While I've already had this idea in my head for the past few months, I was also inspired by this post from Angelo.

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I started working on an ASP.NET Core MVC website wrapper for this journal. I'm using the WriteAs.NET library that I wrote, to essentially turn Write.as into a Headless CMS. So far I have it working for my pinned pages.

Here is a screenshot of the About page rendered using ASP.NET Core MVC:

And the Archive page:

While working on this ASP.NET Core MVC website wrapper, here's another idea I had: Use it to practice Vertical Slice Architecture.

Better late than never. Found some good rock songs after listening to the Top 50 Rock Songs of 2020.

Got the Mazdaspeed3 back last week. Unfortunately, they couldn't reproduce the issue with the ticking noise on the AC fan. To be fair, the sound didn't manifest itself on my way to the dealership.

Fortunately, they did not charge me a diagnosis fee. That would have cost me $99. That's one benefit of developing a relationship with the service department. They treat me like a VIP. One of the perks I've noticed is that they are willing to waive charges and fees more often than not.

From note-taking to note-making by Anne-Laure Le Cunff is a good read on the difference between note-taking and note-making.

Note making is creating your own version of what you're reading. If you take the time to do this, to write a thought or idea in your own words, this will help you understand and remember it better.

Taking this idea further — It is not enough then, to just write down notes into a notebook. If all you do is write it down word for word, chances are you still won't remember it later. You need to re-write it and phrase it in your language, to give your brain a chance to really process that information and make it stick.

While reading Chesterton and the Vocation of Our Senses, I ran into this wonderful poem by G.K. Chesterton:

Here dies another day During which I have had eyes, ears, hands And the great world round me; And with tomorrow begins another. Why am I allowed two?

~ G.K. Chesterton, “Evening”

A wonderful reminder that even in the midst of this pandemic, most of us are lucky enough to have one more day.

G.K. Chesterton said that even those who reject the doctrine of the Incarnation (like the Pharisees) are different for having heard it. The claim that God became one of us changes the imagination, compelling a reassessment of both God and the world. This odd assertion is made, implicitly or explicitly, on practically every page of the New Testament.

Therefore, when Jesus forgives the paralytic’s sin, the Pharisees respond that only God can forgive sins, thereby, despite themselves, professing faith in the Good News.

~ Daily Gospel Reflection by Bishop Barron

Huh. I never even thought of it that way. Even when trying to prove Jesus wrong, the Pharisees ended up proving him right. They were professing the Good News, they just didn't know it.

In the book How to Take Smart Notes, the author relays a story about NASA trying to invent a pen that works in space. They were successful of course, but that's not the end of the story. Apparently, the Russians ran into the same problem. How did they solve it? By electing to use pencils instead.

This is a great reminder to look to the past for possible solutions. And another reminder to not over complicate things.

Update 2/12/2021: I just run into a page that disproves the story. Apparently pencils could be a fire hazard in space, especially if the tip breaks off.

On that train of thought, it’s also making me reflect on my efforts to try and make a fountain pen work for me. Right now, compared to my gel pen, a fountain pen seems to be the complicated option.

Just realized that tinkering with your own personal website is like modifying your car — it's one way to make it your own. It's a way to make it stand out from the crowd by adding your personal touches to it.

Tags: #Weeknotes #Blogging #GKChesterton #Meta #NoteTaking #Spirituality

There's a new Head First C# book that just came out this month! I still have the first one that came out back in 2010. This was the book that started me on the C# path. If you want to learn C#, I definitely recommend picking up the new version. In fact, I'm going to buy a copy for myself as well.

I wish I had more time to write blog posts that are focused on just one topic. One issue I see with my Weeknotes post is that a single post covers a bunch of different topics. In my mind, those topics should have their own blog posts. But the fact of the matter is, I already have a day job. And it involves writing code, not writing prose. And so unfortunately, I've resorted to bundling everything up into a single Weeknotes post, just so I can get something out. It's not exactly the setup I want, but it's what works for me now.

That said, I did make an effort to try and move topics into their own posts this week. So watch out for those.

