I have written on this blog since it’s inception and sometimes I am sure at times it may get just slightly boring for you to read. I mean my adventures and life are just so interesting all the time so I couldn’t imagine this blog ever getting dull, but anyway, I have decided that starting today, we will have guest bloggers from time to time. If you think you would be a good guest blogger, please email me eric@canadensis.com so I can feature you in a future blog.

For our very first guest blogger, I introduce you to Marshall Weinstein. Marshall has worked at camp for 4 summers and was a groupleader this past summer for our Lower Inter Boys. Marshall is a great counselor/group leader and is also a very close friend of mine personally. Although we don’t see each other during the winter, it’s always great seeing him throughout the summer. One final note, Marshall admitted that it wasn’t so easy to write his first blog entry, so perhaps some of you will understand that at times, it’s a difficult thing to do, nevertheless it’s something I absolutely love doing!

Hi camp family!!

It’s Marshall, guest blogging for Forti.  Not sure why he asked me, but I am happy to say hi nonetheless. I am coming to you all the way from Bellingham, Washington. It is in Northern Washington, about 20 miles south of the Canadian border and 80 miles north of Seattle, where my family is. Check it out on a map if you are really curious. I am three weeks into my last quarter of college. I could not be more excited about graduating in December.

I am student teaching in a third grade classroom in a brand new school. The kids in my class are a blast, of course not as much fun as all of you, but still a lot of fun. I take over the classroom full time in the middle of October. Wish me luck! I am currently teaching a unit on the geography of Washington State; (see the picture below to see my teaching about continents) my kids are learning all about maps and geographical features like mountains, oceans, rivers and things like that in Washington. They are really into it.

I got a chance to go home and go to the University of Washington football game this weekend with my brother who goes to school there. It was amazing to be at the game and watch the Huskies beat number 3 USC. Got to rush the field and everything. Just had to mention it if there are any USC fans at camp. Washington football is back; lets go DAWGS!!!

Anyway, that is about all that is going on with me. Teaching, Teaching, and more teaching. Can’t wait to see you all for Summer 2010 and to get that five-year jacket with my fellow five years! Shout out to Lower Inter Boys of summers 08 and 09. Miss all of you, thanks for two amazing summers. Thanks again to Forti for asking me to blog and say hi.

Marshall

Thanks Jason for updating my blog, as I had forgotten to before I left!

The past few days, I had the unique opportunity to participate in a Residential Camp Tour. Each year, the New York American Camping Association (ACA) organizes a tour of overnight camps (similar to ours). Over 40 camp directors were present for a 2-day, 6-camp tour in the Berkshires, up in Massachusetts.

So, on Monday night I headed out for a long drive up to this beautiful part of the country. Tuesday, we toured three great residential camps. Each camp had its own unique character to it. The camps in the Berkshires generally are single-sex (boys or girls camp, not co-ed like ours) and typically are built on a portion of large public lakes. I admit, they are bigger than Lake Lenape, however they are public and that means they have neighbors who also use the lake for boating and can possibly gain access to the camp that way. Clearly, we would rather have our own private lake, than be on a public lake!

It is so valuable to spend 2 straight days walking around other camps. Besides the very necessary exercise that it provided to me (after eating here at Canadensis for 5.5 months with a baker!), it’s really neat to see what other camps are doing. See what they are building new, see what programs they are putting their resources into, get new ideas for programs, etc. One thing I noticed is that nobody has our glass fusion program and in fact their arts centers are typically smaller without a center courtyard/wraparound porch! However, I don’t want this post to be about knocking other camps, because they were each beautiful in their own special ways.

The truth is, all camps are in the same industry and so in reality we all support each other. We each find our niche and attract campers for different reasons, but the important thing is that we are all running safe, fun programs and that more and more families see the benefits that the camping industry can provide to kids. Some of the camps I visited had a few less campers this summer due to the economy, while some saw growth based on changes they made (ie- new buildings, becoming a 2 session camp instead of just offering a 7-week session, etc.)

Further, it was refreshing to talk with other camp directors and owners who went through very similar challenges to us this past summer. Be it the rain, or the threat of swine flu for example, we all collaborated on what we did right and perhaps what we could have done better in hindsight. I truly enjoyed the opportunity to meet with many well-known camp directors/owners and hear their take on Summer 2009 and even more importantly, what they are doing to prepare for an even better Summer 2010!

