Dance Your Way to Shopping Freedom!

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to season two of the local click. On today's show, we will have Miss Lori Christensen with the Canon Arts Dance studio. Then we'll speak with Mister Kevin means with Three Forks Marketplace in Watertown. Of course, Justin will be here with us with all kinds of tech news and tips for us. And we'll also let you know where DTC is going to be in the month of September. So stay tuned with us. It's going to be a fun show. [00:00:25] Speaker B: Learn more about fun local events and interesting people throughout the heart of middle Tennessee, with a dash of every day tech talk thrown in for good measure. The Local click starts now. [00:00:38] Speaker A: Hello everyone. Welcome to the September 2024 edition of the Local Click. The local click is the technology based podcast brought to you by DTC Communications on the first Wednesday of each and every month where we talk all things technology. We will also talk to some of our local customers throughout our service area, where we get to introduce you to them and get to know them and the things that they bring to the community. And my co host today is like it usually is, Mister Justin Malden. Hello, Justin. How's it going, Nick? [00:01:09] Speaker C: I am glad to be here as we get into the end of summer, unfortunately, which is usually for me at least a more fun time, a time to enjoy and leisure activity. And we head into the fall and I feel like there's just a lot more gotta plan some things got a lot more less enjoyable vacations and things like that happening. And a little bit more of the real world and the spontaneity of life may slow down. You gotta get a little bit more structure with so many activities, especially things that we've got going on here at DTC. [00:01:45] Speaker A: And just in general, when the weather's nice, it seems like we get busy, so. [00:01:49] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, you get to enjoy the outdoors. We just had with my youth group at church. We just had an outdoor movie night. [00:01:57] Speaker A: Are you getting any kickback from the kiddos as far as getting back into the, this whole school mentality and schedule and that sort of thing? [00:02:05] Speaker C: My, my youngest last night did make the statement and I was surprised by this. He's like, I'm rocking this year, dad. I'm rocking it. So I haven't had complaints yet. We're not that far into it yet. Uh, so no burnout or anything just yet. But I would anticipate that mood may change a little bit. How about, how about you with yours? [00:02:24] Speaker A: Uh, pretty good, actually. Uh, my oldest hill be at Tennessee Tech for his sophomore year and he's excited about all the new things he's learned. He's studying technology. He's studying computers. So that's always kind of cool. And my youngest is in 7th grade, and he's enjoying that, playing a little b ball and that sort of thing. So he's. He was excited to see his friends again, I think, the ones he hasn't seen during the summer. [00:02:47] Speaker C: So, yeah, it's a new season for us. It's a new school year for the kids. New season for high school, middle school, junior high football season coming up. Lots of. Lots of new things coming up here in the fall. [00:02:59] Speaker A: Yeah, it's always a exciting time, for sure. So it's gonna be a really cool show to start off the first episode of season two, which, hey, we must be doing something. Okay, we're still here. They haven't, you know, grabbed the cane with the hook on it and just jerked us off the stage yet. So that's a good thing. [00:03:16] Speaker C: Yeah, well, yeah, we're still here. Yeah. We haven't been kicked off of the digital airwaves, I'm gonna say digital airwaves, since a podcast is a newer form of communication. Whether you're joining us via video or audio, we are glad that we are able to be back again for season two and that our audience is staying engaged and we have the privilege to continue to do this for them. [00:03:39] Speaker A: Yeah. We have met so many really interesting people throughout our service area in doing this, and I've really enjoyed it. And that's not just me speaking on camera, you know, fluffing verbiage out there. I have really enjoyed getting to meet these people and learning more about what they do, and I hope you have as well. And I hope it's helped you in getting to know some of the people in your community and the things that they add to our. To our areas here. We're going to speak later in the show with Mister Kevin means with three Forks Marketplace in Watertown. And if you drive through Watertown and all, you can't miss three forks Marketplace. So we'll definitely enjoy bringing that conversation to you here in just a moment. But we're going to start with our first interview for this month, and that is with Miss Lori Christensen with the Canon Arts dance studio in Woodbury. Miss Lori, thank you so much for being with us today. [00:04:29] Speaker D: Well, I feel lucky to be here. Thank you for choosing me. [00:04:32] Speaker A: Well, it's an honor. It's amazing what you are doing right here in the heart of Cannon county in Woodbury, with performance and dance and some of that. We're going to get into a lot of neat aspects of that. You really bring a lot of big town possibilities to smaller areas like this. And I just think that's really where our heart is in this show and kind of what we try to do. So before we get into all of it, though, why don't you start us off? I know you have a lot of strong ties to California, so tell us about your background and your path that set you here. [00:05:07] Speaker D: Well, you know, they call me Miss California. I was dubbed that when I moved here in 19. Well, not 19, actually. 2006, we moved here. [00:05:17] Speaker A: Okay. [00:05:18] Speaker D: And Woodbury Grammer dubbed me Miss California because I've grown up in California. I was born, raised, and my family still lives there. So I definitely have California roots. And we came because of Nissan, my husband. Yeah, we transferred and we drove down the street here on Main street, and we looked at the corner at the time, we were looking at the corner across from what was the iron pig, and he said, oh, there is going to be your dance studio. So here we are. [00:05:53] Speaker A: He saw the future early on, didn't he? [00:05:55] Speaker D: He saw the future, and he helped me make it, actually. That's awesome. [00:05:59] Speaker A: So happy you like it here. [00:06:00] Speaker D: Oh, my gosh. We wouldn't go back to California. We visit, I go all the time. But we have adapted. We love it, and we don't miss the traffic. The only thing I miss, and it's my number one passion, even above maybe dance. But don't tell everybody. That is baseball. And I do miss my. I do miss my angels. So I'm an angels fan, unfortunately. [00:06:27] Speaker A: Well, that's okay. That's okay. Some of those trips, when you get to go back, you can catch a game or two. [00:06:32] Speaker D: So I do. That's how I revolve. That's how everything revolves is around the baseball schedule. [00:06:39] Speaker A: Hey, there's nothing wrong with that. So talk about your formative years in dance. Cause I know you own a dance studio, so I know there's got to be some stories there. And kind of. What was that spark that got you started in this? [00:06:52] Speaker D: Well, I started dancing at age five at a studio, at a formal studio. The instructor was called Miss Mimi, and she was one of these very formal ballet teachers. I took to it. My sister did not, and I stayed with it. And my father made a dance studio for me in our den in San Pedro, California. Oh, wow. Oh, yeah. He created the