I'll admit, I procrastinated. could not find time to prepare my presentation. So, since I was talking about the use of music in Dialectical Behavior Therapy and it has pretty been what I have lived and breathed for the last 3 years of my career, I kind of wrote it off as being a no-brainer.
A week before the presentation, I realized I had a projector, but no earthly idea about how to connect it to my MacBook Pro. As fate would have it, on the same day, The Incredible Hulk did something to my iPhone which made it impossible for me to turn it on Silent. I called Apple Care and asked them if they knew how I could fix it. The person on the other end was extremely helpful, but was unable to fix my phone through a series of syncs and resets. He suggested I make an appointment with my local Apple store to see if they could do something to help me. No big deal. I had to ask them a question anyway.
I went into the Apple Store app on my iPhone and was able to make an appointment for later that day.
When I got to the store, I checked in with a gentleman who confirmed my appointment on the iPad he was holding and set me off to speak with another guy. This guy toggled the switch on my phone a few times, declared it "broken," and paged someone in the back to bring up a brand new, replacement iPhone for me. Just like that. No questions asked.
I purchased a $100.00 bundle with my iPhone that came with Apple Care, a car charger, and an expensive case. Having Apple Care saved me the $200.00 it would have cost to replace the iPhone that had been Incredible Hulk'd. As he checked me out, I asked him if he knew what kind of connector I would need to use a projector for my presentation. Again, he paged someone in the back (after checking to see if it was in stock on his iPad) and soon someone was handing me a small white cord. He used some sort of contraption connected to an iPhone to scan my credit card and I was on my way. The whole thing (including the transfer of all of my contacts) took about 30 minutes.
I created my entire presentation with impressive transitions and animations easily through Keynote and was even able to create a Quick Time video in case I ever wanted the presentation to run on its own.
The day of the presentation arrived and while I was sitting at work, I realized I hadn't brought my guitar in order to perform the actual music part of the presentation. Kind of important. You know. Since it was a music therapy presentation.
So, I pulled out my (new) iPhone, downloaded the song on iTunes I had planned to perform live, sync'd it with the iTunes on my computer, and seamlessly added it to the corresponding slide of my presentation.
I know some people think technology has made us lazy. I might even be one of them. However, sometimes - technology is really freaking cool. Sometimes it makes a working mom's life really easy when she procrastinates too much cannot find the time to work on a presentation. Technology does things for us that used to take hours upon hours in a matter of minutes (which is really helpful when we really don't have those moments to spare.)
I know people that are kind of snobby fanatical when it comes to Apple and their products. That they have to own everything the company produces and always are scrambling to get the next thing as soon as it is rolled out in the big white stores. I'm not really that into it.
However, I think there's a reason why people (like me) believe so wholeheartedly in these products.
Products that don't only make my life easier, but that have given me the opportunity to create, connect, learn, and - in this case - teach. My presentation, this blog, hell - most of my day wouldn't happen without the use of an Apple product.
Yesterday, we lost the visionary, the inspiration for the products which make our complicated lives a little more simple. I only hope to leave a fraction of the legacy that he left behind when it is my turn to go.
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| Stay hungry, stay foolish. Steve Jobs, 1955-2011 |
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