My given name at Baptism is Salvatore Paul Conti, Jr. As it implies, it was also my father’s name. So there would be no confusion in the house and so that my relatives would not call me Buddy, Sonny or Junior my entire life I was called Paul from birth. Out of respect to my father I signed things, S. Paul Conti, Jr. It’s that way with my driver’s license and on many other documents. The president of our college goes by R. Mark Sullivan for some of the same reasons.
In the computer era this creates problems. Databases expect a full first name. Some ask for a middle initial, like this cruise line for instance. They entered my first name as SPaul and left the middle initial blank since calling me “S P Conti” seemed to make no sense to the people. Instead, when they look at my ID card, or their list, they pause a moment and look at me, then look back at the list and say, “good morning Spaul.” I just tell them that everyone calls me Paul, much like calling Michael J. Fox, Marty, in Back to The Future, instead of Calvin Klein.
Rough night for the ship and some passengers. That same storm which brought ugly weather to the Capital Region (or should I use Tech Valley) created some pretty big waves and howling winds overnight. The sounds of those large waves crashing into the ship actually woke both Jan and I from sound sleeps. It’s just as well. I was dreaming that a foot of snow gathered itself around the inside of the sliding glass door to the balcony. It was reassuring to discover the same foot mat and not any snow once I was alert. Seas are calming and we can see clearing ahead to the south.
It’s a full day at Sea on Monday with arrival at Port Canaveral now projected to be noon Tuesday.
In the computer era this creates problems. Databases expect a full first name. Some ask for a middle initial, like this cruise line for instance. They entered my first name as SPaul and left the middle initial blank since calling me “S P Conti” seemed to make no sense to the people. Instead, when they look at my ID card, or their list, they pause a moment and look at me, then look back at the list and say, “good morning Spaul.” I just tell them that everyone calls me Paul, much like calling Michael J. Fox, Marty, in Back to The Future, instead of Calvin Klein.
Rough night for the ship and some passengers. That same storm which brought ugly weather to the Capital Region (or should I use Tech Valley) created some pretty big waves and howling winds overnight. The sounds of those large waves crashing into the ship actually woke both Jan and I from sound sleeps. It’s just as well. I was dreaming that a foot of snow gathered itself around the inside of the sliding glass door to the balcony. It was reassuring to discover the same foot mat and not any snow once I was alert. Seas are calming and we can see clearing ahead to the south.
It’s a full day at Sea on Monday with arrival at Port Canaveral now projected to be noon Tuesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment