COP26 is at its midway point; everyone gathered to talk through what is wrong and what we should do. Which is simultaneously the time when journalists report what experts say is wrong, what experts say we should do, and why humans are not going to do it.

It’s madness, right? I mean, we can see the effects of climate change right now. And there are companies that can take steps to curb carbon emissions. But they are not going to take these steps because… cost? Because the people making the decisions will not be alive to see the impact of these decisions?

I love this essay that touches on this phenomenon of not taking steps to fix a problem. She writes: “It’s not enough just to notice there’s something wrong, although that is a necessary and often difficult stage of finding a solution to a problem. You have to then do something.”

She goes from wet to dry, realizing it was always in her power to make her life better. (Or, at least, a lot less damp.)

Thinking about how the solutions are out there. Will we enact them immediately?

I am writing this inside a very cold house. At least, it’s cold to me, but I’m always cold, so take it with a grain of salt. The furnace stopped working, and we’re waiting for a team to come install the new furnace because our current one has passed on to furnace heaven. Or, at the very least, it is not worth fixing because it is almost 40 years old.

It could be worse. This could be January instead of November. We could live in a colder area. I bought long underwear last year so we could visit with my parents outside, and I’m currently wearing both the top and bottom under my clothes. (That may be a little dramatic, but I’m cold even when the heat is on.) I’m trying to console myself with the idea that it could be worse, but it doesn’t make it any warmer in the house.

The one silver lining is that everyone was certain that I had just turned on the heat wrong because I always turn on the heat incorrectly. But this time, it was actually the furnace and not me.

For the win!

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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:

• “Who Deserves My Kindness and My Time?” (The Next 15000 Days)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Infertile Phoenix unpacks some Halloween weekend wonders. She experiences two surprising things, and it leads her to this thought: “It’s moments like these (Halloween doesn’t hurt anymore? And my mother and I are talking frequently?) that remind me that I don’t know the future and that’s okay.” It’s great to have those reminders when things feel bleak. We don’t know the future, and we may end up feeling peace with a situation down the line.

Hopelessly Infertile and Surrounded by Fertiles has a post about how we use the word “friend.” Social media has changed the noun, making us label (and perhaps think about) people differently. She writes, “Today someone tried to make me feel bad because my problems aren’t as severe as other people’s. Since I wasn’t actually attempting to complain about my problems, I don’t feel actually feel bad.” As we change the meaning of the term “friend,” are we also changing how we behave as a friend?

Lastly, A Separate Life has a collection of thoughts, including finding a folder in her mother’s things with stories about her childhood and family. She writes, “It is a reminder of how important it can be to write down our memories, even if we think those around us might already know these things. Perspectives are always different, and they might have forgotten.” So true. Stories are precious. Record them.

The roundup to the Roundup: It is very cold in this house. 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 October 29 – November 5) 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.

Sometimes it happens. I drop a post in the Roundup, which usually releases it from my brain. But then I continue to think about it the next week.

A case in point, Infertile Phoenix’s post about Too Much and Not Enough. I kept coming back to the idea of how we use tiny good moments to get through the hard ones, but what do you do when there are no tiny good moments? In moments of great grief, the sadness swallows up the happiness. A cookie just can’t stand up to loss, and it’s unfair to put that on a cookie.

She writes: “I don’t know how I endured infertility. I couldn’t enjoy the little things back then. I don’t know how I got through those years. I can barely believe I survived.”

How did I get through those years? The only thing that made me feel happy was the hope, and the hope was the thing that made me feel terrible at the end of each failed cycle. There was no cookie, no trip, no book, no music that could clear away the heaviness.

And when there are no emotional hand holds, it is hard to keep pulling yourself up.

But how do you find those emotional handholds when it feels like you’re facing a wall of stone?

I’m just kidding with that title. Masks are on, always on, forever on, I love my masks.

But our area lifted the mask mandate last Thursday at midnight. By Friday, mid day, less than 12 hours after the mask mandate lifted, they were talking about putting back the mask mandate. By the weekend, they announced the mask mandate would be back in action as of tomorrow (Wednesday).

This is the thing: I get that there are people who do not enjoy wearing masks. I hear you. But masks stop the spread of more than just COVID-19. I’d like to be flu-free this winter. (Yes, I have my flu vaccine, but a vaccine is not a promise; it’s just protection.) And they enable parents of unvaccinated kids to move freely through public spaces with less stress.

So masks were off for a hot second over here. And now they’re back. And I hope they wait to make the call next time until we’ve had some stability with the numbers.

Patience.

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

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Reading apps are having a moment. I like GoodReads, and I have no plans to give up GoodReads, but I am all for more book apps. The first one I downloaded was Booky Call. (Get it? Like booty call but for books.) It’s Tinder for stories. You can swipe left or right to find the next book to read.

The other one I signed up for (it’s not out yet) is Copper. I can’t tell how it’s different from GoodReads, but it promises to “transform the way we connect around books.” Which is a big promise, and I’m here for it. Plus, it looks pretty. I like pretty apps.

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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.