50 seconds
I had a busy weekend. Trip to Kalamazoo to party with the guys (pics coming soon), I graduated from GVSU, worked on the car a lot... and had the first race of the 2004 season with the Furrin Group (my car club).

Team Parking Lot Performance was defunct. Hermen was not able to go, but it was cool cause Becky and Heather went from GV. It was nice to have some friends out there who wanted to ride and learn a little about AutoX. I think Becky plans to get an old VW GTI and race it around someday... the adrenaline rush is addictive. The next race is supposed to be on the GV campus and I hope to have more friends swing over to that and watch.

I race as number 86. I need nicer numbers for the side of my car, but this hood one looks good.

None of the Nissan guys from my Forum went, but some Nissans were out from the Z club.

This Sentra SpecV really showed the guys what Nissan power is about.

Some other cars from the field, the Eclipse (far back) and VW were in my heat.

Ready to hit the track...I need to get my own helmet the loaner ones are a little gross...

TJ from SpeedWise and some guys checking out the NX.

Waiting in the Grid for my run... that Grand Prix GT... was gonna get beat by this little Nissan...

Waiting for the Green Flag at the starting line for my first run of the year.

This turn haunted me all day... I was generally able to control the slide but pulling out of it was tough on the little NX.

Running through the finish line after my second run.

The run day was great. The Nissan held up awesome... still need to fix that steering though. I have finished second to last in my previous races. I knew I would beat the PT and the Grand Prix GT... and I did. I made a goal of breaking 50 seconds. I bounced between 10th and 9th place all day. On my final run I got my time... 49.652 seconds... what I wanted! I ended in 9th meaning I also beat a Ford Focus. I beat all the American cars in my class.

The final highlight was this little video clip Becky took. Please click on the video to watch it. The MOV file is in a Quick time format. If you need you can download the player but most newer computers (and all Macs) will have it already. The AVI file is a bigger file but should work on even older PCs. Allow time for the video to download when you click on it.

Race Video MOV(smaller file) | Race Video AVI(larger file if other does not work)

Now I have to get the numbers washed off the windows, replace my sun visor, and get the audio stuff put back into the car. May 15th is the next race, can't wait...

Repairs...
Alright... so I am racing this weekend. First one of the year. I am pretty excited. It feels like forever since I last raced.
At an AutoCross last summer.

Since the end of winter my car has had a little knocking in the front steering. I was thinking a tie rod end was bad or something. Well... as usual my estimation of the problem is wrong. I headed to Tollman Auto to hoisted up and have a look see. The left CV Boot has a little hole in there, and the right CV boot... ripped completely around. Cost... a whopping 420 bucks.

The knocking will get worse... and eventually not be able to drive it. Buying a suit to interview at DePaul in is more important right now. I just worry that I blow it out this weekend at the race... more battle stories... (at my first race I blew my exhaust apart. Archive Scroll to June 8th, 2003)

Options are: wait and just let the things blow and then get them replaced, hope Team PLP has some time soon to do it, or I go and sell my left kidney on the black market for the money to fix this. Which option do you think I can go with? Hermen where is team PLP? I wish I had a FASFA sponsorship check coming in...

Weekend
Last week was rough... too many things due... too little time. So Friday I relaxed. Well not really, I worked hard on my car, but to me that equals relaxation.

I have been meaning to get a lot done on my car and I finally had some time, or I made some time, to get it done. I bough my neon lights for my car and got the audio work done I have been wanting to do. For now I just test fit the audio using the box we built for Ramiro's Honda. I will be making my custom box in the next few weeks.

Hermen was not around so I recruited Ramon into team PLP. Ramon has been a reluctant member of the team until now. His 2004 Honda is a little too new for the team to start tearing apart, but he got a nice Geo Prism beater and we got to work on that, and he helped with ideas on the Nissan. Heather swung by after work and watched me get a good shock while playing with some wires before she went out with some CMU friends.

