After two days...

We got our 1st dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine. I thought it was going to be a drive-through setup, but it was not. And so we had to bring Davin and Caleb along with us, as we fell in line with other people. Had I known it wasn't a drive-through, we would have left Davin and Caleb at the babysitter.

Thankfully, once we got into the vaccination center, we found it to be a very organized event.

I started to feel some side-effects from the vaccine, 3-5 hours after getting it. I'm not sure how to describe it, other than I didn't feel 100%. My eyes felt like it wanted to close. I felt more tired than usual. I was already sleepy at only 6pm.

After a few more hours, I noticed that I was getting a little lightheaded every once in awhile. I felt better after laying down on the bed for a bit. But I was generally tired the whole night.

Next day, I was up and felt pretty good, minus the sore shoulder. I was able to go to work and didn't really feel any more side-effects then.

But that was just the first dose. For the second dose, I actually plan on taking the next day off. The side-effects for the second dose supposedly hit you harder than the first one.

Instead of sharing photos online, how about printing them and sticking them inside a family photo album? This will allow me to print photos of Davin and Caleb but not have to share it online. This idea actually feeds into my desire to take more photos of them since they are growing up so fast. But at the same time, it avoids the urge to post said photos on social media.

This idea was inspired by Olli Thomson's post that I found via Colin Devroe's post.

I mentioned on my previous Weeknotes post that I was taking a break from watching TV shows. But after some constant coaxing by the wife, I decided to follow the “Happy wife, happy life” adage and started watching Vincenzo on Netflix. And I'm glad I did because it's a really good show!

It has this great balance between being serious and hilarious at the same time. The main character is a very serious guy. But he's surrounded by all these wacky and funny characters. It makes for an entertaining show. The plot-twist at the end of Episode 4 was awesome! I was already hooked before then, but now I'm definitely looking forward to watching more episodes of it.

Here's the trailer to the show in case you're interested:

Almost to the end of The Light of All That Falls. I'm relieved and sad that it's almost done.

I'm relieved because it's a very long book. Finishing it means I get to read something else. But at the same time, I'm sad because it feels like I'll be saying goodbye to the book's characters pretty soon. What a journey it has been, for the characters in the book and for me as the reader.

A day passed and...

Finally finished the book. What an ending! One big takeaway from the book is this idea that I translated into my own words:

To be angry at God because he took away a loved one as part of his “Grand Plan”, means to acknowledge that as part of his “Grand Plan”, God gave you that loved one in the first place.

If a repair bill cost more than half the value of your car, it's probably time to consider replacing it.

I've spent some time doing the calculations on trading in my aging Mazdaspeed3 for a new car. Why? Because it's back at the shop for what looks like a transmission leak. And just to give some more context, last year I spent a lot of money to get the suspension replaced. The year before that, spent money on a new clutch. And before that, brakes and other maintenance items. So yeah, trading in my car has crossed my mind lately.

But anyway, I've come to the conclusion that I just don't want to spend over $300 a month on a car payment anymore. I think it's too much. I could use that money to pay off some other debt. This also means that I'm leaning towards just paying for the repairs, instead of trying to trade it in for a new car. I'll get a new car when we're out of debt.

I have forgotten how to post on Instagram. I have an account for my Speed3 that I created to try and maintain some interest in the car. Like other than sharing a photo, what do I say? Do I have to say anything? Most people seem to come up with these cool quotes or captions. I have nothing nowadays. Just a picture of my car. Sometimes it feels like every post is a performance for the Instagram crowd. And this is one reason why every once in awhile, I get this urge to create an Instagram replacement photo-blog.

I was able to watch some parts of the NBA 2021 All Star event. Couldn't really focus on it because of daddy duties, but what I was able to watch was entertaining.

Amazing to see the range that Damian Lillard and Steph Curry have nowadays. They can shoot from the half-court no problem. And I enjoyed the alley-oop plays they ran for themselves. First was an alley-oop to Damian Lillard. Then the next play was an alley-oop to Steph Curry. And the third play was an alley-oop to Chris Paul! I was ecstatic when I saw that haha.

I'm also not sure what happened, but Team Lebron was stacked. Their starters were Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Steph Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Lebron James. I mean that's like a modern day international dream team right there.

