Take It From Me: Listen To Your Own Advice

Learned a lesson in class this semester. Yeah I know, novel idea that learning happens in class... but it was a lesson I already learned once, and one that I have taught many people. Well I had to learn it again...

If anyone was to ask me about buying car parts... I would always tell someone, get name brand parts. I buy Mobil 1 oil, K&N Air Filters, Good tires, and even at my age I don't like to skimp on the audio. So why when I had to replace my oil pressure stitch in the Element did I get a non-name brand one from Autozone? Cause I was cutting corners... and for what, to save and buy a $9 sensor versus a $21 one from the dealer?

Clearly the parts
were different!

If you read my previous post, I worked on my car in my shop class and saved a bundle of money. Well two days after I replaced the oil pressure switch my oil pressure light went on. The sensor wasn't bad, it was just leaking oil and it was recommended to get a new one not just remove, reseal and replace the original. So when the pressure light came on, despite freaking out a little (on my way to Indy!), I knew it had to be that sensor I just replaced. So I went in and got a sensor from the dealer.

In my follow up class I pulled the cheapo part I got, and when you compare them side by side (which I should of done the first time) you can tell they are different. No wonder the connection wasn't good and it through and error light. So I put the new part in, tightened it up and got it installed... which is a total pain cause you have no room to work in that engine bay...

Then started the car back up and Wha La... no oil light. Still no oil light when I got home, and feeling much better about my work. So more busted knuckles, more oil under the nails, and more back pain trying to change the part all because I didn't listen to my own advice... don't buy cheap parts. Especially not to save $13. ARGH.

Double the work is never fun.

No error lights is sure nice when driving around.

Shop Class for the Soul

My Craftsman Tools hard at work

For those following me you know that I am back in school... no not law school, no not PHD, no not MBA...

I am taking a shop class at Ivy Tech this fall. I have always been a car guy, but never really learned how to work on cars. So I am enjoying my tuition benefit and am taking the first Theory of Engine Servicing course (signed up for part two in the spring).

I entered like a typical adult learner... without much confidence, doubting my skills, and nervous I would do things wrong.

Honda Quote and my All Data Sheets

I proved myself wrong, I know my stuff, and I am connecting with the crew in class. I have really enjoyed the class, I have been surprised at how much more I knew than I thought I would.

This week I tackled my first project on my own car. A month ago Honda did one of those free check up days... so I took it in... its nice to have the dealer check it out once in a while. Well they said I had an oil leak, I noticed a few drops a couple times, usually after oil changes so I figured it was some spilled or something. Well the Honda dealer told me it was leaking oil from three places, and quoted me nearly $400 to fix it.

So my first thing was to hoist the car (last class), clean the motor well and look for myself. Yes having access to a hoist is VERY NICE. Well I cleaned it well and noticed a leak from my Oil Pressure Sensor and I think it was dripping down to the other areas. So cleaned it well, and before this weeks class got the sensor. Checked this week, and yes only new oil around the sensor.

Swamped the sensor, which was a $10 part, got a new tube of liquid gasket for $2 and maybe one hour shopping for parts (online/in store) and one hour working on it.

Really enjoy the hoists...

Well I saved myself nearly $400... and had a good time doing it. Hopefully by next semester I am getting close to being able to rebuild my Z...

On top of that though... it has just been very refreshing. In a job when I work on strategic plans, development theory, long term initiatives.... it is nice to just grab a wrench, start a job, finish it... wash my hands and head home... with a completed job under my belt.

Thinking about Columbus

Yeah I am a day late... look at my blog, I am a month late since my last post so this being late thing is a trend. At least I am being consistent.

Well yesterday got me thinking, and I wanted to do my own reply to all the blogger and FB rants about how evil and villainous Columbus was...

Yesterday I spent a great day off with Novali, she didn't have school so I took a vacation day and we had a great time enjoying some good one on one time. So I have to thank Columbus for helping provide me some great one on one time.

It got me thinking about blame, history, and perceptions of actions before, during and after the fact.

I am not here to write the traditional "Re-Thinking Columbus" post to bash him over what happened after his fabled "discovery" of a new world.

My thoughts have surrounded everyone's blame pointed at him over what happened after he landed. So I started thinking about the blame game. Can we give him all the blame? I mean why isn't anyone mad at the Queen of Spain who funded his trip? I mean didn't she have more to do with it? And isn't royal greed probably more responsible for the actions of the "Conquistadors"? Wouldn't the Catholic Church and Pope Alexander be responsible for much of the genocide?

