Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

I’m curled up on my bed with my MacBook in my lap- a modern, streamlined little gem of a machine that holds more promise and power than sci-fi novelists could have dreamed up. Next to me is my sleek, heavy, sliver iPod, where what used to be shelves of disks in clunky plastic cases now can slip in my pocket and be accessed by gliding the tip of my finger across the smooth glass. And nevermind the iPhone, where we can instantly look anyone in the world face to face from the palms of our hands. My kids are sitting here, watching a Pixar movie and laughing with glee for the 100th time- at least.

It’s not hyperbole to say Mr Jobs changed the world. I was late coming to the Apple party, despite having grown up right down the street from Apple Headquarters, and despite knowing the Jobs’ from simply living in the same area. But I have become a devotee with the fervor of all converts- the beautiful, minimal, well-designed products that are simple, lovely and have taught us about intuitive manipulation- blurring the line between man and machine. Apple has been on the cutting edge of everything for decades- everyone else, let’s not fool ourselves, is playing catch-up and copy.

When I was a kid, my neighbor and I used to go to Pixar seminars in the foothills off of Page Mill Road, where the first shop was. They would hold open house nights and you could pop in and check out what they were working on- I can recall seeing the bluelines for the lamp looking at the audience. Yes, that one. I never knew what a big deal Steve Jobs was- he was just someone who would talk about cool stuff. He wouldn’t have known me though- I was just another person in the neighborhood- and he actually chewed me out once for misunderstanding something he said to me. I’m sure I’m in good company there.

One of the things I had somehow missed were the sage and profound things he had said over the years. Social media has been inundated with quotes and youTube links to talks, speeches and quips he knocked off. TED has some particularly good ones. I’ve been touched at his sincerity and the searching soul he clearly was- along with a lot of other things, as are we all. I think its pretty clear he was a genius- and well, geniuses don’t really function on the same plain as the rest of us mortals. I find myself grateful for his own brand of crazy, and I hope someday to be worthy of being considered a rebel, a troublemaker, one of the crazy ones. Thank you Mr Jobs. Godspeed.