676th Friday Blog Roundup

Oprah Winfrey rocks as a television personality and actress.  I get chills down both arms every time I see the trailer for A Wrinkle in Time, and she knocked that speech at the Golden Globes out of the park.  When I first saw the rumblings of a 2020 presidential run, I wrote it off as people just super excited about that speech.  But… instead of the rumbling dying off, it seems to have gotten louder later in the week.  Which makes me want to run across Washington with both hands outstretched while screaming, “STOOOOOOOOOOOOOP.”

Electing a television personality to the role of president hasn’t worked for Republicans, so I’m not sure why we think we’d get a different result with a Democrat.  Running a network is not the same thing as running a country.  Do I support celebrities getting politically involved on the local and state level?  Sure.  But president shouldn’t be the first public office anyone in any party holds.

I hope Oprah lends her eloquence to someone else’s presidency bid, campaigning hard for them with speeches and fundraisers.  I hope she serves in an advisory role for another person, helping them to be comfortable speaking their mind.  I hope our next president inspires us in the way Oprah inspired us last Sunday night.  But I really really really hope that our next nominee isn’t Oprah; at least, not until she has had experience in government at the local or state level.  I hope it isn’t Tom Hanks or the Rock or any other human being who has never held public office.

Please, for the love, we don’t have to elect unqualified people to get fresh ideas in government.  There are so many other roles that smart people can play.  Let’s make sure we use everyone’s strengths and put people in positions of power who understand the scope of that power.

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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:

• “Yuletide” (Different Shores)
• “You’re Not Allowed to Be Busy” (My Path to Mommyhood)

Okay, now my choices this week.

The Road Less Travelled has a post about her cousin sharing a picture of an old friend from high school, which breaks through the neat compartments of her life, mixing up people from unrelated areas.  She writes, “Each compartment comes with its own cast of characters and presumably its own perceptions of me, and seldom the twain has met. Or did. The advent of the Internet, and social media in particular, has brought together the various strands of my life in sometimes weird and sometimes wonderful ways.”  The Internet makes life messy, which is sometimes good, sometimes bad, usually interesting, especially when you poke around and see — at least on the surface — how someone’s life has turned out.

Different Shores has a post about IKEA’s new pregnancy test.  Yes, the page in the catalogue is a real, functioning pregnancy test.  Does it step over a line? (Yes.) Provide people with something helpful? (I’ll admit that once upon a time I would have hoarded those catalogues and urinated on them every chance I got.) Jump into her comment section and discuss.

Lavender Luz has started a book club on Facebook, and the first book is Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson.  And you can join along, too.  Click over to read how to be part of the discussion.

Lastly, Bent Not Broken has a moving post about her sister’s child and her mother’s response.  She writes, “If there is time to take a gazillion pictures and gloat about a new grandbaby on social media, there is time to send a text to the one you know is hurting.”  It is good advice — something we all need to hear from time to time — to reach out to those that we know need our kind words.

The roundup to the Roundup: Please, Oprah.  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 January 5th and 12th) 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.