More Math for More People
CPM Educational Program is a non-profit publisher of math textbooks for grades 6-12. As part of its mission, CPM provides a multitude of professional learning opportunities for math educators. The More Math for More People podcast is part of that outreach and mission. Published biweekly, the hosts, Joel Miller and Misty Nikula, discuss the CPM curriculum, trends in math education and share strategies to shift instructional practices to create a more inclusive and student-centered classroom. They also highlight upcoming CPM professional learning opportunities and have conversations with math educators about how they do what they do. We hope that you find the podcast informative, engaging and fun. Intro music credit: JuliusH from pixabay.com.
More Math for More People
Episode 4.8: Where Joel and Misty ramble about mosquitos and chat with Brandon Pelter about his ABP experience
It's World Mosquito Day! Oh, geesh! How do these annoying pests get a day to themselves???
After Joel and Misty talk about their feelings and share some random facts about mosquitos, they have a conversation with Brandon Pelter, a teacher from Connecticut who recently attended the Academy of Best Practices for New Teachers. Brandon shares his story of becoming a teacher, how he got to ABP, and some of his big takeaways from the event. It's exciting stuff!
Then a math joke from Theresa!
Send Joel and Misty a message!
The More Math for More People Podcast is produced by CPM Educational Program.
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You are listening to the More Math for More People podcast. An outreach of CPM educational program Boom. An outreach of CPM Educational Program.
Speaker 2:Boom, all right. Happy August 20th. What's National Day today, joel.
Speaker 1:Well, today we're celebrating the state bird of Minnesota.
Speaker 2:It's World Mosquito Day. Oh my gosh, that's a joke. It was Mosquito Day. Oh my gosh, that's a joke. It was Mosquitoes are not actually birds. That's true. They can be pretty large in Minnesota and other places and very plentiful. Mosquito, but there's a World Mosquito Day.
Speaker 1:World Mosquito Day.
Speaker 2:Is it to just encourage us to try to eradicate mosquitoes A little bit? I understand we can't really eradicate, yeah, but they're mostly terrible well it's.
Speaker 1:It's even suggesting celebrating by raising funds for anti-malaria to learn about malaria, to have malaria awareness, because mosquitoes carry the disease, malaria, malaria amongst many other things like heart's true.
Speaker 2:Like heartworm West Nile virus.
Speaker 1:They're the world's deadliest animal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, someone told me and I don't know how this is possible and I also question how they came up with this data that there are 18 million mosquitoes per person in the world.
Speaker 1:Oh, my gosh, I believe it.
Speaker 2:I didn't really think that was possible to have that many mosquitoes per person, because there's what 7 billion people or something.
Speaker 1:So that's like I think it's possible.
Speaker 2:I think it's what 7 times 8. 56 to the 15th.
Speaker 1:That's a lot.
Speaker 2:That's a lot of mosquitoes, and how do they even figure out there's 18 million per person. How do you go about?
Speaker 1:doing a mosquito population count to begin with one, two, three, I know no, they don't they don't have you.
Speaker 2:Have you seen estimating fish? They don't estimate populations gotcha.
Speaker 1:I know that I used to go with a friend to a cabin up in northern minnesota and in order just to sit out near the lake on an evening, we would put on bee suits and we would have full body bee suits just to be able to comfortably sit. So I believe that there are that many mosquitoes per person.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a lot of mosquitoes. I mean so when I was in Alaska for a while and doing some stuff in July. They have mosquitoes there Up in Barrow and we went into Akasuk, which is in the tundra inland from Barrow, and we similarly, like we went outside to do some stuff and we had like long pants and tucked them into our shoes and gloves and everything else, and then the mosquito hats yes, Like with the netting that you tuck in and we were walking around and the mosquitoes there's so many of them.
Speaker 2:It's creepy because they're bouncing off the net and all these things and I was like, oh, it's so creepy. But I also know they couldn't get in Right Because we had done a really good job, but they're just all over.
Speaker 1:And there's like a sound too right?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, because they're like they're like actually like hitting the thing. Yeah, they were, yeah, so 18 million mosquitoes.
Speaker 1:It is a lot.
Speaker 2:Per person.
Speaker 1:The hypodermic needle was inspired by mosquitoes.
