[00:00:00] Speaker A: On Today's show, we talk about adventure with Miss Lori Nellis with new frontiers. And then we also speak with Hunter Hendrickson about all the exciting things going on at Greenbrook park in Smithville. Justin, of course, is here with his tech tips. He may talk about some keyboard shortcuts that will save you some time and energy in your everyday computing lives. And, of course, lots of other exciting things, including ask the expert. We may have a return expert with us from DTC on today's episode. You don't want to miss it, so stay tuned with us.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: 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 click starts now.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: Welcome to the May 2024 edition of the local cliq. Thanks for joining us again and we hope you are having a wonderful month. It's always exciting time in the month of May because we really start to see things blooming and changing colors here in Tennessee as things get greener right.
[00:00:59] Speaker C: You got those may showers that bring forth everything good that comes with them. And I'm ready to get to that warmer weather. And springtime's here and summer's just around the corner.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: It's always an exciting time of year because there's a lot of families getting ready for those important days in their children's lives if they're getting ready to graduate high school. Right. Or even graduate grade school or other programs. Right.
[00:01:20] Speaker C: You may have pre k graduation. You may have kindergarten graduation. You may have elementary school graduation, high school graduation, college graduation, technical school graduation. There's a lot of graduations on calendars, I'm sure.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: In other words, celebrate good times, right?
[00:01:33] Speaker C: Hey, you can never get together too much and celebrate other people and their accomplishments.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: That's right. That's right. Well, it's going to be a really fun show today. We're going to speak with Miss Laurie Nellis with new frontiers here in just a moment, as well as Hunter Hendrickson. He's going to talk about all the exciting things going on at Greenbrook park. You'll be with us with some tech tips here in just a moment and tech news roundup. But we'll go ahead and start this show, though, like we always do with our first guest. And for today, that will be Miss Lori.
And with us for this segment, we have Miss Lori Nellist with new frontiers. Miss Lori, it's great to see you and thank you for visiting with us today.
[00:02:10] Speaker D: Thank you for the opportunity.
[00:02:11] Speaker A: Yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun. Look forward to talking to you about new frontiers. And before we get into what new frontiers is, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you ended up in downtown. Right? That's where you're at?
[00:02:26] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:02:27] Speaker D: Yep.
I was raised in Buffalo, New York, so I'm a Bills fan.
[00:02:32] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:02:33] Speaker D: And went away to college, and my college was in a number of different places. I transferred around a lot and ended up doing a job in New Jersey.
Even though I was a wilderness trained instructor. I ended up in New Jersey, and that was kind of weird, but I met my husband there, so we started looking for a place where we could start our own camp so that would line up with more of our ideals for what we wanted to do.
And so we got married in California and moved to Tennessee. Been here ever since.
[00:03:09] Speaker A: Now, how did you find out about Tennessee or this such a secluded part of Tennessee? Just generically speaking, I guess so.
[00:03:15] Speaker D: There was a man who lived here. His name is Mike Carpenter, and he and his family lived in Florida, but they had a piece of property here and we were looking for a cave. And he advertised in the back of the national speleological magazine about this cave. And normally in that magazine there are ads for, like, old timey lights and, you know, cave helmets and stuff like that. But there was a piece of property and a cave. And so we said, hey, let's go look at it. That's the only thing we couldn't build.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:03:45] Speaker D: We can build a climbing wall. We can build a zip line. We can't build a cave. My husband and I are big cavers, and the metaphors for caves are with. Our lives are really strong. So we decided, let's go check it out.
[00:03:56] Speaker A: Oh, that's awesome.
[00:03:57] Speaker D: And then we thought it was do well town instead of Daltown, and so we thought, what a better place to live. So we came.
[00:04:04] Speaker A: It had well, in the name, so it sounded like you couldn't go wrong.
[00:04:07] Speaker D: That's right. That's right.
[00:04:07] Speaker A: That's awesome. So what year was that when you started in downtown?
[00:04:11] Speaker D: We got married in 86, bought the property in 87, and moved here in 88 incorporated.
[00:04:18] Speaker A: Awesome.
[00:04:18] Speaker E: Awesome.
[00:04:18] Speaker A: Well, you got started quick, then you weren't here very long, and you were ready to.
[00:04:22] Speaker D: That's why we're so.
[00:04:23] Speaker A: Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. So tell us a little bit about new frontiers for those that don't know what it is.
[00:04:29] Speaker D: Okay. New frontiers is.
It's a lot of different things together. It's a camp, which. It isn't a traditional camp. It's mostly based on high elements, meaning like ropes courses and challenge courses and caving and canoeing and just things that would challenge us to our soul. So there isn't, like, normal things there. There isn't, like bumper cars or just normal things. We don't even have, like basketball because that's something that's really normal. And people would come and, you know, the high school players would play and everybody else would watch. So it's just, everything is just very, just designed to be unique and to make people think.
So that's our. That's our camp, which is also a year round retreat center.
And then the second pillar is our arise homes, which is for kids without parents, boys specifically, that don't have parents.
And then our third pillar we call the mantle, which is just the idea of passing on our ways of teaching and ways of learning and ways of revealing truth to other people. So, and then we have a sponsoring agency which came out of new frontiers, and that's called edgy designs, and edgy is a ropes course. Building and inspecting a company that we operate used to be part of new frontiers. People would say, hey, can you come build this for us? So we got the certifications to build and inspect, and then that helps us fund the rest of the organization.
[00:06:04] Speaker A: That seems like such a special skill set to learn how to do that.
[00:06:08] Speaker D: It is, yeah.
[00:06:09] Speaker A: So how did that start? Were you just.
[00:06:12] Speaker D: Well, you know, we had a lot of time and we didn't have a lot of money, but we had our degrees in outdoor recreation and we had our faith and we wanted to put them together, and so we started to learn how to build, went to other camps and learned how to build things. And from there, we started building on our own, and then people would come and say, hey, can you build this for us? And so we started doing that, and then our insurance company said, you should separate that out.
[00:06:45] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:06:46] Speaker D: So everything we do has a lot of, in the insurance world, everything we do has risk.
[00:06:50] Speaker A: Right.
[00:06:51] Speaker D: And so they wanted us to separate the risks, and so we did. And that's actually been really beneficial because then it can feed financially, feed the other organizations.
[00:06:59] Speaker A: Oh, that's great. That's a way to be resourceful, use what, you know, to help feed.
[00:07:03] Speaker D: Yeah, I'm not a very good fundraiser, and, you know, so it helps.
[00:07:09] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:07:09] Speaker D: So it's kind of like Paul in the Bible. He was a tent maker. So we're kind of a ropes course builder.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: Oh, there you go.
[00:07:14] Speaker D: Helps us out, so.
[00:07:15] Speaker A: And I can tell that faith is a big part in your mission, right. In what you do.
[00:07:19] Speaker E: Yes.
