Ready or Not
This week I was trying to get everything squared away to go to Honduras. I will be gone from my office for a week, and have no access to my laptop... sad... I am not sure how I will live. I have never gone this long without my laptop and internet. I will survive.

I got a ton done this week! As always being under pressure gets me to really kick things into high gear. So let me give you some updates on what happened this week.

In my consulting world it has been a great week! I got a contract from Southeastern Missouri State to do a hazing presentation on April 3rd. I launched a new clients website, Measured Success. Its a work in progress, and more features are coming soon. I completed contracts and updates for an old client, MMBA and will soon be revamping their website. My Western Region Greek Website got all the 2005 conference information posted, WRGLC. I am also in the final stage of securing one more website client, to be named soon.

On the fraternity side, Formal is T-minus two weeks. We will hit 100 people registered for dinner by the end of this weekend. I am leaving Ramon in charge of the rest of the planning as I will be gone. Today we are wrapping up a ton of items. It is going to be an amazing program. We will have a PowerPoint slide show with music, give out our big district awards, give out our Undergraduate scholarships, and recognize the contributions of the Brothers in our district to higher education and multicultural issues.

Work... well it was a rat race to get everything done. Housing review and counts, done. Extra board transfers and one more fraternity judicial, done. Sorority recruitment mediations, scheduled for when I get back. The idea for the Napoleon Dynamite program... scheduled! Greek Week... well... not done, but getting there. Who's Who...not done, but I started it all.

I am not heading to get to see Novali before I leave, but the good news is that Tamara is bringing her to Albion on March 20th for a couple days. My parents will come and visit as well and it will be great! So I will get to see her very soon! And I won't have to drive!

I have a few more days state-side before I take off. Wish me luck, I am super excited about the trip! Before leaving I enjoyed sometime in Grand Rapids. Went out with the guys Thursday night to BFE, my old stomping grounds, and had a great time! Friday went to drop off my laptop to CompuCraft and then a business trip to the Hilton with some of the committee members. It was nice to be in GR for a while, saw a bunch of people at GV and chilled with the Bros. Sunday I finish packing up for Honduras... and off I go!

Winter Sales
Since I already outed myself as a sale shopper, I figured I need to rave about a couple of my recent escapades. I have been on two shopping trips lately and found me some great deals! I love the end of winter sales!

My first big catch was going shopping before MGCA. I got a pair of Kenny Cole pin stripe dress pants, some Polo Khakis, and a Half Zip Sweater all for 50 bucks at Marshal Fields. You all know how much I love Kenny Cole dress pants. Machine washable, no dry cleaning needed... low maintenance, a mans best friend. That same day a trip to TJ Max proved very productive. I found a stripped BCBG Dress Shirt to wear at MGCA and a new Ecko shirt. The trip ended with a find at Goodwill! I got an express shirt there for 3 bucks, and then went next door to KMart and scored a $10 iron (I needed one really bad).

This past weekend stumbled upon a sweet sale at Elder Bierman. Chaps shirt, Izod Fleece, and Geoffrey Beene Dress Shirt for 30 bucks. Then at the GAP, I got some pin stripe wool pants (also machine washable!) and a bar shirt for 20 bucks!

The Goodwill deal stole the show!

I love Pin stripe pants.

Now I am in need up picking up items to take to Honduras. I got my list last night of other items I must take so I need to shop again for those items, as well as some items to donate down there. In a few days I will be sweating in Honduras!

Work update... same stuff. Way too busy, but getting a lot of important planning done. I am getting close to the end of my first year so I need to get into gear on some unfinished items and really make a few things happen.

Fraternity Update... if you did not know, I am the chair of our 5th Annual District Awards Formal. It is going well, in the next day or so I think we will break 100 people signed up! This might be the biggest one yet... I am very excited!

Cabaret and Anchors
This week has been a mixing of ups and downs. Started off tired from a long weekend conference, went right into busy meetings about judicial stuff and important reports. My Monday ended with a long meeting with Ammar, my fraternity's International President, mostly good news and some possible opportunities for me to get more involved (like I need more right?), but we discussed some tough topics as well. I really believe in the work my fraternity is doing, and I can't say no to a good cause.

