I’m going to take a lighter writing day this week. Less yoga, more sleeping. Less screen time, more bothering my guinea pig time. You get the point.

I’m feeling burned out at the end of the year. I need time to sit on the sofa in my pyjamas. Doing nothing.

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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.

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And now the blogs…

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 has a post about changing Christmas traditions. When her sister mentions that their parents need to give up hosting Christmas, she reflects on Christmases past and how she imagined Christmases future. She writes, “I don’t know what the future holds, or where we’ll all be next Christmas — but I’m going to enjoy this one, here & now, while & how I can.” I love that.

Lastly, Finding a Different Path has a post about fake trees, and she answers everything I’ve been wondering about. Moreover, this sentiment fits nicely with the post above: “ It’s nice to break with tradition and make new ones when you remake your life. This tree fits us and our life now. And it’s beautiful.” Here’s to old traditions and new traditions, wherever they take us.

The roundup to the Roundup: Lighter blogging time coming. 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 16 – 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.

Speaking of ghosts, writing about the missing brass rubbing a few weeks ago led me to this article about mapping out graveyards. Like Google Maps for graves.

Because I like visiting graves when we travel. Even though I know the person isn’t actually associated with that place. Isn’t it funny? To visit Ibsen, you go to a graveyard in Oslo. Wouldn’t it make sense to go to a place that was meaningful for Ibsen if you want to pay your respects and feel close to the playwright?

But on every trip, I end up gravitating toward graveyards.

The living create new memories by visiting the place where people are buried. And it’s generally easy to find the resting place of famous people. It’s harder to determine if the person has personal significance, but you’re not close enough to know where they’re buried.

So I think this would be extremely helpful.

I laughed over the premise of this article because it’s true. Why do Victorian ghosts get to haunt buildings while modern ghosts are relegated to horror movies at best and utterly forgotten at worst?

You’re always hearing about old ghosts like this. A Civil War soldier, an old-timey nun, a sea captain who died when fishing boats were a new concept. They get all of the glory … What you don’t hear about, though, is newer ghosts. Ghosts who know who Obama is. Ghosts who had an iPhone … Why is that? Aren’t there newer ghosts?

Read to the bottom. I’m still laughing about it days later.

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

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I read the dek on an article about Deb Perelman that caught my eye. When I cook (and I don’t ask the other person what they want), am I choosing what I want to eat? What I think the other person would like to eat? What I think we should eat? Or… something else.

It’s a thought-provoking question because if we cook what we want to eat, there is a 50/50 chance the other person may not like it. If we cook what we think they want to eat, there is a slightly better chance the other person will like it, but the cook may not. If we cook what we think people should eat, we may end up off the mark. It’s an interesting question: trying to make two or more people happy, all with the same dish.

What do you think about when you choose what you’re cooking? Unless you’re not the cook, and then how often do you sense the meal revolves around your tastes?

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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 that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.

In April 2021, I made a note that I needed to update my metro card to the new system. I have recopied that task 20 times. 20 times, I have moved an ongoing to-do list to a new page in my notebook and written the words “update metro card.” Friends, I have finally taken care of that task.

By which I mean Josh took care of the task.

I’m not sure why copying the words “update metro card” 20 times was preferable to making a single  phone call to have a new card sent. Because that’s pretty much all it took.

But I will not learn from this. I will copy the next task 20, 30, or 40 times rather than make the single phone call. Some tasks are done instantaneously. Other tasks are done within a day or two. And other tasks are destined to languish for years. There is no reasoning behind these decisions.