Tag Archive for 'camp'

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still good at losing stuff

Published on June 28, 2008 in Family & Friends and Work. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

I have survived the first week of camp. It’s very similar to last year. A few more kids and a few more staff; a little more structure, a little less “free to wander” time. I should still be able to get a lot of pictures. I don’t have a schedule of what field trips are during what weeks… or if we’re repeating any of last year’s trips, but so far, it’s been good. Riding the train and the buses to work has been ok. My cool bus pass card thing fell out of my pocket on the way to work on Thursday, though. Unfortunately, we had a staff meeting and the extra time it took me to get some cash out and break it into small bills, so I could pay for the bus, made me too late to get to CTA headquarters to get my replacement card until the next morning. I got spoiled on that card really fast; carrying cash is really annoying. I also managed to lose my hat in the same day. I’m really good at losing stuff. It’s possible that I was simply getting more and more exhausted each day of camp. I feel like I’m either getting sick or my occasional seasonl allergies are attacking my throat. Thursday morning may have been my low point. I did manage to stay awake and alert enough to take a ride out to REI and get a new hat after work on Thursday night… which I don’t think I could have accomplished earlier that week. Friday, I stayed in the city and met up with Emily and Brett and Sarah and had dinner at a place called Earwax (which was yummy) and shopped a little at a bookstore. I was still exhausted after a few hours, but more awake than those first couple days. Hopefully my body can adjust.

Today, we took a drive up to Wisconsin. We stopped at the Jelly Belly factory on the way and picked up some candy. Our main draw up there was a couple breweries that make good root beers around Milwaukee. We managed to visit both of them and bought four cases of soda between them. We also ate at a great German place that had a very tasty Sauerbraten. We walked across the street and picked up a bunch of sausage and cheese.

And now, I’m feeling a little bit more tired than I think I should, given that it’s only 9.30… so it’s definitely not just camp that’s got me so exhausted.

summer happens

Published on June 20, 2008 in Work. Closed Tags: , , , , .

Just got through the camp training for this year. Lots of returning staff, which is a good thing. I’m an assistant/floater again, and there are four of us this year. There are also more kids, but hopefully, as we get into the swing of things, I’ll be able to break out and take a lot of pictures, like last year. One big difference is that I won’t be driving into the city, all summer, unless some special circumstance comes up at camp, or I find a band that wants to practice on a weekday evening. I did some trial runs on the trains and buses, this week, and I think I’ve figured out all my options. The rides don’t take any less time than driving, but much less gas, and will give me a chance to really listen to much more music. Camp will keep me pretty busy during the week and pretty tired in the evenings, so I will probably not blog much. This is normal summer procedure for me – I’m not dead. If I die, I’ll let you know.

Not driving a lot in the summer has put the new GPS device decision on hold… which is fine, since I can’t decide on a unit, now. XM NavTraffic is the clear choice for traffic service, but only older portable units have it, and I definitely don’t want to replace the head unit in the Mazda. Maybe by the time I’m driving a lot, again, another traffic service will have improved or NavTraffic will score some new portable placements.

I’m too tired to remember what else I wanted to blog about. Summer is already kicking in.

I am wearing Crocs

Published on June 14, 2008 in Computers, Family & Friends, Photo and Web. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

They’re like duck boats for your feet… that’s what they make me think of anyway. I picked up a pair of the “off-road” variety at the REI, that we spent hours trying to find, yesterday. They’re comfortable. The strap button is irritating me a little, but nothing out of the ordinary for a new-shoe kinda thing. We went there to look at camera bags, since mine is dying and so is Sarah’s. They’re supposed to have some Crumpler bags, but they didn’t have anything except a couple gadget pouches. By the way, when did REI start putting its “co-op” status in the limelight? I have this member card, which I thought was just another store rewards program… but it turns out that I’m a member of the REI Co-op. I even had a “dividend” that I got to put towards my purchase.

