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!

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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

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.

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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