I’m spending this week exploring the United States Virgin Island of St. John.

Hopefully, once I return, I’ll pen my reflections in the form of a blog post, but in the meantime, here are a few things that I’d recommend to someone travelling to the island:

• BRING YOUR PASSPORT. There are day trips to some of the British Virgin Islands like Jost Van Dyke and sans passport, your excursion opportunities become limited.
• A GPS will come in handy. St. John is incredibly hilly and its easy to get lost. Luckily, I had my iPhone on hand and have been using it quite a bit to get around the island.
• If you’ve got four people and are renting a car, the four door Jeep is worth it… The two-door Jeep creates quite a challenging workout for the two riding in the back.
• On a map, it might look like there are three ways to get from Cruz Bay to Coral Bay or vice versa, but in fact there’s only one – take Route 10 (also known as Centerline Road).

After the initial shock of the news about the recent earthquake in Haiti wore off, my next thought was, how can I lend my support?

My immediate instinct was to do donate to The Red Cross since the organization’s mobile giving campaign (where participants can simply text a number to have a $10 donation be added to their next phone bill) was getting so much press coverage.

However, Vicki Boykis pointed me to the comments in this Reddit post that caused me to take a step back and re-evalute my decision. What the comments highlight and what I’ve found in my research is that The Red Cross, while a recognizable name, is not a great organization to support. It’s inefficient and too little of the money ends up going to relief efforts.

It seems that organizations like Doctors Without Borders and Partners In Health are able to put donations to much better use.

I urge everyone to support the relief efforts in Haiti in any way they can but please remember to check the credibility and effectiveness of the various charitable organizations out there. Good questions to ask include:

• Is this a legit organization? (Check with the Better Business Bureau to be sure.)
• What percentage of expenses goes to Program Services versus Fundraising or Administration? (Charity Navigator can provide this information and has a rating system for charities.)
• Will my donation go specifically to Haiti Earthquake Relief Efforts or is it just a general donation to the organization?

- WHERE TO SUPPORT HAITI (LISTS FROM AROUND THE WEB) –

In case you are looking for more organizations that are raising donations to respond to the crisis, here are some aggregated lists from around the web that maybe useful to you:

• Haiti Earthquake Relief: 9 Ways to Help Now | Mashable
• How and Where to Donate to Haiti (and Avoid Scams) | Lifehacker
• Six ways you can help in Haiti. | What is left?
• Emergency Earthquake Relief for Haiti | Global Giving
• Helping Haiti: A Guide To Helping Haitians | Peter Greenberg Worldwide

- WANT TO DO MORE? –

CrisisCamp Haiti will take place this Saturday, January 16th from 9:00am to 5:00pm in Washington, DC. CrisisCamp will bring together volunteers to collaborate on technology projects which aim to assist in Haiti’s relief efforts by providing data, information, maps and technical assistance to NGOs, relief agencies and the public. Register here.

Matador, an online community of travelers, adventurers, and grassroots organizations, is organizing a volunteer trip to Haiti. Learn more here. (Thanks to @VastuDC for the tip.)

- DISCREDITED RUMORS –

In an age where there is so much information readily available to all, there’s also a lot of misinformation that circulates. A few rumors that I’ve heard and later found to be false:

• American Airlines IS NOT flying doctors and/or nurses for free to Haiti.
• UPS IS NOT shipping supplies for free to Haiti.

One of my resolutions for a while has been to cook at home more but I think the fact that I only know a few recipes is what is hindering my progress.

I’ve been searching for cookbook that ideally offers recipes that are easy, quick, healthy, kosher, and “for one”. I’ve come to realize that I also need a picture to accompany each recipe so that I can understand what it is I’m making and what it’s supposed to look like at the end.

After quite a deal of searching, it’s become apparently that if I am ever to fulfill my quest I certainly need to drop “kosher” and “for one” from my list of requirements. I’ll just pick out the recipes that I can eat (no mixing of meat and diary, no pork, no shellfish) and will figure out a way to reduce the recipe so that it’s appropriate to be eaten by just one person.

Two cookbooks that I’ve found that I think might fit the bill are:

The Illustrated Quick Cook: Easy Entertaining, After-Work Recipes, Cheap Eats

Cooking Light Eat Smart Guides : 350-Calorie

Are there other cookbooks that fit my requirements of featuring easy, quick, healthy recipes with a picture to accompany each? I’m interested in hearing your thoughts and suggestions.

PS – I took my quest to Chowhound, an online community for food-lovers and culinary connaisseurs, for their input. I’ve been given a lot of great suggestions. Check out the discussion.

My resolutions:

PHYSICAL HEALTH

1. Eat out less. If I could get this down to two lunches ordered out per week and one dinner ordered out per week, I’d be a happy woman.
2. Go to the gym more. Don’t judge me too much, but I’m aiming low here – My goal is to go to the gym at least four times a month.
3. Get up earlier. I think, in a perfect world, I’d like to get myself up an hour earlier that I am right now. But, I’m really scared to commit myself to that. So… Can I say that, if by the end of 2010, if I’m getting up 20 minutes earlier than I am now (alright, alright, at 7:43am), I’ll consider myself successful?
4. Drink more water. I can commit to two glasses of water of day. Sad, but realistic.

MENTAL HEALTH

1. Volunteer more. Concretely, I’d like to volunteer in some way – whether it be my time, money, effort – at least once a month.
2. Write more. In 2009, I wrote 54 blog posts, which is more than I would have guessed, and is about one post a week. In 2010, I’d like to double the number of posts I publish and will count myself successful if I write eight posts per month (for a total of 96).
3. Pursue outside interests. I’m one of those very lucky people that is able to do, in a professional capacity, what they love. However, this gets tricky because it means that one thing dominates my life (that being social media and marketing). In 2010, I’d like to refocus on the other things that make happy like salsa dancing, practicing my French, scrapbooking, and photography. When someone asks me what I like to do for fun or outside of work, I should have an answer ready. I’ll consider myself successful if I pursue an outside interest in some capacity at least once a month.
4. Explore DC more. I commit to “exploring DC” at least once per month. It’s hard to qualify what “exploring DC” means so I’ll operate on a “I know it when I see it” basis.
   
5. Read more. One book per month is doable, I think.

While in the process of defining my goals for this coming year, I came across a blog post by Jared Goralnick of Technotheory and AwayFind where Jared shares his theme for 2010. He writes:

Last year I suggested we should choose just one word and label it a theme for the year ahead. This year… the word is swim.

Looking at the resolutions I’ve outlined for myself this year, my word for 2010 became very readily apparently: DISCIPLINE. If I am to be successful at the goals I’ve set, I’ll need willpower and self-control in all aspects of my life. Wish me luck.