Where?
Willmington... where is that? Deleware... what part? It's near Philly...

It's easier to tell people that I am going to the Philly area, no one knows where Willmington, DE is.. Anyways... that is where my brother lives and I think it is just a beautiful area and I am very jealous of his location.

It was a great trip. Jen had to head out there to pick up her car that broke down out there on her last trip, and it worked great for her to visit her sister (lives north of Philly) and for me to visit Andres. My mom was heading out there for Mother's Day since my dad is gone to Bolivia, so it was a nice short family trip. Here is the brief play-by-play:

Jen and I drove on Thursday to Pittsburgh to break up the driving, and also cause she needed to pick up her car. I have heard good things about that town, but we never had anytime to stop and see the city. Next time. On the drive to Philly.... her car started acting up again... so the saga continues... but that is another story for another day...

On arriving to Philly we went to IKEA to meet up with Andres and Saloumeh. I love that store! To many peoples surprise it was my first time. As a design student I studied their furniture and everything, I just never made it to a store, so it was great to finally get to one. Then Jen took off her with her sister and Andres, Saloumeh and I went into Philly to a get a drink and bite to eat while waiting for my mom to arrive. Mom got in, and after the airport run we just got some coffee, some desert and talked and caught up. It was great.

Jen dropping off her rental (blue) and getting her car... she thought it would be done...

Andres lives in a cool old neighborhood in Willmington, close to bars, video stores, and great food.

Saturday, we slept in a little and after a nice lunch with a bunch of his DuPont coworkers we headed to some wine tasting. It was a beautiful day outside and driving the countryside was a amazing. Rolling hills, old estates, brick homes... I can see why he loves the East coast. It was very relaxing, we took our time and just enjoyed a nice slow Saturday afternoon, which ended with a big Centellas family nap... classic. We all love to pass out late afternoon on vacations.

At the small tasting room at the Paradox Vineyard.

Outside enjoying some wine at the ChadsFord vineyard.

Andy's cat Mona.

Pumpkin and I.

Sunday was the big day. Andres planned a trip for us to this old estate called Winterthur for a horse racing and show event call Point to Point. It was a beautiful old estate and had to be over 10,000 people there. The best way to describe it was tailgating for the high class. Everyone was all dressed up, the women in big floppy hats and spring dresses, the men in white khakis and polo shirts... drinking wine from a table behind their Cadillac Escalde. It was very nice... and had some interesting events and sitting out in the sun all afternoon helped me get a little tan (I have the watch tan line to prove it). We sat out on the lawn, drinking a white zinfandel, eating crackers and paté, and enjoyed another nice afternoon in the beautiful sun.

A bagpipe band marched through.

Andres and Saloumeh.

A heard of Dashounds... or is it a flock?

A parade of old horse drawn carriages.

Of course some horse racing.

No Andres and I did not coordinate our outfits.

Afterwards we had dinner, took mom to the airport and then I met up with Jen and packed up the Focus and hit the road. We stopped in Pittsburgh again to sleep and Jen caught up with her friend. Monday we also stopped in Oberlin to see her friend Kevin (Jen knows people in like every city in the US). I met Kevin before so we chatted about his job search, where he wants to move, and of course a little about Greek life.

Jen and I made it back into Albion just in time for the 5pm Student Affairs end of the year BBQ. Some brats, some potluck (I brought Chex Mix as usual) and some end of the year relief with our coworkers. It was very good. My long trip ended with taking out the lawn mower and finally cutting my grass... it was nearly knee deep. Tonight I finishing unpacking, and then plan what to pack for Saginaw and Traverse this weekend.

Summer is here, and I love it!

What?
The weather has been crazy, my schedule all frazzled, and my students are all moving off campus as I write. I am enjoying wrapping up my first year here at Albion College, saying goodbye to some of my seniors, and see you next year to the lower classmen. It has been a great year and I am very excited about this summer, my vacation time, and planning for 2005-2006!

