Hello Canadensis!
Its Mike Lindquist from the Great Pacific Northwest.  I am up at school at the University of Oregon finishing my last few classes before I graduate and have to find a real job.  I spend most of my time up here working on school work, hangin’ with the fiancé, or going to Duck sporting events. Speaking of Duck sports, they are the most underrated football team in the nation… that is just a side note.

Since the end of camp, I went home for about a month.  Home for me is 15 minutes north of San Francisco in a city called San Rafael.  It literally takes me 10 minutes to drive to the Golden Gate Bridge when going into the city.   At home I spent some quality time with my parents, helping my mom with house stuff and playing golf with my dad.  Then Alyssa came out in mid-September, in which we had an engagement BBQ in honor of our engagement.  It was great to see my family and friends, and helped the healing process of not being at camp.

Its funny that being 3000 miles away from camp, I’m still connected to camp almost every day.  Seeing Alyssa doesn’t count because I see her every day!  But for example, FRESHMAN GROUP LEADER KENZIE GAUTHIER lives in a house across the street from me!  It is easy for us to hang out when it takes 15 seconds to walk to each other’s homes.  Yesterday we took our monthly TCBY Canadensis run.  Alyssa, Kenzie, and I go to TCBY, having yummy treats, and talk about life… which normally means camp.  We would be talking and almost always, an old couple will look at us like we are crazy, which we are of course.

The TCBY runs aren’t the only camp connection in Eugene.  I text MARSHALL WIENSTIEN every other day, just to talk camp, text my old roommate Handsome Rob, ROB McRAE, and I’ll see KELLY PRICE or NORA DRUTZ around campus.  I even saw Nora at a Duck home football game.  It instantly reminds me of all those camp memories.  Also in late September, Oregon was blessed with a visit from LEVI SMATHERS, LUKE HOLTEN, and SAM LITTLE.  They were on a cross country road trip.  It was nice to see them and I enjoyed sharing those great memories.

Alyssa and I are doing great and I would like to announce that we have set a date!  October 15, 2011.  It is a long ways away, but we want to get settled, find “real” jobs before we get tie the knot.  We both say hi to everyone in Canadensis blogging land.  This site is definitely my favorite Homework distracter by far.  Thanks Forti and J-Cal for letting me say hi.  What up CIT’s 09 and future CIT’s 2010!  And too all the 5 years in 2010!!! I don’t know how, but the summer of 2010 will be even greater than 2009!

Hello Canadensis!

Happy Columbus Day!  I’m sure all those that have the day off are making good use of it.

The weekend was once again a really fun one for me.  Got to see Bruce Springsteen (yes, again) at Giants Stadium.  This was the absolute last concert ever to be played at Giants Stadium.  Coming into the show, there were many rumors of special guests and even word that the curfew of the show had been extended.  However, in the end, it just ended being a regular show, not that it was a bad thing, just that I was expecting more for the last concert at Giants Stadium.  We had a great time anyway.

On Saturday, I ended up watching a whole lot of college football.  There were a lot of great games on and I found myself being a remote control maven throughout the day flipping from one game to the next.  Every Saturday, when I look at the scores scrolling across the bottom of the screen, I always think of the counselors who attend each of these schools.  I find myself saying, “Oh good.  Mike Lindquist and Alyssa Thibodeau got a win today with the University of Oregon.”  Or, “Sorry, Sara Goodison, it wasn’t Northwestern’s day today.”  It’s kind of funny.  Usually for my school (Syracuse University), it’s been pretty bleak the past few years as our football team is not very good.  Getting better, but still pretty bad.  Speaking of Syracuse, I got a great e-mail from Rachel Dender, who let me know she is loving her freshman year there!

Sunday was, of course, GAMEDAY!  After three weeks on the road, the Giants had a game at home.  Of course, that means a huge tailgate!  This week, the menu was terrific.  To start, we had cinnamon and raisin French toast with bacon.  There was also bagels, lox and cream cheese.  Then, we moved onto the next courses, which included lobster in a butter, rum and lemon sauce (absolutely delicious), chili and lamb chops.  Then, we also had beef and turkey sliders which were really good.  There was the grilled pineapple, a tradition of our tailgate, as well.  For dessert, we had a Giants victory over the Raiders, annihilating them 44-7.  Ha Ha!  During the tailgate, camper Max Vorcheimer and his dad Stu stopped by to see what everything was about.  Thanks for stopping by guys.  It was great to see you!

