Hello Canadensis…

…and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I hope everyone is getting ready for the festivities this weekend and will be dressing up as well.  I would love to see all of your Halloween costumes this year.  If you send them to my e-mail at brian@canadensis.com or at info@canadensis.com, I will be sure to post them on this blog for everyone to see!  From what I know so far, some of you have some creative ideas for costumes.  I remember a few years ago, Danielle Faden and Becky J dressed up as Color War for Halloween.  Very cool.

I also sent out an e-mail today to all 2010 Campers and Parents that we will definitely be doing Halloween at camp next summer, so save all of your costumes and make sure you pack them in your trunks.  I know many of you also attend Halloween parties at your school or local community center, so if there are any games / activities that you do there and think would be good for our Halloween Day at camp, let us know.  We’d love to get some good ideas!

As for me, I will be going up to Albany, NY for a concert.  I know, surprise.  Ha Ha!  It is actually a pretty cool concept for a concert, too.  The band that is playing is called moe.  If you’ve never heard of them, you can check them out at www.moe.org.  Anyway, they are an improvisational band and for this Halloween, they decided that they would let their fans choose their set list of songs.  For a month, fans could vote on a website from a list of around 100 songs (originals and covers) of what they would like to hear.  The songs were tallied and now I will find out tomorrow what they will play.  I thought this was a really great idea.

Of course, Sunday will bring one of my favorite football match-ups of the year with the Giants playing my most despised rival the Philadelphia Eagles.  In fact, many of you from the Philly area remember me on the Comcast Pre-Game last year speaking of my dislike for the Eagles.  That was funny!  For this game, since it is in Philly, one of the guys we tailgate with is having a party at the restaurant he owns called Griffins in Cresskill, NJ.  If you know of it and will be around, be sure to stop on by.  I think it is $15 per person.  Should be a good time!  Especially if we destroy those Eagles!

I spoke to counselor Jamie Jacobson today.  She is doing well at Syracuse University, now in her sophomore year.  She says that she see’s fellow Canadensis Counselor Rachel Dender on campus a lot since both are in the School of Education there.  Jamie J says hello to everyone at Canadensis!

Jamie J with Brianna.

I also spoke with counselor Tony Davis yesterday.  He’s doing well at Central Michigan University, where he is finishing up his English degree on his way to eventually teaching High School English.  Turns out, Tony D is living with fellow Canadensis counselor Chris Poag.  He said the two of them having been doing really well in Mt. Pleasant, MI, where he also says he runs into counselors Andi Riemersma, Brandon Clothier and Sarah Smalley.  Tony is very excited that he will be back for his second summer at camp in 2010.

Tony at Color War Bucket Brigade grabbing a pitcher from Ian. Don't spill it!

As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, the new feature here will be showing some of my favorite pictures from Summer 2009.  Continuing in chronological order, here are some more from Week 1…

Some of the Boys from Bunk 11

CIT Meg with Sydney and Rachel.

Boo Needs a Hug!

Things really do get crazy on Crazy Night! Right, Girls Bunk 9?!

Well, I hope everyone has a fantastic Halloween Weekend.  My weekend starts out really nice as I am having dinner with my family, including my brother Michael who I very rarely get to see because he works for a touring theater company.  Currently, he is working on the national tour of South Pacific which is off for one week before he goes back on the road in South Carolina.

And that also ends our blogging in the month of Rocktober.  As you can see, my subject for today is Halloween related.  The Monster Mash was a hit song written by Boris Pickett.  It’s a cooky song that I’ve always enjoyed, especially for Halloween.  So, for my last trivia question of Rocktober (first one to respond wins color war bands), in what year did The Monster Mash reach #1 on the Billboard chart?

Will blog more next week.  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  Don’t forget to set your clocks back on Saturday night.  We get an extra hour of sleep!

Until then…Have a great day…Brian

Hello Canadensis!

