a day with the woz

7/27/2019 A Day with The Woz

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1

A Day with The

Wozby

Wasee Akhtar


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Copyright 2013 Waseef Akhtar

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a re-

trieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the pub-

lisher or a license permitting restricted copying.

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Acknowledgements

I have been blessed with a great friend and a superlative editor, Ali Sahibzada. Despite of all the busy

schedules we had and not been able to discuss the experience a smidgen in person with each other, his

charm in this book greatly enhanced the manuscript.His painstaking scrutiny and astute commentsabout structure, clarity, and flow have helped me present my message as simply and clearly as possible.

Basim Ali has been a lucky guy for me. Hehas always been a wonderful source of professional adviceon dealing with different situations. He is totally an A-player and he has this gift where he intelligently

and instantly find alternatives for various circumstances.

Assaf Asif has been the most encouraging friend. He might've been busy all this time with his academ-

ics, but he was the first reader of the book and when I had second thoughts about anything related to the

book, he not only gave me a push, buthis smart and honest response after reading the book also influ-enced it greatly.

Rashid Khan is as tech-savvy as I am, making me believe that I could actually meet Woz and

shouldn't miss the chance, thinking as silly that something might be possible or not possibly as I do.

Additional thanks: To Twitter, SaudiMac, Foursquare, Four Seasons Hotel Riyadh, National Center

for e-Learning & Distance Learning, Aali TV.

And a sincere and a wholehearted thanks to all you readers out there around the world.

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Hello.

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I am Waseef Akhtar, a diehard Apple fan living in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. What

you are about to read here is an account of the exhilarating experience I had on

the day I met (actually, hanged out with) Steve Wozniak! Yes, THE Steve Wozniak!

This is the first book Ive ever written. So, I hope youre going to be merciful to the

newbie! It's just a short one day story, more like a story I'd be telling to a friend in

a regular conversation.

The driving force behind this book was none other than Woz himself! Before meet-

ing him Id never even thought of writing a book about the whole thing. He wasthe inspiration. Id never been so motivated than on that day and that's when I

had written almost three-fourth of the book! The rest was completed in a month's

time.


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of both his time and resources in education, he adopted the Los Gatos School

District, providing students and teachers with hands-on teaching and donations of

state-of-the-art technology equipment. He founded the Electronic Frontier Founda-

tion, and was the founding sponsor of the Tech Museum, Silicon Valley Ballet and

Childrens Discovery Museum of San Jose. Wozniak currently serves as Chief Sci-entist for Fusion-io and is a published author with the release of his New York

Times Best Selling autobiography, iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon, in

September 2006 by Norton Publishing. His television appearances include reality

show Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List and season eight of ABCs Dancing

with the Stars.woz.org

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C H A P T E R 1

Sunday, February 3rd,2013The story begins Sunday, February 3rd, 2013.

It was around 5 p.m. in the evening and I was surfing the web on my iPhonecharging on the desk. It buzzed with a tweet from one of the local Apple blogs,

SaudiMac, retweeting a check-in from Steve Wozniak. He was at London Heath-

row Airports Terminal 5 at the time to board a flight for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I

couldnt believe what my eyes were reading on the screen! Woz is coming to Ri-

yadh? Hell, this cant be true! I gasped in amazement! I was over the moon just

by the fact that WOZ was going to come to my city although I wasn't yet sure if

it was a connecting flight he was taking or actually visiting Riyadh for a few days.

Wasting no time I started digging in. It didn't take me long to learn that he is

supposed to attend The Third International Conference on eLearning and Dis-

tance Learning here where great educational thinkers of the world would gather

and share ideas.

Something clicked in and I started to feel I could actually meet him. Still in

doubt, I started looking harder into the site of the conference and reached the reg-

istration page where they said the registrations have been closed. I was disap-

pointed. Now it just felt like going to the airport might be the only chance to meet

him.