It is interesting how we like to focus on individuals, in both blame and credit. I mean Christopher Columbus didn't discover America... I mean yes people were already here, but in the Euro-Centric view what about the Norseman Leif Erikson who came years before, and Amerigo Vespucci for whom America is actually named? Then extrapolate it to all the "great explorers" like Lewis and Clark... I mean weren't they just paving a trial for people to exploit Native American Tribes?

So how about this... maybe instead of blaming Columbus for what happened, how about we remove both credit and blame. I mean he didn't cause all the bad things that happened in the America's upon its "discovery" by the Europeans, but he also didn't "discover" the place. He wasn't a perfect man of course, and you are though right?

I mean Neil Armstrong didn't discover the moon. He did have the courage to make the trip, an unknown trip. However, if it ends up that the Moon was irreparably damaged because of his footprints, will we blame Armstrong and curse his name for ruining the moon? No, you'd have to blame NASA, the President for making it a priority, and of course Russia for egging us on (you know we have to toss Russia blame whenever we can).

I am not defending what happened post the Columbus "discovery" of the new world, nor his or others motivation in the trip. I am saying that remember credit is earned by groups, and blame should be taken in the same. We just celebrated Olympics in a country that profited countless riches from the "new world" and no one seemed to flinch at that... so why write some rant on FB about how Columbus was a villain and not at least cite his sources of motivation and wherewithal for the trip. 

A quote I have always liked states:

"Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of man you are." ~ Thomas Carlyl

Here maybe in reverse... yeah we don't need to honor him, but does how much hate you point towards one man show the type of person you are? 
 

Where Were You?

I was meeting with the WMU President Elson Floyd that morning, I heard the news of one plane just as I parked on campus. During our meeting he was interrupted, and then minutes later today me he was closing campus... 

 

First thing I did was buzz home and call Megan Baker... we immediately both said, we have to do something tonight. Our small band of IFC and Panhel Officers started quickly planning a vigil for that evening in Fraternity Village. People like David Lancaster and others helped bring hundreds of Greeks and non-Greeks to the village and somehow we found enough candles for everyone. No one doubted decisions, we all got together, no one hogged the microphone, everyone held hands and we all rowed in the same direction.

 

When I think of our divisive politics, and how much we have learned to hate other Americans who believe differently than we do... it shames us for what we went through over how much someone hated us... now we do it to each other, daily, publicly, and proudly. 

 

I hope today we take the time to remember that freedom didn't come free, that keeping it isn't easy, and working together is the only way to succeed. God Bless America on 9/11.

Old Man

I really don't feel like an old man. Never put a lot of thought into my birthdays, or feeling old, I think working with college students for a living keeps me young. I have however realized a few things that are different now, that I think clearly come with age, and maybe from being a father.

First off, this photo, the younger Sam would of never posted a shirtless photo of me slumped over. However, the older, less in shape, but proud Papi... posts this pic of Cruz helping me in the yard yesterday. He demanded on taking his shirt off, and then grabbed his sandcastle rake and came over to "help" me.

Second this picture... spent the weekend with my sister Raquel and her two little girls... they wanted me to wear their goggles and miners light... and not only did I mind getting my picture taken, I actually posed for it... and nearly smiled... Ha....

And then my little family... I don't mind not going out for my Birthday, or that I had yard work that needed to get done, or that there wasn't a big party. Not that I was ever a birthday party person anyways (well except the infamous 25th BDay at BFE), but it was a nice day and more importantly long weekend spent with my little family.

Thanks to everyone who posted on my wall, hit over 300! Wow... that's pretty cool everyone. It was a great birthday, and here is to another banner year.

Mr. E.R. Cruz

Well we got our first ER trip with Cruz out of the way... luckily on something fairly minor. So here is the quick story... Sunday night Cruz broke a plate... he quickly went to grab it and cut his finger.

At first it bled a little, Heather was getting ready to work a Sunday recruiting event for ND and I started working on a band-aid for him. Well after about 15 minutes I could not stop the bleeding so mama bear made the call... we take him in!

Off to ER...

Checking Vitals

Wheel Chair ride...

We weren't sure which hospital to take him to, about insurance... so we took him to the place he was born (St. Joseph Regional). Mr. Cruz was a total trooper, he didn't really cry, just picked at it a lot and ripped off every band-aid I would put on. So I finally just wrapped tape around his hand so he couldn't pull it off anymore.