Getting utterly lost on the way there, due to our complete reliance on the unerring accuracy of printed out Google directions, made me realize that I really do benefit from the GPS. It’s time to get a unit in the car that’s mountable, unlike the cheesy little laptop. I added one with a good traffic system and a big screen to my Amazon wishlist. I’m unimpressed with MSN’s traffic system, on the laptop, but I’ve heard there are a couple new traffic monitoring systems coming out soon. We did chance upon a Cosi, though, so it wasn’t a total waste.

It’s nice to have my car back. I had to pay my deductible, but the Progressive dude seemed pretty sure that once he heard back from State Farm, that I’d get reimbursed pretty quickly. I got a nifty little keychain. It’s one of those classic, flat, rubbery ones. It’s a nice addition to my growing keychain collection. The place also did some serious cleaning of the interior. I was amazed.

I’m strongly considering using public transportation for camp this summer. I don’t need to carry a whole lot of equipment to camp everyday, and I’ve got my iPod and Nintendo DS for train/bus entertainment. I did some searching through transitchicago.com for routes from a couple of the Metra stations. The system is pretty darn cool, goes through Google maps and gives you alternate routes with approximate arrival times. Maybe I’ll try out a route or two next week, during camp training.

training at the Y

Published on November 25, 2007 in Random Thoughts and Work. Closed Tags: , , .

I don’t get paid enough to train people. I don’t get paid enough to empty trash and walk the building, either… I barely get paid enough to sit here and stare at a computer, though that really isn’t my job. There’s supposedly a new girl coming in this morning, who has never been here, and who I need to train. She’ll be sitting over at courtesy desk, so there isn’t a whole lot to explain to her. That half of the job is pretty simple, watch the check-in screen for notes, greet people, refill coffee pots, hand out towels, start loads of towels in the washer, file guest sheets. I almost get paid enough to do that job… but I’m not here for the money, I’m here so I don’t lose the retirement fund I’ve contributed to for the past however many years.

My headache disappeared sometime shortly after I got home yesterday. We put the tree up. The stand is a bazillion times better than those old overgrown ashtray with a retaining ring stands I remember from my childhood. Got a little tree sap on my arms and a lot on my hands. Getting it off my arms reminded me of the days at Camp when I was climbing evergreens for ropes course work almost everyday. I stopped wearing shorts and started wearing a long sleeve work shirt to avoid getting that stuff in the hair… it takes so much effort and/or so much really abrasive cleaners to remove it. Getting it off my hands was easy, but I’ve still got a couple little marks on my arm that I didn’t put enough effort into. The tree smells nice, though. I hope it lasts until Christmas, it doesn’t seem to be taking up as much water as I expected for the first day. It could just be a different kind of tree than I’m used to. Obviously, my “lottery tree” didn’t need water, and that’s all I’ve really dealt with for the past 6 years or so.

Back to the boring.

back east trip journal; entry no. 1

Published on August 24, 2007 in Family & Friends, Photo and Work. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , .

Managed to avoid the rain on the whole drive out. It took 15.45 hours total and about 35 gallons of gas. I listened to the audiobook version of Clash of Kings for the entire ride. Hopped off the highway to avoid traffic with little detours (guided by the GPS) around Buffalo, NY and Erie, PA. Stopped at the first Tim Horton’s I saw along the highway (somewhere in NY state before Buffalo, I think) and grabbed a coffee milk and a devil dog at the first rest stop in Massachusetts. Got in to Dudley at around 11-something.

Yesterday, I visited Camp Foskett and Camp Elmwood and the Hockomock Teen Center. I’ll probably make some time to go out to Hockomock again next week, since Dawn and Rebecca were out at Leader’s School. It was good to see some old familiar faces still hanging around Foskett and nice to get a warm welcome from a lot of the staff and kids at Elmwood.