Took Davin and Caleb to a park over the weekend. We intended to just do laps around the trails — with Davin on his balance bike, me and Coney on foot, and Caleb on the stroller. But Davin wanted to go to the nearby playground, so we did.

Most of the parents and the kids at the playground weren't wearing masks. That was highly disappointing. Thankfully, the playground sort of opened up when Davin started playing. But still...

Anyway, Davin can ride his balance bike at a faster pace now. Simply walking behind him is not good enough to keep up. I think the next time we do the same thing, I have to bring my own bike. And since Caleb is at an age where he can now ride on a front-mount child bike seat, we should be able to go on family bike rides soon. Exciting!

Tags: #Weeknotes #Basketball #DigitalMinimalism #PersonalFinance #PublicHealth #TheLightOfAllThatFalls #TVShow #Vaccine

This cake not only looks good, but also taste good. What the Harry Potter design hides, is a delicious Ube flavored cake. Yum yum!

One thing that I thought was a great idea, is to take pictures of your kids as they hit some milestones. Then you can use those pictures as decorations for the birthday party, or just add it to a family photo album. It's a nice way to look back and see how much your child has grown.

After watching the horrible ending on the k-drama Iris, I kinda lost my appetite for watching TV shows. However, I still wanted to watch... something. So, last week I decided to watch some anime instead. I'm watching Kuroko's Basketball on Netflix and I'm enjoying it so far.

I've started noticing that I get annoyed at myself for driving aggressively at times. I used to think it was my car, a 2013 Mazdaspeed3, that caused it. It surely doesn't help that it's a fun car to drive. But no, the car doesn't drive itself. I'm the one driving the car. If I'm driving aggressively, it's because of me and not the car. So, I've been wanting to understand why I drive aggressively at times. And so I bought a book...

The book I bought was, “Curbing Your Road Rage: and Other Important Tips for Getting Along on the Road” by Gordon Feinberg. It's a short book; just 41 pages. But I'm surprised at how much it affected my driving.

My driving is very relaxed and peaceful nowadays. So much so that I'm now wondering if I can move on from the Mazdaspeed3 and get into a bigger family car, like a Mazda6 or an Accord.

Luka hits the game winning shot against the Celtics. That was quite a game!

A fellow Write.as blogger, Mike, wrote this entertaining piece, ‘‘Twas the night before tmo. It is obviously a playful take on what was happening on the read.write.as feed then, but was a fun read nonetheless.

Found a great read on the topic of SEO by Scott Nesbit.

Got the link from jlelse's Blog.

Here are some really nice quotes from a book that I'm trying to finish, The Light of All That Falls by James Islington. I'm already 700 pages into the book and there's still some ways to go. I love the occasional philosophical discussion on morality and free will/choice in this book.

“It’s not enough to fight for the right side. You have to figure out how to fight the right way, too. If winning is truly all that matters, then we’ve lost sight of what’s actually right and wrong in the first place.”

~ Davian

This quote reminds me a lot of something I read from Ryan Holiday last year.

“Remember that your past does not define you — no matter the consequences. Choice is meaningless without consequences, and a privilege we do not deserve if we will not face them.”

~ Raeleth

This one is deep. Choice is meaningless without consequences. Let that sink in for a moment. We live in a world where our actions and choices bear consequences. However, most people would rather not think about the consequences of their actions. And that is sad.

Teach your kids to be comfortable with being bored, so that they won't need to rely on gadgets and devices to keep them entertained.

Lastly, I'll end this post with another #FunnyThingsMyKidsSay entry.

Davin: “Mom, I can see the weather... I think it's Thursday.” 😄

Tags: #Weeknotes #Basketball #DigitalMinimalism #Driving #Parenthood #Parenting

I've also taken to adding articles/posts that I want to read, into my Are.na Bookmarks/Reading List bucket. This seems to help decrease the unease that I feel, from not being able to immediately read interesting articles/posts. Since I know that I will eventually get to them someday in the future, it allows my brain to relax and focus on the current task at hand.

Since I have been trying to read less, a problem that I'm running into is what to do with my free time when I can't read. I would prefer to work on my digital garden, but I cannot do so when I'm not at home. This is because my notes in Obsidian, while synced to a Github repo, are not easy to work with via my phone. So, I now have a lot more time to think through things because I'm trying to read less, but during those times I can't work on my digital garden. That's one big limitation with my Obsidian setup.

