled away and said, “You're a good man, Jason. Thank you.” With that he stuck out his hand for a final handshake. Having worked in restaurants for years, I felt the familiar “gentlemen's tip” moving some folded bills into my hand. “Don't say a word” he said quietly. You saved us today and if the servers got $200…that's the least I can do for you.“ I thanked him, hugged him again and discreetly put the money in my pocket. Tara and I hopped in the car and started heading to Midnock Valley Resort. We had about a 3 hour drive and we just chatted about the party in general. About an hour in, Tara asked me, "So, did she hit on you?” I didn't know how to answer…so I went with a blank stare. “Babe. It's ok. She does it all the time. It's some little sister thing. Wants to prove that she can be as grown up as me. But the good news is, if you had done anything – she would have told me right away and tell me you're a scumbag.” “But…..” “Sisters before Misters. It's the golden rule.” “Thank goodness you're hot” I joked, “Because that may be the most fucked-up and lamest thing anyone has ever said to me.” With that, we started laughing and settled in for the rest of the drive. To be continued.. By TruthwithaTwist for Literotica.

A University of Galway delegation has taken part in a national fact-finding mission as part of Ireland's proposal for membership of CERN - the European Organization for Nuclear Research, where physicists and engineers are probing the fundamental structure of the universe. Professor James Livesey, University of Galway's Vice-President for Research and Innovation, and Dr Aaron Golden, Vice-Dean for Research and Innovation, at the University's College of Science & Engineering, visited the world's largest particle physics laboratory as part of an Irish delegation. An intergovernmental organisation based in Geneva near the border between Switzerland and France, CERN has 23 member states. Almost 3000 people are employed on the huge campus which every year plays hosts about 12,000 people from scientific institutions from more than 70 countries. CERN currently operates the most powerful particle accelerator in the world, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), where proton beams moving at a fraction of the speed of light are smashed together, recreating, for an instant, explosions of energy that have only ever occurred at the origin of the universe, unlocking the fundamental constituents of matter. Vast experiments sweep up the blizzard of fragments, and painstakingly identify new physics - in the form of new types of matter. Work at CERN has resulted in no less than 5 Nobel prizes to date, most recently for the discovery of the Higgs Boson in 2012. Professor James Livesey, Vice-President for Research and Innovation, said: "This visit really emphasised to us all on the delegation the incredible value to University of Galway that Irish membership of CERN would bring, across so many levels. It is difficult to identify any other scientific facility in Europe that is such a source of wonder and inspiration and CERN's outreach mission is second to none. The creativity in physics and mathematics essential to understanding the most fundamental science possible using the LHC is mirrored in the creativity needed by the engineering and technical teams to build and operate these astonishing 'discovery machines'. Having Galway in the community of practice around CERN would make us members of one of the most creative and innovative groups in the world." The Irish delegation took part in a day-long visit to CERN, including tours of several of the currently operating particle and nuclear physics experiments on the campus, along with presentations and Q&A sessions with CERN personnel, highlighting the breadth of activities to which membership would give access to. Beyond its core mission of pushing the frontier of fundamental physics, CERN is heavily involved in the application of technology transfer to areas as diverse as algorithm development, network and computational infrastructure, materials science and medical physics. CERN operates a unique access programme for members, that provides funding for undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers to visit and work on site in areas that cover the full spectrum of its activities, with the graduate engineering training programmes being widely considered one of the best in Europe. Dr Aaron Golden, Vice-Dean for Research and Innovation, College of Science & Engineering said: "It was eye-opening to find out directly CERN's medtech innovation activities, from novel radiotherapeutics to medical device development to tumour biology modelling, and their support of member state colleagues in these areas. The University of Galway is uniquely placed to engage with such access, particularly with the recent opening of UHG's Saolta Radiation Oncology Centre." CERN will be sending a delegation to visit Ireland in April of this year to assess Ireland's application for membership. More about Irish Tech News Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor....

"We call it the health care system, but really, it's the illness-burden-treatment system. There are so many things we can do to improve in health care." Tony Miller and Dave Dickey are serial health benefits entrepreneurs who've built and sold multiple companies, leading the way toward consumer-driven insurance programs. The most recent is Bind Benefits, an on-demand, zero-deductible program that was acquired by UnitedHealth Group in 2021. Recently renamed Surest, the benefits plan is UHG's fastest growing product with a net promoter score nearly three times higher than its competitors. Miller and Dickey, who no longer work for Surest, talk about how to change health care coverage in America, starting with Miller's first startup, Definity Health, which he sold to UnitedHealth Group in 2004 for $305 million (not $300 million as widely reported, and he tells the story behind that). Miller is managing partner of Lemhi Ventures, a healthcare investment firm, which put the first $12 million into Bind. Between Definity and Bind, he build Carol Corp., which he also sold to UHG. Dickey an early Definity Health employee and co-founder of Bind, was also a co-founder of RedBrick Health. An employee benefits expert and seasoned sales pro, he consults and advises sales teams and entrepreneurs. Packed with insights on business of health care, Miller and Dickey also dole out advice on entrepreneurship and disruption. Following the conversation, we go back to the classroom with the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business where Kjrk Ryerson teaches healthcare innovation. He frames up some of the key benefits advances Miller led, and frames up questions any entrepreneur should ask him or herself before diving in: 1. Do you have a great idea? 2. Do you keep evolving that idea? 3. What is the driving difference? 4. Is there a personal motivation that's driving you forward? 5. Do you have the power to make something better?

"We call it the health care system, but really, it's the illness-burden-treatment system. There are so many things we can do to improve in health care." Tony Miller and Dave Dickey are serial health benefits entrepreneurs who've built and sold multiple companies, leading the way toward consumer-driven insurance programs. The most recent is Bind Benefits, an on-demand, zero-deductible program that was acquired by UnitedHealth Group in 2021. Recently renamed Surest, the benefits plan is UHG's fastest growing product with a net promoter score nearly three times higher than its competitors. Miller and Dickey, who no longer work for Surest, talk about how to change health care coverage in America, starting with Miller's first startup, Definity Health, which he sold to UnitedHealth Group in 2004 for $305 million (not $300 million as widely reported, and he tells the story behind that). Miller is managing partner of Lemhi Ventures, a healthcare investment firm, which put the first $12 million into Bind. Between Definity and Bind, he build Carol Corp., which he also sold to UHG. Dickey an early Definity Health employee and co-founder of Bind, was also a co-founder of RedBrick Health. An employee benefits expert and seasoned sales pro, he consults and advises sales teams and entrepreneurs. Packed with insights on business of health care, Miller and Dickey also dole out advice on entrepreneurship and disruption. Following the conversation, we go back to the classroom with the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business where Kjrk Ryerson teaches healthcare innovation. He frames up some of the key benefits advances Miller led, and frames up questions any entrepreneur should ask him or herself before diving in: 1. Do you have a great idea? 2. Do you keep evolving that idea? 3. What is the driving difference? 4. Is there a personal motivation that's driving you forward? 5. Do you have the power to make something better?

UHG

When a New York doctor tweeted recently about “payday loans” for doctors from a branch of UnitedHealth Group — which operates the giant insurance company UnitedHealthcare — we were intrigued.Especially when we saw that the loan product — a “cash flow solution” for health care providers — was real.The doctor's tweet essentially accused UHG's insurance arm of causing cash flow problems for providers in the first place, by denying claims and delaying payments — which echoes complaints we've heard over the years, and which the original tweet called “genius” — as in Evil Genius. When the boss who's paying you late offers to front you money, at interest, to tide you over, it does sound like… a conflict of interest.It turns out, because UnitedHealth Group is such a big, complex enterprise, it's not quite that simple. But UnitedHealth Group's size and complexity turns out to be the story. The company has grown into a “behemoth,” running the country's biggest insurance company, and becoming the biggest employer of doctors, while also running big parts of the business-side back end for big chunks of the health care ecosystem. As one expert told us, “There's very little good news about what happens when these organizations. or these sectors of health care get bigger.” Costs and prices tend to go up, without a bump in quality.And regulators, we learned, have struggled to keep up. It's a wild ride with a sobering conclusion — and very much worth taking. As the expert who labeled United a behemoth wrote: “United has grown to its present immense scale largely without public knowledge.” Now we know. And knowledge is the beginning of power. BONUS TIP: This story reminded us of themes and insights from novelist, journalist, and activist Cory Doctorow, especially his recent book Chokepoint Capitalism and his recent essays about the “enshittification” of online life.We also like Cory's novels a lot, and have learned a ton from them. They're often called science fiction, but the tech is usually present-day, or about a month into the future. His latest, Red Team Blues, is a smart, fun techno-thriller. Here's a transcript of this episode. Send your stories and questions. Or call 724 ARM-N-LEG.And of course we'd love for you to support this show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It took me awhile to learn to cheer for myself and really understand that I can do whatever it is that I want! I NEED NO ONES APPROVAL! But of course like I said it feels good sometimes to have the approval of others...Just human nature...The way we talk to ourselves and see ourselves is so important...I know! I struggle too...It's hard to love ourselves and give compliments while looking in the mirror because most of the time we want to pick ourselves apart....Uhg. No matter your age we can start NOW. When we feel confident, we do BETTER. Tomorrow morning is your day to start BECOMING YOUR BIGGEST FAN! It you would like to get a hold of me check out this link.> Linktr.ee/amyfordyce --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/amy-fordyce/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/amy-fordyce/support

A Neiva nos brinda com um largo sorriso e um conhecimento muito denso em sua área de atuação, além de uma lucidez pessoal e profissional para que o mundo seja um lugar melhor. Obrigado Neivia, foi incrível.     Mais sobre a Neiva: Jornalista, executiva, mãe, empreendedora, palestrante, mentora e professora, é fundadora da #JustaCausa e tem 30 anos de experiência como líder de Comunicação, Cultura e Inclusão das diversidades humanas, em empresas como Timex, Natura, Schincariol, GE, Goodyear, J&J e UHG. Criadora do programa #lídercomneivia e dos movimentos #ondeestãoasmulheres e #aquiestãoasmulheres, foi a vencedora do Troféu Mulher Imprensa e do Prêmio Aberje em 2017. Em 2018, foi eleita uma das Top Voices do LinkedIn Brasil e, em 2022, escolhida uma das 50 líderes globais da primeira turma do Vital Voices Visionary Leaders e uma das 100 pessoas do ranking TOP 100 People 2022 da Feedz. Trabalha para transformar o mundo num lugar melhor, mais justo e inclusivo para as futuras gerações, engajando e formando líderes para pensarem, se comunicarem e agirem de forma consciente, diversa, inovadora e sustentável para todas as pessoas, começando pelas mulheres. Todas as mulheres. Links para encontrar a Neivia: Linkedin: Perfil: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neiviajusta/ Páginas: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/ondeestãoasmulheres/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/justascausas/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/lídercomneivia/ Newsletters Linkedin (vale muito): https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/diversidade-inclus%25C3%25A3o-6523570788036079616/ https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/diversity-inclusion-6532001192615178240/ https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/o-que-podemos-aprender%253F-6502216332946259968/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lidercomneivia2160/streams Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neivia/ https://www.instagram.com/aquiestaoasmulheres/ https://www.instagram.com/ondeestaoasmulheres/ E o meu lado cinéfila que anda adormecido: https://www.instagram.com/_decinema/ E mais um canal... https://www.youtube.com/@NeiviaJustaCausa   Jornalista, executiva, mãe, empreendedora, palestrante, mentora e professora, é fundadora da #JustaCausa e tem 30 anos de experiência como líder de Comunicação, Cultura e Inclusão das diversidades humanas, em empresas como Timex, Natura, Schincariol, GE, Goodyear, J&J e UHG. Criadora do programa #lídercomneivia e dos movimentos #ondeestãoasmulheres e #aquiestãoasmulheres, foi a vencedora do Troféu Mulher Imprensa e do Prêmio Aberje em 2017. Em 2018, foi eleita uma das Top Voices do LinkedIn Brasil e, em 2022, escolhida uma das 50 líderes globais da primeira turma do Vital Voices Visionary Leaders e uma das 100 pessoas do ranking TOP 100 People 2022 da Feedz. Trabalha para transformar o mundo num lugar melhor, mais justo e inclusivo para as futuras gerações, engajando e formando líderes para pensarem, se comunicarem e agirem de forma consciente, diversa, inovadora e sustentável para todas as pessoas, começando pelas mulheres. Todas as mulheres.   Links para encontrar a Neivia:   Linkedin:   Perfil: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neiviajusta/ Páginas: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/ondeestãoasmulheres/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/justascausas/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/lídercomneivia/   Newsletters Linkedin (vale muito): https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/diversidade-inclus%25C3%25A3o-6523570788036079616/ https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/diversity-inclusion-6532001192615178240/ https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/o-que-podemos-aprender%253F-6502216332946259968/     YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lidercomneivia2160/streams   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neivia/ https://www.instagram.com/aquiestaoasmulheres/ https://www.instagram.com/ondeestaoasmulheres/   E o meu lado cinéfila que anda adormecido: https://www.instagram.com/_decinema/ E mais um canal... https://www.youtube.com/@NeiviaJustaCausa --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coachcast2020/message

EPISODE SUMMARY:Taking care of our mental health is a key part of living a thriving, balanced life. In this episode of Until It's Fixed, our hosts dig into the societal shift of talking more openly about seeing a therapist, how people can find a therapist who meets them where they're at and the rise of app-based and teletherapy with Roxane Battle and Chez Chesak. Highlights:04:50 Introductions | Roxane Battle is a former journalist, writer, and Vice President of Advocacy and Community for AbleTo, part of Optum, a company that offers virtual self-care, therapy and coaching programs. Joining Roxane is Chez Chesak, a writer and therapy advocate, who shares his personal story.07:30 The therapy landscape | As Roxane shares, “one size does not fit all” when it comes to finding therapy—which means there are many options for different needs. 21:44 Breaking the silence | The conversation winds to a close with a reflection on the importance of continuing to fight the social stigma that prevents people from seeking help.  Resources:What does it mean to have good mental health?Finding a therapist that's right for youAbleTo | Pioneering High-Quality Virtual Behavioral Health CareFind a spectrum of digital mental health tools with the AbleTo app Guests: Roxane Battle, Vice President, Advocacy and Community, AbleTo, part of OptumChez Chesak, therapy advocate If you or someone you know is feeling overwhelmed with stress or thinking about suicide, seek help right away. If someone is in immediate danger, call 988 or go to the closest emergency room. To talk with a trained counselor, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline anytime at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255).The views, opinions, and content expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or policies of Optum.Visit optum.com for more information about how Optum is helping to create a healthier world.

