I reflected on what happened to Steve Jobs yesterday. I thought about how someone with that amount of resources at his disposal is still as human as any of us, and thus can suffer the same fates as any of us can. I got to thinking about something indirectly related…how to approach my life.

I admit it. In one respect I am a bit cowardly. I tend to avoid possibly controversial or uncomfortable situations, especially when it comes to something personal (I am a bit better when the topics are business related, etc.)

For reasons I won’t go into here, that needs to change. I am making it my mission to be more forthright with my opinions — even if the consequences could be an awkward or uncomfortable situation. It is just not healthy to ignore certain situations or try to brush situations off as “nothing”. Definitely not healthy for me in the long run, I can tell you that. 

Now, that does not mean I am going to be spouting at the lip about every meaningless topic, but I do need to find a middle ground because right now I am very much on the extreme other end of the spectrum. And, of course, that does not mean I am going to blog about these personal issues that may arise.

But I am a believer that honesty is the only way to establish “reality” so to speak. And living in reality is a lot better than living in fantasy (well, for most things ).

The only reason I am writing this particular post is to force me to get to work on making this reform of my “inner Joel” happen. I figured publicly posting something like this is a good first step at being open and honest.

Now off to write an email to someone close to me…..

From the Associated Press (AP):

SEATTLE (AP) — Apple Inc. co-founder and Chief Executive Steve Jobs said Wednesday he is taking a medical leave of absence until the end of June — just a week after the cancer survivor tried to assure investors and employees his recent weight loss was simply caused by a treatable hormone deficiency.

Jobs, 53, said in a letter last week that he would remain at Apple’s helm despite the hormone deficiency, and said he had already begun the “relatively simple and straightforward” treatment for the problem. But in an e-mail to employees Wednesday, Jobs backtracked.

“During the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought,” he wrote.

Apple’s chief operating officer, Tim Cook, will take over Jobs’ responsibilities while he is on leave.

After-hours trading on Apple shares was halted. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company’s stock had sank $2.38, or 2.7 percent, to close at $85.33.

Jobs announced in 2004 that he had undergone successful surgery to treat a very rare form of pancreatic cancer — an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor. The cancer is easily cured if diagnosed early. Jobs did not have a deadlier and more common form of pancreatic cancer called adenocarcinoma.

Here is the letter that Steve Jobs supposedly sent to Apple employees:

Team,

I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.

In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple’s day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.

I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.

 
I wish Steve Jobs a fast recovery and the best for him and his family.

From the financial side of things, well, all indications are that the stock is going to plummet tonight and open 10%+ lower tomorrow morning. As an Apple stockholder (of the miniscule kind) who has lost a lot of what little money he has put into the stock, I am strongly considering buying some more, especially if they reach the levels I think they might reach tomorrow.

As Robert Scoble said in his post, Apple will continue to have a great team and an awe inspiring brand. Heck, they converted me from a Windows fan boy to a joint Windows and Apple fan boy. Plus, what Robert didn’t mention was that Apple still has about $25-28 billion cash in the bank. That is not too shabby.

Yes, I need to give buying a couple more shares a lot of thought. Of course, as I am not a financial planner, I will not directly advise you to do the same. You need to make your own financial decisions

For a techy person like me, this movie was really good. For a non-techy person, this movie should be quite good as well. It stars Noah Wyle (of ER fame) as Steve Jobs (of Apple fame), and Anthony Michael Hall (of Breakfast Club fame) as Bill Gates (of filthy rich — errrr, Microsoft fame).

It is set from 1971 to 1984 (with a glimpse of 1997) and discusses the rise of these two powerhouse companies — how Apple “stole” all the constructs for the Macintosh OS from Xerox Parc, and, in a weird sense of irony, how Microsoft stole the constructs for Windows from Apple Macintosh.

The movie really shows, whether true or not, interesting sides of both Jobs and Gates; their business savvy, their quirks and their relationship together. I personally like the way the movies personifies Jobs as a brilliant mind, yet a man who sometimes has a distorted view of reality around family and work (e.g. around his daughter Lisa, whom he claimed was not his, but he named a computer after)

In the end, we all know what happened. Gates got the better of Jobs. Microsoft won, owned the 1990s, and Apple has been playing underdog and catchup ever since. But, since 2000, Apple has coming on very strong and is really a formidable force in both hardware and software nowadays — all due to Jobs returning as leader of Apple back in late 1997. Hey, I am writing this on a MacBook Pro running OS X Leopard.

This is a popular interpretation of how Apple and Microsoft got their starts and the relationship between Apple/Jobs and Microsoft/Gates. I don’t know if the movie provides *the* truth or not; I wasn’t there. But still…..great movie!