Ladies and gentlemen, appreciate you tuning in today. This week's Condo Insider on Think Tank Hawaii. Appreciate your time that you are dedicating to this session today. Considering that we are going to be entering, or we are entering rather, the budget season for the association world, the condominiums out there, the homeowner associations out there, you guys are now getting into the initial stages of your budgeting and reserve process. It is a busy time and it's an important process for your association to make sure that your association remains fiscally sound. That being said, today's show, we are going to focus on the ABCs of reserve studies in your preparation time for your budget season. That being said, I have prepared a PowerPoint for you for our episode today, just with some basics for your reserve studies that we're going to chime in today. So on your first side, basically what is a reserve study? Well, a reserve study is a financial forecast or a financial projection on what your association will need to collect over a period of time to fund all of your capital components or capital expenditures. And when I say capital components or capital expenditures, I am meaning your large ticket items. For example, like your rooftop replacement or painting and spalling, your elevator modernizations, your asphalt seal coding or asphalt reconstruction. So it is basically components that have a long useful life. A reserve study is meant for components that are not considered regular operational expenditures. They're items that have a useful life and once that useful life is reached, you will have to replace that component right around that timeframe. That being said, a reserve study is a planning tool. It is supposed to be done on an annual basis when you're preparing your operating budget for your reserve study. There are three different levels to a reserve study. A level one is essentially the most thorough reserve study where the reserve specialist or whoever's performing your reserve study is performing a sidewalk of your property. In addition, they are quantifying the different components of your association. When I say quantify, I mean they're looking at the number of light fixtures. They're looking at the square footage of your asphalt or your coding system for your parking structure. They're looking at your different square footage of your rooftops, linear feet of your railing. So essentially there's a quantification or they're giving a quantification to those different components in your reserve study. And that is essential in the level one. That kind of holds that's what makes the level one reserve study different than the others. A level two reserve study essentially is an update with a site visit but you're not quantifying the different components that you see on that site visit. You're using the information that was already prepared during the level one reserve study. And then there's a level three reserve study which is essentially done on an annual basis and most associations are performing a level three reserve study. It is a simple update. You are looking at your beginning balances. You are looking at your reserve contribution. You're looking at your interest income, your inflation rate. So it's just updating numbers. So it was completed what was not completed. And again, a reserve study needs to be updated on an annual basis because things change. Pricing changes, building codes change, cost of labor changes and cost of material changes. So there's a main change that occur over the life of a reserve study and that's why it's required to update on an annual basis. Moving on to the next slide. When we're doing a reserve study we're essentially looking at or we're answering three questions at the bottom of that sign. You can see it. What belongs to the association? What is the estimated use of life of that component that is in your reserve study? And what is the estimated replacement cost for that component? That being said, those are essentially the three questions that we're answering in a reserve study. That being said, when a level one reserve study is being performed there are a number of things that you will do. You will do a site visit where the reserve specialist will go and visit your property basically from rooftop down to the lowest level possible of your structure or go through the different building, excuse me, the different clauses, mechanical rooms, electrical rooms, basically identifying all the different common elements that belong to the association that should be included in a reserve study. And when you're doing that site visit essentially you're building a component inventory list for your components of your association. In addition, you look at governing documents. We'll get into governing documents a little bit later in our presentation. So I'm not gonna touch on that too much but a reserve study you are creating a component list that should include all of the different aspects of your association. Oftentimes I see when I go and do a reserve study the previous reserve study were missing many components. It's not uncommon for me to double or triple the amount of components that your previous reserve study had just because there are multiple components that are just not generally thought of when you're doing a simple level three reserve study without a site visit. So I would recommend and see why you recommends that you do a level one reserve study every four to five years you do a level two every three, two to three years and a level three on an annual basis until you or until you do a different level reserve study. Keeping in mind a reserve study is not a crystal ball. It's, we're using estimations, we're using variables that we're making assumptions such as inflation rate, inflation changes goes up and down, interest in changes it goes up and down. So there are some variables that we're utilizing that are making assumptions for your project cost in the future. So it's not a crystal ball. A reserve study is not a forensic inspection or a destructive investigation of different components in your building. It is a financial planning tool. The site visit basically is observation only. There's no destructive testing whatsoever. It's basically quantifying and giving those components a replacement cost and an estimated useful cost. So please keep that in mind that it is an estimate. It is not a crystal ball. There are other factors that may come into play when those projects come due. And that's where you're gonna wanna make sure that you're decently funded in case you do have unanticipated expenditure when you go into these projects. Moving on to the next slide. Why is it important to perform a reserve study? Well, number one is required by law. I-14B-148 I believe is what it is requires a reserve study to be done. Also Hawaii administrative rules subsection or sub chapter 16-107, which interestingly enough was actually drafted prior to allowing the cash flow method. So in the state of Hawaii, there are two methods that are permissible cash flow and percent funded. And we'll get into that here in a little bit, but that statute and the section in Hawaii administrative rules basically give some guidance on how to formulate your reserve study for your associations.  