The Weekly Write-Up #19
Welcome to the 19th newsletter from The Weekly Write-Up! This is my first Sunday post, so that is different this week!
In this newsletter…
I can’t be silent about this awesome series!
Truly, the ULTIMATE mini-games battles!
You Need a Budget, and here is how…
I have successfully terraformed planet Mars!
Something I Read
CODE OF SILENCE
The Code of Silence series is the series that I finished reading most recently. It was written by Tim Shoemaker, who I talked about last week. As the header says, this is one of my new favorite book series. The books in this series kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time, and I wanted to keep reading so badly!
The Code of Silence series is about three teens who have to solve various mysteries in their lives. The plot of these books is fantastic! The first book, for example, follows Cooper, Hiro, and Gordy who are all witnesses to a terrible break-in and attempted murder that took place at a local diner. The three teens must conceal their identity, while at the same time try to solve the crime without getting killed. They also must struggle with whether to reveal the truth or stick to the Code of Silence. The other two books of the series are similar in structure and feeling to this first book.
Something interesting about The Code of Silence series is that it isn’t your standard mystery series. Shoemaker did an outstanding job with these books and made them a bit different from most mysteries. These mysteries affect the characters personally, and as they try to solve these mysteries, they have to deal with issues like guilt, remorse, lying, sin, unbelief, and strife in their friendships. Since this is a Christian fiction book series, the teens must learn to give all of this to God.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery books (even if they don’t believe in God). The target age I would say for this series is ages 12-14, but this is difficult to determine. The book is written from a Christian worldview, but it does focus on topics like attempted murder, sex offenders, kidnapping, and other dark topics that may not be good for younger readers. It deals with these topics in a good way, though. Overall, this is a great series that I really enjoyed reading, and it is definitely one of my new favorite book series!
Something I Watched
ULTIMATE MINI GAMES BATTLES
In my very first newsletter I mentioned Dude Perfect, which is a YouTube channel run by Cody Jones, Tyler Toney, Cory Cotton, Coby Cotton, and Garrett Hilbert. This YouTube channel features trick shots, stereotype videos, bucket list videos, battles, and more! One of my new favorite battle videos is actually a trilogy now of three separate battle videos. Ultimate Mini Games Battle one, two, and three show the dudes taking on some of social media’s craziest challenges. The first person to get to 4 stars wins!
I enjoy these videos for multiple reasons. They are funny, competitive, and my way to get out from under my rock. First, Dude Perfect is known for being funny! All throughout their videos, they are telling jokes and playing around with each other. This series is no exception. It is hilarious, and some challenges are straight-up funny. This series also shows the competitive side of the dudes. The challenges are interesting, and each of them are determined to finish and win the battle. I really enjoy watching them desperately trying to complete the challenges that they have to do. My final reason for liking these videos is probably the hardest to understand. These videos help me to get out from under my rock. The reason I say this is that I’m not on social media. I don’t like social media, and while it can be good, I also believe that it is the cause of most of the issues in our society in this modern day and age (I will consider talking about this belief in a future newsletter). Anyway, the challenges that Dude Perfect does in these videos come from social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and of course, TikTok. So, in a way, these videos are showing me the “good” parts of social media without me actually having to get on social media.
I really enjoyed watching these three videos when they came out at their respective times. You should definitely check them out because they are pretty fantastic! Also, be sure to check out other videos from Dude Perfect. The three videos I mentioned are linked below:
Tech Thoughts
YNAB
Last week, I discussed DayOne and journaling, which is a common New Year's Resolution. Another common New Year's Resolution is to budget money. Now, if you don’t know what budgeting is, it is basically tracking what money you have available and what money you have spent. This can be a pretty daunting task that doesn’t come without its challenges. An app like YNAB (You Need a Budget) can help you out with this seemingly daunting task.
YNAB is a very useful budgeting app! It lets you set up different banking accounts within the app and link them to your checking or savings accounts, so that the real numbers will show up in the app. Even with an unlinked account, you can easily add or remove money (for example, cash). On the budgeting side of things, you can create groups (saving, spending, monthly expenses, giving, etc.) and categories within that group (groceries, gas, electronics, dining, etc.). Every transaction you put into the app is assigned a category, so that you know how much you have spent from that category each month. Take groceries for example: let’s say you budget $1000 (for simple numbers) for groceries for the month of February. On February 8th, you take a trip to Costco and spend $200 on groceries. You will then make a transaction in YNAB, setting the payee as Costco and the category as groceries. Since you budgeted $1000, YNAB will now show that you have $800 left in the category. If you overspend for the month, it will make you aware of this as well. All of this will help you stay accountable and on budget. YNAB also displays stats like your Net Worth and Age of Money (how long you go from getting money to spending it). All of this is easy to see in a nice layout in the app! Finally, you can share a budget with your family, so that everyone can see the budget.
I have been using YNAB for years now, and I believe that it is one of the best budgeting apps out there. The month of February is coming up in just a few days, so now would be the perfect time to download YNAB and set it up. You can start a free trial before paying for a subscription (college students can get it all for free). That way, you can start using YNAB to budget for the month of February and beyond! You can go to the website to learn more, or click here if you would like to download the app to see for yourself!
Wild Card
TERRAFORMING MARS
After reading the teaser for this section ‘I have successfully terraformed planet Mars,’ you are probably pretty confused! I know what you are thinking, “Wait a minute, is that even possible? Are you some super-smart scientist working at NASA? And if you are, then why are you writing this dinky newsletter?” No, that isn’t possible yet…and I’m not a super-smart scientist who works for NASA. When I claim to have terraformed Mars, I’m referring to a board game by the name of Terraforming Mars. So while you may be disappointed, you shouldn’t be because this is one of the BEST games I’ve ever played!
In the past, I’ve mentioned that I like complex board games that involve strategy. Recently, I was introduced to one of my favorite new games that involves lots of strategy and is on the side of more complex games. Terraforming Mars is a board game where each player owns a corporation that is successfully trying to terraform planet Mars faster and better than all the other competing corporations. This is certainly not an easy task, as Mars is inhabitable. Players must complete tasks such as raising the temperature, building cities, growing forests, or increasing the oxygen by playing cards and taking actions. Game play proceeds as each player tries to get the most points and win the game!
My favorite part of this game is definitely the theming and gameplay! Terraforming Mars transports you to a different planet (literally) and seems pretty realistic. The board and cards are beautifully designed to make the whole endeavor amazing. My least favorite part of this game is undoubtedly the player mats. The player mats are truly a disappointment compared to the rest of the game! They are very flimsy, and since you are placing cubes on them, you have to be certain not to bump them. Otherwise, the components of this game are remarkable and very well put-together!
This game is certainly more on the complex side when it comes to the realm of board games. The age on the box for this game is 12+ which is probably appropriate. This is a game that you have to work up to, and certainly not a game that you play with someone who isn’t really into board games (they will be so confused and never play a board game ever again). Once you learn the ropes, the game really isn’t too difficult, but it can be difficult to learn all the rules and how the game works.
I hope I didn’t scare you away from this game because it is really great! It is perfect for long-time board game geeks or even those who are branching out to more difficult board games. You can check it out on Amazon. There are also a number of expansions for this game like Prelude, Turmoil, The Other Side of Mars, and more! Also, if you have any comments or questions about the game (whether it be the rules or the game itself), be sure to let me know in the comments!