This show was one of the most popular episodes in the past 12 months. So, here it is again for your listening pleasure. Mostly this whole episode is about the so-called “Big Three” PBMs that provide between the three of them pharmacy benefit services for 95% of insured Americans. PBM stands for pharmacy benefit manager, and the Big Three PBMs being ESI, otherwise known as Express Scripts; OptumRx, which is a part (a big profitable part) of UnitedHealth Group; and then also CVS. Yes, CVS is not just for your retail pharmacy needs; they are also a huge pharmacy benefit manager. Now, we get to the GoodRx part of our story. If you don't know how GoodRx works, I would strongly encourage you to go back and listen to “An Expert Explains” with Dr. Ge Bai from last year (AEE13). That said, here's the super short semi-reductive version to keep us all level set here. If you already know how GoodRx works, you can skip forward about four minutes. So, first of all, let's all understand that GoodRx's business model only exists because the pharmacy supply chain dominated by these three big PBMs that we just talked about is such a cluster. GoodRx profits from that dysfunction. So, as I said, here's the short version of how they do that. It all hinges on so-called spread pricing, and this is what I mean by that. Patient goes into pharmacy with a prescription for generic drug X. The patient has insurance—good news! Pharmacist checks the computer and sees that this patient should be charged, I don't know, $50 for drug X. The patient's insurance carrier picks up, say, $30 of the $50 cost; and the patient is left with, say, a co-pay of $20. Who did that little math there in the computer? The PBM (the pharmacy benefit manager) did that math. That's their thing, these PBMs. They adjudicate claims. That's what this math is called. Anybody who goes into a pharmacy with a prescription, it's the PBM on the back end who figures out how much the patient owes and how much their insurance will pay and what the patient responsibility is, etc. Goodness, you might say. How much are the PBMs being paid to perform this useful service? Turns out, it's free. That's right … the Big Three PBMs do all this adjudication for free. No charge to plan sponsors. Isn't that nice? Except it's actually not free if you dig into it. The PBM is certainly getting paid by means of arbitrage. They're taking a little something something out of the middle of every single transaction. Here's what that looks like in the example aforementioned. Recall the patient's insurance paid $30, and the patient themselves paid $20. The question is, how much did that drug cost the PBM? Remember, that's commerce: Buy low, sell high, and all that. You buy something, and then you sell it for more than you bought it for. OK, so we're talking about a generic drug here. They're cheap (usually). So, let's just say drug X costs, I don't know, $5. The PBM pays the pharmacy $5 for that generic script—and you can see how much money the PBM just made right there. The patient and their plan sponsor got charged $50, and the PBM's cost of goods was $5. Multiply that profit margin by the billions of generic prescriptions in this country that run through insurance, and you have a tidy little business model there. UHG, the parent company of OptumRx, made $24 billion in profit in 2021. Not all of that was from generic drug arbitrage (ie, taking advantage of spread pricing), but some of it was. And $24 billion is an awfully big amount when you consider whose paychecks all those pennies were lifted from. PBM services are anything but free. PBMs are collecting massive windfalls in the so-called spread between what the patient and the plan pay and what the PBM is actually buying those drugs for. Here's another wrinkle: When a PBM contracts with a pharmacy, part of their contractual terms is that the pharmacy's list price for drugs cannot be lower than a certain amount usually having something to do with the PBM's rates. So, pharmacy list prices become artificially high as a result, meaning that cash-pay patients who just wander into a pharmacy and try to pay cash pay an artificially high price. Into this mess swoops GoodRx with a killer idea. They see all that money on the table that PBMs are cleaning up in that spread. They want a piece of that action. And in the beginning, PBMs were fully on board with this. They were fully on board because the market GoodRx was going after was the uninsured market, meaning untapped turf for PBMs. And because PBMs make so much money off of each transaction, PBMs are always hungry for more transactions (the Big Three PBMs, anyway). They love more transactions. The more more more with the transactions, the more more more with the money. So, GoodRx goes to the PBMs and says, “Hey … if a cash-pay patient shows up in a pharmacy, what price would you charge them for you to adjudicate that claim? You know how much money you have to pay the pharmacy, so what can the patient price be? What spread are you willing to accept? GoodRx will take a little off the top, but you can keep your spread on this new frontier of patients that you haven't historically had access to because … uninsured. Oh, by the way, we, GoodRx … we're gonna go around to all your competitors, too (just saying)—the other two PBMs—and we're gonna show their prices, too, in our GoodRx app at different pharmacies. So, you're gonna have to compete with other PBMs in this model.” This is why GoodRx cash prices for generics are so very very often less than what the patient will pay if they use their insurance. In the GoodRx app, PBMs have competition. So, by not using their insurance, patients often pay less for generic drugs—which, by the way, are 90% of the scripts written in this country—and also, as an added bonus, patients don't have to jump through all the weird and arduous prior auths or step therapies or other hurdles that a PBM might toss in the mix. So, from a patient perspective, using GoodRx could save money, save time, and you could get your drugs faster because you don't have to wait around for some prior auth to go through. But this was not what PBMs had originally thought they were signing up for. They were working with GoodRx to gain new market share from the uninsured market, not lose market share to more and more patients forgoing their insurance, meaning forgoing shelling out to the PBM their spread on the transaction. Cue my conversation today with Dr. Ge Bai. Ge Bai, PhD, CPA, is a professor of accounting at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and a professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In this healthcare podcast, Ge Bai and I discuss the reactions of the Big Three PBMs to consumers getting all consumer-y when it comes to buying their generic drugs—despite the fact that, in my interview with Dr. Sunita Desai (EP334), she said that studies have shown that 67% of patients are unaware that they might be able to get a better price by not using their insurance and shopping around on GoodRx or Amazon or at a cost-plus pharmacy like Blueberry in Pittsburgh or Mark Cuban's new thing. Despite that, it means 33% (one-third) of patients are aware that they can price shop and potentially get a better price not using their insurance on generic drugs; and apparently, it's making some people at some PBMs nervous. Check the ESI (Express Scripts) blog post about their new prescription benefit that automatically applies discounts. Hmmm … sounds like a defensive play to me? What do we make of this? That's my first question to Dr. Ge Bai in this episode. Also, if you're really intrigued by generic drug goings-on, go back and listen to the show with Dr. Steven Quimby (EP344) when you have a chance. It's about the high cost of generic drugs, and we go deep into supply chain machinations.   You can learn more on Ge's Web site at Johns Hopkins University. You can also connect with her on LinkedIn. Ge Bai, PhD, CPA, is professor of accounting at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is an expert on healthcare pricing, policy, and management. Dr. Bai has testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, written for the Wall Street Journal, and published her studies in leading academic journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, JAMA Internal Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, and Health Affairs. Her work has been widely featured on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, CNN, and NPR and in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and other media outlets and used in government regulations and congressional testimonies.   08:39 What is ESI doing by automatically applying discounts to generic drugs? 09:53 Why are PBMs losing money when consumers don't use their benefit? 10:40 “GoodRx disrupted the ongoing game.” 10:58 How are PBMs using the Amazon discount card to discourage their patients from moving away from using their benefits? 12:07 Amazon pricing versus GoodRx pricing. 12:44 How much money is a PBM really making? 13:54 EP344 with Steven Quimby, MD. 14:24 EP334 with Sunita Desai, PhD. 14:37 How is future fear playing into the PBM business model? 16:49 Is there a negative consequence to subtracting from the bottom line in a PBM model? 17:44 “I think to have strong PBMs does not mean necessarily bad things for patients.” 19:33 What happens if everyone uses Amazon for drugs? 22:33 If every PBM gets their own discount cards, what will happen? 25:32 “We are actually witnessing a potential sea change.” 26:19 How do cost-plus pharmacies factor into the current market? 29:09 Is a profit shortfall inevitable? 29:28 “PBMs have to give a slice of their profit back to consumers. That's just reality.” 30:05 Can anything be done on the PBM side to generate a higher margin in the generic space? 31:34 “Naive plan sponsors are a big problem.” You can learn more on Ge's Web site at Johns Hopkins University. You can also connect with her on LinkedIn.   @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing What is ESI doing by automatically applying discounts to generic drugs? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing Why are PBMs losing money when consumers don't use their benefit? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing “GoodRx disrupted the ongoing game.” @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing How are PBMs using the Amazon discount card to discourage their patients from moving away from using their benefits? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing Amazon pricing versus GoodRx pricing. @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing How much money is a PBM really making? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing How is future fear playing into the PBM business model? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing Is there a negative consequence to subtracting from the bottom line in a PBM model? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing “I think to have strong PBMs does not mean necessarily bad things for patients.” @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing What happens if everyone uses Amazon for drugs? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing If every PBM gets their own discount cards, what will happen? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing “We are actually witnessing a potential sea change.” @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing How do cost-plus pharmacies factor into the current market? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing Is a profit shortfall inevitable? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing “PBMs have to give a slice of their profit back to consumers. That's just reality.” @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing Can anything be done on the PBM side to generate a higher margin in the generic space? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing “Naive plan sponsors are a big problem.” @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing Recent past interviews: Click a guest's name for their latest RHV episode! Dave Dierk and Stacey Richter (INBW37), Merrill Goozner, Betsy Seals (EP387), Stacey Richter (INBW36), Dr Eric Bricker (Encore! EP351), Al Lewis, Dan Mendelson, Wendell Potter, Nick Stefanizzi, Brian Klepper (Encore! EP335), Dr Aaron Mitchell (EP382), Karen Root, Mark Miller, AJ Loiacono, Josh LaRosa, Stacey Richter (INBW35), Rebecca Etz (Encore! EP295), Olivia Webb (Encore! EP337), Mike Baldzicki, Lisa Bari, Betsy Seals (EP375), Dave Chase, Cora Opsahl (EP373), Cora Opsahl (EP372), Dr Mark Fendrick (Encore! EP308), Erik Davis and Autumn Yongchu (EP371), Erik Davis and Autumn Yongchu (EP370), Keith Hartman

We've got out first doctor on the Surf Coast Creatives podcast.Dr Gil Stynes has been a University Hospital Geelong (UHG) stalwart over many years, starting work here first as an intern, before working as a general surgery and plastic surgery registrar. When completing a surgical PhD at UHG, Gil developed a specialised implant that allows skin to grown onto foreign materials, potentially revolutionising the field of robotics and skin penetrating medical devices, such as intravenous lines and catheters. And the best part? He's a customer at Stonker. Ben was asking about Gil's background in the shop one day and just had to get him on the podcast for a chat. Gil is a doer, a thinker, and creator. Tune to hear his incredible story and how he and a team of experts may one day change the face of healthcare and medicine as we know it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recebemos a equipe de Employer Branding do UHG que nos contou sobre como a área está estruturada hoje, qual a responsabilidade de cada profissional, quais as ações e estratégias tem utilizado para manter uma marca empregadora forte e que conecta o interno e o externo. Também revelaram sobre o case que os fez ganhadores do Prêmio EBB na categoria de Cross e quais são os planos para o futuro.

Bullet proof your career to excel in VUCA world | Shyam Sadasivan | #TGV245Don't follow your passion, follow your talent. Determine what you are good at (early), and commit to becoming great at it. You don't have to love it, just don't hate it. If practice takes you from good to great, the recognition and compensation you will command will make you start to love it~Scott Galloway, The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and GoogleTune into #TGV245 to get clarity on the above topic. Here are the timestamp-based pointers from Shyam Sadasivan's conversation with Naveen Samala0:00:00 INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT SETTING 0:02:15 Shyam's PROFESSIONAL JOURNEY AND THE TOP 3 THINGS THAT HELPED IN His SUCCESS0:05:15 Why following passion is not the right thing to do?0:07:30 How to set SMARTER GOALS?0:10:05 HOW TO STOP THINKING AND START DOING?0:13:31 HOW CAN WE BE TRULY HAPPY WITH OUR JOBS?0:16:09 JOB TRENDS IN 2022, HOW ASPIRANTS SHOULD PREPARE?0:18:20 COMMON TRENDS THAT Shyam OBSERVED DURING his CAREER COACHING CONVERSATIONS? WHAT MISTAKES TO AVOID?0:21:00 WITTY ANSWERS TO THE RAPID-FIRE QUESTIONS0:23:10 ONE PIECE OF ADVICE TO THOSE ASPIRING TO MAKE BIG IN THEIR CAREERS 0:25:00 TRIVIA ABOUT MondayABOUT THE GUEST (In his words):

As we all know the situation when it comes to getting a bed at University Hospital Galway can be a waiting game. Imagine spending 7 days or 172 hours on a trolley in the Emergency Department of UHG. Liam O Loughlin doesn't have to imagine that scenario as his elderly father has lived this experience this week.  Sally-Ann spoke to Liam today. 

