This is a perfectly valid question in many areas, but in terms of our careers, Dolly would say pour yourself a cup of ambition. So my aim for this talk is basically that, to have a think how we can review our own careers, to be more ambitious, to craft something that suits us individually for the best possible career we can have to suit ourselves and our whole lives. So I'm going to do that in three steps. The first step, first and foremost, think about where are you at? How does your work suit your life? What effect does it have on your life and on your health? Or as Dolly might say, don't get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life. So things to review, how are your sleep patterns, how are your energy levels? Record these every single day. Are you excited about what you're working on? Are you pleased with the results? Record it. Is your work satisfying? Is it the right level of challenge? I guess the slide comes from a psychologist whose name I can't pronounce but who talks about the mental state of flow of being completely absorbed in the activity you're doing. I think the diagram's interesting just to keep under review your feelings in relation to your skill level and the challenge level. So possibly if you're feeling anxious and stressed at work, it's because the challenge level is too high for your skill level. Or if you're bored or feeling apathy, perhaps the challenge level is just too low. So just to keep under review whether these things are external or internal and be aware of what you can do about those things. And record them. And recording these things on a daily basis might be as simple as just keeping a diary. Or our good friend Corey's mercury app where you can track your feelings about certain activities on a daily basis. And then you can easily go back and review that maybe on a monthly or quarterly basis. And so on to the second big part of the review. The question you might want to ask yourself is, where do you want to be? Or as Dolly might say, find out who you are and do it on purpose. Many of us in our teens at school, the careers advice didn't match our dreams and was very maybe focused on just putting people into a very small handful of boxes. In my school, if you were remotely good at math or science, you were shepherded towards medicine. If you weren't scientific, it was law. And if you weren't smart enough to do either of those two things, it was teaching. That's what we got. Well, that's what we got. I've always been stubborn enough to ignore any of that professional advice and did art instead. But we're big kids now. So what I think we should do is really focus on what we, you know, choice driven development. I think it should be called. One exercise that's useful to sort of determine if our choices match who we are and what would make us happiest is to look at what gives us meaning, which might be things like solving problems, writing, what gives us pleasure, which could be things like maybe reading or music and what are our strengths, which might be things like being enthusiastic or having good problem solving skills. And to note the trends between these three areas, identify areas of overlap and ideally then figure out how to manoeuvre your career to do things that are in that overlap area. Ask yourself what can I do on a practical level, what opportunities are available to me and also what limitations are there on me. These might be geographical, for example, but also ask yourself what do I want to do going back to what gives me meaning and pleasure. And perhaps you want much more than what you currently can do for whatever opportunities or limitations there are. And think about your competencies and how you can get to use these. I like to think of this as a sandwich. So you've got what you can do as your sort of base starting point. What you want to do, what you aspire to do. And your competencies are really the thing that will bridge that gap that can come in the middle and things that you can work on to maybe easier reach what you want to do, what you aspire to do. But it's a personal thing that will be different for each of us. It's worth actually defining what would be a win for me. One way to look at success is a combination of results, process and relationships. The result is fairly straightforward. It's not all about the Benjamins, but for most of us money is going to be a pretty important factor in our career choices. For many of us, a kind of success part of our results is solving problems and ideally helping create shiny happy people through solving those problems and creating software. In terms of process, how can our work and process contribute to our overall sense of success? Personally, I've been self-employed for 11 years now and I feel like I've done the workaholic thing and now I'm quite conscious that my time is precious. And I really want my work and process to fit in with my life. So for example, I do triathlon and it's really important to me that my work and process gives me flexibility that allows me to balance my work and the rest of my life. And the third big ingredient to that success formula is relationships. So I've worked a lot by myself, but I've also majorly in the last year made a conscious decision that I want to work as part of teams with specific people that I've sought out to work with and so I've been lucky enough last year that I got the opportunity from our friend CJ here to go to Sweden and work with company Elabs in Sweden, which was a wonderful experience, well, full stop, but essentially to work with people that we're not only good to work with, but we're, well, fun to drink with, but I guess people that you actually just want in your life regardless of whether you're being paid to sit next to them. And I've also kind of sought out and taken up opportunities to travel to the States and work with teams of brilliant people over there and whether it's people in a team I'm working with or with clients, a big part of sort of creating success in those relationships for me is feeling, deciding, do I feel valued basically in those relationships, but absolutely as well, do I value those people, if not with all of these things, they're just good things to keep under review, but like I say, that's a very personal process to go through and figure out what are those success factors for you, but those would be three key areas that I'd suggest would be worth including in that review, very much about finding a fit that works, that matches who I am and who I want to be in the world, how I want to be in the world. And basically if that fit isn't quite right, that you give yourself permission to say no, which you may not always decide to say, but just giving yourself the option to say it.  And that's a win-win for everybody. Basically being intentional, I think, is the key ingredient and leads to the good stuff. And so the third last big area of review, how do you support yourself to get there? As Dolly might say, if you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one. And I've been speaking to a lot of friends in our industry recently about conscious decisions that have made, that they have enabled their success. And the common thread just seems to be people making an intentional choice about what they want to do. So James Golic has tweeted about leaving consultant and going to a company that works, that builds one product. And he's personally found that infinitely more rewarding. Guston here has spoken about a similar path to becoming a product-based company. Joe O'Brien told me about his deliberate choice, or actually self-awareness, really, I guess, of how, that his personal skills were to do with people. And that following, that was a conscious decision and has led to his success with Edgecase. Amy Hoy has spoken and written a lot about this, and her move from being a consultant. And I think this is a really valid point for a lot of us in our industry. She says, I'm a creator, I'm not a consultant. I discovered there's actually a difference, and I'm happiest making products and selling them directly. And Corey Haines has said, I don't ever want to be paid to write code. What I want to get paid for is helping others not get paid to write code. But the important point is really that every choice has a consequence. And making no choice very much has a consequence. So again, the key thing, just being intentional, whatever direction that leads you in, is going to be beneficial for you. And one strategy that I found to help support yourself to get to where you want to go is this idea of actually having a personal board, like your own personal board of directors. So rather than, so you select people amongst your peer group, your professional equals, that you can come to an agreement preferably to share, that you maybe spend, say, for example, what I've done in the past is with three of us, and we get together once a month, and each person gets half an hour to discuss the challenges they're facing, share that with these peers, and get feedback on how you can, on how you're approaching those challenges. And I guess people that will help hold you accountable to what you've said you want to achieve. I thought I'd share this wonderful quotation with you. If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And when I am for myself, what am I? And if not now, when? And I seem to have totally rushed through all that. So that's me. Any questions or feel free to share your thoughts with us? Right. Yeah. Oh, sorry. Good point. So Anthony said that I've mentioned tracking things like sleep and feelings with mercury.com. And I think the question was, is there anything else that I'm tracking? I track things like my sleep, my energy levels, just those things I mentioned, really. I mean, those are the big things and how I guess essentially how I feel about what I'm working on. I'll track some of those things on a daily basis and some on a weekly and some just on a periodical review, maybe looking back at what projects I've worked on, what people I've worked with. I mean, actually, this is something that's really come from my triathlon training, but looking back on things like projects I've worked on and considering what were the successes and failures in those and what conditions brought those things about. So what of the what within that formula I'd like to recreate the next time and what things I'd like to avoid. So the question if I interpret it right, so maybe in my sporting life, I guess I find that people are very direct and want to just get things done. And there's no messing about. And I think she was asking me, have I found that difficult to bring into the work life? I haven't, I think partly because I've been working mostly with Americans for the last year. And I find Americans to be much more direct and happy to give, actually happy to give praise when it's due, but also give constructive criticism when that's due. Whereas I think I find Americans to be very forthcoming and positive in their communication, actually.  So it hasn't, you know, it's had a it's been beneficial or it's certainly been feel like it's been accepted. I think people welcome most people welcome not anybody. I guess also I'm making a conscious decision to associate with the kind of people I want to associate with and people who are successful in whatever their field is. And generally, my experience is that the people are successful are all quite direct up front. What you see is what you get people. I was going, it's really hard to paraphrase the question. Well, I did. All right, I, I need to re hear the question. So it's the question, like, do I have, I felt it's been beneficial to sort of curious. Yeah. So did you find that change? Right, right. Yeah, I guess it's helped in just setting goals and in working towards those.  Yeah, that's probably a big query. When you decide that you want to do it, do you spend a little bit of time figuring out how you're going to do it? And then how do you purposefully, like, do you set up time to purposefully reflect? Because I find that I always end up just sort of going on and tracking it. And then never, I don't know how to look back at it. Right, right. No, I can use that. I guess I guess I cheat a little bit because I have a coach for my sport. So I have to, I report back to him on a weekly basis. And part of, part of that is how my energy levels are and how my sleep patterns are. So I report back as it, I'm really aware of the effect that it has, you know, immediately. So if I didn't have that, I guess it would be more of an issue because I mean, I don't keep a prickly fancy system for this. It might just be scribbling on a notebook on my desk. So if I didn't have that, now knowing the benefit of that, I would probably want to maybe set aside half an hour a week to review the week, even if it's just to myself. Yeah. How did I, how did I pick it? Okay, so the question about the personal board, how did I select those people? Through friends, really, just, oh, prickly. Actually, the people that I have done that with aren't in the software development field, just people that I respect and value and know that they respect and value me as well. So I've done it with two friends, one who's an interior designer and one who's a digital animator. And it's just an agreement that we've come to that's worked for us. I think the important kind of part of that is that they're professionally equal to you, rather than, I know we have a lot of talk in the community about mentors and apprenticeships and that kind of thing, whereas this is something different, more that you're, you're not looking for these people to tell you what to do. You're, you're just wanting to share what challenges you're having and just have that dialogue with people who are probably facing similar, similar issues, albeit possibly in a different domain. Yeah, so just the difference between having a coach and the personal board, I guess. Yeah, I guess the coach I don't really talk to about work stuff. And I guess the personal board is some, a group that I can share what I'm trying to achieve and the challenges I'm facing and just have, you know, like, like super friends that you can bounce, you know, that there's kind of professional thoughts off of. I mean, even this morning, I had a chat with Alan Francis over breakfast and I was telling him that I want to do some stuff with iPhone development. And even telling Alan that I know that next time I see Alan, he's going to ask me, how's that going? Did you read that book? I told you to read. And, you know, even on an informal level that kind of sort of just that amplified and scheduled, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, because actually, that's a big thing. Because, you know, everybody that's successful is busy, busy, busy. So it's kind of everybody committing to make time to schedule out in as well. One point I should have probably mentioned. Well, why am I admitting this now? But I do feel slightly ridiculous given a talk on career advice, given that I've never applied or had a normal job in my life. Pardon. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. So you've also worked with teams. Yeah. But what are your thoughts on, on thoughts on being, you know, coming in and working with teams versus being in a team on a very low basis or something like that? So the question is what are my thoughts on being an independent contractor who joins a team, I guess, for a limited period of time versus being part of that permanently? And it's tricky for me because I've never been like a permanent part of a team, I guess. But it's a pretty good way of testing that out. And I've really enjoyed the last year I've worked more in longer term basis with with these teams. And that's definitely been much more rewarding and satisfying than maybe before just working on shorter term projects. And it's, yeah, definitely, there's, you know, just building up those relationships and power with people. And yeah, sorry, I don't know how to answer that better. Has anybody else done that kind of like a board peer review type of thing? Good. Yeah. We're all nice and early then. Keynote.


