I’ve had several trips cancelled now, in this new, scary COVID-19 world in which we live. And travel is my reason for being. I love to go places where I’ve never been and see things that I’ve never seen. So, yeah, I’m getting a bit depressed. I’m feeling kind of claustrophobic. Which means, clearly, that I need to get creative.
I’m reading more about foreign lands. I’m watching more movies set in other countries. I’m thinking of clogging up my laptop with the Google Earth application again. I’m listening to songs sung in other languages. I’m looking at exotic recipes and wishing I could go out and get the needed ingredients. And then I’m wishing that I actually liked to cook.
I’m also playing Pokemon Go. Through that game, I’ve gone to this website and made friends from all over the world. We send each other digital postcards. It’s kind of fun, peeking into the lives of people I don’t know and will never meet. Every day I get these postcards from Spain and Norway and Mexico and Israel (to name just a few), and for a moment I feel like I’m there. There’s some fascinating art in the world.
Here are some of the postcards I’ve received that I found worthy of a screenshot. Sadly, I can’t tell you where most of these things are, because unfortunately the descriptors are less detailed than I’d like them to be. I just know that they’re anywhere but here. And that’s pretty darned cool, because at the moment, that’s someplace I can’t be.
Hey! Look what I wrote! http://amzn.to/2mlPVh5
The View from a Drawbridge 
Back in 1994 when the www/Internet was unknown to most of the world, I joke that it was just The GOVERNMENT, the Grateful Dead and I. I had a column “Nothing But Net” in a small town paper The Standard, in Kingston, TN. I was actually the Darkroom Mgr. but the only one that had an inkling what the World Wide Web was. I stumbled across it while looking for stuff about John Denver. I traveled the world of knowledge and the world’s greatest museums, the greatest wonders of the world. Between developing in the basement at night, so I could have time to write and work a full-time job at the paper, I got maybe 3-4 hours of sleep a night. I was addicted. I traveled everywhere and also again in my dreams. All these years later I still surf the web and have met a mentor of sorts. I now, armchair travel with BARB. I have a voice that enhances the written words but filters out all the distractions. I have her guidance and nudges. Through A View From a Drawbridge, I have reviewed and explored areas of my life, politics, family, relationships, health both physical and mental. But I most love the encouragement and spirit she gives me. She is the angel in my pocket rather than the elf on the shelf. She is the first thing I look at when rising and the last thing before shuteye. I hope You keep on, keeping on. Seeing the world through your eyes is so much clearer and more beautiful than my own. And after I’m gone I hope there is some special spot across the universe where I can check-in.
You just reminded me of an interaction with my late sister in the early WWW days. She said, “I just searched for crock pot recipes, and instead I got a band called crock pot, and they use a lot of foul language.” Shocking. 🙂
You’ll always travel with me, my friend. Can I quote you in my next book, if ever I get around to it?
Sure, I have a spot reserved for volume 2, 3 and 4.
Note. back in ’94 you could print off all the sites in a 3/4″ stack. I think I still have it somewhere. Now you could try and fill the Library of Congress many times. I wonder just how many sites there are. Yes and many of those were ALT and lunatic fringe groups.
We’ve come a long way, baby!
Sure, I have a spot reserved for volume 2, 3 and 4.
Note. back in ’94 you could print off all the sites in a 3/4″ stack. I think I still have it somewhere. Now you could try and fill the Library of Congress. I wonder just how many sites there are. Yes and many of those were ALT and lunatic fringe groups.
1,744,517,326 websites
2020 Web Hosting Stats & Facts
Share on: As of January 1st, 2020, there were 1,744,517,326 websites, up from 906,616,188 in January 2016. The world’s first website was published on August 6, 1991, by British physicist Tim Berners-Lee.
Fascinating.