Welcome back cyber traders on this lovely Wednesday. Good to see you all. How's everybody doing this morning? Let's get a little chat back. Good to see you all. Everybody can hear me loud and clear? All right, perfect. Good to see everybody on YouTube Facebook live again. Let me tell you yesterday I'm just gonna talk about this T-cat when we had a couple of nice little moves yesterday We saw the pump and dump with the mean stocks of Reddit You know, we saw the game stop and all those stocks taking some pumps and dumps, but uh, but you know like if you You know from Yesterday in pre-market like I told you like we're into like the thick of summer and the problem with thick of summer is a lot Of people going away. It's gonna be beautiful here. I know a lot of people are away I'm actually leaving today to drop my kids off at school today. So and you know Fortunately, thank God they're both going to same college.  So there's a lot of stuff Anyway, this is the beauty about what's going on right now kids are going back to school A lot of people have to prepare for that was not a lot going on in pre-market, but but Out of all the stocks that we found yesterday the stock that made the biggest move was T-cat. I want to bring this up So T-cat You know was probably the least favorable stock out of them all as of yesterday and then all of a sudden out of just nowhere and you know if you If you were listening carefully in the meetings in the morning in the morning meeting and if you listen to our voice The more you keep coming there every day, the more you understand, you know, what you're getting your the value you're getting is experience alright and This the the beauty about a lot of you here that are new trial members too or you know, obviously being a man You know being here for a while You know how to read between the lines, okay? You know for a fact we can't tell you what to buy and sell to legally can't do that unless you're registered But you know how to read between the lines listen my job and and my staff's job and Josh's job We are just the captains of the ship. Okay, and always remember There's an old saying you could you could feed a guy a fish you feed him for a day You teach it a man to fish you feed him for life It's the same thing when it comes to trading we're gonna take you out to there when we know where to look and it just so happens You're just in the right place to the right time. You got to drop the line You got to reel it in you got to do it on your own We can't do everything because we can't be there all day all the time for you and eventually we know our goal is Yeah, you know when I need to lock you in we hear to you eventually, you know You're gonna graduate and you're gonna move on you can outgrow C to you But you got to know and some of you whatever you want to stay and that's great We love you for everything that you've done But you know, we don't hold anyone hostage But the beauty about T cat is that if you're herbal saying like something's up with this stock I'm like, you know, I'm looking to get in there and you could see right here The stock had a nice push from 560 and then it went all the way up to about 590 I'm like, ah, there's something going on with that. I was at 940 and then all of a sudden Right about here is when I knew something was up. Okay, right around 10 o'clock went to 620. All right, and the volume was about 600,000 chairs, I guess right all of a sudden things just pop and went and started trading like 8 million chairs And it ran from 620 all the way to 760 and then I ran all the way to about nine dollars now I didn't get you know, I chased it I lost some money here and I lost some money here because I got caught in in you know in the shakes But very very little very little I made most of my money right here Okay, which I think a lot of you guys jumped in from 620 and got out at 760 now That doesn't sound like a lot, but you know what at a thousand shares At a at a $6,000 investment you made a thousand dollars. Where the hell you can make a quarter million dollars hell If you only made half that okay half you did you made a you made a nice hundred thousand dollars salary That's I thought was the perfect play Yes, right and you could see and let me tell you I was still skeptical on it because I kept looking at I'm like, you know this thing might still go up and it sure I saw it making lower lows I says I'm done I'm done and then you could see where I end up closing up around $7 from all the way from that $9 move so that was fun and a lot of you guys remember the stock very well because Oops, I shut everything off all that milk my screen again. I hate when I do that close all the screens. So um I'm bringing up T cat for some of you never heard of it before there's that this is that nft stock And we traded it back in March and it ran from like $3 to almost $75 in about a couple of days It was a pretty fun stock to trade. So I know people still live in the dream and one of comes back But that was just one of the stocks. There were a couple other ones out there. I want to bring up I want to bring up the amc trade. So amc was another nice rally another pump and dump stock Had a great run. I mean this was awesome going into the afternoon Granted ran $10. It's a fast-moving stock. I know a lot of you guys do really well But she you know, unfortunately she stopped right around that three o'clock time frame and then she kind of backed off So that was the only bad thing about it because I know a lot of us are still trying to catch on on the move over here And then uh, we had the gme game stopped at the same thing 172 20 So you don't have to trade a lot of those shares to make it very successful But they were actually pretty fun stocks to trade too. What else that we had we had the clov That one also big pop early in the morning ran from Eight eight dollars up to 860 and then had this nice pushing middle of the day And like I said, it stopped around two o'clock and then sprt was another one that had an early mover By the way, sprt is back on the watch list this morning. Just let you guys know, all right That stock obviously is doing pretty well So as much as the stocks that we find that are not um Moving as much Uh in the pre-market sometimes, you know, the sleepers all of a sudden they you know, they take off right into the afternoon Now I got out of um, I got out of uh, uh, fizer. I don't know what tell happened They had great news and this and that but you know what I saw this thing starting to drop right here I got out right around here around 50 bucks. I says, you know what? I don't know what that was going on with this thing You know I was a big fan With you know with the news on it getting fda approval and stuff. So I thought that'd be good for the stock but obviously Buy and rumors sell on news and whatever they came out with obviously did not work out too well And i'm glad I got out of it So that stock obviously came down right there too. So I got out of that swing a couple of good day trades though And swing trades doughnuts doing great And draft king you could see has been doing great making higher highs You know, so those stocks obviously had some nice pushes too also By the way, is it ever too late to get in these stocks? You know what? Read between the lines, but one thing I do want to point out is this okay before we go through today's watch list Uh, a couple of things a couple announcements that are going on first of all Today, you know, you got phase two you got phase two with josh Okay, very important the topic's going to be how to best prepare before you trade Okay, now you know that the most valuable asset you're getting with cyber trade university is not the trading room the trading room is just You know taking everything learn over the week and make it work. You got to be in class Okay, and also a couple of things if you guys want to know about our classes They're live everything, you know, just talk to education advice I'll tell you a little bit about if you're a trial member watching you too Also very important. I'm not going to call out any names kelly g All right, but Do not trade In class you're there to learn remember Next week I'll do phase three. I purposely get into bad trades Because I want to see how you guys going to handle remember our goal is not to teach you How to make money which sounds ridiculous our jobs to teach how to stop losing it When you stop learning how to lose that's how you start making it So do not and I repeat do not trade when you're a student in class It's you got all day to trade. You got that one hour to focus your hundred ten percent Turn ten percent attention to what's going on class. So please do not do it We're going to keep saying it and if you do it in class, we're going to call you out All right, and don't take it in a bad way.  