ballet bars. He created the floor. And every Saturday we had all the neighborhood kids coming in, whether people were awake or nothing, to tap at eight or nine in the morning, and they paid me a quarter to choreograph, so I was starting early, and I did that starting at age 13. And I had my sister, who wasn't on the physical side of dance. She made the costumes and put together my first recital at the YWCA, negotiated the contract myself, had my grandfather be the narrator, and. And my father made a Batmobile. [00:08:00] Speaker A: Oh, my. [00:08:01] Speaker D: And I got all the boys involved with the old Adam West Batman theme. So that's. That was really my spark, and I've loved teaching, and I've just gone from there. [00:08:13] Speaker A: Oh, that is so neat. Wow. You have really been involved in this in your entire life? [00:08:18] Speaker D: Yes. Oh, yeah. [00:08:19] Speaker A: Great passion. [00:08:20] Speaker D: So, yes. [00:08:21] Speaker A: Anytime something stays with a person that long, you know, it means a lot to them. So it's truly in their heart. It's got to be. [00:08:26] Speaker D: I think once you're a dancer, it stays with you no matter what. We have adults that come back to us now that say, oh, I danced when I was this age, and, oh, I said, there's no age limit. You can come dance with us. [00:08:40] Speaker A: You get them back. Interested again. [00:08:42] Speaker D: That's great. Yeah, it's fantastic. [00:08:44] Speaker A: Well, tell us about the dance studio itself and the different styles of dance that you offer there. [00:08:50] Speaker D: The dance studio itself is an act of love. As I said, we were on the old at 119 West Main for a long time. We rented that from Bill Smith, if you remember. He was a big pillar of our community, and he helped get me started over there. And my husband and I both had full time jobs, as I said, I was a teacher at Woodbury Grammar and then also in Warren county. So I taught. I ran the dance studio. My husband is in the corporate at Nissan. But in our spare time, we built that dance studio at 211 West Main. We took a building that had been basically used for storage for plumbing products for ten years, and it needed some. It needed a whole rework. And my husband had the engineering vision. I couldn't see it. But once we got started, we worked on that for six years in our quote unquote spare time, and we've created a space in there that's beautiful and also indicative of Cannon county. The floor is white oak, and we did that on purpose to tie in with our white oak festival. And just the tradition here in cannon, it's the only suspended dance floor that I know of in Tennessee. There might be some others. It's certified. So a suspended floor helps dancers to absorb that shock when they jump. It's like a gym floor basketball, easier. So we've really tried to design the studio and keep it up. Actually, we redo the floor every year to make sure that it's a great experience for our dancers. And we have classical ballet, of course. And we have point. We've got tap, jazz. We've got a great hip hop artist who's with our studio. [00:10:50] Speaker A: That's really neat. [00:10:51] Speaker D: She could have helped with the Olympics a little bit there. [00:10:53] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Put her to work. [00:10:56] Speaker D: And we also have clogging, which is a big component of our studio. I did not know clogging when I was in California. I came here and I got hooked, and now it's a big component, and we take the cloggers a lot of places. [00:11:14] Speaker A: That's great. [00:11:14] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:11:15] Speaker A: Well, the Smithville Fiddler's gymboree is huge in our service area, so I'm sure you probably hear about that with some of your students and that sort of thing. [00:11:22] Speaker D: Right, right. We just. Unfortunately, it's in the summer where our students are kind of scattered a little. [00:11:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:29] Speaker D: Our season runs from right now. We're taking registration in August to May through May. So it's a school season, and then we have dance camps in the summer. [00:11:41] Speaker A: Okay. [00:11:42] Speaker D: And those are designed to help our students maybe experience different genres so that they can decide maybe what course to take. But we have all those genres. We have all ages, too, from three to 83. [00:11:57] Speaker A: Well, that was going to be one of my questions. And it sounds like all ages and all experience levels as well. [00:12:03] Speaker D: Right, right. And that being in, you know, a small town, it's a little bit tough because, you know, someone comes in and we've got to make sure that their placement is correct. So for our adults, we have, for instance, three levels of clogging, and we also have our adult tap. So we, you know, sometimes they have to catch up a little bit, like in our. But usually, basically, it's a great social release for our adults. [00:12:39] Speaker A: What's your favorite part of doing this? [00:12:42] Speaker D: I would say, and I had to think about this for a minute because there's, of course, a lot of ups and downs with running a business, but the up part is seeing that student develop, seeing that student either master a skill that they've worked on for, you know, a while and also seeing students. We've had students now I've been in business for 17 years. So we have students that have come as a three year old and graduated, you know, into the world. And that, to me, is very. It's. That's emotional to know that you've influenced those students. [00:13:22] Speaker A: Well, you've got a vested interest in them at that time. There's no way. You can't be totally bought into being with around others that are putting their heart and soul and time into this. You really grow close to your students, don't you, when you do that? [00:13:34] Speaker D: Right? And our motto is building dancers and shaping lives. And that's what dance does and that's what our studio tries to cultivate and create that culture where it's a safe place for students to come. You know, especially preteen teens, they go through a lot and dance is a way to express, to be with like minded others and to get that out. And also, I think one of my favorite things is to afford them opportunities to see the world and to see other venues as well. [00:14:10] Speaker A: What are some of the type of events that you typically take your students and they get to perform in publicly? [00:14:16] Speaker D: I am so excited that you ask me, because this June we went up to country tonight in Pigeon Forge. We teamed with another studio in Chattanooga. So not only did our students get to visit another studio and get a little taste of that, but we put together a great show. We were the. Okay, that sounded kind of egotistic, but I thought it was great. [00:14:40] Speaker A: Well, it probably was. Yeah. [00:14:43] Speaker D: But we were the opening show for country tonight, and then our students got to go to Dollywood, so we took our clogging. We have a junior company that where we're developing our more serious dancers. So they teamed with a Chattanooga dance theater and together we rounded out and put this great show on. So that's just one. We've been to Disney several times and been in the parade and also done shows down there. And we've even been to New York City and danced in Times Square and danced on Broadway. So, as I said, we're a small town studio with big ideas and big dreams. [00:15:29] Speaker A: That's impressive. [00:15:31] Speaker D: We also have close ties with MTSU as well and their dance department, so we feel very good with that affiliation