Yesterday, we wrapped up our classes.
Then we ate at the Orchard.
Molly got an Amiibo on Amazon.
We started to get ready for the trip home.
Thanks to everyone for a good year, and for reading my rambles.
Sorry for the lack of promptness on the blog. I'll try to do better next year.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"Thanks to all our listeners, goodbye, and good luck." - Dan at the end of the last 'show'.
Saturday, July 25, 2015
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Year 5, Day 7 - Givin' Back
Hello! I posted it before midnight today. Yay for lowered expectations?
Today was technically the "worst" day for classes, at least for me, because I didn't get to host my fictional radio show. I feel like I do a good job hosting. Molly had a thing on the JFK assassination.
Afterwards, we went to the warehouse that held all the food donated to a multitude of charities across the capital region. Our "boss", Ellie, showed us the ropes and we were off. Basically, about a dozen or so boxes would be wheeled in to the working area. We had to sort through these boxes and see which meats were good and which meats were bad. All of the meats were frozen, so it was basically a complicated game of "spot the rot". Once we distinguished whether or not the meat was good, we separated it into a few different sections - one for beef, one for pork, one for poultry, etc. Then, the packers would come in and put the meats into specified boxes. Once the boxes were full enough (they couldn't weigh more than 45 pounds), they were put on a dolly and moved somewhere into the warehouse.
We did this for about two hours, and we excused ourselves after another 5 people showed up. At this point, there were around 30 people working on that floor and it quickly became reminiscent of a Shaker prayer session.
After work, we went to Stewart's and got milkshakes and dinner. We were both fairly tired afterwards, so drinking a vanilla milkshake was like slurping down a nectar of the gods.
Tomorrow, our last days at camp, will feature no field trips. I promise that I'll record a session of my fictional show.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"Rewr" - Dan
Today was technically the "worst" day for classes, at least for me, because I didn't get to host my fictional radio show. I feel like I do a good job hosting. Molly had a thing on the JFK assassination.
Afterwards, we went to the warehouse that held all the food donated to a multitude of charities across the capital region. Our "boss", Ellie, showed us the ropes and we were off. Basically, about a dozen or so boxes would be wheeled in to the working area. We had to sort through these boxes and see which meats were good and which meats were bad. All of the meats were frozen, so it was basically a complicated game of "spot the rot". Once we distinguished whether or not the meat was good, we separated it into a few different sections - one for beef, one for pork, one for poultry, etc. Then, the packers would come in and put the meats into specified boxes. Once the boxes were full enough (they couldn't weigh more than 45 pounds), they were put on a dolly and moved somewhere into the warehouse.
We did this for about two hours, and we excused ourselves after another 5 people showed up. At this point, there were around 30 people working on that floor and it quickly became reminiscent of a Shaker prayer session.
After work, we went to Stewart's and got milkshakes and dinner. We were both fairly tired afterwards, so drinking a vanilla milkshake was like slurping down a nectar of the gods.
Tomorrow, our last days at camp, will feature no field trips. I promise that I'll record a session of my fictional show.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"Rewr" - Dan
Year 5, Day 6 - Shakers gonna Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake, Shake
Sorry for yet another delay.
Yesterday, we went to a Shaker farm. A brief background on the Shakers goes something like this; In 1776, Ann Lee, a Manchester-born Catholic, moved to America as part of the Shakers. The Shakers religion was very progressive in many ways; they were the first ones to believe in feminism and their production quality and the speed at which they made things was simply unmatched by everything west of Russia. Their pacifism was notable, too, as they became the United States' first ever conscious objectors to a war, in this case the Civil War.
The name Shakers comes from their method of worship; instead of kneeling and praying in a church, they went to a meeting home (more on that in a second) and danced. This wasn't like your awkward middle school formal, either, I'm talking about a hundred people all in a big ol' room, dancing the night away like they're all in a dang Van Morrison song. They danced in huge circles, but the boys and the girls could NEVER touch. To do so would be a violation of their beliefs.
Y'see, possibly the most incredible thing about the Sha
kers is how long they went. The Shakers banned marriage and pregnancy throughout their existence and up to today. They gained more followers by taking in orphaned children and the "world's people", their codename for people who weren't Shakers.