At the hospital I tried to not be annoyed with the double questions, double paperwork, the fact that we had to wait here, wait there, wait here now, etc. Or that they required tests, which I am sure cost a ton, that he clearly didn't need. Like an X-ray? Really? He cut his finger... we washed it out, its fine. Hard to argue over a bill though when its your child's health...

Working on his finger

Trying to escape...

X-Ray

They told us what we already knew... no broken bones, and a finger that didn't need stitches... just a little boy that won't stop poking it. They used some sticky glue stuff and then wrapped it with the steri-strips and topped it off with a band-aid. The band-aid lasted a whole of about 5 minutes... the steri-strips about another 10 minutes... luckily by then the glue stuck well. I redid his strips and we got discharged...

Off to ER...

Post ER Tots

Since all plans were shot, we got some Sonic, Cruz really enjoyed the tots... so I hope he doesn't connect being hurt with tots... cause then we might have an injury prone Sunday toddler...

Back to Blogging

For those playing along at home... or at least following me on Twitter, you know that it has been a busy year. I always post saying I will try to post more, and the next post... starts the same way. Well now with my term with SLB being done, my convention over, and new job getting into some rhythm... I hope I can start posting more. I have a list of things I need to blog about...

Summer Pictures of Novali
Our Rain Barrel Project
Update on the Yard Flowers
Let's not forget about the Z...

So lots of things are falling behind... so to catch up first, lets post some pictures for Cruz. Since we got our iPhones, and Cruz is hard to catch on camera anyways... we have been taking less pics. However on Facebook you can catch some fun vids once in a while, or just some old fashion pictures of Mr. Cruz.

Here is his June 2012 Album.

I hope you enjoy it, I actually worked on July a little already, so hopefully that album I can post sooner. Well off to enjoy what is left of the weekend... CIAO!

New Rocker

A couple weeks ago when walking in the neighborhood... we saw a cute little kids rocking chair on a curb. It had one missing slat and one cracked in half... it was sturdy and cute, and we took it home. Cruz right away enjoyed rocking away on it... even in its abused shape.

Novali of course wanted to fix it for her brother, and I of course love working on projects with Novali. Her task was to pick the color, and mine was to figure out how we would fix it. A trip to Hobby Lobby netted us some wood project strips (for a birdhouse) that were nearly the right size. We did the math in the store (cause we actually remembered to take measurements with us to the store for this project) and figured out a plan.

Sanding the curves.

The new seat of the rocker!

Prepping the chair for paint.

We pried the slats off, keeping track of parts and we made a game plan to put it back together. We then took our straight slats and cut two of them to curves for like the end pieces. A careful assembly process of cut, test fit, cut... and we had her back together!

Then a trip to Menards to cruise the paint isle for what Novali thought Cruz might want... mostly going off color names she decided on "Paprika" from Rustoleum. So we will have a little baby paprika chair...time to paint... Novali helped lay the layers of paint down, and after a few coats...

Spray painting

Before...

After!

After $6 in wood, $2 in paint and some free elbow grease.... WhaaLaa!


Once the paint dries fully, we get to watch Cruz take it for a test drive...

Tennis, Running and Powertools

Called my parents Saturday morning, since I was not sure I'd catch my dad on Sunday with Novali and Cruz together. He was out playing tennis.

So my mom said they would call back later. Well then I got busy mowing my lawn, while Novali and Cruz played on the patio and playscape.

We skyped later, dad had a good tennis game, I told him that Novali and I went for a run this morning. She did a great 1.2 mile run in 10:53.... good pace! She won a big award at school on Thursday for an essay she wrote. Cruz ran up the slide, gave his mom a heart attack again and for breakfast ate a whole slice of pizza.  New personal record.

I had a fun day with my kids, and a great talk with my dad.

Novali and I ran... I love to run, and would love to see her be competitive at something, running would be fun. Novali and I worked on building a rain barrel... hit some snags, solved some problems, did some math, used powertools... I love having a daughter who loves powertools and figuring out how long to cut the next piece of wood (she is 11 now, we will see how long it lasts). We made an addition on our backyard playscape, taught Novali how to use a level, and to remember to include the thickness of the wood when measuring to build something.

Cruz blew bubbles, started climbing the ladder all by himself (mom heart attack number two for the day). He helped water the plants like a good gardener, and showed off his strength by pushing Novali around on his Winnie the Pooh car... that boyo is a beast.

I don't remember being Cruz's age, but I think today I managed to cram in all the fun stuff I used to do with my dad but today with my kids. Building something, mowing the lawn, using powertools, blowing bubbles, going to the hardware store, going for a run, and cooking on the grill (Novali made the sweet potato fries)... ah days with my dad on the grill...

