

The last time I saw Steve Jobs - stevenleeg
http://blog.pluckytree.org/2011/10/last-time-i-saw-steve-jobs.html

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tptacek
I think one of the things that made Jobs death such a punch to the gut for me
was the fact that until very recently, we all had some hope that his health
problems were chronic, debilitating, but not terminal (Joe Nocera had, for
instance, reported that Jobs cancer had not recurred at his last medical
L.O.A.).

When Jobs' death was announced, I immediately began reevaluating the little
moments and snapshots we had of Jobs in the last year; his head resting on his
wife's shoulder after a talk, his voice at the Cupertino city council meeting.
Someone else pointed out how remarkable it was that Jobs had achieved all he
had while staring death in the face. Remarkable, yes, but also very sad.

So, I'm relieved at stories like this, showing Jobs enjoying his life even as
he knew it was drawing to a close.

Thanks!

~~~
thaumaturgy
I admit that after the paparazzi photo of him was released, I loaded up HN
every morning expecting to see the announcement of his passing away at the
top.

But, I was also hoping that it wouldn't happen. I think part of me thought of
him as so fundamentally stubborn that if anyone could cheat death, he could. I
liked to imagine Death showing up at Jobs' side, and Jobs fixing Death with
his patented steely glare, and saying, "No, wait, there's one more thing..."

I was saddened by the news of his death in a way that I haven't been in a long
time. He was a human being, with all the requisite faults and foibles -- and
some people are trying to ignore those now, and others are trying to hilite
them -- but he aspired to greatness, and he accomplished it in a way that so
few people do. In a sometimes dispassionate world, he seemed to be a
passionate exception.

------
Samuel_Michon
As I too was (and am) a nobody, who got to meet Steve Jobs on several
occasions, I bring you: My first encounter with Steve:
[http://dailyperry.com/post/11206943414/my-first-meeting-
with...](http://dailyperry.com/post/11206943414/my-first-meeting-with-steve)

~~~
RexRollman
Glad to see that I am not the only one who liked the hockey puck mouse.

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joshaidan
I like the tidbid about Jobs knowing how to focus the iPhone by tapping a part
of the screen. He's one of the few CEOs who know how to use their products.
What was it, Eric Schmidt never used Google Buzz or Wave?

~~~
TamDenholm
Well, go and compare the amount of products google has to the amount of
products apple has. Eric Schmidt isnt going to use them all, but i bet he
knows how to use Google Search.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
Also worth remembering that Apple products were largely what they were because
Steve had Apple build things Steve wanted to use.

Google isn't built in that image and even if it were, the image it would be
built in is Larry and Sergey's, not Eric's.

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_THE_PLAGUE
What a wonderful story. Just when I thought I had shed all the tears I was
going to shed over this over this past week, it just all comes right back. He
was a legend, but also a good human being. A true rarity.

~~~
gchandrasa
Yup, really rare.

------
watmough
The man seems to be an infinite source of eye-moistening stories.

Really nice, thanks.

~~~
hyperbovine
I don't understand what is "eye-moistening" about somebody failing to act like
an asshole and doing what any normal person what have done.

~~~
pbreit
I have a rather cold heart myself but still had no trouble seeing how a cute
story like this told shortly after a tragic and untimely death could resonate
in a heartfelt way.

~~~
bh42222
No doubt it is a touching story. That was my reaction to it as well. But when
you read hyperbovine's point, and think about it... it is also true. So
touching story yes, but normal human behavior - yes.

~~~
pbreit
Hyperbovine's point was "I don't understand what is "eye-moistening"". And
very honestly, I'm not sure how normal it is for the guy who runs the most
valuable company in the world to be walking out to his company's general
parking lot by himself unrecognized.

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philwelch
A story about Steve taking a photo, and his attention to detail in doing so,
is especially fitting because of his apparent passion for photography. You
could tell in his keynotes that he was especially proud of iPhoto, which
seemed to be his favorite application to demo, and he is said to have served
as photographer at Larry Ellison's wedding.

This story isn't about an important, busy man with his own problems stopping
to have a normal interaction with naive strangers. It's about a man
appreciating the important, everyday moment in life when a family asks a
bypasser to take their picture to document their memories of going to a
special place, and seeing through their eyes the difference his work has made.

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teja1990
It's a great story. Steve is a human being , yes humans do make mistakes ,
else who else will. Its the ones who change themselves are the ones to talk
about, he is one of them. Steve was arrogant and cocky during the starting
days of apple. Come on guys, he was still in his 20s and owns millions, all
self made who wouldn't be ? After his return he was a completely different
man. These days i see some posts talking about Steve's grey days , this story
shows what kinda person he really was at the end. SO lets forget about his
past grey days and lets try taking the good in him :)

------
nirvana
I've been following Steve Jobs since I was a kid, about 30 years ago. Woz was
more my hero then, but I read everything I could about Jobs even then, and
ever since.

