About

I’m Sam Firke.  I live in Ann Arbor, Michigan and I make and improve things in my free time; sometimes I write about it.  Here was my my original plan for my blog.

Things I do include:

• Data analysis with open-source software.  I created the janitor R package and still maintain it.  Most of my professional focus these days is on Superset, the leading open-source BI platform.  Like Tableau, but free, open-source, and still a little rough around the edges 😉
• Co-work at the Workantile co-working community, where I serve on the board as Treasurer.
• Go around town on an electric-assist cargo bike.  It’s a delight.
• Mend and create things – I’m active at All Hands Active makerspace.
• Cook and eat plant-based food, sometimes sharing recipes here.
• Write.  I drafted my first novel in 2022.  2023 Sam says: this year I’m finishing it!
• Learn about trees and animals
• Skateboard

As a result, my blogging is all over the place, topic-wise.  My hope is that a few people who care about me as a person enjoy the wide range of topics and others find individual posts via search engines.

In 2021 I began working for the City of Ann Arbor.  In the posts on this blog, and anywhere on the internet, I speak only for myself, not for the city.  I’m leaving up past posts I wrote about Ann Arbor-related topics and policy, for instance, The North Maple Cycle Track.  But going forward, I expect to be getting my fill of municipal thinking & service at work and focusing my personal energy and writing elsewhere.

Elsewhere on the web

I’m on Mastodon at @samfirke@a2mi.social and you can follow me from an account on any Mastodon instance.  Mastodon is like Twitter, except open-source, without ads or surveillance, and (unfortunately) without the user base.  That can only be addressed by making the switch.