They can have impacts on conventional loans and interest rates, but more specifically, they can have an impact on FHA lending. Many associations out there with the cost of homes need FHA lending in order to qualify for some of these homeowners. If you're not putting away a minimum of 10% of your revenues to a reserve account for funding future reserve projects, you're technically not meeting the FHA requirement and your association may not be eligible for FHA lending. So it's very important that you keep it a close eye on what your reserve contribution is and if it's meeting that 10% minimum requirement required by FHA. Moving on and also adding to the sales aspect of it and why is a reserve study important is because potential buyers are looking at it. They're asking questions about the reserve study. They're becoming very knowledgeable about reserve studies because you hear on a regular basis about these different associations that had an unanticipated special assessment or a huge increase in maintenance fees because of a project that they weren't planning for number one or they're underfunding for or they did not have a realistic estimation for the replacement of that component. So potential buyers, they're becoming more educated. They're becoming more and more educated about the larger projects like your waste stacks, replacement or your fire alarm systems or your elevator modernizations. Those are becoming more prevalent questions for potential buyers because people are hearing about the special assessments and the loans that are involved with these large projects. An unrealistic reserve study on the next slide, obviously there are definitely adverse effects to not perform a level, excuse me, a reserve study number one, you are just likely not funding at levels that you should. Therefore, you're not gonna have funds available to you to maintain your curb appeal. You're gonna have incomplete capital projects where you may just paint a portion of your building at a time because that's all you can afford or you might perform spawning without painting it afterwards and your association might present itself in a poor fashion to potential buyers. You can see the deferred maintenance in the different associations when you visit them, whether or not they're well funded or not, just based on the overall approach experience or the ambient that it produces when you're going through these different buildings. There are unforeseen and unplanned expenditures that do happen. There are many components in these high rises that are hidden behind walls. You can't really properly tell what the useful life is or remaining useful life is for some of these components unless you do some destructive inspections. So you may want to consider funding some funds putting some funds in your reserve study or professional consultants to further investigate some of these components that are hidden within walls like waste stacks or lagging or pipe insulation or all chilled water lines. These are some items that are very costly but oftentimes overlooked in a reserve study. What are other adverse effects from a poorly funded reserve? Obviously a weak or low reserve balance is that produce a high risk of loans or special assessments.  That is why it's important to make sure you're funding your reserve study and you're looking at an annual basis so you can gradually increase your reserve contribution maybe over a longer period of time where it's a little bit more palatable for people rather than in a short burst maybe over one or two years. But again, you know your association much better than myself or a reserve specialist producing or creating your reserve study. So make sure you're involved in the funding, the funding plans. Again, moving on to the next slide. Statute, there's two different funding options in the state of Hawaii. One is percent funding and one is cash flow. We'll go on to the next slide. We can jump into a little bit of the cap, excuse me, the percent funding method that is permissible with Hawaii statute. So the percent funding method basically is a component funding method where you are saving a specific dollar amount for each individual component in your reserve study. So all those funds are segregated for that specific component. That being said in the state of Hawaii utilizing the percent funded method or threshold funding method, you have to maintain a minimum fund of 50% funding of your current cost basically depreciate over a different amount of time. So that being said, you're only required to maintain a minimum of 50% funding. Again, that's just a minimum requirement. I oftentimes see boards, they make the goal to achieve the 50% funding level and then exceed that and get up to a fully funded level. And that's really up to a board. That's really up to a possible resolution or policy that the board implements for your different associations regarding your funding levels and your reserve study. That being said, moving on to the next slide, essentially you got a few different components here. Let's just take your painting and your roofing, for example, you need to collect $30,000 for your paint, $70,000 for your roofing over the next 10 years. It's about a hundred grand total. That being said, your roofing is due, excuse me, your paint is due in the very near future. Let's just say three years from now in 2024. So you really have to collect $10,000 per year to make sure you have that $30,000 available to you. However, using the percent-funded method, you only need to collect 50% of the $30,000 for the roofing and 50% of the $70,000 for the painting. So that being said, when those components come due, you're actually gonna be short funds utilizing the component-funded method or the percent-funded method because again, you're pulling those funds.  And then at that time, you either have to take from other funds and repay those funds over a period of time or you're either gonna have to special assess the homes or get a loan out. However, just keep in mind if you do take funds from other kitties or other components, you need to pay that money back to fund those components properly. That being said, we're gonna take a short commercial break here and we will return and continue our discussion regarding ABCs of Reserve Studies. Talk to you soon. And welcome back to Condo Insider and hosted by Think Tank Hawaii. Today we are discussing the ABCs of Reserve Studies. Again, this is we're in the initial stages of budget season for associations. We've touched on the basics of Reserve Studies at different levels of Reserve Studies and we've now started discussing the two allowed funding methods in the state of Hawaii. We have briefly discussed percent-funded method and now we are gonna move on to the cash flow method which is the next slide on your screen now. So we've touched on the percent-funded method. Again, that's a component-funding method where you're putting funds away per component.  