Last week I remembered why I chose to go with pen and paper for my bullet journal — it was to give my eyes a break from staring at screens all day long.

My only issue with this analog approach to journals, is how to digitize the text that I wrote so that they can be searchable in the future. Sure, bullet journals have an index for tracking down specific topics. But let's face it, that doesn't even come close to being able to search text digitally.

I previously tried to get around this by publishing journal entries on this site. As part of writing those posts, the content from my bullet journal would end up in a text (markdown) file when I download a backup of this site. This benefit went away when I decided to stop writing journal entries.

Now, I'm doing a similar thing with these Weeknotes posts. This time around though, my journal entries end up in my Obsidian vault. I still have to manually type them in though. This is the part I'm trying to streamline. But I'm not sure that's even possible. It's either I ditch my analog bullet journal and go straight to digital journal apps, or just continue what I'm doing — write on my bullet journal then migrate (type up) my notes into Obsidian sometime later in the day or week.

If you have some thoughts that are stuck in your head, write them down so that you can get them out of your head. This frees up your brain and allows it to think about or focus on something else. Like you know, what you should be working on instead.

An idea: Instead of creating a “microblog” to house micro/short posts, or creating one as a social media replacement, how about creating one to hold micro thoughts (or atomic notes) on a specific topic? I'm thinking more of a digital garden here versus a Twitter replacement.

I started trying to build a digital garden on Are.na using excerpts from my journal entries. This also solves one of the problems I've had for awhile now — how to take excerpts out of my Weeknotes posts and put them into their own stand alone posts.

I actually think Are.na is better suited for displaying excerpts, than it is for building a digital garden. But we'll see how it goes. The alternative to it would be another Write.as blog. One using the Novel format, which means no published dates on the posts.

For now though, the use of Are.na is free, at least until I hit the 500 block limit. So I'll try it first and see what I can come up with.

It doesn't do back-links like Obsidian does, but it is possible to connect blocks to a channel. I wish they would allow connecting a block to another block, but they don't. So I'll just try to work with what it can do.

Some great reads last week were Brandon's post about “Home” and Scott Nesbitt's take on digital gardens.

Regarding digital gardens. Scott mentions using Write.as to build a digital garden. I have thought of using Write.as as well, but so far have not figured out the best approach to it. I believe that once Write.as allows a custom static homepage, then it will pave the way to being able to use it to create a digital garden. Until then, it will look more or less like another blog.

This is also another reason why I elected to try building a digital garden with Are.na first.

Found this new site, habitica.com. It seems like it could be used to help accomplish some self-improvement goals.

This was a photo that the wife sent me last week. I definitely agree with that!

Content moved to... Basics of Using Git from the Command Line

Last week I managed to solve my first ever React issue. The React developer in our team had the day off, so I tried figuring it out on my own. After getting the location of the source code from a team member, I was able to figure out why the app was taking us to another page. I am not a React expert, but apparently I can understand it enough to figure out the issue. I'm so proud of myself. The work that I've been doing with trying to learn React is not going to waste.

The song “Where I Belong”, which features Simple Plan, State Champs and We The Kings is such a good song!

I found a reason And suddenly I'm not so alone I'm finally breathing Like I never could on my own Start the countdown, let's get it on Scream our lungs out to our favorite song 'Cause this is where I belong (This is where I belong)

Could listening to music possibly reduce the stress levels brought about by work? I think it does. I was getting stressed out at work and then “Uh Oh” by Junior Doctor started playing. I immediately felt this sense of relief come over me. I felt much more calm and settled. So yeah, I think listening to music while working does help lower stress levels.

Just noticed Davin going over a YouTube video on how to build a tower in Minecraft. He then tried to mimic what he saw in the video and build the tower himself in the game. I thought that was pretty amazing for such a young kid. And amazing that a game fosters that kind of learning and creativity.

The hardest part of raising an infant is the countless sleepless nights. You're not going to get any sleep until your infant is asleep.

And for this week's installment of #FunnyThingsMyKidsSay:

Me and Davin were in another room. I was on the PC, while Davin was reading a book. We heard Baby Caleb cry and then my wife called out.

Davin: Dad, Mom is calling you. Good luck!

***

Davin was trying to color Thor in his coloring book.

Me: Davin, Thor’s clothes should be colored dark blue. Davin: That’s not dark blue, that’s black blue!

I'll end this post with a photo of what dad life looked like last week.

