Hello DaVita,

Continued thanks for letting me share a little bit about how I think about exercise, fitness and diet. Many of you don’t know me well, so a few data points that may help you understand my commitment to exercise:

• I love to eat, but more important I love to eat all of the wrong foods
• My dietary habits need a lot of work, I travel a lot and eat out a lot
• I come from a family of wonderful people who have fought weight problems most of their lives
• If I’m not careful, my weight can easily jump up 10 pounds in a short period of time
• Having my clothes feel tight, well that drives me crazy. A personal idiosyncrasy

So if you are reading this and thinking, he sure spends a lot of time worrying about exercising, “now you know the rest of the story”…..

I arrived in Washington DC late Tuesday eve. Even though I had room service, I did eat well (healthy) a big salad, low fat dressing and crab cakes (I grew up in Baltimore, so I love crab). crab cakes were broiled not fried and for a side, a baked potato with just enough butter to make it taste good! No desert though!!!!

I have a full day ahead of me today. It started at 7:00 with a live meeting with Javier Rodriguez and Tom Usilton. I have a luncheon with one of our Deal Depot execs and later this evening I am driving to attend the Team Avanti group meeting and dinner.

I did carve out an hour this afternoon before leaving the hotel for Javier’s team meeting, to get in a work out. The gym was 2 blocks away from where I am staying, so I had no excuses today not to work out!!

I stay on a pretty tight schedule when I’m in the gym. I try and do cardio for at least 20 minutes, sometimes more, but enough to get my heart rate up. I adjust the speed and the angle on the treadmill, so it varies from session to session. I also try and work two major muscle groups per workout. For example, I alternate between chest/triceps, back/biceps or legs/shoulders. I usually end with a few minutes of abs. I save my least favorite for last!

This gives my muscles a chance to rest in between work outs. I used to try and work them all every time, but then realized I was doing more harm than good, by not giving them a rest in between workouts. I got in a reasonably good workout and then I will take tomorrow (Thursday ) off.

Stay well, do something good and hopefully healthy for yourself today please. Not sure how many teammates that read this who don’t exercise? But as a fellow teammate, I urge you to find some form of exercise that works for you. You are all too important and we want you to stay healthy!!

One for All

Dennis

Good morning everyone!

Did I mention that my favorite meal is pizza and french fries? There aren’t many meals more unhealthy than this one. But I do allow myself once a week to have it, in moderation.

Wish I could say I ate healthy yesterday (Monday evening)! I broke down and had a few slices of pizza on the go for dinner. Just grateful I didn’t get the fries, that would have been really bad of me, and the pizza was bad enough.

I was grateful I had a workout planned for Tuesday morning.

Tuesday morning:

Had a wonderful Kraz Maga workout his morning; two hrs starting at 5 a.m. Wonderful workout, exhausted but feeling the adrenaline that comes with a high-impact workout.

I’m ready to tackle a long day and lots of flying time.

Had Pat, my assistant find me a gym I can use tomorrow (Wednesday in Baltimore) after my meetings.

Seems like almost anywhere you go today you can find a workout facility, or go for swim in the hotel, take a walk, etc.

Hope you all did better then me last night and skipped the pizza. Feeling guilty this morning. Feels like my workout just burned the pizza calories as opposed to getting me ahead!

Have a wonderful day and please do something extra today that is good for you and your health. Anything, even if it’s a walk around the block or a 10 minute stretch.

One for All!

Dennis, your COO

Hello Davita,

Well my alarm went off at 4 a.m. this morning. Slowly got up and asked myself “what are you doing, have you lost your mind? You should be sleeping!”

Got to the dojo (karate studio) at 4:50 a.m. Stretched a little then got started with my lesson. I had studied karate years ago in college and promised myself I would take it up again one day; I’m glad I kept the promise to myself! I love it.
My instructor, AJ, is half my age, but he is a very good teacher for such a young man. There are times during the workout that I don’t think I can go any further, I’m out of energy and I just hit the wall. He usually says “Dennis you can do this, come on, dig a little deeper, just a few more.”

What a great feeling when you find the extra strength and do it!

I sometimes ask myself halfway through the two hour class, why do you sign up for these long lessons? But as the clock approaches the end of my two hours, I smile. I know I made it through another class. I pushed myself beyond what I thought I was capable of. I didn’t give up and I found that extra little umph! What a wonderful feeling. I have to be honest, sometimes I bribe myself and say, if you just finish this you can have a snack tonight! I try and avoid the snacks though!

