April 2008
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Tuesday, April 29, 2008

P.O. Box "Just 8"

Despite the huge amount of electronic communications going in and out of our office daily, we still rely heavily on good old “snail mail”, delivered to our official mailing address : P.O. Box 8 in Madison, NJ.  A pleasant walk from the CK-NJ Office, we make a daily trip over to clear out the box and bring everything back for sorting.  At this time of year we get lots of camper enrollments, health forms, camper choice surveys, catalogues from all kinds of companies that want us to buy stuff for camp, references for staff applicants, bills (always those), etc.

When we moved our office to Madison last year and dropped by the post office to open our new box, we were surprised to get such a low-numbered one.  Even the folks at the post office were surprised: “Wow, you got 8!”  The first time we had to pick up something at the postal window and said, “Box 8, please,” the clerk said “Just 8?”  And when we tell people our address, they sometimes ask the same thing: “Just 8?”   Today we were printing up new envelopes on our famous Risograph machine (that’s a whole other blog) and were tempted to make our return address “P.O. Box Just 8”, but thought that might be a little too confusing for people.

That’s it from just Campus Kids-NJ in just Madison, the state of just New Jersey, where we are sorting out all that mail from Box Just 8.  The next time you’re in the neighborhood, just drop by and say hello.  We’ll be very glad to see just you.

just Tom

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

A Letter From A Leprechaun!

So yesterday started out like any other spring day at the year round camp office... CRAZY!  There's lots to do to get ready for camp and we'll be heading out to Hackettstown in early June.  There's packets of information to mail, another Sundial coming out soon and we've got lots to do for staff orientation.  First things first though.  Check the email.  Most of it was pretty standard stuff.  People requesting camp brochures and DVD's, a few staff applications, some suggestions for new bunk group names and entries for the new online photo game and... HOLY COW!  I got an email from a Leprechaun!

Okay.  So Robbie isn't a real Leprechaun, but he is Irish and he lives in Ireland!  And when he was my co-counselor back in 1994, our group was called the Leprechauns!  One of the best freshman groups of all time.  We had lots of fun working together.  We were completely different but we got along great.  Robbie was a fantastic football (or soccer for us in the US) player and athlete.  He also taught aerobics and fitness.  I was more of an arts guys.  Well, I was good at making a mess in arts & crafts and ceramics anyway.  Our skills complemented each other and we made a great team.  I think our campers really enjoyed our eclectic bunk group just as much as we did.  The campers were just as different from each other as Robbie and I.

Perhaps that's just part of the "magic of camp" we're always trying to put into words.  Camp brings people together for work and play.  It doesn't matter where you're from or what you're into or if you live in a cave at the end of a rainbow next to a pot of gold.  Everyone feels connected to each other at camp and anyone that's been to CK knows what we mean when we talk about the "magic of camp".  Even if they can't always put it into words either.  Being a counselor is a HARD job.  You have an amazing amount of responsibility and you basically give up any chance of having free time.  But somehow, Robbie and I had just as much fun as the kids!

Robbie worked at camp for a few years and continued to do an amazing job.  Regrettably, we hadn't kept in touch.  However, this made it doubly awesome to get his email yesterday.  He is married now to a wonderful wife named Vicky and they have a young boy named Sean.  Their family is expecting another little one in August.  Robbie now works with people with special needs and runs a sports program for 225 clients through the Irish Health board.  He loves his work and says he still uses all the skills he learned at CK!  Thanks for writing Robbie!  We do hope you'll visit us again someday!

Jeremy

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Announcements in April!

Well, Jeremy and I really miss camp during the “off season” and sometimes we just can’t keep ourselves from trying to maintain that summer camp feeling.  As you can see in this first photo, we have gone outside our office on a recent spring day to have our announcements.  At this point we have already sung the “Announcement Song” and Jeremy seems to be very happy to hear me say that our evening program is water balloon volleyball.

That announcement tree might have beautiful blossoms, but it’s puny compared to the gigantic tree we sit under at camp every day just before lunch to hear our all-camp announcements.  Many staff and campers step up front to talk about all the activities and special events that are coming up so that campers will know what they want to choose for the next day.  It might be the latest pairings for an exciting tournament (Ultimate? Chess? Basketball? Kickball?).  Or important information about upcoming rehearsals (Drama show?  Dance show?  Gymnastics show?).  It might be about the crafts projects taking place tomorrow or a reminder to finish up your ceramics pieces because we’re firing up the kiln soon.  Or maybe we hear about being in next week’s Talent Show or get an invitation to Open Mic at tonight’s Evening Shade.  Maybe it’s telling the Juniors what to bring on their day trip to the lake tomorrow.  Or perhaps it’s a reminder for the kids in the fashion show to bring something from home next week.  Sometimes it’s an announcement that tonight is Pajama Night or barbecue supper night.  Or it might be Stu asking a few bunk groups to meet after lunch for their group photos.  Maybe the nurses are reminding us to carry our water bottles.  Announcements are different every day, but they are always exciting because they are about all the fun things we do at camp.

So please have pity on poor Jeremy and me as you imagine us taking our own announcement breaks at this time of year.  We just miss camp a lot and can’t wait to see all the campers and staff this summer.

Tom

Monday, April 14, 2008

Summer Haircut Already!

One sure sign that summer is almost here is when you see camp people start to get their "summer haircuts". I knew this morning that Jeremy was very excited about camp when he came into the office with his summer haircut. Now many of you know that Jeremy wears his hair quite long in the winter (maybe because it looks so cool blowing in the breeze as he snowboards down those big hills in Vermont). So I was really surprised this morning, not only because he had gotten his summer haircut so early, but also because it was so short! When we went to our favorite lunch spot today our friends who own the restaurant joked that Jeremy's wife (Vanessa) must have cut all his hair off while he was sleeping. But I think his haircut looks great, don't you? By the way, Jeremy's laughing because he just finished talking to Sara (our summer camp office manager) on the phone. She calls us every Monday afternoon to make sure we have been working hard and are getting everything ready for camp. What would we do without her?