You guys in the cash flow method however, you pool those funds together into essentially one kitty or one reserve fund that's broken up to multiple CDs, multiple wanting markets, things like that. But you're pooling those funds and you disperse those funds as when components come due or have reached their useful life. So that being said, utilizing the same chart that we looked at with some funding, you have your painting in 2024 for $30,000 and you have your roofing in 2031 for $70,000. So you have a total of $100,000 that you need to collect over the next 10 years. At year three, you're gonna need $30,000 of that. So essentially you have to collect $10,000 over the next three years. And then from that third year all the way to the 10th, you'll have an additional 70 years to collect the remaining $70,000 that you need for the roofing project. However, keeping in mind utilizing the cash flow method, you need to look at your ending balances in your bank account versus the percent funded level like you do in the percent funding method. However, with cash flow, as long as you maintain positive balances for the next 20 years, you are meeting statute. However, the cash flow method can be a less conservative method if you are not basically funding properly or you're not keeping a healthy level of reserve funds. Oftentimes I see reserve studies that produce ending balances that are around $100,000, $200,000 for depending on the size of your association that is very, probably very minimal. And one unforeseen expenditure is going to basically deplete that $100,000, $200,000 kitty that you have. So having a reasonable funding level or when you create a policy for your association that, excuse me, association, why is making a policy that they will not reduce their reserve fund below $750,000 or $500,000 because that association and that board of directors, they have a risk tolerance that may be a little bit higher than other associations or other board of directors. So be mindful of the funding or the ending balances and make sure you maintain healthy ending balances so you can cover unforeseen expenditures or expenditures that may arise when you're doing these large projects. So don't create a reserve study that basically keeps you right at the bare minimums of what's required for you to comply with statute because there is some risk exposure involved here. So moving on to the next slide, comparing the different results, percent funded method to be 100% funded, we have like 17 grand on an annual basis, 50% funded, you need to collect the $8,500. But again, however, once that component comes due, you really only have 50% of the funds that you need for that specific component because it is a component funding method. So you're saving specific funds for that component you can't take from other components. Utilizing the cash flow method, you need to collect $10,000 at a bare minimum to minimum to collect that $100,000 over that 10 year period. But again, you don't wanna ride the minimum requirements. You want to make sure you have balances that are healthy and that can cover unanticipated expenditures that may arise. Moving on. So essentially if you have a weak or low reserve balance on the next slide, there are a few things that you can do to remedy that. Number one, obviously you can increase a reserve contributions. And again, more times than not when I perform a level one reserve study, I am seen on a regular basis that associations need to increase the reserve contribution in order to meet their financial obligations. There are huge projects that are coming to life, white waste act replacements that cost associations millions of dollars that have not been really planned for until just recently. An association needs to start planning financially for that and that does have a drastic effect on the reserve contribution. Some possible other methods to fund those projects do a special assessment or a loan. However, always keeping in mind that a reserve study is meant to avoid special assessments or loans. So if you know that you have not replaced your waste stacks and you are built in the 80s or the 90s, you know that you should start adding that component to your reserve study. Is it going to have an effect on your maintenance fees? Yes it is. But based on other properties in our area that have a failure between 40, 50, 60 years for these waste stacks. So if you're getting within the last 20 years of that component's life, you need to start funding for that component. Again, moving back to potential buyers, a reserve study is a valuable tool. It shows potential buyer that an association is funded for these large projects that they've given us some thought that they're saving sufficient funds to cover these future expenditures. One question that I get on a regular basis, is there any upcoming special assessments? As you can see the question on the next slide, that is the most common question that I and realtors get from potential buyers is are there any special assessments? You know, are there any unforeseen expenditures that have come to light that we need to start funding for? We need to be aware prior to making this purchase. That being said, moving on to the next section here, the reserve study also helps clarify ownership. Or in other words, what are the limits of the unit or homeowner? What belongs to you? What is your financial responsibility in versus the association's financial responsibility? What are considered common elements that the association covers through maintenance fees and what is the association's financial obligation to make sure that these are maintained? So let's look at that a little bit closer on your next slide. Understanding ownership continued. We really look at your governing documents, specifically your declaration and sometimes your bylaws under the maintenance and repairs section of your bylaws. But in your declaration, generally speaking, it'll clearly define what are considered common elements. It will generally clearly define as well what are limited common elements of the association. And one of the sections that I find most useful in unperforming our reserve study are the limits of apartments or the section to which determines essentially where the boundary line is located, number one or number two. It identifies which components are included as an expense to the homeowner or it's included with the unit and not considered a common element. So some frequent components that have question marks just due to the fact that governing documents are not always clear are windows, unit frames or window frames and windows, doors and door frames, Lenai railings, governing documents