Well, it’s only Tuesday and already I feel as though this week is flying by. I spent yesterday out of the office at Shippensburg University, where I tabled at the school’s job fair. The best part of the trip was getting to catch up with Austin Cromartie, who came by the job fair and kept me company at the table. I’m sure I don’t have to say that we talked about camp (duh), and got to share some other fun stories as well. When I went to Shippensburg last year, it was on a terrible snowy day, and I hardly got a chance to see the campus and walk around, but yesterday was bright and sunny, which made the day a lot more enjoyable.

And no blog post would be complete without an update of my weekend dinners with friends! This weekend I was excited to see my usual dining crew (Karen Sharir, Dani Corradetti, and Rebecca Waxman), and we were all even more excited to add Guest of Honor Bryan LaFave to our dinner club! Bryan is in town rehearsing for his upcoming tour, and it was so exciting to get to hear about his rehearsals, and plans for the tour. Here are a few pictures from dinner:

Of course the biggest event of this week is this season’s premier of LOST!!! Jason Calabretta and I are avid Lost watchers, discussers, theorizers, etc. We are both in a vortex of anticipation for tonight’s big event, and I cannot wait for the season to unfold, and for ALL the answers of the past few years to be revealed! If you are a Lost fan, I hope you’ll share your ideas and theories with JCal and I, and if you are not yet a Lost fan, I highly recommend watching all the seasons, getting caught up, and watching the series finale with us.

I’ve also got some extra curricular activities this week (aka, the other things I do in my life that aren’t camp related), and my week i ridiculously busy! I’ve got an Alumni dinner meeting with my Sorority in King of Prussia, and some volunteer work at the High School to keep me busy before I leave on Sunday for a week of hiring on the road. I’ll be blogging from the road, so stay tuned for all the updates!

Text message of the day:
“Thought you would love: The course number for psych is 1835. Where is the two?!?!”
~Dani Corradetti, on her course selection codes.

Well hello everybody from beautiful Sydney, Australia. Sorry I haven’t blogged very often, but it seems that we have been receiving excellent feedback on the use of our new twitter page – http://www.twitter.com/whereisforti. We have had an overwhelming number of emails answering random trivia questions throughout my stay here in Australia and I am glad to see so many campers remembering former staff amongst other random facts about Australia!

I had a wonderful week as always. I was here the shortest amount than I have ever been here- 6 days on the ground…which considering it took almost 3 days to get here, that’s a short stay. No complaints though as I had an amazing week full of visits to the beaches, an impromptu surfing lesson, visits with SOO many former staff members in each city, and oh yea I hired a great set of Australian Staff here for Summer 2010! All of the staff are so excited about coming to camp for this coming summer and meeting all of you- the Canadensis Family! Of course ya’ll will greet them as you always do and welcome them to our summer home.

Well short blog as I prepare for my last dinner here, which is actually a Sydney Harbor Cruise! I did it last year as well, and it’s an awesome vantage point of the beautiful well known Sydney Opera House, Sydney Bridge, etc. You all know my love for boats, so it should be a good night.

Tomorrow I head home and I arrive Monday evening in Philadelphia (quicker on the way home b/c I don’t go through Korea this time!). I leave Thursday for my 2nd round of Where in the World is Eric Forti and these 2 countries on the itinerary this year (plus a stopover in a 3rd city) are all-new ones for Where in the World. I will be sure to bring you videos, trivia questions, and pictures from there, so keep checking back MATES!

Oh, one last thing. That VERY embarrassing image of me surfing is 100% legitimate- no photoshopping whatsoever, because if it was photoshopped it would be my head on Will Armon’s body!

Goodnight all.

You can start playing the game at anytime and answer any questions you want. You don’t have to answer all of them! The more points you accumulate the better your chances are at winning though.

Here are some of the latest tweets from Eric’s Where in the World Trip! Follow Eric on Twitter from constant updates. www.twitter.com/whereisforti. Don’t forget to email your answers to his questions to editor@canadensis.com to receive points. Winners will receive special prizes this summer!

We have received full video of ERIC FORTI “attempting” to surf and will post those throughout the weekend. Please remember to answer all of Eric’s questions to receive the most amount of points possible.

@WhereIsForti: At the airport again on my way to Sydney Australia! Last stop on my Australia tour!

@WhereIsForti: Who am I with? Email your answers to Editor@Canadensis.com! More pictures soon!!http://tweetphoto.com/9945719

@WhereIsForti: All of the other camp directors are mad because the most desired counselor just chose canadensis out of 30 camps! He knows we are the best!

@WhereIsForti: just spoke to Brian Krug!

@WhereIsForti: Up early for 2 days of interviews and hopefully fantastic staff hiring here in Australia!