Speaker 2:Well, that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Today is also supposed to remind us to appreciate scientists.
Speaker 2:Oh, we should appreciate scientists, and they were.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's one way of one way of knowing the world. So mosquito bites right. Some people aren't very allergic to the saliva and some people are crazy. Allergic to the saliva. Where do you fall?
Speaker 1:I'm on the lower end, I'm not very allergic.
Speaker 2:Very allergic, yeah, so your mosquito bites are maybe itchy, or Right?
Speaker 1:Maybe, itchy.
Speaker 2:My brother, my mom's always the one that they would always bite and my brother would hardly ever get bitten, though he probably got bitten and just isn't allergic. I'm definitely somewhere in the middle. It depends on how long they bite, if I catch them or not and swat them away, but I'm way more sensitive to no cm bites like those are way worse really. I get big, huge welts, but yeah, I don't biting insects not cool I.
Speaker 2:I had a quasi father-in-law at one point who was like and I totally agree with him. He said I will gladly give a pint of blood for all these blood-sucking insects, if they would just not bite me.
Speaker 1:Well, maybe we could have a parlay Give them all the blood they want.
Speaker 2:Just don't bite me to get it.
Speaker 1:We'll just parlay with them. They're leaders.
Speaker 2:It's hard when there's that many of them, they have a lot of enclaves.
Speaker 1:Isn't that kind of how Jurassic Park started with mosquitoes? Didn't they find a mosquito? Yeah, a mosquito in an amber yeah, something like that, and it had the blood of the dinosaur.
Speaker 2:Dinosaur it had bitten.
Speaker 1:So it could save us. It could save us.
Speaker 2:We're carrying all our DNA everywhere Feeding their babies. Oh, here's an interesting fact.
Speaker 1:Oh yes.
Speaker 2:So it's only the females.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Because they use the blood to quote unquote feed their babies, they lay eggs, it's only when breeding Right they're not actually going back and feeding them like little birds? Yes, but that was funny. When I thought about that I was like wait, but so what do the males eat?
Speaker 1:I don't know, do they get fed also by the blood?
Speaker 2:No, they eat nectar. Oh, I didn't know that they go and they get nectar from. That's what I heard on a Radiolab episode and I so I did not fact check it myself, but it's on Radiolab so I know they fact check things.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I was surprised about that too.
Speaker 2:Because sometimes insects that don't live very long, because mosquitoes only live for a few days in adult form.
Speaker 1:A few days, it's not like a season.
Speaker 2:No in adult form. A few days it's not like a season, like a? No, they don't they. No, they don't live even the whole summer. Oh my gosh. And so they? Yeah, I think they live. I think it's three or four days is what I think, and but some insects that don't live very long don't even have stomachs in their adult form, like mayflies that only live for a day and then lay their eggs and die. They don't even have a stomach because they don't bother eating.
Speaker 1:They're too busy. Yeah, why would you?
Speaker 2:Do other things and lay eggs.
Speaker 1:I would not want to stop my one day of life, just to stop and have a meal.
Speaker 2:And have time to digest it. Yeah, it's crazy the things evolution will do.
Speaker 1:Well, that's interesting too that it makes its way. Malaria made its way to Europe, so its way to Europe, so it had to start somewhere else. So somehow that population moves, and if it's not, if, like, an individual doesn't live very long, you're breeding a lot, you're moving along a lot. That's crazy.
Speaker 2:They're moving in new territories, laying their eggs in new pools of water.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Have you ever had a bunch of water sitting somewhere and you go and move it or like a bucket or whatever, and then there's mosquito larvae in it.
Speaker 1:No, I've never had that.
Speaker 2:They hang out at the top of the water because, they like breathe the water through little tubes in their hind ends or something, and then they're like no, not at all. Yeah, that's where you got to get them, that's where you put the little stuff in, there to kill them.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm going to celebrate by not going outside, maybe. How are you going to celebrate?
Speaker 2:Celebrate by putting on some natural repellent that does not contain DEET and probably be outside, because there's not very many mosquitoes here.
Speaker 1:Fair. There's not here either, yeah, but our friends where there's mosquitoes take care. We have friends in friends where there's mosquitoes, take care.
