In Gear and Off the Wire

[00:00:00] Speaker A: On this month's episode of the Local Clique, we welcome JJ Winchester with Rocky Ground Auto sales in Liberty as well as DTC's very own Carl Byford. Justin is back with us with lots of tech news, tips and information. And we're going to talk a little bit about William Walton Day. So stay tuned, learn more about fun local events and interesting people throughout the heart of Middle Tennessee. With a dash of everyday tech talk thrown in for good measure. The Local Clique starts now. Welcome everyone to the Local Clique. The Local Click is the technology based podcast brought to you by DTC Communications each and every month where we talk all things technology and local people. And back with me as usual to start this very first episode of our fourth season of the Local Click is my co host, Justin Malden. Hello, Justin. How's it going today? [00:00:56] Speaker B: I'm doing swell. But let me tell you something. Time flies by when you're having fun. [00:01:00] Speaker A: I think so too. Can you believe it's been that long? [00:01:03] Speaker B: And to be honest, I did not realize it until you just stated it. [00:01:06] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:01:06] Speaker B: That this was starting, that we have done three, three years already of this man, where's the time gone? [00:01:13] Speaker A: Think about all the great topics that we've talked about, but also think about all the great guests that we've had on this podcast in that length of time. [00:01:22] Speaker B: You know, we talked about guests at the beginning. That was one of the things we talked about was, you know, all the people that we're going to get to have on and you and I had conversations about all the local people that we can have on and we think all the great local people we've had on so far and we're just touching the surface. [00:01:38] Speaker A: I know there's plenty more to go. I know it just goes to show you really the kind of area that we're, we live in and the, and the type of businesses that are around here and people that are around here and it's really interesting to hear their stories, in my opinion. Do you really enjoy getting to learn more about these people? [00:01:56] Speaker B: Well, I mean, you, all these individuals that we have on are backbones of, of our area. [00:02:03] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:02:04] Speaker B: And you know, that's a great way of putting it. And the things that they produce and the things that they contribute, you know, whatever service they may be providing. [00:02:11] Speaker A: Right. [00:02:12] Speaker B: Because we, I mean, we've had all we, you know, it's not just been businesses that we've, we've had on here. I mean, we've had just a plethora and wide range, but they're all contributing something that is necessary and needed. It's pretty awesome, like you said, to hear their stories and to learn more about them, to get their. Spread their word out there so everybody. Everybody else knows their story, too. [00:02:30] Speaker A: That's true. That's true. Speaking of some telling somebody's story, I wanted to ask you about one particular event because it's kind of your backyard. And that would be William Walton Days, which comes around annually every September. I think it's always the last Saturday of September. [00:02:47] Speaker B: It is. Yes, it is. That's the way it is now. It is the last September. And so, yeah, it's named as the William Walton Harvest Festival. And it is named after the founder of Carthage and the settler of Smith County, William Walton. He was a Revolutionary War captain, and he, for his service in the Revolutionary War, received a land grant. So he utilized that to purchase land in Smith county and settled Smith County. But he was more important than just a Smith county. And I don't think a lot of people realize he created what is called the Walton Road, which paralleled what is Modern Day Highway 70 through Smith County. [00:03:26] Speaker A: Oh, okay. [00:03:26] Speaker B: And ran east to west and was a major thoroughfare, Obviously not an asphalt road, but was a road to help people navigate East Tennessee to Middle Tennessee. [00:03:38] Speaker A: So he has some very strong ties to Smith county and Carthage. [00:03:41] Speaker B: For sure. He does. He has very, very strong ties. And his burial site is marked in Carthage. And though there is no connection, it is next to Walmart. Though I do not believe there is any connection to the Walton family. [00:03:57] Speaker A: Do I have to say William Walton? William Walton. Are you sure? [00:04:02] Speaker B: I'm certain. His burial site preceded the incorporation of Walmart by quite a bit of time. So I don't know that there is a strong connection there. [00:04:12] Speaker A: Well, it just seems so obvious someone had to say it, so I had to ask that. Well, tell me more about. I've never been to William Walton Day, so tell me about some of the things that goes on during this. I think this year that'll be on September 26th, and it's from 10 to 4. And that's around the square. [00:04:31] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. So it's. It's located along. Along the square where the. Where the historic Smith County Courthouse is. And it's also down Main street as well. So it stretches down. Down Main street right through the heart of downtown Carthage. And so local businesses are there, but then we'll have several vendors that will come in and there'll be some fundraising that goes on for nonprofits and things of that nature as well. For the Pregnancy resource of Smith county that we've had on this podcast before. One of their bigger fundraisers during the year outside of their annual banquet happens during. During the Walton Festival. And so it's a great time to get people together, to get vendors together to learn more about the history of sp. Smith county and Carthage, too, because there will be reenactors. [00:05:19] Speaker A: Oh, now, that's always fun. [00:05:20] Speaker B: Who will be dressed up, who will be doing things and talking about the history of Smith county so that people can learn how Smith county came to be and how it came to develop. [00:05:29] Speaker A: So that's gotta be a lot of fun for the kids, right, when they see these people in full costume and speaking and talking about things the way they were in the late 1700s and that sort of thing. [00:05:42] Speaker B: Our executive director of the chamber of commerce, Mr. Bill Woodard, that if you're from Smith county, you know who he is. [00:05:49] Speaker A: That's right. [00:05:49] Speaker B: He will be dressed up and he will be going through his spiel and doing his reenactment and history telling and storytelling to let people know. So it's pretty neat, too, from that aspect. [00:06:00] Speaker A: I'm sure there's plenty of food and what, music and pageants or. I don't know, all those sorts of things. [00:06:06] Speaker B: Yeah. So there's all kinds of things that'll go on. The square will be full. Main street will be full. There will be food. Food vendors there, and there will be some other various activities as well that will happen. They do a. A pageant that does usually take place around. Around the Harvest Festival as well. And so if you're a pageant goer and you're interested in that, look for those details, or if you're a vendor and you're interested in doing it, they're looking, you know, they'll be assigned in vendor space and getting that out there as well, because we want to see downtown Carthage lined with as many people as possible as we. As we celebrate the history of Carthage and Smith County. [00:06:46] Speaker A: It sounds like a fun event and one that doesn't cost you anything. So there's nothing. There's