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Calling It an Extreme Sport Is No Bull
See Professional Bull Riding Live

At 8pm on Saturday, February 4^th, see why Professional Bull Riders touts itself as "The Toughest Sport on Dirt." The rules are simple, place a 150-pound cowboy on the back of a hulking, snorting, 2,000 pound bull and see if he can ride the beast for an eternal eight second…with one hand strapped to the bull’s backside.  Watch as the nation's top bull riders rock and ride for their chance to participate in the Professional Bull Riders World Finals in Las Vegas!  Don't miss your chance to feel the LIVE excitement of Professional Bull Riders!  R&W has tickets available in the 100 & 200 Level for $34.

Cholesterol Screening

Did you know that you can get your cholesterol and blood sugar tested at NIH for less than most doctor’s offices?  Occupational Medicine Service offers testing for both of these blood tests.  The Lipid Profile, $16.50, contains important breakdowns of the total cholesterol, to include the HDL (good cholesterol measurement) and LDL (bad cholesterol) as well as triglycerides and a couple of other measurements.  The Fasting Glucose, $8.25, is a measurement of the blood sugar only.  This is important for people with diabetes or pre-diabetes.  It can be very different if taken after eating, which is why it needs to be fasting.  Fasting is required for both tests, nothing but water to eat or drink for at least 8 hours prior to having your sample taken.  You can purchase vouchers for these tests at the R&W stores in Bldg. 31, Bldg. 10, Rockledge and EPS.  Testing is done in Bldg. 10, Rm. 6C306 on Tuesdays from 8am – 11am.  This service is being provided for NIH employees only.

Disney’s Beauty & the Beast

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is the classic story of Belle, a young woman in a provincial town, and the Beast, who is really a young prince trapped in a spell placed by an enchantress.  If the Beast can learn to love and be loved, the curse will end and he will be transformed to his former self. But time is running out.  If the Beast does not learn his lesson soon, he and his household will be doomed for all eternity.  Featuring the animated film’s Academy Award®-winning score, Beauty and the Beast has played in front of 35 million people in 13 countries and now you can see the show at the National Theatre.  The R&W has Orchestra tickets for $82.50 on Thursday, June 21st at 7:30pm.

NIH Blood Bank
Give Red, Save Green

The NIH Blood Bank and the NIH/NOAA R&W have joined together to raise awareness for the importance of blood and platelet donations.  As an added incentive, those who donate will receive a coupon from the NIH Blood Bank for $2 off an R&W membership.  The NIH Blood Bank, an integral part of Bethesda’s health care community, provides a lifesaving service that benefits our citizen’s every day.  The NIH Blood Bank collects blood and blood products, which help take care of and save the lives of patients in our community.  This lifesaving service would not be possible without the generous time and effort of volunteer blood and platelet donors.  The NIH Blood Bank is conveniently located in Bldg. 10 and provides reserved, free parking spaces for donors Monday - Friday from 7:30am - 5:30pm.  Please call 301-496-1048 to schedule your appointment or visit bloodbank.nih.gov for additional information.  Non-NIH employees will be eligible for an official NIH Extended Visitor ID allowing easy access from all entrances for a year.  Thank you for caring…your help is appreciated!

See the World Famous
Harlem Globetrotters

Want to see a winning professional basketball team at the Verizon Center this year?  The Harlem Globetrotters bring their ridiculous basketball skills, amazing athletes, and comedic skills to the Verizon Center at 1pm on Saturday, March 24th.  Watch as they flip, soar, prank and attempt to trick shot their way past the Washington Generals.  The R&W has tickets for $22 (reg. $26).

 

Spring 2012 Mindfulness Class
Begins March 16th  

This popular class is being offered from 5pm - 7:30pm on Fridays, March 16th – May 4th for 8 sessions and a day-long retreat on Saturday, April 21st from 9am – 3pm and will cost $250 per person.  The course includes guided instructions in mindfulness meditation, gentle stretching and mindful movements, group dialogue, and home assignments.  The course is informed by the work pioneered by Dr. Jon Kabat Zinn at UMASS since the 1970’s.  It also incorporates the work by others such as Thich Nhat Hanh, Jack Kornfield, and Tara Brach.  Class location: Shanti Yoga Center for Harmony 4209/4217 East West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814.  The Saturday event will take place at NIH.  New attendees are not accepted after the first class.  The class instructor will be Rezvan Ameli, Ph.D., of NIMH, an experienced mindfulness instructor and practitioner, who is volunteering her services.  For more information contact Dr. Rezvan Ameli at Rezvan.Ameli@gmail.com.  To register, contact Kallie Wasserman wassermankt@mail.nih.gov  or 301-496-6061. This is an R&W sponsored activity.

