It was sometime in June 1990 that Dr. Young wrote his wisdom into my Conwell Middle Magnet Junior High School yearbook. I was just a wee lad at the age of 13. While most teachers wrote things like "you were a great student" and "good luck in the future", Doc left me with a quote that my oversenstive little self pondered about:

"Work Hard, then play is more fun"

I wondered if Doc thought I didn't work hard enough in his class. He was a tough science teacher and pushed our class hard. Once he caught me staring at him blankly throughout a science class and he called on me proving that I really wasn't listening. I got really embarassed because I was staring right at him nodding my head the whole class and I couldn't answer his question about what he just said...

Doc's quote stuck to my ribs and I as I got older I started to understand the sense it made in my life. If you work hard, you can get places that allow you to have a lot of fun. By pushing myself, I've seen a lot of cool places, met a lot of cool people, have a lot of cool memories, and make myself some cool money.

After working hard to get where I am today, I don't completely agree with Doc. I've reached a plateau of where I can reach by purely hard work.

Dr. Young leaves some words of wisdom for the aspiring lad Allen before graduating junior high in 1990.

I believe once you reach a certain level of success, you can only reach greater heights by learning handling of people, selling yourself, and your ideas.  Thus, "work smarter, not harder" seems to be my coined idea at the moment.

Nonetheless, Doc is right. My playtime is spent with weekend excursions to California and Canada, dining at nice restaurants, an annual trip abroad and living in center city.

Not a bad life, eh? I have to be going now because I have some work to do ...

Good luck in your working endevours
Allen