Of Steve Jobs, Earthquakes & Hurricanes

This past week has been rife with things completely unrelated to writing. So much has occurred that I felt a blog post was necessary even though Copious Notes is a place I normally talk about what I’m working on.

Earthquake
Last Tuesday began as an ordinary day where we all headed to work and went about our business. Then around 1:30 PM Eastern time, my building shook. To say it was surreal feeling is an understatement. Here in New York we don’t get earthquakes. It’s beyond rare. I’ve lived here my entire life and this is the only time it’s happened in my time on this planet.

It triggered a range of emotions that I am sure everyone else went through: confusion, embarrassment (that it was just me and I was going nuts), concern, and then calm. In the end it was a 5.8 and felt along the entire east coast from Virginia and northward. Luckily there was no damage here and everyone was fine.

Afterwards I realized that a major component of my book deals with an earthquake. If I can take anything from this experience, it’s counting the event as research for the series!

Steve Jobs
If the week wasn’t crazy enough from the earth shaking, we then moved into the news that rocked the technology industry: Steve Jobs announced his resignation from Apple. While this news was out of nowhere, it was neither surprising or something completely unexpected. It was really a matter of “when” and not “if”. It saddened me to know that someone who single-handedly changed the world twice-over was now calling it quits due to his health. I’ve never hid the fact that I’m a big Apple fan but no one can debate the impact that the Mac, iPod, iPhone and iPad have made on the world.

As a creative person, Mac’s are essential to my work and I’d never want to write on a PC or anything else. My Scrivener software is a shining example of how things just work and get you to work better. I know that Apple is a very different company than it was in 1985 when Steve Jobs left the first time but I cannot help but feel a sense of mystery to see if the company I love to love, can continue to be larger than life.

Hurricane Irene
We are only two-days removed since Irene struck the Northeast portion of the US. Luckily I do not live in a flood zone and somehow, by the grace of god we did not lose power. Many of my friends and colleagues were not so lucky. Stories of people needing to evacuate filled my Twitter and Facebook streams while I hear plenty of recounts of people having to pump their basements while purging their refrigerators of everything.

Luckily the storm was on a path that let everyone prepare as much as possible. It hit and we got through it. Preparation was key. That helped a lot of people get through it too. We’ll never be immune from what mother nature throws at us but it’s incredible to see that even when the power is out, people still manage to get connected to the Internet and let us know they’re okay.

So, how was your week? I’d love to know how you dealt with these unprecedented events in the comments.