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!

Appalachian Time

Several people have asked about how our schedule is daily so today's post is all about our normal day.

Each day a team has a chore... some help with breakfast, or clean the grounds, organize tools or other random jobs needed around the camp. So each day we have a chore to do, those are sprinkled throughout the day. Our camp has around 100 people here, we have Univ Minnesota, St. Louis University, IUB, IUSB (Go Titans!) and then two youth groups here and a couple other random volunteers. The camp is run by 5 staff who live here full time and a couple other part time/seasonal staff, and two cooks... Kay and Serita take great care of us and our stomachs!

Here is our typical routine:

7:15 AM - Optional Devotion Time (this is a religious camp)
7:30 AM - Breakfast
8:00 AM - Lunch Prep (make sandwiches and pack lunch)
8:30 AM - Tool Shed (get more tools/supplies)
9:00 AM - Leave for the site (we have a 35 min drive)
12:15 PM - Lunch break
1:00 PM - Back to work
4:00 PM - Pack Up and head home
6:00 PM - Dinner Time
7:30 PM - Nightly Activity (Educational or Cultural)
11:00 PM - Lights Out in cabins (people can stay outside as long as they want)

So here are a few pics from us from throughout the day. One morning we caught a rainbow, our crazy drive through the mountains to our site, lunch breaks, of course a pic each time we finish a project, nighttime music or bonfires, etc.







It has been a great trip so far, hopefully tomorrow we will have some great before and after shots to show. I think even if we don't finish, the powerful conversations we have been having each night about poverty, politics and how to help make the world a better place will make a ripple effect on these issues...

Play Us Some Mountain Progress

Today we made progress... we worked hard, and then played hard as a BlueGrass band came to camp and we enjoyed some down home country music.

We made a lot of progress at the house today. We took three metal cutting disks, and did manage to mangle the last one, but not until after 3PM. So we got a full days worth of work on the underpinning. Then we helped the IUB crew inside the house with their flooring job. Progress inside the house was also really noticeable today, and everyone left in high spirits. Enjoy a few pics of our crew hard at work:

Each night we do something educational. Last night was the educational programming about the area, which as I wrote about added to our frustration of an already frustrating day at the work site. Tonight was once again the perfect blend to our day, local BlueGrass music. We got to dance, hear some traditional southern music played on a banjo a bass and just got us in a good southern mood.
We heard some mountain music, we made progress on our mountain home, and now we have two days to bring our mountain sized projects to the finish line. May the force be with us....

Frustrated in Jonesville

Today was a day of frustration...

Outside we battled potential rain in the morning, which for power tools spells sure delay... and then in the afternoon we battled the sun and many of us didn't apply enough sun screen. So the weather frustrated us...

We chewed through an entire metal cutting blade on our saw, which put our work at a stand still. We found a few other tasks to do on our outside construction to get ahead on other projects but unfortunately we ran out of things to do. With a 40 minute drive to and then from the hardware store getting supplies during the day doesn't work. So lack of worksite accomplishment frustrated us....

Then we helped out our fellow IU Bloomington crew inside the house. The IUB crew was working on putting down flooring where more hands wouldn't help. We sanded some drywall mud, to help with the future project of painting the walls. We didn't bring drywall supplies so we really weren't able to make an impact and just limped a few things along until quitting time. Not having the supplies to do our jobs frustrated us...

In the evening we cleaned up, had dinner and had an educational activity and learned about Lee County Virginia. Here over 50% of the population lives in poverty. That is defined for a family of four as less then $22,000 per year. We had some activities to learn about educational issues in the area, factors impacting the employment rate, and then talked about ways to help break the cycle of poverty in areas such as this... Knowing that issues like this exist right in our own country and that few people know frustrated us...

So needless to say it was a long, hard and frustrating day.

Today reminded us that just because we have disposable income doesn't mean we should dispose of it, but how can we help others with it? Or just because we were born into a certain position in life doesn't mean we don't need to care about those born with less.

Tomorrow the promise of new tools, new metal cutting blade, and new hope that our hands are making a difference will motivate us. Hopefully by educating ourselves about these issues we become part of the solution and a little less frustrated.

No Pics from Jonesville

Last night the slow internet took me about 30 minutes to upload pics... so today I will skip pics and just post a quick recap.

We are working on a house that was nearly destroyed in a fire. The gutting was all done already and some of the rebuilding. We have one crew working inside the house helping with the drywall today and prepping the floor for new flooring to go back in. They will put in a floating floor and baseboards hopefully in the next few days if we stay on schedule.

