Imagine:

It's getting to be 350. You've been struggling to stay awake for the last 20 minutes because the slides your professor is showing off at the front of the room can't seem to hold your attention.

Then, for no reason at all he stops talking about computers and says, "Alright, now go watch the launch."

In a movement much quicker than you'd expect for your somnolent state you shoot out the door to the beautiful day you'd barely noticed earlier. Almost directly in front of you a bright orange flame leads an expanding trail of clouds.

You walk, eyes fixed on the object until you can't see it anymore. You notice the other people standing around you doing the same. Out of the corner of your eye you catch another mass of people on top of a building. From much higher up they've just witnessed what you have.

As you walk to the meeting that awaits you and chat with an acquaintance the white cloud hangs overhead as the only sign that the day held anything special. And all seems right with the world.

On my morning tour I was asked if I'd pick Florida Tech if I had it all to do over again. As usual my response was, "Definitely. I love it here."

Yesterday was yet another one of those days where I realized just how happy I am.

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What makes a leader?

I find myself constantly asking this question.

In truth, I don't think that just because you have some title to put after your name on a piece of paper or some flashy trinket for your wall you deserve to be called a "leader."

More important is what you do with the role you're given, whatever it may be.

I've heard it said that there comes a point where every leader must decide which is more important: being liked, or being respected. Do they make the hard choices because it's the right thing to do, or do they let the hard choices go untouched because they fear what they look like if they make a decision?

Who makes the decision how effective the leader was?

Which carries more weight, the external perception of the group or the internal perception?

How do you know you've made the right decision, with right being what's in the best interest of the group?

Do you ever learn to stop doubting yourself?

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In an attempt to encourage myself to study I decided it was too nice of a day to sit inside and went out on the porch.

It's a little hot outside, but for a minute I could almost forget where I was.

Back home we had a breezeway that Mom decided she wanted to close up and make a screened porch. It was quite a project, but once it was finished it was great to go out there and listen to the rain on stormy nights, or to sit outside and just talk on summer evenings when the world moved at a much slower pace. She had these great big wicker chairs out there and this really nice table with a glass top. Some nights we'd get ambitious and eat out there. Once she put the pond in, made the waterfall functional, and Dad got the lights working we also had a great view.

I walked around my empty apartment not too long ago and for a minute it felt just like it used to at home when there was still a little sunlight, but somehow it had gotten dark and no one noticed a light might be of use.

Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever stop missing home. We've been gone out of New York for two and a half years now, but I can see the day I left like it was yesterday. Some days I wish I could forget, and others I hope the memories never fade.

I think it could be really cool if a way could be found to take human memory and put it into a more tangible form. You'd never have to ask "How'd that song go, the one we used to sing..." or "What color was grandma's chair again" because you could just look it up, kind of like you do on a computer.

Granted the emotion that goes along with it would be lost to an outside observer, but that could be comparable to the way one person can look at a picture of friends and be happy, and another person can look at the picture not knowing who the people in it are and go, "That's nice..."

I'm not in the mood to study anymore. I wish I knew how to fix that.

I really need to just go and have some fun so I can get out of the slump I'm starting to fall into. I have a very long week ahead of me.

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