I have a busy travel schedule this week so I need to schedule some workout time and watch my diet. I’m flying to the east coast tomorrow, so between lots of sitting on the plane, room service meals and the temptation of eating those airline peanuts; I better find the time to exercise! Can’t resist the peanuts!

I never feel bad about taking a little time for exercise. It clears my mind and allows me to be better at my job and in my personal life.

I was a reasonably good boy Sunday; I tried to eat healthy all day, although it doesn’t come easy for me! Ice cream, banana cream pie and French fries are my vices.

Sunday night I was watching Dexter (love the show) and I ended up eating a huge bowl of fresh fruit that I got from a farmers market, instead of having that ice cream in my freezer that was calling my name!

BUT at 10 p.m. I couldn’t resist. I ended up grabbing some veggie sticks. About 30% less fat then chips but still bad, particularly at night when my metabolism is slow. So it’s a good thing I had a great workout Monday a.m. I owe myself a few extra minutes in the gym to work off those chips, although I must say they were good, but now it’s time to pay the piper for eating a little junk food.

Hope you all had time to take care of yourself, went for a walk, jogged, yoga, or any form of exercise that you enjoy. We all have lots of people relying on us, patients, family and each other. So it’s important that we do our best to take care of ourselves.

Have a great day and make time for yourself

One for all

Dennis your COO filling in for the mayor while he takes a little time for himself and his family.
Dennis Kogod
COO

Good morning Davitans

I am pleased to be able to fill in for our mayor on match the mayor!

I am a huge believer in taking time to exercise. I got serious about in 1999, I remember the events. I was a smoker, woke up one morning while on a business trip and decided it was a good day to quit and to start taking better care of myself. A good day to start exercising. I never looked back on those 2 critical decisions.

A little about my exercise program. I am pretty religious about maintaining a schedule, even if it means starting my day very early. Even with a hectic travel schedule, I always find a gym nearby where to my hotel. I do some form of exercise 5-6 times a week. While I try to watch my diet, I have a sweet tooth, so it is important for me that I stick to my schedule and work off those occasional cookies!

My workouts consistent of some time in the gym and some time in a self defense studio. My gym work outs are a combination of cardio and free weights. Try to do that combination 3 times a week! A typical workout for me takes about 45 minutes to an hour.

So here we go. Saturday October 16

Great day for a workout. Weather wasn’t great so didn’t feel like I was missing anything outside.
Spent an hour doing, some cardio, upper body workout and some stretching. No matter how tired I am going in, I always feel better leaving, much better.

Taking today (Sunday) off

Tomorrow a.m., I’m starting my day early. Started taking Krav Maga about 6 months ago, a form of martial arts. Love it! I try to get to the studio 3 mornings a week. My instructor opens up the studio at 0500, and is pretty flexible about my travel schedule. These are the most intense workouts I have ever experienced.

So, I look forward to hearing from you about how you are doing. Please keep up the efforts and no matter what type of exercise you do, make the time for it, keep yourself healthy, nothing more important!

One for all!

Dennis Kogod
Chief Operating Officer

Yo DaVitaland !!!

It is Sunday night, and I have to get up at 4 am to catch a flight from Bangkok to Bhutan. Yikes.

I am unsure of internet access in Bhutan, it is one of the most isolated countries in the world. Plus I would really like to unplug from DaVita for a bit, even the MM reporting part (hopefully NOT the MM lifestyle part). So I ask for your understanding … and I ask for you to support my replacement, Mr Dennis Kogod, your COO.

For the record I did hit the gym before dinner. 32 solid minutes on the bike and some great core and stretching exercises. Total of 50 minutes.

No dessert. Now to bed.

Once again it has been a pleasure, an honor, and an inspiration to travel with you. All 1173 of you. Life is a team sport. I wish you the best, and will check in with you once I return from Bhutan and Cambodia, two countries I have wanted to visit for many years. I have been in this part of the world several times, but never made it to those two places. Now I am making it happen, and look forward to learning new things and thinking fresh thoughts about my life.

Take care.
Your teammate,
KT

Yo Davitans!

