2k. I won't waste any of your time. Here's how Wheel of 2k works. This is an NBA 2k my team series where I start with an absolute trash team an amethyst at every position other than two players. One of these players is our power-up player and as we accrue stats with them we can get the next best version and the other player is our team captain. The team captain is locked in can't be moved and pretty much carries us until we can make the team better. We will play 12 games per season and we can spin a wheel once per game to improve our team. Let me start out by introducing our first power-up player for Wheel of 2k. It's none other than Anshich. Now Luka Dončić's lowest overall card is this 77 overall World Showcase card. It's absolutely horrible. He's a 76 on offense a 70 on defense and his best stat is potential which is kind of ironic considering he has a lot of potential to get very good on my team but certainly not right now. So right here is every single Luka Dončić card available in NBA 2k. Every single time I get 10 in a stat with Luka I can upgrade to the next Luka. For example if I drop 10 points in this next game my 77 Luka turns into 86 Luka. Now if I can't score with Luka but I still get 10 assists the exact same thing happens. If I manage to drop a double double with 77 overall Luka spoiler alert that's not gonna happen. I would get two upgrades all the way to 94 Luka. Obviously the end goal is to get Galaxy Opal Luka but we've got to power him up to do that. Additionally there is only one other way to upgrade Luka and that is with a rage quit. And of course the other player I have to show you is my season opening team captain. It's probably no surprise thanks to the jersey. It's this Antena Koopo. This card is nasty. Half a million MT went into this.  Giannis will be a mismatch for anybody they have in at small forward unless they have Giannis in at small forward. A plus in every single stat other than three point scoring that is okay. Whenever I'm learning 2k I rarely shoot threes and then as I get better I start to shoot threes so I'm pretty much me playing in the paint. That's just how I play. But yes this is my team captain. I was so excited to see Giannis. I also live in Phoenix now so if we can get a Bucks vs. Sons rematch for the finals that would be the dopest thing in the world. I'll give you a brief overview of the rest of the team. I could choose any amethysts at best. So I went with Steph Curry, Anthony Davis and Shaq as my amethyst starters and they're coming off the bench with James Harden, Bogdanovic, T-Mac.  It just goes hard. Penny Hardaway, Devin Booker and Bam Adebayo. Nothing special but every single season there's one amethyst who goes crazy so I'm not sure who it's gonna be but there should be a lot of fun. This is our wheel of 2k squad my franchise. I went with all the OG Bulls Unis. I think they look fire. We're the raw doggers. Shout out Ginny on the go. I got Bree Stewart at head coach.  And you might be asking yourself, Poppin Meeks, what's the difference between wheel of 2k and wheel of mutt? Now although I may be milking the juicy juicy udders that is wheel of mutt, there is one distinct difference between wheel of 2k and wheel of mutt and that is this right here. This is what we call the wheel of 2k cheat sheet. There is more on the line than just pride in winning the game. Whatever my record is at the end of a wheel of 2k season is the challenge that I must complete. Now in years past wheel of 2k has been all about a forfeit, something horrible that I have to do, but I switched it up a little bit this season. The first six are all horrible things I have to do, but if I can get past six and six and get into a winning record territory, then it's something that benefits all of us. So if I were to go 0 and 12, not win a single game in the entire wheel of 2k series, which has never happened, I would get a permanent tattoo chosen by you guys. If I went 1 and 11 I would streak at an NBA playoff game, which means I would go to jail. 2 and 10 I'd shave my head, 3 and 9 is probably the most realistically possible low end.  If I went 4 and 8 I would have to rekindle with an X of your choosing.  I would have to get in contact with them and attempt to set up like a coffee date of some variety. Like I can't just text them.   That's only if I go 4 and 8. 5 and 7 I record my best time on a beer mile. I don't know if you guys have ever seen a beer mile, but it's a real thing.  Almost guaranteed to puke. The world records some crazy time like sub five minutes. That shit's insane. And then once we hit six and six this is where I start to really like it. Three NBA playoff tickets. So I would give away three NBA playoff tickets to one subscriber.  I would just ask that when you're at the game you take a quick video and send it to me so I can put you in the video. It would be awesome to see you guys having a blast at the playoff game. So that's if I go 6 and 6. 7 and 5 I'll do a 12 hour live stream with L.  All the boys can pull up. We'll do tons of giveaways and you guys can benefit from that one too. 8 and 4 is a playoff game with two subscribers. I apologize. It wouldn't fit in here. I have that problem a lot. In fact I do not have that problem a lot. I considerably have a below sub par, below average wiener.  Stop me because it's so small. No. I still pull. I still lay the hammer. Unfortunately it's just it's not the size I would like. I will take two subscribers to a playoff game with me. I'm talking NBA playoffs by the way. So this would be awesome. I'd find two guys in the area or I'd fly to where you're at. We'd go to the game together. We'd vlog it and you'd see it in the next episode of Wheel of 2K. So that'd be really fire. I really am aiming for 8 and 4. 8 and 4 is my best case scenario. 9 and 3 is truth or drink with L. I don't want to do this video because it's going to be spicy but if I went 9 and 3 I think it'd be awesome to show you guys that. Same thing 10 and 2. I would do truth or smoke with L. I got a lot of trouble if we're doing the last truth or smoke so I don't really want to do it again.  I'll donate a thousand dollars to your guys charity of choice. I really don't think I'm going to go 11 and 1. That would be really tough for me especially my team right now. And then 12 and 0 is me and one subscriber will go court side to an NBA playoff game. So that would be a game of their choosing. Hopefully it's not a Lakers game because I'd be about 50 grand a pop. Still would be awesome and I'd be super excited to do it. So this is the Wheel of 2K cheat sheet. As of right now obviously I am 0 and 0. We'll keep up with this every episode and that's it. Now I know I don't want to bore you to death with words but there's one final change to Wheel of 2K that you guys might not have seen in the past. In the past every episode of Wheel of 2K was one game. And I've decided me, how are we going to make this better? I can't change the concept so that it's not Wheel of 2K but it's got to be better every year. This season of Wheel of 2K we'll be doing two games per one episode. Just going to be so so so exciting. So every season of Wheel of 2K will actually be six episodes rather than 12. Videos will be longer but if I've learned anything in my life it's that longer is better.  So I might as well make Wheel of 2K longer huh. Let's get into it. Oh let's take our first ever spin on the Wheel of NBA 2K23 baby. Let's have it all seen here. Our first ever spin. Team Wheel Jackpot. Now keep in mind I have to win this next game to keep this player. So if I get LeBron James then I lose. He does not stay on the lineup so the Team Wheel Jackpot. So we can take any single player in the game but they must come from this NBA team. Nuggets. Nuggets. Dude there's got to be a Yo-Kitch right. There's got to be a Dark Matter Yo-Kitch. Oh my God I'm going to have an ethnic. Dude I'm going to have an ethnic team. There's no Dark Matter Yo-Kitch. Okay. Dude the Nuggets have any Dark Matter players. Nuggets don't have a single Dark Matter. They have to have a Galaxy Opal Yo-Kitch. Okay here we go. So there is a Dark Matter Yo-Kitch. Yo-Kitch is 6 foot 11. I'm like alive.  Taco Falls like what 7-6. There's an MPJ. There's Yo-Kitch. Oh I could go Air Gordon. No he's even shorter. You know I shouldn't talk about heights so much. I have no idea how important that is in this 2K because it changes every year. I feel like I got to go with Yo-Kitch. Like if I'm going to get a Jackpot. Yeah I got to go Yo-Kitch man. This is the Yo-Kitch. I'm going to pick up right here the All-Star 2023 6-11 284. Incredible stats all across the board.   Well I shouldn't overanalyze this. All the diversity on my plate. Nobody can cancel me. Look at how diverse my team is man. Black dudes. I got Serbians. I got Slovenians. I got Greek people. I got white people. Dude just slide me Yao Ming and we're smooth sailing. Now I'm actually going to move Yo-Kitch to power forward and I'll put Shaq back in at center and I'm going to make Anthony Davis come off the bench. Since Yo-Kitch is 6 foot 11 I think he'll have better mismatches at power forward so I'm putting him at power forward. Yanis has small forward. Luca obviously needs some work but we can get there. Steph's going to be our point and Shaq's going to be my center. This is my starting lineup going into game one. So obviously this is going to be one of our toughest games but you just kind of got to give that snowball a little push. And we do have a challenge wheel for Wheel of 2K as well. Before each game I'll spin the challenge wheel which will give me a task to complete in that game. If I can complete the task I get one pack from the store. Now right now that's not that great but as we get into the end game when you can pretty much guarantee a dark matter in packs it's insane. So our first ever 2K23 wheel spin was amazing. What about the challenge wheel? Is this something I can actually complete right now? I'm probably going to say no but we'll see. Hold my opponent to less than 13 points for one quarter. Ladies and gentlemen the raw doggers. Ah yes and while we wait for this game to load up I have one reminder.    His team honestly I mean it's good it's obviously better than mine. That's nothing too crazy. Let's get it boys. Let's get it. Dude who's he got in there? Did Demontus Sabonis's dad play in the league? I gotta respect this guy he's locking me up with his user okay. Oh you're wide Luca.  Luca do you know how hard it is to get you points? Let's get a screen and roll. Let's play smart basketball. Oh take it step back Curry. Oh oh damn. I gotta do it. I gotta get used to this release.  