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Thanksgiving Dinner...not really just a mixture of topics · United We Scan

• 0:34
  Hey, welcome to the United We Scan podcast.
• 0:36
  Just a quick disclaimer here that any of the views and
• 0:39
  opinions expressed by the individuals are not that of the
• 0:44
  USPS or the NRLCA. This podcast is for
• 0:49
  entertainment purposes only and if you are in need of any
• 0:53
  assistance, please contact your designated union representative.
• 0:58
  Thank you. Welcome back, everybody.
• 1:01
  I don't even know what episode number we're on, but hey, we're
• 1:04
  going to go with it because guess who's back?
• 1:06
  Yes, I am. Woo Hoo.
• 1:08
  For now, anyways. And tonight, I've have Josh and
• 1:12
  Miao joining me. We're going to do a National
• 1:16
  Convention recap. I have some attendee stories to
• 1:20
  read. And yeah, we're going to do
• 1:22
  that. So it's been a while.
• 1:25
  How are you doing, Josh? I am doing great, well good, the
• 1:31
  count's over so that's a relief. Not that it matters for me on
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  what I get. I'm already at 48.
• 1:39
  This week hopefully will be a quick easy week.
• 1:42
  Fingers crossed. The weather.
• 1:44
  The heat is finally broken. Last week it was in the 80s,
• 1:48
  then over the weekend it went up low to mid 80s I should say.
• 1:52
  And it was, it felt nice. When we had a couple days, it
• 1:54
  popped up into the 90s and today I had to put on because it was
• 1:58
  chilly and it's supposed to stay in the high 70s, low 80s for the
• 2:02
  that's. How are you doing Mio?
• 2:05
  I'm doing OK. I too am happy that the mini
• 2:08
  mail survey is over because I think it's obnoxious even though
• 2:12
  I know it's really important. It's just adding another layer
• 2:16
  of chaos to our already fun times days that we have.
• 2:21
  But weather here has been actually really nice.
• 2:24
  It's been in the 60s and 70s, which are my favorite.
• 2:28
  I don't think it's cold. I'm wearing shorts and a tank
• 2:31
  top and or AT shirt, you know, So I am doing good.
• 2:37
  How are you doing, Kristen? I am doing pretty good.
• 2:40
  It's it's been an interesting few months for me on the home
• 2:43
  front, but things are doing all right.
• 2:47
  I too am glad that the mini mail survey's over with and just
• 2:53
  waiting on those 4240 ones to come out to see if I have any
• 2:57
  disputes. But other than that it went
• 3:00
  fairly well. I've got a new to me sub now.
• 3:04
  Those that remember my sub from the past is going regular as of
• 3:08
  the 20th of this month. Congratulations to him after
• 3:12
  only a year and a half. And then the the sub that had
• 3:19
  started on the 48K back in February, when that was taken
• 3:22
  over by a new regular in July, he wanted to jump ship.
• 3:26
  And so because the sub I had had gone to the ox route, he came
• 3:30
  over to my route and he's doing really good.
• 3:34
  You know, I think he was thrown to the wolves in the beginning.
• 3:37
  He did his OJT, was around for a couple weeks and then the
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  regular head broke her hand and decided to retire at the time.
• 3:45
  So he pretty much was thrown to the wolves.
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  Didn't have anybody to coach him really on the route and just ran
• 3:51
  the route for five months. And now that he's over on my
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  route, he's getting the coaching that he didn't get before.
• 3:58
  My customers that have met him, none of them have anything bad
• 4:02
  to say. They all talk great about him
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  and he's, he's doing all right. And he as of the 20th will be
• 4:11
  the sub doing all the route hopping 'cause there's one more
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  above him that will be taking the ox route with A5 in one.
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  And yeah. And then we have one other sub,
• 4:20
  newer one in the office. And so mine will be doing the
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  route hopping. So relief day workless sign up
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  comes out on the 13th. I may end up going on it for a
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  change just because just because I want to bank some money.
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  I'm not looking for the X days right now.
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  But other than that, no, I've been good so and it feels good
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  to be back. All honesty guys, it really
• 4:48
  does. I've missed, we missed you.
• 4:54
  It was a lot of contemplating on whether or not I was going to
• 4:56
  come back or not. And you know, I, I had thought
• 5:00
  about it at 1st and was thinking about it.
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  And then I had some discussions at National with some people.
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  And I still came back home and still thought about it and
• 5:09
  talked to the other half and he, he was OK with me coming back.
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  So here I am for now anyways. Yeah, my wife.
• 5:20
  My wife was like, I, you, you used to like do it 7:00 on the
• 5:25
  nose, you'd be hop up and out the door and logging in this,
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  you know, you, you were happy as can be.
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  So that made it easier. That made it really easy for me
• 5:37
  to make the decision to actually come back on.
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  And I know there's a lot of people locally that probably
• 5:44
  won't be happy about that, but as long as I don't try it, have
• 5:47
  aspirations to upward mobility, at least at this moment in time,
• 5:53
  I'm good. Yeah, so well, your goal.
• 5:56
  For you guys, goals are just to help people in the craft, so
• 5:59
  exactly that's what matters. That's really all it is, is just
• 6:03
  to get the people in the craft pointed in the right direction.
• 6:06
  And again, the importance of being active, which I'll discuss
• 6:11
  on one of the attendees stories here.
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  It was a post on Facebook. I know it was at least in our
• 6:18
  Facebook group and it may have been in others, I'm not sure.
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  But I did reach out to the poster and ask permission to
• 6:24
  read it. And I've got green flags.
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  So that was, it was one of those that just really called out to
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  me going, you know what, I need to read this because this is
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  what people don't understand. And this is coming from somebody
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  who came and discovered what National Convention really is
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  about. It's not a party people.
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  And I don't know. We don't need to repeat that
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  every single time. It's not.
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  And yeah, so. Far from a party.
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  I know you know, I've got plans for for for stuff as we're going
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  forward. And I know Meow went down the
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  tunnel of the FLSA. I would love to cover that in
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  the future. That rabbit hole you went down
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  there a while ago and oh, yeah, yeah.
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  And that's. Important.
• 7:11
  Yeah. Yep, that's a fun one.
• 7:13
  I I need to get my hands on the history of the NRLCA book that
• 7:19
  they give out to 1st timers. They started that after I was a
• 7:23
  first timer. So I need to get my hands on one
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  of those books 'cause I would love to do a history episode And
• 7:30
  just for people better understanding newer people or
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  people who are like, I don't get the, you know what, what's the
• 7:36
  big deal about stuff? You know, get the put the
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  history out there, the outline of it.
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  So yeah, we're we're taking this back to what it was supposed to
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  be and that's part of the reason why I'm here.
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  So we're going to get on that. I know, Josh, you did not go to
• 7:53
  National this year, so you may call at least.
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  And. Sit out this one, and not
• 8:02
  necessarily sit out, but you know what I mean.
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  Oh, I know what you're saying it it.
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  It hurt me to my soul that I wasn't able to go.
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  Just everything was going wrong. Oh, I get it.
• 8:13
  We we all have that those time in our life.
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  That's, that's life. Unfortunately, no.
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  It was really great to see a lot of the listeners and meet some
• 8:24
  of them face to face for a change and, you know, reconnect
• 8:27
  with the ones that came out as first timers last year that were
• 8:30
  their second timers this year. And it was, it was, I think it
• 8:35
  went pretty good in general. It was it was an interesting
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  one. I will say this is the first
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  time I have ever seen elections be done before lunchtime.
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  And I've been talking to ones that have been going for almost
• 8:50
  20 years and even they said, no, I've never seen it like happen
• 8:53
  that quickly before. But there was only two positions
• 8:57
  that had other people. Well, excuse, yeah, two
• 9:00
  positions I actually had more than one person running for for
• 9:04
  the position. So that's why I actually got
• 9:06
  done quicker. And then I mean, it's still, it
• 9:08
  was what, 7:00 when we got out. So it wasn't horrible.
• 9:12
  It wasn't like, you know, we've done in the past where it's
• 9:16
  9/10, 11:00 when we're finally wrapped up.
• 9:20
  Yeah, when the employees are waiting for us to leave to clean
• 9:23
  the floor, yeah. They were kind of doing that
• 9:28
  way. We were going over resolutions
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  too. But we, we, we were nice and
• 9:33
  respectful and moved when it, when they wanted to clean the
• 9:36
  area. So, but how did you think
• 9:39
  National went meow? It was a little bit different
• 9:42
  this year. I think.
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  I mean, I, I kind of had a, a different perspective on it and
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  stuff too. But I, I think that it went
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  well. Still, there's some things that
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  I think got shortened and, or, or I maybe misremembering, like
• 9:57
  they didn't really show a lot of the like auxiliary members as
• 10:01
  much or the juniors. So those little things and then
• 10:08
  maybe I'll say the bad, I'll say the bad before I say the good.
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  I also didn't like that we were rushing at the end and not
• 10:14
  considering a lot of the new business stuff.
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  I was hoping that we would at least consider some of those
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  instead of having to wait till next year.
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  I agree, yeah, that that was kind of a little bit of a
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  bummer. And especially since the
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  elections had gone so fast. Like let's at least go through
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  the nitty gritty of of hearing these resolutions and such out.
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  So that was a big bummer for me, but I enjoyed seeing that we had
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  so many resolutions this year, even though we've we've kind of
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  there, it's funny, the first year I went to national, there
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  was number RX talk. And then as the years have gone
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  on, it's been more RX centered. And so there, that was really
• 11:00
  good to see. It was really good to see
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  everybody and actually have a face like, Oh, I don't need to
• 11:08
  just message you like you're right here with me.
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  You know, that was that was really cool.