We're teachers. We're here to we're we're here to to You know we do because we love you Just remember that we don't do because we're trying to abuse you or insult you We do because we love you and we care and that's why we do it So if you want to clarify that now, let's get right to some of the stocks I'm moving this morning that are on the watch list So by the way, there's a couple of shorts that are moving on too. So we got this see We got this cp op trade that's moving right here. That stock is obviously moving pretty nicely Uh, there was a couple of big iceberg orders. I'm gonna bring it up over here There was a guy over here. He looks like he pulled his order But he was out there at 548 and there was another guy here of 5 bucks looks like he pulled his He actually got executed and the stock is going down. So I'm a little concerned about the cp op We got the spirit That obviously is doing pretty well SPRT it's got I'm looking at yes age resistance levels right around here, which is right around 1435 Uh, do I see anybody out there? Not really Yeah, well, actually, no, I take it back. Yeah, there's this guy right here. He's been out there all morning at for 1448 It's not a lot of shares though 5000 I don't know It's probably a lot which which averaging showing on tier size of 100 You know, when everyone's looking to buy 100 shares and so on selling 5000 Yeah, that is actually that is an iceberg order. So we got that one s a b a Okay, so this stock um was on the watch list And uh, you know and looking at it Looks like a nice short. I know it's expensive, you know, but we do have some traders here that can trade expensive stocks So we try to appease everybody, you know, there's some of you here that might say, oh, it's a little too fast Whatever it is Yes, and there are fast stocks and eventually when you get good at it You're going to want to trade a fast stock because sometimes, you know Trading playing the dollar hands at the blackjack table is just not fun anymore. Okay But you got to learn before you could earn. So slva has been doing a really nice trend It's got some big support levels here, uh, which you could see right around here around the the $80 price range Is there a big guy?  This thing is just breaking all-time highs I mean this stock is just doing phenomenal and you know what it kind of makes sense because What sporting goods stores are around anymore? You guys remember harrows? Okay, you guys remember, um Not harrows, uh, you there was another one. Um shoot. I forgot the name of it Long time ago, but modells went at it went out of business.  That was it patrick. Thank you very much. I knew I was close That can be fair and that uh You know you have cabela's out there, but they're a different kind of animal. You know what I mean Uh gold medal sports look at that now everyone's starting to come out of the woodworks They're not that they don't really have that much competition out there So kind of makes sense why they've been doing really well on their earnings. But um, but anyway There's all those stocks we want to trade we can afford remember not only you Could day trade here, which we're trying to do but you don't learn how to swing trade invest So go out there and do it. Uh, all right guys. Listen, don't forget class today. Don't trade in class Don't get too crazy. Make your money Don't try to hit home runs if you're watching this video later You know or maybe watching this recording you all know that you could trade in the morning You can also you know, and if you if you're not an early bird or maybe a different parts of the world You could see what moved in the afternoon you could trade the afternoons But there's always a time for everyone to trade just you know what just try not to you know, you don't have to It's not a full-time job and that's the beauty of it guys. Good luck be safe Let's go make some money and uh, we'll start commentary in the room in the next 15 minutes And everybody on youtube facebook live. We'll see you back here at 2 30. All right. Thanks everybody for listening and we'll be back


Okay. Okay. Thank you. All right. I. First of all, thank you again for taking this time on a Friday afternoon. It is April 5th. This is a meeting of the budget coordinating group, a group that includes representatives from town council, the school committee and the Jones library trustees. The open meeting law allows us to hold this meeting remotely without a quorum of anybody physically present in the meeting location, as long as we provide adequate access, which we are during zoom and by phone. Given that we have a quorum of BCG present, I'm calling the April 5th meeting to order. I'm going to call upon those people that are present and we will continue to monitor for additional people. As we move through the meeting. Councilor Hanakie present. Lynn Griezmer is present. Councilor Lord. Present. Okay. And from the school committee. Bridget Heinz. Here. Oh, and Irv Rhodes. Present. And from the library trustees, Bob Pam. Present. Did I miss anybody? I want to also make sure that Sandy puller and Jennifer LaFontaine can hear us. Sandy. And Jennifer. Great. We. The superintendent of schools was invited to this meeting. I have not received a confirmation one way or another as to whether he plans to attend. And I. So therefore I am going to ask that we share the presentation that we're shared at the council meeting. If you don't have it handy, I do. So whatever you would like to do. Yeah, please go ahead. I'm entering. Okay. Now she tells me. You need to give me permission. Thank you. All right. So this is the budget presentation that was made by the superintendent of schools on Monday night. Sarah best to the town council, Sarah best Kenny. The chair of the regional school committee was also there. And Sarah Marshall was there as well. And I do want to note that Sarah Marshall is in the audience. And if we want to ask questions of her, we can bring her in. She is actually not a member of this committee by vote of her body, but we certainly can take advantage of her being here. So basically, this was the general discussion. That the superintendent gave us showing particularly why there's some inflationary issues. I'm not going to read the screen. I'm going to agree that you can all read it. I'm going to move on unless somebody tells me they need more time. So here, Bob, did you want more time? Okay. So here we have basically where the various adjustments were made. The very top of this is adjustments that were made by moving things to other accounts. The lower portion is where other adjustments were made. Lynn, but we're looking at right now the one that was not voted by the region. Thank you. Correct. This was the one that would come in within the 4% that each of the towns have allocated. The school committee, however, then made an adjustment. They added money back in for a total of $941,975. That leaves the level services at 700. I can't read it. Sorry. 747,000. That's to this budget, which is now the budget that the school committee, the regional school committee voted to advance to the town of Amherst and to the other three municipalities. In this case, it still does not cover what they refer to as their level of services. It's still 747,000 shy of level services, but it does include the 941,000 added back in. And then this actually gets to the issue of the actual payroll and expenses and how that works through. This of course begins to be the most interesting part, particularly for each of the individual towns, because it begins to show and break out what the cost would be for the new budget. And we see a guardrails that moves up to 8.2%. And then he did talk about capital projects. We can spend some time on that. But I think most of the discussion is really about the operating budget. So, Athena, I'm going to ask that we add this to the packet for today's meeting so that all people can have access to it. Did anybody else join and I know I Sharon Cherry, how are you. Hey, everybody. Okay. I do want to mention that this is what we do know in terms of schedule. We do know that the Amherstown council is going to hold a hearing regarding the budget as required by our charter. And that hearing will be on April 25 at 630. It will be on zoom. It will be at five. It's changed. You're right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And it's the finance committee that's required. Finance committee hearing, although the rest of the town council is being invited. And then. The town council itself will vote, but only after we receive a. I think it's going to be as April 29, but more likely may six or even later. And to just clarify the town council does have up until the end of June to pass our to vote on the regional school budget. My understanding is the shoots, Barry and leverage are having their town meetings on April 27. And Pelham is meeting on May 11. Okay. So with that, I think we have two things we'd like to spend some time discussing, and then we will take public comment. First of all, we want to discuss questions about the budget or anything else related directly to the budget. We want to talk a little bit about what we would like to see at our four towns meeting, which is presently scheduled for April 20 at nine o'clock. And then we'll have public comment. So, I'm going to go back and look for raised hands. Okay, Councilor Hanna key. This is budget coordinating group. So the regional school committees request or voted budget now not even a request anymore in some sense they voted a budget 50% or 100% above the guideline increase of 4% they more than double that guideline increase. So I guess in a coordinating group where we tend to discuss, how do we deal with the, or how would we distribute the 2.9 million dollars in increase in revenue amongst the four main operating areas region, elementary town and library and the guidelines are currently equally at 4%. So I guess where the entities believe that double should come from. If it's going to be an operating budget increase should we be decreasing elementary school general government and library guidelines. If what are, what's this group's thoughts on options and I know we've got a couple of them. Of our finance staff here I'd love to see if they've got any if they've done any work on what such a approximately 700 plus thousand dollar decrease to