Yesterday, I got to meet one of my idols, and perhaps the person who has had the most influence on my life and career. A few of us were having lunch at a restaurant, and as we walked in, I noticed a man sitting at a table with about ten other people. After we passed him, I said, “That’s Steve Wozniak!” I didn’t want to bother him, since he seemed to be in the middle of a conversation, so I sat down and kept an eye on his table.
Just a few weeks prior, I had seen an episode of Icons on G4TechTV, where they talked about the history of the Apple ][ and its creators, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. I used the Apple ][ (note the proper spelling, “Apple ][”) back in junior high and high school, and that started my love for computers, and consequently my choices for higher education and my career. Oh, and Woz also created Breakout, which of course was on the Atari 2600, the game system which fostered my love for video games. So, as you can see, saying that he was a large influence on my life is perhaps understating it just a bit.
But besides his numerous contributions to the computer and videogame industries, what really struck me is that it seemed like Steve Wozniak has always just done what seemed interesting and fun to him at the time. After leaving Apple, he spent a lot of time working with school children and helping them to learn about computers, which I also admire. So really, I just wanted to shake his hand and tell him how much I admire him for what he has done.
And without seeming too anticlimactic, that’s just what I did. I waited until he was on his way out, stopped him shook his hand, and basically told him what I wrote up above. I asked him about what he’s been doing, and he said he’s been very busy with his start-up company, Wheels of Zeus. Then he had to catch up with some people and said goodbye.
So that’s about it, my brush with greatness. Oh, and Chris asked me if Jobs and Wozniak still interact at all, and I said I didn’t know. Well, if you go to Woz’s personal page, you can see a picture of him with Steve Jobs from the 2005 Macworld Expo keynote, along with a picture of the two of them from 1975. Amazing.
Oh, and then today, I met Steve Jobs. But I’ll save that story for another time….