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  And to the point where like when I came home, I was like, Dang,
• 11:16
  like, I miss you guys, you know, but, but overall, I mean, I
• 11:21
  think it was really good other than the, and the humidity in
• 11:25
  Florida was pretty brutal. But that hotel is really nice.
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  It's, it's somebody said that they would rather do their 48 K
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  during Christmas or that, that not rather, but that their 48 K
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  during Christmas is hard, is not as hard as going and going
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  through the business at national because it's so mental and you
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  have to think about from different perspectives and
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  whatnot. And so that, that was good to
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  see. And I, I don't know, I just, I
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  like seeing the live version of the camaraderie that happens on
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  Facebook and you know that people are actually like
• 12:08
  engaged. Another big thing that was
• 12:11
  really good was there was so many, there was more people
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  getting up and speaking at Mike's that I had not ever heard
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  before. And I go down the rabbit holes
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  of reading old minutes from the conventions and such.
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  And a lot of those, there's people who got up to Mike's this
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  year that I don't think I've ever seen in the minutes before.
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  So that it was cool to hear different voices.
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  So, but overall I think it went good.
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  I think that we, I think I, I, when I came home, even though it
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  was exhausted, I feel like we did do good for the craft and
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  that we did move the craft somewhat in a better direction.
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  But not everything, you know, went good.
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  But you still have to look at the positives and the games that
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  we got and and move forward with them.
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  Oh, and I agree. I mean baby steps forward are
• 13:04
  steps forward. I mean, it's that's what I think
• 13:06
  some people don't realize is you can't.
• 13:09
  It is almost impossible to do massive changes at one time.
• 13:14
  As much as we would all like big things to happen all at once,
• 13:18
  it's unfortunately that's just not how it works.
• 13:23
  Yeah, it's well. And there's no way.
• 13:25
  I mean, and I the other thing that I also found really
• 13:28
  interesting was that, and I figured this was going to happen
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  is that there are so many people who were concerned and upset
• 13:35
  about the contract ratification meetings and see that multiple
• 13:42
  states had all submitted stuff regarding it to the point where
• 13:48
  somewhere combined and edited in such a way.
• 13:51
  And so there was kind of a give and take that I think, I think
• 13:54
  overall that we're going to, I know that we lost the in person
• 13:57
  meetings, but at least we're getting like question and
• 14:01
  answers live in the Q&A or in the in the Zoom meeting.
• 14:06
  So that'll be good. Yeah, you know, and like this,
• 14:09
  you know, and I know I was verbal about it with a few
• 14:12
  people talking about it too was you know, back during that that
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  that fun C word and we had the contract ratifications via Zoom.
• 14:22
  Yes, you can have the pre recorded presentation.
• 14:27
  Thank you. And that that's fine.
• 14:31
  But just having a pre recorded presentation and emailing in
• 14:35
  questions and answers did not very cope fare well with people
• 14:38
  this year. Whereas in the past, you know,
• 14:42
  during that time where we couldn't have in person meetings
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  and taking live Q and AI think really does make a difference
• 14:51
  because that allows people to answer questions.
• 14:53
  And then I have to agree, you know, having the live Q&A at the
• 14:56
  end, it definitely does help. And if we can take it to like a
• 15:00
  similar way of what they did back then on, you know, if you
• 15:04
  couldn't attend your state one, but you could attend a different
• 15:08
  one that only those states that were scheduled for that day were
• 15:13
  be able to ask questions that still allowed a viewer to see
• 15:18
  some questions and answers, some Q&A done.
• 15:21
  Maybe their question was asked and got answered, you know, at
• 15:26
  that time. So I mean, yeah, having having
• 15:28
  the live Q&A definitely will make a difference.
• 15:32
  I mean, I get where the in person thing, the in person
• 15:35
  meetings, there was hardly anybody at any of the meetings
• 15:38
  this year, which is sad. And unfortunately I couldn't
• 15:40
  make mine due to things going on at home.
• 15:43
  So, you know, I get it. There was only like 400 and
• 15:46
  something people that went to all of the in person meetings.
• 15:49
  Yeah. It was it's and there and then
• 15:51
  there was what was more shocking for me though, was that there
• 15:54
  was only yeah, and I I agree that they rushed it and I so
• 15:57
  there was that, but that there was only like 500 and something
• 16:00
  people that saw it online. That was that was more shocking
• 16:04
  to me. That was that was a gut punch.
• 16:07
  So I'm hoping that this next round of contract negotiations,
• 16:11
  I mean we could try and share it more.
• 16:13
  Maybe I, I don't know what, what, what we'll do, but live
• 16:17
  and learn, I guess, and take what we've did this time around
• 16:22
  and hopefully we. Yeah, yeah.
• 16:24
  Well, here, here's my PSA. Any, any union member listening
• 16:28
  to this right now, please download the NRLCA app for your
• 16:32
  phone right now and set the notifications on.
• 16:35
  They don't spam you with notifications, but Jesus, they
• 16:39
  send so many good notifications out.
• 16:41
  So many of your questions can be answered at the at your
• 16:44
  fingertips. Like just download the app now
• 16:48
  it's in the Apple Store, it's in the Google Play store.
• 16:51
  Just download it. Oh, I agree.
• 16:53
  I, you know, I have mine. I think even I use the app more
• 16:57
  than I do logging into the site on the computer because it's
• 17:00
  just right there and you know, I'm not having to go the extra
• 17:04
  clicks with the mouse to get to the steward reference guide to
• 17:07
  look up the information. I just hit the SRG on the bottom
• 17:10
  of the app and boom, it's right there.
• 17:11
  Yep, the app you know I own. Yeah, you know the.
• 17:16
  Biometrics set up. I just need my fingerprint.
• 17:18
  I don't even have to remember what the password is anymore.
• 17:21
  I got the same thing and me too, Yeah, I mean it, it it's so much
• 17:26
  easier. I do believe the app is a bit
• 17:28
  more user friendly than the website itself.
• 17:31
  But you know, yeah, definitely. They do send out the push
• 17:34
  notifications, which is great, you know, especially when new
• 17:39
  Mous drop or you know you have a ratification coming up.
• 17:44
  Yeah. And typically though, they also,
• 17:48
  whenever they do the push notification, they also do share
• 17:51
  it on their on their social media.
• 17:53
  They'll post it in their Instagram stories, which is
• 17:55
  great. And then it'll link you to the
• 17:58
  website. But I also agree that maybe they
• 18:02
  they should do a e-mail list. I know that like I've forwarded,
• 18:08
  you know, if it's not confidential or anything, if
• 18:10
  it's an alert or something like that, and I know that there's a
• 18:13
  couple people who don't look at the app or they're not as
• 18:16
  technologically inclined, I'll send it to them that I know are
• 18:20
  union members and just go, hey here, this happened.
• 18:23
  And but if you're listening to a podcast, you should be able to
• 18:26
  download an app on your phone and have the have that union app
• 18:29
  on your phone. And, you know, I'm not opposed
• 18:31
  to an e-mail list either. I, you know, I think that would
• 18:34
  be a good thing because sometimes I have missed the
• 18:36
  push, push notifications, You know, I, it pops up, I, I kind
• 18:41
  of glance it, but I got so many other notifications that may be
• 18:44
  up, I may have cleared it off without actually seeing what it
• 18:46
  was. Or I didn't fully read it and I
• 18:48
  clicked on something, it disappeared.
• 18:50
  And then, you know, by then the websites bogged down because
• 18:53
  everybody's trying to see what's going on and I can't get into
• 18:55
  it. Yeah.
• 18:57
  You know, I'm not opposed to an e-mail list, but, you know,
• 19:00
  we're when it when it comes to the technical side of stuff at
• 19:08
  national headquarters and the cost of adding things to the
• 19:11
  website. I don't know if they'll go for
• 19:13
  that or not. But that's a resolution idea for
• 19:15
  next year, definitely. $2000 for a new tab, you know, yeah.
• 19:20
  Exactly, Yeah. So you said you have some emails
• 19:24
  from people that sent for their first time.
• 19:27
  Yes, we will. I'm gonna jump into those first
• 19:30
  and then I'll read the post from the other person.
• 19:32
  So let me pull up the emails here again.
• 19:35
  I am gonna go in the order that I received them.
• 19:39
  So this was from a first timer to national and it says, and I'm
• 19:45
  just gonna read what's written. The good, the bad, the ugly,
• 19:48
  whatever. I mean that literally.
• 19:51
  You're gonna take the positive and the negative and hopefully
• 19:53
  maybe anybody that might be listening up on the powers to be
• 19:58
  sitting in the big chairs up there, you may take some of the
• 20:01
  constructive criticism, you know, and say, hey, how can we
• 20:04
  make this better in the future? But, you know, wishful thinking
• 20:08
  sometimes. So the first one, it says my
• 20:13
  experience of the National Convention was good.
• 20:15
  I got to see old friends, meet lots of new friends.
• 20:18
  We really do have amazing people in this craft.
• 20:21
  We do have glaring problems that need to be addressed.
• 20:24
  Throughout the convention, it seemed that only a handful of
• 20:27
  carriers got to the mic to address the congregation.
• 20:30
  Surely there's more opinions that need to be shared and
• 20:33
  heard. The complete dismissal of new
• 20:35
  business was abhorrent with about half of the attendees
• 20:39
  being retired. There is a sizable rift between
• 20:42
  the craft and those that attend the convention.
• 20:45
  The theme of this convention was apparently all about saving
• 20:47
  money as we did away with in person ratification meetings.
• 20:51
  There's a million other places we could trim the fat, like not
• 20:54
  spending thousands of dollars on $175 appeal.