So what has been going on? Why have my blogs been so sparse and far between? What happened to all my pictures I used to ppost? I been busy. No excuses just results, I know, I know. So here is what has been happening in my neck of the woods...

Novali, well my last trip out there was a riot. She is developing little sayings and doing the funniest things. The new funny feature is that she is now Trilingual. Yes... when I was there she got mad and start making these funny sounds... I asked what she was doing, and she quickly replied, "espeakin' Chinese". I was luaghing like crazy which made her more mad and she did it even more... Ching Chang Chow... TOO FUNNY!

She loves her little soccer net, she made me yell GOOOAAL.

She would walk around the house looking through her binoculars.

When spent a lot of time on puzzles, building her spacial intelligence.

Of course the tub shot, building my future blackmail material.

Work, lets see... I am the proud new owner of the 14th Edition of the National Panhellenic Conference Manual of Information. Only a Greek Advisor can get excited over that... but the real exciting part is that the Green Book (what the book is called) is now also available on CD ROM! The students moved away, and my fraternities are in the process of closing their houses. I went and saw Sigma Chi last night closing their house, and the amount of crap was unreal! Next year I will help them sooner with planning how they will move.

So for those Panhel Ladies who had pages memorized... they are all new now!

So my car... new rims... new MAF... but that light went back on! Oh no...

Last weekend was graduation time at GVSU. I went to see the CSAL gang graduate and hangout. Hermen and I had some time to chat and hangout over some fun pink drinks with Dre and Heather on Friday. Saturday was graduation and Hermen and I hangout at BDubs saving tables for everyone. It was fun times with some of the CMU gang that arrived and families and of course the CSAL reception (I pretty much missed mine, so this made up for it). Then we had a great night downtown, saw a bunch of different places and just had a good time.

Some photo ops on GVs campus.

In the VIP Lounge at 48 West.

So that is what has been happening. Some fun outings, fun work, and fun with the little one. This coming weekend is a trip to Philly with my friend Jen from work. Her sister lives north of Philly and my Brother lives south. So we figured we would make the roadtrip together. My mom will be out there as well, she loves visiting that area so it will be a fun Mother's Day out there with her and my Brother. Then when I get back, no students and just time to get work done! I am very excited. Got some more May and June trips planned (Traverse City, Bloomington, IN, Indianapolis, San Francisco, and maybe Orlando) and then just relaxing!

Take care everyone! Have a good Cinco de Mayo (no big party this year...) and go outside and enjoy the nice weather!

Pictures...
Somehow when doing the back up on my computer when I got it back I lost some pictures... actually... I lost a lot of pictures! I am still looking through my back ups to see exactly what all I lost. So far I know I lost my 300+ pictures of Greek Week 2005... and some recent Novalí pictures and what not...

What I do still have, and just posted is pictures for an update to Novi's site. So that is good. I have her pics from her birthday under the Pictures link, and also her Four Year Old professional photo, very cute. Check her out at: Novalí's Website

This week was off to a good start. I had a great weekend in Chicago with Novali. Monday was the Less Than Jake concert and that was a ton of fun. Tuesday was a quick catch up day. Today was very laid back cause we had the Union Board "Stress Free Zone" downstairs and I got an awesome massage. Tonight I have the TKE Pig Roast (YUM!) and then my last Panhel meeting for the semester. I love the end of the semester events!

This weekend is graduation time at GVSU. I got a lot of friends graduating. So I will be in Grand Rapids with friends and families. Oso (Miguel) from GVSU is graduating and I have to see him so that will be fun, and of course Heather is planning an outing to BDubs for graduation and Hermen and I will be grubbin' on some wings! We just got to try and not get any sauce on our shirts... always happens. Also will be hitting up the CSAL reception, I mean I barely made it to my own (I did not walk in commencement and arrived for the last five minutes of the grad reception) so it will be cool to be at this one.

