With my busy existence, I am constantly striving for new ways to speed up the things I do, to shorten the amount of time I have to pay attention to just one thing. My friend Alexis recently aided me in this quest by sending me AOL Instant Messenger. As I downloaded, installed and configured it, I went to enter “PaulWein” as my screen name. After I hit enter, I was informed that that name was already taken.

I’m sorry, but I can’t get past the fact that there is someone else out there with the name Paul Wein. Almost all of us have someone else on the planet that has the same name as us, but don’t you find it weird? Don’t you think that someone else running around with your name is a little strange?

I will never forget the day I had to go to Beth Israel Hospital to do a cover story for The Brooklyn Baron on the two-year anniversary of Beth Israel Hospital’s takeover of Kings Highway Hospital. I knew that there was a doctor in the hospital named Paul Wein. After my tour and meeting with the hospital’s Board of Directors was over, I went to his office without an appointment, just to meet another Paul Wein.

I went to his receptionist and asked if the doctor was available. I must confess that I did not know what they would say; I just wanted to see for myself. When they asked me if I had an appointment and I said no, they asked who wanted to see him. As soon as I answered, “Paul Wein”, the receptionist phoned the doctor and told him that a Paul Wein was here to see him. The next words out of the receptionist’s mouth were, “The doctor will see you now.”

As I walked in his office and I met another Paul Wein, I was in shock at the diplomas on his wall. Here was a Doctorate in Medicine from a well-respected University with the name Paul Wein on it. In addition to that, there were business cards, prescription pads and Certificates of Appreciation for a Paul Wein – and it wasn’t me.

Needless to say, Dr. Paul Wein was very nice and appreciated the fact that I stopped by – and I am glad I did too. It made me appreciate the fact that there are other Paul Wein’s out there. And while we may all share the same name, we’re all our own person.

If you are not a Paul Wein, I suggest you find other people with your name and drop them an e-mail and say hello. If you are a Paul Wein – drop me an e-mail and say hello.