Tacos, Tech, and Teamwork

[00:00:00] Speaker A: On this month's episode of the Local Click, we welcome Maria Perez from Los Brazeros Mexican Grill in Alexandria, as well as Terri Manning with dtc. And of course Justin is here going to break down some techie terms for us on the tech translator. So stay tuned, learn more about fun [00:00:17] Speaker B: 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 Click starts now. [00:00:29] Speaker A: And welcome to the Local Clique. The Local Clique 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 as always, speaking of local people is one of my favorite local people, Mr. Justin Malden, Co host of the Local Click. How are you today, Justin? [00:00:53] Speaker C: Listen, I will always use the common phrase live in the dream. [00:00:57] Speaker A: Live in the dream. [00:00:58] Speaker C: Listen, can you. Do you think about this? We're going into July. We're halfway through this year, through 2026. [00:01:04] Speaker A: I know it's pretty crazy. I was actually speaking about that to someone last week and it doesn't seem possible. [00:01:09] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:01:09] Speaker C: That we're already halfway through. I've just now gotten used to writing the date as 26 instead of 2 5. And now before we know it, it'll be 27. It'll take me six more months. [00:01:19] Speaker A: Yeah. Far as this time of year, I know a lot of people kind of hit the road, go on vacation. You got any vacation plans for this month? [00:01:28] Speaker C: So we are going to take a weekend and we're gonna head up to Santa Claus, Indiana. I know you know that place. [00:01:35] Speaker A: Oh yeah. [00:01:36] Speaker B: All right. [00:01:36] Speaker C: I know you know that place. So yeah, my parents hit us up a couple weeks ago and it's going to be a very quick turnaround trip. Leave on a Friday and then come back on a, on a Sunday night making the drive up there to Holiday World. [00:01:50] Speaker E: Nice. [00:01:51] Speaker C: So that my parents are gonna have some time with their grandkids. [00:01:54] Speaker A: Okay. [00:01:55] Speaker C: So it's really not to spend time with me, spend time with the grandkids [00:01:58] Speaker A: unless you're gon a meal or two out of it though. [00:02:00] Speaker C: Yeah, we've, we've got that. And then we have our annual church camp that we do third full week in July every year. You know this at this point that where I will be that third full weekend in July. So yeah, it's, it'll be, it'll be a busy, busy month after. Of course, you know, I've been busy with the Feathers jamboree. [00:02:21] Speaker A: I thought you might bring that up. That's right. [00:02:23] Speaker C: Getting that, so we'll get to spend time together for, for that event. But what about you? Do you all got your family have any plans? [00:02:29] Speaker A: Really don't have a lot of plan. We've, we've been traveling a lot with my youngest son's basketball endeavors. He's on the AAU team, one of the local teams there and he's also playing some school ball. So we've traveled so much already. I think that we might do some staycation type things for July. So do something different. [00:02:49] Speaker C: Yeah, June is basketball camp time now that he's in high school. Your youngest is going into high school. [00:02:55] Speaker A: Yeah, now. [00:02:56] Speaker C: But yeah, now that he's in high school. Yeah, he's on, on that he's, he's getting to learn about the basketball camp time of June and I know he's already been doing aau. [00:03:03] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:03:04] Speaker C: U ball and you're used to that, that circuit and what weekends consist of. [00:03:08] Speaker A: What's funny, what's funny is from coming from someone you talking about just not sports minded and that's me, as you well know. But we've had to kind of learn as we go and, and it's really been enjoyable watching him play and have a good time and getting to meet the families of the other players and go visit different schools sort of thing. So it's been a lot of fun. It's been fun. So. But yeah, I think we've traveled quite a bit so I think July will definitely be more of a staycation month for us this particular year. [00:03:41] Speaker C: Hey, there's nothing wrong with the staycation though and enjoying, enjoying time with one another and, and sometimes we need to slow down. Life does move a little, a little too fast and so there, there's nothing wrong with that. [00:03:54] Speaker A: You know what would be fun though? If I was going to do a big road trip vacation, I think that might be the time when I would really like to have an EV and see if I could survive the charging trip across the country. The challenge. [00:04:08] Speaker C: No, no, no. I don't, you know, difficult. I've heard of several, several, several stories of, of individuals who have done, I think on short commutes. I think that they're fine. And I mean, you know, we talk about technology. You can plan your road trips in your routes to go buy charging stations now. [00:04:29] Speaker D: Exactly. [00:04:31] Speaker C: But when you get caught and the only thing you can get is what's called level one charger, which is like a 120 outlet and it takes forever [00:04:37] Speaker A: to charge and that's 57 hours to [00:04:39] Speaker C: go and that's that's the only thing you have. [00:04:42] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:04:44] Speaker C: And we had some individuals who got to watch the Christmas parade at church with us one year because their EV that they had, that was a rental, ran out of charge right in front of the church building. So they enjoyed the Christmas parade with us. We hooked them up, we allowed them to plug into an outlet. It was still charging the next morning when I went by because it still did not have enough charge for them to really get to another charger. [00:05:08] Speaker A: So maybe the EV thing, maybe not yet. [00:05:11] Speaker C: For a long cross country or plan your route carefully. [00:05:17] Speaker E: Yes. [00:05:17] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:18] Speaker C: That may not be the route that you want to go. Maybe the route you have to. [00:05:21] Speaker A: What if I just put a gas generator in the back and. [00:05:25] Speaker C: Yeah, there you go. [00:05:26] Speaker A: Charge it with it. Kind of defeats the purpose. [00:05:28] Speaker D: Right. [00:05:29] Speaker C: Make sure you get you a big one with like 30 or 50amp. [00:05:32] Speaker A: Yeah, you better go big or go home. Right? Go. Go big or you'll wish you were home. [00:05:36] Speaker C: Yes. [00:05:38] Speaker A: Well, it's gonna be a lot of fun on this episode of the Local Click. Coming up in just a little bit later in the show, we continue our interviews with DTC employees. And we'll be speaking with Mr. Terry Manning. I can honestly say, say he's probably one of the favorites of many customers around here. And he'll be with us speaking here in just a moment. But first, we're going to talk about something that kind of near and dear to my heart and probably yours as well. And a lot of you listening and watching and, well, that. That's food. And we've got someone definitely knows food coming up right now. That's Ms. Maria Perez with Los Brazeros Mexican Grill in Alexandria. [00:06:18] Speaker D: And for this segment of the Local Click, we're going to do something a little different today. We're actually on location with our business owner with Los Brazeiros Mexican Grill. [00:06:29] Speaker A: And that is Ms. Maria Perez. [00:06:31] Speaker D: Maria, how are you doing today? [00:06:32] Speaker F: I'm doing great. Thank you. [00:06:33] Speaker D: Thank you so much for being on the podcast. [00:06:35] Speaker F: Well, thank you for having me. [00:06:36] Speaker D: It's going to be exciting. And I know we. [00:06:38] Speaker A: We go way back. [00:06:40] Speaker D: We've been eating at your family's restaurant in Watertown for years before you opened this place up. And