I have a lot on my plate right now. Lots of meetings with the Dean of Students, trying to keep the momentum going from MGCA with my councils, and the regular runs of life. Like getting my tetanus shot for heading to Honduras (we leave in ten days!) and taking these $11 a piece malaria pills!

There of course as always has been the ups which keep me in good spirits. A funny "Fraternity Moment of the Week" always helps the cause, as well as time out of the office having fun. Some examples of out of the office fun. This week on campus is showing the play Cabaret, which I saw Thursday night and it was fabulous. I also watched the Big Lewbowski on Wednesday with Jen and ate Chinese food. The most commical part of the night was not the movie, but when I called for the Chinese Food the lady answers and says, "where you at" like she was Snoop Dogg, and then when I tell her, she does not understand, and then passes me to the driver who does not understand, and then he asked me... "You come get it." Well actually I think he told me... anyhow I went cause I had a hankerin' for some sweet and sour pork, and you all know I am weak when it comes to some Crab Rangoons.

The week will end with Delta Gamma's Anchorsplash. Hands down one of my favorite Greek events, it always reminds me of my line Brother Alex Diaz. We always went to the Delta Gamma stuff together at WMU. I miss those days. There has been a buzz on campus for this event all year, seems to be the biggest Greek philanthropy event on campus here, and I get to be a judge! So exciting. It has also been fun seeing the events they do here, like the hide the anchor scavenger hunt.

Then Sunday I am doing a retreat for Panhel. We are going to Marshal to do some training, goal setting, and long term planning. I am very pumped cause we have some exciting things coming up. As much as I complain about my stress and work load, I know at the end of a week I can look back on what I accomplished and be proud. I guess it is better then a boring, laid back week, that in review was worth nothing. At least my stress, although a high price, does yield a promising result. Well off I go... I need to try to get some sleep, I been missing too much of that lately.

MGCA 2005
So here are the details of the weekend. Thursday I was able to duck out of the office and hit the road and I made it to Chicago early and able to catch up with a lot of people I have not seen in a while. I love this conference because it is one of the few times I get to see a lot of my Greek Advisor friends and visit with other professionals.

Friday I did two workshops. One on hazing and the other on Multicultural Greeks. The hazing one was hard to present, and is always something that gets heated but I think it went well. The Multicultural Greek presentation was a hit, and I hope we get great reviews like we did last year. I did the hazing one with Renee from Delta Gamma, and the cultural one with my friend Michelle from Zeta Phi Beta.

That night we went to dinner in Chicago, and continued my short tradition of having Novali to dinner. This is her third MGCA, and it was fun cause lots of people were asking about her cause I used to take her up to the hotel. This year we met our crew at the restaurant, Fernandos. It was a lot of fun and Cressie brought the Oakland University group as well. We had great Spanish food and then headed back to the hotel.

Saturday was a bust day. I started with some work on Western Region Greek Association stuff since a lot of us board members were there at MGCA. Got all our registration stuff up and ready to go. We had the final workshops (One on Eating disorders with Amy) and then the formal banquet which is always a lot of fun.

Sunday was time with Novali. I got my Albion students checked out of the hotel and on their way, and then off to spend a couple hours with Novali. We played a little, ate, took a nap, and then I had to hit the road home. This week I have to play clean up on a couple large projects for work, and do a lot of things for my Formal, and then start getting things ready to go to Honduras! I am so excited!

MGCA is the largest Greek Council Conference, it brings over 1600 people to gether.

My Albion Delegation. Left to right: Shannon (Phi Mu), Tavio (Sig Chi), Aleece (KD), Joe T(Sig Chi), Megan (KD), and Me (SLB).

At the Friday luncheon people sit with their members, Eddie was the only Beta there and two SLGs.

The grad students from GVSU, Amy (my copresenter) and Tillie.

The Albion Delegation at dinner, Novali did not want to be in the picture and ducked.

Novali did want a picture of her by the donkey at the entrance of Fernandos.

All dressed up for the formal banquet.