• 20:57
  Educating carriers didn't appear to be on the agenda as it is too
• 21:01
  costly. We have a sociopath for a
• 21:03
  president who decided the best campaign speech is a talk shit
• 21:07
  about the other candidates while the rest of the board is just
• 21:10
  waiting for their turn. There is no talk about fighting
• 21:12
  for carriers, there is no talk about abuse from management, and
• 21:16
  there is no talk about how to break pattern bargaining.
• 21:20
  Our leadership, and I use that term loosely, seems to only care
• 21:23
  about fear mongering the rallies.
• 21:25
  We should be having it to protect our carriers fighting
• 21:28
  for wages and working conditions.
• 21:30
  It was good seeing all of you. So that was my first one.
• 21:33
  And, you know, I kind of do, you know, caucus is not easy for
• 21:37
  everybody that runs. I have been there twice.
• 21:39
  It's. But I do have to agree that the
• 21:45
  IT it could have been done better instead of taking digs at
• 21:49
  the opponents. I, I, I yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 21:54
  Yes, it could have. Yes, yes, yes, it could have.
• 22:00
  All right, so here's my second one.
• 22:02
  Long time listener, first time emailer.
• 22:06
  This was not my first National Convention but my 4th, but I
• 22:09
  thought I'd give my perspective of the convention.
• 22:12
  Each year that I go, I feel that the time goes by quicker and
• 22:15
  quicker. I enjoy spending time with
• 22:17
  little rural carriers with different perspectives on
• 22:20
  different items. Each year that I have gone,
• 22:22
  there typically is at least one resolution to change the
• 22:25
  convention to biennial, and I've always been against it because I
• 22:29
  think role carriers coming together yearly to network,
• 22:32
  communicate, invent to one another, and draft new ideas is
• 22:36
  important for the survival of our craft.
• 22:38
  I consider myself an introverted person, but can be extroverted
• 22:42
  when it is when it is needed. This year brought out my
• 22:46
  hardcore extroverted side. A lot of carriers think that
• 22:49
  National Convention is just a big party, but that couldn't be
• 22:52
  farther from the truth. It's exhausting.
• 22:55
  It is mental work and thinking about each item of business that
• 22:58
  we have to conduct on top of it. It is also in another time zone
• 23:02
  for some carriers, so having to adjust to the jet lag while
• 23:05
  trying to be productive adds another layer of difficulty.
• 23:08
  I think this year there are even more voices to hear from the
• 23:11
  floor, from hearing from Kristen, Bill and James at
• 23:13
  points, but hearing from Hernandez, Delegate Texas to
• 23:16
  Cato Benilla Delegate from Florida, Evans Delegate South
• 23:20
  Carolina and Lewis Delegate Oregon are a few standing out
• 23:24
  names that I thought brought a variety of good perspectives on
• 23:28
  issues. You can tell each have the
• 23:31
  passion to make a positive change for rural carriers across
• 23:34
  the country. I actually enjoyed hearing from
• 23:36
  our Deputy Postmaster General Doug Teleno even more than Dejoy
• 23:41
  in the last few years. It is obvious to me that Mister
• 23:45
  Teleno, in as many titles as he holds, does also care about the
• 23:49
  Postal Service in its survival and that multiple union
• 23:52
  presidents wanted him to be our new PMG.
• 23:55
  The rally in Orlando was slightly different than Reno,
• 23:58
  but it was still passionate. I enjoyed hearing from Mark
• 24:01
  Diamondstein, the president of the APWU.
• 24:04
  His speech at the convention was a little more controversial for
• 24:07
  some people, but as union members and federal workers we
• 24:10
  have to open our eyes to what is going on to other brother and
• 24:14
  sister unions across the entire country.
• 24:16
  We need to stand together and that was his main message.
• 24:19
  Whether you agree with him or not, it was interesting this
• 24:21
  year that we had a four way choice for President of the
• 24:24
  NRLCA. It was disappointing that Don
• 24:27
  Mastin decided to bash the other candidates during caucus night
• 24:30
  instead of voicing positive change in presenting new ideas
• 24:34
  for next year of his presidency. Vice President Patrick Pitt
• 24:37
  should have just ran for President.
• 24:39
  The race for the next director of Stewart Operations may have
• 24:41
  been one of the closest elections I've seen in a long
• 24:44
  time. It was also interesting seeing
• 24:46
  that a four year executive Committeeman position went
• 24:48
  unopposed, seeing as how there has been much speculation that
• 24:52
  this might be President Mastin's last year as president.
• 24:55
  But next year will be interesting and I hope that the
• 24:57
  National Board takes the items and such that they learned at
• 25:00
  this convention in Annex. Positive change for rural
• 25:03
  carriers across the nation. We need more Subs now more than
• 25:06
  ever, and something has to give in order for us to survive.
• 25:09
  This needs to be addressed and I don't think it could have been
• 25:14
  reiterated enough to the national board.
• 25:16
  I'm already planning my trip for next year in Grapevine and I
• 25:19
  hope to see many more people next year at the convention.
• 25:23
  Duly submitted some rural carrier living out here and I
• 25:27
  know I have. I have another one.
• 25:31
  So you kind of guys have already seen a little theme.
• 25:33
  So. But this is the perspective of a
• 25:36
  second timer. I have procrastinated on this
• 25:41
  review for a while now. I was desperately trying to
• 25:43
  rationalize and consider and reconsider my perceptions,
• 25:47
  mulling them over and trying to see the other side, if you will.
• 25:50
  Sadly, I was unable to turn the lining of my cloud into silver.
• 25:54
  Let's start off on the positive. The facility was much better
• 25:57
  this year, more in tune with the event we were here for.
• 26:00
  Not that Reno wasn't good. Being at convention ready to do
• 26:03
  business and represent those fellow carriers back home is
• 26:06
  something I enjoy. There is hope that some changes
• 26:09
  can be made, even if small. State of the Union's not an
• 26:12
  official required event, but it is a sort of expected if you're
• 26:15
  already there. Went pretty much as expected.
• 26:17
  The tone was a bit off, but tomorrow starts the official
• 26:20
  convention. First day is always a bit of
• 26:22
  tough to get through. Lots of pomp and circumstance
• 26:25
  and not really necessary in my humble opinion.
• 26:28
  But I get the need to give some love to the local community and
• 26:31
  facilitating and facility hosting us.
• 26:35
  That said, I do not see why I need to hear from management,
• 26:37
  especially with our union president fawning over him.
• 26:40
  Of course, no questions were allowed, so I'm not even going
• 26:43
  to express anything about the speech from the APWU president.
• 26:47
  I lied. We open with a unifying message
• 26:50
  about how everyone is different but we can come together.
• 26:52
  Then absolutely make it clear that if you don't see things his
• 26:56
  way, you don't belong and you are wrong.
• 26:58
  So we get our reports on the real work constitutional
• 27:01
  amendments and resolutions. Looking over them, I see the
• 27:04
  usual attempts to increase salaries and limit conventions
• 27:07
  to every other year and so on, as well as some really good
• 27:10
  ones. OK, things are looking up.
• 27:12
  I noticed the theme as I reviewed the numerous ideas.
• 27:15
  Many, if not most of these resolutions would be entirely
• 27:19
  unnecessary if we had managed a decent contract.
• 27:24
  There was a lot of good ideas and some did not agree with, but
• 27:27
  they mostly amounted to us fighting over the scraps left
• 27:30
  under the table. I have picked up on the idea
• 27:34
  that some felt that there was a fever of call the question.
• 27:37
  While I see where they are coming in coming from in the
• 27:40
  majority of cases, I think it is more that we have beaten many of
• 27:43
  these poor horses to death for years only to have our president
• 27:47
  ignore the carcasses and their growing stench to only address
• 27:51
  is select few ideas with postal management.
• 27:54
  All in all, we did our jobs and made it through the pages and
• 27:57
  pages of resolutions. I had one of my submissions fail
• 28:01
  and one pass. I will always say it is not the
• 28:04
  passing that is most important. Having the debate on the floor
• 28:07
  at least gets the ideas heard. Caucus night was not too long
• 28:10
  and went as expected. It is truly a great thing to get
• 28:13
  those candidates in that setting and be able to hear their
• 28:16
  answers and judge the reactions. I won't elaborate on anything
• 28:20
  other than I was extremely disappointed in the manner in
• 28:22
  which our president conducted himself.
• 28:24
  It is truly a reflection of a person that has little class.
• 28:28
  One other election related comment.
• 28:30
  I am saddened by the debacle and the improper use of union
• 28:34
  equipment for political purposes issue.
• 28:37
  I do not know all the inner truths of the issue, but there
• 28:39
  is no question the rules were violated here.
• 28:42
  To what degree in what should be punished or who should be
• 28:45
  included, I just don't know. There's a smell.
• 28:47
  There is a smell coming from this as well.
• 28:50
  It may be true that there is no real crime, but there is a stain
• 28:53
  from it regardless. On the last day we had a
• 28:55
  delegate using point of personal privilege to express his
• 28:58
  displeasure at the political tone and attitude of some of the
• 29:02
  speakers. I applaud his statement.
• 29:04
  I don't care if you disagree, if you agree or disagree with his
• 29:09
  opinion. There should never be a tone at
• 29:11
  the gatherings that makes so many of our membership feel what
• 29:15
  this man expressed. Kudos to him for having the
• 29:17
  courage to speak up and a huge shout out to any candidate
• 29:20
  willing to put themselves through the process and stand up
• 29:23
  to make a change for their fellow carriers.
• 29:27
  You deserve more credit than can be expressed.
• 29:30
  Overall, I have not come back. I have come back to real life
• 29:33
  and ICE log on. I will not let this demoralize
• 29:36
  me. I'll keep up doing what I can.
