That's all folks

Gretchen Miner retired as switchboard operator at Deerfield Academy today.  Forty-four years after she started!  One of Boyden's last hires - we wish her well in retirement!

from my iPhone

Good Times

So great to connect with Whit Armstrong, Doug Cruikshank, Doug Schmidt, Ben Patton and Will Wolf last night.  Did you remember all those names from the faces?

Will wins for best surprise guest - he lives in DC and runs Human Development for Credit Suisse First Boston, spending half the month in Switzerland, a week in DC and a week in NYC.  He was headed to the airport to fly home when he stopped by for a burger and some hearty laughs.

Whit continues to paint, Doug S. continues to deal and Doug. C continues to keep the banking industry on the straight and narrow.

Ben has written a book, due out in March.  Stay tuned for the NYC event announcement.

Jon Gottscho called in to lament his own absence at the soiree and others emailed their disappointment at not being available. 

When Will saw me raise my phone to take his picture he lamented, "Please - no pictures for the blog."  When I reminded him that is was BECAUSE of the blog that he even knew we were gathering he replied, "true enough John, fire away!"  Let that be a lesson to us all - that sharing a moment of ourselves makes our class community stronger.  Or just gets you a free burger and a beer!

Guess we'll just have to do it again...Feel free to host a gathering in your area, like Don Hindman did in Denver - i can get you some names and emails...

DA83 "Beers and Bravado" - Thursday @ PJ Clarke's

Join Schmidt, Knight and anyone else who can make it,

THIS Thursday night from 6-8 pm at

PJ Clarke's (915 Third Avenue, 55th St New York, NY 10022)

Pass it on and see you then!

JKnight cell is 413.522.2555...
--
John G. Knight

jgknight83@gmail.com

S&P affirms Deerfield's AAA bond rating

In case you missed it, on Janury 17, Standard & Poor's affirmed the AAA rating for Deerfield's $39MM in bonds.  Strength of fundraising, evidenced in part by strong alumni participation in the Annual Fund, was a factor in their decision.  Thanks to those of you who have participated this fiscal (ends June 30), and "join us" to the rest!

Van Dusen and Leland...

Charlie Van Dusen was on campus today, doing the prep school tour with his oldest daughter.  He was happy to see that the Stanley Can is safe and secure in my office.  Charlie and I were teammates on the 1983 Championship Maple Leafs squad.  His daughter wondered why we were talking slowly and had watery eyes...

Charlie sent his best to Jeff Leland when he heard that Jeff will have hip replacement surgery tomorrow.  Charlie had both hips done at the same time about five years ago.  Speedy recovery to you Jeff!

Nottage makes Super Bowl commercial

it's actually for the Doritos contest to be selected for showing at the SB, but fun nonetheless!

here's the Youtube link too: http://youtu.be/nw1sfjhJov4

Dave Madden is a WorldMaker at CES

Whately Wisdom from Nate Nourse...

Here’s to fat portfolios and skinny bottom lines. 

I am glad Willy corrected Mark on the Potato issue, there is way too much misinformation on foods. A little sour cream or butter is fine, it is the cheese and bacon that make them very bad. I’d also resonate Willy’s comment on buying the best, but don’t stop eating something if you can’t get organic, the health benefits of all fruits and vegetables are huge whether conventional or organic. The importance of eating 5 or more servings per day can’t be over emphasized. Berries will provide some of the greatest benefits. 

One of my strategies includes never eating the same thing for lunch or dinner two days in a row and eating/treating myself to a sushi lunch at least once a week. Eating different foods every day causes the digestive system to be less efficient and decreasing the amount of food adsorbed. 

All the best for 2012!

Barcelona Beefcake muses on food

From Scott Pryce: Thanks for this.  I remember fondly the days when I was trying to gain weight by lifting and eating as much as possible (say double full English breakfast with pie).  This was after getting out of the marine corps and in my first grad degree.   How times have changed!    And I have double Mark’s issue with the fast eating thing:  in the Marines we had no time to eat literally.  You ate when you thought you had a few minutes in which you wouldn’t move or be tasked with something.  So if you opened up a ration and didn’t wolf it all down quickly, you were likely to get interrupted and lose what you hadn’t finished.

Singapore Slim - Piersol weighs in

"Mark’s comments are pretty much spot on—eliminate all processed/fried foods—this is your biggest enemy. If it’s possible—particularly from a time perspective—make your meals at home from scratch with the best ingredients you can muster. These will be the biggest initial hurdles.


Mark’s claims about carbohydrates are accurate. Despite what “experts” claim and the claims of carbo-heavy FDA food pyramid—carbs are what will kill you weight-wise as it catalyzes into sugar and eventually leaves you hungry. One aspect Mark doesn’t discuss is eating proper proteins. You need fat to satisfy your hunger—otherwise it will be more challenging to lose weight sustainably. If you are eating high-quality meats, fishes, and poultry this should fulfil your hunger, and prevent you from snacking between meals. Even consuming low-fat yogurt, drinking skim milk, eating no butter—has the opposite effect in my opinion. You’ll be hungry in a few hours time.