Speaker 2:We have friends in mississauga, minnesota, that's true. I'm sorry it's now. It's world mosquito day. Yes, go avoid, okay. So today we're here with Brandon Pelter, and Brandon was recently in the Academy of Best Practices, which was in's outreach programs works with teachers who are not teaching CPM and are in their first five years of teaching, and so this is Joel and I. We don't know what Brandon's going to say because we don't know Brandon and he was just suggested to us. So here we go, brandon, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1:Yeah, welcome, Brandon.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me no worries, so let's just start with yeah, welcome, brandon.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me, no worries. So let's just start with. Who are you, brandon? Tell us a little bit about where you are, what you teach, what's your personal story? How'd you come to teaching?
Speaker 3:So I grew up in New York, westchester County, and I'm now in Southern Connecticut. So I live in Norwalk, I teach in Bridgeport Public Schools, which is one of the largest school districts in Connecticut, but my path is a little less than traditional, I guess we could call it. I did my undergrad at Penn State in communications and, more specifically, working in sports. So I graduated and was working in sports, working for teams on the broadcast side, so doing play-by-play for games, some time in minor league baseball and working for some colleges. I even got to work two Super Bowls while I was still in college. So some really pretty amazing experiences there.
Speaker 3:But fast forwarding to the teacher side, in 2021, after that summer and baseball season wrapped up, my job was over in central New Jersey, so I needed to figure things out, and so I headed towards Connecticut with my parents and, by chance, a local district needed subs so badly so that they were canceling classes and so okay, needed a couple bucks. Sure, it'll work, let's do it. And instead I was placed as a paraprofessional, so full time for the year. For the year, and what began as a job just to make some money while I was figuring everything out turned into just a life-changing opportunity where I was in classrooms every single day seeing what I liked, what I didn't like, and I very quickly made some of those judgments and also was really intrigued into how I could help my students a little better. So, before I knew it, I was looking to just do better and that led me into, hey, let's do this full time. So that's, I think, kind of the short end of it what could be a very, very long-winded story.
Speaker 2:Sure, yeah, I want to have a whole nother podcast conversation about working in sports.
Speaker 3:It sounds fascinating. So were you in a math classroom as a paraprofessional then, and so I was in everything from social studies to science. But it was for me specifically the math classroom, where, when I pulled my students out and we tried things a little bit differently, the one that I'll never forget is percents. My seventh graders were just it could not make sense of it, and it's very heavy procedural focus in class. And when we talked about percent well, century, 100 out of 100 when they were able to make that connection, it was just the light bulb. Oh, my god. Okay, this isn't so bad.
Speaker 3:And so that was just one of many experiences where I I realized, without even having a name to it Now I know it's conceptual understanding, but where I just saw, hey, a little tweak can make a huge difference. And so, as I got more confident working with the students I was assigned to, then if I had time, I would work with the rest of the class, and it seemed to help them out a little more too. So I knew when I was going into my teacher prep program that I wanted it to look a little bit different, and I had a rough idea of what that might be, but I also wasn't sure about the research and everything else. So I was just really fortunate to go into the program at Sacred Heart University and work with Dr Lindsay Kieser there, who is great, and she did her dissertation on inquiry-based teaching and teacher change, so it was just such an amazing fit.
Speaker 2:And so you went back to school with the intent of being a math teacher then.
Speaker 3:That's right. So I did a year-long program that led to my master's and MA in teaching and my initial certification, and actually in that program because I had the initial experience I was I guess I'm not a patient person I didn't want to do student teaching, I didn't want to sit with a cooperating teacher, I was ready to just hit the ground running, and so that's what I did. So I got an emergency certification here in Connecticut we call it a DSAP Durational Storage Area Permit and I taught in Bridgeport for that first year while I was taking the master's classes at night and hit the ground running as best I could, and we figured a lot out on the fly, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what's the timeline from when you became the paraprofessional to going to that program to like, where are you now Then? What then you're teaching?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so 2021, september, I guess, is when I first moved to Connecticut. I started that para job in the 21-22 school year and then May of 22,. May-june was summer, one session at Sacred Heart, and fall of 22 was my own classroom, so it was pretty quick.
Speaker 1:Yeah, really quick.