How corporate executives turned entrepreneurs and tech innovators anticipating shifting demographics and accelerating inclusion as a business advantage in healthcare. In the wake of COVID and given demographic, policy, and reimbursement shifts in healthcare, many companies and agencies are working towards building capabilities to promote health equity and inclusion in healthcare. Ahead of these trends, former corporate executive Lili Gil Valletta dared to create the company and agency they couldn't find to hire, and CulturIntel was born 12 years ago. In this podcast, you will learn more about the backstory that led to the creation of what is today one of the leading, independent/ minority-owned agencies with proprietary AI-powered research and cultural marketing expertise. Hear more about the steps it took to turn opportunity into action while impacting leading brands and companies like GSK, UHG, Merck, Pfizer, Google, and Walmart among others as they seek to accelerate societal and healthcare impact and growth in today's multicultural world. Lili's unique story, including her challenges and successes, can serve as great inspiration for corporate leaders and entrepreneurs alike to dare to follow the evidence, anticipate trends, and innovate with the power of inclusion as a winning differentiator.

Thousands of people turned out in Athenry last night for a candle light vigil for Kate Moran.  The 20 year old, from Monivea, died at UHG on Tuesday morning after being injured during a match between Athenry and Ardrahan on Monday.   Her teammates, neighbours and members of the Galway camogie community near and far gathered to remember Kate at last night's event at Kenny Park.  For Galway Talks, Galway Bay FM's Tommy Devane was there. 

One of the most common reasons for emergency room visits are oral health needs. In fact, many people visit their dentist more frequently than their primary care provider. Earlier this year, UnitedHealthcare launched a virtual dental benefit. Patients can now seek virtual care for acute needs, triage before an in-person appointment and receive post-op follow-up care. In this episode, Colleen Van Ham, CEO of UnitedHealthcare Dental, discusses:How virtual dentistry works.The benefits virtual dentistry can provide.How virtual dentistry can improve access to preventive care.

Clinician burnout has long been a concern for health care workers, but the pandemic has shed new light on the issue and related workforce concerns. The Center for Clinician Advancement at UnitedHealth Group focuses on improving clinician engagement and retention, including ways to address burnout. In this episode, UHG's Mary Jo Jerde, explains: How the Center works to address clinician burnout. The importance of a healthy work-life balance. Why there's optimism for the future of the workforce. 

So … let's start here. Mostly this whole episode is about the so-called “Big Three” PBMs that provide between the three of them pharmacy benefit services for 95% of insured Americans. PBM stands for pharmacy benefit manager, and the Big Three PBMs being ESI, otherwise known as Express Scripts; OptumRx, which is a part (a big profitable part) of United Health Group; and then also CVS. Yes, CVS is not just for your retail pharmacy needs; they are also a huge pharmacy benefit manager. Now, we get to the GoodRx part of our story. If you don't know how GoodRx works, I would strongly encourage you to go back and listen to “An Expert Explains” with Dr. Ge Bai from last year (AEE13). That said, here's the super short semi-reductive version to keep us all level set here. If you already know how GoodRx works, you can skip forward about four minutes.  So, first of all, let's all understand that GoodRx's business model only exists because the pharmacy supply chain dominated by these three big PBMs that we just talked about is such a cluster. GoodRx profits from that dysfunction. So, as I said, here's the short version of how they do that. It all hinges on so-called spread pricing, and this is what I mean by that. Patient goes into pharmacy with a prescription for generic drug X. The patient has insurance—good news! Pharmacist checks the computer and sees that this patient should be charged, I don't know, $50 for drug X. The patient's insurance carrier picks up, say, $30 of the $50 cost; and the patient is left with, say, a co-pay of $20. Who did that little math there in the computer? The PBM (the pharmacy benefit manager) did that math. That's their thing, these PBMs. They adjudicate claims. That's what this math is called. Anybody who goes into a pharmacy with a prescription, it's the PBM on the back end who figures out how much the patient owes and how much their insurance will pay and what the patient responsibility is, etc. Goodness, you might say. How much are the PBMs being paid to perform this useful service? Turns out, it's free. That's right … the Big Three PBMs do all this adjudication for free. No charge to plan sponsors. Isn't that nice? Except it's actually not free if you dig into it. The PBM is certainly getting paid by means of arbitrage. They're taking a little something something out of the middle of every single transaction. Here's what that looks like in the example aforementioned. Recall the patient's insurance paid $30, and the patient themselves paid $20. The question is, how much did that drug cost the PBM? Remember, that's commerce: Buy low, sell high, and all that. You buy something, and then you sell it for more than you bought it for. OK, so we're talking about a generic drug here. They're cheap (usually). So, let's just say drug X costs, I don't know, $5. The PBM pays the pharmacy $5 for that generic script—and you can see how much money the PBM just made right there. The patient and their plan sponsor got charged $50, and the PBM's cost of goods was $5. Multiply that profit margin by the billions of generic prescriptions in this country that run through insurance, and you have a tidy little business model there. UHG, the parent company of OptumRx, made $24 billion in profit in 2021. Not all of that was from generic drug arbitrage (ie, taking advantage of spread pricing), but some of it was. And $24 billion is an awfully big amount when you consider whose paychecks all those pennies were lifted from. PBM services are anything but free. PBMs are collecting massive windfalls in the so-called spread between what the patient and the plan pay and what the PBM is actually buying those drugs for. Here's another wrinkle: When a PBM contracts with a pharmacy, part of their contractual terms is that the pharmacy's list price for drugs cannot be lower than a certain amount usually having something to do with the PBM's rates. So, pharmacy list prices become artificially high as a result, meaning that cash-pay patients who just wander into a pharmacy and try to pay cash pay an artificially high price. Into this mess swoops GoodRx with a killer idea. They see all that money on the table that PBMs are cleaning up in that spread. They want a piece of that action. And in the beginning, PBMs were fully on board with this. They were fully on board because the market GoodRx was going after was the uninsured market, meaning untapped turf for PBMs. And because PBMs make so much money off of each transaction, PBMs are always hungry for more transactions (the Big Three PBMs, anyway). They love more transactions. The more more more with the transactions, the more more more with the money. So, GoodRx goes to the PBMs and says, “Hey … if a cash-pay patient shows up in a pharmacy, what price would you charge them for you to adjudicate that claim? You know how much money you have to pay the pharmacy, so what can the patient price be? What spread are you willing to accept? GoodRx will take a little off the top, but you can keep your spread on this new frontier of patients that you haven't historically had access to because … uninsured. Oh, by the way, we, GoodRx … we're gonna go around to all your competitors, too (just saying)—the other two PBMs—and we're gonna show their prices, too, in our GoodRx app at different pharmacies. So, you're gonna have to compete with other PBMs in this model.” This is why GoodRx cash prices for generics are so very very often less than what the patient will pay if they use their insurance. In the GoodRx app, PBMs have competition. So, by not using their insurance, patients often pay less for generic drugs—which, by the way, are 90% of the scripts written in this country—and also, as an added bonus, patients don't have to jump through all the weird and arduous prior auths or step therapies or other hurdles that a PBM might toss in the mix. So, from a patient perspective, using GoodRx could save money, save time, and you could get your drugs faster because you don't have to wait around for some prior auth to go through. But this was not what PBMs had originally thought they were signing up for. They were working with GoodRx to gain new market share from the uninsured market, not lose market share to more and more patients forgoing their insurance, meaning forgoing shelling out to the PBM their spread on the transaction. Cue my conversation today with Dr. Ge Bai. Ge Bai, PhD, CPA, is a professor of accounting at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and a professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In this healthcare podcast, Ge Bai and I discuss the reactions of the Big Three PBMs to consumers getting all consumer-y when it comes to buying their generic drugs—despite the fact that, in my interview with Dr. Sunita Desai (EP334), she said that studies have shown that 67% of patients are unaware that they might be able to get a better price by not using their insurance and shopping around on GoodRx or Amazon or at a cost-plus pharmacy like Blueberry in Pittsburgh or Mark Cuban's new thing. Despite that, it means 33% (one-third) of patients are aware that they can price shop and potentially get a better price not using their insurance on generic drugs; and apparently, it's making some people at some PBMs nervous.   Check the ESI (Express Scripts) blog post about their new prescription benefit that automatically applies discounts. Hmmm … sounds like a defensive play to me? What do we make of this? That's my first question to Dr. Ge Bai in this episode.   Also, if you're really intrigued by generic drug goings-on, go back and listen to the show with Dr. Steven Quimby (EP344) when you have a chance. It's about the high cost of generic drugs, and we go deep into supply chain machinations.    You can learn more on Ge's Web site at Johns Hopkins University. You can also connect with her on LinkedIn. Ge Bai, PhD, CPA, is professor of accounting at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is an expert on healthcare pricing, policy, and management. Dr. Bai has testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, written for the Wall Street Journal, and published her studies in leading academic journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, JAMA Internal Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, and Health Affairs. Her work has been widely featured on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, CNN, and NPR and in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and other media outlets and used in government regulations and congressional testimonies. 08:45 What is ESI doing by automatically applying discounts to generic drugs? 10:00 Why are PBMs losing money when consumers don't use their benefit? 10:46 “GoodRx disrupted the ongoing game.” 11:04 How are PBMs using the Amazon discount card to discourage their patients from moving away from using their benefits? 12:13 Amazon pricing versus GoodRx pricing. 12:50 How much money is a PBM really making? 14:00 EP344 with Steven Quimby, MD.14:29 EP334 with Sunita Desai, PhD.14:43 How is future fear playing into the PBM business model? 16:55 Is there a negative consequence to subtracting from the bottom line in a PBM model? 17:50 “I think to have strong PBMs does not mean necessarily bad things for patients.” 19:39 What happens if everyone uses Amazon for drugs? 22:40 If every PBM gets their own discount cards, what will happen? 25:38 “We are actually witnessing a potential sea change.” 26:25 How do cost-plus pharmacies factor into the current market? 29:16 Is a profit shortfall inevitable? 29:35 “PBMs have to give a slice of their profit back to consumers. That's just reality.” 30:11 Can anything be done on the PBM side to generate a higher margin in the generic space? 31:41 “Naive plan sponsors are a big problem.” You can learn more on Ge's Web site at Johns Hopkins University. You can also connect with her on LinkedIn. @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing What is ESI doing by automatically applying discounts to generic drugs? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing Why are PBMs losing money when consumers don't use their benefit? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing “GoodRx disrupted the ongoing game.” @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing How are PBMs using the Amazon discount card to discourage their patients from moving away from using their benefits? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing Amazon pricing versus GoodRx pricing. @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing How much money is a PBM really making? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing How is future fear playing into the PBM business model? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing Is there a negative consequence to subtracting from the bottom line in a PBM model? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing “I think to have strong PBMs does not mean necessarily bad things for patients.” @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing What happens if everyone uses Amazon for drugs? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing If every PBM gets their own discount cards, what will happen? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing “We are actually witnessing a potential sea change.” @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing How do cost-plus pharmacies factor into the current market? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing Is a profit shortfall inevitable? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing “PBMs have to give a slice of their profit back to consumers. That's just reality.” @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing Can anything be done on the PBM side to generate a higher margin in the generic space? @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing “Naive plan sponsors are a big problem.” @GeBaiDC of @JohnsHopkins discusses #PBMs on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #healthcarepricing Recent past interviews: Click a guest's name for their latest RHV episode! Nikhil Krishnan, Shawn Rhodes, Pramod John (EP353), Pramod John (EP352), Dr Eric Bricker, Katy Talento, Stacey Richter (INBW33), Stacey Richter (INBW32), Dr Steve Schutzer (Encore! EP294), Lisa Trumble, Jeb Dunkelberger, Dr Ian Tong, Mike Schneider, Peter Hayes, Paul Simms, Dr Steven Quimby, Dr David Carmouche (EP343), Christin Deacon, Gary Campbell, Kristin Begley, David Contorno (AEE17), David Contorno (EP339), Nikki King, Olivia Webb, Brandon Weber, Stacey Richter (INBW30), Brian Klepper (AEE16), Brian Klepper (EP335)  

Over the past 18 months, healthcare has been a focal point of conversation as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Often, the barrier to receiving healthcare isn't just affordability, but accessibility as well.  Today on Order Up, Kimberlee Vandervoorn, Vice President of Consumer Solutions at UnitedHealth Group, joins us to discuss the number of reasons hospitality workers are at an increased risk of health concerns and how UHG is creating access to healthcare resources with programs like Teladoc. (01:12) - Something for everyone (02:09) - The state of health and wellness (04:42) - Barriers to healthcare (10:00) -https://restaurant.org/membership/reopening-marketplace/teladoc ( Teladoc) (18:11) -https://www.activeminds.org/ ( Active Minds) (23:14) - There is help out there This podcast is not intended to provide medical or legal advice.  Given the rapidly evolving nature of the pandemic, guidance may change as our understanding of unique challenges that COVID-19 poses within each country, state, and locality evolves. The views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the speaker and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the National Restaurant Association (Association) and its affiliates. The Association does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy or suitability of any information offered, and the listener is encouraged to do their own research and consider the applicability and suitability of the information provided for their own individual circumstances. If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to https://www.restaurant.org/events/learning/podcasts/order-up (Order Up) in https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/order-up/id1511211971 (Apple Podcasts), https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9IcFhHRHhqVQ (Google Podcasts), https://open.spotify.com/show/3SOAkud8tkbaLCaU8W4Ne5 (Spotify) or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/order-up/id1511211971 (Apple Podcasts). It really helps others find the show. https://www.dante32.com/ (Podcast episode production by Dante32.)

