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...

Off again...
I have been on the road nearly non-stop the last few weeks. The trend continues. This morning I am leaving to the campus of Indiana University to facilitate a leadership weekend called the Undergraduate Interfraternity Institute (UIFI). This is another program of the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC). I am excited to be heading down there, I participated in this program as a student, and now I get to be on the other side.

This past weekend was great! After my trip to Dallas I crashed out. I was tired and slept nearly the entire day on Friday. Saturday and Sunday was time to be outside relaxing. Saturday I got caught up on shopping and laundry that needed to be done and started some car work. I got my room organized and everything back in place after nearly two weeks of solid busy time. Saturday night was Aaron's birthday, she turned 30... I think she took it well. I had fun being out with her friends and really glad I got to work with her for the past two years.

Sunday I finally got a few things done on my car. It became a love your car day as Hermen joined me outside and we cleaned Tashina's car, finished Heathers car, tried to get Santi to clean his, and got the some serious work done on the NX. The NX got the new replacement seat bet latch (not a perfect fit... but I made it work) and the calipers finally painted.

Nice rims... new paint... ugly calipers. They needed some work.

I was debating whether I should take the brakes completely apart to paint them...

I ended up just painting them on the car. This summer I will need new brake pads and then can do a more thorough job.

Bling bling! Looking good. I was very happy with the turnout.

Well it is about 6:30AM and I need to get on the road. Four hours of sleep... some coffee... hot dogs from Speedway and I am ready to roll! See you all next week.

Back... with stories
I had a great time traveling the last few days. I wanted to post some pictures from my time in Texas and also recap some of my trips.

I had two on campus interviews this week, I will never do that again. Universities really run you through the gauntlet for these positions. My interviews started with dinner upon my arrival. The following day about 7 hours of interviewing, both schools had a total of about 25 people meet with me throughout the day. Very nerve racking. So to have two of these in one week was very hard on me. I need to sleep in my bed and relax!

One of my Brothers took this for me, my mom wanted to see a pic of me dressed up.

DePaul is right on Lincoln Park in Chicago. Great Location!

For my interview at DePaul the questions were very hard and they really drilled me about some complex issues and challenged my ideas and I reviewed case studies and past issues on their campus. Had a lot of interesting things happen to me there, as I first set foot on campus with the Director of Student Life... two girls were fighting in front of the Union. It was kinda funny. Then on the interview day, on my way back from a meeting on their downtown campus the train I was on caught fire. My tour guide and I had to evacuate the train and catch a bus back to campus. Crazy...

Right after my last interview I hoped on the road and came home. I barely had time to wash clothes, repack, and put in a few hours at CompuCraft and then fly to Dallas. My trip was the usual, I have grown accustomed to flying (in the past six months I have flown 7 times). SMU was amazing.

SMU has the most beautiful campus. Right in downtown Dallas but so green still.

On my tour we went through some of the fraternity and sorority houses... most of them were 2 to 4 million dollar homes... wow.

Of course I ate a lot of red meat while in Dallas... got to love Texas steaks!

Some Dallas area Brothers took me out, they got a limo and everything.

We went to this sweet club called Blue. Latin upstairs, hip hop downstairs. Very hot club.

Fernando does work with promotions... so we did not wait in line, paid no cover... and got VIP treatment.

Dallas as always was a ton of fun. SMU I think would be the better professional opportunity. I also liked how well they treated me. BMW at the airport, fancy dinners, awesome hotel room and room service... very posh. However, being close to Novali is more important. DePaul should let me know pretty soon what their decision is on their position. Once I hear from them I will go from there.

I am dead tired right now from the trips. Tomorrow (Saturday) I am going to get some work done on the car. Get that stupid seat belt latch finally replaced. I also need to wax the car see about getting a quote on getting my little rust spot that popped fixed. Sunday will be busy, I am running to Kalamazoo again and getting some work done in the office at GVSU, and then heading to the Airport to meet the Mexico gang and give rides to Trailagirl and BlondeAmbition.

Interviews are done!
My interviews went well. DePaul was very tough and asked me hard questions and really drained me mentally. I loved meeting the students and really enjoyed the campus visit. I am hoping to hear from them within the week about the position.

I finished SMU today. It was a good interview. Much more laid back then the DePaul interview and I enjoyed the campus. The trip here to Dallas has been awesome. They picked me up in a BMW and treated me to awesome dinners and I am in a great hotel room in downtown Dallas. The campus was more beautiful then I thought it would be.

Right now I am waiting for the Dallas area Brothers to pick me up. They are taking me out on the town tonight and even got a limo! I have not been to Dallas in over a year so I am excited to see what we get up to. This is a fun town, but first some dinner. In good Texas fashion I will order a huge steak... yum.

I will back in Michigan tomorrow. My race this Saturday was canceled so I will have a chance to relax all day Saturday and get some work done on the car. I finally got my new seat belt latch in... no more touchy seat belt.

Passports, Cords, Patent, Sunglasses and a Suit.
Okay. Busy last few days... lets recap. The weekend started on Friday with a trip to Kalamazoo. Gary graduated and is now leaving for Germany to live with his wife. So us Betas got together and said our goodbyes to Gary... the thing is his passport never arrived so we might have to say goodbye again.

Rudy and I made it out to Hartford to have dinner at Gary's Family's house.

Gary with his brothers... family resemblance... I think so.

Saturday morning I got up and went to Lansing. Andres was graduating. It was a very casual ceremony which surprised me but it was great to meet the new members from his fraternity and also hangout with my parents. We had an awesome BBQ and a great time with Andres and his Brothers. I am so proud of my little brother, he landed a great job with Dupount and will be moving out East later this year.

Andres getting his dilploma, all dressed in green with his Honor Cords.

We try hard to make our parents proud, and with three kids as college alums I hope they are.

Andres with his fraternity Brothers. Phi Iota Alpha.

The BBQ was at an awesome park in Lansing (even though music was not allowed). We ate like kings...

On Saturday I also got some sweet news. I got a letter from Johnson Controls. While I worked there I was a part of three innovation disclosures and finally... I got a patent! I got my paperwork to submit to receive my official US Patent. How awesome! Almost makes me want to become a designer again...

Sunday was mothers day and I headed to Chicago. We did the family tour with Novalí. First to her Great Grandma Gomez out on the Southside of Chicago. Then off to her visit her Great Grandma Escribano. Novali loves her abuela Anna and they play like little kids. Of course I ate some great Puerto Rican food and called my Mother and she talked to Novali on the phone.

Today I kept Novalí home from day care and we went shopping. To my surprise she remembered the last time her and I walked to the store from here. She is getting to be the age that she remembers more and of course talks all the time! We went to eat, shopped, and I got my haircut.

Novalí playing under the table with her Great Grandma Escribano.

She grows any faster she will be bigger then her mother by the end of the year!

She is learning how to catch so I spent time Monday playing catch with her.

It was an awesome day for a walk, so we got dressed and off and we went.

At the restaurant she preferred to color then eat... she colored a nice clown for her mami.

We stopped in the dollar store and she got some new sunglasses... its all about accessories.

Tonight I interviewed with student leaders at DePaul. It was nice to see the campus again and we had some interesting dialog. All in all I feel pretty good about how it went.

Tuesday will be about 7 hours of interviews with different departments within the university. I am excited and nervous, worried and ready, confident and apprehensive all at the same time. Hopefully all will go well, I got a new pad of paper for notes, new suit fitted and pressed with a sweet shirt and tie combo, and fresh haircut. Wish me luck.