Fried brain, fried brain, cheese and baloney....

I’ve been busy getting settled in here at camp which has left me worn out through and through. It’s not a bad thing to be so overstimulated all you can do at the end of a day is sit on a couch and stare at the TV. Or a wall. Or the inside of your eyelids. Right?

Anyway, being new here involved fighting with a satellite company. It’s easy as pie to buy the service. It’s difficult as hell, however to get the service installed. I shoulda just paid to fly my brother over from Texas with his stash of dish installing tools and had him do it. It would have been kinder on my nerves to do that than to wait out the stupid, stupid, stupid computer glitches they had over at the satellite company. “Lost my install info my a**,” is all I can say.

And then there was the vaccination history. As in, “can you get us your childhood vaccination records?” The answer to that is no. And that shot record in my passport just isn’t quite thorough enough to work here. The great staff down at the Body Shop, which is our medical center here at camp, did say that I’m definitely better vaccinated than 98% of the staff, but I still had to get a few extra sticks. There was the flu shot, and the TB test, of course. Then I had to get a new tetanus shot, just in case. And I also had to get a titer to see if I’m immune to measles, mumps and rubella. I am.

Good news is that I also have grown an inch since I was last measured. I showed up at 5’10” in my socks, which I’m not quite sure I believe, but I’ll take it. It’s not like I was at that crucial stage though, where an inch of height meant I couldn’t ride all the rides at the amusement park. Still, an extra inch – nice.

There was also the snow. I’m standing outside with some of the other staff during a family weekend a couple weeks ago, and my boss assures me, “It’s never this cold here! Ever!” That white stuff on the ground and my constantly runny nose are begging to differ on that one. But I’ve finally gotten what I think are all the right clothes for the weather here, and now I’m no longer burning up or freezing cold at any given time. And yes, I know all about layers, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy wearing them. The snow was pretty cool though, since it only lasted a couple days.

Camp is pretty cool. I know I keep promising pictures but it just hasn’t been something I’ve had time for. I have a hideous internet connection at home, and I don’t have time at the office. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go find 10 different ways to feed peanut butter to my staff this summer, as we are a peanut free camp…

We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto

Out here in race country, the shops are three times larger than the houses. And the houses are falling down, while the shops gleam with shining new paint every season. Different places have different priorities, to say the least.

It’s cool though. I’m learning my way around in the boom town of Randleman, and the surrounding area. It’s not too hard as there are a whopping 4 main roads here, which connect or cross each other, but I’ve missed a turn once or twice already.

I do most of my running around up in Greensboro, though. There’s a better selection of stores there, and better prices, too. Still though, compared to Iraq, even the small town of Randleman is a huge improvement. And I don’t want to give the impression that it’s bad here, at all, but the night and day comparison between small towns and small cities is very obvious.

I have a bit of adjusting to do, all around, I’d say. There’s the whole moving to the new town, on top of the really new job. And as I’ve learned, most recently, on the new job, I need to slow down, settle down, and just stop trying to do stuff. Not that doing stuff is bad, but that I don’t have to know everything instantly. That’s a huge change from my last few jobs, and I hope I can make the adjustment.

Around here, there’s a whole lot of talk about the culture, the model, the Program, with a big P. We talk about those concepts. But we don’t actually talk about the “thing” that needs to happen to make those concepts real. That confuses me, but I’ll get over it, I’m sure. I think they’re more relaxed here about tangible sharing, and prefer to use the indirect learning method. But I could be completely mistaken about that, too.

All I can say is it’s going to be interesting around here. I’ll keep you posted.

Yeeeeeeehawwwwwwww

It’s been a busy week here at camp, and I like it!

We had a family weekend last weekend, which meant I was off from Sunday afternoon through Tuesday morning, in order to get my time off. That was a little odd, but it was cool. I went grocery shopping and cleaned the place on Monday, then chilled out with NCIS season 1 on DVD. Before I knew it, I was back at work on Tuesday.

Every day here is different than the day before. Iraq was a little like that, but we had a fairly repetitive schedule over there. It wasn’t bad at all, but still, every Monday was poker, Tuesday was 8 ball and stuff like that. Here, we might be sitting in the office on a rainy, snowy, sleety day like today. But tomorrow we’ll come in to the office an hour late, since we’ve got families coming into camp, and we’ll actually start in the theater to do some skit rehearsal.

I know routine will settle in a bit during summer camp, but when you factor in over 120 campers, plus all the counselors and volunteers to match up, even if you’re running the same schedule week after week, it’s going to be different every time. In that case, routine is the thing that gives you a fighting chance.

Anyway, it’s cool. I’ve had lots of you asking how you can help with the camp. Also had lots of you ask questions about programming, as in do you really run camp during the non-summer months?

