Volunteering: Have Fun. Do Good!

The 9 Golden Keys to Making Great First Impressions

Okay, I'm on a roll! After I found the fun "World's Worst 8 Handshakes" and wrote about it yesterday, I found this article on the same UK website. The 9 Golden Keys are a good reminder of what we probably all know but aren't practicing day-to-day.

The Keys start with the premise that "others form up to 90% of their opinion about you in the first four minutes and that 60% to 80% of the impact you will make is non-verbal." Lo and behold, #4 is all about the handshake!

Though this brief article is geared toward job-seekers on an interview, I think it applies equally to meeting someone in a work setting.

The World's 8 Worst Handshakes

I love this title. Caveat - it's not my own; it's the title of a great post that a kirtsy (a very cool site in its own right) blogger found on a UK website. So, what are the 8 worst handshakes? Well, as you might imagine, one is the dreaded "finger-shake."

Women, you know exactly what I mean! Instead of a firm (not vice-like!) shake web-to-web (thumb web that is), sometimes someone grabs just your fingers and shakes up and down. Yuck! This and the other 7 handshakes are shown in interesting illustrations, so you offenders can see exactly what not to do!

Sometimes I think so much attention has been paid to virtual networking that sometimes we forget how to properly network face-to-face!

Fast Facts: Alexandria

We all know that buying a home - whether a condo, townhouse or single-family house - in our northern Virginia city of approximately 140,000 is expensive, but I did a double-take when I was scanning the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership's Local Economic Indicators Report (LEIRS). The average sale price of these 3 types of homes is over half a million dollars. Wow! Yikes!

Some of the other stats the LEIRS highlights (all reflect 4th quarter 2007 for the City of Alexandria only):

• About 200 business licenses are granted per quarter in the City (though not all the businesses actually open their doors)
• Almost 17,000 people use the 4 City Metro stops (King, Braddock, Eisenhower and Van Dorn) each quarter
• Alexandria's unemployment rate is about 1% below the rest of northern Virginia, at 2.4%, and 2% less than the U.S. average of 4.8%

I'll post additional highlights once the AEDP updates the data available online. To view the entire report (3 pages), click here.

A Metro at Potomac Yard?

From the Alexandria Times:

City on track to add Potomac Yard Metro station
June 12, 2008

By David Sachs Alexandria Times Staff Writer

The Planning Commission took the next step in developing the first new Metrorail station in four years by approving various mixed-use developments at Potomac Yard last week. If the station materializes, it will be several years from now, with revenues from the newly approved development paying its way.

Plans for the area’s urbanization include higher-density office, residential, hotel and park space that will coalesce with the slightly older townhouses, restaurants and shops recently developed along the plot’s edge, north of Slaters Lane, to form a new neighborhood in between the National Airport and Braddock Road Metro stops.

The city hopes that tax revenue generated from a larger town center will pay for a Metro station connecting the Braddock Road and National Airport sites. “The station doesn’t depend on it,” Deputy City Manager Mark Jinks said. “But it moves toward that goal.” Read more at the newspaper's website.

Helping Alexandria's Kids

Here are two news items from Alexandria City Councilman Rob Krupicka's email update:

Enhancing Pre-K in Alexandria

At the June 24th City Council meeting, the Alexandria City Council will consider a proposal to use $300,000 in unused child care money from last year's budget to enhance pre-k opportunities in Alexandria.  This effort is aimed at improving quality and access to pre-k services in order to ensure more children show up for kindergarten ready to learn and to excel.  Quality improvements help us to ensure we get the best bang for the buck for our children.  Access improvements help us ensure more children are ready for school. The more children that show up ready to learn, the more efficient and effective our schools can be.

Safe Routes to School
I have the privilege of chairing Virginia's State-wide safe routes to school committee.  We are working with VDOT, the state PTA, local government and national groups to do all we can to provide safe and convenient ways for children to walk or bike to school.  The recent Washington Post series on obesity illustrates our great need to ensure children are active and fit.  As part of this effort, Mt. Vernon Elementary school has received a national grant to increase walking and biking to school by testing programs that can be used to encourage children to walk and bike to school.  I am looking forward to working with City and school staff as well as the Mt. Vernon PTA to ensure we develop a model that can be emulated across our city and the country. 

To sign up for Rob's e-newsletter, send him an email.

Days 1 - 7: The Humankind Giving Challenge

It's hard to believe it's been a whole week since I stumbled across Cami's 29-day giving challenge. Basically, you give away 29 things in 29 days - your time, your talent, or some "stuff." The idea makes real Mother Theresa's wisdom: “We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love.”

It's been a busy week at work so many of my giving occurred there.

Day 1: I gave away an old printer/scanner/copier to Camp Virginia Jaycee, a camp for children and adults with special needs.

Day 2: I offered to help a colleague find work he would be most interested in, using his results from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

Day 3: I participated in a conference call for a colleague since he was unable to.

Day 4: I offered to help a colleague fill out his LinkedIn profile so he could build an online network to find a job.

Day 5: I offered to help a colleague create a website for her freelance clown business so she could build it up.

Day 6: I offered to go pick up an extra grill and supplies for the picnic tomorrow.

Day 7: Today is the Alexandria Jaycees picnic, so I'm going to find something I can do or give away there. So far today has been all about me!

Drop me a note (comment) and let me know how your week of giving went!

The Human Kind Giving Challenge

I love the internet! You find out so many cool things. I stumbled across a great blog called "Human Kind Media," a web 2.0 media company that focuses on the positive - not polyanna - news out there.

I'm going to take their 29-day giving challenge, and encourage you to do the same.

Basically, you give away 29 things in 29 days - your time, your talent, or some "stuff." The idea makes real Mother Theresa's wisdom: “We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love.”

So, what to give? Well, Cami, the woman who began the 29-day challenge, has blogged (of course) about her giving here. Her gifts include helping someone with a referral (to a business, contractor, whatever) to picking up a few extra supplies at a grocery store or crafts store to share with a homeless shelter or with a teacher for her classroom.

I'm not sure yet what I'm going to give every day through June, but I'm looking forward to the discovery process!

The goal is to get 2,000 people to join in the challenge before July 31 of this year... so get moving!!