Welcome to the Agenda Fluid Podcast.
I'm Ben.
And I'm Donovan.
We were going to have a special guest in this particular episode, Samuel Lewis, but he blew his voice out this past weekend.
I guess playing a game or something.
He does D&D and all kind of tabletop stuff like that.
Sounds like a guy with a lot of time.
Well, he chooses to spend it differently than we do.
He does.
Also, he doesn't have kids.
He does not have kids.
And he does seem to seek a work-life balance.
And he's always done that for as long as I've known him, since 2011.
That's how long I've known him.
That's respectable.
Yeah.
We might try that.
I mean, I try.
I really do.
I think getting an office in town and getting out of our fucking houses, going somewhere to work and then leaving work to go home.
I think that would go a long way.
Here's a funny thing when you talk about that.
Growing up and when I first got into the workforce, I was all about, ooh, I want to be able to work from home.
That would be the coolest thing ever, right?
Just work from home.
You know, and that means I can, if I want to go take a nap, I can take a nap, et cetera, et cetera.
And don't get me wrong.
I like my setup.
But there are days that, and I can't believe I'm going to say this, some of these fucking corporations are actually right about this return to the office stuff.
Absolutely.
Now, I mean, Tyler won't necessarily, he will sort of agree.
When he was not mandated to go back to the office, he said he was actually more productive working at his apartment.
But there is something to be said for the camaraderie and being able to actually talk to people face to face.
And for him, there's a lot of people that will come to his desk and ask for assistance or questions and things like that.
Yeah, there's that.
But he's got two things going for him.
Mm-hmm.
Well, one thing going for him.
And another thing about him where working in the office might not be the best.
First, he lives alone.
I assume he lives alone.
He does.
That's it.
He has no distractions outside of his own.
Correct.
He doesn't have a kid or a dog or a wife or anybody turning a fucking blender on during a Zoom call.
And that's true.
And then when he's at the office, he's pretty good at what he does.
Mm-hmm.
And his advice is sought pretty often.
So he gets interrupted at work.
If he's in the office, he gets interrupted.
Yeah.
So he's a special case.
Yeah.
I'm always worried about accountability.
If I were to hire somebody and go, yeah, just work remote.
I don't know what's in the background on the phone when they're talking to a customer.
I don't know if they're doing what I need them to do.
That's fair.
I mean, you could put systems in place, but then you're just an overlord looking at aggregated data and KPIs.
Yeah, I don't want to be a micromanager.
You know, back whenever I was running CityNet, that's the thing.
I did not want to micromanage.
I gave my superintendents or supervisors, I was like, y'all run your own departments.
Just let me know if there's something y'all need help with.
And that's the way it worked.
Yeah.
But the work-life balance, I'll just call it separation.
Yeah.
You know, computers and stuff used to be a hobby.
Then it became a job and I don't like it so much.
So I fucked up a really good hobby.
I know, right?
Because I turned it into a profession.
Yeah, that's what I was always afraid about podcasting.
Not that I've ever been successful, but I was like, this is a cool hobby.
I'm going to do a show today.
Yeah, I'm going to do a show today.
Damn it.
Okay, so how about we actually do the show?
Oh, yeah.
So what have you, have you had any thoughts on the last episode or had any deep thoughts in the past two weeks?
Not really.
It's something I still wrestle with.
I mean, we shared, you know, that specifically that episode with Sam and he thought it was really, really good.
And which is the reason why it came about that he was going to join us and talk about another specific topic.
But we'll hold off on saying what that is until we do the actual episode.
I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say.
Yeah.
What about you, though?
You've thought any more about it?
You had any epiphanies about purpose or is what we were just talking about?
Part of that is like we need to we need to realign our lives a little bit and like, OK, we need an office in town, need somewhere to go.
We need to carve out certain sections of our day.
I mean, what what are you thinking?
You know, I I've had thoughts that are based on conversations in the past, but I'm having a little brain fog today.
So I can't remember exactly what I wanted to say, but that's OK.
Maybe you should have written it down.
Keep moving.
Yeah, I think I was driving.
At this point, it's probably illegal to scribble and drive.
That's the reason why I verbalize it.
I bring up I have this app.
It's the best recording app that I've I've ever used.
And it's on my phone and it's on my watch.
It's called Just Press Record.
And so I'll bring it up, just tap it on my watch, and then I can just start talking and it automatically uploads it to iCloud.
And I've actually used it in the past while I was walking up and down the driveway to record an episode of Call Me Donovan.
It turned out actually fairly decently.
I mean, I've warned everybody what I was doing.
And of course, it picked up, you know, the nature sounds and all.
But some folks like that.
