Yo DaVita HealthCare Partners,

Every now and then I use the full formal name.  But the total enterprise is destined to become just DaVita, probably soon.  Please provide your opinions on what should be called what within DaVita.  Right now within DaVita we have DaVita Kidney Care, HealthCare Partners, DaVita Rx, Lifelines, Paladina, and DaVita International.

Wonderfully healthy dinner tonight.  The kale, the spinach, and the snap peas were all from our home garden.  My wife Denise is an exceptional gardener, when we lived in California every vegetable and many fruits we ate for 7-8 months a year were from our garden.  We also have 2 laying hens, Esther and Aida, so my brunch today was with eggs from our own hens.  If I can brag for a minute Denise is also one of the only women in America on 3 Fortune 500 Boards, including American Airlines and Medtronic, as well as about 5 not-for-profit boards.   Quite the well-rounded life …..

I also did get 10 quiet minutes today, sitting outside, gazing at the mountains.  I recognize I am behind on this one.

After my 3 hours with the life coach, which was very intense and very thought-provoking, Denise and I went for a walk and talked about the stuff that came up.  Was very healthy.

Then we came back to the cabin.  I did another 90 minutes of work including one phone call with an exec facing some tough issues.  Now it is 8:30 pm, we just finished dinner.  I think we will treat ourselves to Downton Abbey, a TV series with superb character development and storytelling that has us hooked.  We watch one of the shows about every other week.  Also there is probably one night a week we watch a Modern Family episode, very relaxing with some good humor and some emotional stuff.  Last night we were good and went to bed reading books.

I hope most of you re-filled your cups this weekend!

One for All, KT

Yo Good Citizens of The DaVita Village … and participants that choose not to be citizens …

I hope you and your loved ones are having a great weekend!

I have not been reporting my weight because I always use just my home scale for that.  As of Saturday am I was not looking forward to getting back on that scale on Tuesday morning.  But I am rallying somewhat, hopefully that will continue.  When I was going to have some dessert at 9:30 last night, it was the image of reporting a bad weight to 2600 DaVita citizens and teammates that stopped me.   Thanks!

I had a terrible nights sleep, more coughing and who knows what else.  I stayed in bed until 9 am, that was good for my body.  I worked for 90 minutes, then headed out for another glorious 85 minute mountain biking ride.  Once again forests and meadows up here in the mountains surrounding Beaver Creek, Colorado, with lots of vertical to get the heart pumping.  Part of my normal trail was blocked because it is elk calving season until June 30^th, and they don’t want bikers and hikers cavorting about.

Now I am doing a bit more work, and then I am going to have a 3 hour session with a “life coach”.  This is a person you hire who helps you really step back and evaluate your life – just as we do at many DaVita University classes, including the Academy – only I don’t get invited to those so I lose out!  This way I will be forced to step back and answer basic questions about each facet of my life.  Even though I do pretty intense reflection sessions with my wife, with my close friends, and with my personal journaling … this will be far more intense.  He has done this stuff with lots of other CEO’s and other senior executives and came recommended by some friends of mine.  I look forward to it, as this kind of rigorous reflection has otherwise been getting squeezed out by all the other issues of life – work, work travel, kids, aging mother we moved to be close to us, civic activities, daily exercise, more work, etc.

“There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.”

All the best !!!  Your Mayor, KT

Yo MTM Comrades !!

It is Saturday afternoon, sorry for the gap I have been running pretty much non-stop.

Good news, we are up to over 350 family and friends !!  We are over 2600 comrades in total !!

International is well under last year, only 3 participants so far.   Hopefully more of our teammates overseas will sign up like my partner from Malaysia, Uma, will.   We are going to post Uma’s comments on my blog as well.  Uma pls give a bit of your DaVita history.

We also have over 220 teammates from HCP, that may be a record, I am not sure.

I had some good meetings on Friday, most of them recruiting executives or business development.  Then I flew back to Colorado, and got to our cabin in the mountains at 6:30 pm.  I ran in and asked everyone if dinner could be late, so I could get in 22 minutes on the lifecycle, they graciously agreed.  I had solid intensity – on the lifecyle I do the hill program, so I get some intervals of high intensity.  I am always dripping with sweat by the end (TMI?)

But we ate a big dinner, and then there I was a tired puppy who rewarded himself with …. You guessed it … ice cream!  Oh no!!!

