The

Undeniable

Ruth

®

…and the Ruth shall set you free!

  • Summer 2015 = 90 Days of Awesome

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    Ruth Carter

    Selfie from May 30, 2015
    Selfie from May 30, 2015

    I’ve decided to call June-August 2015, “90 Days of Awesome.” (Yes, I know technically there are 92 days in those three months but “92 Days of Awesome” sounds weird, so just go with it.)

    I am making a conscious decision to do awesome things this summer, but maybe not awesome in a way that you’re thinking. 2015 has been an amazing year so far for me – new job, Dad 2.0 Summit, The Undeniable Tour, and speaking at Ungagged in London are just some of the highlights – but I want to shift gears a bit for this summer. There are only two hard and fast rules for the 90 Days of Awesome:

    1. No airplanes.
    2. No dog kennels.

    While everyone else is fleeing the desert for cooler temperatures, Rosie and I are staying home. I want to work my ass off, focus on my health, exercise more, see my friends, and tackle some projects that I’ve been putting off. At first glance, it may sound like I’m going to be kicking back this summer, but that’s not true. (I’m pretty sure I’m incapable of “kicking back.”) I will be busy as ever, but I want it to be a different kind of busy – a more purposeful busy, with more exchanges of ideas and connecting with more people.

    I’ll also be laying the foundation for the fall and winter – especially in regards to speaking engagements. I have two speaking gigs already booked and at least four more in the works. I have a few other project ideas that I can’t start until the fall, but I can clarify my ideas and plans this summer.

    Of course, I’ll keep you in the loop on what I’m doing and I may invite you to participate in some of the shenanigans of the 90 Days of Awesome.

  • Traveling without Tech

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    Ruth Carter

    London from the top of St. Paul's Cathedral!
    Hello from London!

    I spent last weekend at an SEO conference in London called Ungagged. (Yes, poor me, I had to accept a trip to London to talk about social media law.) Initially, I thought the trip would give me another opportunity to practice minimalist packing, but it gave me a much richer experience of traveling without a cell phone.

    Before I left for this trip, I contacted my wireless provider and added a small global package to my phone. Unbeknownst to the clerk or me, they gave me a plan that doesn’t work in the UK, so when I arrived I had a cell phone that was worthless as a phone. I could still connect to the hotel’s Wi-Fi, but otherwise, my phone was an oversized pocket watch that was set to Arizona time with a built-in camera.

    Whenever I wasn’t in the hotel, I felt like I was back in the late 1990’s when I had to go back to the computer in my college dorm room to check my email. Actually, it was better than that because I had a pager in college so there was always a chance my hip would start vibrating. I bopped around London virtually tech-free. Many times I left the hotel without taking my phone with me and when I did take it, it was only to be able to take photos.

    St. Paul's Cathedral
    St. Paul’s Cathedral

    I loved walking along the Thames River, looking at the various shops. I navigated only with the recommendation from the concierge – not even a map or a guidebook to direct me. I figured if I got lost, I’d stop at a shop and ask directions. It was quite freeing to travel untethered to my phone – nothing to distract or direct me. I simply followed the streets and whatever whims moved me. As I walked along I thought, “This is what being a tourist used to be like.”

    My hotel was located near St. Paul’s Cathedral which has a dome that towers above much of the surrounding skyline. When I wanted to return from whence I came, all I had to do was turn around and head in the opposite direction. If I moved in the general direction of cathedral, I knew I’d get back to my hotel eventually. I was never afraid of being “lost” in the city.

    It was so wonderful and relaxing to leave my phone behind and enjoy London. I suspect I got to see and experience more of the city merely because I wasn’t distracted by notification chimes or tempted to bury my head in my phone. It’s definitely a practice I want to adopt more often.

  • Return to Costco

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    Ruth Carter

    Photo by Leslie Easton (Creative Commons License)
    Photo by Leslie Easton (Creative Commons License)

    Last weekend I went to Costco with my white board sign to pick up a prescription for Rosie the basset hound. The staff was obviously alarmed by the fact that I was carrying my white board sign. (My behavior otherwise was completely innocuous, quiet, and polite.) The clerk escorted me out of the store after I had completed my transaction. Non-members of Costco are allowed to use their pharmacy and to purchase alcohol; however, the staff member told me that next time I needed to inform the clerk working the door of my non-member status so they could escort me in and out of the store.

    That made sense. I can understand why Costco only wants people who have paid for memberships in the store, eating the samples, and making purchases.

    Fast-forward to this weekend. Rosie needed a refill for one of her other prescriptions (it’s hard to predict when you’ll run out of doggy eye drops) so I returned to the same Costco as before – this time sans white board sign. I presented myself to the greeter and told her (with my best British accent) that I was not a Costco member and that I wished to use their pharmacy. Without hesitation, she pointed toward the pharmacy and let me proceed unaccompanied.

    Photo by Mike Mozart (Creative Commons License)
    Photo by Mike Mozart (Creative Commons License)

    The pharmacist said it would take approximately 15 minutes to fill Rosie’s prescription and he handed me a larger Costco pager device that would ring, vibrate, and light up when it was ready. I was allowed to walk through the store to observe the other patrons and their carts piled high with large quantities of goods. The idea of buying such large quantities of one thing in a single transaction baffles me.

    When the pager went off, I returned to the pharmacy, completed the transaction, and walked out without incident.

    Costco Lessons to Date:

    • They don’t want you to be in the store with your whiteboard sign.
    • They will allow you to be in the store unaccompanied when you don’t carry a whiteboard sign.
    • They will allow you to be in the store unaccompanied if you use a fake British accent.

    Hmm…do you think they’ll let me use the pharmacy if I walk into the store wearing fairy wings?