September 24, 2008

Yo DaVita !!

I got a lot of work done on my Tuesday afternoon plane from Nashville, TN back to California. In case I forgot to mention it, I skipped breakfast and had salmon with veggies for lunch. I landed about 4:30 p.m. and headed into the Casa. My meetings ended at 8 p.m., and I headed up to a hotel downtown to be close to UCLA for my speech the next morning.

Once in the hotel I had chicken with veggies for dinner with some tomato soup. I ordered through room service so I could catch up on email while I was waiting. After eating I called home and also called my daughter who is in her first week of college. She is having some difficult conversations with her boyfriend from high school, as they are in different schools in different states. She just needed a little daddy listening time, which was a pleasure to provide. It is still a little amazing to think that my baby girl is now in college, and we are empty nesters.  Life’s rich pageant!

I stopped doing email about 11 p.m., when disaster struck!  That’s right, I ate a snickers bar and broke my dessert streak. Really foolish and impulsive, I should have just gone to bed. Many of my eating breakdowns occur when I work too late, making me tired, hungry, and inappropriately feeling like I deserve a reward. Yikes!

I read the papers until midnight, catching up on all the turmoil in the financial markets and all the developments in the presidential race. At 6:15 a.m. I got up, did a little stretching (not enough!) and at 7:15 a.m. met the Dean of the UCLA Business School for breakfast. The good KT showed up for breakfast, he had fruit and a little ham and water.

After that I told the DaVita story to the entire UCLA first year MBA class. I wish you could have been there!  371 high potential leaders listening to the great stuff you are doing, and aspiring to do. We talked about the Village, about our Core Values and the Mission, about DaVita University Academies, Medical Missions and the Village Network, etc etc etc. At the end they gave you a standing ovation! They even did a One for All & All for One cheer, and it was loud! You should be proud that the stuff you are doing is so distinctive that one of the top MBA schools in the nation wanted to hear about it and ask questions. Very proud!

After the talk came a 45 minute drive to the Area Dietitians meeting. I did a company update and Town Hall there. That is a great team — only 11% turnover in the entire Dietitian ranks!

Then I was off to the airport, with a quick and unhealthy stop at Jack in the Box. Tasty tho!  Now I am back on a plane, flying to New Hampshire to look at some new MFD (more frequent dialysis) tomorrow (Thursday) morning. On the plane I will attack the 860 emails that are weighing heavily on my mind.

One for all!

KT

(Chance favors the prepared mind)