On a personal note, I am headed home from camp today to be with my family and spend the first 2 days of Rosh Hashanah. On my way home, I will be picking up Robin from the airport, as she is headed up north! Sunday, I will be returning to camp and on Monday we say goodbye to our wonderful postcamp staff/remaining kitchen staff and finally, on Tuesday, I HEAD BACK TO CIVILIZATION! That’s right- on Tuesday I move back to my condo in Philly, which I haven’t seen in about 6 months. I get to sleep late, cook my own meals- oh wait, that means I also have to wash the dishes! Actually, I also don’t get to sleep late, because on Wednesday, I will begin working from our brand-new office in Plymouth Meeting. But, don’t feel bad for me, because then it’s a week in Florida after that. So, alot of traveling as usual the next few weeks.

Stay tuned for a postcamp Winter Edition of Canadensis Today as we officially say goodbye to Summer 2009 with our remaining staff members.

L’shanah Tovah to all of our camp families and a very Happy and Healthy New Year.

I start with that question, because I get asked that a whole lot. Whether its out socializing with people, at the Binghamton University Reunion each year, or the person that cuts my hair, everyone wants to know what camp directors do, especially in the off season. Normally I answer with “During the off season we have group rentals, we recruit staff, recruit campers, visit existing families, accounting/finance, purchasing, traveling to exotic places, etc.”, but today I have quite a different answer for you. Here is my story:

[Before I start my story, I have to give you a few definitions first:

• Burn Pile- Most camps and business, especially up in the mountains, have a burn pile. Our burn pile is behind our shop in a contained area and meets all of the local and state regulations in terms of how we burn and what we burn. The burn pile has old cubbies that are broken and scrap wood from Color War.
• John Deere- Camp owns a backhoe similar to the one pictured below. We will refer to it as the John Deere.

Now that you know those definitions, on with the story. Since we had rain over the past several days, Tom (our maintenance caretaker) and I decided it would be a good time to light our burn pile. With all of our safeguards in place, Tom lit the fire around 9:30AM and maintained constant watch over it. At around 10:30AM he started up the John Deere to push a few more things into the fire and that’s when the problem started. I was sitting at my desk twiddling my thumbs (just kidding, busy at work of course!) and Tom called on the radio for me to come to the shop. I figured this couldn’t possibly be good. I ran up to the shop (just kidding again, wouldn’t want you to think I actually ran) and found the John Deere stopped a few feet from the fire. I said to myself, self, that wasn’t the smartest place for Tom to leave the John Deere. Turns out, on the other side of it that I couldn’t see from the distance, the back tire (about the height of a Freshman camper) literally fell off the John Deere. So now this heavy machinery was leaning on the tire, but it was completely off the rim/wheel.

Matt Unger met me up there as well as Val (another of our maintenance employees) and we immediately threw water on the fire with the nearby hose. We also had the fire department on standby just in case the fire got out of control, but luckily for us, the fire was completely under control and burning just fine. Problem was, we needed to get this heavy machine out of the way and we definitely weren’t pushing it. Val called our mechanic (who happens to be her boyfriend) and he said to try to reattach the tire. Easier said then done, this thing weighs more than a person and we had to stand only a couple of feet from the fire in order to reattach this thing. Unger got one of our trucks and tried to tow it, but of course the John Deere is the heaviest thing we own and so there was no chance of towing it.

So, now we had to think of another idea. Tom lifted up the backwheel by putting down the outrigger (a stabilizer “foot” that is on each side of the John Deere to keep it level when digging holes) and Matt and I tried to reattach the wheel. By this point, we had an audience of Kaelah, Karen Sharir, and Winch and they were hosing down the fire to keep it back and try to cool us down. After about 10-15 minutes and very hot necks and backs, Matt and I got 2 bolts sort of reattached and the tire back in place. Tom backed it up a few feet and got it out of the way. One other funny (I suppose thing) was when Karen Sharir hosed my back down my shirt was literally steaming from the heat. I laugh about it now, but I wasn’t at the time.

Well all is well up at camp. The burnpile burned and now it is back to dirt and the John Deere will be fixed tomorrow by our wonderful mechanic. So, what lesson did we learn? Next time you are operating a giant machine, make sure the bolts holding the tire on are TIGHT:)

There you go, that’s what a camp director does on a Saturday morning in September.