[00:07:19] Speaker D: There's a lot of christian camps out there that are really, really good. But 35 years ago, most of them didn't have ropes courses and didn't have zip lines and things like that. And that was our specialty. And we worked in other facilities where. Where you could teach those skills, but you couldn't use your faith or even discuss your faith. And so we thought, wow, we're making changes in people's lives, but they're external changes, not internal changes, and so they don't last. And our hearts and souls, my husband and I am talking about, we were all about sharing with people the difference that Jesus has made in our lives. And he's our hope, and we want to spread hope. So let's put the two together. Jesus taught experientially. We teach experientially modeled after him. It's a great way to teach. And people, when they're put on edge, they're open to hearing and to listening. And so it works really well.
[00:08:16] Speaker A: That's one of the things I kind of was picking up on and I was kind of using my imagination. And I've been to your place. It's been several years ago. I think we went there maybe for a leadership DeKalb session or something many moons ago. But there's a lot of truth to what you just said. It seems like when you have to lean on and depend on the ropes to hold you up, and that feeling of depending on something beside yourself. Right. It kind of opens up conversation starters and kind of helps you reflect a little bit internally on things. So.
[00:08:48] Speaker D: Yeah, that's exactly right.
[00:08:50] Speaker A: Yeah. Talk about the cave a little bit more. What's the size of this cave and how do you use it so well?
[00:08:56] Speaker D: The cave is. The cave is actually pretty big when you walk in. It's a walk in entrance, which we wanted. We didn't want. We have another cave on the property. We have to drop in with ropes and all that. But it's a lot easier to take beginner cavers. We're not really trying to teach the skill of caving either. We're just trying to take people on experiences. And so it's a walk in. The entrance is about 30ft wide, and then you can walk in about a football field before you have to crawl or duck or anything like that. So it makes a really good. We worship down there. Put a thousand candles out and sing. It's beautiful.
Can sleep down there. You can cook pancake breakfast down there. You know, you can make it an event. But then we crawl about 3 hours with a group, take them in and take them through all. They really don't go very far.
It takes a long time, but it's a very unique experience. And the metaphor that is so strong down there is that light always overcomes darkness. So no matter how dark the dark is, the smallest light defeats it, and you can't, you know, when you walk into a dark room, you don't shovel out the darkness. You turn on the light. And so it's all about who's light for us or where is our light coming from, and then how are we shining that light for other people?
[00:10:11] Speaker A: That's a great place to illustrate that. Right in the middle of a cave.
[00:10:14] Speaker D: That's right.
[00:10:14] Speaker A: There's no natural light there for sure. So as far as your retreats, kind of explain how that works, and if someone was interested in maybe, you know, hosting a retreat there.
[00:10:24] Speaker D: Okay, so we do it a couple of different ways. We have what we call open enrollment courses, where people just, we put a retreat out there and say, on such and such a weekend, we're going to do this or that or a week long camp, and people sign up for it.
[00:10:37] Speaker A: Right.
[00:10:38] Speaker D: And then other things are groups. Most of the retreats are groups. They come from a church or a school or some kind of leadership team or a business, and they say, hey, we want to bring our team there, and we want our youth there, and we want to have an experience and what can you do for us? And then everything's custom, which is very, I think, really unique to us and very strong. It's a strong component. It's why we exist. We don't exist to just, you know, cook for you and clean up for you. We exist for taking you on a process of learning. And, yeah, we cook for you and we clean up after you and do all those things, which we love doing because they give us the opportunity to help you walk through whatever process. So a corporation might come to us and say, hey, we're having trouble with communication, and we'll take you through games or through experiences where, I mean, try to canoe without communicating. You know, we have a big, giant canoe. It's with 14 people in it, and they all have to canoe together.
[00:11:35] Speaker A: Yeah. You learn how to communicate really quick, don't you?
[00:11:38] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:11:38] Speaker D: So. And if they do it well, they can pull the water skier. You know, it's like you've got to work together. So we just take whatever theme they have and then develop a program around it.
[00:11:47] Speaker A: I love that church group.
[00:11:48] Speaker D: They'll say, hey, we're really talking about, say, forgiveness. And so then we'll take that theme with them and walk through what activities they want to do, and then how we can debrief those activities to help their kids understand the concept of forgiveness.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: Right. I'd say after doing this for so many years, you probably know how to customize those retreats for just that specific purpose that people are asking about.
[00:12:13] Speaker E: Right.
[00:12:13] Speaker D: That's our strength, and that's why we do what we do. People say, you should write a book. I'm like, you can't write a book because you need. It's not a cookie cutter thing.
[00:12:22] Speaker A: It's too personalized for that. That's right. Well, talk about the camps. You have some camps there, right?
[00:12:28] Speaker D: Yes, mostly in the summer. Yeah. And they are everything from our classic camp, which is a week at camp where the kids stay on campus for the week. They go caving, they go canoeing, they do the zip line, the pamper pole, just all the high elements and lots of games, campfire nights.
And it's all based on a theme.
Every summer, we set a theme for the year, and then those camps are all the camps that we put out as open enrollment camps are based on that theme.
[00:13:00] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[00:13:01] Speaker D: So we call that the classic. Yes. Camp. Youth empowered to stand is what that stands for. And kids can sign up for that. And they have different emphasis. Some of them are just. There's a photography camp. There's a farm camp because we have horses and goats and bees and lavender and that kind of stuff. So there's a farm camp, there's the photography option, and then there's waterfall week, where kids who don't like the high elements, they like to come to that one because it's just all canoeing and hiking.
So that's our classic camps. And then we have some expeditions that go off site. We go cycling off site on rail trails, and then we'll go backpacking on the appalachian trail.
[00:13:44] Speaker E: Wow.
[00:13:44] Speaker D: Things like that.
[00:13:45] Speaker A: So you literally have something for everyone. I mean, we try to.
[00:13:48] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:13:49] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:13:50] Speaker A: It doesn't matter what part of the outdoors you want to be a part of. It sounds like you can really custom tailor it to whatever you want to do. Right?
[00:13:55] Speaker D: Right. Yeah.
[00:13:56] Speaker A: I was reading on your website some things, and you had a mention on there about homeschool day. Describe that for us because I thought that sounded really fun.
[00:14:04] Speaker D: It is. It's fun, and it's one of our biggest, biggest things. It's seven Thursdays a semester, and again, we start with a theme, and it's a biblical theme. And then we teach through that theme over those seven Thursdays.
But we teach it experientially so they'll do activities that will bring out those.
Whatever we're trying to teach, whatever the theme is. And it starts at eight years old and goes through high school kids and they're divided into age groups. When they come, there's usually about 80 to 100 kids.
[00:14:37] Speaker C: That's a lot.
[00:14:38] Speaker D: Yeah, it is. It's our biggest thing, really.
And they. So we divide them into their groups and have worship in the morning and I kick off the theme and then they just go to their different activities. And then the staff lead them through the activities and then debrief to the theme.
[00:14:56] Speaker A: When do you rest during all this? That's what I want to know.
[00:14:59] Speaker D: Yeah, well, that's.
Yeah, there's plenty of time for that later on.
[00:15:05] Speaker A: We'll worry about that later, right?
[00:15:06] Speaker E: Yes.
[00:15:06] Speaker D: As long as we're resting inside. That's our big thing. We have to be at rest inside.
