and welcome to this episode of Fort Worth, Ford. I'm here at the Culinary School of Fort Worth where I will be joined by President Scott Wade as well as guest Natalie Stalmock from Casa of Tarrant County and Kim Sisson of Collections Fine Jewelry. Let's go. And now I'm here with Scott Wade who's president of the Culinary School in Fort Worth. Welcome Scott. Thank you Michael. I've been a lot of people actually don't know that a culinary school exists here in Fort Worth. So tell us a little bit about how it got started and then how you came to be a part of the Culinary School. Sure, yeah. And that statement makes me sad. We hear it a lot that we're the best kept secret in town and we're trying to get the word out more. But so how I got involved, it started with a conversation with Bill Byrd who was a previous owner, Bill and Judy started the school way back in 1988. And I believe it started as cooking classes in Judy's home. And over the years, they advanced it, turned it into a career in vocational school. But anyways, Bill and I had lunch one day and really I just wanted to sit down with him to pick his brain about being an entrepreneur and what that's like, what it's like being a business owner. And that conversation led to him saying, you know, he was later in his career and wanting someone to take over the school. And so one thing led to another in that same year and we ended up buying the school from him. And what year was that? It was 2014. 2014. I mean, a lot of people probably don't know that I actually attended back in 2014, I think right when you took over ownership and it was just down the street. Correct. Yeah, so was that the, what was the address down there? That was 6100 Camp Bowie, so we were above Lamadolin. That's right, and that's where it started and where it was when Judy and Bill had it. Correct. And then you moved to this new location, what's the address here? 6550 Camp Bowie. Camp Bowie, so when did you move here to this location? 2016. 2016. So this is fine because we've got all the students behind us, we have all this that's working so people can see it's a culinary school. So tell us a little bit about, what's an average day like for your students here? Sure, yeah, so these students are all part of our nine month professional culinary program. And classes are five days a week, five hours a day. So they're here either from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 4 to 9 p.m. Okay. And we're big on. Is that so, I mean, kind of staggered so they can have other jobs and do other things? Correct, yeah, so honestly the morning class is our most popular time slot. Okay. But that evening class is for a lot of people that are working at 8 to 5 or, you know, 7 to 4 job and they come right after work and come to that class. What is the sort of composition of a student? Are people that have typical, as you said, 8 to 5 jobs so they might be an office job? Sure. Do they do this at night? And are there other people, I guess, that maybe have restaurant jobs? So they do, yeah. Exactly. Yeah, so a lot of students are working in the industry, either part-time or full-time, and then they're coming here. But really we have three categories of students. We have our students that are straight off high school, maybe they did culinary in high school. Okay. They're 17, 18 years old. Then we have our people that have some experience in the industry, whether that's one to two years and we've had some of 15 years of experience. But they want to come and get that formal training. And then we have our career changers, people that have been in the military or been in the business world but love culinary and they decide to make that switch and pursue this as a career. And that, so that's, in that question, is what are they walking away when they're done with the program, what are they walking away with? What kind of degree, certification? Sure, yeah. So our school's a accredited, post-secondary career and vocational school so they get a certificate from us. They also get two industry certifications. One is a surf safe manager certification. They have to pass that exam but that's part of the program. And then our program is accredited by the American Culinary Federation. And so they get a certification from them as well. So a lot of them will maybe take this and go into a culinary field with the technical degree. Is that, yeah. Right, right, exactly. With the technical certification and yeah, our hope and desire is that they go into the industry because they also get two months of on-the-job training as part of the program. So they're called externship. Where we place them in the last two months in a restaurant or hotel, maybe a food truck. And we customize that to what they wanna do after school. To what do we do? Is that part of the nine month or is it nine plus? So it's seven months in hands on, a career and then two months hands on in an environment. Correct, yeah. Seven months here, two months with one of our externship partners. And we vet those partners. We have 50 or so relationships. With chefs in the community. That's great. I mean, are there different tracks that you can take as part of the degree? No, so this is one track. It's our professional culinary program. Now we do have some other offerings. One is a apprenticeship program. That's where we partner directly with the employer. And so Fort Worth Club is one of our partners. That's a two year long apprenticeship. And then Fort Works is another program where we partner with the food bank and taste project. And it's a 16 week training. It's free to the student and they get paid for working during that time as well. That's great. That's great. And they're doing all the training here or they're doing training. For that one, they do it at the food bank and then at taste project. Okay. And this is a topic today. I'm sure you produce a lot of food here. What happens with this food afterwards? Sure. Yeah, so students get to eat it. They can't eat it. They get to eat it. I ate a lot back in the day. Yes, yeah. So often after the hands on piece, they'll go and sit in the classroom and enjoy what they've made. Also, they'll get to take home a lot of food to their family. And then we donate the food scraps. So, you know, for vegetables and fruit scraps, donate that to the Terran area food bank. There's a garden nearby and they use that to make compost. Compost and then put it out in the garden. That's wonderful. That's wonderful. What, you know, outside taking the formal program or their events or other things that happen here where people can come, our viewers can come and be a part of this. Sure. Yeah, definitely the Forward Food and Wine Festival. We're gonna have a booth at the Rise and Shine event. I believe that's Saturday, April 1st. So our instructors and students will be there. So people can support that. Also, the first Friday is at the Modern Art Museum. We have several alumni and current students that work at the Cafe Modern. Okay. And often Chef Jet over there will let our students run with a menu on those first Fridays. So definitely go check out Cafe Modern as well. Sounds fun. You hosting anything here, anything here too? Not currently. In the past we've done some, what we call culinary studio classes for the public. So we're not doing that yet this year, but maybe people can keep an eye on our website for event classes that we may do here. That's great, that's great. Well, Scott, thanks for being here today. Really appreciate you and what you're bringing to the Fort Worth community. We talked about this in a lot of different ways that we need to get our students educated and maybe it's a technical or a vocational skill and this serves that purpose and puts them on a career path to success. So thanks for what you're doing. Great, thank you. Thanks for having me. Thank you. And now I'm joined by Natalie Stalmock who's with Casa of Tarrant County. Welcome. Thank you for having me. Of course, thanks for being here. Tell people what Casa is. So Casa stands for court-appointed special advocates and those advocates are volunteers from the community who sign up to advocate for children and foster care right here in our community in Fort Worth and in Tarrant County. Okay, so they work with kids and work with judges in the court system. Absolutely. Explain a little bit about that, yeah. So when you are a volunteer and you're assigned a case, there could be one child, there could be a sibling group, but your role is to help that case move through the court system a little bit easier. You make recommendations to the judge on what's in the best interest of the children, visit them at their foster home or relatives' home at school, advocate for them at school, just be an extra set of eyes and ears for the judge so that they have the most information possible to make the most informed decision possible for what's best for these children. For these children, so they're in foster care or maybe they've been removed out of difficult situations of living with family members or something. So, the idea is y'all really work with that child and understand their needs and then advocate for them with the judge and in the court system. Right, there's so many moving pieces for kids when they're in foster care. They have a case worker, they have an attorney, they may be in foster care living with a relative, then they may switch if they're in foster homes, they may switch foster homes, which means another family and another school. So, there's so much constant change going on for children that have already endured trauma before they even came into foster care. And so, we try to stabilize that for them, find some normalcy, find soccer, enroll them in something to have that other experience that other kids, a normal life, we don't think a kid in foster care should have a different life than any other child. Well, that leads me to, this costs his 40th year in operation. What success stories do you have from those 40 years? So, our big focus right now is getting kids back with their families, back with their parents, and if that's not possible with their relatives. And we've put a huge focus on that, particularly in the last decade. And just those stories that come out of finding relatives, getting kids back with their parents and parents being able to go to parenting classes, get a stable job, get better housing, get their kids back and move on with their lives. And if that's not possible, finding relatives and really having volunteers sort of dig into that and be kind of researchers and, you know, find a grandma in another state or an aunt, uncle. We had a sister that was 21 and took her brother that was a teenager in foster care. And they were so lovely to meet with. You could see that bond and being the oldest, you know, of a sibling group myself, just knowing what that would feel like. Keeping the family together, making people that way. To keep the family together, it is so important. And that's our goal. And those are my favorite success stories is when kids are able to be with their parents and with their family. And yeah, and so that is, as you pointed out, a goal is to find someone maybe that's still a blood relative that wouldn't want to take them versus going into a foster care system that, okay, that's wonderful. How, just for our viewers, how pervasive is abuse neglect in Tarrant County? So Tarrant County is growing and that's a great thing. But with that comes some problems. So Tarrant County. Big city problems. I tell people that all the time that we're a big city growing, big county growing, with that comes big city urban problems. So we have the third highest number of confirmed cases of child abuse and neglect in the state behind Dallas and Harris County. And that was 5,506 confirmed cases. Even bigger than Travis and Barron, yeah. Wow, okay. So, and it's all, it's Fort Worth. Mostly Fort Worth is the biggest city, but it's all across the county. And it's, we tell people it's in every socioeconomic, every neighborhood, people have problems. There's substance abuse, mental health issues. And so when you can help families stabilize those problems, you can help reunite the family. Yeah, that's- It is quite a big problem here in Tarrant County. Yeah, and I think you alluded to it. There are other social ills that are probably causing some of these issues. Yeah, it's never one thing. It's a combination of a lot of things. And that's what we saw in COVID that the numbers went up, but there was just so much additional strain on things that were already there. Right. How did that, I think through a lot of times, it's reported through the school. Right. And kids weren't physically in school. Did you see a drop-off in numbers and then exponentially go up after COVID? Yes. And how did y'all handle that as an organization? So we had, the community really stepped up in a big way for us during 2020 especially. And there were reports in the news about some severe cases that were at Cook Children's and then concern that because children were not in school that they were not seeing some problems, teachers were maybe missing out on some things that they normally would have seen. And that coverage helped us recruit a lot of new volunteers to make sure that we had those eyes and ears on kids that we thought were in vulnerable situations. That's wonderful. This being the 40th year, y'all undertaking some big projects to help- We're doing some big marketing things this year to have more community awareness, have people know what cost it is, what we do in the community and the importance of what we do. Another initiative that we've seen that's really important, we've started a black hair care initiative. So helping foster children with textured hair learn how to do their hair, teaching foster families what they need, getting products donated for them. There's so many things you don't think about when you're in foster care and when you are removed from your family, you're