It was quite the scene when Alcor took over the Creekside Preserve/Ventureville
for six days to do their standby training session! Charles Platt
was the general in charge, since he is the Director of Alcor Suspensions.
His charm and intelligence made for a very entertaining week for everyone.
I enjoyed it as the attendees descended on us because I had an "extro-5"
feeling as I in some cases got to put faces to Cryonet posts! A
very varied group of cryonicists checked-in with us. The age groups
and nationalities were quite divergent, and I was glad to see about
a third of the people there were female.
As the General Manager-in-training I had my regular duties to attend
to, so I did not get to attend everything by any means, but I viewed
enough to get a feel for the event. Charles had gathered a very
qualified group of people to instruct the classes at our facility.
Among them were members of Suspended Animation, Inc., who I really enjoyed learning about.
This is the organization Saul Kent and Bill Faloon are bankrolling
to the tune of 2.5 million dollars. The goal is to with a current
staff of four deliver extremely professional service. They have
the aim of being an organization which will deliver service much
more mistake free than what volunteer standby groups can generally do...
David's wife Trudy along with the kitchen staff made incredible
meals for the attendees. It was extremely gracious of Trudy to
put so much effort into such sumptuous meals. The food was very
appreciated by our visitors and let me tell you, Jack St. Clair
is quite the eating machine! lol
I was in charge of breakfast preparation (no cooking required) so
fortunately there was no food poisoning. On the first morning some
of the electrical outlets were not working and I got the coffee
out late. This was the only time I really felt the whole group might turn against me...
Even within the cryonics community people like to say how immature/selfish/lacking
in social graces cryonicists tend to be, but I found myself largely
among very well mannered and just plain very caring human beings.
It was nice to see the stereotype proved wrong. Even the couple
who locked themselves out of their bathroom late at night and got
me up to open it were at least nice about it. lol!
One of the best things out of this was the fact that our cook and
housekeepers thought the attendees were very friendly and considerate
people. I am grateful to know the words passed on into the local
town grapevine will be positive ones. As one employee told me "the
cryogenics people were really nice." I was very happy to hear that.
During the conference the Arizona Republic newspaper (a big one!)
had Dr. Lemler on the front page. The article was fairly objective
in my view but the photo of him was unflattering in that I suspect
they went for the "crazy professor" look.
On the inside page was an interview with David Pizer, former Alcor
Vice President, owner of the Creekside Preserve/Ventureville, and
my employer. I was not too happy to read in the article how they
went to a county development officer and asked him if he knew David
was planning to build a cryonics retirement community! lol I hope
the local people will keep this all in perspective and realize we
are trying to build something good here. We will see.
I just don't want to see us chased out by a horde of people brandishing
flaming torches and pitchforks (or even worse- legal documents)!
David Pizer is a darn good self-taught philosopher and businessman,
not a Dr. Frankenstein. And if he is giving life to anything, it is me.
One of the best things about something like this is what goes on
when class is not in session. I got to know people in a number
of situations which were at times thought-provoking, informative and even hilarious.
It was a pleasure meeting Russell Cheney. He is a real gentleman
and after reading his name in so many places, it was good to finally
meet one of the stalwart longtime veterans of many a suspension.
I was amazed at his ability to fall asleep in a lodge chair, and
despite lots of background noise continue to sleep. This must be
a skill very useful when in the service of Alcor! lol My best wishes
are with him as he travels around in his motor home.
Jim and Jessica Sykes attended. It's cool having people about my
age there, and they are a special couple. I am always impressed
by Jim's Louisiana redneck intellectual abilities! : ) He and Jeff
Foxworthy need to go out on the road together. Jim wisely declined
going with us to the local biker bar. If the biker's hadn't gotten
him, Jessica later might have! lol
It turned out we had a gifted athlete in our midst. Tim Gibson
is a national champion in windsurfing for the United Kingdom! But
he humbly states there are six different categories and he is just
the best in the nation for one. He was a nice guy who added to
the session with his sense of humor.
A talented veteran of many, many suspensions, Tanya Jones was there.
She was invaluable in both teaching and giving vital input on various
issues and things which need to be done. Being intelligent and
attractive does not hurt either. "Tanya, Alcor needs you!" : )
I really enjoyed when Jack St. Clair talked about growing his business
over the years. He is a very charming man who is also sharp as
a tack when it comes to seeing opportunity and moving on it (much like my employer).
