Michael Pieracci

The night Steve Jobs died there was an iPhone vigil in Dolores Park. I put on my Apple tshirt from my days at the Apple Store and met my friend AJ for the occasion.

There were also a bunch of photographers there who snapped a ton of photos of people who had gathered. The next morning I learned I was in two of the photos that appeared in the Wall Street Journal online.

See the article, then scroll down.

There’s also this:

Much of my happiness and creativeness stems from having lots of Apple devices through the years. I’ve been a life long evangelist and “converted” countless people. Lots of my friendships were formed based on our love for all things Apple.

During high school I sold Macs at ComputerWare. In college I was a Campus Rep, then I sold Macs and iPods at the Apple Store in Valley Fair mall. I even gave presentations at the store.

During my internship at Apple in the summer of 2003 Steve (and most of the other execs) gave a talk to all the interns. He spoke with a very friendly demeanor for about ten minutes, then took a few questions. He ended his talk with:

You do what you have to do, so you can do what you want to do.

We were stunned.

Apple is very much like a religion to me. Thanks to it (and Star Trek) I’ve gained great inspiration and empowerment.

In the episode The Defector Captain Picard has to authenticate in order to receive a confidential message from Starfleet. His “key access code” is:

4 1 2 mark 8 0 Picard Jean-Luc, Starfleet priority code Gamma, Enable

In the episode Unnatural Selection Captain Picard recites a password to connect to another ships computer system.

Omicron omicron alpha yellow daystar two seven

Imagine if we no longer typed passwords and instead memorized and pronounced bizarre combination of weird words and numbers.

The kitchen has everything I need but it lacks built-in prep surfaces. Thankfully the apartment came with one rolling wood cart. I brought the second. Having both on wheels makes cleaning the kitchen floor easy. The microwave and toaster oven are low and mostly out of sight.

I installed two shelves above the prep surfaces to hold my tea collection and various other things.

Two Ikea lamps (on a dimmer) hung from the ceiling provide ample light and create a nice effect between the shelves. Wood cutting boards add color to the kitchen and are great tools. Read about my cutting boards.

I’m thrilled to have a door from the kitchen that goes to a back stairwell area. A shelf outside the kitchen window holds basil, mint, and a fern.

Moving from a studio to a one bedroom meant I had to create a bedroom. As for furniture, I wanted a very simple bed and basically nothing else. No clutter, no distractions.

The bed frame is from CB2 and made of mango wood. At the head it has a built-in lower and raised shelf. Two simple lamps (on dimmers!) sit on either side with a broad-leaved plant in the center.

The room has two built-in cabinets which house a variety of stuff. Above each is large open space which host my small book collections. The fireplace looks fine but isn’t really usable, except for the mantel.

The whole apartment came painted in a very nice and soothing taupe with white trim. To top off the coziness of the room I procured a linen duvet cover from Room & Board. It compliments the color of the walls, floors, and the bed frame.

The best solution to create an accessible AV setup is to put it on wheels.

Need to adjust something? Pull the cabinet forward, duck behind to adjust the guts, then push it back. EASY. Watch this video:

All the power and wiring live inside this Ikea EFFECTIV cabinet. I just took off the doors and turned it around.

I have only two sources plugged into the TV: an HD antenna (it’s big and hidden in the cabinet) and an Apple TV (sits right under the TV but you can barely see it).

An Ikea shelf sits on top and provides a wide space for speakers leaving space underneath for the subwoofer on the right and open space on the left. Both of these pieces of furniture I repurposed from my old apartment.

Bose speakers sit on top of Voss water bottle caps.

The lamp behind has two spotlights pointed upward illuminating the space. The hexagon mirrors came pre-installed.

In April 2005 I moved to San Francisco into a wonderfully cute and cozy studio apartment. It was in a prime location at Duboce and Church and just the right amount of space to setup my first apartment. Through the years I maximized my living potential by procuring really flexible furniture, creating new storage spaces, and hiding all the wiring of all my lamps and electronics.

In April 2011 I had an opportunity to move to a one bedroom just up the street overlooking Duboce Park. I gained a separate bedroom, a larger living room, a bay window, a cozy office space, a modest kitchen, an entry hallway, and even a tiny back porch. The space is incredibly flexible and has great light. Every lamp is on a dimmer and all the wiring is hidden as much as possible.

I’ve discovered two configurations for my living room.

I can unfold my dining table to its full size and place it in the bay window overlooking the park. I’m using a large piece of canvas as a tablecloth. It softens the surface and is incredibly durable.

Or create a sitting area in the bay window with my Danish rocking chair and directors chair.

When folded in half the dining table fits along the other living room window.

Triangle Ikea tables can do anything. I’ve stacked two in the corner for plant space and placed another two in the sitting area.

The folding wood tables were made in Santa Barbara in the 1950′s. Read more.

I received this poster from Apple in 2003 back during my Campus Rep days. My parents recently found it in storage. I’ve put it up for auction on ebay.

Lots of friends have sent me Roseanne’s recent article And I Should Know from New York Magazine.

It was 1987, and it seemed people were primed and ready to watch a sitcom that didn’t have anything like the rosy glow of middle-class confidence and comfort, and didn’t try to fake it. ABC seemed to agree. They picked up Roseanne in 1988.

She says bullshit and bitch four times each.