Five for Friday (a bit late....)

This past week was jam packed-attended the Arctic rally on Tuesday and got to hear John Kerry speak along with several other Senators and Representatives (although Kerry was the big draw). Work has been crazy-we've hired a new person to fill my old supervisor's role who will be starting in a week (I may not have blogged about it since I was in denial, but my supervisor left a few weeks ago for a job at WWF), so we've been busy trying to get ready for her to start. Plus, we had a full day training on building relationships with donors on Thursday-for the training we had to take this DISC personality assessment-which I have to say is probably the worst "personality" test I've ever taken. I don't think that anybody in the training felt that their DISC outcome really represented who they are, or how they interact with donors. The training itself was good, but I just think if you are going to do a personality test, do one that is a little more accurate. For example, the test said I'm both an introvert AND and extrovert. I'm a "just the facts person" and a "big picture person." I just think that is crap. At least for Meyers Briggs, you can see where you fall on the line of introvert vs. extrovert, but you aren't both. (at least I don't think so....).

Moving on.....last night we went to our friend Colleen's to watch some March Madness. I normally wouldn't care, but this year I entered into my first bracket, and I'm tied for #2 right now. I hope I win-momma needs a new pair o' shoes!

On to the five for Friday (or Saturday as it were)....while the bracket winnings would be a mere $100, I'll go with the "what would I do if I won $1 million-the sky is the limit!" list: (why not?)

1. I would probably invest in a house that had a yard so that I could get #2 on my list....
2. Buy a dog
3. Go on a shopping spree
4. Buy a Prius
5. Go with Al to the Inn at Little Washington

(#6 would be make a donation to Virginia Tech to support the English Studies Study Abroad program that I participated in, #7 would be to invest in a personal trainer, #8 would be get a cleaning service, #9 would be take a trip, and #10 would be to put away for a rainy day).

Friday already!

Thank goodness it's Friday. This week just seemed to drag on, didn't it? Anyway, time for the fabulous five for Friday. I'm going to play anywhere but here-it's rainy out, and there are about a billion places I wish I could be right now....so, five places I wish I was instead of the office on a rainy day:

1. England-yes, it would be rainy, but it's England, and I love it no matter what the weather.
2. Australia-what I wouldn't give to be diving the coral reef right now. Or stolling Bondi beach. Or eating Australian cuisine. Mmmm.
3. Carribean-would love to lay on the beach, read a book, and dive into the crystal blue waters. And eat fritters. Yummy.
4. Vermont-I know it would be cold, but I had such a lovely time when we were there and could go for a cup of cocoa in front of the fire.
5. Africa-would love to be on a safari hanging with the animals.

Five for...Wednesday

I missed doing the Five for Friday last week. So, I'm going to make up for it today. While I love having more hours of daylight now, I'm still bitter at Bush that this is his "big energy plan." The man is pushing for drilling in the Arctic, but apparently, having three more weeks of DLS is supposed to save the world of its energy crisis!

So, I'm going with five things you can actually do to help the planet. These are taken from the Inconvenient Truth website-which I highly advise checking out! If you try one, let me know:

1. Install a programmable thermostat-it will automatically lower the heat or air conditioning at night and raise them again in the morning. They can save you $100 a year on your energy bill.

2. Only run your dishwasher when there’s a full load and use the energy-saving setting, you can save 100 pounds of carbon dioxide per year.

3. Buy recycled paper products-it takes less 70 to 90% less energy to make recycled paper and it prevents the loss of forests worldwide.

4. Buy fresh foods instead of frozen-frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce and require more packaging.

5. Reduce the number of miles you drive by walking, biking, carpooling or taking mass transit wherever possible-avoiding just 10 miles of driving every week would eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year! Click here to find transit options in your area.

Five for Friday

Okay, in order to (ahem) encourage more blogging as part of the New Year's resolution, I'm going to do a five for Friday. Kind of a top five books, top five songs, top five foods I'm digging now, top five dream destinations, whatever! The world is my oyster. That is where you come in...it would be lovely if my readers would post suggestions for categories, but since you all are more the silent crowd (echoooooooo, echooooooo!!!), I guess I'm on my own. But suggestions are welcome. I'm begging here people-please don't make me!

Five Favorite Animals!
1. Golden Retriever/Dogs
2. Panda!!!
3. Penguins
4. Elephants
5. Red Panda