If you are eating the proper proteins and fats, it should keep you from being delirious by 3pm. A diet of denial is difficult to sustain. Eating smartly is. And you should be able to keep the weight off sustainably with this type of balanced approach.


I do disagree strongly on his claim for potatoes. Potatoes –buy quality if you can (i.e organic)-- have Vitamin C and B complex, as well as potassium, calcium, and iron. The skin is full of fiber as well, and the potato itself has chloragenic acid which some believe has anti-cancer properties. It is true, in some people like diabetics, potatoes induce blood-sugar levels to rise, but the pros outweigh the cons IMO and you better served to forgo white rice, white bread, etc.
My best to you and your family for 2012—the Year of the Dragon. Tell anyone who is coming to Singapore to look me up.

Last thought on the diet discussion: exercise is important but it's secondary in importance to a proper diet, A proper diet will do a lot of the heavy lifting for you."

Engineering a diet...

Mark Beaubien had thoughts on my recent post about Ben Davis and health...Love to see an engineer's thought process on the page...

"I dropped from 245 to 185 ... here's my secret: GET SICK. I lost 30 lbs due to viral pneumonia, then starved myself for another three months. 12 lbs a month for five months. First, go to Walmart and get a $34 digital weighing scale with memory - essential to tracking your progress on a daily even hourly basis.

Here's my simple easy to remember dietary method, which is basically my twist on the Atkins that I find easy:

1. Here are the No's: bread, pasta, factory food of any kind, fast food, ice cream - as it's tough to resist, rid the house of such junk and stay out of convenience stores. Eat nothing in bags, or from a counter in a store. Period.

2. You'll start by eating  only a banana or apple for breakfast. You'll find apples are your friend, but bananas are filling. If it's fructose it's OK. Work out in the AM and eat a second apple at around 11AM to maintain blood sugar.

3. At lunchtime but not later than 1PM  eat a half a chicken sandwich on a wrap (that's it for your bread).Tomatoes, lettuce, veggies etc are all fine. You can also eat as much salad as you want but NO dressing.  Buy one sandwich and make it last two days.

4. You're going to be delirious about 12 and 3. At ~3PM eat another piece of fruit, but I'd avoid oranges, they spike too much

5. Now for the good part: at dinner you can eat as much protein as you want, and as much fruit and veggies as you want.

Also, as it is so hard to resist, you shall have no more dinners out until you reach a goal, say every 10 lbs. What you will quickly learn is that you work hard to reach those 10 lb increments on the scale that you don't want to go back and do it a second time. Exercise is great, but it's really all about conservation of energy laws and calorie counting. When you don't eat much your body metabolism shuts down into winter hibernation mode and it's then quite hard to have the energy to work out. If you do work out, you can eat more, just pay close attention to your calorie balance sheet, which I find hard to meter. If you eat very little it's easier to drop fast.

As for alcohol, it's all carbs but a drink a day (beer or wine) is fine before bedtime. Avoid mixed drinks until you're way down in weight.

I actually started gaining weight because I eat so fast at Deerfield. Why? The damn food was so good but at lunch we were only given a few minutes to eat it. I used to literally shovel and I never lost the bad habit. I am always the first at the table to finish, and so I ate more than I should have. All it takes is 10 calories a day.

 a few other things I forgot:

1. RULE #1: NO fried foods for the rest of your life ... and yes this means French fries. Moreover, potatoes of any kind are empty calories, (the white veggie is like white bread) avoid them. For chips see section on bagged factory foods. Again, if it comes out of a factory don't eat it. And alcohol comes from a factory my friend..

2. RULE #2: Positive reinforcement is key (see the digital scale tip). Give yourself a real non-food reward as you make progress. Mine was learning to fly ... something I'd always wanted to do. It also helps to make the reward gradual as it keeps your mind on a goal. If you buy a car that's a one time hit. You will get people noticing the change just around the time you cross the 50 yard line (you have written down a concrete loss goal and target date, right???!)

Now that the fat is off your body is at a super low metabolic rate and this is the hard part: keeping weight off. Almost all people gain back the weight in a year. Fat is like an organ, the body fights to put it back, and for men this is always belly fat, which is terrible for heart disease. The main key to keeping it off is behavior modification to stop what started it. All you need to eat is a mere 10 calories extra each day to gain 10lbs in a year. That is hardly anything, think about it. You must change the way you think about food, which leads to other benefits. Oh, and you'll save money by not eating out.

Exercise is key but if you're fat it's hell on your knees. As you drop the first 30 you'll find it easier to sit up, stand etc."

Umass Dining Shows Community Spirit via Van Sullivan

Umass Dining: Community Spirit from WGBY on Vimeo.


Great job, Van!