Just a quick update from the Big Island's Kohala Coast, home of the Ironman Hawaii 70.3 race that will go tomorrow, 31 May. I hope some of you out there are going to follow along in real-time. See the sites to check a couple of posts down. I have one more site that I came across today. The gentleman who runs this site is the fellow who is in charge of the aid stations on the race course tomorrow. He mentioned that he would be taking photos and blogging real-time from the race course tomorrow, so you may want to check out his page in addition to the two I already mentioned below. The new site (fellow Blogger user!):
http://ironmanrace.blogspot.com/
I've got three eager "support humans" (Copyright Dave Sampson, ca. 2002) - Barb, John, and Jay Mackeprang - here with me on the trip and ready to see me out on the course tomorrow! Hopefully they will be able to snap a few pictures that I can put on here posthaste once the race is done tomorrow...
We will be here on the Big Island through Monday morning, then back to Oahu for a bit under 48 hours before the trip out east for the Olmsted Orientation Weekend. Before you know it, June 14th will be here and we will be heading to Nebraska / California!
GJS
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
MAG 24 Sprint Tri Results Posted
Here are the results from the 10 May sprint tri that I did (I wrote about it in a previous post):
http://www.pacificsportevents.com/Races/MAG%2024/2008/Oveall_Results_5-10-2008.htm
GJS
http://www.pacificsportevents.com/Races/MAG%2024/2008/Oveall_Results_5-10-2008.htm
GJS
Good News!
Professional accomplishment: I have been selected for promotion to the rank of Captain! See the link:
http://www.npc.navy.mil/NR/rdonlyres/3EF929A9-CC28-4071-BE7D-34DAB2BEE3C5/0/ALN08040.txt
Again, I highly recommend using the 'ol Control-F, "Sampson" approach, as that there are something like 2000 names on the list.
You will see, and some may note the odd coincidence, that there is the number "1620" in front of my name. That means I am the one thousand six hundred and twentieth officer on this list to be promoted. I know, you're saying, "Man, it's going to take forever for him to actually put on his rank!" Maybe, maybe not. What will probably happen is that the first 200 or more officers on the list (numerically, not alphabetically) will be promoted first of next month, the next couple hundred the next month, etc. until the list is cleared of promotees about 6 - 8 months from now. Based on something like that, my estimate right now is that I should be wearing my new rank around Christmastime. The pay raise will make for a nice holiday gift!
GJS
http://www.npc.navy.mil/NR/rdonlyres/3EF929A9-CC28-4071-BE7D-34DAB2BEE3C5/0/ALN08040.txt
Again, I highly recommend using the 'ol Control-F, "Sampson" approach, as that there are something like 2000 names on the list.
You will see, and some may note the odd coincidence, that there is the number "1620" in front of my name. That means I am the one thousand six hundred and twentieth officer on this list to be promoted. I know, you're saying, "Man, it's going to take forever for him to actually put on his rank!" Maybe, maybe not. What will probably happen is that the first 200 or more officers on the list (numerically, not alphabetically) will be promoted first of next month, the next couple hundred the next month, etc. until the list is cleared of promotees about 6 - 8 months from now. Based on something like that, my estimate right now is that I should be wearing my new rank around Christmastime. The pay raise will make for a nice holiday gift!
GJS
Honolulu Triathlon Results
Race was Sunday, 18 May. Results are here: http://www.honolulutriathlon.com/results/2008Olympic.txt. I recommend using "Control-F" to find and then typing in "Sampson", otherwise you will be searching for a while.
Here are my after-action points for the race, written on my BlackBerry wireless device at a Starbucks location nearby the race venue in Waikiki soon after the race (not going to try to polish them up very much, but as you will see, they certainly could use some!):
***
race is over. I am sore. In chrono order:
Lost wristband was not an issue
Nice to not have to lug bike down early AM
Good to see Jason Lee there; he beat me
Swim: almost like swimming in salt water pool, it was so calm; lots of space and separation from other swimmers (wave start); chafing @ underarm during 2nd half (use bodyglide)
T1: seemed very slow; long run from ocean to transition; I dislike running barefoot on pavement (my foot bottoms are quite sensitive); somebody dumped h2O next to transition towel (was soaked)
Bike: best results when on small front chainring; seemed to go pretty fast; need to reassess fueling strat - took 3 Endurolyte pills about 15 min in and had only full-strength Gatorade to drink, ended up with sideache during most of the ride
T2: faster; wasn't sure where I needed to go to start run
Run: went out too fast because I was feeling good early on (good pacing strategy on bike contributed) and paid later on - cramping in quads slowed me significantly during 2nd lap, didn't have to stop running, but did require significant pace modulation to keep moving. Need to do better fueling on the bike and monitoring pace / HR early on to try to mitigate at Honu. Was no way I could kick @ finish b/c of fried quads.