Você sonha em passar uma temporada em Marte? A NASA abriu inscrições para americanos. Mas nesse episódio falamos das Top 15 Farmacêuticas que se deram bem no terceiro trimestre.A Bayer aposta em vendas pela Alexa, você conhece esse sistema de Marketing Interativo? Ou que tal conhecer o projeto Tailandês AbsorbPlate que promete eliminar as calorias dos pratos.Para encerrar, D2C é o futuro? O projeto da UnitedHealth Group, Optum Store para vender genéricos e oferecer telemedicina para seus clientes.Acesse Aqui ouhttp://bit.ly/tomouep78Todas as segundas!

Krysti Pryde reminds us "don't shoot the messenger" EVEN IF he's a total turd mouth. Uhg yes, just that that one nemesis from your high school days. And subscribe here to "Settle the Stars" another Edgeworks Nebula Podcast.   Check out all things Krysti Pryde and "You Have My Sword" as well as reply to questions in the pod...  You Have My Sword Website Patreon  Twitter Instagram   "You Have My Sword" is a proud member of the Edgeworks Nebula, a collection of intriguing and informative podcasts from Edgeworks Entertainment.  ✦ Edgeworks Patreon ✦ Edgeworks Facebook ✦ Edgeworks Twitter ✦ Edgeworks Instagram   Theme Music: Fantasia Nova Music by: Kingsley Sage   Proof of Purchase: A license to use the following media was purchased under Pond5's Content License Agreement, a copy of which is available for review at https://www.pond5.com/legal/license. The Pond5 license authorizes the licensee to use the media in the licensee's own commercial or non-commercial production and to copy, broadcast, distribute, display, perform and monetize the production or work in any medium - including posting and monetization on YouTube - on the terms and conditions outlined therein.   Other Audio/Sound FX provided by: Freesound.org under the Creative Commons Licensing Attribution. 

Fala Doutores, tudo bem? No episódio de hoje convidei o Dra. Gisele Marinho, médica oncologista, gestora em saúde do grupo COI e hoje do UHG e gerente médica do Américas Oncologia. #faladoutores #carreiras #oftalmologia • Para quem quiser assistir ao vídeo desse episódio: https://youtu.be/xH8anB-v1A4 • Siga nosso instagram para atualizações semanais: https://www.instagram.com/fala.doutores/

Join us while we hear about two crazy patients and my extreme displeasure with the trophy I won. Stupid stupid trophy. Uhg. Hope you enjoy! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/drnursef/support

Today's episode is an interview with Marcus Robinson. Marcus is a Crossroads Career Board Member as well as a National Vice president of Sales at United Healthcare. He is also a member of the Diversity & Inclusion Executive Council and a Culture Facilitator at UHG. He and his wife have three kids and live in the Atlanta area. Today we talk about authentically coming to work as our full selves, finding our identity in Christ, trusting in God as we face fear and opposition, and ministering when God gives us Kingdom opportunities. Crossroads' mission is to help people find and follow Jesus Christ through crossroads in their careers. We work to do this by educating, equipping, and encouraging people to hear God calling, maximize their potential, and get the right job.  Visit our website for more information: www.crossroadscareer.org

This episode is an UHG! Yep, it's all about experiencing, sitting with, working our way through, and finding a new way to live in spite of the circumstances. Not sure if this is strap in or lay down on the couch!” Maybe both! And, as always, our conversation will be roguish, and we'll weave in our core values of seeking wisdom, applying the “why's” and, as always, we'll share a mystic MacNugget. Let's get at it… Hey Stu… “Namaste, all of you beautifully, exotic cocktails… Manifesto points to consider: Together is better. Wize gives you permission to sometimes not give a shit. Wise goes beyond what happens to what matters. THE SETUP-The Ugh. Cultivate the poise for whatever is coming. It's all about quality of life. Get clinical help when appropriate! Degrees of UGH: Out of your order at the restaurant Check engine light comes on. Tree falls on your house. Dog gets sick. Lose a job. You get sick. A relationship ends. You lose a loved one. Into the grey-not necessarily through it. More than zero. We can't grid everything. Just know one thing; it's our ability to navigate the unknowns that makes all the difference. Staring into The Abyss. What does reentry look like after the ugh takes you out? MYSTIC MACNUGGET Eventually, you need to crawl out from under the circumstances. -Mac

UHG to be drunk on a dance floor with your best buds again. We share our drinking experiences with you in this weeks episode, from high school parties to clubbing with strangers, maybe some frats, who really knows. Find us on instagram @carandsyd_podcast for updates!

Hey there Geeksploronauts! Jon and I had a rousing conversation about a whole lot of interesting things, really I promise we did. Unfortunately I somehow managed to loose the audio file. Uhg! On the bright side, we had recorded us talking about the state of WandaVision separately, so we still have that...and only that. THIS EPISODE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR WANDAVISION UP THROUGH EP 5!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!! Give us a call at (916) ORC-TURD let us know how you are enjoying WandaVision so far.   Links to stuff we talked about, but you didn't get to hear! Justice Society: WW2 Trailer The Real Ghostbusters is being released on YouTube   Geeksploration: the Podcast is a proud member of The Geekly Grind family. They are a collective of geek-minded folks covering gaming, comics, movies, and more. Go check out the other great stuff they have going on!   You can find more information about the show at GeeksplorationPodcast.com Contact us on social media: Facebook Geeksploration: The Podcast page/ Instagram @GeeksplorationPodcast / Twitter @GeeksplorePod Check out the cool swag at shop.GeeksplorationPodcast.com Theme song is "Celebration" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music in Space Oddities promo is "Blip Stream" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

Man! The year 2020...need I say more? It’s been crazy how the pandemic, hurricanes, fires, quarantine and in the USA the elections ...Uhg! What else can happen this crazy year? It could be easy to get caught up in the very uncertainty of it all!! It’s been very difficult! Yet, God DID give us a free will and the ability to have some control within our own lives! So let’s take a look at how we can become more certain in an uncertain world! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/pameladevrousmith/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/pameladevrousmith/support

In this episode, Suzanne Bonasera with United Healthcare joins us to talk about Medicare, the Annual Election Period, and some exciting new options in 2021 for Medicare recipients including Insulin Dependent plans, the National Network, and the Personal Emergency Response System by UHG.To find out more about these exciting new Medicare plans, contact Community Insurance Partners on the web at: www.CommunityInsPartners.com

The critical voices seem to be everywhere at all times, don't they? I mean, turn on the TV and the show is portraying how the character doesn't measure up, the commercials are letting us know we are not complete because we don't have the item they are selling and don't get me started on the news! We shut off the TV and the social media takes its turn. Then there's the ads within our games and what about family and friends?? Uhg! Is it all about what's coming at us? Hmmm... If so, we'd all become hermits never to talk or see anyone else ever again! Right? Much of the very deep seeded critical input isn't necessarily coming from outside sources. Our own self-talk can be the biggest culprit and the monster that holds us back! In today's episode, we face this monster head on and gain some tools to loosen up his grip on our success and our dreams coming true! We are here to fulfill our deep desires given to us by God Himself. If we don't do it, no one else will! Let's dive in as we take a look at what holds us back and how to start stepping out regardless of those voices! Below are some links: Favorite Journal: https://amzn.to/37IUbBJ Audibles: https://amzn.to/2HAIxhv By clicking the link, you'll get 30 free trial membership and 1 credit towards a FREE book of your choice. If you get/have Amazon Prime as well, you'll get TWO Free books! Join now and listen, learn & grow AS you get ready for the day, drive, wash dishes, cook clean, whatever else you do! Click the link now and try it out! https://amzn.to/3jrhBgV Suggested reads: The Anomaly Mindset, Sandi Krakowski on Audibles https://amzn.to/2HAIxhv Perfectionism: Top 11 signs that you are a perfectionist https://personalexcellence.co/blog/perfectionism/ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/pameladevrousmith/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/pameladevrousmith/support

Your regular Fact Cougars Miles and Michael welcome the Ultra Hope Girls into the Den for a very special crossover event! UHG is a brilliant Danganronpa podcast, but this time, it's personal; the challenge is so great, the competition so intense, that Miles and Michael must combine forces for the first time in Fact Cougars history. Winning at trivia is impossible. Learning makes you a winner. The Cougs and Ultra Hope Girls will try to stump the other team to preserve their honor, and to answer the greatest question of them all: who got more answers correct in this particular game? The answer will shock you!

So this Beirut explosion…something is super fishy…first they said it was fireworks and clearly the videos going viral says otherwise. The W.H.O. backtracked on its initial claims of asymptomatic people being able to spread the CV virus, we know you lyin’!!!

Planning on going thrift shopping? Listen here! Raja and your #RainbowBarkada talks about Whys, Where, How, and What to look for when thrift shopping. "Pero mga Bakla, Quarantine, may mga bukas bang Jukay Galore? Well, listen to find out more! In "What's The Tea?" We have DJ Chaha and MOR, YouTuber Mika Salvador, (UHG!) Xander Ford, Fake Rapid Test - Busted, K Brosas.

During this unique, high-level strategy session, High Performance Organization Expert David Hanna discusses how healthcare organizations can "reinvent" their capabilities to drive more value for patients, members and customers during this ever-changing healthcare landscape.    David has helped some of the world's largest companies including Merck, UnitedHealthcare and Procter & Gamble achieve amazing results. Learn strategies you can use in your own organization to innovate and increase value.

