ZDoggMD Industries Press Release, April 1st 2012
Celine Dion. Seigfried & Roy. Wayne Newton.
What do these luminaries have in common? They have all been mauled by pet tigers, you must be thinking. Likely true. But they have also each found a purpose and a calling in the lights and 0% humidity of Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Western Desert lives and breathes, in 45 degrees.
-Midnight Oil
Apparently Australian deserts are really cold. [This just in…those wacky Aussies use CELSIUS! WTF??]
So a funny thing happened last Fall. Longtime associate of ZDoggMD Industries and all-around swell guy Tony Hsieh dropped by ZDogg Manor with a shocking proposal. He was moving his company, Zappos.com, from suburban Henderson to the very heart of “old” Downtown Las Vegas. This is NOT the “Strip,” folks. This was the original heart of Las Vegas…Sinatra, the El Cortez, Bugsy et. al. In recent times it had fallen into a decay sadly typical of many urban downtown areas. But Tony and the folks at Zappos saw something there: a potential not just to expand their company but to create and revitalize an entire community—and in the process, provide a model for both urban and corporate development. The seeds of revitalization were already there, having been planted by a dedicated core of local Downtown-o-philes.
So Tony took a lot of the proceeds from the sale of Zappos to Amazon.com and started a new venture—Downtown Project—in an effort to invest in technology, housing, the arts, food, education, and most importantly people, to help jump start the revitalization of Downtown. The anticipated move of 2000 kooky Zappos employees to Downtown in the next couple years would instantly throw highly-enriched uranium into the reactor. These are young, energetic folks who are personally invested in building a downtown where they want to live, work, and play.
Now as we all know, a crucial part of any successful community is high quality healthcare, and it just so happened that Tony knew this one doctor who made infotaining videos and liked to wear hats purchased at the Salvation Army.
And so the Indecent Proposal went like this: take an extended (and perhaps permanent) leave of absence from my hospitalist gig of 9 years (practicing at Stanford Hospital). Have Mrs. Dr. Dogg do the same. Move the entire family to a hi-rise condo in Downtown Vegas. Do the following:
- Utilize a TV studio being built specifically for Downtown Project to produce the consistent, high quality medical infotainment ZDoggMD Industries has long strived to do.
- Work with local community health leaders to try and develop a fresh approach to delivering healthcare Downtown in what is a very challenging, fragmented healthcare environment.
- Continue to do shifts either locally or at Stanford as a hospitalist, because I’m a doctor, dammit, and that’s what I do.
- Get a pet tiger. Prepare to be mauled.
No way this was ever gonna happen. There were a million reasons to say no.
But then I went to Downtown and saw what was going on. I was sold. Then I brought Mrs. Dr. Dogg and the ZPupps. Against all expectations, THEY were sold (apparently ZPupp CLEANED HOUSE on craps).
And so I type this from a hi-rise condo with a view of desert mountains, glitzy casinos, and the tabla rasa that is Downtown Las Vegas. Stay tuned, homies.
Always bet on brown.
–ZDoggMD, Standby Passenger 57
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