I was at the Plymouth Meeting office yesterday and Eric asked me why I haven’t blogged in a while.  Obviously, he is a big fan of “Bloggin’ With Brian” and could not go another day without reading.  I apologize for neglecting my online fans.  Ha Ha!  Anyway, it will not happen again!  I am back on the blogging train.

The past week since my last blog has been good.  First off, I think it is so cool that the Phillies and Yankees are in the World Series.  I am sure there are a number of bunk mates who are in a friendly rivalry over the next week and half.  I can even picture bunk mates video chatting with one another as they watch the game.  In our office, things are definitely in favor of rooting for the Phillies as me, Cara and Aunt Terri are all pulling for Philadelphia.  Matt is backing the Yankees and is even going to Games 1 and 2.  Eric is remaining neutral.  Boo, Forti!  Pick a side!  Ha Ha!  I think the series has the potential of going six or even seven games.  Good luck to all those Phillies and Yankees fans out there.

Speaking of getting back on the train, my home visits for the off season have officially begun.  As many of you know, my favorite part of the fall, winter and spring months is visiting as many campers as possible.  Last night, I got a chance to go visit new camper Eric Miller, his sister Ilana and parents Robin and Larry.  Eric will be a Lower Inter in Summer 2010 and is super excited to be coming to Canadensis!  When I got to their house in Rydal, PA, the family was decked out in Philadelphia Phillies World Series attire.  While there, Eric told me that he is having a lot of fun playing on his travel ice hockey team which keeps him busy most days after school and on weekends.  This season, Eric has been playing mostly right and left wing.  I’m sure at camp next summer he will enjoy playing in the CHL.  His sister Ilana loves the art classes she has been taking and even showed me a dry erase board she made at her birthday party.  She is very talented.

Me with Eric and Ilana Miller. As you can see, they were ready for last night's Phillies World Series game!

After my home visit, I got to have dinner at Bertucci’s in Plymouth Meeting with Hondas Director Howard Waxman.  Howard sends his best to everyone at Canadensis.  Howard and I talked for hours about how great Summer ’09 went.  I must say how impressive it was to see so many of campers riding this summer.  It is Howard’s goal for next summer to see many of our Senior campers to switch to clutch bikes.

Howard Waxman this past summer. I think that bike is a bit too small for you, Howard! Ha Ha!

So, while I’m writing this, the phone rings.  Who is it but Erica Carey, calling me from Istanbul, Turkey!  Erica sends her love to everyone at camp, especially the girls of Bunk 21 from Summer ’09.  In our reminiscing of the summer, Erica, who works in the COALS program (for those not in the know, COALS stands for Canadensis Outdoor Adventure Living Skills) mentioned how wonderful the overnights went this summer and how so many groups enjoyed them.  In fact, she said the Freshman Optional Overnight was one of the best nights of camp she has had in her ten summers at Canadensis!  Pretty cool stuff.  She also mentioned that many Seniors came to her this summer, wanting their own optional overnight.  Erica can’t wait to get back to camp next summer!

The other day, I needed to go through the Summer 2009 photos that Groundhog takes each day at camp.  Tons and tons of photos to look at!  So, I got this idea to post some of my favorite pictures each day from the past summer on this blog.  I will try to go in chronological order with each blog.  Here are some from camp’s first few days…

Matthew and Jason.

Peace to you, too, Amanda and Rachael!

Erica, Sophia, Amanda and Alix Enjoying a Paddle Boat Ride.

Jesse is the first pick of the Knicks and Coach Greg Richner in the NBA Draft.

Congratulations to Carly Fleischer, who sent in her guess from a past blog that “Every Picture Tells A Story” is a song sung by Rod Stewart.  Great song, too!  Carly…your color war bands are on their way.  Can you guess who sings the subject of today’s blog?  First one to reply wins color bands!  And, no googling!

I will be back tomorrow for a Halloween Blog…Until then…Have a great day…Brian.