Yeah, I, I, I don't wear my B anymore.
Why?
Because it's too fucking hot outside.
I can't wear a watch either.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
I generally don't like whenever I'm cutting the yards.
I don't wear a watch.
Yeah, I just, I can't stand outside for five minutes wearing anything plastic against my body.
Hmm.
Well, download that app.
At least, I mean, put it on your phone.
It's called Just Press Record.
It's free.
Okay.
It's really good.
Good quality.
So do we want to, you want me to pull a card off this?
So deck?
Yeah.
Now, what, what, what is this deck called?
It is called?
We're not sponsored by these people.
I just, I just never heard of it.
Okay.
Let me put the spectacles on.
So, it is called, well, so.
Fifty-two cards.
Endless conversation.
A collection of questions for deeper discussions.
This is actually volume two.
Conceived in Manila.
Printed in Belgium.
And on the back of it, it says,
Many people crave great conversations, but few know how to start one.
A good question can be the tiny spark that ignites a forest fire of thoughts, ideas, and
personal revelations.
This deck has 52 of them designed to foster deeper or more entertaining discussions than
if you had simply asked, how are you?
How was work?
Or did you see that thing on the news?
Bring this to parties, to the dinner table, or to a stranger.
Take turns, take your time, and see where one card can take you.
Okay.
I shuffled the deck earlier.
We'll pick a card.
Any card.
Pull one straight off the deck, and let's see what it says.
Given an unlimited budget, how would you plan your own funeral?
Oh, really?
I mean, we can skip cards if we fill.
It's going to be a 15-minute show now.
Okay.
I mean, we can skip cards if we don't want to answer that one.
No, I mean, we can talk about it.
Well, see, I don't plan on having a funeral.
That's the problem.
I don't either.
I'm not going to plan it because it's not for me.
I'm being cremated.
No matter the disposition of the remains.
Yeah.
If you want to hold a memorial, do it.
Yeah.
I mean, I used to joke about the fact that it would basically be a wake where everybody
would gather at a certain location where that'd be a bar.
or someone's home and everybody just get rip, roar, and fucking toe up.
Yeah.
And because I won't give a shit.
I'm not there.
Yeah.
I think at one point, I guess I was a teenager.
I don't know what made me think about it, but I decided I wanted my funeral procession to travel at 110 miles an hour.
Could it be impossibly?
Because most of the speedometers had 110 on them as the max?
I don't know.
I just wanted to, I wanted them to just not take it easy getting to the, to the grave site.
Wow.
Things have changed since then.
And I don't, I'd rather not be buried.
Yeah.
Even though in the state of Georgia, you can now be composted.
That's preferable.
That's actually legal effective July 1st yesterday as we're recording this.
Even if I had an unlimited budget, there's nothing I would, I would necessarily do for my own funeral.
Other than, I don't know, throw a big ass party for everybody to just do whatever they wanted to.
Huge cookout, maybe.
But I'm, like I said, I don't, I'm not going to be there.
I won't care.
Yeah.
It's like my mom said whenever I was told, you know, we had this thing back whenever my mom passed away in 2019.
And we were sitting at the funeral home and everybody wanted to do this thing and that thing.
And it was like, oh, what kind of music are we going to have?
And my cousin told me that my mom said that she didn't care what kind of music was played at her funeral or graveside service or whatever, because she wasn't going to be there to hear it.
She would be up in heaven listening to the harps.
That's, that's relevant.
I was like, okay, well then there's not going to be any damn music and we're having a graveside service and that's it.
Yep.
And I would not let them have an open casket either.
Eh.
It, I guess if I, if I were compelled to, to plan my own funeral or memorial service, it would be full of shit for everybody else.
It would be a fully funded fun house party with adventure games and I'd get people out of their comfort zone.
That, that's what I would do.
Yeah.
Rock climbing.
Skydiving.
Psychedelics.
Here's a list of things that Ben says you have to do to honor him in, in the non-afterlife or whatever, but.
Right.
And they can say, oh, it's, it's what he would have wanted me to do.
Yeah.
Go do something.
Go live a life.
That's what I would do.
That unlimited budget.
Yeah.
Drive a race car.
Um, play, play, uh, poker in Vegas, you know, unlimited budget, whatever.
You know, also the other thing I just, it just occurred to me, if unlimited budget is unlimited, then I would probably pay off because I would treat it just like, you know, I'm thinking unlimited budget.
I won the lottery.
I pay off of my, all my closest friends debts.
It's like whatever they pay their house off, the cars off, everything.
This is, this is what I give you in my, in my, my last act of being on your mind.
Also, I'm, I'm no longer your friend.