Happy Father's Day Pop... Looking forward to firing up the grill with you in Florida in a couple weeks and maybe I can get out on the tennis court with you... I am a little rusty, but I think you always took it easy on me on the court anyways, maybe one year I can play a real game with you, but just not this year... so keep taking it easy on me. Love You.

Oh and I posted May photos of Cruz... and I am working on pics of Novali and I working on the rain barrel... coming soon...

Mama's Boy

There is no doubt about it, that I am a Mama's boy... I was always close with my mom and we would be the only ones up early on the weekends making breakfast together. I always tried to learn how to cook Bolivian food from her.... I'm still not very good at it.

So today I will plant a few flowers and plants around the house, for my mom as that is what we did growing up. I have a few flowers out there Cruz and I already picked for Heather... I got more mama's now to take care of for Mother's Day.

Today to honor my mama, I get to brag about another mama, that does the job that would make my mama proud. Weird sentence huh? I think the best way to honor your parents, is to do what they taught you, to teach important life lessons, like the ones that were taught to you. Well I can't mother baby Cruz... but Heather does, and does a job that is all I could of asked for from my mama, and that makes me thankful and proud.

So for Heather... Cruz and I wanted to plan a nice little day, but Heather just wants to do nothing. Which is very hard for me, and even harder for Cruz, we like to stay busy. So our job was to do all the things that mama does, so mama doesn't have to and can do nothing...

We cleaned cars and the driveway.

"Cleaning the kitchen floor... I make a mess on it." ~ Cruz

"I know mom likes things vacuumed." ~ Cruz

Then we got mama some gifts...We know she likes flowers and jewelry. We did some shopping and picked out stuff for mama.

Picking out something for mama...

Novali and Cruz planted this rose last year for Mother's Day

Picking flowers for mama...

Flowers and kisses!

Mother's Day morning we got up early and got to work. Cruz hauled around the laundry baskets for a while, and we went for a walk so mama could take a long uninterrupted shower.

Papi... don't turn the lights on, lets do laundry for mama.

Made breakfast...

Omelet, Cruz ate most of Heather's bacon...

Then I finally gave her my Pandora

I hope she likes it...

It is a bug... Mama will have to get used to having a boyo... who likes bugs.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there! Hope you get what you want, even if its nothing.

Whirlwind Week

The past week was a little nuts... Apologies to anyone that I didn't reply to right away, or folks that I might of snapped at this week during my busyness. So what had me so stressed?

Saturday (4/21) - I had our SLB Board of Directors Meeting. These are always hectic trying to prep agenda, travel, read all the documents. It didn't help that I had travel issues with a canceled flight en route, and we had some big business items. That evening we had an Alumni Reception in DC and that was nice to unwind with some Brothers I have not seen in a while.

Sunday/Monday - North American Interfraternity Conference (www.nicindy.org) House of Delegates meeting. Not as stressful, but still hectic reading all the business items and keeping up. We had an awesome educational session with Miriam Carver the mother of Policy Governance, that was my highlight.

 Tuesday (4/24) - I had a program in Elkhart at my campus there. Plus SGA elections started on all three campuses and it was a long day...

Wednesday (4/25) - Honors Convocation, which I was pretty much in charge of for my campus. Juggling getting honors cords there, PTK Stoles, and that food and the room was set up correctly. then that evening I had an SLB Conference call with our national board candidates.

Thursday (4/26) - Off to Warsaw, for tabling and a little town hall meeting there... Whew... rolling rolling.

Friday (4/27) - Game night at Ivy Tech with Best Buy. Not a ton to do for that, but lots of prep for my two events the following evening... Friday evening was low key, game night wasn't huge, but I did get to kill Zombies with some students. That was fun.

Saturday - Up at 5:30AM to go to the Tire Rack for Street Survival (www.streetsurvival.org). Then once that finished, a short nap and then Novali and I went to Evening of Elegance for Ivy Tech. Hectic day, to end a hectic week...

Sunday - Relaxing finally with the family. Walk this morning, now Novali and I are gonna hit the store, and then grill while she finishes homework.

Busy week... oh yeah, and SLB is dealing with the most significant risk management issue in the past 10 years... good times. This week will be slower... I hope.

Presidential Reflections on an Unlucky Year

So here, in my 13th year of membership, I think I can try to explain why this unlucky year, will be my best yet. On April 17th, 1999 with a group of other young men, I became a member of Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity, Inc. It has been an interesting, fantastic and sometimes indescribable experience.