Today was a wonderful day in the office! Of course, when you are working for camp and everything you do is about making camp better, everyday is fun and dandy, but today was extra special. Actually, step back to last night, when I got to speak to Will Armon! Farmin’ says hello to everyone and he is doing well. Basketball reffing season will be starting within a month or so and he is really looking forward to that.

Today, Brian came to the office for a few meetings. We started the day off with Matt, Brian, and I meeting with our web designer company who created our Canadensis.com website. We love Lisa as we believe she did a wonderful job capturing the fun we have at camp and helping us put our vision of a scrapbook website on paper to the online world. As a side note, she also designed our new prospective brochure which is a box complete with a Canadensis pad, brochure, and DVD. You can look back to a blog in May all about the “box”. Anyway, we met with her to discuss Phase II of our website which is for our pre and post camp groups. As regular blog readers know, during the off-season (May – June and August – September) when camp is not in session, we host schools, temples, marching bands, etc. It is a very important part of our business and Matt Unger is in charge of it. Groundhog and I designed the current website for our groups using a stock template and putting text/pictures together. It is very primitive as you can see if you click on “Rent Our Facility” on the right side of our webpage. It has outdated information, ignores the brand-new amphitheatre/canteen area, etc. So clearly, it’s in need of an overhaul! We are very excited that we will be upgrading that site to look similar to our current award-winning Canadensis.com site. (I say award-winning because our site was actually recognized last year as one of the most innovative websites from an online agency!)

After that meeting, Brian and I sat in my office and talked “camp”. Of course we almost always talk camp, but it was nice to sit in the same room and just talk about things. We discussed returning staff members, contracts that had to be sent out, prospective families that are signing up, families for me to come and visit (if anyone wants me to come and visit them- let me know!), and many other camp-y things. Looked down at my watch and it was 1:00! We ran out to Boston Market because Unger found the deal of the century. Boston Market has a $1.00 meal coupon. Not $1 off, but the whole meal is $1 until Nov. 1. They are trying to woo customers from KFC bragging about their un-fried chicken. I have to say, it was a great meal. Of course only paying a buck helped! I hope Boston Market doesn’t get mad at me, but here is the link. (Yes it’s real, and yes they accept it at the stores!) It was quite funny because the lady was telling me that corporate didn’t warn the stores about the coupon and they almost ran out of chicken last night and would probably run out tonight. How does Boston Market run out of chicken??? Beats me!

http://www.bostonmarket.com/restaurant?page=coupons

After lunch, our new assistant director, Pam Levi, came in to meet with me and Brian about her job this year. It is invigorating and exciting having her join the team. Pam comes with a wealth of knowledge about the camping industry, from her career at overnight camp as a camper, to working at a nearby camp for the past several years. As many of you may know, Pam and I ran the evening activities program at Canadensis back in 2003 (yes, I feel old!). Anyway, Pam is so excited for the opportunity to work at Canadensis and can’t wait to get the ball rolling. She will be meeting with many families to get to know each of you, helping us with our camper recruiting, helping to plan our trips, summer calendar, staff hiring, etc. Essentially, a jack of all trades. I know that all of us at the office are really excited to have her around and can’t wait for her to start this coming Monday!

One more quick “exciting” thing- on Sunday, Matt Unger and I will be going down to DC and paying a visit to Sam Ginsburg and Jaycal. Naturally, Jaycal and I have already been planning all week what we will be filming while I am down in DC. We can’t wait to bring you new video clips, more info about the winter projects at camp, etc.

So, it goes back to my title- excitement is in the air. Camp is so special to each of us and to live it every single day is so exciting. I can say that I love my job and I love Canadensis!

