So… you can probably guess where we went based on the title of this post.  We just got back from a trip to Scotland.  The trip was planned a few years ago and then cancelled when Josh was laid off.  Then it was back on and cancelled when I changed jobs.  But like they say, third time’s a charm?

I like to think that it was even better than it would have been if we had gone when we first planned the trip because (1) the kids were older and able to do so much more, (2) everyone pitched in with the planning, (3) we savoured it deeply knowing that it was cancelled twice.  There were plenty of times on the trip when I burst into tears of happiness, so much so that it became a joke where everyone in the family would stare at me when we reached a spot, waiting for me to start sobbing.  So I got to enjoy those, “I can’t believe we’re really here” moments along with the scenery.  Scotland is just a place I’ve always wanted to go.

Just as we had abnormally cold weather in Montreal, we had abnormally warm weather in Scotland.  Everywhere we went, people commented on how Scotland was never like this.  We never saw rain.  It was 70ish degrees every day.  We spent every single day outside, sometimes until midnight because once we got up to the northern towns, there was (at least some) light almost 24 hours per day.

But I’m getting ahead of myself because we started in Edinburgh.  We chose Scotland because we aim to give JK Rowling 100% of our money, and Scotland held the last few Harry Potter sites we couldn’t cover in England.  We went to Greyfriars Kirkyard, which holds the tombstones for Potter, Black, McGonigal, Moody, Scrimgeour, and Riddle.

We toured Edinburgh Castle, went on the best Sherlock Holmes tour, spat on the Heart of Midlothian, and touched the Flodden Wall.

We went on the Royal Britannia, which is currently docked in Scotland, and rubbed Bobby Greyfriar’s nose.

We saw the hotel room where JK Rowling finished Harry Potter…

…and I sat for a moment at her table when we had dinner at Elephant House where she wrote the earlier books…

…and sobbed reading the graffiti that covers every single inch of the bathroom wall (and ceiling) signed with messages of love from Dumbledore’s Army.

After a few days in Edinburgh, we continued on to Glasgow to do a bunch of Charles Rennie Mackintosh things, including a sneak peek into the newly restored Mackintosh at the Willow and tea at a “Mockintosh,” which are the fake Mackintosh tea rooms in the city.

Next we moved into the Highlands, traveling to Loch Lomond, Glencoe, and Glenfinnan where we saw the viaduct from the Harry Potter movies.

We went out to Mallaig and took the Jacobite — the Hogwarts Express — back to Fort William.

We hung out at the Drovers Inn — which is deliciously creepy — and went out to Loch Ness (no monster found) and Pitlochry and Cairngorms National Park.

We loved hard on the hairy coos.

And then finally… we headed north.  Like really really really north.

To be continued.

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

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As the article points out, “Nietzsche detected the handwriting of envy everywhere, observing, ‘Envy and jealousy are the private parts of the human soul’.”  Truth.

The article is about using your envy to discover what YOU truly care about vs. what society has told you to care about.  Because we all feel envy, and if we keep digging into that envy, noting when we feel envy, what we’re envious about on the surface, and then what we’re really envious about deep down inside — for instance, surface envy would be coveting someone else’s house; deeper envy is realizing what you’re coveting is assumed financial stability — then we can learn about ourselves and use that information to make decisions.

In other words, “envy can help us identify our vision of excellence and where need be, perhaps reshape it.”

My envy — like the example above — seems to stem from the idea of financial stability.  Rather than stewing in it, I’ve been trying to read financial planning articles.  The most boring reads of my life, but it’s making me feel like I’m accomplishing something.

What are you really envious of vs surface envy?

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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.

This question blew my mind:

Am I a data mine, or am I a data factory? Is data extracted from me, or is data produced by me? Both metaphors are ugly, but the distinction between them is crucial. The metaphor we choose informs our sense of the power wielded by so-called platform companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon, and it shapes the way we, as individuals and as a society, respond to that power.

I think I’m a data mine because my information is hidden below the surface.  I’m not intentionally producing it for others; it’s something naturally occurring — without my actual input — inside (and technically outside) myself.  I cannot help creating data any more than a mine can choose whether or not it creates its natural resources.  Of course, being a mine means that others can enter and take my data, but my purpose (to me) is not to create data even though other people may see me as a source for data.