But I will take the stress off of you.
So you don't die as early as I did.
How about that?
Exactly.
Yeah.
Um, my father-in-law has some, some things he wants done.
And I mean, they're not ridiculous there, but they're useless.
He's not going to be there.
Mm-hmm.
He, he hasn't, uh, he hasn't worn a military uniform since he got out of the army.
Like, mm, say 1970.
Yeah.
Never talked about it.
Saw some horrible shit.
Went through some things.
Refused to talk about it.
Um, but now he wants like a full military honors service.
Well, I mean, at the very least, if he's a veteran, he'll get the, he'll, he'll get the, um, couple of people will come out.
It's usually two, I think.
And, um, they'll play the bugle or whatever.
Yeah.
I can't remember if they'll fire, I'll fire the rifles or what have you.
Because they did that for my, my step-grandfather.
He was, um, he was in World War II.
He was a bombardier.
Matter of fact.
Hmm.
Used to love to hear his stories.
But whenever he passed away in, my grandmother went, I want to say around July of 04.
And he was like three months later.
And so it was like within the span of four months, I had two funerals to attend.
And when we went to his, that is, that, that gave me chills when they stood there and they, they played the, uh, I guess it's taps.
Mm-hmm.
And I was like, holy shit.
That gets you in the fields, man.
But I was like, you know, he, he deserved it.
I mean, he hadn't been in uniform, as you say, since World War II, but.
Yeah.
I mean.
But it was just, it's just funny that, that's something he wants done and has not, has never made his military service of, um.
He didn't wear it on his sleeve.
Yeah.
He didn't wear it on his sleeve.
It's, it's not an anchor.
You know, he, his oldest child is 50 now.
Mm-hmm.
Um, or in his fifties, cause I'm almost 50.
Shit.
He's probably mid fifties.
Um.
You're getting old, man.
But I mean, it's just never been a part of, but he, now he wants people to, to do that.
And.
Yeah.
It's just never been a thing for anybody who's going to be there.
Um.
It is kind of weird.
It's like, it's not, it's never been brought up, but it's like, this is what I want.
Okay.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
That was the odd thing.
It was just, it's never been a thing until after you die.
Mm-hmm.
But anyway.
I think everybody that served in active military, um, whether they saw combat or not, I think they,
they deserve that because I know I've never served in the military, never really wanted to serve in the military.
I know you did, but, um, and I, I think that's anybody that does that to me, usual, unless they turn out just to be absolute cocksuckers for some reason, but.
They're, yeah, about 30%.
But most of the time that it elevates them in my eyes, just like one notch above the average human.
So.
That's one way to think about it.
But, um, after having kids, um, and seeing one of them, um, at that age where, you know, she's older now than I was when I joined the army.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and, and looking back on decisions I made at that time in my life, um, I didn't do it for pride.
I didn't know what the fuck I was doing.
Mm-hmm.
I didn't know what I was getting into.
Um.
Was it just one of those things?
It's like, well, I don't know what to do next.
Let's go into the.
Well, I graduated high school and I did not even know what a bachelor's degree was.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I had a solid job, uh, an auto parts store.
So I was driving from Baconton to Moultrie every day.
Um, and I think I was working in the store by myself on a Sunday.
And I was like, you know what?
I'm gonna get the fuck out of here.
And I called my recruiter and I said, um, let's go.
And that was it.
It got me out of Georgia.
It got me some life experience.
Yeah.
I didn't like it at all.
Um, I, well, I did enjoy certain parts of it, but only my interaction with the officers.
I didn't get along with any or many other enlisted men, but I became the commander's driver,
the company commander's driver.
Mm-hmm.
And, um, then I didn't have to, um, I didn't have to deal with the 30% dickheads.
Uh, but yeah, I don't want any military aspect to a service.
If I had to plan it on myself, it wouldn't have anything to do with it.
Do you think, do you think that compulsory service would be a good thing?
Fuck yeah.
Yep.
Some sort of, not, not necessarily military.
Yeah.
Some people just aren't going to do well in the military, but a public service.
They can go file papers for the county office.
Some sort of public contribution for a minimum amount of time.
Right.
It doesn't have to be military or combat level service.
Um, but being forced to work with others and, and complete an objective.
Mm-hmm.
I think that's good for anybody.
Okay.
So even if you're in a wheelchair or you've lost an arm, you can still serve the country.
Right.
Not, not for the government, but for the people in your community.
I think that's, that would be incredibly beneficial to the individual.
Yeah, there's somebody I heard recently, and I cannot recall who it, who it is, but it's
somebody that I listened to podcast or something.
And they were talking about that, that they, they thought it would be advantageous for everybody
to be pushed through some type of compulsory service.