as well. So they have a lot of performance opportunities. We're working on something. We did a Christmas show last year at the art center here, the art center in Cannon county, and we want to give back to our community a little bit. So we are working on a modified version of a Nutcracker. I'm not sure what we're going to call it, but it's kind of a Cannon county version. It's going to be up there December 20. We also, our big recital, and last year in May, we had almost 500 people, and that was at the park theater. And we picked a theme. So year end recitals, we have our other performances such as Christmas, and then we also, you know, good old days is a favorite of ours. Love that. So we do have a lot of performance opportunities available to the students. [00:16:36] Speaker A: As far as getting the word out and keeping the public informed of all these things, I assume technology plays a big role in that. And access to the Internet. I know you have a really, really active Facebook page because I noticed you have a lot of updates and posts. You really keep it current. So how important is it to you to, to basically embrace technology to help run that business? From a day to day aspect? [00:16:59] Speaker D: It's vital. I'm just going to say it's vital. And let me tell you what we use our technology for, and not just for marketing and also updating. For instance, if you've got a tornado, our Facebook is. There's no class today. That's also. Communication is key. Communication, yeah, is key. My engineering husband designed the studio to be a smart studio. So even the doors, we have digital door locks, we have. Everything's on the nest. We have a whole smart hub upstairs that runs everything in the studio. So, yeah, DTC and the Internet are very vital in our world. [00:17:46] Speaker A: You guys have embraced it full force. That's awesome. [00:17:48] Speaker D: Yeah, we're full force. Sometimes. Sometimes it's a challenge for me, but for most part, I've had to grow with it. [00:17:58] Speaker A: And it would probably be really difficult to go back without all of that. [00:18:01] Speaker D: It's a communication tool. In the old days, we had to write down steps or take pictures. Now we video on our phones, we upload it. We have our own private YouTube channel because we don't want. [00:18:14] Speaker A: Right. [00:18:15] Speaker D: People practicing out to the world. We don't want to compromise their privacy. But. And also our choreography. But. So all of that ties in everything. It's communication, it's marketing, it's air, it's music. And the very last thing we did this, you know, we're going to one of those codes that you use for our programming. Like, so when they go to, like, the QR code. The QR code. So, for instance, our Christmas show last year, instead of printing programs, we used a QR code. [00:18:51] Speaker A: So that's convenient. [00:18:53] Speaker D: Yeah. And also all of our billing and everything, too. [00:18:55] Speaker A: Oh, wow. Wow. That's awesome. You guys are doing big things here in Woodbury. [00:19:00] Speaker D: You didn't even know it. [00:19:01] Speaker A: I did not. I'm impressed. I really am. [00:19:04] Speaker D: Well, thank you. [00:19:05] Speaker A: If someone's interested and they said, I want to get in touch with you, I think I may want to go down this path. What should they do? How should they get in contact with you? [00:19:15] Speaker D: Well, the best way is to, I'd say to email me is cannondance one and that's the digitonemail.com. also they can call the studio 6155-563-9122 and that's DTC, of course, too. I'm just going to plug you guys. [00:19:36] Speaker A: That'll work. [00:19:37] Speaker D: Yeah. And usually I have my private number on that recording. They can text or call me because it involves placement and we'll get back to them. So that, and then of course, our web page. We gotta have that. [00:19:55] Speaker B: We gotta have a website. [00:19:56] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:19:56] Speaker D: Canonartsdance.com. so we've got three ways for people to come and come down and join the fun because you're not, you're never too old. Your dance dreams don't die. They're just like buried in here and you gotta bring them on out. [00:20:11] Speaker A: That's it. You just gotta let the kid out sometimes, right? [00:20:14] Speaker D: Right. [00:20:14] Speaker A: That's right. Well, Miss Laurie, thank you so much for spending some time with us today and very impressive what you're doing and wish you all the best and continued success in everything. [00:20:25] Speaker D: Thank you. I just wanted to allude to why I'm wearing Gingham and this little, like, logo. [00:20:32] Speaker A: There's a story to that, is there not? Yeah. [00:20:34] Speaker D: And I'll leave you with that. But that is our theme this year is we're not really a cafe, but we're gonna do Cannon cafe. So all of our dances will be food based. So whether you're thinking chicken fry on a Saturday night or you're thinking that might be a clogging number, or we've got peaches and herbs somebody's already picked. [00:20:57] Speaker A: We've got, I see some themes coming here. [00:20:59] Speaker D: Yeah, we got some food themes and that's our theme for this year. So if you are interested, if any of your viewers are interested in joining the fun and culture of our studio, we now is the time to join. It'd be perfect. [00:21:13] Speaker A: Well, that's awesome. Well, keep doing what you're doing and keep us informed on everything. Maybe we can help you promote some other things in the future. Hopefully. [00:21:23] Speaker D: I want to thank you for taking the time to contact me and feature our studio. You did once on your magazine as well, and we hope we're doing you proud. [00:21:34] Speaker A: You are. You are big things in Woodbury. You're a part of it. So thanks for, thanks for bringing a little piece of California over here. [00:21:40] Speaker D: All right, thank you so much. [00:21:42] Speaker A: Stay tuned with us. We've got more of the show coming up in just a moment. [00:21:48] Speaker E: Great communities attract talented people to live, work, and raise their families. We've deployed a high speed network that helps the best and the brightest enjoy better lives in our smart rural community. Great small businesses provide jobs that help workers earn a good living and provide for their families, while while strengthening local economies. We deploy fiber Internet that helps those businesses succeed. Great doctor and patient relationships create bonds that lead to healthier lives. We deliver secure connections so every home and rural healthcare provider can connect to the best healthcare options. Great schools help knowledge hungry students learn, think creatively, and follow their passions. We've built the network that helps their dreams take off. Great farmers provide the food that sustains and nourishes our nation and the world. We keep those farmers connected to the technology that ensures their crops can thrive. We've planned, engineered and constructed a cutting edge communications network. We're committed to delivering future proof broadband so our friends, families, and neighbors can live rich lives in smart rural communities across America. Your community is our community. We're your rural broadband partners. You do great things. We make great things possible. [00:23:32] Speaker B: Here's normal Internet speed. Here's the gig difference. Average speed gig not enough speed. Gig speed. With gig Internet from DTC, everything's different. Video streaming is a breeze. Music and photos fly. And gaming gets real with no data limits. That's the gig difference. Call or visit DTC online and get your