Bernadette and I  watch entirely too much crime TV or “murder and mayhem” as we’ve taken to calling it. Law and Order, 48 Hours Hard Evidence, Law and Order SVU, Cold Case Files, Solved, Snapped, I Survived, Women Behind Bars, The Interrogators etc. Horrible and morbid as it all is, it’s become an occasional source of mindless “checking out” entertainment. I’ve wondered why I remain interested in the endless parade of depravity and tragedy it presents and I’m faced with two likely possibilities:

1) I’m the guy who can’t help looking at the auto accident scene as I drive by.

2) I really want to see the perps get caught and punished for their crimes.

In all honesty it must be a mixture of both with emphasis on the latter. That being said, it never ceases to disgust me how lenient and impotent our so-called justice system is. No one ever seems to really get what they deserve - in my ruthless opinion. I find myself frustrated time and time again by the injustice. Oh the Humanity!

So what can we do about it? I used to think there was nothing to be done. I put it out of my mind. There are cops and prosecutors and a whole army of people who’ve taken the oaths to handle these people “for us”. But as soon as you jail one, another pops up or another one is released or “rehabilitated”. Yeahhhhh. Rehabilitated sex offenders. Love ‘em. When can they come over for dinner? Anyway - realizing these bastards proliferate as fast or faster than they can be taken off the streets, you quickly reach the conclusion that the number of victims continues growing exponentially. Seems like helping the VICTIM to recover and leaving the bad guys to the pros is the way to go. This is what brought us to the idea of The Onyx Consulting Foundation - a way to help fund the already woefully underfunded Dekalb Rape Crisis Center. I am proud to say that our efforts have produced the first revenue disbersment for the DRCC which I will be delivering to the director (Phyllis) when we meet this Thursday to discuss our partnership.

So, tonight, as I watched the utterly horrible documentation of a “schoolgirl rapist” who damaged the lives of several young women from Rochester to Alabama before he was sentenced to life - it occurred to me: Two years of cultivating this project (with the help of my colleagues at Onyx) has finally begun to bear fruit. I turned off the TV with the realization that we’re not just gawking in morbid fascination and disgust anymore, we’ve actually become part of the solution. Maybe that will help ease the guilt of watching all that garbage.

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This is my Spyderco.
There are many others like it, but this one is MINE.
My Spyderco is my best friend. It is my life.
I must master it as I must master my life.
My Spyderco without me is useless. Without my Spyderco, I am useless.

Quite awhile ago, I was heading back to the Northcrest location with a co-worker when we spotted this poor unfortunate soul sweltering in the mid-summer heat. You can see the Onyx sign just over his shoulder. I parked, grabbed my camera and returned on foot where I encountered his father standing nearby in the shade of the Marta stop. After reading the sign, I managed to partially conceal my amusement enough to ask the man if he would mind my taking a picture. “Hell no, I don’t mind, Take as many as ye’ like!” Amazingly, his sign describes a trouble combination I actually did not achieve. It certainly took me back to a tumultuous time when my father excercised similarly rigid disciplines. I commended the man on his creative punishment citing similar father/son interactions. He saw my Onyx shirt and asked if I owned the company behind his son. When I replied, he said to his boy “You see that? This guy did dumb stuff like you and he owns that company over there. You wanna grow up and do something or you wanna go to jail?” I told the kid to hang in there and walked away feeling a little weird but laughing to myself regardless. He was out there all afternoon - more than five hours. Good luck to you Pot Kid!

Does everyone out there have their very own private muse? The benefits are overwhelming. I highly recommend it. You can learn all about mine and download her music at bernadetteseacrest.com. What can I say? I’m a lucky S.O.B. She offers her music at no cost, although it sells off iTunes and CDbaby. As frustrating as it is for an entrepreneur such as myself to observe, she insists that “getting it out there” is far more important to her than making a buck. It’s “art for art’s sake” and that’s surely part of why it stays genuine. Gigs are another matter. Aside from the Daddy D’z sessions, they command a respectable fee for bookings and engagements.