Hello my cherished friends in Monet Cafe. I'm so excited to be bringing you this painting. Oh I'm in my studio. Yay! I feel so good. I'm excited. I'm going to show you some of the things I'm using to create this impressionistic painting. I'm going to begin with some new pastels built in you P-A-S-T-E-L-S. It's not new like any W but they're very hard and very good for getting your sketch in to begin with. This is on you art paper and it's a paper I know I talk about a lot. It's one of my favorites but I have a lot of papers and surfaces that I use as well as creating my own which I love to do and I have some videos about that as well. So I'm going to try to keep this video as much of a real-time video as possible because I know you guys love that and I understand that because when I was first beginning pastel some of the speed videos were just kind of hard to follow. I was like you know everything was brand new to me so I needed to watch everything. So hopefully this will help some of you who request for the real-time videos. So once again this was just a darker new pastel that I used to get in the tree line. I didn't do much of a value study with the one dark pastel in this case because I wanted to just go ahead and start laying in some colors some kind of big blocks of color to get my general composition in and again I stress this in all my videos is work large to small less detail to more detail. We call it often as artist blocking in. So we have a tendency always to go in and get all those little details. I mean even with those trees I didn't focus on anything other than the shape of the tree or the tree line and now I'm just kind of focusing in on some of the colors and you know on our Facebook group Monet cafe art group I get a lot of great questions and one of the questions is how do you decide are you going to do an underpainting to begin with? Are you going to do something with local color? Are you going to do something with complementary color? If you're just beginning these terms all might sound like there's so much to learn but trust me you can learn it all. If I can learn it you can learn it. But sometimes it's just a matter of your mood and in this particular case this was such a precious moment for me. I'm doing a voiceover now after the painting because I some of you know and you might be getting tired of me talking about the flooding of my art studio in my home but it's been a long time since I've gotten some just a dedicated time to paint just some spontaneous time to paint our lives have been so busy just getting everything restored. So this was one of those moments where I turned up the music I can't play that music this is some YouTube music that I get people often ask about the music I use you have to use music that has no copyright but the music that I play if you want some good music to paint to look for an artist named Lindsay Sterling she plays some violin music that's very energetic and I was just by the end of this I was almost dancing when I was painting and sometimes the mood helps you to stay impressionistic too so if you put on some good music and you know just get the vibes going that really helps. So again I'm just laying down some general values instead of doing it like I've done sometimes with just one color you can do a value study with one pastel color I'm doing it in big blocks of color and this is what's called using local color meaning the color that's in the scene in the photograph or in the actual place that you are you know if you're painting plein air on location. So as in contrast to complementary color you might check out some of my other videos where I talk about using complementary color I also love that technique so again sometimes the technique just depends on your mood and if you're just starting out a lot of times it's you don't have a lot of techniques under your belt you've just got to start practicing some of them so practice practice practice that is the way to get better and again in our group Monet cafe art group on Facebook you do have to ask to join and but if you answer the questions and say that you saw or you found out about the group from me on the youtube channel you're almost you know guaranteed to be accepted into the group it's an amazing group though because beginners you are so welcome you have nothing to worry about sharing your art you can't ask a question that's uh that's a dumb question because we're all we all started somewhere so anyway that's just a beautiful way to feel welcome and learn things now my paper here I pointed at that it had a wave in it I have another video where I show how to flatten out you art paper if you get it bowed or buckled and this was one of those pieces that I had to correct and so I'm kind of having to work around one of the the bumps in it that didn't go away that's why that pastel isn't laying down very flat but it's okay because I'm going to blend it all in anyway and and and work around it besides this is impressionism and sometimes the little inconsistencies can help things look even more real a neat thing about nature is that it has what I like to call a spontaneous harmony there is harmony there is design there is beauty that comes from order and design but the spontaneity of it all I like to think of how God you know just causes a big wind to flow across a field of flowers and and there's a there's a motion almost like a musical movement of it but there's still a harmony there so sometimes in our art if we get things just too fixed we lose that that music to your painting and so that's what I hope to achieve in making this video is to help you understand just how to keep things loose and not too fixed I already feel like my background trees are getting a little too fixed there so in the future I in the future of this video anyway I give it some more jagged edges on the top and let them reach up into the sky a little bit more but in pastels it's a little opposite of some medians you typically put down your darker colors first and your lighter colors last you don't always have to do that but it's a it's a good rule of thumb when you're beginning so especially when you're doing like in this particular reference photo I'm squinting all the time to see my values you know I talk about value is king and value simply means how dark or light something is and as a standard rule of thumb values are darker in the foreground and lighter in the background now I know those background trees look pretty dark right now but again you could put down your darks first I'm going to lighten them up as you'll see as we go on with some cooler and lighter values to push them back into the distance and the reason that's a scientific thing actually the reason things do lighten in value in the distance is because of atmosphere for example there's everybody thinks air is nothing well atmosphere and air actually has substance and the more atmosphere or air or distance of that air between you and the background the lighter it gets and also the more washed out and paler the colors become perfect example is mountains if you're ever you know somewhere in a mountainous scene where you can see very far away the mountains typically don't appear green like the trees that are on the mountains they appear bluish purple that's because things blue out and and pale out in the distance so that is one of the best rules of thumbs first two things I can mention here is one blocking in big shapes not much detail you're really just getting in values and second of course values getting your values correct so as you can see I'm just getting in a really loose general composition here and it really helps to just set that mood of getting an impressionistic pain big strokes another thing probably a third thing is the direction of your strokes again this field of poppies I called it poppy dance because they seem to just be dancing from the foreground to the background that beautiful harmony and you want to emulate that in the direction of your strokes so that has a huge impact on the feel of the painting so if the grasses and the poppies are leaning harmoniously in one way or the other you want to try to capture that by how you move your pastel now another thing that i'm doing here is things don't only get paler in value in the distance they get closer together and less detail so again see those grasses in the back there they are not as broad and bold and big strokes as they are in the foreground because things get smaller and less detail in the background so already we've hit like three or four things in just good art that will help you to create a painting that represents reality in your own impressionistic way so i'm gonna just paint here a little bit and i'll add some commentary as i see that it's needed all right here we go yes sometimes i just feel something in the music and i enjoy this process so much and having fun and dancing while i'm painting now this is a regular spritzer like a body mist spritzer that i used to put in some alcohol and water i think it's about half and half and i'm using a wide flat brush where i'm going to really blend the background it's like a method to do like a wet underpainting and the only reason for alcohol is it dries faster you could use water you know if you don't have any alcohol but i i have a clean paper towel and i'll explain this technique as i go i'm just shaking up the spritzer and i'm spraying it i usually work top to bottom but i definitely work in sections for example this blue sky here i'm working kind of down to blend it and i don't want to get that dark treeline in my brush because it would like contaminate that sky so i'm being a little careful here um and just so you know drips are okay in this sometimes i spray i'm a little heavy handed with the alcohol and it drips and runs down the uh the ur paper and um and it actually kind of lends towards the impressionism it really helps so now i'm uh again i cleaned off my brush really good and i'm spraying some of the darker areas now and i'm going to specifically work on just the darker sections again those trees in the background they're going to get lightened up a little bit but they're dark because they're vertical that's something i learned as an artist that the things that are vertical in a scene are typically darker because the sun is not shining uh on the vertical part it's shining on the top part so trees are typically lighter on the top but not on the sides and um again cleaning out my my brush now i'm going to work on these background areas again i'm focusing on the motion of the grasses those background grasses are pretty tight and close together so i just little short strokes there but as i go on i make the broader strokes and start letting that uh the little drips happen and everything so it's kind of fun i love this part of the painting and uh sometimes i think i would really just love doing just the underpainting part and very little pastel so that might be something i do in the future i thought i would mention here that often you can use some of the like the darker area in the front there as i'm using my brush i still have some of the darker on the brush so i'm using it almost like just a paint you see i added some of the the darker areas if you look at the photograph you can see where flowers grow down to the ground you really see it in the foreground it gets darker down by the roots and that progressively gets lighter as you go in the background but that's why i added some of that kind of in the mid ground of the of the painting there where you you've still got some of those roots showing and again it's just going to get less and less as you go to the background you're not seeing the roots anymore because of the distance and the angle of your vision so so it's often really interesting how you can do the underpainting and establish a lot of the correctness of the painting before you even start to lay down the pastels now here of course i'm just blow drying the painting so that i can work faster alcohol does dry pretty quickly but i keep my blow dryer just plugged in um this is just like a spare blow dryer used just for my art