[00:15:09] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:15:10] Speaker D: So when we rest, God works.
[00:15:13] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:15:14] Speaker D: You know, and when we work or strive, then God rests. So we have to keep our inner sanctuary at rest.
[00:15:21] Speaker A: It's all that balance, isn't it?
[00:15:22] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: Talk about the arise homes. You mentioned that briefly at the beginning of our conversation.
[00:15:28] Speaker D: Yeah. We have homes for kids without parents.
And they are boys. They started age. We're licensed for eleven to 18, but most of our kids are 13 to 17.
[00:15:40] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:15:41] Speaker D: And they are. The state considers it a level two group home. The kids don't live with us forever. They come, they've. For some reason or other, their parents can't take care of them and so they need a place to live and maybe there's no kin to help them. And so the state is looking for a placement. Most of these kids have been placed in a foster home and for whatever reason that didn't work.
And, you know, our kids are usually don't have. Don't have records or anything like that, but they are angry and broken, you know, and so they might not run away from a foster home or something like that. And so they end up with us because we're more structured, but we're not a lockdown. Our kids go to public school, but they just live with us. And there's eight kids in the house. And before COVID we had two houses. Right now we only have one.
And the kids, they kind of become brothers and they work through. They do all the same activities that campers do and then they have tutors for school. They go to school, and then they have. They take care of animals and learn how to, I mean, how to just be responsible. You know, I usually do this with my hands, but, like, me and my problems, too, there's a whole world out there from, you know, I'm a mistake to know. God created you with a unique purpose, and he created you for glory and honor. And let's be about that.
[00:17:03] Speaker A: No names or anything, but any specific examples of how lives have been changed as they've gone through some of these programs?
[00:17:09] Speaker D: Yes, lives have been changed. Our own lives have been changed. But it's also just.
Well, with the rise homes, it's easier to see because they're with us for a longer period of time. Some are with us anywhere from six months to a couple years. And as they go through that process, they grow and learn, and then they, you know, they leave and go to a different situation. Some get adopted. Some actually get to go home. Some go to independent living where they get jobs and go into the workforce or some go to the military, but they age out from us. And then they'll show up, just come in one morning and be like, hey, do you remember me? Like, help me out here, because they look so different, you know, and then they'll tell you, they're like, oh, my gosh. How you doing? They usually stop by.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: That's got to make you feel good when you. It does.
[00:17:59] Speaker D: Yeah, they usually stop by to, you know, share some kind of milestone in their lives. Yeah, I had a baby last week, or, you know, I got married or, you know, whatever it is.
[00:18:08] Speaker A: And, well, you're kind of part of their family at that point.
[00:18:11] Speaker D: Yeah. So. And a couple of them have come back and worked for us, and that's really special, too, because you get to watch them over a period of much.
[00:18:18] Speaker A: Longer time, and they definitely understand the. The programs and things. They were there. Yeah, they got a lot of hands on.
[00:18:23] Speaker D: So the campers, it's not as easy to see because they're only with us for that week or that short period of time, but we'll be shopping or something, and somebody will come up to us and see our shirts or something, like, hey, I went there, and you really. This really changed my life.
Or somebody will call and say, hey, my wife wears her shirt all the time and I need a new one because it's falling apart. And we're like, okay, it's really important to her.
[00:18:52] Speaker A: Any idea how many people have gone through your property there, through all those different programs?
[00:18:58] Speaker D: We've been there 35 years. You know, we started with, you know, maybe 500 people in the first year.
[00:19:05] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:19:06] Speaker D: And so that's not even people. That's what they call student days.
[00:19:10] Speaker A: So thousands and thousands of people.
[00:19:12] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:19:13] Speaker D: And the boys in a rise. There's only eight at a time.
[00:19:17] Speaker A: Right.
[00:19:18] Speaker D: But a lot of kids have gone through there and we started that in. In 2000.
[00:19:22] Speaker A: Are you ever in need of more help and volunteers?
[00:19:25] Speaker D: Yes, we always need a volunteer. So we have volunteers who come in and do just simple things, you know, weed the gardens, pick up a mower or a weed eater. I mean, the property is over 200 acres, and so there's just lots of care to it. And we don't have many employees, so we rely pretty heavily on volunteers. Almost everything that we've built has been built by some adult who knows what they're doing and a group of kids.
[00:19:49] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:19:50] Speaker D: So. And that's amazing. So.
[00:19:52] Speaker A: And we'll give your contact information out here in just a moment at the end of our discussion in case there is someone that wants to help.
[00:19:58] Speaker D: Yeah, that'd be great.
[00:19:58] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:19:59] Speaker A: So I know you're. You're very focused on outdoor activities, outdoor living and getting in touch with nature. But at the same time, you can ignore where we are today as far as technology and how it keeps things running and that sort of thing. I assume you. You do use some technology, right, to keep the business going?
[00:20:17] Speaker D: Yeah, we use. Obviously, our office is just like any other business office with computers and Internet and. Thank you, DTC. We have the Internet going on, but we also use it in the camps. Worship is a big part. So sometimes it's acoustic around a campfire, but sometimes it's on the stage with lights and sound and Internet.
[00:20:40] Speaker A: Oh, that's great.
[00:20:40] Speaker D: Downloaded stuff. And so we use it a lot. Our newest level of accommodation are these yurts. I don't know if you know what a yurt is, but they're like circular buildings.
[00:20:54] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:20:55] Speaker D: And we're trying to start what we're calling family camp. And it's just places where families can have reunions together, but also do activities and.
[00:21:03] Speaker A: Oh, that sounds fun.
[00:21:04] Speaker D: Activities that are customized, that they can do within the. Like a dad could lead an activity and then they could have a discussion.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: And just, well, you got a great place for it. I mean, why not, right?
[00:21:14] Speaker D: And we decided not to have Internet there, but we have, you know, security and all that kind of stuff there, so we still use it and we. And we have the ability to turn Internet on there. You know, if it was a leadership retreat or something like that, where they would need access to. But we don't want the kids in family camp to just be playing video games. And that kind of thing kind of.
[00:21:37] Speaker A: Defeats the purpose right there.
[00:21:38] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:21:38] Speaker A: So I'm sure you're always looking for new ideas and things, and that's one of them. What you just mentioned, do you have any other new things that may be on the horizons there?
[00:21:45] Speaker D: Yeah, we're just about to put into action what's called a canopy tour. And so canopy tour is just zip lines that are attached to one another. And so you make a journey instead of just going down a zip line and being like, whoa, that was cool.
It's a journey of go from one line to the next, through the woods and down the hill. It goes down a ridge.
[00:22:04] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:22:04] Speaker A: Having seen it firsthand, it's pretty amazing, honestly.
[00:22:07] Speaker D: Our taglines are to be intentional, so that's where we start. And for us, it's to be intentional in our relationship with God.
[00:22:15] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:22:16] Speaker D: But we do it in three ways, by anticipating divine appointments, which if it's a corporate group or school group, it's just anticipating the aha moment or the moment where something wakes up within you. And so we anticipate that divine moment and then process it metaphorically. So, like, everything in nature mirrors something in the spiritual world. So what is this telling me? And how can I incorporate this?