removed from your culture too. And so- Something that I think people think about for sure. It's not something that people think about, but it includes your culture, it can be language, so we need more people of color, Spanish speaking volunteers because that's another thing that makes kids feel isolated is to be removed from that. Yeah, we'll talk about that. What do you need? It sounds like volunteers and elaborate on that, yeah. So volunteers, you just have to- Tell me about how you, what's the training program and how you get through this, how you get to be able to get through it. So you just get started by attending an info session, an information session, and right now those are online, so you can go to our website. What's that website? It's speakupforachild.org. Okay, okay. And you can do, click on the volunteer page and see what dates that we have those information sessions. And that will start your journey, we'll tell you what's needed, what the volunteer expectations are, and then it's 30 hours of training that's spread over an entire month. Okay. You're sworn in by a judge, so you're very official. And what does the training consist of? Is it classroom? Is it, what does it look like? It's classroom and we're back in person, so you get to meet other people in your class and it's, we don't expect our volunteers to know anything about social work, anything about foster care, you don't have to be an attorney, so we're gonna teach you those things. Okay. So what does the volunteer system looks like? What to expect? We have a whole night explaining trauma and how that affects children so that you can understand that and then if the people involved in the case, if teachers, foster parents, don't really understand the behaviors or things that are happening with children to say, hey, I learned about this in my training, here's some resources that might be helpful and you can connect them with that. So we'll give you all the tools you need to be successful to do this work. That's great. You mentioned also you're sworn in by a judge, an official. And how does that work out as a ceremony? It gives me chills every time for all these people to stand up and raise their right hand and basically just say, I promise to be here for these children to advocate for their best interests. It makes everybody stand up a little straighter and know that they're doing something really important and that judges in Tarrant County recognize this is important and they wanna hear from our volunteers when they're in their courtroom. That's wonderful. With that, what message would you like to send to people just about the organization and just about the organization? CASA is such a wonderful organization that impacts so many people can affect generations, can break cycles of abuse and trauma and foster care and child abuse is hard. It's an issue that not everybody talks about and so we wanna bring that kind of darkness into the light and say, yes, there are issues, but we're an organization that helps. Kids move past that trauma and into a healthier, more stable place. We were founded in Fort Worth by the Junior League of Fort Worth and Federation of Jewish Women. So we're just, we're thankful that we were started here and thankful for all the donors and volunteers that have supported us the last 40 years and look forward to continuing, they're still in need. And so we're ready to try to meet that challenge. Well, wonderful. Thank you so much for what you do and my, as a father of adopted twins, often know how important it is and the resources that we need to give to these children. So they didn't pick the situations that they're in so we have to do what we can to protect them. So I'm thankful for you and organization like CASA making sure that happens. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for being here today. Thanks for your time. And now I'm joined by Kim Sisson who is president of Collections Find Jory. How are you doing, Kim? Good morning, I'm doing good. Thanks for having me. Thanks for being here. Yeah, thanks for having me. Well, out of full disclosure, we have to tell people that we've been friends for, I'm not gonna tell your age. No. A long time. A long time. Back to, wayside middle school up North. So, and so I've been proud to know you for this long and see the business grow and that your mom and step dad started and see it sort of just take off. And so, tell us a little bit about how you decided as a career you wanted to go into the jewelry business. Yeah, so, you know, as you know, my mom started the business when we were just toddlers. Yes. Yes. Yeah, a long time ago. A long time ago. In 1983, actually. And as the story goes, she actually, she sold her first, made her first sale while she was sitting on the floor waiting for them to come and set the phones up. Okay. So, you know, kind of this funny story of how everything came into it. And so, my sister and I always grew up in the business. I remember when we were younger, holidays are always the busiest time of the year. And so, we would go after school. We would go late into the night during the holidays and our job was to either talk to the jewelers to keep them awake while they were working like, or to deliver coffee. So, we grew up there. And it wasn't always expected that we would come back to it. But, after I graduated from tech and then went on and was at TCU, I would come back to help my mom do different projects.  Systems development and processes and things like that. And after I graduated from TCU, she said, hey, you're still in the middle of these projects. Do you think you could stick around and just help me out for a little bit longer? And I said, sure. And that was a couple of decades ago. Still working on it. She sort of lured you into it. She sure did. Yeah, she sure did. Well, for a lot of people that don't know exactly where you're located, tell us a little bit about the area and let's, you know, the old OP store that was next door hotel. That was my first job, the OP prep store, which was fantastic. I mean, Saginaw, let's think back in the 1980s, and I was actually thinking about this the other day. In the 1980s, I think the census reported about 6,000 people living in Saginaw. This little sleeper bedroom community where people lived there but commuted. I think the 2019 census has us at about 25, 26,000 people, which is still kind of small, but considering how fast that growth has been, you know, you've gone from having little bitty OP prep shop to now having this large community that's growing. So it's been sweet to see that it still maintains that kind of cute, close community-esque feel. However, the high school that we grew up, we used to jokingly say on all four sides was nothing but fields and cows. That's right. Yeah. And today it's nothing but- The school next to the cow. Boswell High School for everybody watching us. Right, the school next to the cows. And now it's nothing but residential around there. So it's developed nicely. It's developed and a lot, which is great for your business as part of that. So you said 83, it's 40 years. It'll be 40 years this June. So tell us about the changes of a business over 40 years building this small business and selling on the floor, writing for the phones to what you're doing now and all the parts of it. So it's not just the jewelry business. You also have CFG manufacturing. Talk about that a little bit. You are right. So everything always grew very organically. And you know, and being here in Fort Worth with all of the great commercial businesses that we have, what started as clients would come in for jewelry would then come in and say, you know what, at our company, we do these lapel pins. Right, like this. And they're, yes, like Molly. This is where we get the Molly pins, everybody, so, yes. And so people would come in and they'd say, can you do that? Can you do a sales incentive? Can we do a ring? Can we do a gift with a clock or a watch or crystal bowl? And that very organically grew into employee rewards and recognition. So now you're opening that up to corporations. That then grew up into, hey, collections, we trust you to put our logo and our brand on this clock. This watch, this whatever. Can we then do it on a pen, a pencil, a hat, a cap? And that turned into promotional and brand merchandise. Naturally, that then turned into our most latest growing sector, which is corporate uniforms, corporate and industrial uniforms. So we've got roughly from the corporate space. I didn't know that, you're doing it, yeah. Yeah, from the corporate space, we now have clients in about 160 countries. Wow. And that's been a lot of fun to see that natural growth. To see it just grow as a part of it.  And a lot of people ask, how does that work? And you kinda, you can appreciate this. You've gotta work your business, like you don't have a backup plan. That's right. When you own it. Because when you own it, you've gotta work it like you don't have a backup plan. And when you do that, then you're all in. Right, right. And you've got nowhere to go but positive. Well, and speaking of that, you're now on the radar with Jewel Charity Ball this year as the exclusive jeweler for Jewel Charity. Tell us about that process and how that works. And congratulations. That's a big deal for people that hear that know. But yeah, tell us a little bit about that. I think that's probably one of the highest honors that we've received within the Fort Worth community is being asked to be the signature jeweler for Jewel Charity. We've gotten a chance to participate and to assist and to donate over the course of our 39 plus years. But this year is really something kinda special. We've got some amazing clients who are also members of Jewel Charity. And so when they made the decision this year, we'd like a local jeweler. And then they recommended us out of all the amazing local jewelers in Fort Worth, our name came to the table. It was an amazing honor. We're looking forward to it. That's great. Well, it's always a fun time and all the sparkly things that are out there. All the sparkly things. I cannot afford for Joanna. But you know what, that's the great thing. We have always prided ourselves, Michael, on making exquisite jewelry that everyone can afford. It is true. It is true. And my ring was made there. Wedding ring. Wedding ring was made there. So lots of great memories I know for a lot of people. And tell us what's the best part about working with your clients? You know, I feel like jewelry evokes a memory, right? You look at a piece and you're like, ah, this was my grandmother's ring. The ring that you did for Joanna, like it shares a memory. It invokes a memory and emotion. And because of that, there's such a great people side to jewelry and a story side. And I think just getting the opportunity to be involved in that is heartwarming. I had a friend of ours who we both went to high school with who came in and he said, it's my wife and I's 25th anniversary. And I was like, I was so touched. So honestly touched that he would say, I'd like for you to help me with that. So what really is cool right now though. That might be a hint to Joanna. We've got a 25 coming up in a couple of years. And she just had a birthday. She may not stick with me for another couple of years. That's all I know. Oh, I wouldn't doubt that. Okay, so what's really cool is clients that started with us, like with my mom in the early 80s, we've now seen their children come in and we're now starting to see their third generation of children come in. And how awesome is that? It is. To be a part of three generations of Fort Worth families that we get to share in these experiences and these memories. Yeah, that's awesome. One of the things I've focused on a lot as with the city council that my tenure is helping small businesses. And really looking at how we make the processes better for them, make it smoother.  What would you add, give us some tips? I think the first one, like I mentioned earlier, is you've got to run it like you don't have a plan B. And for a lot of people who start a small business, they don't have a plan B. So you've got that going for you. So my mom has always said failure's not an option. And for her, she was a newly single mom with a couple of kids. When she started the business, failure wasn't an option.  I've got to do the right thing for the employees. And if you take care of that piece of it, then the store will take care of you. The other thing to that is I feel like you've got to run your business like a good marriage, like a good relationship. There are going to be days where it's hard and you've got to just grind it out and work through it. And there are days where it's going to be easy. And on those days, you're still going to grind it out and work through it. That is true. But at the end of the day, if you're providing the right product and you're doing it from an altruistic perspective, like my mom never wanted to overcharge people when it came to jewelry. She always wanted it to be reasonable. She wanted people in our community to be able to enjoy a nice jewelry that they can wear every day for a reasonable price. And so I think when you get into it for the right reason like that, it'll always take care of you. That's wonderful, wonderful. Thank you for being here today. Thanks for what you're doing and really appreciate our something, something plus years of friendship that I want. That nobody needs to know the number. But thank you again for being here. Well, thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks for inviting me. Well, I hope you've enjoyed this episode of Fort Worth Forward here at the Culinary School of Fort Worth. Scott, Natalie, and Kim were great guests and doing some great things here in Fort Worth. And one of the great things about being at the Culinary School is that they made this great cake for me to eat. So I am going to dig into it and we'll see you at the next episode. Thank you.


