Okay.

My ALS diagnosis came on March 8, 2023.

It is sporadic in nature, and currently, uh, she's living in Akron, Ohio.

And I'm her husband-

So have any of you experienced people pulling away, uh, after you were diagnosed, and can you tell me what that felt like? Melody?

Melody's words: "It felt like I had done something wrong, and subsequently it made me feel as if I needed to reach out so they would know I was still alive amidst my diagnosis.

So I created an email that talked about the ways in which my family and I were adapting and the things I was doing."

[laughs] Shit.

Yeah.

So I, I was like, I gave her a few of my, my very go-to dishes that people handpick from menus.

I usually customize my menus.

And, um, she's like, "Steak sounds great.

Lobster sounds great."

Uh-huh.

There's not really much.

Your time starts now.

Uh, let's see.

Bunny, fairy, old man.

Oh, I know.

They're cactuses.

That would be fun.

How about freeze tag? I'll be frozen.

So why don't you tell my audience a little bit about you and, uh, why you're doing this, uh, for the people that, uh, love you? I-

... up with people who at times literally couldn't leave the house, or if they did, it was against the governor's orders.

Uh, but now that that is all behind us to a, uh, a breathable degree, I just wanted to make sure that we get out of digital space a little bit more and actually start saying hello to each other.

And I, I'm, the reason why I didn't have this event, uh, this, um, this upcoming, uh, September or this, this fall is because, uh, uh, Lauren and I are having another baby, and-

I mean, that's where I feel like we are right now.

Yeah, if you are, if, i- i- i- it's, it's that or, it's that or nothing, obviously.

But of course, uh, w- if, if you're on the right side of thatThat equation, then you have a much bigger responsibility to yourself, to your family, and to your community than, than you know of because you're not going to be getting good, actionable American civic education from the news.

You're not gonna...

Oui.

Et l'autre point, c'est que quand tu taxes à 100 % ou au-dessus d'un certain pour cent, ce que tu te trouves à faire, c'est que tu taxes l'inflation, en fait.C'est ça l'affaire, c'est que y a, y a, y a une inflation là qui est là.

Puis si tu taxes à 100 % ton gain en capital, ben tu te reviens à dire : « Ben regarde, en réalité, ta, ta propriété a pris de la valeur, mais à cause de l'inflation, la valeur est beaucoup moindre que ton gain réel.

Donc si je te taxe à 100 %, c'est comme si je venais de dire que je prends l'argent qui est relié à l'in- » C'est complètement sauté là comme idée économique.

Complètement.

Eux autres, ils passent sous 50 à 66, c'est 100 %.

100 % inclus dans les revenus imposables des, des particuliers.

Comme même Denis, comme même Denis

Fait que c'est-

J'suis pas sûr.

Parce que regarde, ce midi, on, on passe en entrevue le gars qui s'est enfargé les pieds dans le langage woke à l'UQAM par rapport à ça.

Puis quand tu regardes comment que c'est gangrené, le langage inclusif à l'UQAM, là, pendant qu'on a un gouvernement caquiste anti-woke depuis huit ans, là, avec une ministre qui avait fait une sortie sur la liberté d'expression, puis les, les universités, c'est important, puis bla bla bla.

Tu te dis : « Malgré un gouvernement caquiste qui officiellement est anti-woke, le wokisme a gangrené l'UQAM jusque dans la moelle.

»

Ouais, mais là, on commence à faire des chèques, là.

là.C'est bien beau l'histoire là, c'est bien beau leur patente là moi.

So, uh, what captures your interest, Frank?

Well, I, I, it's the, the JP Morgan thing is, uh, is just, is just crazy.

Um, so w- we can do that if you'd like.

I would say real quick about, about Iran, um, all I really read today that was interesting and also not surprising was, you know, some people are starting to point out all of the, um, the, the, all the activity that we usually see around some big events in the, in the, in the world on the stock market prior to the announcement of a potential deal, and then, you know, something else happening where, where oil stocks are going to drop and rise and all that stuff.

People are, are betting, you know, incredibly accurately.

Whales, too.

I think the first bet was that, like, 900, uh, 20, $920 million short.

So it's fascinating in that way.

[phone beeping] Hello, how can I help you?

you?[muffled speaking]

Are you-

I know that.

I, I know what those look like, and, and this is not it.

These are real.

Look, I can send you a picture.

I took one earlier.

Take us back to medical school and give us the numbers.

So I, I came out with $315,000, uh, in student loans, and back when we started the PSLF, there was no, like, fancy website like they have now, where you have these nice bar graphs and it shows exactly a- the payment you made, like, one second ago.

There was yearly [laughs] emails where they, uh, send you, uh, you know, "Yeah, we've received your payment, sure." Even if I asked for proof, they never really actually gave any in the beginning there.

And actually, it was very difficult to get started, and a lot of those $0 payments that, uh, we know and loved in the beginning didn't really count.

All of it didn't transfer.

It was multiple phone calls until I got all my loans over to the PSLF platform, and it actually made it very difficult, and I had a lot of, you know, problems throughout because it broke it down to about 15 different loans, just based on the way they crossed over.

