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The last few weeks I was caught up with the perennial madness of TdF. For me, almost everything stops as I try to watch as much 'Live' coverage of the 3-week bike race as I can. I did try to cut down my viewing hours, focusing more on the mountain stages and the Individual Time Trials, so that I can take care of the other things in my Life.

Then, I saw a video posting by Paul N. on July 25 about Dr. Randy Pausch - he had passed away that day. I had actually seen the reprised version of his The Last Lecture on Oprah about a month back when my sis emailed me the video link.

Listening to The Last Lecture made me think about HOW we prioritize the many areas of minutiae trivia within our lives. Life sometimes just seem to get more and more complicated as we 'progress'. I thought computers and all those 'wonderful electronic gadgets' were supposed to make our lives simpler... but do they? I thought with all the huge base of past knowledge gathered, we would know more on how to solve many of our daily problems (high oil prices, food shortages, etc.)... but have we?

I could not believe Dr. Pausch when he poured a can of soda all over the back seat of his brand new car (as he took his nephew and niece out for a ride) but... he was right! When we put things in perspective, some things in Life are more important while others are just material possessions.

Personally, I think I have been living my Life with triathlon always in and around me. When I was working in the IT industry, all my company leave decisions would revolve around whatever races that were coming up. Many times, I had co-workers who never understood my love for this sport. They would always asked, "Why would you want to pay so much money, to subject yourself to such a long day of 'torture'?" It wasn't till I met fellow triathletes that I did not have to rationalize my passion, and in them, I have also found a group of people whom I can share our common camaraderie in this healthy lifestyle.

So many times we are told/advised/cajoled/(and even) coerced to: get an education, get a job, get a mate, start a family, etc. Yes, that is the general 'life formula' which seemed to work for most people. But it might not always provide everyone with the same level of Happiness... or Quality of Life. Sometimes, we might have to try something outside that general 'life formula', to find our own perspectives, and forge our own paths, so as to find the best balance (of everything) that would make us HAPPY and hopefully, have a better Quality of Life. We have customized bikes, wetsuits, shoes, etc., why not customized Life choices??? ;)

Ok, enough of my ramblings, below is the short version of The Last Lecture by Dr. Randy Pausch, that was featured on Oprah. If you want, here is the FULL version (1hr 16mins 27 secs) that he gave at Carnegie Mellon University on Sept. 18, 2007. You can also check his personal website for other resources.

Hats off to Dr. Randy Pausch, a humble, truly inspirational, uncharacteristically calm, very funny and extremely OPTIMISTIC person!!! CARPE DIEM!