Hello, Ken Patterson, Bob Rivard from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the August What's Neat starts like right now. This is What's Neat for August 2017. I'm your host, Ken Patterson, and this month we've got a great 40-minute presentation. First of all, we interview Kevin Rubel, the owner of Caboose, that famous hobby shop in Denver, Colorado, and he tells us about his enthusiasm for the future in the hobby. We discuss the term DCC-ready and explain exactly what that means, and then show a few decoder installations as an example. Then we look at this beautiful Ather STP-40F locomotive, brand new and fresh off the press. I do a photo shoot with that, and it's a very impressive model to look at this month. For layout construction, we do two lift-out sections, again using magnets, but this time we try a lot of new techniques that I've learned over the past year since the very first article, our video on that that we presented. And then there's about 15 or 20 other layout construction tips in the segment, so it's a very informative segment this month for layout construction on What's Neat. Now, as you watch that video, you'll see the Trestle diorama layout and the Blackstone 5x12 layout, and both of those construction videos are available on my website at kenpatterson.com, so be sure to check that out. And with that, let's continue on with the rest of this month's show. For this segment of What's Neat, when you go to the hobby shop and you see all the trains on the shelves, the locomotives sometimes say DCC ready on the box, or they'll say DCC sound ready on the box. Daniel, tell me, what does it usually mean when it says DCC ready? DCC ready means there's an 8-pin or 9-pin harness adapter inside the locomotive, so you can quickly plug in your decoder without any complicated wiring needed. So that means, essentially, not all on my layout when I run trains, for example, I don't think all trains have to have sound in them, so I like to use these Digitrax decoders, these DH126D decoders. These things work really well in the athern locomotives, whereas, like Daniel said a moment ago, all you've got to do is take the shell off the locomotive, and in this case it's an electromotive model here. It requires four screws to remove the shell. Once I take the shell off, I have easy access to the circuit board inside where I can see the plug, which is either a 9-pin, I think, in this case, whereas I pull that plug right off of the locomotive, I then put the new Digitrax decoder onto the locomotive, and then I put the screws back that hold the body shell into place, and that essentially converts this locomotive from a regular DCC model to a DCC model that will run on my layout. A lot of folks, when they see that DCC ready on the box, they think they can just go home and run it on their DCC layout, which quite honestly isn't the case. It's not misleading, but it's something that if you're a novice and you're just looking at the hobby for the first time and you're looking to purchase one of the nicer locomotives to upgrade your train set, it's something that you've got to consider is exactly the terminology of what it means. And in this case, on this Conrail engine, I also wanted to put in a decoder, same type of Digitrax decoder, and it is also DCC ready, so I simply take the hood off of this locomotive. It only required two screws. I put the new decoder in the locomotive, and then I put the screws back that hold the shell on. Also at this time is a good time while you've got the locomotives apart to go ahead and put some KD number 5s on for reliability so that you've got good operation on the layout. After doing all of that, the locomotive is then ready to go. On this GP38 from Ather, and if you look at this model, all I've got to do is remove the hood, and I can get to the innards of the locomotive. Simple as can be. Plug my decoder in, put the hood right back onto the model, and I'm ready to start running it on the layout, so I don't even have to pull off the bottom frame. But essentially, I just wanted to cover the fact of what does it mean when you see something that's DCC ready. So that's this segment of What's Neat. Hello, this is Michael Gross, and you're watching What's Neat with Ken Patterson. For this segment of What's Neat, I've got Kevin Rubel from Denver, Colorado. You'll know him as the owners of Kavus, the hobby shop in Denver.   It's Kavus in Denver. And this gentleman owns that wonderful company, the proprietor, and now the sole operator with all of his employees. Tell us, how is this working out for you at the Kavus? It's working well. It's working well. Yeah, we picked up a company that had a great legacy, 78-year legacy, 79 now, of, as we like to say, sharing our passion for trains with other railroad enthusiasts, so. So you're really high on customer service and hands-on. Absolutely. But you also have a large demographic for the internet, is that right? We do. About half of the business is online and that's growing. Now, are you building layouts and you're working in the community, I guess, with regards to promoting the hobby? We are. We're still at the front end of the acquisition. We acquired the company just seven months ago, eight months ago. And so, we're still working some bugs out of our e-commerce system and things like that. That said, within the store itself, we have three operating displays and layouts and we're planning another six to, because I really want to focus on showing the typical hobbyist or train enthusiast something that's achievable.  We wanna do a large number of small layouts in different scales so the average hobbyist can come in and not be discouraged by or overwhelmed. That is so cool. That is like hands-on. Now, you're in a state that is experiencing growth with regards to finances all throughout the economy in that state presently. And so, you have a great confidence in the hobby in your area, I guess, because of the generation of wealth that's going on in your state. I do, I do. And just in terms of population growth too. But we really focus on trying to be as welcoming as possible to the whole breadth of people who might have an interest in trains just from a passing interest all the way to people who build dedicated buildings to house their layouts. So, that said, we wanna make sure that whoever comes through those doors feels welcome.  Let's say there's a retired model reorder out there with some wealth and he's kinda unsure what to do with it. Today's economy, but he's really into the hobby. Are you open to franchising your name, the caboose, or just caboose? We would consider that, sure. We'd consider that. I watch that show, what is it? Marcus Lamonis, it's the guy that buys those businesses and I just see you've got a name, that name has value. The name has a lot of value and the name was ultimately a big portion of the assets that we purchased, not financially, because we allocated that amongst all the assets that were purchased from the old caboose, which was everything pretty much but inventory. But the name is, in my mind, the name is the most valuable asset that we purchased. And the reputation, I can't say enough about Joanne and Joanna Miller and the legacy that they left us with. Absolutely. It's just every time I talk to someone, no matter where I am in the country, I'll mention the caboose and they'll say, oh, there used to be caboose hobbies and everybody knows it. They were good to all of us and me included. I mean, I remember the first time I went there, we took pictures of ourselves at caboose hobbies.  Right. So you've got a website now for the guys that want to buy stuff online for me. Tell us what the website is. We do the caboose, the website is mycaboose.com. Mycaboose.com. Yes. And that's been a monumental undertaking because we pride ourselves on carrying more items, not carrying in stock necessarily 100% of them, but listing and representing more manufacturers and more items than anybody else out there. So we're representing just over 500 manufacturers right now in about 170,000 items. So you can imagine the complexity that infers for our e-commerce presence. There is, and that's caused us a bit of delay because that's a pretty big task to try to write code for. And we found that it's very difficult to find canned programs to handle that. So we're actually custom writing code. Are you advertising your store in Monterey Road Hobbyist Magazine? That's the digital? Yes. Oh, that's what the video, that's what we're doing here. Yes, that's right. That's this one. That's this one. Actually, I just talked to our creative director the other day and said we need to get in there because that is one of the few places that we're still not. 178 countries that's worldwide reach. It absolutely. I talked to the folks from MRH back at Train Fest, I believe, or it might have been Amherst about that. And I've been a little bit slow in getting back on the uptick. Where are you going to be now that you're working really hard? You're putting things together. You're putting in the hours now. Is it going to, where are you going to be in five years? In five years, I'd like to see that we are the go-to for the Serious Hobbyist. We're also the first place people might stop, whether it's online or in the brick