Today is Wednesday, August 24th

Saddened by the news today that Steve Jobs has resigned from Apple.  The news caught me by surprise and brought tears to my eyes.... wonder what it means for Steve?  Apple will survive... will Steve?  I wish him well and hope that he has found peace...

I did 3 tours @Apple over a period of 15 years starting in '88 and leaving for the last time in '03.  At one point I'd been approached about running search reporting directly to Steve.  I declined to even interview cause I'd just met T and I knew I wanted a life with him more than a career at Apple.  Instead much later, I was meeting the twins in the cafe prior to interviewing for a contract recruiting gig... extremely hung over cause I'd spent the prior evening in a restaurant in Palo Alto with a bunch of head hunters eating dinner & drinking Grand Marnier as we watched the befuddling Bush-Gore presidential election results.  We drank out of frustration and fear.  Hence, I was blind the next day as I stood in front of the Miso soup trying to decide what would help clear my head, I was jostled out of the way... Steve was trying to access the soup... as he helped himself, Mary Ann introduced me & told him I was looking at coming back to Apple.  When he asked me why I wouldn't; I replied that I didn't think they could pay me what I wanted.  Steve said it was a good time to get stock options and I said I guessed he'd know that better than anyone.  He finally left as I took a big breath... and took a leap... back at Apple yet again, the perennial retread.  Di reminded me and recounted one of her memories... lots of folks recalling Steve memories..

One more sticks out about the power of Steve.  On my last tour, Steve called a communication meeting and we witnessed his genius once again.  As Steve explained that profit sharing was going to be eliminated, you could have heard a pin drop except for the  engineers calculating what that translated to in real dollars... and then, Steve introduced the original iPod... available immediately to all employees at a DISCOUNT to thundering applause!!!  I was standing in the audience waiting for a backlash (I was acting HR Director for Software) and instead the assembly erupted in laughter and applause!!!  Only Steve Jobs could have pulled that one off and I shook my head in wonder....

Lots of business starting to roll back in at a nice steady pace.  I'm getting to spend some quality time with my honey as we walk around our wonderful neighborhood...  Protein shakes, fresh organic veggie juices keep us going...

Life goes on and I'm reminded constantly that there's nothing so constant as change...
Good luck Steve and thanks for the memories!!!