I was better at being the eccentric who casually dropped by. “You know, that guy in the jeans walking up is our chairman? Yeah, that’s him, the famous Howard Jonas. He’s a genius, he’s a visionary. Why, here he is right now. Let me introduce him.”

So we all shake hands and I make some modest small talk. And now they all stand around waiting for me to say something brilliant and memorable.

But guess what? I’ve got nothing brilliant to say. I can barely believe I’m standing here with these guys. They’re really important. They run big companies. So I have to fake it.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” I tell them. “What an honor to meet you. I wish I could talk to you all day, but I’ve got an important call I’ve got to take from my investment banker.”

“Oh, your investment banker. Better run and get it.” This they understand.

A little white lie? Not at all. The bankers are on the phone all the time now. We’ve just passed a quarter billion in sales rates, with growth accelerating and profits up fivefold, and suddenly everyone wants to give us money again.

Howie says we should take it. We need it to keep growing, but this time it will be on our own terms. We’ll grow because we need to, not because Wall Street tells us to keep up with the latest fashion. Howie’s almost always right, so we’ll probably take some of it. There is a fine line between being proud and lean, and being foolhardy. As I said before, modern businesses need to be capitalized on a scale unheard of in earlier generations. But I will never again be pushed into making business decisions that are unwise for the sake of the stock price or the market. I’ll talk Howie into taking less than they’re offering, and only what we can prudently use. I think it’s better to run things lean. I’ve learned the hard way, and I’d much rather run a streetwise, profitable, growing operation than get spoiled by having too much money in the bank.

Today, however, I’m not going to take their calls. Our new investor relations person (okay, so I caved in, but we’re a public company, after all) can handle their calls. It’s been such a roller-coaster ride, I just need to get away and relax. To think. To plan the next move. Mostly to take a long vacation with my wife and kids, and spend time together. Think I’ll be bored? Don’t worry about it. Afternoons, I’ll be by the water. Nights, the guys can reach me on the phone or fax. And how ’bout the mornings?

Oh, I don’t know. I’d like to do something creative. Something stimulating. I think I’ll just sit with Debbie and write. Not a novel. I don’t have the imagination for that. I think I’ll just write the IDT story. Yeah, that would be interesting.

No ghostwriter. No investment bankers. No computers. Just me, with a pen and pad and my wife. I bet people will really find it interesting. I mean, who could imagine that all this stuff really happened?