Category — Friday Blog Roundup

There may be an impulse to turn “Childless Cat Ladies” into the “Binders Full of Women” of this election, but I thought this take in WashPo (gift link) summed up why we shouldn’t keep repeating a repulsive message we don’t want to be reinforced in people’s heads:

Blackstone adds that her reaction has nothing to do with Vance’s or Harris’s politics: “I don’t make judgments on people’s political decisions, as far as who I’m going to vote for, or who they’re going to vote for,” she says. “But the family system is changing, and to make a comment like that … it’s just not helpful to society. We don’t need people to say, like, ‘You aren’t qualified to be president because you don’t have children.’ I want bonus parents to be respected as a parental figure.”

Years from now, people will hopefully forget Vance’s name and he will go down as the VP candidate from the losing party in the election, but what I don’t want to have happen is have his hateful thoughts lingering in people’s heads. Every human has a direct stake in the country’s future. Don’t forget that at the polls.

*******

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 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. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

Scientist on the Roof has a post about that feeling you get when too many stressful things are happening at once, all depending your energy. She admits: “I was unable to sleep last night – just thinking, thinking, thinking about all the things that I am responsible for, all the tasks I need to be on top of. I was just lying awake and feeling like everything was spinning out of control.” Sending peace of heart.

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ has a post about the concept of “happily ever after” as it exists in romance books. She points out the thing people like about romance books is that the ending must contain a happily ever after moment, but that moment is usually summed up as a traditional marriage and kids. She writes: “Happily Ever After. It looks different for everyone. It’s about time society figured that out.” Three cheers to that.

The roundup to the Roundup: All of us have a stake in the future. 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 July 19 – 26) 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.

Sunday (in two days) is the actual 18th anniversary of the Friday Blog Roundup, though this is the closest Roundup to the anniversary. 18 years ago, I wrote a post to share a few things I read that week that stuck with me. And over the years, I’ve written 896 of these (they were misnumbered at some point), which comes out to 49.7 Roundups per year, accounting for the times when I skipped a week.

I used to read hundreds of bloggers, spending an enormous chunk of my day reading blogs, but now it’s down to a handful of people who post. Many old bloggers post on social media, but I can’t share what they write because you need to be friends with them to see it.

I’ve been debating what to do with the Roundup. For now, it continues, hopefully toward its 20th birthday.

*******

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 to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

*******

And now the blogs…

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

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

As a fellow non-Uber user, I liked The Road Less Travelled’s post about the service. “Also, as many people in the story comments pointed out, if you don’t rate your driver five stars AND give a good tip, you may be more likely to find yourself without a ride in the future. Sounds vaguely blackmail-ish to me.” There’s also the point that you usually aren’t tracked in cabs — when I enter a cab, the cab driver doesn’t know anything about my other cab rides, but that’s not the case with Uber. Just not a fan of the concept, though I know other people love it and use it daily.

Lastly, Finding a Different Path has a post about pronatalism and schools. A conversation about declining enrollment led to offensive discussion, and she writes: “It makes sense that schools are family-centric. We need children and families, because no students = no schools. But we also need to acknowledge that not everyone who works in schools is a parent, and the community members who are not currently rearing the next generation have value.” Go read the whole post.

The roundup to the Roundup: 18 years of the Roundup. 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 July 12 – 19) 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.

We just finished four seasons of Breeders, a show that I probably would have avoided if I hadn’t seen a scene from it before I read what it was about because the description made it sound kid-heavy. And it’s not really about parenting (a little bit, but not completely); it is all the stuff that happens in adulthood. It’s about a couple in their late 40s/early 50s, living in London, raising two kids, and seeing their parents, and it is really, really, really funny. Laugh aloud funny. And it gets pretty dark sometimes, too.

It was a bummer to get to the last episode, but ChickieNob and I have decided to rewatch from the beginning to spend time with our fictional London friends.

