43

The Mall at the World Trade Center in New York City, April 2019.

💔 RIP Notorious RBG. God help America.

🛫 I miss America right now. I wish I could jump on an airplane and arrive in New York City about six years ago. Alas, 2020 has given some really strong evidence that time travel isn’t ever possible. Or, if it is, it was discovered in an era so far from this one that nobody thought to try to fix this part of timeline.

🐶 So, I distract myself with other things.

📱 After a few days of removing almost the apps from my iPhone’s home screen, save for the 4 at the bottom in the dock, I really don’t want to add anything back that’s not a widget. I’d rather swipe right and launch the app out of the App Library than add any more boring do-nothing icons to my home screen. Widows Phone’s Live Tiles had this right a long time ago. Now, if only we didn’t have to wait a year for this feature to come to the iPad.

⌚ I really like the handwashing timer in the latest version of watchOS. While I remember being coached to wash for longer as a kid, as an adult I’m sure that I’ve averaged way less than I’d care to admit. The feature is totally seamless, kicks in automatically, and gives that extra encouragement to go at least 20 seconds—which feels 5 (or maybe even 10!) seconds longer than I would spend normally.

😷 The six-month wall in any crisis is always difficult, says Dr. Aisha Ahmad. “In my experience, this 6 month wall both arrives and dissipates like clockwork. So I don’t fight it anymore. I don’t beat myself up over it. I just know that it will happen & trust that the dip will pass. In the meantime, I try to support my mental & emotional health.” Good advice and I’ll do my best to take it to heart, especially since this six-month wall comes as the 2020 political campaigns round into the final stretch.

📅 Speaking of politics: 43 days. Tick tock.