Brewhaus progress and Steve Jobs

I had hoped that my first batch of beer would have been brewed today, but it wasn’t meant to be. A few last minute glitches made for two trips to Leavenworth, one to Wenatchee and two to Plain Hardware. I got everything I needed, but it was getting late, so I decided to brew tomorrow.

The sink is installed, the plumbing is all hooked up, and the brew equipment is all assembled and ready to go. This afternoon I fired up the burners for the first time. I don’t know how many gazillion BTU they put out, but Holy Cow!!! Gallons of water will be boiling in no time.

The news today is filled with tributes to Steven Jobs and impact he had on our society. I remember lusting after the Apple II when it came out, but the cost was totally out of reach. I did play around on a couple of them that were owned by wealthier friends, and they were pretty neat, but I didn’t see any real use for them other than playing games.

When we moved to St. Louis in 1983, we had no computers in the office, but we did have the most modern teletype (fax machines hadn’t been invented yet) of the time. Within a couple of years, we did get a couple of IBM PC’s in the office, but the learning curve was so steep, I soon gave up on them.

I remember the 1984 introduction of the Macintosh, and I remember the great commercials, but we didn’t get one. Then a couple of years later I went to San Jose to work on a big project with a company there. The project included ten or twelve phases of work at thirty-something tower construction sites. We were teamed up with a microwave radio supplier, and we worked together on the quotation and our presentation. After a week of work, I got our side of the proposal done and proceeded to make a spreadsheet. With paper taped together and rows and columns drawn in with a ruler. Really.

My radio supplier partner was aghast when he saw what I was doing. He said, “Why don’t you put it on the Mac.” I said, “I’ve messed with computers before, and they’re more hassle than they’re worth.” He said, “Try the Mac. You’ll be doing productive work in five minutes.”

More to appease him than anything else, I gave it a try, and sure enough, I was doing productive work within five minutes. I’ve been hooked on computers in one way or another ever since.

That was the power of Steven Jobs. He made the power of technology accessible to everyone, not just the geeks. And he did it more elegantly than anyone else.