It’s going to take a little while to build up a regular blogging habit after such a long time away. The “weekly recap post” seems like a good way to wade back in, so I’m giving that a go. Welcome to Last Week This Week, Edition #1.
The best part of my week
A warm welcome back to this space!
One reason I rarely unsubscribe from a dormant blog is the pleasure of seeing a post pop up from it after a long absence. It’s gratifying to see that some of you feel the same way. I have honestly felt a bit adrift without this space—and the community I associate with it—and I’m happy to know that it’s still as welcoming and accepting as ever.
(Disclosure: the title of this section was stolen from the NPR podcast It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders)
The most important thing I did this week
I voted.
For the first time, California’s primary election is being held in Match—on “Super Tuesday”—instead of in June. That’s early enough to actually matter. But even with the new schedule, it’s remarkable how many of the candidates who qualified for the ballot aren’t actually candidates anymore.
I have voted by mail for over a decade, and this year more Californians than ever are expected to cast ballots that way. Voting by mail lets me take my time and research on the fly–it’s like a take-home open-book test. The biggest (little) drawback to it was not getting the coveted “I Voted” sticker. But this year–maybe because the state expects so many votes by mail?–they’ve corrected that little problem.
Books of the week
Some behind-the-scenes changes happened during my absence from the blog. Most of it still worked (whew!), some of it worked better (yay!) and some things were brand-new. The most exciting new thing was the Book Database plugin that Ashley at NoseGraze had installed. (Disclosure: NoseGrazes BookHost hosts this site. Additional disclosure: these are not affiliate links.)
One huge reason I switched to a self-hosted WordPress blog in the first place was NoseGraze’s Ultimate Book Blogger plugin. The Book Database does some of the same things but has some unique new features. I’m especially excited about the Reading Logs. These don’t display on the blog, but they feed to a “Currently Reading” widget in the admin dashboard. It’s easy enough to share what I’m reading at any time with a screenshot.
Coming up this week
We are escaping to Margaritaville on Leap Day. I’m expecting this musical to be Mamma Mia! for Parrotheads, basically, so it should be a pretty good time.
