Staying Alive and Younger Next Year (Silicon Valley Heart Walk Talk)

Sun’s Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Research and Development

Greg Papadopoulos is again sponsoring Sun’s participation in the
American Heart Association –

Silicon Valley Heart Walk. See

Sun’s Heart Walk – Photos for more on Sun’s 2007 participation.

We kicked off our preparations with the first in a series of three
Heart Walk Talks, a presentation by
Dr. Jim Mitchell
called “Staying Alive and Younger Next Year”. Jim talked about heart issues,
health, aging, and hope based on his own life changing event a little over
six months ago.

Jim is a Sun Fellow and Vice President in Sun’s Chief Technology Organization where he is involved in the development of novel technologies for chip-to-chip communication and microelectronics packaging to enable very high performing, compact computer and electronic systems. Previously, he was Principal Investigator on Sun’s High Productivity Computing Systems Research project under contract with DARPA to develop the technologies to enable peta-scale supercomputers. Before HPCS, Jim was Vice President in charge of Sun Microsystems Laboratories. Read Jim’s

Contrarian Minds profile for more.

Yesterday at noon, we greeted each member of the audience with a gift: copies of
Younger Next Year: Live Strong, Fit, and Sexy – Until You’re 80 and Beyond
by Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge, M.D. Jim felt strongly enough about the excellence
of this book that he generously purchased both the men’s version
(# ISBN-10: 076114773X, # ISBN-13: 978-0761147732) and the women’s
version (# ISBN-10: 0761147748, # ISBN-13: 978-0761147749) to distribute to
yesterday’s audience. He says the book saved his life.

Jim’s talk began with me giving an introduction about why he would be a little
late, followed by Jim pounding on the door, then riding down the aisle of the
conference room in full gear on his racing bike. He talked about his recent scary
experience with open heart surgery and the changes he has made to improve his health
and lengthen his life. It was a moving and impressive presentation. Jim:

• Things I did:
• I paid attention to the “wakeup call”
• I read and paid attention to a book
• I began regular exercise
• I ate sensibly
• I rebalanced my priorities
• Things I did not do:
• I didn’t diet
• I didn’t become an exercise fanatic
• I didn’t stop working and having a passion for what I do

Jim’s Summary slide:

• Read Younger Next Year
Or, you can get an AudioBook version to listen to as you exercise
• Start walking
• Join me and other Sun people at the Heart Walk
• 2008 Start! Silicon Valley Heart Walk
• September 21, 2008
• De Anza College, Cupertino
• If you can’t walk on September 21, sponsor someone who is
• Anyone can do what I did
• No matter where you are now or what shape you are in
• It only matters that you start

Sun’s second Heart Walk Talk on 12 August will feature Dr. Cesar Molina
Medical Director of the
South Asian Heart Center.