Tribute to Kristian Anderson


[YouTube] <— 4,085 Kristian Anderson sadly passed away two weeks ago from cancer... he was made famous from this video he made for his wife’s birthday. The video went viral… they appeared on oprah… she gave them $250,000 to help cover medical bills and he passed away early this year. Very sad, but truly inspirational.

[Original Video] <— 587,635 [Article]

iTunes – [Marry Me – Save Me, San Francisco (Bonus Track Version)]

HYDLE – Constant Reminder

I have recently written about why, within human nature… does it take something to end, like death – for others to begin caring? And in reading someones last work – how chilling it is to often find how someone has experienced something of a higher power only days before they have passed.

My constant reminder right now is the remarkable story of Nicole Davis. Who is still alive today and deserves the celebration and caring now.

On New Years Eve my brother Jeremy hosted a fundraiser in Nicole’s name trying to break the world record for the number of tattoos done in a 24-hour period. His tattoo artist KAOS fell short of the record (802) at 656 but the benefit was far from failing. I personally worked a large chunk of the 24 hour event and was blown away by the stories and meaning behind every breast cancer support ribbon KAOS tattooed.

It seems to me that everybody has a cause, a benefit, a request for donation… but it’s very rare when people actually take the time to read into and experience the real stories of the people effected before or after they choose to make a donation. Maybe this is due to the saturation of how many thousands of causes we are bombarded with supporting… it’s easy to shut the door. But in the case of Nicole Davis and her beautiful family, I challenge you to read this recent story. She is still alive with us today and has an amazing story to share.

Live Your Childhood Dreams

[iDevice Link] <— 12,985,313 I came across this Randy Pausch lecture while YouTubing today... and what a reminder it was to live life to the fullest. It sounds cheesy, but if you are having a hard time comprehending what the point of life is - this lecture will help you. I remember when Randy passed away in 2008 and shortly following I spent a good amount of time consuming his thoughts and lectures and found him to be truly inspirational. I'm glad I ran into him again on the internets... and this time have a bloggish video reminder memory bank tool to share and remember his story forever.

The quick history on Randy:

Randolph Frederick “Randy” Pausch (October 23, 1960 – July 25, 2008) was an American professor of computer science and human-computer interaction and design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Pausch learned that he had pancreatic cancer in September 2006, and in August 2007 he was given a terminal diagnosis: “3 to 6 months of good health left”. He gave an upbeat lecture titled “The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” on September 18, 2007, at Carnegie Mellon, which became a popular YouTube video and led to other media appearances. He then co-authored a book called The Last Lecture on the same theme, which became a New York Times best-seller.

Pausch died of complications from pancreatic cancer on July 25, 2008.

[Facebook]
[Wikipedia]
[Carnegie Mellon]
[Randy Timeline]
[The Last Lecture]

Randy’s last speech – May 18th, 2008.

[iDevice Link] <— 1,302,675