• 29:38
  I'll attend my state convention next year.
• 29:41
  National will remain a question for now.
• 29:43
  I do not think my finances will permit attending Grapevine, but
• 29:46
  we shall see. There is time between then and
• 29:48
  now. Yours truly.
• 29:49
  And then I got a second e-mail that said I left out a sentence.
• 29:53
  I meant to say if we had gotten a good contract and Wood Forest
• 29:56
  the PO to hire. Thank you.
• 29:59
  Nice. So those are the emails that I
• 30:01
  got and then I'm going to. Read of running theme in them.
• 30:06
  What was that, Josh? I said I think I I heard of
• 30:09
  running theme in all those there.
• 30:12
  Kind of was. Just a little bit there.
• 30:16
  Yeah, let me go ahead. I'm going to read this post that
• 30:19
  I had permission to read. I got to pull it back up here
• 30:23
  real quick. I did have it up, but and then
• 30:26
  it went bye bye. Now this is somebody that is in
• 30:28
  our Facebook group. I did get her permission to read
• 30:30
  this. This person was on the fence and
• 30:37
  they went to went to the convention.
• 30:40
  I do not believe they were a delegate, but they were on the
• 30:44
  fence about wanting to leave the union.
• 30:46
  They were gonna say, hey, I. Think I think they were.
• 30:49
  They were an alternate. Okay.
• 30:52
  They were an alternate. And they, yeah, so then they
• 30:56
  decided they made this post. I really, really liked this
• 31:00
  post. So I reached out to them and
• 31:02
  asked if I could read it. So I'm going to now this person
• 31:05
  was dead set on leaving the union because of the way that
• 31:07
  the elections initially went. But a few days later, they
• 31:11
  reconsidered. So I'm going to go ahead and
• 31:12
  read this post. So.
• 31:14
  So I am staying in the NRLCA union.
• 31:17
  My anniversary date is in June. My thoughts are since I have to
• 31:21
  stay in until next June anyways, and our state convention is just
• 31:24
  a couple weeks after that, I keep pondering ways we can
• 31:27
  properly and aggressively make the changes from within changes
• 31:30
  that need to be made. I learned this past convention
• 31:33
  that things that we wish to happen can be introduced and
• 31:37
  voted upon in the forms of resolutions.
• 31:40
  Again, I'm not sure exactly how that works and who is allowed to
• 31:44
  submit a resolution, but I was able to see first hand how
• 31:47
  resolutions were voted upon at the state level and then many
• 31:51
  were passed on to national level to be voted upon there.
• 31:54
  They called them sort of a wish list.
• 31:58
  One of my thoughts is why is this whole union procedure such
• 32:00
  a mystery to us paying members? I'd like more information on the
• 32:05
  ballot we get every year in the mail with a list of delegates to
• 32:08
  vote upon from what office they're from, are they retired
• 32:10
  or active, or how are they voted on in the past.
• 32:13
  Again, I'm not sure if listing a retired versus active names on
• 32:16
  the balance against any labor laws or not, but I tend to find
• 32:19
  out. And yes it is.
• 32:21
  But I think the membership that is paying every month into this
• 32:25
  union should be entitled to more information as far as what
• 32:28
  happens and how they can personally and individually
• 32:31
  submit potential changes. Again, I was prepared to quit
• 32:34
  since it seems we're going down a narrow road again for another
• 32:38
  year and I did not want to support that.
• 32:41
  I certainly understand members pissed off enough wanting to
• 32:43
  quit. However, maybe we are the ones
• 32:46
  that need to give it another round and see what we can learn
• 32:50
  and do different within this next year.
• 32:52
  We have almost a year to figure it out.
• 32:54
  I've thought that before, but I also, but also some things don't
• 32:58
  happen overnight. As for me, I'm going to just
• 33:01
  write down certain things specifically that I think need
• 33:03
  changed, and perhaps we can turn that into a form of a resolution
• 33:07
  to be submitted at our next state convention.
• 33:10
  Maybe everybody should do this that that at least a start
• 33:14
  undoing something different. Us pissed off from members who
• 33:17
  are ready to quit, maybe the silent majority.
• 33:21
  And if we can vote the right people in next time, could this
• 33:24
  be our first substantial change? So maybe my June anniversary
• 33:28
  date, which prevents me from quitting until next June, could
• 33:31
  be a blessing in disguise. I hope so.
• 33:33
  I hope so too. Yeah, me too, Me too.
• 33:37
  And I didn't get to meet you this year, but I hope you can
• 33:40
  come next year and I get to meet you then.
• 33:43
  Because that really, that one was kind of really heartfelt.
• 33:46
  It was a way I'm ready to get out.
• 33:48
  But wait a minute. Maybe it's those that kept
• 33:50
  saying we were going to pull our dues, mate, We're the ones that
• 33:53
  need to start doing this. We're the ones.
• 33:55
  And that's exactly what I've been trying to say for three
• 33:59
  years. This is why.
• 34:01
  This is why we need to. And as as much as you can, you
• 34:07
  know if it's even quoting idea of a resolution going to your
• 34:11
  meeting, involved in your meeting if you're able to,
• 34:14
  that's how we make the change. Well, and and the big thing, a
• 34:17
  lot of sorry Josh, I didn't mean to cut you off.
• 34:20
  Yeah, go on. I just the only thing I was
• 34:22
  going to say is that a lot of people don't realize that when
• 34:26
  when people are saying I'm going to quit the union, you are the
• 34:29
  union despite I know that we have people up in leadership,
• 34:34
  but it is literally every single one of us.
• 34:38
  No matter what you bring to the table, it is it takes every
• 34:42
  single one of us. And the moment that you, you
• 34:47
  should never think that your voice in it doesn't matter
• 34:50
  because it does. And there's it's just a way of
• 34:54
  you just need to figure out ways to that to voice it and going to
• 34:59
  these local meetings and, and seeing things through.
• 35:03
  Because when you can see a resolution, go from your local
• 35:07
  meeting all the way to national and get it and watch it be
• 35:11
  debated. I mean, like that feeling is
• 35:14
  just like it's, it's awesome. Or that you you saw somebody
• 35:18
  that had it was their first time ever writing a resolution and
• 35:21
  you watched it gavel pass at National.
• 35:24
  I've I've had that I've had that feeling of one of my resolutions
• 35:28
  gavel passing at National before.
• 35:31
  So I understand that I don't mean to cut you off me out, but
• 35:34
  I want to read one of our listener comments here real
• 35:38
  quick. And it it says in my 2 years of
• 35:41
  going, it's not the divide between the retirees and the
• 35:44
  active carriers that's the problem, which which I kind of
• 35:47
  agree with actually. So we have some really good
• 35:50
  awesome retirees out there. The problem is the haves and the
• 35:54
  have nots. The haves got Subs, the haves
• 35:58
  got Saturdays off, the haves got decent routes, the haves got
• 36:02
  decent management. Any changes the have nots
• 36:05
  proposed to fix the problems they have get shot down by the
• 36:09
  haves. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 36:11
  I agree with that. How do I?
• 36:13
  Well, and, or the I had it this bad, so you should have it this
• 36:17
  bad too. And it should never be like
• 36:19
  that. It should always be.
• 36:20
  Let's move the bar forward so that the craft is more
• 36:23
  successful and that it's easier for us, you know, in the long
• 36:27
  term, we should always be bringing, you know, making it
• 36:31
  better for the next round of people coming in.
• 36:35
  Exactly, you know, and you know, what I was starting to say is
• 36:39
  get you need to get involved to the extent that you can.
• 36:43
  Even if I can, what happens, you can't make the certain local,
• 36:49
  state, national meetings like like for example, like Kristen
• 36:53
  said, I wasn't able to go this year because of what happened.
• 36:57
  But even if it's, hey, I have this idea that might be, you
• 37:03
  know, might be good for the craft, reach out to us, reach
• 37:06
  out to your, your representative, you know, your
• 37:09
  local Rep, your ADR, your Dr. somebody you know, someone you
• 37:13
  know is in that is involved to help you write that resolution
• 37:18
  to get it submitted. Or even if you have a resolution
• 37:21
  that you've put together and you're unable to attend your
• 37:24
  annual local meeting to present it, if you know somebody that's
• 37:28
  within your local that's going, you can always ask them to
• 37:30
  present it for you. You know, there is ways of doing
• 37:34
  that and you know, you can have them submitted, but I I get
• 37:38
  another another listener comment going with some of these offices
• 37:42
  in the in the have not section. It's where it's going to take
• 37:46
  abandoning the job and getting APDI to get to go to these
• 37:50
  meetings and conventions for some.
• 37:52
  And I understand that. I mean, yeah, you're
• 37:54
  contractually covered under Article 24, but at the same time
• 37:59
  it's it's literally for some people almost impossible to be
• 38:05
  able to because there is no coverage at all in their office
• 38:09
  and surrounding offices may be short staffed and don't have
• 38:12
  anybody that they could loan out to cover for that time.
• 38:15
  And that's the issues that need to be addressed is not just
• 38:20
  necessarily the hiring, but the retaining and the hiring can
• 38:24
  come down. I mean, I look at the postings
• 38:28
  that go up in my office. I mean, as of the 20th, we're
• 38:30
  going to be down to 3 Subs. One's going to be on an ox
• 38:33
  route. And then we have two that are
• 38:35
  less than a year in. One just came back.
• 38:38
  She started last year, was here for a little bit and then came
• 38:42
  back this year over a year. So she restarted again in what,
• 38:46
  June or July? So she's still newer and that's
• 38:49
  all we're going to have, you know.
• 38:51
  So it's going to be more difficult.
• 38:53
  I don't even know who's going to be running my route on October
• 38:56
  4th when I leave for Italy because my sub already has
• 38:59
  approved leave to be gone for then too.