Those were two really bad really early releases. Okay good defense here I gotta make that.  Oh Shaq Shaq Shaq. Shit you're not Shaq. Oh you're who are you? Oh wait I said Yonkich on the board. Four to two hand up. Hand up. I remember man I got pretty good at 2K last year.  Oh great defense. Dude all last.  All last year bro it took me like two seasons of Wheel of 2K to learn to put like my hand up on defense. Hey Shaq all the way all the way all the way. Dude they need a safe dunk button in this game. I swear I would use so. Real's the three. Good shot. Fat out to Luca. Pump fake he jumped. Step out. Nope nope I'm not moving nearly as fast as I hope but look at the amethyst. A big board. We're gonna go screen with Yonkich. Oh that's a mismatch. Who's on Yonkich right now? No sir you're not. Oh is that Kyle Korver? Who did I just see lock up Yonkich like that? Damn. Alright we gotta play through our superstars man. Alright oh an assist for Donchich if we hit it. Damn. Alright alright. Oh Magic Johnson takes it in easy.  Alright we're back on the board. I know we can do this. Oh that might be a make. Oh dribbles around and drills it. Nice play. Oh curry wide open. Maybe. Nope. Yanis with the board. Yanis always a mismatch. Another rebound. Got him jumping. Carry me. Carry me Yanis.  Can we guard much? Oh good defense. Oh I thought that was such good defense. Alright bricks him. Oh he's jumping early. Yonkich. Yes sir. Hey dude it's a single digit game. It's 18 to 11. It feels like I'm getting waxed right now. We're alright. What's he going for here? He's got nothing.  I just got a defense of three seconds. What? Some of the benches in but luckily Yanis is still in. Oh on ball with Luca. Great defense. Great defense.  He's gonna hit it. Thank God. Rusty haven't played in eight months down by eight in the first. I'm alright. Hey we can win this game. I seriously think we can win this game. Step back. Yanis? Oh no way I just hit that. Oh I thought it was a green. Yo so they don't show you that you get a green until after the ball goes in. I'm gonna be totally honest. I really don't like that.  Hey he's backing in. Let's get a double. That's good defense. He did save pretty well though. Gets the green. Nice play. He's jumping a little early. Yolkic is gonna put it up. Nice turn around. Out of basketball left.  They determine if we're gonna off ball or not but I'll on ball you up here with Carm alone. Oh Yanis almost with a rip didn't quite get it. Oh that's that's good offense. I think he got that. Good D. Run the court. Run it. Yes. Six point game.  Damn that's a free three. In to Shaq who's tired. Still puts it in. He's looking to cook with Harden.  Wait what just happened? How did he not get a shot out of that? Oh that was such good defense. Oh bailed out. Oh he's got Scott Foster in there. Come on man. I'm just gonna turn around and put it up. I'm gonna get an offensive three seconds. Yolkic finally puts it in. Great offensive boards gentlemen. All right 26 to 19. Oh Duka just got blown past but I tried for the help side of the Yolkic. You couldn't get it.  Oh my god that worked. In to Sigma. Sigma balls in here. Hey I'll take the foul.  Not bad. Bad. Zero percent for being that earlier.    Let's go.  I like off ball to my guy. Yeah you like off ball so do I. Shit that's a very good play. Nice brick.  That was clean. I'll take it man. My on ball is still a little rusty. That's good defense. That ain't going in. Uh-uh. Hey good defense. Pump back to T-Mac.  Good defense.  Oh come on. Playing good defense all around that was bad defense right there. Yes sir I could hit that. Heaven in the first brought it all the way to 32-32 in our first game. Dude this is a heater right now. That was the all in with this lineup. I don't need to be honest. Oh Curry. Curry first lead tonight for the Rod Dawgers. We're going in raw baby. Ooh that's a good shot. Hand out man down. Ooh I'll take it. To the rack be strong. Let's go. We started out real rocky man. Oh good D. Step back. Oh great shot. Hell of a shot. Kareem. Great board. Great positioning. And it didn't add one. Dude nettle licky. Who even it?  Kareem's free throw is not so great. I guess that's a problem with these amethyst bro. Amethyst can't shoot free throws. I'm so spoiled though.  Ooh I don't realistically.  Oh my god that's fast. All right it's butter. Curry with a nine tonight. Hand out. Uh-uh. Trash shot. Let's get it. I'm just bullying him down there man. Out to Yo-Kitch. Let's set up all the screen with Yo-Kitch and Yanis. It's a bucket. Five point lead. That's our biggest lead tonight I think. He's gonna keep doing that to me.  You can take a two.  Wow that magic is good. Go to Yo-Kitch. Oh nice lane. I can't catch him. God no way. You're sketchy and he drilled it. Let's pull the big boys so that they're ready to go when we need them. Let's get Anthony Davis in here. Shacks finally back in business.  He's a little slow. All right the all amethyst lineup is back in. Go for a nice last shot here. Fuck. Oh I tried to pass that out to Davis.  Unbelievable. Oh I just passed that ball and Anthony Davis for an easy one. Now he's up by five. Trash shot. I was just getting excited. All right let's take an open wide open two.  I'm gonna shank that.  He's up by ten all of a sudden.  Oh gotta pick up our slack right here. I feel like this is a mismatch. I just don't know. Let's find out.  My opponent is not at his controller.  Wait. Wait a minute. He's not here. Wait a minute.  But you're actually kidding me. How did I just miss a three when there actually isn't a human being on me? He just got too sure. What? I can't even make that. Okay wide open Giannis. You're kidding me. Yeah I was playing better when there was a human sitting there. He's gonna get another six seconds. Can Curry hit the three without anyone on him? He can. Oh I don't like this though. I'm not trying to get a win like this. What did you just leave in the middle of the game? This was a great game. All right Giannis nobody on you buddy.  Steph Curry the best shooter of all time. Nobody on him. That's a green. Curry's the only dude I can shoot with. Another one for Curry. Curry's heating up. It's a bit illegitimate if you ask me. Hey look Steph Curry. Oh came over to help side. Still drilled it. All right he got another timer. It would have been a really good game and honestly I think I would have lost. I was down by 10 with four minutes to go.  I'm really glad the first game of Wheel of 2k wasn't a blowout on either side. We start our first ever game of Wheel of 2k with a win. It was a bit of a fraudulent win. It was a Mickey Mouse win but it was a win nonetheless. So the good news I get to keep Nikola Jokic. I completed my challenge to hold my opponent to less than 13 for a quarter. I'm not counting that. I'm not opening a pack that is so fraudulent. Unfortunately we were unable to get any significant stats for Luca. I really got to work on the assist for him. Hopefully that's easier now with Giannis and Jokic and whoever we're about to add. So let's hop into our second game. All right boys so we got another game. Don't worry our wheel spin for this game is going to be. Echo chooses a Galaxy Opal 1 through 50. Here's how this is going to work. I'm going to search the entire auction house by Galaxy Opals. The player on the far left Arvitas Sabonis which is actually the center I just went up against is one. Calcuzma is two. Sabonis is three. Danny Granger is four etc. Pick a number one through 50. It's 35. 32, 33, 34 and 35. This guy was a savage against me and he's seven foot three out of Lithuania. Yeah I have the most ethnic team I think I'm ever going to build. Arvitas Sabonis it is. Little homage to my Sacramento Kings fans out there. I like this.   Go Jimmy Butler instead. We like Jimmy Butler instead of Bogdanovich. Eating fear slower?  Straight out of semi bro. Doug Collins he's got the stash just I'm putting in Doug Collins bro. I don't care how fast Doug Collins is. He's my new shooting guard off the bench. Hardaway Doug Collins, T-Max, Sigma, Anthony Davis, James Harden, Booker, Kareem, then we got Yanis, Yokoch, Sabonis, Donchich and Kareoli.  All right we got a brand new challenge for our second in game. We start out with a 2k1 and oh I'm not I'm not mad about that at all man. Our challenge is oh this one is so hard. This one is so hard. Shoot 100% for one quarter. All right gentlemen we got a brand new center. Ooh we're facing a much better team though. He's got both the Sabonis, the Yokovich, Jordan and LeBron. Oh LeBron's gonna hit a fade away on me though. He's gonna green a fade away on me. I'm scared to shoot with this Luca because his stats are just so bad. Cut good cut Sabonis. Inside position put it up. Oh my.    Tough start here and Luca drops the ball to Jordan. Get in there. Ooh all right good attempt Giannis. Into Yokovich and we'll put up a shot quick. Oh great fade.   Oh I think I'm gonna prioritize Donchich right now and then we'll see if we can win the game later in the second third and fourth.  Oh good. Good move Yokovich.  Is this gonna be? Oh it's a horrible release. Yokovich on Bron.   All right all right all right all right all right all right. We just gotta get our assist to Luca. I know I'm gonna lose. I just have to lose. You know what could happen is my opponent could get so bored of just shitting on me that he quits. I feel like that's like a semi realistic scenario. Oh yep right back in. Put it up. Oh you don't get an assist for the foul. Shit. I should just get an assist for passing it to the guy who passed it to the guy who scored. Make it easy for me. Go Giannis. Go Giannis. Go Giannis.  I'm shooting. It won! That's an assist for Luca. So we got the jersey on boys. What's your free throw look like? Slow and steady? Does not win the race. It's a myth perpetrated by the government. Uh oh that's a bucket. Bring that screen. Roll. Guys we're getting bullied.  We look like children out here. We're just about to get back.  Okay into Yolkitsch good layup. I refuse to believe you just missed that layup. Hey you made that one. How many Luca? Four assists for Duka Doncic. We have an entire game of basketball to get this man 10. That might be a miss.   Gonna go for the step back. Oh on Jordan. Dude this guy is a midi god. I will be that one day. Also one day I'll be able to inbound the ball. Good defense. Good defense. I'm proud of us.   All right all right all right all right.  Why does it look like he's crying?  He's not. He's not subbing out. He's at no energy but man I gotta do it. Back into Sabon who's got Jordan on him. Let's go Sabonis. So step back for Curry Grief. Let's go. And Duka sitting at nine assists. Wait am I shooting 100% right now? Wait a minute. I'm shooting 100% right now. One more assist and one more made bucket and I'll be shooting 100% and have 10 with Luca. Curry. No. No. Pressed X.  