Pre-COVID, I belonged to a silent book club. Meetings went like this: You had a small socializing period, then you silently read, and then you regrouped to talk about what you read. So a book club, but everyone chose their own book.

The format translated well to Zoom, and we took the club online for a year or two. We started the call with everyone going around saying what they were reading. Then we entered a period of silent reading. And then we all regrouped on the call to discuss what we just read. I got a lot of book recommendations that way, and I was always prepared to participate because I just brought whatever book I was reading.

The club fell apart when we tried to get back together in person. Oh well.

I recently read about the same concept (sort of) except with journaling. The idea would be that you’d start the meeting with a bit of socializing. Maybe talk about good things you’ve read or written since the last meeting. Then a prompt would be given, and everyone would write for twenty minutes. The end of the meeting would be coming back together to discuss the prompt and see how a single idea could be expressed so different depending on your experience or mindset. The host for the month would bring the writing prompt.

I’m kind of interested in starting my own group like this. What do you think? Blogging in real time?

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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You know how those productivity lists all talk about the five-minute rule? If the task takes five minutes, do it instead of writing it on your to-do list. The idea is that we take more time to agonize over the task than to do it, so if it’s quick and easy, take care of it and move on.

It’s great advice, but most of the time, I have no clue if a task will take me five minutes. I mean, returning an email? Yes, I can generally predict that if it requires a yes/no answer, I can respond immediately and archive the email. Inbox zero!

But there are phone calls I need to make that I would predict should take five minutes, which turn into 20 minutes, and three follow-up calls. Or backing up my phone, which I thought would take five minutes but ends up requiring a software update and a photo download and and and…

You get the point. It’s hard to judge time. Don’t feel bad if you leave the task on your to-do list.

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts connected to businesses or sponsored posts.

I work from home, so I don’t really have someone looking over my shoulder at the screen, but I still appreciated that someone made a game spreadsheet. You can play popular games, like 2048 or Wordle from the spreadsheet.

Does it look real? No, not really. No one would believe that I would make such a hideous-looking spreadsheet. My spreadsheets are a colour-coded work of art. But it looks better than having Wordle open on your screen.

Enjoy.

Until now, our guinea pigs have mostly treated Josh as a potential food deliverer — happy to see him but not giving him a lot of thought. Beorn accepted cuddles but also growled at him if Josh hugged or kissed me. And I don’t remember Linus or Truman giving him much attention.

But Quentin flips out when he hears Josh come home. First, his whole body tenses with anticipation when he hears the car alarm. Once Josh’s keys hit the lock, he starts wheeking happily, looking at all of us to confirm that what he is hearing is his friend coming home. Once Josh crosses the threshold, Quentin treats him to ten solid minutes of popcorning, wiggle jumps, and running around in a circle of delirious happiness until he can calm himself down.

Josh admitted that it makes him feel a little bit like a rockstar.

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

And now the blogs…

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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 points out the difference between the emotional support offered for various diagnoses, seeing first-hand how people react to infertility vs. other diseases. She writes: “But having a particular illness that is known and understood in the community, even if it is rare and aggressive, brings connections and support that pregnancy loss and infertility did not. There isn’t the shame or judgment or just silence that I experienced around infertility and pregnancy loss.” All life-changing diagnoses (which includes infertility) should come with support.

Lastly, Scientist on the Roof has a list of things that make her happy vs. annoyed, and I laughed at “Fake-coughing just to annoy my husband.” I would totally do that, too.

The roundup to the Roundup: Quentin LOVES Josh. 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 May 16 – May 23) 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.

Last Friday, we added a new member to our family.

Quentin Aeneas Chamisha is 5 1/2 weeks old; a very talkative, mellow tri-colour Teddy guinea pig. We brought him home last weekend, and he immediately started running around his cage, jumping from hay bowl to food dish to vegetables to toys, excitedly chattering as he checked out each item again and again.

He’s a little skittish because he’s a baby, but he’s slowly understanding the routines and has stopped jumping with every sound. He loves cuddling 100% of the time, though he’ll nip you or tug on your shirt if he needs to get down to pee.

His name. Quentin means five or fifth, and he came to our family in the fifth month and is our fifth family pet. His second middle name — Chamisha — means the same thing (five), and we usually call him Mish-Mesh (which means “apricot,” but sounds like that middle name). His first middle name, Aeneas, comes from Greek and Roman mythology/poetry, just because we like it.

It is hard not to have Beorn, and I often accidentally call Quentin “Beorn,” but we love Quentin in his own right. And it’s nice to have a baby again.