After the Banquet they did an "Up 'Til Dawn" Fundraiser and Cressie and I wrestled. I won...

This was a great break away from Albion. Cressie was a good roommate, my students learned a lot and are coming back really excited, some funny times with Novali, and got more experience as a presenter. Good little break from my busy schedule.

Monday was a crazy day back. Just trying to get all my projects done and ready for all my meetings this week. A good change of pace though was going to dinner with Ammar (SLBs President). We had a good talk about the direction our national fraternity was taking, positions within our district, and of course talked about the good old days. Let's see what the rest of this week has in store for me.

What the Doctor Ordered
I needed this trip. I love MGCA, it is my favorite conference and I am once again doing three programs here. My campus was very stressful before coming here, I nearly didn't come things got so stressful. I am so glad to be here, in Chicago. Novali came to dinner with me last night, it is her third MGCA Friday night dinner! She was too funny and just reminded me to not make life more stressful then it needs to be.

I am also very excited because my students are really getting it. They are enjoying their programs, I am helping them meet important vendors (computerized recruitment!) and make contacts with important presenters and helping them process their programs. For example last night I chat until nearly 1AM with two Panhel women about the exciting ideas and programs that they have for the next year. Reminds me why I went into this field, and the excitement of the challenge of making needed change. To top it off, one of them is thinking about going into higher education now!

There is only one other Beta here, and very few Latino Greeks. The NPHC showing is much better, but I wish we had better representation. Next year I will be more involved, and help change that. Mark my words... and for the record my presentations are going well, two down, one more to go, wish me luck.

Sunday I will spend with Novali, and then back to Michigan. I have a very busy week ahead of me...

Free Food
Today I get two free meals. I have a lunch/afternoon training. I think I have mentioned before how many Albion College lunch meetings don't include lunch, but this one does! So that is great.

Then tonight I get to have dinner at the Delts. They are the sponsor for the program I set up for tonight. I have Dave Westol coming to do a presentation called "Hazing on Trial". It will be a great program, and I am sure they will have a great meal at their house. Last time they had me over it was seafood night... my favorite!

This weekend it will be a lot of free food as well. I have Sigma Chi national officers coming to do their chapter reorganization. Lots of work this week preparing for that. I got most of my reports for them completed. Now I have work for the Board of Trustees meeting I have to get done before I leave for MGCA next week... that reminds me... I need to get those presentations done as well.

Miles and Randomness
Travel time has begun and this weekend was a big kick off for it. Round trip to Chicago, followed by a trip to Grand Rapids for the GVSU Greek Leadership Conference. Mixed with fun new times with Novali, and some catch up time with the Betas at GVSU.

Did a lot of random things this weekend. On Friday Tamara and I took Novali for some pictures... it was fun. Tamara picked out a great new outfit for her and we went to the Old Orchard mall for some pictures at the Picture People, who do awesome work! Also on my trip I took Novali a fun little doctor kit, and she knew just what to do with it. she was checking everyones heart and ears the entire time I was there. Good times.

She was sleeping with the stuffed Blue Dog my abuelita made for me, that I handed down to Novali.

The future Dr. Centellas.

Walking at the mall with her mom... look how tall she is getting.

She had to have her picture taken in front of the unicorn.

I will post some of the pictures we had taken this weekend later on. They were few cute, a Valentines Day, and one for her birthday coming up.. holding the Number 4!

Then it was off to GVSU. The conference was not too great... but I got great reviews on my workshops! I did a recruitment one with Amy Rosen from GVSU and it went well. I had never done it before, and never worked with Amy before... it went well despite the amount of prep time that went into it. I now have ideas on how to fine tune that presentation. Just liked I had guessed... the girls asked... How do you apply this to Panhellenic Formal Recruitment?... I knew that question would show up... but the questions that pissed me off, was the non-Greeks there who wanted to know how it could apply to them. Some people just don't get the simplest things. The diversity presentation I did with Ken from GV, and it went well also. Even better reviews on that, but I have done that one before and is something I present on a lot. Thanks Ken and Amy for working with me.