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I started tracking his flight and asked my brother if it's worth a shot. When I

later showed my brother the time and the terminal of the flight, we got mistaken

with terminals thinking that terminal 5 would be where the flight would land and

as far as we had guessed, terminal 5 wasn't there opened for public. So the only

chance I thought I had was missed. I started tweeting to people who tweetedabout the conference asking them if they know any way where we could still regis-

ter for the conference or just go in anyway. They were helpless.

At about 10 p.m., I received a Foursquare notification of Woz checking in at

King Khalid International Air-

port. To have a living legend arrive

in my city, it was a little nervous

and uneasy for me, and curious

and happy at the same time! I

mean it's a little rare for such per-

sonalities and celebrities come and

stay here. Or Id rather say it's

even rarer to get to know about

them coming here. So you knowwhat I mean.

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After almost half an hour, he checked in at the Kingdom Center . The whole

time I was sending the screenshots of his check-ins to my friends I was texting to at

the time. One of them, Basim Ali, said he must be staying at the Four Seasons at

the tower. And it hit my mind immediately what I was supposed to do.

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So later that night, I just planned to give it a shot next day, emailing Woz or

just simply calling Four Seasons asking them if I could talk to him. I had three rea-

sons that night which motivated me to try my luck out:

I. The first was knowing how easy people say it is to meet him, saying how

approachable he is.

II. The second was because I didn't know when he was going to leave. So I

was in hurry.

III. The third was a story of Steve Jobs he has told about himself that I always

remember in such situations. The story of how he called Bill Hewlett when he

was 12 years old and Bill answered the phone and he asked him if he had any

spare parts he could have to build a frequency counter and he gave them to

him and also gave him a summer job. I mean how he always got what he

asked for.

Here I was joking with my cousins and friends all night long about how I have

a lunch and a meeting setup with Woz tomorrow and when I read my horoscope

that night for the next day, I couldn't find a sign anywhere that any such rendez-

vous would be possible tomorrow. And the fact that youre reading this book rightnow obviously proves it was not right!

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C H A P T E R 2

Monday, February 4th,2013The first thing I did the next day, before even brushing my teeth, was google Four

Seasons number. I called them up asking them if there's any Room with number

3003 and they asked me to name the person who's in the room. I named him and

they just simply transferred my call! He picked it immediately and I talked to him

introducing myself, asking him if he there's any possible way to meet him. He

asked if I was a part of the conference. I said no.

He told me how tired he was at the moment. And the next thing I knew he was

telling me the whole schedule of his day which included a TV interview at noon

and then dinner later at evening, and then he'd be coming to his room at 8 p.m. toprepare himself for the speech tomorrow. I mean with the exact timings of his

schedule! You do not ever hear that from such a person. A person like Woz, the leg-

endary co-founder of one of the worlds best computer companies, telling his ex-

act schedule to an unknown fan, in an unknown place! That was when it hit me

how honest he said he was, even to this day, in his book "iWoz: Computer Geek to

Cult Icon". He'd said, "My dad believed in honesty. Extreme honesty. Extreme eth-

ics, really. That's the biggest thing he taught me. He used to tell me it was worse to

lie about doing something bad under oath than it was to actually do something

bad, even like murdering someone. That really sunk in. I never lie, even to this

day, not even a little."

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I asked him when would he be leaving and he replied, "Right after the speech

tomorrow, I'll be on board to Munich." So he suggested that I come to the lobby at

4 p.m. that day and I might find him there or just later after 8 p.m. I was confused

but dang sure I had to take this chance. Soon after the call I was bragging to my

friends and siblings about how awesomely Id just personally spoke to STEVEWOZ! I had my breakfast, took a shower and got ready, and jokingly said to my sis-

ter, "I'm getting dressed up like he's really called me up to hangout with him!"