I'm going through the Gatsby tutorial and am having fun with it. I am doing the tutorial to learn how to make a static site blog using Gatsby and consequently, React. I was surprised to find that the Gatsby tutorial covers React topics really well. I think it doubles as a good intro to learning React.

I plan to switch from Wyam to Gatsby for generating my dev blog sometime in the future. I figure, if I want to master React, then I have to force myself to use it as much as I can.

Started watching Tony Robbins – I am not your guru. I haven't finished it yet. It's an interesting one that dispenses some good life advice. Here are some good quotes I've picked up from the documentary film:

Everyone needs a compelling future. Everyone needs something to move towards. If you don’t have something to move towards, you settle for where things are. ... The problem with people is that they think they shouldn’t have any problems. Problems are what makes us grow. Problems are what sculpts our souls. Problems are what make us become more. Life is happening for us, not to us. ... This is what you were made for. You were made to love unconditionally. And the more we do, the more we experience the “human” in humanity. We experience our true nature. And we feel deeply alive.

~ Tony Robbins

Finished watching Gun Gale Online. It was a pretty entertaining show. I give it a 4/5 rating.

The motivation for some characters seemed a little far fetched, but I enjoyed the show for the most part. I loved the Battle Royale fights, the combat strategies, the tactics, the duels — it was all fun to watch. I also liked that there were only 12 episodes. It didn't feel like like a drag, which is what Sword Art Online felt like at times.

I also got a kick out of the frequent references to Sword Art Online in Gun Gale Online. This idea of creating two different anime that could reference each other is genius! That does mean that you have to watch Sword Art Online Season 1 to understand the references thrown out in Gun Gale Online.

Started watching the The Mandalorian Season 2. I've watched 3 episodes so far and I think it's better than Season 1. I thought the progression of the story in Season 1 was a little unfocused. It went all sorts of directions. But in Season 2, the Mandalorian is laser-focused on his quest at hand. And so the story revolves around his all-important quest, which to me makes for a more interesting watch.

I have noticed that I have trouble finding time to create my weekly plan on Sundays. This is because I'm trying to watch over the kids the whole weekend, to give the wife a break. So I'm thinking, instead of doing the weekly plan on Sunday, maybe I should do it on Friday night instead.

When you find things you genuinely enjoy, don’t let anyone else make you feel bad about it. Don’t feel guilty about the pleasure you take in the things you enjoy. Celebrate them.

~ No more guilty pleasures! by Austin Kleon

I really enjoyed the 2020 Mazda CX-5 loaner car that I was driving while the Speed3 was in the shop. I think it's a great daily driver.

Got the Speed3 back sometime this week. Eibach Pro-kits are definitely a mild drop. It even looks stock sometimes. But having driven it for over 100,000 miles, I can tell that it is dropped.

I'm getting so much frisson listening to the Guild Wars 2 OST. I'm listening to it while doing code reviews 😀 Kinda makes me realize how I sometimes take the game's OST for granted. Listening to it outside of the game makes me want to login and play.

Watched a YouTube video talking about the Top Quality of Life Fallout 4 Mods for the Xbox One. Out of the ones presented in the video, my favorite has to be the companion tracker. Makes finding specific companions so much easier. Anyone who's played the game knows how much of a pain it can be to track down Dogmeat 😀

Tags: #Weeknotes #Blogging #Bookmarks #Meta #TVShows

I ran into an issue while working on the previous weeknotes post. My weeknotes post show up on this journal, but it has software dev related posts. That makes me think that those should be on my dev blog. And now I wonder, maybe I should have just one website in the first place.

Now the problem with having one website that houses all kinds of content, is that my personal posts would start showing up alongside my dev related posts. I remember Scott Hanselman said that you should keep overtly personal information out of your tech blog. That's pretty much why I have a dev blog and a separate personal blog/journal. I also think that the advice on separating them still makes sense. But I also feel, based on experience, that having to maintain multiple websites can be exhausting.

After pouring out my heart and soul, my personal life into this online journal, I now have this urge to move on and leave it all behind. I no longer want to post something overly personal.

