To give you a feel for the scope, this story includes Cancer, My Career, and a TV show, an unlikely combination. To get the whole story we have to rewind the clock all the way back to 1983 or so. At this point my Mom was diagnosed with cancer for the first time. I was young enough then that I didn’t really understand much about what was going on besides the fact that my Mom was sick, and her treatment went well that round. The second time I was in college and understood what was going on and things turned out alright then too. Around 1998 was when things got very bad, now it was bone cancer and she aged 20 years in about a year. She saw my brother married in 1999 and was able to vacation with her family after the wedding but a few months later, after a day or two in the hospital she was gone. My father had taken care of his parents and then my mom, and in many ways our family had to start anew.

I was married in 2003 and by then Dad was spending time with Helen. I’ve had friends that have had difficulty dealing with a parent being with someone else, but I always saw it as a blessing. He lives on the other side of the state so I knew he had someone to talk with,  enjoy a meal with, and travel. Carin and I wanted to have children so over the next 5 years we saw doctors and did everything we could to get our little family growing. Carin has dealt with chronic lyme disease that had been misdiagnosed for many years so that complicated things a bit. Throughout all this time we had become fans of Extreme Makeover Home Edition and never missed a show. Carin’s Dad is an electrician, my Grandfather was Plumber and Electrician (and my Dad worked with him) so we’ve always enjoyed working on projects around the house. Between both the altruism and optimism of the show, it’s ability to market by creating DVR-proof content, and telling honest stories of how challenging daily life can be, we always found it inspiring.

I know, this is rambling all over the damn place, just a bit more set up before it all collides. The last piece was changing jobs less than a year and a half ago. I had been at AccuRev for more than 5 years and had two former co-workers at different companies who asked if I might be up for something different. As a proof point for a recent article that said Marketing Tech jobs are one of the 5 hardest jobs to fill, I was fortunate enough to get offers from both. Although the position at Glance Networks had more of a content marketing slant I ended up going to Boston Software Systems (check out the website upgrade that went live this week!) which was a demand gen position and had the benefit of allowing me to work from home.

And so our stage is set at 2011, with me realizing with joy how much work you can get done when can actually string together 3 hours without interruption. This year I have been living the “responsibility of the weird” as Seth Godin has called it – the fact that if you have an offbeat hobby, or you want to see a specific kind of art, you have to vote with your wallet. Depressed about all the Disney Musicals on Broadway? When was the last time you caught an independent show there? Yeah, me neither. We get the Gotham City we deserve. Extreme Home Makeover never really had any cool schwag on their website so I had a standing eBay search set up for T-Shirts, Jackets, whatever. In March I got an alert of a charity auction to buy 2 days on the set of EMHE where you could work on a house and meet the cast (benefit for a cancer charity ironically). I won the auction and used it as a killer wedding anniversary gift.

Unfortunately the back half of the year started to get ugly. Both Helen and Carin’s Dad had been diagnosed with cancer and were going through treatment so we spent many weekends driving out to Western Mass to help with projects and have some quality family time. I had the hope of going to the EMHE build, getting photos of us with the cast, and maybe even having the chance to tell them our story of how they inspired us to never give up and share our happy ending of the birth of our son. I have a huge debt of gratitude to Dawn, Krissy, and Rachel for putting up with our scheduling problems, thank you for your kindness.  I have strings of emails 20 and 30 deep of them helping us line up our visit. As we were unable to make one week or the other for family reasons, the season of the show was winding down. We had one last shot at what appeared to be a perfect opportunity in December – the 4th from last show would be in North Carolina. Carin’s aunt lives there so we would be able to bring her parents along with us to Charlotte and we’d have babysitting covered, hang out with the family, and be part of building a house.

At the start of December everything seemed to be on track, I was free to ramble on about my scientific evaluation of Tree Toppers as part of my holiday preparations. And then everything went to hell.

Helen became very ill late in December and was admitted to the hospital. For the second time my father was having to take care of someone losing their battle with cancer. My brother came out from California to spend time with us, and we had no choice but to cancel our trip. As Helen was set up with hospice I remember getting a Google alert that EMHE was going to be cancelled, the two January shows would still be filmed but they would be the last. I actually laughed by that point, trying to do the trip had become absurd, an effort in futility and not important with everything else going on around me. Also remember that this is year end, the busiest time of the year at work trying to wrap up any deals that can could close. Thankfully people were very understanding and I was able to spend the time I needed with my family.

