The Last Lecture

If you want to see Randy Pausch's last lecture or read the transcript of it, you can find it here: http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/

Here are some quotes that I like from it:
"We can't change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand."

"The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something."

"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."

"When you're screwing up and nobody's saying anything to you anymore, that means they gave up."

"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."

"The best way to teach somebody something is to have them think they’re learning something else." (Indirect learning-he calls this a head fake.)

"Never lose the childlike wonder. It’s just too important. It’s what drives us."

"When it comes to men that are romantically interested in you, it’s really simple. Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do. It’s that simple. It’s that easy."

Here are some of his main points:
1. Loyalty is a two-way street.
2. Never give up.
3. You get people to help you by telling the truth. Being earnest. I'll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short term. Earnest is long term.
4. Apologize when you screw up and focus on other people, not on yourself.
5. Get a feedback loop and listen to it. ... Anybody can get chewed out. It's the rare person who says, oh my god, you were right. When people give you feedback, cherish it and use it.
6. Show gratitude.
7. Don't complain. Just work harder.
8. Be good at something, it makes you valuable.
9. Work hard.
10. Find the best in everybody. No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side; just keep waiting, it will come out.
11. Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you.
12. And be prepared. Luck is truly where preparation meets opportunity

Getting Older

Every day I am confronted with something that reminds me of how old I am. Yes, I am my grandmother's age now, but please don't remind me! I remember how fascinated she was with the invention of the microwave. I can't imagine what she would think about today's cell phones.

I can remember when my grandparents in Arkadelphia didn't even have a phone. Then they finally got one and it was a party line. I can picture my grandmother picking up the phone and then placing it back on the receiver because someone was using it.

This was back when prefixes for phone numbers were letters. I am not sure about her prefix but I think it was CHAPEL. I do remember ours was LEHIGH. I would love for her to see her great-grandchildren using cell phones to send pictures and play games. She would be amazed.

I myself am amazed at how much we can personalize our phones. We only had three choices of phone colors back in the day: beige, black, or white. You could have a wall phone or a table phone and if you were very, very good you might get a Princess phone as a gift for some special occasion, like your birthday or Christmas. Now we can customize ring tones and choose themes and colors ad infinitum. It's unbelieveable.

People don't even have home telephones anymore. We grew up with people who kept the same phone number (and probably the same telephone) until they moved out of the area or died, whichever came first. Now phone numbers and telephones are disposable!

We only had three choices for television, also: ABC, CBS, and NBC. Later on they added PBS but we didn't have it where I lived until the 70's. In the late fifites everything was in black and white. I used to love to watch Lassie on Sunday nights and of course, we all loved Lucy. Then in the sixties color televisions came out but back then you just didn't buy one because it was available like you do now, when everyone waits in line the night before some latest gadget debuts. Some people had them and some didn't. I remember watching the Wizard of Oz the first time in color. I was fascinated.

Speaking of the Wizard of Oz, our generation could only watch it once a year when the network decided to show it. Now you can buy your own copy and watch it over and over. Had to go to the bathroom and missed the flying monkeys? Too bad! You had to wait an entire year to see it again. Today you can own Cinderella and Snow White. We couldn't have imagined owning our own copy of a movie we saw at the local cinema. If we wanted to see it again, we had to wait until the distributor decided to put in in theaters again, just like with the television network.

I keep wondering what will be my "microwave moment." What new invention will fascinate me like the microwave did my grandmother?

Bonnet Carré Spillway

The spillway is now being closed. Here is a link to some pictures:
http://www.pbase.com/septembermorn/bonnet_carre_spillway

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers information
http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/pao/bcarre/bcarre.htm

If Abe Lincoln Knew PowerPoint

http://norvig.com/Gettysburg/

No Dentist Left Behind

http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/no-dentist.html

Latest Claim to Fame

I am the newest Haikuist on Teddy Allen's blog. This qualifies me to run in the election for "official Haikuist" if and when Bill decides to relinquish his crown.

I like this

Slowly but surely I am learning how to do this. I like it.

Technology is great but it changes so fast I can hardly keep up.

Check out the Web 2.0 video to see what I mean.