All the Betas dressed up for GLC 2005.

Little Super Bowl Party at Max's.

Saturday night was a date auction by Delta Sigma Theta at GV, two Betas were in it and were some of the highest money makers. Representing for SLB! Then I spent the night at Ramon and Hermen's and we had a good time and a little get together at the house. Sunday... got up... lounged around, relaxed, had some Chinese Buffet at China One and chilled with the Bros and heard about Heathers crazy Russian wedding...

Sunday ended with some SuperBowl action with the Betas... now Monday back to the grind.

Trans Fats and Honduras
What a title! Yes folks I lived through sorority recruitment. It involved a lot of episodes of that HBO show with Sarah Jessica Parker... and lots of Trans Fats. I worked a total of 43 hours between Friday and Sunday... and the only thing on the menu was unhealthy food. McDonalds double Quarter pounder meals, BK Breakfast, tons of coffee for early mornings, greasy tacos for dinner, and candy all day long. I think I gained ten pounds just this weekend.

All in all (despite the weight gain) my first Panhel recruitment as the head honcho went well. My staff was amazing, and four out of six chapters took Quota. So I am pumped. It was a fun experience and I am surprisingly looking forward to next years recruitment (especially since my students think the school made me sign a two year contract to finally get a Greek advisor to stay longer then 10 months, got to love rumors).

Recruitment Kick Off: Pizza Party and Fashion show. Don't want to wear the wrong thing to the wrong event!

This is a picture from Rho Gamma Revealing: The PNMs held up color cards for their guess of the Rho Gams affiliation. Everyone was so excited.

Before handing out Bids, I gave some props to my staff, and small gifts to my Recruitment Team! I could not have done this without them.

The excitement after cards were opened was too much! Women jumping and screaming all over... It was great!

So recruitment is over... now back to the rest of my work. This week was busy, you can tell cause it took me three days to blog about recruitment. I do have some exciting news... today I paid my deposit to go to Honduras on a service trip with our Organization for Latino/a Awareness (OLA). So that means from March 3rd to March 14th I will be gone to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. We are working at a place called "Mission Honduras". I am very excited... and if you are excited... help me fundraise!

Anyhow... this weekend I am presenting at the GVSU Greek Leadership Conference. A conference that I helped start and run the first one three years ago. It was a nice little conference bringing over 250 students from 10 Michigan schools together. Looks to me like the registration is low since they are not running a lot of sessions per time slot, and I am a little worried that I appear to booked into one of the biggest presentation rooms... I was hoping to do small sessions... not a big presentation. I guess it will be a good way to start doing some bigger things.

Before the conference I am running to Chicago. I took Friday off work so I could still see Novali and get to do this conference. So Friday will be a good and relaxing time with Novali before my presentations at GVSU. I am pretty excited cause this weekend will be a nice change of pace for me!

But my busy travel time is now upon me... Chicago this weekend... GLC Conference on Saturday... MGCA is two weeks after that and I am presenting three programs there... and then my Honduras trip... and then off to San Francisco for WRGLC and I might get asked last minute to do some programs there as well...

Mom, Happy Birthday!

Beverly Centellas
Today my mom gets one year older (don't worry mom I won't say how many years total that is now). I think I have been a good son and usually remember to call. I mean last year on the 18th I frantically called the house to wish my mom a happy birthday... and then realized that in my worry over having almost forgotten my moms birthday... I called ten days early.

I am not a card guy, so my mom won't get a fancy card from me. I am kinda broke so I can't get her that cruise I would love to send her on. I am not a good writer like Miguel and can't write any inspiring words from her middle son. So I can just tell me mom thanks.

Growing up I guess I was a little bit of a mama's boy. I was a paperboy, and my mom was always willing to help me on weekend mornings (5 AM) with my route. What was better was after freezing in the cold outside, my mom and I would sit and have coffee (I started my coffee addiction at an early age) and just talk. Those were some good times. I still do that to this day when I am home. I try to get up and sit with my mom and have some coffee.

