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.

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.