All of the wonderful postcamp staff are in my office right now and they have these messages for all of you:

Geo KID!-Shoutout to all the hockey peeps at camp!

Karen Sharir-So, camp is really quiet without all of you here. But, we still have Lauren Berry. Shout out to Lower Senior Girls 2009.

Lauren Berry-2010, I can’t wait. I already paid my CCUSA returnee fee and will be back for another great summer. I also miss Dr. Pepper, the horse. Shoutout to all my horses and G-16.

Kaelah Gasperotti-Shout out to my horses and my housemate.

Alex Steel- Whhhhhaaaaatttttttt???

Shawn Bolton-Shoutout to 2009 B-19/2010 CIT’s.  It’s the fourth quarter, you gotta push it.

Justin Winch- Jaycal is now accepting applications for next year’s Canadensis Today Show. Send all emails to editor@canadensis.com (excluding Mara Bernstein). Just kidding Mara, you’re already in it. Shout out to 2009 Upper Inter Boys.

I guess fall is upon us as it’s getting much cooler in the mountains. Our nights have hit the 40’s/50’s and all of our postcamp staff ( about 8 ) are now living in the warm, cozy, heated health center.

Just to recap some of the work done this past week:

The main office roof is coming along nicely. The shingles and plywood have been delivered and over half the roof has been ripped off. As I type this post, it’s raining outside and the only thing keeping me dry is the tarp!

Our boats have come back from being winterized and serviced. The marina assures us they are in tip top shape for next year’s waterskiing season!

Our postcamp staff are busy painting cabin floors (about 20 in total) as well as powerwashing the bathroom floors, including the urinals in boys camp!

Our maintenance team of Tom and Val are going through cabins and fixing things up. Painting the screen doors, fixing/replacing windows, etc. The water on Senior Boys side will be shut off beginning Monday, which means we are nearing the end of postcamp.

Our kitchen staff is busy cleaning up the dining hall. They are mopping all of the floors, bleaching the tables, etc.

In other news, we have moved most of our files into our NEW WINTER OFFICE in Plymouth Meeting, PA. We are looking forward to working from our new office and promise that we will bring you an “Access Granted” on the Winter Edition of the Today Show with the behind the scenes views of our brand-new office.

Jaycal is hard at work on our “Look Back” episode of Canadensis Today and I know it’s going to be a funny episode, which will be posted real soon. In case you missed the details on the memories of the Today Show, scroll down to the post titled Canadensis Today Top Moments and be sure to write in and share with us your favorite memories of the Today Show.

One final thing before I sign off- this weekend is a real special weekend at Canadensis. In addition to the karate camp, student association from a University, and a high school peer facilitator retreat, we are proud to host the Special Olympics from the Philadelphia Area. Twice a year, Canadensis is proud to donate our facilities to the wonderful athletes involved in the Special Olympics. It’s such a treat hosting them and seeing the excitement in their eyes when they arrive for the weekend up here at camp. Just like all of you campers who get so excited when you board the bus headed to camp and maybe a little teary eyed when you have to leave (CIT shoutout for tears!), the Special Olympic athletes here are the same way. They look forward to their 2 visits each year and are so grateful for us allowing them to be here. Tomorrow night is typically a talent show/dance and I will be sure to report back on how that goes.

In closing, today is obviously a sad day for our country, and as Robin put it to her first graders this morning in school, go home and tell your moms, dads, family members, and friends how much you love them.

Before I start with today’s blog, I need to show you a picture that was tagged of me on facebook!

Now that you have stopped laughing at me, I can tell you that it’s a picture of yours truly with Super Senior ’09 Ethan Dayno. Ethan’s dad used to be a doctor up at camp and each summer I would have the “pleasure” of having Ethan join my bunk for the week that his dad was doctor, starting when he was just 3 years old! My favorite memory of Ethan…oh, I won’t embarrass him like that! Ah, the memories Ethan and the entire Dayno family!

Now, back to regular blogging! Labor Day Weekend was a blast up at camp! We held our first annual Indian Summer Weekend and over 40 alumni and friends enjoyed picture perfect weather. Check out the Today Show in the canadensis.com media room for more info on this great weekend- hopefully you will plan on joining us in September 2010!

Robin Hasson's nephew Jake "lifeguarding" for us at the girls pool

While Jake was lifeguarding, our postcamp staff was enjoying the weather!