we have been doing our part to keep you very busy here, too. [00:06:48] Speaker F: Oh, y. [00:06:50] Speaker G: Thank you. [00:06:51] Speaker D: First, I want to find out more about yourself and your family, if you would, and how you ended up in Tennessee. [00:06:57] Speaker F: My parents have always been in the restaurant business and so just moving around different, different states because we started out in Atlanta and Georgia, of course. And then we moved down to Mississippi, Iowa. And then one of my dad's partners had a restaurant here in Tennessee, and so at Medicine, to be exact. And so we just fell in love with Tennessee. And my parents were working at a restaurant for. For my dad's partner in Lebanon. And my mom and dad just happened to ride around, came to Watertown, noticed there wasn't a Mexican restaurant, fell in love with the town. Small. And so it was kind of a [00:07:38] Speaker D: random drive through the town. [00:07:40] Speaker F: That was a kind of random drive that kind of started the whole, you know, staying around this area as long as. Especially with my older brother that has another restaurant in Smithville, so. [00:07:51] Speaker D: Which is very good also, by the way. [00:07:53] Speaker C: I've been there many times. [00:07:54] Speaker D: Oh, thank you. [00:07:55] Speaker F: Thank you. So that kind of what started, just my parents running around and just finding a small town. [00:08:02] Speaker D: Have you always had an interest in food and do you sometimes bring some of your own personal flavors? I guess, and maybe recipes that you've grown up around into, into this restaurant? [00:08:14] Speaker F: Absolutely. I grew up in this industry because of my parents. My dad, that when he came here as a young boy, of course he started from. As a dishwasher, worked all his way up to a cook. And so pretty much these worked in restaurant. And we kind of grew in it as well, you know, so that's. That's where our passion for the food industry and especially restaurant for my. Me and my. Some of my siblings, because a few of them have been burnt out. They. They kind of just opted out of. [00:08:48] Speaker D: And it's a tough industry. I mean, it's a lot of hours. It's a lot of hard work. [00:08:52] Speaker F: It is. Is a lot of hours. But, you know, you just grow to love it, you know, with your. The customers, the food. Just everybody makes it welcome. So you just kind of. You enjoy. I enjoy what I do. My brother does well as well. [00:09:08] Speaker D: It's a Mexican grill. But I'm sure there's got to be that maybe that one menu item that someone that hasn't been here before you might recommend. Say you have to try this. What's one of those kind of recipes or one of those menu items where someone knew you'd be like, I really think you might try this. You might like it a lot. They might not think to try it. You know. [00:09:30] Speaker F: You know what? There is a lot of menu items, but one of them, one specifically that I just brings me back memories of when I was a child going to Mexico. It was birria torta, which is roast beef or Shredded beef, and it's cooked in this broth. And just the way the guys in the kitchen prepare it with the recipe that was given by my father, it just takes me back to childhood memories. [00:09:58] Speaker D: So that's truly a passed down recipe, a family recipe. These have personal meanings to you? Some of these recipes do, yes, absolutely. [00:10:06] Speaker F: A lot of them. A lot of them do. And of course, we kind of just kept a wide. Did a wide variety on the menu as well, because we wanted to think about, you know, of course, like you mentioned, your son, he loves our Braceros burger, and we wanted to keep it, you know, for. For kids that enjoy having a burger and they don't necessarily have to come and just get Mexican food, you know, but it has our little touch of like the cheese dip on the fries, so it adds a little bit of touch of like, Mexican to it as well. [00:10:32] Speaker D: That's what I like about your menu here. In my opinion, it's a little different from a lot of the Mexican restaurants that I've personally been to, because while you do have some of the staples you expect to see there, you've really put your own touch on several of the items, which I've never seen at other places. So the creativity part, I think is pretty neat. [00:10:51] Speaker F: It helped out that my brother and I love food. Of course, who doesn't? But we kind of, just as we were growing up, we tried different restaurants and just decided, hey, you know, let's incorporate that in our menu once we have our own restaurant, that it's not our parents, because our parents have all the say in their menu. You know, when, like the restaurant that my parents had in Watertown, but here at Los Braceros, it was something that me and my brother and I wanted to incorporate our. Our personal dishes that would. We wanted to, you know, kind of [00:11:31] Speaker D: make your own, maybe. [00:11:32] Speaker F: Yes. [00:11:32] Speaker D: Yeah. So you've been taking notes for a while through the years, probably thinking, if this day comes when I get to have my own place, this is one of the kind of things I'd like to try exactly that kind of deal [00:11:44] Speaker F: to share with everybody, of course, so they. They can enjoy what we enjoyed as well. [00:11:48] Speaker D: I love that we talked about it a little bit, but it is a lot of hard work being in the food service industry. What is a typical day in your life? Start out like here when you're getting ready to open up and that sort of thing. Kind of walk us through some of that and some of the many things you have to do that a lot of people don't really realize. They just show up and eat and everything looks like it's so easy and ready to go. But I know there's a lot of work involved into it before they get here. [00:12:17] Speaker F: There is. I mean, of course, I couldn't do it without the. The kitchen stuff as well, because they. They. Honestly, they do a lot of work. As you can see, they've. They're already here. [00:12:27] Speaker D: Working in the kitchen takes a good team. [00:12:30] Speaker F: Yeah. So we just come in and of course, I don't do as much as they do, you know, but I do have to taste everything that they. They prepare, make sure it's. It's good, not salty or too spicy for customers, and kind of stays. Consistency. So that's one of the main things. Just kind of keep everything consistent. But it does take a lot of prep work from the kitchen staff to do that. [00:12:54] Speaker D: Probably the morning of. And also the previous night, too, right? [00:12:57] Speaker F: Yes. [00:12:58] Speaker D: With your location being right where it is in Alexandria, which, if people don't know, it's off Highway 70 in Alexandria, Tennessee, at the location of the previous Alexandria Cafe, which has been a staple in the area for a long time. I know there's a lot of people that travel through Alexandria on their way to Smithville or the other direction on their way to Lebanon. So do you see a lot of people stopping by and visiting that never been here before just because they happen to be on the way? [00:13:26] Speaker F: Yes, I do. And also a lot of regulars, a lot of. As a matter of fact, one of my old friends that I. He's a dear customer of mine. He's an older gentleman, which I'm shocked because usually he doesn't like to drive up, you know, that far. And I told him, mike, what are you doing here? He's like, well, I was on. I went to Lebanon. They said, oh, so otherwise you would have stopped to visit me? Well, it's on my way there and on my way back, so I figured, you know, that would be, you know, a good time to come and visit you and see how the restaurant was doing. [00:13:55] Speaker D: You also have done a ton of work to the building. It looks amazing. I mean, the remodel. There's been a lot of money and time spent here, and I know you got to be proud of that. [00:14:05] Speaker F: Absolutely. It did take quite a bit to open up. I