Hi Everyone! The weather has been especially rainy today, and Saturday was really stormy as well.  I’m hoping it will let up soon, as I am NOT a big fan of  this weather. Over the weekend Dani and I went on an adventure in the crazy rainstorm to make our way to dinner with Rebecca Waxman (I bet you knew that was coming!) and Karen Sharir! We had a lovely dinner at (another typical response) The Cheesecake Factory and did lots of  “Shopping”… I put shopping in quotations because we didn’t really buy too much, we just walked in and out of our favorite stores while catching up and talking about our favorite topic… camp! We shared a delicious guacamole appetizer, which made me miss Erica Carey, who is currently abroad in Europe, because she always gets Guac with us when we have Cheesecake dinners. We miss you Erica!

In other news, I was 110% excited for last night’s episode of Greek. I never used to be a huge television fan, but now when I come home from work, and after I do all the other crazy work I have to do at home, I really look forward to that 9 o’clock hour when I can snuggle up with my puppy, Leopold, and watch some exaggerated teen drama. I must admit, Monday nights tend to be hectic for me, as Greek and Gossip Girl are on AT THE SAME TIME! I usually have to choose which one I’m more eager to watch (this week, Greek won) and I tape the other on the DVD recorder. On Wednesdays I look forward to Glee, and when January rolls around I will be utterly obsessed with watching LOST (Shout out to JCal!). So for those of you out there who watch Gossip Girl and/or Greek, what did you think of last night? And for everyone out there, what shows do you look forward to every week?

Well, it’s been busy in the office this week, with contracts starting to go out for 2010 Counselors, beginning to plan our cross-country college tour, and all the other business as usual, this office has been working hard. I hope everyone had a chance to fill out the camper survey we sent out last month, because we’re using those results to make summer 2010 the best one yet! If you still haven’t filled it out, feel free to email us for the link!

Alright, that’s all for now. I’ll leave you with a picture of my favorite television snuggle buddy, Mr. Leopold Corradetti.

Leo is the most adorable puppy!

Good day all from London England.

I flew here overnight with my brother and mom for a family get together with some extended relatives for the weekend. Back in the winter office Cara is busy helping to organize our alumni reunion while Matt is finalizing the buses for trips, getting prices on promotional material, and holding down the fort while I am travelling!

We are all looking forward to Pam joining our team on Nov 2nd! Speaking of pam, the other night, she and another camp employee from a day camp on nj organized a young camp professional get together. About 7 of us met in a restaurant in Philly and talked about our common love for camp. We have another date picked already for a larger get together, which will hopefully become a monthly thing. There are so many young camp people in Philly, but we have never gotten to know one another very well! I am looking forward to sharing ideas, learning about other camps, and of course bragging a little about canadensis!

Well I am to meet the queen of England- just kidding, the queen of the Forti family whomever that may be!

Hello Canadensis!

Been away for a few days, so I feel like there is “So Much To Say” on this Tuesday.  And, in the spirit of Rocktober, “So Much To Say” is a song by whom?  First to answer gets Color War Bands!  You shouldn’t need Google for this one as it is a song from one of today’s most popular bands.  With so much to say, here it goes (in no particular order)…

So much going on.  Yesterday, I attended a wonderful American Camping Association event in New York City.  There were 75-80 different camps in attendance and we sat through numerous sessions on how to “spread the word” about camp.  I had a really great time.  It is always nice to meet other camp directors and workers to see what they are up to as well.

After the event was over, I headed to Long Island to have dinner at the Barefoot Peddler with Senior Boys Head Counselor Ken Ricken.  We talked about the summer among other things.  As many of you know, Ken is also a huge Mets fan.  While we were eating, the Yankees game was on and he was so rooting against them.  It was really funny to see how happy he was when the Angels won!  Ken says hello to everyone in the online Canadensis Community.