I am having dinner with Brian Stern tonight.  Should be fun.  I’ll let you know all about it tomorrow.  I am heading down to the Plymouth Meeting office as well.  I’ll blog about that tomorrow.

Until then…have a Happy Columbus Day…Brian

Hey everyone! If you don’t already know me, my name is Alex Ehrenthal . Last summer  was my 4^th summer at Canadensis and I was a Super Senior in girls bunk 20! FIRST OFF, I miss camp SO much! It’s sad looking back on the summer, and seeing how each and every day flew by! Summer 2009 left me with more than enough memories to get through the year! It was definitely the best summer yet and I’ve already started counting down the days until Summer 2010 (Shout out to all my CITS 2010!)

I’ve been in school for about a month now, and not one day passes by where I don’t miss being at camp! Sophomore year is a challenge and has hit me with lots of work L ! I’m playing tennis for my high school team and I love it! This past weekend, the girls from my bunk (G20) slept over! It was great catching up with my best friends in the entire world, and reminiscing on summer 2009. I think it’s safe to say, we all had an incredible summer!

In summer 2010, I am looking forward to all the great evening activities, special events like carnival, the amazing race, and especially COLOR WAR!

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion in January and next summer! Feel free to email me anytime at Alexx6124@aim.com.

As you can probably assume from the title, I am headed to the Caribbean! On Sunday I will be boarding the Carnival Valor for 7 days of fun in the sun. In what has become an annual tradition with some of my friends, I will be enjoying a week of R&R and a lot of good food!

So this week was a busy one. At the beginning of the week, I was busy getting caught up from being away the week before.  Lots of mail to go through, bills to pay, messages to return! I spoke to alot of camp families and staff members, including none other than Will and Sam, my buddies. It was great to catch up with them and hopefully I will get to see Sam soon and Will at the winter reunion!

Wednesday I went to camp and it was a great trip. It started out as a rainy day, but on our drive up Route 33 it started clearing up and by the time we got to camp, it was blue skies. However, the winds were howling. As you can see from the pictures in my last post (scroll down), the lake looked like white water rapids! Terri, Brian, Neil, and I met with our paving company and we gave them the green light to continue repaving many of the roads throughout camp.

Last year we repaved the entrance and lower boys. This year we will be repaving around the main office/grove area, most of girls camp, and a section of Senior Boys camp. The paver will also be filling a few potholes that we developed from all the rain last summer! While it may not be as interesting as the new canteen was, trust me, girls camp, you will notice it walking to the dining hall and all around camp!

The main office renovations are coming along nicely and the top soil/dirt for the grove and office landscaping should be dropped off on Monday. Did I mention that on Monday I will be on a cruise? haha! I guess I have the vacation fever and that’s what’s on my mind- nothing wrong with that, or so I am told.

Back in the office on Thursday and Friday, I hashed out my travel plans for recruiting this winter. While I can’t tell you specifics, I will be taking 3 recruiting trips overseas this year and on one of them I will be bringing along a special guest, who you all know:) The reason I can’t give you specifics is because Jaycal and I talked last night about the contests we will be featuring on the blog this year during my trips. We came up with some great ideas and some even better prizes so stay tuned to the blog so you can have your chance to win!

Anyway, time for me to hit the gym (something that I can’t believe is in my vocabulary). Make sure you keep reading my blog as Jaycal has a lineup of special guest bloggers all week long for you to enjoy. Be sure to check Brian and Cara’s blogs as well as they will both be in the office all next week providing camp updates.

Have a great week and I will see you right back here tomorrow on today (oops, I mean see you right back here next week on the blog!)

GUEST BLOGGING RETURNS MONDAY!

Everyone loves a Friday!