We'll wait to introduce Dr. Furbuck. OK, good morning, everyone. Thank you very much for coming. I hope all of you or some of you had a chance to see the patient upstairs. So it'll just be a kind of a quick sharing of a history of an interesting patient. And I'd love to hear what you all have to say as far as possible intervention if it wants to work. So basically, our patient is a 70-year-old gentleman who had presented initially saying that his vision had been blurry over the past year. And his past medical history is unremarkable. Just to give you a little bit of an idea of where he started. In 2007, he presented with vision of 2020 and 2050. And at that time, it was deemed that he had a cataract. And so he was approached with the idea of using a multifocal resume lens, which he thought would be a good option. Even though at the time, by keratometry, he was noted to have about a diopter and a half of the stigmatism. Sorry, two and a half diopters was stigmatism. He still went ahead and had a resume lens put in. The plan was to put in a 17-diopter lens, which would allow for a final refraction of minus 0.1. Well, with regards to his post-operative course, at post-up month one, his vision was in the 2025-2030 range. And as you can see, he started off with three-quarters of a diopter of a stigmatism. As he was continued to be followed, his vision actually worsened. And he was noted to have some SPK. And he was told that his vision will continue to improve if he's compliant with his tears and uses some ointment at bedtime. And actually, doing so did make his vision 2020. But you'll notice that he now has a diopter and a half of the stigmatism. And he's noted to have some tiny filaments as well. At that point, his road of many, many drops in medicine started. And he was placed on Muro, FML, and Rostasis. So now, by post-up month seven, he presents with vision in the 2070-2080 range. And he's described as having this inferior epitheliopathy with about two-thirds of the cornea staining with irregular epithelium. At that point, his ophthalmologist decides to put him on acyclovir. And then is seen a month later and, unfortunately, noted to have no improvement. And he's given feedback along the lines of, wear sunglasses. Maybe that's why your cornea is not healing. So by post-up month nine, interestingly enough, his vision improves. However, he now has two and a half diopters of the stigmatism. And he's taken off the acyclovir. Punctile plugs are placed and he's recommended to have aggressive lubrication. So now, by post-up month 11, his vision is 2020 with two diopters of the stigmatism. So just taking a moment here. If you had a patient like this, what would sort of be your next course? Any thoughts? Bashful group? Okay, so what they ended up doing is they offered him PRK. They offered him PRK to sort of treat this residual stigmatism and improve the quality of his vision. Well, interestingly enough, even though the notes say PRK was offered, he actually ended up having lasik. So keep in mind, this is while he's noted to have some sort of inferior epitheliopathy, he's offered lasik and the treatment plans to treat minus one plus two. And it actually ended up being a nine micron treatment. So first day after lasik, his vision is 2020, which is great. Post-up month three, he's described as having some photophobia and watering. Post-up month five, his vision is now back to 2080, 2070, although needing a plus one correction with not a significant improvement. He started on doxycycline as far as efforts to help improve the state of his cornea. Now he's about two and a half years out from his original surgery and he's finally referred to the Maran. So he comes in to see us. Approximately one month ago, and his vision is noted to be 2100 in the left eye. Keep in mind, the right eye has a little cataract that he's not interested in touching anytime soon. And so the vision in the left eye is about three quarters of a diopter of astigmatism noted. And on his hand, really the big things is he has some dermatoscial aces, he has the resume lens in place and he has some malchillicula. So these are photos from his visit approximately a month ago and you can see his right eye looks healthy. And as far as his left eye initially looks great, but if you zoom in, and if we can adjust the lights a bit perhaps, if you can see there's sort of this ring here, it almost looks like a little shield. And if we zoom in, you can see that there's the sort of punctate, heat epithelium. So on initial examination, my first thought was, is this epithelial downgrowth? But on closer examination, you can actually appreciate that it's sitting on the surface of the cornea. Dr. Moshfar suggested that we get an OCT, which actually wasn't particularly helpful in this case. So thoughts at this time. The patient sort of has this long history, it's not necessarily certain that this is related to the LASIK, though in retrospect I wonder why PRK wasn't necessarily followed up with. Yes, no, there was no comment. No, they just said that there was some SPK. That was sort of the extent of the description. Yes, I'm sorry, epithelial maladherence? Non-adherence. I think that's a possibility because why clinically would it present with sort of that heaped appearance? Clearly, it's not laying down flat. Would it have been appropriate to maybe scrape the area or do a polishing or use a burr to sort of allow that epithelium, a fresh chance to re-adher. Yes, that's the thing, exactly. So he's actually been on tears up to this time and he says that he uses the tears maybe once at night and the lesion itself before was about four by three millimeters in area and today it's measuring about one and a half by three. So it's improving spontaneity. His vision today actually pin-hold to 2025. So it's possible that with a new pair of glasses his vision may improve. And I think this is just a slide of some of the thoughts that sort of crossed our mind. But sort of something along the lines of a persistent epithelial defect, though he didn't have a history of a defect, but certainly unhealthy epithelium. So at this point, as far as recommendations, I mean certainly it seems reasonable to recommend aggressive lubrication. He himself says that, or rather, his wife offers up that he hasn't been golfing with this weather over the last month or so. He's been home a lot. And so I think that there is a role for an environment perhaps in this case where simply being outside and being exposed to the elements didn't necessarily help. So aggressive lubrication certainly seems like an easy option to pursue. But does anyone feel strongly that at this point we should offer him some type of scraping or necessarily discontinue observation? Let's do this. Sure.


