I work late. It's perfectly normal for me to be on the phone with people in the U.S. and the U.K. till 4 a.m. multiple nights a week. Sometimes I go to 5 a.m. if I can`t get to sleep, which is rather inconvenient if you have things to do the next day like other meetings or just life stuff. It`s insane, I know, but it`s my reality for the time being. It will change in due time. Anyway, the longer I do this the more I notice some trends. Some bad, some good. Here`s an interesting one that keeps popping up:

Going to sleep immediately after managing or participating in active, intense, and stressful meetings (I call them "hot" meetings) or after dealing with fast breaking issues can lead to some really hairy nightmares. Keep in mind that 9 a.m. in San Francisco is 1 a.m. in Tokyo the next day, so as the Americans are gearing up for action your body in Asia is supposed to be winding down. Over time, this is a jarring experience. Generally, most normal people don't crash immediately after these hot meetings. They drive home. They go for a run. They take a swim. They eat dinner. They play with the kids. They walk in the park. They catch a baseball game. Watch a little TV. They unwind a bit before bed. Whatever. They don't just go from work to bed in 1 minute (and, no, checking our email at nite while watching Leno is not work, sorry).

But what's interesting about this is that when you get through the initial nightmares and get into normal sleep you wake up with a fresh set of ideas about how to solve the problems that buried you in the meeting before you went to sleep -- which was just a few hours earlier! I've never had this experience before, but he pattern is clear. My subconscious mind seems to be working out the details of the problems while it serves up a steady flow if dragons and murders and other such bloody and graphic fun. And when I get up, I have multiple new ideas for dealing with stuff. I now keep a notebook close by so I can jot down whatever comes out immediately upon waking. Those first few moments are critical, though. Once conscious thinking starts, all is lost and you are simply up.

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"We need more police." That`s what Senator Max Baucus said the other day as he laughed at protesters engaging in a little civil disobedience in his Finance Committee hearing on health care -- a hearing obviously excluding proponents for a single-payer system. "The committee will stand in recess until the police can restore order." The police restoring "order" is a good example of the power that community organizers face while fighting for change. In this case, though, the community organizers are also professionals working in the health care field, and they represent majority opinion in the medical community and among the American people. Shouldn`t these people be heard instead of being arrested?


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There are 36,000 100-year-olds in Japan, according to Nightline -- The Key to Longevity? Chatting with Japan's Centenarians. That`s wild. At the moment I can`t imagine making it to 50 and these dudes are turning in a century and expecting more. Diet, exercise, and human connections are very important. I don`t doubt the diet bit. I eat a thousand times better here than I did in the US, which is very cool. My kid is way ahead of most American kids in that respect since she gets to start life eating this way. I feel very good about that. At least she`ll be healthy even if the world around her isn`t necessarily so. But who knows, maybe she`ll change the world. Regardless, these 100 year-olds are inspiring. They demonstrate that you can continue to grow well beyond what you expect, but they all seem to have a calm state of mind as well. Perhaps this is more about being than doing. Not sure. Oh, and make sure you play the video to the story. The dancing scenes are charming. And the porno scene kills.


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I love the multitasking issue. It`s just insane. So, for kicks I collect links under the tag "multitasking" right here in my blog for safe keeping. Tim Walker has some more multitasking bits under Once again: Do Not Multitask. Totally agree with Drucker as Tim quotes him. If you have any cool multitasking stories, I`d love to hear them. My all time favorite is this one. I have yet to hear anything that tops that guy.


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Professor Randy Pausch died a couple of days ago from pancreatic cancer. If you are feeling depressed about life, just click on some of these links below and spend a couple of hours looking into this wonderful person. You may cry but, you'll not be depressed anymore.

• The Last Lecture Website
• Randy Pausch News on Yahoo
• WSJ Remembrances
• YouTube: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
• ABC: Randy Pausch Dies at 47

Thanks to Randy's Last Lecture, millions of people may find it a little easier to live in the moment, a little easier to be inspired, a little easier to dream and take a risk.

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Quick and dirty post just to inform you all that I’m again at the hospital. Again pancreatitis.

I hope it won’t be like last year and that I’ll be back soonish. But in the mean time I’m offline.

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Inside T. Boone Pickens' Brain: "I'd rather surround myself with sharp young minds than play golf and gin rummy all day." -- T. Boone Pickins. That attitude isn't just talk from a cocky oil billionaire. It just may be a critical component to staying young as you grow old. Very interesting article on brain research, and specifically about how this guy thinks.


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Pill-Popping Pets. It's great to see my old friend, Dr. Nicholas Dodman, in the New York Times talking about veterinary behavioral pharmacology. I met Nick when I worked at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine in the mid 90s. Great guy. Very smart, too. And a pioneer in the field of animal behavior. If you have an animal with serious behavioral issues, give this article a read. And give Nick a call. It's well worth a trip to Tufts outside Boston in Grafton, Massachusetts.

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More evidence documenting that multitasking does a wonderful job of reducing efficiency and killing productivity -- The Myth of Multitasking. Just do one thing at a time.