Speaker 3:It's like a baptism by fire kind of approach for yourself there made it challenging at some points when you were looking for a little extra support. But 95% of the time to have that flexibility to try some things out, to get kids at whiteboards to do things a little different than anyone else in the building, that was really special and that's when you do your most learning right, when you get the opportunity that's in the freedom to make some of those mistakes and have some people, especially Dr Kieser, at Sacred Heart who could kind of steer me and guide me along as I continue to grow.
Speaker 2:So this is so 2022, 23,. So this 24 is going to be your third year. You're just about to start your third year, or maybe you have started your third year.
Speaker 3:Not yet.
Speaker 2:I have two weeks left, okay, but yes, going into year number three, Okay cool. So how did you find out about the Academy Best Practice? How did you get connected with that?
Speaker 3:That was another pretty lucky thing. That kind of came my way Lindsay Dr Kuser at Sacred Heart was on someone's mailing list somewhere and said, hey, this looks really cool, forwarded it my way and I applied and I think for me I didn't know 100% what to expect. I knew it would be focused on teaching practices, but that's pretty broad. So getting to Seattle I wasn't 100% sure what it would be, but I was definitely excited and it lived up to and surpassed all expectations.
Speaker 2:Okay, all right.
Speaker 3:So tell us about it.
Speaker 1:How did?
Speaker 2:it go. What did you figure out? What happened?
Speaker 1:Feet on the ground in Seattle.
Speaker 2:Yes, seattle's amazing, by the way, I love Seattle.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that was my first time. It was the longest plot I've ever been on, my first time heading out, uh, to the West side of the country, um, west coast, and it really was beautiful. But I don't want to tell too much. I have my notebook here from ABP and it is probably about halfway full, so there's a lot in there. Oh, wow, well, you get out there. But participants in California, ohio, kentucky I don't know if we hit half the states, but we probably came pretty darn close to it and if you combine us with the veteran teacher cohort, I think we were almost there to all 50 states.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 3:Yeah, cpm did an amazing job of spreading things out, and so I think for me, when I think about the takeaways, first of all, it was just the connections of people in similar positions, newer to the profession but really eager to learn. I mean, if you're there, if you're giving up a week of your summer vacation, you really care, and so a room full of people that were looking to grow, and looking to grow in so many different facets. I've done more of the students at whiteboards and rich tasks. That wasn't new to me, but there was so much that I did learn while we had. We had newer teachers on the totally opposite end of the spectrum that were looking to get away from more of that direct instruction, and so there was a piece. There was something to latch onto for everybody and I think I have enough to latch onto probably the next 10 years or so If I really dig deep into into everything that that we went through and to really perfect things because it is such a craft.
Speaker 3:But for me, I think one of the biggest takeaways was thinking about feedback to my, to my students, and I do so much to give students autonomy, to position them as thinkers, as math doers, as mathers and as authority figures whenever they can be.
Speaker 3:Hey, you need help. Go talk to John, he already has it figured out. But I think that in how I've structured feedback in the past, I haven't found that right way to continue that, found that right way to continue that. And so having some really deep conversations about giving feedback that's not just hey, really nice job, or you did great or no, you didn't do number three right. Here's how I would have done it Instead giving them feedback that they can actually act on and giving them time then to use that feedback and not just hey, you got it, you got it right, nice job or no, you didn't get it right. This is how you should have done it. So really continuing that cycle of students thinking and being as autonomous as they can be, and even if they get feedback from me this year and they're not really sure what to do yet, go have some conversations with some classmates. That was one of my biggest takeaways in my practice, among too many other things.
Speaker 2:You're working with middle schoolers still, is that right?
Speaker 3:High school, so the paraprofessional. I was in the middle school but ever since I've had my own classroom, that's been with high schoolers and I've been teaching mostly freshmen in a. We have a pre-algebra course and then algebra one. So most freshmen come in and end up taking pre-algebra first before they go into algebra one. That's what I've taught the last two years. I think that's what I'm slated for again this year.
Speaker 1:Okay, That'll be cool that you can take some of that your notebook to your job and maybe share a little bit with some of the other teachers as well, as those students move into those classes that you'll be able to share your knowledge.
