My newborn was the love of my life. I almost couldn’t pull my eyes away from his perfect face. I knew every cry and exactly how to comfort him. I fed him and changed diapers and breathed in the sweet scent from the top of his head.
I never knew this kind of LOVE existed!
Then one morning I picked him up from the crib and found a chubby baby. His bright eyes danced at the sight of me, and his dimpled face broke into a drooly grin.
I got a link to this post from Coney. It was written by a mom, for moms. But, even as a dad, this post still tugs at my heart strings. You'll never know when your child grows up and moves on from one stage to another. Today he might still sleep in your arms, tomorrow he will sleep on his own bed. Today he might still be a toddler, tomorrow he might already be a preschooler. You'll never know if today was the last day you got to carry your kid. This is why I've started recording on my journal the days that I got to carry Davin. I want to remember the last day I got to carry him. Eventually, I will do the same thing for Caleb when he grows older.
I cannot remember where I saw it. It could have been on the Good Books website, or a recommendation on Amazon. Either way, I found a link to the book and checked it out. The book seemed interesting as I've been trying to find ways to instill more discipline in myself. Specifically, discipline in my diet and exercise. I read a review that mentioned how Part 2 of the book focused on fitness and health. It also mentioned that the author gets up everyday at 4:30am to workout. And that he proves this by posting a photo on Instagram every morning. I checked out his Instagram account and it was true. So, I was like, I need to know how he does it every day. So, I bought the book.
A really good introduction to the sacraments of the Catholic Church. It also covers the first sacrament, the sacrament of Baptism. Questions like: What are the sacraments? Why are they the most important thing in the world? What is the fundamental sacrament? What happens when people get baptized? How is grace tied in to the sacraments? And more questions are answered in this episode.
One of the most enlightening parts of this first episode for me, was when Bishop Barron talked about the duties of a baptized Christian. As a baptized Christian, we are priest, prophet and king. What does it mean to be a priest? How do we live out our prophetic duties in today's world? And what are our kingly duties in modern society? All those are covered in this episode.
Have had this open on a tab on my browser for awhile now. I finally got to it. Good list of apps, tools, utilities and even tips for Windows users. There's also some information on alternatives if you're on MacOS.
Somehow, I did not discover Alt-D until 2018, which means that I had spent the entirety of my 24 years since triple-clicking to select every single URL I’d ever copied. I built a media company this way, and I can’t believe nobody told me about this shortcut. Open any given web browser, use Alt-D, and your selection will move to the URL in the address bar on top of the page. It’s very possible this will be of little use to you, but anyone who regularly shares or copies links will save themselves so much time.
I have been playing around with are.na for the past week or so, trying to figure out how to make use of it. I've seen it mentioned in one of CJ Eller's posts, From Blog to Blocks. I'm still slowly finding a use for it, but while I'm not ready to share how I am using it just yet, I did find a “channel” that seems to be a great “digital minimalism” resource. This channel contains links to a number of articles related to reducing smart phone use, eliminating distractions, better ways to use social media, etc...
Cannot remember where I found the link, probably from the Panda Newsletter that I'm subscribed to, but here is a website focused on recommendations for good books to read. What separates this site from others is that the book recommendations on this site come from “successful people.” Whether that matters to you or not, there are some pretty good books listed on the site. You can sort by categories, or by people, or you can view their Top 100 list of good books to read. Seems like a good site to bookmark.
Interesting read on why so many of the world's oldest companies are in Japan. And when they say old, they mean really old. Like a construction company that's been founded in 1610. Or a tea house that's been open since 1160 AD. Or, how about a hotel that's been open since 705 AD!
It was also interesting to read about the differences in mentality between business owners in Japan and the West. In Japan, they are focused on keeping their business running for as long as possible. Meanwhile most western companies are focused on rapid growth and dominating the competition.
By the way, got the link to this article from this post. If you're not following The Monday Kickoff, you should. Scott always comes up with really interesting articles to share every week.
For years I've read that there is no direct correlation between playing violent video games and real world aggression. “You know those are just pixels, right?” That is the usual response from gamers who don't believe that video games can somehow make people aggressive in real life. I would like to believe that too. However, here is one study I ran into that might say otherwise.
For individuals with a good family environment, exposure to violent video games had only a direct effect on aggression; however, for those with poor family environment, it had both direct and indirect effects mediated by normative beliefs about aggression. This moderated mediation model includes some notions of General Aggression Model (GAM) and Catalyst Model (CM), which helps shed light on the complex mechanism of violent video games influencing adolescent aggression.
Now I'm not a psychologist so it's possible that I'm interpreting this incorrectly. If so, feel free to educate me by getting in touch with me. Anyway, from what I'm reading on here, it seems like the combination of playing violent video games and growing up in a poor family environment could lead to aggressive behavior in the future. So, if you allow your kids to play Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed or Grand Theft Auto, you better make sure you're not fighting with your spouse. Actually, don't allow them to play those games until they're older, especially not Grand Theft Auto.
It must be noted that the study is limited to a small number of participants in China. It would be nice if other countries perform the same kind of study on their own. I would be curious to see the results. So, while it might not necessarily apply to me and my family, since we don't live in China, this is still an interesting study to me. Especially as a parent who plays video games around my kids and whose kids will more than likely be playing video games as well in the future. It's already happening now. Davin already knows how turn on the Xbox and play PES 2020 by himself.
In an old music log entry, I shared a song, “Let It Burn” by the rock band Red. In the entry I said that the song kept playing at the back of my head, while my hometown, the city I was born in, was under siege years ago. I was basically asking, “Where is God and why wasn't He doing anything?” But I was wrong about Him not doing anything. He was there in the soldiers and police officers fighting to take the city back. He was there in the first responders trying to treat the wounded. He was there in the volunteers who were trying to provide food and shelter to those who have been displaced by the armed conflict. He was there, I just didn't know where to look.
Fast forward to April 2020 and a similar question can be asked amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. “Where is God in all of this?” He is there, in the healthcare workers who are at the front lines of this pandemic, battling an invisible enemy. He is there in the first responders, who despite the threat of getting infected with the virus, still show up to work every day to keep everyone else safe. He is there in the volunteers who are also risking their health to provide food to the unemployed and the hungry. He is there, and this time around I know where to look.
It's been nearly two full months since I've started Experiment Log – 006. I'll admit that I almost forgot about it. So, today I'll officially end the experiment. Here's what I've learned after trying out different digital tools for weekly planning.
Weekly Planning using Email
This was the most surprising out of all that I've tried. I honestly enjoyed creating my weekly plans using email. Basically, I would write down the plan for Monday to Sunday, then email it to myself. I cannot explain it, but I get a kick out of doing that, sending myself my weekly plan. One other thing I liked about weekly planning using email, is that if I need to make a change, I need to send myself a new email by replying to my original email. It sorts of acts like a basic versioning system wherein you can actually see what the previous tasks were, versus what the new ones are going to be.
What I don't like about it is that I have to make sure I type in the right email address before hitting send. In other words, there is a chance that I will accidentally send someone else my weekly plan. And depending on the contents of my weekly plan, that could be a big privacy/security issue. There's also the fact that my weekly plan lives on an email server in the cloud, which means my email service provider can probably read what I have planned for the weekend. And if for some reason I lose all internet connectivity, then I probably won't be able to check my weekly plan. So, not ideal, but it was a fun way to do weekly plans.
Finished reading the book