Oh well, I then started to catch up by getting 8.5 hours of sleep – unfortunately the low sleep of tue-wed-thur brought my cough back, so I wake up in the middle of the night a time or two, coughing away.  I will be trying some new healing agents today.

I got up at 7:45 this am.  Did a couple hours of work, including 40 minutes with a new executive who wanted to brainstorm about his approach to his new job.  Then went out for a GLORIOUS 95 minute mountain biking ride – thru the forest and thru the meadows, lots of vertical so a tremendous cardio workout, still a number of fallen trees blocking the trails, the sun was out and the skies were blue … I was literally smiling and yelling at times as I pedaled along.  Never saw another person.

Once I got back in the cabin I did a good set of general strengthening, PT for my rotator cuff, and a little stretching.  Took about 35 minutes.   More specifically:

1. 95 minutes of intense mtn biking, mainly single track
2. 5 sets of internal rotations (arm exercise with tension straps)
3. 5 sets of external rotations
4. 2 sets of reverse flies
5. 2 sets of rows
6. 2 sets of curls
7. 2 sets of scapula push-ups
8. 120 seconds of standing quad stretch with bikram yoga finish
9. 10 hamstring stretches
10. 60 intense crunches (usually do 100, not today)

And Denise, my wife, and I will go out for a hike in about 30 minutes, probably an hour.  So a wonderful exercise day, I love it!

I hope you are all having a healthy and happy weekend, AND hitting your goals.  I will try to hit the 10 minutes of silence.   I think I get a free pass on the produce 2 days a week, right?  my goal was 5 servings on 5 days.  My dinner last night had another 1.5 servings of veggies by the way.

Ciao.  One for All ..
KT

Yo Good People of DaVita, Inc.

I hope you are having a great day!

I am on a plane heading back to Colorado from California.  Working backwards vis a vis my MTM goals ..

1. I had 2.5 servings of veggies for lunch today, Friday.  Broccoli, carrots and asparagus.  Along with a hunk of dead animal (also called “steak”).
2. Yesterday I did 22 minutes on bike, medium intensity.  Plus 6 more minutes of stretching and strength exercises.   Was a challenge given bedtime not until almost 1:30 am and had to get up at 6 am.  I am getting old for this.
3. I did not get 10 min of silence .. need to work on that!

Last night at the conference I did some good mingling with current and potential business partners.  Then at 9:15 pm I took 7 of our fellow teammates out to a late dinner.  We had a great time, and things went late.  I did a little email upon returning, and then read the paper to settle down … lights out at 1 am, and did not get up until 7:30.  Did a long interview with a potential executive (we did most of it while walking around outside, is great way to really start to know a person), then met with some medical group leaders, then a couple phone calls including one with a Tennessee congresswoman whom we think highly of.

Now am powering thru emails during flight.  The challenge is my backlog is about 2000 – even allowing for a lot of spam, that is a lot.  Then next time you are thinking of breaking your rules – picture the 2600 of us looking over your shoulder, cheering you on!

All the best, KT

Greetings!

This morning’s speech went well, followed by back to back meetings and calls until I headed for the airport at 4 pm.  I stopped and visited my mom for a bit, and am now powering thru email while on the flight.

My lunch was great, 2.5 servings of veggies and one of strawberries.  I also just had a full green apple, I would guess that is 1.5.  Village Vitality, did I report on my exercise each of the last couple of days?

My weight was 197.  The MTM affect is starting to kick in, finally.  What I mean by that is I am starting to think about the 2000 teammates watching me as I contemplate a cookie, or ice cream, or skipping my veggies.  That’s a good thing!  Hope it is working for you as well.

One for All, KT

Yo DaVita !!!

Quick snippet …  lights out was not until about 1:30 am, up at 6 am since I had to pack for the next 4 days, finish a speech, workout, and leave home by 7:30. Yikes.

I did have one serving of produce with dinner, and another as part of my 1 am snack (which did NOT include ice cream, it was some left over veal with brussel sprouts).  So it was a strong day on the produce front.

I also spent 10 quiet minutes, actually while sitting on the outside deck on our 14^th floor, for those of you have been to the Casa here in Denver.  It was a wonderful peaceful time.

I hope you all are achieving your goals today – catch you later!

KT

Good afternoon fellow citizens of the DaVita Village !!