Catherine Ingram joins Tahnee on the podcast today. Catherine Ingram is an international dharma teacher and former journalist specialising in empathy and activism. Catherine is the author of several books including; In the Footsteps of Gandhi, Passionate Presence, A Crack in Everything, and the long-form essay “Facing Extinction.” Catherine has published over 100 articles and interviews throughout the 1980s and early 1990s with leading thinkers and activists of our time. Catherine and Tahnee take a deep dive today, sharing a beautiful conversation around the philosophical landscape of activism, empathy, Buddhism, dharma practice, mindfulness and sensitivity. Tahnee and Catherine explore: The mindfulness industry and how it is often misguided. The 1970's Dharma movement. Catherine's experience of Buddhist meditation and philosophy. The nature and burden of sensitivity - "if you're not at least a little bit sad, you're not paying attention" - Catherine Ingram The relationship between grief and love. Activism, empathy and compassion. The themes of Catherine's essay; Facing Extinction. The Resilient Byron project.   Who is Catherine Ingram? Catherine Ingram is an international dharma teacher with communities in the U.S., Europe, and Australia. Since 1992 Catherine has led Dharma Dialogues, which are public events that encourage the intelligent use of awareness within one’s personal life and in one’s community. Catherine leads numerous silent retreats each year in conjunction with Dharma Dialogues. Catherine is president of Living Dharma, an educational non-profit organisation founded in 1995. Catherine has been the subject of numerous print, television, and radio interviews and is included in several anthologies about teachers in the West. A former journalist specialising in issues of consciousness and activism, Catherine is the author of two books of nonfiction, which are published in numerous languages: In the Footsteps of Gandhi: Conversations with Spiritual/Social Activists (Parallax Press, 1990) and Passionate Presence: Seven Qualities of Awakened Awareness (Penguin Putnam, 2003); and one novel, A Crack in Everything (Diamond Books, 2006). In February 2019, Catherine published the long-form essay “Facing Extinction” as a free link, an essay she updates every month as new data emerges about the crises we face. Over a fifteen-year period beginning in 1982, Catherine published approximately 100 articles on empathic activism and served on the editorial staffs of New Age Journal, East West Journal, and Yoga Journal. For four years Catherine also wrote the Life Advice column for Alternatives Magazine based in Oregon. Since 1976, Catherine has helped organise and direct institutions dedicated to meditation and self-inquiry and, more recently, human and animal rights. Catherine is a co-founder of Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts (1976). Catherine also co-founded the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) in The Hague, Netherlands (1991) and is a member of the Committee of 100 for Tibet. For six years (1988-1994), Catherine served as a board director for The Burma Project, dedicated to raising international awareness about the struggle for democracy in Burma. Catherine is currently serving on the board of Global Animal Foundation, which works on behalf of the world’s animals.   Resources:Catherine's Website Catherine Facing Extinction Essay In The Deep Podcast Coronavirus: Courage and Calm PodcastCatherine's Books The Resilient Byron Project   Q: How Can I Support The SuperFeast Podcast?   A: Tell all your friends and family and share online! We’d also love it if you could subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes. Or  check us out on Stitcher :)! Plus  we're on Spotify!   Check Out The Transcript Here:   Tahnee: (00:01) Hi everybody and welcome to the SuperFeast podcast. Today I'm really excited to have Catherine Ingram here. She's the author of several books. Footsteps to Gandhi, Passionate Presence, A Crack in Everything and this incredible essay called Facing Extinction that you can find online. We'll link to it in the show notes. Catherine's an amazing former journalist as well so she's spoken to so many wonderful people and it seems to be this real emphasis on compassion and humanity and activism and empathy. And I know she's published over 100 articles and interviews throughout the '80s and '90s. I don't know if those are all available online, Catherine, but maybe people can have a little dig. Since '92, Catherine has been leading international retreats and public sessions known as Dharma Dialogues. I've been fortunate to go to some of those in Lennox and in Byron Bay. They're just really beautiful ways to check in and connect to this deeper meaning and purpose of life and our own inner compass toward well being. Our passions and all those kinds of things. She's also served on the board of numerous human rights organisations, as a board member of Global Animal and also is part of a newly founded organisation called Resilient Byron, which I'm excited to talk to her about today.   Tahnee: (01:19) Catherine, so busy. I know you're going to be doing some Dharma Dialogues online digitally, which is really exciting as well. Thanks so much for being here today. We're really excited.   Catherine Ingram: (01:32) Thank you for inviting me.   Tahnee: (01:33) So we've been touching on a lot of big themes lately on the podcast, which I think this time obviously takes us all deeper into ourselves for sure. I know that a lot of your work has focused on these big themes. Has that been something that you've been interested in forever or were you more drawn into these things over time? Can you give us a little sense of how Catherine becomes Catherine?   Catherine Ingram: (02:01) Well I fell into the study of Buddhist meditation from a pretty young age. I started doing retreats, attending retreats in 1974 and it became basically my world. I helped found a big centre in Massachusetts called Insight Meditation Society, which is one of the famous mindfulness centres in the world. But at the time, we were just this ragtag band of hippies. It was a very small scene in those days. Really small. We all knew each other, everywhere. I know a lot of the very famous mindfulness teachers, the older ones. They're old friends. I was in that study and in that practise and in that organisation for 17 years until about '91. Along the way, I became interested in how does a mindful life or an empathic life or a life based on loving kindness, how does it show up for anybody else? It's all well and good that we're all having a fine time but how does it matter in the world?   Catherine Ingram: (03:11) That became a focus for me in journalism. I decided to become a journalist in order to have access to what I considered the people who could be my teachers, my mentors in that new field of study, that is activism with a consciousness or empathic base. I thought to myself, why would any of those people want to talk with me or hang out with me? And I thought, well they would if I were a journalist and if I could publish their words. So I became a journalist, I kind of backed into it with a side motivation, which was, I wanted access [inaudible 00:03:50] I wanted to study with.. And that's what it gave me. So for the next 12 years, I focused entirely on that. I published, as you mentioned, many, many articles in the days... It was pre-Internet [inaudible 00:04:05] available, a few of them we did manage to scan and put online. I did that for all those years writing for print magazines and then I began having sessions myself, having meditative, initially dialogue-based meditation sessions. In other words, part of it would be silent but also it would be a dialogue format to keep people on a certain frequency, and in conjunction with silent retreats that I led all over the world. Well not in Russia. Not in Africa.   Tahnee: (04:52) Not in every single country on the planet.   Catherine Ingram: (04:56) Not every country. Not even every continent but I did that and still do, although we're in lockdown at the moment. Yeah, I've been focused on these matters, the confluence of activism and empathic action that has a dedication to the greater good. It's always been important to me. I remember long ago, I heard a Tibetan teacher talk about the two wings of the bird. One is wisdom and one is compassion and that it can fall off... I'm sorry, no, that got... That's how a bird flies. But I've heard other teachers talk about wisdom and compassion being like two different types of temperament and I've always thought, how can there be wisdom without compassion? It doesn't make sense. How can there be any kind of wisdom that doesn't include compassion? Since I was quite young in my career, I've always wanted the understanding that your awareness includes and is expansive. I'm a bit allergic to systems of thought and philosophy that are very self motivated. Self improvement, self wellbeing.   Tahnee: (06:33) You must love Instagram. Just kidding.   Catherine Ingram: (06:36) I don't use Instagram and I'm also [inaudible 00:06:38] social media in general, though I'm forced to a little tiny bit because we have to-   Tahnee: (06:44) Necessarily evil unfortunately.   Catherine Ingram: (06:46) Exactly, yeah. That's why I don't have an Instagram account.   Tahnee: (06:51) Could I just quickly... I just want to grab on that because this is honestly my biggest bugbear with how even mindfulness and all of these things have been taken and turned into almost competitions or ways of making yourself better than somebody else.   Catherine Ingram: (07:07) It's so co-opted and it's gotten corporate. I mean the Buddha would roll over in his grave if he had one. Yeah, it's really devolved over the years, I have to say. It's kind of tagged onto everything you can think of. It's very, very different than what I knew it to be back in the day. I studied with a lot of the older Asian teachers who've all since died. It was a very monastic scene back in those days but now it's a very different animal. I have to say though, there are other ways of understanding presence and how to use your attention and in those ways of understanding and of deep immersion, it would be anathema to your spirit to co-opt that understanding and use it for any kind of mercenary production. I think that there are ways to understand a dharmic life and to live a dharmic life and, as I say, use your mind and your heart in ways that in at least the original Buddhist teachings and language, it would be totally commensurate with all of that.   Tahnee: (08:53) So I mean, how do you get to Buddhism? I mean, I don't know exactly how old you are but I assume it wasn't readily available to study Buddhist practice. No.   Catherine Ingram: (09:09) Very obscure in those days. What happened though was this Tibetan teacher named Trungpa Rinpoche came along and he had been living in the UK. He was an exile from Tibet. He'd been living in the UK and he was a very hip... He was young and he was extremely hip and very interested in Western culture and in Western arts and all kinds of arts and he founded something called Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado in 1974 and he gathered there, all of the biggest named teachers of the day. Now they were still obscure and they had relatively small scenes, each one individually, like Ram Dass and all these people. Even though eventually that became a much larger scene, it wasn't at the time, and some of the big name Buddhist teachers who were unknown, totally unknown in those days, they were invited. He managed through his scene, his students, to get hold of all these people and gather them in this one spot to found this Buddhist university called Naropa Institute and I heard about it and I went. I decided to attend and I was 22 years old and I was in Europe. I was actually going to India, I thought. I was in Europe travelling around on my way to India.   Catherine Ingram: (10:38) I didn't know what I was doing exactly. I wanted to go find a teacher in India but I heard about Naropa and I thought, all these teachers are going to be right there in one place in my own country. I should go there. It's a long, long story. That story alone of being there that summer, in the midst of all of that. Like imagine, I used to-   Tahnee: (11:00) Be wild.   Catherine Ingram: (11:02) I use this way of describing it. Imagine like a Burning Man but that was only about Dharma and only about philosophy and only about these deeper arts. That's what it felt like for a whole entire summer. 10 weeks. That was a real turning point because there I met my whole community and I fell into a particular strain of the... There were so many different types of teachings there. They weren't all Buddhist. There were just a few of the Buddhists. There was [inaudible 00:11:34], the Tibetan Buddhists, the Zen Buddhist and then this tiny little scene led by Joseph Goldstein. He had a class, a tiny, little, dinky class called the essential Buddhism. Hardly anyone came but I walked into his class and I just felt at home. He was my teacher and also later on, my boyfriend. So that's how I began Buddhist practise. I became incredibly immersed in those teachings, especially I heard the first noble truth, the truth of suffering, the truth of the unsatisfactoriness of existence and I just thought, sign me up. I get it. Anyway, that was my world for a long time. I basically just went from retreat to retreat. I was one of the managers of the retreats. I helped found the centre, as I said, that we did in 1976.   Catherine Ingram: (12:44) I went to Asia. I finally did go to Asia after that first attempt. I went overland from Italy to India in a time when you could still do that and I was gone for... We were all over Southeast Asia studying in different temples with different of our teachers. I did that for a year. I went back many, many times to India. I went to India 10 times over the next 20 years. It was a whole... What to say, you could write a book on just that. Or I could, I guess.   Tahnee: (13:24) Well I think that's the dream. I know in this area. There's so many young people looking for that authentic, and I'm using air quotes but the authentic experience, which I mean really that generation of yours was, there were so many socio political and cultural reasons that those experiences were able to be had.   Catherine Ingram: (13:47) We were in a moment in history where our music was all about that. It was a whole, it was a zeitgeist that was happening among the counter culture but it wasn't as huge as people think. Certainly not the dharma slice of it but what was called the psychedelic generation, it wasn't as ubiquitous as people think but it was powerful and we all knew each other and hung out with each other. It was a really great, great time and then I fell into having my own sessions, as I said, and that's been really wonderfully rich. Just the intimacy of that and sharing a dharma life with people and having those kinds of conversations, I feel so privileged because I feel like I have of what you might call deathbed conversations but they're not on the deathbed, although sometimes. It's basically... Well the name of my podcast channel is In The Deep.   Tahnee: (14:57) You go there.   Catherine Ingram: (15:01) It just feels like you can stay on a certain channel of a shared frequency that is in the deep. I find that's, for me, the most satisfying kinds of conversation.   Tahnee: (15:19) Have you found it hard to integrate... Again, I'm using air quotes, a real life with that kind of desire for that deep connection? I've heard you speak in Dharma Dialogue that your family were not... They were quite conservative, I think, if I'm remembering correctly. Have you found it difficult to connect back to your lineage and to the real world? Because you do inhabit this space that is not... There's a dearth of this kind of communication in our culture. People don't want deep. They want instant news and 24 hour Fox.   Catherine Ingram: (15:57) That is why I always sought out the quieter places, the quieter minds, you could say. Those kinds of conversations and the power of sangha, of the dharmic community. I've always gravitated to that kind of crowd. In the work that I do, by definition, that's the kind of conversation... What I do is called Dharma Dialogues and so I have certainly my fair share of that kind of interaction and I spend a lot of time alone in quiet. I live a very retreat-like life. When I do have conversation, it tends to be about the deeper matters. It's not that we always have to be philosophical or anything. I mean, I'm happy to talk about the latest drama that we all might be watching. I enjoy that tremendously but because I don't have a lot of chit chat possibility in my life really, because I live alone, and my work is about this in the deep conversation, the conversations I do have tended to be in the nature such as the one we are having now, about what matters and what are the priorities and how does one live? What structure of life in your creative expression do you want to offer? That's been a very fortunate component.   Catherine Ingram: (17:50) Regarding my family and of course other people in our lives that we may not be on the same page with, I've learned over the many years to just find points of connection that we do connect on. They can be very ordinary things and that's fine. I love ordinary also. I frame it and I spoke about it in my book Passionate Presence, as finding the language of the heart that you can intuit, you can sense, especially if you're quiet inside, you can sense the language that someone might be able to hear and you try to stay on those topics. Just as you do instinctively, as we all do instinctively when, say, we're with a child and whether it's a five year old child or a 10 year old child, you adjust your language a bit, or someone who you sense is highly intelligent but is speaking... English is their second language and they're not super fluent in it so you adjust. Instinctively you adjust how you're speaking so that they'll understand all your words.   Catherine Ingram: (19:15) It's like that. You just have a radar that is sensing. The whole purpose of the conversation is to meet in the heart. It's not to just impose your great opinions.   Tahnee: (19:35) That really makes me think because so many people are like, they need to change, the world needs to change and so often, it's us, sadly that needs to change.   Catherine Ingram: (19:48) [inaudible 00:19:48] though, that way.   Tahnee: (19:52) I mean I think about my own family and I remember reading a Ram Dass book and he was talking about coming home from India to see his father and he had to stand side by side with his father and all he wanted to do was tell him all these truths and what he learned and his dad just needed him to stand there and help him make a pie or whatever and he said, "All I could do was just love him," and in that his dad softened and changed and they found commonality. I think so often we come to each other with our agenda.   Catherine Ingram: (20:23) Yeah, Ram Dass used to tell another story, which was that a woman wrote to him and said, "I'm about to go home for Christmas and I don't get along with my family that well and I know that they judge me about what I'm doing and they think I'm weird." Anyway, I don't know what he said to her but anyway, she went off to her family holiday and when she got back she wrote Ram Dass a letter and said, "My family hates me when I'm a Buddhist but they love me while I'm a Buddha."   Tahnee: (20:52) That's so beautiful. Isn't that the truth? I remember hearing you speak that you've almost stepped away from Buddhism and that whole scene in a way because it was that identification with... Maybe I'm misunderstanding what I-   Catherine Ingram: (21:10) No, I did step away from it completely. I'm so happy for that training and for those years and for the wonderful friendships. It was a whole evolutionary phase of my life but I wouldn't at all call myself a Buddhist. I don't have any kind of... There was a guy in the States, his name was Abbie Hoffman, he was a great activist back in my era. He died a long time ago. Kind of young when he died but he was a very famous radical activist in the '60s and he had a great line, "All of the isms are wasms," which I really related to. I don't have any isms that I'm adhering to. I have come to realise that Gandhi, the story of his... I'm sorry. His autobiography is called The Story Of My Experiments with Truth, and I feel that I've just been making my own experiments with truth and I don't claim as true with a capital T. I would say it's my experiments with truth, my experiments of what has made sense to me, what works, what has been consistently true for me in my experimentation about what is...   Catherine Ingram: (22:29) Like we've been saying, what is the way through? What is the dharmic line, thread of harmony through this rocky road called life? That's been, for me, I have been exposed to so many kinds of teachings, beautiful teachings over the years. Whether in literature, I love great literature... I mean, you can have profound experiences just by reading some of the great works of literature, and movies too. Movies have shaped my consciousness.   Tahnee: (23:09) Art, right? It's every... Humans have created that to tell stories since-   Catherine Ingram: (23:15) That's right.   Tahnee: (23:17) Yes, there's the vortex of, some of it is commercial and corporate and manipulative but I think so much of it is truth. Like you say, little 't' truths. Someone trying to capture what's true for them through their art form.   Catherine Ingram: (23:33) Yeah and what's so beautiful about all of that, and music, my goodness, music... What's so amazing about that is that's like our humanity is so... It's so sensitive and so universal in each of us. I mean it is why music translates to everybody, pretty much, that sometimes someone comes along and just in their own innocent, true expression, taps a chord that just reverberates through not only their own time but down through the ages. I'm always listening for those chords, however I can find them, whether in dharma circles and great works of philosophy and teachings from all different traditions but also in all these art forms and also just in-   Tahnee: (24:39) Life.   Catherine Ingram: (24:39) No, I mean in watching animals. You mentioned that I'm part now of a group called Global Animal, which is actually an animal rights organisation. I have been involved with human rights a lot in the past. Now I've switched over to the animals. The other animals, I should say. We are animals as well. Anyway, I'm just continually blown away by the tenderness and the emotional intelligence of animals, especially mammals, of course. It's all of these ways, all of these portals of wisdom that come across the transom of your mind that some minds just are looking for those, have incredible receptors for those, have neurological receptors for those kinds of channels and those kinds of bits of information and I think one can, in a sense, train the awareness to look for those.   Tahnee: (25:51) That was going to be my question because I mean, I feel like I... I sometimes try and nut this out in my head and I don't get very far. I remember as a child being very sensitive and open and then kind of going through a science phase and a cynical phase, I suppose, in my early 20s and I feel like I've come full circle back to this very sensitive place but I have, I think, now the capacity to handle it. In reading your essay especially, the one on facing extinction, I speak to so many people about this in my community and it's this sense of, it's too much and I can't carry it. The sensitivity I have, it's a burden instead of a gift. I've found, for me, refuge in stillness and quiet and all the things you were talking about. Aloneness. Nature for me is a huge part of it and why I choose to live here and I've heard you say the same about moving to Lennox. Is there ways you've seen people grow into their sensitivity and their perceptiveness/ because I think these people, they're so required right now. Those empaths and those people that feel it all. I don't know how to help them. It's like, you just have to keep going.   Catherine Ingram: (27:20) Yeah, it's a conundrum. It's a great question. It's not one I have a clear answer on in that the sensitivity comes with the deepening and widening awareness. It's a challenge because the more sensitive you are, the more subject to feeling the sorrows of the world and of the people you love and you as a young mother-   Tahnee: (27:49) Many feelings.   Catherine Ingram: (27:53) Yeah. The problem is, you kind of can't help it. You can't really help it if you're someone who feels very, very deeply and you notice things and you have natural empathy. Now I think people do shut down. They harden their hearts. They put blinkers on. They're essentially armoured because they're frightened and feeling too deeply is just too painful for them but I don't see any way around if you're paying attention, if the awareness is widening, which in a way it does on its own but like I said, you can sort of direct it, train it more to look for wisdom wherever you can find it and that includes ways to let go and to try to be strong. If that's how you're built then sorrow comes with it. Just as I sometimes say, if you're not at least a little bit sad, you're not paying attention. All of these happiness programs, they just make my skin crawl. Be happy and real happy and happy happy.   