Much to my embarrassment as a lifelong Atlantan, a handful of dopey club owners throughout Atlanta were seemingly disinterested when the highly revered chanteuse of the Southwest introduced herself as newly arrived from Albuquerque. UPDATE - B and the boys packed Eddie’s Attic 10/8/08 and are playing there again 1/21/09. Having recently finished a gangbusters tour in France she wanted to try a couple Atlanta venues on for size. The reception was less than warm. Some fella’ at Red Light Cafe even suggested she come by for “open mic night” (?!) um…..yeahhhh - no. True to form, she flipped them the proverbial “bird” and picked the least pretentious dive in town to play a series of FREE shows for a strictly “word of mouth” crowd. Evidently, the right people were listening - Bernadette won Creative Loafing’s Best Atlanta Vocalist within her first year of being in Atlanta and playing Daddy D’z.  We took advantage of the effort to hold many a company funded evening of beer, BBQ, and some of the finest in underground music entertainment in Atlanta for all the Onyx people. It was here that Bernadette first sang the brilliant songs that Charles had written for her. This was also the place where my daughter Delia would sing an opening number of “You Are My Sunshine” or “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” when she’d only just turned four. She and Bernadette would “rehearse” at home before shows. These small private shows marked an era in our lives that I’m very sentimental about. Now that I’ve had time to reflect, I wanted to blog about what I thought was their best show since Bernadette moved here from Albuquerque in 2006.

It had been roughly a year up to this recent Wednesday show in August 2008. A year of no shows makes for a pretty good turn-out as all the people who were lamenting their dissapearance made sure to come out and bring their friends. There was a perfect mixture of people to include past fans, several of our friends, Onyx customers who’ve become friends, a scattering of family and the coveted “newcomers”. They played all their best stuff with several of Charles’ more recent songs. Everything Bernadette had been saving up over the year was coming out clear and strong. I stood at the back with a couple friends looking dumbstruck as usual - “is that MY woman up there doing that?!”. “Cabbagetown Girl” was the final number and seemed to have a   lot of locals mesmorized in what could only be described as a “you had to be there” kind of moment. It was, without a doubt, the best show I can recall. The people who came, the focus and energy of the performers, the absence of promotion or pretentiousness and the intimacy of Daddy D’z dumpy little BBQ-shack stage area - all these things converged to create the perfect underground Atlanta show experience. I was proud. I was re-energized and inspired. It felt good to be there. It really did.

During the renovation of the Decatur building, I discovered a whole new level of Murphy’s Law aggravation with regard to timing and logistics. Despite my best efforts to consolidate tasks and plan my days, every time I arrived at the Norhtcrest Rd location and settled in to work, the phone rang and I had to return to the Decatur building. Finally I gave up and decided to camp somewhere in Decatur where I could get wi-fi and await my next summons. I decided to try Dancing Goats and was immediately struck by the spacious atmosphere. There was a time when I enjoyed clutter and funkiness, but as I get older I’ve grown weary of “bohemian” accoutrements, decor and especially odors. Dancing Goats is clean and contemporary. There are really comfortable deep leather couches to sink down in or, if you’re in an attentive business mode, you can opt for clean counter tops and firm chairs

Decor is all fine and dandy, but is the coffee good? Well, you can smell a distinctive roast in the air when you walk through the door, and I’m happy to say - it’s possibly the best coffee to be found in the Atlanta/Decatur area. It’s a good thing it’s at the bottom of Ponce and not next door to our shop or I’d be consuming far far too much caffeine on a daily basis. As it is, I drop in at least a couple times a week to get my fix and pick up whatever the guys want as well. The Chilly Goat beats any other frozen concoction I’ve had and when you see the work that goes into it, you’ll know why. Another plus I noticed was the staff. everyone there has been very friendly from the first purchase. The manager Lorrie Bodnar made us feel very welcome as a new business and has been kind enough to refer us as well. On a good day, I counted 16 laptops humming away in there and 1/2 of them were Macs. That’s a high ratio. We hope all of those folks realize we’re over here and stop in. Go to Dancing Goats. You’ll surely become a regular.

Lynne Sawicki and I share the same accountant and it was he who informed me that Lynne (who used to work with my family at Indigo) had her own place in Decatur by the name of Sawicki’s - Meat, Seafood and More. I decided to get over there and try it. It’s located on Ponce right across from CVS in downtown Decatur. When I walked in, the first thing I noticed was the most amazing hunk of Wagyu Kobe Beef Ribeye I’ve ever seen. Then I was reacquainted with Lynne who doesn’t seem to have aged since I last saw her?! Very odd. How did I miss out on that phenomenon? So this was about 3 weeks ago and I’ve probably eaten Sawicki’s (or picked it up for my staff) at least 6 or 7 times since. It’s outstanding and the guys are all over it. Andrew is partial to the Beef tri-tip with french fries and herbed aioli on toasted baguette, Craig has declared the French ham and swiss panini with aioli and tomato to be his favorite. They all routinely order the Meatball sub with fresh mozzarella and homemade marinara on a warm baguette. I usually get a really flavorful salad with all high-end fresh ingredients, but I tried the Roasted lamb with red onion jam, lettuce and tomato on baguette and it was very good.

