Thanks, Steve
Yes, that's an Apple laptop amongst the clutter on my desk. I'm sad that Steve Jobs is gone. In the early '80s, when I was back in college as an adult student finishing my long-delayed Bachelor and then Master degrees, I used to write my papers long hand, putting down ideas in any order, then literally cutting the pages apart with scissors, taping them back together in a logical sequence, then polishing and laboriously typing them. At that time, I was typing approximately 10 words per minute. You can imagine my delight when a much younger fellow student introduced me to my first Macintosh computer.
I was initially skeptical of this whole computing biz, so she started me on their "MacPaint" program where I played with the tools and learned to love the funny little square Mac with the smiley face that greeted me each time I turned it on. Then, she showed me word processing where all that laborious cutting and pasting, and corrections, were done with a few simple keystrokes - it was truly a revelation. I was hooked.
I bought the top of the line Mac at a huge student discount, hooked it all up by myself in an hour, and was learning programs that first day. That computer lasted 12 years and saved my ass in more classes than I care to remember. It made me look good. Oh, occasionally, I would get the "bomb" screen and lose all my work, but it was reliable for the most part, easy to use and even a little fun. Finally, one day as I was emailing a friend, the screen went dark and a little wisp of white smoke wafted out of the back.
That was the first of several Apple computers I have owned and loved. Currently, I'm enjoying my MacBook Pro for all the same reasons and more that I loved my first Mac. And for Christmas last year, My Beloved gave me Paddy, my iPad. I'm an Apple lover from 'way back.
So, when I heard that Steve Jobs' screen had gone dark and his little wisp of white smoke had wafted out, I was sorry in a very personal way. There will be lots written about him this week but I needed to add my two cents' worth. Thanks, Steve.
posted by Zoomie at
8:53 AM
5 Comments:
Well, lookie here.
Yes, I nearly wept at the news of Steve's death. I believe in a good, necessary death, but I felt like I had lost someone who was *mine,* like John Lennon.
Nice post, dear.
Nice to see my Cuz Z back on line.
56. Hard to imagine all he might have
contributed given another few decades.
Cookiecrumb, several people in the last few days have likened Steve Jobs to John Lennon. I think either of those guys would have been flattered.
Jann, yes, 'way too short, but what he had was choice.
Great post and great memories. I remember struggling along with the clunky IBM PC's that UC used back in the 80's. Then, our department got Macs, the first little boxes. I turned my nose up at then, and then, I began to use them. There was no bad - elegant, worked right out of the box, easy to use. No more difficult to remember DOS or computer crashes that took ages to fix. I was so sorry to see him lose his fight with cancer. He did a lot in a short time but I wish that time with us could have been longer.
Nancy, it was the ease of them that won me over - I had been struggling with the computers they used in the Bio department of my college and getting so frustrated. My first little Mac was like a soothing friend.
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