Pretty bad week

Two sad news in just a week or so. First it was closing of my most favourite bookstore chain – Borders and then Steve Jobs resigning from Apple’s CEO position.

Two news to make sure I feel bad this week.

Two things that really meant something to me in the past.

Borders – was the first bookstore I visited while in USA, since there was a store right below my department in college.

I have visited Borders, everyday for 2 long years and then atleast once in a week or two for the next two years. Now suddenly it has ceased to exist. I received an email from them saying they are closing down all the branches and I was shocked to read it. I never expected them to close down. The day I heard they were closing the one in my college was sad but then I was still okay with it, since my new place had a very huge Borders store. But now they are closing ALL their stores. Similar thing happened with Circuit city too. It was my favourite electronic store chain and when it closed down, it was really shocking. I bought my first ipod ever from Circuit City, after my crazy roomies and their friends decided to spend an entire night in front of it (Read this post here for details).  I bought my first camera, handicam, another ipod, TV – literally everything from Circuit city. Only after they closed down, did I get into a Fry’s store. Fry’s and Best Buy were equally good, but Circuit City meant something to me.

Coming to Borders, it had “Seattle’s Best Coffee” shop in it. I used to have coffee in that shop everyday. Especially during my last few months in college, I was a regular visitor. After classes, before classes, before exam, after exam, before going to the lab, while working in the lab, before going home, just after coming from home – Borders was “the” place to hang out with my friends, classmates, co-workers in my lab or even sit and talk to professors. We even bought a flask there and would get some coffee refilled in the mug for less price. On the night before my final presentation, I drank a huge Javakula there and sat in a room preparing. The entire night I could not sleep and the next day I went with swollen eyes. Only later did I realize that it was not because I was tensed, but because I drank Coffee at around 8 in the night that I could not sleep. I never liked coffee before in my life and only drank it during exams. But now I am officially a coffee-addict, thanks to Borders and Seattle’s best coffee.

I have bought so many books from Borders. We would spend hours just walking along the aisles, staring and ordering books, buying bookmarks and all the cool stuff available there. My friend Sr once took me there to show me the first Sony e-reader on display there. We decided we would buy it someday. My other friend Sh, would accompany me to these shops and whenever there was a sales, we would end up buying some or the other book. Once Sr came and showed me a really cool edition of Stephen Hawking’s book that he got just for $10. The book looked so tempting with its glossy hardcover and beautiful illustrations that I ended up buying it that instant. I have bought so many maps from Borders, whenever I made any trip. I have been to Barnes and Noble too couple of times but there was something about Borders that attracted me towards it. I bought my 7th Harry Potter book from Borders (post). I bought a Harry Potter diary and some bookmarks and presented them to B, when he was leaving the town for good. I bought my entire Twilight collection, books like Alice in Wonderland, The Kite Runner, The Lost Symbol, The diary of Wimpy kid from Borders. The new arrivals and Bestsellers section were unbeatable, so was the section where the store workers would display their favourite books. I will miss Borders so much and I am in such a bad situation that I cannot even visit it or buy something from it for the last time 😦

Post by Titaxy on the same issue : Here

Being a proud owner of every Apple product that has been released to market, I can say that I am an Apple fanatic. I admire Steve Jobs for everything and feel so sad that he’s stepped down. Not sure if Apple will be the same again. Having used iMac, Mac Book Pro, iPhone, iPad, iPod, iPod Nano, iPod touch in the past – I am not sure if any more revolutionary products are going to come in future from Apple. He has launched all the products himself. I had seen the iPhone and iPad one, but hadnt seen the other older ones. Check this link to see the videos of iMac, iPod etc launches. He is definitely the greatest CEO of the decade.

If you havent already seen Steve Jobs Standford Commencement speech, dont miss this : Youtube video

Check this too:
The 313 Apple patents that list Steven P. Jobs among the group of inventors offer a glimpse at his legendary say over the minute details of the company’s products — from the company’s iconic computer cases to the glass staircases that are featured in many Apple stores.