Big Weekend
This weekend started bad, but we got some exciting things planned for the rest of it. Hermen and I woke up late, we went to Kalamazoo for Latin Night at Club Coda with Ramiro and Ramon. It was fun, but we lost some valuable sleep hours.

Hermen knocked on my door and woke me up, yelling, "hey how we getting to campus?" I had not thought about this before going to bed. So we asked the neighbors. Joy, Casey and Libby were up and we chatted with them. Libby ended up taking Hermen to campus, and me to the shop to pick up my car. Thanks Libby!

Then it was off to CompuCraft for me, but I stopped to get some good Mexican food on the way. I was deprived of my usually Taco Bell craving at 2 am on the way home, so I replaced it with some real Mexican food from Tacos Ganaderos near downtown GR. It was good. Now my office smells like carne asada.... yum.

This weekend, well we got a lot planned. Tonight we (the Betas) are hosting dance lessons on campus. This should be fun, always way more girls show up then guys. Santos, a Beta from EMU, is doing the lessons. He is really good, salsa, merengue, cumbia... everything. Afterwards we will maybe take him to our favorite local bar, BFE.

Tomorrow morning we have to swing over to the grand opening of SpeedWise Motorsports. It is the shop I am going to, they are kicking off the new show room and having a little show. Some area Nissan guys are coming and we will relax and talk cars. Then I have to work at GVSU, the Interfraternity Council has their bid acceptance event. I am going to be there, making sure nothing goes horribly wrong, and I am sure nothing will. They did a great job with recruitment.

Then Sunday, I think Hermen and I are helping his mom move some furniture, and then heading over to the Delta Zeta chapter retreat. I might not end up making it to the Delta Zeta thing, we will see. They invited us because we are paired with them for Homecoming.

Back to work I go, yeah!

Four Betas, two cars and 3.5 licenses
Well juggling rides to campus, to work and to Tolman Auto (the repair place by our house) has been fun. There are four Betas in our apartment, right now we only have two cars (mine is in the shop again... and Hermen's). The other part of the equation is that Ramiro is on a restricted license and can only drive between certain times.

So what adventures are we up to? Tuesday night we got left on campus with three Brothers and only my car (which is now just a two seater). So guess who rode in the trunk? No not Hermen (he would not fit I think), Ramiro of course! So when we pulled into Burger King, our usually stopping place on the way home, the girl at the window commented on how cute he was all in the back of the car crunched up. Ah.... felt like I was in high school cramming all kinda of people into my little Honda CRX, the good ol' days.

This morning Becky did me the favor of letting Hermen and I use her car to drop my car off to get the windshield replaced. It was fun having breakfast (really it was just coffee for me) with Becky and Hermen. Hermen made fun of my Novalí mug (has her picture on it), Becky worried if the mug we gave her was clean (I am 90% sure it was clean), and I used the last drop of the flavored creamer. Why do Betas have flavored creamer you might ask... don't ask cause I do not know.

So if you see one of us on campus, offer us a ride or something. For rides home we will offer our repair services for your car. Whether it is missing a rear view mirror or just needs to get cleaned. We appreciate the help.

Also, for the record, assuming nothing else goes wrong with project NX... she will be done in three weeks! Keep your jokes to yourself.

New Phone!
For those that mocked me over my old school looking phone... I finally got a new one, and no I did not get the Kyocera 7135 I have been dreaming about for the last year. I want the Kyocera 7135. It is a phone, MP3 player, and Palm Pilot all in one! Does it get any better? I highly doubt it. So what is the catch?

The phone costs five hundred dollars. I do not have five hundred dollars to spend on a fancy phone. I wish I had that money to spend on a phone. Generally I would of been impulsive and just gotten the phone (I was on the Verizon website and was one click away from buying it!). Then I sat back, thought about it, and for once made the good financial decision to not get the phone. Yes, I am sad.

So now I need everyone to help cheer me up. Since I did not get the fancy phone that integrates my Palm Pilot and transfers my phone numbers... I need to manually enter all those numbers into my phone. That sucks. I started doing it last night, took me forever to get just 40 names in there. I have a ton more to go. So here is where you can help me, call me! This way I can just save your number in my phone. My number is the same, so just call me. Text me to so I can save you in my text area as well.

Thanks!

You learn new stuff everyday
This weekend I learned a lot of new things. I thought that the things I learned are so important I would share them with you so you can learn from my life as well. Here goes:

1. Novalí is not only the smartest little girl, but the funniest as well.

2. When trying to pry an intake manifold off a truck, use a pry bar. A screw driver will break.

3. In the instance that you have a TV too big to fit on the entertainment center, you can try putting the entertainment center on top of the TV (Thanks for the entertainment center Santi, it looks great!).