Kind of, and they, they even said like you, it doesn't necessarily have to be military,
but it's gotta be, you know, you can either go into military for two years or you go and
do some kind of public service for two years, something like that to get your, your feet wet
and, you know, straight out of high school.
That's where you gotta go.
Maybe even do it before you go to college.
And then maybe that helps pay for college.
Possibly.
Or it gives you a skill.
Yeah.
That you can fall back on if college doesn't work out.
Cause some people go to college who don't need to be there.
I would say that's a lot of people.
I joined the army and within the first couple of years, I realized I learned a very important
thing.
And that thing was that I should have gone to college.
And, uh, I'm convinced that some people go to college and, uh, probably never realized
that they should have just joined the military.
Mm-hmm.
I don't know.
See, I'm, if some people, I think you're right, probably will do well if they go to college.
I have, I do believe though, that Mike Rowe is correct.
That a large majority of people just need to go to a trade school.
Absolutely.
Learn a trade and then start a business.
Maybe not right out of the trade, but like AC, you know, if you go for AC repair, then you've
got to go and work for a company for a couple of years, probably before you'd want to start
your own business, electricians and things like that.
But, and you've, you've got to, you've got to be mentored, if you will, before you can
even get certain licenses and certifications anyway.
Mm-hmm.
So yeah, go do that.
Come out of high school, go spend two years in a trade school, go get a job with a company
for about five years, have whatever the minimum is, maybe five to 10.
And by the time you're in your late twenties, if you want to jump ship and go start a business,
the United States runs on small mom and pop shops.
If they dry up, this economy is fucked worse than it already is.
So I, I'm not a big advocate for pushing people into college simply because it costs too fucking
much.
Yeah.
It's a racket.
It definitely is a racket.
So yeah.
I mean, if I had to, if I was forced with a, forced into a situation where I had to change
my career, like at this point in my life, I would go to trade school.
It'd be a diesel mechanic.
A welder.
Well, yes.
I would actually love to, to learn how to weld.
Yeah.
And, and I've heard, especially if you want to do under like deep sea welding and stuff,
which that apparently.
I'm too old for that shit.
I know, but apparently, you know, if you weren't that, that is some money.
That is some money to be made.
Yeah.
The, the risk reward thing kicks in, but.
It's probably about as bad as working on an oil rig out in the ocean though.
Well, I don't know.
It's a pretty good gig if you're not married.
Yeah.
That's, that's a young person's game.
It's gotta be, it's, it's a young person's game.
By the time you're in your mid fifties, no, I got to figure out something else that doesn't
require me.
Well, you would hope by the time you're in mid fifties, you can just sit out on the oil
rig and supervise.
Yeah.
That's apparently I did something very wrong because I'm not sitting on that oil rig and
I'm definitely not supervising.
You want to, you want to try another card?
Yeah.
We, we got time.
All right.
What is this one?
Are we going to retire that one or at least market?
Yeah.
I've got to figure out a way to keep it out of the deck and then not lose the damn cards.
I just turn it backwards.
All right.
What is one underrated quality you find attractive in a person?
Ooh.
Attention to detail.
Okay.
Attention to detail.
Underrated.
Yeah.
Who's underrating these qualities?
That's what I'm, that's what I was trying to figure out is like, by, by whose metric is
it underrated?
Well, it can't be mine because.
What is one underrated quality you find attractive in a person?
A sense of humor to me, whether that's underrated or not, is a very attractive thing in a person.
Whether, whether it's male or female, you know, a dude.
That's got a good sense of humor, a woman who's got a good sense of humor, especially if I'm trying to court her.
And well, her sense of humor is about me, but yeah, but I don't know if that would be considered underrated.
That, we may have to write that down and visit it in the first part of the next show, because I'm sure I'll think of something.
Okay.
I'll have to think about that one.
I'll write it down now.
You might want to.
I'm going to pull another card and then read it whenever you finish writing that down.
We got 52 of these.
I think we can, we can probably, I'll buy another deck.
I'll buy, what'd I say this one was?
This is a part two, volume two.
I'll go find volume one.
All right.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
I don't know about this one.
Okay.
You ready for this one?
Let's do it.
Who are the people most likely to thank you in their speech if they ever won an award?
I can't think of any because a lot of our work goes unnoticed.
That's true.
If you're good, it's unnoticed.
Okay.
If you're terrible, it's absolutely noticed, but you won't be thanked for it.
So it's a lose-lose.
Yeah.
For that.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure none of my clients, if they won an award, would go.
And I'd like to thank Donovan for keeping all of this stuff running.
Yeah.