nothing to lose. [00:06:52] Speaker B: That's the best part of it. If you want to come, walk on down and come visit everything for absolutely free. Yeah, there's no. There's no cost to it. [00:07:01] Speaker A: You can't beat that. [00:07:01] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. So, yeah, come, come enjoy good times, good food, good entertainment. [00:07:06] Speaker A: That's the William Walton Days on September 26th from 10 to 4pm Downtown Carthage. Make sure, if you can stop by that day, I think you'll have a lot of Fun. And if nothing else, grab something to eat. You know, any. Any chance or excuse to grab something good to eat. It's got to be. Got to be. Okay, so. [00:07:24] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. [00:07:26] Speaker A: Well, we got a great show to start off this first episode of the fourth season, and we will be speaking with DTC's very own Carl Byford here in just a moment and learn more about what he does to help DTC and its customers. But first, we're going to talk all things Automotive with J.J. winchester with Rocky Ground Auto Sales in Liberty. Hey, J.J. how's it going? [00:07:49] Speaker C: Good. How are you? [00:07:50] Speaker A: I'm doing great. We appreciate you coming over to Woodbury and being with us today. Not too long of a drive from Liberty? [00:07:55] Speaker C: No, just about 20 minutes. [00:07:56] Speaker A: Yeah, not too bad. We got a lot to talk about today. And by the way, you. Your business as an auto dealership is really doing well. I see a lot of people talking about it on social media, and I know you have some good business turnover. Your inventory changes over quite a bit. We'll talk about some of that here in a little bit. But before we do, let's get to know JJ a little bit better. Tell us about yourself and kind of what you like to do when you're not at work and about your family and just things about you. [00:08:26] Speaker C: So I have a big family. I've been married 16 years, have seven kids. [00:08:30] Speaker A: Oh, wow. [00:08:31] Speaker C: So it's very interesting. [00:08:33] Speaker A: You know, it keeps you busy. [00:08:34] Speaker C: It does. We, like, you know, on the weekends, we go to the lake. We got a boat. So about every Saturday, we're out on the lake. [00:08:43] Speaker A: Okay, so you're. You're a lake person, like family? [00:08:45] Speaker C: Yep. Like, day on Saturday and in church on Sunday, so. [00:08:48] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, with that many family members, too, you've always got somebody in the wings to help it at the shop if you need some help, right? [00:08:56] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. [00:08:58] Speaker A: Put them to work. [00:08:59] Speaker C: Put them to work. [00:08:59] Speaker A: That's right. Where does your background or inspiration come from for being in this automotive industry? Is that something that you just kind of went blind into, or have you always kind of had an interest in that or. [00:09:11] Speaker C: My family, they've always kind of been in as far as trading, they want to buy and sell and whether it be tractors or four wheelers or, you know, just whatever, you know, everybody's always, like, doing that in their family. [00:09:25] Speaker A: Wheeling and dealing. [00:09:26] Speaker D: Yes, exactly. [00:09:27] Speaker C: So it just. It kind of started there, you know, as I was a kid. You know, I kind of always wanted a car dealership. Years ago, I worked at one, but I Didn't really like the way they did business. So it kind of helped me out to see that, you know, I don't want to be like that. [00:09:45] Speaker A: You want to be what not to do? [00:09:46] Speaker C: Yes, exactly. And then it just, here we are. [00:09:52] Speaker A: And what made you choose Liberty as your home base? [00:09:56] Speaker C: I really, I didn't want to live in Liberty. I'm like, it's out in the middle of nowhere. But we always lived in Smithville. We actually, we sold our place in Smithville. We'd built a house, you know, built a barn, you know, a whole nine yards. But we wanted more land, so we sold our place, couldn't find anything. My wife was like, hey, this place is in Liberty. It's an auction. You know, we need to look at it. And I'm like, I don't really want to move to Liberty. But we looked at it, loved it, and now we're there and don't want to leave Liberty. [00:10:31] Speaker A: So it's a great, close, tight knit community, isn't it? Right. [00:10:35] Speaker C: Right. [00:10:35] Speaker A: When you're buying a used vehicle, sometimes, you know, as a customer, that can be overwhelming sometimes. I mean, there's so many options, there's so many things to check out, to look at. Just trying to figure out what you want and what you're looking for is hard sometimes. How do you try to help customers and ease their minds a little bit and help them go through all that process? [00:10:54] Speaker C: So a lot of times, you know, someone will come in and you can tell that that person's been burnt on a vehicle before and we're not out to burn you. Like we check them out. If they're, if we see that they're going to be a problem vehicle, they'll go back to auction. But if we see that we can fix that vehicle with this, this and this, and it be a great vehicle that we've seen. You know, that's, that's how it turns out. But we just kind of back up. So a lot of people, a lot of dealerships, they want to be pushy, you know, they push you to, hey, yeah, you really need this right here. [00:11:27] Speaker A: High pressure. [00:11:27] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:11:28] Speaker A: Environment. [00:11:29] Speaker C: Yeah, we're not like that. We just, we just want to back up. Hey, go out through there. They're all unlocked. Check them out, you know, see what you think about them. We'll get you a key, you can drive several of them. And then we let them make their mind up on if they like that vehicle. Because here's the way I look at it. If I am pushy and let's Say we have a vehicle that is, you know, we think is tip top, you know, but two months down the road, that vehicle breaks down on that customer. Well, I've pushed them to buy that vehicle. And then here we are. Now it's my fault. [00:12:02] Speaker A: That's a good point. Yeah, that's a good point. So you kind of let them, you guide them, but you let them make the decision on what best. [00:12:09] Speaker C: I'll kind of guide them to, you know, what price point they're talking. I'll say we got this one, this one, this one, this one. Drive them all, you know, see what you like. [00:12:17] Speaker A: Right. Is that kind of what you think sets you apart from a typical dealership? Just the low pressure part of it? [00:12:23] Speaker C: I think so, because that's what a lot of people tell us anyway. [00:12:25] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:12:26] Speaker C: And I don't want to be that pushy guy because you think car salesman, you think somebody that's, you know, on your back the whole time, you know, you really need this vehicle. But, you know, we try not to be that way. [00:12:38] Speaker A: Yeah. What would you say are some of the things you have to do in a typical week that might surprise people? Or what's a typical week like? Or is there even a typical week? Is it always just. [00:12:47] Speaker C: So there is a typical week, is there? Yeah. [00:12:49] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:12:49] Speaker A: Okay, so go through that for us. [00:12:51] Speaker C: Mondays is pretty much our catch up day from the week prior. [00:12:55] Speaker A: Okay. [00:12:56] Speaker C: Tuesdays we have auction day, so it's a very busy day. You know, we have to go to the auction. We check the vehicles out before auction, kind of