and uh it just makes it really handy when you're like again when you're in the mood and uh you don't want to wait and it's just fun you see how it did dry lighter you know of course everything's going to dry lighter um in many times different types of medium so that's pretty normal all right so now time to apply more pastel on top of the underpainting that's been blended with the alcohol wash so this all of it's fun but i really love this stage where i get to kind of go in and start really making some um more suggestive marks and um really start establishing um what the painting is going to be instead of just the underpainting again working big to small less detail to more detail uh the background you never want too much detail anyway um you see me blending a little with my finger i don't do that a lot but um sometimes if something's just not just right i'll use my finger but then i'll also use uh you'll see in a little while where i use a piece of pipe foam insulation there it is oh no that's a pastel but um i'll talk about the pipe foam insulation more in a minute now that's actually what i'm using there it's uh more of a deep bluish purple and uh it's really a great idea to lay down multiple colors it's going to make everything more interesting you see how those trees are already more interesting with that that deep purple in there um it's also a great idea to have a little congruency in your painting and to keep the colors um kind of consistent throughout so putting that purple in the deep grasses there is just going to make the painting more harmonious and um pull together better i wish i could think of all the right words to say here but it it just kind of creates the same and i think that's because of what happens in color and nature is that often the lighting and everything that's in the surroundings colors play upon each other so it's really just kind of emulating nature with that now again i'm doing the same thing in these foreground grasses i'm just establishing more of the darks but i'm also using various dark colors if i was just to use that dark actually i think that really dark color is more of like a dark burgundy really dark purplish color and then that medium to dark bluish purple there so it creates a lot more interest now i've got a darker green but it's not quite as dark in value as the the purples and the the dark burgundy i added there that's going to be more of a mid value color mid to dark value color and if you look again at the reference photo you can see where some of those um as i'm drawing squint your eyes and look at the reference photo and you can see where those middle area of the photographs where the roots of the flowers are going down that's what i'm establishing here and i'm going to progressively get a lighter touch and lighter values in the distance notice how i changed not here but in the other just a second ago the colors in the background oh actually that is lighter too i decreased the value as i moved back and i'm still establishing it throughout the painting to give some congruency and harmony there and i'm really just trying to emulate those grasses and roots of the flowers going down and gradually getting lighter and less detail as i move back into the background art is all about illusion i think i love art so much for multiple reasons but one of the reasons is i got very into illusion when i was a kid i um i don't like to call it magic because i think of magic is like dark magic but i love illusion i love um even optical illusions tricks of the eyes and things like that and that's exactly what art is it's an optical illusion we're taking a three-dimensional world and trying to represent it on a two dimensional surface so that it appears three-dimensional and uh it's really just a lot of rules you have to learn now a lot of people have a gift to be able to do this more naturally than others there are going to be those um wonderfully talented people i believe i have a gift of color and a gift of value but there's other gifts i don't have that some of you might have you know so the cool thing is is that if you love it and you're fascinated by it you can learn the rules you know and um that's really one of the great things is that if you just study it enough and um not only become a student of art become a student of nature that's the beautiful thing about god's world is that art allows you to see the world through an artist's eyes you're going to start looking at everything in a different way your friends and family may think you're strange because all of a sudden you're squinting when you're out with everybody and you're just looking at nature all the time and you really learn to start looking at the world and it's a beautiful thing because you start seeing um the beauty when many people are just looking at their cell phones so that's a great thing about being an artist so i just always want to encourage you guys to love our our earth that's so beautiful and to just continue to experience it as an artist so anyway a little more painting here just keep enjoying this process i know i sure was as i was painting i thought i would pop in here and add some commentary as i'm beginning to start the flowers in this part i'm choosing my reds and i'm starting to work on those background flowers which of course like we talked about before things in the distance don't have as much detail and they're smaller obviously sometimes you can also just really lay down almost like the side of your pastel and lay down like a light touch of a like a coating of flowers across the back instead of getting so specific some of my marks here are more like individual flowers and some are more like kind of groupings of flowers so you know you really have some options there but in the distance they're not going to be spaced as far apart as they would be in the foreground so that's why sometimes in the far distance you can do you know just almost like a a layer of flowers across the grass again i'm just creating that sense of illusion and depth i'm also trying to mimic the motion of the flowers if you notice the in the reference photo it almost looks like there's a slight hill to the field like it's bowed down so that's what i'm trying to emulate with those background flowers now a lot of times i will obviously the flowers in the foreground they're getting a little bit more brilliant in color i'm making my marks a little bit stronger and this is a terry ludwig pastel that you see i'm using here they are really just such a great pastel for putting on towards the end of your painting and they work really well when your painting or your surface has already had a lot of pastel layered onto it now i still at this point have a decent amount of tooth left to the pastel so i'm still able to get in some good layers what really helps with that too is the alcohol wash that i did in the beginning it tends to keep the pastels from getting so deep into the the grain or the grit that it allows you to to really have more of a surface to work on after the alcohol wash so that's really a benefit now i a lot of times like i said i lay down the darkest darks which is kind of like the base of the flower and then i'll put the petals on the lighter petals on on top of the darker color now those distance flowers they're actually even though typically you don't use warmer colors in the distance that part of the field back there it's not as bright in the photo as i've made it in my painting but i almost felt like the sun was like really just shining back there and so i chose more of a coral type of a red in the distance back there and again you barely see those up in the top of the field there in the top right you can barely even distinguish them as flowers so again things just getting more subtle and less detailed in the distance really helps to create that illusion so enjoy while i create more of these flowers and i've really been enjoying this painting i wanted to mention here that when you're painting flowers often we have this tendency to paint all of the petals and it's sort of paint them all the same way and that is not how it works in nature flowers have their own personality and often they're moving in different ways some are bending over some are facing different directions so think in terms of shapes when you're looking at your reference photo try to forget that they're flowers and just focus on the shape that they are and there's a fine line with painting quickly and painting messy so painting quickly and having it look impressionistic is something that comes with just lots of practice you know so your marks become more purposeful and this is also a point in the painting i like to mention i have the advantage when i videotape my process of being able to look back at different places where i'm like hmm it would have been nice to maybe stop sooner than i did that happens i'm sure many of you can relate and in this painting i was very happy with the final but i do all right at this point i like the looseness here maybe with just a few more grasses but i do decide to continue working and again it's all a learning process even for me well this was certainly a wonderful painting experience for me just to have some carefree and relaxing time to paint and really enjoy the process this one was fun so i hope you learned more about impressionistic painting and how to keep things loose and also i hope you'll subscribe to the channel if you like it you'll just have to hit the subscribe button or just click the icon with my face on it at the end of this video and again please join us in Monet cafe art group on facebook it's a growing community of artists of every level learning and growing together and as always happy painting feel free to check out some of my other tutorial videos because art truly does make life better


Hey Psych2Goers, welcome back. Are you an introvert?  Introversion and extroversion personality orientations were first created by psychologist Carl Jung in the early 1900s. Extroverts are more outspoken and get energy from interacting with other people, whereas introverts feel drained in social settings and prefer to keep more to themselves. Introversion and extroversion both exist on a vast spectrum, with varying traits to go along with each of these personality types. Are you curious if you're a true introvert or want to learn more about introversion? Here are 8 signs you are a true introvert. 1. You are very observant. Are you someone who's very observant? Do you like to people watch? Have you always been able to notice slight changes in your environment? When you're a true introvert, you are the first one to notice a friend's new haircut or their new outfit. You pick up on slight differences in a person's body language and facial expressions. You generally can read the room and recognize the energies that other people are bringing into your space. Introverts often learn things through careful observation rather than impulsive execution. This observant quality really helps you develop a heightened sense of your surroundings and the people within them. 2.  Do you think you're a good, active listener? Do you listen to and acknowledge your friends or family when they come to you with a problem? Introverts are good, active listeners. Dr. Lori Helgo, author of Introvert Power, Why Your Hidden Life Is Your Hidden Strength, states that introverts process information internally and that skill allows them to hear, understand, and provide carefully considered insight when they do respond. You tend to be the best one to go to when someone has to vent. You have the ability to set aside your personal thoughts and feelings in order to respectfully allow others to process and reflect on their emotions. You establish trust and transparency through how you attentively listen to others, so your friends and family probably count on you to be there for them and provide the support they need in the heat of the moment. 