Overall: well run and professional race, could use additional drink stations at finish (only ones I saw were h2O and Gatorade buckets in the finish chute; had to make repeated trips in to get more fluids)
***
I think getting thoughts about physical performance like a race out and recorded in some way soon after the event is important, otherwise, oftentimes it never happens and the potential lessons are lost! I see some gems in here for my preparation for the Half Ironman less than 2 weeks from now; will take them for action.
GJS
Here are my after-action points for the race, written on my BlackBerry wireless device at a Starbucks location nearby the race venue in Waikiki soon after the race (not going to try to polish them up very much, but as you will see, they certainly could use some!):
***
race is over. I am sore. In chrono order:
Lost wristband was not an issue
Nice to not have to lug bike down early AM
Good to see Jason Lee there; he beat me
Swim: almost like swimming in salt water pool, it was so calm; lots of space and separation from other swimmers (wave start); chafing @ underarm during 2nd half (use bodyglide)
T1: seemed very slow; long run from ocean to transition; I dislike running barefoot on pavement (my foot bottoms are quite sensitive); somebody dumped h2O next to transition towel (was soaked)
Bike: best results when on small front chainring; seemed to go pretty fast; need to reassess fueling strat - took 3 Endurolyte pills about 15 min in and had only full-strength Gatorade to drink, ended up with sideache during most of the ride
T2: faster; wasn't sure where I needed to go to start run
Run: went out too fast because I was feeling good early on (good pacing strategy on bike contributed) and paid later on - cramping in quads slowed me significantly during 2nd lap, didn't have to stop running, but did require significant pace modulation to keep moving. Need to do better fueling on the bike and monitoring pace / HR early on to try to mitigate at Honu. Was no way I could kick @ finish b/c of fried quads.
Overall: well run and professional race, could use additional drink stations at finish (only ones I saw were h2O and Gatorade buckets in the finish chute; had to make repeated trips in to get more fluids)
***
I think getting thoughts about physical performance like a race out and recorded in some way soon after the event is important, otherwise, oftentimes it never happens and the potential lessons are lost! I see some gems in here for my preparation for the Half Ironman less than 2 weeks from now; will take them for action.
GJS
Sampson Update, 19 May 2008
Aloha,
Details are starting to filter in on dates for our upcoming move and we thought you might be interested. But before we move from Hawaii, there are a couple trips that we have planned. Let's go in sequential order, shall we?
First, trip to Big Island with Jay to sightsee and for Gary to run the 2008 Ironman Hawaii 70.3 race. Race is on Saturday, 31 May. You may be able to follow along online - check http://www.ironman703hawaii.com/ or http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/honu70.3. Race starts at 0700 HST and I aim to finish in less than 7 hours. Overall dates for the trip are 29 May - 2 June.
Next is the Olmsted Scholar Orientation Weekend in Washington, D.C. We will travel from Hawaii on 4 June for this and return on 8 June. John will stay behind with friends for this one.
That will take us up to our final week in the islands. We are slated to depart on 14 June and arrive in Nebraska at about noon on the 15th (Sunday).
Will be able to spend about 2 weeks back home. We sure hope to be able to see as many of you as possible during our time back in Nebraska! We depart for Monterey, CA, on 29 June flight. That will allow a few working days on the ground there to hopefully get squared away before what will certainly be a long weekend to celebrate Independence Day. The 50-week long Mandarin Chinese course will commence the week of 7 July 2008 and is scheduled to end on 30 July 2009 (it ends up being over a year in total length due to holidays, etc.).
So that's it in a nutshell - please e-mail if you need or want more specific details; we'd be happy to send if you do!