and mortar, when they are just maybe resurrecting an interest in trains and it doesn't have to be modeling. We intend to support the railfan community as well. And particularly folks bring their kids to get them interested in whatever, whether it's Brio or Lego or whatever. Can you give us that website one more time? www.mikeboost.com Kevin, thank you for being on What's Need. My pleasure, thanks, Kevin. We're continuing now with the BTS log mail project. And before I can even begin the late track, I need to get power into this segment of the layout. And I also need to make the ability to even get a train on this portion of the layout because right now it's an island unto itself. So for this segment, we're going to build another lift out section. But first let me tell you a little bit about the lightener trestle diorama. I've been adding some trees to it and I really, I really like the way it looks this way with a lot of pine trees around it. Now I didn't build these trees myself. These are those grand central gems trees that come in multiple sizes and they look terrific right out of the package. I've used all the various sizes from the nine inch to the three inch to the two inch. It just fills out the area and looks really nice. Again, the section of the layout is not powered yet and I really can't wait to watch a train run across this as it's worked into the layout. Now in order to be able to do this, I'm going to have to build another lift out section. Similarly to the one that you saw me build. Oh, I guess it was about eight months ago where we built this wooden three quarter inch plywood lift out section that had no wires, no rail joiners, just simple magnets. And I use smaller magnets on this. For the new section, I want to use larger magnets. I want to go with those half inch magnets and I'm going to use 16 magnets on this project. And I had multiple choices on how I could attach the Blackstone layout here to the island which contains a trestle and of course a sawmill dioramas. So what my plan is, is to come up with an area here between these two sections of layout where I could build another lift out section that would fit between the pine tree diorama here with the trestle and this Blackstone layout. I call it Blackstone two. Now there's multiple ways I could do this. I could come off of it at this angle into the diorama or another angle like this or even do a complete Y. And the other thing I'd like to do in addition to using larger magnets, I also want to put sides on this one. So in case anything rolls off or gets bumped it has no chance of falling off the layout. And I also want to build a lift out section that has complete scenery on it. So that as we come across through the scene here it'll actually look like a complete section of layout. It won't look like a plywood lift out. So that's two lift outs that we're gonna build in the next couple of days. Probably right between here make it all work out where I've got a turnout on the curve and it's gonna smoothly just go right on to this other section of layout. Again, no rail joiners, no wires, simple magnets to hold it in place, pop it right up when you're done and this should work out really well. And then we can run a train across the trestle and start laying track on the sawmill section of this whole layout project that I'm working on right now. So let's continue on to see how this turns out. I really can't wait myself to see exactly how this is gonna work out for this segment of layout construction on what's need. After giving it some thought I had decided that a left hand turnout will fit the curve and the track across the walkway. Measuring from the rails height I plotted and marked the area to be carved to fit our lift out into the foam. After cutting a 26 inch radius curve piece of three-quarter inch oak plywood I placed this between the span to ensure correct placement and distance and length and flow before notching out the foam for this to fit into. I cut the foam following the lines to match the shape of the lift out sectioned and its base. I sectioned out the foam cutting small pieces out one at a time until I was sure that the plywood end would fit snug and flush ensuring smooth track work. I test fit the lift out section and its base into the foam. Then placing track on the plywood I used a level to check that the rails height which matched the same between the sections perfectly level. It's the rails height that is the most important dimension that must be matched throughout this entire project to ensure smooth train operation. I repeated this process on the trestle module cutting the plywood and the foam with a small handsaw until the notch would accept the three-quarter inch base and the three-quarter inch lift out section. With a piece of track in place I rolled a freight car across the transition and everything seemed to work perfectly and smooth so far so good. Now turning my attention to the turnout and track placement I used a Sharpie at Blackmagic marker to trace lines where the number six turnout and the micro-engineering code 70 track would flow through the scene. We will modify the Shinohara number six turnout curving it to match the radius of the existing track work in the scene. I do this by cutting six of long switch ties with a Dremel cutoff wheel between the two sets of rails. I then cut spaces separating each railroad tie on the leg of the switch that I want to bend using the same cutoff wheel and being very careful not to notch the rail during this process. Upon test fitting the turnout into its space you can clearly see how the slight bend in the turnout matches the existing curve in the track work ensuring a perfect flowing radius throughout the scene. Using the same cutoff wheel I sectioned out the space where our turnout will fit. I removed the rail with a set of pliers and then started chiseling out the ties using a flat screwdriver. After sanding the area smooth with the Stanley Sure Farm planer I checked the foam surface with a level. Then I proceeded to do a final test fit to turn out into its new position complete with the slight curve to match my 26 inch radius track work. At this point I focused on placing the magnets into our base and lift out sections by drilling centering holes through both pieces of wood so our magnets will mate to each other in a perfectly straight line. I then drilled holes, 16 of them into the base and the lift out to match the diameter and the depth of the 14 millimeter magnets. After filling the newly drilled holes with five minute epoxy I placed each of the 16 magnets into position paying close attention to the magnets polarity to avoid any problems in the future. I did this on both ends of the lift out section and let this glue cure for about an hour. While this cured I sealed the area where our turnout would be placed with latex paint to protect it from the liquid nail. To fill the topography that will make for a flat surface to which we will glue our track I masked the ends of the plywood with blue masking tape creating a barrier as I proceeded to wet the area with water before applying a layer of Gorilla Glue. I also let this glue fill the loose gap between the tape and the foam. After the foam Gorilla Glue cured it expanded rising above the surrounding scenery. I cut this flush with a saw making for a flat base to which we will then glue our track. When I pulled away the lift out section the tape that was attached pulled away clean as it was now stuck to the foam. After pulling the tape off of the foam it revealed a smooth layer of Gorilla Glue that is now filling the gap between the wood and the foam. Now, when I placed the lift out section into position you can clearly see the filled gap making for a formed fit around the wood as well as making a nice level surface to transition the track onto the lift out surface from the foam. To form protective sides to the lift out curve I cut strips of 3 32 inch oak plywood. I applied glue to this and screwed things into place with one quarter inch black sheet metal screws working my way all around the curve on both sides of the wood. I then spent about 12 hours staining the wood pieces with red oak stain and then applying four or five coats of polyurethane to give them a really nice shine and I let this set and dry. I sealed the Gorilla Glue foam in the lift out area with brown latex paint. While this dried I glued our number six curve turnout into the main line area with a thin layer of liquid nails. Now again, the liquid nail adhesive will not eat into the foam as it is sealed and protected by the latex paint. Now it was time to glue our lift out foundations into the foam. I sprayed water into our carved out gap and spread a few lines of Gorilla Glue evenly around the space placing our three quarter inch plywood base with the magnets into this glue and setting it to cure. I repeated the process on the trestle diorama spraying water into the gap applying the Gorilla Glue evenly into the gap and then seeding our plywood base with the magnets in it into this glue. I placed the lift out curve with more blue tapes protecting the bottom ends of the plywood into position and set the weights on top of this until the Gorilla Glue cured attaching our magnetic bases securely. I attached the curve track to our lift out section with a thin layer of silicone caulk applying this with a thin metal trowel. I let this cure and set up under more weights for about three hours. I cut the track with my dremel disc cutter leaving a one 16th inch rail overhang onto the foam. This will ensure when the section is removed it will have the necessary rail clearance when lifting the section out of position and then back again. I test rolled a freight car across the gaps and along the curve of our almost completed lift out wood section. I ran DCC track power down the nearest wall and exiting directly behind the baseboard. This will snake under the carpet and reappear under the bench work. I sank a brass tube through the trestle diorama at full 12 inches and then ran power feed wires through this tube. When the tube is removed the wires remain in the foam feeding power to each rail of the lightener trestle module and eventually the sawmill diorama.  