Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently—they’re not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them… about only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.

The death of Steve Jobs tonight is devastating. It’s devastating to a generation of technologists and geeks, to business leaders and politicians, and to young people like myself who have looked up to—and will always look up to—Steve Jobs and his legacy.

Maybe it’s fate or maybe it’s just an odd coincidence, but tonight I was listening to the most recent episode of Radiolab, titled “Loops.” The episode covers loops of all kinds, but one segment near the middle sticks out in my mind, especially tonight. They discussed the death of whales.

When a whale dies it sinks to the bottom of the ocean. And it stays there. Whales live for anywhere from 50 to 75 years old, and after they die, their body sticks around for another 50 to 75 years. Other animals feed and live in and on these fallen creatures, until another whale falls and new universe is created—a new loop begins.

I think of Steve Jobs’ quote above, about the misfits. I think about the whales. And I think about the world we live in. Perhaps these things aren’t so different.

Steve Jobs lived an tremendous life. And he was the heart and soul of this cycle, this “misfit loop.” The rest of us live and thrive and are inspired by his innovation and passion, and his refusal to comply with the status quo. We’ll continue to live and thrive and be inspired long after his death. And from us, someday, there will come another magnificent misfit, continuing the loop ad infinitum.

We’re all in this misfit loop. Steve Jobs stood out because he changed the world. He didn’t start the loop, and he most certainly will not end it.

Work today was good. I won’t delve into that much more because before too long I’m going to be writing blog posts for the American University Career Center about my internship experience, which I’ll crosspost here. After work, I attended my very first ever Social Media Club DC event, and it was fantastic! The event was held at the Consumer Electronics Association headquarters in Arlington and featured two speakers from the CEA, Megan Pollock and Joe Gizzi, as well as Frank Gruber, entrepreneur and co-founder of TECHcocktail, shinyheart and thankfulfor, among others.

But enough links and name-dropping–what did they talk about? Well, fresh back from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, they talked about tech of course! And, naturally, how it all fits in with social media. Joe Gizzi, especially, had some really interesting things to say about the CEA’s social media strategy to build buzz and deal with attendee complaints/suggestions at the conference. He talked about software they use (namely, CoTweet) as well as how they keep track of much of their dizzying analytics (mostly Google Analytics and CoTweet). For the next few days, you can see some of the livestream from the event here on Twitter. Needless to say, it was enlightening and fun, and I’m already looking forward to the next SMC-DC event (which just so happens to be a Social Media Breakfast next Monday morning!).

Anyway, one last thing I’ll leave you with–an entry from One Day At A Time In Al-Anon. No, I’m not crazy. I just picked it up for free at the Social Justice Camp last weekend (they were giving out free books–all in the name of literacy!) because it looked like a fun thing to have on my bookshelf. It provides some inspirational little passages for each and every day of the year, and today’s seemed particularly relevant given my hectic schedule as of late. Here it is:

No matter what the problems are that we’re trying to cope with, a major source of frustration is trying to encompass too much at once. We forget that we need to deal with only one day at a time, and try to crowd too much into the waking hours of that day–or we even extend it beyond the point of weariness. We can get more out of each hour–and accomplish more–if we try to cope with only as much as is possible in that one day.

Appropriate, no? Always learning.