Apple Season (Thank You, Steve Jobs)

Posted by Elizabeth Devereux

Of course, it is apple season in the mid-Atlantic–brisk air and leaves changing color bring the gift of crisp, ripe apples ready to be picked.  With yesterday’s news of the passing away of Steve Jobs, who died at the age of 56 of pancreatic cancer, I’m going to take some time to honor Jobs, co-founder of Apple.  I’ll honor him first by thanking him for some of the life-changing technologies that I use daily, technologies that would have both startled and delighted my grandmother if she had lived long enough to see them.

* Thank you, Steve Jobs, for letting me carry an office in my pocket.  Making a living as a violin teacher and freelance musician means that I am a constantly itinerant worker.  My office is my iPhone, containing my calendar with all of my students’ contact info, keeping track of my ever-changing schedule, allowing me to email myself or parents reminders, and allowing me to study the music I have to learn while traveling from workplace to workplace.

* Thank you, Steve Jobs, for letting me carry a music library of over 1,000 songs in my pocket.  As a musician, listening to music is work for me (however enjoyable).  Music on my iPhone helps me listen both to “work” music, as well as completely recreational tunes while unwinding after work.

* Thank you, Steve Jobs, for helping to greatly reduce the amount of time that I spend being lost in my car.  I take pride in my good sense of direction–so much so that I never used to look up directions or carry many maps in my car…the cost of my hubris was spending many hours lost while driving.  In all honesty, I actually enjoy getting lost and finding my way again–I see so many parts of cities, towns and countryside that I might never see otherwise–but it does take a lot of time.  Now I have the choice of finding my way quickly with my iPhone, or exercising my “sense of direction” muscle.

How has Steve Jobs, or how have his inventions, changed your life?