Thank you, Steve Jobs

Last night just before 7 pm CST I learned of the death of Steve Jobs, entrepreneur, visionary and former CEO of Apple. A man who was in the prime of his life at 56 years old whom I'd never met changed the life of just about everyone I know.

My first exposure to computers was in eighth grade (1981) in Mrs. Strain's math class on an Apple II. We did a little bit of programming and from what I can best recall we created mosaics. Big stuff for a girl from a tiny Texas town (West Columbia). In fact that computer may have been the ONLY computer in our junior high school at that time.

Thank you, Mr. Jobs for being a part of that first exposure.

So as I was driving home tonight after speaking at Social Media Club Texas State, I thought about what I'd done in my life that wouldn't have been possible without Job's innovations. Yes, I know he was the end all be all to Apple and there were many hundreds of people who helped their products, but he was the face of Apple to me. And while I have a strong sense of who my savior is and who my God is, I'd have to think that if I leaned toward believing in demi-gods then Jobs would be right up there in my top 10 list.

• It was my iPhone that woke me up via my SleepCycle app.

• I then surfed to check in on what's gone on since I went to sleep last night by checking my personal and work e-mails on my iPhone.

• Later this morning it was my iPhone calendar, synched with my work calendar, that reminded me of a conference call with my team in Palo Alto, CA and Cambridge, MA.

• For our conference call one of my coworkers was having an issue with her computer, so we created a Join Me connection and she gave her presentation via my computer, but because I needed access to my computer at the same time, I simply brought up the application I needed on my iPad as not to disturb our team's call.

• I used my iPhone again to check my e-mail for directions to my presentation.

• Once at my destination, I had some "down-time", so I surfed Pintrest on my iPhone to see what new things had been posted and continued to check in on my office e-mail, answering my manager and coworkers.

• In preparation for my presentation, the attendees were discussing another topic, so I used my iPhone to do a quick bit of research that would be a nice addition to the presentation.

• On the way home I was undecided as the best route home, so I checked traffic on my iPhone to ensure that the route I picked wouldn't have delays.

While I realize that none of this small uses of Apple technologies were all that important in and of themselves, they were all together life altering. My life is easier, my problems quicker solved, my knowledge exponentially increased and all because a man name Steve Jobs was an innovator.

Thank you, Mr. Jobs for never cowering to those who didn't believe in what you envisioned and for being such a joy in my life!