I think Jobs transformed himself on a fundamental level. The young Steve
seemed arrogant and self centered. Getting pushed out of Apple seems to have
been a kick to the soul, and then in his 10 years away, he seems to have
changed everything about him that was bad. Just check out how he responded to
the insult given to him at the 1997 after WWDC session.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF-tKLISfPE>

Now that enough time has passed, all the people who were bashing Jobs from
1990-2011 are back bashing Jobs again.

But I think these stories are the real guy.

I was in his presence on a couple of occasions. You can fake some things, but
its really hard to fake who you are. Everyone has their good and bad days...
but one thing I can say about Steve, he was always genuine.

Made him a great salesperson, too, cause even if he was wrong, he _believed_.

So, I am grateful for these anecdotes. I'm eternally grateful for the 2005
commencement address. He was so private, and for good reason, and until the
biography comes out these are some of the few views we have to him as a
person. (I think the biography is going to be very revealing, and surprising
when it comes out, since he's such a "control freak" but I think he didn't
exercise any control, and people will be shocked.)

~~~
chugger
1) Silicon Valley's prodigal son is banished from his company.

2) Grows up

3) Comes back to become one of the greatest visionaries of our time. Inspires
millions.

4) Dies young.

~~~
jforman
Reminds me of The Hero's Journey:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero%27s_Journey> (the pattern of
separation, initiation, and return common to many hero myths).

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tonio09
ok. wtf is going on. why does this story have 314 points? it's about a man
taking a photo of a couple. Is this supposed to be a top quality post or what?
Why does it matter that the man was Steve Jobs and not some random dude? Did
you get more out of this story one way or the other? HN FAIL.

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napierzaza
That makes no sense. If you are as much a fan as you bring your family there,
but you don't know what Steve Jobs looks like? Has he not be on the cover of
absolutely everything since 2007?

~~~
pmorici
I'd say it's conceivable. Isn't there a statistic out there that says
something to the effect of a large portion of the population can't name the
current president of the United States?

~~~
epo
I think that was the vice-president. What is shocking is that in another
survey, some 40% of Americans asked didn't know who or what the Taliban were.

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lhnz
I just started laughing after reading this article but I mean no disrespect.

 _It's an inane story about a man that takes a photo for some tourists._

Take a step back. I know many consider him your hero but he was a human being.
It should not be surprising or interesting that Steve did normal things.

It's very interesting to me how society both elevates leaders and then
humanizes them while adding modern societies virtues. It reminds me of how
heroic and chivalric virtues were mixed into Arthurian literature.

I'd love to read a parody. Perhaps there could be a set of parables with Steve
doing normal human things which represent modern human virtues.

~~~
athst
This is an interesting story precisely because it is so ordinary. Over the
past week we've heard and read so much about all of his grand accomplishments.
After all of that, this is a little story that reminds us that he was a human
being.

And it's not an inane story either. How often is he not recognized in public?
Does he get pleasure when he sees a family using his products? You'd like to
think that interactions like this made him happy, and that's what makes it
sweet.

~~~
lhnz
Hear me out.

(1) I don't think you would be interested in the answers to those questions if
the article was about an ordinary man. The only redeeming feature of the story
is that it's about a famous genius that died recently. Remove that and tell me
that story isn't inane.

(2) You're attempting to study the character of a man whose work interests
you. It has turned out that his character is that of an ordinary man who acts
with humanity. This is completely unsurprising but you assert that this is
'interesting'. The belief that this story is significant and unusual is
utterly unbelievable to me. It suggests that many people believe that those
that are considered geniuses or visionaries are somehow completely different
from normal men and may not socialize or empathize with others in the same way
as a normal human being.

(3) The really interesting thing about this thread is that there are so many
people that (a) are trying to judge his character -- I believe that this might
be because we seek our highest values in celebrities, (b) believe that they
can analyze his character from just a _few recounted events_ , (c) elevate
leaders to the level that they need to be deliberately humanized with stories
for others to realize that they're "just like you and me".

Please help me understand how you and others think.

~~~
morrow
I'll try to explain how I viewed the story:

I think the story is better taken as a lesson in both humility, and finding
happiness rather than an example of Steve's benevolence. The reason is that
this man had very legitimate reasons to take this interaction negatively: He's
the famous CEO of the company they are standing in front of, and they didn't
recognize him. He's battling a serious illness, rather publicly, and they
don't seem to think this could be imposing. His time is incredibly important
to him, both in the fact that he is CEO, but also because of his health, he's
working fast to try and get everything in order to secure the future success
of his company. From his point of view, he could've viewed them as ignorant
people who are wasting his very limited time, and he would be right on some
level.

He could've said no or simply ignored them, and he would've have legitimate
excuse to do so - but the fact that he didn't says something about him. I
think a lot of people assume that what that says is "because he wasn't a jerk,
it makes him a nice person" but I think it's more that he was able to take
what very well could've been a negative interaction and instead of dismissing
it, see the positive side of it, and get enjoyment out of it. He was able to
take the humble route, and instead of ignoring them, lambasting them, or
simply revealing who he was and risk embarrassing them, he simply fulfilled
the request and went on his way.

I took this is more a lesson in ego, humility, and happiness than it is
evidence for/against his character.

