I, Brandon

• Hey sugar what's new? #
• Wuz good urrbody? (I'm saying good morning like the NBA players do on Twitter) #
• Think I finally found that snuggly half-torso I've been looking for http://is.gd/9gIg3 (courtesy of @claytonblackham) #
• Colby Jack is the champion of sandwich cheeses. #
• Now know what it's like to be disgusted by the Scheyer Face…come on Tulsa, just hang close! #
• Where were you when Oasis was getting high? #
• RT @tivogirl: This is one seriously creepy clown dude: http://www.sltrib.com/ci_14471069 #
• Sounds trivial, but moving my wallet from my right back pocket to my left has thrown my entire world into chaos. #
• Whoever was seeding the 2008 OU/Mizzou Big XII Championship game torrent…get back online NOW #
• RT @BreakingNews: Person found dead in Shamu Stadium at SeaWorld; death not result of natural causes http://bit.ly/cdxjC0 (The whale did it) #
• Or maybe it's a Chrome issue… #
• Twitter is telling me my account doesn't exist. That's troubling. #
• Women pleads guilty to selling 2 kids for a bird and some cash. http://is.gd/918nw I traded some books for kids once, didn't work out. #
• I'm seriously doubting the NCAA comes down this hard on USC… http://is.gd/90VvF #collegefootball #
• Mourning the loss of Jenny Bizaillion. Send prayers/karma/positive energy for her husband & daughter, if you have a sec http://is.gd/8XuOM #
• Netflix recommended this movie, and I gotta say, it was beautiful: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386792/ #

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• Thanks #OKCThunder for keeping this hoops season from being a total disaster. Wait til next years #Sooners and #Tulsa .. #
• Hellz yeah. RT @Q4USLC: Just pulled them ribs off the smoker ready for the lunch rush! #
• Are you a former Oklahoma HS football star who could throw this football over those mountains? Time to relive the glory: http://is.gd/8JpM4 #
• Skip Tiger for a minute, and check out someone worthy of your attention: http://bit.ly/bVrw1Q #
• Meebo Brings Slick Multi-Network Chat to http://lifehacker.com/5474727/ #downloads #instantmessaging (Love the Meebos) #
• Just got my @kostizi card. Schweet! #
• Please Rob Me and the problem with social media http://is.gd/8ERce (Or why I keep my FourSquare to FourSquare) #
• I got called to jury duty today. Kind of inconvenient, but I don't mind – part of being an American citizen. No begging out for me. #
• #OU and #OKState to the SEC? Actually, that sounds fun http://is.gd/8BvGo #
• Positivity Period is off to a mixed start. At home with the aches, which also means I have no one here to be negative to. #
• Thankfully it wasn't one of those big poodles RT @BreakingNews http://twitpic.com/13pibs – Here she is: 2010 Best in Show, Sadie #
• So I'm changing my profile pic to one of my in my smoking jacket and swinger shirt. #
• Unable to take having an actual picture of myself, much less one that's serious. #
• RT @holleym: I would like to thank Presidents Washington and Lincoln for being born so I could have the day off tomorrow! #

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Day 3 of my 40 Day Positivity Challenge

I’ve spent the last three days basically on my couch. Some sort of weird virus has sapped my energy and left me with 100 degree temperatures. Nothing beyond that; I just sit around, feeling tired and achy.

That being the case it’s been incredibly easy to be positive, at least in terms of my Lent commitment of not openly expressing negativity. This is because I haven’t really been around anybody.

I don’t bother griping about things to Lori because she generally knows how I feel. It’s one of the advantages of being together so long – I don’t have to spell things out at all for her to know how I feel (the number one thing I’m grateful for today.)

My one main negative? I heard some screaming kids outside around 10pm…and it isn’t the first time. I live next door to an older couple, who are very nice but keep to themselves, like all the people around us. But they have a child…I guess it’s theirs, I don’t know. He/She shows up in a trashed out minivan, with the spouse and a few kids in tow.

The kids scream and generally go nuts all through the night, typically outside, in their back yard. Their back yard happens to be right outside Nate’s room, and nothing irritates me more than something that wakes Nate up. That sleep is valuable, dammit. No one messes with that sleep, because that sleep messes with Lori’s sleep, which messes with my sleep.

They’re obviously lower-class, or at least struggling middle class. I base this on their car, the way they dress, etc… and I judge them because of that.

Idiot.

How quickly we forget the path we take.

When I was a kid, we lived in a rotting trailer house with leaks and full-on holes in the ceiling in the room I shared with my brother.

And I was crazy. Absolutely crazy.

You’ve never met a kid as wild as I was. My parents weren’t there to discipline me the way i should be, and when they were around they were too tired to deal with me.

The reason? They freakin’ worked all day. Not just 8 hours, but two jobs for Dad and a job plus school for Mom.