Good morning and welcome to the chart of the week video with me David Madden. Today's date is Wednesday at the 6th of November 2019 and the time has just gone 955 GMD This week's chart of the week is the Aussie Donner versus the Japanese Yen, the Aussie Yen And if you take a look at the price action for the last few months since late August We can see that the Aussie Yen has been a very solid upward trend And the fact that we can see only yesterday The currency pair hit its highest level since late July, so the market is pushing higher We've the last couple of days the marketing indicator, the marketing Instagram Has remained a bit subdued so that is a bit of a concern could potentially mean in the near term We're in for a bit of a pullback, but price is by far the most important indicator So if the price does continue to press on higher from here, you could be looking at testing this region here in around the 76 spot 0-0 metric in round here, which also Colonized or close enough to the this red line here the 200 in moving average and the Aussie Yen Hasn't gotten up as high as the 2D moving average since April Earlier this year If you do measure going to press on higher beyond that area We have a size of break beyond the 76 spot 0-0 region We can then be looking at how you're getting this area here about a 78 spot 0-0 and the market hasn't been up at that metric That level since early May as I mentioned If you take a look at the marketing indicator of marketing histogram Positability is still in existence, but it's actually running fairly low And it's a bit concerning when you see a market pressing higher here the edge online market That you've been a steady taper off in positive momentum It suggests that the bulls are still in control, but this but there will appear that they're kind of running out of steam So if that could be a sign of as it could be a sign that were that we could be in for a bit of a correction or a pullback in the near term Should that be the case we could see the market fall back to this yellow line here The one or the movie average and that comes to play at 73. It's about 71 We can see that metric acted well as both resistance and also support not too long ago So it makes it like he makes more likely that metric will be important in the future And even if it keep all below that this blue line here the 50 moving average which acts as support back in July And resistance in September might act and also act as support Should we see and move to the downside and that metric comes into play at 73 spot 43 And it's only really if you have a size of a break below this zone here The early October lows in around just south of the 72 It's only really if you have a size of break below that because then we begin to think you know what maybe The upward move from August has come to an end and we're going to fall back into the wider downward trend It should that be the case we could be then look at retargeting this area here down at the a kind of psyche input psychology Portland 70 metric Now if you are going to be training the Aussie and it's also worth keeping eye on what's going on and other crosses So keep it so take a quick look at the euro yen So regular testing is what was the broad sentiment in the in the Japanese yen We can see here on the euro yen the euro is also making steady headway against the Japanese yen Since August in fact only not too long ago. The Aussie the euro yen hit level last seen in July As so once again, we can see the There's weakness in the Japanese yen and if you take a quick look on what's going on on the US dollar we can kind of gauge what's in a broad sentiment in the US dollar So now to take a quick look at the US dollar versus the Aussie dollar You're gonna see what this kind of sentiment in sentiment is in the Australian dollar so we can see here since Early October we've seen a steady push higher in the Australian dollar versus the US dollar and in fact the Aussie dollar Very recently hit a level last seen in July So the Australian dollar is moving higher against the both The Japanese yen and also the US dollar and we can also see that the there's weakness In the Japanese yen that the Japanese yen is weak against against the euro And it's also weaker against the Australian dollar. So we can be more confident But this kind of upward trend we're seeing in Aussie yen is going to continue. Obviously, there are no guarantees But but but the market security moving in the same direction now if you are going to be trading The Australian dollar versus the Japanese yen keep an eye for on Friday on the early hours of Friday The reserve bank Australia you maintain interest rates earlier this week as expected They will announce the monetary policy statement On the early hours of a Friday morning Friday morning Like it could give us about an insight into what the the reserve bank of Australia are thinking It's also we're keeping an eye on what's going on with the US-China trade story That's obviously been More recently we've been hearing positive sounds out of that So we've seen some European and US stock markets hit all time I don't hit a hit either save decade highs or multi-year highs or in the case of US stock markets Some of them have had all-time highs so that that's been very much a risk-on sentiment and the Japanese yen Usually does better in a jet and a risk-off sentiment. So if you see reversal in the US-China trade sentiment And we see stock market is tumbling. We might see additional funds flow back into the Japanese yen Which could push some downward pressure on the Australian dollar versus the Japanese yen. Well, that's all for me this week Thank you for listening and thank you very much


In this presentation we will talk about payroll controls and documentation. Exempt and non-exempt employees. It's important to know these terms because the regulations will differ depending on whether an employee qualifies as exempt or non-exempt. So in other words, the employees that are exempt are not subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act, FLSA wage and hours laws. So amongst other things in particular, the overtime calculation would not be present or not be needed or required for employers given the employees who are exempt. So if they're exempt from that status then they aren't required to have, amongst other things, an overtime calculation based on the federal law, the Fair Labor Standards Act. Now why would that be the case? Well, if someone is exempt then typically we're dealing with highly skilled workers.


Time here for more systems and one of my favorite stickers on my laptop here is says you own it you point it This has been and this is by the EFF and this has been a long time saying in the hacker world and things like that which is near and dear to my heart we Love the ability to take apart and whether we have the right to do so is called calling the question recently with This video is about but taking things apart having the source code being able to repair and modify The devices that we own is just an essential part to me of being in the tech business And it's essential for the way we do things and that is called in the question Now this is directly related to and I just tweeted out Lewis Rossman's video. I'm gonna link to it below I recommend you watch it as I agree with everything Rossman said start to finish and at 15 video If you're not familiar with Lewis He does Excellent YouTube channel and has a repair business and this directly affects his business and in many ways affects my business as well We are in jeopardy right now They are trying to pass rules and make sure that we have the right to repair But there are those arguing against it and there needs to be some clarifications on this First we should have the right to repair. It's crazy is that sounds companies and Apple and Recently Comtea, but a lot of these major OEMs are deciding that we shouldn't have our right to repair these things that is just Absurd to me. This is something that I've talked about before we've talked about this on probably a couple different YouTube videos I know specifically in February of 2018 on the Sunday morning Linux review podcast that me and my co-hosts We had a discussion regarding tractors because you think oh, you know, Tom's winding He doesn't have a right to repair his phone or Lewis is self-interested in just maintaining a repair business But it goes a lot deeper than that when you look at something along the lines of John Deere tractors John Deere has locked these farmers out of their tractors who have purchased them who want to do a minor repair to them and They don't have enough service technicians to get out there So suddenly they can't plow the field because the tractors locked out because they do not have the right to work on their own tractors That is crazy to me. I am a huge advocate of Being able to repair things not just because of my own self-interest that we spend time repairing things as I have tech all around me But it's essential and it creates more jobs because more people are able to work on these things It's not locked into one vendor. It makes the service ability as far as like getting your phone repaired much more affordable because well If it was only able to be serviced by the authorized official service centers who may choose Not to service it because they say, you know, we don't think we want to fix that device Therefore our solution is buy our new version of that device. This is not the way I think that the world should work and the fact that companies in specifically Comtea as Lewis Rossman highlighted are Just awful for doing this they have taken the money that they take for certifying people and then taken those profits and claiming they're a nonprofit like Lewis points out and taken that and put Lobby money to stop us from having the right to repair I don't understand their position on this because it seems like it would benefit them more to have some type of more Certified repair people but not getting into their politics. I'm just gonna say they're an awful company for doing it now I don't want to just sit here and rant Let's talk about what can be done about it now Lewis. I watched even the Senate testimony hearings that he went through Thank you so much Lewis for doing that. Thank you very much for taking the time as a business owner And it's he doesn't get paid to do this he decided on his own He doesn't have the lobby money to go send the lobby person to go speak for him He took time himself away from the business his personal time or business time for me to look at it to go fight For our right to repair. So, thank you Lewis. Now is Tom gonna do that? I maybe I don't know right now It's that we difficult for me to leave and go do that But what I will do and I will talk about things other people can do is I do donate to the electronic frontier foundation I highly recommend doing that the there at least one group that can do it There are other groups that are pro right repair. I don't have a full list of them I will at least mention the EFF.  