Well off to the pig roast...

Boost
Working in Greek Life has a lot of ups and downs and sometimes I need a boost. Sometimes I get jaded with the direction of Greek Life, its often misguided representations of what the groups are really supposed to be about bring me down. The deep focus on the "social" side of Greek Life, but failing to realize that we are societal organizations designed to better society, our membership and the community. Issues like hazing, alcohol abuse, drug problems, gender stereotype reinforcement, etc. All issues that often times Greeks do not spend time fighting, and the things that as a Greek Advisor you push the groups to do.

But then... you have a week when things go really well, and I am glad they happen right when I need them to. Last night the Albion College Sigma Nu Chapter (Gamma Gamma) held their annual Charity Classic. It is a basketball game with another fraternity. They sell ads in their booklet, and sell T-shirts and tickets to the game. This year they were raising money for the local public school nurses program. To help ensure the school continues to have a nurse, and that the school can buy the needed supplies. I was very impressed to see that at half time the men presented the school nurse with a check for $10,800. Wow. I almost did not have words for that, what an amazing gesture, what an amazing act. Those group of men helped continue the nurse program for over 2000 kids in that school system...

Then on my SLB list serve there was a debate on hazing and membership education. I was surprised to see the out pouring of Brothers with their strong anti-hazing stance. In the past few Brothers made the stance and supported driving hazing out of SLB. In one of the debates a Texas Brother quoted me.... I end any debate with a Brother saying, "We may not agree on this, but lets agree that we both love SLB." He quoted me and that felt awesome. I am glad that statement is settling in with some Brothers. It is true, just cause we have different views on where the fraternity is going does not mean we don't love it any more or any less. I have debated a lot of issues between myself and some Brothers. Unfortunately some people can not see past a disagreement and it creates unneeded future tension.

So it was a good week that ended with a Beta Party at MSU. I have not been out with the guys in a long time. Most of Epsilon was there... Rey, Vic, Ish, Steve, Raul, Sammy, Rudy, and even Geo! Of course GVSU was deep in there plus interests, and I chatted it up with a bunch of Brothers I have not seen in a long time. I left early to get home since today I am off to Chicago!

It is April 23rd and it is snowing. I guess it is what we deserve for those 85 degree days we spent out on the quad earlier this week. Eitherway I hope it goes away soon, we have our Less Then Jake concert at school on Monday and we want it to be nice. Off to see Novi, have a good weekend everyone!

Its Spring!
Yes it is a great time of year. You pack away the sweaters (did that last night), go through your closet and take out all the stuffy winter clothes and get all the short sleeve stuff out (did that last night to). The warm sun makes you want to get out of bed in the morning (even though today I slept in...), and a nice walk around the quad after lunch is always what the doctor ordered. Hooking up the hose so I can wash my car, and buying new car care items for my patented "Love Your Car Days" just makes me smile. Planning a wine tasting trip up to Traverse Bay for my favorite Chateau Grand Traverse as a well deserved weekend get away. Doing a roadtrip to Philly to visit Andy and I don't have to worry about weather. Ice cream cones filled with Butter Pecan and wearing my flip flops. So glad spring is here.

However there are the bad parts of spring... runny nose and sneezing from my allergies. The fact that I need to start mowing my law again. Hating being indoors in my office all day (good thing I got a corner office with huge windows). Wanting to do nothing but work on my car (I need to fix the NX, and put all my Audio into the GXE). Being far from any bodies of water, not that I ever go to the beach, but I like knowing I can if the desire arises. The fear of getting sun burnt... happens every year, it is just a matter of when.

So the students leave campus in a little more then two weeks. Then things will really slow down around here. I have some fun trips planned coming up. Looks like Mothers Day weekend I will do a roadtrip with Jen to Philly. She has family there, and so do I, so it works out great. Then the weekend after that I will be off to Traverse for some wine tasting, and the next weekend up to Mio Michigan for canoeing with my Chapter Brothers for our retreat. Wow... it is going to be a fun month of May.