Moments ago we received the first pictures of Eric Forti surfing in Australia. We will post the full video in the morning as well as a message from Canadensis Staff Alum Jim Price.

Hello Canadensis…

I hope this blog finds everyone in Canadensis Cyberspace doing well.  Once again, I have found myself neglecting my blogging responsibilities, but all I can say is that things have started to really pick up for Summer 2010.  As it stands, it is all camp all the time.  In fact, last night I had camp on my mind that I couldn’t fall asleep until 2:30 am!  Hey, I’m not complaining.  I have the best job in the world!  I get to think about camp 24/7.  And, I get to talk about it all the time, especially to all the campers I meet.  Here’s who I saw since my last blog…

Last week, I went to Livingston, NJ and met up with Stella Scheier, who is in the 2nd grade and will be in our Junior Division this summer.  Stella is actually a second generation Canadensis camper as mom, Mindy, is an alumni of camp.  Stella told me all about her travel soccer team, the Lady Leopards, and that she is also involved in gymnastics at the advanced beginner level.  She also told me that she is participating in the Locks for Love program and is growing her hair to eventually be cut and donated in June.  This summer, she can’t wait to be at camp with her cousins Elizabeth and Olivia Menkowitz as well as trying the climbing wall and zipline, gymnastics and, of course, Color War.  Here is a picture…

The next day, Assistant Director Pam and I made our way to Bala Cynwyd, PA to visit 3rd grader and 2010 Junior Emma Velinsky.  Emma is busy with a wide variety of activities.  She is on a swim team in which her main events are the freestyle and backstroke races.  She is in the MLGBA basketball league.  The name of her team is the Flames.  Emma is also beginning to rehearse for her dance performance in May in which she does jazz and hip-hop dance.  On top of that, she also plays tennis and goes bike riding.  This summer, she is excited for all of the activities at the lake, including the Banana Boat.  Emma also mentioned that she is looking forward to the drive-in movies.  Here is a shot…

At the beginning of this week, I was in Huntingdon Valley, PA to see 2010 Upper Inter Rachel Cebula and her younger brother and future Canadensis Camper Adam Cebula.  Rachel, now in 5th grade and returning for her second summer, let me know that she is playing in the Huntingdon Valley Athletic Association Basketball League as part of the Silver Stars team.  She is also going to gymnastics classes with fellow bunkmate Taylor Schwartz.  In the spring, she is looking forward to playing soccer.  Rachel also filled me in on the number of bunk get togethers she has had with the Girls of Bunk 5 since the summer ended.  She is already counting down the days until she can be back in the 18325 with all of her best friends.  As for brother Adam, he is also playing basketball in the HVAA on the Sixers.  In the fall, his team for soccer took first place, too!  Here is a photo…

On Tuesday, Camp Mom Stephanie Vorcheimer and I went out to Long Island to visit a few of our camp families.  When I picked up Stephanie at her house, I saw 2010 Freshman Boy Max Vorcheimer and Lower Inter Girl Sami Vorcheimer.  Both are doing really well.  Max is busy playing basketball in the Wayne PAL League while Sami is taking dance classes.  Max wanted me to give him a shout on my blog.  So, here it is, Max…a shout out to you!

First, Stephanie and I hit Melville, NY to see 3rd grader and 2010 Junior Girl Marlee Krasin.  First off, Marlee loves art!  She is taking a painting class.  She showed us some of her work which completely blew us away!  It was so good!  See below for proof.  Marlee also takes hip hop, jazz and tap dance classes.  She also likes to play tennis and go swimming.  This summer, she is really looking forward to the all of the rooms in the Art Center, including Glass Fusion, the Art Shack and Ceramics.  Here is a pic…

Next, it was onto Syosset, NY to see Paige Kahn.  Paige, currently in third grade and going to be a Junior Girl this summer, has been waiting to go to Canadensis for quite some time as her older brother Max used to be a camper here.  Paige was recently case as Grace in the show “Annie,” which she will be performing in her neighborhood’s theater program.  The show will be in June.  On most weekends, she is off to the stables for horseback riding, in which she has already learned how to trot and canter through obstacle courses with her horse Spencer.  She also goes snow skiing a lot and is always playing with her dogs Bucky and Blazzy.  This summer, she can’t wait to do the climbing wall, ropes course and zipline, being in the camp show and waterskiing.  Here is a picture…

Last night, I was in Plymouth Meeting, PA to see 2010 Junior Boy and current third grader David Brucker.  As David told me about all the activities he is involved in, it was safe to say that he is a boy with a wide range of interests.  He plays the piano, likes to cook, do arts and crafts and build things.  At the same time, he plays tennis and is currently in a basketball league and his team, the Trailblazers, are undefeated.  This summer, he says he will be participating in the Rock Band program as well as doing a lot of the activities at the Art Center.  He also can’t wait to try waterskiing and the Summit.  Here is a photo…

