an iTypical day.

My alarm vibrates. Then rings. Then vibrates and rings. This is the only electronic device I have in my possession that doesn't bear an Apple logo.

Once I negotiate with my alarm on giving me a few extra minutes of [non]rest, I slowly peel back the covers and shield my eyes with the comfort of rubbing hands, as I flip on the light switch with my elbow. That cruel first piercing light of morning.

I stumble into my bathroom and all-too-soon stare at the hot mess that is presented before me that can only be explained as my retched doppleganger. The day must get better.

I reach for my iPad sitting on the corner of the counter.

What type of day will this be? My finger glides through my premade playlists giving me a plethora of options from my 2,000+ song library. What will it be? I’ll let the Apple gods of fate decide.

I gently tap shuffle on my iTunes.

Ahh, yes. 'Glee' was a good choice for this morning. Suddenly my Medusa-like reflection isn’t looking so badly anymore.

Coffee is made, clothes are on, make-up has made be presentable for interacting with other human beings, so I suppose I can now interact with these people.

I lift open the lid to my MacBookPro.

Emails are sent, Facebook statuses are liked, news websites are scanned. I pack up my MacBookPro in my bag and walk down to the garage to start my commute to work. I get in, lock the door [yes parents, this is really the second thing I do], and fish out my auxiliary cord from the center console.

I plug in my iPod Touch.

When I return home from the day and my shower’s been taken, dinner’s been made, and my DVR queue is unappetizing, I reach for the sleek, thin, familiar remote on my end table.

Ahh, the Apple TV. Let’s see what else is on.

How wrong the doctor was about just needing one apple a day. iNeed 5. I wonder if they've made the same oversight with wine...

Until today, I hadn’t realized, or perhaps my embodied habits shielded me from recognizing, what a huge part Steve Jobs iNNOVATION has played into mine and many of our routines.

In the way we wake up.

In the way we communicate.

In the way we create.

In the way we think what's possible.

In the way we consume entertainment

56 is far too soon, but wow. What a legacy to leave behind. I don't know if you'd call it ironic, fantastic or eerie, that by way of the technology you've created, would be the way the news of your death would spread within minutes around the globe.

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on."

Thank you, Sir.

Once upon a time, there was a stalker: A Modern Fairy Tale.

Pandora and I usually get along quite well. I tell it my favorite artists and it magically makes similar music that I fall in love with appear (and subsequently spend way too much money on, thanks to iTunes).

Today, Pandora failed me. No not by playing the occasional Taylor Swift song, whom I loathe, but by playing the ultimate stalking-someone-makes-them-fall-in-love-with-you song.

So...there I am, driving home from Salem, tuned into my "MGMT" station, which is heaven. For anyone who hasn't heard MGMT, download 'Kids' or 'Time to Pretend' immediately. Both great songs. All of the sudden 'Aqualung' appears on my screen. I haven't heard from this band since they sang that one song for that one MTV reality show back in 2003 about models. The title was something about a street corner location....

The beat was okay and I was one click away from not being able to pass any future songs for that station for the day, so I stayed on. And then my ears were frightened to hear the following lyrics in the course of a so-called love song:

"I've been watching your world from afar..."

[Hmm..okay. Not so bad thus far. I guess this is alright. Admirers can be flattering...and with the advent of Facebook, I guess we are all guilty of some sort of quote-on-quote stalking. Related, this made me re-check all my privacy settings...]

Listen on.

"I'll put a spell on you..."

[Never really was a fan of witchcraft, but go on Aqualung.]

"You'll fall asleep and I'll put a spell on you.

And when I wake you,

I'll be the first thing you see,

And you'll realize that you love me."

[Hold. The. Phone. This "spell" you refer to sounds an awful lot like a date rape drug we refer to as a roofie. I don't recall anyone being particularly pleased to wake up next to someone they didn't intentionally choose to sleep next to (I'm certain this is purely a hypothetical situation for all). I see what you're doing, Aqualung; you're trying to resurrect a fairy tale. ::cough cough:: Snow White.]

Okay, so HE didn't give her the apple, but he was the one who "woke" her up with his stellar oral disposition (that sounds dirtier than the fairy tale actually was) and she suddenly fell in love with him. However, Disney doesn't have to deal with the "real world" of murderers and rapists so of course this "prince" was good, had no oral disease and didn't try to bring Snow to an early death.

In Disney's defense, I guess they do use beasts (wait, he turned out to be good once he was good looking again, right?), evil lion uncles named Scar and wizards called Jafar to equate the evilness of the world. And usually in Disney's world, it's okay to kill these bad things off or exile them from the kingdom and life can go on as usual with no consequence to the protagonist. Which is another blog entirely on why children don't have a firm grasp of the world as is, because they grow up thinking crabs and candelabras can sing and dance and you can kill bad guys without being punished for it and will instead, be praised.

I've deviated. Point is, these "evil" things are never the people the princess falls in love with as there's an easy way to tell that they are bad. They are outcasts or they are drawn and colored in a darker with sharper edges. They have deep voices of deceit. Not the jovial pre-pubescent voice of Aladdin.

In the real world, you can't always tell who the bad guy is as he isn't followed around by a stormy cloud. He appears to be the prince. Until he's broken into your house to watch you sleep and you wake up...and hopefully you say WTF are you doing here instead of thinking this is a romantic gesture. Note to Bella, it's not. Especially when it's a vampire, sweetie.

So I ask you America, or my few friends who follow/read this, is stalking the new black? And by black I mean is this the new suitable and acceptable way for one to find love as Aqualung claims? You stalk your way into someone's heart?