Truer Words: “But mostly, since I learned in a text message from Corinne that “Steve Jobs died”, I’ve been thinking about friends we never meet. People we interact with every day but in a very one-sided way, and how they can be important to us without them ever knowing it. And how it hurts to lose them, even if they were never really there.”
Steve Jobs Memories and Notes
From others:
Scott Adams: http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/1955__2011/
Web comic xkcd: http://xkcd.com/961/
Video of “The Crazy Ones” where Steve Jobs does the voiceover: http://www.loopinsight.com/2011/10/06/steve-jobs-narrates-the-crazy-ones/
More about me and Steve Jobs
I re-read a transcript of his 2005 speech to Standford graduates last night after I heard about his death. I worked with people at Apple from 2004 to 2006 while a product manager for UserLand Software, the company that made the first blogging software, Radio UserLand. I wrote code and traveled to some conferences where I met people that worked with Steve. It was as close as I ever got to meeting him.
Steve Jobs has always held a special place in my personal and professional life. His brand of drive and commitment was something I admired, and in recent years, have forgotten to apply to myself. Like many today, I’ll be remembering stories of previous Apple products and how they affected and continue to affect me.
Without a doubt, I would not be the person am I today without the opportunities and tools that Steve Jobs gave us all.
Wired’s remembrance of Steve Jobs
A link to the Wired review of Steve’s life and career. If you’re just hearing of the news, read this first.
The Passing of Steve Jobs
There are few left who read my weblog–that’s fine, this one’s for me…
Steve Jobs was someone I dreamed of meeting. His sheer force of will was something I greatly admired and I always thought, “if anyone could beat this, he can.”
Like all of our heroes, Steve was human.
To the man I never met, thank you. You made me a better person and you never asked for anything in return.
Cleaning up the stragglers
Things I’ve thought of but haven’t posted.
* I killed my old houseofwarwick.com domain name. I didn’t see the point any longer when I already had stevekirks.com. Plus, I felt like I was stuck with an identity that didn’t mean anything to me any longer.
* I don’t like Facebook and I don’t think I ever will. If you use it and it gives you something positive, then good for you. I’m not a “hater”, I’m just saying I’d rather get an email from you instead of a Facebook update. Put Twitter and Google+ in that heap too. Twitter has changed from what it was into something it had to be. That makes me sad a little.
* I play more Call of Duty on the Xbox compared to Halo–a first in many years. I just traded in CoD: Black Ops for credit towards the Hardened Edition of Modern Warfare 3. I’m actually thinking I’ll rent Halo 4 first before buying it. Seems weird.
* Matt Kerner called me the other day and I haven’t called him back. I’ve been busy and put it off because I want some real time to talk and not a rushed conversation between obligations. Matt, if you’re reading this, I’ll call you Tuesday night next week, OK?
* I sent some CDs home with my parents of jazz music from the 60’s. Shouldn’t that have worked in reverse?
* I’m typing this on a 10 year-old Apple iBook that is refusing to die. It’s a great machine and I’ve thought many times of sending it to the recyclers. I guess it just refuses to quit. I’ve actually thought of replacing the battery and keyboard since both are very worn. The spacebar on the right side in nearly worn through the plastic.
Florida Trip: Day 1 -Takeoff!
This is the first in a series of blog posts about my trip to Florida. I’ll write at least one per day so watch for more.
I don’t talk much about work on my blog. There’s a reason for that: they watch it. Really. Someone in my HR department researched me when I was hired and they’ve had me in a RSS reader ever since. No worries, then. I just don’t talk about work stuff.
My Florida trip is a work trip, and to save the Company some expense money, I’m flying Allegiant Air out of Springfield on a Saturday, coming back on a Saturday. It more than makes up for the extra hotel rooms and meals.
On the plane, waiting to take off. Two and a half hours to Florida!
Birthday Wrapup
My birthday was last Monday and I wanted to take a moment to say thanks to all of the family and friends who made it a good one. Special thanks to Pete and Diana (my mom and dad) for the wonderful grill cover and to Anne (mother-in-law) and Tammy (wife) who helped me get a Kindle. Finally, super duper Uncle Steve thanks to my two wonderful nieces who planned an awesome Star Wars themed birthday party for me in Des Moines. They are still young, so to them, a birthday means a party with a theme. As a 41 year old kid, parties with themes are highly recommended.
A Tale of Two Displays
I now have a second monitor on my desk at home, a 23″ Apple Cinema HD Display from 2005 that my brother left for dead. He kindly shipped me the monitor and I’ve spent the last couple of weeks trying to diagnose it’s problem. As it turns out, the power supply is not healthy. It works, but there’s a catch–you have to short out the ground signal on the cable that connects the power supply to the monitor. Once that’s done, everything is fine. It cost me $30 at Best Buy for the Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter which allows me to connect a second monitor to our iMac.
I have to say, using two screens is certainly luxurious. I saves so much time when modifying and opening documents, keeping one open for content and a second open to edit. Tammy’s going to love it while she’s working on the catalog for the Enamelist Society.
Here’s the bad news: to be safe, we should buy another power supply to replace the aging 90W that Doug sent. Most people who posted on Apple’s forums said that the upgraded 150 supply works and solves the problem without hacking the power supply like I did. That means a $150 purchase–questionable considering you can replace this monitor with a new one from a variety of companies for about $200. For now, things will stay the way they are. If the power supply dies, I guess we’ll decide then.
Thanks Doug!
Birthday Again
So it’s time for my birthday again and I’ve been asked for some ideas. This year, I would like to buy a Kindle, mainly to replace buying hardcover Cisco study books. I’d love it if everyone would get BestBuy gift cards as that would allow me to buy the Kindle and make up the difference on my own. There are plenty of other fun gifts to ask for, but of all of the things I need, the Kindle fits the bill. I guess it falls in to the category–something I want/need but won’t buy on my own–but I’ll probably buy anyway.
I know this sounds a little weird to announce on my blog, but I know many of my family reads this so I’ll make it easy on everyone. I’m not normally a gift card kind of guy, but just this once, I’d like to ask for an exception. OK?
Steve Kirks 