732nd Friday Blog Roundup

On Monday night, we went down to Politics and Prose to hear Jasper Fforde read.  When I saw that DC was a stop on his book tour, I ran around the house screaming, “WE ARE SEEING JASPER FFORDE IN FEBRUARY!” when the date was announced a few months ago.

He is one of my most favourite-ests.

A bookseller at Politics and Prose recommended The Eyre Affair right when it came out, promising that it was Harry Potter for adults.  And while it isn’t actually Harry Potter for adults, it is twenty kinds of fun and just makes me happy.  His writing makes me happy.  Even when he put a huge cliffhanger into the end of Shades of Grey and then didn’t work on the next book in the series.  Just saying.

I saw him once before in 2007, but it was the first time for the twins and Josh.  I love that we all enjoy the same author.  And that he kinda sorta has our last name.  And that the reading was so packed that we had to get there over an hour beforehand to get a seat.  (It’s nice to feel a part of a fandom.)  And that fifty people all shouted out about the ending of Shades of Grey at the same time when he was speaking about series work.  And that I have a new Jasper Fforde book to read.

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Stop procrastinating.  Go make your backups.  Don’t have regrets.

Seriously.  Stop what you’re doing for a moment.  It will take you fifteen minutes, tops.  But you will have peace of mind for days and days.  It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments in order to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

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And now the blogs…

But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week.  In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Lucky” (Stirrup Queens) — thank you, Jess!
• “A Teaching Moment” (No Kidding in NZ)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Lavender Luz has a post about the movie Three Identical Strangers and a reaction to a piece in Psychology Today.  It’s a disturbing story, and I’m a little stunned someone would publish something supporting the study in Psychology Today (and that the piece would pass the magazine’s editorial team standards).  While there is probably more to the story than presented by the filmmakers, the fact that the notes are sealed and will be until all the (unwilling) participants are gone is indefensible.  She makes dozens of great points in the post — go read it.

Not a Wasted Word has a post about identifying core values.  One, I love the reframing of, “We don’t prioritize that.”  And then this: “It was easy to believe our choices were drastically limited, but the reality is that we limit them ourselves, with our assumptions, our preconceptions, and our values.”  It’s empowering to think that you can take an unhappy situation and change it or find peace with it by bringing in your core values.  Food for thought.

Life Without Baby has a post about how time moves differently when you don’t have children.  She explains the difference with her friend: “She marks the passing of time with birthday parties, school grades, and childhood milestones. She knows how long ago something happened, because she knows how old her kids were, or what grade they were in at the time.”  It’s about finding your anchors and milestones.

Lastly, Torthúil has a post marking the five years since her positive pregnancy test.  It’s amazing to look back on what you didn’t know in the moment from the vantage point of the future, and it’s a beautiful reminder you may one day reach a day where you don’t automatically know the day of your cycle.  She writes: “The weeks after February 17th didn’t go smoothly. At the time it felt like they might be the undoing of me. But they began a new story, and here we are.”  Congratulations!

The roundup to the Roundup: I got to see Jasper Fforde this week.  Your weekly backup nudge.  And lots of great posts to read.  So what did you find this week?  Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between February 15th and 22nd) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week?  Read the original open thread post here.