are not always clear. However, oftentimes though, when you look at the limits of apartment, it'll specifically say that the unit shall include doors, door frames, windows, window frames. So it clearly defines if those components are included in your excuse me, including in the unit and your personal financial obligation as a homeowner. But again, oftentimes it does not specifically show whether or not those doors and those windows belong to a unit. So a resolution may be required adopted by the board of directors which is permissible under Hawaii administrative rules. A board can basically adopt a resolution to clarify documents that are unclear with regards to who is or who is the owner to specific different components of your association. Why is that important? Because Lenai railings, for example, or window replacement or door replacement, those are very costly components to an association, potentially millions of dollars. So an association needs to have a clearer understanding of on who owns those windows, who owns those doors, who owns those Lenai railings because that will have a drastic effect on how much you need to collect for your reserve contribution when you're performing a reserve study. Moving on to our last slide, again, just to kind of summarize what we went through today, really spend some time on your reserve study.  Keep in mind a reserve study has the project cost you millions of dollars. Add notes to your reserve study for future board members, future property managers to write down who was the vendor that did the work, how much of the work was done, what was the basic scope of work that was performed to add notes to your reserve study. Excuse me. Clearly understand the ownership and financial responsibility of you, the homeowner versus the association. Again, understand that property dividing line. What is your responsibility as a homeowner versus the association? So try to understand what is your financial obligation so you can properly save accordingly if those windows do belong to you or if those doors do belong to you. Board members, when you're performing a reserve study, review multiple funding plans. Look at different possible increase laddering schedules or maybe a one-time increase with a small inflationary increase in future years just to keep up with an inflationary effect. Look at multiple funding plans that you feel could be utilized for your association. Again, one size does not fit all. So one funding plan might be the ideal situation and it may not be for the other association. So we'll look at multiple funding plans. If you're governing documents are not clear about ownership of specific components, draft resolutions to clarify the ownership of those components. Create standard guidelines if you don't own your windows or you don't own your doors. So when people replace those, there's a standard guideline in place to keep the uniformity of a building. Consider contingencies. These large high rises, they have multiple valves that are huge that are large in diameter that costs thousands and thousands of dollars. And there are so many valves that it is hard to quantify. So you may wanna consider contingency funds in your reserve study to cover these larger expenditures. Also you may want to consider an insurance deductible if your association's insurance policy has a deductible of $25,000 or $50,000, you may want to consider putting the insurance deductible in your reserve study for that current fiscal year in case the association has to pay $25,000 or $50,000 for an insurance loss. So that may be a consideration. That being said, statute allows for exempt property if a component does have a useful life longer than 20 years, you can actually exempt then until it reaches the last 20 years of its useful life but you have to disclose. So that's the last recommendation is make sure you have many disclosures in your reserve study. Spend some time on your reserve study guys. Thank you for spending some time with me today to discuss reserve studies and we will see you next week on our thank, excuse me, our condo insider episode next week. Thank you, aloha.


Do you know who you belong to? Do you know how you've been transformed, rescued and delivered from the kingdom of darkness? A new creation.  You are wanted even when you feel unwanted. God has not abandoned you and the Holy Spirit joins with your spirit to affirm this truth. Type Amen if you agree.


Hey everyone, it's Gabrielle over here at Oxmer Toyota for our pre-owned vehicles of the week We're gonna have three vehicles that we are going to talk a little bit about. Let's go ahead and start with this one right here This is a 2019 alexis nx 300f sport now that exterior your color is called ultrasonic blue mica 2.0. So you do have the LED headlights daylight running lights you're going to have alloy wheels You're going to have a backup camera. There's going to be the f-sport on badging throughout the vehicle or around the vehicle That interior is in a black Mileage on here is 10,673 and the price is 46,000 Our second vehicle is a 2017 Chrysler Pacifica Touring L plus The extra your color is called tusk white You're going to have 17 inch alloy wheels You're going to have 13 speakers throughout this vehicle. You're going to have a power lift gate That interior is in a black leather This is a 3.6 liter v6 Mileage on this one is 32,257 and the price is 35,000 Our last vehicle is a 2020 Volvo XC40 momentum All-wheel drive that exterior color is called thunder gray metallic You're going to have 18 inch five spoke silver alloy wheels. There's going to be a roof rack You're going to have eight speakers throughout this vehicle. You have premium audio system That interior is in a cream Mileage on here is 10,720 and the price is 44,000 All right, you all if you have any questions on any one of the three I just went over feel free to let us know all of our contact info is right here. Thanks you all for watching We'll see you soon. Bye


