The Last Lecture

Book Review: The Last Lecture
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A lot of professors give talks titled “The Last Lecture.” Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can’t help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?

When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn’t have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave–“Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”–wasn’t about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because “time is all you have…and you may find one day that you have less than you think”). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.

In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” –Randy Pausch

This book means a lot to me, I had a definite change in career destination once I watched the Randy Pausch’s TED talk on The Last Lecture.  He words can change your life and is worth reading.

If it were up to me this book would be taught in schools, colleges, and employment training throughout the US.

How to Make a Meatball Roll

 

Meatball Rolls
Meatball Rolls

My wife loves make ahead meals, it is so much easier when you have precooked and packaged lunches and dinners for the week. I like them because cooking is cheaper than eating out, and having foods prepared in advance lessens her stress and the likelihood of my getting yelled out (for something  I probably deserve – but nonetheless).

However, with her strict diet, I get to make whatever I want since she doesn’t eat what I do, and I don’t have the desire or willpower to stick to hers.

Meatballs are a Easy Meal Prep

This means I make a lot of meatballs, as they are easy, flexible, cheap, and store well.  This post shows a recipe for a baked meatball roll that is awesome for a lunch or easy dinner.

I don’t show how to make meatballs, as I have both done this earlier, and it is dead simple.  Whatever your meatball recipe make 8 or so of them and get some premade pizza dough (the whomp biscuit kind), some cheese, and some sauce.

Once you have all the ingredients for your rolls, open the dough and cut it in half lengthwise, and cut the half’s in half width-ways to make 4 equal “squares” that are probably a little rectangular.

stretch the dough a little to make it thinner and larger, then simply add a couple spoonfuls of sauce in the center of each bit of dough, add two meatballs and some cheese over the sauce and then close the dough by folding over the ends and the sides.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and place the dough on a cookie sheet, edge side down.

Bake for 15 minutes and remove to either heat fresh or let cool completely and store in sandwich bags for the next days lunch.  Either way, this is a great make ahead meal.

My Side of the Mountain Trilogy

My Side of the Mountain Trilogy
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In 1959, Jean Craighead George published My Side of the Mountain. This coming-of-age story about a boy and his falcon went on to win a Newbery Honor, and for the past forty years has enthralled and entertained generations of would-be Sam Gribleys.

The two books that followed–On the Far Side of the Mountain and Frightful’s Mountain–were equally extraordinary. Now all three books are available in one deluxe yet affordable volume for veteran devotees and brand-new fans alike.

Before this I had no idea this was a trilogy.  Because of this my childhood was less.  Honestly, this book probably was the greatest literary influence of my childhood.  I am waiting patiently until I can read My Side of the Mountain with my son.

I can’t say I would be as open to WT moving to the mountains alone, but that may be because of his mother.

Jean Craighead George was the preeminent nature writer for children. She is the author of My Side of the Mountain and Julie of the Wolves, and her work spanned 50 years. She died in May 2012 at age 93.  I am interested in self reliance in large part to her work.