Steve Jobs' Words for Living

As a young computer science student in the early 1980s, Steve Jobs was one of the great icons. I vividly remember watching Apple's 1984 commercial launching the Mac, and the impression it made on me. The first home computer I worked on was a Macintosh (a 128k jobbie that you had to switch a floppy disk on a thousand times to do anything) and I spent many long nights in the Macintosh-lined computer lab programming in Pascal and being ever so grateful that we no longer had to program on the VRT screens of the mainframe, or even worse - as our professors reminded us - on the punchcards that loomed in the not-so-distant programming past. Though I eventually ended up working at Microsoft and entering the world of Windows,  I have always been impressed with Steve Jobs' work and his vision.

This speech of his is worth watching (or re-watching) for the insights he brings to the business of life and the wisdom that comes from facing your own death.

RIP Steve Jobs, so few people can truly say they changed the whole world, but you were one of them.

Prayers Needed, Reno Air Races Crash

On my way to the Iron Girl Lake Tahoe triathlon this weekend, the plan was to stop in here at Reno and meet up with hubby who is down here for the Reno Air Races. He works in the aviation field and was at the races with many colleagues. He called me while I was still driving, very shaken up. An airplane in the Unlimited Class (the very very fast, 450+ mph planes) had some sort of mechanical failure, pulled up, wobbled in the air and came straight down into the crowds, about 100 feet away from my hubby. This photo is one I took last year when we were both at the races. You can see how fast and how low these planes are flying, it is truly incredible.

So for those of you who knew I was going to be there, I wasn't, and I'm fine. I'm so very grateful that my hubby is fine too, although I know that "fine" isn't really the word for it. When you see something like that, it sticks into your heart and your mind. The families and the children that were there need all of our good thoughts and prayers as they come to terms with injuries, loss, and trauma.

Another reminder that life is short and what we do today is what matters. Hug your spouse and children a little closer.

My heart goes out to the pilot of the Galloping Ghost, his family and his friends. This is the poem that is most often recited at the funeral of a pilot. May it wing his way speedily heavenwards.

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

— John Gillespie Magee, Jr

Take This Moment

The only time that counts is right now. The plans you have for tomorrow may come, and may not. What we are doing in this moment is what really matters. Hubby's big brother lost his wife this weekend to heart failure. It's impossible to think about - what if the person you love most is here with you today and tomorrow is gone? I can't imagine being in his place, don't want to think about what he's going through and will have to face tomorrow and the day after and the day after. So hug your loved ones close today, and if you can say a prayer for my sister-in-law. She had a big heart and was full of love for her husband, kids, grandkids, and the many animals in her life.

When You're Going Right and God Tells You to Go Left

For this entire season I've been so excited about the Nationals being here in Oregon again next year, finding a qualifying race, and snagging a slot to go. They're usually in June, when a lot of other good races get going, so I called USAT to find out exactly which weekend in June they would be. They're not, in June that is. They'll be in September next year, mid-September. Mid-September as in right smack in the middle of a family vacation that we've been planning for six months already. Not that I'm complaining really, we're planning on taking the kids on a one-month cycling tour of Italy and that trumps the Nationals any day. But still, it's really disappointing to find out that after all that, I won't be able to go after all.

So it seemed rather serendipitous that the same day I found out about the Nationals date change, I got an email in my inbox saying that the local Team in Training chapter is looking for a triathlon coach. It's something I talked to them about doing a couple of years ago, but at the time they didn't have a local group doing triathlons, just running events. It's a reasonable time commitment, but one I might have a hard time fitting in if I was going to have a serious triathlon season on my hands, and also they're aiming to take a team to the Pacific Crest race, which would've fallen right when I thought Nationals was going to be. So it seems as if maybe I'm being shown a different path for this upcoming season. Maybe one that involves less tri-ing for me, and more tri-ing for other people. I've coached people on and off through the last fifteen years, but not in any large-group format, so this would be an interesting stretch.

To top it off, my neighbor died of cancer last night, she is probably only a decade and change older than I am. It's sobering to think of how quickly all that we take for granted here on earth can be gone. This summer she was riding her bike up our hill with a smile, and now she is somewhere else entirely. It seems like a good time to be giving back for me, so keep your fingers crossed that this opportunity works out!