get a list of, you know, what we're going to buy and then we're bringing the vehicles in that day. Wednesday we're driving the vehicles, checking them out. By Thursday we're, you know, taking whatever needs to go to the shop to have, you know, mechanic shop to be fixed and then cleaning the vehicles up. So by Friday, you know, we have kind of a selection of new vehicles coming in. [00:13:29] Speaker A: But you've also got people coming in during all that too, right? [00:13:33] Speaker C: Yes. [00:13:33] Speaker A: So to look. [00:13:34] Speaker C: And sometimes it's a little hesitant because they will actually will post something on Facebook and they will actually sometimes be there waiting on us before we get there with a vehicle. [00:13:46] Speaker A: That's a good feeling, isn't it? [00:13:47] Speaker C: It is, it is. [00:13:48] Speaker A: It's nice when they come to you and you don't have to try to get them. [00:13:51] Speaker C: Yeah, we pull up. Yeah, exactly. We pull up and we're like, it's still on the trailer. And they're like, well, I want to drive it I'm like, okay, but we don't know much about it yet. [00:14:00] Speaker A: So that's a good problem to have. [00:14:02] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:14:02] Speaker A: And that's good that they. They're keeping up with you enough to know what your inventory is doing that quick before you can even really post about it. So you seem to have a lot of people. I know. I notice on social media, a lot of times you'll post a photo of a lucky buyer who just purchased something at your dealership there. And a lot of times they're not from DeKalb county, they're not from surrounding counties. They've driven a pretty good ways to get to. You talk about that and what brings people down there, what drives them down there, no pun intended. [00:14:32] Speaker C: So I think probably our prices. So a lot of dealerships, they'll go buy Carfax only, whatever the Carfax price is, if that vehicle states that it's, you know, should be worth about 25,000. That's what they're posting the vehicle for. [00:14:49] Speaker A: Right. [00:14:49] Speaker C: So we try not to do that. We don't go by that. If we buy the vehicle, you know, we'll put a small profit on and go on to the next vehicle. Like, we're not out to just get somebody for all that vehicle's work. [00:15:04] Speaker A: Right. [00:15:05] Speaker C: And we do. We have a lot of people. We've had people from New York flying. They'll Uber over and they'll pull up and they'll be like, he's going in [00:15:13] Speaker A: the middle of nowhere. You could go from New York to Liberty. But, yeah, I guess it can happen. Yeah, that's right. Tell us about the selection process. To me, I think that's always interesting to see how. How you go through a vehicle to select the good ones. I mean, there's so many to choose from right there. These auctions. How in the world do you narrow that down and decide which ones are right for you and for your customers? [00:15:32] Speaker C: You know, being out in the middle of nowhere, I try to keep it, like under $30,000 vehicles, because if you get on up there, you know, everybody's wanting warranty and, you know, we don't offer any of that. So we try to keep it like, under 30. And I try to buy stuff that I actually like driving because it actually, I've learned that, you know, from years ago, if it's something I actually like, it actually sells. [00:15:56] Speaker A: That's a good point. So I bet you can sense pretty quickly if you think you've got a good one or one you want to walk away from. [00:16:03] Speaker C: So, yeah, And I've bought so many that was tore up throughout the years. Cause you never know what you're getting at these auctions. But I bought so many. And I have friends that call me and they're like, what's the problems with these vehicles? And you know, I'm like, well, these have engine problems, these have transmission problems. [00:16:21] Speaker A: So, you know, and there is a rhyme and reason to that. You start noticing patterns sometimes, don't you? [00:16:26] Speaker C: Yes, you do. [00:16:27] Speaker A: Well, tell us about how important social media is and the Internet and that sort of thing and running your business. Because I got a feeling the way you run your automotive sales business today is totally different than if you started this 20 or 30 years ago. [00:16:40] Speaker C: Yeah, so we, we depend on social media quite a bit, actually. So we use Facebook. So we post to Facebook. You know, we use Marketplace a lot. As far as our software goes for selling our vehicle, we have a actual software, so we have to have Internet for that. [00:16:57] Speaker A: Okay. [00:16:58] Speaker C: And then, you know, as far as, you know, taking faxes in or, you know, whatever we're doing, you know, it's. It's basically we would be lost without. [00:17:08] Speaker A: Have to be connected right after. Not the way it used to be. [00:17:12] Speaker C: No, not at all. Because, you know, you still, you still have some of your guys out there that are still paper guys. [00:17:18] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:17:19] Speaker C: You know, older guys. You'll see them, they'll still be using the paper system. And I'm like, I don't see how in the world you keep up with that. [00:17:26] Speaker A: Well, it's probably a lot faster, right, doing it digitally as opposed to. [00:17:30] Speaker C: It is, because it's a lot easier. Like the software that we use, we get right in, we click your name in. You know, it's just, it's. It's very easy the way it works, [00:17:37] Speaker A: and you have it all stored in records and easy to retrieve. If you come back and figure out something later, you can go back to that because we'll. [00:17:44] Speaker C: We'll have someone, you know, that I have a vehicle a couple years and they want to upgrade. And, you know, it gives us access to being able to pull that up to actually see what vehicle they purchased. [00:17:54] Speaker A: So you see their history of it. Yeah, yeah. And that's pretty good too, because you can start that next conversation right where the first one left off. [00:18:01] Speaker C: Exactly. [00:18:01] Speaker A: One of your sons, in my opinion, is kind of your social media star, if you will talk about him a little bit and his, his addition to the social media marketing part of your business. [00:18:11] Speaker C: Yeah. So Jackson, he's. He's got kind of famous We. We started off with just some videos of him running some vehicles down, actually, you know, some trade ins that we took in and just, you know, some rougher stuff. But now everybody wants to know, where's Jackson at? He's. He's 10 years old, but he's always. He'll get. He gets right in and he's a. He's a player, you know, he's right in there and ready to. Ready to do the video. [00:18:35] Speaker A: His sense of humor is just awesome at that age. He already gets it. I know you know that. Oh, yeah, yeah. It's working. [00:18:42] Speaker C: Yeah. He actually, he wants to do this when he gets older. [00:18:44] Speaker A: Okay. [00:18:45] Speaker C: He wants to be a car salesman. He wants. So I'm like, all right, well, might as well start now. [00:18:50] Speaker A: Hey, he's got a great front row seat. [00:18:52] Speaker C: Exactly. [00:18:54] Speaker A: Well, jj, I really like what you do over there, and I'm sure there's other people, people that do. And there may be people that really don't know a lot about you but want to know more. So how do people stay in touch with Rocky Ground and your inventory and just get in touch with you and where you're located and that sort of thing? [00:19:09] Speaker C: Yeah. So if you're on Facebook, just like Rocky Ground Auto Sales, we also have a website, Rocky Ground autosales.com