That said, maybe I should look at it as a benefit in some way. I shouldn't be using my phone that much anyway.

I shouldn't be scared or embarrassed of publishing/sharing my digital garden online. This is because I will never get feedback on my thoughts and ideas if I keep them private. Not getting feedback means not knowing whether I'm on the right track or not. I need feedback on what I'm doing to see how I can get better.

If seeking feedback is to be desired, then wouldn't that be a valid use case for sharing posts on social media? I mean if the goal is to get more feedback, can you do better than social media in that regard?

Now to be clear here, I'm talking about sharing posts on social media. Not spending time on social media. Totally different things.

You should link to new notes from existing notes. This enables an existing note to grow, by adding more related notes to it.

Reference: Zettelkasten Method: How to Take Smart Notes for Knowledge Management

While trying to build my digital garden, I keep running into this issue where I don't know where to put my software development notes. These are notes that I want to keep, but at the same time, I don't think they are considered permanent notes. For instance, a listing of the CSS frameworks I need/want to learn is not exactly a permanent note. And I don't know where to put them. They don't exactly fit into my Zettelkasten folder, nor do they fit into my Reference folder.

Just realized that I have this habit of trying to turn all notes I take into permanent notes. They don't have to be. Not all notes are meant to become permanent notes. I need to remember that.

The following are my literature notes from reading How to Take Smart Notes – One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking by Sönke Ahrens last week:

“Nothing motivates us more than the experience of getting better.”

Seeking feedback, both good and bad, is one of the most important factors for success says psychologist Carol Dweck.

Adding comments to a blog is one way to get/seek feedback. — Page 53

Rewriting in your own words what you’ve just read in a book, is one way to gauge your understanding of it. — Page 54

We don’t get better at multitasking the more we do it. We just think we get better. But that’s because we don’t test ourselves to see if we actually perform better while multitasking. — Page 59

Separate the different tasks of writing and focus on each one explicitly. For instance, while trying to write, don’t be trying to proofread at the same time. Also don’t write as if you’re writing something ready to be published already. That will slow you down. I think that’s what slows me down. — Page 62

When writing something, like a paper or essay, it helps to have an outline in front of you, so you’re not tempted to think about what else you need to write. — page 62

It is easier for us to remember things that are connected to other thoughts and ideas. This is one thing the Zettelkasten helps us with, making connections between notes. — Page 69

Our brains will stop nagging us about unfinished tasks if we write them down and have a system in place that will guarantee that we won’t forget about the tasks. — Page 70

It’s okay if I end up writing longer literature notes, as long as they get turned into permanent notes in the future. — Page 76

Ahrens mentions that literature notes are usually written with an eye towards what's already in the slip-box. This goes against advice I read about writing literature notes mainly against its original context. — Page 76

Our brains are drawn to information that confirms what we already know. This can make it hard to be selective when it comes to note taking. It also feeds into our confirmation bias. — Page 79

Writing notes by hand is superior to digital note-taking. — Page 80

Writing down notes using our own words can tell us how well we understand something. — 85

If re-reading is not ideal for learning, then what is? Elaboration. And that’s what the Zettelkasten forces you to do. — Page 89-90

Apparently we can only hold on to at most 4-7 items in our head at any one time. So does this mean that having to juggle multiple websites and deciding what to post on each one can be taxing on my brain?

Maybe that's one of the reasons I get exhausted from maintaining multiple websites. Deciding what to post on one of them drains my mental stamina more than I realize. There’s too many decisions to make with multiple websites.

An idea: Instead of bundling everything up into one big Weeknotes post, maybe I should pick just one topic per day of the week to include in a Weeknotes post. That probably means I will leave out so many other journal entries. So, maybe a compromise is to pick at most 3 entries per day to include in a Weeknotes post. There's probably a number of ways I can do this. I'll just have to try it out and see what number works for me.

Judging from the amount of content in this Weeknotes post, I obviously did not implement that idea. I was lucky enough to have enough time to actually write this post. But the next time I'm short on time, I will try it out.

An idea: Create a “Software Development” version of my Weeknotes series, where I can focus on software development content.