The Shaker faith hit it's height in the mid-1800s, with a little over 20 Shaker villages. All of these were basically the same; a sweet three-story farm, a workhouse for the men and the women, etc. As time marched on, the religion dwindled, from 20 villages to 15, to 12, to 6, to 2, to one. There's only one village left nowadays, up in Maine, and there are only 3 Shakers who are alive today.
That's a bit of a background on the Shakers for you all to absorb, so now we can get our day rollin'.
We left for the very first Shaker farm in Watervilet at around 10 on Wednesday morning. The place was basically empty, with a few employees working there. The main destination is the meeting house, the equivalent of the Vatican for the Shakers.
Note the black chairs; they were not for the Shakers, but for the world's people to come in and watch them dance. There were about two or three workers there and a little kitty cat.
We took a walk around the Shaker farm, seeing where the women and men worked, the gardens, the farms with the aggressive turkeys, the works.
The heritage society that preserves this farm actually has a neat 3D reconstruction of the farm. I'd recommend this for anyone who's still curious about the Shakers.
LINK: http://shakerheritage.org/virtual-watervliet
Afterwards, we went to lunch. I had a BLT and Molly had nothing. We're accustomed to big breakfasts here. We went to class. Nothing much changed for my class, we're just fine tuning. Molly learned about ghosts.
Oh, yeah, good news! I cleaned up my phone and I can record a session now! I'll try to do it today.
Today we're doing a food drive thing.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"WWWWWELCOME back to Cheesesteakadelphia!"
- My fictional radio show's title and lead-in.
Yesterday, we went to a Shaker farm. A brief background on the Shakers goes something like this; In 1776, Ann Lee, a Manchester-born Catholic, moved to America as part of the Shakers. The Shakers religion was very progressive in many ways; they were the first ones to believe in feminism and their production quality and the speed at which they made things was simply unmatched by everything west of Russia. Their pacifism was notable, too, as they became the United States' first ever conscious objectors to a war, in this case the Civil War.
The name Shakers comes from their method of worship; instead of kneeling and praying in a church, they went to a meeting home (more on that in a second) and danced. This wasn't like your awkward middle school formal, either, I'm talking about a hundred people all in a big ol' room, dancing the night away like they're all in a dang Van Morrison song. They danced in huge circles, but the boys and the girls could NEVER touch. To do so would be a violation of their beliefs.
 |
| The Shakers getting their groove on. |
Y'see, possibly the most incredible thing about the Sha
The Shaker faith hit it's height in the mid-1800s, with a little over 20 Shaker villages. All of these were basically the same; a sweet three-story farm, a workhouse for the men and the women, etc. As time marched on, the religion dwindled, from 20 villages to 15, to 12, to 6, to 2, to one. There's only one village left nowadays, up in Maine, and there are only 3 Shakers who are alive today.
That's a bit of a background on the Shakers for you all to absorb, so now we can get our day rollin'.
We left for the very first Shaker farm in Watervilet at around 10 on Wednesday morning. The place was basically empty, with a few employees working there. The main destination is the meeting house, the equivalent of the Vatican for the Shakers.
 | ||
| There's about 30 more feet behind where the picture's being taken |
 |
| Artist's rendering |
The heritage society that preserves this farm actually has a neat 3D reconstruction of the farm. I'd recommend this for anyone who's still curious about the Shakers.
LINK: http://shakerheritage.org/virtual-watervliet
Afterwards, we went to lunch. I had a BLT and Molly had nothing. We're accustomed to big breakfasts here. We went to class. Nothing much changed for my class, we're just fine tuning. Molly learned about ghosts.
Oh, yeah, good news! I cleaned up my phone and I can record a session now! I'll try to do it today.
Today we're doing a food drive thing.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"WWWWWELCOME back to Cheesesteakadelphia!"
- My fictional radio show's title and lead-in.
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Year 5, Day 5 - Acting Up
Sorry, all, for the delay.
Yesterday, we went to the classes again. My class was basically the same as yesterday. Molly's class talked about sports conspiracy, along with the only conspiracy that holds weight to me, the frozen letter conspiracy.