Shameless plug for the Olmsted Foundation and the Olmsted Scholar Program: if you haven't perused their website, check it out here: http://www.olmstedfoundation.org/olmsted/web/index.cfm
I was selected as a part of the Olmsted Scholar Class of 2009 (when I will start my in-country studies), the 50th class since the beginning of the program. This year, there were 27 scholars selected between the four services, the largest class ever. Of note, I am only the 7th scholar to be assigned to Taiwan, and the first Marine Olmsted Scholar to be sent there. To get an idea of how limited and exclusive this program is, noting as I mentioned above that the program has been in existence for 50 years now, fewer than 50 Marines have had the chance to be a part of it! I am very humbled and proud to be a part of this select group!
Best regards from Hawaii,
Gary, Barb, and big boy 2-year old John!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Sprint Triathlon In The Books
Another race completed. Times are uniformly slower than 2 years ago, but this year, I am just happy to be able to do these events!
Today's race was the MAG-24 Sprint Triathlon. The best part about this race is it is right here on the base I live on - it doesn't get much easier than that, in terms of getting to the race! I just rode my bike the approximately 2 miles across the base and did the race. It was a 500m swim in Kaneohe Bay, an approximately 10-mile bike leg (2 laps), and then a ~3.5 mile run.
As I alluded to above, I did this race 2 years ago (it was later in the month of May that year, about 2 weeks after John was born). Barb's sister Kristine was visiting then to help us out with newborn John and everyone came out to see me run the race. Today Barb and John came out. I think John is pretty excited about running some races of his own when he gets a little older. When I got to the run leg of the race today, he really, REALLY wanted to run along with me! Soon he will be able to...
Just FYI, I finished in about 1 hour 6 minutes 2 years ago, and in about 1 hour 15 minutes today. Like I said, I am slower, can't be helped just now.
I have another race next weekend, the Honolulu Triathlon. It's a longer race - 1500m in the water, 40k on the bike, then a 10k run to finish. Based on the fatigue I felt after today's race (significant), I am going to be really feeling that one! (to say nothing of the big animal coming up at the end of the month, the Half Ironman)
GJS
Today's race was the MAG-24 Sprint Triathlon. The best part about this race is it is right here on the base I live on - it doesn't get much easier than that, in terms of getting to the race! I just rode my bike the approximately 2 miles across the base and did the race. It was a 500m swim in Kaneohe Bay, an approximately 10-mile bike leg (2 laps), and then a ~3.5 mile run.
As I alluded to above, I did this race 2 years ago (it was later in the month of May that year, about 2 weeks after John was born). Barb's sister Kristine was visiting then to help us out with newborn John and everyone came out to see me run the race. Today Barb and John came out. I think John is pretty excited about running some races of his own when he gets a little older. When I got to the run leg of the race today, he really, REALLY wanted to run along with me! Soon he will be able to...
Just FYI, I finished in about 1 hour 6 minutes 2 years ago, and in about 1 hour 15 minutes today. Like I said, I am slower, can't be helped just now.
I have another race next weekend, the Honolulu Triathlon. It's a longer race - 1500m in the water, 40k on the bike, then a 10k run to finish. Based on the fatigue I felt after today's race (significant), I am going to be really feeling that one! (to say nothing of the big animal coming up at the end of the month, the Half Ironman)
GJS
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Monterey it is
Well, the verdict is finally in - we are heading to California! I will have to report in to the Defense Language Institute (DLI) not later than 7 July 2008. Standby for updates on when we will be leaving Hawaii. Most likely will remain in the mid-June timeframe (can't really see how it could be much later, or really very much sooner), so we'll be back in Nebraska for a couple weeks during the summer in between. Hope to see you there!
GJS
GJS
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
John's birthday
Since I mentioned my birthday in passing, I should certainly mention another birthday this week. John will be 2 years old this Thursday, 8 May. Hard to believe he will already be that old! I missed his birthday party because of this trip. Barb set up a pool party for him and his friends at the base swimming pool. I really wish I could have been there to help out and to celebrate. Not to mention to see John in the water - he loves to swim! Remind me to post some new pictures (and some old ones that have not yet been released to the public) of John in celebration of his birthday.
GJS
GJS
Upcoming races
The boss's trip to Thailand this month was cancelled, so that means I can run more races in Hawaii! I signed up for a sprint triathlon being held on the base where I live this Saturday, 10 May (also, it is my birthday - send books!) and an Olympic distance triathlon the following weekend in Honolulu. Then, as planned, I will cap off the month and this tour of duty in Hawaii with the Half Ironman race on the Big Island on 31 May. As the saying goes, I am going to "race my way into shape!"