[00:22:38] Speaker A: How can you relate that?
[00:22:39] Speaker D: How can I relate this? And then once I'm thinking metaphorically, it's very easy for truth to be revealed to me. And we work like we play. So if it's a corporation, you know, we, you know, if you do that at work, you probably are going to do that in the game, you know, and so then people can discuss it in a pain free way because it's funny in the game. It's not funny at work, but it's funny at the game or even with kids and their families. You know, it's. This is. This is something that we can. We can process through and truth sets us free. So the more truth we know, the better.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: That's very, very true. If someone wants to get in touch with you or learn more about how to get started, what should that? I'm sure you have a website.
[00:23:17] Speaker D: We have a website, yes.
And there's a contact form on there and they can just send that in and we get. We follow, you know, we'll respond.
We have a Facebook page.
And then. Because there's always the phone. Yeah. So I phone it. That's one of the biggest changes for me over the years is the phone is not the primary way people contact.
[00:23:39] Speaker A: You anymore, but digital communication just keeps growing.
[00:23:41] Speaker D: Yeah, that's right. Yeah. So, but those are the ways or stop by.
We're kind of out of the way, but you know, the easiest way is probably the website.
[00:23:50] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:23:51] Speaker A: And you're right there at the bottom of highway 70, right as you're going.
[00:23:54] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:23:54] Speaker A: Up 70. Smithfield.
[00:23:56] Speaker D: Yeah. Or 70 and Dry Creek road intersect. There's a big side down there.
[00:23:59] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:24:00] Speaker A: Well, Miss Laurie, thank you so much for stopping by and thank you for what you do. And it's definitely, you can tell it's a very important mission in you and your husband's lives and we appreciate you guys devoting so much of your lives to it.
[00:24:11] Speaker D: So thank you.
[00:24:12] Speaker A: Well, thanks for being with us and thank you for watching. And we'll have more of the show coming up in just a moment.
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[00:25:22] Speaker A: And welcome back to the show. And we're going to throw it to Justin right now because he's going to lay that knowledge bomb on us, right. With a little Justin's tech tips. What do you have for us today?
[00:25:34] Speaker C: Well, today we're going to talk about something that most people already utilize, but they may not utilize it to the fullest potential. We're going to talk about, and you mentioned it in, in the intro, keyboard shortcuts, which like most of my tech tips I know were intriguing and fascinating and everybody just can't hear enough about them.
[00:25:51] Speaker A: They're all on the edge of their seat.
[00:25:52] Speaker E: Justin.
[00:25:53] Speaker C: I know. Listen, keyboard shortcuts though, it's something that again, most people tend to overlook or not think about as much, but it can make your workflow so much more efficient. Most of the time we want to take, we'll have our hands already on that keyboard. We'll be tapping something and we need to do something. Oh, I need to close this window. I need to swap this window. I need to copy this file and you will take our hand off the keyboard. We'll move it over to that mouse, we'll go do whatever it is and then we have to come back and you think, oh, that doesn't take too much time, but if you do that 100 times in a day, how many seconds have you, have you just lost?
[00:26:27] Speaker A: Very true.
[00:26:27] Speaker C: And that may be five minutes of efficiency by using keyboard shortcuts that could really help with your workflow. And I think if everybody said, hey, if I could have five more minutes a day to do something, we would probably all want to do that. And so, yes, I would love any additional time that I can get. I would love to do that. So when we think of keyboard shortcuts, most of the time people are probably thinking copy and paste. And the commands for windows and Mac OS, which is the two main operating systems that people use, are similar. If you're on windows, you're going to use control and you're usually going to hit another button. If you're on Mac OS, you're going to hit command and then hit another combination of buttons. So you got copy and you've got paste and you've got cut and paste. So those are the ones that we think about often. But there's quite a few different things that you can do. You can swap between apps, you know, by using that command and control. And you can hit tab and go from one app to the next again without having to take, go to the mouse, navigate to that app, bring it up. You can resize windows. And you know that I am a big, I like to have my windows right where I want them right, whether it's on Mac or whether it's on Windows. I like to resize my windows. And again, keyboard shortcuts is, oh, hey, I'm on this app here, I can do this shortcut, put this application here, let me tab over to the next application. I can stick that application on the right side. Now I've got them both brought up and you can do that in a couple seconds versus navigating and taking your sweet time to do that. Probably one of the biggest ones that we should be doing more often. And I remember Mister Apple, who was my spanish teacher in high school, who always encouraged us to save and save often whenever working on documents. So hit learn that save shortcut, control s on Windows, command s on Mac OS and save your documents often. Because how often have we had a crash or we close something and we didn't say, like when was the last.
[00:28:21] Speaker A: Time that I did?
[00:28:22] Speaker C: I saved that again half a second. Every so often it doesn't take up any time and it just makes so much easier once you learn this. Some applications have specific shortcuts, some operating systems have specific shortcuts and they vary a little bit. But if you can learn ten to 20 of those and incorporate them, the savings that it's going to have, the time savings and it's just going to make you more familiar with what you're operating with and I don't think you'll regret it.
[00:28:49] Speaker A: It's honestly, this sounds like an exaggeration, but if you use a computer every day as much as we do, it's life changing. It saves you so much effort and time and makes a big difference. And you don't have to be an expert at the very beginning to learn all these, right. You can go to Google and Google something like popular Mac shortcuts or popular Windows shortcuts and that would at least get you started on a list of them.
[00:29:14] Speaker C: Apple and Microsoft both have support documents on the most common shortcuts for their operating systems. So you can go straight to their documentation and see these common shortcuts and just start learning a couple at a time. You don't have to learn them all at once, but learn a little. And next thing you know, I know these three or four and then well I know these ten and you may be like, well now I know 50 of them. And again those are 50 tasks that may have taken you five to 10 seconds before that most time will take a second or less.
[00:29:42] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:29:42] Speaker C: And it adds up.
[00:29:43] Speaker A: That's right. Well that's a great one. That's one we use every single day for sure.
This month we have Mister Hunter Hendrickson with us with the city of Smithfield. And technically you are the city administrator, right?
[00:29:56] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:29:57] Speaker A: All right, tell us about yourself and your position and how you got started doing that because that's pretty interesting.
[00:30:03] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:30:03] Speaker F: Well, we were living in Nashville, my wife Monica and daughter Ella, and we decided to move back to Smithville. That's where we wanted to raise our kids and originally came for another job and it fell through and this city administrator position opened up and I applied and got it. Been there since 2007.
[00:30:28] Speaker A: I can imagine the amount of things you've had to learn over that amount of time. As far as I know, more about.
[00:30:35] Speaker F: Water plants, sewer plants, airports, you name it, I've learned a bunch of stuff I never thought of.
[00:30:42] Speaker A: Was it kind of difficult for the first few years just trying to get your head wrapped around so many different things? I bet it would be.
[00:30:47] Speaker F: It really was. And then, but luckily we've, we have low turnover, so I've got a good support team.
[00:30:54] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:30:55] Speaker F: That makes my life a lot easier.