Ahoy!!  NIH Sailing Association
Spring Open House

Look for posters and flyers around campus in early February with details about the NIH Sailing Association Spring Open House!  At the Open House, you can explore your interest in learning to sail and discover all the opportunities for sailing with the NIH Sailing Association.  Information about the club’s six week basic training classes, racing program, and all the other social activities the club offers will be available.  For more info, visit www.recgov.org/sail.

A WINNter Affair to Benefit

The Children's Inn at NIH

 

You're invited to the Young Ambassadors Council's 1^st annual fundraiser, A WINNter Affair, Saturday, February 25^th, from
8pm – midnight, at Halcyon House, 3400 Prospect Street, NW Washington, DC 20007.  Don't miss this fun night of cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, and dancing with live music by The Winn Brothers Band!  Party the night away, with fellow Young Ambassadors and friends of The Inn, to celebrate the first year of the Young Ambassadors Council and to raise needed funds to support The Inn's mission and programs.  You can purchase tickets online at www.childrensinn.org.  If you have questions or would like to learn more, contact Lauren Conte at contele@mail.nih.gov or 301-451-9461.  We hope to see you there!

B-CC Restaurant Week is Back

The B-CC Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce their partnership again with The Washington Post to present Bethesda-Chevy Chase Restaurant Week Winter 2012, Monday, January 23rd to Sunday, January 29th 2012!  The Chamber is extremely proud of the growing number of successful restaurants in this community and is thrilled to help showcase these businesses.  Bethesda Urban Partnership and the NIH R&W will join the Chamber and The Washington Post as a co-sponsor of Restaurant Week.  Customers can visit participating restaurants and enjoy a 2-course lunch for $13 or $16 and/or a 3-course dinner for $33.  The Chamber, The Washington Post, Bethesda Urban Partnership, and The NIH R&W look forward to bringing the community another exciting B-CC Restaurant Week!  Don’t miss it!  For more information, visit www.bccchamber.org.

 

National Wear Red Day:
Taking Women’s Health to Heart

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute unites Americans in raising awareness about the #1 killer of women: heart disease!  National Wear Red Day is an annual event held on the first Friday in February.  On Friday, February 3, 2012, women and men across the country will wear red to unite in the national movement to give women a personal and urgent wake-up call about their risk of heart disease.  80 percent of women ages 40 to 60 have one or more risk factor for heart disease. A woman’s chance of developing the disease increases because risk factors tend to worsen each other’s effects. In fact, according to research compiled by the NHLBI, having just one risk factor doubles your chance of developing heart disease.  Significant progress has been made in increasing awareness among women, from 34 percent in 2000 to 70 percent.  Awareness is driving action—in 2010 women who reported recently seeing or hearing about The Heart Truth campaign or the Red Dress symbol were substantially more likely than other women to take at least one risk-reducing action as a result (up from 35 percent in 2008 to 57 percent in 2010). While heart disease risk begins to rise in middle age, heart disease develops over time and can start at a young age, even in the teen years.  It's never too early, or too late, to take action to prevent and control the risk factors for heart disease.  Everyone can participate by showing off a favorite red dress, shirt, or tie, or by wearing the Red Dress Pin.  Join this national effort by wearing red on February 3^rd, and encourage your family, friends, and coworkers to do the same.  By participating in National Wear Red Day, employees at NIH and NOAA are joining The Heart Truth. The Heart Truth is a national awareness campaign to alert women about their risk for heart disease and motivate them to take steps to lower their risk.  The centerpiece of the campaign is the Red Dress—the national symbol for women and heart disease awareness.  What's a Red Dress got to do with it?  A simple Red Dress works as a visual red alert to get the message heard loud and clear: "Heart Disease Doesn't Care What You Wear, It's the #1 Killer of Women."  The campaign, sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, is reaching women with important heart health messages in community settings through a diverse network of national and grassroots partner organizations.  Please join in and help spread the word about women and heart disease.  Your support of The Heart Truth^® campaign is vital to giving women life-saving messages about their risk of heart disease and how to lower it. The campaign partners are working to get the word out to women across the country about their risk of heart disease. Taking action requires the efforts of many groups and individuals, and your involvement is key to delivering the message in your community. There are many ways to partner with The Heart Truth campaign. To have the greatest impact, put your energy, talent, and effort to the best use possible by working with others who share the same goal. How about hosting a Red Dress luncheon with heart healthy foods, organizing a walk around your community to share The Heart Truth with your neighbors, or using The Heart Truth Speaker's Kit to educate others about women and heart disease?  For additional information about National Wear Red Day—including local community activities—as well as The Heart Truth and its Red Dress symbol, please visit www.hearttruth.gov.  Stay informed with “The Heart Truth Red Alert!” quarterly electronic publication the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute distributes about women and heart disease.  Issues contain exciting new information about heart disease research, upcoming events, heart healthy recipes, and campaign news. 

