ERIC AND ROBIN

ARE ENGAGED!

Click Here for a clip from the all new Canadensis Today

This morning Eric Forti popped the question to Lower Girls Camp Head Counselor Robin Hasson at her school in Florida! Eric went to Robin’s 1st grade class to read her students a special story. When he got to the end of the story he read the words, “will you marry me.” More details on Monday and a special Canadensis Today will be posted later today!

“Will you …”

Robin and the Ring

Special Thanks to Julie Santiago for the pictures!

Hello Canadensis…

So, today was one of those days that you just don’t know where it went.  I’m calling today a Weird Wednesday.  First off, I was supposed to go to camp today.  Unfortunately, those plans got canceled.  A shame because I really wanted to see all of the work that has been going on up at camp.  More of camps roads on girls side and senior boys side have been recently paved, so I wanted to see that.  Plus, any day you can be up at camp is a great day!  Right?  So, I sat down at my desk today with a few things that needed to get done.  Before I could even open the documents on my computer, the phone just kept ringing all day.  As soon as I finished one call, another call came in.  It was crazy!  When I looked at the clock, it was already 4 pm and the document that I opened at 9 am was still only halfway completed.  Oh well.  I’d prefer talking to our camp families and all the other companies we do business with instead.  But, it was just so strange for a day when I wasn’t even supposed to be in my office to begin with!

I got some more Halloween pictures sent to me.  Some more awesome costumers!  Here they are:

Ben, Matthew and Jacob went to Philly and participated in the Race For Hope.

Megan as a Bag of Jelly Beans. She won best costume at her school. Congrats, Megan!

David as Harry Potter. Do you know any spells to double your amount of candy?

So, big game tonight in the World Series.  If the Phillies win, it’s on to an exciting Game 7 tomorrow night.  If the Yankees win, this thing is over and New York will win their 27th World Series Championship.  To that I say three words…Let’s Go Phils!  Should be a good game.  Anyone going?  If so, take a picture and I’ll post it here.

As for pictures, here are some of my favorite from the past summer…

Mikayla and Maddie at the Lake

Here's Looking At You, Ethan and Jake!

Carly and Rachel.

Alex Flexes His Guns!

Finally, in something that is totally unrelated, I have an off the cuff question for all of you.  So, I am sitting and having my lunch today (cheese steak with onions) and in the bag are ketchup packets.  On them, they read “Fancy Ketchup.”  So, I ask.  What makes this ketchup fancy?  Hmmmm….

Well, that’s all for today. Keep reading.

Until then…Have a great day…Brian

This is the first LIVE blog post! I am sitting right now in a jury duty waiting room in Philadelphia. A few weeks ago, I received a summons to appear at Jury Duty for the city of Philadelphia. Of course I wasn’t excited to get this, as I had been here only 2 years ago. Luckily at that time, I didn’t get placed on a trial, and I am hoping the same will happen again! This morning, I arrived at 8:15am and within 30 minutes was selected to be interviewed as a juror. The whole process is interesting, as you have to complete a questionnaire, basically finding out if you can be impartial, fair, etc. Once the judge reviews the questionnaires, he/she interviews potential jurors and asks questions about your job, etc.

They took 60 of us up to a courtroom and we sat waiting for the judge to begin her questions. Luckily, the case was settled just as we were in the interview process, so we were told to sit tight and we would find out if we would be sent home for the day or would have to go back to the waiting room. Unfortunately for us, we had to go back to the waiting room.

After a few more hours of literally sitting and doing nothing, they sent us out for an hour and a half lunch. I went home and brought back my laptop so that I can blog with all of you (sad, I know!) Last time I was here, cell phones/laptops weren’t permitted in the waiting room, however now they are! So, I am “borrowing” some neighbors wireless internet and writing to all of you about my misery sitting in this room all day.

Back to fun camp stuff! Yesterday, Matt, Aunt Terri, and I went up to camp for a few hours. We had a meeting scheduled with a nearby University to discuss them coming to Canadensis in September. From the moment she arrived, she was in awe of Canadensis. And this is the off season, so while it looks beautiful like it always does, it’s not as amazing to see when nobody is there, the grass is long, the pools are empty, etc. The lady had visited 6 other camps, many in our area, and still said that we were the most beautiful of them all…and I am not making this up! It goes to show, Canadensis is awesome!

Afterwards, Matt and I filmed a brief Today Show which will be posted shortly. It shows some of the new paving around camp, highlights the main office/grove renovations, and also gives you a sneak peek into the dining hall improvements that we are in the process of doing. So, I will let you all know when it gets posted, but you definitely won’t want to miss it.

Aunt Terri and I then drove to Scarsdale, NY and met with new camper Jordana Kaller. Jordana is so excited to be joining the Canadensis Family and lives on the same block as Sydney Goldman! It was great to meet Jordana and her family and see how excited she really is to be starting at camp. To quote Jordana, “I wish camp was starting tomorrow!” My thoughts exactly…

After a long day of driving literally around the tri-state area in a big loop, I got home around 11PM exhausted, but excited to have gone to camp and seen the excitement in the eyes of some of our campers. I hope everyone is doing well and not as bored as I am in Jury Duty!

Hello Canadensis…

Didn’t get a chance to blog yesterday due to the fact that I went down to the office in Plymouth Meeting.  On those days, I am in the car for at least 3 hours, which leaves very little time to get other things accomplished.  Yesterday was the first day for our new Assistant Director Pam Levi.  For those that didn’t read the last newsletter (which is still available to read on the website), Pam is joining our year round team after working in the camping industry for a number of years.  She is going to be an amazing addition as she brings in a ton of experience, creativity, organization and camp spirit!  Welcome, Pam!