It shows our inventory so you can keep in touch there. [00:19:21] Speaker A: Okay. Easy enough. Simple. We'll keep doing what you're doing and I'll keep looking out for your son's videos there. [00:19:26] Speaker C: All right. [00:19:26] Speaker A: I appreciate it. Thanks for being with us today, jj. Everybody, stay tuned. We got more of the program coming up in just a moment. [00:19:33] Speaker B: Do you know what room the router's in? I can't get onto my zoom meeting. [00:19:37] Speaker C: Try it in our spacious new family room. [00:19:40] Speaker D: Okay. [00:19:42] Speaker B: Still not working. [00:19:45] Speaker C: Try it in our beautiful backyard. [00:19:49] Speaker B: Still nothing. [00:19:50] Speaker A: Your new home Checked everything off your list except for Internet from DTC. [00:19:55] Speaker B: Oh, come on. [00:19:58] Speaker A: Sign [email protected] for fast and reliable Internet. You know that DTC provides great products and services to your home. And you can get the same great value for your business with DTC Business Solutions. Whether you're making sales over the phone or online to customers around the world. We deliver the reliable business solutions you need at a competitive price. And we do it all with uncompromising service. Let's talk about what matters to your business, called DTC Business Solutions today. It's time now to remember how things used to be. Maybe a technology walk down memory lane with Justin for this segment called before [00:20:45] Speaker B: the wi Fi used to be if you wanted to communicate with somebody through a written message before the WI fi, you would take out a piece of paper, you take out a pen, and you would hand write exactly what you wanted on it. And then you'd take it and you'd fold it up, you put it in an envelope. Very importantly, you would put a stamp on that envelope and you'd stick it in the mailbox, and then it was in the hands of the mailman. Did that letter, however long it takes, get to the recipient that you addressed it to? [00:21:22] Speaker A: You would hope so, but do you know, that's a good point. [00:21:25] Speaker B: So years ago, we have what I'm going to refer to, and we still have it today. But snail mail, the old traditional way of sending and communicating with people, where it would take days to get a letter, versus today we have email and other forms of instant communication where most people want to reply within 30 seconds. Patience is a little bit less than it used to be. [00:21:52] Speaker A: Yeah, People, they really expect that quick answer. Now, with email, there's almost no excuse anymore, right? [00:21:57] Speaker B: Yes. Used to. Everything went through the mail. And when you hear me say mail, I want to be clear. I'm not talking about packages. So the Postal Service carries a lot of packages today. I am just talking about traditional mail. So when we think of traditional mail, we're thinking of letters, like written and communication letters. We're thinking of periodicals, we're thinking of magazines, those sort of things. I'm not talking about packages. Because you delivered something online and had a huge package delivered to you. I think everybody knows that's probably increased quite a bit over the years, but your traditional mail has decreased significantly over time. And it's very interesting when you look at the timeline. The total volume of mail for the Postal Service in The United States, USPS, peaked in 2006. It's actually when. That is when they hit peak volume of the amount of letters and marketing mail, periodicals, everything of that sort. [00:22:57] Speaker A: So for the past 20 years, it's actually been decreasing. [00:22:59] Speaker B: It has been going down. Yes, it has been going down. So it peaked in 2006. And so it was on an upward trajectory then. And so the downward trajectory is much steeper than that upward trajectory was and going down. But it's. It was about 82 billion with a B. 82 billion pieces of mail, and now it's down to around 40 million pieces. [00:23:24] Speaker A: Wow. [00:23:24] Speaker B: A male. [00:23:25] Speaker A: It's a big drop. [00:23:25] Speaker B: Yes. [00:23:26] Speaker A: There's more people in the world, but there's less male. [00:23:29] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. Yes. And that or Snail mail. [00:23:31] Speaker A: I won't say yes mail. [00:23:32] Speaker B: And that is an unfortunate, unfortunate side effect of the WI fi. [00:23:37] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:23:37] Speaker B: Of the. The Internet because it has changed the way in which we've done things. But you think about the, the way you used to do it and the physical ritual of I've got to pick out the piece of paper. I've got. Listen, I love my. You know, I have a specific pen that I use to write everything down with and I think a lot of people are that way we may write less stuff down, but I want to use my pen because it's the pen that I like. And there's some people, you know, that you have stationary and you know, and I'm not just a piece of paper but stationary of hey, this, this is something that I printed and now I've written this, I'm writing this. This is very important. This is tangible. This means something. This is personal. Could send that letter and it may take days. Now recently I'm going to flashback here. Saw where somebody had designed a game where you would send mail via carrier pigeon. And the game was realistic and you didn't know when the mail was going to arrive and it may not arrive at all. Which I thought was so interesting that somebody actually took the time to design this. [00:24:41] Speaker A: That's pretty funny. [00:24:41] Speaker B: But we think of our. Even the mail service, you know, 20, 30, 40 years ago is still much improved historically over. We've got to send a carrier specifically to take this. You know, we talked about William Walton in the opening and the time in which it would have taken to get orders, you know, in the Revolutionary War or hey, this battle's happened or this has happened or you need to move here. You need to do. This was so much slower then too. [00:25:08] Speaker D: Sure. [00:25:09] Speaker B: So even though we call it snail mail in history, it's still very, very, very efficient compared to how mail operated over the time. But the interesting thing, email, the first email was sent in what year? Do you know what year the first email was sent? [00:25:25] Speaker A: Wow. I don't know. Maybe the 80s. [00:25:28] Speaker B: 1971. [00:25:29] Speaker A: Wow. [00:25:29] Speaker B: Ray Tomlinson sent the very first email and he is actually the one that picked the at simple to be used in email. [00:25:41] Speaker D: Yes. [00:25:41] Speaker A: When you're first you could do that sort of. [00:25:43] Speaker B: He was first together and I don't know that he knew how big of a deal it was that. [00:25:48] Speaker A: That's pretty. [00:25:49] Speaker B: That he picked that and it stuck since then it stuck. That didn't get changed and so that. That has been used in email addresses. The first spam email address went out in 1978. [00:26:02] Speaker D: So [00:26:04] Speaker B: there's. [00:26:05] Speaker A: We wish that didn't happen. [00:26:06] Speaker B: 1982, email became more mainstream because of CompuServe. They're the ones that started using was being called email at the time. And more people started to understand what email was and what it meant. And so then you go to 1990s and home Internet, people start getting dial up Internet. And I still remember those sounds of the dial up. [00:26:31] Speaker A: I do as well. [00:26:33] Speaker B: And now, now in 2026, how many emails do you think are sent worldwide per day? Oh, gosh, I don't think how many people in the world there are. Think of how many emails and how many emails you alone send per day. [00:26:49] Speaker A: We're in the billions. [00:26:50] Speaker B: 347 billion emails. [00:26:54] Speaker A: Wow. [00:26:54] Speaker B: Per day. [00:26:55] Speaker A: That's way more than I would have thought. [00:26:57] Speaker B: And so it's interesting to think that it took hundreds of years for humans to get to where we did snail mail. [00:27:08] Speaker D: Right. [00:27:09] Speaker C: Because. [00:27:10] Speaker B: And to be efficient at that, you know, to process. Because again, mail carriers have been around and pen and paper wasn't around. We used to etch stuff into physical stone, you know, and that's how we communicated to then the pen and paper. So it took hundreds of years for all that to happen. [00:27:26] Speaker A: Right. [00:27:26] Speaker B: And it's taken 20 years for it to go away. [00:27:30] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a good point. I haven't thought about it that way. Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. Evolution has happened quickly. [00:27:35] Speaker B: Yes. So it's, it's, you know, speed has changed, efficiency has changed. That's the, that's the biggest and most obvious shift cost though. It's a lot cheaper to send email than it is to send a physical piece of paper. [00:27:48] Speaker A: And the cost keeps going up, it seems like recently. [00:27:51] Speaker B: So, you know, but the thing is the formality has changed too. [00:27:55] Speaker A: True. [00:27:56] Speaker B: I mean, emails are so informed. We send them so often, they, they don't mean as much. Yeah, because we send so much. Again, when you're writing something and pinning something and putting that time and effort into it, it means more. [00:28:07] Speaker A: Yeah, it does to you. [00:28:08] Speaker B: It's a more, it's, it's, it is, you know, personal. It's more personal. It's more serious as well. And so those, those are other considerations. So it's not just a speed cost, it's not just the efficiency cost. It's you, you get to the, [00:28:24] Speaker A: I [00:28:24] Speaker B: guess for lack of a better term, you know, it's more intimate when you send a letter to somebody. [00:28:29] Speaker A: Right. [00:28:30] Speaker B: Because it does. It personally means more to you. [00:28:34] Speaker A: I pay more attention if I get a letter in the mail and I can tell that it was handwritten on the envelope. [00:28:39] Speaker B: Right. [00:28:39] Speaker A: Because I know that's somebody that took time out of their day to send me something in the mail. [00:28:45] Speaker B: So I will end with this. When you get that piece of mail, from now on going forward, whatever it may be, what if it is a birthday card, if it's a letter, whatever physical piece of mail that you were getting, remember that you're holding one of the last survivors of a communication method that ruled human history for ages. So it, it is still special. It is still, you know, and it still does mean, mean more. [00:29:14] Speaker A: And don't forget that you can always take a moment out of your day to send someone you care about a handwritten letter. It's, it's. I know it's not the same as email as far as the speed of it, but might be special to them to get that in the mail. [00:29:26] Speaker B: I read every letter that is sent to me. I don't read every email that is sent to me. [00:29:32] Speaker A: He just summed it up. It's a good point. And for this segment of the Local Click, we are very lucky to have Mr. Carl Byford, the engineering technician with DTC Communications. Hello, Carl. How's it going today? [00:29:45] Speaker D: Oh, good. Going good. [00:29:47] Speaker A: Thanks for taking time out of your very busy schedule to be with me because we were just talking off camera. You have to burn up the roads quite a bit in what you do for dtc. So I know, I know you're busy all the time, but we appreciate you being here. [00:29:58] Speaker D: Yes, sir. Thank you for having me. [00:29:59] Speaker A: Well, to start us off today, before we get into some of the things about DTC that you help with, let's get to know you and your family a little bit better first. Tell us about that and any hobbies you might have and just more about Carl, if you will. [00:30:14] Speaker D: I was born in Smithville and born and raised there. Still live within about five miles where I was raised. [00:30:20] Speaker A: Okay. [00:30:21] Speaker D: My wife Gretchen and I've been married for 34 years. [00:30:23] Speaker A: Oh, wow. Congratulations. [00:30:24] Speaker D: Thank you. Thank you. We have two children, Ethan and Grace. We have five grandchildren and one on the way. She'll be here by the end of December. [00:30:33] Speaker A: Wow. [00:30:34] Speaker D: So looking forward to that. Hobbies wise, I like to hunt and fish, go camping, stuff like that. Anything outdoor related. Yeah, I like that. [00:30:44] Speaker A: So how long have you been at DTC and talk about some of the different roles that you've had? [00:30:49] Speaker D: October. I've been with DTC for 21 years. Wow. [00:30:53] Speaker A: Congratulations on that as well. [00:30:55] Speaker D: I started in right away department. Worked there for a couple of years and then transitioned from there to in our install and repair. Worked there for four, four and a half years and moved into engineering department. Been in engineering now for about 15 years. [00:31:11] Speaker A: That's awesome. [00:31:12] Speaker D: So been involved in a lot of projects. [00:31:15] Speaker A: From a big picture standpoint. What exactly does an engineering clerk typically do? What, what are some of the tasks that you help DTC and our customers out with? [00:31:25] Speaker D: Usually in engineering department, we design and implement new service locations. Whether it's a single residential location that's either transitioning from the old copper plant to new fiber. [00:31:39] Speaker A: Okay. [00:31:40] Speaker D: Or we design new subdivisions, go out and lay those out with a developers. Maybe we try to get in with them on the ground zero when they first start developing it and try to get some of our plant and stuff implemented. Then before as other utilities are being installed, we design that and keep up with the records. And of course we provide the construction sheets to the crews, how it needs to be built. [00:32:03] Speaker A: And that's what they used to go by when it's time to actually start that cable. Yeah, that's pretty neat. So you're probably one of the first people a lot of times to know that fiber is coming to a area or a particular neighborhood or a house, right? [00:32:18] Speaker D: Yes, sir. Whether it be a single tap for maybe a couple of residences or a large subdivision. Yeah, we're usually the first ones in the area. [00:32:27] Speaker A: Now, how important is accuracy in what you do? [00:32:31] Speaker D: It needs to be very accurate. We need to know who's working on what fiber strand. If it's an emergency management area, a location or something, hospital, fama locations, anything like that. We need to know where their services are working. If we have an outage, those are the first locations we try to get back up. [00:32:49] Speaker A: So when you take time to be precise and accurate with your records and those types of things, it could help down many years down the road if there's ever an issue they can locate, help locate that problem quicker, right? [00:33:01] Speaker D: Yes, sir. We not only know what fiber strand, it's working on each location, what their services are on. We know what pole route it's on. We update the mapping system, keep up with all the poles and what service pole it's working off of. [00:33:16] Speaker A: You ever when you're going somewhere with your family and you go down the