They took a picture of my all flipped over under the dash mounting the lights.

On Saturday I ripped the door panels off and put passive crossovers on all the smaller speakers.

Saturday was another show at one of the shops I work with in Holland. SpeedWise is a sweet shop and they had another awesome show. Not many Nissan guys showed up for this one (it was kinda late notice) but they had a lot of hot rides come out. Ramon came with me and we rolled in the Nissan. Some of the Central girls swung by and I saw Chrissie again and took her for a ride in the Nissan... she likes to go fast, and so do I.

The show was fun and afterwards Ramon and I shopped for some speaker bargains for him and we got a steal of deal from ABC. Haggle... haggle... haggle... Now his Prism is bumpin'!

I wore my ImportCulture Shirt and it was so nice I wore shorts!

Lots of guys with Nissan 240s that want to swap to my motor were there so we got to chat a little.

I posted a link to the pics on the car website, check it out NX 2000. Scroll down on the page and see the links to the pictures. I am excited for the work coming up on the car and the race this Saturday. I do not have the money to complete my suspension job yet and fix my steering joints for the race, but it will be fun either way. Its not about winning... its about enjoying the sport.

That To-do-List
That long list I call my to-do-list is doing alright.
SCHOOL: I think I got some good stuff ready for my group presentation tonight (I never actually met with the group...). Yesterday I finally got my practicum folder turned in, now just waiting for my supervisor evaluation. Thesis is moving along well, got some tables made today and Becky is editing my work on the last chapter and then it will be down hill. Papers for Career Guidance... not so good... but I am working with professor and everything is cool.

CAR: Yesterday the rims went back on the car. I took some time out of the morning and scrubbed them inside and out before rolling to the shop to get them slapped on. I forgot how much stiffer the ride is with these bigger wheels.

This Saturday is a car show at SpeedWise and I want to get my audio stuff in for it. Well at least the Subs and Amp. The NX 2000 is getting into summer mode.

Now the not so good part of the to-do-list... Taxes. Not done. I am gonna try to call and get an extension. I have no time as a busy college student, and I hope they understand. This is what I get for putting that off. Laundry... well the machine at the house seems to finally be working (the roommates successfully flooded my bedroom not once... but twice!) so maybe I can get some done at home now!

And to end with some good news. I got my call back from DePaul. They liked my phone interview and are asking me for an on campus interview. I have made it to the final stage. So on May 10th and 11th I will be interviewing with them for the Program Coordinator for Greek Life job. Wish me luck...

More Birthdays
Edit: I posted a full gallery of pics. Novalí
April is a big birthday month for the Centellas family. My older Brother Miguel had his on the 7th, and my father and Novali had theirs on the 10th. There are many other Centellas birthdays this month as well.

My parents went to Florida for a much needed vacation, and I drove to Chicago to spend the day with Novali. Tamara planned a great birthday party at Chucky Cheese and tons of her family and came out for the party. We called my dad from there and Novali chatted with my parents and wished my dad a happy birthday. The party was great, I wish I could stick around all day for Easter with her but I need to get back to Allendale and get working on all my school work I have yet to get done...

All dressed up and ready to head to her big party.

With her great grandma enjoying the party.

Not as many candles as grandpa Centellas had... but getting there.

Opening all of her great gifts. Dora dolls, belts, more sun glasses, dancing outfits, and a huge talking Sully from Monsters Inc...

On a car ride with Chucky himself.

Assessories. She has everything... fake liptstick, watch, pink sunglasses, backpack, etc.

This week is going to be brutal. Thesis due on Friday, presentation on Wednesday, paper due on Tuesday, practicum needs to get finished, not to mention laundry....

Happy Birthday
I am not much for sappy moments, well okay maybe I am. Today is Miguel's birthday, my older Brother. We have been through some interesting things. Moving to America together (him and I were left with my grandparents while my parents went with Andres to sell all our belongings) and learning a new strange language. Having a cool big Brother in a band at college I used to visit and pretend I was in college. Living with him when I started college (I know I would never have graduated Cum Laude had it not been for Miguel) and learning to eat pasta 8 days a week. Most recently being able to travel to Bolivia and see my older Brother living down there, on some one else's dime. Truly an inspiration.