Then we have the bigger crew working outside on the the mobile home underpinning. You might ask what that is... so here is our quick construction lesson. When a mobile, or modular home, is placed on site it has spaces all around under it. So once the house is in place they frame (or some even do brick) around it and hammer up material (vinyl or metal) to cover all the space. It is done for a few reasons, one is to help insulate the house so the cold air (it does snow here) doen't get in around the bottom of the house. The other reason, of which we are all too familiar at my house (stupid groundhog) is to keep animals out from around the bottom of the house. Partially because animals are annoying, but also because they can chew up wires, tear out insulation, etc. Here is a picture of what underpinning is (thanks Google): Many of the homes around here are missing many of these detail items. Which means they are harder to keep warm, which for people on a tight budget can mean they can't keep their homes warm. Or for those who have animals destroy parts of their home, which they already could already not afford to upkeep sets them down a vicious cycle.

We got to work along side our home owners today and learn more of their story. They have three young children under the age of 6 and have struggled back and forth to find work. They currently live in a tiny apartment and last fall came upon the opportunity to purchase this home which had a fire. They sunk their life savings into it and planned to flip the home for them to live in... well one thing after another, costs of materials, building problems put them way behind. Nearly to the point of having to walk away... and continue to stay in an apartment that doesn't meet their needs and they can barely afford.

So here is where ASP and we come in... they pay for the materials and we provide the labor. The family has just over a month left on their lease and they need to move into the home they paid for... I hope that we can help provide this family a home where their kids can do homework, play in their yard and have more opportunities.

Our fingers hurt from skills (or lack thereof) with the hammer, and shoulder hurts from swinging a sledgehammer or running a saw. Tonight we rest... tomorrow we do it all over again.

Live from Jonesville, VA

My Alternative Spring Break class has arrived safely in Jonesville, VA at our Appalachian Service Project (ASP: www.asphome.org). We had a great drive down and are ready for a powerful week of volunteering here in the Appalachian Mountains. I will try to Blog from here as best I can about our trip, what we are learning and how we are helping the community.

We left South Bend with packed vans and started our trek... our fearless group of 11 Titans hit the road! We had some fun plans for the trip down and we wanted to try and enjoy some sites en route. Our first adventure was fitting all our stuff in two small mini-vans... luckily it all fit and we learned a lesson in space management (not originally part of the curriculum).
Our dinner was a typical southern stop at a Waffle House in Kentucky. Our waitress Rita was entertained by our Hoosier antics and the story of where we were going. "Well isn't that nice!" she said when she heard about our trip. Everyone enjoyed dinner and a break and we continued on...

After another stop for gas we got to visit Richmond, KY. Not the biggest tourism spot in the south, but it was on our route. It made for an interesting stop to see some historic buildings and we checked out the campus of Eastern Kentucky. We snapped a lot of photos and then got back on the road.
Just before leaving the state of Kentucky we made our final pit stop in Corbin, KY. For those not familiar with the city, it is home of the Colonel.... Colonel Sanders. We could not pass up the opportunity to eat Kentucky fried chicken, at the original Kentucky Fried Chicken.

A few hours later we drove through a tunnel, got dizzy on some winding mountain roads, and of course got a little lost... we arrived at our host site in Jonesville, VA. We got our orientation, made friends with fellow college participants from IUB, Minnesota, St. Louis University, Slippery Rock and a few other volunteers. The site leaders went and checked out our work sites, made plans for our work week, and then turned our vans into work trucks instead of family transports.

Tomorrow we will be working up in the mountains. We have been paired with a work team from IU Bloomington. The home we are working at was nearly destroyed in a fire and needs help to be rebuilt for a small young family. Hopefully we can help this family get settled back into their home and moving forward with their life soon enough.

Wish us luck... tomorrow we get to work.

Yeah... I know.

I know, I know... I get behind on posting pictures. Well this year the holidays snuck up on me, and then changing jobs and then we took so many pictures of Cruz that going through them all took time...

So here we are... two big albums (with four pages each) of pictures from December of Cruz. We cover everything from Christmas to his birthday, from visitors in South Bend to New Years Eve.

Enjoy!