Today I got a package from my mom. Enclosed was a book on being a good father and a letter from her. The letter about my abuelita was very touching and I might of had to wipe a tear from my eye. However the encouragement of me as a father is what was more touching. My mom has always been there for me, no matter what dumb stunt I pull, mostly dumb things I won't list here... but she always taught me a lesson when I messed up.

When I was home this year for the Holidays a couple times I had to punish Novali. Hearing my little girl ball her eyes out and tell me she hates me and wants her mom was the hardest thing in the world. It was then I realized how hard it was to be a parent. Not cause your kids hit you up for money, flunk a class in school, or complain that you can't buy them the new Nikes they want. I realized what it means to do something which hurts you, because you know it is what's best for your child. It is being selfless.

I could not have asked for a more selfless mother. She has opened doors for me, taught me right from wrong (even though I still make mistakes), sacrificed many things to help me grow and become a good man, and now more importantly a good father (I hope).

Mom, HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Thank you for everything you have done for me. I hope my gift to you can be that I make you proud. You hard work as a mother has not gone unnoticed.

Can You Hear Me Now. Part 2.
Over the summer I posted about my issues with Verizon and how much I dislike them (I might have used the word hate... and been a little harsh). Well I still felt that way until I called on Monday. They finally gave me good service, and I guess I just needed to put my foot down. I called in to pay my bill and I was basically going to tell them that I was canceling my service and going to transfer my number to another company (maybe that woke them up). Well the guy who got on the phone was super helpful, and he fixed all the problems I have been having. Including... getting me a new phone. He gave me the Motorola V265 for FREE! I checked prices at most cell places and with a two year contract it runs for like 159. So I got a pretty good deal, and he gave me a great new rate plan and helped with some of my past overages. So I am happy Verizon again... well for now. The real fun now is entering all these numbers in my new phone, AH.

So it is 6 AM... and I can not sleep. I think I am a little over anxious about sorority recruitment, and have a lot on my mind with other work and personal things. I need a vacation.

On the recruitment front we had a good night, we currently have signed up over 140 women for recruitment (my goal was 120) and should be a getting a good number of them back on Friday. Our kick off event tonight (1/26) went awesome. The fashion show was a big hit and I was told was more fun then ever. Good Job Chimi! So we are off to a good start.

So what else am I work on right now... lets recap some of my big projects and how things are going.

Formal 2005 - as the chair for my fraternity's district Formal Awards banquet we hit 40 people signed up today. That was great news. The checking account is finally squared away and in a couple weeks will start the regular meetings with the hotel to get into the nitty gritty details. We have a design for the logo which is going to be sweet, and our By Laws I have been working on are close to being approved.

Albion Fraternities - well recruitment is in full swing for them as well. Which means more paperwork, board transfers, and of course the men complaining about other groups cheating. Drama... come on guys... Not to mention I have a fraternity selling dumb shirts for Breast Cancer Awareness...

Who's Who - I am supposed to be planning Albion's Who's Who nomination program. With what time? Between recruitment appeals, fraternity judicial stuff, recruitment, sorority consultant meetings, and housing stuff I don't have time. Our Associate Director of Housing left and since he dealt with most of the fraternity stuff I am now having to help more in that area as well... this added work is not welcome at this time of the year... I got to figure something out.

WRGA - I missed our conference call today because I was swamped with meetings about recruitment. I am in the process of doing a new website for the association and working on the design of the program booklet. My timeline got shortened a little, but things are still looking good. We submitted our AV bid and hopefully I will get all the equipment I need.

OutSight Design - been busy with new clients. A promotional website for a book, Measured Success, will be launching soon. I also signed my MMBA Client to another year contract and will be doing some added work for their site. I am currently working with two other groups to possibly land some more work for OutSight for 2005. On the consulting front, University of Michigan contacted me last week and wants to hire me to come and do some workshops there this semester. Also on February 5th, and February 19th-20th I will be presenting at conferences at GVSU and Chicago.

Well I better get back to putting numbers in my phone, hopefully it will help me fall asleep. Good night... r.. I guess morning now.