the other three major areas elementary general government and library would look like in terms of staffing and services. Bridget. Before, before we get started into the specifics and I'm really interested in the specifics I guess just as one of the school committee members here who was present for, you know, all the people who came forward from the school, our room was overflowing on that who spoke about the damage it would do to implement these 14 teaching cuts. And how it would really just affect both the mission of our school district for excellence and our mission of our school difference for inclusiveness to implement these 14 teaching cuts that would have happened. We passed the, the 4% budget. I just wanted to put forward that that there was just a real strong feeling and and perspective that we couldn't meet the mission or goals of the institutions of the regional schools. If we passed the other budget. I also wanted to mention there are, you know, that 740 it's a it's still a huge cut to the schools. A million dollars total with three quarters of a million in operating and another the rest in the, in the capital budget so we felt like we really made is close to the bone cuts as we could in the schools especially in this time of crisis we all know, half the school committee left none of us, you know, herb is there there's a couple people who have done this before but most of the folks from Amherst are gone so we're just back at that. And we're going to have a new middle school principal and a new superintendent. We don't want to set them up for failure, especially given the crisis at the middle school one thing that was really striking to me and all the comments was with the with the proposed cuts with the bullying crisis that we have at the middle school, we would not even be able to have a supervised locker room for the gym classes under these cuts. I just want to point out one thing when we talk about sharing the cost. I don't know if any other department has a core staff in this case the core teaching staff that would be up for 12% of cuts, but this would mean if you've got 114 teachers at the two schools. The core staff was being cut by 12%. So I just want to sort of just add that context I know you heard from other people as well on Monday night, but I wasn't able to be there so I just wanted to make sure that those pieces behind our reasoning we're present as we enter the thing. I think we're looking for some way to share the pain, not just to pass off the pain, you know, so. Thank you I want to pause for a moment Andy Steinberg is on the screen but he's technically still in the audience and I want to know Athena can you bring him in please. He's on the phone but I renamed him. It looks like. Well, I allowed him to speak and that put him on the screen, but it didn't take him out of the audience. I'm going to bring in a caller as a panelist. Okay, all right. Andy, can you hear us. Yes, we can. So you are showing on the screen on zoom. And so we will assume that you are in the room and part of the meeting. And if you have, you've raised your hand, otherwise, would you like to go ahead and speak. Okay, right now your hand is raised. Okay. All right. Bridget, thank you for that and Mandy Joe thank you for your comments about BCG. Are there other comments from people at this time. Sandy. This is beat she's Jay and we talk about the needs and planning of all parts of the town. I'm going to offer a little bit of perspective on the town side of the budget. And also give you some of my two cents on some of the other issues related to the, to this financial situation. If I may, please. So the focus of finalizing the town budget with the 4% increase that we announced earlier in the year. I won't go into any of the specific details about what's being added or so forth, but I will say we're not adding positions. We just kind of cover costs and so forth. So we realize that there are constraints on what we would like to do we had over a million dollars and requests from department heads for additions and we've said no to most of them. And I think that is just indicative of the fact that there are always more good things and justifiable things that can be done. And then there is money to do it. That's just the nature of life under prop two and a half. So we've stick stuck within 4% and have lived within that. I've done some long term projections for the town. I'd say the town in general has an revenue increase from year to year between three and three and a half percent. That's the kind of town Amherst is. I mean, if we were a Cambridge, it would be a bigger number if we were Boston, it would be a different number, but that's the kind of town Amherst is. And so I think, speaking of needs and good programs, you have to keep that in mind in terms of what you say yes to. I have an opinion that the regional school district settled contracts and made other changes that had impact on their overall costs. They mentioned health insurance. They did not mention what the impact of their contracts are. But front and I haven't ever seen a forecast of what those contracts would be and how they would impact the town generally. And I think that's something that's sorely lacking. It's the kind of thing that should have been discussed at BCG. When those things went into effect, as opposed to just then presenting a higher budget and saying give us the money. This is not a unique problem. In the state, there are many school districts that are facing cuts. We all know about what's going on in Northampton. I read in the globe the other day that Brookline is going through the exact same thing and they are making cuts. So this is not unique to Amherst. It is an issue of having to balance your desire to provide services against your resources. And I would just say an 8% increase to the town for this. I don't have a source of money for that. In particular, you know, there's just no easy way to cut police officers or libraries hours or whatever to make up that difference. It's, it's a lot of money. I would also caution against thinking that we could use reserves because then you create as big a problem in the next year. As you have this year, but you're already behind by how much you've used for reserves years. You really need to use continuing revenue for continuing expenses. So I think that's the situation the town is in from where I see our funds and be happy to answer any questions that people have. Jennifer or Holly Drake, do you want to weigh in Jennifer just shook her head no and Holly stayed on mute so I guess not Holly hi. Go ahead. Can you hear me. We can. Again, I just want to, you know, mirror what Sandy said. There, there really is not a source of funds without making drastic cuts to the town's operating budget to give additional monies to the schools, our budget as it is being finalized now is pretty much a level service as Sandy stated there is very little money available to make any additions and changes. So, you know, reserves would be the only option and reserves, according to our policy are supposed to be for one time expenses, not continued expenses and operating budgets. So just mirroring what Sandy said. Um, her roads, please go ahead. This is this whole budget this year for the regional schools is a very painful thing. And most of you know that I voted against it. I was the only one to vote against it. Because I couldn't see where the funds were going to come from from the rest of the town. And I also know that if those funds came they would mean cuts in other areas of the budget for other other town departments. But I also realized that this is not a unique situation for us and amers during the schools because it's happening throughout the state. But also it's a, you know, it's a part and parcel of the use of Essar funds when they're available. And those funds dried up and left us with this deficit. Moreover, I believe that there are some structural areas within the regional schools in terms of finances that needs to be addressed in the very near future. Because this is something that's going to continue to happen. And there are some really difficult decisions and also some future planning that needs to take place with the region to come to grips with with the structural financial situation that we're in. And I have proposed and will be on a future agenda that the school, the regional schools in the four times come together as they did. And we put in the guardrails to look at other ways of coming up with revenue. Other possible structural issues that we need to face as we go forward in future years. And that that is something that really needs to be done there. The regional schools, especially the middle school group is an incredible problem that could hit us at any moment in time. And that is something that concerns me on a daily basis. When you have a roof that partially falls into a classroom and has to be cleared out by staff, including teachers. That is something that cannot continue to happen. And we cannot just rely on the hope that we will get a grant that will fix that. And that just that just begs for crisis management at that point in time. So I have I have no way of saying to the town and any good way that cuts should be made to other town departments and then have those town departments go through what the schools are going through.  