Happy Birthday Miguel.

Shows over folks
Well the 56th annual Western Regional Greek Leadership Conference went off without a hitch. The Western Region Greek Association did an excellent job of hosting this event and making it better then ever in many ways. We had nearly 700 in attendance and received kudos on our hard work and improvements to the conference.

I had a great time and am glad I took this professional development opportunity. As I mentioned before I also got Becky a grad staff position and she was awesome in her role as well. The WRGA was not very organized this year and Becky did a great job of finding things to do, and keeping the rest of their staff on their toes. Thanks Becky!

Our main stage this year was much better looking and our staff really pulled off increasing the quality of our presentations.

I managed the AV Booth and ran all the lights, powerpoints, and audio. And yes... I ran it all from two Apple Powerbooks...

Two other Betas were at the conference. Nick and Carlos who attend San Jose State. Last year one Beta, this year two... next year?

One of our added changes was a party themed opening night. It was awesome, our staff pumped up the crowd (yes with the YMCA...) and students actaully had fun with no alcohol... who would of figured?

It was an awesome conference because the current Executive Director, Michael Deen, was leaving the board. He had been on the board for 10 years and really made the association great. It was touching to have him recognized for all his years of hard work.

The famous David Stollman was late for one of his presentations... so I stepped up and filled in for him. The students liked me so much now he is asking me to help facilitate his program Recruitment Boot Camp...

I did some new things for the final banquet. A slide show of pictures from that years conference, and all the powerpoints I think looked great.

NALFO was well represented. We went from 7 Latino Greeks last year... to over 22 this year... better things to come.

the final night Mini Dance Marathon to raise money for Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

The conference was a huge success. I am excited for the planning for next year and the great things to come. I hope to stay on the board for many years. We will see what happens.

After the conference Becky and I stayed out here for a few days. You all know how I always stay extra after a conference to have fun, and this time Becky was with me. Sunday and Monday morning we relaxed and got homework done, and Monday afternoon into the evening we spent in San Francisco. I was surprised at how well I remembered the city. We had fun touring around.

Of course we walked through Chinatown and checked out stores.

I love street performers. This guy, called Bush Man hid behind some branches and scared people. It was hilarious... well not to us. He made Becky jump out of her skin!

Right on the wharf we stopped for some typical clam chowder and a beer. Since it was Becky's birthday the guy kept giving us free drinks.

We walked all over the city and checked out sites, street vendors, and shopped.

After my trip last year to Frisco I think I posted a million pictures of the city. It is such a cool city for architecture and other sites.

We ended the night with dinner at a Japanese place in the famous Castro district.

The trip was awesome. It was highlighted by a call from Gary, one of my Brothers from Western Michigan. He also happens to be my little Brother in the fraternity. He called to say he won Greek Man of the Year! I am so proud. The guys have struggled but managed to stay on top of things despite the low numbers. Good work Brothers! I hope you all have some pictures!

Well this week and next will be crazy. Tomorrow Becky and I have our Thesis presentation, and next Friday the final paper is due. It will be a long two weeks but I know it is going to get exciting. Our thesis is looking really good and I am excited to get all this school work out of the way so I can relax and get some other personal projects started... like my sound system for the NX and upgrades to my websites.

Last call on my flight... see you all soon!

Calm before the Storm...
As most of you know, I am on the Board of Directors of the Western Region Greek Association (WRGA). We host the annual Western Regional Greek Leadership Conference (WRGLC) which is here in San Francisco in early April. This year is the 55th Annual conference and we are the longest running regional association.

It has been a ton of working getting ready for the conference. It is my first year on the board and we are in a transition year to a new executive director. We are ready though, and I am excited. This year there are some new things going on for the conference.

