The Passing of a Great Teacher..

Prof Randy Pausch has touched millions of people with his "Last Lecture". He touched ours too, when we referred to this lecture in our earlier posting back in March..

http://beatcancer10.blogspot.com/2008/03/prof-pauschs-fight-with-cancer-and-his.html

We took his new "Last Lecture" book with us last month to Athens and Cairo, when we went there for a 12day break. We finished his book by Day#3. Such was his way with words that we simply wanted to continue reading page after page..

A remarkable professor, and a great teacher indeed, as noted by CNN below..

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/07/25/obit.pausch/index.html

Here are some gems from his Last Lecture speech..

“…when you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are the ones telling you they still love you and care.”

“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.”

“It’s not about how to achieve your dreams, it’s all about leading your life. If you lead your life in a right way, karma will take care of itself. And dreams will come to you.”

[Quoting a CMU secretary]“This advice is good for the ladies: when it comes to men that are romantically interested in you, it’s really simple: just don’t listen to anything they have to say; pay attention to what they do.”

“If I only had three words of advice, they would be, Tell the Truth. If got three more words, I’d add, all the time.”

"Father of Medicine" - Hippocrates & Athens' Acropolis

Long regarded by the world as the "Father of Medicine", Hippocrates was the man whom every doctor pledge allegiance to, through the Hippocratic Oath, which reads:

- To practice and prescribe to the best of my ability for the good of my patients, and to try to avoid harming them (source: Wikipedia)


We came across an alabaster figure of Hippocrates in Athens, while climbing up the Acropolis last month, and we told ourselves that we must bring this figure home for Dr Ang Peng Tiam, even if he has a drawer full of it in his office.

Turns out, at the next appointment on 19June for my blood-test results and the quarterly "ZoMeta transfusion", we were pleasantly surprised that he had none, and accepted our little gift of the bust of Hippocrates with open arms.

To me, Dr Ang is the father of medicine!

And with another set of results in his hands, he said..
"Everything is fine. Continue to live and enjoy your life, Nellie!"

The Acropolis in Athens, regarded as one of the original 7 Wonders of the World, was built where it is today because it is at the very peak of the, then and now, great Greek city of Athens.

I feel I , too, have reached the very peak of my health!

/gleefully ntangle

(the Acropolis is standing precariously today not just because of daily wear & tear from the elements, but also from the threat of earthquakes .. one of which we felt right under our feet on 8th June in our hotel room, and which we found out through the local TV the next day, that the 6.2 tumbler had destroyed multiple Greek towns, only 150 miles west of Athens at the region of Patra!)