Category: Outside the Box

Non-mainstream thoughts and musings

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Book Review: Stalking The Story

I picked up a copy of the e-book Stalking The Story the other day after reading through “Everything You Need To Write Great Essays You Can Learn From Watching Movies” (we were looking at it as curriculum for our homeschooled high-schooler!) . I was impressed with the author’s style, and after reading a bit about him, I understood why… needless to say, it’s catchy, and I like catchy.

Anyway, since I’ve been having a bit of trouble hammering out the actual story for a few of my ongoing projects, I decided I needed some help with the plot. Stalking The Story looked like it would be just the ticket. (Plus, I’m a big fan of the detective show Monk and the foreword is by one of the show’s producers!)

The book basically gives you step-by-step guides to outline the major points of a story, under the assumption that finding the story is a mystery, and you’re the detective. Every good detective looks for clues, interviews people of interest, documents anything relevant, etc. and hopefully by the end, you can solve the mystery and find your missing story.

The Breakdown: I really like Jay Douglas’ style. It’s informal, slightly tongue-in-cheek, and very easy to read. There’s plenty of references to fictional detectives and their methods, and even worksheets for hammering out the details of your characters and how they fit into the plot. It’s a virtual “Plot EMT” and just going through the chapters can very quickly make you realize that your plot is dead, and needs reviving.

Does it work? Well, yes. If you have a corkboard full of scene snippets, colorful characters, cool ideas, but no story, then this book is exactly what you need. It will guide you through pulling the pieces together and drawing out an actual story from nothing more than your characters’ idiosyncrasies.

The Lowdown: If you’re looking for a miracle, well, this book won’t write your story for you. However, I used it, and it opened up a lot of possibilities for story sources (right there in my own character’s head!) that I hadn’t thought of. Brainstorming, writing it down, thinking it through, and then putting the pieces back together is what happens.

I recommend this book for people with writer’s block. It helps you think outside the box, and look for clues to a story where you couldn’t see one before.

Check it out!

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Happy Birthday to Me!

Went for a 50-mile bike ride this morning with the local bike club (they’re awesome) and when I got home, my mother surprised me with this little gem she had found in the trash!

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38 Years, Looking Back

I admit it, I’m an old fogey. Sometimes I get grumpy, and I am getting to where I like things just so. I get irritated with noisy neighbors, I eat my vegetables, and gosh darn it, some days I just feel old.

But on the other hand, I’ve seen a lot of amazing things in the 38 years God has blessed me with. I’ve seen people’s lives turned around, I’ve traveled the country, I’ve begun an incredible journey into being a husband and father- and been blessed with outstanding children (not to mention my one-of-a-kind wife) and so I have nothing to complain about. In the last two years, I’ve been at my lowest, and my highest, and everything in between. I’ve stared God in the face and what He reflected back to me was something I’ll never forget. It’s humbling, it’s encouraging, it’s exciting, and it’s frightening all at the same time. I now know what I am to do with the fleeting days that God has given me. It’s just up to me now to live them out, and do the very best I can at it.

I’ve come to realize that if I’m being the father I’m supposed to be, it doesn’t matter if I never get a publishing deal, or a recording contract. Those things are cool, but they’re fleeting. They don’t last. I am thoroughly happy doing whatever God wants me to do. For now, it’s writing on my blog. Tomorrow, it might be writing a national bestseller. I don’t know.

All I know is, without God in your life, you don’t have much of a life. Do you know where your life is headed?

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Frugality Defined

Okay, I admit it. I stink at being frugal. Now, granted, I’ve done a lot of minimizing in the last year or so, so I’m not totally inexperienced at it. The sad truth remains, however: I stink at it. Why? Because I like stuff.

“Hi, my name is Jeff, and I’m a stuff-aholic.”

I’d like to blame my upbringing, but the truth is it’s my own fault. I just like stuff! This will probably be my downfall in the grand scheme of things, but I’m still stuck with the problem of “How do I live frugally if I like stuff?”

I don’t have all the answers, obviously, but I’m willing to work through it. Bear with me, it will be a bumpy ride.

So, today’s One-A-Day simplifying project was redo my entertainment center (this alone is enough to send frugal people packing!) I had it thrown together with all kinda of wires, remotes, stuff that was disconnected, and so forth. It needed to be organized.