What is driving this is my need to make searching for software development content on this site easier. I don't want to to dig through a long Weeknotes post to find a specific software development related entry.

“Sometimes it’s not the message. It's the timing.” ~ Tal’kamar, The Light of All That Falls

No matter how convincing an argument or message is, if the one receiving the message is not ready for it, then it won’t be received well.

Sometimes people need to change, before they can look at the same message in a different light. So it’s not that the message has changed, but that the person has changed.

Kinda like how I changed my viewpoint on adding comments to this journal.

If Jesus, the son of God, regularly took time to pray, shouldn’t we do the same?

You know that thing you do when you end your prayer? Saying amen? Don’t say amen as a way to disconnect from God. Say amen as a call to action.

So now, instead of ending your prayer and going back to your regular life, say amen and use it as a cue to start doing God's work.

Reference: Sunday Mass Homily by Father Tony Lackland

A good read this week was Out of the Matrix: Early Days of the Web (1991) by Daniel Kehoe.

Thirty years later, it is easy to overlook the web’s origins as a tool for sharing knowledge. Key to Tim Berners-Lee’s vision were open standards that reflected his belief in the Rule of Least Power, a principle that choosing the simplest and least powerful language for a given purpose allows you to do more with the data stored in that language (thus, HTML is easier for humans or machines to interpret and analyze than PostScript)...

Second time I ran into this rule of least power. The first time was in Al Khan's information overload article.

How do I apply this “rule of least power” to my career as a software developer? I ask because I specialize as a C#/.NET Developer. Maybe the answer is to not specialize and learn more programming stacks?

... Still, I hope its utility as a platform for commerce does not eclipse our original vision of the web as a means for sharing the world’s knowledge.

So the web was originally made to share knowledge. And I think that's what we do when we blog. At least, that's what I hope I'm doing on this journal — sharing knowledge.

That's also totally the opposite of what we do on social media. There's more sharing of highlight reels going on there, than there is sharing knowledge.

By the way, the author of this article also created Yax, which seems to be a simple website builder. Might be worth checking out.

Notes from The One Thing You Need to Learn to Fight Information Overload by Al Khan:

Alright, you might think starting with a thick old book might be too farfetched right now, though. But luckily, great thinkers have been old-school-blogging since Montaigne. Yep, they wrote essays. They’re filled with so much wisdom that you can finish them in under 2 hours and still get more than that of a modern book. Most of them are translated pretty well, so you can still get their ideas in more easily understood forms. I get my essays on Gutenberg.org and push them to my Kindle for reading. Awesome stuff.

Great idea on finding essays to read from great thinkers of the past.

Also, one last thing: Read books and essays made by the inventors, discoverers, thinkers, and field founders. They are most likely to change how you think.

This advice makes sense. Books from inventors, discoverers, thinkers, and field founders will probably change how you think, simply because they themselves changed the game in their respective fields.

One of the best ways to learn something is to try and teach it to someone else. This is where a blog can help.

When I write a “how to” blog post, I'm not doing it for the sole purpose of teaching other people. I do it as a way to solidify my understanding of what I've just learned. If readers learn something from my post, that's just icing on the cake.

So I've had my photo-blog/microblog for a few weeks now. I'm still asking myself, what am I gaining from doing this, other than the satisfaction of sharing a sky photo? I don't know.

I still think that $5 a month for a hobby photo-blog is too much. If it was my main website or blog, then I can justify paying $5 a month for it. But I'm having a hard time justifying it for a hobby photo-blog.

And I honestly don't know why I keep on doing it. I'd rather be working on my digital garden, but I get this urge to share sky photos ever so often. And I'm fine with that, if it doesn't cost me anything. But in this case, it does...

Maybe it's time to go back to my Write.as powered photo-blog. I don't pay extra for that one, since you get 3 blogs for one Write.as Pro subscription.

Having one blog that covers all sorts of personal topics (instead of one blog per topic) is like having a newspaper. Not everyone is expected to read everything on it.

A personal blog is made for you and not the readers... so if you want to cover a broad range of topics in there, you can do so.

