Morning people think everybody should be early risers. Once a year, they’re right
I want to tell the story of one of my few brushes with fame. It is similar to the time thermonuclear bomb pioneer Edward Teller told me to get the hell out of his way but not as unpleasant.
In the ’80s I was homeless off and on, and poor, poorer than I am even now. It was Reagan’s fault, of course. Either that or it was Microsoft’s fault. Microsoft was already a big deal. Everyone was talking about Microsoft DOS.
“Do you know MS-DOS?” was the question job interviewers liked to ask. If you didn’t know MS-DOS they didn’t want you even if they themselves didn’t know MS-DOS. Not knowing MS-DOS was like knowing J-SQUAT.
During part of this time I hung out late nights at a sandwich shop near University Village. A friend hung out there, and we talked about building a computer together that we thought would be better than a PC. That has nothing to do with the story except it explains why, when a certain young man in his late 20s or early 30s walked in in the early hours one morning, my friend introduced him to me as a guy who was high up in Microsoft, the computer software company.
The guy, I’ll call him “Steve Ballmer,” would work ridiculously late hours and then pop into the sandwich shop on his way home. Steve and I didn’t talk computers, because that would be rude. We talked about space travel, because it was in the news.
I will never forget his opinion of the idea that the human species might survive a cataclysm on Earth by having space colonies: “I don’t care if the human species survives.” Rad!
So anyway, now I’m finding that Steve, is finally quitting his job at Microsoft, and that’s why I’m recalling our lovely encounter.
It occurs to me that not being so focused on work all hours of the day, Steve might be interested in joining me and the rest of the Real Change community at the 19th Annual Real Change Breakfast, which will be held Sept. 24 at 7:30 a.m. at the Washington State Convention Center.
Lined up to join us for breakfast we have Seattle mayoral candidates Sen. Ed Murray and Mayor Mike McGinn. They will talk to a political analyst I’ll call “C.R. Douglas,” whom I’ve also met (but have less story to tell about).
Who else should be there? How about Jeff Bezos? Does anyone out there know Jeff and can get his attention? I heard he’s got an interest in newspapers. We could talk! Would he be interested in space colonies? Who knows?
The Real Change Breakfast, which we have been having ever since we thought of it, is the one time every year I not only get up in the morning but actually go out, risking solar radiation.
If I’m going to do that, I want lots of company.
Isn’t that what it’s all about, morning people? You’re up, shouldn’t everyone be up?
I’m hoping all you readers will be there whether you are morning people or not. Don’t think, I’ll wait until the big 2-0 anniversary. There’s no sense in waiting. Nineteen is already a good number. We’re well past jailbait.
The breakfast is free, anyway. We’re giving food away. You can’t eat free food every year? You have to wait for a decade to turn over? Multiples of 10 are vastly overrated.
Besides, that cataclysm Steve and I discussed could still happen any moment.
Just last week a Russian newspaper of considerable reputation reported that Edward Snowden has revealed that millions of people will die this month from solar flares. The CIA has known about this since 1999. Think about it. That could happen. Let’s hope it happens after Sept. 24, so we can all have one nice breakfast together before we’re rounded up and taken to live in FEMA camps.
We should eat, drink orange juice, and be merry now, while we can.