I, Brandon

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.

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!

I really only go three places during the week: My house, the gym and my office. Since I go to the gym late in the evenings the parking lot is mostly empty and I don’t have to deal with bad parking (though I have been there around noon on a summer day, and the housewife putting on makeup while on the cell with her seven kids screaming at her from the back rows can hardly be expected to steer her Armada Tank Edition between two TINY lines).

My office is a different story. For whatever reason, these people can’t seem to get it right.

Adventures in Parking, Part II (Part I here)

First up, this car gets extra space because it’s in the handicap spot. Whoo! It’s like the last bathroom stall! Truly the executive suite of parking spaces.

The trick this car pulls off is almost as bad as the four-spacer. I don’t know what to call it, but the person only managed to get about half the car in the space. Even then, he wasn’t able to get inside the lines. If we as a human race can’t achieve even the most basic principles, such as pulling our Man Moving Machines into the designated areas, then we deserve the destruction heading our way at the hands of God’s great laser beam in 2012.

Man I wish this picture was better. This is the Matrix truck driven by the she-beast. No one does more to further the art of bad parking than this woman. In this particular picture it as if she got sort of close to a parking space, and just hit the brakes right there in the middle of the driving aisle. Failing to even come close to any yellow lines? She may just be the Rosa Parks of bad parking.

I posted about this rather more professionally over on my company’s blog, but over here I’ll just say this commercial kicks ass and I want to drink Irish whiskey now.*

* – I won’t because it costs more than a few bucks. I’m cheap. But hey, awesome commercial!

“Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you’ve never been hurt and live like it’s heaven on Earth.” -Mark Twain

I’m not really into quotes. Particularly on Twitter, where they’re unavoidable. Some folks Tweet a quote out like it’s a new revelation, or the answer to some worldwide problem. My personal favorites are when people come up with a quote, then give themselves credit.

“Life’s greatest lessons can be achieved if you believe and are motivated to maximize your personal potential every day regardless of how hard the world makes it for you to succeed in life, which is in fact your goal and only your goal in the same way that the sun seeks only to give out light, radiant in it’s vibrancy and magnified by the beautiful creations God has placed before us to motivate us and achieve life’s greatest lessons.” -Brandon Carter

Shaq can get away with it, because you can imagine the big guy snickering while typing away some motivational BS. At least he’s paid to play basketball. Unlike Zig Ziglar, whose income is seemingly designed around creating inspirational quotes.

I try my hardest to be positive and see the best in each person/scenario. But like cheesy song lyrics, I can’t help but turn up the snarkometer when I see inspirational quotes from Zig or Tony Robbins.

“A lot of people quit looking for work as soon as they find a job.” – Zig Ziglar

What the hell does this mean? Is it supposed to be as obvious as it is? Is Zig telling me that people are lazy, or is he saying I need to keep up a constant job search, even if I’m gainfully employed? Do we need to be job hunting addicts, begging for leads on the street from strangers, trading oral sex for a decent referral, breaking into houses to sneak a peek at Monster.com? WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL ME, SENSAI?! I HAVE A NEW JOB BUT I DON’T WANT TO WORK, BECAUSE WELFARE IS AWESOME!

Why not just say “A lot of people are lazy.”

People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing-that’s why we recommend it daily. Zig Ziglar

We get it Zig, you got tapes and books to sell. You probably also bathe in purified holy water pulled directly from the tears of a unicorn. Daily.

Remember, you can earn more money, but when time is spent it’s gone forever.~Zig Ziglar

What about time spent with Zig Ziglar motivational products? Zig takes everything!

“Before you change your thinking, you have to change what goes into your mind.” Zig Ziglar

Preferably some Zig Ziglar motivational tapes?

If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten. Tony Robbins

Like job searching always gets you jobs, even when you already have one? Or maybe how people start new jobs and they stop working? Wild!

Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street.-Zig Ziglar

Unless that failure happens to be the failure to stay alive. In that case, it’s sort of a dead-end.

There is no such thing as failure. There are only results. – Tony Robbins

Oh snap Zig! Quit talkin ’bout stuff that doesn’t exist!

You cannot make it as wandering generality. You must become a meaningful specific. -Zig Ziglar

This quote is like an enigma wrapped inside a mystery in the mind of a brain dead junkie. Specifically, what in the world do you mean, Zig? I’m specifically confused.

Success is dependent upon the glands – sweat glands – Zig Ziglar

Clearly Patrick Ewing read this.

“In life you need either inspiration or desperation.” — Tony Robbins

Zig would throw in perspiration with those, Tony.

Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible. Tony Robbins

And Tony Robbins just gave away the new ending to “Where the Wild Things Are”

PR people – you ever send out a pitch that you know it’s money? Where the story/source you offer is just perfect for the editor/publication you’re sending it to, and you know it’ll be perfect for their readers? Of course you do, 99% of your pitches should be like this (the other 1%, long shots. It’s okay, we all have them.)

And you get a response from the editor, agreeing that your story is one they really want to tell. They want to talk to your client, and clients of your clients. Send over product shots and anything else you have. SAMPLES!

So you fire off that email to the client, trying not to sound like you’re bragging, like you do stuff like this every day. It winds up looking like this:

Hello Jimmy,

We pitched your story to (Major Media Outlet) and they have great interest. Would you be able to do an interview with (Famous Media Personality) later this week? I’ve attached some background info on (the outlet) and some talking points.

Thanks,

Sammy

But if you were being honest, it would read:

Dude!

Holy Crap!

You’re going to be in freakin’ (Outlet)! I just made more revenue for your company that you’ve put together in years! How awesome am I? How lucky are you, ya lucky bastard?!

Let’s talk about upping that retainer, brah.

-Sammy

But then, the editor just disappears. No responses to emails or phone calls.

This happens to me almost weekly, and it seems to be getting more frequent. Maybe it’s due to overworked editors or constantly shifting beats. But sheesh, just tell me nevermind or “sorry, it’s a no go.” Just don’t ignore the emails; not after you’ve agreed to work with me.

All I can say is Dude, WTF?

How do you handle this and why does it happen?

Dunno. I guess you just take it in the pants from the client and try again.

———-

Yesterday the wife and I were cruising the hardened, tough streets of Sandy, Utah when an ad came upon the radio. It seems Pearl Jam is coming to town. Hooray!

For a “big” city, Salt Lake sure doesn’t get a ton of good shows. We get the ones who go to 220 cities a year like Kenny Chesney and Green Day, but the ones who don’t tour year-round rarely come here. I’m looking at you Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Kings of Leon. (Though some of our smaller venues should be credited for getting good ones such as Sigur Ros, MIA and Sonic Youth)

So to hear that Pearl Jam was coming was obviously a big deal and a no-brainer to attend.

Then they said the date.

Right smack dab in the middle of our Oklahoma trip. For a wedding that was called off.

#$%@#

Then to top it all off, they said the opening act is Ben Harper.

#$@%$#

Thus completes another week of schadenfreude, courtesy of Brandon Carter.

I have strep throat. Or at least something in the same neighborhood, according to my wife.

(Update: This was written last night. The Dr. confirmed no strep throat, just said “Don’t know what it is. But hey, good luck, and grab a sticker on your way out!”)

Whatever it is, I’m fine, except for the feeling of razorblades passing through my throat. As it is, going into work wasn’t an option – some bosses admire the guy who valiantly comes to work despite being sick. His coworkers hate his guts, because he’s passing his crud on to them.

This is the part of the story though where I say I’m thankful for having a job that allows me flexibility. I can work from home, or the doctor’s office, or wherever I please. This may not work for everyone, but sheesh, I have a hard time seeing how.

Google Image Search pulled this up under "Work From Home." Work From Space is more like it. I love you, GIS.