GJS
GJS
Monday, May 05, 2008
Saipan
Saipan is our first destination on the trip. I have been here once before, in 1999, when I was a reconnaissance team leader on the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) out of Okinawa, Japan. We were here for a couple of days, if I remember correctly, on a reconnaissance and surveillance training operation. We flew to the island aboard military aircraft and went directly to our operations site under cover of darkness. The remainder of our time here was spent conducting the training mission, so there wasn't much time to see anything here except for the immediate environs of the training mission and the interior of blacked out vehicles that we got around in.
This time we are staying at a resort hotel along the main thoroughfare through the main town, Garapan. Driving into town last night, it struck me how similar Garapan's business and tourism district looked like the same area in Tumon Bay, Guam's main tourism strip. Literally, it is almost an exact replica. I'm pretty sure the set-up in Guam was there first, as that Guam is the more commercially developed of the two islands and has, I'm sure, a much larger population.
It's interesting to read about the history of places like Saipan with regard to World War II. Not to mention Guam and Tinian. Nearby Tinian was actually where the B-29s that carried nuclear payloads on Japan in 1945 originated from. I haven't had the chance to make it over there to see Tinian for myself, but maybe someday I will have a chance.
GJS
This time we are staying at a resort hotel along the main thoroughfare through the main town, Garapan. Driving into town last night, it struck me how similar Garapan's business and tourism district looked like the same area in Tumon Bay, Guam's main tourism strip. Literally, it is almost an exact replica. I'm pretty sure the set-up in Guam was there first, as that Guam is the more commercially developed of the two islands and has, I'm sure, a much larger population.
It's interesting to read about the history of places like Saipan with regard to World War II. Not to mention Guam and Tinian. Nearby Tinian was actually where the B-29s that carried nuclear payloads on Japan in 1945 originated from. I haven't had the chance to make it over there to see Tinian for myself, but maybe someday I will have a chance.
GJS
More about reading
Still on the plane...read for as long as I could, until my eyes started to cross, then took a quick power nap, and now we are about 30 minutes out from our first stop. I want to write a bit more about reading, if that is OK with you...
Hearing no objections, let's begin, shall we? I have been reading on this flight a great periodical called The American Interest. It came into existence not too long ago, I believe on the heels of a irreconcilable "difference of opinion" amongst the staff of another publication, called The National Interest (you may have heard of it; it is fairly well-known amongst policy circles). After this difference of opinion, Francis Fukuyama, known for his 1990's treatise The End of History and the Last Man dealing with post-Cold War strategy, broke away and started up this new periodical. I never read TNI, but this new periodical caught my eye at a Borders store about a year ago while I was in Norther Virginia on business. The cover graphic showed a downcast and defeated-looking presumably American soldier stumbling across sand dunes (OK, I get it, Iraq War reference) and indicated there were feature articles by Robert D. Kaplan (of The Atlantic Monthly fame and who has recently authored books on the US military and US strategy and power titled Imperial Grunts and another more recent book that is its sequel, whose title escapes me just now), Joseph Joffe (not really familiar with his work), and the one that really caught my eye, "dueling" pieces by General David Petraeus and Ralph Peters (retired Army soldier and noted opinionist on military and national defense issues, columnist for a major New York daily newspaper, and prolific author whose recent works include Beyond Baghdad and Wars of Blood and Faith) on a topic I am quite interested in, the utility of graduate education for military personnel.
As you may know, I have a vested interest in graduate education. Essentially since I arrived in Hawaii about two and a half years ago, I have been either planning for or taking graduate school classes (I have had very limited success in making much progress, in a dilemma quite familiar to probably just about all working adults who try to attend graduate school on nights and weekends - time is scarce. I had the added challenge of making a pair of deployments during this time, further explaining the small amount I was able to complete. I did one graduate school class at Hawaii Pacific University in their Master of Arts in Diplomacy and Military Studies. It was a history course covering the Korean War, notable for the prestige of the professor, Dr. Allan Millett, a highly regarded military historian who spent most of his academic career teaching at The Ohio State University. He also retired as a Colonel in the Marine Reserve, so he certainly "knows the smell of gunpowder", so to speak. I really enjoyed the class (Dr. Millett is an outstanding lecturer, one of the best I have had) and learned a great deal, to boot (my knowledge level on the Korean War was pretty basic before that class in the summer of 2006). At any rate, my struggle to fit graduate school into my life has been taken care of with my selection for the Olmsted Scholar Program - in about a year, it will be my job to go to graduate school!