I ended up removing the computer I had attached to it (we use the Wii to watch Netflix shows now, that’s eliminating something!) and removed the cables for it. I added wheels and cooling fans to the cabinet (for easy cleaning and keeping the devices cool). I painted the bare wood spots, redid all the wiring with zip-ties, and mounted all the boxes (power bricks, network hub, etc.) so nothing has to be moved. You unplug a couple of wires, and the entire center rolls away for cleaning, temporary rearranging, etc. This project took me a few hours, but I think it will help keep things more orderly. As far as simplifying, well… heh. I’m working on it.

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Writing Is the Hardest Thing

You know, there are days when I think writing is a waste of time.

No, really, bear with me here. I know some of the greatest minds of all time (of all time!) expressed their thoughts through writing. But the more I try to write, the harder it gets. More and more, our life is run by 30-second clips of images, music, flashes of light, and maybe a brand logo or three. But very little thought matters in the regular world anymore, and I’m becoming more aware of it as I get older.

Most of the guys I work with (I work in a large factory that builds agricultural equipment) have never read a novel. A good chunk of them barely passed high school. So what good does it do for me to pour my soul out in words, page upon page, chapter after chapter, when almost nobody I know will read it? How will this affect people around me? Well, the truth is, it probably won’t affect them much. But for the few people who read my work, I’m happy they enjoy it.

I just wish I could reach more people with my writing, otherwise, why do it? I certainly would like to make a living at it, but that’s not why I write. I want to be able to reach people, and engage their minds in ways otherwise impossible. You can’t carry a conversation about morality, world events, and spirituality over a rushed 30-minute lunch break. Most of the guys I work with spend that 30 minutes eating and showing each other crude pictures from Facebook on their smartphones.

I guess I need to revisit why I write. Is it for me? If so, I need to not worry so much about how and what I write. Is it for others? If so, then I need to make more of an effort to make that happen, instead of wasting time.

Ah, joy. Yet another day of self-doubt as a writer. Time for some more coffee.

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Installing Adobe AIR 2.6 in Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit

Five years ago, I posted an article here on how to install Adobe Air (the discontinued native Linux version) on Ubuntu 12.04.

Everything that I had written here I decided to pull, because Adobe likes to do massive bulk DMCA Takedowns without actually verifying whether the reported page actually violated anything. They simply did a text web search, and smote down everything that looked even remotely offensive. And as an added note: this isn’t the first time they’ve done this with this exact page.

I can no longer recommend trying to get any Adobe products working on your computer for any reason. I realize that this page has helped hundreds (if not more) people to get Adobe’s horrible (and non-supported) Air platform working in Linux, just to be able to use third-party apps. But as useful as it might have been, I just can’t in good conscience help anybody with it any more.

Adobe falsely accuses me of stealing their property and has my page forcibly removed from Google searches? Yeah, okay, there’s enough links out there that I still got some traffic. I felt good in knowing that I was helping people (or so I thought). So I left the content up, exactly as it was, knowing that I hadn’t violated anything, in hopes that some people would still find it.

Fast forward a year, and I’ve been hit by another DMCA takedown, again from Adobe, for the same exact page. It’s become obvious to me that instead of making products that people actually want to use, they’re focusing their attention on punishing users who they think might have remotely stepped out of line. Now they’ve filed a complaint against my AdSense account, and are taking money from my pockets- and I still haven’t done anything wrong. At no point have I ever offered any of Adobe’s products for download here.

Google is as complicit in this as Adobe- don’t think I’m letting them off the hook. I went through their extensive review process last time, and they basically told me “Tough luck, buddy. Sucks to be you.” I’ll have a few more articles about how to break free from the many-headed Hydra that is Google in the near future. Their time is coming, as well. They can rot as far as I’m concerned.

Adobe can bite me. I’m through with them, and you should be too. As is fitting with a blog called “Living Outside the Box,” Here’s a non-extensive list of alternatives to Adobe products:

I’m sorry if you came here looking for help with getting Air to run on Linux. I really wanted to help you, but Adobe had other plans.

Please, urge your third-party developers to move away from anything having to do with Adobe. You’ll be better off for it.

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Bad Website Design

Do you think you can find which link on this page actually downloads the Wikipedia desktop app? Don’t feel bad if you can’t find it right away…

That’s right… if you said click on the tiny word “air” you’d be right. I don’t know what the two enormous “Download” buttons are for, and honestly, I don’t care.

If you design websites, please, please don’t ever do this. It’s evil.

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One-A-Day

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Today’s de-clutter: Plastic tubs. This one has miles of cables and wires in it. All good stuff, but not things I’d use on a regular basis. If it stays in the tub for a year, then it’s safe to say you don’t need it.