The Man Who Changed Everything

It took a full day before I was able to write this.  I spent a good part of the day reading through the stories of people creating memorials, looking at the pictures, and finding myself remarkably emotional about the whole thing.  I never met Steve Jobs, never really thought about who was running the show out there in Cupertino.  But like 300 million other people on this planet, I have part of Steve Jobs with me almost everywhere I go.

Like me, many of you have an iPod.  Or two.  A couple of months ago, I wrote about how Google has seemingly taken over our lives.  As I look back on that now, I think that there needs to be a caveat to that thought.  While Google may own email, web searching, browsers, etc., Apple clearly owns the hardware and our hearts.  Steve Jobs had a vision of simplicity that started in his parent's garage and evolved into a multi-billion dollar organization that has created the most innovative and widely popular device portfolio on the planet.

My first experience with Apple was almost 30 years ago.  I had an Apple IIe at home, and learned the basics of computer use on that first iconic machine.  In my adolescent and adult life, I steered clear of Apple products for many years.  Maybe it was the cost, maybe the fear of having to learn a whole new way to think when it came to interfacing with my computer.  When I got my first iPod in 2005, it was plugged into a Dell Windows-based machine.  Oh, what a fool I was back then.  When my Dell finally decided it was time to join the ranks of expired hardware, I made the decision to jump off the deep end and go Mac.  After quite a bit of hesitation, I purchased my MacBook Pro.  Not willing to completely let Microsoft out of my life, I made sure that I had Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on the new computer.

Within the first ten minutes of playing with my new computer, I was in love.  My worries about learning a new OS?  Long gone.  What Apple had created from Jobs' vision was the easiest, most intuitive user interface I have ever seen.  This device is so user friendly, you can almost feel Steve Jobs himself welcoming you into the fold.  And the look?  I'm sorry, but the brushed aluminum frame beats any laptop on the market today for overall aesthetic.  So why, may you ask, does the email signature from my phone clearly read "Not sent from an iPhone"?

That is one of life's little ironies.  I saw so many emails with the iPhone signature that it got old; like the hit song that gets too much play on the radio.  I was lured by the idea of the Android platform and the fact that it was the new shiny thing on the block.  While that phone has served its purpose, I have had multiple issues with it and have finally made the decision to join the ranks of the iPhone users.  Which is great because with the introduction if iOS5, it will sync with my iPad over the air, no wires needed.

Ultimately, this is not about me.  This is about the extraordinary vision of a man who will be deeply missed.  His guidance and leadership of not just Apple, but of the whole world, will be seen and felt for years to come.  Steve Jobs taught us that it is OK to dream big and make those dreams a reality.  Steve Jobs saw simple, easy to use technology for everyone and through his leadership, he delivered.  For that Mr. Jobs, we offer our deepest appreciation for changing our lives for the better.  You will be missed.

Facebook Status Abuse

So for the one or two people who actually read this random shit, I apologize for failing to keep you entertained for the last couple of months.  For the rest of you, well...

I am a social media whore.  I will freely admit this in mixed company.  I check Facebook on a regular basis throughout the day, and may add a status post of something I find humorous here and there.  I have certain folks that I know are good for a laugh (Joey, Keane, Kristin) and others that are good for exactly jack shit.  Then there are the status abusers.  We all have them, so don't pretend you don't know who I am talking about.  If you think you don't know anyone like this, chances are it's you.

Tell me, do I really care that you were just admitted to the ER for the fifteenth time in the last six days?  Or that once again, you have broken up with the love of your life (whom you have only been dating for six minutes, BTW)?  Why do people feel that they must share absolutely every detail of their pathetic lives with the world?  Do you think that your Facebook "friends" actually give a shit about what you ate last night?

To be completely fair, there are two types of status abusers out there.  As previously noted, the idiots that post every small facet of their daily existence is an obvious one.  But the sneaky fuckers are the ones that just toss up the "FML" or "Wow, I am really having a bad day" updates.  They are just begging for the virtual attention they have no possibility of paying for in the real world.  I am not sure what is more pathetic:  these cries for attention or the morons who actually leave a comment and respond!  "Oh, I'm so sorry!  Call me later!  Love you!"  By the way, I corrected all the spelling and grammar in that bit because you know those people cannot write proper English to save their lives.  But that is another post entirely.

Back to my ranting.  I hate the new Facebook layouts, but one good thing is it is now much easier to block this drivel from clogging my social arteries and choking the life out of my day.

The final offender is the one that you can clearly and easily catch in the act of being absolutely full of shit.  I have a "friend" on Facebook who has taken the status update game to an entirely new level.  In fact, they should win some kind of twisted Pulitzer Prize for "Most bullshit fiction written on Facebook in a six day span" award or something.  This was comedy and tragedy all rolled into one.  The initial post was something about being in the hospital and for "those who didn't know" (read EVERYONE ELSE ON THE FUCKING PLANET) I had a heart attack last weekend.  OK, fine.  Call me an asshole for being insensitive.  But when I first read this I was a bit concerned.  Being a former medic, I tend to take that pretty seriously.  Enter the bullshit factor.  Over the next few days all we read about is the upcoming surgery to determine the health of the heart.  Oh, it's only functioning at 40%, I need to move back home to be close to my family.  Oh, if my heart rate gets too low, I could die.  No fucking shit!  That's what happens to everyone when their heart rate gets too low.  They DIE!  Next post was something about being home from the hospital.  I was shocked to see that one less than 24 hours after the "surgery"  Ummm, I know that I am not a cardiologist, but you don't just get released like that after someone messes with your ticker.  Call me stupid.  Anyway, the back and forth is capped off with pictures of said narcissist at a charity event just three days later and looking just the same as six months before when all was fine.

Maybe this is just some dumb mindset that our culture has these days.  Since I am not actually talking to these people, they won't catch me in a lie, they won't ever know the truth.  I can say what I want, get the attention I deserve and have people pay attention to me.  Cause I know that everyone avoids me like the guy begging for change at the bus stop in real life.  How about this one:  make some REAL friends.  Have a real conversation.  Find people that actually care about you and then you don't have to make up some absurd story about having a heart attack when all you really had was heartburn.