For the weekend I am in charge of all the AV set ups, powerpoints, music before and after presentations, and anything that goes on the big screens during the general sessions. I am excited to have creative control over all of that (I also designed the logos and booklets for this year as part of my job). Last year I handled it all as well... but I was given the job about 2 hours before the conference started. This year we are trying some new things since I had more prep time.

Tomorrow starts with board meetings and lunch with the hotel managers. Then our graduate, professional and student staff arrive. It is cool cause Becky got on grad staff. She will get to see me in super Greek mode.

Alright I need some sleep. The mint they left on my pillow is making me hungry... wonder if I can still get room service?

Lip Sync
This weekend it was a work weekend for me. Becky got back from Germany so we got to work on thesis and really made some good ground. I also got a lot done on my pile of other projects as well. Got everything ready for WRGA and the conference I got this weekend in San Francisco. Much more work then I thought, but I am excited for the conference.

This weekend also ended Greek Week and last night was Lip Sync, the big stage performance. I want to give an ultra shot out to The Betas. They competed in Greek Week, all the events. As the smallest group that participated they gave everyone a run for their money. On Friday they were in third place over all! They did not end the week ranked but gave everyone a spectacular show. And reminded everyone that it is quality over quantity.

Lip Sync here is a 6 minute performance. It included an intro involving an MC and then dancing and skits which are all judged for theme relation and quality. The Betas only had four guys that could perform, and I helped with the MC part and skit. They were picked to go first and lite the room up!

It started to the song Lowrider. Hermen rode out in his chromed out award winning lowrider bike, Ramiro rode out on Novali's Barbie trike which they added some chrome spinners to. Santi and Max were shooting dice on stage and chillin. Then an explosion and a voiceover (done by me) introduced them and their assigned Greek god for the week. And then the Betas got hot...

The Lip Sync Crew

Santi and Max shooting dice

Max, Hermen and Ramiro danced while Santi lip synced and they looked good. Just the four of them... doing their thing. They did a little hip hop, and then got everyone excited with some Kumbia Kings followed by a Merengue in which the pulled some random girls from the crowd to dance with them. Everyone got into it!

Busting some Cumbia skills.

Sweaty and tired... they finished.

They got awesome applause and got Lip Sync off to a fabulous start. I am so proud of the guys. They worked hard from start to finish. Next year if they remember to bring their flag to all the events, and teach Santi how to dance... they will win this thing!

Always remember the five most important words. "You Did A Good Job."

Worth It
As many of you might know I am a little stressed right now. Work, the other job, freelance, Thesis, practicum, classes, and job search are all coming down on me pretty hard right now. I have been slowing working myself from under the pile of work and graduation is in sight.

I once read something written by someone in higher education called, "Why we give of our time." It was really good, it was about Latino administrators and why they work so hard to help create change even when it is unrewarding or change is slow in coming.

Well last night I was reminded why I give of my time. I have been at GVSU now for nearly two school years. I have loved most of it, I say most because nothing is perfect. Working with the Greeks at GVSU has been awesome and this week is Greek Week! So of course everyone is pumped and things are going very well. Last night was the Order of Omega Awards night. They give chapter awards for grades and and also Greek Man and Woman of the year awards. They also show a slide show, and at the end was a picture of Shawna and I, wishing us good luck as we move on. It was nice.

Then when we went up to present some of the awards Aaron said something and all the students stood and clapped. Shawna and I got a standing ovation. I would have never guessed. Maybe a quick clap, a few whistles from my brothers, and we move on. But all the students stood, it was awesome.

So now I feel good about the work I have done and that I did make a difference. Meeting with the a chapter president instead of doing homework, attending Greek events at night when I had already been on campus for 10 hours, donating money to every student who asked (man I have never bought so much cookie dough and carmel popcorn), trips to campus just to meet with a student about something important, having those uncomfortable challenging discussions with students, and being the mean advisor when needed (I hated doing it, but knew it had to be done).