4. Always take your keys. How many times have I left the house without my keys, thinking Hermen has his... I was wrong again.

5. If you run out of clean underwear, swim trunks are an excellent substitute.

6. No matter how many times I have seen Chris Rock's "Bigger and Blacker", I laugh every time. Livin' la Vida Loca!

7. You should never, under any circumstances, pimp out a Geo or an old Saturn. It is just wrong on so many levels.

8. Read the directions on taking off your distributor cap before you take it off. This will save you time throwing tools on the ground, getting mad, and then having to take the car (or a Blue Truck) back to the shop. So much for saving money doing it yourself.

9. Never try to save money on your car by putting in cheap parts. You will end up just having to replace those cheap parts with good ones (my KYB AGXs and HyperCoils came in this weekend!). I am tired of having to go over bumps at 2 miles an hour.

10. Talking is over rated. When you are good friends with someone, and something comes between you, don't try and just talk about it. Send each other emails, written communication often works so much better to get your point across (plus they (or I) can't interrupt you in the middle of a sentence).

11. You are never too young to feel old.

12. No matter how many quarters you put in the dryer, the pockets of your jeans will still be damp.

13. After you put chilly, mustard, ketchup, onions, and cheese on a hot dog from Speedway, it actually tastes pretty good.



I had a great weekend. Friday just chilled at the house, got work done and watched movies with Hermen and Becky. Got sleep early cause Saturday I knew would be long.

Saturday got up early and went to see Novalí. I have not been able to get away for an entire weekend, so going more often but for just one day is working out well. We played all morning with the set of blocks I got her. She learned all the animals on the blocks, and some of the numbers as well. I know she is only 2 and half, but it is never too soon to start teaching her how to read. I mean she is the smartest girl in the world. She liked building stuff with the blocks more then me trying to sit her down and teach her the letters on the blocks.

Sunday slept in a little, helped Hermen with the truck, did some homework, and most importantly got my laundry done. In the middle of the day, locked myself out of the apartment, had to run to Holland to get keys from Ramiro, and just happened to run into a cool car show at AutoZone.


Got to run... homework is calling my name.

Schedule
Trying to plan my weekends is a pain. Why you ask? Well here is the deal. I got so many things I want to do, but not sure how to decide what all I have time to do. I wish there were more hours in the day.

Here is what is going on this weekend.

I need to go and see Novalí, but with my suspension the way it is on my car not sure it will make it (my suspension is so low I can barely make it over speed bumps). So I might bump the trip to next weekend when my car suspension will be redone. Also I have not had the time to reregister the car, got insurance, but no registration yet. Plus I just saw Novalí a week ago, so it has not been that long. I hate living so far from her.

Hermen is working on his truck, I think we will work on it this afternoon. I owe Hermen time on the truck, he helped so much with the Nissan. I also got to get Ramiro's system hooked back up. For those who had not heard, he left his car at my place, and I forgot to lock the door... and bam! His stuff got jacked! I still feel really bad about it, I have been trying to find the replacement dash pieces but no luck. He got another radio, so I got to help him rewire the amp and subs.

Studying, the one thing in life I really hate. Seriously, I hate it. For some reason as an undergrad I loved looking up information about student affairs, Greek life and reading articles. However, now that I am required to do it for class, I have no desire at all to do it. Funny how that is huh?

Finishing my car. Yes I know, will the project ever end? More then like not, but I have parts sitting in my place that I would like to get installed soon. My taillights need to be painted, the interior finished off, a good vacuuming never hurt either. But when will I have time?

So today I am making the list of stuff I need to get done, and deciding what I will get to this weekend, and what I will get done next weekend.

No names... not yet
I still do not get a lot of people commenting on my blog. However, I get a lot of people who ask why they are not mentioned. Well, maybe if you commented on my blog I would bother to write about you. So like my friend Bob Bacik said, you have to more then just ask to be in my blog. End of story.

For those wondering... I finally got insurance for my car and it was cheaper then I thought. So this week is really going pretty good for me. Recruitment was great. Got car insurance. Found a great deal on the rest of the suspension stuff for my car. Work is getting less stressful. Everything is just going much better! Yeah.

I better get back to work. Got a few more meetings tonight and then I am going home early for once! Adios...

Relaxing
Yesterday was a ton of fun! It started in the morning with finishing up a paper for class, I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Then watched Hermen wash his truck, polish his new 20s, and make sure the stereo and sub was working right. Team PLP was looking good, the audio was crisp... too bad the truck is not running at 100%. This weekend we will get it tuned up and fixed, no really we will.