I did sneak in a quick workout before heading into the Casa.   22 minutes on the bike, medium intensity, 8 minutes of strength and PT stuff, 3 min of stretching, total of 33.  Not enough but better than nothing!

Tonight I have a speaking engagement at a big dinner, followed by a meeting with the Governor.  So does not promise to be a strong MTM kind of day!   Although I did have 3 servings of produce with lunch!  Including zucchini and broccolini, as well as strawberries.

I hope the rest of you are having a good MTM kind of day!!

KT

Good Morning DaVita !!

Did not land until 12:30 in the morning, home at 1, treated myself to a huge bowl of ice cream, lights out at 2 am.  Up at 7:20 am, weight up to 198 because of the huge dinner I ate in Chicago and the ice cream.  Yikes !  This is no way to get rid of my persistent cough.

I did do 10 quiet minutes as I flew back … just let my mind wander.  Actually felt quite relaxing and liberating.

I had one more serving of veggies at dinner.   Asparagus.  Was good.

I have to hustle to get my workout in before the calls start.  Catch you later!  BTW, we have 2 international tm’s registered so far.  Alisa, which country?  There are 2000 of us, let’s go for a healthier more intentional life … starting with MTM VIII  !!!

KT

Yo DaVitans !!        (Remember, DaVita is the name of the total enterprise)

Day #2, mid-day addendum.  I did not get to bed until 11:45 pm, the email monster grabbed me and would not let go.  I was lights out about 12:15 after my nightly reading.  Woke up at 5:45 am, grateful that I did not have a long coughing fit in the middle of the night that kept me awake .. and sad that I could not go back to sleep, too many work issues racing around my head.  Life’s rich pageant.

I was at my desk at 6:15, did email and calls until 8:30.  I was working at home because I was flying out mid-day and my home is closer to the airport than the Casa  (our headquarters) is.  I then got a modest workout in, 26 minutes on the lifecycle with medium intensity (I do the hill program, a succession of steeper hills), then a little stretching, balance and strength work.  Only a total of 36 minutes, however.  After my workout I returned to the desk and a series of calls, and am now on a plane heading to Chicago.

As to produce, as of 1:30 pm I have racked up 3 servings.  One was spinach with lunch, the second was strawberries just now, and the third was, you guessed it, my shredded wheat (which I ate dry today, to eliminate the calories and sugar of milk).

The great thing about plane trips is I can power down a lot of emails and other to-do’s.  I am head down from takeoff to landing, typically.

I hope many of the rest of you are getting off to a strong start – our habits are our destiny!  Start a new habit today, or strengthen an old one.

All the best, KT

Greetings to the Good People of DaVita !!

Welcome to Match the Mayor VIII.  The annual campaign where a few thousand of us band together and help each other in the quest for help.  It is 10 pm, I just got home from work, a long day.  I have another couple of things to do, and will try to avoid eating a big dessert as a reward.

Let me start by reporting on my results:

1. My exercise count is a “no count”.  I have been fighting some type of respiratory issue, and I had to cancel my morning workout as I was up coughing for a couple hours in the middle of the night.  Poor Denise, my wife, I woke her up also.  I started antibiotics today, we will see if that helps.  I hate using them if inappropriate, but it has been a few weeks and the trend was negative.
2. My produce score was right on!  2 veggie servings with my salmon at lunch, plus one serving of strawberries.  1 serving of black beans for dinner, plus some corn, tomato and lettuce makes 1.5 in total.  Putting me over the goal of 5 servings per day was my serving of shredded wheat this am.  For you new MTM participants, that is a special Mayor’s rule.  Shredded wheat, unfrosted, counts as a vegetable!  Rank has its privileges, and all that fiber is good for me, I don’t want to give it up and replace it with fruit.
3. I will see if I get 10 minutes of quiet time before I go to bed.  I might not given the time.
4. My starting weight is 197.  I don’t think I did well today on that score.

I am also excited to introduce my MTM traveling companion, Uma Narenjee, from our Malaysia team.  She and I are going to help each other hit our goals, as the over 2000 teammates now signed up will help each other.  Let’s go Uma …

My day was filled with meetings, on kidney care, healthcare partners, and RX.  Tomorrow I fly to Chicago at noon for a meeting and dinner, then back on a late flight after dinner.  So it will be a tough scoring day.  Oh well …

I wish you all the best.   MTM VIII is underway, let’s do it, together!  Game on.

One for All & All for One.    KT