Family News: My brother Miguel had dinner last night with Goni the former president of Bolivia. How cool is that! Read his post.

Team PLP and Taxes
Last night I was in the zone... I got my part and went to work on my car. The little Sentra has been sick for a while and last night she got some medicine. The dealer figured out that she needed a new MAF (Mass Air Flow Sensor)... they wanted to charge me $680 for the part, $50 to ship it next day, and then $130 to change my spark plugs... Yes they wanted me to give them over $850 plus the $80 it cost to figure out what the problem was. Despite having the best month ever for OutSight Design, I did not have that kind of money.

Since they swapped my spark plugs while doing the diagnostics on the car, I had them not charge me labor on those, so total to get my car from the dealer (new plugs and the diag) cost me $112. Not too bad, I used my roadside assistance to get my car towed back to my house. I found a the part for my car from AutoZone for $250, and they only charged me $6 to get it here next day... I bought a special tamper proof socket bit set ($10) and I was ready to do the repair myself. It took all of 40 minutes... and that includes the time I started taking something apart that I did not need to and put back together. She runs great now!

My baby getting towed.

Now that I have been under the hood... I want to do more work.

Check Engine Light On.

Check Engine Light Off.

So I had a quick love your car day like the old Parking Lot Performance (Team PLP) days. I cleaned the interior of my Sentra and I got the rims all cleaned up and they will be installed today! Now I got the car working bug... I need to get the NX 2000 fixed up and ready for racing season this summer. She needs a couple hundred dollars with of work and some elbow grease to get her back to the course. I also want to run the Sentra around the cones once...

So tonight I am rolling to Grand Rapids. Tomorrow I have an appointment to get my laptop back... I know... finally! I hope she is actually fixed this time or I might just lose it. So I hope she is done and I can have my baby back and in good working order. What does suck is that I do need to do a complete reinstall of all my stuff... that will take a long time to do. I think I will wait til school is out and I have less work so I can focus on getting it all updated and back in shape.

I filed for my IRS Tax Extension today... nothing like waiting til the last day for my extension. Now I just need to remember to get them done before August 15th... Anyhow that is off my plate. Got some programs on campus on Saturday and Sunday so I get to be in Albion for those. I am glad it will be so nice this weekend!

Great Weekend... Bad News
This weekend was awesome! The conference was a big hit, we had some small snags but things all in all went very well. I did some fun new stuff with the AV, and have tons of plans for where I can take it for next year. It was very tiring, but right after the banquet I hoped a plane to Chicago to see my family.

Sunday was the birthday of not only Novali, but my dad as well! Miguel was in town with his friend Kate, and so was Andy and Soloumeh. My parents got some hotel rooms for everyone and we had a good time. Novali road her bike in and outside of the hotel, and we had a nice Centellas family birthday lunch. Raquel was the only one who could not make it. It was great to have the family together.

She loves riding her bike around, in or outside!

She always thinks I am on a plane (usually I am) so I got her a wrist watch with a plane on it.

Her first Apple Store Gift! ... Finding Nemo Computer game, for Mac or PC.

Blowing out the candles on her cake.

The Centellas Crew.

Her cute little birthday outfit.

After my family left, Novali had another party for the Chicago side. This one was at McDs and she was super excited. Her cousins and friends and family were all there. She loves to slide down the play slides and climbs all over.

Going down the slide.

She is four now... man time flies!

Cake #2.

So what did she get... clothes, clothes, clothes...

I was very tired getting back to Michigan, but it was worth all the hectic travel to be able to be everywhere I needed to be for the weekend.

So now I am back at work, back in Albion, back to the normal life. Work is slowing down at Albion, my big conferences are over, and OutSight is having the best consulting month ever! So whenever things are going really great I know I am due to get some bad news. So last night I took my car to the dealer to finally try and figure out what is wrong with my car... yes folks... to fix that little check engine light... more then $800 bucks. OUCH! Good thing I did not get that Palm Pilot I been wanting... now everything gets to get spent on my car.