 

Summer Camp Guide 2012

NIH presents “Summer Camp Guide 2012,” sponsored by Office of Research Services, Division of Amenities and Transportation Services.  Each year parents are faced with the task of deciding “What do I do with my children over the summer?”  Summer Camp registration is just around the corner and now is the time to start researching your options.  For your convenience, NIH is offering “A Greener Summer Camp Guide” from 11:30am – 1:30pm on Wednesday, January 18th at the Bldg. 10 B1 Cafeteria and Wednesday, January 25th at the Bldg. 31 Cafeteria.  Attend one of these events to pick up samples of camp brochures and receive information on how to get your “Greener Summer Camp Guide,” which contains summer activities in the VA, MD and DC area.  The Camp Guide separates the camps in cost, type and activities. It also includes additional resources to survey your child’s interests as well as understanding and evaluating summer care options.  Camp vendors will not be on site; however, a Child Care Referral Specialist and NIH staff will be available to help you get started.  The Summer Camp Guide 2012 is free of charge to NIH employees, trainees and contractors.  Those who need reasonable accommodations to participate in this event, please contact Tonya Lee (ORS/DATS) at 301-402-8180 or Federal Rely at 1-800-877-8339, five days prior to the event.

 

Manchester String Quartet

Concerts in Building 10

Please join us for the twentieth seasonal performance of the Manchester String Quartet.  The concerts are free and begin at 12:30pm in the Masur Auditorium, Bldg 10.  Future concert dates include:

Monday, February 6
Monday, March 12
Monday, March 19
Monday, April 16

This series is made possible by The Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences (FAES).  Please contact Sharon Greenwell at 301-496-4713 or email sg115f@nih.gov for reasonable accommodation needs.

 

It’s Time to Ring
In the New Year…2012 Is Here!

The R&W serves as an employee-service organization that provides affordable, top-quality and well-directed services and programs that are diversified, beneficial, and focused on enhancing the health and well-being of the NIH staff, patients, their families, and the NIH and NOAA communities.  We have multiple gift shops as well as three Fitness Centers located on and off the NIH campus.  Our goal is for you to have fun, make new friends, save money and hopefully create experiences that you will remember throughout the year.  The R&W is here to serve you, whether it is to relieve stress, obtain a discount, or to provide an opportunity for you to participate in one of our programs.  We want to listen, and be attentive to your needs, so feel free to email schoolsr@mail.nih.gov if you find a new program or service that will benefit your fellow employees.  

                As we begin 2012, we would like to take a moment to thank you.  We appreciate all of the time and talent that many of you have given to us throughout the year.  The year 2012 will be the 67^th year of R&W and as an organization, we are rich in service to others, providing not only assistance to others off campus, at organizations like Bethesda Cares, but also assistance to three charities on the campus of NIH, Children’s Inn at NIH, Special Love-Camp Fantastic, and Friends of the Clinical Center.  These charities serve patients in their time of need.  The charities assist the families with their recreational and entertainment needs as well as providing comfort while they are undergoing treatment for their illnesses.  Last year the Children’s Inn served over 1,500 families, who stayed for 14,541 nights and since it opened in 1990, over 10,000 families have stayed there.  Special Love-Camp Fantastic, this year, celebrated its 29^th anniversary, and serves over 400 children per year from medical centers in the Mid-Atlantic States.  Friends of the Clinical Center, continues to give $50,000 to $100,000 per year assisting patients with their emergency needs while they are undergoing treatment at the NIH Clinical Center.

                This year will also mark the 16^th anniversary of our partnership with Comcast in the production of our Outdoor Film Festival which over the years has had over 715,000 attendees at our movie sites.  In addition to the movie festival, the R&W coordinates events such as the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus Premiere Night, in which we partner with the Easter Seals.  Each year we treat over 4,000 children, who normally would not have an opportunity to visit the circus.  Other R&W events include the Health’s Angels Halo Chase, the RecGov.org Fair, the Redskins Celebrity Golf Tournament, led by former Redskins’ player Mark Moseley, the NIH Farmers Market, the NOAA Fish Fry, the NIH Institute Relay, Back to Bethesda, the Bethesda Row Arts Festival, CFC events on and off the campus, and the NIH Research Festival with the Food and Music Festival.  In 2012 we look forward to giving leadership to the USA Science and Engineering Expo which will be held at the Washington Convention Center on April 28 and 29^th.      

For R&W news all year long visit www.recgov.org, then click NIH, pick-up the monthly R&W Newsletter and join our ListServ at https:list.nih.gov/archives/r_w_assoc_list-l.html.

                The R&W board, staff, and our volunteers in leadership positions hope 2012 will be a special year for you and your families.  We thank you for your support and wish you well.  

