If You're Going to Dinner with Steve " Woz" Wozniak, Bring Your Wallet

There are many who have changed the landscape of how our daily lives over the years. Today, July 28, 2015 was one of those days when we met someone who has changed millions of lives. It was someone we never thought we would meet in our wildest dreams. Co-founder of the APPLE, STEVE " WOZ" WOZNIAK, was in town giving a speech (or as he says," Fireside Chat") to the Global Travelers Convention. One of my good friends took the iniative to call him and asked for him at his hotel. Now, 90% of the time one would never be transfered to their room or they travel under a different name so no record of them being there might result in a no hookup. But, this time, the hotel, for some reason, transfered him to the Presidential Suite and he picked up. They chatted for a few minutes until Woznizk said, "Lets have dinner together and I will get back in touch.". Sure enough, he did, and before my friend knew it, he became a personal chauffeur for him, driving him to an Apple store quite a distance away. When " Rocket Man", as I refer my friend, asked Woz where he wanted to eat, he finally decided on Outback a small distance away. Rocket Man called me and told me that I was also invited and they were on their way. My wife and I only had a few minutes to get ready, but I surely was not going to miss the chance of meeting him, especially at a sit down dinner where we were a captive audience.When we got there they were already seated and I sat right next to Wozniak. Now I am never bery quiet but today, I was trying read him and enjoy the moment. Rocket Man threw many questions to him and it seems that he was talking at us and not with us. He mentioned that it was not true that the company was started in the garage and was not always complementary in his comments about the other co-founder, the late Steve Jobs. He ordered his wine and steak( he loves his steak by his own admission) and continued to go on and on about what HE accomplished, his stories about his days at Berkeley, and of the high jinks that we all can remember. But I had the impression that he felt that he was the only one who ever did things on that level while in college. The food came and before everyone could be served he was almost half done with his steak. One question was " Who did you feel played you the best in the movies" and he named Seth Rogan. He mentioned that he had dinner with him and he is totally focused on his career. Then he quickly went back to boasting of the accomplishments he made over the years. He lit up when he talked about the laser pen lights he had and even mentioned that it cost him five thousand dollars to clear his son who allegedly pointed one at a helicopter (the case eventually dropped for lack of evidence). When the bill came he NEVER made any attempt to get the check, nor did he thank Rocket Man and myself when we paid it. When I asked if he would mind signing a few photos one was going to one of my patient's grandsons who had just written a paper on Apple. He mentioned that TMZ was at the airport ( if he knew that was an autograph collector who wears that shirt and not the show) and if anyone wanted an autograph they could send it to the house (on his web site he charges 20 to 30 dollars to sign an item). He mentioned that a lady comes to his home with a huge stack of items and I know she sells them, "but that doesn't bother me". Rocket Man took Woz back to his hotel which was 20 miles away. Woz even told him that he got paid a sizeable amount for his talk at the conference. But as he left the car he mentioned that he had an early flight to San Francisco in the morning and just said goodbye and good night". Not one "thank you" all night. I have tried to make sense of a person who is worth millions of dollars and why he acted the way he did. He never asked about us at all - what we did, family, nothing at all. Could it be his personality? The severe plane crash he survived? Or did he just not understand that we just wanted to treat him as one of the guys and not as someone who really thought he was owed something by everyone. Wozniak is an example of not judging a book by its cover. I hope when he returns to town he will take us out to dinner and I can leave my wallet at home. We will have to wait and see.