Yes, we run stuff all year. It’s a bit different during the off season as it’s family based activity. But it’s 9 or so weekends each during the fall and spring. And we always need volunteers. Especially guys. We get 4 female volunteers for every 1 male volunteer. During the family weekends that’s never a problem as a family can have any gender volunteer. During the summer though… big problem. So guys, if you’ve got a week of vacation you can spare, or a company who will give you some time off to do good things, and are 19 and older, send in your volunteer application today!

As far as costumes and clothing, great response there, too. You guys are amazing! I won’t tell you what to send, but instead to be mindful that we are a latex-free camp, so any sort of masks and such are going right back out the camp gates. We just can’t take the risk with our camper’s health that way. And also remember that the cheap Halloween costumes are just that – cheap. They get one wearing and then wind up being torn, tattered and ripped, so they wind up in the trash fairly quickly. Not a problem though, if it’s a cool costume.

My aunt and I were talking and she said a co-worker of hers has clothes from his parents, which means they’re coming out of the Way Back Machine. Vintage clothes, like funky bell bottoms and crazy vests are awesome. Just whatever you think a kid, or counselor, would like dressing up in is what we’re looking for.

So yeah, that’s it for now. It’s time for me to go to bed because tomorrow is Friday and that means another family weekend is coming in. Lots of fun to be had all around as we get “Back in the Saddle Again.”

Tirrreeeeeeeeeeedddddddddddddddddddd

Time flies when you’re learning a new job. I do intend to write a little more often, once I’m past the “I’m so new I don’t know what to do” phase of work. It’s really hard right now to do more than just absorb everything without being completely overwhelmed. Okay, I really AM completely overwhelmed, but that’s okay, because this place is like that.

We had a whole lot of team meetings this week, discussing all the aspects of the summer camp program to bring me up to speed. It wasn’t done just for me, but it sure has helped me to get a handle on where the big program is along with where the little programs are. See, the big program is the entire camp. The little programs are all the parts and pieces that make up the big program. It’s one of those “the sum of the parts makes up the whole” things. And that means there’s a ton to learn.

So we’d meet, discuss, share, and make some decisions. Then we’d go back to our offices and do a little bit of the business side, before we’d meet again. My vocabulary here includes some words that I’m sure to beat to death like model. We have a camp model, a behavior model, a program model, etc. We also have a work model though, that has us changing up what we’re doing every few hours, which is great. It means you aren’t spending an entire day at the computer and telephone. But at the same time, it means you aren’t spending an entire day at the computer and telephone, too, so you have to learn to really budget your time.

And then there’s the challenge of my first family weekend going on. A family weekend is when we open the camp up to campers who have a specific medical condition, either chronic or terminal, and their families. They show up on Friday evening and stay through Sunday morning. We run all sorts of program activities and events for them, through a ton of fabulous volunteers. Victory Junction wouldn’t function without volunteers, actually.

Anyway, everyone has a ton of fun, sings some songs, gets on stage and hams it up, does a ton of dances in the Fuel Stop, and whoops and hollers along the way. I’ve made it now to Saturday night and just have to get through tomorrow morning before I can rest. It’s been a heck of a first week at work, is all I can say!

They pay me to work here?

So I’ve been at camp for three days now. It doesn’t seem like it, but then again it does. We’ve had a lot of open discussions, here on the program team, and learned a lot about everything. It’s really been great, and time has just flown by, which is tremendous.

There is so much going on here, that is so much bigger than I am. The camp services seriously and terminally ill children, providing a normal summer camp experience for them. We also provide a weekend camping experience for these same categories of kids, and their families, during the non-summer season. So, we do week-long program during the summer, and weekend programming the rest of the year. It’s not an every weekend thing, but it is steady and regular, which is cool.

Right now, being new, I’m learning it all. This weekend there is a family weekend and we’ve got 16 family groups coming to play. I don’t know what it’s all about, but I’ll catch it on the fly. Meanwhile, today we did a tour group of junior high kids, and I went along for the trip, learning a bit along the way. We’ve got amazing facilities, though, and I’m constantly in awe that they think I’m good enough to work here.

No really, I’m not modest. I know I’m talented and have some stuff to add to the program, but the idea that they are going to let me run it just baffles me. I’m in awe of this place. I know you will be too, when you finally get to see pictures of it. I’m working on those pictures, too, but first we had fog, then rain, then other business to take care of, but I’m carting around the camera now, so it’ll happen soon.

A blue phone? Seriously?!

It was a rigorous first day on the job. I did some paperwork, got a name badge with my picture on it, cleaned out some supply closets and some offices, logged on to the camp email system and took my golf cart operator’s test. I am fully qualified to drive an EZ Go golf cart now, and I don’t even have to wear a Kevlar helmet this time around. Nice!

