Passages

Many things changed this weekend.

The seasons, for one. It rained and snowed most of the day Saturday, and the temperature dropped significantly. This sort of thing happens every year, but it always seems so sudden.

And even though we knew it was coming, it was still a shock to hear that Steve Jobs had died. There are plenty of other websites to tell you what a visionary genius he was, and how greatly he influenced the world...so I won't repeat those observations here. But I will say that despite my animosity toward much of what Apple has done in the world, I have always been a big fan of Mr. Jobs. I'm not sure why I've always admired him when I have just flat hated many of the things he's done. Perhaps it's because he was just such a force for change--and he was not afraid to keep pounding through failures until he got what he wanted.

Does anybody remember the NeXT computer? It was something Jobs came up with when he was away from Apple, and it was the coolest thing I had ever seen at the time. It was hideously expensive, and nobody bought one, so the concept never became a player in the marketplace. But the current Mac (and current PCs for that matter) owe much of their evolution to the innovations that Jobs put into inventions that failed. I admire him for that.

(I'm still really struggling with my new Mac, though. For the life of me, I cannot grasp why people think it's easier than a PC. It's not. I can't find the menus for half the stuff I want to do, and it's only after hours of reading cryptic help files that I find out it just plain doesn't do the other half of the stuff I want. And I don't own an iPod, don't want an iPhone, and don't intend to spend the money for an iPad anytime soon. Yes, they're all über cool...but I long ago accepted the fact that "cool" and "life-enhancing" are not necessarily synonymous.)

Anyway, I offer my condolences to all of Steve's friends and family, and I hope he is richly rewarded in his next life for all of his accomplishments in this one.

And then there's Al Davis. He also died this weekend, but is likely to spend eternity in an entirely different place than Mr. Jobs. While I think it's probably unfair to label him as "worse than Osama bin Laden" (as some have done), I will say that my reluctance to speak ill of the dead will render me silent on the subject of his passing.

The biggest change in my own small personal corner of the world is that my son has finally moved away from home. Tanner has packed up his car and gone to Seattle. No one is sure how long he'll stay there, but his intentions are to get a job and learn to support himself. This is big news, indeed, and will change my life in ways I'll be describing over the coming weeks. He's a sharp fellow, and talented in SO many areas--I know he'll succeed. I am really looking forward to observing the process.

It'll also be interesting to see how he handles living in the "Depression Capital of the World". I suspect it won't bother him a bit, as he has always been rather oblivious to the weather. It's far more likely that the people will drive him crazy. There's a lot of Canadians there, you know.

And not that this has anything to do with anything, but when I arrived at the pool for swim practice on Sunday, a hot air balloon landed in the parking lot at the Peak. It passed over my head at a height of about 15 feet. And while I knew that it would remain aloft until well after it had left my airspace, it was still a bit freaky to find myself beneath it--engulfed in the shadow of the silent floating monstrosity. Such things must've scared the crud out of primitive peoples back in ancient times. But it really looked cool, and I love that whuffing sound it makes when they fire up the burners. Anyway, having a balloon pass over my head as the seasons change and people move on...well, it made me think.

I might have to take a balloon ride myself one of these days. A person only has so many opportunities to experience the richness of life; perhaps it's time to start reaching for something new -- something beyond what we've known before. I'll have to think about that.

In the meantime, have a great day...and always watch the skies!