[long]

I did an internship at Microsoft Research and my desk was down the hall from his office.

He would walk down the hall to his office, saying his hellos to everyone with a deep, sincere enthusiasm for life. It brightened the entire floor.

[groovy2shoes]

I was watching a talk of his the other day and thinking "he's old enough to be my dad, but damn, he's cute..." ¬_¬

Throughout my life, I've found that the best lecturers aren't necessarily the smartest or the most credentialed, they're the most apparently passionate and enthusiastic — so much so that their enthusiasm has a tendency to "rub off" on their audiences. Enthusiasm leads to engagement, which leads to attentiveness and self-motivation for learning. Even a mediocre teacher can be a great lecturer, and I've had a few in my lifetime (though unfortunately I can count their number on one hand).