I work one job and can barely handle Nate’s elevated voice. Imagine two of them, screaming, whining, begging for attention.

My neighbor’s kids? Hell, they might be well behaved for lower class kids. I know I wasn’t.

Restitution (or #2): I’m eternally grateful for the sacrifices my parents made for me. I truly believe this sacrifice is what drove me mother to do what she did, and I’m going to pay for that the rest of my life, even if it isn’t my fault.

(#3) I’m also grateful for my upbringing. Because I know what it’s like to struggle and wonder where food is coming from, or what it’s like to hide on the other side of a room during a rainstorm because of the hole in the ceiling. My parents gave their happiness and well-being so I could jump off their shoulders onto something bigger and better.

If living in a trailer park, patching holes in the ceiling with duct tape and eating out of a dumpster is white trash, then I am damned proud to be white trash. Without those experiences I am not nearly the person I am today.

It was brutal and because of what happened with my mother, I don’t know that I would ask for it again. But from where I stand now, I’m thankful for the rough road this one-time country boy had to haul.

Day 1

Warning: These may get a bit preachy or sappy from time to time. Not my usual self, but then again, that’s the point.

I woke up this morning aching and feeling slightly woozy. Like anyone, I would normally go to my wife and begin pulling the same routine we all used to pull on our parents – namely, acting sicker than we really were so they would believe us. Which brings me to my first couple of things I’m grateful for….

1.That I got to wake up yet another day.

2. That I have a wife who is infinitely patient and always sympathetic. I don’t have to put on shows anymore to convince people I’m sick.

3. That I have the honor of raising a beautiful little boy, who slept well last night

4. That I have a job that allows me to work from home.

What a fat life I have. Even though I felt like garbage, I still worked a full day. It wasn’t hard because I don’t do manual labor, and I was in jeans and a sweatshirt sitting on my recliner all day. It also means I didn’t have anyone to talk to, making the spread of negativity that much harder.

I also received a summons for jury duty. Didn’t even faze me, brah. I consider it an early victory for gratitude.

As much as people whine about the government, or their jobs, and how crappy their lives are, they’re not being honest with themselves. Take the poorest, most destitute American, and they’re living the big life compared to most people elsewhere in the world. The world sees our healthcare debate and tries to laugh while they get chased by some child soldier with an uzi.

So yeah, jury duty is one of the very few duties I’m asked to perform for the privilege of living here (which is #5). I’ll gladly take the inconvenience.

One more thing…I’m keeping tabs on the sister of an old college buddy who is going through a brutally tough time. This lady had what probably started as a routine sickness, and just a couple weeks later they’re taking drastic measures just to keep her alive. It’s amazing how life can change in the blink of an eye.

6. Grateful to be healthy, despite my greatest attempts at self destruction over the years.

I think God hears our hearts more than our actions, so pray for her, send her your thoughts, your good karma, your positive energy, whatever you reach for when someone is in need.

On a related note, I used to join Facebook “Praying for…” groups because I always felt guilty: so many people focused on praying for one person, yet there’s silent sufferers throughout the world that don’t have Facebook groups, or even friends.

Then one day I realized that if something were to happen to me, there would probably be a lot of people praying for me (#7). There were a lot of people praying for my dad when he got hurt. I need to be able to step up for people when they need it, better than I’m used to.

On to the negatives… which were few today, thankfully (#8).

1. I groaned a lot during the OU/Colorado hoops game. Want to know why I try to stick with the Lent season for my yearly positivity feast? Because it ain’t during football season. Restitution: I’ve seen my teams win a lot of games during my time. Championships even. Blowing one on the road to Colorado sucks, but I’ve seen worse in the sports world.
2. I ragged on Drew Gooden for getting traded so much and for once having a mullet dot on the back of his neck. Restitution: I pointed out that Drew Gooden was in fact a stellar collegiate player at Kansas. With a fine haircut, I might add.

Those of you who have followed my various blogs and other publishing ventures know that every year I try to do a little something for Lent. I’m not Catholic, but the idea of self-improvement and appreciation for God through self-denial is totally appealing to me.

I’ve altered from the traditional sacrifices – meat is a must in my diet, particularly seeing as how Lent overlaps my birthday, which historically comes with a meat feast at Rodizio here in SLC. I try to give up things that drag me down majorly, but I also take a little different avenue by adding behaviors that I want to become habits.

My biggest hang-up, maybe in life lately, is negativity. I realize I can never give up negative thinking – there’s a line crossed somewhere after adolescence that exposes one to the real stains of the world, like politics, the emptiness of the pursuit of wealth, and the dawn of the work-10-hours-a-day-then-die life. It would frankly be a little dangerous to look at the world through rose colored glasses all the time, so a little realistic, even pessimistic, viewpoint can be helpful.

