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I sent an email post today that said "I just won a glass-blowing class."
What I have actually won is a choice of "adventures," of which the glass-blowing class is by far the most appealing of those that would be practical. Practical in this case means, not requiring that I find a friend who would be willing to drive me significantly out of the way, most likely for an activity I couldn't invite them to join. It also has the advantage that, unlike a dinner cruise around the harbor, a horseback ride in the country, or white-water rafting, it would be a new experience. (The glass-blowing class is in Brooklyn.)
Kimberly, the office paralegal and mad party planner decided we should have an Earth Day celebration. There was other stuff happening Tuesday, so it was today. So as not to just say "here's some food" she arranged a contest. We were organized into groups for the contest. Questions were emailed, multiple choice, and the first team to get three correct answers in first won. All the questions were taken from the review questions in the company's books. Since it was Earth Day, they were all earth science questions. One thing Kimberly did in advance was get me and Chris to list the science editors, so as not to put more than one of us on the same team. Not just because we're likely to be better at science questions: because we keep "repurposing" content, we the science editors are very familiar with this material. The instructions said we would go to our assigned offices, the person whose office it was would read the questions aloud, and the team would confer and choose an answer. What we actually did was that the person whose office it was read questions aloud, I stood behind him with a good view of the screen, and as he was reading I would say "A" (or B, C, or D, as appropriate).
Two of the other people on my team told me afterwards that they had known my team would win. I wasn't counting on it. We're all good, and they've been there longer. But I'm fast, and this contest rewarded speed.
Everyone on the team got a prize bag--a reusable Trader Joe's shopping bag with organic wine and chocolate, a pot of basil seeds to grow, some light bulbs, and a book. Then Kimberly ran the second part of the contest, between everyone on the winning team, for the grand prize. One question, not multiple choice, write your answer on this piece of paper, when everyone is done whoever's answer is closest wins. The question was "If a space probe was traveling at half the speed of light, how long would it take to get to the center of the galaxy?" I thought, wrote down 20,000 years, then thought a little more, crossed that off, and wrote 35,000. The official answer was 60,000 years, but I was the only one within two orders of magnitude. So I grinned, accepted my gift card, posed for a couple of team pictures for the office newsletter [really, there is one], and took a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie, which was quite good, and a dairy-free cupcake, which wasn't.
What I have actually won is a choice of "adventures," of which the glass-blowing class is by far the most appealing of those that would be practical. Practical in this case means, not requiring that I find a friend who would be willing to drive me significantly out of the way, most likely for an activity I couldn't invite them to join. It also has the advantage that, unlike a dinner cruise around the harbor, a horseback ride in the country, or white-water rafting, it would be a new experience. (The glass-blowing class is in Brooklyn.)
Kimberly, the office paralegal and mad party planner decided we should have an Earth Day celebration. There was other stuff happening Tuesday, so it was today. So as not to just say "here's some food" she arranged a contest. We were organized into groups for the contest. Questions were emailed, multiple choice, and the first team to get three correct answers in first won. All the questions were taken from the review questions in the company's books. Since it was Earth Day, they were all earth science questions. One thing Kimberly did in advance was get me and Chris to list the science editors, so as not to put more than one of us on the same team. Not just because we're likely to be better at science questions: because we keep "repurposing" content, we the science editors are very familiar with this material. The instructions said we would go to our assigned offices, the person whose office it was would read the questions aloud, and the team would confer and choose an answer. What we actually did was that the person whose office it was read questions aloud, I stood behind him with a good view of the screen, and as he was reading I would say "A" (or B, C, or D, as appropriate).
Two of the other people on my team told me afterwards that they had known my team would win. I wasn't counting on it. We're all good, and they've been there longer. But I'm fast, and this contest rewarded speed.
Everyone on the team got a prize bag--a reusable Trader Joe's shopping bag with organic wine and chocolate, a pot of basil seeds to grow, some light bulbs, and a book. Then Kimberly ran the second part of the contest, between everyone on the winning team, for the grand prize. One question, not multiple choice, write your answer on this piece of paper, when everyone is done whoever's answer is closest wins. The question was "If a space probe was traveling at half the speed of light, how long would it take to get to the center of the galaxy?" I thought, wrote down 20,000 years, then thought a little more, crossed that off, and wrote 35,000. The official answer was 60,000 years, but I was the only one within two orders of magnitude. So I grinned, accepted my gift card, posed for a couple of team pictures for the office newsletter [really, there is one], and took a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie, which was quite good, and a dairy-free cupcake, which wasn't.