Last week, the business world was stunned by the sudden resignation of Steve Jobs as CEO of Apple. Here is a link to a revealing interview with John Sculley, former Apple CEO, who speaks to Mr. Jobs’ genius, the twin pillars of design and marketing, and the remarkable bond that Apple has with its end users.

As a measure of the respect Mr. Jobs holds within the business community, Apple’s stock price closed 5% lower after the announcement. Stock price aside, those of us in the advertising and graphic design fields—not to mention anyone with an iPod, iPad, iPhone or Macintosh laptop—owes a debt of gratitude to the man for making our jobs easier and our lives that much more enjoyable.

Apple has always held a special place in my heart. I had the rare opportunity to work on the account for four years earlier in my career. Working under Steve Hayden (the author of the famous 1984 television commercial for Macintosh) I was part of the team that helped introduce the Macintosh SE and the concept of desktop publishing to the world.

Just as the computers were created with the user in mind, so was the advertising. For both, excellence was expected. Thirty-second TV commercials became mini-movies combining humor and emotion to make a human connection between man (and woman) and machine. With its clean, minimalist approach, current advertising for Apple is still as elegant as the products themselves.

I am not the world’s most technological man. In fact when my art director partner, Mike Campbell, and I first encountered the SE, it took the two of us to operate it. As a copywriter, I worked the keyboard, while Mike maneuvered the mouse. But we were both transfixed by the elegant design and incredibly intuitive nature of the Mac, both heavily influenced by Mr. Jobs.

It wasn’t long before we could point and click, cut and paste. Mike and I brought the first Macs to the BBDO office in New York, forming our own private little network, producing scripts, storyboards, and black and white layouts. We marveled at the computers’ portability, being able to carry the 20-pound units around in backpacks. I still have my SE from back in the day, its screen smaller than that of today’s iPad.

Steve Jobs has shown the world what could be done with unwavering vision and devotion to the end user experience; John Sculley maintains that by building perception you build reality. Both men have given us valuable lessons in how to approach our profession. For those lessons, as well as listening to playlists on my iPod and texting my kids on my iPhone, I join the millions of other Apple users when I say, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Kristen: Prepare for the VMA’s by watching recaps of the most classic VMA moments- as reenacted by some special actors.

Gary G.: Having spent a week on the road surviving east coast earthquakes, avoiding oncoming hurricanes and (shudder) focus groups, Spike likes being back on terra firma among family and friends in the Great Pacific Northwest. His heart goes out to those about to feel the brunt of Irene.

Tiffany: So, I’m a big NASA nerd and I have been following the Mars rover’s for years. RIP Spirit

Willem: After testing their highlining skills up in the Mont Blanc massif, crazy french dudes highlined the highest twin towers in Paris.

Rachel: This bridesmaid was unable to make it to her friend’s wedding, but with an iPad and FaceTime, she was able to attend, digitally.

Natasha: Excited for my camping adventure at Blue Lake in Eastern Washington this weekend!

Erin: Nothing could make me more excited about heading into the weekend than seeing this:

Gina: Sad, but touching story that shows just how powerful the bond between people and animals can be.

Tim: Tim likes Steve Jobs. Or more accurately, he likes his contribution to technology.

As Steve Jobs steps down from Apple this week, it really does mark the end of an era. I was in Pioneer Square in the mid-eighties when a designer friend showed me his Apple computer, either an SE or a Plus, don’t remember. It was incredibly crude by today’s standards of course. But it allowed one to do graphics on a computer. Not very well at that time, but it was a beginning. I remember poking fun at it, but that changed soon. Then just around the corner, literally, a company called Aldus introduced PageMaker, and desktop publishing was born. Almost overnight, typesetters started to disappear — an industry that has been around since Gutenberg (over 500 years!). Within a year I had my first Mac. It was a IICX, and it was the most amazing thing I could imagine. Having just got out of art school and learned the traditional way of creating art, the timing couldn’t have been better for me. Adobe entered the picture  with Illustrator and Photoshop, and gave unbelievable creative life to the Mac.

We’ve stuck with Macs through thick and thin, even when the company was supposed to die in the late 90′s. It was Steve Jobs who came back, after being unceremoniously shoved out in 1984, and literally saved the company. One of the first signs of his resuscitating the company was the introduction of the cute and colorful iMacs. The iPod then revolutionized the music industry in spite of aggressive attempts to dethrone it (remember Microsoft’s Zune, the “iPod Killer”?). The iPhone reinvented the smartphone industry, and the latest smashing success is the iPad, which I absolutely love. (My wife thinks I love my iPad more than her. I don’t.)

This is of course a super-abbreviated version of the story. And even accounting for all the attention and adulation Steve Jobs has gotten in the business and entertainment communities, I don’t think history has even begun to really register the profound impact this visionary has had on the world. And for me, it’s been exhilarating and rewarding to personally experience it.

Sharan: Dogs are awesome

Kristen: Cutest bear attack ever.

Jason: This is random, I realize… but I find it funny not that this guy got in a car crash… but that Mr Bean can afford a McLaren F1; which I believe are multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Rachel: Spending a lot of time in front of your computer? Check out this great infographic- Healthy Eyes in a Digital World!

Gary G: Spike likes it when the Mountain comes out to play.

Natasha: For the iPhone users:

Tiffany:
Sam Hopkins was a Texas country bluesman of the highest caliber whose career began in the 1920s and stretched all the way into the 1980s. Along the way, Hopkins watched the genre change remarkably, but he never appreciably altered his mournful Lone Star sound, which translated onto both acoustic and electric guitar. Hopkins’ nimble dexterity made intricate boogie riffs seem easy, and his fascinating penchant for improvising lyrics to fit whatever situation might arise made him a beloved blues troubadour.

Filmmaker Les Blank captured the Texas troubadour’s informal lifestyle most vividly in his acclaimed 1967 documentary, The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins. As one of the last great country bluesmen, Hopkins was a fascinating figure who bridged the gap between rural and urban styles.

Charlie: Everything you needed to know about making S’mores.

John: Ice Cream! A great place to visit is Molly Moon’s in Seattle, when the lines are short (Capital Hill, Wallingford, and truck locations). Here is a quick video of my son doing his happy dance after indulging in an ice cream cone.
BTW, my wife is going to kill me for providing this video, and I’m the one grumbling in the background because I thought I was only taking a picture.

All was eerily quiet in the trees surrounding Hodgson/Meyers this week. No bold rat-a-tat-tapping of beak against bark, no joyful high-pitched punctuated birdcalls. Spike, our agency mascot and red-crested pileated woodpecker, fell silent in honor of a fellow flier.

Eddie, the proud, statuesque bald eagle often spotted perched on lampposts along the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, met his demise when hit by Metro bus on the morning of August 2nd. Spike wasn’t the only member of the H/M team affected by the eagle’s passing.

“I was devastated to hear the news,” said Senior Account Manager Gina Drake. “No matter how crazy my day may have been, I always felt better seeing see Eddie on the drive home.”

Added fellow 520 commuter, Senior Writer Gary Graf, “There was something reassuring about having Eddie watching over us all. They say angels have wings. I’d say sometimes feathers, too.”

As is standard practice when a bald or golden eagle dies, the feathers will be sent to a repository in Denver for distribution to Native American tribes.

While saddened by the sudden loss, Spike and the rest of us at Hodgson/Meyers are grateful for the grace and grandeur that Eddie bestowed on us all. Soar, Eddie, soar.