Finally, I was in Lafayette Hill, PA and saw 2010 Upper Inter Boy Josh Brownstein.  Josh, who is back for his third summer at camp, has been incredibly busy playing basketball in two different leagues, one a travel team and the other a town rec league.  In fact, Josh says this is the year that he is finally going to take me down in a game of H.O.R.S.E.  To be quite honest, I think it is going to be his year, too.  In the spring, Josh will be playing two sports, participating in both baseball and lacrosse leagues.  Here is a photo…

So, as you can see, things have been busy.  On top of all my visits, which as I always say, is the best part of my job in the fall, winter and spring, I have been able to talk with a number of camp counselors and staff over the past week.  I spoke with Mike Lindquist, Alyssa Thibodeau, Marshall Weinstein, Will Armon and Chris Parno.  Last week, Pete Tarnoff stopped by our winter office to say hello.  It has been great!  And, as you can see, it has been all camp, all the time!

Until my next blog, which I’m hoping will be tomorrow.  Have a great day.

-Brian

You can start playing the game at anytime and answer any questions you want. You don’t have to answer all of them! The more points you accumulate the better your chances are at winning though.

Here are some of the latest tweets from Eric’s Where in the World Trip! Follow Eric on Twitter from constant updates. www.twitter.com/whereisforti. Don’t forget to email your answers to his questions to editor@canadensis.com to receive points. Winners will receive special prizes this summer!

@WhereIsForti: If I said that I just ate brekkie at maccas guess what I was doing? Email editor@canadensis.com. Hint: it involves food (of course)

@WhereIsForti: Great flight with my fellow camp directors (our competitors) to melbourne Australia!

@WhereIsForti: Seeing Phoebe Gurr in a few minutes. True or false- phoebe is returning to camp summer 2010! Email editor@canadensis.com

As always, it’s been an eventful week. Pam and Brian are getting ready to take off on the first part of our staff hiring road-trip, and I’m gearing up for a one day extravaganza of hiring at Shippensburg, all day on Monday. After a long and lonely week in the office, Pam and I will reunite and drive up north, for a few days of recruiting in Vermont. I’m really looking forward to going on the road and meeting some potential staff members. Although our counselor positions have filled up VERY quickly this year, there are still come positions we are looking to fill, and I can’t wait to put it at together when we return from the trips!

Over the weekend, with Becky J and  Dani in tow, we took a mini-trip to New Jersey to meet up with  Brooke Appelbaum in East Brunswick. We had a little bit of a wait before we could claim our table at Bensi, so we made a stop at one of my favorite shops, Anthropologie. While I wanted to buy everything in the store (especially the BLUE AND GOLD dish sets!), Dani and I fell in love with their beautiful jeweled hair barrettes, and had to choose a variety to bring home. Every clip was made with a different selection of stones and gems, so each one was unique! I think this could make for a very cool art shack project, especially if we first make our own beads in glass fusion! Definitely something to think about…

After our quick shopping excursion, we sat down for a yummy Italian dinner at Bensi. While the food was OUTSTANDING, our waiter was terrible! We had to ask for refills, and then waited forever for him to bring them to us. Even though the service was disappointing, the company definitely made up for it; I loved getting to spend time with Brooke before she went back to Ithaca. Many of my camp nights off are spent with Brooke and our friends, at Star Pizza or the “BK Lounge” (Our fancy name for Burger King), just talking about camp and having fun, so it was good to feel as though, just for a few hours, it was summer all over again. I can’t wait for anothe r season of late night snacks with everyone in 2010! Of course, we were having SO much fun, I totally neglected to take pictures, but I did take a video of Becky J laughing so hard that she couldn’t catch her breath, so perhaps I’ll post that later!

Finally, it’s been a VERY stressful few weeks in the Corradetti house, with Dani’s auditions for North Penn High School’s production of Thouroughly Modern Millie. I’m VERY excited to report that after days of grueling auditions and call-backs, Dani has been cast as Millie! So, I’m sure from now until May our house is going to be a wild rehearsal studio, since Dani has lots of songs to sing, scenes to memorize, and dances to learn (which means I’ll be taking on the role of full time piano accompanist…) If you’d like tickets to come out and see the show, you can email me at cara@canadensis.com and I’ll get you all the details!

Speaking of Musical Theatre Stars, Bryan LaFave arrives in Philadelphia TODAY, to begin rehearsals for his National Tour of Beauty and the Beast: A Musical Fairytale. I’ve already made plans to see him this weekend for a grand dinner, and I promise to take my camera along and post pictures and updates on the blog! I am beyond excited to get to see Bryan, since the last time I saw him was at camp this past summer!!!