I wish there was a way I can tell the students what impact they had on me. I learned more then I thought I could about myself these last few years. About how hard it really is to be a student leader and do the right thing, and how much students still care about Greek life. I can't wait to get a full time job doing this!

No Work Weekend
Well I did find a few seconds to get some work done, but most of my time this weekend was spent with my family. Friday around 6 PM my parents and my sister Raquel with her daughter Valerie came into town. We went to the mall, Raquel bought a wedding dress at Hot Topic (yeah, thats right) and my dad and I ate some Bourbon Chicken in the mall foodcourt and caught up on things. A good Centellas night out.

Later on Friday night Tamara arrived with Novalí and she got to she her cousin Valerie. It was late so we caught up for a little and everyone went to bed. On Saturday everyone met at my place, we ate some BK (I introduced Raquel and my dad to Zesty Sauce) and then headed to the hotel for some swimming. Of course no baby is too young to swim in the Centellas house hold, and we got 10 week old Valerie in the pool. After some short afternoon naps we went to Max and Ermas for dinner. There Andres met up with the family for dinner and we sat and talked. He shared about his Cali trip and summer plans before moving too Philly. We went home and watched Lion King 1 1/2.

Sunday was breakfast at Big Boy, I got the buffet and ate way too much breakfast meat. I love sausage, bacon, canadian bacon, and then some sausage patties. YUM. My parents left then and Tamara and I went shopping with Novali. I got a new diaper bag and after a short trip to mall got some clothes at Express as well (they are having their four times a year... "Biggest Sale of the Year" sale).

After bathing Novali, I am now trying to work on thesis. Ramon is chasing Novali around the house with his remote control lowrider, and Novali is wearing the glasses from Hermen's build-a-bear and has Bling Bling (Mardi Gras beads) around her neck. I will hopefully get some pictures from my Dad soon from this weekend and post a few soon.

Bolivian Fathers Day Note: Visit this page on my Brothers blog. Post.

Family Update
A few pieces of news from Bolivia.

Good news: My brother Miguel started a website for the cafe he opened, check it out. O Mundo Cafe. It looks like it will be a pretty sweet site, good job Miguel.

Bad news: It looks like the political scene in Bolivia is getting worse again. This is not a good thing since Miguel is still living in the capital and trying to run a small business somewhat dependent on tourism. Check out this article, which happens to be written by Miguel. Southern Exposure.

Other news: I am excited for this weekend. The family will be in town. Raquel is coming with my parents and bringing little Valerie. Tamara is bringing Novali and it will be fun to get the kids in the pool at the hotel. The Centellas family are all swimmers, my mom lives in the pool and loves to get her grandkids in the water. Valerie I doubt has been swimming yet, I think I had Novali in the water at this age. We will see how it goes.

Look for pictures soon.

Sports and Salsa.
I normally do not write much about sports... it was freshment year at WMU when we beat University of Michigan in basketball. It was huge, the whole campus got pumped. We went to the big dance (NCAA Tournament) and won our first game. The excitement on campus was awesome. Then we lost... however to Stanford who went on to make it to the final four. So we felt good.

Well folks, the Broncos are doing it again. According to ESPN we will get an 11 seed into the tournament, this will not be official until tonight, but for sure we will be in the dance. Makes me wish I was back on campus; going to BW3s to watch the game, eating wings, spilling beer from the excitement of each basket, and having a good time. Good luck Broncos.

Salsa, those who know me know that I love to get out and dance Latin music. I am not overly good at Salsa, actually I suck. I love Merengue, and Bachata for sure and I can make my way around the Cumbia circle a few times as well. The GVSU Latino Student Union brought a live 11 piece Cuban band last night. The dance was called Havana Nights. The band was great and since it was all Salsa music it forced me to get out there and work on my Salsa skills.

Profundo (from Wayne), Cruceño, Pupillo, and Samoza.