This time the curve was just wide enough to hold the track firm. This will become our scenic lift out section. I laid our curve on a sheet of foam and drew out lines creating the dimensions for our overall scenery base. About five inches I left on each side of the track for scenery. I cut this section out following the lines with a jigsaw. I plan to embed the plywood into the foam flush by setting the depth of my router to the same thickness as the plywood. I then proceeded to router out this channel matching the depth and the curve of the plywood road bed exactly. I glued the plywood into the foam with great stuff adhesive and let this set up firm under heavy weights to prevent the plywood from moving as the great stuff expands. After the foam cured, I carved the topography into our scene with a pruning saw. I spent about 20 minutes carving things, making the diorama's topography match that of the surrounding modules that it will be spanning. I did final track profile carving with the Stanley shore farm planer making for a small finished scene ready to be sealed with latex paint on top and underneath. When the paint dried, I test fit the scenic lift out section into its new space, spanning the walkway. And what do you know? It fit just right and without magnets. I did notice about a quarter of an inch gap between the layout scenery and the lift out section which I will fill with additional foam. But so far, this concept is going together very nicely. Now it was time to figure a way to match the magnets placement in the scenic lift out section to the existing bases on each end. I experimented with two methods that would accomplish this. First, I shortened a roofing nail to just about a quarter of an inch long, creating a point, and then I centered this onto each magnet. I placed magic marker ink onto the end of the point and pressed the lift out section into place, allowing the short nail to pinpoint the exact drilling spot on the plywood to center the magnet. I also tried applying craft paint to magnets, placed over each base magnet and pressing the lift out section directly into the paint. The magnets made really nice pink markings and this too worked really well for centering the location of the magnets. I then glued all the magnets into our new scenic lift out section with five minute epoxy and let this cure for about an hour. Turning my attention to bringing power to the lift out section, I soldered brass stock to wires from each rail on the turnout. This brass stock will be glued into our wood base with just a little upward bend to ensure spring or pressure with the lift out section providing good electrical contact. I also installed brass stock contacts to the underside of the lift out section. The wires run from each rail to these brass contacts that match up to the brass stock in the base. When put into place, I confirmed good continuity by running the first locomotive across the wood lift out section. I repeated this process on the scenic lift out section soldering wire to each rail then soldering the other end of the wire to the two pieces of brass stock under the lift out section. Here you see the two pieces of brass stock attached under the lift out that will match the brass contacts in the wood base. When put into position, the magnets provide enough pressure to the brass contacts providing power to the track. As I confirmed by testing another locomotive for the first time through this lift out section. I did add a quarter of an inch of foam, more scenery to the edges, filling the gaps that were in the sections. I did this by adding just a small layer of great stuff foam pro to the ends and then shaping this with a saw. To finish the scenery on the lift out section, I sprinkled sifted and screened backyard dirt onto the scene. I ballast the track with screened creek rock and smooth this with a brush. I sprinkled on various sized rocks to add just a little more texture to the scene. I added medium green and light green ground foam vegetation to the scene. And then I glued everything into place with woodland scenic scenic cement using about a half of a bottle on this diorama. I also spread creek rock ballast onto the simple wood lift out section. I used my finger to form a straight clean ballast line just along the outside edges of the ties. I dribbled on woodland scenic scenic cement onto this gluing the rocks permanently into place. Here you see both of the new lift out sections, the scenery drying under a hot photo flood just to speed things up. I added about 30 trees to the scene using various sized pine trees made by Grand Central Gems. These are the same trees that are on the surrounding modules. And with that, it was time to test fit the scenic lift out section into place for the first time and finally run a train through the scene and onto the trestle diorama. The train ran smooth with no problems at all all the way across the lift out section and then on to run across the trestle to the very end of the track where construction will need to continue onto the sawmill diorama which we will cover in future episodes of What's Neat. And just like that, we end another layout construction segment on What's Neat. Lift out sections, both scenic, non-senic, using magnets. The structural integrity of magnets these days I think is gonna lend itself well to modular construction, the future and what can be done with regards to setting up a layout and having that structural integrity that these magnets afford us to connect things together. Think about it. And that's this layout construction segment on What's Neat. Hi, I'm Jim Napoli and you're watching What's Neat with Ken Patterson. On this segment of What's Neat, I've got something kind of neat today. I've got the brand new SDP-40F locomotives so the UHO scale guys are gonna get excited about this new ather locomotive that's gonna be coming to a hobby shop soon. But look at this beautiful model. There's a lot of engineering that went into this. Today I'm shooting video of it driving so I've got the sound all hooked up so everything will run by from a consist and it all looks good. I'm also gonna set up the desert scene today and try to get a couple of video run-by so that we can create a presentation for the announcement of this product. But this is one of the pre-production models. It's got full sound, amazing lights. It's even got running lights above the trucks. So it's kind of cool. So check it out when these are available, UAM Track fans and HS scale are gonna go nuts. Just like I did when I got to get my hands on this one. So this is a good photo shoot day and a kind of cool model to be working with this afternoon and I wanted to share it with you first on what's neat. It's day two of that photo shoot using the same ather locomotive only today I wanted to capture something really special. I wanted to get a signature shot with a locomotives running on a super elevated curve and this is only still photography today but I wanna show you how I'm flying by the seat of my pants on the scene because it only matters what it looks like from the position of the camera but if you look I've got it sitting on the super elevated curve. The train is winding off in the distance and then there's these cornfields placed in various areas. In fact, one of the cornfields is just suspended on a tripod so that I can position it in the exact same spot. I'm even using vehicles. I'm just literally flying by the seat of my pants to do a quick interesting photo shoot. This is one of those setups where you set it up once and you'll never get to do it again but let me show you the photography that I just got from this. It's pretty, it's just dead on for what I wanted for the location. Now the building's not gonna be seen in the scene but here's the shot that I just did with this. This shot came out pretty decent and it's one of those setups where you only get to do it once. I managed to get rid of the neighbor's fence and everything else just bled out perfect. So another photo shoot using this gorgeous, gorgeous locomotive from Athern and I've got a unit behind that just to kinda make an interesting looking consist. But that's gonna pretty much wrap up this photography shoot with this locomotive and that's a segment on what's neat, just an interesting, just another interesting day around here.


