Well boys and girls, today is a special day. Yes friends, at 10:00am this Saturday, October the 29th, 2005, the Conejo Valley, (what we locals call the stretch between the San Fernando Valley and Camarillo) turned out for the opening of our very own Apple Store.
So, this morning at 9:45 am, I met one Matthew Reithmayr and stood in line… for a store opening. The sad thing is that we were about three hundred people back in line. Matt, who beat me there, informed me that he spoke with the people at the front of the line, and they got there at 5:30 am.
Now, what, pray tell, brings over a thousand people (some of whom have jobs) to a store opening? Free T-Shirts. As I type this, I wear my special black XL tee with the Apple Logo (trademark 2005 Apple Computers, All Rights Reserved) and the words, “The Oaks.” “The Oaks,” btw, is the name of the shopping mall in which the store was installed. Conviently enough, they have recently installed a Lucky Brand Jeans store next to the Apple Store, so Erica and I can have a consume-off.
Now here’s the really odd thing (not really… I hang with geeks.) I ran into tons of friends. Some long and lost, some near and dear. I spent about 30 minutes catching up with a buddy from APU that I haven’t seen in years. I spent over an hour in line chatting and experiencing a serendipitous community event, and about five minutes in the actual store, much to Mr. Job’s dismay, no doubt. Don’t worry Steve, I’ll be back with a vengeance like Ahnuld with a fistful of ballot propositions.
I found myself thinking about Scot McKnight’s rebuttal to Jimmy McD, and thought about the statement he made about style and substance being tied together in today’s world. I have never been more convinced about this then I was this morning. Here were people brought out because ipods are spiffy and they were giving away cheap t-shirts, and yet people were just hanging out together, chatting it up and enjoying community. How cool is that?
Can style trump substance and render it moot? Yes, yes it can. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Jesus had style that was completely tied up with His substance. (plus, He’s omnicient, so you know His taste is gonna be money)
My iPod is way cooler then yours not just because I have a vintage 2002 model that STILL holds a charge and is just soooo cherry. It’s cooler then yours because I have better taste in music than you do. Don’t take it personally.
I am toying with removing the last paragraph, as I find it distracting.
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But I also find it amusing.
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So, here I am, editing in public.
step 1 - create
step 2 - edit
step 3 - publish
when you edit posts after publishing them, each subsequent edit shows up as a separate post for those readers who read via RSS feed. for example, they now have 15 posts to sort through, all of which are slightly different variations of this same post.
Good to know. I’ve done the post-publish editing thing myself, and now will eschew such ill-mannered netiquette.
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And Chad: “I have better taste in music than you do” only works when linked to a long list of Petra tributes. Good editing, post-publish or not.
Mike… good to know! Sorry RSS people of far and wide!
So, everytime i do more links it resends it?
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That’s a bummer, because I have lots of funny links.
I love that you and Erica can have a “consume off” it sounds so very valley California. Don’t hear that much here in the south.
I also find the last paragraph distracting, or maybe just confusing. But then again, I am two beers in at a hotel bar in Denver. They say the altitude gets you every time. I keep reminding myself to stop posting when I’ve been drinking. But subsequently I forget, because I’m drunk. Maybe Steve Jobs IS Jesus! I think Zack would agree with me on that one.
In retrospect, I sort of agree.
But, then again… perhaps I’ve been drinking.