3. You are highly introspective. Are you remarkably introspective? Introverts have a very active internal monologue and are masterful at the art of introspective thinking. You have a natural curiosity and a reflective attitude that helps you to carefully devise plans in your head before moving forward and choosing to put them into action. This contemplative thinking allows you to keep in touch with your authenticity because you're able to closely monitor your thoughts, feelings, and emotions. 4. You think before you speak. Do you like to feel prepared before executing any plan of action, including a conversation? A true introvert feels the need to rehearse and carefully formulate approaches and responses to certain conversations. You think before you speak and choose your words wisely, especially in order to avoid miscommunications and misunderstandings. You most likely appreciate writing over talking, so you feel far more comfortable texting or writing an email rather than calling someone or talking in person. 5. You are creative. Do you think more outside the box? Do you have a unique or uncommon perspective on things and deal with abstract reasoning? True introverts are extraordinarily creative because you are introspective and curious. You seek out solutions to problems and are into creative problem solving. When social settings drain you as an introvert, you typically choose to relax through some sort of creative outlet. This lets you rest and recharge. After a long day at school or work, you look forward to spending time engaging in your favorite hobbies, whether it's cooking something delicious, playing music, writing in a journal, or indulging in self-care. 6. You experience emotions intensely. Are you very aware and in touch with your feelings? Do you feel the same way about the connections you have with other people? When you are a true introvert, you have a heightened level of emotional sensitivity. This sensitivity comes with both positive and negative impacts. For example, you might have a great amount of empathy for others, on one hand, but on the other hand, you might also struggle with mental health issues. A study conducted by the United States National Center for Biotechnology Information shows that introverts are more likely to develop depression. The study stated that introversion acts in concert with personality variables including neuroticism and a feeling type personality. The introverts, especially when under high levels of stress, can absorb and internalize external feelings and often misidentify those feelings as their own. Although this serves as an inconvenience at times, you also have the ability to feel great empathy for your fellow people. 7.  It's an occasion for any introvert to attend a social gathering. Because of this, you probably try to make every interaction with others meaningful. You are someone who values quality over quantity, and you'll use every opportunity to make a good first impression. You approach making connections with new people with intentions and mindfulness and thoughtfulness in order to formulate a secure foundation before having further interactions with other people. A true introvert is someone who networks thoughtfully and chooses to move with intention through a crowd or at a gathering. 8. You are an excellent leader. Do you have a skill set made up of compassionate leadership skills? True introverts can make some of the best leaders and role models. There's been Rosa Parks, Mahatma Gandhi, Barack Obama and Albert Einstein for example. These are just a few of the many people who have a great impact on the world and they achieved this with the help of their distinctively introverted qualities. When you are a mindful communicator, an amazing listener and are observant and introspective, this gives the ideal characteristics to successfully carry and coach a team of differing players. Do you relate to any of these signs of being a true introvert? Are you an introvert yourself? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below. Please like and share this video if it helped you and you think it could help someone else too. The studies and references used in this video are listed in the description below. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button for more Psych2Go videos and thank you for watching. We'll see you next time.


I have a circle on my calendar in my room on the bulletin board that this is when spring ball starts. And so I knew what time practice started and school would end and I'd get on my bike and ride over to from old part middle school to the Grunge High School and I'd be the only kid this little skinny peanut head kid sitting in the bleachers and I knew who all the players were. I knew where the position battles were and who needed to be replaced and I'd have my little pad and I'd be writing stuff down and take my own notes on players and I didn't know what I was doing but I just know I like the game and I like watching it and I was just a junkie. As a general manager, as a scout, my favorite thing to do is go in my office and close the door and put my headphones on and just watch tape. I can do it for 12, 14, 16 hours like it's nothing. I just escape and just watch film and evaluate players and it takes me right back to when I was 11 years old, little skinny kid in the bleachers watching those players by myself. My love and my passion for football, I think it comes directly from my father. He was a really good running back in high school and when I hear stories about him they talk about he wasn't the most talented guy, he wasn't the biggest or fastest or strongest but he just had this crazy work ethic. Terry wanted to do everything that he could for them to bond and for them to hang out and so when his dad would get weight in his garage, Terry would go outside and lift weights with his dad so they could spend some time together. I remember him showing me how to throw football. I remember a lot of nights in the backyard lifting weights with him because I wanted to be the best player I could be. So he just grew into him that this is what I want to do. I told myself at a young age that I was going to get a full paid scholarship. I told my parents to showing up to the grunge at 14 years old. Again, I was a late bloomer so I was still this little skinny kid and probably barely made the freshman team and coach called out a couple guys and said okay we want you to practice with Varsity. Obviously my name didn't get called but I just stayed back. The first Varsity game was against Jennings in Jennings, Louisiana, the Jennings Bulldogs and so we're about to go play that game and so we're all together in the auditorium and we're about to load the buses but coach has to do roll call to make sure everybody has a seat on the bus and so he does roll call, he calls everyone and then he said raise your hand if I didn't call your name. Obviously he didn't call my name because I just snuck in. I wasn't supposed to be on Varsity so I raised my hand. I said coach you didn't you didn't say my name. He said who are you and I said I'm Terry Fanno and so he let me get on the bus and I got to travel with Varsity and I kept practicing with Varsity even though I wasn't good enough to do it. There were a lot of lonely moments. I always tell my kids that hey leadership can be lonely sometimes and that's okay sometimes you're gonna be by yourself and I think of a lot of moments from my freshman year to my senior year when I'm by myself in the weight room, by myself on the field, by myself in the film room a lot of lonely moments but then my senior year whenever we had the signing day and I was the only person that from that football team that signed a scholarship that meant a lot to me. I didn't just want to play football and get the benefits of football. I really wanted to be challenged academically and really be a student athlete and get everything from it and Tulane afforded me the opportunity to do that. My senior year it was probably the it was really tough. My fourth game of the season we're playing East Carolina and I'm making a tackle got rolled up on and I broke my leg and I see my senior year going well in my mind. I want to have a great year be productive and who knows what happens after that playing a bowl game and just have a great experience my senior year and to break my leg at that time it was hard. I don't really think that we talked much about what his plan was because whatever it was just kind of ended you know that was it. And to have that abrupt ending in the game that I love so much and I've been playing really all my life and it was hard for it to end like that. Heather Ryan was she worked in academic services and she grabbed me and said hey Terry there could be an opportunity. She said because you didn't get another year you're not going to be playing there's an internship with the New Orleans Saints so let's get your resume together and apply for it. Now I got a phone call and I answered it was Janella Newsom who was the assistant director of community affairs for the Saints and she said Mr. Fontenot we got your resume and we'd like to interview to be an intern in marketing and community affairs and I said okay well can you tell me a little bit about the job description and so I said Miss Newsom I appreciate the call but I'm going to respectfully decline have a good day and I hung up and I get my keys and I'm about to go to work and so I walk out the door and I open the door and the phone rings again so I go back and answer the phone and Janella said Terry do you realize what people do to get their foot in the door in the National Football League? This is a big deal I really think you should consider interviewing. I did that I went and interviewed it worked out I got the job and a few years ago Janella she doesn't work for the Saints anymore but she just happened to be at the facility and and she said you remember when I called you back I think you did the right thing by accepting that call. You're at this very low point because you've played football your whole life and now it's done like what's next and this opportunity came so I mean we always think of it as like it's this blessing that just kind of happened. I had a plan for myself I knew what my plan wasn't what I wanted to do but obviously God had other plans and so for that to happen for me to break my leg and for things to work out for me to get that opportunity with the Saints it was meant to be. I bought a disposable camera and I said take a picture of him for my first day of work and I took a picture and man and I look back at that picture sometimes and look at that the kid and I'm like he has no clue. He was working in marketing and they were doing these caravans where I think they're head coach in GM and a few players they drive around to these little cities and do these appearances at the mall and he was setting up the merchandise table and I mean he knew that's really not what he wanted to do but he struck up a relationship with their GM Mickey Loomis and their relationship just formed over those caravans. I would do my job and then after I was done with my responsibilities in marketing and community affairs and I would just go ask question but they just took the time to this eager hungry marketing intern to just spend some time with me and just help me out a little bit and that meant a lot. I mean the person that Terry is he's he really was able to form relationships and absorb as much as he could from everybody that was around him just to kind of find out how the building ran how different parts of the NFL worked that that he had no idea. In every promotion that I got within the Saints organization I called Tanya and tell her about it and I'm excited this happened and then I'd hang up and she might not see me that night because I might stay at work all night because I want to make sure I do the very best that I can. So my head was always down and you don't think about a lot of celebrating or a lot of taking time to really appreciate it because you're just worried about doing the very best you can with that next opportunity. If your names mentioned as a possible general manager that means a lot because there's only 32. All he wanted to do was work and make the team better and do what he could do to make the Saints better. I mean there