I swore that after my 10th year I would stop counting, and not turn into that Brother who celebrates Betaversaries like we are still 21 years old... last year I had the honor of speaking at Colorado State and Metro State for founders week. Today won't be a huge celebration, but I did get to reflecting about my time in Sigma Lambda Beta.

This year is a big Beta year for me... I will have the honor of convening my third convention, the most of any elected fraternity president. This year I end my time on my fraternity board, six years in total, five as president, and it was stressful, invigorating, frustrating and and and... I can't think of all the great ways to describe this experience. For example this weekend I will get a tour of the White House, set up by one of our alums. That type of stuff, unmeasurable and describable.

Many Brothers always say they love the fraternity more each year on their annual anniversary... I really can't say that. For sure I don't love the fraternity any less, I think I just love it different each year. It's changed, and its grown with me, matured as my needs have, and morphed into the experiences that meet my life. As a father, all us Beta dads posting pictures online of the kids, talking about the cost of daycare... as a professional sitting around with Brothers talking about the best place to get work dress shirts, or about the pants you loved so much you bought em in every color available. Yep... we're all growns up now and we're all growns up.

I am looking forward to less conference calls at night, more time with my family, maybe actually taking a vacation with my vacation time instead of Beta trips... I hope to still stay in contact with so many of the members I have met, and I hope that I don't become a bitter ex-president mad and saying, "Well when I was president...".

So what am I doing tonight? Interestingly doing what I do best, going to a program, what started it all... but tonight I am getting a special honor. The IUSB Student Government renamed the Student Leader of the Year award after me... What you say? That is what I said, yes I am way too young for such an honor. From now on the "Centellas Leadership Award" plaque will be hung up on my former campus. If it had not been for Sigma Lambda Beta I would of never been an involved campus leader, I would not of changed my career track, I would not of had all the great opportunities.

In my years in the fraternity I have gotten to do a lot of interesting things... the college road trips (as an undergrad I visited 21 campuses with chapters), as an alumnus traveling around the country (I have been to every region), rides from the airport, welcome parties, going away parties, most importantly graduation parties, weddings, birth announcements... all the great things about having great friends, ERRR... Having Great Brothers.

It hasn't always been gravy... the years dealing with difficult Brothers, or being challenged over the decisions I have made as a leader. Learning more about myself, learning that no matter what, change is the only constant.

So who knows when I will actually stop counting the years... but for now, another big thank you to my fraternity, my Brothers and my family and friends that have supported my time on my board.

PEACE. /\B.

Is Murray There?

One thing we loved in the South, that you can't capture on film is the accent. One day someone came by the house asking for Murray, and we told them there was no Murray here. So I went and told Mary, the homeowners mom that someone stopped by asking for a Murray... well it turns out that people around here say Mary, but it sounds to us, like Murray. Just one example of the many times we got confused down here...

We are driving today, but wanted to post out a photo roll of a few fun shots from our trip. We have a lot more photos we will share with the group later, but hope you enjoy these shots of our trip and time for Alternative Spring Break 2012 at Indiana University South Bend.









We will miss you ASP... until next time, GO TITANS

Drumroll Please

Well warm up the drumroll... get it in high gear... a little faster now... our project is finished!

They didn't think we would get our project done and that a weekend crew would have to finish our job because it was such a large project. We had solid teamwork, made sure everyone was included in the project, and had a great time along the way. We covered some of the details before but here is a recap of the project.

This home was damaged in a fire, and our family purchased it at a mega discount. They sunk all they had into the house, but it looked like it might not be enough and they could possibly have to walk away. So here comes team IU... IUSB tackling outside projects, and IUB tackling laying down floors. The IUSB job would be helping keep wind and water from under the house and house to keep it warm, the IUB crew would be getting the house ready for the family to move in. I don't have many pictures of the IUB portions except in areas that we helped out (like when we killed our saw blades and work outside stopped) in the afternoons.

Here is a chronological look at the home and our work...







We also want to highlight a little of our time with the IU Bloomington crew. They were all from the Kelly School of business and were a great work team to be paired with for the week. We bonded over lunch time, struggled on projects, and helped each other. We wish them well on their travel home, and the time spent working on flooring built great memories.



We hope this home is a great foundation for a new young family and that it creates opportunities for the children to have space to play, to study, to explore their world and create a solid future. It was our pleasure to help, to learn, and to leave with a feeling that we helped make a difference. So here is the before and after shot... we are really proud...


Tomorrow we hit the road nice and early for home... See you in South Bend!