Like, is there anybody else you've, like, outside of work?
Anybody else you've assisted or mentored who won an award?
No.
Wow, that just, that question really makes me feel bad.
Yeah.
Thanks.
Thanks, Donovan.
You're, okay, we're going to the next one.
So, speaking of makes me feel bad.
Yeah.
When I learned how old Thomas Jefferson was when he signed the Declaration of Independence,
I just, I just dropped my head.
Wasn't he, like, 33?
33.
Yeah.
Forming a fucking country.
What have I done?
People don't do that kind of shit anymore, you know?
You've decided to do a couple of podcasts with me, and we're sitting here playing a card game, trying to figure out life.
That's what you've done.
This is how we entertain ourselves.
Oh, God.
Okay.
What's a common trait shared by everyone you've dated?
They all don't like me.
Not a single one.
Oh, my God.
Okay.
They're all ex-girlfriends.
How about that?
Yeah.
That's a common trait.
They're all female?
They're all female.
They're ex-girlfriends.
They're all Caucasian.
None of them went to college.
My wife did, but we're no longer dating.
I mean, technically, you are.
That's what marriage is.
That's just one long, extended date.
Matter of opinion.
That's true.
That is true.
I mean, that's what my wife tells me, though, is, you know, we got to get out and date occasionally.
Otherwise, I'm like, honey, we've been married 35 years.
I think the dating is gone.
Yeah, but I get what she means.
I get what she means, but oh, wow.
Physical characteristic, I will say I am attracted to dark-haired women.
Brunettes or black-haired.
So, you know, I do appreciate a redhead.
Yes.
I have never dated one.
I don't know why.
Yeah, I'm not sure.
But there are some on the television.
That are, you know, it would be difficult for me to get tired of looking at them.
There's one on Instagram.
She, I forget her handle.
It's ginger something or another.
She's British, I believe.
And she is just cute as can be.
And she does this stuff about how, you know, eating ginger is good for you, good for your health and all of that.
I mean, she does all kinds of sexual innuendos and all this other kind of stuff.
But I was like, yeah, I do not get tired looking at her at all.
Yeah.
No, I don't, I don't really have a hard set list of physical attractions.
I can't remember when it was.
I don't fly that often, but I was in line to get on an airplane.
Mm-hmm.
And I was behind this young, young lady.
She turned around and I could not breathe.
She was stunning.
Yeah.
And I couldn't say anything.
Mm-hmm.
Because, you know, it was probably 2009-ish.
I mean, what are you going to do?
Look at her and go, God damn.
Oh my.
Yeah.
I just, I mean, I almost teared up.
That's, she was a fucking doll.
Yeah.
Wow.
And then the lady behind me looked at her and she goes, oh my God, you're so pretty.
And I was like, I'm not alone.
Yeah.
And thank you for saying that.
Yes.
Another woman can say that and it's not, it's not creepy.
I've not been struck like that before.
I didn't hear her speak.
I didn't, I don't remember what she smelled like, but.
Yeah.
She, she turned around and wow.
It just.
You know, somebody that does me like that, almost does me that way, but I've never met
them in person is, do you know the actress Alexandria Daddario?
No, I've probably seen her.
You have.
She's got, she's got these crystal blue eyes.
And, um, did you ever watch the, the Percy Jackson movies?
No.
Okay.
Well, then I can't because the other thing is that she's in is, uh, um, I just forgot
the name of the series, but it's a, uh, it's a witch series.
They just, they've done two seasons of it so far.
Anyway, she's someone that I felt, I feel like that if I were to see in person, I probably would
not be able to breathe because just, you know, just in photos, she is freaking stunning.
Yeah.
I watched, um, the age of Adeline, Blake Lively.
I was going to say that sounds familiar, but yeah, I haven't watched it.
But that, that's when I, um, I decided that she's one of the most attractive people in
entertainment.
Blake Lively?
Yeah.
Ryan thinks so.
At the time.
Ryan thinks so.
Yeah.
Well, fuck Ryan.
Henry Cavill.
These are, these are people I have man crushes on.
My family jokes about it all the time.
My, my man crush is John Mayer.
Really?
Yeah.
Not that he, not, it's not his looks.
It's just the life he lives.
Is that John Mayer?
Is he the singer?
Yeah.
That's what a guitarist.
He's more of a guitarist than a singer, but yeah, that's right.
But in the age of Adeline, there is no angle on Blake Lively that it's not perfect.
Like there's no camera angle.
It's bad.
As a good director, good director of photography too.
Yeah.
Not saying that she's not well-deserved to, you know, she,
that she doesn't exhibit those looks.
I'm just saying.
Well, she's not at the top of my list anymore, but.
