828th Friday Blog Roundup

Women accounted for 100% of jobs lost in December. 100%. That doesn’t include all the women who left their careers months ago because they took over leading remote education or other caregiving tasks.

In December, women lost a total of 156,000 jobs, while men gained 16,000 jobs, according to NWLC. Of the net 9.8 million jobs lost since [last] February, women have accounted for 55% of them.

It is really really really hard to feel hopeful.

I have a lot of fears about this week—especially about Inauguration Day—and I’m trying to combat it by taking my news only from trusted sources and only in small sips at a time. (I don’t need to circle the drain of commentary and opinion and prediction in an endless spiral.) I trust that Biden is the person for this moment; that he will bring years of experience (especially listening experience) and get this country back on course. I’m holding my breath, but I’m filled with a lot of hope. And I can’t wait to watch him take the oath on Wednesday.

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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:

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

I don’t normally link to mainstream articles, but the New York Times has a personal essay at the intersection of fertility treatments and COVID-19. The writer developed COVID-19, and while she doesn’t know how she contracted the virus, she suspects that it’s connected to waiting outside the medical building or the retrieval itself. She writes, “A close friend was supposed to start her I.V.F. injections at the same time, but she decided to postpone at the last minute because Covid cases were so high in our area. By that point, we were so driven in our pursuit of pregnancy that I was startled to hear her say that, as the thought had never even crossed my mind.” It hit close to home because we all know that fertility is time sensitive. That waiting may mean that you protect yourself from COVID-19, but lose the chance to build your family. There are no good answers.

Pocobrat writes about shifting feelings. She feels great one day and sobs through the next, unable to get herself out of the maelstrom of feelings. She explains: “I couldn’t get it right; no one could get it right. I did the usual things that cheer me up (walk, star, snack, cook, bath, chats, distance meet, etc.), but nothing would take. At least I can say I tried.” You definitely should get points for trying.

Lastly, Infertile Phoenix’s brain remembers and then forgets a date, but her body won’t let it go. She ends up sick on the six year anniversary of her first failed IVF cycle. She writes, “Even when I don’t consciously remember the date, my body remembers on a physical level EVERY SINGLE YEAR. That’s how big of a loss it is for me.” Feel better.

The roundup to the Roundup: Holding hope. 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 Jan 8 – 15) 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.