mean, unlike the road, too. We said we were going to open by a certain day, but we weren't, so we didn't. [00:14:16] Speaker A: You know, things take a little longer [00:14:17] Speaker D: sometimes once you get in here and start working. So you have the patio Addition outside, which is great too. Tell everyone about that too. [00:14:25] Speaker F: So we decided to attach a, or build on a patio, make it a little different, give it a different touch than of course the restaurant my brother had in Smithfield doesn't have a patio. And. And so we saw the opportunity. Oh, that would make a really nice patio. And we've gotten a lot of compliments. [00:14:42] Speaker D: Yeah, it looks like a great place. I know there's moments when it's really busy and really packed. There's got to be moments where everyone on the staff is basically just trying to keep it together to keep their cool, if you will. How do you, as a manager and operator of this establishment, how do you kind of keep the team not under control, but just kind of relaxed and because things need to run smoothly and if you get too frazzled sometimes it's hard to keep things going the right way. So how do you, how do you approach that as a team leader or manager over people? [00:15:12] Speaker F: Well, I just say do your best, do the best you can do. And you know, let's try to keep the customers happy. And we just work as a team. And of course, you know, you might get one of those servers that just gets overwhelmed and it's like, try to calm her down. He's like, it's okay, it's okay. It's going to pass. You know, it's just a little rush that we got. [00:15:32] Speaker D: Well, DTC for 2026. We're actually celebrating our 75th anniversary or year as a cooperative and providing services to the area. I know you need phone service for call in orders and things like that. But you know, the Internet is a big part of restaurant business too. I mean, do you use that every day and. [00:15:53] Speaker F: Absolutely. Yes, especially for transactions. You know, when the customer wants to pay at the table, we have the QR code and our receipts and the. Just how fast it is to, you know, for them to do the transaction over online or even at the register. The, you know, you have customers that might be in a rush or you know, impatient. They love, especially for lunch. They don't like waiting too long. [00:16:19] Speaker D: Maybe they don't have a lot of time to work. [00:16:21] Speaker F: So that is very important to have really good, reliable and fast Internet service. [00:16:26] Speaker D: Yeah. So I know you've been in a lot of different places, a lot of different states. To you though, what makes Middle Tennessee special? What makes you proud to be a part of this community? [00:16:39] Speaker F: I love small towns because I feel like everywhere I go, even if it's to go get a coffee or just get gas you see a lot of familiar faces. It's small town. They know you, they greet you. Very. Just very welcoming. I remember the first couple weeks that we opened Los Braceros. It was very hectic. We were understaffed. We didn't know what crowd. You didn't know how busy it was going to get. And just the. To me, it meant a lot when, you know, customers that I've met and they would just come and ask for help. Hey, do you need any help? Do you need help rolling silverware or anything? So that, to me, meant a lot. And I was like, I'm so glad we. We opened up in Alexandria. And that literally won me over, too. So I was like, wow, I wasn't expecting that outcome. [00:17:27] Speaker D: So we've talked about a lot of food today, and I know there's going to be some hungry people listening and watching the podcast. Now we've got to explain where you are, how to get in touch with you, and how to stay in touch with your specials or any kind of announcements and that sort of thing. What's the best way to stay in touch with Los Braseros? [00:17:46] Speaker F: So Los Braceros has a Facebook page. It's Los Braceros restaurant on Facebook. So that would. Would be the best place we would. We're going to put specials and any upcoming new dishes or any closing or special occasions, we'll have that posted on there. [00:18:04] Speaker D: And people can call in orders, too, right? [00:18:06] Speaker A: Absolutely. [00:18:06] Speaker D: They can call. I know this. I do this all the time. I'm asking her a question. [00:18:09] Speaker A: She knows I know this number. [00:18:10] Speaker F: But yeah, and of course, they could do online orders and. [00:18:13] Speaker D: Well, Maria, thank you so much for being on our podcast today. And it's so great to have you as part of this community. And we do truly feel like family. We've kind of. We've been around each other and seen each other's families for so many years, and I'm just proud that you're here, and we'll do our part to keep you in business. Okay. As you know. [00:18:32] Speaker F: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. [00:18:35] Speaker D: Absolutely. Absolutely. And we appreciate everyone watching and listening to all the podcast today. And we'll be back with more, coming up in just a moment. [00:18:50] Speaker E: 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 home. They didn't just want a phone company. They wanted a cooperative, 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 the best technology with a local heart. Because people matter. [00:20:04] Speaker D: We're not just connecting wires, we're connecting neighbors. [00:20:09] Speaker C: We're bringing world class technology to the [00:20:12] Speaker D: places we call home. [00:20:14] Speaker F: Because here you aren't just an account. [00:20:18] Speaker G: You're part of the DTC family and [00:20:21] Speaker H: we're proud to serve you. [00:20:24] Speaker E: Technology has changed a lot since 1951. We've gone from copper to glass and from dial up to gigabit 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. [00:20:47] Speaker A: Thank you. [00:20:48] Speaker E: For 75 years, DTC Communications making meaningful connections. [00:21:03] Speaker A: Technology speaks a lot of languages and now we're translating it into yours. On our segment called the tech translator, [00:21:12] Speaker C: Ms. Perez looked into the future during her interview because I think she knew what I was going to be talking about. Oh really today. So in her segment she mentioned the use of technology and being able to use QR codes that are on their receipts for customers to be able to pay. [00:21:29] Speaker A: True. [00:21:30] Speaker C: And that's a wonderful technology. But you may have listened to that and you're like, what is a QR code? What is this? You know what, we're going to talk about it. [00:21:38] Speaker A: Well, let's, let's talk about it. [00:21:40] Speaker C: Let's talk about QR codes. All right, so you have probably seen these black and white square patterns. Whether you've got a square and it's got black and white and it looks like it may be alien text, you know, and you may be wondering what, what, what is that? [00:21:57] Speaker A: To me, it reminds me almost of a barcode or something. [00:21:59] Speaker C: Yes. And you may see them when you go into a restaurant and they may have a laminated section on their table that says, hey, scan here for the menu. Or you may have seen scan this for more information on all kinds of stuff. Maybe somebody has handed you a DTC Communications business card and on the back of it there is a QR code that you can scan for the contact information to be put in touch with the individual that gave you that card. QR codes are everywhere now. You know, you watch TV during a commercial QR code Go to Los Brizzeros, use it to pay and to, to check out and complete your purchase, so to say. So there's, there's lots of uses for it. I think the first time I ever really used a QR code was for Nashville Predators when they went ticketless. And we used QR codes to scan. We didn't have physical tickets anymore, they were digital tickets. And we used QR codes to enter the