I'm not just here ranting to hear myself talk I'm here because this affects so much of the tech industry and then the consumers themselves in the end If the right to repair is lost if these OEMs that sell you these common devices that you have You know the MacBooks and such of the world if they win and they look you lose your ability to get these things repaired It's gonna cost you more for repair. You're gonna be pushed into and Locked into very specific repair service centers with no competitive marketplace. This is just not competitive This does not benefit consumers in any way It simply benefits these companies that decide that they can make more by locking you into their exclusivity and 100% now someone will call out I seen Tom you have a Tesla Yes, I do and I'm among the people that are fighting to help hack Tesla's and for the right to repair on them too So don't worry the irony is not lost to me that I bought something that has a known track record But is getting better about service ability. It's not lost to me I'm still an advocate of taking it apart hacking Tesla's and I have friends that I'm you know working on this as well This is not something that I'm skipping over. This is something I believe in as well And this does apply to the automotive industry this even happened right here in Michigan a number of years ago They had a bill that did fail and I signed up and argued this and this goes back to winning me years ago Because I'm also a little bit of a gearhead and I like working on cars and basically they called it the locked hood Is what we used to call it They wanted to make it so dealerships were the only places that could add all service vehicles and no other third party provided This all got shot down, but now we're seeing it again in the electronics world But as we cars in general become larger electronics, trust me If any of these automotive companies could figure out a way to 100% lock you down on things. Well They do it. So this is something that I'm going to keep advocating for and keep donating to the FF And maybe if I can figure out exactly how to do it or be articulate enough and not just rage in front of Some congressional people because Lewis kept his calm in those videos. I am it is Blood boiling because you want to scream as you watch these people come up with lies and spin it including watch the Comtea testimony which is in that Lewis video I'll link below and Yeah, they are not concise.  You're conflating issues You're completely mishandling the truth and you're just feeding an agenda, which I don't get like I said It's a it's a lock-in. It hurts the consumers. There's no benefit to this We need the right to repair our things. We need the source code to things I'll go a step further and everything, you know, I'm a huge open source advocate This is one of the reasons I like it. I want to know what went into the code and Over and over again locking it down does not prove to be the best method. We have seen open source companies make money There's not this is not opposed to business. This is not some, you know, way that they're going to Just lose money is a lock-in method so they can absolutely maximize with absolutely no market competition And that's just not the way The way it should go forward.  Thanks


Jez Broncos, but I missed the Bears days. Why do you see with 13 seasons in the NFL? And you were the first player brand of Marshall in NFL history to have 1,000 yards receiving in a season for four different, or yeah, for four different teams. That means you had success no matter who was throwing the ball wherever you were that was all you. So we welcome you as an athlete and also the creator of I Am Athlete, which is not a podcast, it is a media empire. How are you? I'm great. Yeah, that was special being able to play on a few different teams, having 17 plus quarterbacks and having success. It's similar to your broadcasting career, your media career. No matter where you go, what network you're on, you're gonna be special and you're gonna have a lot of success. So congratulations to you on joining the Fandall team. Thanks, B-Marsh. How does it feel? How does that feel? It feels good to be doing something by myself, right? To have like the leeway to say, okay, I'll take a little bit of a risk and I'm gonna do what I wanna do and Fandall is really supportive of that and I'm really grateful for the real estate, you know? You did it, all you. Can we curse on you on network? I don't know, can we? Let's ask the control room. They're saying no, it's on cable, so I don't think so. Okay, all right. But if you do, I won't be mad at you, ever. All right, let's get to this right now. Everybody's talking about the play of the game and what a story, right? Jalen Watson, pick six. There's nothing to say about this, it was beautiful. The bigger story is what happened with Tyda and Gerald Everett, okay? Herbert targeted him there on that interception. The play before, he asked to come out of the game. He's clearly gassed, B-Marsh. How much of what happened is on Everett? 100% on Everett, right? Like this is what conditioning is for. I've been in this position before where you get down to the red zone, you're tired, you're exhausted. Something else has to kick in for you to stay on the field and get the job done. When it's red zone and it's stirred down, your top guys need to find a way to stay on the field. And if you're tired and you're on the field and he's critical moments, you gotta do your job. In this instance, he did not do his job, why? Because when you run routes like this where you can have an option to keep going or sit down, you have to be decisive. The quarterback is reading you, we work on this every single day in pre-practice, right? Shallow crosses. If you're looking, you're booking. If you're not looking, that means you're stopping.  This is 100% on a tight end. I see what you're saying. So I had a thought and I wanna know your thought on this and I was gonna ask you if is it on the coaching staff? Should the coaching staff have taken him out? Cause that's something that I'm seeing a lot on Twitter but also I guess the question is, does a veteran quarterback make this decision and throw to Everett when he's clearly not 100%? Does he recognize that because of experience as a player or does he look somewhere else in his read, right? Does he go to the other side of the field? I'm not putting it on Justin Herbert but we all forget that this is a young QB. He's still growing, he's still developing. Does a Tom Brady make that sort of situation happen?   He's not gonna let his tight end, his start tight end, leave the field on a third down situation or red zone. So in those moments, I'm telling you, if you're on the field, you have to do your job. So I've been in that situation before I'm tired but the reason why you stay on the field because that's where you make your money, okay? Third down, we gotta win third down. We have to have reds on efficiency through the roof if we wanna be competitive in the league. So this is 100% on Everett, but I understand I've made this mistake before but he just has to learn from it and get better. And then you have Herbert himself who's out there. It's not like he's mailing it in at the end of this game, right? They're down 10, he's out. The coach of staff isn't put, warrior totally and the injury is a huge story here. We're looking for updates but he gutted it out. He clearly had something going on with his rib. What did you make of his performance and what does that do in the locker room? Listen, Herbert is the, he's the real deal but I was going to crush Herbert until I saw that he was dealing with something whether it's chest, ribs, whatever the situation is. I was going to crush him because now he's sitting here at what, 17 and 19 or 16 and 18 overall record through the first three years, two and a half, two and a quarter of his career. Like that's not good enough but we wanna crush some of these other quarterbacks that come in and have success and win. At the end of the day it's about winning and that's it and Herbert special talent but then you gotta make sure you get that W at the end of the day. But for him to go out there and gut it out through that touchdown I was like, you know what? Let me ease off of that. Let me ease off of that point. Maybe week five, week six I'm having that discussion. Hopefully not because I think they have everything they need to be a contender this year. Should the Chargers have pulled him out? I mean they're down 10. He's getting hit by Frank Clark. He's got George Karloff to sell over and like what should the coaching staff have done? I was saying get him out of the game. Yeah, I was saying the same thing when I saw. I was like, you know what, it's a long season because I mean warming up you can see his face. You can see how painful it was for him and how much pain he was in. So I was like, you know what? You protect your quarterback there. He's a type of guy. He doesn't talk. He doesn't talk to you. He doesn't talk to me. He doesn't talk to the media. He doesn't talk to half his damn teammates.  No matter what the situation is. So I respect him for that. But when you have a special talent like that you have to protect. I think Chief Sands are probably real pissed at me because I'm not even talking about them and Mahomes looked good again and it's no tie re-kill, no problem, right? The depth in this Chief's receiving core makes them really scary and they're shining. He hit nine different guys again. Eight guys had two or more catches. Is it better for him to have that one go-to star or have the depth? Is this sustainable for the Chiefs? It is sustainable for the Chiefs but look, let's not get it twisted, Kay. Like you want guys that can, you know do some legendary things in big moments. That's tie-right, tie-re-kill, okay? What you want is to have those stars like the tie-re-kills of the world that can fit within your offense. I had to learn that early in my career. Back when I was young, the first four years I wanted to ball every single play. And then as I got older and I matured I realized that we would be more efficient as an offense if Alson Jeffrey got the ball, if Martellus got the ball, if Matt Forte got his 20 touches because now they can't just single me out and double me, right? So it's actually better for the star receiver when the other guys are getting involved. I go back to my Denver days with Eddie Roy. Eddie Roy had 91 catches, I had 104 catches. You had Brandon Stokely and Tony Schaeffler that had 50 catches. And then you go to the Jets. My boy, Eric Decker had 90 catches, 12 touchdowns, a legendary year. And I had an all pro year. So you want to spread the wealth. And it's working for them. And they're really scary in that AFC right now. They're looking good and credit to Spags for getting this defense to make plays, especially down the stretch in the fourth quarter, short week. I know they were at home, but for them to have even just the power to do what they did, Spags always has coaches them up right at the moment, at least he does out there in Kansas City. All right, let's talk about I am athlete because there's so much going on. I feel like I can't even keep track of it all. You have like 90 Instagram handles. You're booking so many stars. I saw the Michael Strahan episode. You say it's not a podcast. You say it's a movement. Can you tell me the goal of your movement? It's you, you're doing it.  Well, I mean, you're still on linear television, but what Fandle is doing is disruptive, right? Fandle is leading away in this space, right? Like it's the premier destination when it comes to sports betting and sports content. You chose to leave where you're at and come to Fandle. That is new media. You are new media. We're doing things, are we?  We don't see that, you know, on traditional television, right? Like we're the ones that are able to get these guys. So this movement is exactly what you're doing is what I'm doing is Pat McAfee. Like this is new media. Pat, you and Pat, I mean, I love you. Don't stop saying, stop, stop, stop saying me and Pat. Thank you. Love it. Okay, thank you. Okay, well, I just like to, you know, players come in, they talk to you and it's very, you were this, here's how I'm gonna say this. The first time I ever heard an NFL player talking about mental health, it was you.  I don't think there's anybody like you in the league on the, right now on the field, but off of it, you really trailblazed in that way. Can you sort of assess for me the progress that's been made specifically in the NFL net area? Are you impressed? Do you think that there's a ways to go when it comes to how the league and teams support their players in that way? Listen, there's always work to be done, right? For sure. But I'm super impressed and super proud of the NFL, the league office for the work that they're doing. Tracy Pearlman in the league office, she calls me almost every other week with different opportunities or even just bringing me into the discussion. Brandon, what do you think about this? Are we looking at this the right way? How do we activate some of these partnerships? How do we get our teams to do more? I mean, when I did, when I came out in 2011, August 4th, 2011, I told the world, what I was experiencing, what I've gone through and what I want to do moving forward. I was the only one. Now you look up, not only in football, but in all sports, you have the Dak Prescos, the name of Osaka's, the Simone Biles, the Kevin Loves of the world standing up saying, listen, this is what I deal with and this is important.  