What a week

Wow, what a week it's been. So much happening and no time to blog. Work has had me tied up all this week which delayed me making a very important post. I think Lotti is gonna forget what I look like soon. So time being precious i'll try to keep it short but there were few things I saw to talk about in between one of the longest weeks of work ever. 

Swimming 

Me n Lotti made our 1st visit to the gym we joined last week. We just used the pool. It's a public pool which might turn out to be a pain in the ass. People who go aren't really serious swimmers or even aware of other people in the bloody pool! It isn't hard is it? I stick to my lane and you stick to yours. Nope, for some reason they feel they have the right to swim in my lane even though i've been there for the last 20 mins grrr. Think i'll stick to swimming when everyone else is at work or school. Rant over. Having said all that so far i'm very happy with the facilities so far, should be using the actual gym area next week after my induction. Having a gym membership again has given me motivation to get a bit fitter.  

TV

We are now officially into the winter season which is usual perceived as bad news to most people especially us in the UK as it's when the weather turn decidedly miserable. The good news is that TV get's good :). New seasons start to run. I've been watching two of my favourites Castle and Merlin please to say both are off to a good start. I caught the last episode of Dr Who in the week. It was ok, don't think it lived upto the build up it had through the season. It just created more questions. Best episode of the season was the week before last with James Corden. Still loving the show though, bring on next season. 

Gaming

The Battlefield 3 beta has begin for XBL gold member so i've had a few rounds on that. Looks promising, keep a look out on the blog i'll do a mini review erm.. at some point. 

Weather

It was officially crazy weather this week. This time last weekend the weather was the hottest we've seen all year. I even cracked out the shorts, something i'm not really know for, whilst we walked down to Blackpool to watch the final fireworks show of the year. Not a bad show btw but Australia really did show us all how it's done. From a heat wave within a day or two we were hit with some intense storms. I was caught in one on Thursday night. I was driving down the M65, this sky was literally pitch black then all of a sudden I was blinded a massive flash of white light which covered the entire sky. I was sure lightening had struck close to me. The strange thing was no thunder. The light was so harsh in the darkness it took my eye a second or to to re-adjust. Then a band of hailstone came down so hard that I could see past the car bonnet.. weird but very cool ;0).

Strange Happenings

Had the strangest thing happen to me this week. I was clearing out a storeroom at work and came across a stack of photo's. One set was photo's of a night out with the staff of the place I work years ago. I instantly reconised the location in the 1st photo it was Utopia, the 1st Nightclub I worked at. As I flicked through there was a photo of the bar I used to run and would you Adam and eve it? There was a photo of me behind the bar working! mental, I must have been arround 19/20 when that photo was taken. It brought back some good memories. 

Music

New albums i've bee n checking out are the latest from Ed Shernan & James Morrison both are very solid albums. They're both great chillin albums you should check em out. I've also been listening to David Guetta's album. It's a fun album to listen to in the car, especial with the windows down and the volume up. The tracks which are collaborations are by far the best. Check out Nothing Really Matters with Will.I.am, not what I expected but loved it. When you get to disc 2 stuff it gets a little too hardcore for me. 

Iphone 4S

Defiantly the highlight of my week. Apple announced there latest iphone. I'm not gonna talk about it here i'm putting together a 2nd post to put together my thoughts on what we saw. Check out this post where I talk about my excitement for Apple events. 

Sad News

Can't really submit this post to without mentioning the death of Steve Jobs after battling cancer for years. I've said all that I need to say on this post. But none the less we lost a great man this week. 

Ok, time to sign off, i'm thinking I need to blog more in the week so I don't have to write such long post at the end of the week. I'll see if time permits, watch this space. 

Have a good week

G

Peace out Steve...

Once I a while a great man comes around and changes things in such a profound way without you even realising it. Early Thursday morning I woke up earlier than normal and as I opened my eyes my phones screen lit up with a notification, the words simply read 'Steve Jobs has passed away'. A little selfishly my 1st thought was I hate it when i'm right :o(.

The inevitable

The writing had been on the wall that this day might come sooner than anyone wouldn't wish for, the biggest clue was when Steve stepped down as the CEO of Apple just a few weeks ago. My thoughts at the time were sad. Sad that the inspiration for all my favourite tech would no longer be at the helm of the company that produces them. But more than that, I was sad for Steve himself because I think anyone who knew anything about the type of man he was knew that he would only step back when he absolutely had to. Putting the clues together didn't take a genius. I remember thinking it must be hard when your life has been building a company from which you can create not only amazing products but products that change the world in countless ways and now you have to simply step back he clearly lived and breathed Apple to the point where Steve and Apple were one in the same. Against my better judgement i'm going to be more honest than I probably should at the risk as sounding like a sad act to some people. When I read those words I went straight to the laptop to check if this claim was legitimate, I didn't want this to be true but it was. As I looked through the various posts reporting this tragic news on just about every news sources and blog I realised they were not ony reporting but they all were morning the loss. It was then I realised it hit me harder than I would have ever expected. I was truly upset about the passing of a man who I didn't even meet? Never before have I ever really felt the passing of a public figure. 

