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 It has outdated information, ignores the brand-new amphitheatre/canteen area, etc.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!

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!

Hey Camp Canadensis!

It’s Brooke Appelbaum blogging from Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York where the weather is getting colder each day. People are saying they expect snow by the end of October! I hope it stays warm a little bit longer.

Anyway, midterms are coming up so I have so much studying and reading to do. Right after midterms we have fall break so I get to go home (well, my other home) for a long weekend, which will be nice. I get to see my puppy too, who loves camp almost as much as me!

Lewie

My major in school is television – radio so I get to take a lot of cool courses like Mass Media (we study the history of television, movies, books, and radio) and Media Production. The other day I even got to direct a commercial. At school I’m also a part of Habitat for Humanity and working on one of ICTV’s (Ithaca College’s television station).

Although things at school are good I miss camp so much! In fact, I was video chatting with Alyssa and Mini Max Kruman and JCal (who was so nice to let me blog today). We had so much fun singing color war songs together and talking about how great summer ’09 was and how much we can’t wait for summer 2010.  Summer seems so far away but luckily the reunion will be here before we know it. I can’t wait to see everyone!

Me, Alyssa and Max Kruman and JCal

Anyway, it’s time to get back to studying for midterms. Thanks again to JCal and Eric for letting me blog! Of course, I need to give a shout out to my bunk 9 gummy bears!

Can’t wait to see everyone at the reunion!

Brooke

Hey Canadensis!  I am so excited to be blogging here and I want to say thanks to JCal and Eric for allowing me to do this!  While Eric is away on vacation this week (lucky!), I am sweltering in South Florida with the 92 degree heat!  We are supposed to have a cool down this weekend, though, to about 83 degrees– brrr!!

So, I left camp the day after the campers left, and started setting up my classroom the very next day!  In fact, my first graders and I have already been in school for 36 days!   Oy!  Julie, from the office, teaches Kindergarten at my school, so I’m lucky that I get to see her every day.  She also lives right down the street from me, so we get together outside of school too (dinner at Sweet Tomatoes, going to the movies, etc.)!  We also had a chance to see Eric R., from the pools, recently.  He’s doing great, teaching middle school Language Arts and keeping busy!  We all talked about how much we missed camp and how we can’t wait to see everyone next summer!

Some of my students have Hannah Montana backpacks and others have Jonas Brothers lunch boxes and these remind me of all of you at camp.  This morning, one of my students walked in singing the Black Eyed Peas song “I Gotta Feeling”.   I started singing along with her and she said, “Ms. Hasson, how do you know this song?”  I told her it was one of our favorite songs at camp this summer and that it was played at every dance!  Ah…reminders of camp every day!!

Well, that’s about it.  I’m picking Eric up from the Port of Miami on Sunday after his cruise and then sending him back to cold Philadelphia on Monday morning so he can work a little.  I’m looking forward to seeing a bunch of people at various Bat Mitzvahs in Philly in November and then I’ll see everyone at the reunion in January – I’m so excited!  Be well and study hard (sorry, it’s the teacher in me!) and I’ll see you soon!

Julie and Robin

What’s up, Canadensis!

It’s starting to turn cold in St. Louis, and that definitely has me missing Camp!  I can’t believe that it’s been over two months since I left Canadensis.  I guess that means that we only have eight months to go!

My life is pretty simple back in Missouri, it’s basically all about teaching.  My school year started in mid-August, so I’ve already been in school for eight weeks.  I teach a history class called “Global Issues,” that’s required for every Senior in the school.  It’s a really fun class to teach.  I also teach AP Government, which I really like.  In addition to teaching, my school has a small international resident program and I live on campus in the dorms with about fifty students.  It’s a huge time committment, but it’s been good to save some money.

I’m actually planning a pretty interesting event at my school at the moment.  We have a house system, very similar to what you read about in Harry Potter, and each semester we have big house competitions.  Well, this year I suggested doing a large, five-team Apache Relay.  The administration bought the idea, so with some of the Senior leaders I’ve been busy planning an Apache for 850 students.  We’re calling it the “Red Devil Relay” (Our school mascot), but it’s essentially designed after the Apache at Canadensis.  Instead of burning a rope at the end, we’re burning a fuse that’s going to light fireworks and smoke bombs.  It should be great!  And it’ll be interesting to see how it works with five teams instead of two.  It was supposed to be last week, but had to be postponed due to rain.  (It’s amazing how even here in Missouri, it seems to want to rain during the Apache!)

That’s basically what’s going on with me.  I’ve gotten out for a lot of hikes in Missouri lately.  Missouri is great, but it makes me miss the Appalachian Mountains, especially the hike I took with the Upper Seniors this summer.  I visited Pennsylvania about a month ago, which was really nice, and I’ll be back in Jersey for the Reunion in January.

I hope that everyone is doing well.  I miss you all and I already can’t wait to start the Summer of 2010.

Take care, and don’t hesitate to be in touch,

-Will