Happy Birthday Steve Jobs, Happy Birthday to you!

Today is Steve Jobs' birthday and I certainly wish him good health. When I learned last month that he was taking another leave from Apple to "focus on his health", I was at a loss for words (as I stated in a previous post), and since that time, I have replayed a video of him making a commencement speech in California (which I included in a prior blog entry that you can view by clicking here). In that speech, Steve Jobs said, "If you live everyday as if it is your last, one day you will be right." I pray that Steve Jobs is not even close to his last day, but my blog post is not intended to dwell on the philosophy associated with such a statement; rather, it is to ponder a reason for the pressure shareholders and influential investors are putting on Apple Inc — a reason which I believe goes beyond monetary concerns. Since I hold no stock in Apple and have very little cash flow in general, my insights may prove to sound altruistic, but please, hear me out:

When life "hits you in the head" with a brick:"Stay hungry, Stay foolish . . . "

The video posted above is something most Apple product lovers have seen. However, in my blog entry of January 18th 2011, I promised to put up a post outside of my regularly scheduled postings, and dedicate it to Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs (2005) "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." (From his speech to a graduating class at Stanford — using a quote taken from Saint Bruno)

Rest in peace, Steve Jobs, you have fought the good fight as many of my readers and colleagues will surely agree.

I was sad to hear of the death of Steve Jobs last evening and so today's post is designed to serve as a moment for my readers and colleagues to remember his great spirit and contribution. Anything that I can say on this mournful morning after Steve Jobs' passing, I have said on my blog in previous posts, which can be found by clicking here as well as here and here. 

With heartfelt appreciation for what Steve Jobs' vision has brought to my life, 
Patricia Youngquist, The Last Leaf Gardener (And also a self-proclaimed dot connector long before I heard Steve Jobs refer to himself in this manner)

Snow Leopard Sparks a Steve Jobs Memory

This past November when I had out of town guests, I was treated to a trip to the Central Park Zoo.

Up until that time I had been enthused about going to zoos as I always feel badly when I see caged animals but after watching an interview (which I've referenced in prior entries including one posted on 12-14-2019) with Jane Goodall where she discussed how zoos can raise awareness re a number of creatures, my attitudes have change.

I have confessed my change of heart within prior entries here on Blogger where I've discussed a number (more than ten) of wild birds (including Black Swans, Parrots, Pied Avocets, a Red-crested cardinal, a pair of Scarlet Ibises, a Superb Starling, a Taveta Golden Weaver, a Victoria Crowned Pigeon, and a couple of White-naped Cranes) whom I encountered during the aforementioned trip to the zoo.

During that visit to Central Park's zoo, I also came upon a Snow Leopard who can be seen in the images atop this entry.

It's Thesaurus Day (but I'm still at a loss for words)

Like the character in The New Yorker cartoon posted above, I try to write a little everyday, but today, I am a bit at a loss for words as I am overcome by the news that Steve Jobs announced that he had to take a leave of absence from Apple to "focus on his health."


I found it bittersweet to learn that Jobs said, "I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can." I also hope you can be back soon, Steve Jobs, and not because of any fear of "consequences" to the stock market that filled yesterday's newspapers. I love Apple too, especially the people who work at the company's store on Sixty-Seventh Street and Broadway (in the Upper Westside of Manhattan), where I gave a presentation (that I blogged about in a previous post). I plan to go into more detail on this topic over the coming week-end once I've learned a little more about the situation.


For now, even though it is Thesaurus Day (given this name because of its founder Peter Roget's birthday— January 18, 1779) and I have access to many words, because of the Thesaurus, as well as the Oxford Dictionary, I am at a loss for words to articulate what I feel about Apple and Steve Jobs, who have meant so much to me — but will post about this on Sunday the twenty-third as promised.

Happy Half Year to You! (PART TWO: March and April 2011

In March, I posted a few entries about my appreciation for the trainers at the Apple Store on the upper westside of Manhattan, and if you'd like, you may refer to those posts by clicking here and here. Since that time a few trainers have left that store, including Tim Larsen, whose doing so was addressed in a comment, made by someone who read a blog posting that I had made this past November.

The iPhone7's "Lightning Jack" isn't a "happy compromise" for Cam, my favorite cardinal.

CAM, THE NARRATOR OF "WORDS IN OUR BEAK"

As many folks know, this past Wednesday, September 7th, 2016, Apple held an event where they introduced the iPhone7.

According to The Week, "the new iPhone model doing away with the traditional headphone jack, forcing users to either use headphones with a Lightning-friendly cable, or go totally wireless."

The Week goes on to say, "It's exactly those wireless ear buds, however, that (Steve) Jobs might have taken issue with. '"Steve Jobs once argued with me about doing wireless earbuds,'''The Verge's Walt Mossber recalled."

And, evidently, Mossberg also stated, "Apple's new wireless headphones, or "'AirPods,'" which run $159, will indeed be annoying to charge."'Five hours of battery life between charges on the new AirPods won't likely get you through a cross country flight.'''

The Week concludes it's report by stating, "Apple's other co-founder, Steve Wozniak, has also frowned upon the company's decision to make such a change to the new iPhone. “‘If it's missing the 3.5mm earphone jack, that's going to tick off a lot of people,”’ Wozniak told the Australian Financial Review in August.The new iPhone will reportedly come with an adapter that will allow traditional earphones to plug into the  new Lightning jack — hopefully a happy compromise for everyone."

The "happy compromise" would not have impressed Cam, who is the cardinal featured in the photograph atop this blog entry. The image was taken by yours truly in my urban (NYC) rooftop garden after I first discovered her ears. The picture is one you may recognize, as I featured it here on Blogger (March 2016), in an entry titled Hearing & Listening. 

An Apple for the Teacher: Celebrating Apple's Variety of Gifts and One Spirit

It has been written that there are "a variety of gifts but one spirit," and while, in this instance, it is the spiritual gifts from God that are being referred to, I would like to equate this passage with a place— a place where there are a variety of gifts and one spirit, and that place is the Apple Store on 67th and Broadway, in the Upper Westside of Manhattan, where the variety of gifts are from the talented people who work there, and from their common spirit which seems to be a willingness to share knowledge. Today I will be "celebrating" my anniversary of one-to-one sessions that I began taking at this location on March 22nd 2010. I heard about the one-to-one program from a man named Orlando whom I met (at that time he was an Apple 67 greeter), when I wandered into the store last March.

Honoring Major Ernest Olds with Reflections on Mustard Seeds and P.O.W. Bracelets

I am not a collector of material things per se; that is, I do not hold on to many things that I don't need, other than emotional scars, which I confess I mull over far too much before I let them go. However, as far as letting go of material things, I am glad that I've kept this amber candy dish (pictured in the photograph posted above this blog entry), which belonged to my maternal grandmother, Clara May Fitchie Melahn, who died in 1987, shortly before what would have been her 87th birthday.

" . . . Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?" (Hmmmmmmmmm, that depends.)

Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind? Many people probably asked this question in the singing of the Auld Lang Syne song as they rang in the New Year a few days ago. 

The answer? 

Sometimes. 

I recall walking up Central Park West sobbing over a broken heart from an unhealthy relationship with a man, when I was confronted by a woman walking her dogs, who cried out to me, "I hope that's not over a man!"

An Apple a Day

The following is a copy of a document that I submitted to Apple.