This Wednesday evening, I head off to Paris for a long weekend with Jess.

But, before I do, I train up to Connecticut to keynote the next stop of the Extreme Entrepreneur Tour, which brings “the world’s top young entrepreneurs to college campuses”. Ah, how disappointed these kids will be to get me instead.

(As an aside, the tour is spearheaded by Michael Simmons and his wife Sheena Lindahl, who were just named to this year’s BusinessWeek’s Top 25 Entrepreneurs Under 25. The final ranking is vote-driven, and I personally vouch for these two as more than worthy of the top slot, so go cast your ballot in their favor.)

For the keynote, I’m apparently supposed to babble for forty-five minutes or so about how to start companies and take over the world. But, as of this evening, I don’t actually have anything prepared. So, armed with a legal pad, a fountain pen, my keen insights and biting wit, I’ve sat down to map out a rough outline of the wisdom I can pass along.

In the process, I flashed on a clear image of the last time I gave a similar talk, a few years back, to a group of Ivy League business school students. And I started out that talk by telling the students they were older and smarter and more experienced than I, and that they shouldn’t really even be listening to what someone like me was saying. During which, every single one of them was dutifully writing down in their notebooks “don’t listen to what this guy is saying…”

As my suggestions of skepticism seemed to have little impact then, this time through, I’m falling back on one of the wisest poets I know, Dr. Seuss, for a poem that should hopefully more clearly set the tone. As it’s one of my personal favorites, and a great one to keep in mind as you slog ahead through any life path, I’m copyimg it here below:

My Uncle Terwilliger on the Art of Eating Popovers

My uncle ordered popovers
From the restaurant bill of fare.
And, when they were served, he regarded them
with a penetrating stare…
Then he spoke great Words of Wisdom
as he sat there on that chair:
“To eat these things,” said my uncle,
“You must exercise great care.
You may swallow down what’s solid…
BUT… you must spit out the air!”

And… as you partake of the world’s bill of fare,
that’s darned good advice to follow.
Do a lot of spitting out the hot air.
And be careful what you swallow

Darned good advice to follow, indeed.