References: https://bloggingwithoutablog.com/blogs-is-one-enough/#comment-147610 https://bloggingwithoutablog.com/blogs-is-one-enough/#comment-147635 https://bloggingwithoutablog.com/blogs-is-one-enough/#comment-147666

The Dallas Mavericks get a great, come from behind win against the Atlanta Hawks.

I've noticed a change in the rotation by the Mavs. Luka usually plays the whole first quarter. The past few games though, he's been going to the bench a lot earlier. Like he would get subbed out in the middle of the first quarter. I think this allows other players in the team to take point and find their own rhythm.

This is good because they're no longer solely relying on Luka making plays for them. It seems to get other players going offensively earlier in the game, which helps Luka out later in the game.

It also seems to be working so far as the Mavs have been winning, barely winning at times, but still winning their games recently. They also won the game against the Pelicans. That means they're on a 4 game winning streak right now.

Tags: #Weeknotes #Basketball #Blogging #Bookmarks #DigitalGarden #DigitalMinimalism #LiteratureNotes #Productivity #Spirituality #Zettelkasten

That's two different diseases — Alzheimer’s and Heart Disease — that gets pretty much the same recommendation to reduce carbs and sugar intake. This should really make you rethink how much sugar you should be ingesting everyday.

It took you years to put on all that weight. Don't be too hard on yourself if you're not losing weight fast enough. Think of losing weight more as a marathon than a sprint.

I've found a compromise for using my gel pen and fountain pen. When I'm at home, I use my fountain pen to write on my bullet journal. Anywhere else, and on any other notebook, I use my gel pens or ballpoint pens.

A few days ago I wrote this on my journal:

“Almost to the end of the k-drama Iris. It's a really good show!”

Then I got to the end. And wow. That ending was horrible! I had planned to say so many good things about this show. There's the amazing plot. The great acting. The pretty good fight scenes. The great story about love and friendship. But it was all brought down by the horrible ending. I can't even recommend it to my wife anymore, not after I've seen the ending. Such a disappointment. The show was great 95% of the time, until it got to the ending. Unless you're a sucker for horrible endings, don't waste your time on it.

Started watching Enola Holmes. I like what I've seen so far. I stopped midway because Caleb kept playing with the remote. But yeah, I like the movie enough to want to finish it.

Came across a long list of public Zettelkastens/Digital Gardens.

One thing I struggle with while trying to build my digital garden/personal knowledge-base, is determining whether a note is just information, or if it is a note that is worth keeping. One way to determine that is to ask the question, “Does this note provide a lesson or insight that will stand the test of time?” If the answer is yes, then it probably is a permanent note.

Spent some time last week moving software development related content out of my weeknotes posts, into their own stand alone posts. Also tried adding “backlinks” to the pages just to see how they look.

I can probably streamline this process in the future by publishing software development content in their own posts in the first place. Then I can just add a link to them in my weeknotes post. This approach also opens up the possibility of keeping my software development posts in a dedicated dev blog, as opposed to being another post on here. For now I'm leaving them here. We'll see how it works out over time.

Came across this post last week. The author makes an interesting argument about avoiding backlinks. It is one you should probably consider if you're trying to build a digital garden.

Backlinks without context are useless. And to an extent, they are a waste of time. Following a backlink that doesn't have any context, could lead you to information that is irrelevant to your research. This is time that you could have spent following a link that could have lead you to something more meaningful.

I'm guilty of this, like when I added backlinks to the software dev posts that I moved out of their respective weeknotes post. I'll clean those up in the future.

A great read from last week was The One Thing You Need to Learn to Fight Information Overload by Al Khan.

One of the things I learned from that, is that the more you read, the more time you need to allocate to digesting what you just read. Apparently there is such a thing as reading too much. And reading too much means your brain is always occupied with someone else's thoughts. You need to give your brain time to process what you just read.

This in turn made me realize that I put in so much stuff into my daily logs, because I read a lot or run into a lot of thoughts and ideas. But I also noticed that I don't give myself time to really reflect on them. I give myself what, 10-15 minutes before bed to migrate my notes into Obsidian and into my Zettelkasten. I don't think that's enough time to really digest all that I've written down.

The Mavs are struggling this season. Their season might be in jeopardy if they don't find a way to start winning.