That’s my recommendation of the week. First episode is a little wobbly. Gets much better from the second episode and on.

*******

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 to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

*******

And now the blogs…

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

• “Parenting Ourselves” (No Kidding in NZ)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Grumpy Rumblings has a post about dyeing their hair, which I think about a lot. (My hair, not their hair.) What they did feels like something I could do. I know I wouldn’t have the patience to sit in the salon for hours, and I wouldn’t go back every few months, but if I could do it at home, I could see myself trying this. Plus, I loved reading all of the comments and seeing what other people did about dyeing.

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ has a post about the book, The Otherhood (such a great name), and an interview about it. But I love this point: “Because whether we wanted children or not, whether it was a deliberate choice or not, we are all affected by pronatalism, by judgement, and by condescension.” No one is immune, regardless of your situation.

The roundup to the Roundup: Loved the show, Breeders. 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 July 5 – 12) 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.

According to Forbes, 49.53% of US households have dogs (65.1 million out of 131.43 total US households). So, almost half of US households. Every dog I know (and apparently about 50% of dogs, total) is terrified of fireworks. So why do towns and individuals insist on setting off multiple nights of fireworks, terrorizing animals and humans with the noise? It is a bizarre equation: We have X + we know Y terrifies X = we do Y. And we don’t do Y once. We do Y every night for four or five nights in a row.

I do not have a dog, but I have a Facebook feed full of people writing posts about how their dog had to live in a thundershirt all week. Do dog owners set off fireworks? Or are all firework setter-offers part of that 50.47% of non-dog owners who seemingly have no clue how the noise impacts the animals and humans around them? This is a mystery I’d like to solve.

Beorn was fine early on. He was awake but laying down beside me. But at the end when they set off the grand finale a few blocks away? He jumped up and started shaking so I gave him his hiding house. He turned it so he could watch me while inside it. And he stayed in there for about two hours.

*******

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 to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

*******

And now the blogs…

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

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

Middle Girl has a tiny, quote-y post. In a world that seems keen to distract you both from sitting and thinking, this Lorraine Hansberry quote and her accompanying beautiful image will make you… sit and think.

Lastly, Finding a Different Path has a good reminder that when the world gives you a break, take it. Don’t fill it as if you’re not on a break. Instead, use the time to recharge and order an awesome photo cover planner.

The roundup to the Roundup: Who sets off fireworks? 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 June 28 – July 5) 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.

A few weeks ago, we went to see the Pixies. Josh loves the Pixies. I like the Pixies. But Josh has been accompanying me to the symphony (more on that another day). I love the symphony. Josh likes the symphony. So these are the things you do for the people you love, and we love each other, so at least we match up there.

It was a great show — they played “Wave of Mutilation” twice, once fast and once slow. We danced through most of the set, though there was a moment when they played “Here Comes Your Man” when I closed my eyes, and for about three seconds, I honestly believed that I was 19 again and getting ready to go out for the night. And when I opened them and saw that I was at a concert with a bunch of other grey-haired people, I was so profoundly sad that you can’t go backwards and revisit favourite moments in time.

*******

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 to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

*******

And now the blogs…

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

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

No Kidding in NZ writes about how to participate in interviews or essay collections when you have an anonymous blog. In other words, how do you come out as a blogger when you’ve kept that side of your life from other people in your day-to-day world? She makes an excellent point: “I don’t find it necessary that all my family and friends should know everything about me. We all share different parts of each others’ lives, so it is fine that other parts of my life are relatively separate.”

Lastly, The Barreness writes about being the responsible one. This moment captures so much: “When my dear friend was hospitalized and told she needed a new kidney and a heart, I immediately thought, can I donate mine? I mentally volunteered mine, before researching if it was even possible with my chronic illnesses.” And, of course, what do you do when life throws a curve ball, as she reveals by the end of the post? Sending a lot of good thoughts.

The roundup to the Roundup: Time only moves forward. 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 June 21 – 28) 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.