The 16 Commandments

   It's been a good two days.  I could get used to no chemo.  I've got one more week of freedom.  My latest ailment which may not be a problem is that I noticed Tuesday evening that my feet were quite swollen.  Fortunately, there was no soreness and I haven't had any trouble walking.  The NP wasn't concerned because my protein counts were a little low and this can cause the swelling because protein absorbs water.  The swelling had gone down today but was still there.  At least so far, I've avoided another Doctor visit.
   The other day I was telling Linda about having gained a few pounds and she said I was moving into the "stratosphere."  I corrected her and said she meant the "fatosphere."
   I had a dream that the NP was coming by train to visit me but she was coming on the zoo train.
   The reception for Linda on Tuesday night by and for her staff and Board was very nice.  Many nice things were said and people recalled Rainbow Readers, Children's Expo, and Mrs. Bush's Storytime.  Linda's office was turned into the "Founder's Conference Room," with lots of early memorabilia.  The Managing Director(?) recited what she called Linda's 16 Commandments for running CLI and I've included them below as they are good advice for most people:

16 Commandments of Linda Katz

Presented by Cameron Voss, October 18, 2011

1.     Only hire people who you are interested in spending time with, and talking with.

2.     Mentor your staff.  Let people know about the potential you see in them.

3.     Dress up when the occasion calls for it.

4.     Do the extra work, write the optional sections, rewrite the proposal again to make sure it’s as good as possible.  But also, don’t be afraid to wing it.

5.     Try public speaking whenever you have a chance.  Practice your speech again and again.

6.     Real business is accomplished in face to face meetings, or on the phone, not in emails.  Especially not in long emails.

7.     Getting out of the office is important.  Go to meetings and presentations, not just to hear the speaker, but to network with the other attendees.

8.     Cultivate relationships with experts in the field.  Then let others know that you are well acquainted with the experts. 

9.     Keep your funders informed about your progress.  If a project is turning into a disaster, tell the funder before they hear it from someone else.

10.  Always have a backup plan, whether it’s another approach to the same project, or another project entirely.

11.  Read all the time.  Read fiction, nonfiction, research articles, and magazine articles.  But don’t forget to save some time for television viewing, including “Survivor” and “Modern Family.”

12.  Send flowers, cards, and emails to people to congratulate them, to comfort them, and to thank them.

13.  Treat children with kindness.  If you see a teacher hitting a child, stepping on a child, or sitting on a child, tell the principal to fire the teacher.

14.  Take care of people who are sick, whether it is your colleague, your family member, or yourself.

15.  Don’t let work interfere with your family life.  Ultimately your marriage and kids are more important.

16.  Don’t serve bad coffee!

         Tonight we plan to hear Steven Pinker speak at the public library.  Sunday, sadly, we have a funeral for a very sweet, old friend Roz Levy with whom we had spent some very nice time at Martha's Vineyard.  In fact, our original MV sofa for our house came from Roz's house and is now at Rachel's house.  It's hard to imagine but on our original trips to MV, we rented a 3 bedroom duplex (not large) with Roz and Marie and Steve Reed and their son Elliot and Linda, me and Rachel.

          That's all for now.

Elkan - Thursday afternoon