What's up everyone take down here welcome back to my channel recently I shared in another video that I've passed and completed my security I course something that I've been working on for the past couple months in that video I shared everything that went on during this course everything I had to do for it So at the end of the video I was supposed to share my future plans what I am going to be pursuing now that I have the course completes and Unfortunately, I ran out of time. So that's what I'm going to be sharing with you guys today. Let's get right into it So now that I've passed and completed my security guy course. I plan on finding a job local to me There's a couple places hiring right now about 30 minutes away from me in either direction A lot of warehouses right now are looking for security guards and that would be a really good thing for me to get into The only thing is I don't have my own vehicle right now and the reason why that matters is Working as security guard, especially whenever you're getting into the industry You work a lot of doubles you work a lot of nights and you work a lot of weird hours And I need to be able to get to work So there's no point in me putting my resume out right now because no place is going to hire me If I don't have my own way to get to work. So before I can do anything I have to get a vehicle that is my first step for my future plans The next thing is to apply and get hired somewhere. Like I said, there's a lot of places hiring near me So I hope to get into one of them I plan on working there for about six months to finally get a feel for it to see if it's something I actually enjoy to do and if I decide it is something I enjoy doing I plan on applying for Canada's border agency and getting started on that So once I apply for Canada's border agency, it takes up to a year to be selected The reason for that is because it's not just my area where they are selecting people from They're selecting people from all over Canada. So that's why since there's so many people applying for it It may take up to a year to get selected But within the year, I am definitely for sure going to be selected But just because I'm going to be applying for Canada's border agency Doesn't mean I'm going to be quitting my job as a security guard after the six months I am going to continue working there until I am selected by Canada's border agency and starting that So once I get selected for Canada's border agency, my life is honestly going to change in what I think is the best way possible So the first thing that happens once I get selected is I'm going to be able to choose up to three ports near me I'm going to be choosing the two nearest ones to me just because they're going to be the easiest ones for me to get to If for whatever reason the two places I'm going to choose are going to be full They're going to be putting me one nearest to them. So it is going to be a little bit farther away But it's not going to be really killer It's not going to be like the other end of the country or anything like that So once that is taken care of I will be starting my training part The first thing is a four week online course now that I've done my security course I do know what to expect going into another online course. I do know how to manage my time appropriately So I think honestly it's going to be a piece of cake and I can't wait to start that So once I have it complete, I will be having to move to Once I have it complete, I will be having to move to Quebec I will be living there. I will be living at their campus at residence and doing some training there And it is about five months. I'm going to have to be there for that is honestly the thing that scares me the most I've never had to do anything for myself like that. I've never lived on my own And that's essentially what I'm going to be doing when I moved there to be doing this training and it's going to be for Five months. So in a way it is pretty scary But it is something I'm going to have to do and hopefully I do like it The only thing that is weird is I've never had to go to Quebec for a long period of time I'm not sure if the town is a french-speaking town. I don't speak any french That is the main thing that worries me, but I can get through it I know I can once I'm done my training living in Quebec for that five months I will be moving back home and I'm going to be doing an on-the-job training part And it does take a year and a half to finish that part And that is why I had to choose which port I wanted to go to which ones are closest to me So hopefully I can get into one of the ones closest to me And I'm going to be working there for a year and a half doing the on-the-job training part The reason I'm deciding to do Canada's border agency is because I think it's going to be very interesting And it is a lot more money than I would be making working security guard It's going to be a lot more hands-on, which is what I'm used to I know security guard depending on where I go It would be a lot more sitting a lot more routine, but working the border It's going to be a lot more different stuff. It's going to be a lot more interesting And hopefully if I do like security guard, I know I'm going to love working the border Honestly, I think that is how it's going to work out and I really see it happening that way So what I'm going to be making whenever I start working the border is whenever I'm doing the training parts I'm going to be making between 60 and 70 grand a year Like I said, it will take up to two years to finish the course once I'm finished the course I'm going to be a Canada border agent and I'll be making anywhere from 70 grand to 85 grand a year Once I'm making this kind of money I'm hopefully going to get a new vehicle even though I just got one I plan on getting something new or at least a little bit better and after I have that in my own place to Live I'm going to be saving my money and hopefully within five years. I can buy my own house Now that is my plan right now. That is something I'm working towards right now But that is my future plans and I honestly hope it works out and I cannot wait So I am going to leave this video here I hope you guys did enjoy me sharing my future plans now that I have my security guard course done And I have my license I'll keep you guys updated on if I get a job if I get a vehicle I'll share that all with you guys and I will see you guys in the next video Please take care. Peace


And welcome back to Figments On Reality. I'm Dan Leif. I go by Fig and I've been on vacation for over two weeks and it was great. I'm gonna have to do that again. Concept I wasn't that familiar with but in retrospect I've been missing a lot. Before I get to the primary topic of the show I wanna talk on reality about something that concerns me a great deal and that was the missteps made by President Biden and Secretary of Defense Austin in stating our China policy with President Biden saying we were absolutely committed to the defense of Taiwan if China attacked. Now I'm not against that as a matter of principle. We have an obligation covered in the Taiwan Relations Act but he didn't maintain the strategic ambiguity of it. And it reminded me of a conversation I had one on one with President George W. Bush when I was still on active duty. And President Bush asked me if conflict with China was inevitable. And I said, well, of course not. And gave him some reasons why. And I said, but it could still happen, Mr. President because it could happen like most wars happen through a series of miscalculations, misinterpretations and misunderstandings. And I think that's very much the case. That was part of our involvement in Korea and in Iraq where Kim Il Sung and Saddam Hussein both did not, each did not expect the United States to enter the conflict. And we did. This is kind of the opposite of that because President Biden said we would defend Taiwan. And in the current environment where China is aggressively