And that all available resources should be brought to bear on this. But I cannot. And all good conscience say, hey, we should do it this year. And knowingly know that the following year will be even worse. Because we will, we will have to be dealing not only with going forward with this, but also the erasure of the essence funds that is propping up part of this budget this year. That will be there next year. I guess my plea is that the four towns come together to deal with this structural issue. And and be that the town of Amherst. Take a closer look at how this budget affects the rest of the parts of the town. And to look at the future budget budget years, especially the one following this. In terms of how the town can allocate additional funds. For the schools, realizing that yes, it will impact the other areas of the budget. But in my mind, we're going to have to find a way to support our kids. And, and we have to do it in a way that is equitable to all the other departments and find but still find a way to support our kids. Thank you. Bridget, your hand is up and but since you've spoken once, I'm going to go to Andy Steinberg and then come back to you.  I appreciate everything that her just said, I just wanted to add one additional point that I think that we need to think about. But I think all schools, and Jesse needs to think about that is when you look at how our budget has gone each year before this year. We've always gotten into this situation where schools determine what it costs to have level services. And then revenue, even at the best of times, was inadequate to reach that point and cuts had to be made. They just were just dramatic in this year's cuts. So the other thing that I think we all need to be thinking about is what the long term solution is that school increases are greater than revenue increases on the regular basis. Okay. Thank you, Andy. Bridget. Well, I want to say it for stuff like I do. I fully agree with Andy like we need a long term strategy and on school committee. I really want us to see us have a budget. Committee, the budget folks just come out in January and then work on it right away. And we didn't even know what these cuts would mean until, until March for the school. So I feel like there needs to be long term and year round planning on the school committee, and especially with a strong focus on revenue. And I even have some ideas for that that I won't get into, but I'm hoping that the building revenue is a big part of the work that we do this year ahead. But I just wanted to clarify something that Sandy said, and I think, Holly, did they say that you all in all the other departments can fund the level services budget with no cuts or no positions cut, for us to get our level services budget, we have to cut 14 staff members out of the town as a whole, that would be 5%, but from the teaching staff, that's 12%. So I'm just wondering, like, are we the only department that ends up having to like, let people go on a level services budget. Sandy, do you want to answer that? Well, I would say that the town does not have to cut positions, but partly that's also because we've maintained our salary costs within the limits of what we are annually allocated. So we keep our costs down. I worry that what's happened is that the school contract is richer than the town can support without making cuts and may have been good reasons for signing that contract at the time, but I don't think there has been any real reckoning as to what that means. So the town regularly makes decisions from year to year to live within the allocations that it's traditionally gotten, and to do that by maintaining the services that citizens expect. I would also just like to add, I completely agree with what Bridget said about the need for long term planning. I think in all the BCG meetings I've been in since I've been here in the town this year, there's not been any discussion about what the town budget looks like three, four or five years from now. And I think that discussion really needs to happen to look at what our likely resources are, likely expenses, and to have some realistic expectations about what both those things are. So I think that's an excellent idea. Cindy, in some way I'm going to build on that. And I'm going to try not to be disjointed. First of all, I think there's no question we would all like to find a good solution. Okay. We also know that while there has been a transition in leadership in the schools at this critical moment, when planning could and should have been taking place. It didn't. And, but a couple things that really scare me about this and it is consistent with Sandy suggesting that, you know, we sit and as a group sometime in the near future, and we look at what the projections are going out in years to come. I remember exactly whether it's next year or the year after that the teacher contract comes up again for negotiation. And I'm sitting here going to excuse me yikes, because I do know that the one that was negotiated was at least a year overdue when it was finally settled. It's a three year contract. It means that people will understandably be looking for increases as well. Again, so, again, I don't know whether they start negotiations this year or they start negotiations very soon but I know it's less than three years away it's at least within the next two years if not the next year. The second thing is the predictions that we're getting out of chapter 70, which are horrifying, many, many school districts across the state are, they're just not good. They're, they're leaving us all feeling very vulnerable. And over half the school districts in Massachusetts are feeling that way. And many of us are letting our legislators know that and Amherst is clearly among those that are letting people know that. In fact, I happened to be in a room recently with the representative for Pelham and we talked about it for because Pelham's one of the other contributing towns. The other piece that keeps coming back for me and that is, no matter what happens, Amherst has to take, find the biggest amount of money, because we're about 80% of the school districts of the regional school districts budget. And so I don't suggest that Amherst should have more of a say, but I do think that we representing the various boards across Amherst need to have a more common understanding of financially of where we stand because Sandy, I, I may suggest that we have a BCG meeting we may have to have a BCG meeting anyway, as early as May, because of to look down the road, because we don't know where the different town meetings are going to come in. And frankly we don't know where the Amherst town council is going to come in. I want to go back to one other thing though and I this is a question back to Irv and Bridget, and that is initially when this discussion started. It was the idea that quote we would like a one year gift, and a gift doesn't go to the base, but the way that the school committee voted. It doesn't go to the base, and it becomes the base upon which next year's budget request happens. And so I love to have some sense I'm not suggesting I was ready to sign the check for the gift I can't do that anyway. I'm only one vote, but at least one of the other scary things about this is, it's not just an increase for this year. It's an increase for all the years to come, because it goes to the base. And I know this question came up on Monday night at the town council, and Doug confirmed that it did. And for those of us that have watched the assessment method for the last six years that certainly are understanding as well. It would be useful for me as a counselor in Amherst to understand what happened to the gift idea. And not again making any promises. Thank you.  Yeah, to follow up on this conversation a couple of other things that come to mind. We need a plan, not just for as Sandy was saying a townwide plan for all four, I'm going to say four sort of departments although there's many within the town department but the four big ones that generally the guidelines reference. And what do those revenues look like and expenses look like and how does that affect going forward. But, but one of the concerns I've had is, I haven't seen a plan from the region. Knowing in the last three years as someone said it was coming. And I know the last year has been hard for the district in terms of leadership and, and crises and all, but I've been on the council five years and this cliff has been talked about for all five years so it's not like this is a surprise. Yet, it seems as if the request that is being made to us is because it feels like a surprise to to the region or something instead of a plan. The other thing that concerns me about everyone talking about a plan is they're all talking about a plan for increased revenues. I'm concerned. While. Yes, there might need to be a focus on increased revenues that that there is a focus to the exclusive of what can we do to strategize if revenues do not increase when chapter 70 stays near 0% increases year after year after year, which means the state aid is becoming less and less of both elementary and region budgets every year, you know, and so the assessments have to take on in some sense more and more and that strains everyone, you know, I fear there's not a willingness to look at the expense side of planning and what kind of plan is in place when revenues really can only increase three to three and a half percent a year from the assessment side at in Amherst and all. And then the other question that comes to mind is there was a guardrails put in place assessment methods are big but what what is the plan for four towns when you need four pounds to agree to an assessment method and three towns to agree to a budget. If. And I'll say if Amherst says we can go up 8%. But the other