Five for Friday

1. You know those hidden camera commercials that seem to be popular right now, like the one for Febreze where people are blindfolded and taken into a nasty apartment? Well, it seems ConAgra’s Marie Callender’s brand tried to pull that off in late August with a group of food bloggers in NYC who thought they were going to a chic underground restaurant for dinner cooked by a famous chef. Well, guess what? It back fired. HERE’s a great story cautioning marketers not to mess with bloggers!

2. On June 6th, NYC launched a great campaign through advertisements, flyers and events called “Make NYC Your Gym.” According to the press release, “nearly 30% of city residents report engaging in no physical activity.” Ads in the subway and around the city, like the one below, are meant to show how we New Yorkers can use the city to get in shape. (Check out Lady Liberty’s guns! Whew!)

One of the events the city is hosting is a huge free Zumba class and dance party coming up on September 25th! The catch? It’s at the Staten Island Yankee’s baseball park on Staten Island. At least the ferry is free and then you can finally say you made it to the 5th borough! So, the details. Sunday Sept 25th – lessons at 1pm – Party starts at 1:30 – Yoga cool-down at 2:30pm. There will also be activities for kids. Sounds like a great time to me, so I have this on my calendar. [check HERE for more info] I loved the Zumba classes I took in the Winter, so this will be a fun time! I can only imagine the incredible dancers that will be there! Let me know if you’re going to go!

3. While Irene didn’t do a lot of damage here in the city, she caused devastation in a lot of other areas, including upstate New York. And now the rain we’ve been having this week has only made matters. A great deal of the farms throughout the State have been effected by the storm, many have lost all of their crops for the year. Many of these farms are the ones that come into the city each week to sell at the 53 Greenmarkets across the five boroughs. Farming is a tough way to make a living nowadays and this just makes it harder. They need our help and there are two ways to chip in. 1) Donate through the Greenmarkets [HERE], 2) go out to dinner at one of [THESE] restaurants on September 25th (you’ll need to refuel after dancing all afternoon) that are donating 10% of their sales for the day to local farmers effected by Irene.

4. Okay, this one is a little random but it’s getting me through the workday so I wanted to share it with you. If you haven’t heard of turntable.fm it’s a great music site where you can listen to music all day without commercials. Yep, you heard that right. It’s really cool too because you get an avatar when you sign up then choose a ‘room’ to enter based on the type of music you want to listen to. Each room has a theme and there are 5 ‘DJ’s’ that take turns choosing the music. And you can be a DJ too. So far, I’ve been pretty passive and haven’t DJ’d so I don’t know how that works, but it seems pretty cool – you get to help choose what everyone listens too. When you’re in the room, you get to choose “lame” or “cool” and if enough people think the song is lame, it automatically stops and moves on to the next DJ. Pretty cool. Right now it’s in beta mode and you have to log in with a Facebook profile (although that’s not your avatar and it doesn’t post anything to your FB profile). Basically the reason why you have to log in with your profile is that you have to be friends with someone who is already in. Another reason why it’s pretty cool. Anyway, go [HERE] and see if any of your friends are in already. Just don’t get too hooked on it that you get distracted. That’s really easy to do!

5. I can not let today go without mentioning September 11. I know it’s on my mind and I bet it’s on yours as well. Living downtown, only a short walk away from Ground Zero, this neighborhood is going to be bustling all weekend with people, cops, firemen, secret service, snipers, FBI. Basically, it’s going to be the safest place in the world. I remember clearly where I was when the attacks happened. I’ve met many people who were here that day and I just can’t imagine what it was like. I walk around these streets knowing that these buildings, even the one we live in, were covered in ash. I just can’t imagine. This neighborhood is thriving now and one day soon, will be one of the best neighborhoods in the city. I have no doubt about this. But one thing is for sure, while buildings may rise and people may move in, no one will ever forget that day and how it changed our World. We are strong and we remember those who aren’t with us. We are rebuilding in their honor.

 

• What are you doing this weekend?
• Have you ever tried Zumba?
• How do you think you’d react if you were at one of the blogger dinners hosted by ConAgra?
• How are you remembering 9/11?

************

Today’s workout -

• stretching/yoga
• rest day