Twice during the day the Interfraternity Council had a car parade around campus. It was great, the police helped block off some streets, and we rode around all the residence halls on campus promoting fraternity recruitment. Good times.

That night was orientation for the fraternities. The Betas were involved and so was Sigma Pi who is expanding here this fall. It was cool to hangout with Doogie from WMU who was here for Sigma Pi.

During the day I also worked on a Mac from one of Andres' friends. I think I figured out what was wrong with and saved the data. Nothing gives me more satisfaction then getting a computer fixed, especially a Mac. Hopefully I will get the machine back together and it will be a happy mac again.


Today... well I hate Wednesdays. I work at CompuCraft from 8am to noon, then drive to GVSU and have two classes. Straight class from 3 to 9. Long day. But tomorrow I will finally get the insurance stuff solved and just work at GVSU all day and get caught up. I also am expecting my new suspension components to come in soon... she is getting there... slowly... slow and steady wins the race.

Real men don't use umbrellas
Tonight it rained when I headed to campus for my meetings. I like the rain, it cools off a humid day and for some reason puts me in a good mood. The rain reminded me of something, that natural guy reaction to the rain. The shoulder shrug and brisk walk.

What? Yes, the shoulder shrug. The natural reaction for any male when faced with rain. You don't look for an umbrella, you don't run for shelter, you don't put anything over your head. You shrug and crunch up your shoulders, and start a crisp fast walk.

Does the shoulder shrug protect your head from getting wet? No. Does that slight extra crispness in your walk help keep you from getting so wet? No. Why do we do it? Cause running or getting an umbrella is just not cool. So we shrug, and briskly walk across campus. Cause we are real men.

Great Weekend
I had a good weekend. It started Thursday when I swung through Kalamazoo and hung out at Club Soda with the Brothers. It felt like old times, dancing Merengue, and hanging out with my Brothers. No Chester Chicken though, a trip to Kalamazoo just is not complete without some gas station chicken, next time.

I spent Friday with Novalí, it was fun. As soon as I got there she got all happy and gave me a hug and a kiss. We had a fun day together, nice short nap, fake lunch on her Barbie dishes, and hearing her new songs. Check out Novalí's site for new pictures.

Saturday was busy, I finally got my car back from the shop. She is totally drivable now, and I spent the afternoon getting all the trim put back on and finished off. There is more work to do on her still, but she is really starting to look good now. Check out the new pictures, NX Page.

At night we had the annual Independent Greek Council and National Pan-Hellenic Ice-Breaker. It was huge, we had almost 1000 students come, so the place was packed. It was a late night, but thanks to my Brothers and the Gammas from WMU who came up for the party. We had fun exchanging stories, hearing Ramiro's bitterness over getting pulled over, ideas on how Hermen can avoid the friendzone, made fun of Ramon's music collection and lack of DJ skills, and just relaxed. Good times.




Today Andy came to visit. It was good to hangout and show him campus. Becky met us on campus and we went to eat at the new campus cafe, the Fresh Food Company. Andy was impressed by our nice facilities, and Becky and I shared our grad school horror stories with him. Afterwards we went back to my place, Andy fixed Becky's laptop, and I tried to fix his friends iMac. A day with Andy would not be complete without us working on computers.

I am looking forward to this week. Recruitment starts for the fraternities meaning we will be busy, but a fun busy. As long as this sore throat doesn't get worse I know this week will be more fun then the last few stressed out weeks.

Breathe
Today I relaxed. In what was to be one of the worst days for me, I got to breathe and relax. My trip to Vincennes, IN was put off, I need a break and I can do one of presentations later. It worked out well.

So today I figured I would relax, get my car from the shop, get insurance, finish up some school work, and sleep in. However I got a phone call at 8 am so I didn't get to sleep in, then I find out my shop did not get the part in for my car, and I can't find a good deal for insurance.

I was surprised that no one had horror stories about the Secretary of State. What? Every time I go it sucks, the old ladies behind the counter are all mean, and I have to wait forever. This time was no exception.

You go, and then you wait in a line. But the first line is just for you to tell some lady what you are there for. She gives out the ticker number, and whatever paperwork you need to fill out. Why can't they just post signs, which tell me to grab a number, and what forms I need. I can get my own number, I do it at the deli, I think I can do it at the Secretary of State Office. Then you sit and wait, wait for the numbers to go until they get to you, and for some reason you get excited when it is the number before you. Even though you know that number will take the longest, just because it is the number before yours.