Tahnee: (29:23) Uhg! And they've coerced Buddhist, the dharma teachings. I mean, I'm on social media, unfortunately in some ways and I see this stuff and I just think... I mean, one of my teachers calls it the bandwidth. We want to be able to feel a spectrum of things and just to expect that it's just happy and sunshine, rainbows, lollipops all the time is-   Catherine Ingram: (29:50) Yeah, I often say, have said for 30 years that we live on a spectrum of feelings and on one end is deep suffering and sorrow and sadness and depression and all kinds of things and at the other is incredible joy. We live on that spectrum. And that to shut down one end also shuts down the other. So some people want to play it safe and go right into the middle, don't feel too much on either side. You shut down any... Like basically grief is connected to love. That's why we grieve is because we love, like I said in my essay. So if you're going to give up, if you're so afraid of grieving, then you really can't invest in your love. You're going to be at risk. So that's what we've got here as human creatures. I think in this time, where the world has stopped, even though it's starting to move about a bit more, but I think a lot of people have reset their priorities and have understood perhaps in ways they never understood. But for many of us who've been looking at these things and feeling into them, we've understood them more deeply. That this life that we are so privileged to be living, it really never had any guarantees. We kind of drifted into an illusion in our rich cultures of just, you know, kind of having a party. I mean just going along.   Catherine Ingram: (31:33) Just get what you want. Go where you want. Study what you want. Go here. Flit there. So we've just been having a grand old time and now we're confronted with our entire way of life has not only changed for now but it's changed and probably it's going to stay changed. It's going to get more and more challenging. I believe we're headed into a cascade of crises. The coronavirus crisis is going to perhaps be the kickstart. But we've got all the big ones waiting. The worse ones are waiting in the wings. They're cooking away in the background. We haven't been talking about them as much during this one. But they're going along. They're going a pace. Unlike this one, which might have some mitigation to it, I don't think those other ones do. So I think what we're facing is a lot more letting go and a lot more needing to find empathy and understanding and getting way closer to the ground in terms of how we live simply. I don't know if you've noticed this but I have... I've just not been spending money on pretty much anything except food and paying the utilities-   Tahnee: (33:05) Yeah the things you have to pay.   Catherine Ingram: (33:08) [inaudible 00:33:08] monthly charges and I'm grateful to be able to do that. I've seen, gosh, even though it's kind of stripped down, those are really essential things. Food and having the water come on when you turn it on.   Tahnee: (33:26) Basic necessities. Yeah well it's definitely... I mean again a theme I'm really witnessing is a move toward... So we've just put in a chicken coop, which we started before all this happened but it didn't get finished until the middle of all of this. I contacted a breeder for the chickens. I was looking for a heritage breeder. He said, "The pandemic hit and I've sold out." He said, "I've sold every chicken I have until October." He's like, "Everyone's gone self-sufficient." I was like, "Well wow, that's crazy." I've noticed all of these permaculture people are offering courses on sustainable backyard gardens and farming. I'm like, "That's so great that people are starting." If that's one of the, I guess, impacts of this on a micro level, that people start to think-   Catherine Ingram: (34:17) It's a great benefit because things are still kind of holding together. We're not in massive drought or fires or some [inaudible 00:34:26] war thing happening over resources. We're basically just told to stay in our homes. The skies are blue and the waters are clear. The earth is actually breathing a great sigh of relief in having us stopped. So it is a perfect time to learn those kind of basic life-   Tahnee: (34:47) Life skills.   Catherine Ingram: (34:49) [inaudible 00:34:49] yeah.   Tahnee: (34:50) That's something... I mean I copied a quote out of your essay, which was, "On the last day of the world, I would want to plant a tree." I nearly cried when I read that. I'm nearly crying now because I think that's something, when people feel the overwhelm and the kind of impact of what is going on on a more macro level, they just become numb. Business as usual I suppose carries on. I think it's... To think that even if the world was coming to an end, we would still make an offering that we would not live to see come to fruition I think is-   Catherine Ingram: (35:28) But just to be clear that wasn't my quote. I quoted that.   Tahnee: (35:30) No sorry. It was Merwin. But you quoted it and I mean, all the quotes you chose for that were really beautiful. But that one, I just really... Because I think I've definitely... I studied environmental science for a year and a half at university.   Catherine Ingram: (35:46) [inaudible 00:35:46].   Tahnee: (35:46) I really struggled with... You were either angry and like trying to cut off from the world and go off the grid and disappear or you were kind of apathetic and well, "It's all going to happen anyway. Humans are a virus. They should all be killed." It was like, there didn't feel like much of a middle ground but I fel like everyone was really... And even then there was the women that were like, "All the men should die. The patriarchy's the problem." Like, "None of this really resonates with me."   Catherine Ingram: (36:17) It's kind of like displaced... It's displaced grief.   Tahnee: (36:21) Yeah. When I think about the stages, right? Denial, anger, bargaining, depression... But then I also was recently reading that they've added another stage. Because it used to end at acceptance. Now they've added transformation into meaning. I thought... Into insight. I was like, that's so perfect because I feel like over two decades that's been my experience. I'm sure you've seen that.   Catherine Ingram: (36:44) Yeah definitely, yes. I know, I love that quote as well from Merwin and it's exactly that. You live, like my teacher [inaudible 00:36:57] once said, "Death is when the next breath doesn't come." So basically it's simple as that. You've living until then and how are you living here? How are you showing up? It still has meaning as long as we're here. It has meaning even after we're gone as well but while we're here we're part of the meaning of it. And so what do you do with your energy, your time, your attention? Your activity? Your service? So yeah, of course. I mean we've got so many beautiful examples through history of people who were in just terrible dire circumstances and who carried on and did it in grace, in beauty. So that's... I think that's the play on the board. In a way then that you're off the hook in terms of, you don't have to manipulate and try to change how it goes. Because it's going to go... This is a big juggernaut now. I mean, the thing I think people don't understand fully is that although we have changed the natural expressions of our world, we've changed them for the worse in that it's killing life, it doesn't follow necessarily that we can change them back.   Catherine Ingram: (38:31) I don't see the will in terms of the powerful players doing that anyway. But even if they would, I certainly am not convinced that if every single person woke up tomorrow and that was their full dedication for the rest of their lives, that it would save us, frankly. Because we have put things into play now that are on their own. That the warming is actually now on its own trajectory. So there may be some sort of technology that, I don't know, cools it or-   Tahnee: (39:06) That was something else I copied from your... Because I mean I guess, being of the age where a lot of my peers are really involved in conspiracy theories and the... Like it's so easy to be in that place of like, we're all pawns in a... But I mean you said something around Elon Musk is just like that nerdy guy who... And I've said this to my partner multiple times, like Bill Gates, they're just these people that they think that what they're doing is right because they don't have the self-reflect... You know they just don't have perspective to see. And you said something like, "Their intelligence is one dimensional." To paraphrase you.   Catherine Ingram: (39:51) [crosstalk 00:39:51] excellent. They do have amazing intelligence. It's just disconnected a lot from the Earth systems and from the natural systems. But it's not to say that they aren't well intended. I think they actually are well intended. They just get it from their own paradigm.   Tahnee: (40:09) Exactly and what they think is best is maybe not what we think is best. But I mean to call someone evil, I think it's a tricky line to walk. And I see that, that technology will save us and I've seen some eco-activists talk to that as well. I don't know, I just feel sinking in my gut when I read that sort of stuff because it doesn't-   Catherine Ingram: (40:33) It's just more manipulation with nature. It's just more of what got us into this mess actually. All these different green technologies and it all just feels so misguided. It's just more of the same. We have hubris, you know? This sort of, what Derrick Jensen calls the myth of human supremacy. Instead of understanding it, we've got to just cut back everything. We've got to stop. That's probably not going to save us either.   Tahnee: (41:02) And civilizations have fallen so many times through history through their own arrogance and their own excessive... And you look at nature and the plagues of locusts and they eat everything and they all die. That's the way it goes.   Catherine Ingram: (41:21) Locust plague going on right now. 160 million people are on the verge of starvation. Estimates that it's going to be double that in-   Tahnee: (41:28) Well I've been reading all this stuff. The ninth article on a page sometimes, or even you have to go a few pages deep but it's like, the food supply is gone for a lot of places. That's something I struggle with so much because I see it here and we do live in this place that's so rich in food and abundance and nature. I am privileged to go to the beach every day. I buy from a farmer's market. There are people in countries in the world right now that are really struggling and suffering and not even in... Like I know America's having a tough time but... I know India's going through it. I know Iran. I know parts of Africa are having a really tough time. It's like, how do we even help? What do we do?   Catherine Ingram: (42:12) I know. The chickens are coming home to roost in terms of what we've been doing here. We've got to really... We're going to need a lot more courage in ourselves. We've been so spoiled. It's not our own fault because we came into the spoils of our cultures. We've been reared up in this kind of abundance and calm and safety and all these things that we've just taken for granted. But now we're in a different phase. I think we're going to have to really get to that quiet sanctuary in ourselves a lot and find there a growing sense of courage and a growing acceptance and setting aside our own hubris about how long a life we should have and how much we should have and all of those things. It's hard. And yet that's... We can either accept or fight the reality. Those are our options.   Tahnee: (43:28) I guess I've heard you speak a lot about the... There's something I love about when you lead meditation and the animal nature of us. I think if we can... Because that's one of the things I think that has created so much of the drama is like we've separated ourselves so much from the fact that we are animals. We do have rhythms that flow with nature. We have needs like animals. We communicate with animals. I'm reading this great book called the Tao of Equus right now. She's talking about how horses, we've dominated them and used them for so long but now they're moving into this space of like, taking us back to connecting with ourselves and nature and just this idea that, especially through women and the wisdom held by, I guess that more feminine energy but I think everyone has the Yin and the Yang, that's definitely something I feel to be true, but like yeah, I can really feel that this is a time of... If you think about the elders and keeping the culture on track and present and like that's, I think, such a requirement of this time.   Tahnee: (44:36) You look at all the leadership, it's all men. It's all men of a certain kind of privilege and a certain type of personality type, thinking of some narcissistic leaders off the top of my head right now. I think it's that older wise woman thing that we need. I don't know if you know Helena, who's a local to this area, she might be involved in Resilient Byron with you?   Catherine Ingram: (44:58) No.   Tahnee: (45:01) Okay well she was one of the women that I first spoke to these things about. She's a bit older. She was one of the women to start the community farmer's markets here and everything. This idea of local features, you know, like that we have to look for leadership and strength and resilience in our own communities. And then build on that. To me, that's something I'm really craving and hoping becomes more prominent. I know you're working with Resilient Byron. Is it mostly people that are out of their childbearing years or is it a mix of people?   Catherine Ingram: (45:34) A mix. We don't have a huge steering group at the moment but it's definitely a mix of ages for sure yeah. I think I'm the oldest in fact.   Tahnee: (45:46) How do you feel like age has then, I guess, brought you... Is there like a... I read this great story the other day in a book called If Women Rose Rooted. She said it's this combination of like wrath and gentleness as you get older.   Catherine Ingram: (46:04) Yes. I definitely feel that actually inside myself. I feel what's happened for me, one of the great things is you just get a lot more authentic when you get older, women. Because I think for many women, we fell into needing to be pleasers. We kind of like to please a lot. Sometimes we compromised what we really felt and what we really thought and what we wanted to do and all of those things. Because somebody else needed us to be some other way. So that's something one grows out of, which is a happy-   Tahnee: (46:44) [crosstalk 00:46:44].   Catherine Ingram: (46:48) You just get a lot more clear about... You get more savage about your time I must say. You are less inclined to spend time on nonsense or to indulge certain mind streams that you know are just going to end up in a dark alley. It has all kind of benefits along with some great disadvantages that come along. But again, it does have some beautiful silver linings.   Tahnee: (47:23) Was it like a difficult... Because I mean when did you move? Because you've been in The States most of your life, right?   Catherine Ingram: (47:29) Yeah.   Tahnee: (47:30) And then you moved out here when?   Catherine Ingram: (47:31) About [inaudible 00:47:33] half years ago.   Tahnee: (47:35) And so, was that a big shift for you, culturally and professionally and yeah?   Catherine Ingram: (47:40) That was a big shift. Massive, massive shift. To do it at the age I was as well. But I had felt for a very long time I wanted to get out of America. And that alone wouldn't have pulled me out but it was a combination of wanting to get out of there and also falling in love with this part of the world, Australia. And also New Zealand. I love New Zealand as well.   Tahnee: (48:02) Me too. Yeah.   Catherine Ingram: (48:04) So you kind of get both when you come in as a resident of Australia. So I just have been so grateful to be living here. Just I feel so lucky. And everybody in the states, all the people I talk with so often, everybody says, "Oh God you're so lucky." Except that one isn't living... We're living always in a context of "Yes I'm here and I'm lucky but my friends, my oldest friends and my whole family are over there." So my heart is over there as well. Not entirely. But I mean I often feel like, it feels something like it must have felt in Germany if you were a Jew and you were getting out but all your family was still there. You're never really entirely free in that regard. Now I'm [inaudible 00:49:05] and I hold things in as big a space as I can as I view them, but these feelings of course arise with a great frequency. And yeah, but I am very happy to be in this particular place. This is a paradise in any context, you know? And especially now.   Tahnee: (49:31) I know we've been really, I guess not struggling with guilt but we've been really conscious of that feeling of like, "Well, our lives haven't been deeply impacted by this." It's obviously, I guess, I feel like I'm more focused now and I'm prioritising things more. I feel like my inner journey through this has been really powerful but in terms of what my outward life looks like, I don't obviously do as many external things. But I'm still at the beach every day. I'm still going to the farmer's markets at a social distance. It's like, I'm still kind of doing a lot of the things, and yeah, it's a tricky one to imagine. Like in some ways I think having the bush fires was a really good thing for Australian's to realise.   Catherine Ingram: (50:23) I do too.   Tahnee: (50:23) Yeah like that there actually is going to be an impact. Because it's so easy when it's over there to kind of forget about it or to take-   Catherine Ingram: (50:33) Yeah well it was also somehow helpful in that we were already sort of crisis ready.   Tahnee: (50:41) Orientated. Turning toward crisis.   Catherine Ingram: (50:45) We've already gotten our crisis muscles well exercised. I mean I know people could argue and say, "Yeah well we're in crisis fatigue." But I actually think there was some benefit in terms of of a way that, first of all, that whole sense of, "Okay what's important? What matters? If my house catches fire, what is it in it that I needed even? My photographs maybe or whatever. My computer possibly." But you know, and of course then you think, one of my girlfriends, this is a little bit telling a tale out of the school but, one of my girlfriends in LA owns a Picasso. And so one time, LA gets a lot of fires. And so one time she was telling me that during one of the recent fires she had actually, she had grabbed of course her dogs and the bunny rabbit and she was trying to figure out how to get the fish. She gets everything kind of ready to get loaded into the car and then it turns out they didn't need to go. And I said, "What about the Picasso?" And she said, "I didn't even think about the Picasso." I thought, "That's so cool. The bunny rabbit made it in there before the Picasso." It's like, that's really cool.   Tahnee: (52:07) It sounds like she's got her head on straight yeah.   Catherine Ingram: (52:09) Exactly. I think a lot of us would make those choices actually. The living thing. So yeah, I think we had, through the fires, come to those kinds of recognitions. What actually does one need in a life? We're so happy because we went through all that drought, we got a big lesson in water. In water rationing and we got a huge lesson in don't take any of this for granted. So yeah, these are going to be the lessons coming forth, I do believe.   Tahnee: (52:46) It's interesting what you're... Because you said something else in the essay around... It was around Auschwitz and the people that survived were the ones that had had struggles already in their lives. I think that's something... That resilience that we build through meeting life's challenges and learning from them. I think when you look at how far our civilization has to fall compared to others, it might be that there is parts of humanity that survive because of what they've been through.   Catherine Ingram: (53:21) Already existing local resilience, doing without, living on very little, helping [inaudible 00:53:27] community. Yes. I think they're in a far better circumstance to get through this than we are because we're so dependent on a very complicated system. And we're not used to a certain kind of community sharing, which is very much what we want to start focusing on with this group.   Tahnee: (53:48) So in terms of what you are looking to create, I suppose, could you just give us the elevator pitch or some kind of sense of what the ideal outcome of this organisation would be?   Catherine Ingram: (54:01) Resilient Byron, well there's one part of it is resilient and the other part is regenerative. But I'm more interested in the resilient. I actually think we're going straight into crises one after the next. So in that conversation, it's been about starting a framework of neighbourhood units of resilience basically so that people would start focusing on their own neighbourhoods. Whatever that means to you. Whether it's your street or your particular area. And start sharing resources. We've got the Facebook page, which is serving as a kind of clearing house at the moment for just information and for people to find out about things like during the coronavirus crisis. Like where to get things you need, food or help in various ways. We're going to start having more conversations about food security, community gardens, security security. Like just how to stay safe. What about housing for people who may... Either don't have housing currently or may need it at some point.   Catherine Ingram: (55:17) So there's lots of, I mean it's really in the formative stages but we're just basically looking at lots of different ways that we're going to organise to perhaps be a system in this region that is de-linked from the national sort of federal system. I don't mean that we're going to do a political coup but rather that we're going to have a lot of local resources we're relying on. Those can be also shared with nearby like [inaudible 00:55:51] and up where you are.   Tahnee: (55:54) [inaudible 00:55:54].   Catherine Ingram: (55:58) It could be an entire Northern Rivers sort of eco-community that is helping each other.   Tahnee: (56:08) That's so exciting to me because I mean I think I can see how that becomes something that can roll out. I have a friend in Melbourne and I know, on her street, she's has food and she grows things and her neighbours do and they all trade eggs and vegetables. And just that little bit of connection with the people on your street and that's such a... It has such a profound impact on your wellbeing. That was one of the solutions you offered up in the essay was community and I think-   Catherine Ingram: (56:36) It's number one yeah. It's the number one-   Tahnee: (56:38) And what we've really done is separate ourselves. I remember living in the city and if you like smiled at somebody... I was lucky to be raised in the country where you knew everybody, which had pros and cons. Because you knew everybody. I remember being really naughty as a teenager and like the local policeman was my mum's mate and I was like, "Hey." He was like, "Oh dear." Anyway. But yeah, I think it's really, this kind of getting to know the people that we live beside every day. Just getting a sense of, well, "Yeah they're the people we lean on." Our cul-de-sac through this time has been my saving grace. I have babysitters and I have friends for my children and I have people to share stories with. It's just been... Yeah it's been such a beautiful experience.   Catherine Ingram: (57:32) That's wonderful. That's really it. That's wonderful. That's what humans have relied on through all of human history until quite recently was, you lived with your tribe. And of course as civilization so called erupted, still people lived with their tribes in a different way. They lived mostly with family or rural communities or if you lived in a city it wasn't a huge city. There weren't huge cities really.   Tahnee: (58:04) Well and even people stayed in their boroughs, you know? They didn't leave their neighbourhoods. Very infrequently. Yeah.   Catherine Ingram: (58:13) You'd still live within a tribe within the city. So yeah, we've gotten far from that but we can... That is one thing I think we can bring back. Well dear I should go because-   Tahnee: (58:25) Yes I was going to say, thank you so much. It's actually nearly 11:11 so that's perfect. I just wanted to say that was such a great note to end on. And also because that's something you do with the Dharma Dialogues. I always got so much... I haven't been to them in a while because you weren't doing them and then this has happened but just being around people who are able to articulate their human experience and then just the sharing and I think that's, for me, been such a balm. And also obviously your wisdom and insight. So I know you've got two weekends per month coming up. Is it through June and July that you'll be doing that?   Catherine Ingram: (59:03) I'm actually going to do it indefinitely. I'm going to start-   Tahnee: (59:05) Oh wonderful.   Catherine Ingram: (59:07) Since we're locked down I'm just going to start doing online-   Tahnee: (59:09) Great so they'll be replacing, in a way the Lennox events?   Catherine Ingram: (59:13) Yeah.   Tahnee: (59:13) Okay. Fantastic. Okay well that's super exciting. Okay so those'll go up on your website soon so we can link to them and if anyone... Is it just through sign up to your email kind of thing and you'll be notified?   Catherine Ingram: (59:25) Yeah.   Tahnee: (59:26) Awesome. Well thank you so much for your time. I know-   Catherine Ingram: (59:29) Thank you so much for inviting me. That was lovely.   Tahnee: (59:31) Yeah it's been really beautiful to speak with you. I'll also link to your books as well because Passionate Presence is the only one I've read but I really enjoyed it. Yeah, I really just appreciate everything you're offering because it helps people like me navigate their lives. So much love. All right Catherine well I'll hopefully see you in the flesh again one day soon. Enjoy the rest of your day.   Catherine Ingram: (59:55) And you. Bye dear.   Tahnee: (59:57) Bye hun.   Catherine Ingram: (59:57) Bye.

