Out of the Loop
Alright... Party on Perry is over. This week I will get to returning phone calls, emailing, posting pictures, and other normal life activities for me in Albion. Saturday was a program I helped invent called Party on Perry. We had a huge block party. Bands, food, games, prizes... a big chair and anything else you can think of. The elephant ears were the best, and the fresh squeezed lemonade hit the spot on a hot day. We had perfect weather, and I had my first experience in a dunk tank.

The event became bigger then I ever imagined. The original idea was to get a nice afternoon event to get people together, and to get the Greeks doing something different and working with more people. The event became the largest fall event... we had about half the student body at our event! So needless to say preparing for it this week was a lot of work. On top of that I am in the middle of sorority recruitment, helping with Hispanic Heritage Month planning, and I have all my other Greek responsibilities. So to those who called me or emailed me asking me things sorry if I was a little out of it last week and did not respond. Life should become about normal as it is for me soon.

I am hoping to post some Party on Perry pictures soon. It was an amazing experience. I learned a ton more about big event programming, worked with some great students and got to take a picture of the college president in our Big Chair at the event. It was great! We have the ideas and are thinking about next year already...

That was fast
This week broke a record... I can't believe how fast it became the weekend! The office was so busy this week that time just flew by for me. Lets recap.

Well first was the weekend. I turned 27 on Saturday... it was great to get the phone calls from fraternity Brothers and family. I got some cool gifts from family and from Heather. Novali said she felt bad that she forgot... but I can't blame her, she's four. The best gift was to just get to spend time with her and see my family and have a nice three day weekend. So what did we do... the pictures will tell the story.

I got Novi from Tamara and went to my new apartment and hungout.

She taught me how to play hopscotch.

We played in front of my new apartment and she wrote her name.

Sunday my parents came with Valerie and Kelly and we had some STEAKS!

Novali wanted to race grandpa at everything.

She loves listening to grandma tell her a story.

She played well with Valerie. Here she is swinging with Kelly and Valerie.

Heather and I had craft time with Novali.

After painting we went inside and put all the fun stuff on.

Novali's caterpiller. Great idea with the painting Heather!

So that was my weekend with Novali. This week was busy at work... this Saturday is our big event the Party on Perry. It is hopefully going to be the biggest fall event. The weather is looking like it will be good, and we are expecting a huge turnout. I am excited to see this idea come to life. It was an idea I started with the Greeks to have a huge fall event to keep freshmen on campus and just have a fun weekend. Now we are talking that this might become an annual event and bigger then we had ever thought. We teamed up with our campus programming group, Union Board, and they added a whole professional dimension to it and this thing is going to be awesome.

Also this week... recruitment... sorority and fraternity recruitment started this fall. Which is a fun time for me cause I get to help the groups plan events and help them recruit. On the flip, it is a hard time because recruitment is a very tense time for chapters as they compete for members. I try to keep everything fair and make sure no one is getting a raw deal. Its tough.

Well I need to get some sleep... I wanted to post this but now it is getting late. Good night... have a good weekend everyone. Adios.

Sugar and Spice, and Everything Nice
Today I started my day meeting with construction workers in my apartment at 7:45am. My first work meeting was a phone call with my Dean at 8am. My morning continued with Fraternity house walk throughs with the Director of Residence Life at 9am, and then a meeting with the College President at 10am. All that before lunch... then my afternoon was a potpourri of meetings... Organization for Latino Awareness, Chapter Presidents, a sorority recruitment chair, our campus Mold Expert, and an Elephant Ear Vendor. Random right?

My night ended with attending three fraternity chapter meetings... 6:30, 7:00, and 7:20pm appearances. I wrapped that up around 8pm and headed to my office to do some paperwork. I finally got home around 9pm... to find my apartment a mess from the construction crew. I had to rehang sheets on my windows since they were not kind enough to do it themselves. When will I get to rest?

So at 9:30 PM I thought my day was finally done. But then I get a call for SLB... I am handling risk management for the biggest national social event in my fraternity, which is going on this weekend. As soon as that wraps up... I just want my day to end.

The phone then rings again... and who is on the other end? It is Novali laughing. I say hello... and we talk. She tells me about her trip to the Dentist this morning, and about his magic toothbrush and the blue balloon she got. She made funny noises to make my laugh, and then said "I'm Just Kidding" and cracks up at herself... she asked me when I will see her again, I said Saturday and she got all excited.

