Get a Night Life
So our favorite watering hole got flooded with the torrid rains we received here in West Michigan the last few weeks. The famed BFE is flooded, no ten cent drafts, no shooting pool, no hanging out on the deck.

The entire parking lot is flooded out! Poor BFE has been closed for about a week now.

The water early this week was nearly at the level as the deck, we used to sit out there and try to flick caps into the river... now you could just drop them over the edge.

So we have have had to find new things to do at night. Thursday night was the first crazy one. I was in Kalamazoo with Ramon to meet with the Brothers there and we went to Club Soda, my old stomping ground. It was a blast! All the Betas in town came out and we had a good time. Lets recap with some pics...

Ish, Ramon and Rudy... ready to get down. Well except Ish... he's whack.

Ramon was making the ladies laugh.

Vic getting his groove on with two ladies.

Ramon saying... hey do you like my pants?

Normally I stick to merengue and bachata... I did a Salsa finally.

Juan (AKA Fabio) with his pimp shirt.

Rudy teaching the ladies about Covert!

Ramon busting out the Cumbia skills.

The gang, representing in our special section.

Rudy left guys at the club, so I crammed way too many people in my little car...

It was a memorable night. I am glad I don't have a real job yet... I get to sleep in! Besides the being broke part it is everything I hoped it would be.

Friday... slept in, wrapped up a few things in the office, and was on hold for an hour trying to get my internet fixed at home. After the stressful day... Friday guys night out. I rallied a few brothers together and we planned to do something different. Colleen from WMU had some friends coming up, so we thought we would meet up with them. Lame... we met them at 48 West, which is cool... if you are like 40. I'm not that old yet. Then the gang wanted to head to Monte's, not really my scene but we made the best of it. Found some cool people there I knew and we got down.

Montes is a dance club a little away from downtown. Mostly locals... I prefer the college scene.

Found some people I knew from GVSU and we danced and partied.

Once again got to see Vic getting down. I miss partying with him.

Not sure why Ramon took this picture of himself...

I also ran into some Sig Ep friends, Joe and Justin (we served on IFC together) from WMU at the bar. I had not seen them in nearly three years. They were not surprised to hear I was looking for a job as a Greek advisor, and I was not surprised to hear they are both big money businessmen in Detroit area. They were the two coolest Sig Eps from Western (most of them I did not get along with...).

Vic and I watched Van Wilder and ate some McDonalds (yes I did not eat the bun). Then it was time to get some rest.

Today was supposed to be a long day of nothing. Did not go as planned. Becky woke me up asking for help moving some stuff. So I woke Vic up and we went to help, got some free food out of the deal. Then we got some groceries and watched Bruce Allmighty while waiting for the cable guy. Tonight Becky is coming over, she leaves for Colorado in three days so we are hanging out tonight. Adios!

Goodbyes
This week is when most grads move on to greener pastures. Some first years off to internships and practicums, seconds years off to the real world and responsibility, and then some of us will just be bums all summer. So this week we have been hanging out a lot and I figured it was a good time to invite everyone to the house. So we had a BBQ at my apart last night. Good times!

Slocum brought the meat, everyone brought ice (I was worried about ice... and then we had too much), Heather made an awesome dip for fresh strawberries, Carrie made the beans, the Traila girls (minus Dre, we missed you!) made a potato salad, a few people brought pop and other assorted beverages, and we combined our condiments together and had enough for everyone.

The strawberries... I forgot about Atkins and ate one... or two... Oops.

The guys threw the frisbee a few times in the pug farm... lucky the dogs were locked up and Landis jumped the fence.

Adrian manned the grille while I defrosted our ten tons of frozen hamburger.

I was in Atkins heaven... 10 dogs and four burgers.

We hungout and ate outside... lots of Central girls.

I decided we should use an ice cream scooper for the beans... it was cool.

We were low on seating, so I busted out Hermen's desk chair... Everyone had races or was pulled by a car...

Shawna said if I put a picture of her on the blog she would comment... well... there it is. She left early to watch American Idol. Addict.

After the BBQ some of us headed to Holland to the New Holland Brewery to celebrate Miguel "Oso Negro" Ortiz's birthday. Not sure how old he is anymore but we had a good time. I don't see him much anymore, been really busy. I plan to get out there soon and hangout with him and his little baby girl soon.

Oso has always been a funny character. This is a pic from a party a while back. We have had some good times hanging out together. Happy Birthday Bro, have a great day. So how old are you...

Thanks to the grads who swung by the house. Good luck to everyone on your future endeavors. To those being bums this summer... me to. Lots of car work and pondering the meaning of life.

No Internet
Added 5/25: Pictures
As most people know, I can not live without the internet. During my six day trip to Indiana I was only able to get internet once to check up on things. I got back into Michigan last night... and the internet at home was out! So then this morning I decided to stroll into work at CompuCraft a little early, and guess what? No internet here either, our DSL line is down! So I had to head to campus to finally get a web connection.

This last week I was at the Undergraduate Infraternity Institute (UIFI), and it was more then I could have ever hoped for! I had a great time, met some great facilitators, and worked with some amazing students. I really needed that to pump me up and get my focused again on why I decided to do this full time. I also renewed my commitment to Sigma Lambda Beta and am planning some new things I want to do with the Betas as well. I am very pumped!

We were put up in an amazing sorority house on Indiana's campus.

Our facilitation team was great, we were an awesome team.

UIFI's curriculum is perfect and the activities really get the students thinking.

In our free time we played a lot of Mafia, danced, and played the famous game... Big Booty.

The games were tons of fun, one day it involved water... which was good since it was so HOT down there!

The activity was about building community... and getting soaking wet in the process.

Of course a water fight broke out afterwards... I put my camera down and got in it.

At the end of the week we had a social.... glow bowl!

Chrissy, me, Kate and Adriene from Chapter 6.

Damien from Phi Beta Sigma taught the group a stroll, they caught on quickly.

Graduation day, rumor has it I shed a little tear... I can not confirm or deny that at this time.

My group, or Chapter 6 to be exact, dressed up for graduation.

It was a rejuvenating time. I really needed the chance to work with some students with passion and fire about being Greek and making a difference with their chapter, council, campus and communities. I made some awesome new friends and I am pumped to hear about all the changes they will take back to their campuses. Big shot out to the facilitators, and Chapter 6!

Now back to the grind, meetings, website designing, fraternity stuff, and cleaning the house. Fun fun fun. And for those still wondering... DePaul emailed me (no call, just email) and turned me down. Their loss...