Recorded on April 25, 2020. On this episode Mama Dee talks to Cameron, 19, his sister, Careen, 15 and the youngest of the Moss family, 15 year old Brandon. My vulnerability:  My husband and I recorded and edited this. My husband has been a musical producer and audio editor on and off since high school. He has tons of experience recording and editing audio. The audio could way be better, lol

Eight-year-old cycling legend Dylan Moran from Tuam Co. Galway raises thousands of euros for Health Care workers at UHG. Dylan Moran, aged eight, from Tuam, is adhering to Ireland’s 2km limit for exercise by doing laps of nearby cycle lanes. 

Envision and ACT | Innovation Mindset Keynote Innovation speaker in India, Mr. Simerjeet Singh talks about envisioning and execution, in this audio clip. In India, he has delivered Innovation talks and workshops for Intel, Amdocs, Bayer CropScience, UHG and many other. As a keynote speaker on innovation, Simerjeet helps you rediscover your natural urge to improve the world around you. Meant for team members and leaders alike, Simerjeet's ideas for developing an innovation mindset offer up simple practical takeaways that can boost your team's innovation quotient, and make innovation a regular part of your business strategy. #InnovationMindset #InnovationSpeaker #InnovationKeynote To invite one of the best speakers on Innovation+mindset, please visit his official site https://www.simerjeetsingh.com/ Follow us on: Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/cuttingedgeINDIA Blog: http://www.simerjeet.wordpress.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cuttingedgeindia/ Instagram: @speakersimer (https://www.instagram.com/speakersimer/) Twitter: @SimerjeetSingh (https://twitter.com/simerjeetsingh) Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/simerjeetsingh Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/CuttingEdgeINDIA Email us your queries at dubai@simerjeetsingh.com and we will love to answer them.

The SECOND time is a charm?? lol So we recorded on Monday and 10 minutes before the show was over, we noticed that the computer wasn't recording...UHG! So, here is our second attempt at show 206...:D End song...Grandma's farm

Have you ever wondered how consumer expectations are changing the way healthcare payers and providers think about the overall consumer healthcare experience? Wondering how healthcare companies are harnessing data or from wearable devices? Or, maybe you're wondering how healthcare companies are going to drive innovation in a heavily regulated industry. Wonder no more!On this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Rahul Goyal, Director of Digital Analytics and Personalization at UnitedHealth Group and Tess MacGibbon, Account Director at The Lacek Group about all of this. Well, briefly since we only had fifty minutes. Both guests are incredibly knowledgeable about healthcare which made this a fun and enlightening episode. Listen in as Rahul and Tess provide an insiders perspective on data, personalization and loyalty in the healthcare industry. SHOW HIGHLIGHTS AND WHAT YOU'LL LEARN…• The rise of consumer expectations in the healthcare sector• Challenges with personalizing healthcare experiences for consumers• How the healthcare industry thinks about personalization and what they're doing to address today's challenges• How personalization drives loyalty in healthcare; the current state of loyalty and where there are opportunities for innovation• Data and analytics talent in the healthcare industry; what UHG is doing to bridge gaps between talent types and the business• The future of loyalty and personalization in healthcarePEOPLE, TECHNOLOGY, AND RESOURCES MENTIONED• Apple and Aetna partnership• The Future of Healthcare Looks a Lot Like Retail• UnitedHealth Groups Individual Health Record (IHR)• Blockchain in healthcare• Affordable Care Act (ACA)• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA)• Apple Watch notified teen of abnormal heart-rate while suffering from kidney failure• Integrated Delivery Network (IDN)• AncestryDNA• 23andMe• MinneAnalytics• Halicon 2019

This week, we are talking to Jen Swanson Vice President of Digital Product Management at Optum about the importance of networking both outside and inside your organization. We also talk about why everyone should be working on their negotiation skills.