venue. And so that's how that gained us access. And so for sporting events and for tickets, it's very common to have a QR code. And you may have used it before now. Oh, well, they scanned my ticket. Well, that's what they scanned. They scanned a QR code that was your ticket. Now to be able to utilize a QR code, very, very, very simple. Doesn't matter if you have an iPhone and it doesn't matter if you have an Android phone. The process is the same for both of them. You ready for this? [00:23:23] Speaker A: I'm ready. [00:23:25] Speaker C: Open your camera app and point it to the QR code. [00:23:30] Speaker A: That's it. [00:23:31] Speaker C: That's all you have to do to be able to scan it. [00:23:33] Speaker A: So you don't have to download a special. [00:23:35] Speaker C: Download anything. It is built in. Used to, you had to. [00:23:39] Speaker A: Okay. [00:23:40] Speaker C: But I think through the years as we've gotten updates, they realized this is a very nifty feature. And so now it's integrated on modern phone operating systems. So there's no third party that you have to do. Now what will happen is when you scan, will pull up the link and you'll get a pop up and you click that pop up and it'll take you whether it's a website, it's a form, whatever it may be, it will take you right to it. So you don't have to. The benefit of a QR code is you don't have to remember a long website or URL or again, contact information. It's an easier way to be able to get the information in people's hands. Because again, how often are people carrying wallets? My wallet has four cards in it and actually as of this moment, there's I think a couple bills in it, which is unusual, but it's not like where we're carrying bifolds and trifolds and we're stuffed with business cards and different things. It's a digital world now and it's easier way for people to be able to communicate information. And because it's built in, everybody has access to it. It's so easy. [00:24:48] Speaker A: I think it's kind of neat because you don't have to type or write down long strings of information. Like if you had a website you wanted to go to or, or something and you, you maybe, maybe you didn't want to write that down or you can't, you can't write it down. Maybe you don't have a pen with you or something like that. You can point your phone at that and click a button and you go there. [00:25:08] Speaker C: Yeah. It makes it so easy. Like in for like events and things. It makes it so easy because used to, if you had, you've got a giveaway and you've got 500 people gathered together. Well, we're going to draw a name. Well, it may be, hey, scan this QR code. If you want to enter, enter your information. We're going to do a digital raffle. [00:25:24] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:24] Speaker C: You know, and it's going to. Or hey, we're at a fundraiser and we're talking about payment methods just like we talked about earlier in our previous interview. And okay, you can do a check or hey, if you want to with card, scan the QR code again, you put your information. You're not having to give your card, you're not having to give your payment info to somebody. It's an easier way to do things and oftentimes more secure in, in that way. But one caveat to QR codes, I want to make sure that I emphasize. Please don't go around scanning every QR code that you see. Only scan QR codes that you trust because that QR code is a link. And if you scan a random QR code or you get an email unsolicited with a QR code and you don't know what it is and you scan may take you somewhere and do something malicious or something that you don't want to happen to your device. So be very. It could be a scam. So be very careful with anything that asks for information and make sure that you trust whatever QR code that you are scanning that. [00:26:29] Speaker D: Please. [00:26:30] Speaker C: You see a random QR code on a piece of paper posted. Don't. Oh, I wonder what this does. May have been put there intentionally by someone to be mischievous. So just be careful. That would be. [00:26:42] Speaker A: Don't trust every single QR code you see randomly. [00:26:46] Speaker C: That's. Yeah, that, that's, that's the one caveat. Be, be careful. They're convenient, they're awesome use. They're great to use. Yeah. Be, be careful with them. But if you trust who it is, don't skip it when you see it. Somebody may Be trying to. To give you some information, or they may be trying to get you to do something and make it a little bit easier for you. [00:27:05] Speaker A: Right. [00:27:06] Speaker C: To do something. [00:27:06] Speaker A: Right. And for this segment of the local Click, we continue our interview of some of DTC's employees, the people that make everything work and make things possible here at dtc and that we're very appreciative of. And today we're very lucky to have Mr. Terry Manning. Hello, Terry. [00:27:23] Speaker C: How are you? [00:27:23] Speaker G: Hello, Nick. How are you? [00:27:25] Speaker A: I'm great. I. Everything's going well. And I hope that I didn't pull you apart from any kind of special trouble tickets or anything else today to be on the. On the podcast. [00:27:36] Speaker G: Not yet. [00:27:36] Speaker A: Not yet. You're a very busy man. That's why I say that you've helped me in my own house many times, and I always appreciate when you're there to help people out. And your official job title at DTC is outside plant installation and repair technician, Is that right? [00:27:52] Speaker G: Correct. [00:27:53] Speaker A: Okay. And that says a lot. And we'll kind of get into what some of that entails here in just a minute. But first, let's get some background about yourself. Tell us about yourself and your family and your ties to the area. [00:28:05] Speaker G: I've been here at DTC 25 years. I have four children, twins, just turned 18. [00:28:11] Speaker E: Oh, wow. [00:28:11] Speaker G: Molly's daughter's 36. She's in law enforcement. [00:28:15] Speaker A: Okay. [00:28:15] Speaker G: And my son's 30. He's personal training, doing stuff like that. And I've lived in Smith county my whole life. Went to school there, growed up there. [00:28:25] Speaker A: So basically, you have very strong ties [00:28:28] Speaker G: to the area a lot. [00:28:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:28:30] Speaker G: Family. [00:28:31] Speaker A: Family. [00:28:31] Speaker G: Family, friends, you know. [00:28:33] Speaker A: So you said you've been at DTC, you say 25 years. [00:28:36] Speaker G: 25. [00:28:36] Speaker E: Wow. [00:28:37] Speaker A: Now, when you started at DTC, what position did you start at? The same thing you're doing now, or what? [00:28:43] Speaker G: I started in right away. [00:28:45] Speaker A: Okay. [00:28:45] Speaker G: Cutting trees. [00:28:46] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay. [00:28:47] Speaker G: I've done that for five years. And I've been in this part of it 20 now. [00:28:51] Speaker A: 20 years. Wow. Does it feel like two decades? [00:28:54] Speaker G: No, it's went by fast, actually. [00:28:56] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:28:56] Speaker G: A lot of changes. [00:28:57] Speaker A: Yeah, that's true. We've talked to some other employees, and they say that too. They say they can't believe the changes they've seen through the years. [00:29:04] Speaker G: All for the better, I might add. [00:29:06] Speaker A: Yeah, that's true. It's come a long way. [00:29:08] Speaker G: Yes. Not only for the employees, but also, you know, for the customers. We've got the fiber optics, and the sky's the limit. With that. [00:29:16] Speaker A: That's right. It really opens a lot of possibilities up for sure. Well, I'm sure you, you burn the roads up probably every day. You're always in different parts of Smith county or other counties for that matter. [00:29:29] Speaker G: Wilson, DeKalb. [00:29:30] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:29:31] Speaker G: Putnam, part of Cannon. I mean, people