Last night, I went to say goodbye to my OG rope teacher by taking his class. I brought my heart so much joy to train with him again, and I'm so grateful to have learned for such an amazing coach and human. 💖 Here's the stuff we worked on - all new material for me and SO much fun!

The vocabulary PDF -> Anki Cloze-style flashcards pipeline via GPT for my Norwegian course has been a godsend of a time saver. Manually entering 100s of flashcards was wearing me down, but this means I can focus on the learning and not the data entry!

Almost done sorting, packing, offloading. Some stuff stored w/ a friend, some stuff ready for Norway, the rest given away via buy-nothing-new. Turns out a spreadsheet of my entire life’s possessions is the best endorsement for anti-consumerism I've seen yet.

Just overheard a coworker say: "People only hide specifics when they don't know them or they're not good." ... and I'm not sure if they're taking about work or dating but either way: TRUE.

Past me booked herself to teach a rope class laaate tonight and a doctor's appointment very eaaarly tomorrow. 😭 There’s a certain betrayal in realizing the architect of your exhaustion was none other than…yourself.

I booked the one-way ticket! Going to fly to central Europe on Oct 26 and do a little traveling before settling up north in Oslo. It still doesn’t feel real. I’ll be posting Reels like this about the experience on my IG, so feel free to follow along! www.instagram.com/share/_4aHW0...

Reminders.app out here holding my entire life together like digital duct tape, with whole lists called things like "Can I get X in Norway" and "The immigration state machine."

1. Remote role ✅ 2. Norway 🇳🇴 visa application ✅ 3. ...who knows!? 2 years ago I decided I wanted to move to Norway, not knowing when or how. Today I applied for my visa. Things are in storage, shippers are lined up, & it finally feels real. So excited for the next chapter!

My takeaways from today's #AppleEvent: - I still cry at those damned Watch ads 🤦🏻‍♀️ - Apple Watch getting blood pressure is epic! ⚕️ - New orange Pro unibody is gorgeous 🧡 - Miami is a place I need to visit. 🌴

I’ve found that in this in-between space (waiting to move, learning a new rhythm/role at work), I’ve been returning to small practices that steady me: cooking, writing, running, routine. Trying to control what I can and to let go of what I can’t.

I’d never used Standby mode on my iPhone b/c I don’t charge it in my bedroom. But recently I started using it on my desk to display my calendar at work, and WOW is that useful! So nice to not have to switch apps or look at my desktop widgets to see my next meeting!

It’s a 5-hours-straight-meetings-thru-lunch-eat-nut-butter-out-of-a-jar-and-do-squats-and-pushups-off-camera kinda day.

As I start on my music server, I was thinking: I never minded the hours spent in iTunes back in the early 2000s ripping CDs, editing metadata, & curating playlists. But I don’t think it’s nostagia. I think what I loved is the intentionality of it. Doing it showed me I loved it.

Few things more painful than getting CC’d into a Slack thread at message 50.

1 week in. New job + established team = months of necessary discomfort. Everyone has years more area experience, so all I can do: listen/learn/ask. Jarring after feeling adroit in my prev role! I keep reminding myself each job I got good at started as one where I felt clueless! 😵‍💫

Action Mode on iPhone is marketed for filming while running or hiking, but it’s also amazing for folks with tremors (like Parkinson’s). Love how this beautiful video highlights how Action Mode is making filming videos by hand, in the moment, more accessible. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEal...

Interested in being a manager on SwiftUI? If you have experience with frameworks and API development and are excited about technical and people leadership - check it out! The role is in Cupertino. jobs.apple.com/en-us/detail...

1st day on the job was a bizarre combo of deeply familiar (lateral move w/in the same org) & completely drowning in that vibe of "omg I know nothing about any of this." On one hand, I said "I don't know" countless times today; but on the other, I got out a tiny accessibility PR!

📢 Big news! I'm shifting from my role at Apple as an Eng Manager (EM) for SwiftUI to a new role as an EM for macOS. My time on SwiftUI was some of the most fun in my career; however, CA never quite felt like home. This new role offers an amazing opportunity: remote work! [1/2]

TIL that duolingo by default records your voice and is enabled to anonymously share these recordings (“anonymously…to help Duolingo improve.”) You can disable this. Go to: Profile -> gear -> Privacy settings and deselect Share speech

It still blows my mind how socially difficult it is to not want kids. Even at my age, I'm constantly countering the assumption that it's rooted in fear or self-doubt. (And that's not even getting into how often I'm expected to justify the choice at all.)

“Discipline matters more than motivation." This has been so true for me! Showing up to my rope, to my flute, to my tech job, to my meditation practice, to my journal, to stretching…just showing up has been the thing that made my life feel full.... [1/2]

Now that WWDC is over I'm back on the rope at my usual training cadence. I'm not sure how… but I didn't seem to lose any strength this year, despite the massive training reduction March thru June! #circus #aerialrope

Always thought I couldn't haggle, but today I had to. Someone charged me $500 for something I knew I could get for $200. I paid and went to my car to regroup. I told myself I'd role-play someone who does this all the time, for fun! I put on a big smile and went back. I got it for $230.

