Red Is A Flavor

I live in the relatively small bedroom community of Rockledge, Florida.  At one time is was a hub of retail activity for the county, with Sears, Kmart, Walmart, and even a TG&Y (remember those?).  In recent years the city has been trying to spruce up its vacant retail areas and lure new activity.  Apparently, the only ones listening are those that can make pizza.

Within a four mile radius of my house, there are 14 different pizza places.  In the past three months, another one has started construction with city limits.

Being a person with a business and marketing background, I figured out the possible explanations.

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Pizza Places are the new "thing" for Witness Protection

Florida is the land of transplants, of which the largest migration takes place from New York.  I'm thinking the the FBI and CIA are see this as the perfect place to stash mob informants.  Set them up in a new house in a large neighborhood so they can blend in.  Toss them some money, so they can start a business so they do not have to answer to anyone.  They do what they know Italian food.

We benefit with expanding waistlines and shrinking choices.

There is a Screwed up Map Somewhere

Somewhere, maybe in the Small Business Administration, there is a map showing a non-existent college in Rockledge.  This eff'd up map is being used for marketing and planning purposes.  Colleges cannot have enough pizza and beer right?

Um…Hello?

Do these restaurateurs not own cars?  Have they never seen the wondrous and magical powers of Google Maps?  The pizza market is beyond saturated.  Why not open up a chicken or burrito joint.  The closest one of those is 4-5 miles away as the crow flies.

Here is what is needed within the city limits (in my professional opinion):

• Chicken – Pollo Tropical, Boston Market, KFC, Bojangles
• Burritos – Pancheros (@pancheros), Chipotle (there is are Moe's and Tijuana Flats within 6 miles)
• (Affordable) Seafood – While this may sound odd, there are only a few or so decent seafood joints in the county.  We live on the freaking ocean with one of the busiest ports in the country. It amazes me it was easier to find seafood in Nebraska than it is here.

BTW – If I expand from a four to a five mile radius, the number exceeds 20.

Graduating from high school in 1992, means that I (by law I think), knew every line from Wayne’s World. There was not a single conversation between my friends and I that didn’t reference it in some way. In fact, (sadly) we still do today.

While it ranked up there as one of the most quotable movies of the 1990s, there are a couple life lessons that Wayne and Garth can teach us.

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“Live in the now”, Garth

I see friends and family suffer from “plan-atitis” all of the time. At points in my life, I to have suffered from it. Life does not have a “perfect destination”. You can plan, scrimp, save, align, whatever, for that house, baby, debtless living, but do not do so at the expense of the present. This is the only time you will be so-and-so years old. This is the only time you will be celebrating your so-and-so anniversary. Each month or year you put off that “thing”, waiting for the stars to align, is one more month or year you will live without it and its memories.

“I have an extensive collection of name tags and hairnets.”, Wayne

While Wayne’s jobs were not life changing, each was an experience. During my teens I, like Wayne, worked various odd jobs, from a go-kart track attendant to a repo-man, from a dishwasher to a salesman. I made a little money, and I lost a lot. But the experiences and memories of each of those jobs is what has made me the person I am today. It also makes for some funny stories!

I’m know it sounds cliche, but it is true; “life’s a journey, not a destination”. (Aerosmith lyric is purely coincidental BTW).

Are there any life lessons that you can think of from the basement duo?

I hate voicemail….I've always hated it.  It is far less efficient than email, IM and twitter.  It has virtually no accommodation for multiple users or threaded exchange of information.  It usually requires transcribing what was said into another medium.  It has absolutely no audit trail;  once you delete a message it is gone!

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I absolutely refuse to perform any consulting work via phone or voicemail.  I follow each phone call up with an email summarizing the call (see transcribing again), asking the other person to confirm what we talked about.  In most cases, the entire conversation would have been more productive, and less of it left to the imagination, if done on something that would have accommodated some type of threading, be it email, chat or other means.

I also refuse to leave messages on another person's phone beyond, "please return my call and my number".  Leaving details requires them extract the content of the message from my (fast talking) voice.   I leave a simple message stating who I am, and my phone number twice.  If I need to let them know details of something, I will say, "I'm following this message up with an email summarizing what I need from, or are providing to you".

Voicemail is an archaic method of communication in a world of MUCH better solutions.  Please do not leave me a voicemail, unless you "just" want me to return your call to chat.  If you have some bit of information to provide me or need something from me, please type it up and email it to me.  If you are just checking in, find me on Twitter or Facebook.

Follow Me on Twitter – http://twitter.com/jking89

Image: furryscaly [via Flickr]