don't realize how big DTC actually cover. I mean, we cover a lot of ground and in the surrounding counties. [00:29:45] Speaker A: What's your favorite part of being on the road every day and getting to meet. Go to these different places? Okay. Yeah. [00:29:51] Speaker G: Meet new people and just helping people. You know, when you leave a customer and you've got their problem fixed, you know, whether it be big, large, all problems are the same. You know, everybody just want good service and that's what we try to do. And if we can't get it fixed at that point, we will keep in touch with the customer until everything is resolved. [00:30:15] Speaker A: So they take pride at making sure everyone's taken care of at utc. I will say that. [00:30:21] Speaker G: And you know, unlike other co ops or companies, if a customer call in that day, we are going that day. It's not like, hey, we're going to put you on the books for two weeks right now where you're going to go that day. [00:30:38] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:30:39] Speaker G: Rain, sleet or snow. I said we're like the postal service. If someone call in, we're going to do our best to get there. [00:30:44] Speaker A: Yeah. And that's true. [00:30:46] Speaker G: Yes. [00:30:46] Speaker A: I've heard other people say that as well. [00:30:48] Speaker G: Yes. [00:30:49] Speaker A: How does it make you feel to be a part of a company or cooperative like dtc? You know, that's had such a. Been such a staple in the communities for this long. I mean, you just mentioned you've been at DTC for, for 25 years. We're celebrating our 75th year. So for a third of those years you've been a part of this operation. How does that make you feel to continue that legacy on? [00:31:13] Speaker G: It's a good feeling knowing that you're watching stuff grow and evolve with technology. When I first started in this position here, I go back to some of the customers houses now and like they had small kids and when you go back, you know, it's been years now, the kids are grown up and stuff and you know, and they still remember me and I remember them. And I mean, just bonding with the people, that's. That's a plus. [00:31:38] Speaker A: You make a lot of friends in this business, don't you? [00:31:40] Speaker G: Yes. And I mean, it's like anything else. You're not going to make everyone happy. But the majority of our customers, I will say, are very appreciative and respect what we do and how we try to, you know, fix their problems and [00:31:56] Speaker A: do the right thing. [00:31:57] Speaker G: Yes. [00:31:57] Speaker A: What's a typical day in the life of Mr. Terry Manning? Running. Running repair tickets and doing installations and things for dtc? Is there a typical day and is it. Does it change based in the summer months versus other times of year? [00:32:10] Speaker G: Well, you take like the real rainy seasons, the trees are green right now. Okay. So when a wind storm come through, the big thing is trees falling on our lines and stuff or tree limbs breaking out. [00:32:22] Speaker A: Right. [00:32:23] Speaker G: In the winter months, we have ice that's doing the same thing. It's a seasonal thing, but it's still the same things happening each season. Now, one thing this time of the year, and it's like all of us guys know when we open the cacks outside. [00:32:40] Speaker A: Now, what's a cac, by the way? [00:32:41] Speaker G: A cack is actually where the fiber comes into the house, the nid. [00:32:45] Speaker A: Okay. [00:32:46] Speaker G: It's the connection point from the. [00:32:47] Speaker A: It's like a container on the outside of the house. So when you open that up, you [00:32:51] Speaker G: could have wasp in there. [00:32:52] Speaker A: Ooh. Okay. [00:32:54] Speaker G: We have had, you know, this time of the year, you'll have wasps that are in there. This built nest that's actually cut the fiber in two. [00:33:01] Speaker A: I bet that's not a great surprise to open that door up and find those in there. [00:33:05] Speaker G: You're very cautious when you open it. Everybody knows, you know, and you know that's coming. [00:33:09] Speaker A: Yes. Or possibilities. [00:33:10] Speaker G: And I mean, we keep stuff with us in case of stuff like that. [00:33:13] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:33:13] Speaker G: You know, that. That's something else. You know, with all the change and the technology and stuff, that's one thing DTC does do for us. You know, we have got the latest and greatest of what we need to work with and stuff. So that's a plus. Having the tools you need to work on stuff. [00:33:32] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:33:32] Speaker G: The most important tool that I use is probably a fiber meter. It's a light reader. [00:33:38] Speaker A: Okay. [00:33:38] Speaker G: It's the source that's coming in. You know, you want to keep it below a certain threshold. So that's going to be one of the first things you do if a customer is having trouble is check your light to see how good your light is coming in. [00:33:51] Speaker A: Okay. It's kind of like a signal strength for that correct fiber service, I guess, coming in. So that's a very important tool, you know. [00:33:59] Speaker G: And then if you don't have any light, we've got another piece of equipment that will actually Read the fiber and tell us where the brake is or if something is chewed it. You know, squirrels, we used to have a big problem with squirrels. Chewing the line and things. That meter will show you the exact footage of where that break is. It'll put it down to the feet and stuff. Well, then you can take your sequentials on that cable and you can. It'll let you know how far, you know, you need to drive or whatever. [00:34:29] Speaker A: That's a huge time saver. [00:34:30] Speaker G: That's a big time saver. [00:34:31] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:34:32] Speaker G: As opposed to when we had copper. You know, it could be anywhere. [00:34:37] Speaker A: It makes fiber much easier to troubleshoot in a lot of ways. Generically speaking. Fiber is just a lot more reliable. [00:34:44] Speaker G: Yes. [00:34:44] Speaker A: As a whole. Right, Correct. [00:34:45] Speaker G: You know, you was talking about the seasons and you can probably remember when we had the copper, if it was raining, we would have a lot of trouble. [00:34:53] Speaker A: Tickets that were related to that. Yeah, yeah. [00:34:56] Speaker G: You know, people would call in where our phone, you know, was frying and popping. Well, the cable has got wet and stuff. [00:35:02] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:35:03] Speaker G: Fiber, you don't have that issue. Yeah, I tell everybody fibers know if or ands or in between. If the lights get in there, your service should be working. If it's not, it's something technical and we can get it fixed. [00:35:18] Speaker A: Right. [00:35:18] Speaker G: But it's really changed over the years and I mean, everything's for the better. [00:35:22] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:35:22] Speaker G: And I mean, as they say, the sky's the limit, it's only going to get better. [00:35:26] Speaker A: Can you think of any times where you've really kind of had to go above and beyond to. To bail a customer out, you know, to help them out in a bad situation where you kind of done something. It's not necessarily on the instruction sheet, but you did it to help them. [00:35:38] Speaker G: I have been at customers and it's not part of our job description, but like setting up a tv, you know, moving an old TV out, putting a new one in, you know, things like that. The little things to me like that add up and customers appreciate stuff like that. And that's the good thing about our communities where we live around here. People appreciate stuff. And you know, if you go above and beyond, people will remember that. And I mean, you know, if they do have trouble, they'll say, well, you know, they helped me the last time. I'm not