Speaker 3:I think that that's really exciting is the idea that not only will I take this into my classroom, but I know that there are a few things as a building that we can be doing a little bit better for our students. So to have these ideas and have fleshed through them and have some resources to go along with them to get us started, is really powerful. And now I'm not somebody that's afraid to have those conversations and push my colleagues, but I can imagine for some other newer teachers that maybe haven't had that confidence to try and push the department forward. I could see them leaving the Academy of Best Practices and now being a little more willing, being a little more confident in themselves. They know, hey, look like I had this experience. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about this shift we can make in our classrooms, whatever that might be. So I think that that is really powerful.
Speaker 1:That's really cool.
Speaker 3:Helps to position some newer teachers as leaders across their campuses.
Speaker 2:Wonderful, yeah, yeah, across their campuses. Wonderful, yeah, yeah. So I would say what's next, but I hear you say you're going to bring this feedback piece in. Is there? Is there another piece that you're really like? This is a thing I definitely want to do. I'm not sure I'm ready to do it yet, or I'm going to like keep it on my list to do. What other things are you contemplating?
Speaker 3:Yes. So the other big thing for me and really I'll say it's been a really important piece to me this is one of the best things I learned in my first year in that emergency cert year is that visual models, usually visual conceptual models, are so, so important for accessibility and, frankly, anything that helps our groups that are having a bit of a tough time with the concept. It usually helps everybody. And so I've played around a lot with tape diagrams and hanger diagrams and double number lines. I've played with that.
Speaker 3:But we spent a lot of time each day for about an hour of the week in Seattle looking at algebra tiles, the progression of how you can use algebra tiles establishing, starting with just area and perimeter, all the way through polynomial division, and the catch I think sometimes with these visual models is you have to students have to get comfortable with them first and understand how they kind of work, what they're showing.
Speaker 3:So to have one tool that essentially can take you from about sixth grade to algebra two and not for everything but for some core concepts each year, is incredible. So that is is the other really big component. I know how powerful they are, I know how they can, just especially for students who have struggled with kind of that abstract component to math, who, when it comes to just numbers and especially as an algebra one, teacher actions and why's we shut down right? What is that? So to put a tangible manipulative to that that can help you make sense of that, I think is so, so powerful. So I'm really excited to continue. Really, I haven't played with algebra tiles themselves, so to start to implement that in my class and see how that goes and also play with the progression from starting with the concrete and then building in a little more of that abstract, that's one of the things I'm really excited for this year because I think that will be a little bit of a game changer for a lot of my students.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I was going to ask if you've used them before at all or if they're in your school at all. So you're bringing that in new. That'll be fun to hear how that story progresses.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so the end of last year I think it was a donor's choose that I had gotten there was something where it's like, oh, algebra tiles People talk about those, I've heard of those. Sure, okay, let me order some algebra tiles, I guess. And they stayed in a box for the last month or two.
Speaker 2:So I, fortunately have them, but now it's time to really make use of them, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, and my experience with my students and you may encounter this too is there's that initial ah, using manipulatives, that's what little kids do, right, it's this piece of. That's not the best kind of thinking, or that's not the way I should do it. Doing it with just the paper and pencil is better, and for me it was a lot of communicating and getting my kids, my students, on board with the idea that if you can understand these, it's actually going to help your brain, right, it's going to help your brain make sense of things. Because even now, like one of the pieces of information I most struck me was I'm sure I heard Joe Bowler saying it, maybe it was that functional MRIs show that when we think about adding numbers, the part that in our brain that visualizes fingers still lights up, so like we have an internalized concept of this right and so helping kids get on board with that that these are going to help you, your brain, understand it so much better. You're going to be doing algebra the rest of your life.
Speaker 2:You have this time to work with algebra tiles and make really big sense of helping get around some of that resistance and get them on board with it sometimes is really a big part of the task, for sure, yeah I.
Speaker 3:I think some of it comes down to the framing. So last year I really built in the pre-algebra class a lot. We do some fraction work and fractions are everybody's favorite, right, but fractions really can make so much sense. I truly believe that everyone can understand fraction when presented in the right way. So I was able to get the pattern blocks and fraction tiles and I did see a ton of resistance. So I was really happy to see that. But I also wonder if you know, going into this year just having some of those conversations or even framing it, as I love these, these are my favorite. They make the work so much easier. It just makes sense to me If I start there and maybe that will help a little bit.