gig today. [00:24:05] Speaker A: Welcome back to the show. And I'm going to give it to Justin right now for this part of the show because we do each and every month with a little segment like to call Justin's tech tips. Justin, get away. [00:24:18] Speaker C: Welcome to this segment of the show where we try to simplify tech one tip at a time. So this episode, we're gonna be talking about something. It's been something that you can do for a while, but we're gonna look at a new take and a new approach on it, and that is note taking. So it's 2024. We're gonna talk about not, I don't want you. We're not talking about getting that pen, getting that pencil and that piece of paper, scratch paper, notepad, whatever it may be. We're going to talk about digital note taking. Because here's the thing. It doesn't matter if you're a student, professional life, whether you've got hobbies, you're running a business, whatever it may be, staying organized, staying tidy, it can be a game changer for you. And you could add some digital note taking to that, that could help enhance your ability to stay organized. So first thing that you've got to do when you're trying to figure out, okay, where do I start my digital note taking journey? First thing you gotta do, you gotta figure out what app you're gonna use. [00:25:18] Speaker A: That's a good point. [00:25:19] Speaker C: You got it. You gotta start and you gotta pick something. And there's several great options out there, as there are with many things, lots and lots of apps to choose from. I'm gonna mention a few. By no means is this an exhaust, exhaustive list. What you should 100% go, bye. But just a few. If you're trying to think, well, where do I need to get started? You know, one note from Microsoft, probably one of the older ones out there. Maybe not used as much as some others, but Microsoft does have. If you have a Microsoft Office subscription, you have a note taking app. You may not realize it, but you have one note, you have a note taking app. Evernote is one. It's probably, if you're more the pen and paper type person, you're looking for, just a traditional note taking app. Evernote may be a very good option for you because it is a little bit more traditional. Maybe not as fancy some of these other ones, as many features, but one that will be there for you. More traditional. If you're looking for just a quick, hey, I need to take a quick note. You're in the Android Google system. Google keep probably be the best thing for you. It's already going to be integrated into the software you're using. Or if you're somebody who's deep in the apple ecosystem, like we are, then you've got apple notes. They're pretty basic in their name. They just call it notes. [00:26:35] Speaker A: Right? [00:26:36] Speaker C: They're not. They're not getting too, too fancy with it. [00:26:38] Speaker A: One night coming up with a name for that one, didn't they? [00:26:40] Speaker C: Yeah, you know, they. Yeah, they thought long and hard. But, hey, sometimes simple is the best. [00:26:45] Speaker A: It describes what it is. [00:26:46] Speaker C: Yeah. And so, you know, we're thinking of, okay, notes. So I'm taking notes now, depending upon what you're using, that may be you're sitting there and you're typing exactly what you want. Maybe with some of these devices, you have stylus input, you can write the notes on there. And there are even companies who make screen protectors that help mimic what the feel of paper may be. You know, so if you're looking for that authentic touch and that authentic feel, that's pretty neat. You can go that far as to get something that helps mimic what real paper is like. But I'm not just talking about digital note taking, those traditional kinds of notes, because you can pack so much more into your digital notes than just, hey, I've got an idea, or I've got a thought. So, yeah, it's a great place to put things, but you got to stay organized first and foremost, right? You don't want to dump every single thing in there. So you may think, oh, I've got the ability to utilize all these things, be organized first and foremost. Maybe you need to make some folders, you know, maybe you need to make some different notebooks is what they may be called, depending upon the device. So, you know, separate your personal from your work. [00:27:57] Speaker A: That's a good idea. [00:27:58] Speaker C: From your hobbies. Maybe you do stuff with a church group, or you've got ideas, or maybe you've got a, maybe you've got a list of honeydews that you need to complete, right? Maybe you want a separate list for that. [00:28:11] Speaker A: And you need to name those notes separately. Right. If you have, like, notes in one document, you can name that document with the name of what it describes, what it is. [00:28:20] Speaker C: Yeah. So, yeah, so, yeah, the first layer is just, yeah, you've got the folders to separate, and then contained within that folder, you'll have whatever, you know, documents, notes, different things that you've saved in there. And the thing is on the front side, if you can do a little bit of setup on the front side, because what's the point in taking these notes? Why do you want to take a note? You want to be able to recall it or go back and check it and see what's happening. A little bit of setup on the front end will help save you a lot of headache down the road and save you a lot, a lot, a lot of time coming in. But, you know, one recommendation, you talked about naming them, right? You want something that you can recall, something that you can go find. Another thing that you need to do is you need to make what, you know, make your notes actionable, right? Make them actionable so that there's a reason for it, right. Why am I taking this, this note? What's the purpose in this now? There needs to be, there needs to be some logic and reasoning behind it. You know, make it actionable. And that may be when you're taking the note, you know, break down the notes and whatever you're doing, maybe you're sitting in a lecture and you're taking in a lecture, or maybe you're on a webinar and, you know, you're, you're sitting there and you're trying to figure out, okay, if you're like me, I can't do things verbatim, right. You know, can't keep up with it, can't keep up with the speaker. So break the information down into digestible parts. Right? Use bullet points, use short chunks, whatever it may be, to help you with it. You know, add dates, add reminders, follow up. I need to come back and do this. And here's the thing, a lot of these note taking apps will integrate with other calendar apps as well, with reminder apps as well. So again, you got a follow up. You know, hey, I'm going to do it, so take advantage of those things, right. Some of these other integrations. Another thing is, don't forget multimedia, because like I said, it's not just taking regular notes. Maybe you're in a lecture and you're taking notes. Well, you know what you can attach to that lecture if you're sitting in it? You could record that lecture in its entirety and usually attach that audio file inside the notes. [00:30:21] Speaker A: Now that's pretty neat. [00:30:23] Speaker C: Maybe you're seeing a presentation and you're sitting there. Maybe the presentation is not being made available outside of what you're doing. So you've snapped some pictures of some of the slides. You can throw those slides into your notes as well. So you can integrate these, these other things as well. Add photos and sketches and slides and audio or whatever it may be. Maybe there's a URL link, you know, to a web page that you want to reference later. Throw all those things in your notes and utilize that. There's a video link, here's