The Wizard of Woz

In praise of the billionaire next door ... -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
2008 Election update – John McCain surprised everyone by picking a 44 year old woman, Alaska governor Susan Palin as his running mate. My initial impression is that he actually made a good choice. Yes, she’s lacking in experience but so is the headliner of the opposing party. We’ll see how she does in the debates. Look for an upcoming blog where I delve deeper into this election of historic firsts.

IN PRAISE OF WOZ …

Who is Steve Wozniak? He’s the 57 year-old cofounder of Apple Computer – a fairly shy, modest computer engineer. He recently garnered attention by dating Kathy Griffin and being filmed for a few episodes of her show, My Life on the D-List. Wozniak has primarily lived off his Apple wealth since the late 70’s, but he hasn’t been idle. He taught 5th grade for a period, and has been involved in various education, philanthropic efforts. He continued his engineering efforts working on a universal remote control in the 80’s. He’s encouraged young people to follow in his footsteps and even at one point handed out “Wozzie” awards in that pursuit.

I love Kathy Griffin (probably for all the wrong reasons), and could tell that she and the Woz were not a match. Woz is a billionaire, but he drives a Toyota Prius – one with a Segway scooter in the trunk. For a semi-formal dinner they were invited to, Woz discovered that Men’s Wearhouse had a great 2-for-1 suit sale. Kathy used Woz as material for her comedy monologue. She was horrified that a billionaire was driving a Prius and shopping at Men’s Wearhouse. What kind of billionaire is this??

Their relationship's demise was probably triggered by two or three events... Woz took Kathy out to dine exactly twice: once to Bob’s Big Boy (hamburger chain) and once to the Hickory Pit (home style cooking similar to Dickey’s in Dallas). Kathy indicated that she was embarrassed to be seen in the Hickory Pit. Shortly after, they attended an animal charity event hosted by Wozniak. The proceeds for the whole night were probably less than what Wozniak earns in interest for a single day. Griffin speculated aloud, why doesn’t Woz just write out a check for the whole thing? In Woz’s defense, he may have been raising awareness of other people – maybe he wants to spread the spirit of philanthropy itself.

What I took away in part, is that Woz is not a good-looking man – easily 50 lbs overweight. I wondered if Kathy’s reticence would have been so extreme if he were eye candy instead. In fact, Woz is “right on” in his approach to finances. He’s not about the money – he knows that you can’t take it with you and it’s just a marker on the wall. What I liked about his priorities were:

1. Helping disadvantaged children and also animals at shelters.
2. Continuing the advance of technology with research and education
3. Saving the environment with earth-friendly cars and scooters
4. Shunning pretension by purchasing food, car and clothes of good value not snob appeal

Woz also attended a gay pride “Bear Fest” with Griffin and took in all of it with good-natured aplomb. He was nonjudgmental and accepting in the extreme – probably a close relative to his friend Jobs in his California frame of mind. (A quality I like by the way).

In sum, how should a billionaire behave? Should he be a conniving materialist like Croesus of legend (or Mr. Burns on The Simpsons)? I think not. I think Wozniak has set the bar pretty damn high – we should all aspire to teach 5th grade, drive a Prius and yes – eat at the Hickory Pit. Kathy probably wants someone to sweep her off her feet with diamonds and pearls. She'll have to find a Prince Charming on the opposite end of the scale from Woz -- good luck with that.

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