Friday Five

1. My car doesn't vibrate anymore. It's amazing! Always thought it was normal because Rachel's Saturn did the same thing in common. Absolutely not normal. I had two engine mounts replaced - one bent and one broken. Yikes.
   
   
2. Today is my last day of work until January! And today is a department Christmas party, which includes breakfast and ice skating at the Galleria. Yay!
   
   
3. As part of our office Christmas party - yes, that equals two work Christmas parties - we had a door-decorating contest. I joined forces with the girl next door, and this is our creation.
   
   
   
   I'm sure you immediately guessed the "scene" on the wall, but in case you had a little trouble, Santa and his reindeer had a little accident and their sleigh crashed into a snow bank. We did not win the contest.
   
   
4. It makes me happy that Better Off Ted is back on the air! Kudos to ABC for renewing a poorly-rated, critically-acclaimed, FABULOUS comedy. If you don't already watch it, check it out Tuesdays on ABC.
   
   
5. I love this time of year. Yes, it's Christmas and all that, but it's also Oscar season. Several prominent critic groups, including the Golden Globes, announced their nominees or winners....and the Oscar speculation has begun. With 10 best picture nominees this year, the anticipation is greater than usual. Love it!
   

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
     

Friday Five: Oh Me, Oh My

1. Work is really picking up. I worked three nights this week - in addition to my normal day schedule. But I also feel like I'm finally getting in a groove with my new job. One of the reasons I took this job was because I thought it would be a good fit with my strengths and interests, and this week proved I was right. Tuesday was my rock star day: I delivered a presentation that resulted in two new volunteers and a new patient. I also got word that my event chair recruited a volunteer to handle advocacy, a focus area because the Texas legislature is in session right now.
   
   
2. Saturday I'm walking in the Komen Race for the Cure. I've never participated in a Komen Race in the spring before. I hope it doesn't rain.
   
   
3. I found this great, high-intensity workout on Exercise TV On Demand. It's a boot camp aerobic workout, and it wears me out! Any exercise routine that involves burpees and mountain climbers is hard work. If you have Exercise TV On Demand, give it a try. I think it's called BootCampCalBurn.
   
   
4. I know this is old news, but was anyone else shocked when South Africa not only denied a visa for the Dalai Lama to attend a peace summit but announced they were awarding Castro with an honor they've also awarded to MLK and Gandhi?
   
   
5. My sister is getting married next Saturday. Crazy, crazy, crazy. A week after that, my college friend Elisabeth is getting married. So I'll be spending the new two weekends in Houston and Lubbock. As a result, please do not expect regularly-scheduled programming. I've barely kept up the last few weeks.
   

Friday Five

1. I wrote a post on Friday after all. I had a few hours between normal work hours and attending a Relay For Life event tonight. Since my job is help people plan and execute this overnight event, I'm glad I have the opportunity to be a part of one first. It should help me do my job.
   
   
2. Gas stations in this are have started stocking caffeine-free Diet Dr. Pepper, and it makes me happy. I spend a lot of time on the road for this job, and I like to drink something other than water. Especially if I've driving home at night, drinking a caffeine-free drink is like tricking my body
   
   
3. I'm getting closer to watching all the movies nominated for top awards at the Oscars (picture, actor, actress, foreign film, documentary, screenplay). Once I see Frost/Nixon and Frozen River, I will have seen all the best picture and best actor/actress and screenplay nominated films. Yay! I'm not doing so great with foreign films and documentaries; they need to come out on DVD.
   
   
4. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Watch Instantly feature on Netflix. I just watched the Visitor, starring Oscar-nominee Richard Jenkins. Somehow Netflix manages to stream a two-hour movie at high quality with no interruptions, and yet, every time I try to watch an ABC show online, it stalls my entire Internet connection. If you aren't taking advantage of this feature, do it now. I've heard the studios want to renegotiated the available this feature. There are some really great films available to watch this way, including popular movies like Made of Honor and Enchanted, and entire seasons of TV shows (all three seasons of the Office!)
   
   
5. "What is this, Horseville? Cause I'm surrounded by naysayers! Word play!" and “What those people were doing to the Superdome." or "One word: coffee. One problem: where do you get it?' ' Anywhere!You get it anywhere!"
   
   If you don't know where those quotes came from, it's because you still aren't watching the funniest show on TV. Haven't we discussed this? (By the way, you can also watch 30 Rock instantly on Netflix. What are you waiting for?)
   

Friday Five: Long Time Gone

Wow! I can't believe I haven't blogged in more than a month! I now return to my weekly feature.

1. The new job is going well. January started with a bang. I've started traveling to my territories and made several trips to the Austin office for training and events. I enjoy working with volunteers, and am staying positive about my more challenging events and communities. My boss is encouraging and easy to talk to. My coworkers are friendly and supportive. It's a good fit.
   
   
2. Because of all the traveling I've been doing for work, I haven't been able to establish much of a routine or find a church home. My best bet for a church of Christ here doesn't have any single people my age. The young professionals class I attended was full of married couples. Everyone was friendly and welcoming, but I'd prefer to find some people in the same life stage as me. So I'm still searching for that. I've joined a group of girls that meet once a week for dinner. After three or four weeks, I've determined these aren't the right type of people for me. No one from this group will become a lifelong friend. So I'm "using" them until I find a group where I feel like I belong.
   
   
3. I had a great girls' night with Rachel and Lauren (plus a few add-ons) from college a few weeks ago. We had a blast! It's always fun to spend time with close friends, the kind where you can pick up where you left off, not matter how much time has passed between visits.
   
   
4. Movie Update. I recommend Slumdog Millionaire and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Button is a classic "Oscar movie." Very polished and epic. I'd read that it was hard to connect to emotionally, but that wasn't the reaction I had. Can I just add that Brad Pritt is beautiful? Slumdog is at heart a romance, which makes all the critical acclaim bizarre. I have a theory regarding the mostly male movie critics and feminine-oriented films. Critics do not forgive weakness in chick flicks, usually romances, but they forgive all sorts of liberties and flaws in male-oriented films. Slumdog is a violent, gritty film that appeals to males, but it's also a love story. Somehow the so-called flaws of this love story are acceptable because it's in masculine packaging. Anyway, I liked the movie and encourage you to see it. The presentation - colors, soundtrack, editing- is great. Also, the subtitles were part of the presentation instead of a distraction. I also enjoyed the movie Last Chance Harvey with Emma Thompson and Dennis Hoffman. Emma Thompson is fabulous! A grown-up love story. Rachel Getting Married was more emotional than I expected. Anne Hathaway is good. She should take more complex roles like Kym and stay away from fluff like Bride Wars. I'm pretty sure the heat wasn't working in the theatre; I wore my coat and gloves. Gloves! In the documentary genre, I suggest American Teen, a profile of high school seniors in Indiana. It's been compared to a the Breakfast Club (with real people) because it profiles a nerd, a jock, the popular girl, and the quirky outcast. Some parts seem phony, but character of Hannah was enough to keep me invested in the story. Worth a rent.
   
   
5. Book Update. I went on a reading kick and read two novels by Tana French - In the Woods and the Likeness. Both are murder mysteries set in Ireland (!) with well-developed characters, interesting, complex stories and excellent writing. The books are a series, so read In the Woods first.