a web link, here's a picture, whatever it may be, throw those things in there, too. And really, the last thing that I would say, hey, let's, we're taking these notes. What we don't want to do is lose them. We don't want them to vanish. We don't want to have issues with it sometimes. I'm sure in the past you've lost a notepad, probably lost a sticky note. Right? It does happen. Things get misplaced again, though, back it up. We've talked about backups here before. All these note taking apps have some form of backup integration, whether it's the app itself or a lot of them linked to their own services or other services. So don't forget to back up these notes. Or if you're using across multiple devices, most of these will sync. If you've got your phone and you've got your computer. A lot of times, they will sync across devices as well, so. Oh, I've taken a note on my laptop that I've carried with me, and I need to reference it later. Most time, if you've got the app installed on multiple devices, you can pull your phone out and still reference it. Right. You're not having to manually go back and forth and do that. And so that's it? Yeah, that's it. Really. Listen. With the right app, with the right organization, with the right setup and actionable items, and multimedia as well, you can master your digital note taking journey. [00:32:08] Speaker A: Hey, that's the way to do. Make note, take notes, right? [00:32:11] Speaker C: Yes. So happy note taking time to everybody. [00:32:13] Speaker A: That's right. We are lucky to have Mister Kevin means with three Forks marketplace in Watertown. Hey, Kevin, how's it going today? [00:32:22] Speaker B: Going great. Thank you very much for having me. [00:32:24] Speaker A: We appreciate you being on the show, and you always got great big things going on there, because every time I drive by the store, it's busy. [00:32:32] Speaker B: We are busy. We are lucky to be busy. [00:32:35] Speaker A: And busy is a good thing. [00:32:36] Speaker B: Busy is great. [00:32:37] Speaker A: Introduce yourself to everybody that's watching or listening today and tell us a little bit more about you. [00:32:42] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, sure. Again, my name is Kevin means, and I own three Forks market. I was lucky to be able to purchase it a year and a half ago. I have four children. They're all grown. My youngest child, he works for me. He actually helps manage the store. So it's me and my wife and my youngest child, Cohen. My other kids are all grown out of college. They have good careers. I'm very proud of them. I live in Watertown. That's my community. So I live less than a mile from the store. Like to hunt like the fish. That's about it. [00:33:20] Speaker A: And that's. That's who you are? [00:33:21] Speaker B: That's who I am. [00:33:22] Speaker A: That's right. So how did your path start? [00:33:25] Speaker B: My path started. My brother actually owns a grocery store. [00:33:29] Speaker A: Okay, well, there you go. [00:33:30] Speaker B: And so when I graduated high school, he asked me to just come work for him, learn the business, see if I liked it. So I picked up, and I moved to Portland, Tennessee. He owned a store in Portland. It's now an HG hill store. Back then, it was piggly wiggly. So that was where I started. And I was just bagging groceries, talking to customers, you know, just moving up through the ranks. Went back, did. Ran the back door, receiving a checked bills, paid invoices. [00:34:00] Speaker A: You really learned all the different aspects of this, didn't you? [00:34:03] Speaker B: Pretty much. Pretty much over time, you know, you just kind of go from bagging groceries to running a register to doing pricing, you know, dealing with different things, learning how to order. That's a, that's a big part of it, because if you don't order right, order what your customers needs, then you're not going to be around very long. [00:34:23] Speaker A: You know, there's so much more, honestly, to the retail grocery business that I think anybody that shops every week there has any idea about. [00:34:30] Speaker B: I'm not going to brag about me and my wife, but, but we work seven days a week now. We don't work every day. [00:34:36] Speaker A: Right. [00:34:37] Speaker B: But the, you know, the groceries don't get on their, on the shelves magically. You know, we work very hard, and we got a great team there. Works hard. [00:34:45] Speaker A: And it takes a good team to keep the store going. [00:34:47] Speaker B: Absolutely. It's, it's all day. It's 13, 14 hours a day, every day. Seven days a week. [00:34:55] Speaker A: Well, for someone that may not have stopped by three forks, describe the store to us and some of the things that you offer. [00:35:02] Speaker B: Yeah, I think we're a very unique store. We offer more than people realize, I believe. You know, we have a, we have six gas pumps. So we have. If you just casually drive by and you've never been to the store, you might just think it's a gas station, because we do have two separate entrances. One interest, it looks like a grocery store. If you come in the side, it looks just like a gas station. So it just depends on what your needs are at the time. If you just need to come in and get a coke and a quick bite to eat, you can come in the side door and you can do all that. It feels kind of like a convenience store that side, right? If you're ready to do some shopping, you can come in the front door, get a buggy, you can shop. I had a friend one time said, I don't think I can do all my shopping with you. I said, you'd be surprised. [00:35:51] Speaker A: You would be surprised. [00:35:52] Speaker B: I said, believe it or not, we have 38,000 items in that store. So between everything we offer in our deli and everything we offer in the store, gas, you can do, you can do your entire grocery shop for one stop. [00:36:08] Speaker A: It really could be. [00:36:09] Speaker B: It really is. So I think it's unique. I think people would like it. We try to keep a clean, nice, fun atmosphere. Me, my wife, my son, all my team, we joke around constantly. We love knowing our customers names. We try to call everybody by name as much as we can, as we can remember, we want you to feel like you're a part of the store. So even though we're a small store, as far as scale wise, I think we offer a good selection and anything that you would absolutely want or need. If we don't have it, feel free to reach out to me or anybody in my team, and we will get it for you. We actually pride ourselves in being able to get everything that you need. [00:36:55] Speaker A: And that was kind of one of the questions I had when I was kind of thinking about this interview coming up is, how do you decide those kinds of things, like those items that people want that you might not necessarily carry right away, or just maybe they're odd items or something? What's the key to keeping a customer happy and carrying some of those kinds of things? [00:37:12] Speaker B: I like to have unique items, one of a kind items that maybe you can't find it at your big box stores and your big chain stores. We buy from a company out of Wisconsin is one of our vendors, and they have several unique things. They have a local candy company called Sanders Candy that's actually based in Michigan. We have a lot of their, a lot of their product. They have a lot of nice caramels and chocolates. We also have Mackinac island fudge, which I don't know if anybody's been on vacation in Mackinac island. It's in the upper Peninsula in Michigan. And they're just world renowned for their fudge, and we're able to carry it. And we have every variety they have. So we have some unique items. And like