Friday Five

1. Even though I'm doing the same job in a new location, it's totally different. I'm traveling much more frequently, which I like, even though it doesn't come naturally to me. Today I had lunch with a complete stranger to recruit her to be a volunteer. Mildly successful. Tomorrow I'm meeting another stranger for a similar reason. I am excited about my new assignment for October. Because it is Breast Health Month, I have to schedule at least 10 meetings with different organizations (including the mayors of all my territories) to talk about the ways we can encourage breast health among their female employees. I like this assignment because instead of asking people to help me, I am telling them what I can do for them.
   
   
2. Went to a Rangers game this week. In the rain. And they lost. But at least it was Dollar Hotdog Night. Thanks, Jenise, for the hook-up.
   
   
3. Many, many stories lines came out of the US Open, both positive and negative. I'm still in shock that Federer lost to Del Potro. I had that gut instinct it might happen, a la Safin's defeat of Sampras, but I didn't trust my instincts. I should always trust my instincts. They have a good track record.
   
   
   
4. The new season of TV is upon us! I have a slight obsession with numerous TV shows, so this is an exciting time of the year for me. And the Oscar-caliber movies start showing in theaters.
   
   
5. Sorry my posts have been boring lately. Other than the move, not much going on.
   

Friday Five

1. I'm going to Denver this weekend for Brent's wedding. Happy for Brent. Ready to escape this Texas heat for cooler mountain air.
   
   
2. Now that my schedule is back to normal, I'm home at night to cook dinner. I bought a Williams-Sonoma "eating by color" cookbook at Marshall's for $5, and I've been cooking from it this week. I've only made four recipes, so I'm not ready to recommend the book, but it's fun mixing-and-matching recipes to eat five colors a day.
   
   
3. I'm sure you are all wondering what I did at work on Thursday. I practiced my hula-hoop skills! One of the guys in the accounting firm down the street stopped by the office to socialize. When he gets bored, he comes down to our office. A lady in my office is married to one the partners in his firm. Today he noticed a stack of hula hoops in someone's office. So he wanted to know who could hula hoop. If you said you could, he made you prove it. I said I wasn't very good, and he still made me prove it. After he left in disgrace - he was the worst one- someone picked up a hula hoop again and found the secret to keeping it going. We all tried again. And we called the guy back to the office to see our new hula-hoop skills. She wanted to have a "hula-off" between our offices in the street. I work for the American Cancer Society, and we take time to hula hoop.
   
   
4. Nadal lost his first ever match at the French Open. It's been a shocking French Open hasn't it, tennis fans? Anything can happen, but it looks like Federer is going to equal Sampras' record of Grand Slam titles in a few days. Most people will concede he is the Greatest of All Time if he wins this tournament, but I don't agree. How can you be the GOAT when you can't consistently beat another player (Nadal) in your generation?
   
   
5. Does anyone else enjoy the categories Netflix creates and provides recommendations for on the Netflix home page? So specific. Here are five categories I've seen recently, a little bonus Friday Five.
   
   • Critically-acclaimed romantic thrillers
     
   • Suspenseful space-travel TV shows
   • Dark political documentaries
   • Feel-good teen musicals
   • Visually-striking dramas with strong female leads
     

AmeriCone Dream

Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's the Colbert Report has his own brand of Ben & Jerry's ice cream: AmeriCone Dream. I originally bought it because it was Stephen Colbert's, but I'll probably by it again because it's delicious. It's vanilla ice cream with fudge-covered waffle cone pieces and caramel swirl. Yummo!

Wimbledon starts Sunday! I've actually been to Wimbledon, so it's my favorite. Maybe it's always been my favorite because Pete Sampras was always my favorite tennis player and Wimbledon is the tournament where he excelled.

Nothing much going on. One camp down, one to go. Then it's off to Dallas for a few days, then off to New York!

Sorry I haven't been commenting on your blogs lately. I've been reading them, but I haven't had time to comment.

Rafa's Reign

After a week break, I return to you with tennis on my mind. Rafael Nadal, my favorite tennis player, won his third straight French Open title today beating Federer, the top-ranked player in the final. Yay!

Camp is over as well. Only two kids were sent to the hospital and neither with serious problems. According to my pedometer, I walked a total of 55.41 miles during the week. Had to make up for all the food I was eating.

In other news, I've been "promoted" from a Loaned Executive to an Account Executive (that supervises a team of LEs) for the United Way campaign this year. The AE that I'm replacing is moving to Dallas for a job. I'm interested in the job she is leaving. She works at a company that promotes from within, but who knows. I'll keep you posted.

We've been getting crazy amounts of rain and the grass in my yard is at an embarrassing height, so I need to mow. I'm going to wait a few hours for the temperature to drop.

Battle of the Surfaces

Another victory over Roger Federer for Rafael Nadal. Yes, that is a half-grass, half-clay court in the picture. Federer is the King of Grass, winning Wimbledon the previous four years (Nadal made it to the final last year) and Nadal is the King of Clay, winning the French Open the past two years, the only two years he's played the French. (Nadal knocked Fed out in the semifinal two years ago and defeated him in the final last year.) Nadal has also set the record for consecutive match wins on clay at 72 and is 7-3 against Mighty Fed, the world's number one player. Despite his appearance in the Wimbledon final last year, Nadal has never made it past the quarter finals of the US Open, and his record on every surface but clay is mediocre. His level of play on clay is off the charts, so I think exhaustion plays a part is his descent the second half of the year. Especially last year when he made it to the Wimbledon final just two weeks after he defended the French Open title.

So you got two posts in one day and both about sports.