My name is Dylan Stewart, and I have known Kurt Simon since about 2002. He was my father's landlord at a beautiful beach pad my Dad lived in for several years. At the time I met him, I was working as an assistant to a Hollywood producer, raising my daughter single-handedly, and dabbling with starting a career as a computer consultant. At the time, I had only done small computer jobs here and there for friends and family, and was charging about $30/hour. My father called me and told me had a new computer client for me, an older man who wanted computer training. He asked how much I would charge, and off the cuff I said $75/hour. And just like that, my career as The MacWhisperer was born.
I worked with Kurt for the last 5 years of his life, coming over on a weekly basis, and teaching him new stuff. He was more interested in giving his mind something to continue to learn and work towards as opposed to mastering any specific technology. It was a great exercise for me, finding new cool stuff to introduce him to and talk to him about. Skype, cell phones, video conferencing, email, MySpace, music, video editing, blogging… topics which are of common conversation now, but in 2002 they were all cutting edge, and he was interested in all of them. Sometimes I would say to him, "See, it's easy…" And he would respond with one of my favorite and most often requoted Kurtisms… "Everything is easy when you know how…"
And over the next five years, I would teach him some, and he would teach me some. With his guidance and support (both emotional and financial) I would start my own company called 2 Smart Techies, and quit my day job to fix computers and train people to use their technology full time. I would work with him through some health problems he incurred towards the end of his life, and we always talked openly and honestly about all things, including life, death, and even what he should do with his iMac when he finally passed. He suggested giving it to a school, or throwing it away. I suggested giving it to his wife, Atsuko, and letting me teach her how to use it.
At first he laughed. Atsuko was a fairly traditional Japanese woman about to enter her 60s. She had never touched a mouse, let alone a computer, couldn't type, struggled with speaking English, and worst of all had absolutely no interest in technology or computers. But, after we continued to talk about it Kurt realised that it might do the same thing for Atsuko that it had done for him… opened his horizons, and allowed him to communicate with the world, and avoid becoming isolated. He agreed, and here we are, 5 years after Kurt's passing, and I am still working with Atsuko, teaching her, writing emails with her, and furthering Kurt's intention and dream about helping her stay connected to her friends, her life and her world.
It was Atsuko's idea to create this website as an homage to Kurt, and all that he meant to both of us, and hopefully to all of you out there reading this. This website will be a living memorial to a great man. Do you have a story about Kurt to share? Or a photograph, video, or audio clip to add to this site? Email all your stories and media to me at memories@kurtsimonsays.com, and I will post them for you. If you need help with anything regarding this site, you can also email me at that site for help. I'll do whatever I can to make telling your Kurt stories an easy and memorable experience for you.
Thank you for reading, and enjoy the site…
Dylan Stewart aka The MacWhisperer
Kurt and I playing around with Photo Booth on his computer