The Aptly Named, Sam's Blog

Last weekend we visited the International Rose Test Garden, a Portland landmark. We try and go each year around this time when the roses are in full bloom. It never disappoints, even with an overcast sky. Of course it was a little different this year, as with everything else.

Photos from morning walks around the neighborhood over the last few weeks.

Apps by developers on my iPhone: 246 Apps by Apple I use regularly: 6

Without developers I have no reason to buy iPhone hardware, or develop for it.

Think about that before you malign us, Apple.

These are not the thoughts and feelings I usually have the evening before WWDC.

A couple of days ago I finished reading The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. It was published fifty-one years ago, but feels like it could’ve been this year. A wonderful and timeless story written with immaculate detail, and emotional depth. There were many sentences all over the book that I read more than once because they were worth savoring.

I first heard of Ursula K. Le Guin a long time ago. At the time I thought of her as a Fantasy author, and I used to think of myself as someone that enjoys reading Sci-Fi, but not Fantasy. It was an arbitrary distinction that I hope is behind me. But as a result I didn’t introduce myself to her work even though she was frequently mentioned in the context of Sci-Fi. I hope to read more of her works in the future.

Just saw two great examples of tech activism.

First was an Instagram story where all you had to do was swipe up and that opened a webpage which then brought up an email composer filled out with an email and with email addresses populated. You just had to update placeholders with your info and hit send.

Second is this bot that requests people to update their black square photos on Instagram so that they don’t drown out actual black voices using the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag: github.com/char/blm-…

Both are brilliant. My hats off to these folks.

Besties.

Colors of Spring from around the neighborhood.

Dogwood at sunset.

It took a while but I finally finished this puzzle over the weekend. Jenni helped with about 20% of it.

When Siri doesn’t understand my accent or the concept of dal.

We’re taking care of each other in this neighborhood.

My most used emoji seems to be transitioning from 😂 to 🤞

A day off from work was a good idea. We went for a hike at Coyote Wall.

The trails have a gentle grade and there’s plenty of room to distance ourselves when we come across other people.

Lovely views. Small streams and falls. Birds and flowers.

We’d gone there last April as well. This time around we just did a four mile loop.

If you subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud, here’s how you can get two months free at this time:
petapixel.com/2020/03/1…

It worked for me.

It was pretty lovely outside today.

As many of us practice social distancing, or self-quarantine, I am feeling very grateful to the folks on the front lines of health care, and also those that are making sure my power, water/sewer, gas, internet, and disposal services continue to function. Thank you! ❤️

There There by Tommy Orange
★★★★☆

Added to /books

This is a very nice explanation of need for social distancing at this time: www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/…

We got some rare snow today. Apparently haven’t seen snow like this in March since 1968.

This cherry blossomed yard in the neighborhood 😍

Flowers at sunset, after rain.

A vision of the coming Spring.