Like Calvin Ridley, I feel something. I can't play, I can't practice. You have Naomi and Simone. Well, this is what's going on with me. I need time. Yes, there is a time and place for that. But also, if we have the proper things in place, we can probably work through these things. So we need to look at the athletes in sports as a microcosm to what we could be doing in other places, right? Like be proactive, take care of your mental health. It's important. It's the most important thing that you have. It's something you talked about. And I really think that your authenticity always at a podium after your career, during your career, you've always kept it real. And I think that's why players relate to you, even players that are just coming into the game right now and they're sitting down with you and I am athlete and I just think it's really, really, really cool. And I loved your training camp tour and my favorite was you and Joe Burrow, which was amazing. Tell me what he's made of. As a man, a leader, what did you learn? You know what? It's almost as if he's not made up of much and this is not a bad thing because he's super bright. He's a loving guy, but it's just like, it's like still, like nothing rattles this kid. Like he's so amazing and he's so calm, cool, collected. He's so humble. He's just like one way all the time, whether it's good, whether it's bad, that was my biggest takeaway, right? Like some guys walked in the room and the room may change them. He walks in the room and the room changes to whatever he's putting out. Joe Burrow and all those guys at that table, really impressed me because they're superstars year one, year two, they find a way in the Super Bowl. They're playing lights out football, but they still have this brotherhood. They still have this love and they still have this sense of humility, which a lot of guys lose when they get to this level and just in their careers. So I was really impressed with Joe. Joe is going to be, you know, he's gonna be a Hall of Famer. Damn, I said that. What is this year three for him? Yeah. I'm calling him a Hall of Famer. We started with an injury. Yeah. He's that guy. Took his team to the Super Bowl. Got to take his team to the win column here in week two. Now he does have Jamar Chase, so I think you met when you were out there too. They have perfect chemistry, right? That carries over from college. A lot of these stud wide receivers moved this off season. Which wide receiver do you think landed in the best situation? Obviously A.J. Brown, Devonte, Tyreek. Who's gonna end up on top? A.J. Brown. Yes! Oh my goodness. Fly equals fly. Did you see him in week one? When did he go with 10 catches? 155 yards, I think it was. Crazy. Crazy. I mean, you know the last time we saw something like that was when Terrell Owens was in this prime, right? Like think about like just how he looked. He had this freaking dark visor on. Muscles popping out. And not only the muscles popping out, but he had like oil coming down his body. Well, it was a night game. I mean, he was breaking tackles. He looked, yeah. Legendary. He is in the best position. I love A.J. Brown. And right now I got Justin Jefferson, number one. I got A.J. Brown, number two. And then I put Devonte, Tyreek Adams, still they're out of respect. But right now, Justice Jefferson is the best wide receiver in the league. And then number two is A.J. Brown, but it's close. Cooper Cup, Twitter's top five. Cooper Cup, Twitter's right here. Maybe, maybe. What? Top what? Yeah. Top what? Justice Jefferson's what? I love Cooper Cup. Justice Jefferson's what? Cooper Cup here. Here's the deal with Cooper Cup. Go on. Like right now he's top five. He's top five. Tell me what the thing is about Cooper Cup, Brandon. Well, so the guys, this is what the guys feel, right? Like system, right? Like first of all, he runs routes, you know, that no one else can run. He's consistent. His football IQ is through the roof, right? But, you know, he's getting a lot of targets and they're moving them all around. So a lot of guys, what they're saying out there, what they are saying, not me, this is just, you know, my ear to the street. What the guys are saying is, look, I want to see why receivers go to one side and it's Mono Imano. Can you beat me? Play after play after play. That's what they want to see, right? And step on digs, you get that out of step on digs. You get that out of, you know, the islands of the world, the Kenan Islands of the world. You get that out of Tariq Hills of the world. So that's the debate around Cooper Cup. Can he do that if he just lines up two yards outside the numbers and go Mono Imano with the best of the best? And where does he stack up?  I know, I know. Why are you questioning me? I'm questioning the other guys. The guys in the street. The guys that you got, right, right, right, right. But I was thinking about who compares to you and it's sort of impossible to do. The body size, the speed, the toughness. There's no you in today's game. You're very unique, right? So is there anyone in the league who does sort of mirror your game? Because to me, you're like, if Mike Evans, A.J. Brown and Mike Williams had a baby, that would be you. Wow, you took the words out of my mouth. Really? That's really good. That's really good. Yes, it's A.J. Brown and Mike Evans put them together. Yeah, A.J. Brown and Mike Evans. I'm not, I wasn't as explosive as A.J. Brown. You guys watch him. But toughness. He was so good. I'm telling you, that's the best edition but I can't believe you have Devonte Adams at three. All right, quickly, last one for you. I'm going to ask you. Which one do you want me to try to see? Oh, I want to ask you about you and Alshon's, while we're just getting these hot takes out of you that'll be all over Twitter. You and Alshon had this special season. I mean, you mentioned Eddie Royal, which I just love when you were out in Denver. But 2013, 1400 yards for Alshon. You had a smidge under 1,312 touchdowns. To me, as a Bears fan, it was iconic. They pulled out a win in a week one somehow. But is there a duo that you think is the best today? We know who you think the best wide receiver is. Is there a duo you like? Yeah, I still like Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson. Yeah, that's it. Phenomenal there. Help me out here. Who else do we have out there? I love, I think Cincinnati, they're at re-procedure court. Well, Godwin's hurt, so. I love the makeup of the, yep. What about who we are having? Godwin's hurt to get Tampa. Yeah, but I wouldn't put them at number one right now. Like, and then also one to look out for. What? Gabe Davis and Stefan Diggs. We know who Stefan Diggs is. Gabe Davis, did you, yeah, I know you watched him, but this is like my favorite thing to say right now on TV right now. Did you watch Gabe Davis opening night? They're number one. They're number one. Yeah, he had that last year. It's sort of carried over from last year, Gabe Davis emerging and they had, you know, Josh Allen just on another level. They might win the Super Bowl. I'd be happy to see it. I love it. Do you think so? You got them in the Super Bowl? Hey, Chicago, no, no, everybody does. I don't know, I forgot. I don't even know if I picked a Super Bowl. Quickly, we talked bears, they got the Packers Sunday night big game. You know that rivalry well. I'm not going to ask you about X's and those. You know, I'm from there. Do you have faith in the Chicago Bears organization to turn the fortunes of their team? No, I do not. I do not, I'm sorry. I love the city of Chicago. It was one of my favorite experiences. It's the best sports town in a whole wide world, right? Like I had to fight, you know, the city of Chicago so I can pay for my own meals. They took care of me. They still show me a lot of love. Awesome there. But management, it's not in a good place. And that's, it's just not, it's not. It's the Chicago Bears. This is the Chicago Bears. How have we been sitting here at the bottom of the NFL for this long? Shouldn't happen at all, at all. This is a premier team, right? This is the Chicago Bears. They should not be this bad for this long at all. I know they're looking, they're a very angry fan base. They're looking for something to hold on to. They won over the in sloppy conditions over Trey Lance and the Niners and it was as if they had won a Super Bowl. They were so excited about it. Those fans, I feel for them. They're looking for something to hold on to. Brenda Marshall, you are the absolute best. Takes on takes as always. I am athlete podcast. Who's on next? Oh, we have Mikey coming out Monday. You know, we went to that level. You know, talk a little bit of a name, image likeness. Mikey, you know a little Mikey the basketball guy. I'm sorry, are you joking? No, I'm being serious. He's coming on. How, what? Mikey's coming on. Yeah, we got Mikey coming out Monday. Conrad, what'd you say? He's a Hooper from Southern California. As he's telling me in my air, thanks Conrad. Okay, Brenda Marshall, we appreciate you. We'll be back with more Thursday Night Football. Love you, you're the best. I'm so happy for your success. He's the best.


I do brief introductions. Name, Ward, Vicki Garrison, Ward 7. Your last name is? Mary Ann Ward, Ward 7. Mary Ann Ward, Ward 7. I think Prenski and Ward 4. Sarah Diaz, Ward 7. Ward 7 as well. Thank you. I'm just coming back together to look at the revisions that we talked about last meeting and updated to share ideas and perspectives. And I want to say, if I can just, I thought you did a noble schedule. The other meeting in between the 1st 1, and this 1. Presidents meeting and all of the other or President's holiday, I should say. Is that what it? Yeah, yeah, I thought you really, that was a no. Yes, so thank you for all your help with. Yeah, try I don't want to be in charge of scheduling meetings anymore after. Well, I could try I understand. Yeah, but it was challenging. Yeah, so. And maybe so this, I guess this would fit into any other additional items. We'll kind of go there. Maybe we could why we're at. Maybe find a couple of times that might work before we leave. Yeah, if we could get them to be. Thank you so many times before we leave and then see if. Has that availability didn't tell me her work schedule, which I was not aware of before that that. Schedule now, I know so do we have people actually online? Not as. Okay, and if they learn, we'll be able to see them and they'll be coming out of the speakers. And so we're fully recording right now. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your effort. I'd like to ask how you would like. What would be most helpful would it be helpful if we read through it together? Any questions emerge? Because it sounds like some folks. Yeah, I think so. And maybe we start with. You know, your, your take 7. The 1. I mentioned in my email was when we had talked with the. NPA about taking this on was that we would track changes so. Yeah, but since this is such a wholesale really revision, it really is. Hard, it's messy. Yeah. So this is 1 of the things we were finding it that we had to extract that messiness and try to clean it up so that we could have something. That wasn't so into disrupted today. Right. I do want to say for the record that. What's on this take 7 our diamonds issue. Um, so neighborhood planning assemblies and PAs are diverse and inclusive. Neighborhood organizations established to represent each of Burlington's 8 wards. In order to participate in city city government. Working as neighborhood advocacy groups. To improve communication between the residents of Burlington and city government for regular meeting. Ward 4 and ward 7 and PAs meet together as a single group, but retain the right to meet separate issues pertaining solely to their ward as members being necessary. And appropriate guiding principles as organizations. Wards for value diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging and adhere to the following. We recognize diversity as both the strength and opportunity. All met by a diverse spectrum of community members through active outreach and by eliminating bear. We operate by democratic principles. Do not engage in partisan politics when conducting business related to the assembly. Safe and welcoming forum where residents can share their voices about issues that matter to them. We operate in a manner that models respectful, inclusive and culturally practices. We acknowledge the barriers to accessing, excuse me, Sink decision making and work to include those who have been previously excluded from non roles and processes. And we strive to create a fun creative environment that provides value to the diverse perspective shared. Just a quick question. In the second line of the next to last part. Excluded from non decision making roles. Okay, I heard you. I thought I heard him. Great. I know this kind of dry. I think we can switch out. That's what I'd like you to do. Right. You might get tired. So no, I actually switch out. And so at this point, I'd like to ask if there's. Any thoughts about any of this that come up for folks. No, I think that's all good. I'm just positive. I think just like a good flushing out of all the kind of ask. What the, what the NPA is what we. All to be right. Right. That's a full and complete model of what we'd. Yeah. I would. The one I'm thinking. I'm thinking. We recognize diversity as both. A strength and an opportunity. Is great. And I wonder about. You know, when we speak of diversity. I think we should be also be including diversity of thought. Because. Honest with you. Versity of thought. Because.  