They should really be a better defensive team this year considering the changes they made to their lineup. And they've shown flashes where they played stellar defense. But they're just not consistent enough. And when it comes down to critical moments in the game, their defense doesn't shine through. Until they improve on this, I don't see them getting to the Finals anytime soon.

Kristaps Porzingis also needs to assert himself in the post. Multiple times during the game against Golden State, a smaller guard switched over to guard him. Instead of exploiting the match-up, he either took a long range jumper or passed the ball. Doing so makes it so much easier to guard him. If he instead backs them down into the post, then he could possibly draw a double team, and then he can kick the ball out to the perimeter for an open three point shot. I mean, I'm not sure why he doesn't even try to do this more often. I think Luka plays on the low post more often than him. That's ridiculous.

After a 30-point loss to the Golden State Warriors, it is a little reassuring to see them win the next game. The next few games are crucial. If they can't find a way to shore up their defense and win some games, I don't see them even reaching the playoffs this season.

Tom Brady is the GOAT. Just saying.

I'm starting to run into issues with maintaning this Weeknotes series. It took too long to write this post. I spent more than an hour trying to get this done. And I even had to cut out a number of items (a day's worth of entries even) I wanted to include in this post. I need a better way to determine what gets included in these posts. I simply don't want to spend too much time writing them.

I thought writing weeknotes on the weekends was the way to go. But I'm finding that I just don't have enough time to write when I prioritize spending time with my family.

The article from Al Khan that I linked above, provided a way to filter out what to read. I need something similar to filter out what to write, so I can do it faster. Because if I don't find a way to streamline this writing process, this will turn into a chore. And once it does, I'll most likely stop.

All this stress over spending too much time writing a post, just makes me want to try out the Publish feature from Obsidian. Instead of writing a blog post, I could be working on my digital garden/personal knowledge-base. Then I just hit publish every weekend or so, and new notes show up online. No more fussing over publishing a blog post in time before the new week starts.

Tags: #Weeknotes #Blogging #Basketball #DigitalGarden #FountainPen #Nutrition #PublicHealth #Zettelkasten

Helped Davin build a makeshift house using Lego blocks. I can now see why the wife likes helping Davin with his Lego blocks; it is fun.

Last week, the Dallas Mavericks won a game that I watched on TV. I guess I’m not cursed after all haha. They just suck this early in the season.

After that win, they went on to play an excellent game against the Denver Nuggets. Jokic hit the buzzer beater to send the game to overtime. But unlike the previous seasons, the Dallas Mavericks were able to close this game out. They need more games and wins like this, to develop their ability to close out games.

Then on the next game, the Mavs get another win against the Magic. They're starting to play better as a team now. Luka is also starting to play like the MVP candidate that critics say he is. He admitted to being out of shape when the season began. But he is starting to look like the competitive Luka that I saw in last season's NBA bubble in Orlando. Things are now looking good for the Mavericks.

Managed to get some exercise done while watching the Dallas Mavericks vs Denver Nuggets game. Not a bad way to watch the game.

Content moved to... Check for Open Transactions on SQL Server Database

One thing I really like about the TSWBI Eco-T Fountain Pen is the transparent ink reservoir. Makes it easy to see how much ink is left. It is also fun to see the ink sloshing inside the reservoir.

One thing I don't like about it, is that it feels scratchy when writing. I tried flushing the pen to see if it improves ink flow. It did improve ink flow a little, but it was still scratchy.

So, I tried changing the way I gripped it. I usually hold pens in an unconventional, almost upright manner. I tried holding it in a more reclined angle. And now more ink is coming out. The more reclined I hold the fountain pen, the more ink comes out and the less scratchy it feels. It's actually starting to feel great writing with this fountain pen.

Halfway through The Light of All That Falls. I’m constantly astounded at how grand and epic the story is. It is a story spanning thousands of years. And yet, they all weave in together beautifully. It is probably the most complicated story I’ve ever read. But it is complicated in a good way. It makes me wonder how in the world the author even thought of writing a book like this.

Some nice quotes from St. Thomas Aquinas.

“All fear arises from love; since no one fears save what is contrary to something he loves.”

That’s true. And is something to reflect on whenever fear is blocking your way forward. Maybe this quote can remind you to ask yourself, what is it that you really fear in the first place? Or in other words, what are you scared of losing?