Today was the most relaxed, easy first day I’ve ever had. I loved it. The attitudes of everyone I work with were cheerful and friendly, in a completely sincere fashion. You can always tell when people are way over the top with their “friendly” to the point that it grates on your back teeth but that didn’t happen here. And everyone stressed that we work as much as we play, and made certain we took a few breaks throughout the day to fit in some fun stuff, so it wasn’t full of drudgery.

At one point fairly early on, I was handed my Nextel phone. It’s a freaking NASCAR edition, too, with Rusty Wallace’s #2 on it. I’m going to see a ton of racing stuff come through, I bet. It’s cool, but eventually it will get old, I’m sure. For now though, it’s fun to get all the little hot wheels cars, sunglasses and other gimmes that they keep tossing my way. I plan to gather them up, put them in a box, and eventually mail them off to parts of Iraq, just because I can.

Anyway, it was a great day. We even went down toward Ashboro and had lunch at Chili’s. Tomorrow we’re going to discuss all sorts of last summer, and see what trouble we can identify and head off for this year. Gonna be good. Yeah. Good.

the dishes?!

Some guys used to live in this house and it shows. Even though the maintenance staff repainted and did a bunch of repairs, and the ultimate roommate ran a vacuum and spruced the place up, you can still tell guys lived here. For instance yesterday, when I opened the dresser drawers in my room, I found about two dozen old, worn, mismatched, clean (I hope) guys socks sitting there. Girls wouldn’t leave stuff like that lying around. Even if we didn’t want it, we’d still throw it out rather than leaving it behind.

There were odds and ends in the bathroom, too, and throughout the rest of the place. The biggest kicker though, is that there is a stack of side dish or dessert sized paper plates about eight inches high in one of the cabinets. And that’s it. There are no other dishes, bowls or whatnot in the place. I’ll rectify that tomorrow. What a pity I hadn’t noticed it before I went to Greensboro yesterday and gave Target way too much of my money. I could have given them a few extra bucks for a festively colored set of heavy plastic dishes that would last for a while.

At least this way, I can consult the Ultimate Roommate and see what color she thinks we should get. She’ll probably go with yellows and oranges, which are on my less favorite end of the color spectrum, given what I’ve seen of her taste so far, but that’s cool. It’s just a bunch of semi-disposable dishes, after all. Because once the season gets going, all I’ll do here in the house is take a shower and fall asleep. The camp kitchens over at the Fuel Stop will be doing all the cooking during the busy times.

But really, the plates? I know there were plates in here six weeks ago because I saw them. Ditto on the sharp knives. So the guys who lived here would take dishes but leave behind the tired socks. I suppose that makes sense, in some sort of whacked out male way.

From Texas to Disney to Camp

Eight days ago I woke up in Texas and hopped in the jeep with a ton of stuff. Stuff I thought I’d need along the way or at the end of my journey. Today, I reached the end, here in North Carolina, at the camp. I fell straight asleep last night, with only my pillows and teddy bear around me, leaving the rest to be unpacked today.

You’d be amazed how much a jeep wrangler actually holds, when it has to. I’ve dragged everything out, and it’s sitting on the bedroom floor of my room here in my cottage I share with one other person nestled snug inside the village that is at the tail end of camp. That was a seriously long sentence, but it’s where I am. Most resident camps have one or two permanent houses, with the “permanent” part being dodgy. This one has a full village, sturdy and new, clean and well made, ready to house year-round and visiting staff whenever they are needed. They are bright, cheerful and cozy, not to mention well equipped.

And they have a view of the camp, overlooking the horsepower garage and drifting down into main camp, a short walk away. There are even golf carts parked outside, to help the staff move through camp when they are carrying things, but I’ll try to walk more than I drive, because the place isn’t that huge.

Anyway, I came in last night, verging on midnight, and I wasn’t certain how well marked it would be. And the answer is that it is highly visible, through tasteful lighting that glows in the trees. Even in the dark you can’t miss the water tower painted like a hot air balloon with the camp logo on it. The second driveway is just as easy to find, which is marvelous. Getting settled in here over the weekend will be nice and easy and give me a chance to find my footing. Spending a week at Walt Disney World had me all revved up, and now I get a calm time to switch gears.

Disney was great, of course. I had rented a huge house over six months ago, when I was still in Iraq, so we’d have plenty of space to share with and avoid each other when we weren’t at the parks. We all haven’t been in one place in years and years. My big brother moved to Pennsylvania, and when he and his family came down to Texas to visit, I was in Iraq, so it was a nice time to enjoy each other. The parks were crowded as heck, though, but that’s to be expected since everyone and their brother were on vacation from school. It was still lots of fun and we all just waited our turns in line.

I’ll get pictures of camp and pictures from Disney up soon. I am in the middle of the woods though, and bandwidth is difficult at best. I’m now using a wireless network card through my cell phone company to try and connect, but I might have to put an amplifier on it to get a better signal. We’ll figure it all out though, as the time comes. Meanwhile, I’m off to unpack…