reading steve jobs

as all of my facebook buddies know, i'm reading walter isaacson's steve jobs bio. as a disciple of the religion of apple, i figured i should get to know my god a little better. as i was chatting away with cyndy about it on facebook, i looked down and noticed this rather a fitting scene on my desk - iMac, keyboard, the bio with steve's serious face on the cover, sabin's iPhone, an iPod touch and a 160GB iPod, and a postcard from google - so i took a quick instagram photo of it with my own iPhone.

i was a little bit worried about reading this book, because i kinda already knew that steve jobs was a bit of a volatile person and well, an asshole. i didn't want to ruin my love of the products created by his company by knowing more about it. i think it's why i let the book sit here while i read 4 cadfael mysteries - i was putting it off. happily, it doesn't seem to have put me off my beloved apple products. tho' i am slightly put off isaacson's dry, lifeless, chronological prose, the subject alone is compelling enough to keep me reading.

i think what i'm most struck by (and perhaps envious of) is the milieu in which the ideas steve had arose. he was truly in the right place at the right time. of course, he also had the right brain and what looks like the right sort of mental illness, but the fact that he was adopted by a family who lived in silicon valley just as it was becoming silicon valley and that he grew up there in that environment, surrounded by other computer-interested nerdy people and with access to mind-expanding drugs - it has resulted in the devices on my desk today. and they have changed the world. the confluence of circumstances and people is breathtaking. what if his mother hadn't given him up for adoption and had dragged him off to wisconsin? would there be an  today? or would silicon valley be in madison?

i'm also struck at how CEOs in the computer industry rise and fall - it's a volatile world and fortunes are made and lost overnight and companies change CEOs like we change shoes with the seasons. it's interesting that jobs, tho' fabulously wealthy, didn't go in for the giant house compound like bill gates or the yachts like paul allen and larry ellison. he didn't end up a philanthropist either, but my feeling is that he felt that was as much an ostentatious display of wealth as a yacht would have been. and oddly, it seems that he wasn't really in it for the money as much as he was for the thrill of designing the perfect, world-changing product. and he definitely did that.

he might have been a real jerk, but he had admirable drive, focus and dedication as well as vision and a solid sense of design and the details. and he created truly fantastic products that seriously bring me joy on a daily basis. it will be interesting to see if he left behind a company that is strong enough to continue on the revolutionary path without him.

macbook airs have feelings too

the macbook air was a bit jealous of the iPad's case.

so i made one for him too.

or is my macbook air a she?

now i'm not sure.

in any case,

it's one well-dressed computer.

i love sewing with leather. 

it talks to you much more than fabric does.

and you really have to listen.

iMac, therefore iAm

have i mentioned that my new MacBook Air finally arrived? i really must thank the norwegian tax authorities for giving me back enough of my money that i could buy this beauty. i can once again hold my head high in the airline lounge.

make do and mend or how's that not buying stuff in 2010 going?

darning socks

during our visit to the open air museum, husband and i were struck again and again with just how few belongings people had. it appeared that most people had a large chest and a bed. other furniture - stiff couches and uncomfortable chairs - reflected that people didn't spend much time sitting indoors. they were undoubtedly too busy working outdoors or in the kitchen. and everywhere, on long, enviably-patina-ed tables there were handmade projects - sewing, knitting, mending. and it made me think of the book i've just read - make do and mend - which is a reprint of the leaflets that came out in England during WWII. leaflets on how to make your fuel and clothing coupons stretch as far as possible - saving money and reworking clothing to extend its usability. very interesting reading.

newspaper-lined shelves

i thought a lot as we went through the museum and i coveted heavy mixing bowls and those fantastic wooden dough raising troughs, about how people had good quality things and used them for years. and i remembered, with a bit of shame, my vow not to buy extraneous things in 2010. funny that, in what i decided would be a year of not consuming, we've bought a house, a car, a horse and an iPad and i may just have accidentally ordered a new 13" macbook air, which i'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of next week. it's HARD not to consume.

community knitting

i fear, after reading make do and mend, that what it would take for us not to consume is another period of rationing. we have to be forced not to do it, because our entire society is built around the notion of consumption - temptations abound around us. and i'm vulnerable to those temptations. the whisper of a lightweight, fast, not to mention gorgeous, laptop was just too irresistible for me. so, suddenly finding myself with the money for it (thank you norwegian tax authorities for giving me back a nice chunk of my money), i was utterly unable to stop myself from ordering it immediately.

knitting basket

i would truly love to get to the point where i am able to resist such temptations, but i fear as long as i have the disposable income, i will be tempted. and i will fall. this time headlong into a gorgeous, state-of-the-art macbook air. i just wish i could fall into a darning basket a little more often.