“May I not desire to please or fear to displease anyone but you.” ~ The Wise Ordering of One’s Life, St. Thomas Aquinas

This is a good reminder for me to not seek validation elsewhere except above.

One of the thoughts I had last week was to combine my Dev blog and this journal into one. This is the 3rd or 4th time this idea has surfaced in my head. Soon I'm going to do something about it.

Caleb is starting to get better at walking unassisted. Last week, he was able to take 4 steps before falling down. Pretty soon, he is going to be walking away from Coney and me. He's growing up so fast!

Just discovered that Microsoft Teams now has Markdown support. Wonderful!

The AC fan in my Mazdaspeed3 started to make a ticking noise last week. The sound goes away when I turn the fan off. Doesn't seem to be related to engine speed or the AC kicking in.

Anyway, I just spent money on a new clutch and a suspension refresh. So, getting another issue so soon is annoying. But the car also has over 106,000 miles already. So, it's not like this is an unexpected breakdown. Just hoping it is an easy and affordable fix. Repairing the car is still cheaper than buying a new car.

Listened to the Top Songs of 2020 playlist that Spotify generated for me. Without having gone through all the songs in the playlist, I have to say that “Skeletons” by Heartist has got to be one of, if not, my top song of 2020.

On the third episode now of the k-drama IRIS and it keeps getting better and better. I didn't have to wait for a few episodes for it to become entertaining. Love the soundtrack, the developing story and the characters. Oh and Kim Tae-hee is so pretty in this show.

Have gotten the wife addicted to Minecraft. Was talking to her about the stuff I learned in a tutorial for the game. She tried them out while playing on the Switch. Pretty soon she was buying the game on her old gaming PC. Thankfully, the game runs really well on that old gaming PC of hers. Unlike Minecraft Dungeons LOL.

Tags: #Weeknotes #Basketball #Bookmarks #FountainPen #Minecraft #TVShows #Heartist

Got a TWSBI Eco-T fountain pen as a Christmas gift. I've been using it last week and I'm still not a big fan of it. But I also can't seem to stop myself from using it. There's something fascinating about a fountain pen that makes me want to write with one.

I think my Zebra Sarasa Grand Gel Pen writes better. But I need more time with the TWSBI Eco-T fountain pen before I make a final judgement.

For my Zettelkasten in Obsidian, I decided to no longer keep links between my Daily Notes and my Permanent Notes. This is based off what I read in Ahrens' book saying to discard or archive Fleeting Notes. And that's pretty much what my Daily Notes are, a collection of Fleeting Notes.

I'm removing the links, but I'm still archiving them though. And that's because I use the Daily Notes to create my Weeknotes post. It also makes those notes searchable via Obsidian.

Ran into an interesting discussion on micro.blog last week about RSS Feeds vs Email Newsletters. Someone made a good point that non-techy people already know how to handle emails. But those same people most likely won't know what is, or how to use an RSS Feed reader. This is probably the best reason to offer email subscriptions, even if you're not into monetizing your blog.

A writing tip I found online is to write to a specific person. In my case, I should imagine that I'm writing directly to one of my kids.

Distractions stop you from achieving greatness.

Received a Fitbit Inspire 2 as a Christmas gift. Here are some quick notes on it compared to my old Fitbit Charge 2:

• It is so lightweight compared to the Charge 2. I sometimes totally forget that I'm wearing it.
• The battery life is so good. I've been using it for over a week now and I still have 57% battery left.

We had a quiet New Year's Day celebration with the family. It was Caleb's first New Year's Day celebration with us. He celebrated by walking around the house multiple times. Assisted walking of course. He can't walk by himself just yet.

Was trying to get sleep, but was getting annoyed at my kids who were playing on the bed.

One thing I learned from The Last Dance documentary is to always turn a negative into a positive. It is similar to the perspective change shared by James Clear. And that led me to this:

I am grateful that I have kids who bother me when I'm trying to sleep. It means I've been blessed with playful kids.

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Been playing MyTeam mode in NBA 2K21 lately. I'm finding that the Flip Push freelance set is great for a team with a good point guard like Chris Paul.