In other news, the main office renovation is in full swing. The roof is in the process of being ripped off by our very own Alex Dean and Jimmy, our maintenance contractor. After the roof project, tons and tons of dirt will be dropped off to improve the grove drainage. Take a look at some of the photos below.

Main Office renovations

Alex Dean hard at work on the roof

Skylight (not done purposely) in my office closet!

Marching bands are great, awesome, fabulous, and sound wonderful. I am a big supporter of the marching bands and think they are very important. However, with all of that being said, you start to get a headache when the drumline is right in front of your office. This is what I have to look forward to beginning tomorrow. You see, this week we will be hosting 4 marching bands simultaneously. The pavilion field, big field behind the main office (skin diamond/JV field outfields), lake field, and senior field have all been turned into makeshift football fields, complete with the lines and hashes in preparation of our 4 band arrivals.

This past week 2 bands were here along with running camp, however they were practicing on the lake/senior fields and therefore it wasn’t so loud. However, they did march to breakfast to the beat of the drums which was quite interesting.

Now fast forward to tomorrow (I know this already because I have worked here 5 years full time!). The drum sectional will be practicing in the grove. And they will just keep playing boomp, ba boomp, ba boomp, etc. I appreciate the drums and the rhythm they provide to the marching band, but I like hearing them WITH other instruments. At nights, when I am trying to concentrate on accounting (the fun world of bookkeeping), the trumpets will certainly be blaring out on the office courts, as the brass sectional is always traditionally held out on those courts. So imagine drums in front, trumpets behind- OY VEY!

The truth is, that’s not the worst of it. I failed to mention that one of the other bands converts our golf cart garage (located next to the movie theatre) into a drum sectional as well. Ordinarily, that’s no problem for me because I live in my office 90% of the day. However, that 10% that I want to sleep, well the drums will be practicing right down the hill from my house late at night and let’s not forget the trumpet reveille that’s sure to wake me at 6AM. Oh well, it’s part of hosting marching bands!

Partially I am just writing all of this for sympathy points, because while it’s annoying hearing just them thump of drums, I do truly enjoy watching their shows come together from Day 1 through Day 7 and they get quite a bit done. The band members are usually very friendly and courteous and don’t eat nearly as much food as football teams (when we used to host them).

In other news, alot of our staff are now leaving. All of our international counselors and support staff have 9 week contracts. This means that they arrive for our one week of orientation, then 7 weeks of summer camp, and then have 1 week to work for postcamp. We were nice this time and they each enjoyed one day off, but otherwise they were cleaning cabins, moving boats, and starting to get the camp ready to close.

Well, that’s about all I have for today. I have to remember to keep the blog entries short (or Jaycal will eventually yell at me). Spell check is so annoying, it needs to learn that Jaycal IS a word:)

Hi All,
As I sit here Friday night in my office, I can’t help but recall all of the amazing memories of Summer 2009. Currently at camp there is a running group, 2 marching bands, and a daycare from Chinatown. So, we have a full packed house, but of course it’s not nearly the same.

I hear music right now in the Rec Hall and it reminds me of Miss Canadensis, the girls fashion show, and our wonderful theater productions. One marching band is practicing in the pavilion, which makes me think of the showcase basketball game with the entire camp screaming for their color war team! Over on Senior side, another band is playing in the Senior Canteen, but it’s just not the same without all of you here at camp.

Summer 2009 was simply amazing. The summer of Zoogle (shout-out to Will) and who could forget the Today Show. Speaking of, I hope campers have had a chance to check out all of the Today Shows which are posted in our media room. I know there are alot (one for each day), but perhaps you can watch one a week all winter to keep you going until Summer 2010! They certainly were a blast to film each day and I can’t even tell you how excited Jaycal, Will, and I are as we began discussions for Winter Today Shows as well as segments for next summer. I can promise you now that we have one year under our belt, there will be even more camper segments, but one thing is for sure- we will continue to do our “Gold Carpet Interviews”, which have proven to be quite popular.
Back to the summer- there are way too many great memories to recount here on the blog, but overall I just want to say thank you to everyone:

To our amazing support staff- They work incredibly hard behind the scenes to make sure that you have clean clothes to wear, that you are fed, and that you trash is picked up each day! They are a group of extremely hard working college students who participate in a cultural exchange by coming to the states and as they depart over the next few weeks they are looking forward to well deserved vacation/traveling across the country. A few are even going on a cruise to Alaska!

