Yesterday, I lost a friend, Paul Tjogas, a man who was very good in every sense of the meaning. He spent his life helping others, remained positive, asked questions instead of pretending he had all the answers, was respectful of others, and had a sense of ethics that was beyond reproach. Even though I hadn’t seen Paul as much as I would have liked since moving from Berkeley to the Peninsula, I enjoyed the time I was able to spend with him.  I will miss him and my heart goes out to his wife Deb and his children, Chloe and Darryl.

In 2008, Randy Pausch of Carnegie-Mellon University did his famous Last Lecture, which was mostly intended for his kids.  It’s an amazing presentation.  Randy passed away less than a year later.

Paul, like Randy, had pancreatic cancer.  It sure would help if someone could find a cure.  We don’t need good people to die before their time.

I don’t have a fatal disease, but I do have Crohn’s, and given the number of trips I have had to the emergency room over the years, I occasionally wonder how much time I have.  I’ve decided that when I go–preferably a long, long time from now–I’d like to leave stories behind.  Randy left his online for the world to see.  Paul, I’m sure, left behind great stories for his family.  I should have a lot of time to work with, but stories don’t write themselves, so as mine pop into my head, I’m going to dump them here.

I’m also going to write about CS education, politics, sports, and anything else that pops into my head, but I want to make sure to pass on life lessons.  To borrow from my favorite demotivational poster:

“It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others.”

Lordy do I have plenty of warnings.  And some positive stuff, too, in case my man Roni Habib is paying attention.  I shall post them here.