towns can't. You know, how is, is there a plan for if the four towns can't agree or can't come to some, some, you know, sort of compromise or agreement or whatever. I'd like to see some thought put into some of those things of how does that work. How does, you know, basically how does some of that work or what's the thought process of are we aiming for needing all four towns to agree and if that's the case. Each one town in some sense has massive amounts of power to frankly control a budget. At whatever level they want and and I so we need to be talking four towns wise and maybe more than just December and January every year, but. But we've never broached that potential problem before we've always been able to work it out when shoots very pushed us to move from a student. From a five year rolling average student assessment method to the statutory method which benefited shoots very tremendously, but frankly reduced the funding of the regional schools, if it was on a per student basis. It, it would have had slightly more money every year from some of my memory is looking at those charts when we were producing what's a 10% student and 90% statutory and a 5050 and this and that. When Amherst was kept at its guidance for the town, the regional total budget lessened the farther you got to statutory the guardrails lessen the budget and so I'd like to see us be talking about the consequences of those decisions to as a as a four towns. And just to build on that. We will know in May. Where we stand will know by maybe even before May 11, as to whether or not the regional school committee is going to have to go back to the drawing board. And because if one of the towns. Senator to Pellum says no or two towns say no, you're back to the drawing board and something has to give because you have to pass a budget. We have to pass a budget. And with your help, obviously, by the end of June, or you revert to the state method, which my understanding would mean even more drastic cuts starting July one, because it would be a 112 budget of this year's budget. Anyway, for anybody who listens to this now or later. This is not easily understood stuff so please ask questions. A regional school district is a complicated thing. Bob Pam, you have your hand up. I have not over the years been focused on the school budget so I'm when I say may or may not make any kind of sense to you. I am aware that that the governor has just imposed a hiring freeze at the state level because the government, the state budget has issues. The question is, it is now April. There's not a whole lot left to this school year or to this fiscal year. So whether there is going to be any possibility of some savings there, which then gets rolled over. I don't know exactly how the budget works for the school budgets. On a longer term kind of question, there are two things that just casual reading of the newspapers has occurred to me. One has to do with the millionaire tax which was imposed, which as I understand it, the governor and the legislature has essentially focused on higher education rather than on elementary and secondary education. That would seem to me to be one of those areas where rather than talking about additional money that is not currently available. It becomes a question of how much of the addition which is expected to come from that could be available for elementary and secondary education. The second is that in a previous life, I remember that that special ed has consistently been underfunded at larger levels at the federal level and the state levels. And the question is whether providing more on those particular issues would be more easily addressed at the state level than other kinds of issues. Obviously, there are the things that we have talked about over the years, which have to do with transportation, all of the things that make it more expensive to do in Western Massachusetts than it is elsewhere. All of these are perhaps part of a longer term discussion, but it just seems to me that these are kinds of things that probably ought to be at least on the agenda for discussion. Bob, we can add to the list, and many people have and that is that Amherst pays a whole lot more for students to go to charter schools than our next door neighbors, because it's based on our per pupil cost. So we're paying close to $20,000 a student to go to a charter school. And our next door neighbors are paying around 10 I think. And it's because that's, there's something broken about that formula. And yet there are people in our town and other towns who want to make sure charter schools continue. The other pieces that as even though charter schools are required to provide special ed services, they don't provide them at the level that the town of Amherst does. And so, when kids have special needs, they're frankly much better off remaining in the public school than going to a charter school, which again, our bill for the charter school this past year was over 2 million. Right there's the 1.7 you're looking for. So it's, there's got to be something where the state, and we regularly and whenever any of us meet with our state representative and senator, we regularly these these issues are on the list, but they're not going to get solved this year. That's the problem. They're not going to get solved in order for us to deal with this budget. So, are there any other comments at this time. Mandy Joe, I mean, sorry, Councillor Hanna key. So, so we've been talking a lot about the region budget. But I fear, looking ahead to FY 26 that the elementary school budget might be facing some similar difficulties because of its use of Essar funds in the FY 25 budget. So the planning that needs to go on at the region, I would, I would really like to see also at the elementary, I know there's some stuff coming like a new elementary school that will save on utilities and all that that could results in, or should be resulting in changes, such that difficulties in an FY 26 budget for the elementary school might literally only be one year, I don't know, but I think those projections out four or five years need to be done for the elementary schools to, given that in FY 27, there's going to be a huge change in services because of a consolidation of schools and the opening of a new school that is net zero and come combining, you know, staffing into those schools and more efficiencies that way. I think it's just as important to be doing that planning for the elementary school. And since I don't want to leave the library out the library's got a building opening in FY 27 too. So I think this five years sort of planning out for revenues and expenses could be very healthy for all four areas to be doing given the changes that are coming but you know, I don't want to be faced next May with an elementary school that asks for more than an elementary school budget that asks for more than 4% or 3% or whatever guidance might be next year to get them through a year and be begging for the same sort of planning documents that we're begging for now for the region. Bridget with your agreement I'm going to go to Sandy to see if he has a response to that and then come back to you, Sandy. Thank you. Actually, I don't have a response I will very quickly say what I wanted to say and just put on the table. I think one of the questions about long term planning that people have asked me about the school budgets and about the potential reduction in staff is that you have declining enrollment. And so in some sense it makes sense that you would have fewer teachers this year than you had last year than the year before. And I think in thinking about what a long term budget for the region and the elementary schools is that question about the effect of declining enrollment on staffing needs to be answered. Thank you. Bridget. I'm going to just throw out a couple things that maybe like speak back to the question I think one reason that we didn't ask for a gift is because looking ahead already at the inflation numbers and that year's budget they're looking at 1.9% for the state chapter funding funds which are nowhere near sort of like what we're getting and we're afraid that the gap for next year if we don't have a bigger base right now is going to be about 2.5 million. I did want to talk about something related to enrollment. I can just use the middle school as an example. The middle school has gone down from eight teams to four teaching teams. And in that same time that the teams, the teaching staff have literally gone down by half the school population has only gone down by I'm not exactly sure but it's somewhere about 10 to 12%. So when we see problems like we're seeing at the middle school, I think the teachers came to us and are really like not only is the quality of education suffering and some of these solutions that you're proposing with the cuts we've tried before and they were a miserable failure. But they're also saying that just the basic tenants of being able to supervise kids in a way that they're safe when you're cutting that many teaching staff was sort of a big thing. I wanted to talk for a minute about the other towns like Hadley. We know they have a different foundation or fiscal base but they just passed no budget cuts. Chick-a-pea on the contracts, they had to do mid-contract raises because they're such a teaching shortage right now. So we're just, I think all I'm adding are just like more details to understand why the schools are in such a difficult fiscal place. We have surrounding towns like Belcher Town or Northampton where their percent of the town budget is higher and it