The Virtual Portrait

On this page I intend to "paint" a virtual portrait of Paul, with whatever media it takes. For the most part, I will be writing essays, but as I unearth things, and organize them, I will use photos, soundbites, whatever pieces of information...this is my answer to the question, "What was Paul like?"

This page will be under construction for quite a while, so please forgive the rough edges and the dust. It is not easy remembering and transcribing these details, so I beg your pardon for the slowness. Please do check this page every so often to see it as it gets closer to completion. All comments on this work is progress are welcome, of course.

If you would like to leave, you can go back to The Silicon Memorial or back to my HomePage . You can also click on the appropriate icon.

Paulisms

Paul had a number of truly unique behavioral traits which made him very memorable. For one thing, he was devoutly Jewish, holding himself to strict kosher laws that maybe even exceeded the canon. He did love entertaining people at his apartment, but vehemently forbade bringing in any food. This tended to make some people a little uncomfortable, since it felt like one were not reciprocating his generosity, but in his mind, he truly enjoyed feeding people. Could be something he picked up from his parents. :) Every once in a while, if someone said that they will be late for on of his bagel brunches, he would say:

I'll leave a bagel burning for you in the oven.

However, he also loved going out for food, and actually made it clear to me that he held my opinion about restaurants in the highest regards. On the times that we would be out and about in Manhattan and we decided that we would be eating someplace, he would just stand in front of me, and look at me expecting a recommendation. One little thing which everyone who has ever been in a restaurant with Paul will remember is his peculiarly endearing way of asking if the food contained no animal products in it:

Are there any dead things in that?

Of course, there were the distinctive things about him on line. For example, this was his on line signature:

 Goldfish 		212-868-2503	
(Shirley Maclaine told me there would be LIFETIMES like this)     
(The future isn't what it used to be; and probably never was - A.O.)

There is little doubt that the computer and cyberspace meant a lot to Paul. He once told me that before he even took his coat off at work, he had to check his e-mail.

And he loved gadgets. Trinkets. Stuffed animals. Knick knacks. These always seemed to bring him a lot of fun, and his house was usually full of these items. But some of the things that were really distinctively Paul were:

A huge stuffed tiger
A mechanical parrot that repeated words when it "heard" them.
M&M dispensers
Butter and syrup sprayers
His own, personally built furniture

Fun and cleverness abounded around Paul. He loved making up limericks. For example, his outgoing phone message is a truly clever one (a 58K AIFF file).

Theatre and music held a special place in Paul's heart (as did Judy Sterio). He enjoyed singing, and always did. He particularly liked the works of Gilbert and Sullivan.

In the beginning...

How I met Paul was intimately tied in with the founding of the first New York City RATcons.We had quite a time together. I will write more about these later.

For whatever reason, Paul and I became very good friends, and sometimes even I would wonder why. We came and lived in such different backgrounds, about the only things that we shared in common were an appreciation and love for theatre, computers, music and Star Trek. I guess that is enough.