I need inspiration!

30 Plot Ideas in 30 Days

I came across this obnoxious blog today which I really don't want to promote in the slightest so I'm not going to mention what it is or what it's about. (and this image has nothing to do with it either...it's a random image I got from Googling "30 Days") Anywho...it gave me an idea, that I should try to write 90 plot ideas in 90 days. However, that being a long time, I think I should pare it down to a more reasonable 30 days.
However this brings up some issues:

1. Do I have to write one plot each day or can I skip & make up? Do they need to be consecutive days?
2. Should I re-label my blog? ie: The WriteRunner:30 Plot Ideas in 30 Days
3. Can I only think of plots while running? (which I usually only do 4 days/week)
4. Should I get other people involved/committed ala NaNoWriMo? I could probably post something up on the NaNo boards.
5. What do I do with the ideas when I'm done?
6. What should I do if I win?

It's an interesting project. I can think up a bunch of neat ideas and I don't have to commit to months of fleshing it out. Maybe I could follow it up with 30 characters in 30 days or something (or places, scenes, inventions, disasters, etc). Then when I'm done farting around I may actually write something useful...

Free Plot Idea #33

Free Plot Idea #33

I was thinking about what would happen if Barak Obama suddenly announced that they were expecting a baby. I did the math, and then realized that the baby would probably be born around election day.

Apparently a baby has only been born once before by a President in Office, Ester Cleveland in 1893. Now of course a baby being born Nov. 4, 2008 wouldn't count as a "Whitehouse Baby" but I think it would make for a very interesting campaign. I can just see him saying, "my first job upon being elected Leader of the Free World is to do something no other President has done in over 100 years: install a nursery."

This just brings up a plethora of plot points and situations. First of course there's the whole juggling work and family. Midnight bottle feedings for the Pres? Holding a news conference & baby at the same time? What if something dreadful happened to the Mrs. and he became an only father AND President? Or she leaves him. (Not to mention the needs of the existing kids)

And to cap things off, there could be a Lindbergh-style kidnapping plot, perhaps by Terrorists (or political rivals) seeking to destroy his life. The entire nation would be riveted by the plot, almost to the point of turning into a civil war with accusations and finger-pointing.

Hmm...what if it turns out to be the estranged wife all along? (or a jealous lover of some kind) I was reading a little about Grover Cleveland. Apparently he married a 21-yo women IN OFFICE and then had the baby. He was a draft-dodger during the Civil War (paid the gov't to NOT serve) and also apparently had an illegitimate child at some point along the way. He also lost an election after getting the majority of votes (like Gore in 2000).

Anyways, that's my idea...feel free to use it...just let me know if you do. ;)

Free Plot Idea #27

Free Plot Idea #27

OK where did the other 26 go? Well I'm sure I've had at least that many ideas that you can have.

The only thing I ask is that if you use this idea, you ask me first, and then show me the finished product before anyone else, including Hollywood premieres.

OK, here we go:

The Government has subpoenaed some large company like Google (but not Google) for all their search records. These records number in the trillions, and the government wants them physically delivered to DC. These records live on thousands of servers. So what company X does is to put a ton of storage servers into a shipping container and then on to a truck. An "interesting" pair of people are tasked with driving this truck full of highly sensitive data to DC from California (or whereever).
The people on trial (mob, terrorists, rogue military, etc) will stop at nothing to stop and seize control of this truck. Sensitive data on almost every internet user in the world is now located in one place.
The unlucky pair have to fight off attempts to steal or destroy the truck, have some wacky social interactions, and then arrive at DC after an arduous journey.
There's some kind of unforeseen twist at the end, where either the people who subpoenaed the data are the bad guys, or Company X is the bad guy, blah blah blah, and our main characters need to make some hard decisions.

What do you think? Do I have a script here? Is this the next blockbuster?

Top 10 Things NOT to do during an interview

Top 10 Things NOT to do during an interview

I've been starting to conduct interviews at my company, including some women. I've come with a list for the ladies of things that will definitely earn you a bad rating:

1. Chew gum
2. Paint nails
3. Argue with me (unless you're absolutely sure I'm wrong...and can prove it...that's bonus points!)
4. Cry (I'm not that bad)
5. Give birth (being preggers is fine)
   
6. Try to bribe me (you can't afford me)
7. Try to seduce me (umm...well it's OK to try...still won't get you hired)
8. Bad gas attack
9. Not knowing the difference between the final keyword in Java and the const keyword in C. That's bad mmmkay?
10. Challenge me to arm wrestling (and win...it hurts my tender man-feelings)

Well I hope you've all learned something. Now go out there and give them hell!