Back to the articles on graduate education. General Petraeus, himself an example of an officer who has been afforded the chance to attend civilian graduate school while on active duty - he has a PhD from Princeton - understandable advocates for the benefits that accrue the officer selected for such a course of full-time civilian study. Peters sees this as a waste, time that would be better spent doing purely military training, or even better, deploying to the fight! After all, allowing officers to go to school takes them "out of the line". Well, this is true, if you are attending grad school full-time, you can't very well deploy into combat, but I agree with Petraeus, I think the product the services get back on the tail end of the graduate school process is a better officer for their education received AND the experiences and interaction with fellow students, faculty, and their school communities.
That's my position on the topic now. I'll let you know in 3 years (when I am finishing graduate school) if I change my mind.
GJS
Hearing no objections, let's begin, shall we? I have been reading on this flight a great periodical called The American Interest. It came into existence not too long ago, I believe on the heels of a irreconcilable "difference of opinion" amongst the staff of another publication, called The National Interest (you may have heard of it; it is fairly well-known amongst policy circles). After this difference of opinion, Francis Fukuyama, known for his 1990's treatise The End of History and the Last Man dealing with post-Cold War strategy, broke away and started up this new periodical. I never read TNI, but this new periodical caught my eye at a Borders store about a year ago while I was in Norther Virginia on business. The cover graphic showed a downcast and defeated-looking presumably American soldier stumbling across sand dunes (OK, I get it, Iraq War reference) and indicated there were feature articles by Robert D. Kaplan (of The Atlantic Monthly fame and who has recently authored books on the US military and US strategy and power titled Imperial Grunts and another more recent book that is its sequel, whose title escapes me just now), Joseph Joffe (not really familiar with his work), and the one that really caught my eye, "dueling" pieces by General David Petraeus and Ralph Peters (retired Army soldier and noted opinionist on military and national defense issues, columnist for a major New York daily newspaper, and prolific author whose recent works include Beyond Baghdad and Wars of Blood and Faith) on a topic I am quite interested in, the utility of graduate education for military personnel.
As you may know, I have a vested interest in graduate education. Essentially since I arrived in Hawaii about two and a half years ago, I have been either planning for or taking graduate school classes (I have had very limited success in making much progress, in a dilemma quite familiar to probably just about all working adults who try to attend graduate school on nights and weekends - time is scarce. I had the added challenge of making a pair of deployments during this time, further explaining the small amount I was able to complete. I did one graduate school class at Hawaii Pacific University in their Master of Arts in Diplomacy and Military Studies. It was a history course covering the Korean War, notable for the prestige of the professor, Dr. Allan Millett, a highly regarded military historian who spent most of his academic career teaching at The Ohio State University. He also retired as a Colonel in the Marine Reserve, so he certainly "knows the smell of gunpowder", so to speak. I really enjoyed the class (Dr. Millett is an outstanding lecturer, one of the best I have had) and learned a great deal, to boot (my knowledge level on the Korean War was pretty basic before that class in the summer of 2006). At any rate, my struggle to fit graduate school into my life has been taken care of with my selection for the Olmsted Scholar Program - in about a year, it will be my job to go to graduate school!
Back to the articles on graduate education. General Petraeus, himself an example of an officer who has been afforded the chance to attend civilian graduate school while on active duty - he has a PhD from Princeton - understandable advocates for the benefits that accrue the officer selected for such a course of full-time civilian study. Peters sees this as a waste, time that would be better spent doing purely military training, or even better, deploying to the fight! After all, allowing officers to go to school takes them "out of the line". Well, this is true, if you are attending grad school full-time, you can't very well deploy into combat, but I agree with Petraeus, I think the product the services get back on the tail end of the graduate school process is a better officer for their education received AND the experiences and interaction with fellow students, faculty, and their school communities.
That's my position on the topic now. I'll let you know in 3 years (when I am finishing graduate school) if I change my mind.
GJS
Random thoughts at 35,000 feet
We're nearly halfway through our flight and I felt compelled to give my thumbs a workout on the keyboard of this BlackBerry device. Don't worry, of course I disabled the wireless mode! I am not endangering anyone's safety via "interference with the aircraft's navigation and communication systems!"
