[As written on Friday, October 7, 2011]

This morning was a typical morning in my house, which is to say, my life. I woke up to the sound of my iPhone’s alarm. I turned over, shut off the alarm, and set my phone to play my Wake-up playlist with its iPod feature. I then got myself a drink and read my morning news articles with my iPad. After that was done, I made plans to go to the Portland Apple store, that being the closest to me, to replace my computer’s battery. In fact, as I write this on my MacBook, we are driving to Portland. What do all these things have in common? Apart from my drink and the car (and Portland), almost every noun in this paragraph was made possible by a man who changed the world for many, many people.

That man is Steve Jobs.

And he has ruined my life.

As a blind computer user, I used to be quite content to type away on my Windows desktop, having been granted the ability to read its screen by paying upwards of $800 above and beyond the cost of the computer itself. I was content to only use a cell phone for phone calls, unless I wanted to pay an additional $300 or more for the price of an add-on screen reading software package. I was content to look down my nose with smug superiority at people who spent so much time browsing the web, texting, and doing all manner of things with their phones *other* than making phone calls. I justified this with statements like, “If their phone breaks, they’re really in trouble, huh?” or, “How lazy are we getting as a society? I like every thing to have its purpose.”

And then Steve Jobs ruined me.

How, you ask?

Steve Jobs made a screen reading software package a part of the operating system which powered the Mac computer, as well as eventually taking that a step further and powering the iPHone as well, not to mention every other Apple product line. No longer must I pay extra for access to my technology. No longer can I sit idly by when companies like Amazon give the blind consumer bare-bones attempts at accessibility in a not-so-subtle attempt at mollification. I now am forced by my conscience to stand up and shout to anyone who’ll listen that it isn’t enough. How do I know it isn’t enough? Apple proved it.

Perhaps lawsuits were instrumental in granting this accessibility, and perhaps they weren’t. We’ve seen what lawsuits bring about in terms of obligatory accessibility. (I’m looking at you, Kindle.) Even if lawsuits played a part, Steve Jobs went hundreds of miles above and beyond the call of duty, and has forever changed not only what is possible for accessibility, but also what is (or should be) expected from companies when providing accessibility.

No longer am I able to settle for whatever drippings the lords of the manor see fit to bestow upon me. I now have to live life knowing there’s a better way. Ignorance was bliss. I, and all of us who use Apple products, have been forever changed.

We lost Steve Jobs a few days ago, and he has left a vacancy which, I fear, will not soon be filled. If ever a man or woman embodied the creative spirit, that can certainly be said of Steve Jobs.

Thank you, Mr. Jobs. Youou may have ruined my life, but you’ve done so in the best possible way…

…and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Hey there, hi there, ho there (Where?)! We’re back with yet another issue crammed full of action, excitement, and entertainment! Once again, we’re returning to the Zantabulous Land of Zo, as provided for us by the wonderful roleplaying game, the Zorcerer of Zo, from Atomic Sock Monkey Press. If you don’t have it, get it!

We join Jarrod and his newly-acquired Speaking Sword poised on the brink of battle, while across the way, Princess Zephyr seems unavoidably poised on the brink of battle with none other than Thomas the Big Ol’ Grumpy Talking Bear! What will become of our heroes, and will any of these shenanigans bring them any closer to Nick Pockets, the Dream Thief–to say nothing of finding Zephyr’s missing sisters? Download via the above link, and find out!

Enjoy.

Hi, gang. It’s a feedback show. It has … er … feedback. ‘Nuff said.

Oh. Not quite ‘nuff said after all. Since this was recorded, I learned I’d been accidentally giving eroneous info about where to go to sign up for MonkeyCon. Don’t worry. Our promo has it right; I just thought I had found a shortcut to go directly to the convention itself.) So in order to visit MonkeyCon and sign up (and you *all* want to do that, right? Riiiiiiiight.), either go to Con Planner and search for MonkeyCon, or just click on the nifty link here in the Links section of our website.

Hokay. Enough outta me. Enjoy the feedback.

Hello, everyone. If you are wondering what took this issue so long to materialize, you need look no further than George Lucas and Mrs. BlindGeek. For an Anniversary present, she bestowed upon me the Star Wars Saga Blu-Ray box set. As it is, I’ve only managed to get through the first four parts of the saga, factoring in time for listening to the commentary tracks, and the coolest thing ever–all six Star Wars films were given descriptive-audio tracks! What this means is that a narrator describes the action on screen, making sure to not step on dialogue. It’s pre-scripted narration, so they give a pretty decent amount of detail. If you ever feel like watching a Star Wars film while doing housework or something else where you can’t see the screen while you work, you might have some fun checking it out.

Anyway, you don’t read this blog to learn of my movie-watching habits. You want to learn about the latest issue!

It’s another chapter in our Zorcerer of Zo saga. We find our heroes together but apart (Hmm, probably would’ve been a better title, but oh well…) on the Island of Repose. Will they find each other? Will Zephyr find Nick Pockets? Will Thomas run afoul of anyone while he’s here? Will Webster find true love? Is he even looking for it? Will Jarrod find a way to make himself useful? Some of these questions will be answered in this issue. Of course, some won’t … but finding out which is which is half the fun.