Frozen letter conspiracy: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2468653-the-frozen-envelope-the-nbas-greatest-conspiracy-theory
Afterwards, we ate dinner and went to a play in Albany. We walked around a while beforehand, looking at the old train station and the old train headquarters, which were massive and incredible. We also got a good look at the Capital Building again.
The play itself was interesting, too. Only two actors are on stage the entire time. One of them always plays a down-on-his-luck detective trying to solve a murder, while the other one acts as every single one of the suspects (well, except for one, but I won't spoil it.) The suspects actor was constantly moving around for two hours and constantly talking. All of his movements were very animated. He looked out of breath by the end of it.
The play was also pretty funny, with a lot of good lines in there and some good physical comedy. The play was called Murder for Two, if anyone's interested.
Today, we go to the Shaker Farms and see the sights. I'll actually update the blog on time today. Feel free to leave comments!
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"We need to be careful! There's already been two deaths!"
"No, three. We've been witnessing the death of American theatre."
- The two actors in Murder For Two
Yesterday, we went to the classes again. My class was basically the same as yesterday. Molly's class talked about sports conspiracy, along with the only conspiracy that holds weight to me, the frozen letter conspiracy.
Frozen letter conspiracy: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2468653-the-frozen-envelope-the-nbas-greatest-conspiracy-theory
Afterwards, we ate dinner and went to a play in Albany. We walked around a while beforehand, looking at the old train station and the old train headquarters, which were massive and incredible. We also got a good look at the Capital Building again.
The play itself was interesting, too. Only two actors are on stage the entire time. One of them always plays a down-on-his-luck detective trying to solve a murder, while the other one acts as every single one of the suspects (well, except for one, but I won't spoil it.) The suspects actor was constantly moving around for two hours and constantly talking. All of his movements were very animated. He looked out of breath by the end of it.
The play was also pretty funny, with a lot of good lines in there and some good physical comedy. The play was called Murder for Two, if anyone's interested.
Today, we go to the Shaker Farms and see the sights. I'll actually update the blog on time today. Feel free to leave comments!
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"We need to be careful! There's already been two deaths!"
"No, three. We've been witnessing the death of American theatre."
- The two actors in Murder For Two
Monday, July 20, 2015
Camp Joan, Year 5, Days 2-4 (TRIPLE FEATURE!)
Hello, sorry for not updating, but I'm back on track with the ol' blogerooni. We'll section this off into three distinct parts.
DAY 2:
We went to pick berries with Aunt Joan at a moderately sized farm about 21 minutes away. We picked a ton of blueberries, because of the noticeable lack of bees in the bush, and the noticeable lack of self-control with Molly and Aunt Joan, who kept on eating our freshly-picked berries like popcorn at a dang movie theater. Our endeavours in the raspberry section were not as successful, because there were roughly a billion bees in the bush, and we decided that the risk/reward ratio for plunging your hand into an unofficial beehive for an alright-at-best raspberry was not nearly high enough for us to actually do it more than a few times.
Molly and Aunt Joan made chocolate-covered blueberries while I lounged around like the king I am. At around 6, we went over to the movie theater and saw the new Marvel movie, Ant-Man, which was very good and incredibly funny. Then we slept.
DAY 3:
We lounged around all day. Molly got an Amiibo (please don't ask, it only raises more questions) and we watched North By Northwest to prepare for Molly's conspiracy class at Saint Rose. Starting to see the need for a triple feature?
DAY 4:
Our classes at Saint Rose began, and for the first time, Molly and I took separate classes. Neither of us had any interest in the other's subject, so we split up. I took Sports Broadcasting and my sister took Conspiracy Theories.
SPORTS BROADCASTING:
I really love this class. The whole class revolves around, at least for today, shows, like the ones you listened to on the way to work or school or whatever. The kids in the class (all of whom are, like, 11, by the way) all think that I'm a riot despite making D-List jokes. Our "shows" take place in the real Saint Rose radio broadcasting room. We don't actually broadcast them, obvs, but we can record them. I will try to record one of my sessions tomorrow, but the quality won't be great (both technically and not).