Even with the rain, today has already been a fun, campy, day! I woke up a little late this morning and rushed out of my house to make it to the office on time! While I was on my way here I got a call from Liz Tarnoff and we talked until I arrived at the office. Liz and I have a way of making each other laugh, either with our crazy stories or inside jokes, that never fails to make my day.  I can’t wait for her to come home for Winter Break!

I also got to talk to Rebecca “Becky J” Jacobson last night. My blog entry is a stolen line from her facebook status today! I agree Becky J, Friday is the best day!

Hello Canadensis!

Well, our trip up to camp yesterday was very successful.  Me, Eric, Terri and Neil met with a few contractors to discuss some different projects we will be putting into motion for future summers.  It was very exciting and we will unleash our plans as soon as everything is finalized.  However, one area that is already underway is our main office.  It is getting a face lift with a new roof and new front.  Here are some pics of what it looks like so far…

I love how camp looks this time of year.  The trees at the far end of Lake Lenape are all changing colors.  It is just magnificent.  Fall is a big time up in Canadensis.  In fact, Halloween is a very big deal.  In fact, Canadensis, for the day of Halloween, has it’s name changed to “Scarecroweville.”  Seriously.  Here are some pics of the trees across the lake…

It was also so windy yesterday at camp.  Lake Lenape looked like an ocean with mini waves.  It was really intense!  Here is a pic of me and Eric.  You can see my hair and Eric’s jacket whipping in the wind!

With all of the wind, all of the pine needles have come off the trees.  A lot of the roads at camp are completely covered in them.  Here is a pic of my house.  You can see all of  pine needles everywhere.

After leaving camp, I had to stop off at Callie’s Candy Kitchen for some treats!  In fact, a few years ago, Aunt Terri introduced me to one of her favorite items there…pretzel balls.  They are awesome!  They are exactly what they sound like.  Little balls of pretzel.  They are so crunchy and delicious.  Anyway, a few years ago, I bought some bags to bring home with me.  One day, I had a few friends over and I put out a bowl of pretzel balls for everyone to snack on.  And, what do you know?  My friends are like, “Where did you get these?”  So, I tell them.  Now, everytime I go up to camp, I have to buy everyone pretzel balls.  Let’s just say I left Callie’s with two large shopping bags of pretzel balls.  But, they are so good!

Camp Mom Steph also sent me some great photos the other day.  Every few weeks or so, Steph, her husband Stu and their friends have a gourmet club evening in which one couple hosts others for a night of themed dining.  Well, this time it was Steph’s turn.  What was her theme?  COLOR WAR!  Awesome!  Well, her teams were the Hippies vs. the Preppies (sound familiar).  Events included a cake decorating competition and even a rope burn in the backyard!  In the end, the Hippies were victorious.  Here are the pics…

Awesome job, Steph!  Way to keep the camp spirit alive even while you are at home!

So, a lot of good pictures in today’s blog.  Hence, the subject of today’s blog.  Anyone know who sings it?  First one to comment gets Color War bands!  By the way, congratulations to Ellen Kilman (mother of Girls Bunk 5’s Emily Kilman) who answered  my last question correctly.  “My Morning Song” is a song of The Black Crowes.  Ellen and Emily, the bands are on the way.

Well, that’s all for today.  More tomorrow.

Until then…have a great day…Brian

Hey Guys,

Yesterday I had to chance to go up to camp and check up on things. Here are some pictures of what camps look like! I promise a new blog post soon! Also be on the look out for more guest bloggers next week.

Hello Canadensis!

Do any of you wake up to a clock radio anymore?  Well, I still do.  For those of you that still wake up to some sort of music (maybe a song on your cell phone), do you sometimes have that song in your head all day long.  Today is one of those days for me…call it My Morning Song.  Trivia Question:  What band has a song titled “My Morning Song”?  The first to answer wins Color War bands!  Anyway, my morning song today was Katy Perry’s “Hot ‘N Cold.”  Now, I am okay with the song, but it has been in my head all day long.  Over and over, I keep singing to myself, “You’re hot then you’re cold.  You’re yes then you’re no.”  Over and over!  It’s killing me!

Hope all is well on this beautiful Tuesday.  Sorry about not being able to blog yesterday, but the day got away from me.  A busy morning and early afternoon came and went.  I had to leave at around 2:30 to volunteer at a wonderful event that raised a ton of money.