Life

I've been trying to put my finger on why and the answer is lots of reasons. Without even realising it Steve has been one of the most influential people in my life in subtle and not so subtle ways. The man's life is an inspirational story he created the Apple computer in his garage, from there he re-invented the computer by creating the 1st small computer thus creating the PC for the home. Of course you now know almost no home is without. Famously Steve enticed, the then head of Pepsi Cola, John Scully with the most quoted phase of Steve's life "Do you want to carry on making sugared water or do you want to come with me and change the world?" Steve's tenacious approach and unyielding needed to follow his vision saw him ousted out of his own company! At this point some of us might call it a day there but Steve didn't stop. He went on to found his own computer company NeXt, creating a machine on which the program we now know as the world Wide Web was written on. Steve was brought back into a now struggling Apple, but not before making Pixar the leader in film animation. Back where he belonged he not only re-invented how we listen to music through the invention of the ipod but the music industry as a whole through iTunes. It would take a little time to catch on but downloading music was the way forward. Not done there Steve then showed the world something that will again effect the lives of everyone whether you buy it or not... The iphone. Look around at the phone market today, then market leaders Nokia, Blackberry and Motorola are not the names on peoples lips as they skip to the phone shop. Any new popular phone follows the same model laid out by the iphone, high contrast touch screen, good quality camera on the back, VGA camera on the front, capable of surfing the web in all its glory and a very intuitive UI. Surely Steve can rest easy now? Nope, changing the computing world once is not enough, Steve brought to the world his final legacy the ipad. People didn't get it at 1st, they thought it was just a gimmick, then they got there hands on it. Now, whether they realise it or not, this way of computing is the future, large desktop PC's will become, to use Steve's analogy, the trucks of the computing world doing the heavy work of industry like rendering movies or graphic design. Smaller devices like the ipad will be used by the majority, no keyboard or mouse just one screen and a finger easy peasy.

Legacy

Steve has clearly been preparing for a time when he would no longer be around. Over the past couple of years he's been molding the senior management team into something that will continue to deliver what he started. They've been tested on the stage as well to see if they bring the magic that Steve does in his product announcements, an essential part to the Apple marketing strategy. Ramping up his efforts he hired the dean of Yale School of Management Joel Podolny to oversee his internal project Apple university. This will ensure all new Apple employee's understand the culture and value Steve used to create his company and live his life. Steve took to the stage one last time earlier this year at WWDC to announce IOS 5.0, that same day he showed the world his last gift to Apple computer it's self, the new Apple campus affectionately know as the spaceship. This will be a place that will define Steve's vision and inspire all that see and work within it's curved glass walls to design and build something magnificent. Even though we know Steve has done everything he can to leave us and his company in the best possible hands to make his visions live on, I can't help thinking that in future products to come, that little extra bit of attention to detail that has made Steve a part of each of his products, will be missing. It's often something we can't put our finger on but what sets any other product apart from an Apple product. I truly hope I'm wrong, there's both something sad and impressive in that thought.

Influencer

Steve has influenced me not only in my personal life with his various cool tech and gadgets but in my professional life too. He's a testament to the idea that it's not about going to university and towing the line and fitting in, it's about having faith in yourself and your vision no matter how crazy it may seem to people. The video above of Steve giving a speech at Stanford University puts across far more poetically and simply that life is about doing what you love. A philosophy I believe in whole heartedly though i'm sad to say not one I follow perhaps as much as I should. And lets not forget there's much to learn in how to run a business regardless of what that business may be. For example thanks to his shrewd marketing, carefully planned out product releases and an ability to have people on the edge for their seats for a product announcement Steve can/could create wild speculation, mass hype and desperation without realising a single detail before an Apple event day. I've asked the question once and i'll ask it again, name another phone release that has people camping outside of stores for weeks and queues for miles on launch day just for a phone? Genius in every sense of the word.  

Thank you

I'm frustrated writing this blog post because I know no matter what words I write they wont do justice to Steve's accomplishments but before I sign off I just want to say to Steve if you can see me typing into my macbook with a heavy heart..

The world before you came and the world you left are completely two different things. It's perhaps the finest honor that the way I like most people learned of your passing was using a device you created. You left us with a new way of living and left me and countless other inspired to go out into the world and do what you love. The world really is a better place having had you in it. Hopefully I can be half the man you were. The people you have influenced and the things they do are all your 'one more thing.'

Without even realising it Steve Jobs to me was a real living hero that I've sady lost before I could fully appreciate that fact.

Thanks for reading, hopefully whether your an Apple fan or not you can appreciate the man who will now become a legend. 

G