would be reports and rumors and talks and stuff but I mean it was never really a conversation that we had. The team I was on had won a lot of football games and we're doing well and we're winning championships and that's what that's what matters and so I felt like I never felt that it was something specifically about me. It was about the organization I was a part of and what I meant to the organization. It means a lot to you and you just put your head down and keep working. During the time of his interviews what is a crazy story is that our house flooded in New Orleans so we had to move out of our house all six of us so the Saints played the Christmas day game then two days later he calls me and says he tested positive for COVID. I had a quarantine so I was quarantining in an apartment for I guess a two week period and that was exactly the time where my interview started. Good morning Terry how are you sir? Good morning Mr. Blank how's everybody doing? We're doing great it's so good to see you and thank you for spending time with us today. For you guys to spend some time with me and give me an opportunity to talk to you guys I'm really excited about this opportunity. Thank you Terry I appreciate that. Once I really did a lot of digging into the organization and and into Atlanta that this was the job I wanted. And new today the Atlanta Falcons announce its new general manager here he is right here 40 year old Terry Fontenot comes to Atlanta after spending 16 seasons with the vision rival New Orleans. Deciding to come to our rival you know without that's kind of tough so we sat down we prayed about it a lot we had a lot of conversations with the kids you know in our hearts we knew this is where it was. 18 years ago Mickey Loomis pulled in a 20 year old kid. In my press conference I got emotional but what really happened in that moment is I had never I had never took time to appreciate it. And he really gave me the opportunity of a lifetime in not just my professional growth but my personal growth he's done so much for my family and not just Mickey the entire Saints organization starting with the late Mr. Benson.  So I had never really appreciated it and so just in that moment though in the press conference my wife Tanya and the girls are right next to me and they get all their falcons gear on they're on the couch on the side of me I can see them to the right and then right in front of me is my son Caden and he's got all the falcons gear on and he's looking up at me and I can see that proud look he's really proud of his dad in that moment and so I see this and then you really think about the little peanut hay kid that snuck on the varsity team and then got a scholarship to Tulane you think about all those moments and all those people throughout your path that helped you so much throughout that and it kind of when you say things out loud it's not just Mickey but so many people that helped me I kind of got a little emotional thinking about that. I remember my first conversation with author Smith and when we talked about the type of team we wanted to build and the type of what we wanted to bring to this organization and we were speaking the same language we talked about smart tough highly competitive players that that are great teammates and and we want to bring in great character players. It's nice because it's not just he hasn't just had one job he only knows one way you know he's got an understanding he's been in a different part of the building he worked his way up I knew he was the guy that I you know I look at it was a guy you want to want to be a teammate with and that's certainly the case with Terry. And he's such a good person and and having that partnership with him and we went through some challenges and went through those challenges together. He's the right guy I like that both of us think we don't have these frail egos we'll listen and we don't understand we're paid to make decisions and we're going to make it in the best interest of the Falcons and as long as you've got that as your as your objective and your focus we can do some special things. So going through that draft process a lot of people work really hard to get to those moments and it's a very inclusive process but being able to pull those cards off and make those phone calls and just hear that raw emotion of those players it was it was a priceless experience and one that I'll never forget. Hello. Outfits. This is Terry in Atlanta how you doing man? I'm good how you doing? Want to be a Southman? Yes sir. All right man we're gonna try to party right here. Appreciate the opportunity. I'm ready. We've the fourth pick in the 2021 NFL draft. The Atlanta Falcons select Kyle Pitts. Titan Florida. And I'll always remember what this team did this year and because I believe we're setting a foundation and so this year is always going to be meaningful and I have faith in this and in this opportunity and what we're going to do here and we're going we're going to outwork everyone and so I'm excited and when I think back to this year I think about the challenges and what they're going to mean for us moving forward.


Welcome to Inside Hawaii Real Estate, a show dedicated to providing up-to-date information used to Hawaii home buyers, sellers, and investors. I'm Will Tanaka with my co-host, business partner, and wife, Leonie Lam, a realtor with over 20 years' experience in various leadership roles in the Hawaii real estate industry. Thanks, Will. Will is a lawyer. I'm the former head of a Hawaii title and estro company. And now that we're full-time in real estate, we work as a team to bring you the latest in Hawaii real estate. And today we have an awesome guest who are looking forward to talking about important factors that you might want to consider about owning a condominium in Hawaii. We're also going to be learning from an expert about conflict resolution in Hawaii real estate. Can't wait! And the moment has arrived. Here's our special guest, Matthew T. Evans Esquire, a director of a highly-respected law firm in Hawaii, Damien Kee Leon Kupchak-Hastert. And I remember back in our youth, well, my youth, because you're still a young bat, we used to play in the Lawyers' Basketball League. Remember those days? I do remember them. They seem very distant, but I do remember them. And that's the Pacific Business News 40 under 40. And his focus and expertise is on real estate and condo law, of course, business and commercial law, construction law, creditors' rights and litigation and dispute resolution. And did you know Matt is a board of director of Meritas, a worldwide alliance of law firms across 240 global markets? Wow. Welcome, Matt. Welcome, Matt. Thank you guys. Happy to be here.  I'm super excited to be here. And thanks for shouting out that I was 40 under 40 at one point in time, although I'm no longer under 40, unfortunately. But it's all good. Happy to be here. So did you know that as of a couple of years ago, reported data showed that there were over 173,000 condo units on Oahu alone? And right now in the market, there are 1,123 fee-simple condo and townhome units active for sale across the island. And that's in contrast to just 643 single family homes active on the market right now. So Matt, will you please help us to understand what does it mean to own a condo in Hawaii? What is a condo? Sure. And those are interesting stats that I hadn't heard. And it's not surprising, though, I think that to hear those numbers given that in Hawaii, where I grew up anyway, we've always known that there's a finite supply of land available for purchase. And how are you going to own and sell and purchase land? And so that's really what a condo is. And what it comes down to is that it's just another way to own real property in Hawaii and elsewhere.  Condominiums are a creation of laws in relatively recent times as a means to own property whereby you do own a separate portion and that you actually have a D2. It is yours. You own the legal title to that portion of property. But you also share other portions of property, we call them common elements, through an undivided interest with the other condominium owners of your project or your property. And so it's just a different way to own property in Hawaii, where you're sharing portions of it with others. And we do have a statute in Hawaii that which governs and creates allows the creation of condominiums. And that's Hawaii Revised Statues Chapter 514B. We don't need to get into the details, but it's a legal creation. And thankfully, you know, we have the reason we're seeing a lot more, I think condominiums these days is because of the land shortage. And we're seeing a lot more of vertical construction rather than swaths of land being developed and for obvious reasons. But that's what condominium ownership means in a nutshell. Okay, let's unpack that a little bit, because I mean, I just learned so much. So, you know, when we think about condos, we always think about most people think about vertical condos, high riser condos. And then I think you kind of mentioned, you know, in our pre discussion about there's horizontal condominium property regimes or, you know, it could be like almost like a single family home, but still condo. Is that right? Yeah, definitely. And I mean, I think that when people hear the word condominium colloquially, people that are maybe not, don't have a real estate background or aren't lawyers or haven't looked at the actual law creating or governing condominiums, I think that there is a misconception that, oh, condominium equals apartment in a high rise building or a 10 story building, what have you. But condominiums, and they do often look like that in the developments that we're seeing in many portions of, you know, especially the downtown core near Alamoana or in Kakaako, we are seeing those high rise condominiums being developed and sold, but there are all types of condominiums and they can look like single family homes. And if you didn't look at the title to the property or you weren't actively purchasing it, you might never know that something is legally and technically a condominium versus just what people might think of as a normal single family home. And so you can find those all over the island and certain, you know, if a developer owns a big swath of land, and they it's another way for them to package it and sell it without having to go through the subdivision process at the city level. And so when you're looking out, whether you're, you know, if you're going to be purchasing property, you might be looking at buying a condominium, even if you don't know it, but at some point in the process, you'll figure it out. But a good point that condominiums can come in all shapes and sizes. In fact, there are commercial condominium units as well in many of these buildings and properties. I know our focus today is probably residential, but to your point, they can come in many different shapes and sizes. In terms of, you know, people who are looking to condos and some of the benefits of purchasing condos, can you get into that a little bit? You know, and I'll say this from, I have experience as an attorney working with condominium associations, condominium managing agents, and I also have lived in a condominium for many years. So I have multiple hats in terms of that I can wear when I talk about this. But I think generally speaking, from a 30,000 foot level, some of the benefit, the typical benefits that people think about when they own a condominium is that there's a shared maintenance obligation so that people, if you're like me and you're not really interested in cutting your own grass all the time or worrying about the chipping paint on your garage, worrying about, oh, do I have to, you know, upgrade the pipes in my kitchen? If you're not really into the day-to-day maintenance of caring for your own home, then condominium ownership might be for you because there's a shared responsibility and the ability to delegate those types of maintenance functions to a board of directors that's charged with managing the affairs of the association for the condominium, as what we call it, and hiring