Had I decided to remain with an anonymous journal like Inquiry suggested in the past, I probably wouldn't have a problem with all the personal posts I wrote. But I really wanted to “own my words”, so this is what I get for doing so LOL.

On a related note... I wish I could start over with my domain and websites. Or, just leave everything behind and start fresh on a new blog/site.

Spent an hour dumping my thoughts into Obsidian. They were about the four websites (dev blog, this journal, music blog, photo-blog) that I'm currently maintaining. The question I have for myself is, can I combine all four websites into just one? And if so, can I do it on Write.as, Micro.blog, WordPress or some other platform?

I am in the process of trying to figure out, how to narrow down the number of my sites from 4, to at most 2. One thing I've started to notice from other .NET developers, is that most of them don't have personal blogs. They blog about software development and that's pretty much it.

And now that I think about it, if my intent with blogs and personal websites is to remind people that I'm still alive, then putting out posts on my dev blog is good enough. I don't have to get all personal in a personal blog/journal like this one. I don't need to share all the personal details. If the point is really just to tell other people I'm still alive, then posting about something, and it doesn't have to be a personal topic, is good enough.

In the interest of trying to decrease the load of maintaining multiple websites at once, I think I need to stop writing a post for each song I add to the playlist for my music blog. I should instead write a post for when I have a new playlist out. I think this will lessen the load on my part, and will keep me less distracted during the day.

Fast forward a few days...

Instead of sharing music that I’m listening to right at that moment, I should just curate songs instead. Sharing music while I’m listening to them, can be distracting. And it doesn’t serve any purpose other than to share something I’m listening to at the moment. Building and curating a playlist though, is intentionally creating something that could be valuable to someone else other than myself.

I'm not sure what to do with my Above the Earth and Seas blog. It started out as a place to share photos of the sky. This was mainly to make use of my 3rd free write.as blog and to make use of the snap.as image hosting feature. But as you can tell, it doesn't really have a specific purpose, other than a place for me to share photos of the sky.

I'm not sure what benefit I'm getting from it. I'm not sure if it provides any value whatsoever. I'm not even sure if it is reaching people who are interested in photos of the sky. Currently, there's 1 email subscriber. Unlike this journal or my music blog, I haven't received any messages from a reader regarding any of the content in it. So the question I'm asking myself is, is there any value in continuing to post if no one is even benefiting from or appreciating the photos?

What I'm quickly realizing with regards to blogs, is that without a feedback loop, I don't know if my efforts are just being wasted. I don't know who is benefiting from it or even if I'm benefiting from it. Which is why...

Sometime this week, I ended up creating an Instagram account for my Above the Earth and Seas blog. As far as ease of use goes, it is so much easier to post to Instagram. While yes, I have to use a phone, I spend less time looking at a screen when trying to post something. There's also a feedback loop and the comfort of knowing that I'm not posting to a void. I know people on Instagram can find the photos through the hashtags. And there is a huge community of people posting photos of the sky in it.

That said, I now remember another reason why I was trying to post photos on a blog versus on Instagram. It's the way social media primes your mind to expect likes/hearts. It gives me the urge to want to check the app over and over again.

Anyway, like I did in the past, I plan on only having the Instagram app installed on my phone during weekends. That should limit the amount of time I have the app installed on my phone. And if that doesn't work out, I'll just call it a day on my photo-blog and move on.

While I'm on the subject of Instagram, I thought Sunlit was going to replace Instagram for me. It did not, or more specifically, it couldn't. While it is a great place to post photos (because there's no likes/hearts feature in it), I also have no way of curating a feed like I can with Instagram.

To be fair, I don't think the creators of Sunlit intended it to be a replacement for everything that Instagram does. I'm just saying, that to get my car photos fix, I still have to login to Instagram every now and then. Because that's where you can find the best Mazdaspeed3 photos on the internet.

