Jason M. Steffens's Blog, page 3

"There’s no true alternative to Evernote …" in Compendium Miscellanea

I’m pretty sure that the Evernote replacement you are looking for is … Evernote.

I, too, have tried the divided route of iA Writer for text notes, Dropbox (or iCloud Drive) for document storage, Spotlight for document search, something else for reminders, etc. The choice — in some fashion — is between using disparate tools depending on the file type you want to work with or using the one product that isn’t quite as good but that can unify file types into a single “note.”

Right now I have chosen to live in Evernote. It’s a system that works well, though thoughts linger that it’s just a shell over what the operating system itself provides and that I shouldn’t be so invested in one software product. I’m comforted by how easy it is to export notes to HTML files.

UPDATE (3/30/2016): Andrew Henley has written a helpful piece on how to use Mac OS X in much the same way that people use Evernote. The drawback I see (and have experienced) is that the iCloud Drive app on iOS cannot do anywhere near what Finder / Spotlight can do on a Mac, whereas Evernote’s iOS app can do much of what Evernote’s Mac app can do.

There’s no true alternative to Evernote … was originally published in Compendium Miscellanea on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

 

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I Am Thankful

I am thankful, and my thankfulness is not undirected. It is unto Him, whose Name is blessed, the Lord God Almighty, the One who made me, the One Who cares for me in His pasture. And it is by the Lord Jesus, Whose sacrifice on the cross delivered me from indwelling sin and this body of death, and Whose doctrine has been received by others as well, leading to their conversion. And it is in every thing; and it is always. For the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting, His truth endureth, and His peace rules in my heart.

Scripture references: Psalm 100:3–5; Romans 6:17, 7:23–25; Ephesians 5:20; Colossians 3:15, 17; 1 Thessalonians 5:18

I Am Thankful was originally published in Compendium Miscellanea on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

 

Read the responses to this story on Medium.

"I Am Thankful" in Compendium Miscellanea

I am thankful, and my thankfulness is not undirected. It is unto Him, whose Name is blessed, the Lord God Almighty, the One who made me, the One Who cares for me in His pasture. And it is by the Lord Jesus, Whose sacrifice on the cross delivered me from indwelling sin and this body of death, and Whose doctrine has been received by others as well, leading to their conversion. And it is in every thing; and it is always. For the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting, His truth endureth, and His peace rules in my heart.

Scripture references: Psalm 100:3–5; Romans 6:17, 7:23–25; Ephesians 5:20; Colossians 3:15, 17; 1 Thessalonians 5:18

I Am Thankful was originally published in Compendium Miscellanea on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

 

Read the responses to this story on Medium.

"There’s no authority in the United States Constitution for the federal government to be involved in…" in Compendium Miscellanea

There’s no authority in the United States Constitution for the federal government to be involved in education, including the affordability of college. And even if there was, the federal government has no ability to make college more affordable except by making other things more expensive, for the money must come from somewhere. That the leaders and would-be leaders of our federal government spend so much time on this issue necessarily means that they have less time to address the issues that fall within their legitimate purview. Small, private colleges can succeed in an arena of open competition unaffected by governmental control and subsidization.

There’s no authority in the United States Constitution for the federal government to be involved in… was originally published in Compendium Miscellanea on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

 

Read the responses to this story on Medium.

But who wants to read so much on a backlit screen?

But who wants to read so much on a backlit screen? Kindle is so successful in part because of the e-ink Kindle devices.

Of Him and Through Him and To Him

The God of heaven and earth, of glory and hope, of love and peace, of whom the Bible says all things are of Him, through Him, and to Him; and further that He is before all things, and by Him all things consist; this God, the One who gave His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life, now commands all men everywhere to repent. Knowing all this, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. Forthwith.

Scripture references: Gen. 24:3; John 3:16; Acts 3:19, 7:2, 17:30; Rom. 5:8, 11:36, 15:13; 2 Cor. 13:11; Col. 1:17; Heb. 2:3

Of Him and Through Him and To Him was originally published in Compendium Miscellanea on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I Quit My Job and Wrote a Novel

For nine years, I was a litigation attorney in a large law firm (large for Iowa, anyway). Nine months ago, I quit to do something that will almost assuredly not earn me any significant money. I wrote a novel.

That I came to be a lawyer felt like a slow-motion accident. That I came to write a novel was hasty and purposeful.

The fall semester of my senior year at Wartburg College, I served as a student teacher at a nearby high school and discovered I did not want to be a high school teacher. That was a problem in that I was going to graduate with a double major in history and education. If I was not going to use the education part, what was I going to do with the history part?

I had a minor in religion, but it was not as if I could make a career out of that, especially since I had become a Baptist while attending the Lutheran college.