The cause was for the Ryan Wolfe Kossar Foundation and the event was their Fifth Annual Million Dollar Golf Classic.  Ryan Kossar died five years ago of SIDS and now his family and friends raise money for research of this terrible affliction.  This golf outing is one of their biggest events and also includes a silent auction and auction.  The million dollar part comes into play in the morning.  Golfers pay for the chance to take one shot for a $1 million.  Apparently, one golfer missed the million by 18 inches!  Anyway, the event probably raised a little over $150,000, all which goes to SIDS research.

I had an awesome weekend.  The Bruce Springsteen show I went to was absolutely amazing!  I must say, for a guy in his 60’s, Bruce is still one of the best live acts today.  If you haven’t seen him yet, go!  He still plays for 3+ hours, gets the crowd singing and dancing.  It was terrific, even in our horrible seats in Section 315, Row 27.  My friends and I had a blast!  I can’t wait until I go again on…Friday!  Ha Ha!

And, the Big Blue kept on rolling with another win.  Now 4-0, the Giants will play the Raiders at home on Sunday.  The Raiders are the favorite team of Swimming Head Eric Rosenauer, who I got an e-mail from today.  The Giants have played three games on the road in a row, so it will finally be good to have a tailgate again.  Menu planning for our group always starts on Wednesday.  I don’t know what we are going to make this week.  Maybe chicken quesadillas?  I definitely think there will be French toast and bacon on the menu.  Mmmmm…

In my e-mail from Eric, by the way, he let me know that he was nominated for Teacher of the Year down in his school in Florida.  Way to go, Eric!  Eric said that he loved his first summer at Canadensis and can’t wait to get back for his second.  He has some really wonderful plans for the pools next year which we will let you in on as they become finalized.  I think our older campers in particular will be very excited.

Well, now to make everyone jealous.  I get to go to camp tomorrow!  That’s right.  I will be in the 18325 all day!  Eric, Terri and Neil are joining me up there as well as we begin to talk about projects for next summer.  Should be a great trip.  I will post pics of what camp looks like as I hope the leaves up at camp are turning all sorts of amazing colors!  Well, that’s all for today.  I will be back tomorrow after I get back from camp.

Until then…Have a great day…Brian

Hello Blogland! I’m BACKKKK, but not for long. I am back at my home in Philadelphia (or more aptly called my temporary dwelling!) this week and in the winter office today, Thursday, and Friday. Where will I be on Wednesday might you ask? CAMP! I will be heading up to camp tomorrow for the day to have a look around at some winter projects.

As I have been reporting the past few months, we are renovating the main office exterior as well as the grove and landscaping. From what I understand, it is coming along nicely. While up at camp, we are meeting with our paver to discuss which roads we will be paving throughout camp. As many of you noticed, last year we repaved the entrance road (the entire length) up to the parking lot area and then all of lower boys as well as near the health center. So we will be continuing this year with additional paving. I can’t quite tell you what else we will be doing this winter just yet, but between the 3 blogs, Canadensis Today shows, and the Canadensis Courier, we will let you in on the “secrets!”

Flashback to last week- Thanks to Jaycal for the wonderful virtual birthday cake. I appreciate the virtual one posted on my blog as it’s calorie free:) Down in Florida, I spent time with Robin (girls head counselor), Julie (office manager), Eric R. (pool director), and Harold (baker) and his lovely wife Phyllis. To be honest, I didn’t do all that much. I sat at the pool enjoying the sun, went to the gym (shocker), and just relaxed a bit. Oh, I can’t forget Chuck E Cheese. I took Shane (Robin’s friend’s son) there and it was awesome. I haven’t been to one in probably 20 years and it was so much fun to run around, play some video games, and watch him having a blast. Work wise I went to visit an alumnus who lives in FL and has 3 kids. They were a great family and will hopefully be sending the next generation to camp this coming summer! I also met with a referral service representative. Referral services are important to us as they send us prospective families to follow-up with. She repeated numerous times how much she loves Canadensis as she came to visit us in 2007. I told her she has to come back and see the new amphitheatre, canteen, The Summit, Canadensis Today, and much more! Hopefully, she will be coming back again this coming summer for a visit.

