Farewell

 

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Isabella, aka Izzie, passed away in the wee hours of Friday morning, Sept 11, 2015 as her fourteen-year-old body suddenly began giving out on her.
 
She was a great cat who loved being around people, which is unusual for a cat (and a stark contrast to my other Persian – who generally only wanted attention on his terms). She was my “lap-kitty” who would curl into my lap when I sat down in a recliner to watch TV. 
 
She always made sure she was in the location of the house – anyone’s house, mine, my folks, my sister, where there was the most traffic. She’d make sure to lay down on a chair or table in the “optimal petting location” to ensure passersby could easily stop and pet her. 
 
The funniest thing, though, is that she wasn’t originally going to be my cat. 
 
Back in 2006, my sister had the bug to get a cat, and she’d always wanted a white Persian with blue eyes. Izzie didn’t have blue eyes, and she was an older cat a breeder in Dallas was selling. The original plan was for me to pick her up (this was late October) and keep her with me until Thanksgiving. I normally went home to Lubbock for the holidays, so I could just bring her home then. 
 
A white cat would have never been my first pick of hair color, but Ozzie’s personality won me over. I took her and my other cat home for Thanksgiving.
 
I left her there with my sister, but realized that I had already bonded with her and wanted to keep her as my own cat. I usually kept two cats around the house, and I had lost a kitten earlier in the year to FIV. I was down to a one cat household, and my cat adjusted remarkably well to Izzie in the house.
 
So, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the negotiations began. I had to scramble to find another white Persian cat in DFW that my sister approved of and bring it to my sister before I could take Izzie home to my house. Luckily, the breeder had a second cat, and we were able to make the swap. 
 
Of all the cat’s I’ve had since being in Dallas, Izzie was one of the most loving cats I’d ever owned. She loved attention from everyone, and she’d quickly purr and stick the tip of her little tongue out to let you know she was content while you pet her. She was loved by everyone in the family, and she will be greatly missed.
 
 
 
 
 
 

RIP Steve Jobs

Well, fuck…

Steve Jobs is dead…

I can’t even begin to express how I feel about this. Numb, really. I know how much of an impact this man has had upon me, even though I have never met him or even had a chance to attend a live “Stevenote.”

If you don’t read beyond this point, please take a look at this video of Steve Jobs giving a commencement speech at Stanford in 2005. It’s one of the most compelling things I’ve seen in a long time.

Steve Jobs 2005 Commencement Speech

It’s so weird to be this distraught over the loss of someone I’ve never met. Yet, unlike so many people, I have at least some inkling of just how much Steve has made an impact on my life.

I know because I own many of the very products he created. I know firsthand that the iPhone is simply one of the best smartphones out there, and it has been and continues to leap ahead of its competition. I’ve experience the “magic” of the iPad. I’m typing this on one of the Macintosh computers I own.

Don’t believe it? There are several sites that have images of smartphones “Pre iPhone” and “Post iPhone”; look at those images and try to tell me that Apple and Steve Jobs have not had an impact on the market.

Don’t believe it? When was the last time you bought a music CD? How long before you ripped said CD to MP3 or some other audio format in order drop onto an iPod, iPhone, or other device?

Don’t believe it? Look at the success that Apple has had with the iPad in 18 months. Apple used this quote in yesterday’s press conference from someone (I forgot who) ” There’s no such thing as a tablet market, only an iPad market.” Look at all of the companies trying to jump on that bandwagon.

I’ve seen how Steve’s influence on others, both meeting people who have worked at Apple and who have gone “indie” and have abandoned the “safe, secure” jobs in order to develop software for these products.

It’s hard to describe. I guess the best way to experience it would be to spend a week at Microsoft’s Tech Ed visiting with people, then go to Apple’s WWDC. Hell, just go to any one of several iOS or Mac developer conferences that have been springing up outside of WWDC.

People at TechEd are there largely because their respective employers paid to send them there. WWDC attendees are people spending their own money, their own vacation time in order to be there. Others are already indie developers, and attending is part of the business, but it’s also a chance to spend time with other like-minded developers both during the conference and after-hours.

Spend thirty minutes talking with these indie developers. Spend thirty minutes talking to developer Mike Lee about Appsterdam. All of these guys have been “touched” by Steve. They don’t want to just make software, they want to make GREAT software. They aspire to make products that live up to the high standards that Apple sets, both through its guidance to developers in documentation, but more importantly, through the amazing applications that they build in-house.

The iOS/MacOS developer community is a great community of people always willing to help others with their problems as well as help encourage others on their own trek to indiehood.

Losing Steve Jobs so suddenly and at such a young age ( or, more relevant, an age that is a lot closer to my own age than I’d care for) makes you wonder what it is that you’re doing with your own life.

I want to follow my heart, but as much as it is easy for someone (even Steve) to say it, it’s not so easy to do. Maybe part of it is simply not knowing. For me, maybe the problem is that I’m not taking the time to stop and listen to what my heart truly wants. Whose dream am I following? Mine? Or someone else’s?

To an extent, I am so deep into this rut professionally that I’ve been digging for myself for longer than I care to admit, it’s hard to see above the rim.

But… I want to get out. I need to get out.

Why? Because that’s what Steve would do.

Thank you, Steve, for everything you’ve done. You’ve found a way to capture the future and put it into our hands.

Stay hungry. Stay foolish.

 

Allergies Suck!

Ugh…

Allergies are the worst. Most days, I can keep them reigned in with a daily dose of Claritin.

Other days are like today.

I spent most of the day at work with one nostril constantly running and the eye on the same side tearing up as well. I joked with my co-workers that I’m “allergic” of the office, but by the end of the day, my nose looks like I’ve spent the day auditioning for the role of “Rudolph” and my eye looks like I’ve been drinking heavily.

Even then, some days I can get lucky, and things will clear up on the way to the parking garage or on the way home.

Tonight, not so much.

Now the left side has gone on break, so it’s the right side’s time to take over. The headache has kicked in and now I’m completely stuffed up, which means I have a long restless night ahead of me.

I know, there are so many greater things that could be wrong with me. There are bigger things out there in the world that I could be thinking about.

But right now, all I can think about is laying down on the bed with a cod rag pressed against my forehead and eyes and hope that I find some way to sleep tonight.

Maybe I am less allergic to Tuesdays…