wow, over six months since my last entry.

randy pausch is a carnegie mellon professor dying of pancreatic cancer. he gave his "last lecture" on september 18th, about the time of my last xanga post. his lecture was titled "really achieving your childhood dreams". i heard about it today through a fort worth star telegram email. the video is a little over an hour long but well worth watching at least once.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

it's that time of year again. the weather is starting to become somewhat bearable, football's in full swing, and deep fryers are getting ready to fry up the latest artery-clogging food concoctions. yup, it's the state fair!


i'm actually not that huge a fan of the fair, but this year is special. the fair officially opens on september 28th, but at 1:00pm, on sunday, september 30th, on the main stage...my friend, alan, will be an official contestant in the annual fletcher's corny dog eating competition! i'm so proud to know someone in a bona fide food eating competition it almost brings a tear to my eye... wha? shut up! it's just allergies.

alan's coworkers entered him into the contest somewhat as a joke but apparently their application, essay and pictures were good enough to earn him a spot among the sport's greatest competitors. for those of you who don't know, the corn dog was invented at the texas state fair by fletcher's and is sold only at the state fair and a handful of other texas events. so this is the real deal.

so if you're reading this and in dallas, come on out on the 30th to cheer alan on. he said he's going to retire after this, his first and only food eating competiton, and i'm sure he's going to become a legend. don't miss it! (bowling for soup is playing later that day too if you're somehow still not sold.)

alan, if you're reading this, here's a little inspiration...