Yeah.
And this is now the man show.
We're talking about attractiveness.
Yeah.
And this is the only thing we had to relate to.
Yeah.
That's true.
Oh, I will say one thing.
This might get me into some, a little bit of hot water.
Intelligence.
Intelligence without, I don't know what, there's gotta be a word for it.
When, uh, someone interjects and goes out of their way to try to convey that they know what
they're talking about.
Intelligence without the arrogance.
It's not, not so much arrogance, but, um, I don't know.
It's like they're trying too hard.
Yeah.
Like they're trying to prove a point.
Like, look at me.
I am smart.
Yeah.
That without saying it.
Yeah.
Confidence.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and to a point, self-reliance without getting to the point of rejecting help from others.
Right.
Okay.
We got about five minutes left.
We're going to hold ourselves to this.
You want to do another card or?
Yeah.
Pick one.
We'll see if we can.
Knock it out.
I really thought we would run an entire show with one card, but maybe we will find, you
know, that one.
Oh, maybe this is the one we should have started with.
Maybe we do a cliffhanger.
In what ways are you privileged?
Oh, shit.
I guess, I guess you would have to define privilege.
I mean, it's privileged assumed or is it granted?
Oh.
Because, you know, we're white.
I was going to say, I can think of.
The first thing comes to mind is white privilege.
Yeah.
Which means, and that's granted.
Yeah.
I mean, it's just, it's not, it's granted to us because we're white and I don't necessarily
like it.
I don't, I don't want to.
There's nothing I can do to prevent it.
No.
And I mean, I'm not going to be ashamed of it either.
Yeah.
Um, let's, let's not talk about that.
Let's, we might have to take, uh, the two weeks between shows and kind of maybe make
a, make a bulleted list of what we want to say about.
In what ways we're privileged.
Yeah.
I don't know.
A privilege is something that you are allowed, right?
If you live a life of privilege, so being able to afford groceries, is that a privilege?
Some would say that is true, but I'm not sure if that's a privilege or not.
You know, maybe the, the opportunity to make enough money to buy groceries is a privilege.
I mean, I think, I think we could look at us and say the fact that we have what I would
classify decently successful small businesses, each of us, but we, we didn't do it by necessarily
luck.
We did it hard work.
And is that earned privilege at some point?
The fact that.
I'd say.
Yeah.
I think, I think that's.
I didn't cheat anyone on the way to today.
So.
No, me either.
Matter of fact, I went out of my way to make sure.
Sometimes I probably screwed myself trying to be overly generous.
I think I'm, I'm not, um, financially where I would be, but, you know, I forgot to tell
somebody something.
Well, I guess that, that part was free.
Yeah.
You know, if I had a, if I had a boss, uh, I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't get to do
that kind of stuff.
I wouldn't get to do the right thing and man, keep it keeps me from having to come back here.
Yeah.
When the power goes out.
So yeah, that, that UPS is free.
Um, but no, I didn't, I didn't cheat anybody out.
I think.
So it's earned.
Yeah.
I think I earned the privilege that I wound up having at CityNet because, you know, I stepped
into that, um, a newbie and worked my ass off to learn everything that I possibly could
about what it was that I needed to be doing and then just stepping stone to stepping stone.
So in a way, I feel like I was privileged to be in a position to do the things I did there,
to learn the things that I learned there, which helped me move on to where I am today.
Cause a lot of the knowledge that I have in networking and what have you, I learned
phones, I learned on the job at CityNet in city of Tifton.
And I mean, prior to that, it was more of the traditional stuff when I was working for colony
telephone of telephone systems, you know, the standard analog and digital, there was no such
thing as VoIP in the nineties, man.
But yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I guess we, we have earned our place in, in where we are.
I wouldn't, I wouldn't have a bag of keys to what probably 10 or 11 buildings in two states
and have unattended access to, to the things that I have if I wasn't, um, a trusted person.
So I think I've earned that, the privilege of, of serving my clients that way.
You think trust is a privilege too?
Yeah.
Because trust is earned.
It can be granted or, or presented.
Yeah.
That's true.
Yeah.
That's, that's true.
It's, it's, it's, it's one of those weird ones.
You earn the ability to be granted trust.
Yeah.
So.
And then sometimes trust is just assumed.
Yeah.
I had, I think right now I wasn't working at CityNet.
I, I, a couple of occasions I would go and do a service call at a house and the customer
would try to just leave me.
All right.
I got to go back to work.
Like, uh, no, I'm not staying here.
Mm-mm.
Nope.
Because if one thing is missing.
You lose a fucking earring, you can blame it on me.
Yeah.