They call my number, I hand them the form, which asked me three important questions, one of which was: Have I ever had a seizure while driving? NO. And if I had, would I seriously put Yes knowing it would mean I would not get my license? Then it asks me to write down height, eye color and weight. I could write anything I want. There was no scale, no tape measure... Come on now...

Finally I get up there, they ask for a few bucks, and then have to check my vision. "Are you wearing contacts?", the lady asks. Once again, they believe whatever I say and ask me to look in the little black box. Oh well, I got a new license coming in the mail.

Now I just need my car back, and find an insurance company. Wish me luck.

No car. No license. No fun.
The car did not get done today, the part came in late so I get it tomorrow. Then I decided I better just rent a car to drive to Indiana for my presentation on Thursday. So I go to www.enterprise.com to rent a car (I get a super discount through GVSU), when I am filling out the form it asked for divers license expiration date, so I take out my license to look...

I did not know your license expires when you turn 25. Seriously, I did not know. I plead ignorance on this and I mean it. So add another thing I have to do tomorrow, getting a new license. Tomorrow will be packed.

I have a Division of Student Services meeting in the morning, hopefully this one will be more exciting then the rest. Then I get to run to the Secretary of State Office, sit there forever waiting to get terrible customer service, take an ugly picture, have them lie to me about how long it will take for me to get my new license in the mail, and wonder why I bother paying taxes for such crappy service.

After the exciting trip to the Secretary of State Office I more then likely will have no desire to do anything else, but I still have a packed day. What will keep me going is that I have an exciting presentation on Thursday. The presentation I will be a part of at Vincennes University in Indiana is the first trial run of a new program from CampuSpeak, the company I am doing research for right now. If it goes well, it could mean more traveling and public presenting and speaking for me.

Well I got to run and get some rest, long day tomorrow. Feel free to share your success stories at the Secretary of State Office on my blog.

Productive
I wanted to see Novalí this weekend. Because of my car I was not able to, and did not have enough time to look into the train or other transportation. Since I did not get to go to Chicago I figured I would stay in and be productive.

I got a lot done. Washed the huge pile of clothes that took over the corner of my room. I am now practically done with all the paperwork for my internship class. Finally got to Walmart and picked up the last few apartment things I have been needing to get. I cleaned the kitchen with Hermen (he is the other clean roommate), we even tossed all that old crap in the fridge out. I read some research articles for one of my classes. Completed paperwork for my practicum class, and got closer to getting that finished.

For fun stuff, no I did not go out at all, I went to Best Buy and spent the gift certificate my parents gave me for my birthday. I got my amp, so now I got all the stereo stuff for my car, just need time to install it.

Sorry there is nothing funny in this post. This is the typical, boring story blog from Sam you all grew to love. I was not in the mood for funny this weekend.

Tonight I am trying to get more school work done, then get some rest and hopefully get some good news about my car in the morning. Keeping my fingers crossed, I need some good news right about now...

McFlurry and Pizza
Finally my shop got my car done! The seats are in, the suspension is installed, and I went to pick it up. I was all excited, glad to have my car back. So I went to Holland to get the car, paid Speedwise (one of my shops) and headed back to Allendale.

On the way back the brake light went on, never happened to me before. A few seconds later I lost pretty much all feeling in my brake peddle. I was able to drive it just slow enough to pull into a garage in Allendale.

They inspected the brakes, come to find out a hose got loose and fluid leaked. However, in the time it took for the brake light to come on, and me to find a garage to put it in, I ruined the master cylinder. So now I am facing a major repair to my brake system, and I have no car for the weekend. Normally I would not mind so much but this was my weekend to see Novali. It has been three weeks already, now it will have to be four since I can not make it.

It was a stressful day. I am tired from this long week, my car had to break down, I won't get to see Novali (unless by some miracle they get my car done tomorrow), I did not get caught up on work stuff, and I am just plain annoyed with school.

On the plus side, I got to eat a McFlurry today, those always cheer me up. I love McDonalds McFlurries with oreos. Yum yum, thanks Becky. Then Hermen took me for Chicago style pizza at this place in Grandville. Nice to have good friends around to fatten you up to try to make you feel better.

A Year in Review
Thanks to Mom and Dad for dinner last night. The Japanesse Steak house was awesome as usual. Miguel, Andres, and Raquel it was good to see you three. I wish we all could get together more often.

This post dissappeared, not sure what went wrong. So here it is again, or for the first time for those who did not see it during the brief time it was online.

** original post **
Yesterday I got nostalgic. I was replying to a birthday email, and I started to think of all the great things I got to do this year. So here is my year in review.

Last Birthday I got to hangout with Dishwalla and the Verve Pipe all day. They were in concert at GVSU, and I had to work the event. So my assignment was to drive the bands around. How cool was that? Good start to a great 24th year on the third rock from the sun.

