Where have I been?

Apparently I've been a little MIA the last couple of weeks. I apologize, I need to make more of an effort to update my blog with little life updates. Since my last post my boss has left for Antarctica so I've been really busy at work. And my younger brother, Kirk, has come home to visit for Spring Break. Can we just talk about how painful it is to be out of school for the first time since I was 4 and not have a Spring Break? Oh well, at least I got one day of skiing in instead of my usual 5 days for Spring Break. I have a crazy busy week coming up, which I'm really excited both for work and for play. But this means that I have a lot of work to get done this weekend. Did I mention this is the first weekend I've been home in over a month? Here is what I need to do and why:

• Clean my car - because my mom's best friend, my aunt Kathy is coming to visit from Portland, Maine on Wednesday and is going to use my car for the 11 days she is here.
• Clean my room - because I haven't cleaned it in months, and I did some rearranging when I set up my home office downstairs last night.
• Do laundry - because I'm attending a conference next week with Natural Step on sustainability and I need more clothing options. I have to wait until this afternoon when Kirk leaves to get access to the laundry room.
• Clean Kirk's room - because my best friend from high school, Jon Grotz, is visiting from Washington next weekend and will be crashing in there. Kirk just got a new bed so we need to set that up as well.
• Overall house cleaning - because my mom likes having the house clean for guests.

So an exciting week coming up, two house visitors, a conference, maybe a day of skiing, plus I'm attending an event put on by the University of Oregon called the Sustainable Business Symposium.

I'm spending my weekend organizing and cleaning, what are you doing?

Antarctica 2009

I haven't been posting lately.  Work is a little crazy since my boss leaves for an Antarctic Expedition on Monday!  But I thought I would share this link to the site.  Check it out!  It's very cool and interactive.  You'll almost feel like your traveling with these 50 student global leaders!

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Sunset Presyberian Going Green?

On Friday, I sat down with Marie Hamann, Facility Manager at Sunset Presbyterian church. Which as you most of you know, is my home church, and basically my second home. Last week, due to the economy, they announced a $200,000 budget cut, which basically means: less people + less hours = doing more. This is where I come in and I need your help! We are looking for ways that SPC can be more sustainable. I'm willing to do the research but I need help brainstorming.

"The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." -Genesis 2:15

Just because we are not living in Eden anymore doesn't mean we don't have a responsibility to take better care of this planet. Before meeting with Marie, I did some research on what other church in the Portland area are doing. Here is what I found:

1. St. Philip Neri has built a bioswale to filter urban run off from it's building, parking lot and the community around the church.
2. Earth Home Ministries aims "to inspire and mobilize the Christian community to play a leadership role in building a just and sustainable future."
3. First Unitarian Church built a LEED certified building called Buchan Building

While SPC is taking steps in the right dirrection. There is room for a lot of improvement. Here is what Marie pointed out as "trouble spots":

• Plastic Water Bottles - people in Oregon still use these?!? My suggestion, stop ordering them, offer people water pitchers at events. People won't know the difference. And if someone has an issue invest in a Brita water filter for one of the sinks in the kitchen.
• Disposable cups - think about how much coffee we drink as a congregation. Think we could take people into actually bringing their own coffee mugs to church? Or investing in recyable cups...
• Recycling old technology (we just need a labor force do this) Freegeek in Southeast Portland refurbishs donated IT equipment then gives it to charities and non-profits.
• Overprinting - how can we talk people into printing less, using recyclable paper, and recycling the excess. My suggestion, SPC should monitor for one week, how much paper gets recycled. I think thin numbers would be eye-opening.
• Left over food - turning it into a compost. Available for the congration or maybe even a church garden somewhere on the property. I'm sure people would be interested in the coffee grounds alone + we have to have some gardeners in the congreation.
• Changing SPC utilities over to renewable engery
• Investing in solar panels on the roof - free real estate to anyone who wants it?

If you go to SPC, have any other suggestions or ideas? If you don't, what is some thing your community is doing to go green?

Oregon Executive MBA

Last Friday (2/27/2009), I have the opportunity to tag along with my boss, Darcy Winslow, to a class taught at the Oregon Executive MBA, a partnership between University of Oregon, Oregon State, and Portland State, where Darcy was a guest speaker. It was a little weird to be there since everyone was older than me and I have aspirations to go to graduate school and everyone there has aspirations to work for a successful (and sustainable) company, which is where I'm at right now. Team Evolution, a group of students, presented a Stanford Case Study about Darcy entitled "Nike's Global Women's Fitness Business: Driving Strategic Integration." I've seen one other presentation of this case, last year at the University of Oregon, and this group rocked it.

The great thing about this case begins in 2004 and I interned for Darcy the summer of 2005, right smack dab in the middle of the case. That was my first internship and at 18, I can say I honestly didn't have a clue what I was doing for Nike, but now I can look back and read a case study and see what was happening both to our department, Global Women's Fitness as well as the organization, Nike, as a whole. Pretty interesting stuff.

The presentation was followed by a Q&A session which focused on making change to an organization "under the radar".

How would you change an organization?

Young Life In Need

I haven't blogged in weeks! I'm starting to feel really bad about this. I have so much to update people on. However, this seems to be the most pressing. Yesterday I got a phone call from a former babysitter employer of mine, asking me if I knew any hip college, post-college, and adults that would be interested in reviving Young Life at Westview High School. To be honest (and I told her this as well). I'm tapped out. Between church on Sundays, my Bible Study on Monday nights, and being the "Games Girl" and a 6th grade girls leader at Wildfire on Wednesday nights. I just can't imagine adding something more to my plate. I think God is okay with that as well. But I am helping out in the search for new leaders. They are looking for three women and two men. So if you want to get involved or know someone who would be a great candidate, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

How do you serve God?