For years (yes, years), Josh has been telling me to move my iTunes account to a different computer.  It may be because the laptop I housed it on is about three seconds away from dying.  Or the fact that I don’t automatically back up that laptop in the same way that I back up the desktop, ensuring that I will be screwed at some point.  (I like to live on the edge.)

My reason for not moving it is simple: I do not trust technology to work.  I do not trust that by doing X that Y will happen.  The shorter the instructions for completing the task, the greater the chance that it will all go to shit.  I assume that every time I update my software, something will go horribly awry and I will spend hours trying to fix the problem.

But this week, I decided it was time.  I was going to move it all over, sync the phone to the new computer, and live happily ever after.

So we started moving stuff over.  So far so good.  Sure, the playlists didn’t transfer for whatever reason — maybe 5 out of 20 songs made it into each playlist — but those are easy enough to reconstruct.  And certain files seemed to disappear into the ether.  No worries — we’ll just transfer them again.  And it took a looooooong time to move over a large amount of media from one computer to another.  (A note if you do this yourself: It will likely take a few days to move it all over if you do it for a few hours each night.)

And then it came time to sync the phone.  You see, you can back up your phone to multiple computers, but you can only sync with one.  So I had to trust that in syncing with a new computer that it would keep all of the information, apps, and media currently stored on the device.  And I do not trust technology to work for good reason: It often fails.

Sure enough, in syncing with a new computer, I needed to rebuild large portions of my phone.  Most of my music didn’t come over, which is probably fine because I rarely listen to it.  I had to reload movies and books.  Certain apps stopped working properly and I had to reinstall them.  But my photos were there — my most important thing — as well as my written and voice notes.  All in all, it took me a full day to get back to functional.

At least I don’t have to do it again for a while?

I am happy that I’m now syncing with a computer that is automatically backed up, which gives me a safety net.  It needed to happen, and it was going to be a huge time suck no matter when I did it, and even worse if the laptop died without the ability to move the media.  Plus, as a bonus, I sucked it up and also upgraded the software on the phone.  So everything feels fresh and up-to-date, at least for the next 5 minutes until the next iOS release.

Do you trust technology?  Do you update quickly or let things go for weeks out of fear?

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

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I’ve been debating whether or not to start The Silent History.  Is anyone else reading it?

It’s a novel that is written for the iPhone, and as you travel around, you unlock parts of the story based on your GPS coordinates.  Actually, I think you can read the main chunk of the story from any space, but then there are hundreds of side stories that can only be unlocked from certain locations.  It has been around for a while, and I’ve looked at it a dozen times without downloading it.

I sort of like this idea of needing to travel somewhere to read part of the story, with the location affecting how you read the words on the screen.  And I sort of don’t like this idea of getting off my bum and traveling somewhere for the sake of reading.

What do you think?  Yay or nay on this idea of literary geocaching and only getting to read a story from a certain location?

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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 posts.

Truman has been in our family for 3 years this week.  He’s a little over 3 since he was about 6 weeks when we brought him home, but we don’t have his exact birthday.  He is my furry companion, my little love bucket who begs for a treat every single time I stand up.  He loves back rubs and alfalfa cookies.  Happy birthday, Truman, and we’re so glad you’re here.

Look at that face!  Isn’t that pure love?  I mean, sure, he sort of looks like he’s just enduring me and waiting for me to leave him alone so he can go back to licking himself clean.  But isn’t he so cute!

I went to the White House Media and Toy Summit this week, and I’m still trying to process all of the statistics and discussion I heard from the excellent panels.  Some of it will make you shudder and want to take immediate action, some of it will make you hopeful for the future.

In the meantime, while I didn’t take many photos from the day, I did take this one of a slide from a panel.  It’s from Meredith Walker of Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls.

“Change the world by being yourself.”  Isn’t that a great sentiment?  I mean, everyone can do it, since the only thing you need to do is be yourself vs. trying to be someone else.  It’s so simple but brilliant: For kids, certainly, but also for every adult.

I posted this on Facebook, but I also wanted to post this here.  I was feeling a little out-of-sorts at the beginning of the summit.  I don’t often venture out of my comfortable little bubble of home and yoga pants.  At the first break, I was standing by myself, staring off into the middle distance while I ate a bag of Cheerios, when LISA FREAKIN’ STONE walked up to me.  She was at the summit, too.

And suddenly I felt so grounded.  It was the best hug ever.

It made me realize I go through the same thing every single time I go to the annual BlogHer conference.  I feel so nervous going, and then I either see someone from the community in the lobby of the hotel or get to the opening keynote and see people like Elisa, Jory, and Lisa on stage, and I suddenly remember: “This is where I am supposed to be.”  This is home, too; albeit without yoga pants.  But those people are home, and those ideas are home, and being part of a supportive site that nurtures writers is home.

I’m so grateful Lisa was there because it brought me out of my shell, and I ended up meeting so many cool people during the day.  I’m so grateful that Lisa, Elisa, and Jory started BlogHer and that Denise brought me to the site to write.  Because it is such an awesome space, and whenever I’m feeling a touch lost, it guides me back and reminds me that I have a voice and I should use it.