• 39:01
  So yeah, it's you don't know. I mean, it's, it's sad, but in
• 39:08
  especially if you are in a smaller town like I am and you
• 39:12
  don't have the best management in the world, trust me by far.
• 39:16
  And when you live in a small town and management lives
• 39:19
  locally in that town and you have the revolving door of
• 39:25
  employees, doesn't matter what craft it is, it seems to be
• 39:28
  anymore. Word goes around fast of you
• 39:31
  don't want to go work there, you don't want to work for them.
• 39:34
  And that's why we're not getting the people applying for these
• 39:37
  jobs. And the ones that do apply and
• 39:40
  they come in and then they see the shit that they're tossed
• 39:43
  with and the how they're put through, they walk right back
• 39:46
  out the door. That's the issues that need to
• 39:48
  be addressed. I saw online too that apparently
• 39:51
  that there is more unemployed people than jobs.
• 39:55
  And so as I know that that sounds really messed up
• 39:59
  nationally, but I was, I was, I was kind of hopeful for us at
• 40:03
  the post office thinking maybe some of these people will apply
• 40:08
  at the post office and and that they can be retained.
• 40:13
  I'm hopeful for it, but I know that there's a lot of places in
• 40:16
  the country that are they can't hire Subs, they have vacant
• 40:21
  routes that they can't get people for and they are turning
• 40:24
  them into contract routes and then there's no one.
• 40:29
  And then in other parts of the country, when the contract
• 40:31
  routes, contracts are up there pulling them back in or pulling
• 40:34
  them in general. I mean, we have 1 highway
• 40:36
  contract route in our office. So I understand you know the
• 40:40
  highway contract part a little bit and my highway contract
• 40:43
  carrier went off on the postmaster recently because her
• 40:47
  supervisor failed to submit her stuff in for her to get paid for
• 40:50
  two months in a row. Yeah, so.
• 40:53
  Well, and it's just, it's just it's basic of how people want to
• 40:58
  be treated, yes, and, and it starts with, you know, the
• 41:02
  people listening to this to with us and trying to, you know, help
• 41:07
  where we can and, you know, communicating with management to
• 41:12
  please not treat the employees like crap and using, you know,
• 41:16
  the dignity, fairness and respect language that we have.
• 41:20
  And hopefully management, you want to hang on to those Subs,
• 41:24
  especially right now with Christmas is coming, comes at
• 41:28
  the same time every year. And I mean, are we gonna, are we
• 41:33
  gonna lose more Subs due to due to peak, you know, like it's
• 41:38
  there's a lot of what ifs And I just I hope that we just we
• 41:41
  really need people. We really need to be able to
• 41:43
  retain management needs to retain the Subs that we have and
• 41:47
  not keep driving them off. I agree, yeah.
• 41:50
  And and that's some of the biggest problem.
• 41:53
  It is I, I I think. It's a retention issue rather
• 41:57
  than AI. Yes we have an issue with hiring
• 42:01
  but I think it's more of a retention.
• 42:03
  At least from my experience it's management with their poor
• 42:06
  attitude or lack of people skills.
• 42:09
  Run these Subs off because we've had some good Subs come through
• 42:12
  my station, my office. But management being the way
• 42:18
  they are, they just think what they they didn't want to be,
• 42:22
  that they didn't want to be there anymore.
• 42:24
  Oh. I agree, retention is a huge
• 42:26
  issue. I mean, I've seen some really
• 42:28
  good Subs just get fed up with management and leave.
• 42:31
  I mean, I don't blame them. You know, I, my daughter's one
• 42:34
  of them for the most part, you know, it's it, you know, when I,
• 42:39
  you know, I've worked. I had Unicorn management when I
• 42:43
  first started, so I know what it's like to have awesome
• 42:46
  management and an office where everybody works together as a
• 42:51
  team and everybody appreciates everybody.
• 42:54
  And, you know, like once a month a bunch of carriers would get
• 42:57
  together in the morning before work and have breakfast and the
• 43:00
  Subs that showed up, the regulars paid for, for the Subs
• 43:03
  breakfasts, you know, stuff like that.
• 43:05
  I, you know, I remember that stuff.
• 43:07
  And then when they retired, we got not so great management.
• 43:11
  And then when I transferred, I had OK manage postmaster and
• 43:15
  then they took another office. And you know, my management is,
• 43:20
  they have their moments. But it, it's just, I get it.
• 43:25
  I know why these, I know why these RCA's are walking right
• 43:28
  back out the door. I, I, I see it.
• 43:31
  And if I hadn't been already 3 1/2 almost four years in when I
• 43:34
  transferred, and if I would have started on the management I have
• 43:37
  now, I would have left too. Plain and simple.
• 43:39
  I get it. I wouldn't want to work for that
• 43:41
  shit. But you know, I was already
• 43:43
  invested in, you know, time wise and I, I love my job in general.
• 43:48
  So that's, you know, I deal with it, but I also file grievances
• 43:53
  when necessary and I help educate the new RC as coming in.
• 43:58
  And even some of the irregular carriers that have been around
• 44:01
  for a while that, you know, there was no union presence in
• 44:06
  my office until I transferred in.
• 44:08
  And it's still an ongoing battle with me at times.
• 44:11
  You know, our, our local steward is doing awesome.
• 44:15
  I totally enjoys the job, actually wants to be an area
• 44:19
  steward and which is great because if we have surrounding
• 44:24
  offices that need the help and you know, and I applaud him for
• 44:28
  fighting, you know, for standing up and doing that and wanting to
• 44:32
  to help more people in that type of capacity.
• 44:35
  It's I applaud him and it's awesome and I wish we had more
• 44:39
  people out there that were willing to stand up to their
• 44:42
  piss bore management. I get where people are afraid of
• 44:46
  the retaliation and I think it's going to get worse, but honestly
• 44:50
  the less you do to help stop it, the worse it's even going to get
• 44:55
  and it's going to continue. Yeah.
• 44:56
  And even to kind of tie it even back with with National, I think
• 45:00
  that so there was about maybe 20 Rcas and PTFSI want to say in
• 45:06
  total from what I from what I gathered there and 1 arc.
• 45:11
  Yes, 1 arc. There was 1 arc.
• 45:13
  I applaud the arc for being there.
• 45:15
  That is awesome. I was like, oh, what arc?
• 45:18
  Awesome. You know, I'm going as an RCA.
• 45:21
  You know, my first convention was 2018 and I've been to
• 45:24
  everyone since. Yeah, I just, I, I think it
• 45:28
  because some of them I know looked, they were just like deer
• 45:31
  in the headlights a little bit, but you could tell that they
• 45:34
  were getting their fingers into it, you know, and, and at least
• 45:37
  seeing like, you know, there is, there is some stuff and, and
• 45:41
  there's, we're trying to make some change for, for the better.
• 45:45
  So it's just it was refreshing to see some of them there and,
• 45:48
  and know that their office let them come and it wasn't a fight
• 45:52
  with management to to get them to to come.
• 45:56
  Oh, I agree 100%. I am so looking forward to
• 45:59
  Grapevine. Not necessarily, not necessarily
• 46:03
  Grapevine in August itself, but I'm looking forward to to next
• 46:08
  year's National Convention. Well, I last time when I was,
• 46:12
  you know, they were in Grapevine and I went, you know, I was
• 46:16
  hoping to go but ended up not because the first year I put my
• 46:19
  name on the delegate list and I ended up dead last.
• 46:23
  I've been there. Yeah, I'm not going, but my
• 46:28
  wife's like wife wants to go to Texas real of August.
• 46:33
  Like I'd rather be in an air conditioned conference room than
• 46:38
  in an LLB. Yeah, that's yeah.
• 46:43
  Yeah, and it does get cold in those conference rooms, Let me
• 46:45
  tell you it. Does.
• 46:48
  But no, I I applaud everybody that that ran for a position
• 46:53
  that were not incumbents. I applaud them for getting up
• 46:56
  there, putting themselves out. There was a last minute
• 46:59
  nomination for president. And I feel, I feel that all, all
• 47:04
  of the candidates did very well during caucus.
• 47:07
  Those that were not incumbents running for the most part.
• 47:13
  But yeah, no, I think everybody did well because caucus is not
• 47:17
  something easy to do at all. It can be very intimidating.
• 47:23
  It literally is a foot race from run room to another.
• 47:26
  And then you're going to walk into this room and not know if
• 47:29
  you're going to get another beating like you got from the
• 47:31
  last one or what's going to go on.
• 47:34
  You don't know. And so you know, it's.
• 47:37
  It is, yeah. It's, it's definitely, you know,
• 47:43
  I give, I give a mad applause to everybody that ran because they,
• 47:47
  I, I think they all did well during caucus.
• 47:49
  I was so the one thing too that I was wondering that I've, I've
• 47:53
  had a couple conversations with different people about and I
• 47:56
  don't, I don't think I've actually talked to you about it.
• 47:58
  Is that why is it a caucus night and not like a debate?
• 48:02
  Why, why? And I've been trying to like dig
• 48:05
  through things to try and figure out why it ever became just
• 48:09
  caucus night and not the candidates all like conversing
• 48:12
  together in front of everybody. And you know, if let's say, for
• 48:17
  instance, let's, I'm just hypothetically speaking, like,
• 48:20
  let's say that they just did a debate in the main hall and they
• 48:26
  wouldn't have all these caucus rooms.
• 48:28
  It could save the association money, which I know that they
• 48:32
  try to incentivize a lot, but could we learn more about the
• 48:35
  candidates that way? If it's in a debate forum in a,
• 48:38
  in a respectful way and it's, you know, maybe moderated by
• 48:42
  area conference, regional conference presidents or
• 48:46
  something, you know, but I just don't know why it ever turned
• 48:49
  into the caucus forum versus like a debate forum.
