
My Neighbor, Steve Jobs - ryanwhitney
http://lisenstromberg.wordpress.com/2011/08/29/my-neighbor-steve-jobs/
======
truthseeker
Next up on HN:

Blog post from housekeeper of Mr. Steve about how exacting he is on some
occasions and how kind he is on other.

I think Steve Jobs and his contributions to the tech world are extraordinary.
I wish him well and hope he lives happily for a long long time. Just as I wish
for anyone I know or do not know, that they live happily.

Steve is not a friend of either you or me. I do not need to know how he was as
a neighbor, his driving record, his family life or anything that does not
concern his work. I am not interested in those details of Steve or Salma Hayek
or Steve Ballmer.

Can we stop senselessly idolizing people in areas that are not their
expertise?

~~~
runjake
There may be some idolizing, but I think it's more about premature eulogizing
of a man who's made huge contributions to technology, whether you buy Apple
products or not. Ballmer isn't even in the same realm.

Personally, I'm interested in his life beyond Apple. He was an out-of-the-box
thinker who went through many serious failures and successes. How could he NOT
be interesting? I feel I could learn a lot from him. I certainly learned a lot
from his now-classic Stanford(?) speech.

We all really do hope for the best for his health, but we all have this
unspoken belief that his days are very numbered.

I suspect that like me, many others feel the need to thank him for what he's
accomplished, and reviewing and celebrating his life is the next best thing to
shaking his hand.

~~~
matwood
_premature eulogizing_

I mentioned this to a friend the other day. If I only read all of the stories
coming out about SJ I would have assumed he died and not just left his CEO
position.

~~~
jemfinch
You understand that he left his CEO position _because he's dying_ , right?

~~~
psychotik
There's still a difference though - he's not a vegetable; he's very much alive
today. Pseudo-eulogizing a person who is still alive isn't good taste - save
them for when he is gone. It's not like the story will change, or will be any
different then.

~~~
shithead
He may be enjoying it.

Not everybody gets to attend their own eulogy, and in this case, in tone and
volume, it verges on deification.

Speaking of which, is there a comedian with balls to publish an
Apocolocyntosis?

------
idlewords
If you've ever wondered what a pure name-drop is like when extended to
multiple paragraphs, your wait is over.

~~~
granitepail
Yeah -- it was about as textbook as it gets. I respect the guy to no end, but
this "article" was pretty absurd. Four-some-odd paragraphs of the author
explaining how flabbergasted she was by Job's presence in _her own
neighborhood_ and one beyond-cliched moment in which Steve Jobs is -- GASP --
proud of his child.

------
padmanabhan01
This audio (6 min long) is worth a listen. Steve Jobs, when he was around 26
or so. <http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/pagegen/brochure/p3.html>

~~~
kubrickslair
Thank you for posting it.

I should say this: When Steve Jobs talks about intersection of Liberal Arts
and Technology people think it's some marketing gimmick. But he was saying
pretty much the same thing in 1982, when he was at the top, the same thing in
1997 [1] when the chips were down, and the same thing in 2011 when he was back
at the top.

I think a breadth of experiences is pretty important. Whether in a specific
field- experience with different types/levels of languages, having done both
academic research and grunt work. Or in life- hallucinogenics, life-
jeopardizing risks, depression, unfulfilled love. Not to say that one should
always have to be a wreck as a person, or never settle and focus on a project
or set of languages. But a little time spent increasing your breadth goes a
long way than incrementally bettering your depth. And more generally, I have
met too many people who always did the 'right' thing to do, always got
straight As, but are pretty clueless when they step out of their domain or
world view. Creativity, empathy, connecting-the-dots may sound as buzz words
because you cannot learn them through books. But not all of it is genetic; a
lot of it comes through the breadth of your experiences.

[1] "I wish him the best, I really do. I just think he and Microsoft are a bit
narrow. He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an
ashram when he was younger." talking about Bill Gates in 1997.

~~~
tuxguy
One of the most insightful comments . Great articulation @kubrickslair

------
idanb
A few months ago I had just taken a meeting in Palo Alto and went down the
street to sit at a Starbucks to wait for a ride since I rode the caltrain and
had no way to get around. I was doing some work when Steve Jobs walked in. My
grandfather passed away from Pancreatic cancer and was by no means walking
around having a coffee with friends at this stage. It was really inspiring to
see him pushing through the condition and refusing to give up.

Some jerk kid walked up to him and asked if it'd be alright to take a picture
with him. Steve dismissed him with such a confidence you wouldn't expect. I
think in general a guy like that with such amazing ideas has to have this
extremely thick shell to the world, but underneath I'm sure he's an amazing
father, husband, and friend. I was really lucky to be there that day,
definitely changed my perspective on a few things.