Charles Platt in the evenings would get everyone's full attention
with his stories of the various adventures/misadventures he has
had in life. By turn he could be extremely funny or highly thought-provoking.
I have fond memories of one night's little gathering in the great room by the fireplace.
One evening some of us piled into a car and went to a local bar/dive
which had some very interesting characters in it! lol I never got
to receive my order of soda because the bartender would not accept
my out of state ID. I sure don't think I don't look 21 anymore!
And so because of me and someone else in the group without any
ID we had to go. This did not stop the fun though, since an amorous
gal followed us out the door and wanted to get to know some of us
better. Also, a young man came out who told us how cool it was
to finally meet "English dudes!" We talked for a little while and left.
Charles set up the standby training so that to a great extent it
had a college class feeling to it (at least for me). It also had
the more hands-on training component to it, but as people said in
the final session where Charles encouraged feedback that should
have been greatly expanded and been made pass/fail.
One of the most intriguing things he did was to create a written
test which was one part Mensa brain twister and another part a semi-
realistic attempt to let attendees consider the logistical and human
interrelational nightmares they may face out in the "real world."
For fun at the end, Charles put down some classic quotes on various
topics to see how people would respond to them. Some examples are
"in the end nanotechnology will fix whatever we screw up now" and
"after all, cryonics isn't really medicine!" You better not say these things around him...
It was later said that a role-playing scenario where paramedic type
training is given would be the better way to test to see if the
subject has really been mastered. But I can see a place for both types of testing.
I learned so much from the two last days of the training, which
I largely got to attend. I got a lot out of the lectures on ischemic
damage, cryobiology, cryonics & law, history of cryonics, and where
cryonics and Alcor should be headed.
The last topic was especially good. In Charle's mind the key thing
Alcor/he must do is develop a modern inventory system to keep track
of their supplies. Amazingly, this has not been done yet, but Charles
is determined to see it is done.
Another very important future goal of Alcor is to institute a means
of rapidly cooling the body by using fluorocarbon liquids. Using
a system to pump this in and out of the lungs could make core body
temps plummet to an extent never before seen. This would be a very
major step forward in truly slowing ischemic damage to the brain!
A vehicle is now being outfitted for Alcor which would allow cool
down and perfusion right inside it. But Alcor is even playing with
the idea of one day having a semi truck with a specially outfitted
trailer which would allow for everything to be done within.
Other areas important to Charles were new med kits which look more
professional, tests to perfect whole body vitrification, a fairly
slim field manual for standby teams on the go, two operating rooms
for simultaneous standbys, extensive cadaver practice for team members,
alternate surgeons for suspensions, upgrading of UK Alcor facilities,
meds compounding to fight ischemia, new ice bath designs, and even
patient status monitors for pre and postmortem. Charles will need
to stay in his position for at least another ten years...
I felt Charles was much too hard on himself as he reviewed how the
training session had gone. He learned a great deal from this one
in terms of what needs to be done (or not done) to rigorously train
people, and the next will be so much the better for it.
But be warned, I suspect the next standby training to be made very
demanding for the attendees. I half expect R. Lee Ermey to be there
shouting at people "YOU CALL YOURSELF A STANDBY TEAM MEMBER?” “YOU
DON"T KNOW JACKSHIT!!" ; ) Todd Huffman would be there as his understudy...
The time spent with the people who attended was very satisfying
for me. And they had come with the very noble purpose of learning
how to hopefully extend human lives into the unknown, so they deserved
the upscale quarters they received here.
I could tell they really enjoyed their accommodations and surroundings
at Creekside. I would often see people taking in the sights by
walking down by the creek bed where among the trees and bushes there
are lurking birds and other animals.
I would like to give a special thanks to Paula Lemler. Her consideration
of others, focus, organizational abilities, and beauty (inner and
outer) helped make the training session so much better. She is a very wonderful lady.
So, I just want to say to Paula it was my pleasure to help build
at her request the very expensive marker board. I just hope it
has not fallen apart yet...
I deeply enjoyed serving and associating with the people who attended
the training session. There were folks who initially were strangers
to me, but left as friends who I want to see again someday. I hope
Alcor will choose to have the next training session here at Creekside Preserve/Ventureville.
best wishes,
John Grigg
General Manager-in-training
The Creekside Preserve Lodge/Ventureville
www.creeksidepreserve.com
http://www.venturist.org/
