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#Microblog Monday 514: Television Conductors

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

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We saw BSO’s Billy Strayhorn/Duke Ellington performance a few weeks ago. I thought Jonathon Heyward was conducting, but once we sat down and read the program, we realized it was a guest conductor.

The guest conductor came out, and there was something familiar about him. Had we seen him before with a different BSO performance? Why did his voice feel so familiar, too? Josh reopened the program and discovered that the guest conductor had played Father Rueben on Big Door Prize. A multi-talented man and one of the best guest conductors we’ve ever seen.

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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 connected to businesses or sponsored posts.


December 2, 2024   1 Comment

Owning vs. Streaming

We own About a Boy on DVD and watch it once a year, usually around Thanksgiving. We’ve seen it so many times that we say the lines with the characters. It’s a little Rocky Horror-esque. Last year, we had trouble with the DVD machine, but the Wolvog set us up on his PS4, which doubles as a DVD reader.

This year, I looked to see if any of the streaming services had it so we wouldn’t have to use the PS4, but it was only available to rent or buy.

Reader, we ended up buying the movie again.

I’ve hit a wall where I want to own the things I like and feel resentful that I have to keep streaming services to keep accessing shows that we re-watch. I don’t need to keep everything I see, but I wish there was the option to buy it at the end. I’m also aware the concept of “buying” a digital copy is not the same as owning a physical copy. But it’s still better than a streaming service.

For instance, I would like to own The Crown and One Day from Netflix. But they’re not available for sale. Bummer.

What would you rather own than rent?

December 1, 2024   1 Comment

1014th Friday Blog Roundup

The kids are home after super-long travel days. Thanksgiving sides have been eaten. Family seen. We’re in the quiet days before they have to go back, a moment I started dreading before they even arrived.

But it’s a short stretch this time until they’re home for winter break. Have to focus on that instead of the goodbye.

Hope you had a good holiday if you celebrate.

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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:

Okay, now my choices this week.

Infertile Phoenix points out the possible difference of a neat vs messy house. The last time her house was neat, she was in a difficult marriage and trying to conceive. She writes, “My house was clean because I never cooked or created any art. I was barely alive so I didn’t make much of a mess.” I also love this line: “I’m holding on to so much because I’ve lost too much already.” I really loved this thought-provoking post.

Lastly, The Road Less Travelled has a post about the narrative around motherhood. She highlights two substacks that gave her a lot to think about. I liked this point: “The acknowledgement that motherhood is damned hard work, and it’s not all sunshine and roses, sometimes comes as a bit of a relief to those of us who get to experience neither.”

The roundup to the Roundup: Kids are home. 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 November 22 – 29) 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.

November 29, 2024   2 Comments

The Welcome Table: An Annual Online Thanksgiving Meal

thanksgiving table

[Melissa stands up, taps her fork against her glass, and clears her throat. The conversation around the table dies down. She looks at everyone at the table.]

We do this every year: Come together as a community and have a virtual meal before we scatter to our actual meals. Unless, that is, you do not celebrate Thanksgiving. But I hope that you’ll join the table for virtual food and company even if you don’t follow this tradition offline.

We’ve virtually eaten together since 2009. That’s when this tradition began. There are some people hurting at this table. For some people, this pre-meal is what gets them through their real meal later in the week. People have written that they’ve printed out this yearly post and comments and left the paper in their purse because it helped to have a tangible reminder that there were people out there who got it. Who weren’t going to ask them when they were going to hurry up and have children. Who weren’t going to cringe when someone spoke the name of a child they lost.

We are all so different. All of us. Around this table. But we have this one facet of our lives — and yes, even though it may be a big, overpowering one for you right now, it is only one facet of who you are — where we overlap: infertility or adoption or loss. And I am so thankful, so grateful, that I found all of you. Everyone needs a You-shaped space where they can be themselves. And that’s what I have here.

So every year, I ask people to bring a virtual dish to our meal. Place it in the comment section, explaining what you brought and why. And say anything else you need to say before sitting back down to enjoy the company. Update about where you are; your emotional state.

We’re an international group, hailing from countries all around the world. So while Thanksgiving is an American tradition, I hope that everyone around the world feels as if they can participate. (Especially our Canadian neighbours who celebrated Thanksgiving weeks ago.) I’d love for your dish to come from your culture or country. Don’t worry about the contents on the table clashing.

As always, I am bringing stuffing. It’s comfort food; mushy and soggy and warm.

So what did you bring and what do you want to say to the community?

And please, start eating as everyone is introducing their dish. We don’t want the food to get cold and there are so many of us at this table. Thank you so much for coming, and I’m going to carry the warmth of this meal with me for the rest of this week.

November 26, 2024   5 Comments

#Microblog Monday 513: Interesting Advice

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

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A recent Carolyn Hax column made me pause, and I was curious what you thought. That, by the way, is a gift link.

The situation: a woman laments two friends who have changed profoundly — both in actuality and expressed through their postings online. Carolyn’s advice is to choose a different medium to connect with them if they want the person in their life but don’t want to be distressed by what they post. “Connect using the least conspiracy-, peculiarity- and lunacy-friendly communications medium.”

Yes, there is always the choice to remove someone from your life, but there are many reasons why someone would not. The question asker wanted to know how to keep these people in their life and minimize their emotional impact, which sounds a bit impossible, though Carolyn’s advice certainly feels like maybe the only possible path forward.

What do you think of her advice?

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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 connected to businesses or sponsored posts.


November 25, 2024   2 Comments

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