But. I wonder if there is diversity of thought. I mean, there's been some indications to me that. That might not be so. I'm not really sure. But I don't know. I don't know what. I don't know. Give us an example of what diversity of thought might entail. Well, we're not given the politics. No, we're not getting into politics. And, and, you know, in the. You know, that free of politics, partisan politics. Is, is there even diversity. On the committees. Of thought. I think diversity of thought is a part of diversity. We're all human beings. We don't even. Dear committee. I didn't. We haven't had the opportunity. To get to know each other. We started with seven members. Then there were nine. And now there's. Soon to be 11 or 12. And. I think diversity of thought is a part of diversity. We're all human beings. We don't even. Dear committee. I didn't. In here but they're doing it differently. I mean, I don't think that we're doing it too soon to be a 11 or 12. And we, we've never. We're on an ongoing basis. There. I did hear.  But I did hear someone in one meeting say that. She thought. We're not inclusive. Why that. boring. I don't know what word she is. Did you do eco? I mean, that was like, you know, before the new steering committee took over, I think. Year, you know, the first meeting that I was at recently was in November. And that's like a in a row and people didn't necessarily introduce themselves as a steering committee. We were working on. Taking those notes and. You know, diversity in all of these different ways. You know, I don't want to call you out, Vicki, but on the steering committee suggested that everybody. At our meeting and so last week, you know, everybody had a chance to at least speak at the meeting and. What word they were in and I think part of. As we're all saying, kind of getting to know each other and getting to know what the neighborhood. For our meetings. Including more of that as we go along. As we go. Yeah, I would like it to be specific, but I'll let it go for now. When you go first. I think there's no reason not to be. You know, I think I should probably just listen and. What I'm hearing you say is that. What I'm hearing you say is you won't. There's. Diverse perspectives of willing. Face. I think that's our goal. And I think that's why we put. Diversity and all its forms in here. And I think it's important. Oh, that was in the prior one. Yeah. Cause I added that one, but I think it's gone. I think that. In that 1st. As. And we can add it back. I think I don't remember where it was, but I do remember. Well, it started here. And I think that's where it came from. So I put in our NPAs are. An inclusive embracing and supporting diversity and all its forms. You want to put it back in. And it's here to the following principles. And then it ended and it said, we adhere to the following principles. So that's right here under. Yeah, it was the 1st sentence under guiding principles. Different than the 1st sentence under any principles of. The reason. It's different because I think that it. I think belong. It's not about imposing. But yeah, sure. Well, maybe we can combine them somehow. Yeah. Yeah. We can talk about. So. Cause. Okay. So what if we said, for example. Our NPAs are welcoming any. Embracing and supporting. I really like value. I really like value. I really like value. I really like value. I really like value. I really like value. I really like value. Yeah, I was just going to say the words. Yeah. I think. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, right. I think that's why I changed that piece there. To be that this is the core of who we are. Okay. How we want to be. I thought the language was more consistent. When how we've presented this. Embracing. Okay. So maybe we just stay with this. And say. We've said it's diverse and inclusive. A piece. Paragraph. Right. Well, could we. Writing principles. Could we just shorten the intro to say a. Instead of as organized.  I mean, with the words for and seven NPAs. Was part of the feedback that. Separate. Yeah. Right. Okay. Meet together. As organizations to really formalize this section. I'm. Yeah, I'm trying to. Okay. All right. I go. Don't want to spend all day on this. Right. I think diversity of that. I don't think it needs to be. In there. I think diversity is inclusive. We can take a vote on it right now out of the. No. And move forward. Are you okay with that? No. Two. But. I think. Maybe saying something in. With what you're saying about valuing diversity. Equity inclusion. And. Can I just ask a question? Hey. Sarah. Um. Deb. Mary Ann. We have a recommendation to include diversity of thought. With that in mind. I would. Can we look at the language again? And then just ask. If we want to stay with the language. Or change it. Um. At this point. Because I think. Concludes that. Of different thoughts. And. I would also say that that second bullet. I mean. I mean saying, um. Involvement by a diverse. Members. Also speaks to. A lot of. Kind. Um, in terms of. Our own experience. Experience as community members. Diversity that comes from just being individuals. And I think that that ties it. I'm not. As feeling like it, um, encompasses. What you're thinking about Mary Ann. When you brought that up and I, and I read. Um, Um, Number five. Culturally and economically aware practices. I mean, if you're going to. Um, You know, articulate there. Why not articulate. To be a folk. I see. And. Yeah. And, you know, something else that makes me uncomfortable. I'm maybe, maybe. Um, just. I'm going to bring this to the rest of the group and. We on it or not. Okay. I'm out there. The five people should be. Decided. No way. Also. Yeah. Yeah. And it's never been. And this is open to the community. We're going to do the best job that we. You know, It's not, you know, One of the reasons I'm interested in being here tonight is like. As a facilitator. Looking at our current bylaws from 2008. Taking in all. Revisions that have gone into where we are now and who we want to be now. So sort of articulate how we got here as well. Um, so I don't know. We'll talk. Hank and Vicky and some other steering committee members. That agenda point for next. Um, but I think that's a good. Um, an important thing that we'll do when we present the work that. On the bylaws, because of course we want. Even folks who are. One. Maybe you're not willing to show up to still know. You know, how we got here and to where we're going. Yeah, and I mean, to that point. It's true. I mean, we're just drafting these for other people too. And for the whole NBA. But I get your point because when people read that. We recognize diverse diversity is. Yeah. I think that. Well, let me suggest one thing here. If you look down to the 4th bullet point. Um, we provide a safe and welcoming forum where residents can share. About issues. That matter to them. Maybe that's a. Place where we can make that. That point very clear. Where. Um. And welcoming forum where. Residents voices. Um, About. To them. Um, where diversity of thought is welcome. Valued. Appreciate it. Yeah, or something like that. And there's and where diversity of thought is. And what did you say, Vicki? Appreciate it. Would that work there? Yeah. Okay. Cause I was thinking that might fit right in there. Yeah. Where the voices are. Yeah. Okay. So that we would keep it. The comma and say. And where. Diversity. Of thought. Is welcome and. Appreciate it. Correct. Okay. Okay. Everybody comfortable with that. See. Are you typing that into the document? That's where you're a lot. The document. I was going to turn notes, but I can also. So. I wonder, could I, should I. Doing that or maybe we don't. Yeah. I think it's a good idea. I just want to save the record. I still don't think it's necessary. I think that. Says that. And it's very worthy. So we can keep having dialogue about it. And you're saying welcome twice.  It can be part of that. But just to reinforce it. And. I think it's a good idea. I just want to save the record. I still don't think it's necessary. I think that. I think that's a good idea. I just want to. I just want to. To reinforce it. And. You know. To what end. To what end to address. And. Feeling is, and I think it's a good. You. You know. I don't understand how it's different from. Where residents can share their voices about issues. missing? Yeah, I guess I'm just saying some people that and Mary Ann's raised in this point. I might be missing. You know, I think some people look at diversity as a set of people, adjectives that apply to people, you know, race, ethnicity, you know, they don't think outside the box of anything beyond that. That would be that. Okay. And they kind of stop there. And so, and I think the fourth bullet point can leave it alone and stand alone to include that. That's what I'm saying. I think it would, but I, but what I was asking is, I think what you're talking about is perspective. And so, wait, one, two, three, because perspectives are the result of experience, right? Everyone has perspective. Doesn't seem clear enough to me because on the tip of my what do you mean by that? You know, so just show their perspectives and voices about to them. Let's do it instead of the perspective or is it the phrase diversity of thought that you're really I want. I really want thought in there because I mean, I don't feel safe at this meeting tonight because I do have a different opinion on, you know, express it. And I'm not going to express it in this setting. So I feel it's very important that diversity of thought be allowed. Okay. I agree. Yeah. Hey, how about thoughts and voices? Right? Share their thoughts and voices. Isn't sharing your voice, sharing your thoughts? That's what I'm confused at. Well, I mean, diversity of thought is best. It goes outside of identity and is more inclusive than voices and perspectives. Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying to go with that. I really am. And I don't, I mean, I, you know, I think it's redundant and it may be, but it does reinforce it. There's in my mind nothing wrong with reinforcing it. Other thoughts? Can I hear what your line edited line was? Well, I just said it and again, it repeats the word welcome. Where diversity of thought is welcome and appreciated. Okay. You just tack, tack at the end of it. Yeah. Change one word. I would change appreciated to encourage. Okay. Encourage anywhere else? I'm not sure. Because I like encouraged. Or encouraged. Encouraged will do. Or we don't even have to say welcome and encourage. We just say encourage. We have to have a welcome. Is encouraged.  