Helen passed away the Friday before Christmas. Christmas was her favorite holiday, she loved decorating her home and buying gifts. There’s really nothing that crushes my spirit more than thinking about the fact that my son has now lost two Grandmothers who would have done anything for him. Her ceremony was beautiful, the church decorated for the holiday and Christmas carols used as the music during the mass.

At some point here Tom from Glance called me and asked me to give him a call. I told him I was wrapped up with my family but I would get back to him right after the first. There were two EMHE builds but it was just not possible to schedule them around work and I wanted to be able to spend time with my Dad rather than trying to figure out how to get to some town south of San Antonio, Texas without having a Trains, Planes and Automobiles itinerary. We missed our shot at the trip. Our holiday was one of the saddest things I have ever gone through. By the second week in January we were just happy to have a “normal” week.

I finally caught up with Tom and he filled me in on what has been going on with Glance, including all the work they’ve done with a Salesforce.com integration. While my last career transition took about 5 months, in 3 days I was giving my notice and I’ll be starting at Glance in just over a week.

So. That’s what I’ve been up to. Not much besides fighting through it a day at a time. Now that I have a chance to breathe for a moment I’ll get back to my normal practice of setting out some goals for the year. I hope your holiday was better than mine and you are looking forward to a bright 2012.

http://www.christopherspenn.com/2011/12/awaken-your-holidays/

Artist's Likeness of The Retired Heavyweight Champion

After probably 40 years or so of service the Angel that would sit atop our Christmas Tree finally disintegrated. When the quest to replace her began I came across a very similar one on eBay. Ours was much like the one pictured at right, except she had golden wings and her dress matched the wings the way this one does. Life at the top is not easy, in the event the tree goes down you’ve got the farthest to fall and the most time to accelerate. She didn’t have a name, had lost both arms, her wings had fallen apart and her stylish headband was falling off, making her hair a hot mess.

The one in this picture is currently on eBay and bidding is up to $200. I’m not up for paying that for a 60+ year old angel that is not prepared to handle the battlefield that is my home.

Having landed a Groupon deal for a tree on Friday, on Saturday we began auditioning replacements for the part. My first check was Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland of Frankenmuth, Michigan. The only thing bigger than this Christmas shop in upstate Michigan is Chicken Dinner. I was surprised that there were only about 30, if that was the selection at the greatest on earth this was going to be much tougher than I thought.

I turned to eBay and there were 27 pages of results. My quest led me to review over 1,500 tree toppers, and as I did I started tweeting some revelations. These were cross posted on Facebook, and got some decent comments so I decided to bundle up and present as a gift to you:

Top 10 Tree Topper Observations:

Creeps me out a bit

#1 – Animal heads on human angel bodies look weird. I.E. This tree topper – for King Charles Cavalier Spaniel fans ONLY:

#2 – When shopping on eBay “Vintage” usually means “dirty and/or broken”

#3 – The idea behind the angel is peace and grace, not defending your house from demons or dragons – No staffs for smiting

#4 – like most things for sale, the stuff of good taste costs 20x more

#5 For some reason 99.99% of angels are blonde, unless they are African American (eBay user’s term, not mine)

#6 Angels should have eagle, not butterfly wings

#7 If you are not into angels like Tammi Faye with a hoop skirt add Lladro to your search and think 10 times the cost

#8 Excessive lights or fiber optics result in angels holding weird looking things that look like they are casting a spell

#9 – Like dolls or ventriloquist dummies, there are some that look like they will come alive at night and eat your family

#10 Note: Your Scooby-Doo angel is not authentic unless he is also holding a piece of pizza

A 5 College System One and One to Terrify the Kids

@JasonFredlin mentioned checking out etsy as opposed to the normal mall route. There was some killer stuff up there – I would be ALL OVER a Steampunk Angel, but “she who must be obeyed” would give that the NFW.

Examples of Awesome Etsy Toppers that Would Never Make It Into My Home

I would be remiss if I did not add a plug here for a Krinner Christmas Tree Stand. These are amazing devices. Every family that’s purchased a tree has stories about stands that just don’t work, broken ornaments, and domestic violence as a result of tree raising. Well over an hour to put up a tree, get it straight and balanced so it won’t fall is not uncommon.

The key to the Krinner is that it uses a cable to pull supporting arms tight against the tree as opposed to every other system that has you screwing bolts into the relatively mushy tree stump. Instead of spending your day crawling around adjusting one side and then having to tighten and loosen others, you drop the tree in, use the foot pedal to tighten the cable and in 15 seconds you are done. A true Christmas miracle.