But I OD. I make Debbie Downer look amateurish. And I spread it around hardcore. Everyone knows that it only takes one person complaining and whining to get the rest of a room started.

First pledge: No verbalized/expressed negativity. Includes whining, cussing, taunting, poking, badgering, teasing, and on and on… Especially zero snarkasm, which we all know it my favorite.

Obviously I will break down. Old habits die hard. In fact, I usually only make it through about two weeks of Lent before I just give up. But for every expressed negative, I vow to remind myself about a positive.

Second pledge: Keep up a positivity journal to remind me of all the good things I have going, plus rectification for my “pledge one” relapses. Most of these will be posted on my blog, some on my Twitter, some written down in a notebook, 1.0 style.

Second pledge (b): I read somewhere that sitting quietly in positive meditation for even 10 minutes a day has great physiological effects on a person. I’ve tried it before, and it totally works. The problem is actually finding 10 minutes of silence. Late and early I fall asleep, and if I try to do it at work then that just raises a whole stink.

Third pledge: Floss nightly. I’m good for two or three nights a week. Not an every night man yet. Workin’ on it.

Fourth pledge: Don’t be a topper. I’m not a topper by any stretch, but I’ve become surrounded by them. You should hear the stories. One guy’s visit to McDonalds turns into someone else’s visit with the Ray Croc, which forces someone else to chime in about their visit with the Dalai Lama. Even though I’ve hung out with Shaq, I’m not going to try and top them. If my story doesn’t fit, or if it feels gratuitous, then I’ll hold back. Most toppers don’t listen to anyone else; I like to think I’m a listener.

In the past I’ve tried other pledges, like giving up the F word, or not eating pudding, but I realized that I was cheating myself out of real growth by going for low-hanging fruit. I don’t use the F word very often and I don’t eat pudding unless I’m at a Chinese buffet, which I rarely am. I’ve been lucky to avoid a lot of destructive behavioral traits, but I think the few that I have stem from my cynicism and negativity, so I’m taking aim right at the core.

The goal? I want to be fully aware of just how much I’ve been given in life, to recognize the good above all other things, to the point where I’m oblivious to the small things that just don’t matter. Hopefully then I’ll be one of those folks that is able to make people feel better after a few minutes together, the kind of people can stand to spend more than 10 minutes at a time with.

Sorry to go a little Stuart Smalley there on everyone, but my sentiment is genuine.

So, join me in giving something up, even keep me accountable if you like – bsc @ bscarter.com if you’d like to email me. Got something you’re going after? I can help with yours as well.

• It's late, I've had a drink or two, and I'm watching OU/Stanford on my PS3. It's awesome. How long until football season again? Lannnnndry!! #
• RT @KTULNews: RT @sportsnetok Former OSU Head Coach Sean Sutton Arrested On Drug Complaints – http://tinyurl.com/yb5e6d7 (Sad) #
• These people are insane & should not be followed by anyone: #FF @MegWink @oushadow @ousooner44 @trey_brown @cgfaulkner @aljmac @speedysari #
• Junior picked the Wonder Pets CD at the library. Lenny, hide the gu-uhn. This is sewious. #
• Watching the #Tulsa game online #
• RT @oushadow: Hey @NEWS9 We have a chance of WHAT on Sunday? http://imgur.com/D7I3g.png Found on http://bit.ly/bMrfKD (Raining Meatwads!) #
• Captain Phil died? That bites. At least we still have my boy Sig. #
• Dangit #Sooners So close…Oh well, moving on to the #OKCThunder now #
• These Ed Hardy/Affliction/MMA shirts that chunky white guys wear to try & look badass are the 2010 equivalent of the tribal armband tattoo. #
• Just got another iPhone replacement Saturday, my 3rd, and this one is already on the fritz with no wi-fi. Spectacular. #
• RT @NewsOKSports: 2 OU players arrested after win http://bit.ly/b3rNzJ #Sooners #NewsOK (Shoplifting should be allowed after beating Texas!) #
• If not for TU stinking and my first taste of Acme Burger Co. being terrible this would've been a perfect day…alas, I try again tomorrow… #

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“Man” has surely seen better days than yesterday.

From BSCARTER.com

From my Twitter program, Seesmic.

• At Roosters in Ogden. Brunch with a pint of choclate stout, as it should be. #
• Stoops is on Facebook, and just asked the media to join his family in Mafia Wars. #Sooners #
• #OU adds a mysterious extra line to the signing day page… a surprise LOI coming in? #Sooners http://is.gd/7Dcpd #
• RT @SoonerSportscom: Corey Nelson, LB, 6-0, 210, Dallas, Texas http://tinyurl.com/yekszck) STOLED from #A amp;M #sooners #nice #
• Deep luv to my local @target pharmacy for suggesting a new generic AND calling my Dr. to get the prescription changed. Win forever, Target. #
• .@loriloo310 and I just saw the first episode of Lost, Season….5. Actually, we saw half of it. #

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Happy New Year everybody!

