X-Message-Number: 18730
Date: Fri, 08 Mar 2002 15:49:46 -0700
From: Jessica Lemler Sikes <>
Subject: This Month at Alcor
The following can also be viewed on our website at
<http://www.alcor.org/this_week_at_alcor.html>http://www.alcor.org/this_wee
k_at_alcor.html
This Month at Alcor
by Jessica L. Sikes
First of all, I would like to thank you for the positive feedback I have
received regarding our decision to change the format of the This Week at Alcor
posting. I sincerely appreciate your kind words and well wishes for this
change.
The past few weeks have found us all very busy. One element about our
staff I do not believe has been appropriately conveyed in prior postings is
their level of dedication. It is not uncommon to find Dr. Lemler here at the
office well before 9 AM, Karla Steen works late into the night, Mathew
Sullivan
has been known to be so absorbed in projects he works through lunch, and this
is the trend for all of us. We enjoy working here, believe in what we are
doing, and work well together as a result.
We are very pleased to have Karla working with us in the Marketing
Center. Her enthusiasm and energy is contagious! Karla and Paula Lemler have
been in contact with the Alcor membership regarding a membership directory,
and
will soon be sending postcards about the Alcor Conference. Karla and Paula
have also been working with Judy Muhlestein and Dr. Ralph Merkle, preparing
for
the Alcor Conference, which is to be held in Newport Beach, California, the
weekend of November 15-17. Another of Karla s projects has been to update the
website, and we are anxiously waiting the unveiling of the new site sometime
next week. Yesterday I had lunch with Karla, and we spent well over an hour
pouring over catalogues trying to decide which t-shirts and other items to
order with the new Alcor logo on them. Rest assured, I do believe we made
excellent decisions and you will all be quite pleased with our new Alcor
merchandise when it arrives.
Jennifer Chapman keeps bringing members in, which is fantastic! In
February, one member was reinstated and we gained three new members, bringing
our total membership to 564. In addition to this, she reports in February we
had 88 applicants. Jennifer has been working with our attorney to streamline
the sign-up process, or at least minimize some of the paperwork that is
currently involved. She also assisted in the membership directory mailing.
Joe Hovey has plenty to keep him busy, between billings, filing, and
check
writing. He manages to stay positive throughout it all, and we love him for
it! He still gets some assistance from Paula with the check writing and
filing, but he is mostly in charge of the billing and reports.
Mike Perry does a fantastic job of manning the emergency phone lines. He
is almost always available, 24/ 7 to answer the line when a caller rings in.
We are fortunate to have such a good-natured man as Mike to work with. His
level of dedication to Alcor is both unquestionable and inspiring. In
addition
to answering the phones, Mike keeps careful records of LN2 fills and levels,
and is always reading and working on articles for the magazine.
Hugh Hixon is always working on something new. Now that he has the
assistance of James Sikes, we can look forward to more engineering feats from
Hugh. James was building a cooldown box and was repairing the chairs in the
boardroom. Additionally, he was working on Joe s computer and my computer.
Mathew has been keeping track of our website hits, which is valuable
information as we look towards updating our site. He also completed the 2001
patient care logbook and made appropriate copies, which were sent to offsite
storage facilities. He was also hard at work preparing the operating room for
our latest suspension, participating in the suspension, and cleaning up
afterwards.
I have been working with Karla and Paula on various marketing projects,
which I enjoy. Dr. Lemler has had ample typing assignments for me as well. I
have been able to use my writing skills a bit more while working on the
marketing projects, and I do greatly appreciate having the opportunity to do
so. I also had a lovely lunch with Karla yesterday, during which we discussed
many aspects of the Alcor Conference and marketing in general.
This past Sunday, we were all set to host a meeting of the Alcor Board of
Directors. I woke up Sunday morning, had some coffee, and the phone rang. It
was Dr. Lemler. A member has just gone down, he said. We re going to have
a short meeting at 11 and then we ll need you here for the afternoon and
evening.
The adrenaline rush you feel when you get the news a member has been
pronounced is inexplicable. Death is not an easy concept to grasp. Society
teaches us to mourn the dead, to think about the time they were alive and
grieve for the time they will no longer be so. Cryonics challenges every
aspect of this, as it gives us an opportunity to believe in a second chance.
The member who went down on the morning of March 3, 2002, was
successfully
vitrified, and will soon join Alcor s 47 other members in the Patient Care
Bay. I must admit I am not an expert on the technical aspects of
suspensions.
I am merely a person who believes in the possibility and who relishes the
opportunity to help others achieve their dream. If you are a member of Alcor,
or any other cryonics organization, I urge you to ask questions, visit the
facility, become familiar with the staff, and get to know other cryonicists.
The decision to become a cryonicist is a very personal one, and I must admit
that after seeing my first standby/ suspension, my own reasons for remaining a
cryonicist changed. As a staff member and trained ADR of a cryonics
organization, I now realize I must sometimes look death in the face, and I do
accept this. However, it is truly a privilege to do what we do each and every
day.
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