The

Undeniable

Ruth

®

…and the Ruth shall set you free!

  • The Undeniable Recap of 2015

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    Ruth Carter

    Geez! 2015 was an insane year for Rosie and me. I spent over a month on the road this year, and Rosie and I had an unofficial competition to see who could run up the highest medical bill (too bad I can’t claim her as a dependent on my taxes).

    Per blogging tradition, I’ve had the joy of looking back over the last 12 months and have compiled a list of the top events from my year.

    Visiting the Seattle Troll
    Visiting the Seattle Troll

    1. The Undeniable Tour. I did a two-week sponsored road trip from San Diego to Seattle, staying mostly at hostels, and speaking to lawyers and law students about how to improve their careers with social media. The Undeniable Tour was an incredible trip – I met so many amazing people, saw so many incredible things, and I got to see a few friends in the mix too. I’m glad I did it – but I’ll probably never do something like this again. Planning the tour was a full-time job by itself. Hat tip to Jason Zook and his course How to Get Sponsorship for Anything that helped me make this all happen.

    Love this Dog
    Love this Dog

    2. Rosie Became a Pirate. My sweet basset hound was diagnosed with glaucoma this year. We had to remove her right eye, and it will only be a matter of time before she goes completely blind. She has been such a trooper with the surgery and taking eye drops every day that cause tunnel vision. Her medical situation changed my life now that she’s on three medications. My daily schedule revolves around her. And with her eventual blindness, I’m more cognizant about making her life awesome. We spent a long weekend at Long Beach visiting the dog beach and dog-friendly restaurants.

    3. I Joined Venjuris. At the beginning of 2015, I became Of Counsel at Venjuris – a business and IP boutique law firm. It’s probably the best career move I could have made. By combining forces, I get to take on more complex and litigation cases, and now it’s easier for my clients to get help with their patent needs. I love the people I work with and it’s definitely taken my skills as a lawyer to the next level.

    4. Modeling. Starting this summer, I got to do a bit of modeling this year – portrait work, underwater work, milk bath, and bodyscaping. Modeling lets me be expressive in a whole new way, and the resulting photos are amazing. There are some exceptionally talented photographers in Phoenix. As a bonus, one of the photos – a compilation of 13 images of me – is the new postcard for Carter Law Firm.

    5. Medical Mystery/Heart Problems. 2014 ended with a medical mystery for me – night sweats, dizziness, fatigue, and chest pain. Three cardiologists, two ultrasounds, and a transesophageal echocardiogram later, they determined I have a hole in my heart – a defect from birth – but this wasn’t the cause of my medical problems. My doctor ran every blood test he could think of and everything came back “normal.” Our best guess is I’m prone to severe costochondritis and anxiety.

    6. Seeing Friends. The Undeniable Recap usually lists the top five events from the year, but I want to add a bonus event. It’s not really an event but one of the benefits of traveling so much this year – I got to see so many friends that don’t live near me. That was probably the best part of this year; almost everywhere I went, there were familiar faces. If I had to name my favorite moment from 2015, it would be hugging my former voice coach Richard Weidlich in New York.

    With Sheila Dee in London and my Signature Sickle Foot, Photo by Evo Terra
    With Sheila Dee in London and my Signature Sickle Foot, Photo by Evo Terra

    Firsts in 2015
    DNF race
    Transesophageal Echocardiogram (with Propofol)
    Making Cornbread
    Stay in a Hostel
    Ride on BART
    Skinny Jeans
    Couchsurfing
    Episcleritis
    Sticking Gum on a Wall
    Scone with Clotted Cream
    Solo International Trip – to London
    Sitting Second Chair
    Sights: Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Times Square, Central Park, “Free” Stamp Sculpture, Fork in the Road, LucasFilms, Ballard Locks, Seattle Troll
    Events: Content Marketing World, Periscope Community Summit, Ungagged, Dad 2.0 Summit

    Meeting R2D2 at LucasFilms
    Meeting R2D2 at LucasFilms – Still with my Sickle Foot

    Celebrity Sightings
    R2D2
    Anderson Cooper
    Michael McDonald
    John Cleese
    Scott Sigler
    Colin Wright

    In Memoriam
    Leonard Nimoy
    Joseph Cherapan
    Sandy Askland
    Atticus VanSlyke
    Trixie Ortmeyer

  • Day 73/90 – Invading New York with Mitch

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    Ruth Carter

    Day 73 of the 90 Days of Awesome is in the bank! What made today awesome? I found out that Mitch Jackson and I are co-presenting at the Periscope Community Summit in New York this fall!

    Doing The Human Side show with Mitch Jackson
    Doing The Human Side show with Mitch Jackson

    Mitch is an awesome personal injury attorney in southern California. He is a great guy who’s also active on Twitter, Periscope, and has a podcast called The Human Side. I had the pleasure of being on the show earlier this year – we had a blast. I’m jealous of his Periscope videos that he shoots next to the ocean just before he goes surfing. We hoped to connect in person when I was passing through southern California during The Undeniable Tour, but unfortunately our schedules didn’t mesh.

    Today I got a call from a giddy Mitch. He was so excited to share the news that we will be on a panel together at the Periscope Community Summit to talk about the legal issues related to using Periscope and other social media platforms.

    “Do they know how awesome this is going to be?” he asked me.

    “They think they know, but they have no idea.” I responded.

    Then we went off on a tangent about how we aren’t going to sleep when we’re in New York because we’ll to be so busy with the conference and trying to see all of our friends and to connect with New York-based social media movers and shakers. As proud members of the Vayner Nation, we decided we at least have to stop by VaynerMedia to see GaryVee. Mitch suggested we jump in an Uber with him when he’s between meetings to maximize our time with him. Can you help us make that happen DeMayo?

    I’m so excited that I will finally get to meet Mitch in person, and we are going to blow the Periscope community away with our talk. They will never think of lawyers in the same way again. I can’t wait.

    In case you missed it: Day 72 of the 90 Days of Awesome – I love that my job lets me fix my clients’ problems.

  • Day 52/90 – Lunch with Marc

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    Ruth Carter

    Day 52 of the 90 Days of Awesome is in the bank! What made today awesome? I got to have lunch with my friend Marc!

    Sorry! I forgot to take a selfie at lunch.
    Sorry! I forgot to take a selfie at lunch.

    Marc Lerner and I met when we were first year law students at Arizona State University. Wow – we’ve been friends for seven years. Time has flown by. Law was a second career for both of us. We were both involved in the Center for Law, Science, and Innovation and we had a few classes together. Studying with him was great – his dining room would be covered with giant Post-It Notes with his summary of the course material. I’m sure his kids learned a lot about the law by exposure.

    Marc and I get together for lunch at Zoe’s Kitchen periodically to catch up (love their Greek Salad!). Today we realized that we hadn’t hung out since before I went on The Undeniable Tour. We need to hang out more often.

    I love seeing my law school friends. It’s not traditional networking; we’re just friends catching up – and we happen to be lawyers. We understand what it means to practice in this industry in a way that outsiders can’t understand, and of course we get to talk about normal stuff too like kids, travel, the future, etc. We don’t have to be fancy; we get to just be people.

    In case you missed it: Day 51 of the 90 Days of Awesome – Taking a Break from a Crazy Week with Rosie the Basset Hound!