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HP and Woz Party

HP and Woz Party

Tolga Katas, Steve Wozniak

At the gorgeous Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, HP and Fusion-io had a party, but rather than have this party hosted by female Hollywood starlets, it was hosted by the world-famous co-founder of Apple and pioneer of personal computers – Steve Wozniak. How ubercool is that?  Tolga and I attended, with the legendary John Draper keeping us on our toes.

What a technopowerpacked party!

John Draper (on the right  in red) was so excited to see his old friend Steve Wozniak that he practically started running. Tolga Katas, huffing and puffing, was doing his best to keep up.

Enjoy the pics.

The signs were strategic since men don’t ask directions.

We made it. That’s me, Christine Marie, pointing to the welcome sign.

When we arrived, the party was just getting started.

John Draper did a beeline for the food.

I headed straight over to give Woz a big hug.

I don’t think he realized he still had his Segway helmet on.

These guys, known for super IQ’s, were having a riot, especially after a few drinks

and after they got their free toy monkeys.

But by the end of the night, they were spanking their monkeys in unison, quite amused

with themselves.  I didn’t get the appeal of it, but hey, who am I to judge?

Monkeys and toys and goodies and phones and drinks were in the

hands of good-natured tech stars everywhere.

Since a myriad of supergeniuses were there, HP & Fusion-io apparently decided

to beef up the security by adding additional superheros.

Included in the fun activities of the night: people won iPads!

Plus, there was finger food to die for…

romance…

and Rick White.

Rick White, VP of Marketing for Fusion-io, made sure there was never a dull moment.

This man was so high-energy he fascinated me. But he moved so much he made it

impossible for me to get a photo that was not blurred. I took 14 shots of him – all blurry.

(So if anyone else has better pics of Rick in action, please email me.)

Other fun activities included the opportunity to ride a giant bucking hard drive,

more opportunities to socialize and eat, (and yes, that’s Crunch crunching again)


and more monkey spanking to the beat. Hey hey for the monkeys!

Then came history in the making: Tolga Katas the Turk meets Ivan the Terrible.

That’s how the brilliant, motorcycle-riding, rock-music-loving, senior solutions architect

from HP  actually introduced himself to me. I instantly liked him for such flagrant

self-deprecation. And when a little high-level nerd-storming took place, sparks flew.

Here’s Woz, sans Segway helmet, appearing to whistle. There is a legend that if Steve

Wozniak whistles at exactly 2600 hz, his own personal superhero will arrive. He tried it.

And it worked!

I introduced David Flynn, the CEO of Fusion-io, to Tolga. He understood the eccentric

innovator and connected with him so completely that Tolga broke out into a song of joy.

The song made David happy.

He is now looking into launching his own music festival.  The FUS fest, maybe.

John Draper enjoys just a little more food.

People resting in between Rick White’s amplified passionbursts.

Here’s the most photogenic research scientist I found there.  He was from Amgen.

This was the real star of the show. After seeing the output of this one Fusion-io unit

I started to understand why Rick White was a ball of energy and why Woz was giving it two thumbs up. This unit had so much processing power that it could deliver 1,200 separate video streams on a huge video wall – all from a single card.  It’s efficient, it’s green, it’s almost unbelievable. As entertainment industry and technology people who both produce and develop, boy were our wheels turning…

Finally we had to leave. John Draper was so nice, he couldn’t leave

without allowing one last photo for a fan. And one last Pepsi. On the way out,

men were yelling, “Hey you guys – that’s John Draper!” Yep, it sure was.

And so out we went. We waved good bye to a party attender who thought he was a

passenger on a shuttle bus.

Actually, it was a decorative VW bus cemented to the location.

I am not sure what ever happened to him. I hope he made it home safe.

Even leaving was fun. People were singing the praises of

HP, Woz & Fusion-io as they exited.

Then on the way out, John Draper stopped to empty the sand from his shoes.

But then he decided to be green and plant a garden while he had the chance.

I supported his green efforts by waiting angelically on the staircase nearby. Actually…after tripping on the fabric of my skirt and falling UP the stairs twice in front of important people, I decided to stay put, hold onto the bar, and portray some faux elegance and grace.

Finally Crunch’s planting season was over and we carpooled home. We talked about the one-in-a-million people we met and the extraordinary opportunities in technology that lie ahead of us.

www.fusionio.com in case you want to know more.

———————————————More Party Photos Below

"Christine Marie" and "Tolga Katas"

26 Comments on this Post

  1. I’m glad to see Crunch made it! He even called me to try and bum a ride out there. Not that I didn’t want to go, I really did, but I had a scheduled appointment that I couldn’t miss.

    I’m glad to see Tolga got out of the house for a party. He sure needed it last time I saw him.

    Hey, give me a call Christine, I miss you some times too you know!

    Reply
    • I was hoping nobody would notice I had different color socks… Sheesh – I can’t get away with ANYTHING anymore… And NO, I did NOT ride that bucking hard drive, but got lots of video of other people making a fool of themselves…. Now I got to workout in the gym for 20 hours to work off all that good food I consumed…

      Reply
      • I’m so glad Crunchman made it to the event. I hooked him up with the invite, but I wasn’t able to get him a ride there myself. Of course Woz as generous as he always is and we all had a great time.

        The party was very loud… I still have a 2600hz tone ringing in my ear

        Reply
        • Hahahah too funny, Shawn. Apparently, since Woz is the only one that can conjur his own personal superhero by whistling at 2600hz – he did the next best thing for you. He paid for the plane tickets to make sure your superhero showed up at the party. Granted, it wasn’t Batman, but it was even better: The Super Crunchman!!!

          Reply
  2. When Crunch’s other ride didn’t work out either, Steve personally paid for Crunch’s airfare. How kind and generous was that? We had a blast with John here too. He was soooooo happy and so cute. Miss you too Mr. Dual.

    Reply
  3. Tolga is soooo sexy!!!

    Reply
  4. daniel watkins

    Steve Wozniak is one of my heroes! I’m sure he will do fabulous work for Fusion I/O!

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