gonna call in and fuss and stuff, you know. [00:36:14] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:36:15] Speaker G: Because I know they'll get it fixed. [00:36:17] Speaker E: Right. [00:36:17] Speaker A: Have you made a lot of friends doing this? [00:36:19] Speaker G: Oh, yeah. Double edged sword sometimes. [00:36:21] Speaker A: I understand you get calls in the [00:36:24] Speaker G: middle of the night. Hey, my stuff ain't working. It's a good thing. Yeah, I'd rather have someone calling like that than someone upset and mad and stuff. [00:36:34] Speaker A: So I've talked to so many different people, customers, just small talk, and somehow if your name comes up, I'll mention, you know, Terry Manning and what I'm saying. Oh, I know Terry. Oh, yeah. Terry's the greatest. He helped me at this or he helped me at that. It's always positive. And people are just. They're always talking about how friendly you are. You're smiling, and you're just there to help them. Is that something you consciously strive to do or is it just you being you? [00:37:01] Speaker G: It's just me. What you see is what you get. [00:37:03] Speaker A: That's it. [00:37:04] Speaker G: And I tell everybody, what you see in me today is what you're going to see in me tomorrow. You don't hurt yourself, but try to help people. And my mother, God bless her soul, that is something she taught us, you know? [00:37:13] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:37:15] Speaker G: Even people that are at their worst or mad, kill them with kindness. I mean, you know, I've went to angry customers, and they'll be ranting and raving, but if you'll just sit there, listen to them. Yes, ma'. [00:37:28] Speaker E: Am. [00:37:28] Speaker G: Yes, sir. I promise you, by the time you leave there, they'll be apologizing and say, hey, you know, we're sorry that we were so ill. We were just upset. And you just say, I understand, you know, and people will be okay. [00:37:44] Speaker A: Yeah. And then before you know it, you got another friend. [00:37:48] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:37:48] Speaker A: Funny how that works, isn't it? [00:37:50] Speaker G: Yep. You made a lot of people, especially with people moving in now, you know, there's been some meeting people to move in, and they'll move in here and they'll say, we can't believe that we have fiber here. You know, we come from places in California, and they didn't even have that there. [00:38:06] Speaker A: Yeah, we said that on the podcast before, that. I don't know if everyone throughout our service area realizes, you know, how advanced some of the products and services we're offering is, because you go out of this Middle Tennessee area, if this is all you've ever known, you know, you may take for granted. It's not like that everywhere. [00:38:28] Speaker G: No, it's not. Yeah, it's not. I mean, you know, like I said, I've had a lot of people. We can't believe that. And we're actually spoke to a human being in the office, you know, and, you know, our response time, two tickets or orders, they're like, where we Come from. It would have took us a month to get this. [00:38:46] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:38:47] Speaker A: Not to mention they probably couldn't even get anyone on the phone literally to talk to them about the problem. [00:38:53] Speaker G: So, I mean, that's one of the perks. We try to help people. We try to make people happy, you know, and when you go in these houses, you're like, they've got kids and things, and you know that you're helping them because you're putting in a service to where they're doing their schooling, you know, and as of, what was it, 2020 Covid people working from home and stuff. [00:39:15] Speaker A: It was important. [00:39:16] Speaker G: Yeah. That's one of the things you can go home thinking, you know, I help do that. So it makes you feel good now [00:39:23] Speaker A: after working, you know, long hours on a project or whatever here, you know, helping people with technology needs and different things like that. Now when you go home, are you anti technology? Have you been around so much technology you're ready to just unplug it? I figured that might be. [00:39:40] Speaker G: I don't want to talk on my phone. I just. I don't want anything to do with computers or anything. [00:39:45] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:39:45] Speaker G: You know, and. And my daughters say, well, daddy, I can't get on this, or I can't do that. I'm like, okay, you're like, when I get off most time, I'll go home. I'm outside. I love being outside. Yesterday I was off, I was on my tractor all day and it was heaven. [00:40:01] Speaker A: So I wanted to ask you what's some of the things like hobbies that you have and things like that? [00:40:06] Speaker G: Fishing, golf. [00:40:08] Speaker A: Yeah. All outdoor activities and things like that. [00:40:12] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:40:13] Speaker G: You know, everybody takes vacation around this time, and I save mine till November, December. I'd rather be sitting in a tree than anything. [00:40:22] Speaker A: That's good. [00:40:22] Speaker G: That's my Zen time. [00:40:24] Speaker A: That's good. Yeah, Everybody needs that. You need to unwind because it can be stressful sometimes. [00:40:28] Speaker G: I don't care what job it is or who it is. If a person take their job to heart, it's going to be stressful. If you've got anything about you, you're going to care about doing your job right. So it is going to follow you home, so to speak. Because I went home a bunch thinking, okay, did I get that fixed? Or, you know, is this right? Because I take pride in my job? [00:40:52] Speaker A: Because you care. That's. Yeah. [00:40:53] Speaker G: If you're not going to do a job to the best of your ability, why try it? [00:40:57] Speaker A: And that's why you're such an important part to dtc I think. I think it shows that you really do care. [00:41:01] Speaker H: And you. [00:41:02] Speaker A: And you go out of your way to make sure everything's working. [00:41:04] Speaker G: And I try to. [00:41:05] Speaker A: You do? [00:41:06] Speaker D: You do. [00:41:07] Speaker A: Because I've talked to too many people, Terry. I know how you are. I know how you're wired and you do a good job. So, last question. What's the most rewarding feeling at the end of a day after a long day out in the field and you come home? What makes you the most proud? [00:41:24] Speaker G: Making a difference. Okay. You take like, schooling in which my daughters were homeschooled. Okay. So I know how important it was to keep that Internet up while they were being homeschooled. You know, you go home and I love elderly people to death. Okay. When they have trouble, I'm going to go above and beyond. I don't care if I have to stay late to fix their stuff. That's the rewarding part of it. [00:41:49] Speaker A: Makes you feel good on it. [00:41:50] Speaker G: Oh, yeah. Or that you just helped. I don't care if it's one person or 10,000 people. [00:41:55] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:41:56] Speaker G: Helping just anyone. And, you know, you've done all you can do. You can go home, you know, and say, I tried and I done all. [00:42:03] Speaker A: And you feel good about it. Yeah, that's right. [00:42:06] Speaker G: Technology changes every day. I mean, there's something new every day with technology. [00:42:09] Speaker A: There is. [00:42:10] Speaker G: And I mean, you know, that's one thing I'll say. We go through a lot of training people don't see behind the scenes, people think, you know, well, how did y' all learn this? Well, there's a lot of training that go on that people don't see. But I'll tell everybody, if I can do it, anybody can do it. [00:42:28] Speaker F: Okay. [00:42:29] Speaker G: You just got to be willing to learn and go that extra mile to learn. [00:42:33] Speaker A: Yeah. You've got to be open to always learning something new. Right. [00:42:36] Speaker G: And I