No, you, you're, you're staying right here.
You're staying here or I'm coming back later.
Mm-hmm.
But yeah, that, I mean, that was just weird.
Oh yeah.
There were definitely some weird days there.
Weird years.
Yeah.
I don't, that's why I got out of the consumer game.
Yeah.
I actually, there was a while there I actually enjoyed, enjoyed is probably not the right word,
but when I got out of the consumer game and worked in an actual factory, whenever I, whenever
I went back to, uh, CPI in, uh, 2013, there was, uh, there was some positives there because
you didn't have to deal with the public.
Yeah.
You know, you just had to, me, I just had to make sure that all the plastic they were producing
passed the QC checks.
Yeah.
You know, which sometimes that in itself was a pain in the ass because, yeah, we.
We, um, we let a shipment get out, which to me had, it, it passed the QC, but we let a
shipment get out to a company.
And I think this was up in Macon and me and the ship, the shipping guy had to drive all the
way up to Macon with a trailer and pick that damn load up and bring it back to Fitzgerald.
And then of course it got ground up and turned into a regrind, which is, you know, in that,
in that you have pure plastic, you have the plastic pellets and then you have regrind.
And so you do a blend so that you're not always burning money just by extruding, you know,
pure plastic.
Yeah.
But, um, yeah, a little over two years of that and then interfacing with the public didn't
seem that bad.
It was scary as hell to begin with, but now, eh, whatever.
Yeah, I've, I have, I had to give a training courses when, when I worked for the state.
Um, so kind of got over that, but just walking in blind and, uh, just hearing people's gripes.
People have different ideas of what we do and they make assumptions.
Like I can fix anything cause it's like they see on TV and, uh, I just, I don't like that.
But there are days that I just want to have one job.
Yeah.
And then I think about having to be at work at eight o'clock when there's nothing to do at
eight o'clock and I go, eh, I'm gonna keep what I got.
Yeah.
I always loved, uh, I still love the ability to just do what I want to do.
Just explore an interest, read a book, watch a movie.
Cause I know everything's done.
True.
When there's nothing to do, don't do anything.
I mean, without feeling guilty.
There are things that I could probably be guilted into doing if I hung out with my MSP
buddies more.
Yeah.
Would, you know, start building the company and doing marketing and go door knock in and
no, this town is too small.
Yeah.
That, that reminds me of, uh, of Rob within, uh, infinity network solutions.
I talked to him several years ago, back when I, I think I was first starting this company
and, uh, he swore up and down.
And of course he was already at a position in his life where he was uber successful.
It would be just a few more years that they saw that he would sell the business off to another
company, but he had worked himself up as owner of the company to the point where as CEO, all
he did was network.
He literally go play golf and go to luncheons and things like that.
And he was telling me that I needed to do that.
And I'm like, dude, I'm out here trying to, trying to get scraps off of Longshank's table
right now.
I don't have time to go play golf and, and, and do luncheons and crap.
Yeah.
I got to deal with this fucking lightning strike last night.
Who are you?
I don't have people for that.
I'm still, I'm the guy at the CEO's desk and the guy under the customer's desk.
Exactly.
So yeah, that's what I got all this bullshit from people.
No, you got to do, you got to do the marketing.
Oh, you could do the, um, the, oh shit.
I can't remember the name of that lady.
She's a redhead.
Um, something marketing toolkit.
Anyway, it, those methods work in big cities, but none of the marketing people I ever talked
to, uh, give me something that would conceivably work.
I mean, I had, I asked Rob about coming down here, you know, and I was like, look, I'll
work for you if you'll, if you want a satellite office of infinity network solutions down here
in Tifton.
And he said, uh, let me, let me look into that.
So I think it took him about a week and he got back to me.
He said, yeah, we did a market study and he's like, it's, it's not, it's not worth it, Donovan.
I mean, it's like, it's just, there's nothing there.
You know, there's a ceiling, there's a ceiling.
Yeah.
He's like, if you can, if you can do it as a one man operation, he said, you're probably,
that's probably your best bet.
He said, that's the reason why we're headed North.
He said, going down South, we've looked at it before.
I looked at it again for you.
Yeah.
It's just not, it's not in our best interest.
There's nothing there.
Yeah.
If you're going South, you just need to keep going to Florida.
Go to Florida.
Yeah.
Or find a niche, get all the dentist office in South Georgia.
Yeah.
And he, and that's, that's actually something he pointed out.
He said, if you can do a vertical in, you know, like doctor's offices, he said, if you
can get the hospital and I'm like, the hospital's got its own damn IT department, come on.
And he said, yeah, but if you could get doctor's offices, you know, dentist offices and stuff
like that, then you, you probably got a good shot at making a go at it.