On the subject of Mazdaspeeds, I installed a Chicco Myfit car seat, alongside a Chicco Nextfit convertible car seat in the Speed3. There's just enough space for me or my wife to sit beside the Nextfit, which is set up as rear facing in the middle. So, it turns out you can install car seats two across in a Gen2 Mazdaspeed3.

And lastly, finally bought lowering springs and shocks for the Speed3. I decided to go for the Eibach Pro-kit/Koni STR.T Struts combo. I'm refreshing the suspension because for the first time since I've owned the Speed3, some of the tires are showing signs of cupping. And well the ride can sometimes feel choppy. Not surprising since my Speed3 has now over 105,000 miles.

If a literature note contains thoughts and ideas from another author, then my own blog posts and journal entries cannot be thought of as literature notes. The ideas contained therein would be considered permanent notes, because they were my own thoughts and ideas.

This is me attempting to understand how to use the Zettelkasten method to build my personal knowledge base.

Wouldn’t digital be easier? Yes. But I don’t want this to be easy. Writing them down by hand forces me to take my time and to go over everything again (taking notes on a Kindle is too easy and that’s the problem).

~ The Notecard System: The Key For Remembering, Organizing And Using Everything You Read by Ryan Holiday

So, with the Zettelkasten method, you create “literature notes” when taking down notes while reading a book. Ryan Holiday uses something called a Notecard System. It's another way of taking notes while reading a book.

If you're looking for more ways to take down notes while reading a book, there's also the Idea Index method that Cal Newport mentioned in his blog.

We are all experts in something. Teach everything you know. Knowledge is squandered unless it is shared. Don't die with your greatest lessons still inside of you.

~ “Email is Where Keystrokes Go to Die.” by James Clear

No matter what you think of yourself, you are an expert in something. So, don't keep all your knowledge to yourself. What's the point of acquiring all that knowledge, of building a digital garden, of building a personal knowledge base, if you let it go to waste by not sharing it with others? Pass it off to your kids, to your peers, to anyone willing to listen and learn.

Going meta here, but the above is what I believe to be an example of a “Literature Note” in the Zettelkasten method. You find a good quote or idea from something that you're reading, you then write it in your own words and file it in a literature note.

I previously mentioned that migrating notes from my bullet journal into Obsidian seemed redundant. Well today's brilliant idea, is to not migrate them at all. If I need to look up info for writing my weeknotes post, then I'll look on both my bullet journal and Obsidian vault.

Spent some time watching Sword Art Online this week and it has its hooks on me once again. The ending to the first half of Season 1 was a great cliffhanger. Then the plot twist in the second half of the season caught me off-guard. If you love MMOs, or have played MMOs, you'll find plenty to like in this anime. If you love MMOs and anime, then you'll love Sword Art Online.

I have also noticed that this is the first anime that Davin has shown an interest in. It could be very well be that he is old enough to be interested in anime. But I also think it's the story and the characters. To an extent, Sword Art Online draws some parallels to Minecraft Dungeons. And I think that's what draws him in.

As far as blood and gore, there's not much in Sword Art Online. So, I'm not worried about Davin watching it. My only concern is that in the second part of Season 1, there's noticeably more sexy scenes and some nudity implied in the episodes. It's not enough to stop me from watching it around him, but it makes me a little wary of it.

Just realized that I'm publishing posts from my music blog, which has music exclusively shared via Spotify, into the read.write.as feed, where a lot of people seem to not be a fan of Spotify. I kinda feel like I'm putting a target on my back for doing so. Maybe this is not where I should be publishing my music blog posts to.

It's been awhile since we've had a Tornado warning issued where we live. Was trying to rock baby Caleb to sleep, when I kept hearing what sounded like a motorcycle going back and forth. It took me awhile to realize that it was the tornado sirens making the sound. Grabbed the wife and Davin and lead them into a closet, where we hid until the threat passed. Thank God that nothing serious happened around our home. Though I heard other people were not as fortunate.

New idea is to listen to “ambient” music while coding. It is an interesting idea, because it means I can stop getting interrupted by running into really good rock songs when working. Got this idea from Vincent's about page.