I was in a hurry as I wanted to reach half an hour prior to the time he gave

me, so that I could find his room well in time and meet him there. So, I got to

Kingdom Center and asked people around for the entrance to Four Seasons. Fol-

lowing the directions, I reached the lobby but I didn't know yet what to do! And

just when I was about to head to the reception, I saw Woz walking from the oppo-

site side. He seemed to be a little confused and was about to approach this man

standing there to ask him about something when I interrupted and greeted him

saying, "Steve! Hey! I'm Waseef. I called you earlier on the phone. I'm your fan."

and he went like, "Oh yea, I remember. Thanks for meeting up ... Well, I'm sup-

posed to be on my way for the interview right now and I don't know if the driver

has arrived yet."

Losing no time I quickly asked him if he could give an autograph on my

iPhone and on a few post-its for my friends. I also requested him to take some pic-

tures with me. He was like, "Yea sure, why not?" While he was executing the sign-

ing rituals, I narrated my tale of how I tracked down his flight all day long the day

before. I told him how Id just missed going to the airport to meet him there, how

I felt as if that was the only chance to ever meet him! And then how it took me

hours to make it up to him there finally and now that he was in front of me, I

could just cry of joy!

Steve Wozniak signed his autograph on my phone! His typical signature in

beautiful calligraphy-like letters, reading Woz. And as soon as he did, my ordinary

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black iPhone 5 instantly turned into a priceless phone one could ever have! We

then called a receptionist to take a few photos of us.

There he was, turning from a celebrity I thought I'd never meet, to just some-

one I felt like I long knew. Or well maybe I just instantly wasn't on earth that mo-

ment! That's how fascinating it is to meet him, to talk to him.

Immediately after the photograph session Woz says to me, "Well I think you

might actually come

along with us for the in-

terview". That's what Idmade up my mind to ask

him on my way an hour

before. But this, right

now? It was happening!

That was one unbeliev-

able invitation and be-

fore I could realize mymouth just threw out the

words, "Oh, can I?

That'll be GREAT!"

and followed him. We

went out of the lobby to

search for his driver or

the car. He said he did

meet the driver yester-

day but couldn't recall

his face. So I asked if he

knows which car is it

and he named it and I helped him look for his car.

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We came back to where two security guards, and his attendant, probably one

of the team members from the conference who mightve been Woz guide turned

up. He greeted us. Woz tried to recall his name as "Masoor" and he corrected

him by "Mansour". Woz later claim that it sounded more like a French name, per-

haps referring to Monsieur! He explained how it was difficult for him to recallfaces and remember names due to the anterograde amnesia he was suffering with

after his plane crash 1981 saying, "it's very serious". It was then he asked Mansour

if I could come along with him. Mansour was on the phone with the TV crew at

the moment and asked Woz what to tell them exactly. Woz said, "Tell them it's just

a fan who'd like to come along". He knew it wasn't very right to bring along some-

one, but he was trying to be polite to me too. Mansour sought permission from the

TV channel crew and they agreed.

Here I was standing beside him on the same floor under the same roof he was!

The thought of it still sends a shill through my spine. We stood there waiting for

the car. He told me how some great people are coming for the conference tomor-

row and I agreed.

I asked him if this was his first visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He replied yes. I

asked how he did like the city so far and he laughed, "Well I've been sleeping

pretty much whole day since I came. So I can't really say much!" I enquired if

there was any other Apple fanboy he has met so far in the city and he said, "Not

yet. But I might see some at the conference tomorrow." I agreed and told him how

the news of him coming here has already spread around Twitter and how they

can't wait to meet him in the conference tomorrow. Meanwhile his chauffeur ar-

rived. He entered the car first and I followed. The guards just guided him to his

car and me to a security car in front of it. It didn't take much to reach National

Center for e-Learning & Distance Learning.

We entered the hall where they were setting up for the show. So we were

headed to a private room for a while where we found the two interviewers. While

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waiting for the interview, Woz (and I) tried to get ourselves comfortable and ac-

quainted with the interviewers to ensure it was a very heart warming, friendly envi-

ronment.