Enough babbling from me.

Go forth and download!

Enjoy.

We said they would never be back. We said you’d heard the last of them. We said there was a better way.

Obviously, we lied.

Reasons are given in the podcast, so let’s just say it’s feedback, it’s fun, it’s for keeps. Feedback shows are the way of the future, and we think everyone will be the better for it, once the “Oh god, not change!” feeling has subsided.

Thanks for understanding, and above all, thanks for listening.

I know, I know, it’s been a month. I apologize for that. Explanation is given in the issue, so I won’t belabor it here. Suffice it to say, I’ll try not to let it happen again, at least without letting you loyal and wonderful listeners know beforehand.

Anyway, we’re back!

In this issue, we present another session of Zorcerer of Zo. Will Jarrod Stanwick be giving up his teeth in exchange for a trip back home? What will our heroes find at Redhook Island? And what is this MonkeyCon people keep talking about? All of these questions and more will be answered in the issue, although some answers may not be what you expect. (Of course, this is S.O.P. for the Jetpackless, so why you’re expecting *anything* at this point is beyond me. ;-))

Anyway, enjoy the issue. And thanks for your patience. Again.

Hey there, cats ’n’ kitties, we’re back with another solid issue, and this time, we’re serving up another dose of Funkadelic Frankenstein on the Mean Streets of Monstertown. It’s been a while, so if you want to remind yourself where we left off, or if you’ve never taken the opportunity to enjoy Funky Frank as presented to you by the Jetpackless before, check out the following issues. (No links, because I’ve found it tends to mess with some aggrigators. Sorry, folks.)

MTMJ#5: A Shady Bizness Afoot
MTMJ#7: A Shady Bizness At Hand
and
MTMJ#12: A Shady Bizness On The Rise

At any rate, we hope you enjoy this visit with the Prometheus Jones Detective Agency. And fear not. We will resume the adventures of Princess Zephyr and Company next issue.

Oh, I almost forgot. Due to an unexpected hijacking of my regularly scheduled remarks, I didn’t have a chance to entreat you: If you are enjoying these adventures in Monstertown, and if you’re looking for a cinematic, flexible, innovative, and just-plain-fun game system that can be run with easy prep and often without even having to open the rulebook during the game, do yourself and your gaming group a huge favor and check out Hex Games and all of the swell product they have to offer. Funky Frank is available for under a buck, and the Qik Start Rules of QAGS are quite playable, and available as a free download. Good grief, talk about a high-yield, low-cost investment!

Okay, enough jibber-jabber. Go download, listen, and enjoy.

Hi again, gang.

Boy, after all my beleaguering the point of how short this issue is, both at the end of MTMJ#24 and the beginning of this one, and after actually putting it together and looking at the duration, it’s really not that short. This is, in fact, our shortest issue so far… but only by about a minute, with MTMJ#18 a close second. So when you hear me talking about how short the issue is at the beginning, just pat me on the virtual head and bestow a patronizing gaze upon me.

Anyway, on with the show.

In this issue, we’re back with more of the Zorcerer of Zo. Our unlikely band of heroes have sailed away, and wait till you hear what befalls them! I guarantee you, this issue takes a turn you didn’t see coming.

And with that, I invite you to click on the above link and download the issue. ANd further, I invite you to discuss it, either here or in our forums.

Enjoy.

Hi, gang!

We’re back with another trip to the Zantabulous Land of Zo! Think of this as somewhat of an interlude after the Sea Wolf skirmishes and troll tussles from the last couple issues. Still, if you know us at all, then you know interlude never equals boring. So have fun.

By the way, due to receiving the gem which introduces this issue moments before it was put together for posting, I was unable to put an official thank-you into the podcast, so allow me, please, to rectify that oversight here. Thunderstep, you unequivocly rock in the most rockish way possible. We love receiving things like this–not only because it’s a heck of an ego-stroke, but even more, because it’s well-produced audio inspired by the stuff we do! How flattering and awesome is that!?!? So now, Thunderstep, you join the likes of Copycat042, Xofour, Trilobite and Kedamono. If only we had a cool figurine of a monkey wearing a jetpack in a heroic (or maybe even better, a frightened-to-death) pose, we would send one to each of you. Your contributions mean more than you can know. And they’re just damned fun, to boot!

Make no mistake, everyone; your comments and forum posts mean so much to us as well, which is why we read them on the podcast … so all o’ y’all, keep this stuff coming! It makes our day, our week, our month…

I could continue to gush, but this is already becoming obnoxiously long for a podcast-blog entry. Stop reading this and download the issue, for cryin’ out loud!

And enjoy.

LINKS IN THIS ISSUE:
Forthcoming

We’re back with yet another session of Zo. Will our unlikely band of heroes be able to stop the dreaded Sea Wolves from decimating the Badger Kingdom? Will they ever get any further toward finding Princess Zephyr’s sisters? Will Thomas have a chance to eat more chicken? Will Webster speak? Will Jarrod ever get anything right? Some of these questions may in fact be answered in this issue of Monkeys Took My Jetpack. Others … well, who’s to say some of these questions weren’t rhetorical?

Enjoy.