[00:30:57] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:30:57] Speaker A: It always helps when you can lean on others a little bit.
[00:31:00] Speaker F: So I believe in surrounding yourself with good, good help.
[00:31:04] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:31:04] Speaker F: Makes my job easy. Easier.
[00:31:06] Speaker A: And I like what you said about kind of wanting to come back to raise your kids kind of in this small town environment. There's a lot to that. You hear a lot of people doing that.
[00:31:15] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:31:16] Speaker F: Well, I never thought I would, but I'm glad we did. Yeah, of course, you know, my wife has her roots, and Alexandria and me and Smithville, so got to grow up around a lot of family, which was good for the kids, get to keep.
[00:31:30] Speaker A: Up with everybody you went to school with and that sort of thing, too. Right.
[00:31:32] Speaker F: If you remember them, I run into them.
[00:31:36] Speaker A: One thing that Smithville is really blessed to have, in my opinion, is a very nice park for everyone to go and enjoy, especially in weather like we're starting to see now in this time of year. And Greenbrook park, in my opinion, is one of the best around that I've had the pleasure to be at and enjoy. So what can you tell us about your involvement at Greenbrook park? How do you work with that?
[00:32:02] Speaker F: Well, obviously, the city, you know, we have some part time employees that open and close it and certain times of the year and whatnot.
[00:32:10] Speaker E: It's.
[00:32:11] Speaker F: Cause it's used a lot, and we're getting about into the season to start up the splash pad again, which has been a big improvement, in addition.
And, you know, it's just, it's been a great place. You know, a lot of people walk every morning or afternoon or go there and have lunch and whatnot. So it's, it's used a lot more than nothing. People realize.
[00:32:35] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. And what do you have? Do you have a lot of, like, day to day kind of operations that you have to be involved with, or is it just like certain times of the year kind of thing?
[00:32:44] Speaker F: Well, luckily, our public works director, Kevin Robinson, he's. That's more what he's over. So, you know, when they have needs, they come. When they need money, they'll come to me and, you know, just to keep it up and whatnot. So luckily, I have other people to take care of a lot of the issues over there, if we have any.
[00:33:05] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:33:05] Speaker A: And it's such a big park, it probably takes a few people to keep it going and keep it nice and, and updated and clean and that sort of thing, so.
[00:33:13] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:33:13] Speaker F: And so far, I mean, with the addition of the splash pad. It's increased the amount of people coming out there.
[00:33:22] Speaker A: So talk about that a little bit. Now I know the term splash pad and I have an image in my head.
[00:33:27] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:33:28] Speaker A: But kind of describe it for everyone.
[00:33:30] Speaker F: Well it's Mayor Miller a couple years ago that became a pet project of his and to put something else out there. And it's just basically it's about a 2500 square foot of concrete that just has various water activities. And it's you know for kids and it doesn't run constantly. If somebody's there they've. It's touch activated and it stays on for so long.
[00:33:54] Speaker A: But it's okay.
[00:33:55] Speaker F: But it's got all kinds of little.
I don't know what you would call it like activities.
[00:33:59] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:34:00] Speaker A: Things you can do.
[00:34:01] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:34:01] Speaker F: So it's. It's heavily used and it's been a good addition.
[00:34:05] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:34:05] Speaker F: To the park.
[00:34:06] Speaker A: That's awesome. You don't think about you know a lot of city parks the size of ours having something that unique and special. So to me that just kind of blows my mind a little bit that we have. That's awesome.
[00:34:19] Speaker F: There's a lot of smaller towns. I know Livingston. They've added one and several other towns close to our size. So.
[00:34:25] Speaker A: Okay. So maybe it's just becoming a more popular.
[00:34:27] Speaker E: Yeah it is. So.
[00:34:29] Speaker A: So tell us about the history of the park. I know it's been there for a very long time. What can you tell us about how it got started and. And some of the things like that?
[00:34:37] Speaker F: Well as far back as I can go I just know originally it was where the first water plant was.
[00:34:41] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:34:42] Speaker F: When I say plant it's more of a pump house.
There's a spring there where the pond is. So it was used at the beginning I think. Mister Tommy Webb told me. I think it was in the mid thirties is when Smith was first started getting running water. And so I assume it's been there that long. And then after the city built their own water plant on Sparta highway back in the sixties that's where I think they transferred it into a park. And then in the seventies with Joel Evans, the congressman with his model city project which did a lot for the city and county. And so got a lot of funds there to start building pavilions and the current amphitheater. And it's got a walking path.
[00:35:30] Speaker A: Now that was one of my questions.
[00:35:32] Speaker E: I was going to ask you.
[00:35:33] Speaker A: What's some of the things kind of describe the park for people that haven't been to it yet?
[00:35:37] Speaker F: Well it's. You can pull in. There's two different entrances.
When you come in, first thing you'll see is the walking path. We have probably six or seven pavilions that are rented out, like I said, the amphitheater and all kinds of grilling. You know, people can grill out there and, and it has a big playground in it. That was the professional women's club. They put that in in the, I think, late nineties. So it's a big wooden Ford fortress that gets used quite a bit.
[00:36:09] Speaker A: So I constantly see people playing, kids playing there.
[00:36:13] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:36:13] Speaker F: So it's. It's everything there is used quite a bit.
[00:36:16] Speaker E: So it's. It's.
[00:36:17] Speaker F: It's definitely a great addition to the city.
[00:36:21] Speaker A: I think one of the last times I was actually at the park was not that long ago, and I happened to be in Smithville for work, for some things, and I was hungry and needed to grab some lunch, so I hit one of the drive thrus there, but I got it to go and sat there in the park and ate it right there and rolled my windows down, listed to the radio, and it was beautiful.
[00:36:39] Speaker F: I mean, every day at lunchtime you'll see people doing the same thing. And the good thing is most people take pride in it and they keep it clean and they really do.
[00:36:48] Speaker A: It's always.
[00:36:49] Speaker F: It's not just the city cleaning it up, it's. Yeah, people take pride in it.
[00:36:53] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:36:54] Speaker A: And talk about some of the type of events that are held there at the park throughout the year. There's some typical kind of always going on events each year.
[00:37:03] Speaker F: Yeah. Especially this time of year. You get into a lot of birthday parties or family reunions, some church events.
[00:37:12] Speaker A: They'll rent the pavilions out, I guess.
[00:37:14] Speaker F: Yeah. Actually, the Church of God in Smithville. On Easter, they ran out the whole park.
[00:37:19] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:37:19] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:37:20] Speaker F: So that's kind of been their tradition, I think. This year I heard they had five or 600 people there.
[00:37:25] Speaker E: Wow.
[00:37:26] Speaker A: So that's a lot of people.
[00:37:27] Speaker E: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:37:28] Speaker F: So, and so we have relay for life. They hold their event there every year, so it's always a lot of little things. Rotary Club used to use a lot for their fish fries and just various different organizations will use it, but definitely a lot of families.
[00:37:46] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:37:47] Speaker F: So.
[00:37:48] Speaker A: And you have the amphitheater there, which is always neat, too. I know I've seen some music there throughout the years, too, from time to time.