It is Sunday afternoon here in Bangkok. I hope you all are well, all 1173 of you who have teamed up to improve our health.

Yesterday I got several hours of good work done, and a strong workout in the hotel fitness center. 24 minutes on the bike, 3 sets of both push-ups and curls, 1 set of crunches, 1 set of superman on the big ball, and a bunch of stretching. Total of 55 minutes.

My wife arrived in time for dinner at a good Thai restaurant near the hotel (funny thing is that the hotel restaurant does not emphasize thai food). I demonstrated medium discipline on the consumption front on the day overall.

This morning we left the hotel at 7 am to get out to a floating market well outside the city. This part of Thailand is filled with canals, and in parts of the countryside the canals are still the primary way of getting around and doing business. On Saturday and Sunday mornings, there is a floating market, which means people bring their food and wares to buy and sell.

There is a big floating market closer to Bangkok, but it now gets a lot of westerners, so I wanted something more pure. We found a smaller one out in the countryside – there were about 500 locals there at any one moment, and we were the only non-Thai people (although on the way out we did run into one other foreigner). There were about 50 boats in the canal, and people were doing business from boat to boat and boat to shore. We were even interviewed by a local newspaper, because they were so surprised to see us there!

We were very lucky, in that this was the final day of a lent-like period, and therefore 109 Buddhist monks also showed up. 109 is a lucky number and so it was the plan to have that number – and the monks moved their boats slowly up and down the canal, taking in donations of food and money to take back to their temples, for themselves and the poor. All in all, a fascinating morning.

We then took the long drive back into the big city. We visited the spectacular temples by the Palace and also a Reclining Buddha that is about 120 feet long and 30 feet tall even tho it is reclining. Now we are back at the hotel. I will head to the gym in a little bit, something I don’t think I would have done without reading the postings from some of you out there in Match the Mayor land.

Do Well this Weekend! You have 1173 others cheering you on !!!

KT

Jaryl Erwin – Camden TN

Dear Jaryl,
Tennessee is one beautiful state. Enjoy the 20th!
KT
_________________________

Roxanne Hoffine – Tacoma, WA

Dear Roxanne,
That is AWESOME. I need to think about whether I should try a personal trainer. And thank you for making stuff fun!
KT
_________________________

Diane Jones- Tempe, AZ

Dear Diane
That “Valley of the Sun” name sounds so cool. Like out of a good novel. It is good to hear you are getting the right variety …. I think about 4 categories … cardio, strength, flexibility and balance. And I need to work on all of them!
KT
_________________________

Debra Whitehead – Boaz, AL

Dear Debra,
Congrats on doing more than one activity on a single day!
KT
_________________________

Deanna Olson – Tacoma, WA

Dear Deanna,
Ah yes, one of the world’s great exercise facilitators – a dog! So good for them also!
& One for All
KT
_________________________

Rebekah Hollenberg – Tempe, AZ

Dear Rebekah,
4 hours of swing and salsa?!!? That is impressive. Keep it up, do the twist!
KT
_________________________

Elizabeth Morales – Orlando FL

Dear Elizabeth,
I hope I can match you tomorrow, after my red-eye flight to Bangkok tonite. Yikes!
KT

Yo DaVita!

Last night, Thursday night, was very productive. I worked right up until my plane took off at 9 pm, then worked the first 2.5 hours on the plane. At that point I took a little ambien to try to get 4 hours of sleep, since we landed in 4.5 hours and they wake you up 30 minutes before the landing.

It was an uncomfortable 4 hours, with lots of waking up, but much better than nothing. It was 4 am for my body when we landed, but 8 am Bangkok time. I did phone calls on the way in, and intended to grab a bit more sleep.

But fate intervened, I had some phone calls and some computer problems. My adrenaline started to kick in, so I went to the gym and did 26 solid minutes on the bike, some good stretching, and 1 set of push-ups and crunches. Total minutes of 36. I am also trying to get in the habit of doing little stretches all day long.

I then had a meeting with a local dialysis company.

I was first in Bangkok way back in 1981, when I left my job and a buddy dropped out of law school, and we took half a year and traveled around the world with our backpacks on our backs and nothing else. It was glorious. And Bangkok was quite the adventure way back then, not too many years after the shutting down of the Viet Nam war.