Oh my god. Oh Curry. Yes. Yes. I'm so mad. I'm so mad. That's the tenth assist and I'm shooting 80% in this corner. I have a decision to make. Do I go for 20 Luca assists? I'm gonna throw the oop baby. Oh darn it. Pascal Siak. I'm coming in on Giannis. He's gonna shoot it.  Do I go for 20 assists with Luca for the double upgrade or do I do the challenge? I'm at 11. I don't know if I can really get nine. If I can get one here I feel like I could. Go go go. Good layup. Oh is that is that 12 for Duka? Oh 13. Do I double up Luca? No. But if I don't get the double up and I don't get the challenge I'm gonna be literally depressed.  He's gonna hit that. All right. How about this? Let's see how the first shot goes because I have to make this first shot and get 100% to even possibly cheese. Okay. We have to make this first shot anyway. This first shot has to be so good. He rolls. Oh he's open. That's a big mismatch.   I'm 7 for 3. Luca 20 assists it is. 13 with four minutes in the ball game. He puts up a shot whiffs. God Lucas is tired and all right. Little pump fake. Got him. Got him. Back to Yokecitch. Establishing bounce. It won. Yes 15 assists. Come on man. I could skip Sapphire Luca and go straight to Diamond Luca if I can get these 20 assists.  Oh Anthony Davis go to the rack. Go to the rack.  Why are you going to the, are you going to the wing? A bucket for brown. The freest green he's ever gotten. Nice pass. I got, oh Yokecitch fade. Darn it. That was really 44% contested. He would like to show me how it's done. He would like to show me how it's done. My millionth 3 point foul. I do remember that actually from last 2k. You can't just recklessly, you can't just recklessly jump at 3 point shooters. You have to just put your hand up and pray that they don't make it. All right. Back to Donchitch. Got him jumping. Curry with the step back. I don't know what the, you covered something. That was the slowest step back ever Curry. Okay, okay, okay. Pump. Yokecitch you're in there. Yes. There's not a lot of time left. I don't know if he's going to make anything. I'm at 16. I love his full court press up 30 with a minute left all the way.  Let him have it. Let him have that.  There's three people there. Oh, good D Curry. Yes. Yes. This is what I need from you. It's the only way. No way. There's just no way you didn't hit that. You fraud. I don't know those 16 assists 34.4 seconds. It's highly unrealistic. Okay. That was a very bizarre layup, but okay. Yes. Yes. Yes. 18.   Okay, fine. Whatever, whatever, whatever. He scored so fast it didn't even matter. Keep diving. Keep diving. Please. What are you doing? What did you just shoot?   Oh my God.  This guy that conceded my loss and I went, I went from my upgrade on Luca because he's going to need it. 18 assists. Dude, it burnt so much clock too. It burnt like 15 seconds. I cannot believe that nine turnovers for Luca. Yokecitch had a solid game six for 13. Curry four for six. Yeah, honest was too far. I didn't really use the honest that much, but I honestly was worried about Luke. I can't believe that. We're one in one and we no longer have 77 Luca in, which is actually huge because he's so bad. We moved to 86 Sapphire Luca. Not that far under an Amethyst and 10 more takes my Luca up to his 94 overall diamond unstoppable Luca Donchage. So yeah, that'll be very nice to have. And then from there it'll be so easy to upgrade him, but it's getting over that first hump that's really hard and I'm glad we did it. This is the season opener of Wheel of 2K. We upgraded Luca Donchage and we added Galaxy Opa and the Cole Yokecch and to see what we upgrade next time and see what challenge we're going to have. Yeah, I tuned in for the next episode. So take a look at the cheat sheet. I am one and one. So 12 and O is now impossible, but O and 12 is also impossible. Got a little bit bailed out today, but that's okay. These are my first two games of 2K in nine months. So I'm getting my wheels back under me and I feel like we'll be able to figure this out. All right, gentlemen, an awesome first episode. I hope you guys loved it and I can't wait to see you in the next one. Peace!


Hello, I'm Sergio Angelos, Executive Director of Longland Public Media. Today we're going to be discussing with Tim Waters, a volunteer of Longland Public Media about some ballot questions for the 2022 election in Boulder County that specifically are about Longmont. So Tim, you're an awesome volunteer for Longland Public Media and you're also a council member and I'm sure there is a backstory perhaps of this specific ballot question which I'll read just so people know what I'm talking about. In the ballot question, so the city of Longmont ballot question 3B, Charter amendment to prospectively vacate office and it says, shall the city of Longmont home rule charter be amended by revising section 2.8 of the charter to give elected city officials running for another elected office the option of prospectively vacating their current office to avoid the burden and expense of a subsequent election. So, Sergio, thanks for the opportunity to talk about this. Yeah, as a volunteer for Longmont Public Media, a few folks in town will know that I host the back story, which is about storytelling and featuring what's going on in Longmont. There is a back story on this ballot question. This question is on the ballot because honestly I raised my hand or asked for a recognition one night at a council meeting and moved that we changed the charter to accomplish what this ballot question would accomplish and here's the reason. Some folks who watch this will know that I ran for mayor in this last election cycle. Before I announced for mayor, I checked with our city clerk to ask if it was possible for me to resign my seat as award one representative, effective election day. So to continue to serve until election day, but announce a vacancy so someone who would want to represent ward one could run and if I won the election, I would have become mayor. There would have been continuity in ward one. Somebody could have been elected basically in a special election at that time. Had I lost, which I did, whoever would have run would just fill that seat and I would be back in civilian life. So there were two of us who were sitting council members who ran for mayor, myself and Mayor Peck. Had there been an option for each of us to resign our seats, effective election day, we could have served in those seats until election day. Individuals could have declared their candidacies. There could have been a special election for both her at-large seat and my ward one seat, whichever of us won mayor would step into that role. Both those council seats would have been filled. There would have been continuity. We've got a year without an at-large representative to fill the seat that Mayor Peck vacated. No fault of anybody's except it was an odd year. We were doing the county clerks were kind of responding to the census and recalculating districts and they had to do that across the county for legislative districts, house districts, those kinds of things and they were just overwhelmed. So they didn't really have a way to squeeze us in. Had they had the time to squeeze us in, the price tag we heard for the special election would have been $300,000. And we decided as a council that wasn't worth that to the Longland taxpayers. When I was elected, I was elected in a special election back in 2018 and as I recall it cost the city somewhere between $65,000 and $85,000 to run that special election and that was what was in my mind when I checked with the county clerks. Well, why would I subject the city to that expense and the potential discontinuity that we have experienced with a seat now that's been open for a year? The solution to that would be to give me as or not me in the future, anybody who was in a similar situation the option to say I will resign effective election day, declare that opening, let that whoever that is finish their term or finish that year till the election. And then if they move into the mayoral seat, great, if not, they're back in the civilian life. But the residents and the voters of that ward or in the city would have had continuity and the city would have been saved an expense. So I know there's been confusion about this. When people read that and I've had a number of questions, what does this really mean? Not only does it not cost the city anything, it will save the city money. If sitting elected officials volunteer to do that, and it would create or ensure continuity that we've not enjoyed or experienced in this last year. Okay, so to make sure that I understand maybe the viewers understand. So the way the current process works and if you were to vote no on this, how it would continue working would be anytime there's a mayoral election, which is held every two years, current council members or other members of residents of the public of LaMont can sign up to be, you know, try to try to become the petition to petition to become the mayor become a candidate. If a current sitting council member gets all the necessary signatures to be the candidate for a mayor, that seat should the council member win would then become vacant. Correct. Which then would lead to another special election, which of course has, we didn't do one this year, the city of LaMont did not do one for the reasons that you stated. So is that correct in how that process currently works? That's a correct summary work. Yep. It would save both the expense of the special election and it would ensure continuity for the ward or the at-large seat. And what I proposed, which is now on the ballot, was that it would be done voluntarily. My intent was not to impose this on elected officials who were elected dutifully and legally by either ward voters or city at large. The intent was not to corner people and to require a resignation, but to make it an option. So it's an option. It's an option. It's not required. So some voters might say, well, so what good is that? Who would actually volunteer? I would have. And I suspect others might in the future because of, in particular, what we experienced this year, right? An empty council seat for a year and an exorbitant cost to fill that seat. And actually, there were only very narrow windows where we even could have done an election this year because of the redistricting and the burden on county clerks. So going forward, it may very well be that it would be 10 years again, maybe before you'd have this extended period of time, but it wouldn't avoid the expense. There would be a vacancy for a period of time, no matter what, and the expense of a special election. You could overcome both those with a yes vote on this. Now, I'm not here as an advocate. I'm here trying to explain this, but my people need to decide what they think makes sense. But at the end of the day, not only does it save money, it increases the likelihood of continuity. And I think both of those are probably a good thing for the city. Would you say that there are any cons or, I mean, any reasons why maybe people might want to vote no for it?  