Professorial Memorial

Last September Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist Randy Pausch was asked to prepare a speech for a lecture series entitled, “Journeys,” held at Carnegie Mellon. Facing terminal cancer, Pausch prepared the lecture entitled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” for his three children, Dylan, Logan and Chloe. But his insights touched way more, generating over 3 million hits on YouTube since it was uploaded less than a year ago.

"I mean I don't know how to not have fun. I'm dying and I'm having fun. And I'm going to keep having fun every day I have left. Because there's no other way to play it," he said in the lecture.

Pauch died Friday at his home in Virginia. He was 47.

Here are his tips on living life, having fun and achieving your dreams.

Childhood Dream #1: Zero Gravity
Pausch realized at an early age that his impaired eyesight was an automatic deterrent from becoming an astronaut. Along with this epiphany, he realized something else; he didn’t want to be an astronaut, he just wanted to float. Years later, he found a way into NASA’s training device called “The Vomit Comet,” which provides a rough equivalent of weightlessness for about 25 seconds.

Childhood Dream #2: National Football League
While he didn’t get a chance to play football professionally, he walked away from his pee-wee football team with invaluable knowledge. “I probably got more from that dream and not accomplishing it than I got from any of the ones that I did accomplish,” he added. Through his experiences with the team and his coach he learned the importance of having mentors and critics. “When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, [it’s] a very bad place to be. Your critics are the ones telling you they still love you and care.”