mean, I was one of the biggest one. I hated change. All change is not bad, I'll say that. [00:42:41] Speaker A: Hey, look where it's gotten us so far. [00:42:43] Speaker G: And it's only going to get better. [00:42:45] Speaker A: That's right. That's right. Well, Terry, thank you for everything and thank you, Nick. Thank you for all always taking care of our customers. [00:42:50] Speaker G: That's right. [00:42:51] Speaker A: All right, everybody, stay tuned. We got more of the podcast coming up in just a moment. [00:42:57] Speaker H: 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 business businesses provide jobs that help workers Earn a good living and provide for their families 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 a 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. [00:44:41] Speaker I: 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. [00:45:14] Speaker A: Justin, it's your turn again to take the mic and we're going to do this segment where we take another trip down memory lane. A simpler time, if you will, a segment called before the wi Fi. [00:45:27] Speaker C: You remember years ago when you would ask somebody, hey, can I, can I see some photos of your family? Or hey, can you show me this? What would you used to have to do? [00:45:36] Speaker A: Well, you'd usually get a photo album out and show some photos. [00:45:41] Speaker C: You remember gathering together as family and flipping through the photo album. [00:45:44] Speaker A: Those days. [00:45:45] Speaker C: Now what do you do if somebody asks? [00:45:47] Speaker A: You grab the phone. [00:45:47] Speaker C: Oh, here, let me show you real quick. [00:45:49] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:45:49] Speaker C: All these photos that I have that I've taken. And how many photos do you think you have on your phone? [00:45:57] Speaker A: Probably a lot more than I realize. [00:45:59] Speaker C: Thousands. [00:45:59] Speaker E: Yeah. [00:46:00] Speaker C: Okay, so I have thousands of photos on my phone. It used to not be that way. It used to not be so simple. Photography specifically. And we could talk videography and film too. But I will reserve this to. Photography is vastly different in 2026 than it was 75 years ago when DTC was founded informed. And so you remember when we actually had this thing called film? [00:46:33] Speaker A: Oh yeah, film cameras. [00:46:36] Speaker C: You know, I, I can tell you this because I'm still young enough. When we took a film camera, my wife and I did on our Honeymoon, you know, and that's how we took photos. And it was. You took photos completely different. You know, back then, you know, taking a photo was. Was much more of a commitment and much more intentional than because you had a roll of film. And it's okay. I got, you know, 24 shots in this thing. Not. I can snap 24 pictures consecutively on my phone. I'll just pick the best one. I get 23 bad takes. It's okay. No, you had. You had 24 photos. You had to make those photos count, right? They mattered. Like this, this moment. We want to make sure we're doing what we. And we want to take it. And you had no idea if it was going to be good or not. [00:47:27] Speaker A: That was going to be my next point. That was the strangest part. [00:47:30] Speaker D: You would. [00:47:30] Speaker A: You would take one of those 24 photos just hoping and praying that it actually came out. [00:47:35] Speaker C: But, you know, you saved photos for family gatherings, you know, for birthdays, for important events. You know, that's when you took photos. You know, we take photos of our food like crazy now and pre. Having phones in our pockets all the time. I don't know. Did you ever take a picture of your. Did you ever go snap with a. With a roll of film, with a. With a film camera? Do you ever recall doing that? [00:48:01] Speaker A: You know, I used to have a small camera as a child. I had a. I had a camera that took a film I bet you've not heard of before. You ever heard of the Kodak disc camera? [00:48:11] Speaker C: No. [00:48:12] Speaker A: Okay. It was a camera. [00:48:13] Speaker C: Is this like, in between. [00:48:15] Speaker A: No, it was. It was a photo camera, but instead of having a roll of film that you normally think of in a roll that you thread through into the camera, had a little cartridge. [00:48:26] Speaker C: Yeah, Okay. I know. I didn't recognize the name. Yes, yes, I didn't recognize the name, but yes, now that you described it [00:48:32] Speaker A: used to have that. But the thing kind of what you're talking about too is, you know, we'll take a picture anytime now because there's no cost involved. But back then, the, the cost to develop that film and buy a new film, you didn't just go click, click, click, anytime you saw something. [00:48:49] Speaker C: And that's part of it, too. We have to. We had to develop it. So you had to take that roll of film and you'd stick it in that white envelope and write your name off and drop it off. [00:48:58] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:48:58] Speaker C: And three to five days later, you'd go pick it up. [00:49:01] Speaker A: Yeah, right. [00:49:01] Speaker C: We didn't even have one hour, you know, at that point. So you'd take a few days and again you'd go through and be like, well, my finger was in the way of that one. So that one, that one didn't work out. [00:49:11] Speaker A: The lighting was bad. [00:49:12] Speaker C: Yeah, the lighting was a good. Well, so. And so wasn't looking in this, in this photo. [00:49:16] Speaker D: Right. [00:49:16] Speaker C: But you never get that moment back. [00:49:18] Speaker A: That's true. [00:49:18] Speaker C: That's it. You know, and you, and you didn't know, you know, you'd go through. But you'd go through those photos and you'd look at each and every single one of them one by one. And each photo, whether it was a good photo or not, meant something. Of course, you know, you had the Polaroid, you know, you could take pictures and see them instantly, but you were still limited. [00:49:38] Speaker A: Right. [00:49:38] Speaker C: You take it and it still snap. All right, listen. [00:49:43] Speaker A: And there was still a real cost, like. [00:49:46] Speaker C: Yes. [00:49:46] Speaker A: Monetary cost to that. If. [00:49:48] Speaker C: Yes. [00:49:48] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Now you know, you just wasted whatever you paid for that. [00:49:52] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, all. Yeah, yeah, you, you click that shutter. And I mean. Yes, there, there was, there was a monetary cost to it as well. Yeah, it. But again, it just. I think we were so much more intentional and we've talked about other things before. We've talked about streaming and we've talked about movies and we've talked about music. And again, everything was intentional. When you bought that physical album, that album meant something. There was no, oh, I don't like this, I'm just gonna change to a different one in 12 seconds. So mattered. But sharing photos was different too, because how do we. How did. We used to share photos, Remember? You know, you'd buy pictures, you'd buy school pictures and you'd get wallet photos and you distribute those wallet photos. And I was at my parents house this weekend and I was looking at their refrigerator and there's all these old photos still on their refrigerator. But how do we share photos now? Well, let me send you a message. Let me post it on social media. [00:50:56] Speaker E: Right. [00:50:56] Speaker A: Or text it to someone or airdrop or. [00:50:59] Speaker C: Yeah, how do we, how often are we actually putting photos on film and developing them, printing them out? My oldest did 4H photo contest this year for school. And so we, we developed the film. Not the film, I guess so to say it was a digital photo, but he actually had it developed. We had it printed. And I remember asking my wife, when was the last time we actually did this? Yeah, you know that we actually printed a