The candidate has the option of resigning their seat. But are there any negatives to people voting yes on this? I don't think so. As a representative of Ward 1, what I had been elected by residents, what I didn't want to do was say, well, I'm going to go ahead and resign because if I'd done that, I could have done that three or four months in advance of the election, but it didn't left a vacancy. And I felt obligated to honor the commitment I made to Ward 1 residents. I guess somebody could argue that those people who elected, whether it was me or anybody else, would want you to continue to the end of that term.  But that's the, that would be the only downside. I think it's way more upside to say whether it's a Ward or at large representation, that the continuity of leadership, that there would be somebody in the seat representing either at large residents or Ward residents, I think way outweighs, far outweighs, you know, what might be some concerns about, well, that was my representative.  I know some people would just as soon see me in civilian life, but it's not the way it worked out. Well, no, yeah, I think that's extremely helpful. I for one was a little bit confused about that question. I'm sure many others were. What are your thoughts on some of the other ballot questions? Well, there are two issues in terms of the charter. One is just some cleanup language to make the business that the city does more efficient who can sign off on various levels of authority for purchasing. And it's just, it's just kind of cleanup stuff. The other is less cleanup and has more compliance. And that is the state election laws set some parameters for when newly elected officials are seated. And typically that's after ballots are certified. Our charter called or specifies a series of dates for newly elected council members to be seated. And what we what we experienced this last year, it was before ballots had been certified that we were in a position to be swearing candidates in. So it became it became a little dicey. There were some close elections. The mayor election was close enough, at least at one place at one point, that there was some concern about, well, are we going to be swearing in a new mayor or, you know, other council members before we have certified votes? There was enough of a difference. And by that time, I conceded the race and, you know, it wasn't an issue, but it could have been. And the other ballot question is just to clean that up, right? It just makes it clearer. It would just delays a week or two when new like newly elected officials would be seated to ensure that it happens after ballots are certified. Okay. The third question on there is about bonding, selling revenue bonds to cover the cost of the the sunset to overreach of the resilient same brain project. I do have I voted to put that on the ballot. So, you know, I have views on this rather than express my preferences. I do think it's in the interest of residents if you're watching this, to do your homework and decide for yourselves. But I will say that the reason this is on the ballot is it is it is maybe the most critical reach in terms of flood mitigation to prevent a repeat of what happened in 2013. And with all the great work that's been done in the restoration following the flood, if this reach doesn't get done, all the rest of it downstream is still vulnerable. It's at risk. If we were to have another event, not unlike we experienced in 2013, we'll be back to ground zero after $140 million have been spent. Wow. And I and I did this is just a good investment. It has to be done whether it's through the sale of bonds or through rate increases for drain water fees. And we've already the council's already increased fees for a drain water a storm water drainage. I said storm drainage storm drainage. Right. And and those fees will will cover the cost of the debt. Right. So there's no more, no taxes increases, no tax increases, no fee increases. If it fails, that work still has to get done. We're going to have to pay for it differently rather than bonding and amortizing over, you know, a 20 year period of time or 30 year period of time that gives a lot of people had a chance to cover that cost. We're going to increase. There's the only one other way to do it. And that's increase fees again and do it on a cash and carry basis. And that's just I don't think economically, the most responsible way to go about it. What we cannot do is leave the people and the property downstream at risk. And our largest affordable housing development in Longmont is still at risk. If we don't get this done. Okay. Well, thank you. That was incredibly helpful, Tim. Thank you for your time. Thank you all of you for watching. We do hope this was incredibly helpful in helping you make a decision on how you want to vote for these three city of Longmont ballot questions. Thanks for watching.


Hi Ronald, this is Ashley Fox from Toyota. I wanted to send you over a quick video greeting that way you can see who you'll be working with. Thank you so much for your recent inquiry through Truecar on our pre-owned 2011 Dodge Durango. I went ahead and sent you over an email and I answered all the questions that you had regarding this vehicle. When you get a moment please respond to that email or you can give me a call. My number is<PHONE_NUMBER>. Thanks, bye.


Next question is from ClayMation14. How important is it to follow a program? Can you just improvise your sessions and do more instinctive training and still see progress? What's that saying, know thyself, right? Was that quote right? You gotta know yourself a little bit before you can decide this. And most people fall in this category. You're going to tend to do the stuff that you like.  Yeah, you're gonna avoid the stuff that you don't like. I think we're guilty of this. All of our experience, knowledge, and the points you're about to make, I think that it's just human nature to do that. And so you've got to be really self-aware that you're probably doing these things. And I mean, and I know that, I train intuitively, but I know that every time I follow a program, strictly, I always benefit from it because- It's written down. Yeah, even as well, even though I know I have these tendencies and I try and be aware and change and it still doesn't matter when I follow a program, I always get better results. Yeah, so what I like to do for myself is because I've trained so long, so there's an instinctive or intuitive component that I like to implement. But knowing myself, there's certain things that I tend to avoid, like high rep, lower body work in particular, or mobility work. And so then what I'll do with my program is I'll write those aspects in. So it'll be open in terms of what I can do within the workout, but I'll say to myself, for the next six weeks or five weeks, I'm not going any lower than 15 reps for lower bodies. That's the part of the program that I'll write for myself. Now what I do in the program, what exercise I choose, that's totally free. But that's the component I'll write down because that's the component, for me at least, that I screw up on. I also think it's important to decipher whether you are training or exercising because if you're exercising, this is fine. If, because the difference between training and exercise, training is you're training towards a goal. I want to lose weight. I want to build muscle. You have a, I want to get faster, jump higher. You have a specific goal, you're training. You're not going to beat that with, by the person who's following a program. You're always going to do better if you, you follow a program. But if your goal is just to be healthy and you, you choose strength training as your main mode to stay healthy and exercise, there's nothing wrong with this, intuitively trained. Cause it doesn't matter if you don't, you know, progress a little bit more in muscle or strength one week or not, you're still getting tons of benefits just from the exercise. So it really does matter what your goal is here. If you're trying to get to a destination, training program 100%. If you are just exercising, then this is totally fine. Yeah. I mean, that's exactly what I was going to bring up in terms of being in sort of a maintenance phase. Or yeah, you're just focusing on your own health and listening to your body and what your body needs are. I think there's a definite good place for like training intuitively. And you know, it's something that I operate, you know, more of these days than I have in the past, but also I know that I need to also implement a good program at some point in order to push me a bit and to get me outside of my comfort zone, because you do get into those patterns and it just becomes one of those things where now I'm just kind of spinning my tires, nothing's really happening. I need to get outside of that by really being more structured. Yeah. I'd say most people benefit from a structured program. I would say. You've been working out for a long time on your own and you've been consistent. And when I say long time, that means years, not like, oh, six months I've been consistent. You're looking at two, three, four years at least. That's when you can start to really figure yourself out and know your body and be more intuitive. But even then, you'll benefit from having some structure.  I mean, you're the most experienced person in this room when it comes to weightlifting and just as most knowledgeable about it. No, I just said, I do that for myself.  Yeah, but there's nothing wrong again with the intuitive. I mean, if you're not trying to make major moves then and you're training because you do it for the mental health and you want to feel good and you know it strengthens your heart and it keeps you fit. Like there's nothing wrong. In fact, I mean, that's where I'm at right now. Right? Like I just got done saying how much I benefit from following a program. Yet I'm not following a program. I'm more like intuitive trainer now. But I also don't have major goals right now.  I'm just trying to kind of maintain.


