Incredibly sad news hit the creative community and the world tonight.  Steve Jobs, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple, died today.  I know that as I started to watch the Facebook statuses pop up, I was struck with incredible sadness.  The very machine I'm typing this one right now, the very iPod sitting in my car, the computer I use at my new job, things that I feel almost define me, were all co-created by this man.

I remember when I first got my MacBook Pro.  I thought about how I had always been a PC user, and I wouldn't completely stop using PCs, but then I received my Mac in the mail, and nothing has ever been the same for me.  This computer is a major tool in my profession.  I mean for me, it's everything.  I couldn't do what I do without it.  Sure, PCs also have Adobe programs, and you can do the same stuff on them, but not the same way.  There's just something in the perfect design of this computer that literally speaks to a designer.  I'm sorry, but a PC will never do that for you.  Not that I'm downing them.  I'm simply just saying for me, as a designer, a Mac is the only way to go.  Hey, I love that two companies exist battling it out to do the same exact thing.  It's a free market, and a monopoly was broken because of these two companies.  We could all be sitting around on the same product with no competition to make things better for us, so I love them both in their own right.

Anyway, moving on.  The point of this post is simple.  A genius man, who created a genius product (and countless more) died today, and it's extremely sad.

RIP Steve Jobs.  You lived a life most could only dream of.  I'm just sorry that you were taken from this Earth so soon.  You made a mark on me personally, and on millions of other people, that is irreplaceable.  For this we thank and honor you.