A box of stones…for the holidays..could it be the best secret Santa gift ever???

Ok, so our office had the best office holiday party yet. Many thanks go to the great crew at Ugo’s in Culver City. The entire team had a great time laughing, eating and drinking. It was a perfect event (except for the rain…but more on that later). What was different this year, and of course, this might be only my perspective, is how we played out the entire secret Santa stuff.

First, Ms Betty, one of our great hygienist’s asked me what size shirt I wear. I figured she was my Santa. And poor, poor Andrea, every one threatened her with being her secret Santa..with getting her a sweatshirt with the initials QB on it (one of her office nicknames is Queen Brat). And last Madison answered Gina’s questions about her taste in stuff to be accused of being her secret Santa. I had everyone text Madison about her “likes” just to mess with her mind, I had no idea of who her secret santa was.

So with all the drama (and much fun, it really was so much fun we might have to have secret Easter egg bunnies this year just so we don’t have to wait until Christmas time again) we got to the secret Santa gifts…Now I apologize if I don’t remember them all, but I have to say it seemed like everyone rally thought out their gifts and they were perfect. Betty got Dr. Dana a long sleeve polo type sweater that I would swear his wife would have bought for him. Gina spoiled little Miss Thais with a Juicy wallet. Roland got Andrea the kitchen grill she wanted. You know there were multiple gifts and all great. But Madison handed me a box and I tell you it was heavy. Not knowing what it was (in was in a bag from the restoration mall hardware chain) I just tried to figure out…what did I need for my house. I am telling you that it seemed like the box was filled with stones…it was so heavy. And it was filled with stones…the coolest box set of the 1970 CD’s of the Rolling Stones with an incredible collector’s book inside. And yes “IT IS THE BEST SECRET SANTA GIFT EVER”….That night I was showing it off to all of my son’s friends who are home from college and they couldn’t believe how cool it was.

Since this is my last blog of the year (taking next week off while I am n New York visiting family) I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who make a difference in my life. My life is so intertwined with all of you and there are not enough words to express my gratitude and friendship.

The team at the office: Gina, Andrea, Sandy, Roland, Ana, Thais, Madison, Betty, Wendy and Dr.s Dana and Maya.

The team support for the office that you don’t see like my coaches Scott and Marla, and my extended dental family courtesy of the internet.

Where would I be without my friends and my family? To all of you, I need you, I don’t always deserve you and I most definitely love you. Janis, Josh, Joey, Rocky and Oso…..you are my life.

And the rain..more about the rain. People, plan on extra time if you are driving in the So Cal rain. Roads are slick, some drivers inconsiderate, you know the drill….stay safe and healthy this holiday season.

Does Disney have the formula right? Can it be part of Conscious Prevention?

Last night we watched Toy Story 3 and my wife and I both commented on how much a surprise the ending was and even more so about how sweet it was. I don’t want to ruin it for you but it was such a pure passage of childhood and one you never saw coming in the movie at all. And I admit it..i got teary eyed at the end.

And then there was the greatest love story I have ever seen in life in the movies…the first couple of minutes of the movie ‘UP’. There was so very little dialogue (if I remember correctly just one or two words) but the love between the two characters was so easy to feel.

Over the years as my kids have been growing up I have had more than my fair share of opportunities to see a lot of the Disney movies, even the ones made for TV. I can remember how my eyes once again got teary when the older dog (voice of Don Ameche) showed up at the end of Homeward Bound. And another movie, the name escapes me, where the little girl actually became the horse jockey and won the race. And there are so many more…

OK, it seems that Disney has a formula to make me feel great about the ending of their films. (I know other films can do it too, I remember the sound of an entire theatre starting to cry at Terms of Endearment). But the formula works because I want to see the new Disney movies.

So let’s make the jump over to “Conscious Prevention”. No, it’s not about crying at the end of movies. But it is about getting different levels of satisfaction or positive re-enforcement to keep one on the path of better health. And using even the smallest feedback to help you stay on a path which leads to a healthier lifestyle. For some it could be just losing a pound a week on a course of weight loss. For others it could be fitting into those clothes you couldn’t wear last year. And to make this even more personal, in the dental office it could be as simple as the hygienist saying that you are doing a great job with your home care and your gums are healthy. And by the way, since there is much literature to suggest more than a casual link between gum disease and other life threatening illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes, your conscious prevention of the mouth is helping your entire body.

But now I get to the hard part for me. I am going to challenge every team member at our dental office to try and make every patient’s experience at our office the best they can for all of our patients. It’s not that I want patients to cry at the end of a visit (you don’t know how much I want to cry with my patients when they do cry in the office…but that’s the type of guy I am), but I do want the patients to walk out knowing that my office got it right and that the patients want to come back for their next visit. It’s all about the experience.

How Do you Spell R-E-L-I-E-F?

It took a full week after the official start of the holiday season, but I spell relief by just starting in on my gift list. You know the holidays can be stressful for many of us with questions like what is the perfect gift for that not so perfect friend and so on and so on. Well, thanks to my brave wife for joining me in my annual expedition, but I made a serious dent into the holiday shopping this weekend and lowered my holiday stress a lot. I don’t know how you procrastinators do it; it can’t be good for your health….and you know how I feel about staying healthy (but for those of you who stand in line over night for BestBuy and Target etc….I am not that healthy yet!!!)

Another way that I spell relief is comic relief. There is so much science and folk lore out there to support that laughing is good for you. There are some places (I think it might be in India) where people actually gather around in the street and just do good old belly laughs. So I have really enjoyed the concept of people changing their profile pictures on Facebook to be that of cartoon characters. Didn’t we all grow up watching cartoons of one kind or another? I remember so many of them…too many to mention. So why did I pick Michigan J Frog? One of my older brother’s friends gave me the nick name ‘Frog’ way back when I was in grade school. All of my brother’s friends called me throughout high school, college and even if they see me today. I even tell my little patients that they can call me Dr. Frog because that’s what my friends call me. So, next time you are in the office, feel free to call me Frog. It brings back nothing but great memories of being a kid and fills me with warm feelings……………..it makes me laugh and that is R-E-L-I-E-F for me.