It Hasn't Been All Bad

My last blog post was filled with a year’s worth of depressing details of my disease. The last thing I want to do is create the impression that the whole year was horrible – there were indeed many wonderful things that happened.

Good Trips

One of the first things I did on chemo vacation was to accept an invitation to visit my good friend Dave Morton, a brilliant operations research professor at the University of Texas. I gave a talk, jointly developed with Jerry Brown, on Secrets of Success in Optimization. There were a lot of very well known optimization experts in the room, in addition to Dave, but my colleagues were gracious in saying that the ideas Jerry and I had to share were (unfortunately) not published in any textbooks. I gave the talk with the goal of making an impression on the students, which seems to have worked. Keeping the faculty excited was a bonus. The University of Texas actually put my lecture on a website – here – if you are really, really hard up for entertainment some time. Dave was a great host in Austin. He took me to the world-famous Salt Lick Café, for some very righteous barbeque.

Another great trip was to the Johns Hopkins University, where I celebrated my 35th anniversary of graduation. It was so wonderful to see classmates. People have done many different and valuable things with their lives. Here are some photos, if you think you might know any of them.

On the same trip Karla Hoffman and Ariela Sofer hosted me at George Mason University, which (thanks in large part to them) is a real up-and-coming place. I am very lucky to count them among my friends.

I took a little detour to see another dear friend. I met her a few years but we got to know each other through INFORMS. She is one of my blog readers who many times pointed out that she would remember my approach to cancer and try to use it if ever needed. Well, so sad to say, she was diagnosed with breast cancer on Christmas Eve. I am sending her all the loving thoughts, prayers, and visualizations that I can, while she endures an onslaught of treatments.

Pascale's and my most recent trip was to Tucson. We saw old friends of mine Terry Connolly and Penelope Jacks, who were of course charmed to meet Pascale. I did the Secrets of Success in Optimization talk again at U of Arizona. Fortunately, it still has legs.

From Tucson, we went to Bisbee, Arizona, where some old friends of mine Randy and Cathy, live in what may be the most unusual house in America. It was blasted out of the side of a cave. There are beautiful streams and pools all around it.

There are a lot more pictures at http://www.thecavehouse.com/

Oh yes, the cave house is for sale.


The Dell Girls

I am so fortunate to be close to children. Most especially, my own granddaughter Skylar who visits often, but also the children of good friends.

Two of my favorite people in the world are Muriel and Luisa Dell. So are their parents Rob and Nancy. One day when I was feeling too weak to leave home, I called Rob at work and asked if he could drop by my house on his way home and bring a book I wanted from my office. When he came over, we got into animated conversation. He stopped abruptly and said, "I have to go home for dinner, come with me." (Pascale was working late that evening.) I resisted saying I was too tired and had no appetite, but he persisted. We went to his house in his car.

Nancy and the girls gave me the warmest welcome and a bowl of delicious soup, totally unfazed by the fact that Rob had given them no warning he was bringing company. I actually feel like family, not company, in the Dell home. Muriel and Luisa, who speak Spanish and English, call me Tio Rico. It has a double meaning: Uncle Rick and rich uncle. Even Nancy's mother calls me Tio Rico.

When it was time for Rob to drive me home, Luisa said in the sweetest voice, that I can still hear: "Don't do that Pappy. I want Tio Rico to sleep over." Let me tell you, words like that are as powerful as a barrel of chemo.


The Naval Postgraduate School

I have been working at the Naval Postgraduate School since I arrived for a one-year visiting professorship in 1984. Some visitors are hard to get rid of.

Working at this institution is something I value enormously. Every time I type the words Operations Research Department, Naval Postgraduate School, below my name, I swell with pride to be a small part of it.

Recently I was invited by the Editor of the INFORMS journal OR/MS Today to write about what makes our educational philosophy and approach different from other universities. This piece is available on-line here.

On September 11, 2007, the Naval Postgraduate School bestowed upon me the title of Distinguished Professor. There have been only 40 DP's in the history of the school, and I am the seventh from the Operations Research Department. I am very proud and grateful for this honor. There was a ceremony, which Pascale, Claire and Skyar were able to attend. The medal designating me as a DP was placed around my neck by the NPS president. It looks like Skylar thinks it should be hers. What a nice day that was!