Winter Wonderland
Not sure who ordered all this snow, but I am glad I made it to Chicago and just barely beat the snow. I still hit the early part of the storm so it took me over 4 hours to get there. Anyhow, I made it safely and Novali was excited to see me. Check out the pics of my car in the snow.

Curbside drifts were as high as my windows!

As I opened my doors they cleared snow out like a plow.

Because of the weather we really could not go and do anything. So we just stayed in, ate Fruit Loops, ordered Pizza, and watched a lot of movies. Of course that means, Monsters Inc. and lots of Shrek. I did finally get to see Napoleon Dynamite, which was hilarious. Novali alos put on a show as she sang, at the top of her lungs, the intro song of Shrek 2. If you have never seen a three year old sing "Accidentally in Love" at the top of her lungs... I highly recommend it. I wanted to get a video of her singing, but she refused. It was too cute.

I had fun playing her letter game with her that she loves so much, as well as her memory game. My parents sent some gifts for her, and she loved the Snowman pen and doggie paper, she started to draw on it right away. She also recognized everyone in the pictures they sent as well. She was very excited. Her memory is getting very good. She knows a lot of her letters now as well, looks like that letter game is really working.

Making the letter T, for Tamara.

Her Strawberry Shortcake game.

Wrestling with Papi... man she is getting heavy.

Most of the weekend was spent bundled up watching movies.

Speaking of snow, yes I do hate having to uncover my car. I do like snow many other times though, my dad emailed me some pictures from when we were in Saginaw. I love this picture of Novali and I in Gladwin and would love a print version (hint, hint...).

Now I am back in Michigan, just got in and I had to park my car in the street cause my driveway is complete covered in snow. I got to run out and shovel now... Blah.

My faithful readers know that this week is going to be very tense for me. With fraternity judicials in limbo, wrapping up the diversity program, helping with housing issues in the wake of staffing changes, working on the Whose Who stuff, planning a real transitioning program for my councils, and not to mention that little thing called Panhellenic Formal Recruitment. Ah...

Hopefully though after this week things will slow down, but I bet you heard that from me before...

Busy... just Busy
I have been working nearly non stop the past two weeks. Between preparing for sorority recruitment, to working with fraternities on their sanctions from judicial cases last semester, I have been a busy bee.

Oh, and did I mention the big diversity program I have been working on? That has taken up a lot of time as well and that is in a couple minutes. Not sure why I sign up for these things, but I really wanted to make a new program on diversity for Greek Life that would be different and new, something the students would get something out of when they walk away. I think we did that, we had a student driven program and tonight will announce a new programming initiative as well. Groups will get $200 to do something with a culturally based group. I like being at a school that is willing to put its money where its mouth is on diversity issues. I think the program will go well, and I am excited to have been a part of creating this new program here... plus the President of the school will be there... so it better go well.

As much as work is stressing me... things are going well. Recruitment plans are rolling along and we are meeting our goals in terms of women signing up. So that is good. The stressful part... I will have four different sororities HQ staff here watching over recruitment. Like if doing my first full our recruitment with Panhel on my own was not stressful enough....

And IFC is making strides... we have had one successful meeting with the Dean of Students in which they accomplished some important things, including a meeting with her again tomorrow on another subject. Not to mentioned their first all campus program last week (Poker Tournament) was a huge success. We packed out the Stack (big room in the Union) and had a blast.

Did I mention my possible trip... well I started attending the meetings of OLA, the Organization for Latino/a Awareness. I am helping them raise money for their trip to Honduras and they have asked me to come on their service trip. I am not sure if my budget will be able to do it, but I really want to go. I also was impressed how quickly the group was willing to accept my advice. I am gonna enjoy working with that group a lot.

Speaking of trips, I had a great relaxing weekend as well. Went to a wedding of my friend Shawna (who reads my blog but does not comment, ie. BlogStalker). We had a lot of fun working together at GVSU and I am glad to see her again, and hopefully once she gets a Greek Life job back in the midwest will see her even more. Congrats to you and Doug. I will send out pictures to people soon... just too busy right now... sorry folks!

Well off I go... even time. Then I get to leave campus... at 8pm... to just go home and relax. Maybe watch a movie or something. Adios!