I picked up a copy of today's Wall Street Journal at the airport. The WSJ is my favorite newspaper, just for the record. I do not receive it via home delivery, however - I don't have time to read it and it ends up just stacking up off to the side of my home office / study. This makes me sad, seeing all that great reading material coming in and me not being able to read it. Someday I will subscribe to it again. That will be a happy day. No, currently I receive but one newspaper at home, the New York Times Sunday edition. Have you ever seen it? It is nearly the size of a decent-sized city's phone book! And out each and every Sunday...how do I find time to read it? It's not easy, but if I can scrape out about an hour for it sometime Sunday, then work on it a bit each day throughout the week (usually at breakfast - nourishment for body AND mind!), I do OK at keeping up with it.Anyhow, enough about newspapers in general (if you can't tell, I like newspapers), my intent is to write a little bit about one article I read in today's WSJ.
Oh, and before I go any further, please let me apologize in advance for the inevitable typos that are in this dispatch - writing on this mobile device does not allow me, to the best of my knowledge, to spell-check, and when I send this message, it will post immediately to Garblog. Sure, I can go back in later to do edits one I am at a "regular" computer, but if you read this before I do so, please bear this in mind.
The article of note that I read was about terminally-ill former professor of computer science Randy Pausch. Perhaps you've heard of him. He is quite famous now because of the acclaim surrounding his new bestselling book entitled The Last Lecture. I had heard of the book (I try to keep tabs on what books are selling well just out of curiosity and because in addition to liking newspapers, I also like books! As a sidenote, and to "pile on" to my earlier material about The New York Times Sunday paper, one way I do so is by reading The Book Review in said paper, which is most probably my favorite single part of the periodical.) via several sources, including a piece on Fox News yesterday I happened to see while waiting for my boss while he was at an appointment, and from Barb, who I think had seen something about the man (Pausch) and his book on a separate television broadcast. Barb went on to say that she wanted to read the book. Before personally viewing the feature on Fox yesterday and now having read this lengthy feature article on the same topic (sidenote: co-author of The Last Lecture with Pausch is WSJ reporter / writer Jeffrey Zaslow. Zaslow wrote the feature in today's WSJ. See how it is all fitting together?), I was mildly interested in learning more about the book (this is how I would describe one of the initial stages I go through with regard to acquiring reading materials - does what I know about the material in question make me want to find out more about it? If so, this would eventually possibly lead me towards acquiring a copy of the material, be it a book, magazine, etc.), but now that I have personally learned of the man and the book, I certainly want to read it!
Earlier I alluded to Pausch's problem - diagnosis with a terminal illness, leaving him with only months to live. Without trying to re-write the entire WSJ article, he decided to deliver a "last lecture" to his students and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh and to make the very most of the time he had left with his wife and 3 young children. I am familiar with the concept of giving a "last lecture"; one of my favored professors at the University of Nebraska, Dr. John Janovy (link to his biological laboratory webpage can be found amongst those posted here at Garblog) delivered one while I was an undergraduate (I was unable to attend due to a schedule conflict, but upon my request, he sent me a written copy for my reading pleasure), but his was notional, he wasn't staring in the face of having just a few months of life on this planet. In fact, Dr. Janovy continues to teach and influence young people to this day, more than 5 years on from his "last lecture". Pausch really did walk away after his last lecture, to devote his remaining days to his family, that and palliative medical treatment. I think that makes a huge difference in what a person would choose to include in that last lecture.
There are other books along the same vein out there; what comes to my mind right now are Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet In Heaven (both by Mitch Albom), and of course Lance Armstrong's It's Not About The Bike and Every Second Counts. The lesson bears repeating and we all need a reminder now and then (I certainly do): make the most of your time on this Earth, because it is certainly finite.
One other thing about stories like Pausch's - people in similar circumstances sometimes remark something to the effect that their "death sentence" is really a blessing, because it allows them to say goodbye to people in a way of their choosing, unlike people who are killed in car accidents or die of cardiac arrest (I would add to this the perils of folks in my line of work, one risk of which is dying on the field of battle far from home). These people are taken suddenly and immediately. Regrets of omission or commission in a life lived up to then cannot be addressed in an earthly fashion, thereby, I would argue, are denied something that Pausch and others terminally ill are granted.
"May you live every day like it was your last" (but marshal enough to allow yourself to live for a long time, if you are fortunate enough to do so!)