The Cuba place in town served the dinner, it was good while it lasted

It was the first time in a while I think I chilled with the GV bros. This semester has been so hectic I have had little time to chill and relax with them. It was also cool to hangout with some other CSAL grads. Von, Kim, and Andrea never got out on the dance floor. Shannon and Kacy didn't even stay for the music... shame on you two. Ken and Heather ventured out on the floor later on though. Next time everyone is dancing.

Sunil and Lindsey from DZ on the dance floor.

Santi making announcements, repping SLB.

The band, called Sabrosura (translates to flavorful or feels good)

Profundo was part of an ad hoc Capawera expo during the bands intermission.

Great night. After the dance we chilled in the Kirk (yes Carleen, the Kirk) and relaxed and laughed more then I have in a long time. Today is a work day, I have a ton to do. So I am making a pot of coffee and getting started on my to-do-list... and my guilty pleasure for the day will be watching ESPN to see what the Bronco's final seed will be into the big dance...

Yeah... oh yeah.
Typical day. Too little sleep, too much to do, too few hours left in the day. It is not even 8 AM right now and I am feeling the crunch. My trip over spring break is really pushing back a lot of things I needed to get done, and upon my return I have had some bad luck.

First issue. Dead Palm Pilot. Yes it died... and I have not backed it up since I got my new laptop (December 2003) and I have lost some pretty important stuff I fear. I had trouble using my palm with this new laptop, hence why I wanted a new Palm. However, now my Palm is not working and I am left with nothing.

Second issue. Graduation. Most people have told me to go ahead and do a race (if the NX 2000 is ready) on graduation day instead of sitting through a boring graduation ritual. However, the letter in the mail telling me I failed my graduation audit... not good. I know it is because my practicum remains unfinished... I am trying to get it done, seriously. However with what time in my oh so free schedule will I get it done?

Third issue. Undermotivation. I really don't want a real job, or the real world in general. "I don't want to work... I just want to bang on my drum all day! ... " I think those are the words. I love that song, and no I don't play drums. It was the morning radio theme song on my Kalamazoo radio station. I need a good dose of that in the mornings again.

So there is my list. Let me switch gears, it will cheer me up.

OREGON IMPACT! Yes it rocked, I am still trying to keep the energy from the weekend going. To add to that excitement I was accepted as a facilitator this summer for UIFI (a program of the NIC). I will be doing session two.

Here are a few shots from Oregon. I will be doing a slide show of all the pictures I took for Oregon and send them a CD. I still can not say in words how awesome it was to be there.

It was a really beautiful campus.

Opening night group activities.

Large group sessions.

The facility was awesome, and so was the food.

The place is a famous basketball camp.

I love playing four-square!

Every night we found tons of ways to amuze ourselves.

The chair game, not sure the official name. It was fun!

The closing committment circle.

The Oregon mountains surrounded the campsite.

I want to apologize for not commenting on blogs lately. I will get more time this weekend and get caught up on all my reading (yes Becky I will read for thesis to). I am hoping to get a ton done this weekend and I will start next week on a better foot and really start to tackle all the big projects I got going on right now.

Seven Days and Seven Nights
I was just on the road for a week. A few days in Chicago at the beginning and then I saw Novali again this morning on my way back. She was a little sick but still excited to see me. I wish I could have stayed for another day.

In between the time with Novali was my Oregon trip. I wrote a little about it before IMPACT, and now the weekend is over and I got great stories. I was very impressed with the students and how they reacted to the program. It was very invigorating to see young new members to a Greek community so excited about making changes and developing their chapters. It has given me more energy.

We had a great facilitation team and I know I will get to see many of them again for the Western Region Greek Association conference in April. So that will be a cool reunion.

Now I am back, I came right from Chicago to CompuCraft and I am so tired but trying to get some work done. I am really going to be playing catch up this week with a few large projects (thesis, practicum, GVSU Greek survey, WRGA, etc).

Back to work... ah...