Whoa...
The students are back... got back on Monday. So needless to say I am way swamped right now. Judicial issues, housing problems, sorority recruitment, formals, and the big diversity program. Not to mention I still have to attempt to run my life... like washing clothes, checking to see if my milk has gone bad, cleaning my living room, and trying to get some sleep between extremely long days on campus.

Times are a changing... today it is unseasonably warm. So it is wet out, and the fog here in Albion is something terrible. Another big change... I have been bringing my lunch and cooking at home. I have not purchased food for a week! I made macaroni salad, cooked pasta, made sandwiches, cooked chicken, made rice, and of course... purchased pudding packs.

I did some grocery shopping and my place is stocked. The once empty fridge with nothing but pudding packs and crystal light is now home to many assorted food items and even leftovers. My cupboards are filled with more then just Mac and Cheese (it is still a staple product though) and I have a wide selection of things to cook. Mom would be so proud.

The Fridge.

One of my Cupboards.

Well I need to run to a lunch meeting... at which lunch will not be provided. I don't get that... anyway my week is back to back meetings. Not to mention that tonight IFC is having a big program... we are doing a campus wide Albion World Series of Poker... Free iPod to the winner! Hope it turns out well.... wish us luck.

New Year, New Bargains
We are off and running. The new year started out great. Small gathering at Hermen's house north of Detroit was just the low key break I needed. Ended up staying until late on Saturday as well. We wore little hats on Friday night, ate lots of peanuts, and watched MTV's Pimp my Ride until we all slowly fell asleep. In the morning we cracked jokes, Hermen and I reminisced about old times on Mae Rose (the famed summer of 2003), Santi complained about the RA job, we made plenty of GV Beta style remarks about salting it up, and none of us left the house until around 7pm, when we snuck out to get some Chinese food (thanks in part to Kim's suggestion and Heather's support) during the Rose Bowl.

I did take some time to think about resolutions and what not. I have never been big on that kind of stuff... really something I refused to do in the past. I actually think one year I made a resolution to not make any more resolutions. However this year I want to make a few publically:

1. Call Novali more. Now that she is big and likes to talk on the phone I need to get in the habit of calling and talking to her more.

2. Work out more. I am not saying I want to lose weight, I just want to work out. That means some tennis maybe, or maybe a jog once in a while.

3. Keep learning. Since leaving school I have no longer kept up on current events. I need to spend more time reading higher education articles, and researching different topics. I also need to use my time outside of work more productively. I also need to start looking into where to get my next degree from...

Enough of that... so today was productive, well about as productive as I have been all break. I got some work done in the afternoon and then went to Target... to return somethings and clearance sale shop. You all know how I love a good deal... and man was there bargains galore! I got packages of purple Christmas Tree globe ornaments for 50 Cents, scored a bunch of picture frames for dirt cheap (gonna spruce up my stairway at the house), and got a car vacuum for 5 bucks! Since I spend about 2 bucks in quarters each time I vacuum my car this is a great investment, not to mention it was regularly marked 20 bucks. What a steal. I also stocked up on wrapping paper for next year.

So I am on a renewed bargain kick, since I need to learn to budget my money better. No more buying lunch, no more buying anything just cause it is on sale. I am broke ladies and gentlemen... very broke. It has come as a huge shock to me paying back my school loans and learning to live on a fixed income. In school with my part time jobs, when I needed more money I just worked more hours. Can't do that anymore.

I decided to leave engineering to go into this field, something that paid less but I knew in the long run would make me happier. I am loving what I do right now. I love going to work, and I am always excited about what challenge is coming next. However, my challenge for right now will be to get my money situation under control. Someday I will be a high ranking administrator... but now I need to watch my spending. So here are some of my New Years money resolutions:

1. Spend less money (I trimmed this year, and now must trim even more). Yes this means not getting the Treo phone I have been wanting so badly.

2. Cut extra expenses. As of right now I know I need to lower the minutes on my phone, cut off my DSL at home, and make my lunch.

3. More income with Outsight. I am making it a goal to spend more time developing clients for OutSight, and I want to double my revenue for 2005.

