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

Weeknotes – 018

They gave me a CX-5 as my loaner car for last week. It was a 2020 Grand Touring Reserve model, which means AWD with the turbo! It was hilariously fast, for a family CUV that is. That Mazda SkyActiv 2.5T engine is strong. Love the power in everyday driving.

2020 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring Reserve AWD - a loaner car I was given while the service department had my Mazdaspeed3.


Got back my Mazdaspeed3 last Saturday. I'm glad to have it back. But I also have to say that I was so spoiled by that CX-5 turbo loaner car. It was a really good car!

Anyway, cost to repair the leak in the Mazdaspeed3 transmission was $1,071. It was actually the transmission shifting mechanism that was leaking, not the transmission itself. Thankfully it was an affordable repair bill. And that's thanks to an emergency fund set up for times like this.

So, no need to trade in my car then. Though that CX-5 turbo did make me think twice about trading in... Is still making me think twice LOL!


Lord of The Rings 50th Anniversary Edition
Lord of The Rings 50th Anniversary Edition

Started reading the Lord Of The Rings 50th Anniversary Edition book. This was a much appreciated Christmas gift from my brother.


There's apparently a way to forward/send emails into OneNote. Got this idea after reading Tiago Forte's One-Touch to Inbox Zero: How I Spend 17 Minutes Per Day on Email, which is a great read by the way.


Here's some good parenting advice from an Instagram post on how to handle your kids when they lie to you.


Up to Episode 6 now of Vincenzo and man, what a good show! There were a couple of interesting things in Episode 6 that caught my eye, most notably the interaction between a Buddhist and Catholic character.

There's this scene where a Buddhist monk was carrying a huge wooden cross, like Jesus was on his way to crucifixion. The monk was carrying the abandoned cross to donate to a nearby church. It struck me as a beautiful scene, where people can cast aside their differences and just be kind to one another.

That scene then led to a conversation between Vincenzo and a Buddhist monk regarding enlightenment.

Vincenzo: “If I go live somewhere far away, like in the middle of the ocean, will the anger inside me disappear?”

Buddhist monk: “It doesn’t matter where you live. What matters is whether you still have the anger inside you or not.”

Vincenzo: “Does that mean that I need to achieve enlightenment?”

Buddhist monk: “The only way to get rid of your anger is by fighting it. Stand your ground and fight back. Enlightenment is what you get when you win that battle.”

Tags: #Weeknotes #Cars #Mazda #CX5 #Mazdaspeed3 #LordOfTheRings #Productivity #Parenting #TVShow #Vincenzo

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