When you think of sneaker history, what shoe comes to mind? The ones, because I'm a One Fan, but the ones, I think the threes, the elevenths. So all the classics. All the classics, all the classics, yeah, yeah, yeah. When you think of sneaker history, what is the first shoe that comes to mind? Chicago Air Jordan ones. Iconic. Classic. When you think of sneaker history, what shoe comes to mind? Shit, I mean, uh, probably a light, 19.5 Jordan ones, yeah, yeah, yeah. Any colorway in particular? The breads. The breads? Breads. That's a classic.


Speaking of eating disorders, there's always the fear that when we start talking about making food choices or when we start talking about weight, that somehow that's automatically going to trip some switch in a 12-year-old girl that's going to turn her into an anorexic or a bulimic or both. What say you? What say I? Yes.  What I would say is I think there's a big misconception that as we start talking about food and bodies and body image that it automatically triggers an eating disorder. In my experience, both working with quite literally over 10,000 youth at this point, in my experience, there is a percentage and it is a very small percentage of people that I have seen come through our programs who have felt like they've struggled with an eating disorder and every single one of those kiddos came in with it and did not come in and then acquire it while they were with us. What I'm in the point I'm trying to make there is that there is a very specific etiology or origin of an eating disorder to be categorized as an eating disorder, anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. It is a very different etiology than what I see with kids struggling with obesity and overweight. There are also some genetic and biological triggers for eating disorders. While there is some relationship and small percentage, I would say that it's the vast majority of kids that are struggling with something more like disordered eating, that they have this struggle with a body image in relation to their food decisions, that is a much higher percentage. The truth is this fear of not discussing food and not discussing healthy behaviors is not helping either. There is a way to talk about it that certainly is not going to suddenly trigger an eating disorder in a child, but not talking about it either is not that helpful I find. What sort of advice do you give to parents and kids about making choices in the kitchen, for instance? Do you spend a lot of time on that or not so much in food preparation or, okay, here's our choices, here's what might work for you? Yeah, we do. We spend a lot of time in it, as you can imagine, and as you also can imagine, it has changed through the years as the science and the research has changed and what we know now about a healthier diet, there's that word again. Really when I'm working with families, the most important thing that I stress is that health is a family affair. One of the biggest mistakes people make is, oh, I have one son who can't keep weight on him and one son who can't take weight off of him. We have special food for this kiddo and special food for this kiddo. That's not going to work for anybody. Health is a family affair. You either need to decide to be healthy as a family or you need to decide to let food be free reign. Now, I prefer everybody be healthy as a family, but it doesn't help the kiddo who's struggling with weight and body image issues to become what's called the identified patient. There's something wrong with this kid over here, so we lock this cabinet and they can't have access to that food. Never helpful. If you're asking about what we prescribe specifically nutritionally, what we have found works best for this population, and I'd be curious to know if you disagree, but this push towards nutrient-dense whole foods overall is what we adhere to and becomes really important to us. We think it's very important what the kids eat, not just how much the kids eat. In fact, more important what than how much. We explain to us what nutrient-dense whole food is, food in its purest form. It's close to mother nature, it's humanly possible, and if they're willing, stay away from it, and there's no need to touch processed foods and foods without a sugar. We talk a lot about what happens, the brain and your ability to make healthy decisions for yourself when you're consistently eating a lot of processed foods. As you can imagine with teens, this is a difficult conversation. These are the ones who are very susceptible to processed food. That's a whole other conversation. Speaking of addictive foods, you come down pretty hard on food companies in the book. Have you gotten any pushback from them? I know another woman, Food Babe, certainly relishes the pushback from these companies. What are you here? I myself have not gotten personal pushback from the food companies yet, thankfully. But I think my biggest issue is that I work with children, and children are very susceptible to things like processed foods and added sugar. They're susceptible to the marketing. They're susceptible to the addictive properties in the food. What we know is that once you go down this trajectory, it's very difficult to backtrack. These overweight and obese kids become overweight and obese adults. We're setting them up for failure. I know the food companies argue that we make our own decisions, that it's free will. If you don't like this fake food, then just don't eat it. My argument is and continues to be, if there are food scientists whose entire job is to understand the part of the brain that lights up when you crunch this chip in a certain way. How can we then not deduce that that would have a negative impact on someone's ability to make a good decision about that food? It doesn't make sense to me. I am constantly teaching these kids about what's happening there unconsciously on their part and how to fight against it. I find that once they're off the processed food, which they get when they come to us, that it's easier for them to make good decisions about that going forward. Yeah, there was an amazing study published probably now 10 years ago about the Appleton School District study. I'm not sure if you know about Appleton, Wisconsin started a program where the kids would eat their breakfast and lunches in school and they would be all organic foods and then they would they taught the parents what would be appropriate to serve at dinner, but they didn't have any control over that. And they did this actually for a year. And what happened was that behavior issues virtually disappeared from school. The testing scores went up and the trips to the principal's office dramatically went down and the truancy rate went way down. What's really sad about the whole study, which they then wanted to institutionalize it. So they brought in a major food service company to run this. And I won't mention names, but the minute the major food service company came in and started running it went right back down to normal because they were basically sneaking in the processed cheap foods again. So speaking of teens, what's what's your feeling about the impact of screen time on all of this epidemic and any thoughts on how you help parents or even the kids develop habits with screen time? I get this all the time at camp and have seen the progression over it up, it's seen the progression of it over the last 10 years and how that's actually changed our youth. One of the first things I tell parents as much as I can is you are still the parent. And so to the extent that you are having struggle or finding trouble with screen time, remember that just because everybody's friend has the phone and the iPad and the TV and computer in the room doesn't mean that you have to follow those same, quote, requirements. I often tell parents to take back the household in the sense that if your child is struggling with screen time, there should probably be some structured time around it. I always tell parents no screens in the bedroom, especially at bedtime, right, when it's so important, especially for our teenagers to be sleeping. And what I hear is, yeah, but how will they wake up in the morning, they need their alarm and what about the music to go to sleep. And I chuckle and I smile and I say, man, I had an alarm clock and it worked just fine. And we buy them for all of our campers at camp and we say, here's your alarm clock. I'll teach you how to use it. Here's the snooze button. Here's how you wake up, right? So we forget that we don't have to go with conventional wisdom. You don't have to go with the flow. I believe that screen time is just becoming another unhealthy coping mechanism for our teens. Another way to numb out, another way to find reprieve from whatever they're struggling with. And of course, when we were kids, we didn't have things like that. So we were either outside or we sort of had to learn to cope with whatever anxiety or stress was coming up for us naturally as a teenager. And our kids aren't doing that as much anymore. They're reverting to their screens in order to numb out those feelings. I don't want to be a sound the alarm or anything, but I think we have yet to see the long-term impact of how much screen time is impacting our children's brains.


Hello, hello, writers. I'm Christine Kiefer, author of fantasy fiction and creative writing resources and you are listening to the well-sturried podcast where I share insights, encouragement and actionable advice designed to help you craft sensational novels and build your best writing life. Always in 30 minutes or less, so you can get back to writing, of course. Ready for the show? Let's get talking. Hello again, writers. Today is Monday, March 22nd, 2021 and in today's episode of the well-sturried podcast we are going to discuss whether you should publish your book traditionally or independently. This is a highly personal decision that every writer must make before publishing their book and while some writers know from the start which path is right for them, many of us, myself included, have spent or are continuing to spend quite a lot of time trying to figure out which path is best. The choice between traditional and independent publishing is often mired in a lot of misconception and also is perhaps not considered as deeply as it should be and that's exactly what we're going to talk about in today's episode of the podcast. So if you would like to read along as you listen in, make sure to head on over to well-sturried.com slash Decision. Now let's get started. Both the traditional and independent publishing industries offer writers the fantastic opportunity to share their work with the world. But which path to publication is right for you? To answer this question, we're going to operate under the assumption that you'd like to publish for profit, meaning you aren't just looking to print a few copies of your recently finished book to give to family and friends. Your intent is to make a living as a writer or at the very least to use your writing as a secondary income stream. If you'd like to publish for profit, then the next step to determining which path is right for you is to get to know what each publishing option entails. I've talked at length about traditional and independent publishing here on the podcast already, in episodes such as Traditional Publishing, How Fiction Writers Nam Book Deals and Get Published, the pros and cons of traditional publishing, a quick start guide to self-publishing your book, an introduction to self-publishing fiction, and the pros and cons of self-publishing your fiction. But in summary, traditional publishing consists of selling a manuscript to a publishing house for production. Traditionally published authors, a.k.a. Trad Pub Authors, typically earn a cash advance upon signing a book deal and receive ongoing royalties post-publication after the publisher's advance has been recouped. Literary agents commonly help Trad Pub authors navigate their contracts and careers within the industry. Traditionally published authors benefit from no upfront publication costs, cash advances, and greater opportunity for critical and household acclaim. However, choosing to publish traditionally will almost certainly involve a lengthy publication timeline, a loss of creative control, and a disheartening amount of rejection. Traditional publishing is also an ever-shifting industry that can leave established authors in the lurch. On the flip side, independent publishing denotes publishing without the aid of an established publishing house. Most self-published authors use online e-book distributors, aggregators, and print-on-demand services like Amazon KDP to get their books into readers' hands. Independent authors retain full creative control over their work and benefit from higher royalty rates, a much faster publication process, and more frequent paydays. However, authors who choose to publish independently bear responsibility for the entirety of their book's production, including upfront editing, formatting, and cover design costs. Self-published authors are also unlikely to experience some of the hallmarks of a successful career in the traditional publishing industry, such as going on book tour or hitting the New York Times bestseller list. All this said, let's talk about combating common publishing misconceptions. Having heard an overview of the major pros and cons of each publishing path, you may have some indication of which option is best for you. For example, I'm an introvert who loathes the idea of an ever-shifting industry in which so much of the creative process is out of my control. I like to work on my own timeline and by my own rules, so independent publishing is a great option for me. However, there are a few common misconceptions, particularly about traditional publishing, that may cloud your understanding of which path best suits your personality and preferences. So let's break those down together, shall we? Did you notice that I didn't mention book marketing when breaking down either publication path? That wasn't a mistake. There's a common misconception that traditionally published authors don't have to do much book marketing because their publishing house will take care of it for them. This is a grave misunderstanding. Most traditional publishers offer little-to-no marketing support unless you're one of their big-name authors or your debut novel is forecast to be a mega hit. Otherwise, any support your publisher does offer is usually a result of the initiative you take on your own dime and time in the first place. So if you're leaning toward a traditional book deal because you really don't want to market your work, then think again. All successful authors engage in book marketing, including those household names and hyped-up debuts. After all, someone's got to do all that talking on book tour. Another common misconception involves seeing your book shelved at your favorite bookstore. You may know that traditional publishing isn't the only way to get your book on shelves worldwide. Indie authors can see their books stocked in stores as well. But one thing that may surprise you is that very few traditionally published books stay on shelves for long. In fact, some don't even make it there in the first place. It's a common misconception that bookstore chains like Barnes & Noble buy books from publishers that they then resell. More frequently, publishers rent space on bookstore shelves to display books the store will sell on their behalf. Most new books only stay on shelves for 30 days at a time, with only the biggest bestsellers retaining their expensive shelf space for multiple months or years. This isn't to negate the incredible experience of seeing your book in your local Barnes & Noble, but it should bring into question whether such a likely short-lived experience should determine the publishing path you'll pursue for years to come, especially considering that many big-chain bookstores are closing up shop. With all of this said, do you have a stronger understanding of which publishing path is right for you? Before you commit, let's take a minute to discuss one final, very important question. What do you want from your publishing experience? In other words, how do you define publishing success? Now's the time to be brutally honest with yourself. There's an unsettling aspect of the publication process that many writers don't consider, and that's ego. If your definition of publishing success hinges upon hitting the New York Times bestseller list, becoming a household name or seeing your book adapted for film or television, then ego is almost certainly shaping what you're looking for in your publishing experience. And that can be a dangerous thing. You see, your ego is your sense of value and self-importance. Rather than recognizing your value as innate, your ego demands proof in the form of external validation. It wants to see your work brought to life on the big screen or sitting high atop the bestseller lists to prove to itself that you've made it, that you're a quote-unquote real writer. But what happens when your book is no longer a bestseller or when production stalls on your would-be adaptation? What if your publisher fails to pick up the third book in your series or you never quite reach the same heights as your favorite celebrity author? If you aren't careful, these blows to your ego will leave you in a measurable pain. There's nothing inherently wrong with dreaming that you'll become the next Stephen King or Nora Roberts. Just make sure to view these potential accomplishments as welcome side effects of hard work and a privileged writing career, rather than as the end all and be all of your creative success. What role does ego play in determining which publishing path is right for you? Addressing ego is essential when kickstarting your publishing experience for one simple reason. Writers who choose to self-publish still face a massive amount of stigma, and most notably from other writers. As loath as many of us are to admit it, physical bookstores are on the decline. Modern readers buy the majority of their books online, and they aren't exactly making purchasing decisions by publisher. Think about it. Can you name the publishing house that produced the last five Trad Pub books you read? I know I can't. So long as a book is professionally produced and marketed, in other words, so long as it has a high quality cover, listing, and opening chapters, then readers are likely to buy it regardless of whether it was published independently. Nevertheless, many writers still view traditionally published books as somehow more real and legitimate than those that are self-published, and that all comes down to ego. If there are gatekeepers involved, and there are many in the traditional publishing industry, then ego sees those gatekeepers as an opportunity to prove itself worthy. If I can have a book deal with a big five publisher, ego insists, then I'll know that my writing is good enough. As we've previously discussed here on the podcast, the only thing that a traditional book deal can prove definitively is that a publisher believes your manuscript may be marketable at one particular moment in time. Publishing is, after all, an industry. The quality of a manuscript does play some role in its marketability, but as many, frankly, appalling published books have proven over the years, sales potential is king. This isn't to say that only ego-driven writers pursue traditional publishing. I simply want to encourage you to be wary of allowing ego to drive you toward publishing traditionally if all other signs point to independent publishing being the right option for you. This is, unfortunately, a warning born of personal experience. For years, I struggled to commit to a publishing path, despite the fact that the sacrifices involved in publishing traditionally made me personally want to quit before I'd even begun. Somewhere deep down, I believed that only a traditional book deal could mark me as a real writer, and that limiting belief led to far more anxiety and wasted time than I care to admit. All of which is to say, ego is a powerful drug, my friend. Be forewarned. Determining which path to publication is right for you can be difficult, especially if you find yourself drawn to some of the advantages that each option offers. If you find yourself in that position, bear in mind that you don't have to make an either or decision. Many hybrid authors operate within both industries quite successfully. No matter which path or paths you ultimately pursue, let it be the one that allows for the greatest sense of joy and fulfillment in your writing life. Choose right for you, overwrite for your ego, and you can't go wrong. Thank you for listening to today's episode of The Podcast Writer. I hope you found it helpful to your writing journey. If so, make sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss a new episode, and to give the podcast a quick rating or review. Doing so goes a long way toward helping the podcast reach new writers and lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm creating. You can also give me a shout out directly on Instagram at christen underscore keeper. For additional guidance as you work to craft sensational novels and build your best writing life, be sure to head on over to www.well-storied.com where I share blog posts, workbooks, e-courses, and other helpful resources for writers. Again, that's w-e-l-l-s-t-o-r-i-e-d.com. Thank you again for tuning into today's episode, my friend. Until next time, happy writing!


