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514th Friday Blog Roundup

We’ve kicked off the Jewish New Year with a broken dishwasher.  The dishwasher in question is only four years old, which is like middle-school-age in appliance years (which are actually very similar to dog years).  We were told that we could either invest several hundred dollars in our piece-of-shit dishwasher (thanks, Sears!) or buy a new one (not from Sears).  Our solution thus far has been to engage in marathon hand-washing sessions.  It’s like being back in graduate school.

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Josh forwarded me a documentary that’s being made about the DC punk scene in the 80s called Salad Days.

It made me feel very very nostalgic.  And a little bit sad (yet also happy) when I saw my old, favourite record store featured in the film.  And a strong desire to comb through the storage room and find my posters from old shows.

I can’t say that high school was a particularly happy time in life, but that music makes me happy.

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An update on the Halloween costume front: everything is coming together, and I will post pictures soon of the mask.  The ChickieNob has been very patient, standing still while I mold paper clay to the contours of her face.  She overheard me telling someone that the mask only needs to last for maybe 5 wearings, and when I got off the phone, she informed me that it needed to last for a lot longer than that because she has big plans to dress up as Madame Vastra more than just on Halloween.

“Like, in the house, right?” I questioned.  “Right?”

Right?

The other night, Josh mused aloud whether Shakespeare ever used the name Sycorax after we showed the kids the episode “The Shakespeare Code.” (The Doctor mentions the Sycorax in passing when talking about a skull, and Shakespeare mentions that he likes the name and may use it.)  The ChickieNob informed us that Sycorax was the mother of Caliban in the Tempest*.

One day, there just may be fandom scholars for Doctor Who or Harry Potter.  And when there is, the ChickieNob will be first in line for her PhD.

* The kids aren’t watching Shakespeare plays willy nilly.  The ChickieNob has only seen Romeo and Juliet through Act 4 and the Tempest (which she wanted to see because of Lemony Snicket).  It was just an odd coincidence that the name would appear in the only Shakespeare play she has seen in full.

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Yes, this is your weekly reminder to back up your blog, social media accounts, and email.

This is once again specific for Mac users — make sure you have updated your operating system AND downloaded the patch for the Shellshock virus.

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:

Okay, now my choices this week.

Breathe Gently has a post about the most annoying phrases said to people experiencing infertility (sometimes even by others experiencing infertility).  From the ever popular “at least you ovulated!” to the idea of things that weren’t meant to be.  Come join her in rehashing your favourites.

Journeys of a Fabulist has a post about Nox, a restaurant where you dine in the dark, and four lessons she learned by having the ability to see removed for the meal.  I just loved everything she noticed.

Two lovely ones from #MicroblogMondays: Persnickety Chickadee has a post about going around in circles, and In Quest of a Binky Moongee has one about seeing her old RE on television.  Again, to talk about them when they’re so brief is probably to detract from their overall impact.  So just click over and read them in full.

Lastly, tonight begins Yom Kippur.  I really loved The Infertility Voice’s post about infertility and the Torah this week.  She writes: “Whoever wrote that in the Torah truly understood the emotional devastation of infertility when they wrote it. In some ways, that’s the kind of understanding that really only comes with the experience of that kind of deep longing.”  Beautiful.

The roundup to the Roundup: Our dishwasher is broken.  Meeeeeeeemories, misty watercoloured memories, of the DC punk scene.  Halloween Costume 2014 update.  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 September 26th and October 3rd) 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.

9 comments

1 Persnickety { 10.03.14 at 8:54 am }

Thank you for the mention!
I have been having an odd week reading wise, and the only post I thought if is one from Smart Bitches regarding the suit against Dear Author. http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/blog/elloras-cave-sues-dear-author-more-streisand-effect
Not related to IF, In any way, but certainly about the blogging world.

2 a { 10.03.14 at 9:59 am }

I don’t think you can sing Barbra Streisand and talk about punk in the same sentence. 🙂

Our dishwasher has been sort of broken since it was about 4 years old. Perhaps that is the current life cycle of a dishwasher. (Our soap dispenser is broken. We have to pause the cycle, throw in the soap, and then start it again – not worth several hundred dollars to replace the thing). It’s now 9 years old.

3 Jodi { 10.03.14 at 12:23 pm }

I had a Sears (Kenmore) brand dishwasher in my old house and it was the worst. I highly recommend a kitchenaid when you are ready to purchase.

4 Turia { 10.03.14 at 1:48 pm }

I feel your pain. Our washing machine died last weekend (the bearings let go on the drum). When I called someone to fix it, as soon as I described the problem he told me it would be cheaper to buy a new washing machine.

We bought a new washing machine. Handwashing the laundry would be a step too far for us. 🙂

5 Geochick { 10.03.14 at 3:17 pm }

I hate appliances sometimes. We have a GE no-frills refrigerator in our basement that has become…a work of art in our laundry room? It crapped out just over a year after we bought it (warranty had expired, natch). Since it’s cheap we’ve been debating whether to replace or repair for the better part of 1.5 years now while it sits there taking up space. It’s frustrating because the fridge in the kitchen is small’ish due to the size of our kitchen. Hence the reason why we have two! I guess at least we have one functioning fridge.

I like my Bosch dishwasher (so quiet!), but it was pretty expensive. Crossing my fingers it doesn’t crap out for a long time!

6 loribeth { 10.03.14 at 8:39 pm }

They definitely don’t make appliances like they used to. :p Our house was about 7 years old when we moved in & came with a dishwasher, which served us well for another 9-10 years. It was still running fine, but the racks were wearing down to the metal/rust — & then the door latch fell off in my hand (!) so we decided it was time for a new one.

It lasted a little more than TWO YEARS before we started having problems with it. It cost me $70 just to have someone come look at it & he said it was something in the “motherboard” that would cost at least $300 to replace, plus another labour. It only cost about $500 new. So we reluctantly bought another one (which is washing as I type — knocking wood!!). That was about 10 years ago, and when they came to remove the old one & install the new one, the guy shook his head & said, “Boy, that didn’t last long, did it?”

We bought our washer & dryer, fridge & stove when we moved into this house 24 years ago… we replaced the washer & dryer 5 years ago and I am crossing my fingers & toes that the fridge & stove last a few years longer. :p

7 Mali { 10.04.14 at 4:23 am }

Dishwashers are, in my view, essential to a happy marriage! Hope you get a replacement or repair soon.

As for blogs this week, I loved the serenity in Amel’s account of a visit home, and how she dealt with all “those” questions. http://serenity-in-chaos.blogspot.co.nz/2014/09/more-closure.html

8 earthandink { 10.04.14 at 8:28 am }

None of you are making me want a dishwasher. Of course, there’s just me, not a family, which makes a huge, huge difference. But two to four years for an appliance that costs hundreds? Arggh.

I think I ruined some kid’s day by seeing his CBGB shirt and telling him I’d been there before he was born. Way to take the cool out of something, me.

People may have seen this as it’s making the rounds on Facebook via the HuffPost, but it’s stayed with me for personal reasons and is so worth reading: http://jamesonsjourney.wordpress.com/2014/09/19/hes-not-scary-hes-a-little-boy/

9 Bronwyn { 10.04.14 at 10:22 am }

Have you, on the upside, thought of any merry work songs to get everyone in rhythm?

Thanks for sharing my post. I am definitely going to do the find-each-other one some day (when the kids are older).

(c) 2006 Melissa S. Ford
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