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 It has outdated information, ignores the brand-new amphitheatre/canteen area, etc.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