What’s in My Bag

Last week, I switched from the cute Coach purse my sister gave to me back to my hobo bag I bought at Jule because I wanted to carry a few more things around with me. Well, I got out of my car this morning and realized the hobo bag had reached a brand new heavy. Immediate assessment was necessary, so I took everything out… and took a picture, of course.

Clockwise from top right:

1. Folder of sheet music for SNAP! Performance Productions and the Worthington Chorus complete with pencil. The SNAP! show is May 10, 11, and 12. Worthington Chorus show is June 8, 9, and 10.
2. Manila envelope of photos from my parents’ wedding in 1957. I like to think that “Back to the Future” is based on my parents except this is an alternate world. They ended the time hopping by adopting children and not having Marty.
3. My Moo cards that are based on my Facebook Timeline photos. They’re free from moo.com. Order them at http://us.moo.com/products/facebook-cards.html.
4. Two - $5 Gift certificates to The Candle Lab which I received for using my SBB card on my last purchase. “Dad’s Den” is one of my favorite scents.
5. Business card from service dude at Dave Gill Chevrolet. They have a really nice wait room with an endless selection of K-cups.
6. Business card for Studio Posh in Worthington. Much love for Tatiana!
7. Pen from Wyandotte Winery.
8. 1 quarter, 2 dimes, and 6 pennies. With the great number of electronics in my purse, you can see why I have a whole 51 cents in change.
9. Nikon Coolpix point-and-shoot camera. My Nikon d70 fits in my purse, but it’s too heavy.
10. Samsung Q10 camcorder. I think this is the size of the handle of the first video camera I ever used. Remember the ones had to put the whole VHS tape in?!
11. 2 packets of grated parm cheese from Carfagna’s Kitchen on Polaris which I picked up when lunching with Arnell. Next week, I’ll get a couple of adult bibs.
12. Brachs conversation hearts from Kelli for Valentine’s Day. “I gave her my [glittery] heart and she gave me a pen.”
13. The alien wallet/cigarette case. A birthday present from my sister +10 years ago when we were hanging out in Old Town in Kissimmee.
14. Visine for contact lenses. My eyes have been so dry lately that my vision has been blurry.
15. OPI nail polish – Muppet color Designer De Better. Some people take smoke breaks. I paint my nails.
16. Burts Bees tinted lip balm and ELF lipstick in Berry
17. Heart-shaped box of chocolates from Victoria’s Secret. I guess they want my butt to get bigger so I’ll have to come back for more 5 for $30 undies soon.
18. iPad – The wallpaper photo is of Eric cleaning the windshield on our way back from my heritage tour in October.

(Not pictured: the iPhone, which I took the picture with.)

The heart-shaped box of chocolates is now sitting on my desk at work along with the candies and the parm cheese. I unloaded my whole $0.51 into the tip jar at Starbucks. And, I took out the envelope of photos, so I don’t lose or damage them. Everything else stays.

As Allison from “The Breakfast Club” said, ““Yeah, I always carry this. much. sh*t. in my bag… You never know when you may have to jam.”

Anyone else feeling a little Ally Sheedy? What’s in your bag?

Check out http://www.flickr.com/groups/whats_in_your_bag/ for more… a lot more… and proof that I’m not the only weirdo.

Remembering Steve

The first time I remember seeing an Apple computer was when I was in high school in the early 90s. They were in the graphic design department at a local university. I remember thinking, “I’ll need to learn how to use one of those some day.” Little did I know that it would become my every day.

When I was a flight attendant, over 10 years ago, my mom bought an iMac – the one with the round footprint and the monitor that swivels in all directions. She bought it because it looked cool, and, of course, she bought the “floor model” with all the best of everything in it. Since she was older, though, she found it hard to use. She was used to a PC. So, the really cool looking iMac just sat there.

One day, I took a trip home and began playing on this really cool iMac. I didn’t think twice about how to use. I loved all of the apps. I loved the photo gallery. I loved that I could make movies and DVDs. My Mom loved that I loved it. So, she asked, “Do you want to take the really cool iMac home with you? Oh, and it came with this thing called an iPod. It’s for music.” It was an offer I was pleasantly stunned by, but definitely not one which I could refuse.

I began classes for web graphic design at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. I loaded that year’s Adobe Creative Suite for web designers on to the iMac. I found every CD I owned, added the songs to iTunes and then synced them to the first generation iPod. I remember sitting on my jump seat at the back of a 737-400 listening to my music, and other flight attendants would ask me, “What’s that?” It’s an iPod. Little did they know how something so small would influence their every day.

Ten years later, I woke up this morning, checked Facebook, Twitter, and the weather on my iPhone, grabbed my iPad as I ran out the door, and logged into my .Mac account to write this email to send to rememberingsteve@apple.com.

I have made numerous DVD slideshows and movies with iDVD, edited videos with iMovie, stored thousands of memories with iPhoto, and listened to a thousand or more songs with iTunes. I have also become a strong web graphic designer, and I have the career that I thought I would have when I first remember seeing an Apple computer 20 years ago.

Thank you, Steve, and the family at Apple. There is no technical metric to measure the influence you have had on my life.

Forever Inspired,
~Dianna Williams