Camp in the age of the internet

This morning I am tying up all of the last minute details before we send the kids off to camp. One of which is setting up an account so that I can email the girls at camp. You can't use regular email. You have to use the GS proprietary system that lets you send "bunk notes" that are printed off and delivered to the girls with the regular mail. Oh yeah, and you have to pay for this service. Messages start at $1 and go up by $1 per add on if you want to make it in color or add a picture or a word game. So one email can end up costing $3. And you have to buy credits for this service in $10 increments. Per kid. So I have to pay a minimum of $20 to email my kids at camp. Makes a postage stamp look like a bargain. (Not to mention I already went old school and hid little notes throughout their suitcases.)

This is a little irritating to me. Especially because I have been getting blast emails for the last two months encouraging me to buy a bunch of overpriced crap to be delivered to my kids while they are at camp. They are definitely playing the "show your kids you love them through material possessions" card. I didn't really think that was what GS was all about.
I think scouting is a great program, and I know that the money made off of these ventures goes back to the scouts, but I am not loving this particular fund raising mechanism.

Meanwhile, PS's camp is not allowing any electronics, either. (Can you imagine the number of cell phones and ipods that will be confiscated by the end of the week from 300 middle schoolers?) But they have set up a twitter feed so that the parents can see what is going on. So yesterday I joined the 21st century and set up a twitter account. I still don't really see the point of twitter, but maybe I'm just getting old. I'm following a few business, and it seems to me like I have just voluntarily signed up to be affronted with even more advertising. Why would I do this to myself?

However, a new social networking site that I LOVE is pinterest. I describe it as a visual bookmarking site that you can share with the world. Your "pins" are images/links that take you back to whatever you are pinning. I can spend hours on this new time-waster.