makes me think about like equality versus equity like this 4% idea for every department. That's an equality-based idea but if we really value education, we've got like free police officers per 100,000 residents but one guidance counselor for 240 with these cuts which is like right at the level that you could get federal grants for under-resourced schools. Like we're really just cutting to such a big point that it's short-sighted from an enrollment perspective to make these schools. If we've got these cuts, we've got the robust elementary language program and then very minimal language in the middle school out of these cuts. Like people, I had eight families come to me looking at these cuts and just be like, we're not going to come to the middle school if it's that. So that's all money then we're going to be sending out a district. And I'm just like trying to put a little context into the room because I think what you all are saying is really important. And one idea for revenue is to try and get some of those IRA funds because we've got $604,000 in electric and gas for the two buildings and there's federal money on the table right now that could help our operating budget year after year. But to come and make the top cuts at the teacher level, it's just really going to be devastating. I can't underestimate what we heard at that series of meetings or what people are coming to us with. So I just want to make sure we're clear with that and think how can we be more equitable across departments, you know what? So that we can say as a timely value education, we can't just say it, we have to actually be able to mean it or provide it to. And I just love to be in these long term conversations, because I do see a lot. I've been through the budget like line by line. I see a lot we could do, but this current budget just isn't sustainable for the schools. Other comments. Mindy Joe. I think you I don't see your hand. Oh, you just changed positions on my screen all of a sudden.  Thinking about a couple of things that have gone on in the conversation that I've heard. One of the things that started in the long term planning is we've been in this state public for hundreds of years, my life on this. We're not necessarily an efficient region by being a region with just different elementary schools. We would probably I'm a certain more efficient region. And she's very shot it down when we did it a number of years ago. We kind of want to empower that to work either in this conversation that they need to take place. We're really thinking about a long term solution. And it may be something that Amherst needs to arrange when there's an export town meeting, which is why it's worth bringing it up with the Amherst Group. The other thing that I was just reflecting on is that I've been listening is that as a member of the MFA physical policy committee, the future discussions that we're having on that level too. And it is not easy to solve because like everything else, there are winners and losers in every discussion. And when we talk about how our district and some of the other districts are suffering so badly, you know, it's sort of hard because of the Student Opportunity Act and, you know, the Student Opportunity Act. Districts are really suffering to provide the kind of education that a lot of other districts are providing, which is why the legislature went in the direction of instituting the act. But it does have everything that we do that has to do with somewhere else. And I don't, you know, I don't know if Sandy has any experience with this far longer service on that community as I've had, but I've been so convinced that, you know, it's a hopeful that we're going to be able to get to a solution very quickly if the problem is that we're in a crisis that calls for a new solution. Anyway, those were the things that I was thinking about as I've been listening. I'm trying to raise my hand so that I can recognize myself. What I'm about to say is not meant to be critical of any one individual, but Amherst voted in a huge percentage, I think second in the state for the millionaire's tax. And recognizing that we have one public higher ed institution in Massachusetts in our Commonwealth in our, you know, in town. I'm sure some of that would have been in support for that. My personal observation about the millionaire's tax is that it's being used by many for additional programs, not to support the basic programs that we already have and that really need these funds. And that's a terrible thing and a tough criticism to make. The one thing that they did for schools was lunch, the free lunch program. And while I understand the importance, absolutely the importance of food on the Maslow's hierarchy of needs, it comes only right under shelter. But the reality is, I'd be more than glad to pay for a couple kids school lunches, if they would just put it toward the basic core functioning of our budget. And I'm sorry to be so critical. Are there other comments.  So the four towns meeting is scheduled for the 20th of April. For our finance committee meeting will have recommended made a recommendation. It's also before any of the town meetings will be held. One of the questions that has been raised by the schools who actually convene the meeting is whether or not we want to meet in person or on zoom. And one of the reasons to meet in person is because there's always the desire that we will caucus and somehow another miraculously come out of the caucus with a unified response that we're willing to share. And yet, at that point, I don't think any of us will feel we have any right to make any statement on behalf of anybody that we belong to about the budget that in some way would sound like a unified answer from Amherst. But that's just my tough opinion about trying to have a unified caucus statement. The only unified caucus statement that I can imagine is our finance committee has not made a recommendation and therefore the council, nor the school committee can act. I still think it's critically important for us to have a four towns meeting. But I'm not clear that the caucus will gather anything Mindy Joe or Councilor Hannity. So I am torn about all of this. April 20 is the last Saturday of April break. And so many families are not even in town so I actually fear that an in person meeting will have less attendance than a zoom because many people will probably have to be attending by zoom. But it's Google. You know, I personally cannot attend in person that day, I need a phone number I can call into to be able to attend I will be in the car at that time because it's so late scheduled and I have other commitments but you know that I'm just one person but given when it was scheduled for. I think it's already going to be hard to get a good representation of the four towns present. If we put it in person I think it's going to be even harder because I actually think many people will be out of town. And then the caucusing I've found that it's helpful but it's never long enough to really get a good conversation in so while we've lost some by not being able to caucus I'm not sure we've lost much. Thank you for those observations. Given what Mandy just said, in terms of the four towns meeting in the impact of the school break. And the possibility that there will be a work since it's going to be in person that a lot of people would not be able to attend. Is it possible to reschedule this meeting because this is a critical meeting that needs to be needs to be happy. I do know that different schedules were looked at by the superintendent and so forth and this was the date that was chosen we can certainly go back and ask. Again, I also observe that this may not be the last four towns meeting we're going to have to have this year because I mean this calendar this fiscal year because depending on the outcome of the different town meetings and the Amherst town council vote. You know we may have to have yet another four towns meeting sometime in April in May. I am hearing don't I'm hearing absolutely do it virtually that's number one thing I'm hearing. Second of all I'm hearing so far, but now I want to hear from others that the concept of caucus doesn't necessarily gain a lot Bridget. I can't speak for the superintendent but I did hear two things, you know so this is hearsay, but the information that the superintendent provided about the date was that this was the date that it had to be on related to the town meeting schedule of the other towns. So, I think that that's why we have it here in the second pieces that I know, or I heard that the superintendent's very much in favor of being able of us having just more, more latitude and more wiggle room if we have it in person so I think that those are the reasons behind the decisions that that we're looking at to have it in person, preferably have it on that date. No, thank you for sharing that. Sandy and Jennifer and Holly and I will go back and have that conversation with Dave Zomac who's the interim interim town manager right now. This is also, however, I just want to point out that it is at least our practice for the council and I think for the school committee as well as well as Jones library and that is that we like to provide access for people to be either in person or on zoom. So we would hopefully want to do the same in this case so people like counselor Hanna key can still join us, even though she can't be quote physically in a room someplace. So, and, and they're different platforms allow different things, but no platform that I'm aware of allows you to actually break into groups, whether