Studio portrait by Andrea London,
1990 (I was 33 years old at the time, and decided it was time for a real
portrait). I was working for the Software
Engineering Institute, which at the time was a serious research institute.
I drove a silver Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio - it, like all my cars since 1980,
has either twice as many or exactly as many seats as I usually need (two),
a convertible top (so I can suntan while driving, and not waste time at the
beach), and no cargo space (so I am not called upon to help move heavy
furniture). All in all, a very practical vehicle! It was my 4th
automobile and the 3rd in the line of my 2-seater sports cars (okay,
if you really care: Teal Blue 1964 Dodge Polara, Red 1984 Porsche 914, Red
1987 Alpha Romeo, Silver 1992 Alpha Romeo Quadrifoglio, Montego Blue 1996
Mazda Miata, and now a Silver 2000 Mazda Miata).
Me dressed as a real geek. That's my Hallowe'en costume for 1987
(yeah, I cut my hair really short). I shaved my beard that morning (it was
the first and only time since 1975 when you could see my chin, and I will
never do it again). At work, one or two people recognized me immediately (I
think they looked at my eyes), but most others didn't know me at all. When I
walked in the house that evening and gave my girlfriend a kiss, and then went
upstairs, her friend asked "who was that?", and she replied "I don't know!"
My own mother didn't recognize me. Perhaps it was the goofy glasses...
There is a whole series of photos of me shaving off my beard. Click on any
picture to be taken to the full de-bearding
sequence.
One of my alter-egos, circa 1995, this time portraying the Rat-Catcher in a
local Renaissance Fair. Usually these things are just pap for the tourists -
everyone dresses up (sometimes in Renaissance costumes, but we also got our
share of trolls, elves, and the occasional Klingon) and pretends that
everyone was a lord or lady, no one had to shovel shit, and such nuisances as
plague, poor hygiene, no personal cleanliness, no medical care, war,
pestilence, privation, and a draconian penal code didn't exist. Well, if you
ignore that, it was fun, right? So if a kid showed even the slightest
interest, I would teach him all about the middle ages, explain why the rat
catcher existed in the first place, and had a good time!