Income tax 2022-2023, Baker's depreciation. How is the depreciation deduction figured? Part number one, let's do some wealth preservation with some tax preparation. Most of this information comes from publication 946, how to depreciate property tax year 2022, you can find on the IRS website, irs.gov, irs.gov. Looking at the income tax formula focused online, one income, remember in the first half of the income tax formula, in essence, an income statement, although just an outline, other forms and schedules flowing into these line items. One of those, the Schedule C, having business income minus business expenses, giving the business net income flowing from the Schedule C to line one of income on the income tax formula. Looking at the page one of the Form 1040, remember in the Schedule C, we'll flow into the Schedule I, flowing into page one of Form 1040, line number eight. The Schedule C is a profit or loss from business outlined in an income statement format, having income and expense sections. We're focused on the expense side of things and more precisely on the depreciation side of things, remembering that even if you're on a cash-based system, you will generally have to deviate. Support Accounting Instruction by clicking the link below, giving you a free month membership to all of the content on our website, broken out by category, further broken out by course. Each course then organized in a logical, reasonable fashion, making it much more easy to find what you need than can be done on a YouTube page. We also include added resources, such as Excel practice problems, PDF files and more like QuickBooks backup files when applicable. So once again, click the link below for a free month membership to our website and all the content on it. To an accrual concept, when it comes to property, plant and equipment, depreciable assets, and now we're focusing in on those main categorizations of depreciable assets, generally those makers standards, and we have to layer on top of that the concepts of using, say, 179 deductions and the special depreciation, which we talked about in prior presentations. Okay, so how is depreciation deduction figured in any case then? To figure your depreciation deduction under makers, which is the standard depreciation kind of method, you first determine the depreciation system, property class, placed in service date, basis amount, recovery period, convention, and depreciation method to apply to your property. That sounds quite complex, but it's really, if you have some concept of depreciation, like a straight line type of method as your baseline of what you're doing, and then you alter that to comply with the tax code, it's not too bad really. So you're gonna first determine the depreciation system that you're going to be using. So normally if you're in practice or you're usually gonna be saying, okay, here's this item, can I just expense it at this point in time as supplies or something, or do I have to put it on the books as a depreciable asset? If you have to put it on the books as a depreciable asset, then you gotta think about what kind of depreciation system you're going to be using. Oftentimes most types of equipment are gonna be like a maker's depreciation system. Oftentimes the property class, because remember that you do not have as much leeway as you would under a bookkeeping kind of system or even generally accepted accounting principles from the accounting side to choose the lifespan that you're gonna depreciate over or the method that you're going to use, you have to fall into the categories of the tax code, and that in part is due to the incentives being different for taxes than financial reporting purposes. Our goal is to lower our taxes as much as possible, which means we wanna depreciate as much upfront as we can as a general rule. So we gotta find what class our property falls into. Placed in service dates, so we need to know when we put it in service, close to when we bought it oftentimes, but when we put the thing in service, the basis amount, in essence, the cost of it basically, because that's the cost that we're gonna be allocating over, that's the more simplified term for basis, but it could be a little bit more complex in certain cases, but the general idea, and then the recovery period, which is going to be determined in part by the property type, the property class, because that's gonna be dictated to us in terms of the system we used and the property class that we're gonna have, so how long, how many years, are we gonna depreciate this over? And then the convention, which also is basically gonna be dictated by the conditions in place that we've chosen before, meaning is it half year, is it mid month, is it mid quarter, and depreciation method that will apply to double declining 150% or the straight line oftentimes, we're gonna choose the default, which will be the highest depreciation method that we can take, which would be the double declining if we have access to that usually, and then there's 179 special that kinda tops on top of that. All right, so then, you are ready to figure your depreciation deduction. All right, tax software helps with this, of course. You can figure it using percentage tables provided by IRS or you can figure it yourself without using the tables. Again, software is usually gonna be necessary when we get depreciable items because they'll help us to track those depreciable items on a fixed assets worksheet depreciation schedules. So using maker's percentage table to help you figure your depreciation under makers, the IRS has established percentage tables that incorporate the applicable convention. And depreciation method, these percentage tables are in Appendix A near the end of this publication. Sometimes that's useful to project out into the future if you're trying to think about whether you're gonna use, say, double declining or whether you're gonna use a straight line if you wanna change the convention or something like that, as opposed to just picking the default of double declining and hopefully helping the software, helping you to calculate it because the tables help you to kind of see out into the future possibly a little bit more clearly than software unless you have software designed specifically for projections. All right, which table to use? Appendix A contains the maker's percentage table guide which is designed to help you locate the correct percentage table to use for depreciating your property. The percentage tables immediately follow the guide. So rules covering the use of the tables, the following rules cover the use of the percentage tables number one, you must apply the rates and the percentage tables to your property unadjusted basis. Number two, you cannot use the percentage tables for a short tax year, see figure in the deduction for a short tax year later for information on the short tax year rules. Number three, once you start using the percentage tables for any item of property, you must generally continue to use them for the entire recovery period of the property, consistency once again, being a standard rule for tax as well as accounting in general. Four, you must stop using the tables if you adjust the basis of the property for any reason other than A, depreciation allowed or allowable or B, an addition or improvement to that property that is depreciated as a separate item of property. All right, basis adjustments other than those made due to the items listed in four include an increase in basis for the recapture of a clean fuel deduction or credit and a reduction in basis for a casualty loss. So those are kind of more unusual type of situations where you might have some other benefit that is happening and you might have some interplay like we saw in prior presentations between the basis, the adjusted cost that you're allocating, the basis being something that you're gonna get a deduction for hopefully at some point in the future. And then if they give you some other benefit like a credit or something, that could adjust the basis. Otherwise you'd kind of be double dipping, getting an expense and a credit. All right, so basis adjustments due to recapture of clean fuel, vehicle deduction or credit. I'm not gonna go into that in detail because it's somewhat of an unusual situation. Depreciation methods. So you got the GDS, the methods using 200% double declining. So notice this is gonna be a maker's depreciation. The GDS under makers, 200% DB is that double declining that accelerated method, the one by default we would typically be using generally. So types of property, non-form, three, five, seven and 10 year property. So that's some of the more common ones right there. And then the form, three, five, seven and 10 year property there. Benefit provides a greater deduction during the earlier years, which is what we want. That's why we're gonna do it for the default on our side for the taxpayer. Usually that's the benefit. Changes to straight line when that method provides an equal or greater deduction. Meaning if you calculate the double declining balance, it's kind of a funny calculation because you're kind of taking the straight line method and doubling it and then using a double declining percent instead of a straight line percent, which doesn't work out to be perfect. So then you kind of at the tail end of the depreciation system, you kind of convert, you might convert back to straight line to get it to fully depreciate exactly evenly by the end point, which is a little strange, but it works. GDS using 150 double declining. So this is for form three, five, seven, 10 year, all 15 and 20 year property, non-form three, five, seven or 10 year property and form three, five, seven or 10 year. So provides a greater deduction during the earlier recovery periods, greater than straight line that is at least, and then it changes the straight line same thing. And then you got the GDS using straight line, non-residential rental property and residential rental property, those large items, real estate and essence being depreciated over long periods of time, now not getting the benefit of the double declining wanting instead that straight line method, trees or vines, bearing fruits, water, utility, all three, five, seven, 10, 15 and 20 year property. There's an appendix to that property for which you elected section 168 and it provides an equal yearly deductions. That's just kind of a recap of it. And so our general rule, we'd like to get more upfront if we can unless we have some reason other than to do that, in which case we might try to elect to go straight line if we have the option to do that. And that would only happen if we think, for example, we're gonna have more income in future years, which means we might get more tax benefit because our taxable income might be higher. And then you've got the ADS using the straight line. Okay, basis adjustments due to casualty loss. If you reduce the basis of your property because of a casualty, you cannot continue to use the percentage tables for the year of the adjustment and the remaining recovery period, you must figure the depreciation yourself using the property's adjusted basis at the end of the year, see figuring the deduction without using the tables later. Example, so on October 26, 2021, Sandra and Frank Elm, calendar year taxpayers, bought and placed in service in their business a new item of seven year property. It cost $39,000 and they elected section 179 deduction of $24,000. They also made an election under the 168K7 not to deduct the special depreciation allowance for seven year property placed in service in 2021. Their adjusted basis after the section 179 deduction was 15,000, which is the 39,000 minus the 27,000 of the 179. So they figured their maker's depreciation deduction using the percentage tables for 2021, the maker's depreciation deduction was $536. So in July, 2022, the property was vandalized and they had a deductible casualty loss of $3,000. So Sandra and Frank must adjust the property's basis for the casualty loss. So now if there was a casualty loss related to a piece of property, you would expect that if you're gonna expense it, then that you might need to decrease the basis because for the property, right? At the same time so that you don't, otherwise you'd be double dipping because you would have got the loss and you'd get the depreciation at some point in the future. So Sandra and Frank must adjust the property's basis for the casualty loss so they can no longer use the percentage. What percentage of Hayden Panatier is dwarf tables? Their adjusted basis at the end of 2022 before figuring the 2022 depreciation is 11,464. They figured that amount by subtracting the 2021 maker's depreciation of 536 and the casualty loss of 3,000. From the unadjusted basis of 15,000, they must now figure their depreciation for 2022 without the percentage tables. All right, so figuring the unadjusted basis of your property, you must apply the table rates to your property's unadjusted basis each year of the recovery period. So that's how the tables work. So the tables are gonna be set up to give you kind of an easy number to multiply times the unadjusted basis otherwise doing this double declining calculation becomes a little bit more complex because you gotta kind of figure out like the book value each period to multiply times the double declining rate and then figure if it's greater than the straight line and so on. So the tables are useful if you're trying to map out the whole depreciation for the whole timeframe. Otherwise tax software is useful for the current year and possibly the future year as well. Unadjusted basis is the same basis amount you would use to figure gain on a sale but you figure it without reducing your original basis by any maker's depreciation taken in earlier years. However, you do reduce your original basis by other amounts including the following, any amortization taken on the property, any section 179 deduction claimed, any special depreciation allowance taken on the property for business property you purchased during the year the adjusted basis is its cost minus these and other applicable adjustments. So