When I got home, Mom pointed out all the yard sale stuff and what her goals were for pre-sale day set up (after a small distraction by some local raccoons) and then we showed each other pictures of our recent adventures.

Today, with the help of Mark, we tore through a bunch of stuff in the garages and got a few aisles full of sellable stuff and tables to display it all on. We also went to Jimmy’s Pizza for lunch.

Trip and ToDo Lists

Published on August 5, 2007 in Family & Friends, Music and Work. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

Things that I’d like to accomplish back east:

  • help Mom with stuff for the Yard Sale
  • visit Camp Foskett
  • visit the Hock Teen Center & Camp Elmwood
  • catch The Bangles @ the Woodstock Fair (sweet)
  • take pictures @ the Woodstock Fair (hopefully better than theirs)
  • see some Wormtown music (maybe a Wormtown Wednesday)
  • hang out with whoever says they miss me

Northeast Stuff to acquire and bring home:

  • Devil Dogs
  • Peggy Lawton Cookies
  • Coffee Syrup
  • Moxie & other Polar Sodas

Find and bring home:

  • folding chair with footrest
  • last year’s Nalgene bottle with the good lid

Before I leave:

  • make sure I have coverage at the Y
  • get new sneakers
  • load up iPod with audiobooks/new music
  • get new iPod mount for car

What’d I forget?

Wee… rollercoasters!

Published on July 26, 2007 in Family & Friends, Photo and Work. Closed Tags: , , , .

Picked up a new camera last week: Panasonic DMC-FZ50K 10MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black), haven’t uploaded anything from it to any galleries yet, maybe this afternoon. I’m getting used to it; it’s a pretty good replacement for the UZi. I’ve taken a LOT of camp photos with it. I spent most of today putting together a posterboard’s worth of prints and a slideshow to be presented at Parent’s Night, tonight.

Spent the night with the older campers at their big camp up North on Monday night. Did some normal camp stuff… lots of swimming, some archery, some s’mores, some staying up late and being obnoxious. It was a good time; bringing city kids out to the woods is always fun. The other male staff seemed more out of his element than any of the kids, though.

Last weekend was Six Flags withsixflags the discount from Sarah’s mom’s job, which was a lot of fun, even though we didn’t go for park completion by riding every big ride, like I’m used to doing. This coming weekend we’re going to a Renaissance Fair and I’ve got the whole weekend off from the Y… looking forward to a real day off.

My car went in yesterday for it’s 30k mile service, which was a tad expensive and forced me to take the train into the city for the first time. I had to catch a bus from the train station, and it took me some time to figure out that I’d gone completely the wrong way for my bus stop, but the experience was pretty good, overall. I could ride into the city if I had to. I still prefer driving, though.

I’ve got to do some decorating for the Parent’s night, but if I get some time off, some new photos might show up in the various online galleries.

quickie update

Published on July 8, 2007 in Computers, Family & Friends, Photo and Work. Closed Tags: , , .

Got the fish tank set up with an eSATA drive. Attempted to seal the acrylic to the frame… made a big mess. clean-up of big mess and possibly finishing the project may occur this afternoon. I’ll make a stop at Meijer, on the way home from work, to check out their tank decoration supply.

Another fun week of camp… there some photos on Flickr and Zooomr (same shots). I enjoy the camp photographer role quite a bit. Next week’s trips include Lamb’s Farm and an Ice Cream Factory. Wee!

Spent July 3rd at the Taste of Chicago and stuck around in the record breaking crowds long enough to catch some fireworks. We all stayed at a hotel in the city that night and went swimming in their 19th story pool, the next morning.

different kind of camp/computer/movie

Published on June 30, 2007 in Computers, Family & Friends and Work. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

Inner city camp is a new kind of experience. It’s still camp, it’s still summer, there’s still songs and activities and such but having no real home base means we take a lot of trips… some walks to parks and playgrounds and a lot of field trips (on school buses with seatbelts!) to interesting places around the city. It feels like an extreme version of those school-vacation-week camps that I’ve been part of in the past. It’s also a much more liberal and less restricted camp, in terms of contact with the kids; I’m finding it hard to break out of the mold of the Y camp no-unnecessary-touching behavior/style. Another mind-blowing difference is that we provide the lunches for the entire camp and staff, every day. The food’s not bad, either. I need to start bringing my camera every day, the camera-phone is probably not doing these scenes justice. Oh, and I went in Lake Michigan for the first time, on Tuesday, with the campers. It was cold.

Fish tank computer is going slowly. Booting off an external drive is proving more difficult than it seemed. It wouldn’t be an issue, except that I’m trying to preserve the Windows XP OS from the Gateway. I believe Linux would happily boot off a USB drive. I don’t think the machine is quite powerful enough to attempt OS X x86. I attempted a few portable XP installations, with no luck, and I think I’m going to give in and go eSATA instead. Otherwise, it’s in good shape. It runs, and the tray fits into the frame and acrylic piece that I cut to shape (which snapped into two pieces, but we’ll solve that with the silicone sealant). We decided that a blue light was necessary, so I picked one up, and then found that there are blue lights in one of the fans and the power button and the external hard drive enclosure. The machine might need a blue-themed name, when it gets finished.

The Serenity screening was very fun, it was definitely a different experience on a big screen. I knew the fan base was extreme and had obviously accomplished some great things, but the Done the Impossible documentary was pretty informative and really pointed out just how special they all are. We got a couple of Sarah’s friends hooked on the show and have been watching Firefly from the beginning with them.

tween seasons

Published on May 29, 2007 in Family & Friends, Photo, Web and Work. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , .

The Adventure Education season ended. The overnights went well, I put some pics up. Now I’m in my break between that and summer camp season. I decided to work for the camp run by my boss from adventure ed… not because there seems to be any team-building or teens or anything else I’m into, but simply to keep that connection alive. My other option was driving skate camp for the Y I’m working for, the ages would’ve been better, and that’s my only regret in turning it down.

So what have I been doing on my break?

  • Saw Mom over mother’s day weekend. She came out here and we toured her around Chicago for an afternoon, then relaxed for the most of the rest of the weekend. We got her to play some Wii bowling and we went to the glow in the dark mini-golf place. She was recovering from some sorta procedure, so the R&R was good for her.
  • Watching a lot of netflix movies and movies in the theaters. I watched From Dusk Till Dawn for the first time, and I think a couple other Robert Rodriguez flicks are in my queue. Saw Pirates 3 as well: not bad, but was lacking the cleverness of the first and the crazy chase scenes of the second.
  • Helping with Sarah’s little brother’s high school graduation and graduation party. Graduation ceremony was huge, almost 800 graduates. Went to Bennigan’s afterwards. It was my first time there. I got a sandwich called a Turkey O’Toole. It was on a pretzel bun. It was amazing. Lots of family came over the house on the next day. We got a lot of yummy food from a caterer. We still have lots of leftovers.
  • Playing a lot of Super Paper Mario. I keep dying in the flopside pit of 100 trials… got all the way to the end last time and freaked out at the boss battle and messed up.

    • On the family front, my Aunt Rosemarie died. She was my Dad’s older sister. I wasn’t terribly close to her. She always seemed pretty kooky to me. I’m pretty sure she’s the only aunt who ever fit into that crazy old relative who gives you weird sloppy kisses category. The family’s talking about spreading her ashes, along with her husband’s, on the East coast… maybe sometime this summer.

    Not much else is going on. Lots of relaxing, which is good. Threadless is having another one of those week-long sales where they release new shirts every day. If you’ve been waiting for the sale to pick up that clever shirt, now is the time.

    Sarah’s got an interview at Calumet, this week. Think good thoughts, send her the good vibes, wish her luck… whatever your style is … much appreciated.

    woot