Dr. Randy Pausch's last lecture

I have been very deeply inspired by Dr. Pausch's last lecture. The video has been widely circulated and viewed by almost everyone in the fraternity. I decided to set down in writing my favorite parts from the speech. I could think of no better place than my blog.

Quoting Dr. Pausch:

Remember brick walls let us show our dedication. They are there to separate us from the people who don’t really want to achieve their childhood dreams. Don’t bail. The best of the gold’s at the bottom of barrels of crap.

Get a feedback loop and listen to it. Your feedback loop can be this dorky spreadsheet thing I did, or it can just be one great man who tells you what you need to hear. The hard part is the listening to it.

Anybody can get chewed out. It's the rare person who says, oh my god, you were right. As opposed to, no wait, the real reason is... We’ve all heard that. When people give you feedback, cherish it and use it.

Show gratitude. When I got tenure I took all of my research team down to Disneyworld for a week. And one of the other professors at Virginia said, how can you do that? I said these people just busted their ass and got me the best job in the world for life. How could I not do that?

Don't complain. Just work harder.

Be good at something, it makes you valuable.

Work hard. I got tenure a year early as Steve mentioned. Junior faculty members used to say to me, wow, you got tenure early. What's your secret? I said, it's pretty simple. Call me any Friday night in my office at ten o’clock and I'll tell you.

Find the best in everybody. You might have to wait a long time, sometimes years, but people will show you their good side. Just keep waiting no matter how long it takes. No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side, just keep waiting, it will come out.

Be prepared. Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity.

So today's talk was about my childhood dreams, enabling the dreams of others, and some lessons learned. But did you figure out the head fake? --- It's not about how to achieve your dreams. It's about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.

The video is here

No worries

I often fear the worst. Then the fear turns to panic. Fear of fear. Sometimes over something as common and non-life-threatening as finding out that I've got to work harder for my courses i had a panic attack. A suffocating-heart-pounding-i-think-i'm-going-to-die panic attack. It seems ridiculous to me now. Absolutely ridiculous!

I share this to tell anyone that is anxiety plagued like me to hold someone's hand and stop putting off what you know you need to do, whatever that may be. And get this book. It will change your life. It's a wonderful read for anyone. Much of his writing reminds us that jesus told us sufficient is the evil of today to deal with that we don't need to worry about the tomorrow (until the tomorrow) . Give us THIS day our daily bread. Planning and preparing are vastly different than worry and anxiety. The best way to prepare for tomorrow is to concentrate with all your intelligence and enthusiasm on doing today's work superbly today. From the book:

"we are standing at the meeting of two eternities: the vast past and future. we can't possibly live in either of those two eternities...but by trying to do so we can wreck both our bodies and our minds. so live from now until bedtime. 'anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall,' wrote robert lewis stevenson, 'anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day. anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down. and this is all life really means."

Faith

Whats wrong in believing in God? When you can believe that atoms exist and electrons exist, and even quarks, leptons and mesons, and that, when you havent seen or felt them? You believe because of the qualities they exert on some other phenomena, right…? Then why is it that this abstract mind of yours is revolted at the idea of a God whose presence is in the nature all around and manifest everywhere? You need the prism to prove to you that light consists of seven colors but then you always had it staring you in your face…the rainbow!

Love is in the air!

Its Valentines Day! And here's some personal information disclosed :P


Mental checklist for Prince Charming :

Honest. For me, there can be no greater turn-off than dishonesty.

Tall. To be more precise, his chin should atleast reach my forehead. I have no idea of the logic behind that.

Intelligent. Well, I don’t plan on giving the guy an IQ test but he needs to be smart alright!

Strong handshake. I believe it says something about your confidence in yourself.

Good sense of humor. Kind of hard to define. Someone with a quick wit.

Smells good. And that includes fresh breath too. Its hard to describe again. Some people smell good, some don’t, period.

Good-looking. That’s in my list, because duh, no one’s going to say they’re looking for ugly ! But personal experience has proven that the guys who attract me are perfectly normal-looking blokes, whose features grow more charming the more I get infatuated with them.

Sensible dressing style. And I don’t necessarily mean a very good fashion sense, since I certainly don’t possess that myself ! But sloppiness is unacceptable.

Romantic. Well, guys apparently aren’t inherently romantic, so let me correct that. Willing to indulge my romantic ideas and expectations.

Authentically pro-feminist, anti-sexist. A lot of guys fake this - I want the real thing. Respect for women and an understanding that they are individuals in their own right.

Sensible, sensitive and responsible. Being overly sensitive and responsible myself, no way do I want the additional stress of managing someone else’s life !

Having said all of that, life never fails to surprise me! When it does, I'll get back to editing this post :D

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

I am a Sugarholic!

Admitting you have a problem is supposed to be the first step to recovery. So here I am admitting that I'm addicted to sugar. To an extent that sometimes I feel there's only one taste that pleases my tastebuds - sweet that is! When an alcoholic seeks help for their addiction they are eventually required to stop consuming alcohol all together. I haven't heard of many plans that say, you can just cut back and only drink on the weekends and you will be okay. Or, just drinking on holidays or special occasions is acceptable.

I know that some of you are probably thinking that addiction is too strong a word for my relationship with sugar. Because I knew you would be thinking this, I looked up the definition of addiction in the dictionary. Here is what I found :

ad·dic·tion (ə-dĭk'shən) n.
Compulsive physiological and psychological need for a habit-forming substance
OR
The condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or involved in something.

Okay, so the second definition could pretty much peg you as addicted to anything in the world. Sugar though...in many forms it calls to me. Maybe I am not beyond saving though. I haven't sunk to eating sugar in its pure and overly processed form. Maybe there is still hope. haha. Maybe if I stop going anywhere or doing anything I can overcome it. Alcoholics would need to avoid going to bars, or liquor stores. I would need to avoid going to any grocery store. If there were an alcoholic at a special event where booze was served like dessert, would you think it was okay for them to have just one or two drinks since it was a special occasion?Am I making light of my sugar addiction? Is it just a big joke to me? Well, I am making light of it a little bit. Yes, I am slightly amused with my condition. But I am also concerned about it. Are there others like me?

I will close with a quote from my close friend. When I shared my concern with her, here's what she said , "Nothing says I love you better than a veggie plate. Think about it." :)

If you come to my house, and I serve you a rich and wonderful dessert, just remember that sugar makes me feel loved...and I am just passing that love along to you! :P