asserting itself and its claim to the island of Taiwan that could drive it to conflict not deter it from conflict. So it's a big mistake. I'll be watching this. I may dedicate a future on reality to the China Taiwan situation because it could have far reaching impacts. I hope not, but it could. So let's get to the real topic of today's show. And that's this road trip that my family took and the reflections that it led me to on America. Now you know those annoying relatives who have you over and show you the pictures of their vacation. Yes, I'm absolutely going to do that. But when I started up my file sharing app I found that I had added 648 files. So be glad that I won't show you all 648 photos that we took in that. Frankly, that's the tip of the photographic iceberg because we took a lot of pictures. It was a great trip. Family, baseball fun, sites, memorials and museums. So let me quickly take you through what we did. We flew into Wisconsin and went to two Brewer's games. There I am with my family. And next to me is my twin sister and behind her her husband Leon. It was great to see them. We tailgated and did all the baseball things. The weather as you can see was beautiful. The whole trip, the weather was beautiful by the way. And we did that. By the way, if you saw my post-season warm-up figments The Power of Imagination with Ross Rowley you may have noticed that I got every single pick wrong, every one. How's that even possible? Pick the wrong winners of the wildcard games and each of the division series. So, oh well, next year. It's probably good the Brewer's were out. No, that's never good, but it allowed me to focus on the road trip. So from Milwaukee, we went down to Chicago, not my favorite city, but still a cool place to visit. And then on to Indianapolis, Indiana. And we saw the Speedway exhibit and our museum which doesn't sound like much, unless you like cars, but I do. But it was really pretty fascinating looking at the technological evolution of the race cars that race at Indian. I think the family enjoyed that maybe more than I expected, but they enjoyed another museum much more than I expected. They humored me with a stop in near Dayton at the National Museum of the US Air Force. My former service, it's like going home. Here you see a picture of the XB70 maybe the most beautiful airplane ever built. And my wife in particular found this museum fascinating because it does what the great museums do. It tells the story. It just doesn't display the stuff. And we wish we had more time. I basically had to drag her out of there. It's not technology alone. They do a fantastic job of telling the human story of the advancement of air and space power in the US. If you're ever in the Dayton area, don't mess it and do allow plenty of time. From there, we drove to the east headed towards Yorktown, Virginia to see my son, his wife and their two very cute dogs were getting a dog. And the scenery was fabulous. And this was Alejandra and Alejo's first road trip. Here you see the skyline drive. Dozens of photos of the tremendous drive along the skyline drive near DC in Virginia. Another must see. We stopped, did this road trip, American style, something that they had never experienced stopping along the way to eat and find a hotel. And I have to tell a story. My wife is a sophisticated woman traveled extensively, worked in government for 22 years and absolutely not a country bumpkin. But when we stopped for breakfast in Charleston, West Virginia, she was enthralled with the little restaurant we found because it had very quaint decor, lots of memorabilia, signs, photos, artifacts from the past. It was very cool and she liked it a lot. And as we left, she said, this is a unique restaurant and mentioned one of our favorites in Santiago of Chile that's similar but not on the same scale. And I said, yes, it is a very unique restaurant. And I took out my phone and checked and I said, and there are only 659 just like Cracker Barrel is a great place to get good food and see a lot of Americana. We drove on down to Yorktown, visited the Yorktown battlefield, another great museum and bit of our history. And later went to Nauticus in Norfolk and to the Jamestown Settlement. I put certainly Yorktown and Jamestown as things you've got to see to appreciate our history and I'll share more on that in our reflections and spend a wonderful time with my son and his wife and the dogs, as I said, it couldn't have been a better visit. And then we headed up to the DC area where my daughter lives. There's Alejandra with the Washington Monument. Again, a beautiful day. We're so blessed with the weather and the statue near the wall, the Vietnam Memorial.  I commented to her that I had never visited the Lincoln Memorial and she said, half jokingly, what kind of a citizen are you? And I said, well, I was kind of busy defending our country, which is true but I wish I'd gone there earlier and had more time to reflect on Lincoln the man and that memorial captures him so well. We also went to the National Museum of Natural History. I had a couple of meetings and they went to other museums and we had a great visit with my daughter who's gonna be my next guest on Figments, the Power of Imagination. And it was just a wonderful time in our nation's capital to reflect upon it. Then we took a brief, not so, drive back to Chicago. Here's a screenshot of the 10 hour and 16 minute, 700 mile drive back to Chicago. This was a straight through shot to catch our flight on time. And it was yet another experience sharing the driving with the Leo and figuring out toll roads and doing all that with a little bit of rain. But again, we're very fortunate on the weather. And finally, we made it back to Honolulu and the United Airlines there. We are properly masked, more on that later. And in short, it was a great chance to see the entire Eastern United States. Well, it's maybe a quarter of the Eastern United States if that, but to see a lot about our country, its development, its innovation, its history, and the struggles to make it what it is today. And I'll share my reflections on that right after a brief, brief break to tell you about the show next week. Now, the folks at Think Tech Y who I think do a fabulous job on this give the hosts some guidance. And one of them is you should almost never have an immediate family member on. I'm going to break that, clearly, by having my daughter on to talk about imagining effective leadership. Why am I going to do that? Well, leadership has been her job for a long time. She's an expert at it and has thought a lot about it. And she's a much better leader than her dad. She's led it in the Air Force as a commander in industry, as a leadership consultant and now as a manager at Google. And I know her views will not represent Google policy because I'll make that disclaimer. But she'll offer you some thoughts on leadership that I think you'll find useful because she's good at it and has thought about