With one semester remaining to figure it out, I learned law schools accept students with all sorts of undergraduate backgrounds. (I had a law school classmate tell me he majored in theater in undergrad. He seemed more prepared for legal work than me.) My then-fiancé (now wife) was going to be attending graduate school for physical therapy, so I signed up for and took the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) and applied to the three schools to which she was applying. Two of the three offered me full-ride merit scholarships based on that LSAT score. In retrospect, I am not sure why I did not just play golf for the four years I was in undergrad and then show up for the LSAT.

We ended up at the University of Iowa. I spent three years there doing the things law students do: reading some of the reading assignments, “outlining,” cramming for the finals, clerking for a law firm during summers, writing and editing for a law journal, and buying into the false notion my life in law school was busier than what real life would be. (There are these things called “work” and “children” that throw all prior notions of “busy” out the window. Thankfully, the latter of those, at least, is a fount of joy.)

I initially thought working in a law firm was a nice thing to do during summer break, but was not something I would do as a career. I am not sure when that thought changed. It was probably when I was offered a good amount of money to do work I found myself capable of doing. Also, it was nice not having to search around anymore for a career.

So for the next nine years—five as an associate, four as a partner—I was a civil litigation “trial attorney.” That meant I spent a lot of time organizing and reviewing paper and electronic records, writing briefs and letters in which I accused the opposing side of not understanding the law or the facts, and living in Microsoft Outlook. I spent only a little time actually in a courtroom (nine trials in nine years, in addition to smaller, more regular motion hearings; most clients for whom I worked were risk adverse, preferring settlements to the uncertainties of trial).

There is good, worthwhile work done in law firms by good people. Many of those people are able to balance work and family and other interests. I was unable to do that. I spent my days in the office wondering how I got there and wishing for a client who actually wanted to hire and pay a lawyer and then do what that lawyer recommended. I spent my evenings and weekends working, or—if not working—thinking about working. My wife and kids talked to me; I barely listened and rarely talked back. They found things to do without me. I did the things Christians are supposed to do: I attended each church service, did volunteer work in the church, and invited friends and strangers to the services. But it was unusual for me to do those things while fully focused on them. Most of the time I thought about work. No matter how much I got done, my to-do list only got longer. It consumed my thoughts. Things got worse as I acquired more responsibility, as I worked on bigger cases.

I was so absorbed with who I was and what I had to do as a lawyer that I lacked the ability to think about other possibilities. I knew I had to extract myself to begin to think about anything else. More importantly, I knew if I did not extract myself, I would never be the husband and father God called me to be.

I was thirty-four-years-old. It was late summer. I wrote a one paragraph notice of withdrawal as a partner in my firm. It sat on my computer for months.

There was no one triggering event. But I did feel it was change course then or remain what I was for the rest of my life.

So one weekday morning in mid-November 2012, I printed off that notice of withdrawal and signed it. With my door closed, I then walked around my office for an hour before finally mustering the will to find a member of our firm’s board of directors and hand him the notice.

It took me until mid-February to complete or transition my pending cases. It was a slow process. One day there was just nothing left. I stopped coming in to the office. I stopped thinking of myself as a lawyer.

I had wanted to write a novel since I was in college, maybe high school. I had a problem: I did not write well enough to put down some of the stories that were in my head. Part of the reason for that was I only read good literature when made to by teachers. That meant I did not read good literature enough. Reading good literature is essential to writing well.

A number of things helped me become a better writer. I started reading the Bible more consistently. I watched less television. And I wrote a lot, in law school and then as a lawyer.

So when I “retired” from the practice of law, I decided to write a novel.

I discovered I like the life of a novelist. It was not easy crafting the story, but it wasn’t stressful. I wrote at home a couple of hours a day, sometimes more and sometimes less depending on what else was going on. I had meals with my wife and kids. I talked to them during those meals. I played with my kids at night. I listened to my wife without thinking about work. I mowed my lawn regularly. I paid attention during the sermons at church and was able to perform a lot of tasks to help my church buy a much larger facility. It has been a great spring and summer. I am still not the husband and dad I should be, but things are better. I have not regretted my decision to withdraw from the practice of law.

The time I had to do this was possible because we have always lived below our means. We have a modest home, we have never carried credit card balances, and we have never purchased a new car. Then about three years ago we discovered Dave Ramsey’s book The Total Money Makeover. We became debt free and accumulated some savings. There is a lot of freedom in not owing another man a dime.

More than anything, though, this was possible because my wife is amazing.

As summer closes, the novel is now complete, available in ebook stores and as a paperback on Amazon. It is, of course, about a lawyer, as well as a baseball player and a pastor: the thing I became, the thing I wanted to be as a kid, and the thing I admire the most. Those characters tell the story of how our jobs and our associations can come to define us and about how there is both hope and division in choosing the best path God has for us.

Like any writer, I hope people read it and like it. Also, I hope people buy it. Yes—people buying it would be really nice. But whatever happens, I know two things. One, I have created something. Two, I am not just a lawyer.