• 48:54
  I could see that. I could see it as being, instead
• 48:56
  of the individual caucus rooms, doing it on the convention floor
• 49:00
  and having each candidate that's running for that particular
• 49:03
  person be up the stage. A question is asked on the floor
• 49:07
  and they each have, you know, 2 to 3 minutes or whatever to
• 49:11
  answer the question. You know, put a time.
• 49:13
  Obviously you're going to put a time limit on it.
• 49:15
  Otherwise you're going to get go on forever.
• 49:18
  And we know how caucus can go on forever when you have 20 people
• 49:20
  running for the board. So, yeah, you know, I could
• 49:24
  totally get behind doing something like that.
• 49:26
  That would be another binding resolution idea.
• 49:30
  Yeah. And I don't know if it needed to
• 49:32
  be a binding resolution or if it would need to be a Constitution
• 49:35
  change, but caucus night was already a binding resolution.
• 49:41
  But but Constitution change would at least kind of put it in
• 49:44
  there. But there I've actually looked,
• 49:46
  and there's no language right now about caucus night in the
• 49:49
  Constitution. So it actually go either way or
• 49:53
  both. Yeah, you'd have to find go
• 49:56
  through the Constitution and and pick us would most effectively
• 50:01
  be placed and add new language, a complete new language.
• 50:06
  I would, but yeah, like what Kristen said, what is this vote?
• 50:09
  A Constitution change and a binding resolution.
• 50:12
  And and yeah, and and it and it's caucus night is actually
• 50:15
  not in the convention rolls. There is stuff regarding caucus
• 50:19
  night in the binding resolutions.
• 50:21
  But but yeah, I don't know. I was kind of trying to dig to
• 50:25
  figure out why it ever became like that.
• 50:28
  And then if, if that didn't pass then or, you know, like
• 50:33
  hypothetically, let's just say that, you know, let's try and do
• 50:36
  that. But the caucus rooms also are
• 50:40
  divided up really in a strange way.
• 50:43
  And there's like some rooms that only have like 40 people in
• 50:47
  them. And then there's other ones that
• 50:49
  had like almost 300. And so that was kind of a weird,
• 50:53
  that's also a weird dynamic that I've notice this year.
• 50:59
  You know, and you, you know, when they want to talk about
• 51:01
  keeping costs down, I could totally see it as doing it on
• 51:04
  the convention floor. So that's the extra meeting
• 51:07
  rooms that you not necessarily would need, but that would open
• 51:10
  up one of those rooms for Eagle Fest.
• 51:13
  It would. That's true.
• 51:14
  Yeah, That's a really good point.
• 51:16
  Because that was something that was brought in under one of the
• 51:21
  resolutions, wasn't it? Yeah, you know, having a.
• 51:25
  Specific. A bigger room for, you know, and
• 51:29
  that's just an idea, you know, and it's not necessarily
• 51:31
  something national would have to pay for if you got people that
• 51:34
  are willing to do it, even including the person putting it
• 51:36
  on that would be willing to pitch in a few bucks for that
• 51:39
  room, you know, to be able to do the Eagle Fest.
• 51:42
  I mean I personally have not been to an Eagle Fest, but I've
• 51:45
  done the the smaller groups where we go through resolutions
• 51:49
  and Meow and I and several others sat at tables a couple
• 51:53
  numerous nights going through resolutions together until they
• 51:57
  started cleaning and breaking out the vacuum cleaner and we
• 52:00
  went and changed locations or called it a night.
• 52:02
  Well, like last year, we were up in Europe still all hours of the
• 52:05
  night going through a couple nights.
• 52:08
  Yeah, we didn't get through all the binding or we didn't get
• 52:11
  through all the resolutions, but we got like in the three.
• 52:14
  Hundreds. I thought, yeah, we were.
• 52:16
  We had like a what? A page and a half left maybe?
• 52:20
  Yeah, yeah. And we were done.
• 52:22
  We were like we were. We.
• 52:25
  Were fried. We were.
• 52:27
  We were well done at that point, yeah.
• 52:29
  I don't, I don't know. I was sick of pizza when I got
• 52:33
  back. I was like, oh man, I don't want
• 52:34
  to eat any like, pizza for a while.
• 52:39
  Hey I had to buy everybody a pizza when I sent the down to go
• 52:43
  get loaded cheese price well. I'd good at night too, so it's.
• 52:48
  Like, yeah, I know, right? Reminisce.
• 52:51
  Yeah, we did have. We had a lot of side back.
• 52:55
  We did, but you know that that that's what we do it.
• 52:59
  It's really, it's not a party. I mean, I, I get it.
• 53:02
  People see the pictures from the banquet and people on the dance
• 53:05
  floor and the after hours photos of people hanging out together.
• 53:10
  That honestly is the wind down. I don't think there was a night
• 53:14
  where I didn't get back to my room before midnight, even
• 53:17
  after. There was even after.
• 53:20
  Even after convention was over on Friday night and I was trying
• 53:24
  to get back to my room because I know, I, you know, I needed to
• 53:27
  get up in the morning and, and get people to the airport and
• 53:31
  load my car and hit the road. It was still, it ended up being
• 53:33
  like 1:30 in the morning by the time I got back to my room
• 53:36
  because we were just having conversations, you know, about,
• 53:40
  you know, stuff go over, you know, possibly for next year
• 53:43
  talking to, you know, national officers and just, you know,
• 53:50
  the, the wind down afterwards. And I think that's what people
• 53:53
  see is, is the wind down after being on the convention floor
• 53:57
  for 8 to 10 hours a day, sometimes later on Fridays and
• 54:02
  Thursday. Thursdays and Fridays are
• 54:04
  horrible. Those are late nights in
• 54:06
  general. There was a guy on on Friday
• 54:08
  night, like when I was down hanging out and stuff too, and
• 54:12
  he came down, I think he came down to just smoke a cigarette.
• 54:14
  But he also was like, I can't sleep.
• 54:16
  I'm up about. He was still thinking about the
• 54:20
  appeal, like your brain is still like moving in it, you know, and
• 54:25
  he just needed to do something to like process it still.
• 54:29
  And I think, you know, that's, that is what the, the wind down.
• 54:34
  You know, I, I ran when we were, cuz we were doing the
• 54:36
  resolutions right there outside of the, where the banquet was
• 54:39
  until it shut down at 10:00 there.
• 54:43
  But I ran in there and there was a couple people still in there
• 54:46
  dancing and, like, I think there was a guy taking pictures.
• 54:49
  And I was like, all right, this is gonna be the one picture of
• 54:51
  me, you know, partying it up, even though I'm doing
• 54:55
  resolutions right now, you know, and then ran back.
• 54:58
  Yeah, yeah, it's, yeah, it is a lot.
• 55:05
  It's, it's mentally draining week for sure.
• 55:09
  And I know, I think I've said that for every episode we've had
• 55:14
  post convention is it is a mentally draining week.
• 55:17
  And then I have to get back in the car and drive the two days
• 55:21
  home. I don't know if I'm driving or
• 55:23
  flying to Grapevine yet. Depends on who's all going with
• 55:26
  me. Yeah.
• 55:27
  And I agree with somebody else said in there too that I it was
• 55:30
  weird this year because they didn't really acknowledge the
• 55:33
  auxiliary and the juniors as much as they should.
• 55:36
  And I know that this organization is very it's trying
• 55:40
  it. There's, I know there's some
• 55:42
  states that don't have the juniors and they don't have the
• 55:44
  auxiliary, but the point of it is to bring your family in with
• 55:49
  you and build that community. And I, I felt like it, there was
• 55:55
  a little bit of a disconnect with it this year because they
• 55:57
  did not bring them in and introduce them.
• 56:00
  And, you know, bringing spouses and your family with you, you
• 56:05
  know, that might be why some people don't don't participate
• 56:09
  and they need to know that you can bring your family with you.
• 56:12
  Like there's going to be activity for them to do and such
• 56:15
  too. And you know, the juniors, you
• 56:18
  know, the juniors are learning about parliamentarian
• 56:20
  procedures. And you know, that might be the
• 56:24
  only time that they ever going to learn about that sort of
• 56:26
  stuff. So it's important.
• 56:30
  It's important. Part of the problem with that
• 56:32
  was they actually finished elections so early.
• 56:36
  Yeah, but they're still, they still don't exist though, over
• 56:40
  there. Even though, even though our
• 56:42
  elections were done before lunch, we still had pages of
• 56:47
  resolutions. We still had the appeal to go
• 56:50
  through and new business. So yeah, it.
• 56:55
  That that was the reason that they probably, and I'm going to
• 56:59
  use finger quotes here, accidentally skipped it because
• 57:02
  usually they get done business and everyone, everyone's going
• 57:06
  to the mic with a moment of personal privilege.
• 57:10
  And that's when they usually bring them in and announce you
• 57:13
  know who the new board is for the Algorian juniors.
• 57:17
  Yeah, we didn't have as many point of personal privilege
• 57:20
  people staying stuff this year either.
• 57:24
  Yeah, they all wanted to go home and we're in the last few years
• 57:28
  with elections lasting well into the night.
• 57:31
  You're you're there anyway. You're stuck there anyway.
• 57:34
  And I hate to say stuck there, but so they have time in between
• 57:38
  the elections and we've been counting the ballots to take
• 57:41
  care of all this other stuff. The fact that, you know,
• 57:46
  thankfully they actually got done elections early.
• 57:49
  They cut a lot of that stuff out because everyone wanted to
• 57:52
  finish up business, you know, what business they had to get
• 57:54
  through and go home or get home with their, you know, whatever
• 57:57
  the else they had that night to get, you know, to do.