it allows you to caucus in a way that the caucuses are open meetings is the problem. Because you can't. Anyway, that's my understanding of the technology at this time. Very quickly. I want to just look at something because I wrote down a few other questions about this particular event. And it's my assumption that the superintendent will make a presentation of the proposed budget and the assessment amounts as well as the capital budget and the assessment amounts. And other than that, I really have no sense of what is planned for that meeting. Are there any other any other feedback about the meeting that anybody would like to add. So if there is a group in person there, there needs to be a zoom option. There is no question about that. Okay. If not hearing anything else, I'm going to go to public comment and ask if there's anybody in the audience who would like to make public comment. Please raise your hand. I need to ask the person who is the last numbers on the phone or 0810 to please identify yourself and where you're from. And then we'll proceed. Yeah. Vincent O'Connor, I'm from Amherst 175 Summer Street. Please proceed Vince. Okay. I wanted to just ask a question whether the the meeting of the finance committee this Tuesday. The meeting is scheduled for April 25th at five o'clock. It will be on zoom. It is a hearing held by the finance committee, but all town counselors will be welcome to join in it. And it's only by zoom. It is going to be only by zoom. It's the finance committee meetings. They are only held by zoom. There, there was a question on Tuesday as to whether it might be hybrid or not. And so I'm going to go to public comment. I'm not sure if the meeting is scheduled for April 25th. But it's only by zoom. It's the finance committee meetings. They are only held by zoom. There, there was a question on Tuesday as to whether it might be hybrid or not. And so I believe our chair is going to consult with Athena on potential options. So I'm not sure a full final decision has been made on that matter. Thanks. Thank you. Vince, is there anything else that you'd like to state at this time? Yeah, I, I would, I just like to say something about the regional budget. There were comments about how the, the, the budget, the school population has decreased by one half. I didn't hear a response that said what, what I know, which is there used to be four teams in the middle school and there are now two, which seems to me to be at least mathematically an appropriate reduction. I mean, it may, the, the reduction may have had the impact, a greater impact than 50%. In terms of making reductions, at least at the middle school, and I, I, because it's the high school is more complicated. My record, you know, my understanding is that the middle school has, staffing has, has been adjusted to meet the decline in school population. And the other, the other thing common I make is that I think that there needs to be some awareness that the, the regional school and the elementary schools face competition. This is not a matter that, that is, is an issue with other aspects of the, of the budget that are, that the council considers. But both of these schools face competition from private schools, charter schools, school choice. And additionally, the regional school faces competition from tech school. And, and the, and the tech school competition is such that the loss, the payout is almost identical to that that happens with charter schools about $20,000 a year. And so the reductions that have been made in the past are, are one of the reasons we have these level of payouts. And I think what may seem financially wise could, could in fact turn out. I mean, in 2018, the, the child care program, which serves both faculty and people in the surrounding community, needed $25,000 worth of, $25,000 worth of financial support to add to the, the tuition that the, the families whose children were taken care of, paid. And that was, that was turned down. And I think it's those kind of decisions that really have created, you know, in our, in our creating and making worse problems with the regional school. And it's, and it's attendance levels. And I, I just, I would urge people to, to understand that one, there is competition. And two, that that competition has financial impact on the town. We pay out. And if, if we are not wise in our decision making, we could create more problems than we think we're solving. Thank you. Thank you, Vince. Just, I'm normally don't do this, but it was reduced reduction of eight teams to four teams, not four to two. Okay. I'm still made, but the number was, I mean, yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Are there any other people who would like to make public comment? Okay. Are there any other comments from the group before I asked for a motion to adjourn. I'm going to make a motion to adjourn and seek a second and then we'll actually take a local. Thank you. So we've had a motion to adjourn. It's been seconded. When I call your name, please indicate whether you agree with that by saying, I or name. Councilor Haneke. Hi. Lynn Griesmer is an I Bob Pam. I think that was an I, but I had to read your lips. Hi. Thank you. Bridget Heinz. Hi. Irv Rhodes. Councilor Lord. Lord I. Andy Steinberg. Hi. Thank you. The meeting is adjourned.


Hey guys, it's Kevin. Welcome to part two. So you have to fill your 67 cartridge and you'll print happily ever after Then you then you'll do something you like you'll change your you'll change your paper add more paper like now Then you got a E0 error writing in your face This is as just basically the printer cannot recognize cartridge so you want to take the cartridge out clean the contact points and put the cartridge back do it a couple times and If you if you still get the air that means the cartridge went bad Depends on what you're doing earlier. So if you were Refilling cartridge and put the cartridge back and this this air curse it probably it is you have some excessive ink Get into the chip. So you want to clean the contact points a little bit put it back So HP is correct. However, if you really remember the beginning of the video, I was just changing the I was just adding more paper Then this happens. So obviously it's not the contact points. It is HP did something to it So all the lawyers, okay? HP did something to their cartridge.  So what he told me is Actually HP 67 is a refillable however, if you get a starter cartridge and There's more likely you get a E0 error He called he called those Refillable ones chosen one. Okay. So let's say if you get a starter cartridge, you less likely get a chosen one and if you get a regular cartridge and Your chance increase. He didn't tell me how much he doesn't want disclose his business Secrets, but he said for the XL version and 9 of 10 is chosen one Okay, I'm gonna collect some data for the black cartridge We're still using the starter cartridge coming with the printer The refuel one will print 100 pages and the refuel two will print at 110 pages for the color the starter cartridge that and For then we got a regular cartridge we print 110 And we receive a low ink warning and the color went out. So we have to do refuel number one for the color 41 pages later the color get the E0 error again So for the black we still on the starter cartridge and the black printed the total of two 51 pages And the color they're already Went through the two cartridges the starter Cartridge and print a hundred pages and the regular printed a 141 before it that Just like a wife's everything wrong is because it didn't communicate correctly Okay, I'll let you talk to more expensive cartridge XL The black ink refuel three to come with two more pages and the color went out So totally refuel three printed 51 pages and then I got a few and fewer pages per refuel for the black So the for the color I'm still using the original ink no refill yet By now you'll probably figure out that the black cartridge the starter cartridge is a chosen one So we give a nickname Neo We need to do some operation on Neo because we can refuel every 20 pages and after we remove the cover and Take a look of the sponge we found the HP change their sponge and Now they have a larger pores So it holds less the ink holds less ink We'll replace this cover with a transparent cover The HP is using the the sponge to regulate the ink pressure We use a special pressure regulator on the cover so it doesn't need a sponge at all and we can make a sponge less and I'm gonna I'm gonna put a link of how to make a sponge less cartridge here on the top and Let me do a little bit of specialty We're gonna make a hybrid we can make we're gonna make a both sponge and sponge less hybrid in one unit And that I'm gonna correct some ink cartridge problem with the ink leaking and it helps a little bit So if you try to make a sponge less and it doesn't work and you can try this method so we smooth out the top and We remove the lower portion of the wall completely You can keep the upper portion of the wall because I'm going to prevent you Install the cover upside down and for the black if you remove all the walls is pretty easily you install it upside down Now I put a sponge back to the box And by the way, this hybrid only works for non-axial cartridge. Axial cartridge. You don't have this Personally, I don't I don't like the hybrid but of some people just they just cannot get it The completely spongeless cartridge working. So I don't know why but yeah, you hear something new that you can try So this way you got two things to regulate the ink pressure. So it may be better