[00:37:54] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:37:54] Speaker F: It's not the biggest one in the world, but we've actually put a grant in for a new one. I don't know if we'll get the money, but it would definitely be a much bigger, more up to date amphitheater.
[00:38:05] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:38:06] Speaker F: So hopefully we'll get that grant. We won't know for a while.
[00:38:08] Speaker A: Good luck on that. It's already. Actually having it at all is pretty unique. So I don't know of a lot of parks to have, have that. So as far as exercise, I know every time I go there, there's always people on the walking track. Right. That use it a lot. Do you see that a lot, too?
[00:38:25] Speaker F: Every morning? Yeah, I usually cruise around in the mornings and look over.
[00:38:29] Speaker A: I check it over.
[00:38:29] Speaker F: There's people there. People there in the late afternoon, so it's. And during their lunchtime as well.
[00:38:35] Speaker A: What's the busiest times usually? Typically during the week?
[00:38:38] Speaker F: Saturdays and Sundays.
[00:38:40] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:38:41] Speaker F: So that's, you know, as long as the weather's good.
[00:38:43] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:38:44] Speaker A: You see a lot of people playing basketball, too. I know you have some courts over.
[00:38:47] Speaker F: There a little bit. Starting to see a few. You know, it's not a full regulation court, but it's, you know, it's. It's two goals. And, you know, I've seen most of the time there'll be at least somebody playing there, so, you know, you don't.
[00:38:59] Speaker A: Need a full regulation court to talk smack and throw elbows in people's faces and have a little fun.
[00:39:05] Speaker C: Right.
[00:39:05] Speaker F: Well, yeah. And that was, that was a good addition, I course. And we.
[00:39:11] Speaker E: It's.
[00:39:11] Speaker F: It's in the parking lot, but we fenced it off, so it's not like cars are all around you, but. Right, but, yeah, it gets used. It's on the NHC side of the. Of the park.
[00:39:20] Speaker A: No, I think that's awesome. When the weather's nice, if you can get a pickup gang going or something like that. It's a lot of fun.
[00:39:24] Speaker F: I've seen several.
I need to. I need to walk the path, too.
[00:39:29] Speaker A: I do, too. Maybe we'll run into each other one day when we get that New Year's resolution list started. So I've got a friend years ago who kind of introduced me to this sport, and I never heard of it, but it's quite popular now, especially in certain pockets, and that's disc golf. And I understand y'all have a course area.
[00:39:49] Speaker F: Yeah, we. We have a. I think we have six. I don't know what you call them, nets or whatever, but we've had a lot of public people inquiring about it, and I didn't realize that many people around here played it, so we looked at the cost. It wasn't that bad? It was adding something new to just a vacant part of the park.
[00:40:11] Speaker E: So.
[00:40:12] Speaker F: So, yeah, that's. That's up and going.
[00:40:15] Speaker A: I think that's pretty unique that you're always looking for new ideas and listening to the public and trying to make it better and stuff. And honestly, that's probably why the park is still around and doing as well as it is, because you guys really take pride in keeping it maintained and clean. But also, uh, you're always trying to add that little something, you know, just to kind of keep it going so.
[00:40:37] Speaker E: Well.
[00:40:37] Speaker F: Mayor Miller, luckily, he takes a lot of pride in it, and he's main reason a lot of this has happened. And he's not running this year, so I'm not plugging him.
[00:40:46] Speaker E: But.
[00:40:47] Speaker F: But, hey, I do have to give him credit. And the board of alderman, they're very supportive and have backed it.
[00:40:53] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:40:54] Speaker F: You know, everybody's excited about it, and.
[00:40:56] Speaker A: It'S great because, you know, everybody gets to benefit from that.
[00:41:00] Speaker F: I mean, people that don't even live in the city can use it.
[00:41:02] Speaker A: So let's talk about some of the technology upgrades recently that you guys have worked on there at the park. I know you've. We've been working with you a little bit here at DTC. So, yeah, we're.
[00:41:13] Speaker F: We should have done this several years ago, but, yeah, we finally added security cameras, which is, you know, it's for the safety of people that use the park and also, you know, for liability of the city.
[00:41:24] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:41:24] Speaker F: And, you know, there has been vandalism over the years there, so we're hoping this will crack down on that. And. And then, of course, well, we've got Wi Fi for, I guess it covers the whole park now.
[00:41:38] Speaker A: Oh, that's great.
[00:41:38] Speaker F: So, yeah, you know, DTC installed all that, and that's been in for a while.
[00:41:43] Speaker A: And it's.
[00:41:44] Speaker F: As far as I know, it's. We've had no complaints.
[00:41:46] Speaker A: That's great. That's great. You know, you need. You need. Even when you've got something that's so non technical as a park and you think about, you know, the playgrounds and the walking track and other things like that as time goes on, sometimes technology, you know, comes around that is helpful in keeping something like that running. You know, and just having the cameras and things like that, too, is probably nice because you can probably check in and make sure everyone's okay.
[00:42:11] Speaker F: Yeah, make sure with the addition of the splash pad, that's, you know. Yeah, just. It covers everybody just. Just in case. But, yeah, it's been a luckily we hadn't had to use the security cameras yet, or we haven't go back and look at.
[00:42:25] Speaker A: Well, you know, honestly, that's the best part of a security camera system. A lot of times it's the deterrent part of it.
[00:42:30] Speaker E: Exactly.
[00:42:31] Speaker A: And it works. I mean, when people know that there's security cameras in, you know, a place like that, they're probably, if you had somebody that was up to no good, so to speak, it might.
[00:42:41] Speaker F: Yeah.
[00:42:42] Speaker A: And we've had twice.
[00:42:43] Speaker F: We're, you know, talking about people going there and eating lunch. I've seen people with their laptops out and. Yeah, you know, probably doing some work as well and.
[00:42:50] Speaker E: Yeah, whatnot.
[00:42:51] Speaker F: So they can do it without having any Internet interruptions.
[00:42:54] Speaker A: No, that's handy, for sure. Well, if somebody wanted to use the shelters, you know, for an event or, or book something at the park or just to learn more about Greenbrook park in general, what should they do?
[00:43:05] Speaker F: Well, they can call city hall at 615-597-4745 and hit extension two. That goes to miss Holly Anderson, and she, she writes down in reserves, all the shelter, certain ones, and, you know, it's no charge. We do accept donations.
Some people do, some people don't. But, you know, it's. And it just goes back into the funding of the park as far as, you know, maintaining it.
[00:43:33] Speaker A: Right. Thanks, Hunter, for being here. Hunter Hendrickson, the city administrator for the city of Smithfield, come back and see us down the road. If you got some new stuff coming on, your stuff, feel free to give us a shout. We'll do some more talking about it.
[00:43:45] Speaker E: All right.
[00:43:45] Speaker F: Not a problem.
[00:43:46] Speaker A: All right, stay tuned. We'll have more of the show coming up here in just a moment.
[00:43:50] Speaker G: My name is Ashley Roth. My husband Caleb and I own stain and seal experts based in Alexandria, and we are a DTC customer.
