I am not a kippah wearer (those small, round head coverings), but it’s common practice for some people who eat vegetarian or vegan in non-kosher establishments to take off their kippah while inside. The thought is that someone walking by the window could glance in and see someone with a kippah dining and think the place was kosher. And they may enter, order something, and break kashrut themselves. This way, no one gets confused or makes assumptions.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot when I read articles about how this is the most dangerous time during the pandemic. As the WashPo opinion piece states about people unvaccinated: “Now is the worst possible time to let down their guard. They should continue to wear their masks, keep their distance and avoid risky situations — even as they see their vaccinated brethren enjoying their newfound freedom.”

In other words, seeing other people doing something doesn’t mean it’s safe to do; and we have no way of knowing whether the other person we’re seeing doing these things is vaccinated or not. It is the opposite of the kippah-removing situation. It’s almost as if we need people to wear their “I got vaccinated” sticker permanently, so we can see behaviour and know they are doing it because all is kosher in their world.

Or to not assume anything. Our decision is to keep wearing masks indoors; even with other people who are vaccinated, basing the decision to remove our masks among the vaccinated on community levels vs. vaccination status. We’re looking at the vaccine more like a seatbelt and the pandemic like the weather.

To explain: When community spread is up, we can think of it like a bad storm. And when community spread is down, we can think of it like a light drizzle. In both cases, you have a danger of getting wet, though you’re more likely to get soaked in a downpour than a misting.

We wear our seat belt regardless of the weather and it’s great protection (even if it’s not 100% effective at saving your life), but when it’s raining hard with zero visibility, we wouldn’t go driving in a storm for fun. We may have no choice to go out in heavy rain (eg. work, school, or an appointment), but for all other times, just as we wouldn’t risk driving in a no-visibility downpour (whereas would take the risk going out in a drizzle), we wouldn’t take a risk with the pandemic and expect the vaccine to cover us. Especially with variants and the fact that the vaccine isn’t 100% coverage. Just like a seat belt.

We know many others aren’t making the same decision, and that’s fine for other people. I’m just explaining how we set our goal posts.

Luckily, community spread here is going down. We’re just waiting for it to drop below 5 per 100K to feel like the rain is entering the drizzle stage. So soon. But not yet.

Beorn is our first guinea pig who consistently growls. Truman and Linus would both growl if you bothered them, but Beorn has big feelings about random things. For instance, he doesn’t like when Josh hugs me in front of him. He jumps up and gives a low growl as if to say, “Take your hands off my lady friend.”

I had a day when I had to play my yoga app through my phone. It’s identical to the normal app I use, but it doesn’t contain the background music. He stood and growled for two and a half minutes before I gave up because I couldn’t hear the instructions. I turned on an old audio recording of my yoga routine. He growled once because there was no image on the screen, but he decided that it sounded close enough to normal, so he allowed me to do the routine in peace.

And finally, he hates “Zodiac” by Yaron Hadad. I get it. Many people do. But it’s amusing because I can play any other song. But when this song comes on…

…he stares at me in disbelief and growls until I turn it off. Adding the college-era line dance that goes with the song only makes things worse.

Poor Beorn. Little pig. Big feelings.

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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:

• “Read Kristen Welker’s Heartfelt Letter to Her Daughter About Surrogacy, Infertility” (Today.com)
• “Ein erster Bericht” (Elaine ohne Kind)
• “Gratitude for the Little Things” (No Kidding in NZ)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Jewish IVF thanks the same reporter mentioned in the Second Helpings link above. She explains: “When Kristen Welker and her husband shared their story, I was happy to hear her news. No strings, just happiness. When someone shares their story, I’m so proud of them. Their courage brings awareness which can help end the stigma.” I’m glad they were able to build their family with a surrogate.

A Half-Baked Life tells a sad story about a robin and her eggs. I’m warning you; it’s a little heartbreaking. And this line gutted me: “Reminders that our hearts are never quite the same.” So-freakin’-true.

Lastly, A Separate Life brings Infertility Awareness Month into her non-IF space. Mali also posted on her infertility blog, but there’s something so powerful about pushing a topic from the background into the foreground in a different space. I love all of these reminders, especially: “Talk to us about our lives. You might learn something. We might learn something about you too.” I always do when I pop onto other blogs.

The roundup to the Roundup: Things that make Beorn growl. 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 April 23 – 30) 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.

Anne Helen Petersen had the most perfect sentence in her newsletter: “There are people you encounter, however briefly, and end up living rent-free in your head for years.”

I do not know the people who are living rent-free in her head (a set of influencer twins), but I know the ones that occupy my own mental space. They are always people I know—almost always people I know very well—and I give them a rent-free room in my brain so I can stress-think about them, wasting energy.

I have silent conversations with them, explaining why they are so. damn. wrong.

Seeing it written that way by Petersen—that I’m giving them rent-free space vs. gaining something from the energy expended—was such a profound shift for me. From now on, when I start telling them that they can hang out and not pay a dime, I’m going to backtrack and tell them that if they want to occupy that space, I need to be getting something out of the exchange, too.

It’s my brain, after all.

Patrick McGinnis coined the term FOMO—fear of missing out—but he also coined a second term: FOBO or fear of a better option. That understanding that the other option may have been the better option. FOBO kicks in while making the decision and lingers after in the form of self-doubt (and maybe regret).

Four minute video break:

✨ Turned this one into a lil' video ✨

• What is FOBO?
• Signs you have FOBO
• What to do about it
• And of course the little "squishy squishy"! 🧠https://t.co/jcBr1oNQ6Z

— Anne-Laure Le Cunff (@anthilemoon) April 8, 2021

I think I’m the worst combination: a satisficer who also dabbles in regret.

Though I like the idea of looking at all FOBO with the knowledge that we don’t have complete information, even though we are behaving as if we do. We can’t possibly know how the option not taken would turn out. We may be more miserable living that other choice.

A good fact to remember.

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

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Ísbíltúr is the Icelandic word for the act of jumping in the car and driving around until you stop for ice cream.

It all clicks into place—I am clearly Icelandic at heart.

We also walk to get ice cream, which makes it exercise more than ice cream eating, and it’s not always ice cream. Sometimes it’s a gelati. But driving to get ice cream takes up a lot of my mental energy. As well it should.

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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.