He said, but, uh, yeah, otherwise, yeah, probably not.
I'm like, well, that made me feel really shitty.
I was like, yeah.
Well, so I, I think the key for us and we're kind of getting away from the mental health,
but this, this agenda is fluid.
It is very fluid.
But I think the key for us is going to be diversity.
We can, we're going to have to start other businesses outside IT.
I agree.
Like a hot dog stand or something.
I mean, why do you think I got the media company?
Not that it makes any money, but that was the idea.
Yeah.
So, yeah, but I think I'm going to have to get really brash and in, in people's faces and
probably wind up, you know, being, uh, disappeared down to, uh, Alcatraz, alligator Alcatraz.
That'd be my luck.
Now, um, Beth brought up something earlier this week.
Um, she said, I wonder what it would take to bring Sonic back.
Ooh.
Yeah.
That's what I said.
Ooh.
So I miss Sonic.
I thought about it.
I think I thought about it this morning coming back from a haircut.
I was like, I need to sit down and find the franchise people and, uh, fire it off an email
or make a phone call and just make an inquiry.
Yeah.
I mean, the, the building's there.
Yeah.
I don't think it's going anywhere.
Yeah.
And I don't know, I don't know exactly what happened because it wasn't just the one in
Tifton that went.
Right.
The one in Fitzgerald went too and a couple other ones.
Was it the same franchisee?
I don't know.
Yeah.
I don't know.
I want to, I want to call and I want to ask.
Yeah.
I mean, cause if it's, you know, a couple hundred thousand dollars to, to do it, then
it's probably another half a million to make the property right and bring the store back
up again.
But I mean, it's a franchise.
Yeah.
You just follow the model.
Yeah.
My neighbor's not that smart, but he's involved in 10 restaurants.
Yeah.
Sonic aggravates the crap out of me because they, it's like they've upped their marketing.
I get emails three to four times a week about specials and I'm like, that'd be great.
I see commercials on TV.
Yeah.
Sonic.
It's like, where do I have to go?
Florida?
Yeah.
Told you marketers don't know shit.
They just blast it out.
It wastes money.
Yeah.
Oh man.
All right.
Well, I had already reset our timer back to 15 minutes.
So we got eight minutes left.
We might want to just go ahead and wrap it up.
I don't think we need to do another card.
Yeah.
I don't know how entertaining this would be to the listeners, but.
I don't know.
We're, we're going to just keep doing it because this is good for our mental health.
Well.
Just talking.
I agree.
And one thing that Sam said, he, he gave me some encouragement because he said, this is
the type of thing, just two guys talking about life he enjoys.
So if he enjoys it, then maybe there are other people that enjoy it too.
Yeah.
And I see you put that episode out.
What?
Is it just on the site or is it in a feed yet?
It's just on the site.
Yeah.
I was going to, I was going to wait.
We talked about doing a few of them.
Yeah.
So yeah, it's, it's just on the site so that I could link it to Sam or whoever else might,
you know, we might think, but no, it's not, it's not published on Spreaker and in the, in
the feed or anything.
Yeah.
We should probably get, well, this one and maybe one more in the bag and then start rolling
them out.
But you don't want them to age too much.
No, but they are sort of evergreen because that's kind of the idea.
Yeah.
I mean, unless you start talking.
There may be, there may be some, some subtle jokes like alligator Alcatraz that won't matter
in a couple of months.
Oh, I don't know.
I'm afraid it'll probably matter still in a couple of years.
Well, did that become a big thing?
I mean, I saw one tweet mentioning it, but.
Oh, he went down there and toured it yesterday.
Where?
In Florida?
In the Everglades in Florida.
Yeah.
It, uh, years ago, apparently this shows how much I know about it.
Apparently it started out as an airport or it was going to be, it was going to be like
one of the largest airports in the United States.
I don't know when this was, but it got shut down.
And then with all this deportations and all this other kind of stuff, the attorney general
down there decided, Hey, you know what would make a good, uh, uh, a retaining center.
We'll just build, we'll just make something down here.
So they put up a bunch of tents and other stuff.
And the fact that it's in the middle of the Everglades, they're like, yeah, if you try to
escape, you got to fight the pythons and the alligators.
And I'm like, this is, this is the, this is where we live now.
Yeah.
Well, people can just say things.
Yeah.
Well, we'll see.
Anyway, I guess that's where we're going to wrap it up.
All right.
All right, everybody.
Appreciate your time.
We'll be back whenever.
Thanks.
You know, agenda fluid.
Thanks for reaching the end of it.
Yes.
Thank you for finally, for getting to the end of it.