Beta Times
Living in Albion has often left me on the sidelines of a lot of things going on in Beta world. I am not near many Brothers and can rarely have the free time to just catch dinner with someone. Yesterday I got an email from Vic and he got the chance to head out to NY. He was not having luck finding a job, so he figured why not... So on short notice he is leaving, I figured I better get to Kalamazoo and wish him luck. That is what is nice about this summer... slow at work and I can take my nights and drive to see people. We chilled at the Wayside, ate some of their great Buffalo Chicken Nachos and 50cent drafts and watched the Pistons waste some great opportunities.

The game was great, the food hit the spot, and chilling at Wayside with my Brother Vic was the best way to spend a night. We talked about our chapter, my duaghter, his family, the old days, and what he plans to do with himself in New York. I bounced out early, filled my tank with 1.99 Gas (I was excited!) and got some rest.

Tonight I get to do the same thing... Gary is back from Germany and I want to catch up with him. We are planning dinner in Kalamazoo at one of our old hangouts, and then of course... what else do Betas do on Thursday? Latin Night at Club Soda! Some of the Gammas and GV Betas will be coming as well. It will be a nice time to hangout, but I of course will have to leave early to get home and rest for work. I am excited to see them all.

Finally... on the Beta front... last summer we launched our new magazine called REGO. We are about to send out the second issue and they just kicked off the website. So check out the official REGO Mag Website and let me know what you think. It is looking like it will be a huge success.

Three day weekend here we come!

Construction
As usual the last few days involved a lot of driving. I am annoyed with the constant construction in Michigan like everyone else. But what annoys me more is that they never seem to fix the roads that are the worst. Some of the roads they are working on I thought were in great shape... and then others which are full of black bumpy patches are left untouched. Who picks what road gets worked on? And whoever it is needs to get fired. Well... enough raving, here is my weekend recap.

Went to see Novalí on Thursday night. She was excited to see her papi and was ready to play. I love the flexible summer schedule I have so I can plan out some vacation time and go places when I want. It was nice to spend a Friday with Novali instead of my typical Saturday or Sunday. Everything was slower, the stores, the park... we had it all to ourselves. Of course with the weather nice we can finally walk around more. Here is a photo recap of the visit:

She likes to pull her socks over her PJs... says she is a baseball player.

Thursday night she opened some gifts my primos in Bolivia sent her.

Friday we woke up and made pancakes.

She was a great little helper.

We played her Finding Nemo video game, she is learning to use the computer track pad.

She loves walking and balancing on curbs as we walk... Novalí the tight rope walker!

Our usual trip to the Dollar Store was a ton of fun.

The playground was fun as always, and she got all dirty...

One of our dollar store finds was some bubbles!

She blew bubbles and chased them all over.

Saturday it was back to Michigan... it is was finally a nice day to drive. Megan, one of my best friends from WMU, was having a birthday party and Heather and I wanted to attend. Megan just got a new place in Royal Oak and I have not seen it yet since I missed her house warming party. Royal Oak was always where the two of us went to hangout, it is a great area and I am glad to see her enjoying her job and loving where she lives.

We shared some old stories and caught up. We were quite the pair in college.

Some of her friends from work and roommates.

Sunday it was a planned quick lunch in Royal Oak with Nat and Chris. We got caught in the rain walking, the food was horribly slow at Pronto (hum...), but it made for a relaxing time. We chatted about grad school, changing jobs, and moving. Typical talk for people in their mid 20s. Scary...

Today was the Association of Fraternity Advisors Michigan Drive-In conference. Hosted by none other then yours truly. It was a lot of work to set up because all of our campus space is being used for orientation. I got creative and decided to use a fraternity house for the meeting. It worked great! Heather's tip to have some air freshners was a big help, and so were some table cloths and industrial cleaning supplies... the meeting went well, good turnout, and got to catch up with some old faces. Wrapped up the night watching Dodge Ball with Jen, and now off to bed. Orientation season is in full swing at Albion and tomorrow I get to watch it in all its splendor. Good night.

Traverse City
So I finally started taking some of my vacation time... no my trips throughout the year are not vacations, those are considered work... This past weekend was Blossom Days in Traverse City and I thought it would be a great time to see the Cherry Capital, do some wine tasting, and relax from a long school year (The students are gone!). Well... the weather did no cooperate much, but it was a great trip. Of course a recap is in order.

Friday went to Saginaw to see the family. Heather had a family baby shower in Flint on Saturday so it worked for her to attend that and for me to hangout at the Case de Centellas. My dad just got back from Bolivia and had pictures of where their retirement home will be, and Raquel brought Valerie over which was great. My grandparents came over as well, and they were all off to a family baby shower as well.

Valerie all ready to go to the baby shower.

My parents have a robin nest on their deck.

Saturday drove to Traverse City. It was looking hopeful for a little bit... the sun was shinning, the percent of rain was going down. Regardless the weather was bad all weekend, but the trip was still well worth it. I had not been up there since I was in high school playing travel soccer. It has changed a lot, but still very scenic and the downtown area was very well maintain with a lot of little boutiques and locally owned stores and unique restaurants.

The weather was gloomy, but with some hot coffee the views were still enjoyable.

The downtown reminded me of Holland, MI.

That night we checked out North Peak Brewing which was recommended by of one of friends from up there. It was a nice place, good food, and their microbrew was really good. The downtown area seemed alive, even in the off season and looks like there is a lot to do there for the late 20s crowd.

Sunday some shopping... to get something warm for the very cold weather (it barely broke 50). Then a stop to the Mackinaw Brewing Company for lunch. Some great homemade rootbeer and a perch sandwich there and it was off to wine tasting! The Chateau Grand Traverse was sponsoring the Blossom Days Festival and since it is one of my favorites that was the first stop. There were a lot of small vineyards up there, and thankfully to the bad weather no lines anywhere! At least the bad weather is good for something.

The views and blossoms looked great. Some amazing homes up there!

Chateau Chantal was another great wine there.

The wine tasting was a lot of fun.

The cloud cover did provide a very interesting sunset.

So that was the trip... it was back to work yesterday. Slow season here, means lots of catching up. I also am working on the regional Association of Fraternity Advisors (AFA) meeting I am hosting here on Monday. Very excited for that and looking forward to seeing some of the Greek Advisors from Michigan again.

What's coming up? Well Thursday I roll to Chicago to spend a couple days with Novalí, and then Saturday night is a reunion with my friend Megan! It is her Birthday and she is having a get together at her new place in Royal Oak. So I told her I would swing on through. Lots of driving again... but that is what summer is all about! And despite the fact that it still wants to be rainy spring, I am pretending it is summer!

Final news... Bev Centellas... my Mother... has joined the Blogosphere. Please welcome her to cyberspace. Mom's Blog.

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.