Speaker 3:What also helps what I tried out last year for the first time, as I was able to get some money this was definitely through a donor's juice to use CBRs, calculator-based rangers, and for anybody not familiar, they are essentially motion detectors that plug into your calculators. So we were able to explore the idea of rate slope, y-intercept positive, negative's just another opportunity to make sense of something really abstract with something a little more concrete, and the kids loved those. They thought it was the coolest thing ever, and so did I. Frankly, they really, really enjoyed that. That was a success. But I am really glad to be able to pair that, which is super cool, with the algebra tiles, with the fraction. I envision it all kind of coming together and every year with opportunities like this at ABP, just learning one more way to take away a barrier for a student or group of students. It's like one more thing that I could do to make things more accessible, and that's exciting. That is exciting.
Speaker 2:That's awesome.
Speaker 1:Do you think that you met enough people and that worked with enough people in the group that you'll continue that relationship through this year? Do you think that you'll continue those conversations and such?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I think what was very intentional in the structure and really smart was our creation. So throughout the week we created an action plan. So, like we've been talking about here, there is so much that we went through in the week and different pieces resonate differently depending on where you are as a teacher and how much where you are as a learner, what you're really ready to implement in your classroom. So, in addition to the workshops and the experiences that we were having, we would end every day thinking about and then working on an action plan, picking one or two at most very specific goals, outlining what those are and how we're going to implement them, with some specific dates, how we're going to get evidence of our implementation and how we're doing, how we're going to celebrate which another really smart thing I never think about celebrating the successes, but you have to do that, and so throughout that process we paired up with some critical friends.
Speaker 3:We called them, and so people specifically that already are familiar with our action plan and that we'll be a little bit accountable to, and so my critical friend, spencer, is in Wisconsin, so we've already been back and forth a little bit, and then there's also Adam is in Kentucky and Sid is in California, so a good group, and that's just our little core. There's certainly the whole group that's still been keeping in touch as well. So definitely that support is built in and I think, like I said earlier, you have newer teachers, so we are in kind of similar spots, we're choosing to be there, which that makes a huge difference. So we're energetic, we want to be there and we were all there to get better, to be better in some way at our craft, and so I think that's a pretty good recipe for success in achieving that people learning and growing as educators and also people keeping in touch and kind of building a connection, because we already had so much in common just flying into Seattle.
Speaker 2:Well, we're getting close to our time on this conversation, but we would love to maybe touch base with you sometime, you know, around January or February, and see how things are going and what things you've been implementing and what things are how they're working for you, if you're up for that.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. That'd be really fun and I will let you know. Especially those algebra tiles, I'll let you know how they're going. Yeah, yeah, totally, totally, and I just let you know especially those algebra tiles.
Speaker 2:I'll let you know how they're going yes please, yeah, yeah, totally, totally.
Speaker 1:And I just have one more question Just who is your favorite facilitator? I'm kidding, don't answer it, don't, no, don't say it, don't say it, good.
Speaker 2:We'd have to cut that part out anyway.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast and we look forward to talking with you again.
Speaker 2:Looking forward to it. Thank you, hi Misty, hi Joel, this is Teresa from Kentucky. Do you know where math teachers like to party In bar graphs? So that is all we have time for on this episode of the More Math for More People podcast. If you are interested in connecting with us on social media, find our links in the podcast description and the music for the podcast was created by Julius H and can be found on pixabaycom. So thank you very much, julius. Join us in two weeks for the next episode of More Math for More People. What day will that be, joel?
Speaker 1:It'll be September 3rd, us Bowling League Day, and I've always loved bowling since I was a little kid. I remember my grandma would take me bowling and I'd get a Roy Rogers as a little treat beverage. And then I remember one time, though, I did drop the ball on my foot, broke my big toe, so that was exciting. And then, as I got older, I continued to bowl, recreationally of course, and then I had some friends who joined a league and in honor of the US Bowling League Day, I actually have my USBL card and I am a sub for that team, so whenever they need somebody they can always call me, since I'm a member. I have a handicap. I have all the paperwork, all the specifications needed to be in the US Bowling League, so I'm happy to celebrate this day. See you in September, thank you.