Yeah. That was what was redundant. Thought is encouraged. Where diversity of thought is encouraged. How about that? I love that. That then we, okay, and you're okay with that, Mary Ann. Thank you. I, I mean, I, I do appreciate what you're saying. I read that. Yeah. Okay. Glad that we could have that conversation. Any other feedback from the guiding principles? So, we are taking the X sentence. Our NPAs are welcoming rather. No, we're keeping this way. It is, I think. Right. We're keeping it. Word 4 and 7 NPAs value diversity and belonging and adhere to the following principles. I think 6 is too wordy and I, I, I can't. Well, we can always put it in two sentences. A period after belonging and then just start. We adhere to the following principles. She's the first sentence under guiding principles. She's referring to the 6th. I'm sorry. I thought barriers to excessive decision making and work to the previous. I think that I. We acknowledge the barriers. I see that. What did you find? Oh, this one. Yeah. What do you find wordy about that? The repetition of decision making. I think it seems to me too much. It's doesn't it doesn't seem to. I think that's a really important one. In terms of acknowledging the. The fact that we do vote things and that not everybody. Is in. Was even when they're affected by decisions that are being made. And I think. To points to that direct success for folks who. Yeah, as it states have previously been excluded from decisions. I don't know. I guess I think it's it for it. You know, those were I mean. So, who's those it's everyone. That's the point I think. It's the folks who may be managers in spaces or who may. You know, in spaces where they're only taking direct they're affected by decisions that are being made. We're you know, I don't I'm not. Connected to people's working life or whatever, but I think this speaks to be on them. Because that could also include. You know, maybe other people are making decisions for them and this space is 1 that. The acknowledgement is that everybody here has a chance to. Has a chance to be in part of the decision to be a decision maker. Couldn't just say that specifically that everyone has the right, you know, included in a vote that affects them. Seems very worried to me, but besides Jesus, such a. It needs to be cut down by at least a third. I haven't been sitting here reading you've read this whole thing since we've been sitting here talking. I don't see your purpose in challenging. I can ask you a question. You haven't read it as a challenge. Well, you can hear it as a challenge. That's fine with me. Much longer than our original document because I think. Yeah, bring back up and we were required by the city to add components to it. Did they require the statement like that? Well, these. Part of their original draft that we're just we added a few words that are not, you know, and. And that we, I think that was this was added in this one. Right. So I believe maybe it was. I don't know if you know. But, but how would. What would you say that everybody has the right to vote. On everything that affects them. That's a very word sentence. Yeah, I think there's other purposes for that sentence. I don't know anything about. I don't know what your history is with diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. How you have yours. But this sentence also. For people who. Sometimes the typical voting process may. And therefore trying to be conscious of that. And me. About how we can support people, whether it. A youth. Or anyone. Be able to have space to share their experience with the larger. And to. Whatever you need to do, if you'll come. Present this to the larger group. Are they going to have the. To. Edited if they choose. Sure. People can question it. And everyone's invited to these meetings. Yeah, I mean. Yeah. I mean, this is all just. I mean, I look at this. At this stage. As. You know, if there's a very rough. It's a rough. Also. As. If there's something that I. The uncomfortable with. I mean, this is where I'm looking at it anyway. I'll bring it up. Time. Even if I'm literally like. And we're a little. Perspective. I'm not saying it should be yours. And I'll leave it alone. Because. It's going to happen with it. Yeah. 10 steps down the line. You know what I mean? But if. Comfortable with something. I think it's, I think it's. You, you. But, you know. Yeah, I know. I know. I agree. I like to cut things down to. You know. We've been cutting and cutting. Right. Yeah. I mean, I think that there is. A lot more cutting to, to do, to that statement. To, to acknowledge. Our barriers for a lot of folks. And the NPA has been to be a space that. Yeah. Even if they. Enable for whatever reason to perhaps vote yesterday. You know, or, or. In other sort of more traditional decision-making processes. The NPA. So anything when you come in the door, just what your name is and what your ward is, because it's really. Folks who live here. Are. Part of the decision-making. And so. I, I, I apparently, I have one. I have some, I have one here. That is. And all the one. And all the. You know, and it's. Sights. Yeah. Are you looking at the original bylaws for us? Super. Insight. Yeah. I don't even think there's guiding principles on there though. The four components that are required from city hall are not in there. Yeah. And it doesn't create. Things we talked about doing with our bylaws is creating. What we want to cultivate in the NPA so that people can come and feel. Valued. Yeah. And a personality that might be different from other NPAs. I mean. Yeah. And I think, Mary Ann. I look at this. In, in the past. Right. Hopefully not now, but we know it exists. Hopefully not in our NPA. But, um, I don't know. You know, there would be the people in power. Right. And they would say. Way that there were barriers. Right. And they might structure it in a way so that the people who were. Lower. Lower class minorities, whatever, you know. They're. In the role. To make a decision. Is that true? I mean, that actually happened. Yeah. Speak to it. It happens everywhere and everything. Pretty. Even just like knowing when it happens. Even something we're working on improving attendance so that. Folks who aren't just. NPA is or have maybe gone to a meeting before. But, or maybe a new to the area. It needs the country. Have a chance to know that it's happening. Know that. That they don't even necessarily have to stay for the meeting, but they're still welcome to meet their neighbors. Have a, have the bill. And so all of these different parts of making that except. And again, especially for those folks who may be. Feeling included. Or maybe a new to the area. New to the country. Have a chance to know that it's happening. Know that. That they don't even necessarily have to stay for the meeting, but they're still welcome to meet their neighbors. Have a chance to know that it's happening. So. Included or having access to things, whether it's. Are years old, those different. I mean, I'm sure. But I mean, I. That happened. In the past. Right. And I can't speak to whether. But no doubt. But I do see the community mail. Intentional. Component of the meetings now. And it's a school night. I can't come to this meeting and bring. Yeah, you know. So this opens the door to them to come in. Now it's not it's. But it's kind of a first step to get here, right? So. That's the way I see that being, you know, we acknowledge that there have been barriers. To really getting in here and we're trying to remove those. That's what it means to me. Okay. Sorry. Yeah. Okay. So. Article one. Is. From. The regular. Original. Yeah. So I just wanted to stay. But do we have to. Capitalize state, federal and city. No, I just copied and pasted. I know, I know, I know, I know. No. No. No. We don't. We don't. Good. Lower case. I love that. Okay. Good city. Just because it's a city doesn't mean it's. Take eight. Maybe we could post take eight. I know. I get. Yeah. People I say people just. It's a capital letter. Anyway. That's just. Word. We capitalize all through here. I cannot. I think that I would move to. Next meeting time. Wow. Are we done? Yeah. Meeting. Only have. Yeah. It was originally five to six. Okay. Wow. Okay. Do we want to. Determine a time. And maybe a larger block of time. Yeah. I don't. An hour twice. Yeah. And it's. They. These wonderful people work. So. I think it would be better if we do like it to be longer. Just be careful about the data. Select. Okay. Yes. For you. It's easy for us to do that. I can say that. Okay. The first. Is not as good as all. It's always free for you. It's always. Always open. Okay. But for folks here. What is the earliest you. With work schedules. I'm retired now. Yeah. It depends for me. I'm kind of. I'm five was a little. Tight, but I made it. Five 15. But. But it's not. So it depends on. I brought my planner. So that we can. Find a good day. In the mail. And see if we can determine the time. Is Wednesday. For everyone. Well, we vote. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Well, we've all. It's not. We've said that the fourth Wednesday is our NPA meeting and the first ones that. Is our steering committee. Yeah. Yeah, but we're talking about trying to find a time for the by-law's meeting. Instead of the steering committee. No, not instead of. And. A larger chunk of time to kind of. Yeah. Yeah. We chunk off like. Four hours. Somewhere. Two. Right. I mean, really. I'm in for four. You're in for four. There's a day like this. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Charlie. Charlie wants the floor. And close. First and third Wednesday. First. Okay. I'm going to. I'm going to. Email to me. On those days, like, like. Much earlier. Can you do. A class at five. So I. Oh, you have a class at five. You. I had no class today. The rest. I think we'll have to communicate by email and include Fosca. Or in the next meeting. Well, you know how that happened. I understand. But you may be. Yeah. We. Yeah. I think we'll have to communicate by email and include Fosca. Or in the next meeting. We know how that happened. I understand. I. But you may be. Yeah. We. I don't know what the alternative is in this moment. Yeah, let me see. She did tell me. So anything else for the rest of respect to. Minutes. I think so. What keeps the email list. Okay. The notes. I can only. Oh, we just have a thread. I think. We don't, I don't think I have your email yet. So. I will. No, these, these meetings. That. Well, these meeting. Civil. Clerk. Civic clerk. Because we were in the meeting. Finds by law. Someone actually. It's a step to me, but I didn't find the spine. These files. Let me give him that. Okay. Yeah. We have a piece of paper there. And what are the no. No days for people. No days. You can't do Wednesdays. Could you put your email. Sign in as if you're. At that meeting, but I'll. Yeah. I'm supposed to be. Yeah. I think. Another thing I think I volunteered for is to people. Of all the people who've. Signed in and attended our meetings. I am. I have all the sign-in sheets from both meetings. I better put seven on those. Thank you. And. Yeah. What? No, no, no. I thought that Mary and put her email there, but she's writing on a piece of paper. Thank you. Okay. Do you record things like. Yeah. No, no, no. I thought that Mary and put her email there, but she's writing on a piece of paper. Wednesdays you say are always good for you. What things are the next. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Okay.  Right. Sure. Sure. Okay. That's true. Meaning. Okay. So who. What other days. The third. To do. Wednesdays. At five. You know. I mean. I would like it, but I'm. That's going to be very exciting. Yeah. Right. Sure. Sure. Okay. That's true. But I don't think that's going to be very exciting. I would like it, but I'm. That's going to be very exciting. So third Wednesday at six 30. Would work. Earlier one. Well, earlier would work as well. Earlier. Earlier. Okay. Yeah. Earlier. I'm meeting. Five. Yeah, this is five. Yeah, this is five. Okay, what if we did. Three on a Wednesday, three on a Wednesday. Wednesday, do I hear three on the Wednesday? No, she's working. Yeah. And you're working. Okay. I'm working. And she's working. Yeah. Okay, schedule, but yeah, I'm sorry. Okay, but I had said, these bylaws meetings aren't normally recorded. The other guy that was, yeah, they're recorded. He said was the one who does it. So do we want to adjourn our meeting and we can join the meeting is adjourned. Okay. Yes, I can. Okay. But these meetings have to be taped. Yes. Yeah, but apparently.