A thing I've learned from both sides and in many ways—work, family, romance, etc: Pressure to stay never made me—or someone else—want to stay. It just made us feel bad about leaving. Sometimes we stayed out of guilt, and resentment was seeded... [1/2]

The longer I'm a manager, the less I think the job is about talking to people and the more I think the job is about help people talk to each other.

It's 2025 and men still out here negging like they just discovered The Game at a used bookstore in Sunnyvale.

As a kid, everything "learning” was just play—I didn't know I was 'bad' at things. Then I got older and avoided new things out of embarrassment. What will people think?! Then something shifted: being bad at something is a gift! It means I get to learn. I get to play again!

Excited about Product Marketing AND SwiftUI? Look no further! (Role in Cupertino, CA) You get to "Serve as an ambassador for Swift, SwiftUI, and other Apple developer technologies via press briefings and customer visits!" 🤩 https://jobs.apple.com/en-us/details/200604766/product-manager-swift-and-

#WWDC25 is over and I'm sitting at home journaling with my cat while eating watermelon and sipping tea. Looking forward to watching talks, getting back to my aerial training, and mostly just the routine of life again. 😮‍💨

Another year another amazing DubDub Karaoke! What an epic night with Apple friends old and new! And with that, my #wwdc25 is at a close. It was a magical one and I'm beyond grateful for everyone that made it happen!

Don’t miss one of the great #WWDC traditions: @jamesdempsey.net and the Breakpoints, live tomorrow night in San Jose! www.livenearwwdc.com We have just a FEW tickets left!! And I’ll be playing in the band too! 🎶

Assistive Access is a truly amazing #accessibility feature, allowing apps to adapt for those with cognitive disabilities. And now it's finally a new #SwiftUI scene type that YOU can use in your own apps. To learn how, Anne has a fantastic talk this #wwdc25: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/ww

Getting a chance to be part of the Platform State of the Union at #WWDC25 for #Apple was a huge honor and so much fun!!! And even better was spending the rest of the day chatting with so many brilliant and enthusiastic developers! 🤩

Today's the day! #WWDC25! I'll be here at Apple Park all day, so def stop by to chat about SwiftUI (including our open roles 🤩 ) or really anything!

Day 0 of #wwdc25 week was a huge success! A fantastic rehearsal with @jamesdempsey.net#wwdc25& The Breakpoints (don't miss the show! livenearwwdc.com) and then the always epic @RevenueCat bash!

The SwiftUI team is hiring a senior engineer! Come help us make UI code feel good, readable, and even… magical. <confetti toss> Also: come argue about names with very awesome people! https://jobs.apple.com/en-us/details/200601321/swiftui-frameworks-senior-engineer This is SUCH a fun team to work o

Re "introversion," been wondering: - was I always an introvert, and just got better about owning it? …or… - did years of screens + delivery apps erode my social skills? …or… - is this just the natural arc of "growing up"—shifting priorities, craving meaningful connections? Porque no los tres?

Would you like to be an engineering manager on SwiftUI? This is an AMAZING team that is SO much fun to work on! Note that I'm NOT the hiring manager but happy to answer general Qs. Also this role is in Cupertino. jobs.apple.com/en-us/detail...

Just found my 2010 Europe trip itinerary: 20 pages, detailed maps, minute-by-minute schedules, and zAnY cLiP aRt. Shocking that I didn't list "stakeholder alignment" as an agenda item. Turns out, the manager energy was there ALL along... 👀

If I could give past me 1 piece of practical advice, it would be: keep a spreadsheet w the start/end dates of every place you lived, job you had, and trip you took. The SHEER NUMBER of times I've needed some of this info and had to go email spelunking…😭 At least a song told me to wear sunscreen 🙃

Stockpiling sunshine and alone time ☀️ before #WWDC25. Soon, I shall shed my introvert cocoon to emerge as a social butterfly for exactly one week, before flying too close to the sun, burning up, and reincarnating into rock moss for at least 6 months.

Them: "It honestly amazes me, Sommer, how you're so capable of everything… except taking care of your own basic needs." Me, eating peanut butter out of a jar, running on four hours of sleep: "I don't know what you're talking about."

That thing where when I need a 3 day weekend most is when I'm so busy I don't have time to plan for things like 3 day weekends. 🙈

it's really annoying that a workout makes me feel better EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. because it means feeling like shit is never an excuse not to do it… rude!

I finally moved off of Good Reads to The Story Graph. I wish I had more time to read, but I like at least having a place to remember what on earth I've read! https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/s0mm3r

"dopamine is a chemical, not a virtue" A long read I won't soon forget: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/02/american-loneliness-personality-politics/681091/?ref=DenseDiscovery-339

I meant to re-post this for #GAAD! This article by @dadederk.bsky.social is a great reminder of many truths about doing #accessibility work: focus on systems, not short term goals, be persistent and resilient, and work w/ a network/community however you can! https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2025/

Nothing could have prepared me for the pure, unfiltered 90s joy of finding a Ren & Stimpy reference... AppKit's Pasteboard Programming Guide. Happy happy, joy joy, indeed.

Another awesome year of #accessibility announcement from Apple! www.apple.com/newsroom/202...