One of the real exciting parts of the year was all my traveling. So let me telling you all the places I went, in order of appearance. I am leaving out trips to Chicago, cause I go there often for various reasons.

Lawrence, KA. - spent four days there at a conference.
Columbus, OH. - conference again.
Arlington, TX. - got the big Texas trip compliments of UTA.
San Francisco, CA. - conference. Compliments of WRGA.
Santa Barbara, CA. - 2 day stop on Highway One.
Los Angelos, CA. - vacation.
Philadelphia, PA. - went to visit my younger brother Andres.
NewBurg, NY. - Vic's sister's wedding. The old roadtrippers back in action.
San Francisco, CA. - Board meeting. Compliments of WRGA.
Cape Cod, MA. - vacation.

Those were some fun trips, meet fun people, and ate some great food. I remember places by the food I had while I was there. I also learned how nice it can be to travel on someone else's dime, very good.

What else have I accomplished this year, besides getting free trips you might ask? Well here are some things.

I started graduate school. Meet new challenges, rose to the occasion and succeeded. I was part of the team that won the GVSU case study competition, nice plaque for the collection. I was also nominated, and placed on the Board of Directors of the Western Regional Greek Association.

My start up company, OutSight Design is doing very well, not a millionaire yet but business is good. I have done websites for CompuCraft, real estate, Greek Life, shirts for the Betas in Michigan, shirts for Gammas, brochures, flyers, etc. You name it, I can design it, just send me an email at, sales@outsightdesign.com.

I also started racing this year! Did my first AutoCross event in June and had a blast. It is my new hobby, and once my car is back I plan to get back into it. Very relaxing, and one of the few things in life that makes me get jittery the day before. I love my little Nissan NX 2000.

Novali is bigger then ever, got her back to Saginaw a few times this year. Her use of the Spanish language is amazing and I hope she keeps it up. She brings a smile to my face everyday (her pictures are in my office), and I wish I lived closer so I could see her more. I hope she knows how much I love her, even though she would not sign Happy Birthday to me yesterday. No song.

To my family, I am trying hard to make you proud. I know I don't make it home as much as I should, or call much. But I blog, and I email. Your support has made me successful, thanks.

Another year in grad school, then who knows what will lie ahead for me. I don't like to plan the future anymore, I just let it happen and go for the ride. It was a good ride this year, and I feel refreshed... even though I am in my quarter life crisis now. Did I mention the motorcycle I want to get?

What happened to the song?
Yesterday was long, I started work at CompuCraft at 8am. Then worked at GVSU for a few hours before my long 3 to 9 class stint. After that a meeting with NPHC, then off to meet my Brothers and friends at our campus hangout, BFE. Long day.

It was a long day. So long that my phone battery died, I got so many calls wishing me Happy Birthday that my phone died. That was nice. Thanks to all those who called, or emailed me.

I got a cake at work at CompuCraft, carrot cake, yum. A nice card from the gang, no song. No cake at GVSU, we like to act real corporate like and we have one birthday cake per month for everyone. Does anyone remember the Sienfeld episode with Elaine and all the cake parties at work... Classic. I got a nice card from the group there, but I wanted more cake. Once again no song.

Class, was long. One from 3 to 6, then the other from 6 to 9. Announcements on the birthday were made, people said congrats. No card, no cake, and more importantly no song.

Then BFE with the gang. Drove over with Becky (still no car, bitterness continues... it will be done "soon"... I hate soon I want now). All the GVSU Brothers were there, many friends, and a waiter to gave my Brothers suggestions on the worst things to give me to drink. I think one of them was actaully gasoline, smelled like it, tasted like it. Thanks for spending my Birthday with me, cheerin me on when I went bowling for barstools, and just being my friends. It was fun, I feel fine today, but I still wonder... what happened to the song?

Just pictures
Well there is a little more then just pictures on this post, but mostly pictures. Just the final recap of the trip.

After Anne took off on Monday for Albany, NY Becky and I decided we would cook dinner. So we went and ran errands and got food to cook. We made swordfish Shish-Ka-Bobs. I love to cook, I rarely do it, but it was a good time.

The drive back was not too bad. We stopped to see Becky's Grandma which was a nice stop. Good old stories, she compared the University of Alaska to a gas station. Funny story, Becky should blog about it, wait, Becky still does not have a blog.

I arrived just in time to catch a short nap, and then head off to Campus Life Night at GVSU. This week is going to be insane for me catching up and getting ready for the semester to really get rolling. So for those who have been getting slow or no email replies from me... I will get with you as soon as I can. Be patient. Thanks.