The article has a slightly different take on what makes someone a mine or a factory, but both cases clearly can be argued.

So are you a data mine or a data factory?

It’s Friday the 13th.  Thus continues my compulsive need to mention that whenever Friday the 13th coincides with the Roundup.

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I read a great book recently — Us by David Nicholls.  The book is a few years old.  It’s about a couple who is considering separating going on one last (maybe?) vacation with their teenage son before he leaves for college.  It’s fantastic writing but the thing I loved most is that every chapter is just a few pages long.  I am smitten with authors who create mini breaks or tiny chapters so you can jump in and out of the story quickly.  Sometimes I won’t start reading if I don’t know how long I have to read if I see that I need to commit to dozens of pages before I get to the next break.

This was the exact opposite of that — inviting you to spend just a few minutes with the book before bouncing back out again.  Though the story was so good that I often said to myself, “just one more” when I got to each break.

Any other books that you can think of like that with chapters consistently two or three pages in length?

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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:

(These are from the last normal Roundup, though if you haven’t already done so, peruse the great posts in  last week’s Roundup Celebration)

• “When Fears Backfire” (Stirrup Queens) — thank you, Cristy.  Also, in case you’re interested, zombies scare us the most.
• “Loving My Body Again” (My Path to Mommyhood)
• “Unexpected Healing” (NotMyLinesYet)
• “A Thank You to Mel” (No Kidding in NZ)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Pregnancy After Loss Support has a post about people shaming others for trying again after a loss.  She explains, “That face, and that judgement, represented all of the fears we didn’t want to acknowledge. It was as though they were questioning, ‘Why are you doing this to yourselves?’ and more so, ‘How could you put these babies through this?’”  It’s a hard situation made all the more difficult by other people’s opinions.  It’s a really good post about why it’s important to give support and not stress.

Different Shores has a post about the recent NYT article about being childfree.  She talks about where she connected to the writer’s words, but also “the very un-21st century prejudice that many people still harbour towards those who are ageing without partners or offspring.”  The point of the NYT article is that the author is happy, leading an interesting life with an interesting job, and shouldn’t have to work to convince people.  But Different Shores points out that the average person is happy, too, and should also be believed.

Lastly, No Kidding in NZ has a post of bullet points, one being about a newscaster’s response to the Thai soccer team trapped in the cave.  She writes, “Someone commented that it was ‘the worst thing imaginable, being trapped in a cave in the dark with water rising.’ ‘I’ll tell you something worse – it’s being the parent worrying about your kid trapped in a cave,’ said another guy.”  It’s commentary not just about the lens we use to view a situation but considering other possible lens, too.

The roundup to the Roundup: It’s Friday the 13th.  I like short chapters.  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 July 6th and 13th) 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.

We’re not Reconstructionist Jews, but I’ve always appreciated the existence of Ritualwell, which is a site that provides ritual ideas (both from the staff and user-generated) to fill in the gaps.  There aren’t really rituals formally in place in Judaism for things such as infertility or miscarriage.  But that site helps create “deliberate action performed in a set sequence that improves our emotional state, by reframing an experience in a way that feels meaningful.”  You know, ritual.

Ritual Design Lab is doing the same thing for the secular.  It’s creating rituals for people who don’t follow a religion but want to tap into an action that makes a person feel better.  And they’re using design to make it happen since, like design, ritual and objects are both created with the user in mind.  They’re also using established religion and making it easier to access those rituals.  That article in The Atlantic muses that “For a person who’s walked away from institutionalized religion, it may be psychologically easier to join the National Day of Unplugging than to observe the Sabbath, the original 24-hour digital detox.”  Though the article also points out the dangers of separating the ritual from the religion.

I thought it was interesting; the idea of taking a life situation problem and approaching it like a designer.  What can you do to make a ritual more usable?  What can you do to adapt ritual so it takes into account the user today vs. the user of yesteryear?  I’m not big on change, but I also think that we sometimes hit a point where a ritual no longer fits the current population.  And then, perhaps, it’s time to change the ritual instead of expecting people to move backwards to meet the ritual.

What do you think?