the Camp Michigania section

I've been at camp for a while now. Charlie and Jerome from boating have been working with me and the boys. It's been pretty fun. Memorial work weekend is starts tomorrow. Yesterday, we were out fishing and Charlie hooked himself in the eyebrow with a huge treble hook! He has pictures on his camera, they're hilarious. I'll get them on here when he gets them on a computer.

I think I'm going to try to take pictures of the maintenance guys doing stuff and document their work on this page this year. It could be pretty funny.

April: Ooh, camp is coming up. I am going to start working right in early may to get that place humming again. It's a lot of fun when it's just me and the guys. We get 'er done. One of the things that wasn't so awesome about last year was that after dinner, there really was nothing to do. To solve that problem, I've come up with a few projects to keep me busy. Here's the list:

I figure that should keep me pretty busy. The boys probably have a few things for me to do as well. I'm most excited about the flux capacitor and the bubble wall.

Apparently, I'm working at Michigania again over the summer of 2005. The maintenance boys totally rebuilt my shack. I can't even call it a shack anymore.

Yeah, I was thinking about doing an internship or something so I guess this was the card they played to get me to stay another year. It worked! They rock.

The Camp Michigania Maintenance crew:

Mark 'boss'
Matt
Lyle
Lester
Nick 'the kid'

About the camp:

Michigania is a camp for U of M alumni and their families. It's been around for around 40 years and some people have been coming here for many years. People wake up, eat at the cafeteria and then do activities if they want. There's a nature center, arts and crafts, boating, swimming, horseback riding, archery, riflery, ceramics, and maybe some more. There's a soccer field, volleyball courts, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, basketball courts, you name it. They have somewhere around 40 boats. There's a big staff vs camper volleyball game.

Camp michigania home page

Joe Person works at this camp! I know him from school somehow. Joanna knew him I think.

So, I came up with these labels for the maintenance guys:

Lyle = Old man tractor

Lyle is an amazing guy. He's been on the crew for years now and I guess they don't let him go on roofs anymore. He's usually on the front-end loader carrying stuff around or flattening out the road. He is really funny and has a lot of good advice about everything from buying a house to marrying a girl to changing oil. He's not even that old. The only reason I called him old man tractor is because I was explaining him to my friend and she was couldn't remember him and somehow old man tractor came up.

Oh Oh! so I heard a great story about Lyle. So when Mitch the camp director first came around, they were having a meeting and were supposed to go around saying their name, age, and something personal about themselves. When it got to Lyle, he said: "m'name's Lyle. I'm old, and when I get home I chase my wife around the bed!" Then after some commotion he mentioned aside: "Hey! he asked!" classic!

Lester = Farmer Lester

Lester has gotten up at about 4:30 AM since he was a kid working on the farm he grew up on. He is great to work with and has taught me about everything I've learned here so far. He always has a good line that I laugh at for too long such as "Ready, pops?" to Lyle. I'm hoping to make a list of all his lines. He can do pretty much anything on this camp. Lester is an amazing mechanic. He changed a ball-joint on a truck in a pasture. He used to win the mud-bog all the time at the Polish Festival in Boyne Falls. He is an expert welder and claims to be an expert pool player. But yeah right. I'm going to beat him summer 2005 all the time. Blindfolded. Uphill.

Matt = Handyman Matt

The newest of the maintenance men. This guy's truck has so many little doors and drawers and stuff that I think they should market to the drug cartels. He has so many tools and equipment that it's not even funny. He used to be a self-employed contractor so he can do everything very well. He's a lot of fun too, just like everyone. Matt is the goofball of the guys. He's good with kids and is the most morally assertive of everyone. He also has an AWESOME jeep CJ-7.

Mark = Boss

Mark is pretty awesome. He might seem mean at first but he's not. He's cool. He gets the right stuff done at the right time. He's actually really funny. He has lots of good ideas for theme parties. "Go as a shower curtain!" He said, holding one up. "You could say, hey.... come on in!" hahaha, great stuff.

Stuff:

More pictures!

What I do:

My shack:

My shed is totally sweet. It's called Peyton Place and it's about the size of a dorm room. It has a little heater, a bathroom, a fridge, and a queen sized bed. It's probably going to look a lot like my dorm room since it has the lava-lamp, stereo, christmas lights, rope lights, and all that. I'm putting up a world map too. There's an outside phone line that I'll post the number to here soon. I'm going to be able to bring my car stereo computer in and hook it up to that line and chat online occasionally.

Commuting:

It's a 5 minute boat ride and a 20 minute car ride. Car's are easy and you don't have to tie them up or row out to them. But on the other hand, gas is expensive!

This is Matt's awesome jeep. He let me take it out once.
Here we are at work pulling Matt's struck drawer out of his truck with the tractor
Here's something I made for a girl named Clair for "Christmas in July" it's a secret box. You have to know the password to open it!
Here's your normal kitchen staffer, Aaron Hardy

	This is the Camp Director's new house. It's where the Northern tennis courts used to be.
	This is the inside of the new boat house.
	Here we are inside the new Peyton Place.