Long Distance B Day
Even though I am on the other side of the country... I need to send a big shot out to Miguel. Today he gets one year older. I called him between programs here at my conference. Miguel was a big inspiration to me, in many ways...

He helped me during my first years in college, where some of the hardest years of my life. I could not have asked for a better academic mentor, him and his grad school buddies welcomed me to academia. While pledging Sigma Lambda Beta he became my fraternal Brother as well as roll modeling how to be a good Brother. Upon entering grad school, he gave me tips, advice, and even reviewed my thesis. He's been a great all around big Brother. He tells me when I mess up, and he tells me when I make him proud, like a good Brother should.

Soon Miguel will have a PHd and be Dr. Centellas... the nutty professor. He has the nutty part down, now he just needs the title to make it all official. I can't wait to see Miguel, on his moped riding to class... tweed jacket, leather elbow patches, leather attache case, iPod... heading to teach young college minds. Can't wait to see you on Sunday bro!

So WRGLC... man it is nuts over here! We made a lot of changes to the conference this year and it has been hectic trying to keep up and having everything in place. My big opening show tonight went well, rocked the house and added some new features which people loved. Then I DJed the St. Judes 4-Square Tournament at night and that was a riot... funny requests... and a good way to unwind the night.

Tomorrow... huge luncheon... lots of AV. Get to handle three powerpoints, one DVD presentation, and a slew of different speakers... Then, I got scheduled to run AV for two presentations at the same time... lets see how I handle that... I love this stuff! I am in a zone... two Macs... two screens... lights... mics... I am the King of the AV Booth.

Short Breath
My Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) presentation went very well. Had about 300 students attend, and they enjoyed it and I got great reviews afterwards. I tried to mix funny with serious and I think the message got through. That is all I can hope for when doing a hazing presentation.

It was a beautiful day in Missouri and the campus was very scenic.

It was a tough crowd, all the football players sat right in front.

Each time I speak I still get nervous before hand and worried over how it will go. So tonight I went to Outback, got a huge steak, and relaxed for a little bit. I have been on the run for too long now... lets recap on what I have been up to...

Greek Week... man it was a lot work, despite the fact that I tried to stay out of the arguments, points regulation, and detail planning... I got sucked it. It is a phenomenon which is very hard to understand. Something about Greek Week gets everyone acting all crazy to win a small plastic trophy. It was a ton of fun though. There were some major upsets, some good teachable moments, and I even got the President of the college involved a couple times. At the closing ceremonies he said this Greek Week was the best since he has been at the college. So that made me feel good.

Something about these trophies gets everyone acting crazy.

Once the dust settled... the TKE/Delta Gamma team won.

Crossing... Friday night the GVSU Betas crossed three more men into the fraternity. Since we restarted the colony there in the fall of 2002 they have crossed 15 men into the Brotherhood. Very impressive. Whats more impressive is the quality of the men, their dedication to the principles of Sigma Lambda Beta, and what good Brothers they have become. No wonder they keep winning all the awards.

You can tell they are Neos... smiling in a picture.

The now famous East District Crossing pose, throwing up the LB.

WRGLC... so the conference starts this week! Man it has come way to fast this year. Working on all the publication materials, designs for signs, name tags, and most importantly all the big AV shows and set ups... I love working on this stuff, but it was really stressful trying to get all of that out in the middle of Greek Week and preparing for my trip here to SEMO.

So right now I am just taking a short breath. Tomorrow morning I get up super early to drive to airport and fly back to Michigan. I work at Albion Monday and Tuesday and then I drive to Chicago to fly to San Francisco for WRGLC 2005. I will be there until late Saturday night, right after I finish the show for the banquet I fly back to Chicago on the red eye. I will be in on time for a Centellas Family Brunch for the birthdays of Miguel (4/07), my dad (4/10) and my little Novalí (4/10). They will all be in Chicago. I get to spend sometime with them, and then drive back for work on Monday. World wind trips... yes sir! I wouldn't have it any other way.