Caleb grew up in the fence industry, so when we got married and wanted to do something on our own, it made sense for us to start staining fences and manufacturing fencing, deck and log cabin stains.
We manufacture our own stains that check all the boxes for us, that we offer to our customers here locally as well as nationwide that buy our products.
DTC services all of our phone systems. We also have their fiber Internet. For our phone system to work is instrumental for us. We rely heavily on our Internet and phone services from BTC. It means a lot to us that they're local, that they've always been local, and that we're able to support them and their services give us what we need to support our customers. Hi, I'm Ashley and that's the DTC difference.
[00:44:54] Speaker A: Hey, I think I see someone I recognize returning. Justin. Mister Jared Bradshaw. Thank you. Jared, good to see you, buddy.
[00:45:01] Speaker H: Thanks for having me back.
[00:45:02] Speaker A: Yeah, we just said, hey, we gotta pull some strings and get Jared back here. That's a lot of knowledge.
[00:45:07] Speaker H: A lot of knowledge.
[00:45:09] Speaker A: Hey, actually, what it was, was I meant to have more donuts here and I knew you'd be my partner in crime and help us eat them.
[00:45:17] Speaker H: I would definitely help y'all eat some donuts. If we had them.
[00:45:20] Speaker A: If we had them.
[00:45:21] Speaker H: If we had them.
[00:45:21] Speaker A: See, now I have a way to lure you back. Maybe for another time. That's right. Yeah, I've got something. Just bribe you, you can be bought, right?
[00:45:28] Speaker H: That's right.
[00:45:28] Speaker A: All right, so we are going to start this segment off with our ask the expert part of the show. And we're glad to have you back here. So I know you're going to talk about something pretty interesting to me and probably to a lot of families that use Internet in their homes as well. So what are you going to talk about today?
[00:45:45] Speaker H: Today is going to be all about command IQ. So the command IQ is an app that you can download on your phone if you have a smartphone, whenever a technician comes out and does the installation. Or if you go pick up your router, it'll have this in the box, this little piece of paper here. And what it is, is you can download this app here called Command Q, and it allows you to change your Wi Fi name and password, but it also allows you to do a bunch of other stuff. So through this app, you can monitor who's on your network, you can kick them off. You can also set limitations for your kids devices.
Like, say you want your kid to be off of the tablet at seven, you can turn it off at seven and make it come back on at seven in the morning.
[00:46:31] Speaker A: Oh, that's cool.
[00:46:31] Speaker H: So it's pretty neat.
It's very easy to use, very easy to set up. You'd rather get this and be able to change your wifi name and password than having the 16 digit password that's on the.
[00:46:44] Speaker A: So you can do that and now you don't have to call in, right? Correct.
[00:46:47] Speaker H: Absolutely.
[00:46:48] Speaker A: Help with. You can do it yourself.
[00:46:49] Speaker H: Absolutely. But no, it's. It's awesome.
You can do a bunch of different things on there. I saw a customer one time, they had turned off the led light on the router, but other than that, that's. It's pretty simple, easy to use and all it takes is just. Just getting the app and filling out the credentials.
[00:47:09] Speaker A: So does it work on Android and Apple?
[00:47:12] Speaker H: Yes, you can get it in the App Store and on the Google Play Store.
[00:47:15] Speaker A: Okay, awesome. Awesome. And as far as learning curve, how long do you think it would take the average person to learn how to use some of the features you mentioned? Is it pretty complicated or is it pretty.
[00:47:27] Speaker H: No, it's pretty straightforward.
It doesn't take long. You get on there and play with.
[00:47:31] Speaker A: It a little bit.
[00:47:32] Speaker H: It won't take long to figure it out.
[00:47:35] Speaker A: In the sheet that you were showing us a minute ago, I guess, has some tips on how to get that started and get logged in, correct?
[00:47:40] Speaker H: Absolutely.
[00:47:40] Speaker A: Okay, well, that sounds pretty neat. What do you think, Justin?
[00:47:43] Speaker E: Do you.
[00:47:43] Speaker A: Have you seen it? Have you used it much?
[00:47:45] Speaker C: Yes, I've used it. I just want. I do want to clarify, though, that this is free with your DTC service, correct?
[00:47:51] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:47:51] Speaker C: It's not cost anything additional.
[00:47:53] Speaker A: Okay, great. So if you're a DTC Internet customer, then this is something really. There's no reason why not to use this because it's totally free and it just gives you more control over your own home network, right?
[00:48:06] Speaker H: Correct.
[00:48:06] Speaker A: So let's just. All right, let's play hypothetical.
[00:48:10] Speaker E: I like to do that.
[00:48:11] Speaker A: So, okay, let's say I have a child who has recently got in trouble.
He was being unruly and he lost his Xbox privileges for two days. Can I go into the app and find that and turn that off and say, you're grounded for two days?
[00:48:30] Speaker H: Absolutely.
[00:48:30] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:48:31] Speaker H: You could set it to turn off, and then whenever you want to turn it back on, you just go back into that device on the command IQ app and turn it back on.
[00:48:37] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:48:39] Speaker C: I actually had something unintentional the other day with my local network. So my wife had decided that she was going to give one of our children access to the iPad after normal hours. And she didn't let me know this. She's like, well, it just wouldn't work. It wouldn't connect to the Internet, and it wouldn't do anything like. Yeah, that's by design.
[00:48:59] Speaker E: Exactly.
[00:49:00] Speaker C: It did exactly what it was supposed to do. It wasn't supposed to access the Internet at that time.
[00:49:05] Speaker A: So you can lock out adults or children if you really want to, you can take control of everything, right?
[00:49:11] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:49:11] Speaker H: I sometimes mess with my wife, and I'll turn the tv off, like the wifi on the tv, and she'll text me and say, wifi's not working.
[00:49:19] Speaker A: So whoever has control, they need to be treated very nicely in the house. Right. That's a lot of, that's a lot of power you're wielding there.
[00:49:27] Speaker H: You're exactly right.
[00:49:28] Speaker A: All right. That's a great tip. So if you want to get started again, all you have to do is go to the App Store if you're an Apple user, or the Google Play Store if you're an Android user, and look for Command IQ. All one word command IQ, and you will find that, download it and look for the QR code on the bottom of your DTC router, which should link it up to that app and you'll see the instructions also that the installer would normally leave with you and it should walk you through it. And if of course, you have any questions, you can always call DTC at 615-52-9295 give us a call and we'll be glad to help you through the process. It's pretty painless and it will definitely help you out. So next in the show, it's time to throw it to Justin for his tech news roundup. So what's been going on since we last spoke in technology?
[00:50:18] Speaker C: So got quite a few interesting things that have happened. One thing is NAB 2024 has happened in the month of April. So we got a lot of things coming for that. If you don't know what NAB is.
[00:50:29] Speaker A: Yeah, explain that to everybody.
