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Random stuff I'd want my coworkers to know

My agency is having its annual management staff retreat this Friday (so you won't be seeing me around here that day). Our "icebreaker" activity will be to share three things about ourselves that our coworkers may not know. One of the the three things must be false. I'm trying to decide on my three. My husband's been helping, but some of his ideas are a little too creative :-).

One thing they won't hear about is my writing/blogging activities. I do them under my real name, so people could find them, but I don't really want to call attention to it at this stage.

Here are a few of the ideas I've had so far:

I share my birthday with a VIP - my mom.
I never use my real name at Starbucks.
I bring a book with me everywhere I go.
I was first-chair violinist in my high-school orchestra.
I spent four years in the Ivy League (at Cornell).
My husband and I got engaged on Super Bowl Sunday.
I have been in every state on the East Coast - I actually like road trips.
I have never smoked a cigarette.

Which ones do you thnk might be false?:-)

14 comments so far...

MaryP - This is now a post on my own blog, with a couple of additions, so you can play over there :-)! And as it turned out, most people did peg the orchestra thing as my false statement. I must admit it's gratifying that they bought the Cornell one.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Florinda Pendley Vasquez on 16th October 2007
Oh, boo! I came in too late. I was TOTALLY willing to believe the orchestra thing, though. And you know what? I rarely use my real name in public with strangers, either -- hardly anyone manages to pronounce it correctly.

Thanks for this. It was fun, even if I arrived after the party was over!

Flag as inappropriate Posted by MaryP on 16th October 2007
And we have 2 winners! The false items were identified by Kate and Marcia. I have been in every state on the East Coast EXCEPT Maine, and my career as a violinist ended in the fourth grade. My high school didn't even HAVE an orchestra (but I did sing in the choir).

And not to mislead anyone, but my four years at Cornell were while my ex-husband was in graduate school there - I only worked for the university during that time. It's all in the phrasing. :-)

KatieK - Thanks. I've always had mixed feelings about my name. It IS true that I was born on my mom's birthday, so she picked my name herself - it was her mother's.

Nataly - Will I get credit for inspiring the feature? ;-D

Thanks to all of you for playing! This has helped me decide which three things I'm going to use for the icebreaker: fake name at Starbucks, four years at Cornell, and violinist.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Florinda Pendley Vasquez on 11th October 2007
Florinda, I am going to do a feature on this for WIM over the weekend or early next week - this is so fun! We can all do this in our Notes and other members can guess - I think we'll do 3 things, with one being false.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Nataly on 11th October 2007
I'm guessing the violinist is wrong. You just seem more of a woodwinds kind of girl to me for some reason haha. This is actually a cool way to get to know someone.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Marcia on 11th October 2007
"Florinda" is a very cool name. My daughter is called "Sunaliza".

Flag as inappropriate Posted by KatieK on 11th October 2007
Victoria - Yes, the first one is true. I was born on my mom's 34th birthday,

Only two of the things on the list are false - Kate got one of them right.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Florinda Pendley Vasquez on 11th October 2007
love this post - this is so great! Is the first one true??? :)

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Victoria on 11th October 2007
hmmmmmmmmmmmm...these are good ones & this does sound fun!

Flag as inappropriate Posted by on 11th October 2007
Is it weird that I blog under my real name, but DON'T use it at Starbucks?

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Florinda Pendley Vasquez on 10th October 2007
Kate - I use my middle name at Starbucks. I got tired of having to spell Florinda for them all the time. (Another one of my friends with a hard-to-spell name uses a fake name there too.) And one of your guesses is correct! I have been in every state on the East Coast EXCEPT Maine. But I really did get engaged on Super Bowl Sunday, 2006 - neither of us is into football, and we took a drive up to Santa Barbara that day. He proposed at sunset on the Santa Barbara Pier.:-)

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Florinda Pendley Vasquez on 10th October 2007
ooh true or not - i LOVE the idea of not using your real name at starbucks!! that is awesome! i am guessing that the false ones are: visiting every state on the east cost and getting engaged on superbowl sunday!

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Kate on 10th October 2007