vendors and people to help you manage the property. Other benefits that you might think of, common benefits, particularly for, you know, like the high-rise condominiums that we're seeing being built in Cacaco and near Alamoana Center, some of them have 24-hour security or front desk services or concierge services even. Sometimes if you buy a condominium unit in some of these newer projects anyway, you have really, really nice amenities that you probably wouldn't find elsewhere if you're buying a single-family home, you know, a pool that's super, super nice, a gym so you don't have to, you know, pay for a separate gym membership. Some of these newer condos are even going to have things like bowling alleys. I mean, the amenity list goes on and on. So it's a way to avail yourself of what might be perceived as luxury-type experiences or amenities that you wouldn't get necessarily with a typical single-family home purchase. And I think the last benefit that people will often think about is that you just get a general sense of community because you're, you know, you could be owning this property with 400 other families and you have a say in the direction of how the property is being used and enjoyed. And to that end, you guys have, you'll have a lot of shared experiences and shared incentives to care for and maintain your property. And so that's attractive to some people, the idea that I'm going to be living in this kind of community with others that are like-minded individuals. How about some reasons that, you know, someone, you know, looking into a condo, they may not like about a condo. Well, like this angle is there's two sides to every coin and there's certainly downsides or perceived downsides. I think the biggest one and the most obvious one that people think about that if you have never owned a condo, you might be surprised that there's something called monthly maintenance fees that you're going to have to pay as a product of ownership of owning a condo. It's the other side of that equation. If you're a person that doesn't like cutting your grass or having to repaint the outside of your house, you got to pay someone to do it. And the way condominium associations accomplish that is by having the unit owners, whether it's 20 of you that make up this condominium association or 400 of you, pay monthly fees into a big pot that is used to fund the operations and maintenance requirements of a condominium property on an ongoing basis. And that entails not just projects that are maintenance issues that need to be addressed now but, you know, planning for the future as well. So those maintenance fees tend to go up year over year and that's something to consider if you're going to be purchasing a condominium. Budgeting for that, it's, even if the best planning can't always anticipate every need that's going to pop up in the next 10, 20, 30 years of condominium ownership. So something to think about and plan for. Another potential, I guess, downside you can call it is that if you're a person that really is interested in, you don't like people telling you what to do, in condominium ownership, you give up some of your rights and your ability to dictate how you would want to make this decision with respect to your property. You know, by agreeing to own a condo, you are also agreeing to abide by the rules that are in place for the use of your property. Those are set forth in governing documents like a condominium's declaration, the bylaws, what's governance for directors, house rules. You are giving up a certain amount of rights. For example, maybe you have to get permission to do a renovation of your unit, which you wouldn't have to do if you just owned a residential single family zoning parcel. So there's give and take. Those are kind of the two big ones I would say. I would also say that if you like your privacy, I think of some people in my own life that were considering owning a condo and these are people that really, really value their privacy, that don't want people looking at them if they're not wearing covered shoes or don't want to have to put on a change out of their pajamas to go get the mail.  And so I guess if you're a really private person, that's something to consider as well.  But then that condominium associations have boards, they have to. And so if I was living in a condo and I wanted to get involved, I mean, do you think that would be a good idea to help, you know, to have a voice or is it like a rewarding thing to do? Or is it beneficial? Like what are your thoughts? Yeah, I think that that is, you're right. So condominium is run by its association and the association acts through typically its board of directors and that's set forth under the condo statute. And so, you know, I think that the answer to your question is that it really depends on the type of person you are. I think that if you're considering whether you want to, you know, put your name in the hat to run for a position on your board of directors for your condominium association, you know, you certainly will have more of a direct say about the direction of the property as a whole about how the association is going to be spending those maintenance fees that they've collected from all the unit owners. And so to the extent you want to kind of control your own destiny, sure, that's one way you can do it is by agreeing to serve on the board of directors. Kind of the flip side of that is that it does tend to take a lot of time and also fairly or unfairly when things don't go right or when someone inevitably disagrees with a decision that you might have been a part of, they're likely to voice that. And so if you are a person that does not want the responsibility of having to answer for potentially three or 400 other unit owners, that's something to be cognizant of. You know, I think that you all should need to understand that if you're going to be throwing your name in the hat to be a board of director or a member of the board of directors for your condominium is that you need to be, you need to understand that you in that capacity will be acting as a fiduciary. Now that's just a fancy word that lawyers like to use for describing these duties of care and loyalty that you have in terms of making decisions in a prudent manner for the betterment of the association. You have to put aside your own personal feelings, your own personal inclinations that might be that you might normally make from a selfish perspective and say what's good for the association or for my fellow unit owners. And in exercising and conducting yourself, there are legal requirements that dictate your behavior that if you don't follow them could open you up to potential exposure in terms of liability as well. And so there's a lot to consider to that end anyway whenever someone's looking to join a board of directors, they should also ask themselves, you know, does the association have the right type of insurance coverage in place, namely directors and officers liability coverage and what does that look like? Yes, I'm gonna hear, I'm gonna do my best to make decisions on behalf of the association that I think are smart and are well-reasoned and well thought out. If I happen to get, you know, be on the other side of a claim from someone that thinks or that disagrees with the job I'm doing, is there protection for me and what does that look like? Hey, Matt, you know, just get into the increasing maintenance fees because I remember I used to live in a condo every January or December and I get a notice like, hey, your fees are increasing in January, you know, of the following year. So when it comes to a decision to increase the fees, how does that work? Is there, you know, like, do they have several meetings and then the board are the sole decision maker collectively? You know, are there any other way for the other condo owners to say, you know what, I object. We don't need, you know, we have enough reserves, we don't need to increase the fees. Can you talk a little bit about that process? Sure. You know, every condominium is going to handle it a little differently depending on their yearly cycle and their, whether they operate on a fiscal year or a calendar year, but generally speaking, most times the annual budgeting, it happens annually, the budgeting process and many associations like the ones we're talking about, you know, that are hundreds of units together are going to have a managing agent involved to assist with the annual budgeting process, the planning for what the maintenance fees are going to go to towards in the following year's operating budget versus setting aside and reserve funds for potential future capital improvement projects or repair work that's coming down the pipe. So that does tend to happen on an annual basis. Now, if you are a unit owner that does not have a direct voice as a member of the board of directors, your way to participate in that process is to actively attend the scheduled board meetings, certainly attend your annual association meeting whereby, you know, talk about certain aspects and you vote the board of directors on, but ultimately that decision rests with the board of directors to adopt the budget for the following year. Now, there's nothing that requires, well, there are certain technical requirements about how much money you need to set aside to be considered fully funded for your reserves and there are certain things to look at. But generally speaking, the board of directors has pretty wide discretion to say whether maintenance fees should increase or not. Now, because costs and the costs of operating and maintaining property tend to go up, as you know, as we all know, it's obvious, those maintenance fees are likely to go up as well. And so even if you have, even if things go well, it's very rare to see a situation where maintenance fees are going to be kept flat for even a year, even two years. They're likely to increase even by a small percentage, whether that's 2%, 3% every year. And now every now and then, if you have an unanticipated budgeting expense or let's say something happened, plumbing, a big plumbing issue happened in your high-rise building and they have to replace the plumbing, the pipes throughout. That's a big, you know, capital repair project that's going to cost a lot of bucks. And so sometimes the associations don't have that money set aside. And then what happens is that you might, if you're owning a condo, you might find yourself getting a letter saying, hey, we're going to have to charge you a special assessment, which is basically a special, I don't want to call it a fine, but a charge to say, look, we're going to need, whether it's $5,000, $10,000 from each unit owner, because we have this unbudgeted expense that we weren't anticipating. And so again, you know, I'm not trying to scare people away from condo ownership. There's a lot of upside, but those are things that can happen. And it can be a very divisive issue among unit owners when there's disagreement about, do we need to raise the maintenance fees or not? And, you know, I'm aware of situations where unit owners have been unhappy. And when you're looking at, is this a right condominium project for me, whether that's the high-rise or any other sort of condominium property regime? One of the things to consider is, what does the financial picture look like for this association? Are they well funded? Have they been well managed over the last 10 years? Those are questions you should be asking as part of the purchasing and the transaction, you know, prior to closing, so that you know if you, once you close on this unit, that you can expect to be a part of a well-operated, a well-oiled machine for that particular association. That's super good advice, I think, that anyone should consider, because there's, like anything else, there's pros and cons, right? But as you're talking about some of the other sides to condo ownership, it kind of brings up, you know, segueing over to disputes. In your experience, I mean, you have, what kind of disputes have you seen arise with condo associations or condos in general, condo ownership? Sure. I mean, the disputes can vary like they can with any industry, you know, when you're, when you've agreed basically to share ownership of property with others, especially on some of these larger projects where you might be in an association with several hundreds of members that you're in, you're one of them, inevitably, you know, you've basically chosen a life where you're touching more people, more third-party contractors, your association ends up having employees, whether it's a security guard or people that help you maintain the property.  