Well, that’s all for now folks. I’ve got to get back to preparing travel folders for Brian and Pam, so that they’ll have directions, hotel confirmations, contact information, and parking instructions, all organized and easily accessible when they hit the road. Have a good rest of the week, Friday is almost here!

You can start playing the game at anytime and answer any questions you want. You don’t have to answer all of them! The more points you accumulate the better your chances are at winning though.

Here are some of the latest tweets from Eric’s Where in the World Trip! Follow Eric on Twitter from constant updates. www.twitter.com/whereisforti. Don’t forget to email your answers to his questions to editor@canadensis.com to receive points. Winners will receive special prizes this summer!

@WhereIsForti: At the brisbane camp fair. Lots of nice aussie applicants! How many will I hire? Ill let you know.

@WhereisForti: Just swam for 2 hours now going out with 2009 horseback counselor! Did you guess who she is?

Here is a picture of Forti and his “Australian Tan!”

You can start playing the game at anytime and answer any questions you want. You don’t have to answer all of them! The more points you accumulate the better your chances are at winning though.

Here are some of the latest tweets from Eric’s Where in the World Trip! Follow Eric on Twitter from constant updates. www.twitter.com/whereisforti. Don’t forget to email your answers to his questions to editor@canadensis.com to receive points. Winners will receive special prizes this summer!

@WhereIsForti: On the train back to my hotel. Gorgeous day at the sunshine coast in Australia. Do I really have to work tomorrow?!

@WhereIsForti: Just attempted to go surfing. What a disaster it was but I survived. Video evidence to follow.

@WhereIsForti: Happy Australia day! I’m off to the gym. How many summers was aussie Jim price (lake director) at camp? Email editor@canadensis.com

@WhereIsForti: Believe it or not there is an aussie today show. Canadensis today is far superior! http://tweetphoto.com/9587525

Well technically, I am certainly not a Singapore Airlines Crewmember, although that would be a cool job, but according to the computer that I found tucked away in the gym at my hotel, I am! See, technically there is a crew room with a computer for Singapore Airlines, but since nobody else is here at 8:30am, I figured I could pass as one, so that I can blog for all of you.

Good morning from Brisbane, Australia. I say it every year, but I love Australia. The people are friendly, the city is clean, and the weather is amazing! Yesterday I arrived here at 6am and was met at the airport by a very nice staff member from 2009! She woke up at 430AM to get me from the airport. I can’t say her name, but hop on over to www.twitter.com/whereisforti and you will see a picture of her (or scroll down and see a blog from yesterday). Guess who she is and you can win a point towards great prizes! Email editor@canadensis.com with your guess.

She took me to the Gold Coast, which is about 1.5 hours outside of Brisbane City. It is amazing beaches, including Surfer’s Paradise, which truly is Paradise. I have done alot of traveling, but the clarity and color of this water was truly splendid. We walked on the beach for a while, had some lunch outside enjoying the nice hot weather, did a bit of walking through shops, and then on our way out stopped at my favorite place of all time- Boost Juice. They have fresh fruit smoothies/ice drinks, but its just so fresh and great. I had a Lemon Crush, which is sorbet, fresh squeezed lemon, orange, and ice blended together. Yum.

In the afternoon, I took the train back to the city and walked to my hotel. Checked in, grabbed some dinner, and went to sleep nice and early. On my way to dinner, I literally walked right passed a former staff member- Tim Pearson. Tim worked in Summer 2006 or 2007 (I don’t remember!) and was on his way home from work grabbing something at the market. It was grea tto catch up just for a few minutes before he had to catch his train home. He is headed to vacation in Bali in a few days, so I won’t be seeing him again.

I slept about 10 hours last night, but remember I hadn’t slept on a real bed since Friday night and now it’s Monday- so it was well deserved, if I may say so myself! Today is Australia Day. Basically, everything is closed and everyone goes to the beach with a big barbie (not the doll, a BBQ).

I on the other hand have been told by Jim Price that I MUST learn how to surf after all these years. I am nervous (OK, terrified) to try to surf and I am sure I will look like a beached whale on the surfboard. He is on his way now to my hotel to pick me up and take me to the Sunshine Coast (similar to the Gold Coast I am told, but nicer!). For my next trivia question, see my twitter where it asks how many summers Jim price has been to camp?? Email editor@canadensis.com with your guesses…

Well before I get caught and am arrested for “impersonating an airline crew member”, I better get off this computer! Hello to all and I will update you on my surfing, or lack thereof, on my twitter.

Finally, many of you were probably watching the Jets game yesterday and may have seen CIT 2009 Josh Schultz at the game. Below you can find a video from that game. Josh can be seen around the 1 min and 9 seconds mark.

Eric