I just compiled the pictures from the trip. Here they are in living color, enjoy.

www.centellas.org/sam/pics/capecod03/capecod03.html

This one time... at band camp...
This weekend has been a reminder as to why Becky and I became such good friends. Each night we have stayed up late, talking about why we are both over educated and undermotivated, the reason relationships are impossible, how far away Mexico is, the benefits of me going to Bolivia and never coming back, why neither of us have tangible goals anymore, and the status of my battle against this little cold sore on my mouth (as of this morning I am winning, even though I thought the tide had turned last night).

Those conversations make me thankful that the great cubicle gods made Becky and I neighbors. In all seriousness I would never have chosen Becky as a friend. From the outside she looks to me like the typical bougie New Englander.

Went to expensive boarding school, drives a Honda that was given to her, has a private school sticker on her car window, shops at Ann Taylor Loft, parents own land on Cape Cod, and has been to as many places as Marco Polo. But the Becky I got to know; her parents worked multiple jobs and slaved to pay for those boarding schools, her grandpa left her the Honda when he passed, went to private college to play sports, no excuse for Ann Taylor, dad after moving from Germany to the US worked hard to barely save enough to live but never be fully excepted on the Cape, and has traveled because of school opportunities or jobs. We actaully have a lot in common, but only on the inside, not the outside. Glad we got to know eachother.

The Konowicz family took me in, made me feel at home, and I want to thank them. Thank you. This afternoon Becky and I will hit the road back to Michigan. Here is a quicky recap on my last two days. The rest of this Blog will have less sap.

Saturday - We did not end up going out. Which was fine with me, we stayed in a discussed politics and education. It felt like I was in the Centellas house, except without my brothers to start a heated debate or my mother to ask us over and over again, "are you boys sure you don't want more coffee, it would only take a second." The Konowicz are so well traveled and educated that it made for great conversation. The fact that Anne works for the Democrats in NY added a lot to, felt like a more "official" political debate. We rented Frida, didn't watch it, Anne went to bed early, and then later the younger adults went to bed.

Sunday - Ran errands. I love running errands. I feel so useful. Went to the bookstore, to Best Buy (of course on a trip I get into upgrade recommendations for people, more RAM for Konowicz family computer), the mall to fix Anne's watches, and home to hit the beach again. We walked to the beach right near the house. A short 5 minute walk and I was staring at the ocean. The weather was great, sand was hot, the view was remarkable, and I sat there and read a car magazine (the new issue of Super Street was out).

Before we packed up to leave I started to once again to make fun of the ladies Cosmo magazine. My compliant with the magazine is on the dating tips. Seriously, a magazine, written for women, by women, about women, will never ever give you good dating or relationship tips. They had, "Fifty Ways to Keep Your Man Interested", and it was a joke. Each 20 word description I could boild down to 4 words, or cut it out completely cause it was crap. Here is a short excerp:

#20 - My girlfriend knew that I loved Christmas. So one year, a few weeks before xmas she snuck into my apartment, and decorated my bathroom with tinsel and christmas lights. (I parafrased this)

If some girl did that to me, I would call 911 and say I had a pyscho break into my house. End of relationship. What guy wants tinsel in his bathroom? Most guys so rarely clean their bathroom that I am sure that tinsel would still be around for many months. Secondly, what guy wants his girl all over his bathroom? Not me. Another:

#5 - Greet me at the end of the day with an article you clipped out of the paper for me, or a new candy bar I might like. I love knowing that you think about me when I am not around.

Honestly now... they were digging deep with this one. This is what a girl wants. A guy wants a fat steak on the dinner table when he gets home, that will show him you were thinking about him while he was gone. And all the other ones about leaving notes on pillows, and funny voicemail message, come on now. Girls want that, don't write a magazine about what girls want and disquish it as tips on how to keep a man. One more, okay two.

#33 - Worry about me. Whenever I talk to my girlfriend from my cell phone in the car, she reminds me to wear my seat belt.
#50 - MY fiancee sometimes wakes up earlier than I do and does my dishes or puts away my clothes, but she never mentions it when I get up. It's so cool that she does that stuff just to be good to me and not because she wants the credit.

My mom should be the only women telling me to buckle up. If I want a maid I will hire one. Stop reinforcing the male dominated society and telling women to pick up after us. When I ask you to help me with chores, that is different, if I don't ask you, don't touch my dishes or underwear in my room. And this never mention it thing... just seems like ammunition for the next fight. "Well I get up and pick up your dirty clothes... blah blah blah." Ladies, do not pick up after us. If we wanted that we would move back home and have mom do it, don't try to be my mom.

