Blog Post #7

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture was very interesting. When he talked about his tumors, I felt really sorry for him. But after those push-ups all the pity disappeared. I loved how he kept the audience's attention with his presentation! Some speakers can use a presentation that will put you to sleep by slide #3, but this speaker kept me interested the entire time. He didn't just go through a rehearsed speech and read from a slide. Randy Pausch used his humor and real life stories to make sure you were paying attention.

Randy Pausch shared a lot with us about his childhood dreams. One of the funniest to me was that he wanted to be Captain Kirk. He actually got the chance to meet Shatner (which I thought was awesome). Pausch said that he and his class built a virtual model for Shatner of the ship from Star Trek. The picture he showed looked exactly like the real thing! That must have been an amazing experience for his class.

My favorite part of his lecture was probably a technique he uses to inspire his students. While Pausch is explaining how he achieved his dreams, he also says that there will be brick walls to get in your way. He said that he was never discouraged because brick walls get in your way to test you. They are only put there to stop the people who don't really want to achieve a dream. I think that statement is very true! If we all continue to push through things in life once they get hard, then we'll appreciate the success so much more. There are too many people today who are given things and they don't show any appreciation. Maybe if we all followed Pausch's example, we can achieve all of our dreams like he has achieved all of his dreams.

Another piece of his lecture that I found interesting was the "Hello World" video he showed. At first, it was kind of creepy. Actually, it was creepy all the way through. But it was spectacular! His students must have really hated leaving his classroom. Randy Pausch lets his students use their imagination to literally create worlds. And he isn't afraid to act like he's a kid again.