A side note: If you haven’t been to the annual conference and wonder if you should go, the answer is yes.

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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:

• “Karma” (A Half-Baked Life)
• “Why I Won’t Rate My Hotel” (Illustr8d)
• “Airbrushed” (Saltwater and Honey)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Res Cogitatae has a moving post about life forcing you to your knees.  She has a particularly moving part about her stillbirth fears, pointing out that, “The odds of stillbirth are 1 in 100. The odds of being born with one kidney are 1 in around 1,000. I don’t know what the odds are of having colon cancer that doesn’t behave like colon cancer, but I imagine they’re pretty high. And my father’s accident defies belief.  So why wouldn’t the baby die? It would actually be a more likely outcome than anything else that’s happened in the last couple of months.”  Yes, but is all I can manage as a response.  Because I don’t want it to be true?  Because it is easier for outsiders to hold your hope?  It is a very moving post.

Wild and Precious Life has an update about living as a family of five when others see you as a family of three.  It is about the exhaustion and elation of early days, and she explains: “Perhaps it’s obvious from this rambling post, I am so in love, exhausted, filled with wonder, worried about being the best parent I can be, and keeping him safe that I feel like a jumble. A fortunate jumble.”  I smiled through the whole post.

Lastly, Page, Stages, and Rages has a post to her mother to mark the two year anniversary of her death.  She writes, “I’m getting along — like you told me to, but you never taught me how to get along without you so I’m winging it most of the time.”  It is such a bittersweet post, and I sobbed heavily reading it.

The roundup to the Roundup: A really good quote to live by and seeing Lisa Stone at the White House Toy Summit.  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 1st and April 8th) 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.

Who is telling your story?  Is it you, on your blog?  Are you controlling the narrative on your social media feeds, presenting the you you want the rest of the world to see?  Is it someone else, writing about you?  Is no one telling your story?  Does it matter if stories are told if they’re going to be forgotten a generation or two later regardless?

Sit with that for a moment.

I am really loving this month’s BlogHer Writing Lab theme, especially on the heels of Hamilton and this idea of the legacy you leave behind.  What will you be remembered for?  How will your close friends and family describe your life?  How will a stranger describe your life?  Can we really control the narrative?  I’m not sure.

Image: Bruce Guenter via Flickr

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A friend and I were recently talking about how much of your story you tell other people.  By not telling something, are you sending the message that you’re ashamed of that aspect of your life or trying to sweep it under the rug?

There is a lot I don’t tell you.  Some of it is because it’s boring.  I spend about 40% of my waking hours worrying.  Do you really want to hear my looping anxiety?  I feel like you get enough of it organically without having me subject you to the full tidal wave of my neuroses.  Probably 2% of my waking hours is spent seething with jealousy.  It doesn’t really make for good blog fodder.  5% of my waking hours is spent pestering the people in this house with various “what ifs,” contemplating getting a dog, and reading about new video games.

I just don’t lead that exciting a life.  I don’t tell you about a large chunk of it because I don’t want to put you to sleep.

Some of it is just to have a delineation between inner life and outer life, inside the house and outside the house.  There needs to be a reason to be close to another person, and part of that comes from being let into an inner circle.  I’m in Josh’s inner circle.  He’s in mine.  He should therefore get more than me than the general world.  And while there are friends that I’ve made through this blog, there are also thousands of silent readers who shouldn’t get as much of me as people I converse with off-blog.

I described it to my friend as determining who is important to you and therefore wants to know you, as opposed to who just wants to know something for the sake of knowing it and not to be closer to you:

I think of all the moments that happen in my day that I don’t feel guilty not sharing with the world.  I’m not doing so to be deceptive or to lie or to pretend otherwise.  It’s just that it’s also important to get to decide what we share and what we don’t.  I don’t know.  I would bet that you tell the story to the people who are important.  Everyone else is important in THEIR story, but they’re not important in YOUR story, therefore they don’t get all the pages.

I guess I don’t see nefarious reasons for only getting part of the story when it comes to the online world.  I assume I’m only getting part of your story.  I assume there are people closer to you — either in physical proximity or emotional connection — who get more of it.

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The twins are nearing an age where they could write about me if they wished.  They certainly have the skills, though I don’t think they see me as interesting subject matter.  I am super interested in them, and they are super interested in me being interested in them.  But I’m only mildly interesting in my own right.  I am like a 3 on the interesting scale.

I’ve been very circumspect when writing about them because I knew this day would arrive.  When they would want to write about their own lives and I would be a character in their story.  How would they portray me?  A screechy woman who is always telling them to clean their room?  A slightly agoraphobic woman who bleaches the sink and vacuums daily?  An attentive woman who still reads to them and is willing to answer any question?  A silly woman who often tells them to drop everything so we can go play video games?  Because they’re all true, to an extent.  I am a screechy, agoraphobic, attentive, silly woman at times.

Have you thought about that?  That the people you write about — even in a loving way — can turn around and write about you, too?  Isn’t it sobering to think that when that happens, you won’t be controlling the narrative.  But you’ll have to live it, the way the world sees you, through someone else’s eyes.

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Maybe that is the best reason to keep a blog.  Tell or be told.

So are you telling your story?  And what is the narrative?