------
AndrewClyde
What a fantastic, feel-good piece on Steve. It's nice to know he's just like
every other parent outside of Apple, and I'm glad someone remembered who he is
as a person, not just a CEO.

~~~
orenmazor
Agreed. it's sometimes hard to remember that these people who communicate with
us using the products we buy/use are actually just people like us.

and that's kind of a big deal.

------
sriramk
I'm ashamed to admit that part of the reason for my wife (artithmetic on HN)
and I to pick our current apartment in Palo Alto several months ago was
because it was a stone's throw away from Jobs' house. He's been a long time
hero of mine and when we got a chance to live close by, we jumped at it.

Bonus - we're even closer to several YC startups, I suspect if I shout loudly,
the LikeALittle guys can hear it.

~~~
rdl
One of the most amazing things about Palo Alto is that the city-provided
services are actually good enough that people like Steve Jobs use them, in
preference to private schools, fortified compounds, etc. At least, this is
amazing to me after living in a bunch of third world places where even lower
middle class people try to avoid any contact with neighbors, government-
provided services, etc.

(my girlfriend actually went to a Palo Alto high school with Lisa Jobs, too)

~~~
BoppreH
In Brazil, the best colleges are public. They are so good it's bad: the rich
kids take a semester or two of specific courses to pass the entrance exam,
leaving the poor people out.

------
dctoedt
When [EDIT: you think] someone's dying, it's more satisfying to tell him (or
her) how much you appreciate him, while he's still around to take some
pleasure in it, than to attend the funeral wishing you'd done so.

~~~
sp332
"We're dying, Jim. We're all dying."

He's not dying.

------
oflannabhra
Honestly, I think the neighborly thing for the author to do is to allow Steve
his privacy.

~~~
mcantor
Out of curiosity, how does this violate his privacy?

~~~
oflannabhra
I don't know if it violates his privacy, but it sure doesn't respect it.
Retelling personal moments such as Steve watching his son graduate (while
essentially putting words in his mouth) basically makes her a paparazzo.

------
hans
I know he's going, we all do, but man it feels like a kick in the gut for
tech. Yes we know tech is actually bullshit, in the grand scheme of things, to
keep us occupied, but somehow no Jobs means something less ... like the suits
will kill off all the beauty because they don't understand that.

We need a new big visionary in the higher boardrooms but I don't see any,
lately they're all just wall street and more so with time.

------
tedkalaw
This reminded me that the people that seem to know the most ABOUT Steve Jobs
don't actually know Steve Jobs. Really cool to read.

------
trekgunner
I just checked CNN. I had to because the piece at the end made it sound like
he ea dead.

~~~
sethbaur
I've done the same thing. Even though I knew he wasn't dead, everyone is
talking about him as though he is. And now we're supposed to be surprised by
the fact that he's a normal person, just like you and me?

------
dvdhsu
One or two Halloweens ago, I went over to Steve's house. While everybody was
waiting in line, it turned out that Steve was standing behind a doorway, where
everybody was going through.

He just stood there. Nobody noticed until they started walking back having
gotten their treats from the front door.

I was impressed. Impressed because he was not the one handing out the treats,
but the one standing behind a doorway, where nobody noticed him.

------
WordSkill
Nice article but I am Steve Jobs' neighbor on the other side and he has been
nothing but a nightmare for my family, especially all the nude gardening.

------
gabaix
Marc Zuckerberg goes past my house almost every week in Palo Alto. Seeing on
the streets someone you see in the media helps making him normal.

------
hnsmurf
I don't get this one. I would assume that you'd have to be extremely wealthy
to be Steve Jobs's neighbor. As a result you'd think bumping into other
extremely wealthy, successful people would be routine.

~~~
burrokeet
there's a mix of housing in Palo Alto - a fair amount of students and young
persons intermingled with home owners of (very) expensive homes. I lived in a
$1500/month place on Everett (cheap) and across the street there were million
dollar houses, but a block in another direction were a few places that looked
like 1920s era sharecroppers houses.

------
espressodude
The human touch to this one makes it the best article I've read about Steve
Jobs.

------
napierzaza
tl;dr

Steve (yes I call him by his first name) live near me. As a neighbour. Just
down the street. I have moments where he has acknowledged my existence. He
even knows my waspy name.

------
capkutay
Old palo alto represent!

------
elb0w
Thank god this is on HN, not sure what I would of done without reading this
article. Lets make sure to spread this one around folks.