I said, anytime any customer requests anything, we love bringing it in. And even if it doesn't work right away, sometimes it takes a while, but people end up liking it, trying it. So basically, we're just customer oriented. [00:38:12] Speaker A: I really think that's such a big part of kind of what sets you guys apart from some of the very large box based stores. Right. It's that human interaction element, personal ability to even speak with you and know who to speak to if they have a question or need something. I think people sometimes realize the importance and the worth of that. [00:38:36] Speaker B: Yeah. And I agree with you. I think that's a big value. And if you have a complaint or something doesn't go right, you know who to talk to also. [00:38:45] Speaker A: Right. [00:38:45] Speaker B: You know, we don't think we're perfect, but we're pretty close. [00:38:49] Speaker A: You try to be. [00:38:49] Speaker B: We try to be. That's right. So if we ever do anything that is not right or doesn't meet your expectations. You know, you can come to me or my wife, Vicki, my son Cohen, my manager, Gary. I mean, anybody in our store, and we're gonna. We're gonna make it, right. [00:39:05] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:39:06] Speaker B: You know, we don't want anybody to buy anything, even if it's a watermelon. You can't always see what's in the watermelon. [00:39:10] Speaker A: Right. [00:39:11] Speaker B: If you get a bad watermelon, I will be happy to give you your money back or another watermelon in our meat departments. That way, anything. Anything in our store, we want you to be happy. [00:39:20] Speaker A: Yeah. I love that. That's the right attitude to have. [00:39:22] Speaker B: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. [00:39:24] Speaker A: So tell us more about the deli, because I. I know firsthand experience. It's amazing. I would venture to say possibly y'all have the most famous chicken strips within a several mile radius of Watertown. Yeah. So tell us more about what the deli offers and that sort of thing. [00:39:44] Speaker B: Sure. Sure. We are. We are known for our chicken. We have just not just chicken tenders. We have boning chicken. That is very, very good, too. And my wife Vicki, she makes a. It's her recipe on her wings. I think our wings are underrated. We have. We have great wings. And she has a garlic chicken wing that is fabulous. And you can pair it with any of our dipping sauces. We have, like, nine dipping sauces, I think. [00:40:09] Speaker A: Wow. [00:40:10] Speaker B: Yeah. So you can pair it with any of our dipping sauces. Plus, we know we're a normal deli. We have potato salad. We have macaroni salad. We have sandwiches. So we offer quite a bit. Mondays is goulash. Monday. On Thursdays, we have asian cuisine. We have orange chicken. We have noodles. Yeah. So we have more to offer than just chicken, but chicken is what we're known for. [00:40:32] Speaker A: That's kind of your thing, is our thing. [00:40:34] Speaker B: Yes, sir. [00:40:35] Speaker A: Well, I know that you mentioned it a little bit earlier that the gas pumps have to be very popular, because literally, there are people there all of the time stopping by. And that's so convenient in Watertown, right off highway 70, to be able to, you know, within 2 seconds, just pop off the main road and. And fill up and sort of that sort of thing. [00:40:53] Speaker B: We are the only gas station in Watertown. And keeping that in mind, we try to be super competitive. I don't want. We use our gas as trying to think of the right word here, that it's a value to our customer. It's a value to the citizens of Watertown and anybody driving through. We. We could be higher if we wanted to. But we just have our own formula, and we stick to it no matter what. The companies in Lebanon could be $0.20 higher or $0.20 cheaper. But we have our own formula, and it works out for us. So I think it's great that we offer gas for our customers. We offer it as a value. We also tied in with our rewards card. We have a rewards cardinal. Anytime you use it and you pay on the inside, you get $0.03 off a gallon. [00:41:44] Speaker A: Okay. [00:41:44] Speaker B: So, you know, we want to use it as a bonus to our store and a bonus to the community. [00:41:50] Speaker A: Yeah. We always like to get everyone's individual stories. About how they use technology. To help them in a day to day business aspect, run things. How important is reliable communications, Internet, phone? [00:42:02] Speaker B: It's the most important thing we have at the store, believe it or not. I mean, everything we do in the store is. Is based on Internet. It's based on computers and technology. I mean, from our. Like I said, from our loyalty card. It's all. It's all Internet. And so if we can't access the Internet, then we can ask access how many points you have. We can't give you the three cent discount. All our price changes are done that way. Also. [00:42:31] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:42:32] Speaker B: It's downloaded every Monday. If we can't download it, we can't do it. It. [00:42:35] Speaker A: Right. [00:42:36] Speaker B: So it's. [00:42:36] Speaker A: It probably your ordering, I would think. Ordering, yes. [00:42:39] Speaker B: Order in stock. So just about everything we do at the store, from the gas to the deli to the meat department. Is we can't do it without it. [00:42:49] Speaker A: Well, you guys, you really are on the forefront of that. Because, I mean, you think about even the rewards program for a smaller town. To have a grocery store and. And gas station and that sort of thing. That has access to some of those bigger town store fields and features and stuff. That's a big deal, in my opinion. [00:43:10] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, we're proud of it. We're definitely proud of it. We're proud of our store. We think it's unique. We're proud of our city, our community. [00:43:18] Speaker A: You're very community oriented. [00:43:20] Speaker B: We really try to be. I mean, we live in the community, so we are definitely part of Watertown community. [00:43:25] Speaker A: Yeah. For those that want to know where you're located. And you're at a hours of business, I'm sure the people in Watertown know exactly where you are. And even those that just on their way to Lebanon or back and that sort of thing. But kind of tell them. Tell them where you are and your hours. [00:43:39] Speaker B: Sure. It's pretty easy. We're right off of highway 70. We're 9000 sparta pike right before you get. If you're going away from Watertown, it's right before you get to high school. If you're coming into Watertown, it's right right after high school. If you're coming into Watertown. And so it. We're right on the main drag. You can't miss it. [00:43:58] Speaker A: It's convenient. [00:43:59] Speaker B: It is very convenient. Yes. Yes, sir. You go by the flashing lights, and we're right there. [00:44:03] Speaker A: Well, if someone wants to learn more, what's the best way for them to contact you? [00:44:07] Speaker B: Well, they can call the store, because like I said, we are there all the time. Our phone number is 615-23-7977 and that is the best way to contact me. You can also contact us on our Facebook page. I think there's. There's a place to contact us there. [00:44:24] Speaker A: I noticed you keep that updated really well, too. [00:44:26] Speaker B: Yes. Yes. We actually have a marketing company, and then we. We do it ourselves, too, and we'll take pictures and send them, and they do a fantastic job. And, yeah, they really do do a good job. [00:44:38] Speaker A: Well, Kevin, I don't know what to say, but just keep doing what