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

Happy Birthday Miguel.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Of course we walked through Chinatown and checked out stores.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Lip Sync Crew

Santi and Max shooting dice

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

Busting some Cumbia skills.

Sweaty and tired... they finished.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Family Update
A few pieces of news from Bolivia.

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

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

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

Look for pictures soon.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunil and Lindsey from DZ on the dance floor.

Santi making announcements, repping SLB.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It was a really beautiful campus.

Opening night group activities.

Large group sessions.

The facility was awesome, and so was the food.

The place is a famous basketball camp.

I love playing four-square!

Every night we found tons of ways to amuze ourselves.

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

The closing committment circle.

The Oregon mountains surrounded the campsite.

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

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

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

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

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

Back to work... ah...

Yep... its rainy.
So it was as rainy as I had expected. I got into Eugene, OR last night and it was rainy. On top of raining on my parade the airline decided to lose my luggage as well. Which after being in airport for like 10 hours... it was the last thing I wanted to go wrong.

Carly picked me up and we got some food at this great place, good Cheesy Tomato soup (I heard it is John Hockman's favorite, I will have to tease him that I got some) and catching up with Carly. Then we met some friends of hers, Patrick (who loaned me clothes for the night) and Karen. Once again I was reminded how small the Greek world is. They all knew Erica who was an Alpha Chi consultant from CMU (Karen was an Alpha Chi consultant as well) and I had a Hefeweizen, which is the beer of choice for West Coast folks.

Tomorrow we start the IMPACT weekend. I am excited. Today I am catching up on a few things and I wanted to take some time to post a few blog pics from my time with Novali before heading out here. So here goes.

I got to Chicago late Monday night, the rainy storms slowed me down. Tuesday we had the entire day to ourselves! The Gomez family just moved and they are right by a Target and a small shopping center. So we walked over there. We had fun hanging out in the Dollar Store and buying food at Target. She says the funniest things right now and watching her make decisions about what to eat is interesting (she wanted eggs and french fries for lunch). We had a ton of fun.

Coloring the book my parents got her. She has artist skills.

All the bunnies she made me buy. One for abuela... one for Tia... one for Mami...

Tuesday night we went to a BW3s. I have not been to one since last time I went with Andres and my dad in Lansing. It was fun to see one that was more of a family style location. Tamara and her sorority sisters like wings really spicey... I am a big wuss and just get the Southwestern ones...

Putting on her coat.

Hands in the pockets... scarf on.. ready to go.

Well speaking of wings, I got to run. Time to eat here... I am still thrown by the whole time thing. I know the time thing will kill me when I get back to Michigan and try getting back to work right away. Like trying to work on the thesis...

Momo, Momo, Momo... pass me a tissue.
Despite being sick... I needed to get some car work done. My new steering wheel has been sitting around for a while and this week I got the last part I needed to do the install. So Wednesday afternoon... I got down and dirty and worked on the ride. It felt good, read further for more info on the install (I started writing this blog a few days ago and just now finishing it).

Epsilon Chapter Retreat
I was in Kalamazoo for the last two days. I went down on Thursday with Ramon and Ramiro to see the WMU gang at Club Soda. The place is the same and it reminded me of some good times. Colleen, Marcie & Ismael, Zandy and I ended the night with a trip to The Big Burrito. I can't belive Zandy has been at WMU for nearly a year and had not been there... Hermen you need to visit more and take your sister out.

Friday we ate breakfast at Theo & Stacy's, and then we had our first meeting. It was awesome to get us alums together with the Brothers. Later we took a break and headed to the mall. It was funny watching 6 Betas go sale shopping. We got some sweet deals at Marshall Fields and then ate in the food court. It was fun clowning around and hanging out. We restarted the meeting over at Geo's place for a few hours and then shot pool at Bilbo's Pizza.

Friday night we went to Wayside for a Mardi Gras party. Reymall snagged a great table and we watch people trip over a loose piece of carpet for a while and ate some fries I never paid for.... yeah! We ended the night with a trip to Steak & Shake. In a matter of 2 days we managed to do all the things we used to do in Kalamazoo. Oh yeah, and today on my way home... got some Qdobas!

Now I am home, I need to do laundry and get ready for a busy week of traveling. Monday I am heading to Chicago to spend time with Novali. Then Wednesday I fly to Oregon. I need to get things organized because once I get back I will have a lot of close deadlines. I also need to keep fighting off this cold... Fun fun fun.

Back to the car story from Wednesday...
When I bought my car it had an older steering wheel in it, no airbag anymore. I have been wanting to get it replaced. I installed a Momo Thunder Wheel and hub kit. The things looks great and really pulls all my Momo accessories together (shifts knob, brake handle, seats, floor mats, and leather shift boots).

The steering column torn apart.

The messy wires.