Tom

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Staff Assistant Orientation Weekend

Staff Assistant Spring Orientation Weekend One of the best parts about Spring (besides the fact that we're getting that much closer to summer) is our annual orientation weekend for the staff assistants. This year we have 15 staff assistants divided into four teams. Joining them for the weekend (March 8-9) were Beth, Jeremy, Stu and me. Our plan was to spend the weekend at a traditional cabin-style camp near Hackettstown and that's where we arrived on a very rainy Saturday morning. The first day was great (except for Adam S.'s slide through the mud). We had lots of fun, enjoyed our team building games and were learning a lot about our jobs and each other. Then the storm got stormier and the winds got windier and the lights went out. As well as the heat. And the water. And our camp hosts told us that we probably weren't going to have electricity for a while. So, being strong campers, we were fine with that. And we had our bunk meeting, learned how to pour water into the toilet tanks so they'd flush and headed off to our warm beds. Morning dawned and, still, no electricity and by now it was getting pretty cold in our lodge and we decided to head for the hills. For us, this meant taking the whole gang over to "our camp", the campus of Centenary College, where the foodservice staff greeted us with warm smiles and a hot brunch. Centenary never looked so good and we were able to finish out our orientation weekend there. Of course, we walked around campus to visit our sundial, to see with our own eyes that the new gym is really finished and fixed, and to watch Stevey karate chop the gigantic chocolate bar (ask any of the staff assistants about this). 19 different people, not all of whom knew each other very well beforehand, became a close, solid team in just one weekend. And, to tell the truth, the "adventure of the lost electricity" probably brought us closer together. It certainly gave us lots of stories to tell. Ask us to tell you when you see us at camp this summer.

Tom
         

Friday, April 04, 2008

Spring Conditions

Okay. The CK office phones are ringing a lot more often. Every time I check my email, I find out there's a bunch of new stuff that has to get done ASAP. Tom's tapping away furiously at his keyboard and is playing some 70's guitar rock (courtesy of Pandora.com). Our office is being flooded with applications from potential staff members. What could all this mean?

It's spring time.

In the spring, we get super busy. There's too much to do and not enough hours in the day. And as we sat in our favorite lunch spot, Angie's (a little luncheonette in Chatham), Tom asked me are you going snowboarding this weekend? Tough question. Spring is always a tricky time. My wife and I are avid snowboarders (and now skiers, too!). We get up to Vermont every weekend that we can. This time of year, however, one must think about spring conditions. Will there be good snow? The weather report says 30% chance of rain. Snowboarding in the rain stinks. But it might not rain and isn't a fantastic weekend in the mountains worth a 4 and half hour drive each way? If we drove up there and it rained all day tomorrow, we'd be pretty upset... To go, or not go? That is the question.

Looking back, we had a great season. There was plenty of snow and the mountains were beautiful. We've raced down the trails and wound our way through the glades. We've practiced our tricks and jumps in the terrain park. We even got skis and started learning that, too! It's a wonderful hobby. You get to be active while enjoying the incredible scenery. If you have never been, I urge everyone to get out there and try snowboarding or skiing.

I will let you know on Monday if we went or not.

Jeremy

P.S. One of favorite things to do at the mountain is stop by the Waffle Haus and grab a sugar waffle. And nothing goes better with sugar waffle than hot apple cider!

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Big Decisions at the Camp Office

As we make plans for the coming summer, we thought we’d share some of our latest decisions with you. This is “hot off the press”, right out of CK-NJ headquarters in Madison.
»»We’ve been criticized for eating too much Frito pie at camp, so we’re cutting back to serving it just one time during the summer.
»»Ga-ga is ruining the grass on campus, so we’re going to eliminate it. We’ll add extra periods of chess to make up for it.
»»A few super seniors have asked for instructional swim, so in order to make the scheduling easier for Stu, we’re now going to have all supers take instructional swim every day.
»»Our office staff has been complaining that they can’t hear when they are speaking on the phone, so the senior girls upstairs in Van Winkle will need to whisper at all times when they are in the building.
»»We need every photograph on the website to advertise Campus Kids, so all campers and staff will now only wear CK t-shirts. We’re setting up extra laundry machines so we can keep washing the free t-shirt we give each camper.
»»It has been observed that Gladiator sounds like a violent game, so we are now changing the name to Cooperator and replacing the balls with balloons.
»»Some campers got smoke in their eyes last summer at the campfires, so we’re switching over to smokeless, plug-in “fires” and will issue one to each bunk group for their hallway. Groups can make reservations with their head counselor to use the camp microwave so they will have melted marshmallows for s’mores.
»»The camp director has sensitive feelings, so campers must not defeat him at dodge ball, tenny ball or ga-ga (well, ga-ga won’t be a problem anymore; see above). Those forgetting this important new camp rule will be barred from Tilly’s canteen (though they can still enjoy a nice cup of ice water on the patio).
»»The sun reflects too brightly off the gold dome each morning, waking the seniors and super seniors too many minutes in advance of breakfast, so it will be painted black before the start of camp.
»»Safety inspectors from the NJ State Department of Health, during their spring pre-operational camp inspection, determined that the point on the sundial is a potential safety hazard and, therefore, have ordered that it be wrapped in duct tape (no less than 50 yards of it).

Wait, there’s more! Click here for more important decisions about camp!

Tom
 

April 2008
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