Im September hat das EU-Parlament für die umstrittene Urheberrechtsreform gestimmt: Uploadfilter und Leistungsschutzrecht sollen eingeführt werden. Wie der aktuelle Stand aussieht und was sich für Sie ändert, erfahren Sie in diesem Blogast.Jetzt ganzen Blogcast anhören »

Cody Gibson, KW Expansion Team Owner and Bold Coach, gives us the 7 steps to Abundance with Listings. "You maintain a business talking with people you know, you build a business talking with people you don't know." Cody  "You don't get a listing, you earn a listing or sign a listing. The language is key." Cody  STEPS TO ABUNDANCE WITH LISTINGS   Lead Generate until you get 1 appointment  Go on 1 appointment a day  Pre-qualify your appointments  Visit fsbo and expired sellers  Keep in touch with your SOI Follow up    About Cody: Cody has been an agent for over 16 years. and was a top-producing agent in Anchorage, Alaska where he built the Alaska Keller Williams office to nearly 200 agents. Now, based in Oregon, he is the owner and CEO of Portland Real Estate Group and United Home Group, as well as the Operating Partner of Keller Williams – Portland Central, with more than 267 agents. 

Cody founded Portland Real Estate Group (PRG) in fall of 2011. PRG has grown to include a Listing and Buyers’ Division, a call center, and a staff of 10. United Home Group (UHG) began in 2012, with Cody’s first expansion city in Tri Cities, WA. Since then, UHG has continued to expand. Currently operating in 21 locations, 18 cities across 9 states. His groups put over 400 homes into contract in 2015, are projected to put close to 500 into contract in 2016, and has sold as many as 55 homes in a single month. Subscribe to the Podcast in iTunes www.davidihill.com/mentors www.davidihill.com/affiliates www.thesalesplaybook.net 

Biz and Theresa explore the confusing moment when things go well. How is it possible when we know it will all melt down? Well, doesn’t it always melt down and don’t we want to be be proven right that we can’t do anything nice? UHG! Be it play dates, travel, staying up late or any other set of circumstances that usually go wrong with kids, maybe we should embrace the amazing feeling of the worst not happening. Plus Biz gets a Thanksgiving surprise, Theresa has a dream and we welcome back actor, director, screenwriter Kay Cannon to talk about her new movie Blockers and being cool with teens having sex. Follow Kay on twitter @KayKayCannon! Check out Kay's latest project Girlboss on Netflix now and keep an eye out for Pitch Perfect 3, in theaters December 22nd! Check out our book! You're Doing A Great Job!: 100 Ways You're Winning at Parenting! Thank you to all our listeners who support the show as monthly members of MaximumFun.org. Our sponsors this week are Ms. Fields and littleBits. Go to mrsfields.com, click on the microphone on the upper right-hand corner, and enter code BADMOTHER to get 25% off Mrs. Fields’ Bestselling Peace, Love, and Cookies tin! And check out littleBits, the toy brand that inspires young inventors to master STEAM skills and create their piece of the Star Wars galaxy with the Droid Inventor Kit. Share your genius and fail moments! Call 206-350-9485 Be sure to tell us at the top of your message whether you're leaving a genius moment, a fail, or a rant! Thanks!! Share a personal or commercial message on the show! Details at MaximumFun.org/Jumbotron. Subscribe to One Bad Mother in iTunes Join our mailing list Join the amazing community that is our private One Bad Mother Facebook group Follow One Bad Mother on Twitter Follow Biz on Twitter Follow Theresa on Twitter Like us on Facebook! Get a OBM tee, tank, baby shirt, or mug from the MaxFunStore You can suggest a topic or a guest for an upcoming show by sending an email to onebadmother@maximumfun.org. Show Music Opening theme: Summon the Rawk, Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Ones and Zeros, Awesome, Beehive Sessions (http://awesomeinquotes.com, also avail on iTunes) Mom Song, Adira Amram, Hot Jams For Teens (http://adiraamram.com, avail on iTunes) Telephone, Awesome, Beehive Sessions (http://awesomeinquotes.com, also avail on iTunes) Closing music: Mama Blues, Cornbread Ted and the Butterbeans

Cody has Expansion Groups in 43 Offices. Listings start with thinking but begin with action. CODY SHARES THE STEPS TO ABUNDANT LISTINGS. "You don't get a listing, you earn them or sign them. The language is key." Cody I can do anything but I can't do everything! STEPS TO ABUNDANT LISTINGS  Lead Generate daily until we get an appointment Set 1 appointment a day Prequalify appointments Visit FSBO/EXP daily Follow up "You maintain a business talking with people you know, you build a business talking with people you don't know." Cody About Cody Gibson: Cody has been an agent for over 16 years. and was a top-producing agent in Anchorage, Alaska where he built the Alaska Keller Williams office to nearly 200 agents. Now, based in Oregon, he is the owner and CEO of Portland Real Estate Group and United Home Group, as well as the Operating Partner of Keller Williams – Portland Central, with more than 267 agents. 

Cody founded Portland Real Estate Group (PRG) in fall of 2011. PRG has grown to include a Listing and Buyers’ Division, a call center, and a staff of 10. United Home Group (UHG) began in 2012, with Cody’s first expansion city in Tri Cities, WA. Since then, UHG has continued to expand. Currently operating in 21 locations, 18 cities across 9 states. His groups put over 400 homes into contract in 2015, are projected to put close to 500 into contract in 2016, and has sold as many as 55 homes in a single month.   For more sales training or information, visit my website at http://davidihill.com 

Colin Bartol has led a team that built 46% of the servers for Tricare West which covers 2.6 million people for the military which required security for NIST, PCI, and HIPPA. He has his MBA from Carlson school of management, CISSP, and is a SME for the CompTIA Project+ exam. Having been a consultant at 5 Fortune 100 companies in e-commerce, financial services, and retail sectors Colin has a wide experience of what happens in information technology. He is currently employed in telecommunications at a major health insurance company. Interviewers: Rajib Bahar, Shabnam Khan Discussion: - Your background is largely in computer security infrastructure... Tell us about your Data Science related experience? We would like to hear about Affinity project - What is Data Lake? How have you utilized it? - I noticed UHG is hiring Big Data experts like crazy... Are you involved in similar project in your department? - We are interested in learning about Tricare West - As it relates to computer Security, what tips or recommendations do you have on securing data and infrastructure in general? and Social media presence Music: www.freesfx.co.uk

Every now and then, I can't help myself and I have to rant a little.  In this episode, I offer caution to readers of so called financial experts online.  The website I referenced this week is Betterment.com.  The site is filled with efficient and common sense accumulation advice; however, when it comes to income planning, they surprised me by delivering some of the lamest advice I have heard in a while.   I also share my strong feelings about a couple of recent conversations with clients who were taking financial advice from the wrong people.  My favorite was the advice received from the CPA who got his opinion from investment advisors.  You would never take tax advice from a plumber, ask a doctor for legal advice, or call an attorney for electrical problems.  But it makes sense to some people to get financial advice from a lawyer who got their advice from someone else. UHG.    Maximum retirement income and a great lifestyle is not found in a single product.  Achieving your ideal retirement lifestyle takes planning and a strategy that involves the proper balance between your financial assets.  Our goal at Personal Pension Radio is to help you complete your financial journey and live the retirement you dream of.

UnitedHealth Baby Blocks Building a Healthy Future for Moms and Babies We interview Dr. Vidya Tangella - Head of Innovation Center of Excellence at UnitedHealth Group about the digital health application Baby Blocks. There are approximately 1.6 million babies born each year in the United States who are dependent upon Medicaid, and UnitedHealth Group is committed to doing everything possible to ensure newborns receive access to the best care possible. As a result, the company created UnitedHealthcare Baby Blocks, a free, online, interactive incentive program designed to help pregnant women and new mothers with prenatal and well-baby care. UnitedHealthcare Baby Blocks rewards women for visiting the doctor and reporting the information online during their pregnancy and their baby's first 15 months of life. Once women sign up for Baby Blocks, they can access an interactive board that shows their prenatal visits, along with opportunities to earn rewards for following a prenatal visit schedule. Using a game-like interface, moms can track appointments and receive email appointment reminders, as well as rewards for keeping the appointments. Rewards include gift cards for prenatal items and baby clothing, diaper bags and more. Through its Medicaid business, UnitedHealthcare offers health care coverage to more than 2 million children. Coverage, which varies by state, typically includes doctor visits, hospital care, immunizations, routine physical exams and prescription drug coverage. https://www.uhcbabyblocks.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week's show is full of laughs and cries! Minus a Joe this week, so we all agree to skip HM. Its not right without the whole gang. Our contest is still going! We are extending it a week! See details below** We get distracted this week by Alex's roommate, some depressing Mass Effect news, PAX East, and streams. Video games this week are just Shadow of the Colossus, Dark Souls, and Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City. Uhg, that last one is crap. Music this week is off of the Sword and Sworcery LP Soundtrack. The track "Dark Flute", all composed by Jim Guthrie. News this week is just basically Dark Souls PC. We're so excited! New Releases involve more than normal excitement for Carmin San Diego. Emails about Japanese vs. English voice track. That's the show! **Contest: Send us an email asking a game question, and at the bottom of the email ask if you would like to enter to win MLB 12 the Sho for VITA, PS3, or FOR BOTH. If you also agree to review it for us, you get FIVE CONTEST ENTRIES. Check out our website, http://IrrationalPassions.com. Send us emails at Alex/Evan/Scott/Joseph/Tony@IrrationalPassions.com or general mail to our mail sack: MailSack@irrationalpassions.com. Follow us @ALFighter27 (Alex), @stickerglue (Evan), @aceshigh291 (Joseph) and @TonyHorvath (Tony) and please follow the show @IrrationalPod. Please check out our new Youtube channel and subscribe at http://www.Youtube.com/IrrationalPassions Leave us a google voice voicemail at (404) 590-1337 [its like leet, 'cause it is] Standard long distance fees apply! Check out the awesome people over at TheGamerStudio.com, and follow them @TheGamerStudio! Check out Malicious Underground, and follow them @MaliciousUnderg! Join the forums at Retroids.com, and follow @Retroids! Like us on Facebook! Reviews us on iTunes! Buy our iPhone App!

Danske Tech Nyheder

It's a trip. A fast one.Tracklist:01_Suicide_Ladybug.OGG 6.0M02_Cat_Bus.OGG 4.4M03_Lost_And_Not_Found.OGG 8.7M04_Truly.OGG 6.9M05_Shh.OGG 6.8M06_Charge.OGG 1.7M07_Stay_Back_50_Feet.OGG 6.5M08_Bilk.OGG 10.3M09_Free.OGG 9.8M10_Chubby_Bear_In_A_Tree.OGG 5.2M11_Uhg.OGG 5.4M12_550BillionOnWarLastYear.OGG 8.0M13_Finger_Pointing.OGG 5.5M14_Lights_Out.OGG 7.1M15_Boundary.OGG 9.5MListen:StreamInternet Archive:http://archive.org/details/tpd037Download:[tpd037] Rumored High Speed Rail Hub - 04.02.03 Is There Anything More Awkward Than Popular Culture? (ogg) [tpd037] Rumored High Speed Rail Hub - 04.02.03 Is There Anything More Awkward Than Popular Culture? (mp3)

It's a trip. A fast one.Tracklist:01_Suicide_Ladybug.OGG 6.0M02_Cat_Bus.OGG 4.4M03_Lost_And_Not_Found.OGG 8.7M04_Truly.OGG 6.9M05_Shh.OGG 6.8M06_Charge.OGG 1.7M07_Stay_Back_50_Feet.OGG 6.5M08_Bilk.OGG 10.3M09_Free.OGG 9.8M10_Chubby_Bear_In_A_Tree.OGG 5.2M11_Uhg.OGG 5.4M12_550BillionOnWarLastYear.OGG 8.0M13_Finger_Pointing.OGG 5.5M14_Lights_Out.OGG 7.1M15_Boundary.OGG 9.5MListen:StreamInternet Archive:http://archive.org/details/tpd037Download:[tpd037] Rumored High Speed Rail Hub - 04.02.03 Is There Anything More Awkward Than Popular Culture? (ogg) [tpd037] Rumored High Speed Rail Hub - 04.02.03 Is There Anything More Awkward Than Popular Culture? (mp3)

Uhg, at least the first person that quit last season was suffering from a broken jaw. Who knows, maybe GC will get to DJ at the finale. The Brat alliance led by the Evil 3 took a big hit this week. Will this spell the end for them or will they rally to take down Ace as their losing streak continues? Dan's so comfortable at the new Kota tribe, that he's decided to let his true self show through. Do you think he might have just made himself a bigger target than quiet Susie? How is it that Kelly lasted longer than GC? Do you think there's any chance that Fang can rally at this point? Have you started rooting for Ace yet? Here are the new tribes after the fifth episode: New KOTA: Bob, Charlie, Corinne, Dan, Marcus, Randy, and Susie New FANG: Ace, Crystal, Kelly, Ken, Matty, and Sugar Jo Ann thinks Ace will be the next to be voted out. Stacy is worried that Ken may be in jeopardy but believes that Crystal will be the next Evil 3 casualty. Who do you think will be voted out next? We've got several ways you can reach us. You can call and leave a voicemail at 206-350-1547. You can record an audio comment and attach it or just type up a quick text message and send it to us via email at joannandstacyshow@gmail.com. Lastly, there's a link for comments on the web page here. You can click that link and post your thoughts out there for everyone to see. Russ Landau granted us permission to feature his music on the show. We're highlighting tracks from the recently released Survivor Gabon soundtrack which is available on iTunes. You can click the image below to jump directly to the album. 00:02 Date 00:04 Ancient Voices Survivor 17 Gabon by Russ Landau 01:12 Introductions 02:22 Recap 39:09 Next on Survivor 49:40 JSFL Update 55:14 Breaking Point by Russ Landau Links for Today's Show Listener Paul's Visual Roster for Survivor Gabon Rules for Survivor Gabon JSFL Results from the Survivor Gabon JSFL Contact Info: New Voicemail: 206-350-1547 Email: joannandstacyshow@gmail.com Survivor Fans Podcast P.O. Box 2811 Orangevale, CA 95662 Enjoy, Jo Ann and Stacy