Have you guys had enough or are you thirsty for more? I'm John Young and we're gonna discuss presents For this upcoming holiday season All right, let's jump into some coffee. Look here Coffee it's been a late night Mmm, I do love a little maple syrup with my coffee Best idea ever sounds like time for presents We're making coffee liqueur. It's best to work with a local company They care about the coffee. They put love and passion into the products just like we do at Avon Walsh's Silling We're gonna use Faro Farmer's Market blends we got it at the farmer's market delicious perfect while roasted Made in Longmont, Colorado and our Lusca over proved from now you can use bourbon or vodka We like to use rum You're gonna need a nice container to put this all in Now the nice thing about using the over proof from is that we're going to make a double batch So one bottle becomes two. This is a hundred twenty one proof sixty point five percent ABV so if we add 50% more water and sugar It'll be about 30% or 60 ABV and that is gonna be a nice Warming coffee liqueur, but not too strong or not too weak you want the ethanol to make the extraction the water will just taste Kind of groundy earthy dirty where the ethanol is going to extract some of the essential oils a little bit better Heats will do the same thing in the morning when you make coffee But if you do a long cold press, it's gonna be nice to to have some ethanol in there Let's begin And that is a merry sound during the holidays Okay One bottle of Lusca over proof from I've got about six hundred Milliliters of water then we're gonna add our coffee and smells like heaven Gonna need this in the morning Stub it right in there now with the alcohol and a Two to three day extraction. You don't need to grind up the beans Over time the booze and the water will do the job That'll make it easier to extract in the long run. All right to sweeten it you could add sugar At the distillery we invert sugar So we cook it with citric acid and that turns sucrose into fructose and glucose crazy science stuff but Here we have agave sugar and our agave nectar and that is a lot of fructose. So it's just gonna have a different Chemical composition just the sugars are a little bit different. You could add honey or just put sugar in there I think for sake of use doing a little agave will be really nice The great thing here is you try it as you go. So in a day or two We'll shake it up try it if it's not Sweet enough or it's if it's not roasted enough we will add some more sugar wait a little bit longer and And just give it time keep tasting it and it will be ready one thing that goes really well with coffee Our vanilla beans Here we have some Madagascar vanilla beans. I Definitely recommend putting some spices into your coffee what we like to do You can put these into the bottles once you're all done, but you can also blend it in right off the bat It's good to cut those down vanilla is the second most expensive spice in the world behind you guess it saffron so It's good to strip it down the middle and then take that we're gonna scrape out those beans mm-hmm There's that nice vanilla paste on the inside Put the bean in there, but then you see all that delicious paste.  Okay.  All right last one So it's good to put one to two bean pods per bottle into the blend We started with one bottle of ever-proof rum and then we added water and agave So we're gonna get two bottles of coffee liqueur, so I ended up putting Four bean pods in and that'll that'll give it some nice sweet vanilla notes to it. Mmm. All right so Just gonna let that sit for two three days nice and cool dark place And taste it along the way make sure it's what you want If you want it to be roastier let it go along if you want it sweeter add more sugar You want to start low and always add more you can't go backwards so I recommend starting with the good quality roast like Farrell and Some some light on the sugar and that way you can always add more because you can't go backwards And these are nice ingredients so you don't want to mess it up Okay, so now that we have the coffee liqueur going let's make rum cake Caribbean black rum cake They smell delicious This is a favorite pastime of mine during the holidays because it involves a lot of delicious rums like our Leviathan black spice rum some Eldorado 15 probably the best of the bunch and This Leopold brothers and cherry liqueur Now there's a few things you have to get together to make this happen. Definitely start getting the fruit Soaking in booze as soon as you can it really needs to soak for two three days or three to six months So with that we're gonna get going Caribbean black cake Black Caribbean cake. No Caribbean black cake. This recipe is from 52 food calm So if I mess up some parts along the way check out 52 food calm and I'll have the complete description Also, we'll have it up on avanwhalis.com for you All right, the most important thing is get that fruit soaking we've got dates a Pound of dates or dates Mmm, you ever wrap these things in bacon talk about a holiday treat? Yeah Delicious ooh got a little cherries The recipe doesn't call for cherries, but I like to party currents pound of currents Each bag is like eight ounces raisins. Oh, yeah Some blueberries You know what? The blueberries were also for fun. So we're gonna hold off on some of those because we got to get the figs in figs, moss and portante. I got just the right size of container here. That is full Okay, once you got all your fruit in there you need two cups of cherry brandy It's that time again For black spice rum now that it's like 11 o'clock or something. It's time for some black spice rum. Oh Yeah, the recipe calls for a quart one bottle is 25 ounces 750 milliliters So just dump the whole thing in there a little short. I put a little extra fruit in there Just put a splash more cherry liqueur in And it also calls for some orange and lime zest got to get my zester All right, the citrus is gonna help this fruit pop. Oh, that's a nice peeler Okay, get those in there Get some orange why not? Remember when you're peeling fruit move the fruit not your hand You don't want to peel your thumb off Another line Okay, that's looking nice and colorful. I might do some lemon too. Why not just make it a trifecta This will really help brighten up the cake in the long run All right, you got all that nice dark dried pitted fruit and Then add it in here with the citrus zest In oils that's just gonna make a nice well-rounded flavor. All right So you're gonna let that sit For as long as you can Three four months is great three or four days is okay, too It's toward a nice cool dark place in the pantry in the liquor cabinets or wherever You can stir it up if you'd like just it's good to have enough booze in there to cover up the fruit I probably add a little extra fruit, but I just like a little variety so You can stir it up when you're building the fruit. It's it's important to have enough booze in there It's have a nice liquefied blend Harry Potter had that wand around here somewhere earlier Here we go Here we go might need to keep that for later So after three or four months You're gonna want to blend that up You get a nice Fruit paste it's good to have some chunks in there. Oh, it smells so good. That's gonna make some delicious fruit cake All right, time to fold that into some batter All right, we're gonna start with blending a one pound of dark brown sugar in one pound of butter Whip that up in a stand mixer or hand by hand Until you get a nice fluffy whip Then we're gonna add 10 eggs Individually one at a time Keep it going. All right to the butter and brown sugar. Let's go Okay, then we're gonna add some vanilla some almonds and some Angostura bitters These are just gonna help pop the vanilla nutty and a spicy flavors of the cakes two cups of flour Then slowly fold in your fruit mixture a burnt caramel coloring agent we just burnt sugar granulated sugar down Added some hot water. This will help darken up the cakes This is like caramel coloring very common practice in