it, studied it and now applies that in the corporate world. Act of the road trip observations. So I've got a list here and I'm going to talk about each of these. And there they are. Let me start with what a beautiful country the United States of America is. And I'm getting new sponsors. We say in Hawaii, chicken skin right now thinking about it. It is a beautiful country. Fall colors in particular, but it's beautiful. And it's in pretty good shape. We hear a lot about the crumbling infrastructure and certainly there was construction the entire way. But it's a beautiful country in good shape. And Chicago is surprisingly beautiful. I have to say that even though it's a pack of pen, I have to throw in that the bears still suck. But Chicago is a great city. We ran through the marathon. We didn't run in the Chicago marathon. We sprinted across the street to get to the biggest Starbucks in the world. The entire drive was fabulous, especially Skyline Drive. And then of course along the Chesapeake there's so much to see. It's a beautiful country. And if you haven't seen parts of it for a while, it helps to get refreshed and be reminded of how blessed Americans are. And I've been to 71 other countries, I think, and we're very fortunate. Each has their own beauty. The next observation is that baseball is better in person. Even though my predictions were wrong and even though the Milwaukee Brewers aren't playing in the World Series, it was great to see a couple of games in person at American Family Field there in Milwaukee. And I may have called it Miller Park earlier because it just became American Family Field. Alejandro is not much of a baseball fan, much more Green Bay Packers, much more. But having seen it in person in three dimensions with the crowd, with all that is baseball, she gets it now and that's good for me since I watched at least 162 games a year in one way or another. It's a great experience and it's really worth seeing in person. I had a question from a viewer that just popped up in the chat window. Weren't you worried about COVID when you attended the baseball games with 40 plus thousand of my closest fans for each game? No, for a couple of reasons. One, we're very careful as a family. Two, we're all vaccinated. I'm thrice vaccinated and Alejandro and Alejo have both gotten their full Pfizer regime. And three, those sporting events, contrary to predictions have not become super spreader events, which is interesting. So whether we were in the crowd or out tailgating with high school friends, which was another uniquely American experience for the Chilean members of my family, no, I wasn't worried. We were careful, but not extremely, not wildly careful. And we enjoyed the games and we all feel fine except for jet lag. So baseball is better in person. Another observation was about the American people and we haven't unpacked all our memories from this trip but I think that Alejandro and Alejo will share that American people are friendly and nice and kind. And we experienced that in every setting, just the warmth, the welcoming nature of all people regardless of color. And that was reassuring and made me proud of the American people such as they are. And that probably was the most reassuring thing to answer another viewer question. Thanks, viewers. And that was probably the most reassuring thing was our people and the interaction with them and the lack of vitriol, one of my least favorite things and just the niceness of them. That said, there are times that they're not that nice and I list I think three of them. And one of it is when they're driving and special shout out to that guy in the white SUV at O'Hare Airport as we were trying to get into the hotel. I'm spoiled by the Aloha spirit. We don't use our horns here in Hawaii except in emergency. And the only time you get negative feedback is if you don't thank somebody for letting you in to elane in traffic, which they always do. I didn't find that worked in the Chicago outskirts or on the Beltway in Washington, DC. Oh well, makes me enjoy Hawaii even more. They're not that nice when they talk politics. And I blame the politicians, frankly because they're fueling it. Our politicians are, I believe of both parties fueling the rancor amongst the people and they should do better. I don't think me saying that and my humble little webcast will change that but they should do better. It's not good for our country in any way. And the fact that we disagree on political issues should not result in the kind of anger that I saw about politics. Again, I blame those in politics whether they're elected or not for fueling that for their own purposes. Their purpose should be the country and not creating a divide so they can win an election or get something passed. Another area where folks aren't very nice and this was striking probably the most striking thing on the trip is they're not very nice about the all of the mandates related to COVID. The disconnect was startling. The guidance on masks varies widely from state to state municipality to municipality and the adherence to those mandates is spotty at best. It's worse than that. It's comical in a tragic sort of a way. And the thing I noticed most was the mask rebels who by the way, look ridiculous.  I don't know if they work or not. I don't know if the masks that people wear work or not. I don't care.  And when you don't have to, don't. But those who aggressively either don't wear a mask or wear a mask incorrectly and kind of flaunt it, come on, man, you're not proving anything except that you're annoying. I found it annoying and troubling. But I understand why it is. It's because the guidance is so silly on our flights to and from Hawaii or to the mainland and back, I guess, to be more accurate. United gave the following guidance that masks will be worn at all times. And I think this is what the federal mandate says, including between sips and bites. As far as I can tell, 0.0% of the people were adhering to the sips and bites guidance. And who can blame them? It's ridiculous. It's just laughable guidance. And it's not helping. It's not helping motivate people to get vaccines or to take precautions that really work. And there's another mandate that doesn't help. And that's the plexiglass. Now, it's been shown, I did my research on the internet, it's been shown that the plexiglass actually stifles airflow and can increase the probability of virus spread. Yet, I think because they're afraid not to, and because it was guides, there is plexiglass everywhere, barriers everywhere between servers, cashiers, different clients. And we know that it doesn't work. So why haven't we had some guidance to take it down? When you have these kinds of sips and bites guidance and plexiglass that no longer is shown to work, people are not going to take anything seriously, including vaccines. Now, I believe vaccines work. And I'm pretty sure that the guidance shows that I don't know how I feel about the federal vaccine