Enough about cosmo.

I might ad more later, maybe. Well at night then we ate like kings again. Great chicken Mrs. Konowicz! Then we watched Frida, too long, okay acting, decent historical references, Salma Heyek.

Enough about Frida.

Today - I got up early to Blog. Wanted to keep you all updated on my trip. Having breakfast/coffee with Becky, Anne and Elisa (Becky's friend with the Jeep at the beach). That should be nice, then relaxing a little before starting the drive home.

I am excited to go back, my birthday is soon. As usually I am not a big birthday person, generally I never even go out or do anything real special. I don't even know what I want from anyone.

Late idea. What about a theme blog, critquing Cosmo every month? Something to think about...

I got to run... need to iron my shirt. Adios.

The Cape
Vacation. I needed a vacation. So I am on vacation. Becky and I drove through the night on Wednesday after Bronco Bash. Let me recap the last few days.

Wednesday - Skipped class to go to Bronco Bash. I love Bronco Bash, I hate class. Easy choice. It was fun, all my chapter Brothers were there (we miss you Orlando, Steve and Alex) and some GVSU and UoM Brothers. It was fun, meet some new freshmen who might be SLB material, had a good time at the new house. Went for a nice walk in the new neighborhood, thanks.

Thursday - Then Becky and I rode out of Michigan at 1am. If you thought Canada was boring during the day, imagine riding through it at 3-4am. Boring. It redefined boring. They do not even have fun billboards to read while you travel. Just plain out Canadian boring. Almost more worthless then Ohio, almost.

The Cape is great. Despite getting poor customer service everywhere on the first day I stayed positive. Had a great meal with Becky's fam, and then caught up on sleep.

Friday - Becky's friend Anne showed up. She works in politics, I don't hold that against her, she is pretty cool. First things first, I needed a hair cut. I think I broke a world record. They dropped me off to get my hair cut and then went next door to get some coffee. The lady who cut my hair did so in about 30 seconds, I think it took longer for me to explain what I wanted then it took for her to cut it! I then paid, and walked to the coffee place. I got there before they even got their drinks! World record, where is Guiness or Ripley's when you need them. I could of been famous. By the way, the haircut looks great.

Then we shopped, of course I bought new shoes. Then off to Provincetown, enjoyed some New England culture, ate a huge sunday. Then went home and ate more fish at Becky's house. They sure eat a lot of fish here, people who like to eat dumb animals would love it out here. I could really get used to this life. As much as I love smart red meat, nothing beats scallops and salmon.

Saturday - Today we went to the beach. We drove right out on the beach, never done that before! It was sweet, let some air out of the Jeep's tires and drove it right out there. The weather was not the best, either way of course I am not tan, and I got sand in my eyes and down my shorts. The highlight of the day was using a handicap port-a-john, that thing was huge. I will be talking about that for years to come. I got some shells for Novali as well, I hope she likes them.

Tonight we go out again. Very different then Midwest out, no hoochie white pants (well there is always "that" girl), no shinny shirts, no cookie cutter looks, and no 44 oz beer pitchers. I do enjoy those things, but in modertion of course. Not saying the Cape is better, just different. Here it looked like a big Abercrombie ad. In Michigan the guys look like slobs at the bar cause they don't care, here they look like slobs and you can tell they tried hard to make it look like they did not try hard. My typical quote, "where's the logic in that?". The girls out here prefer old money to new money, and since I have no money, I felt all out of the loop. Plus I did not go to boarding school like the "special" people...

I got to run and shower now, going to use the outdoor shower. Kinda excited about that, totally new thing, kinda like the handicap port-a-john. Off to find all the places that the sand found. Hum... I will write more, and post pictures very soon.

More then just news
I am getting complaints on my blog. First I hear that I am not funny enough on my blog, or tell good stories like my brothers. Then I am told people hate to hear about my life on the internet in public instead of over the phone.

Here are my replies, to those comments about my blog, not left on my blog but emailed to me. Also, please see July 20th, 2003 about what I think about comments not left on my blog in the comments section.

Well I am not funny, generally I am more goofy and uptight then anything. Which in itself makes a bad non-funny combination, let alone bad stories. On most days lately you will hear my slaughtering the words to "Don't be fooled by the rocks that I've got" or the "Ali Ababuwa (SP?)" song from that Disney movie... you know.. "Prince Ali, Ali... Ali Ababuwa... dah dah dah... something something." Whatever. See, so not funny.