Good night World... Stay Classy.

Updates... Updates
Greek Week started here last night... and that has me very busy this week taking care of a lot of things, settle disputes, judging events for points, and laugh my butt off at some of the Greeks antics. This is why I love Greek Life, one week I can be all stressed, the next week I get to watch my students make complete fools out of themselves and love it!

Easter was great. Did a mini tour of Michigan pretty much. Lots of driving... does that surprise anyone? I hope not and that by now you have come to expect that from me. It ended with an unexpected trip to Saginaw to visit families. Which was nice. Sometimes I worry about being productive too much, and getting work done that I forget to just take some time to drive home and have coffee and conversation with my parents.

More pictures folks! I can tell you are excited. Here is an update on Novalí's site. It is from a couple trips, and some pics from Tamara. I put them together and it is my first update in three months to her site... man I been slacking. She turns four next week! Enjoy.

No so little Novali

Formal Pics! I know posted a few small pics, but here is a better set of pictures. I am still trying to collect more and do a more complete event wrap up. Enjoy these for now.

SLB East District Formal

As Greek Week gets underway, I will be taking pictures and posting pictures from the events as well. This week is a hectic one, I am preparing for my presentation at SEMO, getting ready to do the WRGA AV Show, and working with Formal 2006 Proposals.

Honduras Pics
I am slowly getting through all my pictures and finally posting.

2005 OLA Trip

Enjoy!

Good Times
Formal is over folks. It was a huge success. We sat 110 for dinner... I think a new record for the event. We had 48 Hotel Rooms reserved at the Hilton for Saturday night, for sure a record. Finally, at the dinner we collected over $300 to go towards the Sigma Lambda Beta Education Foundation.

Lots of great memories. GVSU won Chapter of the Year again... and Ramon won Alumnus of the Year. Two very well deserved awards. The dance was great, the Presidential Suite was a great afterparty location, and my suite was very nice and Hilton gave it to me for free! Now we are just wrapping up the final bills and seeing how muc money we have left over to give to the next Formal committee.

The Epsilon Crew. Rey and Vic came in on Friday and we chilled like the old days.

As the chair of the event I of course got to rock the Mic a lot.

We had Brothers from all ten schools in the district, and many reps from the Alumni Association.

The Hilton was by far the classiest location for a Formal for SLB.

My date (the famous Heather D) and I all glammed up.

The GVSU Alpha Gamma Chapter did a rap to end the banquet and kick off the dance. I ran the music...

So now I am back in Albion and I have Novali at my house! No better way to end a stressful week the witty comments from my shorty. Her and Tamara arrived yesterday and so did my parents. My parents took her today while I worked. Finally getting some more use for my second bedroom. She grows by leaps and bounds each time I see her, and it has only been three weeks!

As soon as she got in I had to snap a pic of the two of us. Her pastiness even makes me look tan!

Ready for bed last night... she watch Bambi over and over until she knocked out.

Today when I got home for lunch she was playing with Playdough... her favorite toy.

Of course grandma and grandpa brought her Easter Candy...

It great to come home when Novali is there. I love it... much better then going home to an empty house like I always do. She makes the day go faster. I was hoping my parents would bring Novali up to my office this afternoon... but its 4:45 and I called them... they were all sleeping... I guess I shoulda called earlier to see if they were coming or not. Oh well... maybe Tamara can bring Novali up tomorrow. So I am wrapping up work, the family is going to go out to eat and then my parents will leave for home tonight.

Good night everyone... I am sure my night will be filled with chasing Novali around the house, playing Lotteria (spanish bingo), and of course... watching movies. Adios.