normal depreciation now if you're using the tables you've gotta take the cost in essence times these rates on the table to figure out the proper depreciation but then you've got these funny things that happen in particular the 179 and the specials which allow you to get a lot of depreciation in essence or equivalent to depreciation write offs in the year of purchase which messes up the whole table thing. So now you gotta figure out your basis after these items and then basically use the tables if you're gonna use the tables. So if you trade property your adjusted basis is the property received in the cash paid plus the adjusted basis of the property traded minus these adjustments. In my opinion, I think the tables I would use tax software to help me calculate and then often use the tables possibly to double check that calculation and or to do projections out into the future. And then you can kind of use the two software and the tables to see if everything's lining up properly between your projections and what's been calculated in the current year. So makers worksheet. So you can use this worksheet to help you fake your depreciation deduction using the percentage tables use a separate worksheet for each item of property and then use the information from this worksheet to prepare for four, five, six, two. So obviously if you did all this by hand it would be quite complex but it gives you an idea of what is happening and you wanna be able to explain what is happening if you're using software and possibly be able to do projections into the future. So the worksheet, you've got the maker system GDS or ADS property class, date placed in service, recovery period, method and convention depreciation rate a lot of this stuff would be driven in essence by the type of property you're putting in place. And then the defaults that you would choose unless you were electing otherwise such as double declining balance unless you wanted to default to switch to straight line for whatever reason. And then you got the cost or the basis and then the basis divided by the investment use. In other words, if it's not all for business use some of it's for personal use then you'd have to multiply the times the business use percent. You multiply those lines out to get the business use that's now your basis total claimed for section 179 deduction. That's that upfront deduction that you might be able to get which we're gonna take out of the basis cause you got an expense for it when calculating normal depreciation after that 179 special depreciation. Subtract line 10 from line nine this is your tentative basis for depreciation. And then 12 multiply line 11 by the applicable percentage in the special depreciation allowance applies. This is your special depreciation allowance enter zero if this is not the year you place the property in service the property is not qualified property or you elected not to claim special depreciation. Again, special depreciation weird kind of like the 179 that upfront kind of depreciation thing. Then subtract 12 from 11 this is your basis for depreciation. So after getting past those funny depreciations upfront the adjusted basis is now to the point where you can apply the normal depreciation kind of rules which is the maker's table if you're using the tables and then you got the depreciation rate which will give you the multiply that this is your maker's depreciation deduction. Okay, example, you bought office furniture it's seven year property. So you know it's seven year property because it's office furniture and the IRS says that's seven year property. So for $10,000 and placed it in service on August 11, 2022 you use the furniture only for business. So it's a business use you don't have to multiply it times a percentage of personal use or anything like that. This is the only property you placed in service this year you did not elect the 179 deduction so we're gonna take that off the table and the property is not qualified property for purposes of claiming a special depreciation allowance so we'll take that off the table. So your property's unadjusted basis is its cost of $10,000. So we're just gonna be dealing with maker's depreciation here not all this other funny business. So you use GDS and a half year convention to figure your depreciation. You refer to the maker's percentage table guide in appendix A and find that you should use table one A multiply your property's unadjusted basis by basis each year by the percentage for seven year property given in table one A you figure your depreciation using the maker's worksheet as follows. All right, so maker's system it's the GDS system and that's the default unless we choose otherwise the property class is seven years we know that's the case because that we're using the GDS system instead of the ADS and that's what they force us to do we know the date placed in service because that's usually the date we bought it but it might not be it might be a little bit after but usually it's the date we bought it recovery period seven is seven year we know that because it's seven year property which with a GDS system and the method is gonna be 200% or double declining balance with a half year convention we know that's the case because that's the default if we're using a GDS for seven year property unless we elect to do something other than that like a straight line method half year convention is the default unless we purchased a bunch of stuff at the end of the year or something in which case they might force us to do a half quarter convention or something like that or mid quarter or whatever they wanna call it so the depreciation rate is the 0.1429 from the table so cost or other basis $10,000 business percent it's 100% business percent so $10,000 no 179 deduction so still $10,000 no special depreciation still $10,000 multiply that times the 1.1429 gives us the 1,429 for year one or for the depreciation so this is your maker's depreciation deduction so there we have that okay so if there are no adjustments to the basis of the property other than depreciation your depreciation deduction for each subsequent during a subsequent voyage Columbus found year of the recovery period will be as follows so now we've got our table $10,000 property and notice how easy it is to they just gave us these percents here now you might say how did they get these percents well you could do a double declining kind of calculation with a mid-year convention and kind of figure it out but it's a little bit messy to do it that way these tables are quite easy and note what you get here like if I add all this up by the way depreciation over the one, two, three, four, five, six, seven years we got the two, four, four, nine plus the one, seven, four, nine plus the one, two, four, nine plus the eight, nine, three plus the eight, nine, two plus the eight, nine, three plus the four, four, six is the eight, five, seven, one and then I'm gonna add plus the one, four, two, nine I believe there's the 10,000 right it adds up to the 10,000 so we've fully depreciated after that point now again the software would be quite useful to kind of try to match out it should come up pretty close to this it might be a little bit different if they're using a method other than the tables but it should be pretty close the problem with software though is that sometimes you don't have a projection software so you can't see the depreciation that's taken all the way out into the future so these tables are great for projections to see what's gonna happen if I map this out into the future for making decisions like should I take the straight line method or the double declining projecting what my income will be in future periods okay example the following examples are provided to show you how to use the percentage tables and both examples assume the following you use the property only for business so no personal use you use the calendar year as your tax year okay you use GDS for all the property so those are pretty common example pretty common conditions number one you bought a building and land for 120,000 and placed it in service on March 8th the sales contract showed that the building cost 100,000 and the land cost 20,000 so when you buy building and land you usually buy it together at one price and then you have to break out how much was building and how much was land because they have two different depreciations land is not depreciated building is therefore we would like to lean towards stuff being on the building side because we would like to expense it or depreciate it for our taxes although that's reversed for our normal bookkeeping right because everything's flipped on its head for taxes okay so it is non-residential real property the building non-adjusted basis is its original cost 100,000 you refer to the makers percentage table guide and appendix A and find that you should use table A7A March is the third month of your tax year so multiply the building's unadjusted basis 100,000 by the percentages for the third month in table A7A your depreciation deduction for each of the three years is as follows so now we've got our building now notice why they had to basically say that this was a third month because now the tables have to reflect the fact that we no longer are using a mid or half year convention because it's this property it's the real estate which usually uses a mid month convention so now you've got to determine which month it's being purchased in so you can use the proper table so it can calculate the proper amounts so the first three years they're just multiplying by the amounts found in the table again this is quite useful to be projecting out into the future I would also plug it into the software and kind of double check that that first number is accurate so I can see if I'm looking at the right table and I see the first two years at least so I see if I have the right table and if I'm plugging into the software correctly we might do that in future presentations and then use the tables to help me project out further than that into the future okay example two during the year you bought a machine seven year property for $4,000 office furniture, seven year property for $1,000 in a computer five year property for $5,000 you placed the machine in service in January the furniture in September and the computer in October you do not elect the 179 deduction so we're gonna take that off the table focus on makers and none of the items is qualified property for purposes of claiming the special depreciation allowance so we'll take that off the table just looking at makers you placed the property in service during the last three months of the year so you must first determine if you have to use the mid quarter convention so note these kinds of property the seven year and the five year usually have a half year convention meaning we assume they were all bought in the middle of the year which makes it easy but people sometimes trying to cheat the system when they do that meaning they buy everything at the end of the year so that they can get a six month depreciation even though they bought everything in the last month of the year that's so the IRS then says well to stop that from happening if you buy everything in the end of the year we're not gonna give you the mid year convention or the half year we gonna you have to use the mid quarter convention so that you don't have to get as big a benefit so now we bought everything at the end of the year we gotta figure if we have to do the mid quarter convention so the 5,000 basis of so all prior places so the 5,000 basis of the computer which you placed in service during the last three months the fourth quarter of your tax year is more than 40% of the total basis of all property $10,000 you placed in service during the year therefore you must use the mid quarter convention instead of the half year convention bummer, bummer, but whatever you refer to the makers percentage table guide in appendix A to determine which table you should use under the mid quarter convention the machine is seven year property placed in service in the first quarter so you use table A2 the furniture is seven year property placed in service in the third quarter so you use table A4 finally because the computer is five year property placed in service in the fourth quarter you use table 5A or A5 knowing what table to use for each property you figure the depreciation so one of the major points here is that if you use the tables you would have to use a different table if you had to switch from a half year convention to a mid quarter convention because you bought more than 40% of the assets in the fourth quarter of the year so here we have the year, the property, the machine the furniture and the computer for year one and two the basis multiplied by the percentages in the tables gives us the deduction and once again if you plug this into the software the software would hopefully be able to kind of make the calculation as to whether if you do the data input properly it should be a half year convention or a mid quarter convention and then you can double check that to the results that you are getting from from your tables and then again possibly you might use the tables to project out further than two years to the life of the property you know going forward now that you have some confirmation that you have the right tables so we might do some practice problems with software in future presentations


14th ranked BSU hosting St. Cloud State in the first half. The defense turns to offense. Allison Smith steals it away and gets it up to Rachel Norton. She turns on the Jets and puts it past the keeper. They go up 1-0. Same score early in the second half. Norton does it again. After a crafty pass by Smith leads to this chance. Muscles off the defender and scores her second on the day. Just four minutes later in the 53rd minute, Danny Nelson turns the defender around and shoots it past the diving keeper. The beavers go up 3-0 and they'd need all three of those as St. Cloud State gets too late penalty kick goals, but they hold on for the win. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.