An Apple Reflection

My first Apple product was a lime green iPod Mini.

My mom, her co-workers, her boyfriend, my best friend, and I, had spent the better part of two or three days listening to the radio in Denver and waiting for the contest to win the Mini. You had to be the 25th caller or something along those lines - and so, we decided we'd make up the largest possible percentage of those callers: the law of averages, if you will.

Then it happened. One of us - I don't remember who - was the lucky caller and won my mom the iPod Mini. Now, she didn't want the little digital music player because it was cool or trendy - she wanted it because it came fully loaded with Volumes 1-14 of Studio C Acoustic recordings from her favorite artists. KBCO 97.3 knew just how to get my mom excited. And, because all she wanted was the music - I ended up with the Mini, inscribed on the back with "Studio C Pod."

The amazing thing? It contained 14 volumes of music in a device the size of a small wallet. And I still  had room for more.

The advent of the iPod revolutionized the way I listen to music. When I dropped the Mini one-too-many times by 2006, my mom and I strolled to Ultimate Electronics and bought an 80GB Classic iPod. I wanted black but they only had white stocked. For some reason, Captain Jack Sparrow was on the box. I also purchased an iSkin, which I think was the OtterBox before the OtterBox.

In 2008 we purchased my first MacBook Pro, again revolutionizing how I compute. In 2010, I treated myself to the purchase of an iPad a couple weeks after it was released. You could say this is when I really didn't look back - later in 2010, I got an iPhone 4. And upgraded my MacBook Pro to a newer model in April of this past year. The Apple Store here in Tulsa is like heaven in some ways. The best part is the classic iPod is still kicking with 75GB of music. It has legitimately been at my side, in my car, or within reach for about five years.

I know it. My family knows it. My students knew it. I am an Apple fan. Understatement.

Yesterday, Apple announced the iPhone 4S; I watched the entirety of the Press Conference this morning and tweeted "I am consistently blown away by Apple." I often tweet about the beauty of my Apple products and to say I'm blown away by them is also an understatement.

Steve Jobs died today.

His products changed my world in a lot of ways. His inventions changed the world. The only people Apple has to top when they come out with new products is themselves  - and they do it every year. I could go into why, but Apple users will know this. And non-Apple users will stick it to the man as long as possible until finally -- just wait -- they give into the sleek, the shiny, the fast, the powerful. Apple has cornered the market in so many ways.

And it's because of one man's imagination, drive, relentlessness. Jobs saw possibilities and he didn't let boundaries limit him. As such, I can carry my music, my calendar, my phone, my note-taker, my camera and millions of other things, in my pocket. I don't even need a whole purse.

Apple stands on its own, but would be nothing without Jobs. Heck - the presser yesterday had five guys do what he did in those conferences. He left some big shoes to fill.

Two last things:

The decision to buy an iPad was purely luxury. It was hype. It was vanity. I admit it. My roomie and I went to the Apple store and I dove right in without regrets. Similarly, at the same time, my friend Tam in Connecticut, whom I taught with in New York, also bought her iPad. We literally purchased our tablets within minutes of each other in different parts of the country, without any planning beforehand. And immediately after, tweeted and texted at each other.

Thus, we have iPad twins. Just another fun part of my life that exists because of Apple. I name my Apple products - as any good person would. Tam and I pondered this together as our products were obviously twins. We decided on Jaylynn and Jayden. And to truly ensure that they were known as twins, they had to have the same last name. And that name was Jobs. Jayden Jobs. A minimal part of Steve Jobs' legacy, but it's true.

The other thing is: Steve Jobs died after a long battle with cancer. My mom, who brought me so much more than Apple products while also supporting my iPod fantasies, also lost that battle two years ago. Cancer is a viscous, horrible disease. Like Steve Jobs, my mom fought it like a true champion - even when her spirits were down, she kept pushing through. In both cases, cancer won. It just goes to show that nobody - a genius, wealthy inventor or a humble, working class single mom - can escape the grips of a terrible disease, can lose an epic battle, can fight inevitability.

What it also shows is that we are all capable, no matter what the universe has in store for us, of leaving the world with something better than when we arrived. Steve Jobs left revolutionary technology and an inspring, no-holds-barred legacy. My mom left her wisdom, her strength, her passion, and selfless spirit.

She also happened to always remind me that it's ok, every once in awhile, to spoil yourself and that doing even better when you have the best of the best around you. And this is where the legacies of Steve Jobs and Paula O'Malley collide - in the forms of touch screens and tablets, clouds and state-of-the-art operating systems.


First-world luxuries, yes. Whole-world changing technology, yes. The idea that one person can change lives - whether it be through raising a daughter or selling a computer - that's power.


~MJ