road by a certain pole? Oh, there's pole number, whatever route this or. [00:33:24] Speaker D: Oh, yes, sir. [00:33:25] Speaker A: Instead of the name of the subdivision or that kind of thing, Even when [00:33:29] Speaker D: we're on vacation, I'll look at the pole Lines and stuff. And I'm look, look how they built that, you know or notice something that they've done. Yeah. So you do pay attention to it [00:33:37] Speaker A: when it's hard to turn that off sometimes. Tell us maybe what a typical day looks like in, in your job. [00:33:44] Speaker D: Usually first thing of a morning when we come in, I'll usually check emails, make sure there's no kind of reports or anything that's come in from damage. A car wreck overnight, power company has downpose or anything that's usually priority if we've got services down or some kind of damage. And then from there we'll try to transition the work day before the work from yesterday. We'll try to transition that to the next queue and get it moved to where that needs to go on to construction, to splicing, installation. We'll move that work on and then once we complete that, then we'll get off our daily work. Whether it's a residential location we need to go look at about putting new fiber service to it or a subdivision that's being built. When they check on, go out and make sure that the construction is completed on the other side. [00:34:33] Speaker A: Your job is like most people's at dtc. The technology has really changed from the beginning of your time at DTC to where it is today. Would you agree with that statement and if so, what are some of those changes that you've seen and how it's impacted our service? [00:34:48] Speaker D: Well, when I started in, right away I was actually helping set some of the old copper cabinets. That's what we'd done. We assisted the line crew and setting some of those cabinets. [00:34:58] Speaker A: Sweet memories, right? [00:34:59] Speaker D: Yeah. And with dial up Internet, dial tone, that's basically what we've done was dial tone and some dial up Internet. And I've seen it transition from that to adsl, VDSL and now to the fiber optic network and some of those same cabinets that I helped set when I started. I'm now drawing up sheets to be removed. [00:35:20] Speaker A: How is the changeover to fiber really affected you think the customers that you've been helping get connected? [00:35:26] Speaker D: Oh, it's been good. We the infrastructure DTC has implemented with the fiber optic I believe is sufficient to carry our customers way into the future. Basically, fiber is only limited by the equipment on each end. [00:35:45] Speaker A: When you have a complex problem or task come across your desk. What's your favorite part about tackling that? [00:35:52] Speaker D: I like to be out in the field looking at it, trying to design it, see how we need to get there from point A to point B. With our fiber, usually we have a backbone mainline somewhere that we've got to get from there to wherever the service location's been required. [00:36:07] Speaker A: I mean, there's a lot of records. I mean, you got to find specific fiber on this route to connect to that route or whatever. And that could be pretty complicated. I'd say it would be intimidating for me. I don't think I'd want to jump in and try what you do, but it sounds like you just kind of shrug it off. It's just all in a day's work. [00:36:24] Speaker D: So we have a mapping system of all of our fiber lines, where they're at and the surface locations that we serve. We have all that on a mapping database. And of course, engineering department does keep that up as well. So we just usually print off our sheets. We'll print a map and then go take that out to the field with us and then hand draw the new service locations in, bring it back, put it in the mapping system. [00:36:51] Speaker A: So you actually hand draw that, set up? [00:36:54] Speaker D: Yes. [00:36:54] Speaker A: That install and have to re import that into your software? I guess. [00:36:58] Speaker D: Yes. [00:36:59] Speaker A: Oh, wow. What if you can't draw? You're like me and you just can't draw. You can draw. [00:37:04] Speaker D: It may not be the prettiest. Mine's not, but it. I know. What? [00:37:07] Speaker A: Well, if you want me to put a little stick man on any of your drawings, just. Just let me know. I'll see what I can do. Put my stamp on it, so to speak. So you've been at DTC for a very long time. We appreciate our years of service, of helping the cooperative and all the things that you do. Out of all those years, do you have a favorite project or like a milestone or memory with your co workers or anything there that just kind of sticks in your mind? [00:37:32] Speaker D: There's a lot of memories with customers, co workers, some of the projects I've worked on. But I like working around the boat docks. We do serve all of the local boat docks. And DTC implemented the push lock fiber system from Corning on our local lake boat docks. So we can provide fiber to the house boats that's actually floating on the water. [00:37:55] Speaker A: Really? [00:37:56] Speaker D: As long as they're docked at the boat slip. And DTC was the first one to implement that. [00:38:01] Speaker A: Now how does that work as far as putting fiber optics near water? Is that a challenge or no? [00:38:09] Speaker D: The push lock system is watertight. It's sealed, has little O rings and stuff to keep water out. Fiber is not affected by water like copper was. [00:38:19] Speaker A: Would you have ever thought, you know, 15 years ago, you'd be running fiber in the water. [00:38:23] Speaker D: No. [00:38:24] Speaker A: As we wrap up today, you know, we're celebrating 75 years. DTC is this year as a cooperative. And what does it mean to you, to you personally, to get to play a part in kind of carrying on that tradition that many others before us have started? [00:38:41] Speaker D: It means a lot to me, I think, I hope that in my tenure here at dtc, I hope that people I've met, the ones I've worked with, I hope I've left a positive attitude with them, some kind of positive response from them. And I know that the services that I'm helping to implement and design for dtc, that, that service our customers for years to come. And it's been a privilege for me to work here at dtc. [00:39:09] Speaker A: Well, we really appreciate you and all that you do and the skill set that you bring to dtc. And having somebody that can draw, I think that's a plus. You won't, you won't see me in your department, you know, with an ink pen. [00:39:20] Speaker D: Well, it looks a lot better when we put it on the map than it does. [00:39:22] Speaker A: And thanks for all. You do appreciate everything Carl. And Carl does great work. He's helped me many times on several projects. And one thing about Carl, when he's done with it, it's right and I just don't worry about it. So I really appreciate you always helping me and always being willing to help our customers as well. [00:39:39] Speaker D: You're welcome. Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. Absolutely. [00:39:41] Speaker A: Everybody stay tuned. We got more of the program coming up in just a moment. In 1951, rural Tennessee was at a crossroads. The big companies wouldn't come here and a massive ice storm had just left its mark on our communities. But where others saw unprofitable hills and hollows, our founders saw a home. They didn't just want a phone company. They wanted a koala. An organization built by the community, for the community. For 75 years, DTC Communications has been more than a utility. We've been a neighbor. We've grown from basic party lines to a world class fiber network that spans across middle Tennessee. Our roots as a cooperative mean our priority isn't Wall street. It's the people we serve. Whether you live in our original footprint or our newest service areas, our mission is the same. To provide the best technology with a local heart. Because people matter. We're not just connecting wires, we're connecting neighbors. We are bringing world class technology to [00:41:12] Speaker D: the places we call home. [00:41:15] Speaker A: Because here you aren't just an account [00:41:18] Speaker D: you're part of the DTC family and [00:41:21] Speaker A: we're proud to serve you. Technology has changed a lot since 1951. We've gone from copper to glass and from dial up to gigabyte speeds. But the heart of DTC remains exactly the same. We are a local company driven by service and built on 75 years of trust. [00:41:47] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:41:48] Speaker A: For 75 years, DTC Communications making meaningful connections. At dtc, we connect you throughout your home, powering how you live every day. And now that connection doesn't stop at your front door. With Trilight Mobile, you stay connected wherever life takes you, at home or on the go. It all works together. Because today connection isn't just something you have, it's something you rely on. DTC Internet and Trilite Mobile stay connected wherever you go. You know, technology speaks a lot of languages and today we're translating it into yours, the tech translator. [00:42:45] Speaker B: So previously we had talked about snail mail versus email and I think lots of people understand the difference in those. And we've kind of already translated a little bit of what that true, what that is. But what I want to talk about is junk mail. Let's, let's talk a little bit about junk mail and think about it because that's the aspect that people don't like. Because you ever feel like in your mailbox or in your inbox and you go to open it and you feel like somebody is really trying to fight for the most annoying award right now? Many times what they're sending me. Right? [00:43:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:43:24] Speaker B: And so I want to talk about that and how we can fix that. [00:43:28] Speaker A: Okay. [00:43:28] Speaker B: And how we can help you. [00:43:30] Speaker A: I think everyone would like to fix [00:43:31] Speaker B: that and how, and how we can help you. So physical mail, because as we talked about it still exists and there's not as much of it, but it still exists. So I will say this. I think I get less junk mail than I've ever gotten physically. And that may be due to cost and things of that nature. But again, mail that when you actually get is still pretty important most time, but things still slip through. But did you know that there are things that you can do to reduce your junk mail? [00:43:58] Speaker A: Really? Yes, I did not know that. [00:44:01] Speaker B: So there's a couple different things. The first one does cost a little bit. So I'm going to say up front there is a little bit of a fee. [00:44:07] Speaker A: It could be worth it. [00:44:08] Speaker B: But it's. I've done it, I've done it for several years and maybe that's why I don't have as much junk mail. But you can actually, there are marketing agencies that actually have, the Direct Marketing association has a thing where you can go in called DMA Choice where you can go in and you can tell them, quit sending me junk mail. And you can select and actually control. Maybe there are certain things you do like to get right and you can go in and tell it, okay, I want this, but I don't want this. Or you can say, I don't want anything. Now these are for companies that you're unassociated with and you, you know, it doesn't stop everything. This is not a cure all. This is not a fix. But a lot of big, big brands will, will use this. And you can go online to dmachoice.org Enter in your information. Again, there's a little bit of a cost. I'm pretty sure it's like 10 bucks or less. It's nothing crazy, right? And it will for I think up to five years. You know, you can go in there and, and control it and say, hey, I don't, I don't want these things anymore. You can still do a mail in form too if you want to, if you want to use regular mail to stop the junk mail, you can do that. [00:45:17] Speaker A: How ironic. [00:45:18] Speaker B: As well. But then there's also another option if you don't like to get all those. You're pre approved. You're pre approved for this. You're pre approved for this. Drop your insurance rate. Lower your insurance rate. Get an insurance quote from us. There is one specifically for credit card offers and lenders and insurance agencies and it is called Opt out pre screen. [00:45:41] Speaker A: Okay. [00:45:42] Speaker B: Is what it is. So it's Opt out pre screen. And, and the domain is really easy too. It is Opt out prescreen. Com. [00:45:49] Speaker A: Wow. And this one, they were thinking on that one. [00:45:51] Speaker B: This one doesn't, this one doesn't cost anything and it's ran by the credit bureaus themselves. But what it does is it allows you to remove your information from them because what they're essentially doing is what's called soft inquiries on your credit report. So you don't see it, it doesn't harm your credit. But they're running soft inquiries and this tells them quit doing that. I got you quit checking. Quit doing soft inquiries on my, on my credit report. And so, so then you're going to see less of, of those coming in, in your mailbox as well. Again, it won't fix anything because if you have an existing relationship with somebody or you take out a new loan, there's certain things that will still Trigger. [00:46:29] Speaker D: Right. [00:46:29] Speaker B: You're still going to get offers and stuff through, through other means. It doesn't eliminate all, all of them, but it does help. And then also the one that has been around forever, get on the Do Not Call list. Okay, so do you know get on the Do Not Call registry? Yeah, it's. That is not your email inbox, it's not your mailbox, but it can help stop spam to your phone and we [00:46:52] Speaker A: can all use a little help with that. [00:46:55] Speaker B: Yes, again, it won't stop everything. You're still going to get asked about your car's warranty, you're still going to get those calls because it, it will stop the good actors, it will not necessarily stop the bad actors. [00:47:10] Speaker A: Well, I appreciate that, Justin. And now we're going to switch gears a little bit and look at what's going on technology wise in the news with a tech news roundup. [00:47:19] Speaker B: So previously we had discussed social media usage for minors and those in some countries 16 years and younger have been banned. We've seen that in Europe, we've seen that in Australia. Well, recently we have not seen legislation that states that. But Meta, which is the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, settled a multi billion dollar, over $16 billion settlement for a class action lawsuit stating that they are intentionally designed to be addictive to children. And so they have agreed to settle this. Now, as with most lawsuits of this nature, they've agreed to settle it, but that does not mean that they have accepted responsibility for the allegations in the lawsuit. But I mean, it's a pretty significant settlement. And I mean, it continues to go to that conversation of social media usage for young people. And so I think that's just going to keep, keep that conversation going. [00:48:19] Speaker A: I think it's just the tip of the iceberg. Oh yeah, I agree. [00:48:21] Speaker B: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And then, I mean, continuing with social media, something's a little bit more local. So TikTok is shutting down its Nashville office. So after, you know, TikTok has been sold, is now