you're doing, because what you're doing is working. You're doing a fantastic job. And Watertown sure is lucky to have you there. So thank you. [00:44:47] Speaker B: I appreciate that. Nice comments, Nick. Thank you very much. [00:44:49] Speaker A: Yep. And we're going to take a little break here. We got more of the show coming up in just a moment, so stay tuned with us. [00:44:56] Speaker E: My name is Ashley Roth. My husband Caleb, and I own stain and seal experts based in Alexandria, and we are a DTC customer. Caleb grew up in the fence industry, so when we got married and wanted to do something on our own, it made sense for us to start staining fences and manufacturing fencing deck, and log cabin stains. We manufacture own stains that check all the boxes for us that we offer to our customers here locally as well as nationwide that buy our products. DTC services all of our phone systems. We also have their fiber Internet. For our phone system to work is instrumental for us. We rely heavily on our Internet and phone services from DTC. It means a lot to us that they're local, but they've always been local and that we're able to support them and their services give us what we need to support our customers. Hi, I'm Ashley, and that's the DTC difference. [00:46:00] Speaker A: We're gonna give it back to Justin, where he shares a little information with us called Tech news Roundup. [00:46:09] Speaker C: Well, in the world of technology for this month, we're gonna start off right here with something that comes out of the state of Tennessee. So Bridgestone America is now headquartered and has been for several years in Nashville, Tennessee. And they have recently talked about a partnership that they had that they've been doing since January of this year. It is a shipping collaboration with JB Hunt and Kodiak. But as we always like to talk about on here, it has to do with artificial intelligence and AI. So something that they have actually been doing, and they have been testing. They have been testing a 750 miles long haul route for their tire delivery from a manufacturing facility to a distribution facility, but it's been completely autonomous. [00:46:57] Speaker A: Wow. [00:46:57] Speaker C: And so they have racked up 50,000 miles during this test phase with zero issues, 100% on time delivery, no issues whatsoever. And so it's really interesting because this is a collaboration where Bridgestone is the manufacturer of the tires, JB Hunt is the transportation company, and Kodiak is the manufacturer of the trucks themselves who are integrating their technology into it. So JB Hunt is driving the trucks for the product, which is Bridgestone all coming together to do this and to pilot this. Now there is, this is not a complete end to end route. They are transferring it from two autonomous hubs and then the last mile to and from is being taken place traditionally, but they did have to make facilities specifically for this to be able to make it happen. But it's interesting. Delivery services are hard to believe. [00:47:51] Speaker A: That's already here. [00:47:52] Speaker C: Yeah, we've talked about, I'm going to call them Burger bots before we talked about the food delivery bots, and there's more of that going around. I know in Los Angeles, Shake Shack has introduced some more burger bots that they're integrating through Uber Eats and Waymoo, and Phoenix, Arizona, in that area has been partnering with UberEats for autonomous delivery as well. So we've seen that on a smaller scale in local places, but this is the first time we've seen something over such a long distance because I believe it's actually, it's 750 miles. It's going from just outside of Atlanta, Georgia, to Texas. So we're transversing several states. That's crazy to make this happen. [00:48:31] Speaker A: It almost sounds like science fiction, to. [00:48:33] Speaker C: Be honest with you. I will say this, they have been driven autonomously, but there has been a team of two people who have also been in the vehicle. So there is somebody in the vehicle, but they haven't had to actually interact or do anything to this point, which is very, very interesting and promising. We're going to see a lot of this. You know, there's other types of delivery, you know, that we, we have talked about before that's being tested. You know, there's, it's been going on for a while now. Medical deliveries using autonomous drones in parts of the world where, you know, the infrastructure is not there to deliver it over the road where they can launch, you know, from hospitals and medical suppliers and fly, and drop the medical supplies right where they're needed in certain parts of countries. And so this, you know, again, this piece of AI is very, very productive, but it also is going to impact quality of life for people. Now, again, some scary things there because who's gonna be behind the wheel of those and are we gonna, you know. [00:49:39] Speaker A: That'S one of the things I thought of my head. When you're human action, I was thinking, can you imagine looking on the, across the interstate and you see a big rig going down the road and there's no one in the, in the cab? You know, that'd be kind of interesting. [00:49:51] Speaker C: There. There was a waymu vehicle that got pulled over in Arizona. I mentioned them and what they're doing with, with their delivery service. It committed a traffic infraction and the police, local police there attempted to pull it over and did pull it over. It pulled to the side of the road. It rolled its window down with nobody in the driver's seat. But it did immediately start calling somebody from the company who then communicated with the officer for the officer to let them know what had happened. It had left its lane and it had went into an oncoming lane temporarily, for some reason. It did not cause an accident or anything like that. And there was not another vehicle, but it was interesting. I can imagine being the police officer who he recognized what the vehicle was and knew there wasn't going to be anybody in it. But if you're in that situation, you pull over a driverless vehicle, there's absolutely nobody in it. Who do you write the ticket to? [00:50:48] Speaker A: If we get pulled over, can we just grab the phone and call someone else and let them do the talking? I don't think that. I don't think they do that. [00:50:54] Speaker C: Yeah, I don't think we could make that excuse. [00:50:56] Speaker A: I don't think work. [00:50:56] Speaker C: Yeah. Hey, hold on 1 second, honey, I need you to. [00:51:00] Speaker A: Would you talk to this officer for me, please? Yeah. [00:51:04] Speaker C: In other news, Google, in something that was a little bit surprising, has announced a new flagship device outside of their typical launch window. Typically, Google is known in the smartphone world for their Pixel phones, so they also manufacture, or I should say programs, the Android operating system. But their actual hardware that they do, they typically release in the fall. And so they recently announced the Google Pixel nine. And so they shifted from a fall to a summer schedule. And what a lot of people believe this was for is because Apple has announced its new software, has not announced new devices, but it's announced its software, and we've got the projection of the fall release for its software, which includes a lot of artificial intelligence. So Google, it appears, has jumped them in this by announcing a new device which integrates with their AI service, Gemini. And I'm going to read a quote, and I put it in my notes here because I found it very interesting. But specifically, during the presentation, there was a lot of talk of, there's been a lot of promises