making booze We do not do it, but many companies do it to add color back to the product I have one more secret ingredient chocolate chips this the recipe doesn't call for this But the first time I made it I thought that some bittersweet chocolate would really round out the flavor You know in the spirits of things. Let's just have the whole bag Why not? We're gonna fold it in there and then for our little cakes into little cake pans Got a nice sheet of bunk cakes We're gonna set the oven to 50 and bake for two hours put that thing in the oven man That thing's been going for hours now so those black rum cakes need to bake for one hour at 250 and then three hours at 225 it is a Commitment ladies and gentlemen, but it is well worth it You want to bake those real low and slow because you have a lot of fruit in there And there's a lot of caramel reactions going on if you go too hot You'll dry it and burn it and that is no good rum is not gonna save it. So take your time and you will be well paid Well rewarded Let's get those cakes out of the oven Voila, okay, once you get them out of the oven definitely put them on a nice cooling rack Let's just start cooling down But as they're still hot and cooling down you want to start soaking them in rum start bathing them making them happy For everybody. So I chose an El Dorado 15 year old. It's a Demerara rum made in Guyana and the thing with Demerara rum from Guyana is that it is very sweet.  I mean you're really just painting booze on So I don't feel like you could ever have too much Well, maybe you could if you're just biting into a little rum cake. Oh, yeah, it's just smelling so nice over here Like I'm right near the beach, buddy Oh Wait, okay, I'm from the North Pole Now you're gonna want to let that soak in for five or ten minutes and come back and hit it the next time I love this thing. I think I need more coffee Congratulations on the world's best coffee It is it is you did it you did it especially with that maple syrup, okay Let's do one more soak and we are out of here. Mmm. Yes They're looking nice and juicy now Oh, you know these do not have to be perfect. They're all gonna taste Amazing you don't have to soak them in booze after cooking them for four hours. There are is no more rum Or booze left over. It's just flavor So if you want to leave some naked serve them to the kids, they will be totally fine And then you can leave these special I might drizzle some icing on there The hey, these are for the kids icing kids love icing But then you'll drizzle some nice booze on there for the adults keep them separate and everyone will be happy And with that, I'm a cotton-headed nitty-muggin. See you next week sweets and treats and cakes I Just see in big hearty breakfast. It's my favorite meal of the day. Why not have it at night? Spaghetti that's what my mom told me how to make I love some sprinkles.  They're so cute M&M's Normally I stick to the four main food groups candy candy canes candy Kern and syrup But sometimes I like to mix it up a little bit Pop tarts chocolate syrup and of course Maple syrup God must forgot though. If you don't finish it you should take it for lunch spaghetti


Okay, so let's try to calculate the number of moles in 15 grams of sodium salt. So the first thing you need to do is figure out the molecular weight of sodium salt. So in order to do that, we just did 0.0 grams this way, right? Because we want to cancel the grams out and get moles, right? So the grams are going to cancel there. And all we do now is take 15 and divide it by 141. 0.106. So that's what's the correct number of 6. You guys got that one.


I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I have a confession. Guys, I'm really sorry for setting Tyler Oakley on fire. My camera's just not straight at all. Neither is Robbie. Yeah!  It is actual war. A regroup and do a property for hybrids. Yeah. Come back stronger than ever. Yeah.  Robbie can't stick it in properly. Couldn't find the whole thing. Robbie can't stick it in properly. Ayo! What's going on? Fuck!  Without first real quick. My invitation must have gotten loaded.


Hi, this is Maryleigh Johnson with the 21 Convention. We're here with Damien Dica. He's our first speaker of the 2014 Convention. You talk about numbers in your dating and your approaches and how important it is for statistics. So once somebody is going to introduce a variable into, say, trying to approach a girl, how do they know that that's working? So what everyone needs is they need to have a conversion statistic. So that statistic might be something like number of girls I approach who let me keep talking to them for more than 10 seconds, for example. So if you're changing something, and before you made the change, maybe five girls out of 10 would let you keep talking. And you make the change in seven girls out of 10 that you keep talking, then that's a statistic that you want to know. That's a variable, sorry, that you want to stay with. So then it's important to write that down. Otherwise, how would you tell? Right? Yes, absolutely. You want to keep a track of what goes on. Because as you can imagine, it's not always five out of 10. You go out regularly. It'll be five one night, and then another night you're feeling really good, seven, another night you're tired, too. When should they calculate that? So if I have a variable that I've put into my routine, say, with an approach, and it doesn't work after one night, well, you probably shouldn't dump it after one night. Should they do the calculation after maybe a week or three weeks or four weeks? When's the best time to look at this variable and say, do I keep it, or do I get rid of it? I usually say try it 20 to 30 times, so 20 to 30 times, whatever variable it is, and you'll get it should have a good idea. If it's still vague then, it's probably better things you could try. OK. So this is a big one that I like to ask a lot of people, just because it's really important.  I really want it to go right. Please let this one go right. How do they accomplish that? How do they go forward with that by maybe not getting in their own way? That's a really tough one. But well, it's a tough one because for all of us, right, when we see a girl we like, our brains go, ha, ha, but we freak out, right? And everything shuts down. So really what you need to do is you need, if you've got experience behind you, is the best solution.  But one of the things that they work really, really well is if you're used to talking to girls, if you're used to approaching, if you're used to. By used to, I mean if you've been out three or four times before in the last month talking to girls, then approaching another girl is not going to be nearly as scary as if you never do it. And I know that's not the advice that guys listening want to hear. They want to hear a solution like, bam, I'll never be scared of women again. It doesn't work. I haven't seen anyone, I haven't met anyone that doesn't sometimes get scared and intimidated. And myself included, women can be intimidating, you know? And that's okay, you know, we're okay with that. But you know, someone like myself who's used to talking to girls, the reason why I don't flip out and get in my own ways, because I'm used to dealing with those feelings, I'm used to dealing with those emotions, that fear, you still got adrenaline, but it changes. It's like you're about to get on a roller coaster and it's exciting. As opposed to you're about to go to the dentist and get a tooth pulled, they're both fear, but they're very different feelings. And what they do to you is different. So if I come up and do a talk, I can have adrenaline, but that adrenaline makes me more creative and more expressive. As opposed to if I'm scared of it, that adrenaline makes me forget what I'm gonna say and fumble over my words. It's the same thing talking to a girl. So this is Damien Dica. What's the name of your speech that you're gonna be presenting at the 21 Convention?  Fantastic, it's great seeing you. Cheers, good to see you too. Bye. Bye guys. See ya.