I also had a great talk with Mike Lindquist on Friday.  Mike, who is definitely planning on coming back to camp, is doing well at the University of Oregon, where he is finishing up his degree this year.  I always enjoy talking to Mike because Mike loves to talk camp!  He always refers to it as one of the best places in the world!  I couldn’t agree more!  He says that he has kept in touch with a lot of people, too.  In fact, Kenzie Gauthier, who also goes to Oregon, lives right across the street from Mike.  Cool!  Of course, Mike and I always talk about sports, too.  As we are both kind of sci-fi geeks, we also talked about our new favorite show on TV…Flash Forward.  I’ve been hooked on this show which is about the whole world blacking out for a few minutes and getting a glimpse of their future six months from now.

I have started to schedule some of my home visits for the winter.  This is definitely one of my favorite parts of my job.  Getting to see all of our campers and talking about Canadensis is what makes me excited for next summer to come even quicker!  For any new family that would like a visit in the next few weeks / months, give me a call at 973.842.0650.  Of course, I hope to see a number of returning campers, too!

I sent out an e-mail last week, letting our Summer ’09 Campers and their Parents know that our Annual Summer Reunion will be held on Sunday, January 10 from 1-3 pm.  It will once again be at the Carolier Brunswick Zone in New Jersey.  This is always a good place as it is centrally located for all of our families.  This event is only intended for those campers and staff that attended camp last summer.  For all new campers, we will have events scheduled in the spring for everyone to meet.

I got an e-mail from Nurse Betty Ashe, letting me know that her New Orleans Saints absolutely crushed my New York Giants this weekend.  Good thing I didn’t make a bet with her.  Anyway, congrats to your Saints!  They looked really good on Sunday.  At least there was some salvation for Giants fans this weekend after the Raiders beat the Eagles!  Sorry Philly fans; I just had to do it!  Ha Ha!  As for sports rivalries, is anyone rooting for the Phillies to play the Yankees in the World Series?  I’m sure there would be a lot of friendly rivalries going one between camp friends with that match-up.  Looks like we are close to that happening!

Hats off to Dylan Carruba (a new camper for Summer 2010) and Danielle Faden (who apparently must read my blog a lot, thanks D-Fade) for participating in the Sing Down of my last blog.  Of course, Danielle was quick to mention that both alma maters from Summer ’09 used the word “dream” in it. Dylan (and his mom Kristy) came up with a number of songs with the work “dream” in it.  Off the top of my head, I would have thought of River Of Dreams (Billy Joel), The Dream Police (Cheap Trick) and Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Green Day).  By the way, who doesn’t love a good Sing Down!

Spoke to Eric for a long time today.  He just got back from his cruise.  I’m sure he will tell you all about it in his blog.  He said it was a great time!  Eric definitely needed to get away before our plans for Summer 2010 really begin to take off.  I’m glad he had fun!

On a completely random note:  Has anyone else noticed that when you take-out food from restaurants these days that they either skimp or don’t give you napkins.  What’s up with that?  Maybe it’s just me, but I think someone should always get napkins with their meal.  Am I the only that has noticed this?  Am I the only one that cares?  Ha Ha!

Well, time to go.  More blogging later this week.

Until then…Have a Great Day…Brian

Hi Everyone! This weekend I took a trip up to Boston to see my sorority sisters and have some fun touring around the city. I had such an amazing time, and I even got to spend the afternoon with Rachel Waxman, and she took me to some awesome shops! It was supposed to rain, but we got very lucky and the sun stayed out to play all weekend.

It’s been very quiet around the office… literally! We all sit farther apart than we did in the old winter office, there’s been a lot less of my listening to Forti sing his B101 classics. I went on an adventure to find our new post office, and although it’s not within walking distance like the old one, it’s a lot bigger and I’ve already made friends with two of the employees.

That’s really all for now… camp gets closer every day!

What a terrific week it was! I spent an entire week sitting on the Carnival Cruise Ship Valor out in the Caribbean soaking up the rays. I “worked” hard on the ship- I worked on my tan, worked at the Blackjack and Poker tables, worked hard eating alot of good food, oh and worked out at the gym every so often:) The ship docked in Grand Cayman, Roatan Honduras, Belize, and Cozumel.

