Georgia Tech set up a room in the CS department for a live broadcast of this lecture when he gave it. I had just started as a brand new freshman a month before, and happened to find out about it / check it out on a whim.

I truly do not think it is an exaggeration to say that it changed the course of my life. I was frustrated and angry with all sorts of things when I walked into that room, and I still was after I left, but in that hour I saw a glimpse of what life could look like if I stuck with it through the hard stuff, and it was the first thing in a long time that really got me genuinely excited about my future.

I will forever be grateful to Randy Pausch for his positive attitude and for his willingness and effort in sharing this when he did - especially since he never got to hear the gratitude himself directly from me or so many countless others I know he impacted positively as well. I am strangely emotional just thinking about it again now - a bright light of positive memory in a dark year.