We greeted them and sat down. He passed on this coolest business card of his.

We discussed just his business card for almost 3 minutes, discussing the material

and how he put his number there like an encrypted data. One of the interview jok-

ingly said, "So you want just the geeks to call you, nobody else, eh?". And he

laughed and agreed but said, "Well, plenty of people just use email for communica-

tion these days".

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We sat there as the interviewers introduced themselves. They explained how

the interview is going to be and what would some of the questions they're going to

ask be like.

We discussed early days of his, you know, school, college, working at Hewlett

Packard, co-founding Apple alone with Jobs, plane crash, internal passion and

driving yourself to it and achieving your inner goals and whatnot. Suddenly, in the

middle of the conversation it hit me to just record the whole thing into a memora-

ble voice memo. It was a good 30-minute chat.

Here's a part of the interview you can listen to:

Then a guy enters the room and inform us that the stage is ready. We head to

the hall and they sit down. Everything is set, the director says theyre ready and

starts the countdown. Theyre on camera. The show is recorded. They mostly

talked about e-Learning, but the Steve Jobs life and the recently-released movie

based about him, "jOBS (2013)", wasn't forgotten. He said he hasn't watched the

movie yet but as far as he's been shown the trailers, one of them shows Jobs and

Woz discussing drugs. And he said he has never done drugs in his whole life. Hewas a geek who never did girlfriends and parties and all. So he just hoped that as

good as the reviewers talked about Ashton Kutcher (taking time trying to pro-

nounce Kutcher, stating he's not much into TV and movies, so he doesn't know

much about them) performing Steve Jobs, his character performs the same way he

has lived his life.

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We discussing early days of his, you know, school, college, working at Hew- lett

Packard, co-founding Apple alone with Steve Jobs, plane crash, internal passion

and driving yourself to it and achieving your inner goals and whatnot.
https://soundcloud.com/waseefakhtar/steve-wozniakhttps://soundcloud.com/waseefakhtar/steve-wozniakhttps://soundcloud.com/waseefakhtar/steve-wozniakhttps://soundcloud.com/waseefakhtar/steve-wozniakhttps://soundcloud.com/waseefakhtar/steve-wozniakhttps://soundcloud.com/waseefakhtar/steve-wozniakhttps://soundcloud.com/waseefakhtar/steve-wozniakhttps://soundcloud.com/waseefakhtar/steve-wozniak


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He was also eager to learn a few words of Arabic hearing the interviews were

speaking with the crew, asking them how to pronounce certain words and their

meaning.

The show was recorded in about 45 minutes. I stood there throughout not

missing a moment, taking picture, recording videos and voice memos and what-

not. At one point, my phone notified me that I'm out of storage space and stopped

recording the video. So I just quickly deleted some heavy apps I had at the mo-

ment and continued with recording the voice memos.

When the interview was over they recorded the prelude introducing Woz andgiving a short report about him. And in the end, was just a non-smiling shoot of

the two interviewers. But as funny as Woz is with his skilful pranks, he wouldn't let

them, making funny faces towards them!

The interview ended and we took a group photo with him and then each one

taking separately. He looked happy and said, "Cool cameras! ... Now that if you

know, if you hold your iPhone like this (horizontally), you can take pictures with

the volume-up button. It's so cool." He was so geeky and passionate. He passed on

his business card to each one of the TV crew and joked that he has his number on

the card but they've to kind of figure it out.

We headed out of the center and rode back to Four Seasons, where he said to

me, "I think I'll just call it a day. It was nice meeting you, hope you enjoyed. I'll justgo to the room to take some rest before going out for the dinner". And my mouth

threw out the words, "It was such an honor to meet a personality like you today. I

hope we meet soon again. Thank you so much!"