photo out, a physical photo. You know, it's, it's a different kind of art and where do you. Even when we were trying to figure out where we were going to print this, I'm like, I don't think there's anywhere locally where we live that that does this anymore. [00:51:38] Speaker A: Hey, do you remember. Do you remember the photo huts along the side of the road in towns and stuff, they look like little storage buildings, but all they contained was somebody working there developing film. This literally, it was a hut on the side of the road. Well, you used to go to places like that. [00:51:55] Speaker C: Well, remember you used to go to supermarkets and there would be photo studios. [00:52:01] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:52:01] Speaker C: Inside of them. [00:52:02] Speaker A: I remember that. [00:52:03] Speaker C: You know, and again, I mean, does. Are those anywhere anymore? When I worked at a retailer that unfortunately is. Was a massive retailer at one point in time, you may have heard, called Sears. Oh yeah, that has went bankrupt and is closed. We had a photo studio in our retail location. So again, it's just. It's something that you don't think about or do anymore that we take, I think we take for granted. You know, we just don't take photos and use them the same way. The, the photo album has been replaced by the Instagram album, you know, in the social media album. You know, that that's what our albums are now. It is, it is such a. It is such a different way to think about it, you know, but those old photos, there's no scrolling through them. You know, you physically had to go through them. There was no cloud backup. [00:52:59] Speaker A: No. [00:52:59] Speaker C: There was no instantaneous. You know, if you wanted to give it to somebody again, it was intentional. It took work today. [00:53:05] Speaker A: Yet those photos remain today. Yes, because they printed them out and they have them. That's what I worry about with today's technology, with a lot of these photos and stuff. You know, I think it's a good idea to print some of these out from time to time, just in case. [00:53:19] Speaker C: Well, how, how often do we look at the photos that we take? You know, I, I think one of the benefits is everybody is a photographer because everybody has a camera in their pocket now at all. Everybody. That's right, everybody is. Is a photographer. And you take that and you add social media on top of it and bam, you know, so photography is bigger now than it ever has been. I mean, I think the argument is that it. There's more people involved in it, there's more people taking photos than there ever has been. There's more people who have access to it. But I just, I think, because the while we may be taking more photos, I wonder, do they mean as much? That's it for Photography before the WI fi. [00:54:10] Speaker A: That's right. I think there's probably some things you may want to discuss. News wise for tech News Roundup Stock [00:54:17] Speaker C: market history was made recently when SpaceX went public. [00:54:21] Speaker A: It had its dear friend Elon. [00:54:23] Speaker C: Yes, it had its, it had the largest IPO in history. And as a result of it, it has made Elon Musk the first trillionaire. Great launch for them. You know, it did. Well, the question now is you've got these technology companies because SpaceX is a technology company. You have OpenAI and some other companies that he owns and other AI companies that are not public yet that we're keeping an eye on this. Do we go public after this? [00:54:54] Speaker A: Right. [00:54:54] Speaker C: You know, and so we may see some more companies go from private to public as a result based on the success. And this is, you know, the thing is when you look at the largest companies in the world, the majority of them are technology companies. [00:55:10] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:55:11] Speaker C: So you, you see Apple and you see Microsoft and you see Nvidia. Those are all technology companies that are there at the top. And so these, you know, from a technology standpoint, these, we think, oh, well, that's just an ipo, it doesn't matter yet. But it shapes a lot of the things that we do across our lives. [00:55:30] Speaker A: Yeah, that's true. [00:55:31] Speaker C: Next up, we have seen some more crackdowns on AI. So I guess the best way to put this is the error of AI deregulation and not having eyeballs on them is probably going to the wayside. President Trump under his administration has told the Commerce Department recently Anthropic released a new AI model that a security directive came down that said this can't be used outside of the U.S. so foreign actors can't use this. We can't allow anybody to use this that's a foreign. Even if they're a foreign national in the US we don't want anybody touching this because of the security risk of it. And so we recently had, again, that's a directive from the top federally. And then you also see there's a coalition of 42 state attorney generals, so that's 84% of the states in the US have formed a coalition and they are launching investigations and they've subpoenaed different companies because they're really trying to figure out how are you using data, what are the privacy implications for it, what are your advertising practices. There's a lot of things tied up in this. But I say that to say with at the federal level now at the state level, you're seeing some More regulation getting put into it. We want to know, we want to understand as AI grows, we want to make sure we're understanding what's happening with, with AI. And so again, you know, I say the regulatory free air is probably gone for AI. And then the last thing, and we've talked about this a little bit, but it has happened. Now the UK has banned social media for anyone under the age of 16. [00:57:29] Speaker A: Oh, okay. [00:57:30] Speaker C: So no social media use. Now the way they have defined social media is it would be your Facebooks and your Instagrams and TikTok and those kind of things. It does not include messaging apps. So WhatsApp, which is also owned by Meta, just like Facebook and Instagram would not be banned, but Facebook and Instagram would be banned. So being able just to communicate is not banned, but these other forms of posting pictures and videos and sharing stories and all kinds of things are banned across the board for anyone under 16 years old. Now, Australia had already done this at the end of last year and so they were the first country to go this route outside of China. And now the UK has done, and now there's several more who are keeping eyeballs on this. We see some stuff here in the United States at the state level, not necessarily at the federal level in some various states looking at trying to do some sort of age restriction or verification of social media use and other Internet use. But the issue that you get into with that one thing that's different about the United States than a lot of countries is the freedom of speech. [00:58:41] Speaker A: Right. [00:58:42] Speaker C: That's built into our Constitution. So there's lots of questions when, when you start going that route and doing those things. [00:58:48] Speaker A: And before we go, I always like to share where DTC will be. And for June 29 through July 4, you can find us at the Smith County Fair. And I bet there'll be a lot of people at the Smith County Fair. It's going to be a fun time. They do a really great job at that. And I hope that you can visit us there. On July 14th, we'll be at the Wilson County 4H Day Camp, which is being held at the Wilson County Fairgrounds. On July 18, we'll be at the Smith County Back to School Bash, which is being held at the Smith County Chamber Office. And then to round out the month of July on the 26th, you can find us at We Care Canon at the Cannon County High School. And we hope you have a wonderful month of July and we will see you next time. [00:59:38] 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.