A Life Changer for Certain

This might seem a rather odd post, but I'm certain there's many of you who read my blog who share similar feelings . . .

I was always the smart, brainey school child who excelled in geeky subjects.  I can't really call myself a computer nerd or a computer geek really.  I honestly didn't fit the mold (I have one totally self proclaimed computer geek offspring - so I know from whence I speak -  lol!).  Although I studied computer science for three years in college and changed majors just a few credits short of my degree in 1985 (with absolutely no regrets) after discovering (while doing programming, expecting my second child, with a main frame large enough to seriously fill my house, in a room kept at about 40 degrees so the computer didn't crash, in languages such a FORTRAN, ALGOL, COBAL and seriously rudimentary BASIC) it wasn't really the career for me.  If I was going to be up in the middle of the night making money and fixing something, I wanted it to be people - thus the late career change to nursing.

But honestly computers has always been my first love.  And you know how you never forget a first love. . .


(Sorry Norm - it's totally an inanimate object and could never TRULY compare to what I feel for you but it's up there okay??)

The kids were raised sitting at a computer from the time they could push the buttons.  They developed their fine motor skills by learning to navigate a mouse on the screen (and yes, my ATARI ST and Commodore Amiga utilized a mouse back then, long before the PC had a mouse option . . .), they learned their brilliant math skills by earning money and spending it at Donald Duck's Playground. (Ha! Their math skills quickly outgrew my own :)

A favorite family time was gathering to explore the island of Myst.  We sat spellbound for hours puzzling together and collecting clues,  frequently scared to death by what we might find around the next corner.  Too timid to play unless we were all in it together, we squished on top of laps so everyone could see and contribute their puzzling advice.

And while we have been both a PC and a Mac over the years . . . and have personally related to all the "I'm a PC, I'm a MAC" commercials while laughing hysterically each time a new rendition appeared, and though we still have both PC and MAC computers - can honestly say that the innovation and forward thinking of Steve Jobs and Apple computers is unrivaled.

A fellow twitterer put it this way -

"The Older U R, the more U realize how much Steve (Jobs) changed our lives, his influence & creative genius R simply unparalleled".

So - if we had a flag . . . it would be flying at half-mast today.

 I thought it appropriate to include  this post highlighting the innovations we enjoy because of his brilliance.






Steve Jobs had no formal schooling in engineering, yet he's listed as the inventor or co-inventor on more than 200 U.S. patents. These are some of the significant products that were created under his direction.

• 1976 Apple I - Apple's first product made in small numbers
• 1977 Apple II - one of the first personal computers available to the masses
• 1983 LISA - commercial product line
• 1984 Macintosh - making quality desktop publishing available on a home computer
• 1986 Pixar - bought Pixar, fixed it up and sold to Disney for $7 billion
• 1989 Forced out of Apple, Steve created NeXt computer, which later created a popular web browser
• 1998 After returning to Apple, stopped their slide into oblivion through the iMac an easy to setup computer with simple internet access.
• 2001 iPod - the first successful digital music player
• 2003 iTunes and the store making digital music available legally to the masses, now the largest digital music retailer.
• 2007 iPhone - it's influence is evident in every smartphone anywhere.
• 2010 iPad - a whole new concept of computing now wildly popular, innovative and productive.

I'm thinking it would be quite a different world out there about now . . . without his entrepreneurial influence.  Yep - I do think it would

(And I'd be stuck doing all my fun work on my boring PC . . .)