Well there is it folks... some New Years Resolutions from me. I have a feeling this is going to be a good year. I know I have some tough times ahead of me... but there are some exciting things coming up.

So what will the new year bring? a preschool for Novali... my first full year on the job... applications to grad schools (JD or PHD?)... placing at a race... big client for OutSight... getting a roommate...

Who knows... right now the options are wide open.

173 Pictures
That is how many I have taken since Christmas Eve! Man, 173 pictures and I can only post a couple here on my site. Right now I am posting just a couple little shots and I have a full photo gallery of Novali's Christmas in Michigan! Check it out: Novali's Updates.

Christmas Eve was done traditional Bolivian style in an American twist A La Centellas. For you long time readers you might remember my midnight dinner last year while in Bolivia. We were not able to hold out that long, but we had dinner at about 11pm. My American grandparents were over, Tamara, Raquel and Valerie, and Andres. We were only missing Miguel. It was a full house to say the least. We ate Chuño (my favorite!) Puti and Aji de Pollo with soup and bread, and white wine topped off with some after dinner coffee, desert, and... Present time! Novali and Valerie got way excited as the present exchange arrived (Valerie is actually just always excited). Anyhow some pics...

Our new Christmas Ornament, a Golden Star, in honor of Enrique Centella, my abuelito.

Novali and Valerie warmed up quickly to eachother.

Chuño... my favorite food.

After dinner, it was gift time.

Novali and Tamara enjoying the gifts.

Sleeping by the tree waiting for Santa.

Christmas Day was a pleasant surprise for the little girls. Novali left milk and cookies in front of the fireplace for Santa and she decided to sleep in her new Barbie sleeping bag right in front of the tree. This made it hard for me to sneak in and play Santa... but my dad and I managed to get in there, leave more gifts, and eat the cookies and down the milk. Novali woke up excited and ran around the house telling everyone that Santa ate the cookies. Once everyone was up we opened gifts and Novali got even more stuff... not sure how it will all fit into the car on the way home.

Milk and cookies... gone!

Gift time again.

New gloves and hat... more clothes... more toys... more everything.

Had to work right away on her new coloring books.

Sunday we went to Gladwin to my grandparents house on Pratt Lake. The lake froze and my grandpa cleared a nice spot on the lake and we played. It was great. I pulled Novali around on an intertube, taught her to make snow angels, made a snow man with her grandpa, drank hot coco, and she wiped out once big time... snow all over her face. She got up, I dusted of her face... and while she cried she said, "Daddy I'm Hurt! Dady I'm Hurt!" She was fine.

Playing her letter game.

Ready to play in the snow.

In a pile of snow after being spun around on the tube..

My mom and dad with their grandkids, Novali and Valerie.

The rest of the time in Michigan was spent doing all sorts of new things. She made gingerbreadmen with Grandma, went sledding with Grandpa, watched Tio Andy ice skate and said "WOW!", made snow angels with her papi, took lots of bubble baths, worked on a 1000 piece puzzle, saw A Sharks Tale with Grandma and I, played with PlayDough with grandpa, made a fort in the basement with Tio Andy, and played with all her new toys and her little cousin Valerie. So many funny stories... one was from this morning. She wanted me to get her some chocolate milk. We did not have any (or so I thought), and she got mad at me, and said she was not my friend anymore. Then she walked over, pulled out a dinning room chair, sat down in front of the puzzle, and said, "I am gonna play this by myself... and It's gonna be fun!".

Making animals out of PlayDough.

In her play fort with Tio Andy.

Her favorite Gingerbreadman.

Going down the sledding hill with grandpa.

Making a snow angel.

Posing for her Christmas picture.

Wednesday morning we start the trek home. We will stop off at my house in Albion so I can grab some things I need to take to Chicago, and then off to her mamas house. Then Thursday morning I pick up Miguel at Ohare Airport from his European trip and we head back to Michigan!

New Years plans are still a little in the air, but more then likely it will be low key, and then the rest of the weekend I will be getting ready for a busy couple weeks at work... ah... vacation will be over.