Steve Jobs’s vision lit the path of my life. Today’s personal computers, not just Apple’s computers, would not exist without his drive and vision. Those computers have accompanied me from childhood, through school, and into my career and my personal life, enriching what and who I am today.

My parents and Uncle Dave bought me my first computer, an Apple IIgs, when I was eight years old. Even before that, I’d spent many hours on the Apple computers at school, playing with Oregon Trail, Lemonade Stand, Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego?, Math Blaster, and Print Shop Pro.

Demonstrating how to make a sign using Print Shop Pro on an Apple IIe led to my first job as an unpaid co-host on a teen-focused local TV show named Fast Forward. I switched to MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 for middle school and high school, but asked for an Apple PowerBook 5300c to take to college (thanks again Mom and Dad).

During college, an ex would only use Windows, so I switched back to Microsoft. By then, I became flexible in what systems I used, finding the commonalities and differences. These were real skills for entering the workforce. Indeed, it wasn’t my history degree that led to a paycheck, but being comfortable with technology. This comfort culminated in an MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) credential for designing and supporting IT infrastructure.

I ordered a 13 inch G4 PowerBook for work in 2004. Its portability and capability—at the time, few small laptops included a DVD burner, let alone easy-to-use video editing software—let me eliminate overpriced production houses for cutting and duplicating a few videos. It was also my first exposure to Mac OS X (sorry Steve, it sounds better as “O.S. X” not “O.S. Ten”), which was sleeker and more stable than the Windows servers and PCs I supported.

Today, I run 4 Horizons on a 2008 unibody MacBook, still running strong after almost three years with a recent RAM upgrade.

And there’s my iPhone 4. It is a phone, but also a communication and information portal, a guide and map when I’m lost, a portable photo album, a way to chat, talk, and email nearly anywhere. This is technology far more advanced than a full-fledged computer a decade ago and it fits in my back pocket. It was on my iPhone, so recently eclipsed by the 4S last week, where my coworker texted me that Steve had died.

I am an IT professional to make my living. I met my partner of thirteen years online on that PowerBook 5300, still sitting in a plastic tub in the basement, and continue to meet people from all over the world via the virtual spaces my devices connect me to.

Apple and Steve Jobs helped nurture a love of technology in me, what it enables people to create, connect, and learn. This is part of Steve’s vision of technology expanding our horizons. He inspired through his words (viewable below) and gave resources and tools so that creative people from John Lasseter at Pixar to millions of designers, writers, and artists could enrich our lives.

Thank you, Steve. Enjoy your well-earned access to all the knowledge of the Universe without worrying about processor speeds or Internet bandwidth or media company contracts.

And for the rest of us? Keep thinking different. Keep searching for work that means something. Keep trying to change the world, not by argument, but by creating and embodying our vision of what the world can be.