Week 7 kicks off with the Denver Broncos visiting the Cleveland Browns. Baker Mayfield, Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt, potentially Odo Beckham Jr. So many injuries and that's only on offense. The Broncos want to take advantage of that and snap a three game losing streak. We asked everyone on Instagram who do they think was gonna win this game? 57% are favoring the Browns while 43% are favoring the Broncos. We're gonna take the Broncos just because the injuries to the Cleveland Browns to win by three. Speaking of losing streaks, the Carolina Panthers take on the New York Giants. Just like Denver, the Panthers started 3-0 and have lost three straight scents. The Giants, much like Cleveland, are dealing with an ample amount of injuries on offense. Taking it to the polls, 82% believe that the Panthers are gonna win this game while 18% are favoring the New York Giants. We're gonna side with the viewers and go with the Panthers to win by five. AFC East matchup between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots. The Patriots manhandled the Giants 25-6 in week two, but since then have only won one more game. The Giants are hoping that the bi-week was necessary in turning their season around. Taking it to the polls, you guys believe that they're not gonna turn their season around at least not this week while 7% are favoring the Giants, 93% are favoring the Patriots. We have the Patriots winning by 13. Arguably the game of the week, the Kansas City Chiefs versus the Tennessee Titans. The Titans are coming off a massive upset against the Buffalo Bills while the Chiefs still aren't looking like their usual selves even in a win against Washington. Looking at the polls on Instagram, you guys believe that the Chiefs still aren't their usual selves. 49% are favoring the Chiefs, 51% are favoring the Titans. Could go either way, but we're taking the Chiefs to win by two. The Washington Football Team versus the Green Bay Packers. Washington has dropped two games straight and are three games behind in the NFC East. The Packers have looked like one of the best teams in the NFL after their week one anomaly. You guys believe that the Packers are going to continue to roll on, 89% are favoring the Packers while 11% is favoring Washington. We're taking the Packers to win by 14. Fresh off a bye week, the Atlanta Falcons travel to Miami to face the Dolphins. This could be the last audition for Tua Tugaviloa as the starter as the Shawn Watson rumors began to circulate. Meanwhile, the Falcons offense has picked things up recently with rookie tie then Kyle Pitts. That momentum for the Falcons will continue according to you guys on Instagram, 70% are favoring the Falcons while only 30% are favoring the 30th ranked team on our power rankings, the Miami Dolphins. We have the Falcons to win by seven. The Red Hot Cincinnati Bengals versus the Red Hot Baltimore Ravens. Both teams are competing for the division lead. Joe Burrow has thrown multiple touchdowns in every game this year. Baltimore has not looked back since their week one overtime loss. You continue to think that they're not going to look back 81% are favoring the Ravens while 19% are favoring the Bengals. We're taking the Ravens to win by seven. What's better than one revenge game? How about two in the same game? The Detroit Lions versus the Los Angeles Rams. Both quarterbacks come to this game with a chip on their shoulders. Don't be surprised if this one is closer than you may think. But on Instagram, you say this is not going to be pretty close. The Rams are favoring to win 94% while 6% are favoring the Lions. Kind of lopsided according to our power rankings, but we think it's going to be kind of close. The Rams, they win by 10. The Philadelphia Eagles versus the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders looked great under Rich Basacia and advancing to 4 and 2. For the Eagles, the questionable play calling continues to hurt them. Could this be one of the last games that Jalen Hurts starts if they don't win? Looking at the polls, we're heavily favoring the Raiders to win 78% while the Eagles are favored by 22% of you. We're actually going to take the Eagles in an upset to win by 4. We continue the string of revenge games as J.J. Watts, Arizona Cardinals host the Houston Texans. Is this the last game for Davis Mills? Deshaun Watson could be traded as soon as this week, but does that deal include Tua Tugaviloa being shopped to Houston? The Cardinals have a high probability of advancing to 7-0. And on Instagram, we believe that's going to happen. 94% are favoring the best team in our power rankings, while 6% are favoring the worst team in our power rankings. We have the Cardinals winning by 27%. The Chicago Bears versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Justin Fields showed a little bit of improvement last week and should continuously improve against the depleted Buccaneers secondary. Tom Brady leads the league in passing yards in the second and passing touchdowns. Taking it to Instagram, 90% favor the Buccaneers to win while 10% are taking the Bears. We're taking the Bucks to win by 16. Sunday Night Football, the Indianapolis Colts versus the San Francisco 49ers. The Colts seem to have found the center of their offense in Jonathan Taylor the last few weeks. For the 49ers, it's been Debo Samuel, who even after a bye week is 5th in the NFL in receiving yards. Looking at the polls, another tight contestant matchup, 51% favor the Colts, while 49% are taking the 49ers. We're going to take the Colts to win in a close matchup by 1. And finally, Monday Night Football between the New Orleans Saints and the Seattle Seahawks. Geno Smith continues to keep the Seahawks in games until the very end. Bacassi mistakes have prevented them from winning. The Saints haven't been putting up too many yards this year, but the Seahawks are given up 433 yards per game. Looking at the polls, 63% are favoring the Saints, while 37% like the Seahawks. We take the Saints on the road to win by 12.


of the nonprofit show. I'm super excited today because Freyay, Best of Me, asked and answered, Tony, you and I have not been on camera together for kind of a while. I know, I have missed seeing you. I love being on the show with the nonprofit nerd, but I equally love being on the show with you. So it's wonderful to see you and whether it's you or Jared, I always know it's going to be one, a really good time and two, a great conversation. So it's really good to see you. And as always, I'm honored to be here and contribute in whatever way I can. Well, Tony, about Senior Director Relationship Center, Fundraising Academy at National University, I love your energy, I love your approach and it's a really cool thing.  But I must say, I think maybe there's also a little nuanced response to how you look at things because you're from the East Coast. And I don't know if you ever think when we're responding, if you think maybe we have a West Coast approach, do you see that at all? I don't really see that. I think I don't see people or decisions as regionalized or... Oh, no, but I mean, I certainly appreciate and respect those specific nuances, like you were saying, within regions and how they can be very unique. I don't really think that way. I think when I'm responding, it's not even necessarily an East Coast, maybe it is. I mean, you know, but in my mind, I'm really thinking about the fundraisers and the folks in this sector that I've met all across the country and globally and really kind of think, try to respond in a way that would be the most beneficial to the larger audience. But what you said is very interesting. I mean, maybe, you know, and it's funny. So I was born and raised, not that this is your life, Tony, right, but I was born and raised in Maryland and then from Maryland, moved into D.C. and then from D.C. to Memphis and then Memphis to Chicago and then Chicago to Fort Lauderdale. So I've had the opportunity to work with and now working for National University in San Diego. So I've had an opportunity to work with folks in all of the regions of the U.S. and there are some nuances, but I appreciate you saying that, it's interesting. Well, it is interesting. And every day we talk with somebody from a different part of the world, literally. I mean, I guess from Ireland a couple of weeks ago, I mean, we've been getting more and more Canadians to come in and talk with us. So it's just kind of an interesting thing. And I just thought I would ask before we get going because I am fascinated by it. Before we start getting into today's meaty questions, we wanna make sure that we thank our sponsors. They are here with us day in and day out and many of them have been with us from day one. That includes Blumerang, American Nonprofit Academy, your part-time controller, non-profit nerd, National University and Fundraising Academy, Staffing Boutique, and non-profit thought leader. Again, we say thank you to these folks. If you wanna get to any of our archives, we guess we have done over 600 shows. I was a lot smoother and thinner 600 episodes ago. You can find us on Roku, YouTube, Amazon Fire TV, and Vimeo. But wait, there's more. We now are podcasting all of these episodes. And I think our executive producer just told us yesterday, if I'm not mistaken, we now have over 150 episodes in podcast format. So you can clean your house to the last minute of the day, listening to us as I like to say. Okay, my friend, are you ready to go? Let's dive in. Let's dive in. Oh my God, that's gonna be my new thing. Okay, Carla from Phoenix, Arizona. What type of success do you think is possible by moving a talented staff person from programming to development? Does this ever work? We get this question, I bet once a quarter. Somebody recognizes