New Year's Resolutions

New Year's Resolutions

OK, I'm not a huge fan of resolutions. In fact, I usually sneer at people who make them, thinking, "yeah, that will last until January 2nd." I think it's mostly because people think too big. Here are some examples of
Resolutions Doomed to Failure:

1. I'm going to quit smoking, and never slip or lapse.
2. I'm going to lose 100 lbs.
3. I'm going to meet someone and get married and live happily ever after.
4. I'm going to stop watching 12 hours of TV and playing XBox and smoking dope and moving out of my mom's basement and wash my clothes and get a haircut and stop stealing from the neighbors.
5. I'm going to finally dig up the body I buried in the back yard and confess.

So without further ado, I humbly present my resolutions for 2008:

1. Become a better father. Be patient and kind.
2. Get my novel in front of some agents.
3. Run at least 3 long-distance races.
4. Keep my job.
5. Win a Gold Medal at the Beijing Olympics.
6. Become famous, and not for dying recklessly.

OK, maybe the last couple are a stretch, but a man can dream, can't he?

2007 Year In Review

2007 Year In Review I had 2 big goals for 2007: Sub 30 5K and a 2:30 Half Marathon. You'll see how I smashed these goals more than once. Well my year started off fine. I was running well, with some good pacing, and then at the end of January I was fired from my job. Needless to say, this hasn't really happened to me much before. In fact, aside from when the whole division was laid off, I've never been fired before. And the whole thing was bogus, they came up with some "reasons" why I was fired, but in reality I think it was just a cost-cutting measure on their part. I just wish they had been honest about it. Then about a week later I contracted the flu, and I was out of it for about 2 weeks with no running. I talked with my boss from a previous company who wanted me to come back on a part-time basis to fix some code I wrote for him a couple years ago. Meanwhile, we had settled on a contractor to repair the damage to our house during the Windstorm of 2006 where some trees fell on our house. This actually worked out well, since I could work part time, deal with the contractor, work out, and also begin writing again. I did finally get a job at a great company, and also was able to finish a novel I had started a number of years ago. After the flu I had lost a lot of my speed. I lost at least a minute/mile pace and I found it hard to get back into a rhythm. My first race of the year was Henry Weinhard's St. Patrick's Day dash, a mostly downhill race in downtown Seattle. I still hadn't recovered, and my Heart Rate(HR) was really high. I didn't PR this year. But from then on, things really started picking up. I'm not sure what I did different this year, but I think it comes down to two things: more weekly mileage, and more consistency. I broke down my week into 4 basic runs: 5 mile slow run, 6-8 mile long slow run, 1 "speed" workout ~5 miles, and one "hilly" run of ~5 miles. This gave me a weekly mileage of 20-23 miles or so. For whatever reason this improved my running all through the year. May was fun, especially the "Beat the Bridge" race. I had 20 minutes to run 2 miles before they opened the bridge. In hindsight, I don't think I had much to worry about, but since I've never beat the bridge before, I still had some trepidation. Turns out I had nothing to worry about, hitting the 2-mile mark at 18:26 and crossing the bridge with plenty of time to spare. It felt great finally beating that thing. In July I ran my 3rd Half Marathon (13.1 miles) at Seafair. I felt great all through the race, even the last couple miles. The difference was that I had increased my long runs out to 12 miles. I also used sport beans and the provided sports drinks during the 2nd half of the race which helped as well. I beat my old record by about 14 minutes. This is a huge improvement. Meanwhile I keep setting personal records in my other races as well. Then tragedy struck a couple weeks after the HM. My dad passed away after a long illness. It was really hard to keep running. I would start crying in the middle of a run. A couple weeks later, I ran the Footzone 5K where I was determined to once and for all break 30 minutes. I dedicated the race to my dad. Since I started running a couple years ago, this was my ultimate goal. I had been really close all year, getting down to 30:03 the week before the HM. When I approached the finish line, I saw the clock at ~29 minutes, and I knew I had it. I burst into tears crossing the line at 29:32. It was by far the most emotional finish I've ever had since my very first 5K, probably the most emotional of all. In my next race I blew away that time with a 28:42. I have no idea how I achieved that, except that I was on some medicine at the time. I now have a really difficult mark to beat. I ran another 5K later in the year and came within 11 seconds, so I know I might be able to beat it at some point. In my final big race, the Seattle Half Marathon, I did it once again, beating my record by 4:30 on a more difficult course. I even achieved a negative split, which is really hard since the 2nd half of the course is more uphill. I also ran a 12K and once again killed my record for that course. However, I missed my next race due to a kidney stone or something, so now I'm done for the year. Also today, on the last day of the year, I ran five miles with our 7-month old puppy "Blackberry." She did great, although she would stop abruptly to answer the call of nature. Race Results for 2007: Date Distance Time Pace Race Avg HR Max HR PR 3/11/2007 3.3M 33:35 10:10 Henry's St. Pat's Dash 183 197 3/25/2007 10K 1:04:35 10:23 Mercer Island Rotary 173 184 X 5/13/2007 5K 0:30:18 9:45 Kirkland 5K 176 195 X 5/20/2007 8K 0:51:20 10:19 Beat the Bridge 174 194 X 6/2/2007 5K 0:31:30 10:08 Issaquah Tri 174 192 6/24/2007 6.76M (11K) 1:10:43 10:27 Shore Run 168 184 X 7/3/2007 5K 0:30:03 9:40 Firecracker 5000 176 190 X 7/8/2007 HM (13.1M) 2:26:15 11:09 Seafair HM 165 186 X 8/5/2007 5K 0:29:32 9:30 Footzone 5K 176 191 X 9/30/2007 5K 0:28:42 9:14 Children's Run 177 194 X 10/7/2007 10K 1:01:54 9:57 Issaquah Rotary Run 172 190 X 11/4/2007 5K 0:28:53 9:17 Pace Race Kirkland 176 186 11/25/2007 HM (13.1M) 2:21:45 10:48 Seattle Marathon 170 185 X 12/16/2007 12K 1:17:46 10:25 12K's of Christmas 174 190 X Yearly Mileage: Year Miles Miles/Week Miles/month 2007 956 18 80 2006 852 16 71 * this is only "logged" miles that don't include treadmill runs at the gym or when the GPS ran out of juice. Monthly Mileage: Month Miles Jan 81 Feb 31 Mar 82 Apr 99 May 64 June 80 July 87 Aug 82 Sep 75 Oct 104 Nov 95 Dec 76 104 Miles in October was my highest mileage month ever. Goals for 2008: Sub-28 5K Sub-60 10K 2:15 HM 1000 Miles Logged (20 miles/week, 83 miles/month) I also want to start running regularly with Blackberry as she grows. I've considered trying to run a full Marathon, or trying to climb Mount Rainier again, but I don't want to overcommit to my goals, because that results in overtraining and stress.