GJS
I picked up a copy of today's Wall Street Journal at the airport. The WSJ is my favorite newspaper, just for the record. I do not receive it via home delivery, however - I don't have time to read it and it ends up just stacking up off to the side of my home office / study. This makes me sad, seeing all that great reading material coming in and me not being able to read it. Someday I will subscribe to it again. That will be a happy day. No, currently I receive but one newspaper at home, the New York Times Sunday edition. Have you ever seen it? It is nearly the size of a decent-sized city's phone book! And out each and every Sunday...how do I find time to read it? It's not easy, but if I can scrape out about an hour for it sometime Sunday, then work on it a bit each day throughout the week (usually at breakfast - nourishment for body AND mind!), I do OK at keeping up with it.Anyhow, enough about newspapers in general (if you can't tell, I like newspapers), my intent is to write a little bit about one article I read in today's WSJ.
Oh, and before I go any further, please let me apologize in advance for the inevitable typos that are in this dispatch - writing on this mobile device does not allow me, to the best of my knowledge, to spell-check, and when I send this message, it will post immediately to Garblog. Sure, I can go back in later to do edits one I am at a "regular" computer, but if you read this before I do so, please bear this in mind.
The article of note that I read was about terminally-ill former professor of computer science Randy Pausch. Perhaps you've heard of him. He is quite famous now because of the acclaim surrounding his new bestselling book entitled The Last Lecture. I had heard of the book (I try to keep tabs on what books are selling well just out of curiosity and because in addition to liking newspapers, I also like books! As a sidenote, and to "pile on" to my earlier material about The New York Times Sunday paper, one way I do so is by reading The Book Review in said paper, which is most probably my favorite single part of the periodical.) via several sources, including a piece on Fox News yesterday I happened to see while waiting for my boss while he was at an appointment, and from Barb, who I think had seen something about the man (Pausch) and his book on a separate television broadcast. Barb went on to say that she wanted to read the book. Before personally viewing the feature on Fox yesterday and now having read this lengthy feature article on the same topic (sidenote: co-author of The Last Lecture with Pausch is WSJ reporter / writer Jeffrey Zaslow. Zaslow wrote the feature in today's WSJ. See how it is all fitting together?), I was mildly interested in learning more about the book (this is how I would describe one of the initial stages I go through with regard to acquiring reading materials - does what I know about the material in question make me want to find out more about it? If so, this would eventually possibly lead me towards acquiring a copy of the material, be it a book, magazine, etc.), but now that I have personally learned of the man and the book, I certainly want to read it!
Earlier I alluded to Pausch's problem - diagnosis with a terminal illness, leaving him with only months to live. Without trying to re-write the entire WSJ article, he decided to deliver a "last lecture" to his students and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh and to make the very most of the time he had left with his wife and 3 young children. I am familiar with the concept of giving a "last lecture"; one of my favored professors at the University of Nebraska, Dr. John Janovy (link to his biological laboratory webpage can be found amongst those posted here at Garblog) delivered one while I was an undergraduate (I was unable to attend due to a schedule conflict, but upon my request, he sent me a written copy for my reading pleasure), but his was notional, he wasn't staring in the face of having just a few months of life on this planet. In fact, Dr. Janovy continues to teach and influence young people to this day, more than 5 years on from his "last lecture". Pausch really did walk away after his last lecture, to devote his remaining days to his family, that and palliative medical treatment. I think that makes a huge difference in what a person would choose to include in that last lecture.
There are other books along the same vein out there; what comes to my mind right now are Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet In Heaven (both by Mitch Albom), and of course Lance Armstrong's It's Not About The Bike and Every Second Counts. The lesson bears repeating and we all need a reminder now and then (I certainly do): make the most of your time on this Earth, because it is certainly finite.
One other thing about stories like Pausch's - people in similar circumstances sometimes remark something to the effect that their "death sentence" is really a blessing, because it allows them to say goodbye to people in a way of their choosing, unlike people who are killed in car accidents or die of cardiac arrest (I would add to this the perils of folks in my line of work, one risk of which is dying on the field of battle far from home). These people are taken suddenly and immediately. Regrets of omission or commission in a life lived up to then cannot be addressed in an earthly fashion, thereby, I would argue, are denied something that Pausch and others terminally ill are granted.
"May you live every day like it was your last" (but marshal enough to allow yourself to live for a long time, if you are fortunate enough to do so!)
GJS
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Travel
Headed west today on business. Should only be a few days. I have been to all the places we are going to before. Closing the airplane door - have to sign off. More to follow later.
GJS
GJS
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