somebody that's got a great talent and passion, and they're like, oh, holy moly, let's get them into two development. What do you think? Yeah, so I have seen this work very successfully. But again, it all depends on the individual. So first you have to be very mindful of the skill sets required for someone to really succeed, well, both in the programming, right? Or in the development space. So if you're looking at transitioning someone to development, have a really, well, one, and I say this because not all nonprofits have the resources and can lean into some of the just business 101 best practices, but you wanna make sure that you have, and I didn't mean that in any kind of sending way. No, no, but you're right, you're right. Some folks just don't have the resources in order to do all of that. So my first recommendation is make sure you have a job description for the development role. So that if you're transitioning someone from another department into development, they have a clear understanding of the expectation and the role. And then within that, you should be able to have a healthy conversation around that individual skill sets and how closely they may or may not align with the skill sets required for a development position. But that being said, I will take a team member that is high, will, low skill every day of the week. I love high, low skill. So if you have someone in the programming department that is close, but maybe not all the way there and has the desire to work in this space, then I would say move them in, but make sure you've got a really solid professional development plan for them to skill them up in the areas where they might need to improve. Another value in that when someone has the opportunity to move from programming to development, imagine the insight that they have on the folks being served, on the outcomes of the programs. Think of the stories that they have to share with a potential donor about their experience and program delivery, how they can share with the donor, just the important, like, if the word for individuals like you, potential donor investor, folks like me in our organization could have never had this kind of impact on our community.  So I think that they have a lot to bring to development. You do not need to move folks from program to development for there to be that kind of value add, right? I've always thought program and development should be needing regularly to share what's going on within their business units so that development has those testimonials and those stories from the program team members. So I probably could talk a lot about this. I don't think it's a bad idea. I've seen it being very successful. But again, it's all about the individual and where they are and where they are with their skill sets and what are your opportunities to increase their professional learning or professional development to skill them up. So Tony, what about like a, in essence, like a hybrid where this person that Carla has identified that says, yeah, they've got, I love what you said, high will, low skill. Would it ever be something where they're like, yeah, we want to bring you program officer or program person in for a conversation. Not like you're putting them in as a fundraising member team but you may be a fundraising asset. Oh, for sure. Am I communicating that? Yes, I know exactly what you're saying. So, and we've talked about this when we've had conversations around board members and what is the board, how can the board contribute to the fundraising process? We often talk about how they, the time has to be right. You have to make sure it's the right fit with your potential, right? So again, all of those things, but there's a lot of value in bringing someone within your programs to a meeting with a potential donor investor because then you could just hand it over to them and they can speak very deeply about the programs. Yeah, I love that. And it kind of is also could be a good slide, like a way to move somebody in to see if that even works. Well, that's true. That's a very good point. No, versus like just pulling them out and then putting them in. Okay, Carla, I hope that helps. Carla comes from my hometown, so. I saw that. I know, I know. It was a great question. And we know what's going on with the workforce and we know there's a shortage of fundraisers and so this is a great way again of looking at internal talent and how can we maximize them or realign their talent. Right, right. Okay, Florence from Baltimore, Maryland comes to us with a question. Are you seeing issues with getting board members to come back to IRL in real life meetings? It seems that our board members just want to zoom in and that they are not very engaged with showing up this way. Big question. A lot of organizations are struggling with this right now. And this truly, I think is a really good example of where I think depending on where you are regionally, you will get a different response because if you look at just in general the reaction or response to, because this is a pandemic related question, right?  So when we look across the country, different regions responded to the pandemic differently. And so I think the same thing here, if you were to look at, for example, Texas, most folks in Texas right now, and this is true of what we're experiencing at National University and within our programs, when we're looking at partnering with school districts around the country, school districts in Texas right now, the majority are saying, yes, we would love to do something, but if it's not in person, don't even talk to us about it. Interesting. Where there are other regions, perhaps the Northeast, where they'll say, are we going to have to do this in person or can, and again, it's just, it's comfort level. So I think depending on your region, we'll have a lot to do with what is really the appropriate answer here. But the second part of this is they are not very engaged. So give them responsibilities that require them to report out on something. So that everyone on the board has a responsibility to say something and has provided an opportunity to be heard based on the way that you're running your meetings. We start all of our meetings usually with some type of buddy up question. So one of our other programs at National University that falls under the umbrella with the fundraising academy is our social-emotional learning, harmony, our social-emotional learning curriculum. And so for that, we have buddy up questions. So we start our meetings with buddy up questions, something really simple, like if you were going to be a flavor of an ice cream, what flavor would you be? So, you know, so just through these quick connection kind of questions, right? So there are ways that you can facilitate your meeting that really maximizes the level of engagement, even if the engagement isn't specific to a business topic. I am fascinated by that because, you know, for so long in the board ecosystem, we've really believed that in order to bring everybody together and center them, that we needed to start with a mission moment. That too, I love that, I love that too. I think that's a great idea. Well, that's true, but the higher need right now because of digital communication, I think is what you're talking about. I really like that. I have a meeting to deal with in two weeks. I'm going to, a national convening of a board. I'm going to try that. Yeah, and follow up with me. I have some great questions I can send you. So, yeah, but you're right. I'm glad that you did say that because the mission moment is important, but right now the connectivity needs to happen at a different level. And it really is around the personal relationships and how we interact with one another. We also will often start meetings with kind of a rating system, from one to five, five being the highest, one being the lowest, where are you today? Yeah, and folks can share that. And then what you do is if you do that consistently, then you look for consistent patterns. So if you have board members that are consistently showing up below a three, then there may be some conversations that needs to be had in the most supportive way. If you're always showing up every meeting at a 2.5 or a two, what can we do to elevate that? There is something happening that is causing that person to show up and report out that way. So how can we all support them and help bring them from a 2.5 to a three or a four? Okay, now I'm gonna sound really tough when I say this but I'm like, come on, we don't have time for that because we got an agenda and we gotta get through this. And we know people falter after like 40 minutes to that final 15 minutes to achieve your meeting. What do you do? Do you just say, ah, that's a bummer, we'll get back to you? Or do you stop and address it? I mean, how does that work? No, no, you don't really stop and address it. I mean, what we've been doing as a best practice is just observing that and then reaching out individually to the individual. We don't try and solve it or come to consensus on whatever is creating that rating. It would be great if we could. But yeah, we don't go that deep but it's a good just kind of high level, easy gauge on where people are. And then you just kind of look for patterns in that as your meeting. I'm fascinated by that. I kind of like the ice cream flavor better. But you know, I think this is a worthy discussion because this is the reality. You know, we are hearing this more and more, Tony. Board members saying, yeah, I don't really need to be meeting in person because it's a lot more efficient. I can get more things done. I'm not spending an hour traveling. I'm not searching for parking. I'm not having to get on my professional shoes, whatever the heck. Whatever it is. But