mandate for government, employees, military, and contractors. I've already gotten vaccinated, so I don't care very much about it. But that's the serious stuff. The rubber meets the road at vaccination. It doesn't at plexiglass or sips and bites. And the government has only the government's national, federal, state, and local have only themselves to blame for mudding the waters and creating a situation that fuels rather than ends the COVID spread. So again, if all of the science says that mass sporting events are super spreaders, why hasn't it been in the case? Because the Milwaukee Brewers have not contacted me about any outbreak rather related to the games that we went to. And that's not happening. We need to get our act together. Our governments need to get their act together and pare it down to just the things that really matter, vaccines, vaccines, and vaccines. And encourage people, not mandate it. Now, in the military mandate, I will make a non-reality comment on that. I think it came far too late. I think that's due to lawyers being involved in the process. And if I were king or whatever, I would have said at the outset when it was approved for emergency use, all right, soldier, sailor, sailor, marines, and space guardians, get your vaccines mandatory. I think the lawyers got involved said, well, it's just emergency approval. And I've got 12 anthrax vaccinations from my military experience, and it hasn't affected me much. But if they had said from the outset, get the vaccines, I don't think we'd see the challenge that the military is facing in gaining compliance now. We gave too much time for the barracks lawyers to make up reasons not to get vaccines. Now, there are legitimate medical and perhaps religious reasons not to. But I don't think the legitimate reasons are the problem at all. So enough on COVID. Let's get it done. Get vaccinated if you haven't, please. The next observation is that you can never know enough of our history. And I was not a good student in anything, including history. And that's not going to change now. But this trip to all the museums and memorials, pardon me, reinforce that in the beautiful museums, memorials and historical sites remind me that we have to make sure the beauty and durs of our nation and that the history isn't changed because the accurate history matters. And remember that the names will never change, whether they're Lincoln's name on his memorial or others, Jefferson, an issue of concern in New York City right now. The names don't change. And that's certainly true on the Vietnam Memorial, where I found the name of Major Robert Kosar. He wore his bracelet for many years in the 70s until finally wore out. And those who have sacrificed for our freedom, for the life that we enjoy, ought to be remembered regardless of the circumstances. The museums and memorials are particularly important in storytelling. As I said, the Air Force Museum does a really tremendous job of telling the story of innovation, speedway to and natural history, of course, but it's not the stuff that matters. You can't put today into context if you don't have an appreciation for how we got here. Whatever your views are, you have to have the context. And what's so troubling about some of the public discourse these days is that items influenced heavily by our past are taken out of or taken or absent from context of how we got here. It's not perfect. No country is, but we can't forget it. And we can't cancel history because it makes us uncomfortable. And some elements of our history do make us uncomfortable. I've seen one place in the world that does a better job than any other of putting that history into context. And that's Taiwan. I went to two museums or, I guess, their museums, parks in Taiwan, one addressing the indigenous people of Taiwan who even into the late or early 20th century were cannibals, headhunters, and they have a very thoughtful presentation. They're an Ulai, near Taipei, of the kind of people they were and it put it into context of the times. They also have a museum or a location on Green Island where political prisoners were held during the Chiang Kai Shek period in Taiwan. And again, it's uncomfortable stuff, but put in context and not blaming, shaming, but describing that history and helping us not repeat it, helping the people Taiwan not repeat it. We can do that with the monuments and memorials that are currently simply being removed. That's not the answer. Those who forget history or ignore it are doomed to repeat it. So the museums we want to, we're reassuring and inspiring. And I want to know more and we'll make another road trip sometime soon. The last observation is that America is hiring. It was incredible. I don't think we stopped at a single restaurant, hotel, anywhere, or anything else, any other kind of shop that didn't have a, were hiring, help wanted to sign out. In fact, as we walked to my granddaughters to their daycare school, there was a huge sign in Spanish saying we're hiring and I encouraged Alejo to apply, but he wanted to come back and go to school. They're at the University of Hawaii, I understand that. Everywhere they are hiring, which makes you wonder why we're so short of the help we need. And I don't have the solution for that, but I suspect it has something to do with incentives. And that brings me to my last thought about taxes. And of course, there's a huge bill in Congress right now. This isn't a political show, so all I'll say is those are tax dollars, folks. I'd like to see a public law that says that politicians must refer to federal money as our money and acknowledge that it came from the taxpayers because we're not incentivized to pay taxes. I've paid taxes for 40 or 50 years. Shouldn't I at least get a little help in that says that? Shouldn't there be something that makes our contribution to the governance of the United States, recognizable and worth talking about? It isn't. So listen up, Washington, if you're gonna pass a law, I heard a congressman on a radio show talking about the Washington football team and its troubles with the Dan Snyder ownership era, okay? That's not the biggest problem people in America might be a problem. That is absolutely not the biggest problem. Take care of your taxpayers, whatever party you're in and acknowledge that everything you're able to do is thanks to the largesse of law-abiding, tax-paying citizens. So I don't expect that to change. I won't be looking for my lapel pin in the mail, but I will be back for figments the power of imagination with my daughter Yating, the leadership guru in a week. Two o'clock on Monday, November 9th, I think it is. That's what November 1st, rather. And I look forward to sharing that with her. And finally, let me give a shout out to the folks at ThinkTech who make this possible and they can only make it possible through your donations. So please support this wonderful nonprofit and join me next week for figments, the power of imagination. Aloha.