Michael Jordan on being true to yourself :

It's never gonna be enough for everybody. I know that, I realize that, cause everybody has a preconceived idea in terms of what they think I should do or what I shouldn't do. The way that I go about my life is that I set examples. And if it inspires you, great. You know, I will continue to do that. If it doesn’t, then maybe I’m not the person that you should be following.”

~ Michael Jordan, The Last Dance

Finished The Last Dance documentary last week. Wonderful documentary. A must watch for any basketball fan.

The Dallas Mavericks get blown out by the Charlotte Hornets after their huge win against the LA Clippers. Every time I watch them play, they lose. I'm cursed.

I also watched their game last night against a depleted Chicago Bulls lineup — and they lost as well. Arrrgh.

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To say that Mary is the Mother of God is to insist on the density of the claim that God truly became human. As Fulton J. Sheen commented, Mary is like the moon, for her light is always the reflection of a higher light.

A wonderful analogy from Fulton Sheen.

Catholic theology has drawn a further implication from Mary’s status as Mother of God—her role as Mother of the Church. If she is the one through whom Christ was born, and if the Church is indeed Christ’s Mystical Body, then she must be, in a very real sense, the Mother of the Church. She is the one through whom Jesus continues to be born in the hearts of those who believe. This is not to confuse her with the Savior, but it is to insist on her mission as mediator and intercessor.

~ Daily Gospel Reflection by Bishop Barron

Emphasis on “not to confuse her with the Savior, but it is to insist on her mission as mediator and intercessor”.

Catholics are known for not really reading the Bible that much. In yesterday's homily, Fr. Kevin Wilwert shared some good books (the Bible is a collection of books) to get started when reading the Bible for the first time.

• Psalms
• Gospel of Mark
• Letter to the Romans

I'll end this post with what is quickly becoming one of my favorite Bible passages:

Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

~ Matthew 11:28-30

The part where Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me;” brings me back to my previous post. Like I said in that post, not all the problems of today need to be solved with something new. Sometimes, all we need to do is to look to the past to find the answers.

Tags: #Weeknotes #Basketball #Blogging #Fitbit #FountainPen #NBA2K21 #Spirituality #Writing #Zettelkasten

The Rockets did not play a traditional center in their victories over the Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans over the weekend despite having 7-foot reserves Tyson Chandler and Isaiah Hartenstein available. Houston became the first team to go an entire game without using a player taller than 6-foot-6 since the New York Knicks in a Jan. 31, 1963, win over the Chicago Zephyrs, according to research by the Elias Sports Bureau.

Link: Sources: Robert Covington, Clint Capela part of 4-team, 12-player deal

The link is for an article about a trade that sent Clint Capela to the Atlanta Hawks, but the quote above is the most interesting part of that article for me. I think that small ball lineups is a preview of the future of NBA basketball.

Centers playing with their back to the basket, backing down defenders is a rare sight in the NBA these days. Joel Embiid is probably the last dominant, back to the basket center the NBA has left. Most other tall centers/power forwards nowadays prefer to shoot perimeter shots anyway. Yet these same players can sometimes be too slow in defense, especially in “switch-all” defensive schemes.

You can see this happen when you have a small vs big in a one-on-one situation. Almost always, the small player will be able to drive past the big, or sink a 3-pointer over them. I've seen Seth Curry and Luka Doncic do this all the time with the Mavericks this season. Steph Curry (when he is healthy), Damian Lillard, Kemba Walker and numerous other players all can exploit these match ups.

You would think that not having a big in defense is a liability, but from what I've seen, double-teaming the opposing big will quickly force the ball out of their hands. And with a small ball lineup, the players are usually quick enough to rotate to the next guy after a kick-out pass from a double-teamed player. Also, some of the forwards in the game are now big enough and strong enough to guard taller bigs. Think Draymond Green, Lebron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo. I believe in a few years, even Zion Williamson will be able to do the same thing.

I think it was the Golden State Warriors that proved that small ball lineups were viable in the NBA. They would frequently play a lineup with Draymond Green playing center, which while taller than 6-foot-6, is still undersized as far as centers go. Their “switch-all” defensive scheme is now being mimicked across the NBA. The key is to have players in the lineup that can guard multiple positions. In the Warrior's case, only Steph Curry was the liability in defense, but even that didn't stop them from winning championships anyway.

Tags: #Basketball #Bookmarks