CONSPIRACY THEORIES:
Molly doesn't actually remember anything specific about the class (it's been a long day), but she does remember a game called zombie tag and creating fortune tellers. She also tells me that they will focus on specific conspiracy theories day-to-day, but today they didn't focus on one, so we're left with a vague description.
That's all, folks!
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"I'm so gay, I can't even drive straight" - A bumper sticker spotted as we went back to base camp.
DAY 2:
We went to pick berries with Aunt Joan at a moderately sized farm about 21 minutes away. We picked a ton of blueberries, because of the noticeable lack of bees in the bush, and the noticeable lack of self-control with Molly and Aunt Joan, who kept on eating our freshly-picked berries like popcorn at a dang movie theater. Our endeavours in the raspberry section were not as successful, because there were roughly a billion bees in the bush, and we decided that the risk/reward ratio for plunging your hand into an unofficial beehive for an alright-at-best raspberry was not nearly high enough for us to actually do it more than a few times.
Molly and Aunt Joan made chocolate-covered blueberries while I lounged around like the king I am. At around 6, we went over to the movie theater and saw the new Marvel movie, Ant-Man, which was very good and incredibly funny. Then we slept.
DAY 3:
We lounged around all day. Molly got an Amiibo (please don't ask, it only raises more questions) and we watched North By Northwest to prepare for Molly's conspiracy class at Saint Rose. Starting to see the need for a triple feature?
DAY 4:
Our classes at Saint Rose began, and for the first time, Molly and I took separate classes. Neither of us had any interest in the other's subject, so we split up. I took Sports Broadcasting and my sister took Conspiracy Theories.
SPORTS BROADCASTING:
I really love this class. The whole class revolves around, at least for today, shows, like the ones you listened to on the way to work or school or whatever. The kids in the class (all of whom are, like, 11, by the way) all think that I'm a riot despite making D-List jokes. Our "shows" take place in the real Saint Rose radio broadcasting room. We don't actually broadcast them, obvs, but we can record them. I will try to record one of my sessions tomorrow, but the quality won't be great (both technically and not).
CONSPIRACY THEORIES:
Molly doesn't actually remember anything specific about the class (it's been a long day), but she does remember a game called zombie tag and creating fortune tellers. She also tells me that they will focus on specific conspiracy theories day-to-day, but today they didn't focus on one, so we're left with a vague description.
That's all, folks!
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"I'm so gay, I can't even drive straight" - A bumper sticker spotted as we went back to base camp.
Sunday, July 19, 2015
SUPER SECRET MEMBERS ONLY POST
PSSST! Tomorrow there will be a Camp Joan first - a three-in-one post! We didn't do enough to write about, I feel, so me figured that combining Saturday, Sunday, and Monday into one post would be the best option for both quantity and quality. Sorry about the lack of updates, I will try to post them more often as we get to the classes. Molly will also feature in a prominent role as she will talk about her experiences in her class as I will talk about mine.
Thank you for your patience!
-Dan
(Not Molly)
(Because she's mean)
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"This is a stupid idea" - Molly
Thank you for your patience!
-Dan
(Not Molly)
(Because she's mean)
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"This is a stupid idea" - Molly
Friday, July 17, 2015
Year 5, Day 1 - I DON'T CARE IF I EVERR GET BAAAACK
Hello all! I'm glad to say that Molly, Frank, and I are back at Camp Joan. We left at around 8:05 AM and we got there around 12:47. We had a quick lunch of grilled cheese with bacon and, in my case, tomato before we headed off to the locks. I've already been in a lock on the water in our previous adventure on the Hudson River way back in Year 1.
A lock works like this;When a river is uneven (one section is much taller than than the other section), they have a big ol' concrete box. The box floods with water, filling it up until it's close to even with the higher level of water. The boat goes in. The water is drained, the gates open, and the boat goes on through the lock. I neglected to tell you about how locks work in Year 1 because I was, like, 12 and didn't want to explain something that can be explained in a paragraph. I took a few pictures of the lock in action, but because it is entirely too late, I will post them tomorrow (7/18) so you can look at a large concrete box with water in it like the animals that you are.
