Life as an Extreme Sport

Category: …and everything else

Mostly everything else in a brain-academic way.

Think Different

...and everything else


“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

I Still Bleed Six Colors. RIP Steve Jobs

...and everything else

There are moments when you reflect back on your life, and recognize those moments that changed everything after. For me, one of those moments was working at Apple in the late 1990s. It was my first “real” job, and it taught me a lot – both professionally and personally. That job gave me the skills that would propel me through a decade in the software industry, allow me to work while pursuing my undergraduate degree, and still serves me every day.

More than skills, though, working at Apple taught me about creativity and passion and channeling it all productively. It taught me that it’s not only okay to chase dreams, but it’s necessary – it’s the only thing that changes the world.

When I got home from work today, I changed into my yoga pants and my purple thermal shirt, which is warm and comfortable and several sizes too big. I bought it from the Infinite Loop Apple store on clearance, way back when I worked there, and it’s my go-to. And I completely forgot I had it on, until I went to wipe away the tears that surprised me as I read the news that Steve Jobs had passed away, and saw that ubiquitous Apple logo on my sleeve.

Apple was 90 days away from going bankrupt back then. Was much worse than I thought when I went back. I actually asked people, ‘Why are you still here?’. And the answer was, ‘Because I bleed in 6 colors.’
-Steve Jobs, on his return to Apple

Rest in peace, Steve Jobs. And thank you, so much, for changing more than the world. Thank you for changing my life.

NOOOOOOOOO!

...and everything else, Food (In Defense of), life and living

I just had a horrible realization.

I’m talking “Luke realizes Vader is his father and screams” horrible realization.

You see, as a kid, I always baffled my family – and my pediatrician. I didn’t really blanch at taking NyQuil, although I’d pitch a fit at Robitussin. No one could figure it out,… until now.

As an adult who had done adult things and was thus rewarding herself for being an adult (trust me, this is a big deal), I decided to make a rootbeer cocktail for lunch. Mmm alcoholic rootbeer and nachos! What could go wrong?

Well, skipping over the whole carbonated water proving it was carbonated by exploding all over me, both cats, and the kitchen, what went wrong was this: I realized that rootbeer? True, genuine, close-to-original recipe rootbeer?

Tastes like NyQuil.

Now! Hear me out! This was more than sipping my rootbeer alcohol and fizzy water while looking at the NyQuil bottle and realizing they tasted indistinguishable! Oh no! I also immediately, upon realization, opened up the two original-y sarsparillas I had in my fridge, as well as a cane sugar rootbeer.

They all taste, vaguely, and to various degrees, like NyQuil.

Damnit.

(Apologies to those who see this twice, but it was too funny to not post publicly.)