now I can glue it together and please refer to the original how to make a sponge less cartridge and It's more detailed step by step. I give lots of pointers and Make sure you're gonna glue it higher tight. What about the excessive ink and then? Put a rubber bands up let it set for 12 to 24 hours Okay, now I use SP means a spongeless So let's put us first 50 pages the during the printing I have this strange air of E1 and If you look it up E1 means incorrect paper sites I Couldn't figure out until I restart a printer and they seem sometimes your software is telling the printer that you're gonna print on a wrong another paper size and Somehow the whole system messed up. So you just restart your printer restart your computer and that thing will be fixed and some pages later We just had the first refill for the color. So the color the color is no one printer 171 pages and the black over black starter cartridge is still going strong the Sponge less right now is printing 91 page now you can see the advantage of using a sponge less cartridge and Now we are printing 141 pages on the sponge less and review one of the Color XL cartridge did pretty well a printer 160 pages but the second refill for color cartridge and They appears has this sponge fatigue problem again only printer 45 pages and Before it needs to be refilled. So the color cartridge is also chosen one. However, I have this a fatigue Sponge fatigue problem. You're gonna look at the reduced refill volume after the first refill If you want to correct that you can get a you can convert it to sponge less color cartridge You don't have to do the hybrid and adjust to a color one and most most likely it's gonna work Okay, I hope you enjoyed this video visit us at www.bch Technologies comm or locally at Greensboro, North Carolina. Cheers


So you weren't one that, when it started receding, it affected you?  I cut it off. That's why it don't affect me that I got braids from the middle back. I don't care what nobody thinks about me. Well, I always think about a, uh, uh, Charlemagne when you said breakfast club a while ago. You and him, y'all like him pretty good. I think he dope. I like the way he, you know, he just, he say whatever. He gets in the building. Bring the heat, Charlemagne. What you got? Bring the heat. Relax, white boy. You know, early on he was worse. He didn't got better than that.  Credit card. Man, I would get old macaroni noodles and be like, I love you. Merry Christmas. I'll take back the first group. No, but he didn't got better than that.  You know, he has, there's certain people in this game that, that, you know, that's something that I picked up on and just being able to have that vision and be able to see in the future, man. That's a skill. Yeah. That's a God-given skill to be able to look at something and say, I know what I'm looking at. Yeah, yeah. And he's one of those people. That's all. You know what I mean? He's one of those people. So, you know, just him being somebody that has always been accessible, you know what I mean? To me, even when I wasn't beneficial to him to be accessible to me and something that I always appreciate. So I think that's what makes the relationship so smooth because he's always been the same and I've always been the same. And that's something that counts in this game because niggas change daily. All the time. Yeah, you know what I mean? They change daily. I'm going to ask you about that beans cartoon. I can't let you out here without asking you about the cartoon. Oh, yeah, we're working on it, man. Like, I got to show you a couple of characters, man. Okay, okay. But, yeah, man. You got pinto bean on there though. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, pinto bean. And I'm pinto bean. That's my character. That's hard. But, yeah, we got, you know, string bean and lima bean. That's hard. You know what I mean? Fava bean and all of that. So it's just, you know, all of these ideas and that's the thing like I make sure that I stay true to my process. I don't care what nobody says about what I'm supposed to be doing. I work on my own time, you know what I mean? Because my time is mine. It's going to come in due time. I don't force enough and I don't rush enough and I make sure it's right for me before I do anything because at the end of the day, like Lo say, the day is over.  So for me, I try to make sure that everything is right the way I want it to be right, no matter what people say about, you know, my process. You know what I'm saying? That's the reason why I don't answer. Where do you see yourself in five years? I don't, I'd never answer that question. Wherever God put me is where I see myself in five years because if you were to ask me that when I was an open mic comic at the comedy zone making $25 a show where I saw myself in five years, I wouldn't have named half of the shit that I've done already. That's all right. That's all right. I got a couple of questions. No, man, we ain't got no time. Let me go. I'm here. I'm here. I know y'all been waiting. Your wife is the reason I'm here. You can ask as many questions as you want. I ain't one of them people that's like, yeah, man, I'm on a tight schedule now. I know I'm here, man. As long as y'all want to go, we going to go. How old were you when your hairline started receding?  Here we go. And he laughing at us. Twenty-two? Twenty-two. Yep. I was bald. Immediately. I cut it off. That's why mom was on this. All of it? Yeah, I was bald until the pandemic. Somebody out there who seems to have a problem with my hair. Everybody that keeps saying, she gold. This is about one girl. Won't you let it go? So, okay. So you weren't one that when it started receding, it affected you?  I cut it off. That's why it don't affect me that I got braised from the middle back. I don't care what nobody thinks about me. Like my confidence is not... So why you grew it back, man? Because the pandemic started and I saw... I put a post up because I was in my gym, I was boxing.  And everybody thought I was trying to have my hairline.  So I posted a picture of me with my hairline and what it looked like. And I got the most engagement that I had ever got on anything. And I'm like, oh, people really allow public perception to shape what they think about themselves.  Your head looked like the potatoes at Five Guys before they turned them into fries. So that's the reason why I still got it, because it's like, I can.  I think it's alive. I love it when people do that because people are so ashamed by all these different things that they go through. And that's why when people sit right here, the first thing I always tell them especially females, I said, don't ever be ashamed of situations you've been in because God put us through things for a reason to help other people. You might not know who you're helping and we're at a stage right now where you can touch millions of people by a situation somebody could be going through something that you already went through that you're hiding and you already overcame it because you're still sitting right here. Trust me, I am a motivation.  We got y'all in the name of God.   I'm living my dream. I'm like, good job. You know what I mean? And that's the reason why I use the influence the way I do because like I said, it goes back to my mother again the way she raised me. I never had the option of caring about what anybody thought. I had to do what she said. So when everybody was outside playing football and riding bikes I was walking to the safeway with a cart to get the groceries for the house. And I had to be okay with whatever anybody was saying about me walking down the jam being you going to the safeway again. Y'all ain't still ain't got no food from the last time. Nope. And I had to be okay with that. So in that it made me be comfortable with them what my process was. You know what I mean? My mother was buying me size 13 shoes when I was in middle school and I was still cool. And you wasn't even? It's a fact. I didn't have a choice. I had to. I don't know who was good. You know what?    And I had to wear them bitches. But that also is something that made me recognize man you can't care about what people think about you because I didn't have a choice. So I still was cool with the Bobby's World shoes on. Like big head, big shoes.  So I never cared about public perception. Like it's very, I'm very selective about the opinions I let affect me. I'm very selective. Like you don't just get to come into my life and now you have an opinion that affects me because that can be very detrimental to you and how you live your life. So the hassle you wear is just to keep your head warm. The hassle I wear is because I look good in them. You like this one? This handmaid is yawn. I like that. You know what I mean? I think it's a head yawn man. It's a cold shade. But no I don't. I just wear hats because I like to wear hats. But I take my hat off anytime or every time. I don't care. I love my side braids. It's an accomplishment to me. I'm living out all my dreams. I never had braids when I had regular hair. Mwanda wasn't going for it. I had to get my hair cut and I got used to it. So once the pandemic came and I saw that first hairstyle I was like I'm going all the way. And now and that's the thing.  And this is one thing that I wish we could have for social media. I wish it was a window into social media. So if you ever criticize somebody on the internet immediately a window should open up into your life and that person should be able to criticize whatever they see you doing. And I think that will change criticism on the internet.