This March the Circus Is
“Fully Charged”

15^th Annual Children’s Premiere Night
With Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Benefiting the NIH Children’s Charities

Mark your calendars because this very special show is back again!!!  Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey^® and the NIH/NOAA R&W invites Children of All Ages to join the Ringling Bros. team in the ALL-NEW, ALL-LIVE 141^st Edition of The Greatest Show on Earth!  Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey^® comes to the Verizon Center on Wed., March 14^th, with Fully Charged, where megawatts of thrills explode off of the arena floor with breathtaking dare-devilry, superhuman stunts and never-before-seen performances that energize the audience.  With a spark of pure imagination and a powerhouse of performers, The Greatest Show on Earth brings power to the people in the most electrifying edition ever of Ringling Bros.® celebrating performance power that boosts circus-goers excitement and is sure to get you and your family fully charged!  Nothing says “Think Big” more than elephants.  This 100,000 pounds of fun is a breathtaking parade of power and a giant display of agility.  Be prepared for “watts of laughs” as the clowns make you giggle so hard it hurts.  You might even say it can only be measured in Giggle-Hertz of fun as jolts of laughter are sent shooting straight to your funny bone.  The artistic skill of juggling is taken to new heights and brighter lights.  From the sparks that ignite the show to a fired-up finale, this spectacular display of energy in motion is a juggernaut of juggling mastery.  Watch in amazement as Tabayara, a dynamic animal trainer, rides rearing stallions at a fully charged gallop, orchestrates majestic four-ton Asian Elephants in a symphony of dance, and then stands inside a cage, eye to eye, with twelve ferocious tigers.  Where others see danger, Tabayara sees family. Sparks will fly as the electrifying and danger-loving Danguirs dazzle you with an intense display of bravery while challenging the balance of power between endurance and gravity.  Prepare to be captivated as this high-voltage high-wire adventure hums with excitement and buzzes with energy.  When it’s time to “pump up the energy” the Stiltwalkers will flip, fly and slam-dunk their way through a fast paced basketball game and the Big Bike Act will display unique acrobatics combining precision timing, feats of athleticism, and comical high jinks in a one-of-its-kind performance.  Excitement takes an extraordinary turn to new heights as the fearless Fernandez Brothers generate hair-raising thrills and spine-tingling stunts on the Twin Turbines of Steel.  Feel the velocity and the momentum as the energy builds throughout this high-speed, turbo-charged synchronized spectacle!  Spirits soar and adrenaline surges as the show takes to the air in a high-flying extravaganza of aerial flare!  These aerial artists flip, flex and float more than 30 feet above the floor – fueling your emotions and electrifying your senses!  The Human Fuse will ignite a spark as he catapults more than 100 feet across the arena floor from a gigantic crossbow – setting the sky ablaze in a flaming feat that requires pinpoint perfection.  Just when you think you’ve reached maximum capacity for thrills, chills, and laughs, the performers pull out all the stops to deliver a finale that gives the audience new-found energy, memories to last a lifetime and that has left everyone Fully Charged.

Your escape from the everyday begins one hour before show time when you make your way to the arena floor.  The FREE All-Access Power Up Pre-Show, allows families to interact with the stars, mingle with an amazing group of acrobats, aerialists, animals, clowns, jugglers and more.  There’s so much the Pre-Show has to offer and the show hasn’t even started!  So grab your cotton candy and be prepared to be whisked away into a whirlwind of action and adventure.  Join us for the 15^th Annual Children’s Premiere Night hosted by the NIH R&W, benefiting the NIH Charities on Wednesday, March 14^th at 7pm with the FREE Pre-Show at 6pm.  You won’t hear about this on the radio or television because this night is only for special invitees from the NIH R&W…and you and your friends and family are invited!!   This event is a fundraiser for the NIH Charities and is a wonderful opportunity for the R&W to provide a magical evening to many special needs children in the local metro area.  Over the years, with your help, we have treated over 25,000 deserving children to the circus.  The NIH R&W has a goal to fill the entire Verizon Center with friends and family, so we need your help.  Pass the word along to all your friends and family and have them join you for this special evening.  You can only experience this current of excitement at Ringling Bros. Fully Charged! Tickets available include Circus Celebrity - front row/interactive seating where you become part of the show, Front Row, VIP, and Section 111 & 112 (best seats).  Prices will be available via the R&W ListServ later this month and in the January R&W Newsletter.  Purchase your ticket for high-voltage fun at the R&W Activities Desk in Bldg. 31 Rm. B1W30 or call 301-496-4600.  Orders can be placed for tickets at any R&W store.  Don’t delay…we have the best seats in the house for this special R&W hosted evening, but they won’t last long!  We’ll see you at the circus!

 

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