Dino’s Journal 📖

A peek into the mind of a sleep deprived software developer, husband, dad and gamer.

It's not Friday, but I have been struggling through work, trying to come up with a solution that fits the requirements listed in the user story. I'm struggling because I cannot come up with a solution that doesn't involve blowing up other parts of the code. Obviously that's not good, but I'm also running out of options. Anyway, I want to clear my mind. So let's listen to some music shall we?

If you think emo music is dead, well think again. First up is the song “The Fire, The Dark” by the rock band As It Is. It is a pretty good track that sounds like it very much fits into the emo pop category.

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Finished reading the book A Little Book of Japanese Contentments: Ikigai, Forest Bathing, Wabi-sabi, and More by Erin Niimi Longhurst, Ryo Takemasa (Illustrator) a few weeks ago, so I thought I'll share my thoughts on it.

Why did I pick up this book?

I did not pick up this book on my own since it was a Christmas gift. That said, it was on my “to-read” list, which is how my sister figured out what to give me for Christmas.

I first saw this book while browsing at Barnes and Nobles. The word “Contentments” in the title caught my eye. I have been looking for books that can help me understand how to be happy with what I currently have, how to be content with the life I have. This book seemed to fit the bill, so I added it to my list. Plus, it is a beautiful book, what with its hardcover and full colored pages.

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What I have in this music log are two songs from some rather unfamiliar bands. I only came upon their songs from the Discover Weekly playlist on Spotify. But just because the songs are from unfamiliar bands, doesn't mean the songs aren't any good. I invite you to give them a chance and take a listen.

First up is the song “Arrows” by the band Last Winter. I tried looking for a music video for this song on Youtube and couldn't find one. I tried looking for lyrics to this song on Bing and couldn't find them. So, like I said above, unfamiliar bands. The only link I could find to this song is through Spotify, so Spotify it is then. Anyway their Spotify bio suggests that they are a pop rock band, which I guess is only partly true. This song is more than just a pop rock track though, as it has hints of pop punk or emo pop to it. Either way, a pretty good song.

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In my journal entry from yesterday, I made a note to myself to write a proper music log entry for the three rock songs I liked after listening to the Top 50 Rock Songs of 2019 countdown. So here they are.

First song is “Degenerates” by A Day to Remember. This is not your typical ADTR track. This one is a little too soft compared to the rest of their tracks, but it is a good one nonetheless.

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It's been almost a month since my last music log. Some significant things have happened that prevented me from having enough free time to write down music logs on Fridays. Anyway, it is Friday, I have a bit of time after an exhausting session of running into one bug after another, none of which are caused by the code changes I'm trying to test.

Anyway the two songs I have lined up today are inspirational and uplifting songs. How much of a coincidence is it, that these are the songs that are next in my list to share in a music log entry, all while the world is going through a global pandemic?

First up is the song “Brave” by Skillet. I love, love, love the lyrics on this song. This song goes out to everyone on the front lines fighting to keep this virus from overwhelming the world.

Wherever I will go Wherever you will lead I'll never walk alone Your spirit is with me oh oh oh oh oh You're with me as I go So I will not be afraid

You call me to be brave In you, in you Brave In you, you call me to be brave

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Got this link from the wife. I have gone through the whole post. This might be the most comprehensive and well researched post on COVID-19 that is helpful to the general population. There's a good amount of info on how to avoid getting the virus, including info on how to strengthen the immune system. There is also this:

Apart from regular hand washing, I believe that daily and frequent nasal irrigation is one of the MOST important things that we can do to prevent influenza and other viral respiratory infections from taking hold. This is because after exposure to a virus, the influenza virus tries to invade and multiply in your nasal passages for at least 1-2 days before you develop any symptoms. Nasal irrigation can wash away viral particles before they have the opportunity to take hold, and thereby prevent many infections from happening in the first place!

I've heard of irrigating your nose. At one point, I even had my own Neti pot at home. What I didn't know is how helpful irrigating your nose is for general health, until I read the quote above.

Link: Coronavirus (COVID-19): What a Pediatrician Wants You to Know

Tags: #Bookmarks #PublicHealth

Discuss... or leave me a comment below.

Finished reading The Simple Path to Wealth a few days ago, so I thought I'll share my thoughts on it.

Why did I pick up this book? I don't exactly remember how I heard about JL Collins' book, but somehow I did and that lead me to reading the first few pages of his book. I liked what I read and decided to purchase the book. Before picking this up, I was looking for another book on personal finance that is mainly focused on getting out of debt. That wasn't exactly what this book focused on, but I liked it nonetheless.

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Some wonderful pieces on the topic of writing.

I’m talking about even those moments when inspiration strikes. You have a “brilliant” thought and you sit down to write but what comes out is banality. Your sentences don’t flow and your words can hardly express what’s really in your head. It all feels like a farce. – From The thing about writing by Rebecca Toh

Yep, that's me. That's why I can't rush my writing. When I do, it always ends up as crap. The best advice I've seen on writing was a post here on Read.Write.As, about waiting a day or two before hitting the Publish button. Allow yourself some time to sort through the jumble of words coming from your head.

But writing is also my vice. It is an obsession, all consuming, something that I can't stop thinking about even when doing other things. It is a habit I cannot shake, one that I must live with, am more than willing to do so.

Because I still want all of this to mean something. – From Colin Walker

Isn't that what we all want in the end? For all of this to mean something? So true.

Tags: #Bookmarks #Writing

Discuss... or leave me a comment below.

Loved this piece from Nate at Many Sparrows.


I am not saying I necessarily want to take one photo a day, but I do want to start documenting my days a bit more. Besides just writing, I want to take some pictures, too. MY day(s) may not be super exciting, but I think they are worth documenting for me, anyway. – From A Photo A Day by tmo

Interesting that I am contemplating the same thing; taking a photo of my day and posting it on here. In my case, this idea came to mind after reading this bit from Warren Ellis:

I have a particular set of wants for the isles of blogging. I want to know what you are seeing, doing, thinking. The /now page movement started by Derek Sivers is smart, but requires people to update their /now page on the regular, and, generally, they just don’t. I use a Status category on this site, which is actually linked in the footer of my emails, so, if people feel the need, they can click through to see how fucked I am on any given day. I like this to be primarily located here, even though it does pass through to social media...

The idea of sharing a photo as a status update is interesting to me, especially with the free photo hosting benefit you get as part of a Write.as Pro account. It kinda sounds like a Photo 365 or 365 Project kind of a thing, but it doesn't have to be. It could simply be a photo of your day documented and shared online.

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Just wanted to point out that me and my wife have been enjoying reading the On Parenting series that Daniel Rose has been sharing on the Read.Write.As feed. As a young parent, I find a lot of the info shared in those posts to be useful and refreshing. Refreshing in the sense that it makes me reconsider what I think I know about parenting. And it also challenges my preconceptions of how I think parenting should be done.

When you choose experience over stuff you are also choosing relationship. Just giving children stuff communicates that you would prefer them to be seen not heard. Experiences are almost always linked to engagement. Leaving town or heading out on a local adventure usually means that there are significant times where the phones are put away and we are doing something together. – From On Parenting: Experience Over Stuff

My wife texted me that quote after I sent her a number of links for reading. She said she loved it, so do I.

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