Generating warm feelings for the number 386 is no easy task, especially for folks in Palatka and Live Oak and Ormond Beach who today are abandoned by the trusty 904 area code that served them so long.
The number 386 has some advantages. In addition to being the new domestic area code for counties west and south of metropolitan Jacksonville, 386 is the international phone code for Slovenia. That old 904 isn't even assigned in overseas calling.
The 386th most popular names in America: Myron for men, Leticia for women and Goodman as a last name. There are 15 Myron Goodman's and one Leticia Goodman. Compare that to the 904th most popular names -- there are only two Jerold Mooney's listed nationwide, and not a single Lessie Mooney.
Of course, that provides little comfort to Barbara Goodman of Palatka, who feels no kinship with the new digits.
"It doesn't matter," she said. "I just ordered 150 checks that are going to have 904 on them, and that's going to be messed up."
Computer buffs recognize 386 as cutting edge technology for the late 1980s -- it was the name of chip-maker Intel's microprocessor, a few generations behind the Pentium processors popular today.
With technology, though, 904 might have the edge -- no computer processor, but it's tough to argue with the Porsche 904 GTS.
Life will still be flexible for the newly created 386-followers, who live in Hamilton, Suwanee, Lafayette, Union, Putnam, Flagler and Volusia Counties, as well as parts of Gilchrist and Alachua. The Public Service Commission is leaving more than eight months for "permissive dialing," during which either 386 or 904 will work in the affected areas. The phone will slam down Nov. 5, though, when mandatory 386 dialing takes effect.
Politically, you can take your pick between the two numbers. During the last congressional session, House Bill 386 was a GOP effort to repeal the independent counsel law, while 904 was a Democrat-sponsored bill to assure emergency medical services to people covered by group health plans.
Economically, though, the new area code is bad for everyone, except the printers.
"That's an awful lot of stationery," said Wes Larson, president of the Palatka Chamber of Commerce. "It's more than I want to pay."
But Larson, too, sees the upsides of the change, especially when he looks at the letters on the telephone keypad.
"904 doesn't spell anything," Larson explained. "386 spells fun, and there's a lot of things we can do with fun."
