April 10, 2012

1. Last week was a whirlwind for the Edge family. We drove Thursday to Harding to see our daughter Haleigh perform in Spring Sing. (Spring Sing was neat!)

            Friday morning we drove to Dallas for the LEADERSHIP TRAINING FOR CHRIST convention. Our daughter, Abby, drove part of the way on the interstate. That was good experience for her and she did well. I would say that was the highlight, but maybe I should give that honor to being stuck for an hour and a half in traffic on I-635 in lovely Richardson.

            LTC ended Sunday morning with a worship service, and we returned home. I usually have to return home on Saturday night in order to preach Sunday. This year I was able to stay with my family, which I appreciated greatly.

2. I came across an intriguing summary of Walter Isaacson's recent biography on Steve Jobs this week. It was from the April 9 issue of FORBES; I found it interesting to see the business magazine’s take on Jobs’ impact on our culture:

 
 
The Macintosh which begat the home computer revolution popularized graphical user interfaces.
 
Toy story another Pixar blockbusters, which opened up the miracle of digital imagination.
 
Apple stores, which reinvented the role of a store in defining a brand.
 
The iPod, which change the way we consume music.
 
The iTunes store, which saved the music industry.
 
The iPhone, which turned mobile phones into music, photography, video, e-mail and Web devices.
 
The App Store, which spawned a new content–creation industry.
 
The iPad, which launched tablet computing and offered a platform for digital newspapers, magazines, books and videos.
 
The iCloud, which demoted the computer from its central role in managing our content and let all of our devices sync seamlessly.
 
And Apple itself.

The Apple II, which took [Apple cofounder Stephen] Wozniak's circuit board and turned it into the first personal computer that was not just for hobbyists.

            To me, the most intriguing statement was that the iTunes store “saved the music industry.”

3. This also from FORBES—this week’s issue. Now that Steve Jobs has passed away, Amazon's Jeff Bezos is being called America's number one CEO. The magazine credits this to his obsession with customer service.

            There are symbolic actions performed everywhere by Bezos to drive the mission of customer service home to his employees. In every meeting Bezos leaves one chair empty. Symbolically, the customer sits there.

            Another interesting tidbit, of the top five officers in the company, none earned more than $175,000 a year. I would suspect they were given stock options, although I did not read this.

4. I have been listening to the recordings of Jacqueline Kennedy (Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis), which her daughter Caroline recently released to the public. These consist of several hours of oral interviews conducted and recorded by the historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

            The idea was to obtain an oral history from Mrs. Kennedy while the events of her husband's life were fresh on her mind. The recordings began in early 1964, just a few months after her husband’s tragic assassination.

            I have listened to a few of the sessions, and I cannot help but be initially impressed with the normality of Mrs. Kennedy as a human being. Time had not interspersed itself between the assassination and the point where Mrs. Kennedy would become a cultural icon. Consequently, it is easy to spot the humanity of Mrs. Kennedy, her husband, and their family.

            Retrospection also offers perspective on just how sudden President and Mrs. Kennedy rose to such a prominent place in the spectrum of world events. In 1951, a young college graduate named Jacqueline Bouvier met a handsome young senator from Massachusetts. Ten years later, at the age of 32, she was the first lady of the United States.

            She was a first lady with enormous influence. Reflecting upon her commitment to the restoration of the White House, I was able to gain new insight into what an achievement that was. To bring groups together and to raise funds for such an unusual (at that time) endeavor was an enormous achievement. However, coming from a young housewife and mother, who was committed to her family, I consider this to be an amazing accomplishment.

            I look forward to hearing more of these recordings.

5. Yu Darvish gives me hope for the Texas Rangers’ pitching staff. Joe Nathan gives me doubt. Darvish recovered last night from a horrific first inning to pitch well. Nathan has thrown one pitch this year—a home run ball, which won the ball game for the Chicago White Sox. Tonight, Naftali Feliz makes his debut as a Ranger starter. This will be an important start.