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He advanced towards the lobby and I started walking slowly towards the road

opposite to search for a cab. They were the same roads I usually pass by. But that

extraordinary day, it just didn't feel like I was on this planet.

When I woke up the next morning with a wide smile on my face, I thought to

just email him a short thank you message:

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Dear Woz,

It was really really awesome to meet and hang out with you in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as

a fan yesterday. I'm so honored. You're really a down-to-earth and inspiring personality. I

felt like I was on cloud 9 when I was standing beside you on the same floor under the

same roof waiting for your driver. And then hearing you speak in the private room, as well

as in the interview, I don't know how much more inspiring of a person one can be. I just

so wish we meet sometime soon again if I ever get a chance to visit Silicon Valley haha.

I'll never forget this day of mine. And I'm actually working on an article right now this

day deserved.

Thank you so much for everything!

Regards,

Waseef Akhtar

Sent from my iPhone


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He replied to the email later that evening, also forwarding it to his wife, Janet

Wozniak:

That day, just in a few hours, I saw plenty of his sides that I've always read

about him around the web on blogs and books and watched documentaries andmovies:

I saw his honesty when he, talking to a fan on a phone, informed me of the

whole schedule of his day with exact timings. His geeky side where he just got excited almost every time he had to answer a

question about technology and computers. He said he was the sort of person

who could design a computer in two days. He has a great mind to have still re-

membered what model calculator of HP he owned and after which model, he

started designing calculators for them. I guess thats the excitement is his passion

toward computers but the geeky-ness was when he, before the show and in the

breaks, started teaching us how the iPhone has got cool new features like Do

Not Disturb and taking photos with the volume-up button.

The fun and prankish side of him, well a bit of that when I saw him making

faces towards the interviewer when the director asked the interviewer to notsmile for the shoot he's shooting.

I also got to know about his plane crash as he spoke to me personally about

how it had affected him with anterograde amnesia and how he can't recall faces

and names for long. Plenty of things about Jobs and computers in 70s and 80s also

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I'm so glad to be able to meet fans like yourself, to whom it all means so much.

It's really easy for me.

Thanks,

Woz


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came out. It didn't take much time for me to realize that the day deserved a short

book as I was hearing those genuine stories from the guy who was right there the

whole time, whod lived it all and contributed big time in creating the Silicon Val-

ley.

.That day I came to know the real meaning of inspiration. Every single daysince, I feel my neurons have been stimulated in a way that makes me want to put

in my ding in the universe. I'm a freelance stock photographer and inspiration for

creative photos for me was mainly from the web, movies, even a few songs and trav-

elling through the city. But the real meaning behind the word in my opinion re-

veals that its really walking in the shoes of your heroes. I was in awe by every side

of Woz that day. Of course, I didn't feel it so much there, but now when I think

about the day, I think it was all an inspiration. Inspiration for life.

I realize it was all beyond expectations and a part of me still thinks I haven't

had enough of him, but that's actually how long of a story it deserved. The one

when I was on cloud 9.

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S E C T I O N

Photos

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Steve Wozniak

signed his auto-

graph on my

phone! His typi-

cal signature in

beautiful

calligraphy-like

letters, reading

Woz. And as

soon as he did,

my ordinary

black iPhone 5

instantly turned

into a pricelessphone one could

ever have!


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While he was

executing the

sign- ing rituals, I

narrated my tale

of how I tracked

down his flight

all day long the

day before.


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We entered the

hall where they

were setting up

for the show. Sowe were headed

to a private

room...


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We head to the hall and they sit down. Everything is set, the director says theyre

ready and starts the countdown. Theyre on camera.


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He looked

happy and said,

"Cool cameras!

... Now that ifyou know, if you

hold your iPhone

like this (horizon-

tally), you can

take pictures

with the volume-

up button. It's so

cool."


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He passed on his business card to each one of the TV crew and joked that he has

his number on the card but they've to kind of figure it out.


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Thank you.

a day with the woz

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