Call it a Gen-Y attitude, I don’t care. The way I see it, my boss is smart – he saves money by not having to build a maze of cubicles and enforce a bunch of policies just so he can keep a hawk’s eye over his employees.

Here’s the truth from what I’ve seen: One recent place I worked at had a strict “Be in your cube, WORKING by 7:30 a.m., 30-minute lunch, no breaks, no gas station runs, no this, no that,” attitude. We did great work at the place, but as soon as quitting time came around, the place was deserted.

I work more hours now. A LOT more hours. Part of it is greater responsibility, but part of it is I’m able to flow work in comfortably with the rest of my life stream. Not to go all buddha on everyone here, but when work feels like family time feels like play time feels like quiet time…well, work doesn’t feel like work.

I’m sure there’s a time in life when I’ll be asked to don a suit and tie and camp out in an office or cubicle for 10 hours or more  a day. I’ll be able to adjust to it, and do fine.

But man, this is nice.

At the end of the day, all that matters is I get my work done in an excellent manner, on time. It doesn’t matter that I’m at a coffee shop, or wearing jeans. If I ever stopped producing good work, then I’d be out on the street just like anyone else. I credit my boss for taking bold measures *gasp* such as trusting that the people he’s hired can do their jobs well without his oversight 24/7/365.

Communication is the issue. We have phones, IM programs, a million ways to access email, and a general obligation to pick up the slack.

Also awesome: not having to fill out 10 forms just so I can have a couple hours off to see the doctor.

Sorry if that seems like bragging. Consider it the result of sitting in the same place I’ve been sitting in for the last 14 hours, with endless Iron Chef and Seinfeld reruns in the background, coughing up all sorts of funk and wooing the ladies over the phone with my Barry White voice…and reminding myself to be grateful for the ability to do so.

In my last PR for small business post I talked a little about knowing your audience. This would help you define more closely who you need to focus on and find the best mediums to reach them. Kind of a durr! post, I know. But you’d be shocked how many people develop an amazing product, thinking it’s so awesome it’ll just sell itself…then watch it fall flat because it never finds its way to the people who can’t live without it.

Moving on…

The next step is important: Find your story. Even better, find your stories.

The Secret? USE AS MUCH TEXT AS POSSIBLE

What makes your nail salon different? What does your auto repair shop do better than any other shop in your area? Do you have kick-ass customer service while your competitors are notorious for their lack of it? Maybe your company has a great charitable or environmentally-friendly commitment.

This isn’t limited to your business, either. Maybe you as an individual have a compelling story – dip into your personal background. Overcome a rare disease or rare childhood? Adopted 6 children from Africa? Leave a high-paying corporate gig to jump out on your own? All of these are compelling and make for great reads.

Tie your business or yourself into a national story or emerging trend, and you greatly improve your chances.

Look for compelling stories everywhere. What may seem like everyday, mundane to you might be a revelation to the readers of your favorite trade publication; or what seems like an overplayed (among friends) personal story or belief might be an inspiration to readers of the local newspaper.

Relevant to 2009 – New media. What’s going to drive hits to a blog, or make for interesting chatter on a podcast?

The key to this is to think like an editor. Think of the story in its final form – what’s the headline, the subhead, is there a picture, who is quoted, and on and on. The best PR people don’t think like PR people, they think like the journalists they have to work with on a daily basis.

Which brings me to my next post, where we’ll chat about identifying outlets, editors, journalists and others who will want to hear your story, tell your story and make you a freakin star.

Last night I stayed up late stuffing folders until fairly late.

This is difficult. And tough on one’s fingers.

Based on that experience, I am now scanning over my bio to add the phrase “grizzled veteran.”

Also, I’m willing to bet there is a folder stuffing competition out there somewhere. I say this because ESPN7 is showing competitive cup stacking. Is the “World’s Fastest Ten-Key” coming on next?