Thursday, October 4, 2007

Lisa Yee and Randy Pausch

I'm reading Millicent Min - Girl Genius by Lisa Yee right now (yeah, it's great), so I've been hanging out at her blog. Plus, the discomermaids know her and love her, and they're not often wrong.

Her newest post contains video of Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch giving a lecture on September 18th. It was titled "The Last Lecture", as he only has a few weeks to live before dying from pancreatic cancer. He says not to cry, but I have to admit misting up, particularly when they showed a photo of him with his three little kids.

He sounds amazing, and one thing he said really hit home. He talks about brick walls, and how they are not our enemy. They are there for us to prove how badly we want something. They are there for OTHER people who will give up when they come to one. I'm going to replay that video whenever I'm feeling maudlin. And like one of the OTHER people.

On this date: In 1957, Leave It To Beaver premiered.

1 comment:

Sara Gold said...

Some lessons from Randy Pausch’s last lecture that especially moved me:

1. Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things.
2. Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.
3. Never lose the child-like wonder.
4. If we do something which is pioneering, we will get arrows in the back. But at the end of the day, a whole lot of people will have a whole lot of fun.
5. Be good at something; it makes you valuable.
6. If you live your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself, and the dreams will come to you.

Check out the tribute quiz on the lecture at www.mystudiyo.com : you can add your own questions at the end of the quiz.
http://www.mystudiyo.com/activity.php?act=558