568
06/23/08




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Back from camp!

What a fast week! I can't believe my 8th year of HDYC is over already. By now I have lived two full months of my life in a cabin at Camp Victory. I have eaten 154 meals in the dining hall and watched my campers check their blood sugars over a thousand times. Each year the week of camp seems to get easier. I'll post pics soon!

I really enjoyed the mental break I got from work. I love my job, but it's healthy to step away every so often. It was also great to be disconnected from the media and from "real life". I reallllly enjoyed not hearing about three main things: pain at the pump, the upcoming election, and going green. I will do all I can to avoid those three topics now that I know how lovely it is to not hear about them. Real quick, here's my overly-simplistic beefs with those topics:

  1. Gas prices: Many of the same people complaining about this are the very same people that will gladly pay a dollar for a 16oz. bottle of water. That's EIGHT DOLLARS PER GALLON. Also, complaining won't change anything.
  2. The election: Obama is "change we can believe in" -- cutely naive. Will Obama bring change we can all agree on? -- never. And McCain is old. And we don't directly elect the prez anyway.
  3. Going green: It's the new fad. It's an alliterative catch phrase. People will drive 20 miles to dump stuff at the recycling center. They push for ethanol production without realizing it's driving up food prices and contributing to starvation in parts of the world. And they'll complain about environmental policy... all while drinking bottled water.

Oh man, I just got myself all fired up again. I need a vacation! :-)

Comments
  • Wound up much...? I bought a gagillion carbon offsets... Proud of me?
       Posted by Eric Gervase on 06/23/08

  • I'll take cute, naive (or old for that matter) before a chimp any day. But that is just me. I'm special.
       Posted by nils on 06/24/08

  • Yeah, I was still wayy tired when I wrote all that :)

    I got 11 hours of sleep last nite, so I'm good to go.
       Posted by DonnySpi on 06/24/08

  • heh - sleep helps. Any new videos this year ? :-)
       Posted by nils on 06/24/08

567
06/18/08




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Greetings from camp!

Camp is going really well so far. I can't believe that today is already Wednesday which means we're half way thru! We have 8 energetic boyz in our cabin and plenty of staff members. I led a digital photo activity the other day. I took some of the campers around to the other activities that were going on at the same time so they could take photos. I'll gather a bunch of the best ones and put together a slideshow for the last day of camp.

Tonight is cabin wars where the cabins compete against each other in various activities. Each cabin is dressed in their cabins' color -- ours is gray. That's what happens when you're the last cabin to choose a color :-)

Got to run... more updates later!

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    566
    06/12/08




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    HDYC next week

    It's that time of year again! Time for HDYC. Next week Amanda and I will return to HDYC as head counselors in charge of a bunch of some very energetic kids. I'll try to update while I'm away. I'll have my computer and phone with me.

    Comments
    • It seems like only a year ago you went off to do the same thing.
         Posted by Nathan Powell on 06/12/08

    • Have fun at camp!!! Also, I LOVE the beach picture of the two dogs!!! Actually all of the pictures are really good.
         Posted by Teri on 06/13/08

    565
    06/08/08




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    Best Chicken Ever

    I decided it'd be a sweet idea to grill something for dinner in this 96 degree heat we're having. The grill didn't take that long to warm up, and I think that my forearms were done before the food was. Anyway, I made the best chicken ever today and it's especially great because I HAVE NO WAY OF EVER DOING IT AGAIN.

    It all started when I decided to make my own marinade. I opened a Ziploc bag and added unknown quantities of peanut oil, vegetable oil, vinegar, dark soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, ginger powder, and sugar. I poked holes in the chicken and added it to the bag. I let it sit for 45 minutes and then grilled it, pouring the marinade over the chicken when it was half way done.

    It was soooo good and I'll enjoy eating the leftovers. I wish I knew how much of each thing I put in the bag. Arrrrgh!

    Comments
    • Me too man... me too. Sounds awesome.
         Posted by Eric Gervase on 06/09/08

    564
    06/05/08




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    Spiral Path

    This year Amanda and I joined a farming co-op -- or Community Supported Agriculture -- as it's called these days. How it works is you pay a few hundred bucks at the beginning of the planting season and each week for about 25 weeks you get a box of fresh, organic produce. No more buying wilted, chemical-laden junk grown in East Poopistan. You simply go to the nearest drop-off location each Wednesday and claim your box. In yesterday's box we got romaine lettuce, spring onions, strawberries, spring mix lettuce, red-type lettuce, more green-type lettuce, etc. You can still join and pay a pro-rated amount. Go to http://www.spiralpathfarm.com. Tell 'em Large Marge sent ya!

    Comments
    • That's sweet... I'm totally looking into this.
         Posted by Eric Gervase on 06/06/08

    • interesting. Any idea how the prices compare to the organic stuff you get over at Giant ? Thanks for the heads-up ... this is something we'll definitely check into.
         Posted by nils on 06/06/08

    • It's hard to compare prices because you pay the flat fee at the beginning of the season and it would take a lot of effort to add up the value of everything you get on your box. Plus factor in convenience and whatnot. I imaging it'd be about the same. I noticed today you can buy produce from Spiral Path Farm at Wegman's.
         Posted by DonnySpi on 06/08/08

    • Dugg for East Poopistan!!
         Posted by Big Ohn on 06/09/08

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