I was still not able to get my horn to work. I needed to get the wheel back on (since I drive this car everyday) so I did not have a lot of time to mess with the wires. I am going to read up on what it will take to work out the horn and do it once I get some more warm weather.

She looks great!

Rub-a-dub-dub... sweaky clean.

After the install I ran over to the car wash and got her nice and clean. It was a mini-Love Your Car Day. I had to take advantage of the warm weather.

What was sad is that I noticed a rust spot coming back on my car... just a small one. I love my little NX, I hope she does not require more body work soon. Either way I got to get her ready for racing this summer. Speaking of racing I have a quick poll.

I graduate on April 24th. That same day there is a race with my Car club, actually the first of the year for my group. Should I skip commencement? I rather my family come out and watch me race on my graduation day and be out in the sun then sit inside a stuffy arena and watch me get another folder with no diploma in it. Ideas? Suggestions?

I am sick... where's my travel agent?
I have been busy... but the pile of stuff is getting manageable. However, now I am starting to feel a little bit sick. My throat is scratchy and I am feeling under the weather. Yes I said under the weather. This is the worst time for me to get sick, I am on a roll and I need to keep things running. Hopefully the vitamin cough drops Becky gave me help!

Okay so I need a travel agent folks. I travel a lot, more then the average bear. I the last 90 days I have been out of the country, to Texas and to Chicago countless times. I already have a few big trips planned for this year, Hollywood this coming fall, Orlando this summer, and San Francisco twice. Well yesterday I got a call and the University of Oregon wants me to fly out and help facilitate an IMPACT Weekend there. I did one of these for the University of Texas - Arlington and I loved it. This program is put on by the North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC, if you visit their site, click on educational programs, then click on IMPACT, I am on the testimonials page) and when I attended as an undergrad it mad a big difference on views of Greek Life.

My next trip will be three weeks after that when I travel to San Francisco for the Western Region Greek Association Conference (WRGLC). I am excited for that trip, I love the San Francisco area. During all of my business trips I plan in some time to visit and have fun. I have two extra days planned in Eugene, OR and three extra days in San Francisco. I recommended Becky for a conference staff position and she will be there in San Fran as well. Who doesn't want a free trip to the West coast?

Also tomorrow night I am heading to Kalamazoo. My chapter is doing a little retreat on Friday and I want to go early and go out. I think some Salsa with Colleen and Marcie, the Gamma neos, is what the doctor ordered for this cough I am developing. I will see Rey again and Vic better come out, along with the undergrads and for sure everyone's favorite masters student, the Geo. Good times and good way to kick off spring break!

Spring Break is two and a half days away...

The Weekend Report
Last week was stressful. On top of my school work and jobs I had to prepare presentations for this weekend and get things my stuff finalized for the thesis focus group. Now things are over and the focus group is running as I write this... we had a good student turnout and I want to give a huge thanks to Jose and Gaby from MSU for coming to facilitate the group. THANK YOU!

(MGCA) Conference was awesome! It was a great networking opportunity as always and my presentations all went well. Thanks to Aaron Haight and Michelle Guobadia who both presented with me and the Miami University for asking me to be part of their panel discussion. Having the faculty demarkation on my name tag was just plain out cool!

Out of 1600 attendees... Santiago and I were the only Betas.

The GVSU delegation at the final banquet.

While there I also had a quick board meeting for the Western Region Greek Association. The conference we put on is getting close and we have a lot to do... I had an awesome experience at MGCA doing research for WRGA. I got to be in the AV booth and help with their final banquet. Being in the booth with the headphones and helping with all the equipment was a great learning experience. The AV at WRGA is going to rock this year!

The highlight of the weekend was getting to hangout with Novali. She was not too keen on meeting new people there and so we did not stay with the GVSU group. We had fun getting some Mexican food and she showed me some new art work she has done. I love posting her pictures by my desk at work.

Placing her order, she loves reading the menu.

She has this dress that she loves to put on... as soon as we got home she ran to grab it.

I got her PJs on... and like a good little monkey she wanted to jump on the bed.

Laying down with Papi and trying to sleep.

Friday night went out. That week was Angel's (Novali's uncle) 21st birthday and Tamara and I threw him a party. I wanted to help as a thank you for the times he watches Novali and has been a help. We went to Transit a Latin/Hip Hop club in Chicago. The place has three rooms, one with Latin music, another with new Hip Hop, R&B and Reggae and then the final room has slower and older Hip Hop music. The place has a great atmosphere. Happy Birthday Angel.

Angel and Tamara.

Tamara and her friends all came out.

Reymall came out and we chilled like always...

Rey doing his thing..

The focus group is still running right now... Becky is stressing over if the tape recording will work. I am wondering how much longer it will take. We are both procrastinating and not looking forward to the paper we have due this Tuesday for our Career Guidance class.

Spring Break is one week away...