Vendors is an example would be, you know, the maintenance company that or the company that maintains the elevators, if they're not doing a good job and we got to get it, you got, we got to hire the association's lawyer to write them a letter. People don't necessarily realize that if you're a member of a larger association, you're likely to have actual employees that are employed by the association, like an employer, and therefore you find yourself having to comply with labor laws and things like, you know, payroll taxes. And then finally, the owner association disputes are kind of are pretty common in the sense that that's kind of what we were talking about, Will, when we're talking about an owner that might not like the direction that the board of directors is taking the property and say, you know, I object or I don't I don't like this and you find yourself embroiled in either a dispute whereby an owner is saying to the board, I think you've done something wrong or I think you've gone beyond your the power that you're delegated under our bylaws but the disputes are are wide ranging. And, you know, I do think it's an important consideration. It's hard for me to sit here and say that just because you live in a condominium versus owning a single family, you know, the zoning parcel that you're you're then likely to have more disputes in your life. So I'm not just saying that necessarily, although I do think that by owning property this way, just because there's more necessary interaction with others is perhaps more likely than not, you know, in another situation. Understood.  So what happens next between owners? Well, it depends on the process that's outlined in that the associations are condominium property regimes, house rules, or they're governing documents. A lot of well written condo declarations or house rules will explain the procedures very clearly about if you need to make a complaint, this is what happens. Now in the condominium statute, there is required or mandatory mediation for certain types of disputes, namely those disputes that involve kind of the interpretation or enforcement of the governing documents, you know, that's what we refer to as the declaration, the bylaws, the house rules. If you're dispute with a unit owner or the board of directors or the properties managing agent has to do with interpreting or enforcing those documents, the applicable statute in Hawaii requires that you first go through mediation. In other words, you wouldn't be you wouldn't be going to filing a formal lawsuit against anybody. You might be starting that process with a complaint to the board of directors, and then you might find yourself in a mandatory mediation setting. Now, what that means, it can take many different forms, but generally speaking, mediation just involves two parties agreeing to have a third party neutral involved to help them see kind of the other side's perspective and see whether we the parties might be able to negotiate towards a resolution that would kind of nip things in the bud, hopefully. And if not, is there a way to negotiate some sort of compromise where both parties can live with, even if it's not their first choice, right? I think that mediation is in mediation, it's important to understand that no party, if mediation is successful, no party is likely to get what they want, because that's antithetical to the idea of compromising. But if both parties are open to the idea of giving a little to accomplish solving a problem, and I'm moving forward, then I think mediation can be really, really useful. And like I said, in certain instances, you're not going to have a choice anyway, you're going to be compelled to do that if you think you have a problem with somebody. So as a parent of multiple children, I can see how I'm a mediator, like on a daily basis, basically. But how does that differ from arbitration? So mediation arbitration are people might hear those words kind of coupled together a lot. And that is because they're both where lawyers talk about being alternative dispute resolution processes, but they are very different. Mediation involves negotiating with a third party in a non-binding manner, whereas arbitration is more like a trial, what you might think of as a trial in a courtroom, except it happens privately, it happens outside of the courtroom. An arbitrator, instead of a judge, listens to your case, listens to the evidence you want to put on, and makes a decision about who's right or wrong and what the remedy might be. And so what's interesting about these types of disputes is that the same type of disputes that are subject to mandatory mediation under Hawaii's condo statute are also subject to mandatory arbitration as well. So if mediation fails and the parties don't reach a resolution, you might be compelled to go through this next step of arbitration as kind of a compelled next step. What's different about the arbitration that's contemplated under Chapter 514b versus other types of binding arbitration is that you do have a statutory right for what lawyers call a trial de novo, which just means if you don't like the outcome of the arbitration, you do have the ability to actually proceed to court and challenge that. There are certain hoops you have to jump through, and there's certain risk associated with that that are probably well beyond the scope of today's discussion. But that's an interesting tidbit, whereas many times in a commercial context or in any number of different contexts, if you submit a dispute to arbitration, that result's going to be binding in a sense that you're not really going to have a right to go to court after, except for a very, very limited basis, whereas under the statute in Hawaii, the condo statute, it does contemplate you being able to request a new trial, basically, and saying, you know what? I don't like how this arbitration went, and I'm going to move forward. Now, hopefully, having gone through mediation and then the arbitration, you would hope that people would find a way to say, this is enough already, and I'm done with it. And I think that's why the statute is set up that way, to save our court system from having a gazillion complaints filed by unhappy unit owners or other aspects of condominium ownership. But there is that ability, anyway, to kind of have a trial de novo if it comes to that. Well, this has been a super educational experience for us, Matt. We so much appreciate it. And if there's any last words for a viewer about dispute resolution, condo ownership, I'm going to put you on the spot. You're still on the basketball court. Any last words for viewers? No, I mean, I would just say this, like, if you're going to be owning a condominium, and if you're going to be, I don't want to plug attorneys necessarily, but seek legal advice about if you're unsure about the implications of owning a condo, what your obligations might be. If you're on a board of directors and you're not sure whether you're exercising your business judgment or fiduciary responsibility correctly, you know, there are attorneys in town that specialize in that area. And I would encourage everyone to contact their lawyer to get some help if needed. And how would they reach you? Oh, me? Oh, there you are. Yeah, thanks for that. Thank you so much, Matt. Yeah, you're welcome. I'm happy to have participated.  It's awesome, like I told you before. And I really appreciate the opportunity. And thanks for having me. We appreciate you so much. Thank you so much, Matt. Okay, thanks, guys. Thank you, Matt. Aloha. Aloha.


A night vision CCTV camera. Sometimes referred to as an infrared camera or an IR camera is a type of security camera that is designed to capture clear images in low light or even no light conditions. Night vision security cameras use special infrared, IR, LEDs to illuminate an area and provide clear video footage, even in darkest. Furthermore, these cameras are still effective during the daytime. As a result, night vision CCTV cameras allow you to have full 24 hour coverage of your premises. How does a night vision CCTV camera work? Night vision CCTV cameras have special image sensors that allow them to see in low light conditions by amplifying available light. The infrared LEDs are strategically placed around the outer edges of the camera lens. This is what gives the camera its ability to see in complete darkness. What to consider when choosing a night vision CCTV? Infrared night vision CCTV cameras are a great way to improve the security of your home or business. But before you buy one, there are a few things you need to consider. How far away do you need to see? Infrared night vision CCTV cameras have different ranges, so you need to pick one that will suit your needs. Much like a standard camera, IR cameras also come in different shapes, sizes, and abilities. For a better quality CCTV, ensure the camera you're deploying has an infrared illumination distance that is suitable to capture the intended area. Higher quality cameras are able to illuminate objects that are more than 150 feet away. The distance covered can be located in the specifications. A common issue faced when using IR cameras is the whiteout effect. This is when a camera has over illuminated an object, causing it to be no longer visible. This often happens when an object gets closer to the camera. As a solution to this problem, look for a camera with a dynamic smart IR option. Alternatively, a camera with built-in LEDs which automatically adjusts to compensate for the distance of the object being captured. Where is CCTV camera footage stored? A CCTV NVR is a network video recorder that allows you to record, store and view footage from your CCTV cameras. NVRs are used in conjunction with IP cameras which send their footage over an internet connection. This means that you can view your CCTV footage from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection. A CCTV DVR is a digital video recorder that captures and stores footage from security cameras. This type of device is typically used in commercial and industrial settings, as it provides a convenient way to monitor activity on the premises. CCTV DVRs can be connected to multiple cameras, allowing operators to view live or recorded footage from multiple angles. An NVR is the most common solution with today's security systems. NVRs come in a variety of different sizes and can be either standalone or PC-based. Standalone NVRs are purpose-built for CCTV recording, and come with their own operating system, storage, and management software. PC-based NVRs use your existing computer hardware, and install the relevant CCTV software onto it. This can be a more cost-effective solution if you already have a computer that meets the minimum requirements. For our video on DVR versus NVR follow link in the description area. What are the benefits of using a CCTV NVR? There are many benefits to using a CCTV NVR over a traditional DVR. The main benefit is that you can view your footage from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection. This is perfect if you need to check on your property while you are away, or if you want to share footage with the police or insurance company. Another benefit of using a CCTV NVR is that they offer better storage options than DVRs. DVRs store footage onto hard drives which can quickly fill up and become expensive to replace. NVRs, on the other hand, can store footage onto cheaper and more reliable network-attached storage, NAS, devices. For further assistance or a free survey, please email or call on the details below, and click like and subscribe if you have enjoyed this video.