To the head staff- From programming to head counselors and group leaders, thanks for working so hard and paying attention to detail this summer. Our head staff is the best of any camp (of course I am biased) and puts in many late nights and early mornings to make sure that you have the best summer ever!

To the staff of 2009– This year’s staff was absolutely amazing. So many of you did what was asked of you, but also went above and beyond. You had patience dealing with the campers, you showed compassion when needed, and this summer especially you showed flexibility with all of the rain. Thanks for providing the campers with such a great experience at camp. Hopefully you all enjoyed it as well and I look forward to seeing many of you right back here next summer.

To our health center nurses and doctors– Thanks for all you do to keep campers and counselors healthy. While I walk around saying that “I play doctor at camp” our nurses and doctors have so much responsibility for each of you at camp and take it seriously, while still having fun from time to time. Thanks for the water fights and for being you!

To Matt Unger & Sam Ginsburg (the operations team)– They also work mainly behind the scenes to ensure a smooth summer. From organizing transportation out of camp, to ordering food and everything in between they are the backbone of camp and without them, things wouldn’t get done. Thanks guys for such an incredible summer and for all that you do on a daily basis for the campers. I couldn’t imagine anyone else I would want to work with.

To Jaycal- the executive producer of Canadensis Today– You are such a talented young man and deserve all of the recognition for Canadensis Today. It was your brainchild and you gave up so much of your free time to better the show. Thanks for “dealing” with me and Will and not loosing your temper on us (something which would be very easy to do)! Best of luck at GW this year and I know you will be successful at whatever you set your mind to. Looking forward to Canadensis Today Winter Edition and Summer 2010!

To Will Armon– Hey Buddy! As my official co-host of Canadensis Today you certainly had to put up with alot from me. Let alone the schedule, but my athletic inabilities, blundering of lines time after time, and repetition of certain words (which of course you loved to point out) you are a great friend. I will miss you out in St. Louis but I have a feeling that I will get to see you again in PA soon. Keep in touch Bro.

To Robin– You put up with my hectic schedule and embarrassing you in front of millions live on the Today Show when I read the email from “the grandma”. You are the best…enough said!

And finally, to the campers of Summer 2009– You all were terrific. I learned so much from each of you and enjoyed the time we spend together. Whether it was the freshman boys in Cooperstown, or Boys 5 Zoogling out in front of the HQ, or spending time with G3 in ceramics, or Mara Bernstein running on the Today Show you all are amazing. I look forward to seeing many of you throughout the winter in your homes or around town and definitely at the Summer 2009 Reunion!

I have to run and take care of a few things for the groups here. Don’t worry, I am not actually “running”, especially with 300 runners surrounding me, it’s very intimidating. Speaking of, I will leave you with this…I was invited over to their activity this afternoon. They were running on treadmills sponsored by Nike and a computer was analyzing their gait and running form. I laughed and said do you want your computer to break??

Sorry for the lack of updates the past week. It has been a whirlwind week! We said goodbye to the last of our precamp groups. Precamp was a huge success and I can’t thank the precamp staff enough for a wonderful job. They worked so hard, especially with the rain and cold weather.

This weekend is our leadership weekend. All of our activity directors and groupleaders joined us for a fun-filled orientation weekend. What an energizing group of people and it’s awesome to see their spirit and excitement for Summer 2009. Tomorrow morning we welcome the rest of our counselors and support staff for our 1 week orientation until opening day! We can’t wait.

Just to let you know, a new episode of Canadensis Today can be found at http://www.canadensis.com, click on media room, videos, 2009 video clips, Canadensis Today. I hope you will all tune in!

Hey All,

The weather has broken and FINALLY the sun came out! Not sure for how long, but it’s out. This weekend we had an orientation session for some of our staff members who won’t be able to attend our regular orientation due to high school graduation, proms, etc. Will did a terrific job working with them on Saturday and Sunday and it was great to see energized counselors who are excited for the coming summer!

This afternoon, Will, Sam, and I cleaned out the Head Counselors office. From vacuuming the light fixtures to cleaning the windows, we did it all and now it’s ready for summer time! Our head staff/groupleaders arrive this coming Wednesday night for orientation and then we are in full swing by the weekend. I am really excited as this is the start of a great 8 weeks.

Time to go to dinner, but for now enjoy the entertainment provided by Cara Corradetti. Thanks Cara!