I wanted to write about Sawicki’s because I want to spread the word and let as many people as possible know about this rare oasis of quality. It’s VERY hard to find a really good sandwich and/or specialty shop in and around these parts. I’m often amazed at how unappreciated or unnoticed quality offerings can go in our money-grubbing metropolis. I know that half the battle is getting someone to actually TRY something so they can realize and understand the difference from what they’ve been accepting previously. For example - anyone who uses Onyx just once would absolutely NEVER go back to a chain store for service again. Anyone who can appreciate real food with attention to detail and the craft will certainly return to Sawicki’s again and again. I’m hooked, and I haven’t even tried half of the offerings I see awaiting me in those chilled cases. I’ll be ordering a couple hand cut 2″ thick ribeye’s soon amongst other things to take home and have my way with. If you haven’t been to Sawicki’s - get over there and try it. It’s tops.

A huge perk of our new Decatur location is that we’re no longer limited to the sad selection of slop trough offerings that surround our Northcrest location. Decatur abounds with great places to eat. For starters, there’s 2 great coffee houses within just a few blocks of our shops. Java Monkey (for those who like the more textural, funky style coffee shop) is on Church just across from Marta. Very nice folks. Good coffee. The one I’ve spent the most time at is Dancing Goats at the bottom of Ponce across from Watershed. I used Dancing Goats as my office for the duration of the Decatur renovation (say that 5 times fast). It’s a large well lit space with lots of good seating and great coffee. On a side note - I counted 16 laptop users in there the other day and 8 of those were Macs. That’s an unusually high ratio but perhaps not amongst the “coffee house crowd”. I guess I now have one leg in that crowd, but if anyone hears me raving about espresso machine technology or swooning over barista’s - please slap me sharply across the face……then duck (it may take me a moment to realize it was for my own good). But I digress….

There are so many quality lunch spots in Decatur, one could easily transform into a quivering mass of blubber if one wasn’t careful. At Watershed you can get high-end southern fare made with fresh ingredients and great attention to simplicity and purity. Sort of a refined version of Matthew’s in Tucker. If you want a truly excellent sandwich, you need look no further than Sawicki’s on Ponce across from CVS. Pastries a Go-Go is another favorite spot…and the list goes on and on. I’m having to alternate between salads, dry cheerios & fruit so I can allot an occasional “bad” lunch because let’s be honest - who the hell REALLY enjoys going out to lunch and picking at a salad while the person across from you is cramming a Rueben and fries down their gullet? Not I.

A blog about chairs……my my…….yawn…..Oh well. I do blather on.

Five years ago, when we opened our first (company owned) location on Northcrest, we decided it might be nice to stop sitting in the miserable collection of garbage we’d acquired off the side of several roads and other crappy chairs repositories. My first thought was the ever constant Herman Miller Aeron. A great chair to be sure. A chair that always conjured the image of success and good taste. But alas, thanks to the dot-com boom and bust of the Clinton era, I now associate the chair more with pretentiousness and failure! All those Herman Miller chairs on E-Bay selling from all major city’s circa 2001 - briefly owned by hordes of dot-commer “would be” visionaries. Coffee swilling, turtleneck wearing, PDA obsessed tech junkies sitting at the helms of a thousand sinking ships in their mighty AERON!!

Feh!

I always wanted one. When the day came that I could finally afford and justify one, I didn’t want it anymore. Same thing with Harley Davidson’s! So I called an associate who is a member of the interior designer’s guild and asked him what his thoughts were on chairs. We were ready to spend some real money for once and I wanted to weigh all our options. “Aeron’s are nice,” he said “but they’re kinda’ passe’ now. There’s a great line out now from Humanscale that you should check out.” And so we did. The first round we ordered for the Northcrest store were the “Freedom Chair” models - a refreshing design detour from the overwrought technical look of the Aeron. I just want to sit down, not meld my ass to H.R. Giger’s bad dreams - fer cryin’ out loud! For the Decatur store, we just ordered a whole mess o’ the “Liberty Chair”. OK - the patriotic themes are pretty amusing. Even our toilet at Northcrest is called “The Patriot” ! What the HELL is going ON here?! Anyway - the Humanscale chairs are pricey - like all high end chairs, and various people have scoffed at the amount of dough we shell out for these things. But “here’s the thing”:

1) The chairs come with a lifetime warranty. ANYTHING that breaks is fixed at our location from their local office branch in Atlanta. Great service.
2) If you want to keep your people happy while they pound on hardware repairs and wheedle out solutions for all manners of IT issues all the live-long day, you damn sure need to provide a high quality, comfortable cradle for their hams to luxuriate in while they do so!
3) They look cool and they’re not made by Herman “freakin’” Miller. That IS his middle name btw.
4) We’ve got a “connection”…….you think I’d pay full price for these things?! Hells No my friend!

