Justin Dag

Yesterday I participated in a community service program organized by my company, Conde Nast. We were given the opportunity to garden and clean up some small unkept parks in upper Manhattan, mostly on the east side.

At first I was a little reluctant to break up the flow of my work week to appear as though I was in a work release program required by the rules of a parole. After cleaning up a few items in the morning, fake Mike D and I began our journey to 100 and Madison – some projects. As we arrived, late of course, my timid nature and engrained mind map kicked in. I was lucky enough to be with a collegue of mine, STFU and another co-worker who we’ll call ‘Mr. Malformed XML.’ This ‘Mr. Malformed XML’ is not actually malformed himself, and I’m am in no way making fun of him. I just can’t think of a better name at the moment. STFU on the other hand, I am making fun of, but it’s because I like him. We worked together at Tommy; super nice guy and a lot of fun.

Once I settled in and got my hands dirty, my famous focus took hold, and really cranked out some nice work. Ms. Fung and I meticulously cleaned some beds and laid the groundwork for plants and flowers to flourish. I was rather excited to plant some plants, tomatoes mostly. Hopefully, someone will enjoy the taste of some fresh tomatoes.

Overall it as a great experience, and I hope CondeNast arranges another outing. I strongly encourage everyone out there to seek out some volunteer work. It will not only help others, but yourself as well.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 31st, 2008 at 10:34 am and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.