in order to keep uncle sam 's greedy hands away from our pile , mimi and i established the table foundation , and began to network with worthy and trusted friends to come up with some creative ideas on how best to fund activities and projects near and dear to our hearts , stuff like alternative medicines , technical innovations , and grants for gifted and visionary artists , writers , and oddball innovatorsthe ones who usually fall through the cracks when they attempt to play the great research grant hustle game .