Most of the time, I really did just spend relaxing, but in Belize I got off the ship and went into the “mountains”, which were really just some low lying hills. The excursion was a tree canopy tour and after getting suited up in our harnesses and helmets (the exact brand and model we use at camp by the way!), I climbed up to the top of 5 sets of zip lines. They ranged from a couple hundred feet up to 500 feet in length and soared high above the tree tops. At the end, there was a rappel straight down a rope, which was really fast and really scary. Of course I had an absolute blast and it did remind me a bit of being back at camp!

As I told you in my previous posts, I always am thinking of camp. So when I saw a Burrito Bar on the cruise ship, I thought what a great idea for camp! They started out with a giant empty burrito wrap and you could add beef/chicken, beans, rice, corn, cheese, guacamole, salsa, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, etc. Look out for this as a new lunch menu item this coming summer! I think it will be a huge hit.

On Sunday, Robin picked me and a few friends up from the Port of Miami and we walked around South Beach. Unfortunately, there was a cold front on Florida (65 degrees) so it was chilly, especially after being in the Caribbean, but we had a nice time. This morning, I flew back on good ol’ Southwest Airlines and here I am at my desk! Alot of work to still do to try to get caught up just in time to leave for my next trip. On Thursday, I will be flying out of JFK to London until Sunday. Less than 48 hours in London, I am definitely, certifiably crazy! Anyway else going to London this weekend? Let me know.

I will be back tomorrow to update you on camp things and projects which are happening right now as you are reading this. So, stay tuned. Oh, and thanks to all of the guest bloggers last week for doing an excellent job filling us in on their lives. Remember, if you want to be a guest blogger, email editor@canadensis.com so you can fill in for me while I am overseas in London this weekend!

What have I been up to?  Since leaving camp on September 22^nd I’ve been pretty busy.  I’ve seen a lot of friends that I haven’t seen since before camp, saw a few baseball games, saw my family, and RELAXED.  For those of you who don’t already know I am up very early everyday during the summer to either accept a food delivery, check on breakfast in the kitchen, or for one of million other things that I do.  During my vacation I went to a Mets game with my father and ran into a few Canadensis counselors.  I saw Alex Steele, Kaelah Gasperotti, and Lauren Berry.  Although I had just seen them a few days earlier it was nice to catch up.  I was really excited to hear they were having a great time traveling all over New York City with Shawn Bolton and Alex Dean.  Over my two week vacation I also happened to go to two Yankees games and a Blink 182 concert at Madison Square Garden.  I was expecting to see at least someone from camp there, but I didn’t.

The next week I spent a lot of time with my family and Kelly and moved into my new apartment in Lansdale PA.  My commute from my apartment to our winter office takes about 25 minutes.  I break up the drive by stopping at Wawa for a coffee.  The first two days I got a 20 oz coffee but have since decided a 16 oz is more then enough.

I started working again in the winter office last Monday and have been very busy ever since.  Actually, two minutes ago I was just on the phone with Werner, (one of the bus companies we use to bring everyone to camp) and booked the buses for June 26, 2010.  June 26 is also known as opening day.  I can’t believe that in just 8 months everyone will be back in their second home.  It seems like it was just yesterday that everyone was getting off the buses.

I can’t wait until its summer 2010.  One thing about working year round for camp is I get to breath camp every single day.  Shout out to Sam Ginsberg, J-Cal, and the entire support staff!  I’ve decided I like blogging.  I have no much to say but I don’t want to write about everything right now.  I’ll have to do this again one day.

And on a side note, although I now live in Philadelphia I am still from New York; let’s go Yankees!

Below is a picture of Sam and me with the entire support staff.  This photo was taken the last night of camp during the candle lighting ceremony.  I’m SO glad that a few support staff have already decided to return!

Me and our incredible Support Staff for Summer 2009!