We went to very very very large supermarket, dubbed the Market Bistro, or, in other words, basically a tryhard Wegmans. There's a lot going on there, there's a whole third of the shop dedicated to the dozen or so restaurants that are in there, the rest is filled with the most groceries you will ever see. They go so far as to include a talking cow in the store. Like, two cartoon cows with voice actors made exclusively from the dairy section.
I'm not exaggerating about the size of this place. If the Market Bistro peacefully seceded from the United States, it could fesebly sustain itself for years upon years because of their small army of employees. Their food supply could last them easily 10 years.
After that, we headed on home, I went to a baseball game after dinner with Uncle Len and my Dad. The Valleycats were winning when we left.
Tomorrow, we're going berry picking and I'm possibly going to see Ant-Man with my dad and my sister.
R.I.P Jigglypuff
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"Just make up something." - Molly
A lock works like this;When a river is uneven (one section is much taller than than the other section), they have a big ol' concrete box. The box floods with water, filling it up until it's close to even with the higher level of water. The boat goes in. The water is drained, the gates open, and the boat goes on through the lock. I neglected to tell you about how locks work in Year 1 because I was, like, 12 and didn't want to explain something that can be explained in a paragraph. I took a few pictures of the lock in action, but because it is entirely too late, I will post them tomorrow (7/18) so you can look at a large concrete box with water in it like the animals that you are.
We went to very very very large supermarket, dubbed the Market Bistro, or, in other words, basically a tryhard Wegmans. There's a lot going on there, there's a whole third of the shop dedicated to the dozen or so restaurants that are in there, the rest is filled with the most groceries you will ever see. They go so far as to include a talking cow in the store. Like, two cartoon cows with voice actors made exclusively from the dairy section.
I'm not exaggerating about the size of this place. If the Market Bistro peacefully seceded from the United States, it could fesebly sustain itself for years upon years because of their small army of employees. Their food supply could last them easily 10 years.
After that, we headed on home, I went to a baseball game after dinner with Uncle Len and my Dad. The Valleycats were winning when we left.
Tomorrow, we're going berry picking and I'm possibly going to see Ant-Man with my dad and my sister.
R.I.P Jigglypuff
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"Just make up something." - Molly
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Camp Joan, Year 4, Day 5 - Aw Hail No
I'm really not qualified to post today. After finishing off our Orchard pizza from last night, Molly, Uncle Len and myself took the 50 drive to Jiminy Peak in the land of double consonants, Massachusetts. The only thing I did was ride the Mountain Coaster once. I was planning on riding the MC twice and the Alpine Sled once. Unfortunately for us, it rained before we showed up so the sled was closed. The only rides open was the Mountain Coaster and the Screaming Eagle.
Because of this, the wait for the Mountain Coaster was about 15 minutes long. Like a lot of things when I was little - the Star Wars prequels, Spongebob, spending time with my sister - it wasn't as fun as I remembered it. Waiting in line for 15 minutes and riding for two was just...eh. I called it a day there. Fortunately, Uncle Len and Molly had a much better time. The two went on the Screaming Eagle, which Uncle Len enjoyed, and the Mountain Coaster. I sat around and toyed with my phone as the ominous, ominous storm clouds rolled in like the mist before a Horseman of the Apocalypse shows up.
 |
| Calm down, sir. You are having waaaaay too much fun. |
 |
| Think of the exact opposite of this. |
After Len and Molly returned from the coaster, we figured we'd head in the tavern and wait out the rain. We ordered the Mile High Fries, which were good. For some reason, no picture of them could be found online. Here is an artist's interpretation.
 |
| Perhaps next year should be Camp Drawing |
Once we finished up those, we started the drive home. While passing through Sand Lake, rain started falling. By the next town over, we could barely see through the sheets of rain. I thought it was really really bad until the hail started falling. Our windshield was like the side of a battleship; one wave of tiny ice rocks after another battered the glass. It slowed down for a second and I started to think Hey, it's slowing down! My brain was immediately punished for such silly ideas as the hail only got worse from there. When the cloud finally moved east as we moved west, the ground was like a recent snowfall.
We had pasta after we got home, I got new earbuds (old ones broke) and started watching Agents of SHIELD. Tomorrow, we get joined by Theo and Frank! Also tomorrow, our class takes a field trip to the humane society/shelter.
