back from barcelona

had a great vacation in barcelona this past weekend. made it a long weekend and took friday off. i did not know that it was possible to relax without getting any damn sleep.....lol. the trip allowed me to totally decompress, but i got NO sleep. just took a few naps....lol. weather was beautiful. sun was shining but it wasn't too hot.

but......all that is over now and it's time to get back on the grind and turn that intensity back up to 100. got a deadline tomorrow and on the 22nd. 2 papers all in the same month. this will def be a story worth telling once i finish.

oh yea, i get to be in the same room with THE bill gates this coming friday. yes......mr. microsoft himself. i can't wait. should have some pictures on deck from that to share!!!

be thorough, FINISH, execution, follow through, etc.

"if you have the courage to start, then have the commitment to finish."

these were the motivating words for me today. i have been working diligently for my short-term deadlines, but i also have finishing my phd heavily on the brain.

let's make it happen!

hitting a home run

for those of you that have not had the experience of playing baseball, hitting a home run has to be one the greatest immediate feelings of accomplishments. most times, you do not feel any impact of the bat on the ball in your hands because you hit the ball right on the sweet spot of the bat.

i say all that to begin describing how my talk went today to my group members here in the lab. it was awesome. totally relaxed. not nervous. very confident. a perfect combination. guaranteed for success. i was able to recall all of my talking points on my slides. talk transition and progression was seamless. referencing previous slides worked as expected. the entire audience followed without confusion. the talk was probably 30-35 minutes in length, but there was another 10-15 minutes of questions letting me know i had everyone engaged.

i guess this means i know what i am talking about because i really did not prepare for the talk save selecting and creating slides for it!!!