* * *

and check out my contribution to the window project

wordless wednesday: or iPad worship

canon AE-1 - xpro expired fujichrome 400

same photo via ArtStudio for iPad

grateful tuesday: because it's been awhile

it's been far too long since i did any posts about gratefulness. a mild depression over huge change and upheaval (even if self-chosen) in our lives surely intervened - changing home, part of the country and work all at the same time is stressful, even if it's what you want. but i feel it lifting. and even tho' the kitchen i have to live with for the time being (flaky (if adorable) architects and building permits take time) continues to depress me (and cause my continuing absence from domestic sensualist), i am coming up for air. i can feel it. interestingly, what's triggered it today is sabin's morning fever, which caused me to stay at home with her today. waiting on her, running to the store for the cottage cheese she was craving, drinking tea together and watching an entire afternoon of BBC Lifestyle programming gave me a sense of well-being that i could scarcely remember. (note to self: remember this.) and all of that has filled me with a desire to express gratefulness...

i'm grateful to lisa of lil fish studios for our recent swap. i sent one of my painted feather stones and she sent me this gorgeous feather stone of her own. very different from mine, yet a sister of it somehow. and an immediate treasured possession. and i'm ever grateful to trinsch for getting me started on the feather stone thing in the first place.

i'm grateful for being published - in an art book by hong kong-based artpower publishers (and i'm grateful that it finally arrived today) and even more grateful for the amusing asian translated subtitle of the book (because who doesn't love different color shades that serve as prevalent colors on the sock). but on the inside is a whole beautiful 8-page spread of my photos of my beloved blue room (along with a whole lot of other inspiring artists that i will share soon). and that just makes me smile.

i'm grateful for the creativity of my child. she creatively wrapped up the blog camp berlin presents today. and yes, i'm also grateful for the upcoming blog camp berlin.  the kid learned how to make these pretty boxes at school (thus i'm also grateful for the danish school system) and taught me how to make some today as well. and even if i do say so myself, i'm pretty pleased with what's inside.

and thank odin for that vintage scale, which seems to be where i take all of my photos of late.

latte. i'm pretty grateful for latte. and when it's accompanied by a tall hyldeblomst (elderflower) beverage and enjoyed in the sunshine at a gorgeous marina, all the better.

but today, i'm most grateful for an encounter i had with the folks at the apple help line. back in february, through the apple.dk website, i ordered one of those big, giant 1TB My Book Studio external hard drives made by western digital. i was in terror of losing my 50-some thousand photos after spilling water in my MBP and having issues with my iMac (now solved, thankfully). i got it and hooked it up, but never really got it properly set up because it kept giving me a strange message that it was going to shut down because it was too hot after i had it on for about five minutes. i never did anything about it at the time because of the chaos of our move, but today, i finally called about it to see if there was anything that could be done. and would you believe that without argument or questions into whether i'd dropped it into the bathtub (for the record, i did not), they said they would send a new one out to me by courier immediately and collect the faulty one? so tomorrow, i will have a new 1TB WD My Book Studio external hard drive. now that's service. and a big part of why i love apple.

what are you grateful for today?

next steps

i didn't really think that much about how i'd feel when the house was sold. and although the paperwork isn't all signed and agreed, we have an offer and it looks like we can agree to it. so it seems that for all intents and purposes, it is sold. and i feel at once excited and happy and eager and a bit sad and wistful. and wondering how it will all fall into place.

it seems that newly white hallway did the trick.

* * *

strangely, my iMac went all weird this evening and i'm in the midst a total reinstall. thank goodness for backups on the Time Capsule. tho' i'll lose the photos from the past couple days, since i turned off the backup three days ago, when i was tired of the noise one day. not sure what went wrong, but i'm hopeful that all will be well when the reinstall is complete. lesson 1: back up your computer! lesson 2: make sure you have a macbook pro along with your iMac so you're never computerless. :-)