Putting up the tree is so damn easy I can wear my high heels

Although it’s not cheap at around $80, one of the Amazon 5-star reviews hits the mark with the title “Way cheaper than a divorce attorney”

A Rare Approved Alternative to the Standard Angel, and my message to you - "Merry Christmas Momma Baby"

Unfortunately, the only way to calm the panic is to create the worst case scenario. In this case, one or more of us getting killed on the way to, during, or from the race. Every time I come to this conclusion, I reach the same decision – “Well, there are other people giving this a shot, so it can’t be impossible, and if we survive, it will make a great story”

So here’s our story. I failed to get my paperwork submitted in time to run my 10th Falmouth Road Race in August, so I thought it would be fun to put together a Marathon Relay Team. The 26.2 mile course is cut into 5 legs, in miles they are around 3,6,6,5,6. I had a couple lined up as part of the team, but they bailed leaving us down to 3 people. Adam had a family event that weekend and would have bailed, but, like a true Warrior, stuck to his word and said if you really need me I’m in. Unfortunately for him I replied “Yes, we REALLY need you”.

I invited Chip months ago because he was just getting into racing (he has his first half marathon coming up in less than two weeks), so I knew he would have fun with it. He was coming down from New Hampshire so he booked a hotel the night before. I was planning to get up around 4:30am and drive to the Cape, but when the storm rolled in I decided to go down the night before and get a room at the hotel Chip was at. Adam was crashing with a friend on the Cape so at least we were all there. Winds were fierce all night (Chip counseled me to park closer to the building to reduce the chance of the trees on the edge of the parking lot falling on my car).

The good news is that things started to move in our favor a bit from this point. The ride to the start went with no hitches. All of my logistical planning for the transition were overkill (off season traffic makes a HUGE difference on the ability to get around), so all that was left was the running.

I had a laugh talking with Adam about doing a relay. The marathoners are able to look down upon the people that are ONLY doing the relay (since they are not doing the whole 26.), Adam had license to laugh at those people since they were ONLY marathoners to him, having done a 50-mile Ultramarathon earlier in the month.

Adam did the first 2 legs, I set him up to start early so he could get off the Cape first since he was good enough to make the trip out. Chip took the middle leg, and I ran the last 11. Considering that’s the longest run I’ve done this summer, I was happy to finish. Looking back, I probably should have swapped with Chip, I think he’s in better shape than I am, but I did want to take the last leg and there was no way to swing that because we didn’t want anyone to stop and start, and I didn’t want to transition at Wood’s Hole (although I won’t let that discourage me next year).

I also had trouble with my insoles 8 miles in, the footbed is not smooth and it created a pressure point that was really bugging me. I actually took off my sock and that helped, the good news was that there were plenty of puddles on the course, so a quick icebath kept me out of pain long enough to get home.

I’d like to thank Adam and Chip for giving it everything they had. To paraphrase Henry V, I’m “Looking back with scars on my feet at we merry few, the band of brothers.” All in all, our time was pretty terrible at 4:31, but given what it took just to get to the starting line, I’m happy with that. For this year…

Business Books:

Start With Why by Simon Sinek
Most business books are all about how to climb the ladder faster, this one asks if you have it leaning on the right building.

Permission Marketing and We Are All Weird by Seth Godin
The first is a classic, the second is cutting edge

New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott
Ignore the Social Media Guru baloney and get pragmatic advice here

Read this First by Ron Ploof
Book to give to your manager if they don’t get the New Rules

Marketing White Belt: Basics for the Digital Marketer by Christopher S. Penn
Starting properly by my Marketing Over Coffee co-host

Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore
Required reading for selling technology, also applies to how trends and new ideas move through the world.

The Marketing Playbook by John Zagula and Richard Tong
A hidden gem that will give you a set of concepts that allow you to review and discuss any business model.

The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen
A classic that explains why well managed organizations are not innovative. Critical to understand the weakness of large corporations.

Drucker on Management by Peter F. Drucker
Applies intellectual integrity to the practice of management. I have an edition called The Essential Drucker that appears to be out of print, this edition is an overview of his thought and is a good place to start.

Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy
If you are in Marketing and write, you must read this.

The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz  and Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
Suddenly you are able to understand why people do the things they do, even when it doesn’t make sense.

And a spoiler – keep your eyes out for Market Like Hero coming soon!

Running:

Born to Run by Christopher MacDougall
A fantastic story about ultra-marathoning, midfoot strike, and the greatest race the world has never seen

ChiRunning by Danny Dreyer
The quest to run more efficiently and without pain. I wish I had read this 15 years ago.