I hope you enjoyed all of the guest bloggers. Special thanks to all of them as they helped keep the blog going while I was away. If you missed out on the blog last week- shame on you (just kidding!). Please make sure you scroll back to the archives and see each of our guest blogger entries.

Speaking of going away, this is the month for camp directors to hibernate and catch up a little on some R&R, and I plan to take full advantage of that! After working 6 months, 7-days a week, I can use some breathing time. So, next week I will be heading to the Caribbean with Carnival Cruise Lines and relaxing for a full 7 days! Rough life, right?? The truth is while I am away I miss camp and on each of my cruises so far I have found a few kids out at the pool area who challenge me to go down the slide, etc. So, camp is close to me (especially with all of my camp t-shirts I wear every day!) and perhaps the Carnival Kids Camp Program will need some help planning activities!

Well I better get back to work. I am trying to catch up from being out a week, just in time to leave for another week of vacation! From what I understand, Jaycal has a whole line up of guest bloggers (hint: Tarnoff!) to continue with our guest blogging series next week. And remember, if you want to be a guest blogger we would love to hear from you. Please email editor@canadensis.com and Jaycal will set you up!

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIELLE FADEN!!!

It is officially my favorite part of the off season! Staff from summer 2009 are starting to call the office and say “YES! I would love to come back for another great season!!!”. These calls make my day in a big way. Once we have an idea of who is coming back, we get to begin interviewing and hiring new counselors. I love getting to interview new staff. It’s so much fun to tell them about Canadensis, and get to hear about all of their hobbies, interests, and most importantly, why they want to work at camp! Eventually I will hit the road early next year for another hiring road trip, another highlight of my off-season.

Today has been eventful, everyone is all abuzz with talk of next summer. Eric Forti is especially excited that his favorite “popchips” arrived in the mail.  It’s also been a very campy week. Over the weekend I was with my mom and sister (counselor Dani Corradetti) getting some Ice Cream, and I saw the Rapoport family!

Dani and I also enjoyed our usual lunch date with Rebecca Waxman and Jess Cook. We enjoyed a delightful cheesecake factory lunch, and spent the rest of the day shopping for anything and everything we could imagine. After we were totally exhausted from the mall, we all returned to the Waxman-Cook house, got to see Rachael Hannah Cook, and meet their new PUPPIES! We had so much fun watching them play, and trample all over each other. One day they will be big enough for Rachael to put a saddle on them and go riding. After putting on a brief fashion show for Mommy Beth Cook, Dani and I hopped back in the car and headed home.

I also met the fabulous Captain Karen Sharir for a coffee date in Plymouth Meeting! I was going through some serious Karen withdraw, especially after living together so closely during precamp, and it was so good to laugh about the summer and make plans to get together during the year.

I’m sure most of you who know me know that the only other thing I love as much as camp is my sorority, so a special congratulations to all of our counselors who made it through recruitment and are new members of their organizations, especially Miss Danielle Cook, who called me every day to tell me about recruitment and let me live vicariously through her fun. She and I also spent some time shopping together, online of course, since she is in Rhode Island. We bought matching tote bags! We’re also planning to spend Thanksgiving break making sorority crafts, watching movies, and learning to make SUSHI! More on that in a later blog, for sure!

Anways, I have big plans this weekend to do some major fall cleaning. Twice a year my mom and sister and I go through our closets and put together a few donation bags. Out with the old, in with the new, and all for a good cause. So I’ll be up to my ears in clothing all weekend, but I love that feeling on Sunday afternoon when we all feel so accomplished and ready for winter’s arrival. I might even drive up to camp for a bit to make sure my cabin is ready for winter, and bring home anything I might have left behind. If I do, pictures will definitely follow!

As much as I love the summer, I am really looking forward to the arrival of the chilly weather. I have a serious love for winter boots, especially my cushy uggs… I’m really a Vermonter at heart!

PS: To all the Gossip Girl, Greek, and Glee lovers out there, this is sure to be an awesome week of television!