This week in late October was all about working in San Francisco at the Internet Archive. The annual celebration this year was extra special because they were celebrating the fact that 1,000,000,000,000 (1 Trillion!) web pages have been archived over the past 30 years. It’s a mind-boggling number. The celebrations were fun and educative and enjoyable, but the best part for me was meeting people in person who I had been collaborating with virtually over the past year. That in-person connection was incredibly powerful and wonderful to make.

October 20 – Day 346

After spending the weekend with my family in Bolinas, David and I drove into San Francisco for the week. But, I had to stop and get this selfie of Stinson Beach and Bolinas behind us. There are a couple of iconic vistas and I pretty much always have to stop and take the view in.

At the Internet Archive’s headquarters we got to meet people in person I check in quite a bit. For me, that was the best part about this trip - connecting with folks IRL.

October 21 – Day 347

The Internet Archive Rally at noon at City Hall where it was announced that San Francisco proclaimed Oct 22, Internet Archive Day.

That evening, there was a tour of the physical archive in Richmond where many of the artifacts are stored for long-term preservation. It’s immense.

The house we were staying at in San Francisco was beautifully decorated for Halloween. The multicolor lights made the house instantly recognizable as we tried to find it when we arrived on Monday evening. David kept on saying he wished he could stay in the states through Halloween, but alas he only had a week’s vacation and we had to get back to Europe for our comittments back here. 

The cats at the house we were staying at were such beautiful floofballs. This guy graced our bed with his presence and playfully toyed with us as only a young cat can.

October 22 – Day 348

There's a party goin' on right here
A dedication to last throughout the years
So bring your good times and your laughter too
We gonna celebrate and party with you
Come on now

[Chorus]
(Celebration) Let's all celebrate and have a good time, yeah-yeah
(Celebration) We gon' celebrate and have a good time

[Refrain]
It's time to come together
It's up to you, what's your pleasure?
(Everyone around the world, come on)

You can hear the tune in your head, no? This was totally the vibe for the evening.

Internet Archive celebrated archiving 1,000,000,000,000 web pages! There was a really cool evening event inside with a variety of speakers from journalists to politicians to archivists and musical performers.

Then outside there was a cool cover band doing great boogie-woogie music people danced the night away to. And my son… that’s him reading his book on the steps. 🤷‍♀️

October 23 – Day 349

This was our “day off” that I had been promising david all week. We had breakfast with a good friend in Glen Park, a walkabout in Chinatown and lunch with my god parents and best of all, my sister Carrie drove up from Los Angeles to visit while we were here. We missed each other in Feb when we visited for a week over that school holiday and so we were super happy to meet up in person and exchange hugs and hang out. Nothing like family 🥰

In the afternoon, David and I walked from Chinatown to the Embarcadero to visit the Exploratorium. I used to go often as a kid when it was in the Palace of the Fine Arts down in the Marina. Since it moved to the Embarcadero, I hadn’t been and a lot of the same exhibits I fondly remembered from childhood were still there. The tactile dome now required a separate ticket and reservation (sad face) but the magnetic black sand was still there along with many other interesting exhibits. David was super skeptical when I was talking it up earlier in the week, but was completely converted once we went there and didn’t want to leave after being there for 2 1/2 hours. He wants to come back and to bring his father. I hope we can do that someday when it’s safe for him to visit. 

That evening, we drove down to Menlo Park to visit with Bab5 friends. This “urban tribe” has been going since the late 90s even though now we’re disbursed throughout the USA and even the globe. It started at UCB, every Thursday night they would get together and watch the SciFi TV show Babylon 5 at someone’s place and order take-out for dinner. Then, the show was cancelled but everyone was still used to hanging out every Thursday so it continued and the name stuck. I joined after the show was cancelled and this group of friends became an integral part of my 20s-30s until I left the states 20 years ago. Luckily, the internet enabled us all to stay in touch with emails, online groups and now Zoom weekly meetups. I usually instigate in person meetups when in town and this one was great. And so many children (with blurred faces)!! 

October 24 – Day 350

Friday we spent the morning going shopping at a mall. Not our favorite activity, but we got some necessities and gifts, had a yummy lunch and then headed out to SFO to return the car and wait for our flight back home. Near our gate there was a dark passageway that encouraged quiet meditation and contemplation and was filled with an incredible exhibition of Women of AfroFuturism. Just stunning in its beauty and power.

October 25 – Day 351

We arrived back home in the Netherlands to the wonderful news that Granny was up and walking after her recent hip replacement. Read/listen to her tell it on her podcast. So glad the surgery went well and that her quality of life will improve after living with chronic pain for too long. That definitely made me happy. 

October 26 – Day 352

Sunday was all about laundry and trying to get rest. My wonderful husband made a delicious quiche with gluten free crust for dinner. It is a constant experiment to find the right balance of substitute flours and this was pretty good! Nothing can really replace wheat flour, but it’s all worth a try to eat mindfully and induce less inflammation. Food is medicine.

Until ICE in its current form it gone from the USA, it isn’t safe for my non-citizen husband to visit. That makes me very sad, but I am glad that people are standing up for their communities and making art to educate and inform the citizenry. Earlier this year, I saw Jesse Welles perform this in a short video while he was walking through fields and I thought he was just starting out. Little did I know he’s been going for a while, has released FOUR albums this year and is up for FOUR Grammy Awards! This song is catchy, even if horrific. I’m glad that the Late Show with Stephen Colbert is platforming him, he deserves ALL the exposure.