For more details on Jiminy, read last year's post here: http://campjoan.blogspot.com/2013/08/camp-joan-year-3-day-6-jiminy-peak.html
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"Since when did we need a quote of the day?" - Dan's Brain
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Camp Joan, Year 4, Day 4 - Dan VS Horse
I've never been that great with horses. Something about them makes me...iffy. Maybe it's the fact that they're way bigger than me, the fact that their hooves could end my life with a slight stomp, or their weird teeth.
Maybe it's the Headless Horseman, or how easily they can throw someone off, or John Elway, but horses have always creeped me out a little bit. Even the Denver Broncos logo makes me a little uneasy.
Afterwords, I tried mimicking a photo I was in yesterday that had me giving the thumbs-up next to the huge pile of hay. It didn't go too hot today.
The woman in charge, Lynn, was telling me about a summer camp they have here and that I could be a counselor. I very quickly explained that I like working with little kids, they just don't like me. She said it didn't really matter, and if I wanted to help out, I'd be welcome to. I'm thinking about it, but the big thing would be the blog name change. I wonder what we could do...?
...Okay, maybe not that.
 |
| It's definitely the teeth. |
 |
| The resemblance is uncanny. |
Anyways, after our lesson wrapped up, we headed on up to Little Brook Farm, a horse farm hidden in Nowhere, USA Chatham. The farm had about 40ish horses, all big and hungry. The intern there, Erika, showed us around the place and told us the names of all the horses. The ones I can remember off the top of my head were Pilot, Casey, Shane, Frisco,Dakota, Pumpkin, Falcon, and a slew of other names. I'd also like to promise now that I will not be making any horse puns for the entirety of the post, despite my inner corniness urging me on. Right, so Molly and Joan were on talk duty while Uncle Len carried food buckets and I pushed around the cart. I even dumped some food into a horse bowl, too.
 |
| I can't tell who's ears are bigger. |
 |
| I wanna say this horse's name is Pumpkin, but I'm not sure. |
Afterwords, I tried mimicking a photo I was in yesterday that had me giving the thumbs-up next to the huge pile of hay. It didn't go too hot today.
 |
| What can I say? I'm photogenic! |
The woman in charge, Lynn, was telling me about a summer camp they have here and that I could be a counselor. I very quickly explained that I like working with little kids, they just don't like me. She said it didn't really matter, and if I wanted to help out, I'd be welcome to. I'm thinking about it, but the big thing would be the blog name change. I wonder what we could do...?
...Okay, maybe not that.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Curse you, orange!" - Molly, during an unsuccessful stitch on orange (part of our Vet Science class)
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Camp Joan, Year 4, Day 3 - Power Struggle
When Abe Lincoln was a child, he read by candlelight every night because he wanted to become a lawyer. I can tell you this because every history textbook in America will mention this without fail. I'm part of a new generation that's basically doing the same thing; thinking of what they're gonna write as soon as the stinkin' power comes back on.
Anyway, we woke up at 7:40, ate breakfast, and went on over to St. Rose. In our vet class today, we had a guest speaker come in to talk about rabies and being a veterinarian. Upon completion, Molly and I got in the car and we started our trek towards the Woodstock Animal Sanctuary, surrounded by the Catskills mountains.
Website here: http://woodstocksanctuary.org/
After an 1.5 hour drive, we arrived at the sanctuary, ready to work.
Our task was to pick up the combination of hay and poop and place it in two wheelbarrows. We were given pitchforks as our means of disposal. The job took about an hour and 45 minutes. Highlights include a goat and a sheep headbutting and a baby goat (goatling?) almost getting it's head stuck in the fence post.
A job well done. After our ride home, I was prepared to have a nice, relaxing night with grilled cheese on cheese bread for dinner, Reese's PB cups for dessert, and watching Iron Man 3 before going to bed. After we got back, we had some thunder and lightning. No big deal, until the lights went out. Yep! No power for about two hours. It came back on a little while ago, though.
Tomorrow, we go to another animal farm.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"I feel like I could fight a goat." - Dan
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