YES. I blogged about chairs. Time to up the dosage I guess.

A while ago, one of my younger brothers (a VP at Qualcomm) sent me an excerpt from a body of work intended to help the Qualcomm folks deal with this hideous mob of petulant children infiltrating the workforce - The Millennials. It contains summarized descriptions of generational characteristics from the WWII era to present day. We start with The Veterans (The Greatest Generation!) and we slide slowly downhill from there with Baby Boomers, faster still with Generation X, and then we really start picking up speed to start swirling down the toilet bowl at a breakneck pace with The Millennials! Here’s the PDF - read it and weep:

http://onyxconsulting.com/docs/WorkforceGenerations.pdf

After Charles and I read this over, we exchanged a look of amazement. Here were all the observations we’d been voicing to each other regarding many of the interviews we’d conducted over the years. It also illustrated a commonality amongst the bad hires we’d made when a “true” millennial slipped into Onyx under the wire. This prompted me to learn more about this plague upon our nation. Here’s another article that accurately describes our observations of these bed-wetters:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/08/60minutes/main3475200.shtml

The more I learned (and confirmed), the more I realized the challenges it foretold for our own growth. The pdf from my brother attempts to focus on the positive attributes of the millennials. A 16,000 person corporation has to grimly accept that there’s no way around this generation. They absolutely can not avoid them and therefore must figure out how to make the most of things. The study makes a very transparent attempt to wrap a bow around a giant shit sandwich of useless individuals obsessed with their own short term gratification. Citing as positives, they say Millennials are “plugged-in, tech savvy, interested in meaningful work over income, hold multiple interests” blah blah blah.

I say take the damn bow off and call it like it is. Millennials are “overly fascinated with shiny things that light up and go beep, lacking survival skills due to parental “mollycoddling”, jacks of all trades but masters of none, unable to focus or complete projects from beginning to end.” In short, a generation of candy-assed wimps.

So why am I sharing this and, do I ever have anything positive to say? Well, I’m venting - come on! And yes - I do have something positive to say. I try to conserve my positive energy for my loved ones, my employees and my customers - but here goes: We are in the fortunate position of being able to refuse acceptance of this generation - for now.

Roughly one in three people we hire below the age of 26 have actually been raised properly and were telling us the truth about all of their wonderful convictions, work ethic, drive, ambition, accountability etc when we interviewed them. The other two are either fired quickly, or they manage to fool us for several months of painfully wasted time and money. The staff has actually become instrumental in helping sniff out the phonies who sneak in. Of all the resumes and interview’s we endure, I’d say (within our industry) there’s roughly one genuine, hardworking individual for every two-hundred bullshit artists I sift through. That’s better than ZERO! I have the utmost respect for the ones we have managed to find and a debt of gratitude to their families for doing a fine job of raising them. They are the reason I haven’t collapsed in a pile of despair! There is hope - and who knows, maybe this trend is largely industry specific, but somehow I doubt it. As I mentioned before, Qualcomm HAS to embrace them. Fortunately, we don’t and we won’t. THERE - there’s the positive side! Savor it.

So here at Onyx, we have resigned ourselves to the painstaking task of sifting this rubble on a non-stop basis so that we may grow our company one person at a time with the least amount of compromise possible. It is an all-consuming task. We do it relentlessly, and we do it better than our competitors - and that, my friends…….is why we are so good.

Now - I’m going to go check my blood pressure, soak my head, hug a tree or two and get ready for more interviews this week. God Bless America.

P.S. Jared Diamond is the author of one of my top 10 all time favorite books “Guns, Germs and Steel”. He wrote another book called “Collapse”. This book details how civilizations fail. It asserts the average life span of a democratized society is approximately 200 years. Clearly our Republic is more democratized with every new day. I would name the Millennials as the 80 Million horsemen of the apocalypse. Not an uplifting read, but very informative. Sunshine and lollipops for everyone!