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. \u00a0I will miss him and my heart goes out to his wife Deb and his children, Chloe and Darryl.<\/p>\n
In 2008, Randy Pausch of Carnegie-Mellon University did his famous Last Lecture<\/a>, which was mostly intended for his kids. \u00a0It’s an amazing presentation. \u00a0Randy passed away less than a year later.<\/p>\n Paul, like Randy, had pancreatic cancer. \u00a0It sure would help if someone could find a cure. \u00a0We don’t need good people to die before their time.<\/p>\n 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. \u00a0I’ve decided that when I go–preferably a long, long time from now–I’d like to leave stories behind. \u00a0Randy left his online for the world to see. \u00a0Paul, I’m sure, left behind great stories for his family. \u00a0I\u00a0should have a lot of time to work with, but stories don’t write themselves, so as mine\u00a0pop into my head, I’m going to dump them here.<\/p>\n 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. \u00a0To borrow from my favorite demotivational poster<\/a>:<\/p>\n “It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others.”<\/p>\n Lordy do I have plenty of warnings. \u00a0And some positive stuff, too, in case my man Roni Habib<\/a> is paying attention. \u00a0I shall post them here.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 … Continue reading Death and Stories<\/span>