Thank you Mr. Jobs.

I originally wrote this the night Steve Jobs passed.

It was New Year's Eve 1982. I bought my first personal computer.

 

An Apple II+.

 

I didn't NEED a computer. I REALLY didn't know what I was going to do with it.

I was already using a Mini Computer at work called a PDP11/04 which was the CPU for one of the first (if not the first) computer editing systems called "The CMX 340X".

I had learned rudimentary programming (BASIC) in highschool so I wasn't really a stranger to computers. 

Somthing told me that this was something I needed to do. I knew that eventually computers would be commonplace, so I'd better get comfortable using them.

I loved gadgets and tinkering, and being a single guy in Los Angeles on the night shift, it would give me plenty to do during the day. 

It didn't even have a graphical user interface or pointing system (mouse). Just a keyboard.

 

Since then my life hasn't been the same.

Not only has an Apple computer been a fixture in my household since then, it has helped me become the creative person I am today.

I'm not sure I would be in the same place personally, professionally, or artistically that I am today without it having been part of my life.

Mine is just one of millions - maybe billions - of stories like this.

To that end, I thank you Mr Jobs.