made and things that are going to come and things that are going to happen. But during their presentation, they said, today, we're getting real. This is happening now. This isn't happening in the future. We're going to be doing this now. So there's a lot of people who are of the opinion that this was done very intentionally, that they may have moved some things up so that they can beat some of their competitors to the marketplace with some of their products. And it does look very. It does look very promising. I mean, it's, you know, Google on the devices they manufacture, generally provides very good support. They get very, very good reviews. And, and at this point, Apple and some other competitors have made promises in Google. It looks like they're trying to get into the game a little bit quicker. [00:52:56] Speaker A: They got the bragging rights on that one, didn't they? [00:52:59] Speaker C: Yes. I don't think some of those competitors care. Apple definitely doesn't care to be a little bit behind others in certain things. [00:53:07] Speaker A: As long as it's right. [00:53:08] Speaker C: They generally want a little bit more perfected product when it comes to market. You know that that device will be released soon. So if you, if you are an Android user out there, you have a new product offering that, that may suit you, that you may be on the lookout for. And next is something everybody knows about. We're gonna talk about the International Space Station. [00:53:33] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. [00:53:33] Speaker C: So, you know, there was a mission, the Expedition 71, part of those mission, the crew, which has Bruce Wilmore, who is a Tennessee native, is a Tennessee tech graduate. Wow. And he is one of the, one of the two astronauts, along with SUNY Williams, who were on Boeing's initial crew. Test flight for their Starliner capsule. So a few years ago, NASA created contracts with Boeing and SpaceX to create new capsules to deliver humans to the space station and for space exploration. This was Boeing's first attempt at actually getting a crewed mission into space with their, their new capsule. It was successful in getting to the International space Station, but it had some issues, had some helium leaks, had some overheating of the thrusters. It managed to dock at the space station successfully. And the crew that was supposed to be there for eight days has now been there for a few months. And it is estimated that they will still be there for up to eight months. And right now, it is looking like SpaceX is going to have to come to the rescue. And, you know, those astronauts have been to space before. It's not, it's not new to them. But when you're supposed to be there for eight days, and then you go from eight days to eight months, you know that. [00:55:04] Speaker A: You know that that's a little different. [00:55:06] Speaker C: Yeah. Now they're safe. They have been able to launch supply vehicles. And so there is a supply, a supply delivery, cargo delivery capsule that has been launched and will deliver them supplies. And then also they will be able to utilize it to offload their trash. They're okay with it taking the trash back. It's not meant for human transportation, but it can transport the cargo to, to and from, but it's not designed for human transportation. And so it's going to be interesting to see what happens with that. While all this has been going on, SpaceX was actually awarded a contract by NASA, two to demolish and get rid of the International Space Station here in 2030. Because it is coming. [00:55:52] Speaker A: It's lifespan. [00:55:53] Speaker C: Yeah, it's lifespan. It's usefulness is coming to an end. My question is, will it be replaced? Because right now there's no plans to replace it. You think about that was a cooperation between multiple nations to come together to do that project. And so there's, it's in the spotlight because of these things that's currently going on. But I wonder, what's the future hold? Will we see that kind of cooperation again? Because thinking about technology, space exploration could be a big piece of it, you know, and, you know, individuals like Elon Musk and even Jeff Bezos and these other individuals who want to go beyond what we're doing today with space exploration. And it's going to be interesting to see, to see what happens with this. But first, we've got to be able to get two people off the space station. Before we go beyond that. [00:56:44] Speaker A: That's exciting in one way, because astronauts, that's their dream, is to go to space. And to get extra time in space, I know is a big deal, but to get that much extra time might be a little more than they bargained for. We're going to shift gears now, and we're going to talk a little bit more about the places that DTC will be in the month of September in the segment we like to call what's up, DTC? The White Oak craft fair. And that is at the art center of Cannon county. And that's a very big event. If you like crafts at all, you really need to make a point to come out and check this thing out because it's pretty neat. So that's on September 14 and the 15th following that will be the DTC annual meeting. That'll be at the DeKalb County Fairgrounds in Alexandria on September 14. Then we'll be at the DeKalb Farm Bureau Farm day. And that will be located at Jimi Herndon's Farm in Smithville on September 18. And to wrap it up for September will be the. The William Walton days on the square in downtown Carthage, which is a huge event for the Carthage area. And a lot of fun, a lot of activities, a lot of music, a lot of food, that sort of thing, on September 28. So if you get a chance, make sure you stop by Carthage and check it out. And that's going to wrap it up. But wait. Just like magic, there's a birthday cake here. What's, what's the deal? [00:58:11] Speaker C: It won't be here for long. [00:58:12] Speaker A: It will not be here for long. We're doing a little self celebration of the first year birthday for the local clique. We kind of hinted at it on last month's episode that we were laughing and joking with Emma said, yeah, we might have to get a birthday cake. We gave her a little relief. We didn't make her cook us this cake. She offered. She offered, but we thought that was a nice gesture. So we thank Miss Janie Maloski, who helped us acquire this delicious looking cake with the flaming number one on top. But we just want to really say thank you to all of our listeners and viewers, and without you, it would not be possible. Support these people that we have on the show if you can. These are your friends and neighbors that run a lot of these businesses, the ones that we interview and talk to. And they have a vested interest in making our communities better. And we owe them a debt of gratitude. And they bring a lot to our lives and help us out in a lot of ways. But Justin, thank you for being with us on each and every episode. You do a fantastic job and we've got a great team here and thank you for all you do too. Yeah. [00:59:18] Speaker C: Hey, glad to be here. And thanks to everyone who makes this production possible for all of our guests, for all of our members and our community who's allowed us to be able to do it. [00:59:27] Speaker A: And on that note, so we can go ahead and get started eating this delicious cake, we're gonna say that's it for this month's episode of the local click. We hope you have a wonderful September and we will see you next month. [00:59:39] Speaker B: Learn more about the show by visiting us [email protected]. also be sure to subscribe to us on your favorite podcast or video platform so you won't miss our next episode of the Local click. See you next month.