For once I did not over-eat at the airport and on the plane, and skipped breakfast as well because I could not fit both breakfast and a workout in. Now I will try to provide some service excellence by responding to emails, and then take advantage of being here by going out and seeing some stuff. I loved this city in 1981, the temples and Buddha’s were amazing.

Tomorrow is my 11th anniversary with DaVita. Thanks to so many of you for making DaVita the great gift to my life and my family’s life that it has been. And let’s close out the campaign strongly!

KT

Dear DaVitaLand!

It is Thursday afternoon. Counting the US, I am in my 4th country since Sunday am when I caught the plane out of New York, and 5th city since Saturday when I flew the red-eye out of the west to get to New York. Yikes!

Tuesday was brutal. I was so tired, but we were heavily booked, starting with the early plane all the way thru dinner (except I did get a glorious 75 minute nap before dinner).. No exercise! I did get to meet with one of the country’s leading nephologists. I did get to visit an outstanding dialysis center and meet many of the nurses there. I did get to meet with a senior government health care official, and talk about DaVita helping them with kidney care. So from a work point of view it was a highly productive adventure. It required about 5 diet cokes to make it thru the day, but nobody said life would be easy. I bet some of you have had days like that this week too – let’s hang in there!

On Wednesday morning I had the wonderful feeling of starting the day with exercise after almost 7 hours of sleep. My body wanted that feeling of refreshment with striking intensity. 24 good minutes on a bike, with 3 intervals. Push-ups, crunches, curls, plus some healthy stretching in a steam room. Total minutes of 37.

Post workout we hustled to meet with a local health care company with whom we might do a joint venture. Once again it was the DaVita track record that opened that door. Thanks to all of you for that track record

We tried to see a museum on the way to the airport, but it was closed, which was a bummer. On we went to the airport, and then flew to the country I am now in. Once I got to the hotel I did 3.5 hours of conference calls with DaVitans in the US, and then had a great career and company conversation with the teammate I am traveling with at a dinner that started at 9 pm. I did a few emails after dinner, then some paperwork, then called my wife and finally read the paper which I absolutely treasure doing each night before I go to bed – all told it was lights out at 1 am.

Today we met with a local health care consultant, then had a couple meetings with local hospital executives. We created a little gap in the afternoon, wherein I raced back to the hotel and just completed an energizing workout! 26 solid minutes on the bike, one set of curls and push-ups, and some stretching. Total of 35 minutes of refreshment!

Now I have an hour to do email before heading out to a final meeting. Then it is on to the airport for a red-eye to Bangkok, Thailand. I will meet some people there tomorrow, and then start a vacation on Saturday. I hope you are all having a strong week, and I will try to respond to the last batch of messages before I start my vacation – reading your notes always give me a boost of energy.

As the Buddhists say “One cannot pour from an empty cup.” The Match the Mayor campaign is a good way to help me refill my cup. I hope it does that for you too. Take care, my 1700 partners!
KT

Yo DaVita!

I landed on time in the other country, after grabbing over 5 hours of sleep on the plane. I treated myself to too much food, kind of a reward for a brutal trip, which of course is dumb.

Anyway I got to the hotel and went straight to the gym. I got a solid 25 minutes on the bike, did a couple strength things and a few stretches in the steam room, for a total of 39 minutes. Then I ran off to a day filled with interesting meetings and a dinner which made for a bit of a marathon. I plodded off to my room, did an hour of work on the phone, called home, and turned the lights off a tad before midnight.

Unfortunately I had not paid enough attention to the schedule that was laid out, and I had to get up at 5 am to head to the airport to fly to the next country. Plus the day is booked straight thru including dinner, so I am stuck with trying to see if I can pull out of something so I can grab a much-needed nap. There will not be time for exercise, so I am most angry with myself for not giving clear instructions on that front. I am accountable.

Notwithstanding this negative aspect of the trip, it has been most positive in terms of the doors the DaVita name opens, and the positive way in which so many doctors in other countries regard us. I wish all 1170 of you could be with me to hear and feel the respect.

It is now Tuesday morning, and we are about to land from that morning flight I refer to above. I am having computer trouble, so I don’t know when I will be able to send this. Let’s try to finish the MM III campaign strongly as a team! I will need your help to do so on this trip.

One for All & All for One (not just a slogan to some of us)

KT

(Most people go to their graves with their music still inside … old Indian proverb)