Grumpy Holidays!

Grumpy Holidays!

Things I'd like to ban from the Holidays:

• 12 X of Xmas songs. Stupid! Except for the "beer in a tree" one.
• Taking down decorations. I'm getting way too lazy to put them up...now I need to take them down??? WTF???
• Marketing for Christmas in September. Tell me what's for sale the day after Thanksgiving. Hey, is it Back to School time yet? Stop marketing crap out of season.
• No good new Xmas songs on the radio any more. Like, doesn't anyone write new crap anymore? They don't even play it. I heard "Santacide" on the radio last night...kewl but OLD.
• Holiday Food. Didn't we just have ham & turkey?? What about Christmas Gefilte Fish? And did Jesus have a sweet tooth or something? Is that why we're getting slathered in Egg Nog all the time? I want some red-hot Xmas Jerky.
• Being nice to people. What? We're not allowed to be nice the rest of the year? I'm supposed to have Holiday Cheer because of what? I just spent all my savings and my kids hate all their presents?
  
• Christmas Sex with Strangers. Wait...that might not be a bad thing...

Things that we need to see more of:

• Snow. I want 2 feet of snow on Christmas day dammit. I've lived 40 years and I don't ever remember a Christmas snowstorm. Dreaming of a White Christmas my ass.
• Christmas Miracles. Like Santa getting off his fat ass and actually doing something. What's his deal anyways? Either pony up the presents or admit you're a fraud. Game's up, dude.
• Peace on Earth. For a Christian Nation, we certainly do our share of misdeeds. Wrong is wrong, no matter how you phrase it. I want Bush and his whole staff, every member of Congress, and all the other dickheads to get nothing but coal in their stockings.
• Alien Invasions. Seriously. Do aliens take the holidays off too? Why isn't there any Christmas Family Alien Invasion movies? I can't even find a kewl Google link for this bullet point, because the topic doesn't exist!
• Warm Fuzzies. People will be fucking nice to each other this Christmas or I will KILL THEM! (the next day of course...wouldn't want to ruin Christmas ;)