It made it a real big problem when, you know, they, uh, you know, fixed the system and like, "Oh, you missed a payment here, missed a payment there," and they, like, forgave, like, a certain amount of payments where they just, like, you know, took it off the top.

Tell us about that experience and the lessons you learned from it.

Yes.

Trinket, by any chance were you advised to come back early by a deck of tarot cards?

Yes.

Oh.

Oh, [laughs] God.

The explanation for this is going to be really something, isn't it?

He called me the other day to report some suspicious behavior.

Michael, some bird is trying to pull the wool over my eyes.

I keep hearing a red-shouldered hawk in the shrubs outside my window, but there ain't no hawk in sight.

[bird squawking] You hear that? Who does this raptor imposter think he is?

Well, Frankie, what birds do you see?

Just the usuals.

Some robins, couple of sparrows, one of those chatty blue jays.

He posted on a neighborhood app volunteering two hours of his time to help seniors, and that's how he met Frank.

I was lucky to find him and lucky to find that he wanted to be a caregiver, which he does it extremely well.

He is the most uplifting person I have ever known in my 92 years.

You know, Frank marched for civil rights even before I was born, and because of people like him, I am able to be my authentic self, and I feel like he is now being rewarded for what he did in his youth.

It would've been hard for me to anticipate that friendship.

I think that it's a blueprint for people who are up in age to say to them, "I can still have fun."

[laughs]

So I've recently been on the internet dating, and, uh, been, it's been an African American female that I've been hanging out with.

And she's about as Caucasian as they come, and so I introduced her to my family.

Just straight down the middle, uh, until about, I don't know, five days ago.

Uh, we're making love and she, she, she said, "Ooh." And it was the first, it was the first time, at that moment I realized that there was something deep inside that had not been released yet.

Um, but you've woken up a monster since last time, because you motherfuckers on Reddit are unbelievable.

The death threats and shit that you gave me, priceless.

Idaho isn't an excuse, buddy.

He's such a mother hen, isn't he?

Because, you know, if we did get lost in the woods, we may be followed home, you know, by, say, I don't know, a, a seven-foot-tall, ax-wielding space monster, for instance.

I had to take a longer route so that we weren't followed.

Fine.

Okay.

Look, I just had to do a reverse Dr. Strangelove into space to keep you from being abducted by psychotic space twins.

Th- this is, what, day five? Are, are, are we going to be able to make it through this?

There are some teachers in the crowd, too.

I'm on spring break.

He's an art teacher from Wisconsin.

Visiting my daughter who is a federal employee, and, uh, this happened to pop up, so what better thing for a public school teacher to do than help support public education?

Frank, how much weight are you down right now?

I'm down to like 310.

I know that.

That's what I call him.

Le Freak.

Have you seen that guy on the field?

Yeah.

And now I'm like, okay, being, doing what I do now, being a full-time entrepreneur, it's kinda like, oh, I have to know my monthly expenses, 'cause I, sometimes I wanna pay 'em a month in advance.

So just really, you can't...

I think the biggest thing I learned from you was that if I don't tackle it, it will keep tackling me.

Yeah.

And so it was, it was a lot, because you see your, you see the money of your account steady going down, and it's not increasing.

So the first tw- the, the first 12 months was really, really eye-opening, and it really, um...

I'm kinda glad it happened, 'cause it taught me this can happen to you-

Oh, yeah

... with, like, kids and a wife and a home and stuff like that.

And, and, you know, he'll be there one day, too, and it's just, like, the juxtaposition of, like, we're going from selling out, you know, Radio City, which is iconic, to, you know, lu- lu- luxury and dinners and this and that, and then going home a- and living a life where it's, like, you know, in the trenches with kids and, like, cooking dinners and stuff like that.

Yeah.

And then you get put in the opportunity to do that.

It like, it fucks...

At least with me, it fucks with me, you know? And it fucks with like my view of myself and my world.

And then like, you know, I am, I am very like, you know, for it's become like a joke amongst our friends, but like I'm very nostalgic.

Um, we can get this part over with, and you can all get back to freaking out

outSo thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, everyone, big day.

[clears throat] Um, and, and thank you for taking the time out to be here.

I know all of us are really nervous, but let, let's count our blessings, right? The, the news about the comet broke about two weeks ago.

Two weeks ago for the whole world, but it broke for Hood's Pocket about a month ago.

[laughs]

What do you say, Frank? If I could wave a magic wand, what would you want me to do for you?

That question's tough for me, 'cause, like, the magic wand is just, y- obviously just erase our debt and be done with this.

But what does that do for me ultimately? I'm just gonna do it again.

You know? Like, I wanna learn how to stop going into debt, how to stop these compulsive behaviors of just, "Oh, it's fifty bucks.

Oh, it's twenty bucks." You know? I wanna stop getting myself into more and more problems.

The one thing I wanna take away from here is, is hope.

I want hope that there is something that we can do to problem solve, and I want there to be just this, like, motivation that we can find to just get out of this what feels like a forever ending hole, like a tunnel that's just slanted downwards.

We will start with Frank.