Tags: #Weeknotes #Blogging #BulletJournal #DigitalGarden #FunnyThingsMyKidsSay #JuniorDoctor #Parenthood #Minecraft #Nutrition #PopRock #PopPunk #SelfImprovement #SimplePlan #StateChamps #WeTheKings

First song for today is “Last Day Under the Sun” by Volbeat. Volbeat is that really good Danish rock band that I never knew about. Well, not until I heard them in one of the Top 50 Rock Songs countdown from years past. Volbeat has a very unique sound similar to bands from the late 90s and early 2000s. You'll know the song playing is a Volbeat song, because it sounds like a Volbeat song.

Anyway, this track is a pretty good one. Not too heavy on metal or rock. I'm not exactly sure how to describe it. It sounds more like mainstream rock, or maybe it's just plain old rock and roll. Beautiful ending to the music video too.

Next song for today is “Where Are You Now?” by Honor Society. This one is a pretty good pop-rock track. Clean and melodic, a typical pop-rock song really. Yet, I still love listening to it. Maybe it's because of the narrative in the song. This song is about recognizing the fact that you won't be who you are today, if not for the people who were a part of your life in the past. The song ends with these beautiful lyrics:

To the ones who cared And who were there from the start To the love that left and took a piece of my heart To the few who'd swear I'd never go anywhere Where are you now?

Where are you now? Cause I'm thinking of you You showed me how How to live like I do If it wasn't for you I would never be who I am

If it wasn't for you I would never be who I am If it wasn't for you I'd be nothing Where are you now?

Happy Friday y'all!

This post is Day 10 of my #100DaysToOffload challenge. Visit https://100daystooffload.com to get more info, or to get involved.

Tags: #MusicLog #Volbeat #HonorSociety #RockMusic #PopRock #100DaysToOffload

The first song for today is a rather unpopular song by My Chemical Romance. Unpopular in the sense that, I don't think it is one of their hits. I just happened to come across it as a song recommendation. Whether it was from Pandora or Spotify, I don't remember anymore. But the important bit, is that this song rocks! So here is “Ambulance” by My Chemical Romance.

Second song for today is “Wonderful” by Everclear. This is an older song from the early 2000s. I distinctly remember seeing the music video on MTV. I love how this song slowly builds up to a wonderful ending. Unfortunately, the lyrics actually speak of a sad story, but that's what makes this song really good.

Tags: #MusicLog #MyChemicalRomance #Everclear #PostHardcore #PopRock

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.

Second song for today is “Definitely Maybe” by the rock band FM Static. This song takes me back to my college days. I remember me and a very good friend of mine rocking out to songs from FM Static. Those were good times. This song in particular, is just plain good old pop rock/punk rock music.

Sidenote: I never knew until today, that the band FM Static is just a side project from the members of the Christian Rock band Thousand Foot Krutch.

Tags: #MusicLog #AsItIs #FMStatic #EmoPop #PopRock #PunkRock

Let's start off with “Keep You With Me” by Hot Chelle Rae. This is a pop-rock song that is more pop than rock, but it has a very catchy melody and is a good one. If you are in a long distance relationship, this is the song for you.

The next three songs are all from All Time Low. They are a pop-punk/emo-pop band that has made some really good songs throughout the years. First up is “Somewhere in Neverland”.

Second song is “Remembering Sunday”. Make it to the end of the song and it will reward you. I think the best part of this song is when the woman finally sings at the very end. She somewhat explains what happened to her and gives you a better picture of what story the song is trying to tell.

Last song is “Painting Flowers”. I love this song because of the beautiful lyrics in the chorus. If I'm not mistaken, this song was included in the OST for Alice in Wonderland.

When I wake up, the dream isn't done I wanna see your face and know I've made it home. If nothing is true, what more can I do? I am still painting flowers for you.

Happy Friday everyone!

#MusicLog #HotChelleRae #AllTimeLow #PopRock #PopPunk #EmoPop

It's Friday, so it's time for another music log entry. This entry is going to be focused on music from the band Stand Atlantic. I just recently discovered this Aussie pop-rock band in Spotify. They seem to be an up and coming band. They remind me a lot of the pop-rock/punk-pop bands from my college years, like Simple Plan or All Time Low. Either way their songs are pretty good.

First up is “Skinny Dipping”, which is my favorite song from them so far. If you search for “Stand Atlantic” and “Skinny Dipping” on Youtube, you'll find an acoustic version that is really good. Skinny Dipping

Next up is another good song, “Toothpick”. Toothpick

Last one for today is a surprising one. I'm used to rock bands making covers of pop songs, but not the other way around. This one is a cover of Taking Back Sunday's “MakeDamnSure”. I would call it a rock goes pop-rock cover. I love it!

#MusicLog #PopRock #PopPunk #StandAtlantic