We actually even sat down for a number of hours yesterday to begin really putting together the summer calendar.  As Eric mentioned in the November 1 Canadensis Today Show (available in the Media Room), we have used the information that we received on your surveys to help with our planning.  Thanks to everyone that filled it out.  Your suggestions have really been helpful, although I’m sorry to disappoint those that were hoping for Miley Cyrus to come to camp next year.  Oh yeah, one more thing, sushi is a bit too difficult to serve for 600+ people so don’t expect that to be on the menu next year.  The meeting, which went for 2.5 hours, really got me excited for the summer.  We even spoke of a possible scenario for Color War break!  Of course, there is no chance of me ever revealing that one.

Later on, Eric and I had dinner with Programming Director Roy Faden.  First off, it was Roy’s 50th Birthday on Friday.  Happy Birthday Roy!  During dinner, Roy also provided great insight for ways of making Summer 2010 even better than last summer.  We are so grateful for having Roy as part of our team.  Producing schedules for all of our campers and staff is one daunting task.  Roy, along with Programming Coordinators Brian Stern and Will Armon, made it possible for the summer to run so smoothly.  The dinner with Roy made the summer feel not so far away either.  In fact, my ride home to New Jersey felt a lot quicker with such a good talk about camp!

Programming Director Roy Faden and his new friend!

I got two great e-mails today that I wanted to share with everyone.  The first was from Jared “Groundhog” Katzman, who let me know that the Video Yearbook is almost ready for duplication.  He is almost ready to submit it to us so we can get it copied for everyone.  It should arrive in the first few weeks of December so be on the lookout!  I thought the DVD, produced by Lauren “L-Mac” McGuire, was so amazing!  The idea of having the campers as reporters was great.  I can’t wait to watch it again.  The other e-mail was from 2010 CIT Samantha Goldberg.  Every once in a while, I will get an e-mail from her that simply screams with her excitement for camp.  This e-mail was no different as Samantha reminded me that we only have 235 days until camp.  She also mentioned how excited she was for the Reunion in January as well as the CIT Weekend in the spring. Apparently, some of the CITs for Summer 2010 will be getting together in an upcoming weekend, too.  At the end of today, I also got a chance to talk with Counselor Martha Archer.  Martha is back at Ohio University in her Junior year.  She said that everything is going well and was so thrilled to receive several invites to campers bar and bat mitzvahs!

So, I have started to receive a number of your Halloween pictures.  Thanks for sharing to everyone who sent one in.  If you haven’t sent one in and would still like to, I will continue to post them.  First off, I hope everyone had a good time trick-or-treating or going to Halloween parties.  The concert I went to was a lot of fun.  And, a lot of good costumes, too.  The best was a group costume of people that went as all the Kellogg’s characters (Cap’n Crunch, Toucan Sam, Snap, Crackle and Pop, Dig’Em, Lucky the Leprechaun).  So now, without further ado, here are your costumes…

Andrew as a Vampire!

Allison (left) as a Cat. Meow!

Alexa (right) and Carly (left) All Punked Out!

Andy as a Monster. According to his dad, Andy apparently scared off a number of the neighborhood kids. Ha Ha!

Dylan as a Lego.

Scott as Hannah Montana. So, I stand corrected; Miley Cyrus can be at camp next summer.

Good stuff everyone!  Again, thanks for sharing.  I think Halloween at camp is going to a blast!

Finally, congratulations to Paula and Josh Halpern for guessing the answer to the last trivia question.  The Monster Mash went to #1 on the Billboard Charts in 1962.  Your Color War bands are on their way!  On one last Halloween and Monster Mash note, if you haven’t seen the Jib Jab video on Eric’s blog, go there now.  It is hysterical!

More blogging tomorrow!

Until then…Have a great day…Brian

First off, way to go Phillies!

I really liked Brian’s idea to use a song title in each of his posts last month, so in keeping with the trend, I will use the title of a Musical Theatre Showtune in the title of each of my posts all month! If you can tell me what show they’re from, I’ll let you post a shout out to your camp friends in my next post! Today’s musical theatre showtune title is in keeping with the theme of the World Series… GO PHILLY!

Happy November camp friends! I do love the fall, and today is the perfect fall day! I hope most of you are enjoying the day off of school; two Canadensis regulars even spent some time visiting the office today!

Can you tell which sister's in the photo?

It’s always nice to see camp friends outside of camp, and I was especially excited to see CJ and Mel today! We spent some time catching up, and the girls showed me a few funny Sukonik family photos, including an original camp photo from CJ’s first camp picture day! We had a lovely lunch at Redstone and it hardly even felt like a day at the office with all the fun we were having!

I’ll be spending the rest of today and tomorrow interviewing some new staff applicants who have applied to camp recently, as well as working on the staff hiring college tour that we’ll begin next February! We are going to some great new locations this year, and I’m so excited to meet new people and hire some more amazing new staff.

The Glee Soundtrack debuts today! Anyone else so excited?!

The moment you have all been waiting for- there is a brand-new Canadensis Today show posted on www.canadensis.com –> media room.

It is a very special edition of Canadensis Today including an exclusive interview with a very famous and well known person around the world who currently resides in DC. Go have a look at Canadensis Today!

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!