• 58:00
  Josh, what were the, you've talked to a couple people that
• 58:03
  went like, what do you, what were the like the main takeaways
• 58:06
  that you've gotten from other people that you've talked to
• 58:08
  that have gone that went to Nashville this year?
• 58:11
  You mean other than caucus? Yeah.
• 58:17
  I know in my office we had a young, we had two, two women
• 58:22
  that went, one of which was an alternate delegate.
• 58:25
  The other one went as a guest because she didn't get on the,
• 58:29
  she didn't put her name on the ballot.
• 58:31
  And the first one wanted her to come as a roommate and she
• 58:34
  enjoyed it. She, you know, she had, you
• 58:37
  know, she said she would go back next year if he gets elected as
• 58:42
  a delegate because it's no out of her price range.
• 58:45
  Otherwise she isn't going to get paid or reimbursed.
• 58:47
  So this is her first time as a first timer at state and
• 58:51
  national this year. So it's glad to see that new
• 58:54
  people are getting involved. You know, all around.
• 58:57
  She did. She skipped Friday because she
• 59:00
  wanted to actually get to the pool.
• 59:01
  And as soon as she got out there, it started thundering and
• 59:04
  lightning and they closed the pool.
• 59:06
  But talking, you know, it was for the most part, everyone that
• 59:10
  I talked to seemed to have a positive outlook on it.
• 59:14
  Some of the ones that haven't been to in the past are
• 59:18
  realizing how much work and mental exhaustion it actually is
• 59:23
  and needing that time to decompress before going back to
• 59:26
  work or looking forward to going back to work rather than that.
• 59:31
  Because let's face it, our job is there's not much mental with
• 59:36
  our job. You know, once you've learned
• 59:38
  the job, as long as you're paying attention to the name and
• 59:42
  address and you know with the route and where you're going,
• 59:46
  then the line of travel, there's really not much in the job
• 59:49
  itself. It's just a matter of volume and
• 59:52
  the packages. Depends.
• 59:53
  There was no yeah, I was going to say I don't think I came back
• 59:58
  and I was like, whoa, OK, I'll fight for train time now.
• 1:00:03
  Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, we literally
• 1:00:05
  came back and, you know, a lot of returned with with the mini
• 1:00:11
  mail survey going full blast because that started the Friday
• 1:00:14
  why we were all at convention and you know, I came back to
• 1:00:17
  work on Wednesday or Tuesday. I think it was Tuesday, I don't
• 1:00:21
  remember. Yeah, I took Monday off.
• 1:00:23
  It was Tuesday, you know, so it's like, OK, now I got to flip
• 1:00:27
  the switch here and go into mini mail survey mode and remember I
• 1:00:30
  got to count my inverted why I'm out on the street.
• 1:00:32
  OK, got it. There was a, there was a a on
• 1:00:38
  Friday morning. It was really funny because I
• 1:00:40
  was sitting next to one of the side doors like before
• 1:00:44
  convention had started and there was people on the phone running
• 1:00:48
  outside because managers hadn't been starting to count stuff for
• 1:00:53
  the mini meal survey. And it was, it was like 10
• 1:00:57
  different people I saw going. The managers didn't start
• 1:01:00
  counting stuff and I just, I thought I was like, Oh yeah,
• 1:01:03
  because all the people that would remind them are all
• 1:01:06
  sitting in here right now. Like, oh, I know that was my
• 1:01:10
  thing the day before I left because I left on Friday and
• 1:01:15
  Thursday. You know, Thursday morning in
• 1:01:17
  the office, I said something to my postmaster.
• 1:01:20
  I said, so when are we doing the walk distances in the office?
• 1:01:25
  She's like, oh, the supervisor's doing them next week.
• 1:01:28
  I'm like okay I'm going to be gone remember Oh yeah yeah well
• 1:01:35
  I can do yours when you get back from your route that just find
• 1:01:39
  me. So I got mine done before I
• 1:01:41
  left. Not that I I wouldn't have an
• 1:01:44
  issue with my sub doing them for me, but nothing has changed in
• 1:01:47
  my office. But it was just it was more of a
• 1:01:50
  relief for me to know that I could have that done with me
• 1:01:54
  prior to leaving for National. And then of course finding out
• 1:01:56
  what the edit books weren't done when I got back was not good.
• 1:01:59
  But I took care of that. I just gotta do it.
• 1:02:02
  I took care of that. I don't remember if we passed
• 1:02:06
  something on to prevent many male serving and convention
• 1:02:08
  overlapping. I don't remember.
• 1:02:10
  Yeah. And I think because of the fact
• 1:02:11
  that they've they've planned about four to five years out.
• 1:02:15
  I think that that's why. But the language of the
• 1:02:20
  Constitution says that it has to be between August and and the
• 1:02:25
  end of September. And maybe somebody does a, a
• 1:02:31
  constitution change where you change that time frame because
• 1:02:35
  typically this this mini mail survey is about the end of
• 1:02:41
  August, early September, around Labor Day, give or take.
• 1:02:45
  Yes. Because it's not a coincide with
• 1:02:47
  the guarantee year is is what I've seen.
• 1:02:52
  But if you push the convention closer to end of July, you're
• 1:03:00
  you're butting up at the end of the fiscal year for the NRLCA.
• 1:03:03
  And so I think that that's partly why they've decided to
• 1:03:08
  have national in this time frame.
• 1:03:09
  But I think all the dates are on the website though too for what
• 1:03:14
  they. For yeah, for the ones that they
• 1:03:16
  have scheduled up through Spokane, which is what, 2020?
• 1:03:21
  Oh yeah, Orlando back in 2029. That's right.
• 1:03:24
  Yeah, and a lot of the states, well, there's been a couple
• 1:03:27
  states I saw that they do their state conventions like in March
• 1:03:31
  and April, which I was like, Dang, that's that's early to for
• 1:03:34
  me and thinking about. But but most of the states do
• 1:03:38
  their state conventions at the beginning of June or in the
• 1:03:41
  middle of June, end of well, not end of May because of
• 1:03:45
  graduations too. But so far around it's going.
• 1:03:49
  To be about the same week as this year.
• 1:03:53
  Yeah. And then like SAC is in.
• 1:03:55
  Count will probably be. End of February, early March,
• 1:04:00
  yeah. And then it looks like it's
• 1:04:03
  about the same week in a couple years.
• 1:04:06
  That's on proposals to change where we have national avoiding
• 1:04:09
  Orlando, Grapevine, Reno repetitively.
• 1:04:12
  I know that the Vice President has some new location site
• 1:04:17
  visits that they will be doing. I don't know this year.
• 1:04:21
  So a lot of that has to do with contracts and rates and getting.
• 1:04:28
  So a lot of times if they, you know, get the one contract, they
• 1:04:31
  easily can get another contract somewhat close to the similar
• 1:04:37
  price range. I agree.
• 1:04:39
  I would like to see a change up. I mean, this is my second time
• 1:04:42
  to this resort in Orlando, which I don't mind this resort, but it
• 1:04:47
  really sucked walking out to my car that morning to go get it in
• 1:04:50
  the downpouring rain when I was parked in the back 40.
• 1:04:53
  But you know, I can't, I can't control the weather so.
• 1:04:58
  I would say to be there it could.
• 1:05:00
  You could have torrential type downpours anywhere.
• 1:05:03
  Exactly. It was like a monsoon, though
• 1:05:05
  there during what there was a hurricane.
• 1:05:10
  Yeah. So you know, yeah, it's a lot of
• 1:05:13
  that has to do with that. I can, you know, I don't know
• 1:05:16
  exactly how the process is up at national office with, with doing
• 1:05:21
  all that. That's just my own speculation
• 1:05:24
  having worked in, you know, the hospitality industry for a
• 1:05:28
  decade and 1/2 so. But no I.
• 1:05:32
  I think he is trying to to switch it up.
• 1:05:34
  I mean, he because they did not announce 2030 And I, I even
• 1:05:39
  actually went back through and looked at his, his yearly report
• 1:05:44
  and funny enough, and I think he also noticed this too.
• 1:05:48
  This was only the NRLC as third time ever being in Orlando but
• 1:05:54
  it's just because we had gone there so like so recently that
• 1:05:58
  it feels like. Yeah, 2022.
• 1:06:02
  Yeah, that and then we're yeah, we're there again in four years.
• 1:06:05
  But I think that I, I think he is trying to find different
• 1:06:11
  locations and he is open to I think maybe that's why he didn't
• 1:06:15
  announce 2030. But it it is very costly for
• 1:06:21
  some of the states especially to have travelled down there.
• 1:06:25
  And if you even if you actually even look at the mileage and per
• 1:06:29
  diem report that you got at National, you'll be able to see
• 1:06:33
  those states that are like it was, it was expensive to send
• 1:06:37
  their people there versus going to other places in the middle of
• 1:06:41
  the country. You know, in Indianapolis and
• 1:06:44
  2027 is a newer location. I mean, it's not one that I've
• 1:06:48
  been to and I. I I was just going to say I
• 1:06:52
  don't remember seeing metal can. Yes, that is a repeat, but it
• 1:06:57
  was cancelled due to COVID. So it'll be our first time
• 1:07:00
  there. I know talking with Patrick last
• 1:07:05
  year in regards to different locations, he said if you have
• 1:07:09
  anywhere let him know because let's say for example it's a
• 1:07:12
  Marriott because with Marriott corporate.
• 1:07:15
  So if you can get 2 Marriott's back-to-back, even if, even
• 1:07:19
  though they'll be in different locations, it's still a Marriott
• 1:07:23
  property, they'll work with them and they'll give them a bigger,
• 1:07:26
  you know, better discount that way, Room rates and everything.
