bryan suddith dot com

I have come to observe a few things recently while reading my Facebook and Twitter feeds.  The first is that people tell too much. I admit that I fall prey to this phenomenon way too often myself.  In our fish bowl culture of reality t.v. most Facebook and Twitter users use this medium to communicate every one of life’s events to the body public. There are some masters of social media in my sphere of influence who communicate well and provide for a conversation in my feeds and not just a diary dump of days events.

The second phenomenon was reported this week in the New York Daily News. This study researched people’s Twitter feeds to determine the best day of the week. I asked this question, “how could you possibly find that out?” Apparently you can. According to the study:

A study tracking the moods of Twitter users has revealed that people are angrier on Thursdays than any other day of the week.

“We’re not really sure exactly why Thursday, but people’s bad moods build from Monday until then,” said Northeastern University professor Alan Mislove.

“On Friday, it seems people’s moods change and they become happier until Sunday when the cycle starts over.”

Reading the article I learned that the folks at Northeaster University used keyword searches and produced a nifty video showing what they learned.

My point is, no body cares if your having a case of the Monday’s. If people can determine what your best/worst day is from your Facebook or Twitter page, then you are doing it wrong.

I am pretty sure that Facebook is manic. If your status updates have gone all 296 then take a break from Facebook. I have friends who only update their status if their life is perfect or falling apart at the seams. They never share real or helpful information, a music link, a news report, a story talking about a charitable work.  Only “my life is better than your life because my man/woman is better than your man/woman” or the “OMG what am I going to do with my life because .blah blah blah…”. If this is you, terminate your account now. There is room for all of it, lets just avoid the extremes and monotony.

I have to admit, I have a few friends on both Twitter (376 friends) and Facebook (941 friends) that fall into this category. I keep them in my stream only to watch from a safe distance. I am mocking you right now. Its like my own private reality t.v. show. For free.

So keep this in mind, Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Plaxo, Youtube, Flickr, any of them, its like having a conversation in real life. I don’t care about your kitten, or your car sucking, or that you hate Thursday’s and can’t wait for Friday’s. Tell me something that will improve our relationship, teach me something, show me something new, give me something to work with besides “cant wait for school to start so I dont kill me kids before Aug 24″ or the dreaded, “8 days til my vacation starts”.

If I am guilty of these, call me out. Last week I did this very thing, in less than 10 minutes I deleted the post and apologized. Please do the same.

K? Thanks. TTYL.

See what I did there..that last line..yea..text lingo..I know..funny.

For the last 5 years I have watched and participated in various levels of local politics. I love politics. I am more right of center, more moderate than far right, and am proud to say I voted for Clinton two times, and ashamed that I never had sense enough to vote for Bush (43).  I had the pleasure to work on campaigns at all levels from Congress to tiny ward seats of city councils. I also spent two years in the trenches working in elections here in Montgomery County.   Here is what I observed in yesterday’s Special Democratic Party Primary for Ohio’s 3rd Congressional District.

1) The voting system worked. There are many complaining that the super vote center system disenfranchised voters. There is no evidence to support that. Both my friend David Esrati and acquaintance Mike Bock make this claim without anything to support their call to arms.  Special elections, even those for Congressional seats covering parts of 4 counties, rarely attract spring primary numbers. Voters are not disenfranchised when all are given equal opportunities to vote. In this election, every voter, all 323,843 of them were invited to vote by mail here in Montgomery County’s portion of the 3rd Congressional district.

The masses were not expected to show up to the vote center. They were expected to vote by mail.  Voting by mail has been advocated by both Esrati and Bock ad nausea. At some point the blame for low turnout has to fall at the feet of an apathetic electorate. Its the job of the parties and candidates to turn out voters, whether at local polls, vote centers or at the mail box. Not the Boards of Elections. The BOE’s job is to facilitate a fair, impartial election serving every registered voter. Yesterday they did that in fine fashion. Kudos to the staff for completing this while many of their co-workers vacationed in the weeks leading up to this important election.

Warren County opened all its regular polling locations in their portion of the 3rd Congressional district and only a fraction of the registered Dems showed up. With all polls open as usual, only 192 Democrats showed up, compared with 1982 back in May. Location had nothing to do with turnout, candidates and timing did. Lets not blame vote centers in Montgomery County when we had a higher turnout than Warren County.

2) Mike and Dave claim a number of 2-3% turnout. This is fuzzy math. Only 30,238 people voted Democratic Ballots in the May 2010 primary in the 3rd Congressional District of Ohio. This is only 27% of the total amount of voters who voted in the March 2008 Democratic Primary. A loss of 73% in two years. Two factors at work here. The first is that picking candidates to lose to Turner isn’t nearly as exciting as picking the next President. The second factor is that the President isn’t polling well and that keeps deflated Democrats home in a summer special election.

The real turnout was about 23% of all “registered” Democrats voted in this special election. That is a more respectable number in my eye. For comparison sake I should mention that the GOP registered voters dropped from roughly 48,000 in March of 2008 to 41,280 in May of 2010. Again showing that elections less than Presidential have lower voter turnout. In total the voter rolls dropped by 10,000 voters between those years in the Montgomery Counties portion of the 3rd Congressional district.

