And may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest...

Oh. Wow. Steve Jobs.
 
He is stardust. He changed the world. And right now, everyone is thinking about how he changed their life. I certainly am.

More than that, I'm sure I'm not the only one who got that lightning jolt reminder of our own mortality. How am I grokking life through the gifts this man gave us? Am I making this world a better place for anyone?

Jobs gave me 21st century tools to help me explore my dreams. I have the capacity to create anything. That is freaking awesome.

Personally, I think he should get the Nobel Peace Prize for hooking us all up.

This man put a phenomenal tool in the hands of my 18 month old grand niece. She gets it. She's learning crazy amounts of stuff on it. It's no big deal to her. She's busy living a creative little life way beyond mere gadgets. (Disclaimer: both parents work for Apple and wisely supervise her use.) At the other end of the scale, it's more and more common to see folks much older than I wailing away on iDevices. Communication tools. That can be used for the common good.

I have a modest history with Apple. I was around in the mid-80's when Apple installed the first computer lab on campus at UT. My first office Mac was a sweet little '88 model with which I administered Princeton Pro Musica while in Jersey. I finally got my very own Mac in '94 Australia. Poured the paradoxical two-year long death throes of a marriage while living in paradise into that tiny box.

Periodically updated Macs were with me through my last, lengthy university career. Tons of writing, editing, photography, Web and information design, learning, teaching. A happy discovery--Apple's education folks are super cool, supportive, and quite generous to educators. Many thanks to those good people.

At long last, I have my dream Macbook Pro, thanks to a righteous parting gift from my (Much Better) Ex, along with the university employee discount. Steve Jobs made it possible for me to have crazy fun banging away at turning decades of dreams into something good for the planet, I hope...while there's still time.

Bon voyage, Steve.