I was never conscious of Apple computers and Steve Jobs until the 1990's. My son, L.D. was on the computer at the age of three. I remember him banging on the keyboard and crying in frustration when it wouldn't do what he wanted it to do. Over the years, he and his friends were on the cutting edge of the computer age, and he became my guru (and still is) of anything computer related.
I decided to get into computers more seriously when I was sculpting in stone and was frustrated with making models in clay and then trying to recreate my sculpture in stone. I contacted a brilliant graphics designer, Mark Weinberg, now Principal Design Consultant at Amdocs, who had a small design studio/school, and took lessons from him. I decided to start a company, Anigrafix, which was comprised of a school of computer and graphics design, website development and marketing, and computer graphics, and Mark was my partner. My son, L.D., who was a young teenager, was already developing computer games and consulting with a major game developer who found him on a Compuserve forum and building IBM clones with his friend, Ben, another budding teenage computer genius. They worked for me at Anigrafix and were my web masters and helped develop websites. I learned at the time that a lot of graphics designers and people in the publishing industry used Macs, as did several of my good friends, including the brilliant photographer, Harry Zeitlin, but we ended up using IBM clones at Anigrafix,
mostly because the Macs were more expensive and didn't support some of the software we were using.
I never gave Apple much thought until I got my i-Pod (I have the Classic). I leave it in my car because I like to listen to books on tape and taking it with me when I shop so I can listen to my favorite music. I think I have almost 70 gigs of stuff on it, and I even take it with me when I travel and pick only rental cars that have the hole to plug it in.
A couple of years ago, my son convinced me to buy my I-phone. He knows I am not the swiftest person in the world when it comes to technology, so he reassured me that, even though it would take me a while to adjust to it, I would love it, and I do. I don't go anywhere without it and will probably upgrade at some point. I am really excited about Siri in particular.
I stood in line with my walker and pain pills just three days after my back surgery to buy my i-Pad and I don't go anywhere, including the bathroom if I am going to be there a while, without it. I have a desktop computer and a laptop, but I love to read in bed and have my i-Pad next to me when I am watching tv, in case I need to look something up or check my e-mail. I know why it was one of Oprah's Favorite Things becuse it certainly is mine. I am always looking at the newest apps and games and since I am a news junkie, I love having the latest news and blogs at my fingertips.
I am also a huge fan of Pixar and animated films. My life would have definitely been less rich without all of their wonderful feature films. My personal favorite is WALL-E.
I will miss Steve Jobs. It is sad to lose such a creative genius and visionary, but it feels more like losing a member of my family.
If there is a hereafter, it would be nice to imagine Steve up there redesigning Heaven.
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