[00:50:30] Speaker C: It is if you are in video production or you are a television broadcaster, anything to do with that? This is their big convention that they host annually. Big thing for this is you're going to have software updates, you're going to have product updates and announcements. And I even saw one video of a content creator who literally said, Nab 2024 changed my life. So because of some of the things that were introduced, I just want to highlight some of the products that were announced. There's way more than what we're going to be able to talk about during this short timeframe. But I just want to hit on a few things, you know? So Atomos is a company that does primarily video monitors and video recorders is their big thing that they offer. They introduced a new product designed to work with the iPhone 15 Pro and the Pro Max only at this time because those are the only devices that have a USB C connection where it will turn your phone into a pro grade video monitor and recorder. So using the capabilities of the iPhone screen and using the USB C input where it will record in ten bit color. And so if you're a video production person, you understand what, what that means, but to be able to utilize the storage and the capabilities of the iPhone in a different way than what most people are used to. It does not use the phone as a camera, and there are plenty of companies that do that, but it uses it as a recorder, which is one of the first times that I've seen something like this going along with it. With the smartphone craze, you know, rode, which is a big manufacturer in the microphone space, is introduced some accessories, again, for iPhones.
[00:52:09] Speaker E: Okay.
[00:52:09] Speaker C: And these are. But these, both products are specific to iPhones, where they haven't gotten into the Magsafe craze, but they've been introducing a lot more products recently which will be utilized with smartphones, whether it's iPhone or Android. And so they've come out with a new case and some magnetic accessories to be able to use your microphones or to be able to use lights or anything like that with your iPhone accessories. So the mobility of content creators is really being expanded, and you can up your game through some of these things.
[00:52:41] Speaker A: Maybe you want to do your own podcast on the go or something.
[00:52:44] Speaker C: You know, it was cameras galore at Nab. I know black magic kind of stole the show with some of their cinema cameras. They introduced three new cinema cameras with some super large sensors, up to 65 mm, which for most people, old school, traditional film was 35 is like what you shoot IMAX on, right? So to get a lot of, a lot of data, right.
[00:53:06] Speaker A: I don't want that much detail. I don't want a camera like that looking at me. I don't think the world needs that.
[00:53:11] Speaker C: So, also announced at NaB, and we'll spend a little bit more time on this. Adobe is talking more about just going to shock y'all. Generative AI. I know we don't ever talk about AI.
[00:53:24] Speaker A: I've heard of that.
[00:53:25] Speaker C: We don't ever talk about AI. So Adobe is expanding what they call their flat, their Firefly model. So it's been used in Photoshop, in beta for a little bit. Now, they've got generative AI already in some of their products, but this takes it a step further, and they're expanding it into video now. And the demonstration that they used was pretty interesting. So if you're a video editor and you're used to your timeline and what a timeline is, it's where you have your, your video and your assets and your sound and everything organized.
[00:53:56] Speaker A: The clips that you're editing for you.
[00:53:57] Speaker C: To be able to work with, to where they can take specific clips and they can add elements to those clips, or they can even remove in generative feel where an item is. Oh, you don't want, you don't want this car in this clip. So we'll take that car out and it will frame by frame, replace where that car was with something else, or if you need to. And we talked about this with Sora in the past. If you want to come up with a new clip, you need what's called b roll. So you've got your main shot, but you want to, you want to add something that's a little bit more interactive to it. You just type it in and say, hey, I need this shot. This is what I want you to generate and show to my audience. And it will generate a new clip for you with nothing else. It will just generate that clip and throw it in that project for you.
[00:54:43] Speaker A: That's crazy.
[00:54:44] Speaker C: It's scary at the same time as being pretty interesting because it opens up the world of possibilities. But it also, there's some ethical.
[00:54:54] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:54:55] Speaker C: Yeah. You know, you've got, you know, we're going down a path, potentially, where, you know, it's not going to require that human creativity that was once required, or maybe even the skill set that was once required to be able to edit and to capture and to take these concepts and put them into reality when it's just there, literally at the click of a mouse.
[00:55:18] Speaker A: So there was a box of Krispy Kreme donuts here during this video.
We could program the AI in it to, say, remove all evidence that we were ever eating those.
[00:55:29] Speaker C: Or since we don't have them today, we could have added it to the cleanup.
[00:55:33] Speaker H: Don't be lying to them.
[00:55:34] Speaker A: That's right. I think that's a, that's a better choice. Justin. I think you're onto something there. But the problem is those AI donuts, those virtual ones, just don't taste the same.
[00:55:42] Speaker C: Yeah, they're not.
[00:55:43] Speaker A: Yeah, they're not, but they're low calorie.
[00:55:45] Speaker C: Yeah.
The virtual hot and hot and ready sign doesn't hit the same way as a real.
[00:55:51] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:55:51] Speaker A: It's just not the same. No. That's awesome, Justin. Well, I appreciate it. It's always good to hear what's coming down the pike on the technology and video and audio production, too, because a lot of people that you don't have to be in the audio or video business, honestly, to use this stuff every day of your lives. If you have a phone and you take a photo or a video of your kids or whatever, you know, this is technology that, that could affect you. And a lot of this higher end technology always trickles down to the consumer grade products, too.
[00:56:22] Speaker C: Well, that's why you see these companies who for the longest time were in the professional space, and now they're making consumers products, or prosumer products, as some of us like to call. But it is, it's trickling down because people's skill sets are becoming more advanced, but they're also making the ease of use so much easier, too.
[00:56:40] Speaker A: Right? Right. That's awesome. Well, keep in tune to what's going on and fill us in next month with some more techie news. Coming up next is the what's up DTC segment. This is where we talk about all the different places that DTC will be for the month of May. And we'll get started with an event that you definitely do not want to miss. And that is good old days. The good old Days festival in Woodbury, Tennessee, will be on Friday and Saturday, May 3. And.
And then after that, we'll have the DeKalb Middle school career fair on May 7. We'll be there, as well as the Cannon County Elementary School career day on May 10. Then the older Americans day at the DeKalb community complex. That will be on May 15, followed by, oh, this makes me hungry, the Cornbread Festival in Smithville, Tennessee, which will be on May 18.
The Cannon County Cruise Inn and car show, which is awesome, by the way. You definitely need to check that out if you're a car person. That's on May 25. And for all of you bargain hunters out there, the Liberty Yard sale is going to be here on June 1. As far as DTC, three events and programs that we'll be involved with for the month of May. We'll have all the various high school award programs that are going on in our surrounding schools will be there, quite a few of those, taping those and broadcasting them on channel three, as well as posting them online. And we'll also have the graduation programs from these same schools coming up for broadcast. And we'll have those online for a limited time as well, so you can catch those. And if you ever want to learn more about these events or other things that we're filming on the local channel front, just go to DTC three tv and you can learn about all of it there. And I think that's gonna do it for the month of May. Jared, thanks again for returning and doing the little cameo appearance. You did a great job and learned a lot about command IQ. I appreciate it.
[00:58:37] Speaker H: Appreciate you guys having me again.
[00:58:39] Speaker E: Yep.
[00:58:39] Speaker A: And okay, ow. Donuts next time. My arm. Let go.
[00:58:46] Speaker H: I guess. I guess I can come back for some donuts.
[00:58:48] Speaker A: Okay, you've been officially bribed then. Justin, thanks for joining us as well. Thank you to all of our guests today. Until next time, we'll see you later.
[00:58:56] 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.