owned domestically and there's a domestic partnership with the operation of TikTok. It's doing a restructuring. And so it's actually going to close and shut down its, its U.S. office and it's going to lay off all those employees from that US Office here in Nashville. And so that's just something of note because that is a local thing that will affect a lot, a lot, a lot of people. Though it's not uncommon in social media because there's been over 100,000 layoffs in social media space. Of these large social media companies. And I'm sure AI probably has to do with a shift. [00:49:07] Speaker A: I thought that as well. [00:49:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Speaking of AI, AI data center investment is through the roof again. But backlash is growing in that. So here locally, Nashville, there has been a big uproar over the proposed data center by the Nashville Zoo going so far as the Nashville City Council initiated eminent domain to purchase to force the sale and purchase of adjacent property to the zoo to prevent a data center from going in. Now I know there will be continued legal action and litigation with that because the, the company that owns that has stated as such that they're going to to fight that, which any company, any IMIT domain has the right to do. But you look at Pennsylvania and you look at Texas are also doing some proposals trying to slow down the approval of new AI data centers. And we're seeing this, I've seen this in some smaller communities here in Tennessee. There is a proposed data center in White county in rural. In a rural part of, of White County. And you know, here locally it's been taken up by local governments and there's been discussion and talk about it. And so we'll continue to see this evolve because there's a lot of things that go into play, noise, electricity usage, A lot of people don't realize water usage. And that's because these things run hot and you've got to cool them down. So you have water usage. Then you also have the other side. What we now call in Tennessee, what we used to call wastewater, we now call clean water. [00:50:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:50:44] Speaker B: Is what is the official term that is used now? So there's a lot that goes in to these. And so we're going to keep seeing AI deals and data centers pop up and different things happening, but we're going to see them announced. We're going to see pushback on both sides. So that's going to be very interesting. And we've got some new products that have launched. [00:51:05] Speaker A: Oh really? [00:51:05] Speaker B: So Google Pixel 11 was announced by Google and that's, you know, they operate the Android operating system, no pun intended there, but they're the ones who develop it. But, but they also do hardware as well. So Google Pixels their, their flagship device. And so they've announced the Google Pixel 11 and Apple has announced new M6 chips that they just recently announced and they've already announced some new Mac Minis as well and some Mac studios. And this is before they even get it. In September they will have their major announcements of software and hardware that will, that will be coming up and so they beat the punch through press releases. They didn't do a formal event, they just did some press releases and they really. Here's a new chip, which I think is crazy. [00:51:54] Speaker A: That. [00:51:54] Speaker B: Here's a new chip. It's the fastest single threaded chip out there. That there is. We just did it through a press release. [00:52:02] Speaker C: Wow. [00:52:02] Speaker B: No other. [00:52:03] Speaker A: And that was it. [00:52:04] Speaker B: Yes and no. [00:52:04] Speaker A: There's their big splash. [00:52:05] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And nothing else. Now what's interesting with this and this is for the Google Pixel. It's true. And for these new Apple devices, they're all more expensive. [00:52:14] Speaker D: Wow. [00:52:14] Speaker B: Who would have thought supply supply chain shortages, especially with RAM and silicon in general is driving the price of everything up. These things are getting more powerful but the trend of lower prices have shifted dramatically. Do you know how much the base Mac Mini is over what it used to be? [00:52:33] Speaker A: Probably two or 300 bucks. [00:52:34] Speaker B: 300 bucks. [00:52:35] Speaker A: Wow. [00:52:36] Speaker B: $599 to 800. [00:52:40] Speaker A: That's a big jump. [00:52:41] Speaker B: Things don't always get cheaper and unfortunately it is the, it's a result of the supply chain. [00:52:46] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:52:47] Speaker B: So there's, there's a few things from this month to, to nibble on and to think about and things that, that will affect us. Especially that last one. I think the price of electronics is, is going to continue because video game consoles, computers, you know, phones, whatever, they're all going up right now. It's. I haven't. And you correct me if I'm wrong, I was a young person who's always been a gamer. I don't ever remember a time that a game console was released and the price went up after it was released, not for new features but just because the price went up. [00:53:22] Speaker A: Yeah, I've never seen that and we've [00:53:23] Speaker B: seen that happen over the past year. So it's very, very interesting times. [00:53:27] Speaker A: I think you're also going to see a lot of people kind of like maybe in the new car market where the new cars get so expensive electronics start doing the same thing. They'll just keep their current electronics as long as they can. Maybe they don't really need the latest and greatest as much as they think they do. [00:53:45] Speaker B: Do you know how old my MacBook is now? This will probably shock you. It is five years old. [00:53:51] Speaker A: Hey, for you that's a big deal. [00:53:53] Speaker B: That's a very old device for me. [00:53:56] Speaker A: But it just also goes to show you how well engineered it was at the beginning. [00:53:59] Speaker B: I mean. Yeah, that's part of the thing. It works for what I need it to do. So I mean it keeps up but again, but it's. It's lasted five years and I'm going to continue to use the thing until I can't anymore. [00:54:10] Speaker A: I don't blame you. I don't blame you. Well, thanks, Justin. I appreciate the update on all the tech news. Before we go today, though, I'd like to take a moment to let everybody know where DTC is going to be for the month of September so that if you're in the area, you can stop by and say hi. First off, on September 10th, we'll be at the DCHS Career Fair. Then on September 16th, we'll be at DeKalb Farm Day. September 26th, we'll be at the Cannon County Car Show. And September 30th will be at the Cannon County High School Career Day. So if you're in the neighborhood on any of those events, we hope you'll stop by and say hello to us. And on that note, that's going to wrap it up for this first episode of season four. Justin, thanks so much for joining me and doing a fantastic job, as you always do, and, and going down this technology road with me every month. [00:55:00] Speaker B: Hey, a pleasure to be here. And you know, here's to three more years of the LocalClick podcast. [00:55:06] Speaker A: I like the way you think. We hope you'll stick with us as well during this journey. So. But as always, we want to thank you for being here with us. Whether you listen, whether you watch, or if you watch on tv, however you consume the Local Click, we just want to say thank you for being a part of this local technology walk that we do each and every month and until the month of October, we'd like to both say so long until that time. 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.