so I think this is an interesting question, Florence. I hope you take up some of Tony's ideas and then get back to us on how this is working because it's not going away. Yeah, and one of the things I would mention to Florence and I always mention this whenever someone has a question about boards or board engagement is go to the board source website, board source that really is, you know, it's where I always go. I've mentioned them numbers, you know, number of times. I have no relationship with them. I have no contract. I'm not connected to them other than their terrific resource. And I personally, and many boards I've worked with have benefited from the information at board source. I think that's really, I think that's super wise and I agree. And I mean, we are in a changing time still the way boards are working now has been forever altered. And so we need this type of information and support now more than ever. Okay, Jerry comes to us from Durango, Colorado. Could you address the new trend in outsourcing talent? We're seeing issues with hiring and are frankly considering looking at this but have never done it before. Need some feedback on this. Very interesting because yeah, it used to be like, here's your cubicle, you sit right there and I wanna see you at the water fountain or in the lunch room. That's not happening. Very interesting. I would say too, Tony, I know that we, and again, this is probably due to one of our sponsors but you know, your part-time controller which is a national accounting firm. Yes. I mean accounting. Hello, that's to be, you were in the office and now they're really all remote. So it's a shift. Yeah, so when I saw that outsourcing, I immediately thought of the fact that yes, many nonprofits are outsourcing and contracting talent outside of the organization, right? And it's working. And like you said, one of the sponsors is a great example of that, how you can outsource that particular need for the organization. So one, I supported to really be mindful about what it is that you're looking to outsource. And then when I say what it is, what is the, what are the roles and responsibilities that you're looking to outsource? I will say that, and I've said this before, I'm not a huge fan or supporter of outsourcing your fundraising. Okay, that was gonna be my follow-up question. I knew you were gonna go there. I was like, okay, lay it on the table. Just because of the relationships, right? And the relationship, it's a relationship business. And as an organization, you want to own those relationships and own them, meaning be responsible for them, nurture them, all of that. And so if you're contracted with someone, and they leave, if you haven't been fully engaged in that in some way, those relationships kind of leave too. So it's a little easier to maintain, respond to the relationships if an internal team member is moving on, right, if an internal fundraiser is moving on, than if a contracted fundraiser is moving on, in my opinion. Okay, what about this? What if, because this is, and I haven't worked with anybody like this, but I've been seeing this, what about like a fundraising coach whereby they are maybe not in your city, but they can engage with your team almost like a development director or that level, what are you seeing on that? Yes, well, a lot of smaller mid-sized nonprofit organizations aren't in the position to have senior leadership that kind of oversee strategy and all of that. So that's where outsourcing consultants to come in and help as thought leaders and as strategists can come in and help you develop the fundraising plan, coach your fundraising team on how to be successful. So I totally support the notion of having coaches come in and help provide that support for your team. Interesting, another thing too, before we go on to the next question, I'm seeing more and more HR folks that are like that you can contract outside. And again, maybe in a completely different part of the country, but they will do things like onboarding and pulling through when there are issues. I mean, I think that's really, really something that we need to look at because it seems to me we have a lot of nonprofits, smaller nonprofits that are like, oh, if only we can grow to the point to have HR. And it's like, yeah, no, you can invest in that upfront, but it's gonna be a remote relationship. Yeah, and even within fundraising, nonprofits have very successfully outsourced their grant writing, right? I mean, that's nothing new, very successfully do that. And I see more and more nonprofits now outsourcing their event management. So if they have an annual gala, they are now outsourcing that to an event company. They still, the nonprofit still owns the responsibility for sponsorship and all of that, but they're outsourcing all of the logistics, so that your fundraiser isn't caught up in a conversation around what color should the lemons be? Right, I love it. I love that you brought that up because this is our reality. We're coming back to more in-person things. And so super cool that you talked about that. Okay, we've got one time for one more question and you know how I am. I love the name with health. These are always a scandal. I just think this is great. I always, and I'll man up. Sometimes I will actually take a name off if I feel like it's problematic. Well, that's good looking out for people. I'm sure they appreciate it. You know, I think sometimes when people just email questions to us and they're sitting in their pajamas two in the morning stressing out, I think we need to kind of honor the concept that a lot of people are gonna see this. Anyway, name with health asks the question and they're coming from Dallas. We are looking at our paid holidays off next year. Some in our nonprofit are scoffing that Juneteenth should even be included in the day's paid. I'm horrified and frankly dismayed that our nonprofit does not recognize this important holiday. And I am not even a person of color. Isn't that an interesting question? So my new Zoom background prevents you from seeing the steam that is building out of my ears. Over this particular question. So Juneteenth is a federal holiday. Yes, it's a federal holiday. So let me just start there. So if within, you know, if your organization is celebrating every other federal holiday, then you should indeed be honoring and recognizing and celebrating Juneteenth.  It is an equally important federal holiday to observe. Yeah, I think it's a, you know, we call it federal holiday, banker holiday. I mean, yeah, absolutely. It is a recognized thing. And so there shouldn't really be a discussion. Now, if I am not mistaken, and I always, you know, put my foot in it, I think that Juneteenth actually celebrates something that occurred in Texas. And so maybe that's why this, there's a little bit more reticence within, you know, the framework of this, but absolutely, it is a federal holiday. And to your point, if you are honoring all the other federal holidays and you can go on very, online very easily and look that up and have those all laid out for you, then that should be a no-brainer. Yeah. And this is, there's, you know, if you lift the hood up on that question, there's a lot going on there. So there's some other stuff that needs to, some other conversations that need to happen within that organization. They might want to, you know, think about getting a deep in the eye consultant and then. Yeah. Okay, I'll man up.  I did because, you know, yeah. Well, I, you know, I appreciate their level of ownership, right? And, you know, and wanting to kind of not, you know, maybe not be so invisible, but I'm glad they asked the question. And again, it's, you know, just the simple answer is, if you're observing every other federal holiday, then you absolutely should be observing Juneteenth as well. Absolutely, absolutely. Well, my friend, this has been great. I always love your wisdom. Tony Bell, Senior Director, Relationship Center, Fundraising Academy at National University, coming to us from the East Coast, which is very nice. You like class up our, you know, our program here. I don't know about that, but it's, but it is. It's only, and I can't believe that I would buy so fast. Again, it always goes by so fast. It does. And I got to tell you, you know, it does for me and I know Jared would say the same thing. I mean, it does go by really quickly. I'm going to let everybody know we have a really, really exciting thing that's going to happen starting next week with Fundraising Academy. And that is we're doing one of our nonprofit power weeks. And this is going to be really interesting because every single day, we have an expert on with us from Fundraising Academy. And we're going to flip the tables a little bit and talk about fundraising, working with donors, achieving relationships with questions. And we're going to actually go through every day through a series of questions that you can ask your donor or use in conversations with donors. It's really unique, really different, something we've never done before. I've been working with Tony, your team on the decks. It's very, very interesting. And so join us for that. And of course, if you miss us, all those episodes will be on our archive, but it's going to really be magical and it's going to really give us a new way to think about this. Again, we want to thank all of our presenting sponsors without them, we would not be here. Blue Morang American Nonprofit Academy, your part-time controller, non-profit nerd, National University's Fundraising Academy, Staffing Boutique, and non-profit thought leader. Hey, Tony, as we end every episode, we want to remind ourselves, our viewers, our listeners, and you, my friend, stay well so you can do well. We'll see you back here on Monday, everyone.