Blake Merryman
Blake Merryman
Blake Merryman
A blog that meanders along my path of adventure, creativity, and life.
Latest Posts
I wasn’t sure where I wanted to run this morning so I picked a route that I was excited to run! I’d been hiking on this trail before so I knew to what to expect. The views of the mountains looking west were phenominal. The weather was...
This morning, I made it up to the top of the Dakota Ridge just in time for sunrise for a fantastic view of Boulder and the Front Range. Notes: Take less! I over-estimated how long the run would take me and packed too much stuff in my...
This one was a wild ride: Howling Dark by Christopher Ruocchio . Highlights Fear is death to reason. “And reason death to fear.” “[…] Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. […]” We believe our...
Update 03/14/2024: We made it through 4½ weeks before we got bored with the routine. It was too repetitive. We decided to go a different direction with our fitness routine: a combination of running, climbing, Apple Fitness+, and hiking...
I just finished Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio . This is the first book in The Sun Eater, a space opera fantasy series. I don’t have a lot to say about it right now other than that I enjoyed it. This is the first fiction book...
After 5½ years working on ❤️ healthy things at Apple in California, I’m starting 2024 with a new gig: working on 🥽 spatial things at Apple in Colorado. It’s hard to put into words how difficult this transition was. So many things had to...
A Brief History The origin of the name “chess pie” is steeped in history and folklore. No one really agrees on the exact origins but the most likely explanation is that it is a corruption of the word “cheese”. Chess pie was likely...
I happened upon this benedicto by Edward Abbey while perusing my copy of Campfire Stories: Tales from America’s National Parks . May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your...
In June, Kellie and I flew back to Tennessee to celebrate our fathers, visit friends, and spend some time in Chattanooga. The original plan was to spend most of the week hiking and rock climbing. Unfortunately, it rained almost the...
A not so merry post. In memory of George. June 1, 2015 — April 15, 2023. I lost my cat George in April. Over the years, he’d been dealing with a heart murmor and then late last year he was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. It was...
On this day, I stopped drinking alcohol. This is an experiment to see how it impacts my health. I will likely partake again at some point but I want to mark this day so that I don’t forget it.
Over the pandemic, I picked up wood working as a fun hobby. This is something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time; the act of creating a physical thing is very compelling to someone who works with intangible bits every day. The social...
Living in California during the pandemic definitely has me missing home. I thought it would be helpful to put together a list of my favorite spots back in Music City. Food & Drinks Hattie B’s Hot Chicken Martin’s Bar-B-Cue Joint Five...
Recently, I wrote a series of Swift tips over at my company’s blog . This started out as a simple CocoaHeads talk where I was sharing my own personal best practices with the group. Striving for Smallness Documentation Organization Access...
I’ve lamented about my love/hate relationship with Evernote but I never followed up about my solution to this problem. For now, I’ve given up on my dream of a custom built solution in favor of Bear , a simple yet beautiful note taking...