3) Why did Esrati lose? Was it because his voters couldn’t find the polls. No. Should the Board of Elections put signs up at the closed locations. Yes. But did it cost him the election. No. Most campaign managers, consultants, advisers and the like preach that Name recognition is everything. I agree, but  with one caveat. Name ID is only good if the name ID is good. I would suggest to Esrati, Bock and those who are scratching their heads that David Esrati’s name ID has been tainted by repeat losses. Voters don’t vote for losers. Except in the case of Lincoln, no one has lost as many times as Esrati and been able to pull of a win in the end. This is called ballot fatigue. Voters are tired of seeing the Esrati name over and over. One should look to see how many votes he had in 2009 from the 3rd Congressional district portion of Montgomery County. That can explain a small portion of Dave’s drop off in 8 short months. Not too mention that a vote for Dave for City Commission is different than a vote to send a guy to Congress.

This doesn’t mean that David isn’t qualified, able or even the best candidate. This just says that voters see a perennial name and pass it up for something fresh. Most voters have forgotten Fogle’s name and I would guess didn’t associate his name with T.V. in the Dayton market. He too had a failed attempt at a State Rep seat in 2006.

For a full analysis of this race I would wait and see what media was used by the Roberts campaign. When Campaign Finance Filings are complete in the next few weeks we can look at what mail was used, phone or web and see how Roberts picked up half the votes.

Counting the appetite of a 22 year old, the time change and early morning departure that was now 2,400 miles behind me, it was lunch time when the wheels touched down in the middle of the Pacific Northwest at Sea Tac airport. It had been three months since I had interviewed over the phone with my boss to be. The title sounded big, the opportunity sounded bigger, intern US Navy, Department of Morale, Welfare and Recreation, Pacific Beach Facility, Seattle Naval Station. What that meant exactly, I had no idea.

Stepping off the plane I was surprised at the temperature. Growing up in southwest Ohio breathing was especially a healthy thing to do in June. But in Seattle, even downwind from the Tacoma aroma, the air was full of pine, clean, low humidity, the breeze tempered from Lake Washington. This was great. I headed to the baggage claim hoping to find a ride to the beach and my bags simultaneous. Lumbar pack affixed, backback claimed and duffel in hand I began my search. I was hoping for a sign that read “Suddith” but found nothing in the small crowd that was now dispersing.

I called my mother, it had been almost 9 hours since we had last talked. I was alive. Seattle, the airport at least is great. No ride. I will call. Yes. I love you too. Yes I will. Okay. Bye.

After a quick search again I called the Pacific Beach facility. I got a hold of my boss and he apologized and said Harry was on his way. Gray hair, beard, Panama hat, shorts and he’s driving a white Navy van. I was warned that Harry is a bit eccentric but the ride to the beach will be great. I waited. Trying to not look like a disgruntled teen, I placed a Marc Cohn cd into my walkman and settled in for a wait.

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For some time now I have studied what makes folks successful. I remember in high school reading both Lee Iaccoca’s Bio and the story of Sam Walton. I read a lot of Bios back then and still enjoy them when given the chance. These days I tend to read more about leadership than I do of monetary success stories.  In the last week I have seen a couple of stories of success that have peeked my interest.

There is this awesome lifestyle and brand photographer Leigh Caraccioli. I met her one time 6 months ago and have been infected with her enthusiasm and her photography.  Meeting her and Amanda Hite was like meeting two rock stars. You hear people say, “when I get famous I want so and so to take my picture.” I am pretty sure Leigh capturing you on film will make you famous.  I am saving my nickles now to hire her in the not so distant future.

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My dad was sort of an ambassador of truck driving. He would take his rig anywhere it would fit to tell people or kids what it was like to drive cross country. From the time I was born until somewhere in Junior High my dad was a furniture hauler. Household goods. He was the guy who would come to your house with a team of guys, pack your house, load your house, then take it to its destination. He was often gone weeks at a time.

I remember fondly, and clearly, 1978, I was finishing my second year of preschool and my dad brought his truck to my preschool. I can still see it, I remember sitting in his lap behind the big wheel barely able to reach the gear shift. He parked his truck in the parking lot, just like a sedan, and allowed all of my 4 and 5 year old friends to climb in, around and through the cab of his truck. Again in 1986, my brother and I had a BMX race in the Akron area, my dad had to work that weekend, a load of something or other had to be in Lodi on Friday night. Race day was Saturday. We dropped the load off in Lodi, picked up an empty trailer and headed to the race track on Saturday morning. Keith and I were the only racers with a 48 foot box trailer holding our two bikes, tool box, sleeping bags and cooler. One other occasion worth mentioning, 1988 or 1989 my dad drove his truck into the Cincinnati Convention Center to be a part of our Boy Scout Troops booth for a big Scout A Rama. People couldn’t believe it. Right there in the convention center was a rig for scouts to look through and learn something about the elusive Truck Transportation Merit Badge. My dad happened to be the  counselor for this badge.

So driving a 23,000 pound, 10 wheeled, diesel machine to an airport in St. Louis did not count as the strangest place my dad had driven to.

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