Tags: #Weeknotes #Bookmarks #Blogging #Mazdaspeed3 #Meta #SocialMedia #Zettelkasten

Working with Obsidian and building a personal knowledge base has me on a high. I've been writing so much today (this week), it's crazy. And all this writing was done offline. If that isn't “writing for myself”, I don't know what is. I may be getting tired of writing blog posts, but apparently, I'm not tired of writing.

This leads me to thinking that this might be a better way to pass down my journal entries to my kids. Plain text files should hopefully outlive me. I don't have to do it through an online journal or a blog. I can just pass off my collection of text files to them.

It's interesting that, I am using a blog/journal, to post on social media to let my friends know I'm still alive. The problem is that the feed on social media runs on an algorithm. That means, my post might never even show up for my friends before they stop scrolling. Which means, what I'm using social media for, is actually not working for me.

Another interesting thing, is how logging daily notes in Obsidian, means I write down less stuff on my bullet journal. I don't know if this is good or bad. Cal Newport would probably say it is bad, because then I am increasing the time I spend looking at computer screens.

Have been dealing with WCF errors this week. I am so ready to leave behind WCF and move on to Restful API services.

I am little by little, slowly getting addicted to Obsidian. I even have it on my work PC now.

The description on my online journal was, “A peek into the mind of a software developer, husband, dad and gamer.” While somewhat true, now that I think about it, it's more of “A peek into the life of a software developer, husband, dad and gamer.” That's because a lot of the content I put out on there (here), is about stuff that's happened to me and to the people around me. There are occasional instances where you get an idea of what's on my mind, but mostly, it's about what happened to me. It is more like a diary, or a journal.

What I'm trying to get at is, the description — “A peek into the mind of a software developer, husband, dad and gamer” — is actually a better fit for a digital garden. A digital garden is exactly that, a peek into someone's mind. While a journal, or a diary, is more of a peek into someone's life.

For lunch, I ate a heavy meal from Panda Express. Later in the afternoon, I got a free Venti Vanilla Bean Latte from Coney. According to Fitbit, with the Venti Vanilla Bean Latte, I've already hit my target goal as far as amount of calories goes for the day. This shows how useful food tracking is. If I weren't tracking, I would have ate normally at dinner, which means I would have ate more than I was supposed to.

Currently trying out two other alternatives for my music blog. I'm trying one with Tumblr and another with Wordpress.

So, everytime I share a song, I try to do it on all three blogs. I find it easiest to share music to Tumblr. Next is Write.as. Last is Wordpress. Posting on Wordpress feels slow and can sometimes feel clunky. It's unfortunate because the Wordpress blog is the best looking of them all.

I'm starting to notice a difference between what I write on my bullet journal, and what I write in Obsidian for my digital garden. The things that happened to me, the things I did — those are the ones that go into my bullet journal.

On the other hand, useful realizations, ideas, thoughts that I've come across while reading or watching something — those go into Obsidian to grow my digital garden.

I noticed that Davin had a small nick on his wrist. It's close to the spot where he wears his Potty Training Watch. I'm not sure how, but we've stopped letting him wear the watch. It is unfortunate because it was pretty effective at getting him to pee on a schedule. But I'd rather not have him hurt himself in the process. Especially since he has this tendency to say he's okay, even when he's hurting.

Another night, another game of Protect the Pride Lands with Davin. This board game has been such a hit with Davin. He's requested to play this game every night since it arrived. It's good father and son bonding time for both of us.

You think compromise is a weakness. It’s not. It’s survival. ~ Waldo, Into The Badlands, Season 2 – Episode 4

God gives us his gifts, so we can be gifts to each other. ~ Fr. Anthony Densmore

If you don’t know about your past, you can’t shape your future. ~ Kemal, The Protector, Season 1 – Episode 5

Okay this post ended up longer than I expected. I'll try to be more selective next time. Otherwise I fear I'm going to get tired of keeping this up as well. Anyway, until I get a digital garden website up and running, this will have to do. I'll catch y'all later.

Tags: #Weeknotes #BulletJournal #DigitalGarden #Meta #NoteTaking #SocialMedia