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High School's Worst Year?: "My mom wants me to look at Ivy League schools, but my high school years have been so stressful that I don't want to deal with that in college," says Ms. Glickman. "I don't want it to be such a competitive atmosphere. I don't want to put myself in this situation again." -- Wall Street Journal.

Ok, I felt that way when I was 17, too. Didn't you? I just wanted the stress of the "competitive atmosphere" to end. But after all these years I can see that was an embarrassingly silly thought. Stress never ends. What can end, however, is letting the stress get to you and eat you till you rot from the inside out. Took me a couple of decades to come to that realization. Anyway, good article about the pressures of getting into an Ivy League school these days.

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Here are two articles (March/April 1996 & May/June 1996) I did for the National Fire Protection Association. I have no clue how they found me, but they called one day and needed a freelancer for two articles and they needed them fast.

The first piece covers the changing terminology in the industry. It's a bit dry, but I learned a lot researching it. But the second article, which explores what Americans knew about fire safety issues, was more interesting because I was able to draw on some personal experience. I was in a hotel fire in the early 90s in Washington, DC, so I was able to weave that experience into the piece. Pretty scary deal, I must say. I was in the shower when it happened, and when I came out into the main room I could smell the smoke. The fire alarm blasting was a good hint, too. I went over to the door, felt that it was not hot, and opened it. Black and white smoke filled the room. Well, that settled it for me ... the damn place was on fire! I couldn't jump from the second story window without seriously hurting my already seriously hurt back, so I quickly got half dressed and ran into the hallway. In seconds, I was absolutely lost and choking for air. It shocked me how quickly I became completely disoriented. I hit the deck and just prayed that I was crawling in the right direction. Maybe I should have jumped out the window, I though. Who knows. Luckily, I was actually going in the right direction, and I got out just before I completely lost my air. I can see how people die in fires within minutes. It really doesn't take long to lose your way when you can't breathe and you can't see. Preparation and education are key to surviving fires. Luck, too.



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Here are two articles (March/April 1996 & May/June 1996) I did for the National Fire Protection Association. I have no clue how they found me, but they called one day and needed a freelancer for two articles and they needed them fast.

The first piece covers the changing terminology in the industry. It's a bit dry, but I learned a lot researching it. But the second article, which explores what Americans knew about fire safety issues, was more interesting because I was able to draw on some personal experience. I was in a hotel fire in the early 90s in Washington, DC, so I was able to weave that experience into the piece. Pretty scary deal, I must say. I was in the shower when it happened, and when I came out into the main room I could smell the smoke. The fire alarm blasting was a good hint, too. I went over to the door, felt that it was not hot, and opened it. Black and white smoke filled the room. Well, that settled it for me ... the damn place was on fire! I couldn't jump from the second story window without seriously hurting my already seriously hurt back, so I quickly got half dressed and ran into the hallway. In seconds, I was absolutely lost and choking for air. It shocked me how quickly I became completely disoriented. I hit the deck and just prayed that I was crawling in the right direction. Maybe I should have jumped out the window, I though. Who knows. Luckily, I was actually going in the right direction, and I got out just before I completely lost my air. I can see how people die in fires within minutes. It really doesn't take long to lose your way when you can't breathe and you can't see. Preparation and education are key to surviving fires. Luck, too.



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Transgenic xenotransplantation. That's a mouthful. But it's basically the injecting of human DNA into animal embryos, which eventually grow into animals sporting human genes (transgenic), and then killing the animals and transplanting their now more "human-like" organs into people (xenotransplantation) who desperately need a new liver or heart or kidney -- without which they would die. Even the description is a mouthful.

The hope is that in the future the human DNA blended throughout the animal's genome will fool the immune system so the transplanted animal organ will not be rejected by it's new human host. This is an amazing bioengineering process that is still in its infancy but may prove helpful to millions once all the ethics and science are worked out. At least that's what everyone was saying back in 1997 when I wrote this piece for Tufts Medicine.

When I was working in communications at Tufts University, I got deeply involved in writing about and publicizing biotechnology research for the veterinary school. But publishing in Tufts Medicine, the alumni magazine for the university's medical school, gave the topic even more prominence. For me, it worked out pretty well since the veterinary school in Grafton, Massachusetts, collaborated closely with the medical school in Boston on some of this research.



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If you've ever read anything by Sherwin Nuland, you know he's an extraordinary writer. Clearly one of my favorites. I especially appreciate the truth he tells in How we Die, a book as powerful as anything I've ever read. But I've always wondered where he goes to tap the passion he so clearly articulates. Well, now I know. He tells the truth in this TED talk -- Sherwin Nuland: My history of electroshock therapy. If you've ever had any experience with the medical community, this short talk will move you in many ways. The truth generally does.

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According to the latest studies, suicide in Japan is still way too common here -- Japan's suicide rate remains high. Unlike many on this issue, though, I find it difficult to judge those who take their own lives. It's simply not my place. It has to be horribly sad for the family members directly involved, though. I can only imagine. A friend of mine killed himself some years ago, and it affected me for a lot longer than I though it would. Perhaps because he chose a particularly brutal way to do it, I don't know. I still think of him and the lost opportunity. But I hope he's at peace. Another friend of mine recently witnessed a suicide scene in Tokyo. He blogged about it here -- Dead in Yamanote Line.

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