It’s becoming a tradition once a month to meet with the Djembe crew and (re)learn the beats of my ancestors.

I still need to order a djembe for myself (I’ve put it off this holiday season due to presents for everyone else) but the community seems to enjoy “volunteering” me to play (they prefer active participants over spectators).

Heh! Just as I was blogging this, one guy wanted me to use his professional set!

Enough blogging! I’m being asked to jump in. Fortunately there is no one to take a video of my awesome performance.

I saw this upon Google+ (which I sadly spend more time upon than every other social hub–combined!) and after 30 seconds (more like 10) I’m going to add this to my Christmas list.

It’s made by 3 Man Chess (obviously) and unlike a few other ugly prototypes, this one is elegant and functional. I’m wagering whether it’s worth the $50 to purchase the game (shipping included), although I may hold off for now as I’m waiting to see if the owner is willing to create an iOS (iPhone/iPad) app. Android too.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Unless you’re apart of the faith known as PETA, I hope you consume enough food, drink & fellowship today, as well as thank the cook(s) who prepared the food!

As for me I just finished digesting some delicious steak, although I need to grab some turkey lest my brother consumes it all!!!

As far as reasons to be thankful, there would be too many to list here, but I am thankful for my family and friends who have made my life 10 times more interesting!

As far as geek thanks goes, I’m thankful for:

• WordPress (and Page.ly)
• Evernote
• Remember The Milk
• Google+
• Twitter
• Pandora
• Netflix (ignore the haters full of hate)
• Gmail
• Instagram
• Apple
• Every iOS developer under the sun

Also despite my disaffection for him, I’m thankful for President Obama for killing off Osama bin Laden helping restore America’s future into space.

Well I have to go now! The turkey is calling me!

Image Credit: iGourmet

For the first time in my life I’m about to witness something I thought I’d never see in two hundred years (or rather my life time): The US government (albeit through their own stupidity) is going to implement automatic spending cuts to help curb the deficit (the latter which has now surpassed $15 trillion).

I know some of my progressive and conservative friends see the idea of a drastic cut across the board as evil, but honestly when are we going to start tackling our deficit? I’m tired of the future looking gloomy because one side wants to tax everyone to death while the other wants to lighten everyone’s load with no one doing anything about the debt-o-pocolypse that threatens the future of everyone.

While the automatic cuts are not a permanent solution, it’s a start in my book.

So I finished reading the biography of Steve Jobs yesterday, and I’m trying to process a book that highlighted the good, bad and awesome of America’s third greatest CEO (note: I’m biased, but I consider Elon Musk of SpaceX and Robert Bigelow of Bigelow Aerospace to better. And yes, I am a space geek! ).

Before I proceed I’ll let you know that there are spoilers in this post, so if you haven’t read Steve Jobs biography (and you must if you desire to own your own business in the future) then stop reading right now.

And if you’ve read the book, you’ll understand why I titled this post as it is (and no I will not explain it as I want you to read the book).

Simple is better

Steve Jobs had an uncanny ability to not only find out what people needed before they knew they needed something, but also reduced what ever tech he was creating down to its very essence.

I was surprised by the fact that he thought about the iPad before he envisioned the iPhone, and how he considered creating a music iCloud app for Android, but decided against as he didn’t want to make them happy.

I also loved the fact that he wasn’t extremely vain with his wealth, choosing instead to live in a simply elegant home rather than a supersized extravagant mansion.

iFail

If there was one area of his life I found to be truly appalling, it would be how he treated his oldest daughter.

Ignoring the fact that he didn’t even want to pay child support (even after DNA testing proved that the girl was his), he pretty much ignored her for the first decade of her existence. When he did acknowledge her, she was not exactly given the respect that she deserved.

I did find the fact that he threw tantrums to be hilarious, and while some of my friends viewed Steve Jobs as a manipulative liar (due to his “distortion field”), he seemed to only “play the opposition” when negotiating deals (although to Steve’s credit he was much more truthful, even if he was a little blunt).

Full of Awesome?

If you ignore Steve Jobs personal life and his love of cussing random strangers out (like that ice cream lady), Steve Jobs was a great man who changed the world for the better and saved the music industry from extinction.

While some things about him were perplexing (like the fact he declined to have surgery when he first discovered he had cancer), I can honestly say that the world would be a much duller place if he had never existed.

Although he will never win any awards for World’s Greatest Dad (note: his wife however should win the award for World’s Greatest Mother), he will go down in history as one of the greatest CEO of the 21st Century, with only Elon Musk and Robert Bigelow eclipsing him (as the 2 latter individuals are trying to expand humankind upon other worlds).

Translation: Superhero it is!