On Living

• "A day well spend brings blessed sleep, so a life well lived brings a blessed death." - Leonardo Da Vinci
  
  
• "You have to give up the life you have to get the life that is waiting for you." - James Hilman
  
  
• “Dedicate yourself to the process of finding out who you are, it will be the most exciting trip you’ve ever taken in your life.” – Leo Buscaglia
  
  
• "There is no way to peace. Peace is the way." - Mahatma Gandhi
  
  
• "The great end of life is not knowledge but action."
  
  
• "So many people are expecting a miracle instead of being a miracle." - Wayne Dyer
  
  
• "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" - Leonardo DaVinci
  

On Pursuit of Knowledge

• "Knowledge without practice is useless. Practice without knowledge is dangerous." - Confucious
  
  
• "If everyone is thinking alike than someone isn't thinking." - George S. Patton
  
  
• "The great end of life is not knowledge but action." - Thomas Henry Huxley
  
  
• “Learning is the greatest joy. To learn something is fantastic because every time you learn something you become something new.” – Leo Buscaglia
  
  
• "Intelligence and Character -- that is the goal of true education." - Dr Martin Luther King Jr.
  
  
• "No one knows enough to be a pessimist."
  
  
• "Wisdom denotes pursuing of the best ends by the best means possible." - Francese Hutcheson

On Goals

• "People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals- that is, goals that do not inspire them." - Anthony Robbins
  
  
• "If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy and inspires your hopes." - Andrew Carnegie
  
  
• "Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. "- T.S. Eliot
  
  
• "Winning starts with beginning." - Anonymous
  
  
• "When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind. " - Lucius Annaeus Seneca
  
  
• "Limited goals create limited lives." - Anthony Robbins
  
  
• "When a goal matters enough to a person, that person will find a way to accomplish what at first seemed impossible." - Nido Qubein
  
  
• "If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time." - Anonymous
  
  
• "Talent wins games but teamwork and collaboration wins championships." Michael Jordan
  

Randy Pausch reprising his "Last Lecture"

Ideal Company

1. Trust is paramount both within and outside the company.
2. Long-term sustainability, social responsibility and ethics guide strategic planning and execution of plans
3. Mission and Vision statements match the company’s actions either exactly presently or actively taking actions to match reality to them. Values are valued and ingrained in core.
4. All employees are treated with respect. Co-workers deserve just as much respect as customers – especially for the crap they potentially take from them or others within the company dealing with particularly stressful demands or situations.
5. Questions are answered frankly; directions are direct and outcomes are clearly defined.
6. Employees are recognized for their hard work and are told so regularly; my value is recognized long before I even think about quitting.
7. When there is a problem, ask me to do something different; asking is non-threatening and offering information about why might reinforce desired behavior and can help me appreciate the request rather than getting frustrated or annoyed. I might also have other ideas or solutions to improve the situation.
8. There is healthy collective competition – co-workers work to help each other out and appreciate what how each person affects the other.
9. Co-workers do things outside of work together to increase the feeling of belonging and accountability to one another.
10. Constant never ending improvement of self is encouraged and supported; opportunities for growth are available and in use.
11. At the end of the day I am refreshed rather than drained.
12. Harassment of any form is non-existent.
13. Personal identity isn’t lost but valued.
14. The working environment reflects the culture and its future. It’s visually stimulating and a place I look forward going to.
15. I am challenged… my skills and abilities are being used. My job isn’t static.

Education is learning things that aren't handed to you (why I hate school)

With much information floating around in stuffy classrooms, many of us are taught to regurgitate what was said in hopes that through extrapolation and assimilation, we know how to think. We are tested in ways that allow us to forget tomorrow.

How many people ask questions? After all, why would you if you expect the answer to come out of your professor's mouth momentarily? Where is the sense of importance? It's what isn't said that gets left out; what gets left out is the fun application through experience. The thrill of true empathy and real understanding of concepts. This cannot be handed to you but it makes all the difference.

Once all else is long forgotten, all that's left are things that were not handed to you -- answers in the form of feelings, ideas, impressions and understandings that attach to your core, changing you forever.

Change in Priorities (Moving On)

Since I'm in a relatively poetic mood, here goes poem I wrote expressing my opinions over recent events:

Real love never goes away;
it changes as time molds it like clay.
Stand up for you
and know when you're through.

This doesn't mean stop
it's more like a swap;
by changing how you love
the person you're thinking of.

Find your voice
and make the choice
to refuse the bait
and ultimately change your fate.