The most recent [AIDS/LifeCycle (ALC)], which departed from the Cow Palace early on the first Sunday in June, had about 1,400 cyclists, a dramatic dropoff from the approximately 2,500 who rode in 2022. Fewer riders has meant less money for the organizations that depend on the event.

This year ALC raised $10,984,492, nearly $1 million less than in 2023. The 2022 effort raised $17,783,136; it was the first in-person event after COVID-19 forced the ride’s pivot to at-home events in 2020 (branded “My545”) and 2021 (branded “TOGETHERIDE”).

I myself have participated in ALC in some capacity since 2015, either as a Roadie or Rider during the event, or as a volunteer leading up to it. Over all those years, my fundraising efforts thus far total over $30,000. That figure will only (hopefully) grow as I’m registered to ride again in 2025.

Remember when the Internet was fun? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

Social media isn’t entirely fun, at least not to me. It’s very homogeneous, heavily moderated, and has a bad signal to noise ratio. It’s ruled by the almighty algorithm. And as these sites are often free, it’s awash in lots of advertising. (To be fair I get it, we gotta pay the bills — but come on!)

It makes me long for the days when I floated around the web reading (and writing) blog posts, sharing fun stuff I’d stumble upon, and so on. In fact, it was about 24 years ago when I started the first iteration of my blog, fredotoday. (The earliest snapshot on the Internet Archive dates from February 2002.)

While it’s true that the socials let you do that today to some extent, the experience is less than great. Enter the Small Web, a concept/movement that recently caught my attention thanks to a YouTube rabbit hole I fell into. This video in particular from You’ve Got Kat does a pretty good job of explaining the concept and the appeal.

And y’know? It appeals to me. Bring back the webrings and blogrolls. The personal web never died, it was just on life support — given the state of things, I’m willing to bet the heartbeat is only getting stronger.

And for the nostalgic, Jon Stewart’s 2004 appearance on CNN’s Crossfire, showing just how much of a dick “Tuckums” has always been.

Over the last couple of years, I had the privilege of serving as a poll worker here in San Francisco. Pre-pandemic, I planned on serving again this election. Concerns for my own health and safety led me to sit this one out as a poll worker.

Being a poll worker is largely a thankless task. Here in San Francisco, it involves an hours-long training session to make sure we understand election law, voters’ rights, how to setup and work the equipment, and what to do if something goes wrong.

Then there’s Election Day itself. It can take 15 hours or more from setup to breakdown, assuming we can close the polling site on time. We get breaks throughout the day of course, but if we’re assigned a polling site away from home it can still be quite exhausting.

Throughout the day there are rushes, particularly during commutes and lunch breaks. Outside of those, there can be long lulls in activity; that probably won’t happen this election despite the pandemic and the subsequent record number of votes cast early.

In my adult life, I’ve voted in New York City; Washington, D.C. and one of its suburbs; and San Francisco. (Not all at the same time, obvi. That’s illegal.) Of those, voting in San Francisco has been the most convenient. Polling sites are usually a block or two away from home.

Some jurisdictions have far fewer polling sites, making it tough not only for people to get to the polls, but also for people to work the long hours required to keep those sites running.

All of this is to say that poll workers everywhere spend their time and energy on Election Day to give voters the best experience possible, whether voters stand in line for ten minutes or ten hours. We’re there to help.

If you’re voting in person today, pack some patience and kindness with you. Your poll workers will appreciate it.

Still, blogging was a lot of fun. I met really cool people, some of them in person. I learned skills that helped me establish a career. Most importantly, it was a way to express myself through writing, even if it landed me in hot water sometimes.

For better or worse, social media has usurped the personal blog’s role. In a perfect world, I’d easily be able to detach myself from these sites that effectively compartmentalize my life, and ultimately rein the fragments into one central location. It’s not a perfect world though, is it? These platforms are ubiquitous and they make it easy for everyone to interact with each other from the comfort of their own hovels. But I digress.

In the years since my blog’s fizzle, I attempted reviving it multiple times, but something always gets in the way. Or I get forgetful. Or distracted. Or whatever. That being the case, I will not definitively say that this is my blog’s rebirth.

What I will say is that this is merely a blip in time when I decided to recognize a fond memory. If that’s all it ever amounts to, then you know what? We good!