• 1:07:29
  Yeah. And actually Grapevine is a
• 1:07:31
  Marriott location, which I'm like, yes, because I do the
• 1:07:35
  Marriott rewards points thing, so.
• 1:07:41
  I just said Marriott as an example.
• 1:07:42
  I think they work with two or three different of the chains or
• 1:07:45
  have in the past. Yeah.
• 1:07:49
  So, you know, it's so next year's Grapevine, TX.
• 1:07:53
  The last time we were in Grapevine was 2019 and then the
• 1:07:56
  2027's Indianapolis. 2028 is Spokane, which was the location
• 1:08:02
  from 2020 that was cancelled due to that nasty little C word
• 1:08:06
  again. And then 2029 is back to
• 1:08:10
  Orlando, which, you know, I'm, I'm really not opposed to it all
• 1:08:14
  that much. It's an easy straight drive for
• 1:08:17
  me. But yeah, you know, it would be
• 1:08:18
  nice to visit someplace else. Me too, I agree.
• 1:08:22
  I know I sent him four locations here for him to work, you know,
• 1:08:26
  at the work. So guys, we're going to wrap
• 1:08:30
  this up because we're going over an hour now, but.
• 1:08:35
  You don't want to ramble more. I can ramble.
• 1:08:37
  I could ramble too. I mean don't get me wrong,
• 1:08:40
  nowhere is ramble. You may end up on an episode of
• 1:08:46
  Me and Me. I was just rambling the whole
• 1:08:48
  time about something. Who knows?
• 1:08:50
  This girl and I would go back and forth constantly.
• 1:08:55
  So I'll just figure another head.
• 1:08:58
  So. So yeah.
• 1:09:00
  I'll be nodding and agreeing. Right, right.
• 1:09:05
  So, yeah, yeah, so, yeah. So the changes that were on the
• 1:09:11
  national board, we ended up with a brand new exec, 4 year
• 1:09:15
  executive committee person on Natasha Patterson out of
• 1:09:18
  Florida. We have Don Masten for another
• 1:09:20
  year, Patrick Pitts for another year, John Adams still at the
• 1:09:24
  Director of Labor. And then next year will be the
• 1:09:29
  four year executive, which will be the two year term that Mike
• 1:09:32
  Morello finished out. And then, yeah, it was Nikki as
• 1:09:37
  director of Stewart Operations. Yep, yeah.
• 1:09:40
  Yeah, Kirby kept his. Yep, he kept his executive
• 1:09:44
  committee position. Executive committee?
• 1:09:46
  Yeah. Tommy Turner is secretary
• 1:09:48
  treasurer. So, yeah, so we have the four
• 1:09:53
  executive committee is Mike Morella, Kirby Ricketts.
• 1:09:57
  Oh, gosh. Thanks, guys.
• 1:09:59
  Why am I drawing a blank? Small Bethany Smalls, Thank you.
• 1:10:03
  And Natasha Patterson. Singular not not not plural,
• 1:10:07
  Singular small. Singular.
• 1:10:08
  OK. Bethany Smalls.
• 1:10:09
  Yeah. Thank you for the correction.
• 1:10:12
  Yeah, no S at the end and she will let you know.
• 1:10:16
  Yes she, yes she will. Yes, she does.
• 1:10:18
  I I get that, yes. Awesome.
• 1:10:21
  So, yeah, so we All in all, it was it was an OK National
• 1:10:26
  Convention. I really don't have much on the
• 1:10:29
  negative side to say about it. There was some good stuff gone.
• 1:10:33
  You always have your pros and cons.
• 1:10:35
  But yeah, I think All in all, it went all right.
• 1:10:38
  I agree. There's a lot of things that I,
• 1:10:41
  I, I started, I keep notes in my phone for different things too.
• 1:10:46
  And I, I, in order for me to like process, I think some of
• 1:10:51
  it, I've like wrote out new resolutions and, you know, ideas
• 1:10:56
  to bring forth at my local meeting and, you know, and start
• 1:10:58
  that cycle all over again, you know, of the present stuff at
• 1:11:02
  the local level and, and work its way back up, you know, and
• 1:11:06
  there's some of those, some of the resolutions and whatnot too.
• 1:11:09
  I think it needed to be tweaked and a couple of those people and
• 1:11:14
  not back to the drawing board, but back to the let's tweak it
• 1:11:17
  and bring it back, you know? Yes, yes, so there's.
• 1:11:20
  Going to be a lot of that. Do you have any predictions for
• 1:11:23
  Grapevine? It's going to be hot.
• 1:11:25
  That's my prediction. Yeah, it will.
• 1:11:27
  Hot and humid again. Yes, Yeah.
• 1:11:29
  And hopefully there's no fire alarm going off on the hottest
• 1:11:33
  day of the year or the hottest day while we're there like it
• 1:11:36
  did in 2019. And we all had to evacuate to
• 1:11:39
  the parking lot when it was 110° outside with 90% humidity.
• 1:11:44
  So I remember that well. I'm glad I missed it.
• 1:11:51
  All right, guys. Your final words for this
• 1:11:54
  evening, Josh. Oh, I'm sorry, it's been a
• 1:11:58
  minute. Be safe out there, continue to
• 1:12:03
  hydrate, don't get overwhelmed if you do, take a step back,
• 1:12:08
  take a deep breath and step back in.
• 1:12:10
  Have a good week, we'll see you next time.
• 1:12:14
  Meow. Well, I was going to say it was
• 1:12:19
  nice chatting with both of you guys tonight and everybody on
• 1:12:23
  here because I missed you guys not talking with everybody for
• 1:12:27
  the last few weeks there, even though I saw your faces in in
• 1:12:31
  Orlando, some of you. But the other thing I was going
• 1:12:35
  to also say again, please download the NRLCA app like
• 1:12:39
  that's my my big parting words. I guess this this week
• 1:12:45
  dehydrated. I know that it's still hot in
• 1:12:47
  some areas and there is still frost warnings and some others.
• 1:12:51
  So if you have veggies and you know, hoses hooked up, so make
• 1:12:58
  sure that you're disconnecting your water hoses from your
• 1:13:01
  house, please try and attend some of your local meetings.
• 1:13:07
  You know, if I know that we're going to start that new cycle,
• 1:13:09
  like I said, up again, I know mine is in October, but start
• 1:13:13
  trying to plan for some of these meetings now.
• 1:13:16
  And so that it's not a sudden thing, you know, put in leaflets
• 1:13:21
  for them now because they're already, you already know when
• 1:13:24
  they're going to be and you're giving management a heads up to
• 1:13:28
  cover those routes for that time frame.
• 1:13:30
  So be safe everybody and try and have a good week, Kristen.
• 1:13:36
  Thank you guys for joining me this evening.
• 1:13:39
  I appreciate it and it's so great to be back.
• 1:13:42
  And yeah, I am. I'm looking forward to further
• 1:13:48
  educating on stuff and I do know my, my, my traveling buddy
• 1:13:54
  there, my roommate from National and the one I'm going to Italy
• 1:13:58
  with is going to come back on one of these days.
• 1:14:03
  And she has been driving the NGT VS now for just over a month.
• 1:14:09
  And she, yeah, she's got one of the new ones.
• 1:14:13
  So she's willing to come on and talk about the new trucks and
• 1:14:18
  the pros and cons and what she absolutely loves about it, which
• 1:14:22
  I constantly hear about how great the AC is.
• 1:14:25
  So usually it's on that day where I'm stuck in the human air
• 1:14:31
  fryer for six hours and 90° weather with 80% humidity.
• 1:14:36
  And yeah, and I always get, oh, the AC is great.
• 1:14:40
  Yeah, shut up, but. Yeah, I'm looking forward to
• 1:14:46
  being able to walk back to the, you know, walk through to the
• 1:14:49
  back to grab a parcel. Right, right.
• 1:14:52
  Get out and and reach or climb up.
• 1:14:56
  Yeah. So.
• 1:14:57
  No, Yeah, she's so. Online I was standing up in the
• 1:15:00
  whole back and they were like really tall.
• 1:15:02
  So I know I was showing pictures of me sitting in the NGTV at
• 1:15:06
  National and they're like, wow, you look really small in that.
• 1:15:09
  But you know, I was showing my postmaster the pictures when I
• 1:15:13
  was doing my mapping last this past week, updating that and and
• 1:15:17
  whatnot. And she's like, oh wow, I was
• 1:15:19
  showing my city carrier PTF 2O4B.
• 1:15:23
  I'm like, hey, did I show you these yet?
• 1:15:25
  And he's like, no, no. So I had to show them, you know,
• 1:15:27
  I don't know, you know, someday I'll see those.
• 1:15:29
  But yeah, I think we're we're gonna do an episode in the near
• 1:15:33
  future too about the different vehicles and the LLV's, the
• 1:15:37
  metrics, the FFV's, POV's, experienced driving all those.
• 1:15:42
  And she will be joining us to talk about the NDDV.
• 1:15:47
  So that'll be a fun little insight.
• 1:15:49
  And I just, I know I'm so excited to be back.
• 1:15:54
  So I look forward to being back. Still deciding what we're going
• 1:15:58
  to do when I leave for Italy, whether or not I'm going to take
• 1:16:03
  my laptop with me with a six hour time difference.
• 1:16:06
  But we'll figure it out. We've got a few weeks before
• 1:16:08
  that. So other than that, guys, you
• 1:16:13
  know, stay safe this week. It's great to be back on here.
• 1:16:17
  Again. Thank you to Josh and Meow for
• 1:16:19
  joining me, and we will be back next week.
• 1:16:27
  Yay, yay.