Life Skills:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
This book puts a framework around things you probably already do to succeed – making it a repeatable process.

Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution by C. Robert Atkins
Consult your doctor before changing your diet – that said, this book opened my eyes to the fact that so much of what is taken as fact about diet and nutrition is about as scientific as examining bird entrails. I’d be 300 lbs or dead without this book.

The Art of War (Shambala Press Edition) by Sun Tzu and Thomas Leary
Rock solid strategy.

On Speaking by Charles Osgood
An easy read and a good place to start

You can Negotiate Anything by Herb Cohen
Just like public speaking, negotiation can be nerve-wracking. And also like speaking, anyone can do well at it if you practice. This book gives you the guidelines.

For Fun:

Harry Potter is worth reading, maybe they will wake up and offer it on Kindle someday.

The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
Argued to be the greatest graphic novel ever, if you like the current Batman movies, you’ll like it.

Superman: Our Worlds at War Epic and grand in scope, with many different artistic styles, this huge graphic novel is a great escape.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore Forget the movie, this is a great story (18 and older only)

Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern
is the funniest book I have ever read

Have fun reading and feel free to add your suggestions in the comments.

I cannot wait to check out the latest from Peter Gabriel

I have a bunch of links piling up that are not worthy of their own post, but I did think they were worth commenting on and sharing:

Warren Buffet saying that the rich could be asked to pick up their fair share. I recall Jeff Bussgang with a similar post in the past year, talking about VCs gambling other people’s money and only being being taxed at 15%. It’s an interesting argument, on one hand I see the fairness of it, on the other hand I don’t see congress behaving more responsibly by throwing more money at them.

Speaking of Congress – new music inspired by the Muppet Show.

I have been locked out of XBox Live for almost a month now because of a security breach. This would be a bummer if I hadn’t stopped playing video games 2 years ago.

There’s a whole series of new Swiss Army Knives that are USB drives and have bluetooth slide control. Some of them are blade free to make them TSA safe. If I didn’t already have a logitech presenter I’d consider one of these.

And I am about 80% through the first cut of a book. More on that later. I hope your summer is going well…

If there was a championship belt for comedy the current holder would be Justin Halpern. His book, Sh*t My Dad Says is the funniest book I have ever read. I’ve probably bought 10 copies of it by now, anytime I start talking about it, if somebody hasn’t read it I just kick over to Amazon and order another.

Most everyone has heard the back story, but in case you haven’t, Justin started blogging shit his dad says on Twitter and in short order ratcheted up over a million followers, then the book deal, and even a show with William Shatner (which I should probably set up on the DVR).

So, Happy Father’s Dad to all the Dads out there. As my gift to you, here’s a great Father’s Day story.

I remember when it began, around 1987. I had saved enough money mowing lawns, and managed to talk my parents into driving me to the Lechmere (Best Buy before there was a Best Buy) an hour away in Albany, New York. For $400 I got the second model Discman that Sony made and two CDs – Wang Chung’s Mosiac and Van Halen 5150. I didn’t have enough to complete the 1987 holy trinity by adding Bobby Brown, Don’t be Cruel. Maybe not Sophie’s Choice, but a tough decision. After years of listening to worn out cassette tapes I was blown away. Through college I bought while I still had summer cash to burn, and sold in the spring to get the cash to make it to the next summer.

Fast forward to the same renaissance in video, I replaced my 40 or so favorite films with DVDs, loving that the wouldn’t get eaten by dirty play heads, and the soundtracks were pristine.

Now, 25 years later I’m at a tag sale one of the neighbors is having. They have a box of CDs that people are looking through and a six year old girl asks “Daddy, what are those?”. One of the men thumbing through the box says “Honey, these are CDs, this is how we used to buy music.”

And it struck me there that the transition was over. I’ve been walking around with my music on an Apple device of some kind for years, the last of the CDs in a box in the basement, but it wasn’t until the past two years that I started thinking “If I was going to take the time to watch The Matrix again, there’s no way I’d watch the DVD when I can get it on the Apple TV in HD.” Slowly the bookcase of DVDs is shrinking as they get replaced with their virtual twins. I’ve waited my whole life to be able to watch a movie while traveling on my iPad. My son is born into a world where Toy Story is the first movie he sees, and he can take it with him wherever he wants and watch it at any time.

Although it’s shaken up the media world, I’m enjoying this new thing.

Where have I been for the last couple of weeks? Working on this project:

Click here to view the embedded video.