What's going on guys got Kyle and Sean here with Leighton sports cards and we are ripping this one is the immaculate luminance of elite patches mixer This is six box NFL mixer number eight did a random before the break Show you guys again. We had Joseph L with the cardinals down to John M with the Ravens You can always find those on our website Leighton sports cards comm underneath the personal or the Results tab at the very bottom results tab Good luck. We'll start with the elite Save the iMac for last got a full case iMac Collegiate coming next and then we'll end the night with a divisions black football Then we'll get going on some personals on this one guys six box NFL mixer Walmart and Jackson Hole. I imagine it's probably pretty uh My buddy's uh, he's been to Jackson Hole a few times. It's pretty nice up there Tyler Boyd on the highlight base base It's a 99 is Travis Kelsey Spellbound K. There's no K in swelcy Or swifcy swelcy It's a rookie Bijan Robinson. Nice one there at lana That's the one per box on those nice Bijan. Oh really? Walmart put so much money in it's really in arkansas. Yeah, right where they started There's a it's a 99 nice aspirations. Um, homie. That one was you joseph The Bijan was you to 49. There's brian breece rookie space there A rookie of will Anderson Really brand new airport. Yeah, it's kind of wild Yeah, yeah, yeah, but they still have it 149 is ridder you talking about on ebay joe I can do that. I'll sit. I'll leave uh, no I think you've uh, you got a few with us. I got you a rookie elitist. That one is tyree wilson filler face vets Aaron down There's a chamore connor. There is a 2999 rookie for uh, kc. There's a jersey to 99. That's a craftsman almond raw almond raw 299 alliance and brock purdy to 399 Got you joe. I'll leave a note. I'll leave a note for um for lane to look at. Let's go. Good luck everybody a lemar jackson playmakers base veterans Hot even hot 399 ken walker. I still can't be the holland.  We hit the vessel one Two big ones two of them go chris It's a uh, elitist that one is josh alan base veterans a dorian thompson robinson for the browns 399 for the browns is um Mr. Sean's supposed to play this weekend I know he sat out like his own decision the other week Wasn't like a he got off the injured report and then sat out still say rookie divan a chan Sean's boy Portsing on the ir So, uh, I think most are gonna be eating here for the next couple weeks Yeah, most are gonna be eating. There's a jade marie rookie Packers to the 999 and auto to 99 is gonna be josh van for the cardinals. Oh really? I forgot about claypool Forgot about that. Yeah, he wasn't trying with the bears He was not trying at all with the bears Right Got jalen waddle and uh tyree taking some pressure off him. I'm sure he'll be ready to go It's a 999 rookie for the uh, uh bucks calia chancey and nice the 249 there we go, uh, joseph That's a turn of the century auto bijan robinson Here we go to 249 joseph Bijan's a beast That catch in england went behind the backcatch that thing was crazy That was crazy. I don't know why I put the kid reporters on the front. Andrew thomas high life base base base Yeah, guys, we do have dual release day tomorrow to uh 149 jamir gibbs We'll have lane on fanatics live. He'll have some um gold standard football release day He also has pick your college breaks on bowman. You we haven't done any of those yet on the main channel or on fanatics So if you guys are interested in that, um, he's got those listed already for tomorrow It's tomorrow morning with lane over on fanatics got pick your college and then we got some um Gold standard release day There is spellbound to 349 jamar chase But yeah, sammy starts the day with a um, let's do luminance next luminance sammy starts the day with a tops update Case and then he gets going on some gold standard He ends the day with that full case of bowman chrome hobby or bone chrome you hobby So you guys are looking to get into some more bowman I think it's the time man lane and uh stand tomorrow There's the link right there It's the link to the break schedule guys check it out Check it out. There's a um to 100 that one Stetson Bennett. Nice there rookie, uh for the ramps redemption It is darnel washington year one signatures rps. That'll be the big tight end out of georgia for the uh steelers Steelers there darnel washington Year one auto on card and a jalen high dynamic rookie jalen hi at giants There's a desmond ridder that one is to um 250 on the yellow And nice this kid's been killing it sam la porta on the auto for the lions Nice one there lions. He has been killing it As uh most iowa tight ends do Nice one there sam la porta on card and unforgettable mike will Look at the look at the rams defenders and staring at him like what? How you making that catch on the sideline like dang Yeah, I know man All the chargers receivers gonna have that problem To 200 a shunt clippard rookie And another auto is going to be tucker craft to uh 350 A third auto out of there with the redemption dynamic hinden hooker I don't know the deal with that This one is going to be jordy nelson on the jersey vintage materials to 50 Jordy and that is davis mills to 10 nice one there taxons low numbered mills mafia And to 175 jalen hyatt and jalen guadal box two of luminance Has this our maculate luminance of elite patches six box mixer. Good luck. Good luck everybody next up We have iMac collegiate and then we're ending the night with um black football black football division style To 250 is michael parson's And nice one vikings. We got on card auto jordan adison Rookie year one auto vikings nice one there. I think he'll have some nice uh Some nice days coming up with j jettison. I are Nice jordan adison and unforgettable is damar hamlin Was he hurt too? Dang Then I guess it's kj osborne and hawkinson time. They're already one and four. That's not good Sam la porto to 200 And rater is going to be on card red auto tyree wilson nice one there The defensive end for the raiders red on card Unforgettable is levis roquan smith brian brice this one is to 175 taijie spears and good for the um Titan so far and auto it's a 350 cedric tilman for the browns Out of tennessee This one is going to be aiden hutchinson bright beginnings jersey out of uh for the lions And is a flower still 100 bravance On the back baker for mvp number to 50 on the orange Bake show and a fusion of john taylor All righty guys two elites uh two plates and patches and then we got a iMac Close it out on the mixer. Good luck here guys Uh plate this one is patent manning for the cults Is numbered to 35 I think manning to 35 Got a will levis space rookie Titans This one is swag champ on the jersey to 75. It's going to be dk DK metcalf swag champ for the seahawks And auto this one is gabe davis the 149 for the beals um historic hallmarks gabe davis Oh for receiving tds in a playoff game. That's right That was that chiefs game right that crazy one Gabe davis the 149 for playoff touchdowns And on the back to 300 got tank dell steel signatures Tank dell for houston All righty guys one more plates Hey, there we go Former ucf night man local guy We'll take it And with the iMac nice. We got a nuclear. This is gonna be short print for the cardinals It is going to be nuclear of um kyler murray Nice one there cardinals on the short print nuclear auto this one is steel signatures seven of seven michael um wilson Nice one there cardinals rookie had a couple touchdowns the other other week Nice one there to seven real low numbered on the silver ink steel signatures This one is the 50. It's going to be highly revered auto navarro bowman Beast for the niners highly revered nice one niners 50 of 50 We have dual jersey this 55 is zaks charbonate seahawks And jumbo jersey full coverage to 45 is going to be zack evans rams rookie All right guys just one more here iMac collegiate Good luck. Good luck. This is the immaculate luminance of elite patches six box mixer Do Got brock purdy on the front some 99 Niners on the purdy thick ones out for this one. There's a it's a 36 deuce vaughn That's going to go to the cowboys cowboys deuce vaughn on the jumbo. It's a thick one there thick one Cowboys deuce vaughn Got this is going to be lions rookie out of some 99 brian branch out of bamma Pick six mahogans the beginning of the year brian branch All right another one for um dallas is going to be the 65 deuce vaughn again this time on the rpa deuce vaughn to 65 for dallas And this one is seahawks. It's going to be jackson smith and jigba 10 of 25 nice one there jackson smith out of the ohau state university and This one is xavian valeday 225 on the rpa out of arizona state He looked that one up. I remember sam saying he's changed teams a couple times. So it says jets says jets So i'll go to the jets here xavian valeday 125 on the rpa running back out of arizona state for the jets All right, all right guys that will do it for the immaculate luminance of elite patches six box nfl mixer number eight Let's do a quick hit recap here and we'll get going on to The next one. It's more an iMac We had deuce vaughn to 36 cowboys um zack charvenay To 45 zack evans had swag champ dk to 75 bright futures or bright beginnings aiden hudgensen to 50 jordy nelson and to 99 uh almond raw We had rpa jackson smith to 25 nice one there seahawks um to 65 for the cowboys deuce vaughn to 99 lions brian branch Um niners to 50 is navarro bowman have to seven steel signatures michael wilson nice one there cardinals Little number michael wilson steel signatures tank del houston have um to 149 gape davis There's cedric tilman to 250. I'm sorry 350. Um red ink. We are one is tyree wilson got jordan adison onkart Got a tucker craft to 350 for the packers got sam lapporte lions rookie There's a beijon nice one there 249 turn of the century got some 99 turn of the century josh van um darnell washington's um year one signature steelers And zavian valeday that one is going to go to the jets Jets on the zavian all righty guys that will do it For the immaculate luminance of elite patches mixer do some iMac collegiate next to me just a moment here guys