Ruminations on The Last Lecture

Just finished Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture, the pop culture book of the year written by that Carnegie Mellon professor who recently passed away from pancreatic cancer. Liked it, didn’t love it like “Tuesdays with Morrie,” and any book review I’d attempt would pale in comparison to the scores of others already out there (check a few of them out on the Last Lecture Amazon page).

While I’d give the book an overall three stars out of five (no doubt the surviving Pausch’s would be broken up about that), it did have some occasional gems. Among them:

“You’ve got to get the fundamentals down, because otherwise the fancy stuff is not going to work.”

“When you’re screwing up and bobody says anything to you anymore, that means they’ve given up on you.

“There’s a lot of talk these days about giving children self-esteem. It’s not something you can give; it’s something they have to build. (Coach Graham) knew there was only one way to teach kids how to develop it: You give them something they can’t do, they work hard until they find they can do it, and you just keep repeating the process.”

“Brick walls are there for a reason. They give us a chance to show how badly we want something.”

“Time must be explicitly managed, like money.”

“You can always change your plan, but only if you have one.”

“Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less of it than you think.”

“Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won’t make us happier.”

“It’s not how hard you hit. It’s how hard you get hit . . . and keep moving forward.”

“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.”

“A lot of people want a shortcut. I find the best shortcut is the long way, which is basically two words: word hard.”

(A message to his kids): “(D)on’t try to figure out what I wanted you to become. I want you to become what you want to become.”

“(T)ry to remember that some of the best caregiving advice we’ve heard comes from flight attendants: ‘Put on your own oxygen mask before assisting others.”

“It’s not about how to achieve your dreams. It’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.”

I could do worse than to post these sage words on a wall in our family home. Come to think of it, I think I will.

Another Weekend, Another Park

Is it just me or is the Jenkins family visiting more parks and street fairs than ever before this summer? Maybe it’s that there is a Jenkins family this year, and that’s why I find myself at so many parks and street fairs. In any case, we hit another one this weekend, a picnic at a park in Everett apparently held for Rhonda’s ol’ drinking buddy Dolly.

The pic above is obviously of the three Jenkins family members who aren’t domesticated pets. More pics are available here.

Ed Turns the Big 9-6

Our family friend Ed Ball turned 96 today. That means his birthday was August 16, 1912. 1912, as in, before World War I. Eva Braun was six months old. Fenway Park had been opened for four months. That was long, long ago.

A few pics:

Virginia Ball, Reese and Ronnie. DOB's: 1912, 2007 and, uh . . .

Here’s hoping many more b-days are coming Ed’s way.

They’re Not Much for Moses’ Kids, But They Sure Can Make Movies

One of the great mysteries of international politics has to be how it is that Germany still exists. For my money, Germany forfeited its right to exist when it perpetrated the holocaust. Had the Marshall Plan been the Jenkins Plan, Hitler’s country would have been divided up among Poland, Czechoslovakia and France.

Alas that isn’t how things worked out. And the results haven’t been all bad. Germany has, among other things, produced Pope Benedict, Nena and Steffi Graf — the latter two of whom are hotties by any standard. And lately, the Germans have been cranking out some pretty good flicks. Our most recent rental, The Counterfeiters (click here for the Wikipedia plot line), I’d count as a must rent.

Rent it.

The ‘08 winner of Best Foreign Language Film joins The Lives of Others and Black Book as outstanding German flicks we’ve recently pulled at Hollywood Video. So good have these been that I’m officially adding a new rule to my list of Movie Renting Rules:

2. If there are more than two copies of it on the Foreign Language wall, it’s gotta be decent.

In any case, I highly recommend The Counterfeiters. The only caution I’d give is that the chick on the DVD box (see above) has nothing whatsoever to do with the movie. She makes two brief appearances. The rest of the movie is all concentration camp.

He’s No Vickie Beckham, But . . .

Today Jon got a new ‘do:

This is what happens when Rhonda gets bored and there’s a hair flattener nearby. (This blog is what happens when I get bored and there’s a keyboard nearby.) I don’t look for this to be the next In ‘Do, but it’s not a bad look on the lad. Makes him look like he should have an English accent and a rehab trip under his belt.

Now that I think about it, former Sex Pistols front man Sid Vicious died in 1979. Jon was born in 1991.

Reincarnation, anyone?

Reese Walks!!!!!

I use that term loosely, but today was the first day Reese strung steps together. I wasn’t around, but I’m told she took four before biting the dust.

Jenkins Family Hits the Blue Angels — Sans Me

Today Rhonda, Jonathan and Reese went over to Laurelhurst to watch the Blue Angels fly by during their annual Close the Bridges show.

I chose not to partake. This admission is sure to prompt hate mail from either of my new readers, but I just don’t get it. No doubt the pilots are talented, but so are the world’s great chess players. I don’t beat the door down when they’re in town.

Anyway, Jonathan took a few pics. I uploaded them to our summer outings photo album on Snapfish.