The Plex... DuPlex
Ladies and Gentlemen, the party was off the chain. People doubted we could do it on a Wednesday night... but like I said... never doubt a Beta. We had tons of friends come by the house, we had a great time. We had two floors of music, on the top floor we had Hip Hop and House running by DJ Money Max (Maximo) and on the lower level I was playing the Latin music that made everyone shake their hips... DJ Cruceño got to spin it one more time.

Here are the pics...

The purple basement all clean	The Rich Street Duplex was ready for a good time.
The Betas	AOPi showed up and rocked the party.
Kiss me I'm Mexican! (I am not... but I used that line on St. Patty's Day to)	When Elaine wasn't busy spilling stuff...
Everyone wanted to sign the table.	Hermen, Max, Ramiro and Chris doing the GV stroll.
Who invited the AXOs? Wait... that was me.	The ASA girls had to do a little ditty on the dance floor.
Max, myself, and Ramon busted out the new Stroll... name coming soon...	The basement was giggin... DJ Cruceño (me) was back in action playing Latin music in the Basement.
We packed it out...taught the girls how to dance to Latin music to.	AOPi and ASA in the house.
Melva... trying to be the center of attention...	Becky and Cressie Lee.
DJ Money Max handle the music on the top floor... makin' em dance.	Chillin on the front porch with Gammas from GV and MSU.... the party winding down.
We did not make it through both bags of limes...	...we did make it through all of these and cleaned the fridge...
Bro... Bro.. Bro.. no really... go to your room.	Does he live here?

We had a great time and we will do another one soon. Thanks to those who came a long way (CMU, Albion, MSU, etc.) and to everyone for having fun, being safe, and dancing like their is no tomorrow. The Betas will be working on some more strolls to unleash... so watch out for the next Gig...

Coming to a theater near you... Duplex House Jam Part II...

Happy Cinco de Mayo
I am not a holiday person. However I was thinking... we never had a party at our house. So I made the call... Cinco de Mayo party at the Rich Street Duplex. I started inviting people. Good thing the roomies were down for it, and tonight the party is on. Ask your friendly neighborhood Beta for directions.

We cleaned the house, threw crap out, shoved stuff under beds, crammed it in closests... we are ready.

Tonight will be a full moon... I took this last night... what will we shoot tonight at the party?

Of course we cleaned out the fridge. Made room for some choice beverages.

On this fine Mexican holiday we will have plenty of cheap American beer.

We tossed everything in the fridge... I had to eat Hermen's ribs to make room. I felt bad... actaully no... no I didn't.

There will be nutrious fruit for the health conscience folks as well and safe rides to whoever needs one.

Everyone will be safe, everyone will have fun, and the Rich Street Duplex will never be the same. Maybe we are starting a proud GVSU tradition... Cinco de Mayo with the Betas!

Car time and interviews
The only productive things I have done the last few days is work on my car and look for a job. GVSU posted a position doing recruitment in the Chicago area, which might become a good back up plan to DePaul (I interview on May 10th & 11th). I am going to Dallas to interview with Southern Methodist University. They want to pay all my travel expenses so I can't say no to that...

The car. She is getting some much needed attention now. She does have a small rust spot coming back which I am not happy about. I have gotten some new parts for her and working on the final audio set up. Unfortunately I ran out of money... today I had to roll change I am so broke!

Today my new valve cover came in that I am trying to polish it. It is much more work then I thought it would be... but it will be worth it. A little elbow grease never hurt anyone. Also the other day I took some pictures of Becky driving the car to get some shots of the rims spinning. A guy on my forum had one and it looked great so I wanted to try it.

Becky wanted to practice driving stick, and I want a cool shot.

I love having the rims back on, she looks so much better with them.

She has never been cleaner and I am finally getting to the small details.

Packages from the UPS man and car parts on the kitchen table are a common site lately.

Tomorrow is the car show in Holland and I am excited to go and see some cars. I am not taking the NX, but I hope to see some hot cars and get some ideas for my car. I hope we have nice weather....

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....