MEET THE INNOVATORS: A packed council chamber audience met 12 of the people whose inventions helped spawn the fertile mix that produced Silicon Valley. The program, "Why Didn't I Think of That? Meet the People Who Did," kicked off the History Museum's current exhibit of inventions created by Los Gatans.
The panelists ranged from such high-tech wizards as Alan Acorn (Pong) and Steve Wozniak (Apple) to the low tech enduring legend of the Macabee Gopher Trap. Even lower on the tech scale was the Pet Rock phenomenon of advertising guru Gary Dahl.
The arts were represented by clothing designer Marian Clayden, whose textiles are sold worldwide, and Youwanda Dreger's magnetic napkin holders. What drives these folks that are not like you and me?
"We're engineers. We want to fix things—make them better, easier, faster, cheaper." They are risk takers, challenge grabbers. And they persevere.
His motivation was "fear," said Geoffrey Lee unequivocally—the fear of not being able to meet payroll. In the early years of getting his disk memory company under way, he mortgaged his house three times. "When people say, 'Look at your all your success,' they forget the struggles and risks that are part of the package," Lee reminded. His ideas weren't being heard at work so he left the company to found his own.
Charlie Walton's (security access card) pattern was similar. Both said their ideas were either purloined or ignored so they struck out on their own. Some had spectacular success almost immediately (Ira Spector, Dahl, Wozniak). They met a need: put together the right product at the right time and created a demand so great they couldn't churn out the things fast enough.
Woz was a teenage hobbyist whose single-minded intent was to build a human mind-like computer. The knowledge was there, the technology was there, the materials were there. He was just the one who put the pieces of the puzzle together for the first time. (Just? Did he say just?)
Woz's undiminished enthusiasm for his subject came through as though he were still that teenage hobbyist. "I was so shy, that I figured if I invented something people would talk to me."
"We're not geniuses," one said. "We just make leaps. When you understand the process we go through between the leaps, then you can see we're not geniuses." (I'd still choose the word genius.)
Characteristic of the entire panel was the self-deprecating sense of humor on exhibit. Dahl, for example, said his pets were so accommodating that they marked their own demise. Some pets are still sitting exactly where they were last told to sit 35 years ago. A spoof on pet ownership, the manual was what sold the product, not the pet. Dahl also laid claim to elevating the novelty gift market, lifting it from such vulgarities as the Whoopee Cushion.
Best of all, these innovators all seemed to be having a high old time with no recompense except for admiration. The evening was a fine example of democracy in action, said Spector, who was sitting in his wife's council seat.
THUMBS UP!: Alan and Bonnie Aerts received the Thumbs Up Award from the Community Foundation recently in recognition of their contributions to dozens of nonprofits through the years. These include the Monte Sereno Senior Care Program, and a charity ball which last year raised thousands of dollars for various nonprofits. The list continues and scholarships are another of the Aertses' concerns.
Alan Aerts was also recently honored when his Custom Vending Systems was selected as the Business of the Year by the Campbell Chamber of Commerce.
The new officers installed for the Community Foundation are Jane Goldbach, president; Jan Morris Phillips, vice president; Mike Destro, treasurer; and Emma Vargo, secretary. Paul Dubois, outgoing president, was recognized for his leadership for the past two years, particularly in seeing the Oak Meadow Bandstand to completion.
KIDS ON STAGE: Leads in the SJ Childrens Musical Theater production of The Boyfriend are Los Gatan Caroline Citelli in the role of Polly Browne and Saratogan Bryant Montalvo as Tony. Kylie Brunngraber plays girlfriend Nancy and brother Trent plays a flapper boy.
Francesca Aissa assays the role of Lady Brockhurst. Other Los Gatans in the cast are Ty Doughty, Andie Huebech, Erin and Megan Hughes, Anjoli Johnson, Carina Lukas, Anjulie Wanda, Sarah Tilton and Jenny and Amanda Rabago. The play runs Feb. 2427 at the Montgomery Theater. Tickets at 408.288.5437, ext. 310.
BREAKING RULES: Claire Verbiest will demo a whimsical approach to watercolor at the LG Art Association meeting Feb. 12, 13 p.m. at the Neighborhood Center.
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By Mary Ann Cook