December 2011 (1) - Busy Busy Boy
December was very busy for Mr. Cruz. We had lots of visitors for the holidays, he got new shoes and started in the toddler room and we made it up to Saginaw!
Visitors : SB Xmas : The Kicks : Saginaw

December 2011 (2) - Birthday!
The second album from December has some random pictures of Cruz as well as our time in Bad Axe and his Birthday!
Curious Cruz : BA Trip : Birthday! : ONE

Two Days Left

The last couple weeks were hectic... Cruz was sick and had to stay home from daycare for three days! Heather has been sick and not feeling well, and then this weekend my back started to hurt so bad I basically spent a whole day on a heating bad... yeah I know, I am getting old.

So top it all off... I am still trying to wrap up work at IU South Bend. I officially only have two days left of full time employment. Wow... it will be weird because I am not leaving, not moving away, and even more so I am still going to be teaching at IUSB so I will still be part of the family there!

Well this past week it was mixed emotions; the phone calls to wish me well, the emails from students... and on the flip the no fun of sorting my papers, cleaning my desk and remembering which books were mine on the bookshelf. Plus I can't find my rubix cube... who took it?

Some of my highlights were when a professor called, and told me that in his 30 years at IUSB he never saw anyone do so many great things. Wow... and the honor of coming back from lunch to an AMAZING surprise party thrown for me by the Students Government and my staff. Then of course the humbling speech given by Karen White about when I started and how much I will be missed. Then SGA said they are naming an award after me... I think that is a bit too much so I will be a kabash on that... too young for anything to be named after me (and too poor to buy something to be named after me).


It was a solid week... I hope Monday and Tuesday will squeak by and I can relax and finish cleaning my office out.

One Week Left

Well I have one week left at Indiana University South Bend... It is bittersweet leaving. I am getting lots of thank you emails, congrats on the new job, we will miss you, and of course IUSB won't be the same without you. All those comments make it really hard to leave. In my four years here I was blessed to work with some great students, supportive staff and learned a lot about myself. I hope I have taught others as much as they have taught me, impacted lives and left an imprint and programs in place that will help students even after I have left and no one remembers what's his name... The one no one could say correctly... Yeah that guy.

I have been cleaning my office, writing instructions for all the things I did and trying to wrap up some projects. Its hard going through drawers and reading notes, reviewing old emails, and taking pictures off my wall and from around my computer. Packing up the coloring books I stocked for when I brought Novali to work and taking down all the post-it-notes she put around my office.

It has been approved that I will be hired as adjunct faculty to teach the Alternative Spring Break class trip to Virginia, so I won't be gone just yet... I also am going to help with the Feb 2nd launch of the new IU System MyInvolvement. It is sad that one of my major accomplishments will launch once I am gone... But I am glad I was able to be a part of such a great project.

So anyhow... The countdown is on... Wish me luck in cleaning out the rest of my office.

For those that asked, here is the article from the school paper: IUSB Preface

New Year. New Job.

Well the news is getting more and more public now, so I wanted to make it "Facebook Official" for the rest of the world. So here is some important news...

On February 1st, 2012 I will be starting a new job at Ivy Tech Community College. I will be the Director of Student Life, Development and Leadership for their North Central region. That means I will supervise staff on three campuses; South Bend, Elkhart and Warsaw. My main areas will include Career Services, Diversity Programming and of course Student Life (Clubs, Programs, Student Government, etc.). They have a growing program and I am excited to come in and help continue to build their programs.

It is a great professional move for me, and it doesn't require us to move... so we are staying right here in South Bend and will continue to be involved in our community. Professionally I will supervise a cross functional team on three campuses and am looking forward to that challenge. I also will be reaching out to all my professional contacts with community college experience to get ideas and for support during my learning transition to this new system.

Personally it is sad for me to leave a great team of staff and students behind. I have loved my time at Indiana University South Bend, and Novali is equally sad as she (and I have appreciated it) has grown accustomed to campus and is a well known by all my students and staff. She will continue to do basketball camp at IU in the summer though, so she is excited about that!

I have a busy month as I am wrapping up things here at IUSB, trying to pick our health benefits again (why is it so complicated!), and making sure I transition all my work projects successfully before I go. I hope to always consider myself part of the IUSB Titan Family and hope our inter-campus partnership continue to grow, I will just be on the other side of the table now.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me professionally... I have too many great mentors to list that have helped my career grow and flourish. Also thank you to Heather, who deals with my craziness and all the time I will be spending on this transition trying to learn new things, while wrapping up old projects.

Whew... news is public now, nice weight off my chest.