1065th Friday Blog Roundup

The kids are both home — hooray! And I realized something brilliant this week. There are eight nights of Chanukkah, and with four people in the family, we each get to light twice. In the past, we’ve always repeated the same order, so whoever lights the first night also lights the 5th night, etc. Clearly, the best position (if you like lighting candles) would be on the 4th and 8th nights because you get the most candles.

BUT.

If you reverse the order on the back half of the holiday, everyone gets to light nine candles:

First night + eighth night = 9
Second night + seventh night = 9
Third night + sixth night = 9
Fourth night + fifth night = 9

I was this many years old when I realized that. So now everyone lights the same number of candles. Thanks, math.

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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.

The Road Less Travelled writes about the gut punch of learning someone has died, in this case, a friend of 41 years. She writes: “Hug the people you love. Make that phone call, send that email, arrange that lunch date.  Life is short, and tomorrow is not promised.” Sending a big hug after reading this beautiful tribute.

Lastly, All & Sundry writes about realizing you’re living a better life. I love this part so much: “How I did not realize just how much better my life could be. I was so afraid to leave the comfort I had, I didn’t know it was like riding wrong in the saddle. You think it’s fine until you feel something better, and then that just blows your whole world wide open.” So much of life is having the courage to make a change and see if something can be even better than what you have now.

The roundup to the Roundup: Thanks, math. 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 December 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.