Myspace Graphics | New Years Images | Myspace layouts

Whhoo! Glittery MySpace graphics!

What’s that you say, it’s February?

Crap.

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted here. I have VERY LOGICAL reasons why. And they don’t even include the fact that I’m mostly incapable of writing less than 500 words on a given topic.

We’ve been traveling. First we spent the post-holidays in Oklahoma with my family. I got to go to Pete’s Place, which is still awesome.

I was home for about 72 hours, then headed out again, this time to Anaheim to work social media at a trade show for a client. We kicked ass, trending twice on Twitter. That’s a big deal for a craft & hobby company to become such a hot topic in the midst of the Brett Favre/Purple Jesus Vikings meltdown.

On top of the travel, we began a transition to a new email server at my office. Did I mention I’m now the IT guy? You know how hard it is to transition people over, especially when some of them are used to big city-style massive IT departments? We have Macs and PCs, iPhones and Blackberrys, people using Outlook, Entourage, Mail, Thunderbird and Gmail, we have people who are in the office everyday and people who don’t even know what it looks like.

What I’m trying to say is I’ve been working essentially around the clock, and I’m tired of looking at computers.

But it’s my job, and I want to remain employed. Even if I’ve pulled out every one of my hairs and still haven’t solved all the problems.

Okay, so there’s my excuse for not posting for a while. Moving on.

This is the post I had hoped to make at the end of 2009

What a strange ten years.

My initial reaction upon looking back was to say “What a crappy ten years.” I thought about 9/11, wars, the current financial crisis, toiling for two years in the bowels of the Delta Center for basically nothing, struggling to find a job after jumping out of college, the death of my grandfather and on and on…

Then I thought about how good it was. Amazingly good, in all the ways that truly matter. I graduated college, got married and had a son. I’ve advanced in my career as a writer/PR guy/IT director, and have a home plus two vehicles.

I have nothing to whine about.

Now for the part where I stroke my own ego and share what I think was superior from the Aughts

Top Five Albums of the 00s – Not based on some artsy-fartsy trend crap, like Animal Collective, but based simply off of the albums that I listened to over and over again:

5. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
4. Kanye West – The College Dropout
3. Muse – Black Holes and Revelations
2. Radiohead – In Rainbows
1. Queens of the Stone Age – Songs for the Deaf

Top Five Movies of the 00s – Again, this is what I liked, not what “advanced the art of film making” or “the movie that speaks for a generation”:

5. Pineapple Express
4. All 27 hours of the Lord of the Rings trilogy
3. O Brother Where Art Thou
2. The Kill Bills
1. The Dark Knight

The Best Oklahoma Football Teams of the 00s:

5. 2001 – Ridiculous defense, terrible offense
4. 2008
3. 2003 – Put Quentin Griffin on this team, and they destroy LSU
2. 2004 – Still don’t know what happened in the USC game
1. 2000

Politicians Who Were Corrupt and Will Continue to be:
1. All of them, stop supporting one side or the other. None of them give a damn about you until it’s time to vote. Find ways to work with people for the sake of ousting corruption, not working against people for the sake of standing behind some entitled scumbag “public servant”

Best Food I had:
5. Ganesh Indian here in Utah
4. Jambalaya on Bourbon Street
3. Red Iguana in SLC
2. Crepes in Cancun
1. Ribeyes at Joe Allen’s in Abilene

Things I’m looking forward to in the 2010s:
5. Growing my little business
4. Time Travel and Hovercraft Skateboards
3. The birth of my niece, which will be in May this year
2. By the time the decade is over Nate will be a teenager. Okay, I’m actually not looking forward to that.
1. Another child (not right now, dangit, but eventually)

Favorite screen-cap I snagged in the 00s:

Favorite screen-cap I grabbed yesterday – this kid had just committed to play football at USC and was celebrating on Twitter:

Yaaay Happy New Year!

• Another fine effort being turned in by the #Sooners so far. #
• Back from a long work trip. Glad to be home. So tired of crowds of people and staring at my computer. But here I am, typing away… #
• After slamming the bags around for 5 mins, the Delta guys are now taking a rest. Must be a tough job. http://twitpic.com/102jnf #
• Watching Delta guys slamming luggage and tossing bags around, instead of just simply placing them on the conveyor. #
• Texas and BYU are going to play in 2011? Rise and Shout! #
• Can't…stop…watching….this…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc7bEKZDDOE #
• Watching "Rock Star" in my hotel room. Did Marky Mark actually sing on this? If so, a very good 80s metal voice. #
• Helped another client trend tonight..sent so much traffic to their site it broke. Celebrating alone in my hotel room missing my wife and boy #

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