5 THINGS: One Plunge, Two Plunge, Three Plunge, Four...

Here are Five Things for Sunday, January 1, 2012:

Lions, but no tigers or bears, plunging at town beach. The annual Narragansett Lions Club Pier Plunge will take place at noon today at Narragansett Town Beach. Registration begins at 10 a.m., and the first 325 get a commemorative beach towel. It costs $20, with proceeds going to the Johnnycake Center food pantry.

Roger Wheeler probably never did this. Are you looking for a larger scale plunge to take advantage of? Because of the large size of the event, the Special Olympics' annual plunge has moved from its past home of Jamestown to Roger Wheeler State Beach this year, the 36th for the penguin plunge. Registration is at 9 a.m., and people will enter the water at noon. Any plunger that raises $50 or more will receive a t-shirt, with additional incentives for more. For more information, see the attached PDF above.

I REFUSE TO CHANGE! Still feel like plunging in Jamestown? Well, relax, drop the all-caps; you still can. A new event, the Jamestown First Day Plunge, is taking place at East Ferry. Like every other plunge, seemingly, the actual plunge is at noon, with registration starting at 9 a.m. (So, if you wanted to do multiple plunges this year, you can't really do so, officially. It's probably not really that good for you anyway. For more information, visit the event's Facebook page here.

And if you must insist of ignoring these first three entries... Newport also has a plunge, at noon, at Easton's Beach. However, that's a whole 30 minutes from Narragansett, so make sure you bring a cot, or book a hotel room in advance. For more information, go here. Proceeds benefit A Wish Come True, Inc., a Rhode Island charity based in Tiverton.

Polar bear plunges make me think of that Coca-Cola commercial. Admit it, you think the same thing too. However, it is no longer completely about crass commercialization, since the company has partnered with the WWF (World Wildlife Fund, not the World Wrestling Federation) to raise money to protect polar bear habitats. For more information, visit their website here. (WARNING: The site is very graphic intensive, so if you have an older computer, close some programs before loading.)

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