Welcome to DiVITA Speaks!!

Chloe's Turn to Meme

By Chloe DiVita

If you still aren’t sure what being memed means, then read the prior post done by Benecia, which explains this. Since my mother memed both Benecia and I, I am passing along a few memes of my own.

To continue the meme path, here are 5 things you probably don’t know about me:

1. I participated in gymnastics competitions with the USGF (United States Gymnastics Federation) from age 9 to 14, and levels 6 to 8. Plus, I can still do back flips and ariels (no handed cartwheels)!
2. I stood in Shaq’s pants. I used to work at Adrian Jules Ltd in Rochester, NY– my hometown. They custom make suits for many different people including Shaquille O’Neal. When I held up a pattern for a suit being made for him I could fit in one of the pant legs. It ended up being a purple suit he wore to the MTV Music Awards many years ago.
3. I help teach dance classes at the Louisville Dance Center three times a week. We just put on a performance of the Nutcracker for our winter recital.
4. I started college at the State University of New York at Albany intending to get a Computer Science degree. Glad it didn’t stick. I couldn’t stand C++!
5. I drove out to Colorado in the summer of 1996 spending most of the time in the back of a 27’ U-Haul. There were six of us and we couldn’t all fit in the cab, so half of us would hang out in the back and play cards. It got really interesting when one of the people in the back had to use the bathroom and had no way to let the cab crew know!

Hope you learned something. Now, you are memed Dick Richards, Bill Brelsford, Scott Wilder, Steve Sherlock , ConnecTips women!

My Turn - My Meme

By Benecia Beyer:

I was "memed" this weekend by Yvonne DiVita (yes, she does have the same last name as my boss - she's her mother and Woman Extraordinare of the BlogWorld!) from Lipsticking and scratchings and sniffings (if you love dogs and cats - you MUST read this blog!)

What in the world is a meme? The newest faze and craze running through the blogworld where you "tag" someone else and they must reveal 5 Things You Don't Know About Me. A meme is like a thought virus or a cultural virus that gets passed on, usually organically.  In this case, the meme is getting passed around strategically by bloggers.  It's a good way to introduce you to other blogger friends and for readers to learn more about me and the others already memed. For a more technical explanation, visit here.

In true meme fashion, here are 5 Things You Probably Don't Know About Me:

1. I mud wrestled when I was younger (oh so much younger). I made it through 4 rounds and was wrestling in the final round to determine the champion, when the woman I was wrestling did this fancy move that swiped both of my feet out from underneath me. I fell backwards hitting my head on the "matt" (by this time there was not as much mud in the ring as there was in the beginning). I was out cold -- took an ambulance ride -- in the emergency room for couple of hours which resulted in the mud drying and becoming quite hard.

2. I've enjoyed various occupations in my life -- all starting with the letter "B": bookkeeper, barista, bus-driver, bartender, bank-teller.....in my next life I'm going to move onto another letter, maybe "W" (writer, wrangler, waitress, world-class-traveler.......)

3. I once upon a time picked "dew-worms" or night-crawlers to make money for a bus trip to Colorado.

4. I had my own massage therapy practice. This was when I lived in Minnesota and since that state is about 20 years behind the times -- there were many raised eyebrows over my new occupation.

5. Every year around my birthday - I go to the Caribbean coast of Mexico for a week or more - to rejuvenate my spirit and soul. That incredible aquamarine water and white, white sand beaches -- and the culture, the people are amazing. I long to live there full-time someday - soon.....

Adios - that's it for me.....you're memed: Erica, Karina, Amandakate, Kathyrn, Diana

Who Says You Can't Have Fun at Office Meetings?

By Benecia Beyer

Does your company have office meetings that put people to sleep? How about a long and boring conference call?

Here's a great way to infuse some fun into your office meeting with BUZZWORD BINGO !

Buzzword bingo is a game sometimes played in relaxed team meetings. The rules resemble those of bingo but instead of a matrix of numbers, each player's card is a matrix of buzzwords. When a player hears one of his buzzwords spoken in the meeting, he crosses it off his card. The winner is the player who crosses a full line first and exclaims, "Bingo!" Part of the game, unlike in regular bingo, is having sufficient courage to yell out "Bingo!" in the middle of the meeting, especially as the winning buzzwords are likely to have been uttered by "the boss".

Make sure there is a preprinted card for each employee. You can do this by either making up your own different cards based on particular terminology or "buzzwords" for your company OR there is even a website that will do this for you. Just go to the website, print the card, do a refresh (and a new and different card is automatically generated for you.

Have some fun!