I live a public life, I work with fraternities and sororities. I might as well be live on TV 24-7 since it feels like I hear more about my life from other people then my own mind. So I choose to just Blog it up... Don't like it? Then call me after 9pm cause I don't have a lot of anytime minutes. Good luck reaching me at home, my phone works terrible at my place, I think all the corn kills the signal.

Story telling, well I do not have funny stories. All the funny stuff that happens in my life I usually con Hermen into doing it. So I can not write about it hear, I should tell Hermen to get a Blog and then just link to his funny stories. Like our trip to Meijers (riding little kid bikes, buying no heat bikini wax, our new welcome mat, and trying to find Cinderella), and the last time we hung out at BFE.

Here is one story though I thought I would share, hope you all enjoy this.

I work at a computer place. Generally I do business consulting and websites, but sometimes I get to work in the service area and fix computers. This one day I had a flat panel iMac on the bench, the write up said that the mouse did not work. We did not get the mouse in, so I tested it and our mice worked fine. I called the guy to see if he could explain the problem, sounded strange so I asked him to bring in his mouse. He had the standard optical mouse all Macs have come with for the past 2 years. I tried it, it worked here. So I am wondering... what would cause this? I talk to the guy again, and he explains the problem to me again. So I said, all I can think of is that maybe the optical mouse does not like the surface you are working on, it needs to be reflective enough to work with the infrared laser. then he says... "so you mean I should not use this on my glass desk?". Some people are just slow, or too old to use new technology. If you did not get thise story, you are one of them.

Some News:
Well not a whole lot of new stuff. The apartment is finally cleaned, painted and set up. Got tons of rain in my room when I left my window open during a storm. Novali used her potty for the first time last night (yeah!). And tonight I am going to Kalamazoo to help the Brothers with Bronco Bash, then leaving for Cape Cod.

Alright, you are wondering about Cape Cod. I guess I have been forgetting to tell people about this trip. Becky (from GVSU) and I are leaving tonight for Cape Cod. It is her home town, and she needs to take her car home to get it state emissions tested and get new tires (her dad insists she get it done from "his" guy). Since she did me this huge favor of helping Parking Lot Performance with a loaner car all summer this is the least I can do, plus who doesn't want a vacation to Cape Cod? So I will be gone until September 2nd, on a much needed vacation and break from Michigan.

Other news. Car still not done, yes I am pissed. Started classes, same old stuff. Working at GVSU, still too many meetings. Working at CompuCraft, nothing exicting to work on. End of news.

Alright, this is a long post. I expect some comments on my blog, not emailed to me. Thanks.

Getting settled
There is nothing I love more then getting into a routine. Some might find this boring to do, but I like having consistency in my life. I also am enjoying having roommates again (I lived alone for over a year) and our neighbors. Here are some updates on what is going on in my life.

Washing clothes. Today I washed at our new place, well not just at our new place. We have an interesting system with the girls next door, our washer is broken, and their dryer is broke. So naturally, being the nice broke college students we all are, we found a way to make this work. We all wash at their place, and they dry at our place. It works.

The Nissan. I wish I had better news here, but I don't. The project is still way behind, Becky returns on Thursday and needs her car back, and I am not sure what I will do for transporation. How much is a bus pass?

Summer classes. My internship project is going well, finalizing some of the things right now for all of that. The practicum research project... pretty much dead in the water for now. Everyone is too busy right now to help me, I am too busy to help myself, and I just plain out don't know what to do anymore. Ah.

GVSU work. Back to the grind. The grind it is, I am having trouble with the IFC/NPC Recruitment booklets, IFC recruitment planning is falling behind and everyone is swamped. I have Greek life presentations I need to get done for tomorrow, got an outline and some powerpoint slides done... hope it is enough.

PLP. We are looking at moving into some new avenues for Parking Lot Performance. Hermen and I found a cool old motorcycle we could work on. I am thinking this would rock, plus I could drive it while my car gets finished. Plus everyone knows I have always wanted a motorcycle... we will see what happens.

Family. Raquel called today, she is having a girl and from everything they know now the baby appears to be healthy and doing well. Andres is in Puerto Rico, after his accident in Chicago involving his car hood opening at 80mph on the high way. Miguel is getting ready to move out of Kalamazoo, he has been there six years now, but he is looking forward to an awesome year in Bolivia! My parents, enjoying having the house to themselves, swimming, riding the trator, Dad playing tennis then complaining that his arm hurts, and Mom walking around in flip flops cooking on the grill.

Personal. I am stressed. I have not been this stressed in a long time. Too many things on me at once right now. School starts soon, behind on my summer projects, behind on fall event planning, behind on many things. I know it will all work out in the end, but right now it is hard to stay positive about it all.

Thanks for checking in with me. Someone please sign my comments... Thanks.