Sometimes the day ends just the way it was supposed to. No, I am not referring to the fact that I had Captain Crunch for dinner at 10pm, but that talking to Novali made my entire day turn around.

Purple Shirt
We Bring You The News, So You Don't Have To Get It Yourself! - Ron Burgundy

Shot out to Andres Centellas. Today he turns one year older. We shared a room growing up, played soccer together, and since we have "grown up" I really miss seeing him a lot. Hope you are having a great night and that you do something cool in Philly with all your East Coast friends. Happy Birthday Bro!

Wednesday. It started out with a compliment from Nancy (my office Administrative Assistant) complimenting my shirt. I wore my purple BCBG Shirt, which I bought months ago and finally wore. So the day was off to a good start... I thought maybe it won't be as crazy as my last few days... maybe I can take lunch on time, get my paperwork done, send out all the emails I need to send, and finish my "To Call" list... well that did not happen. I did get lots of compliments on my shirt, which at a couple of times of stress I think the only think that kept me sane today.

My morning started with complaints about my sororities illegally posting and soliciting in the freshmen hall, then a red envelop email (means urgent) from the Dean of Students, calls from two different headquarter offices about some chapter "issues", two trips to different chapter houses, and that is just the things I was not expecting to have to do today. So needless to say... it was a little hectic. Any day that starts with a red envelop email is usually not going to be a good day.

You know what else kept me going today? I got a letter from Novali. Thats right, in the mail. She hand wrote the little envelop and on the to line it said "daddy" in the cutest little kid font ever! A little note and picture in side she drew made the afternoon. Man now I am glad I get my mail all at work cause that was cool.

Well right now I am home after a relaxing after work BBQ sponsored by the Intercultural Affairs office and getting ready to go watch "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" on the Quad. It is the annual outdoor drive in movie and man I need some laughs today!

I hope the students aren't too loud tonight after the movie and Wednesday bar night...

They're Back!
So this weekend is move in weekend. Despite the fact that campus is pretty much full of people already tomorrow is officially when we open. It has been very hectic with my new housing responsibilities and I really want to make a difference over in the fraternity area. I think it is helping already... we will see how it goes this year.

My apartment is having windows installed as I write this, but rumor is that they might be the wrong ones... so they might need to come back, and tear my walls apart again and change them. On top of that they are not installing blinds for me yet... so I have to figure something out for the weekend. I just want my place to be finished! I have a campus phone now, but not sure my number though. Cable is supposed to be working by the time I get home, I'll believe it when I see it. No internet until next week, thats the killer.

This weekend I am helping with move in. All this first time housing stuff is a great experience for me, but sometimes a little stressful. I did some fun new things here like a training with the fraternity men on how to clean yesterday which was a riot with the guys. I have a ton more meetings and things to do this weekend which won't be as much fun, but I am glad to have the students back. It was boring without them.

Last night I did get to chat it up with Novali. She called me (but I was in a late meeting and had to call her back). It was cool when she answered the phone and we chatted about her writing ability, what she did at school (what she calls daycare) and that she was wearing the PJs her grandma in Michigan got her.

Well I am not looking forward to working all weekend... But I know this will be a good experience. Also there are lots of fun events planned to break up the moving to welcome people to campus.

Odds and Ends
So the move is officially done... this morning went to the Secretary of State and did the official address change. I think most of my mail, bills, and what not have all been switched as well. My last couple of utility bills will come this week and then I am officially done with the old house (that and waiting for my security deposit from Bidwell). I still don't have windows in my new apartment... once they finally install those I will post pics of the new place.

So I have been up to a lot of things lately. Last Thursday my mom and dad swung through town for a brief visit. They were in Ann Arbor and swung over for some chinese food and quick tour of my new place. Friday was fun, Heather and I went to Gilberts in Jackson for "Endless Crab Night"... by the end of my plate I was getting good at cracking those things open. Man it was a lot of work. Then we saw Wedding Crashers, hilarious... I need to see it again so I can learn the funny lines.

Saturday was spent running some errands, the big Albion garage sale, and then a trip to Brighton for a family get together. Saw some family I have not seen a few years and it was great to catch up with them. It was just relaxing: cooler full of diet soda, big slow cooked ham, everyone asking me what exactly it is that I do (contrary to what my mom tells people, I do not plan fraternity parties), and watching the kids run around.

Sunday was a Pampered Chef party at Jen's house. Despite the current lack of use of my culinary skills... I did use to cook a lot. Just lately with work, and moving, and grad school... I just got too busy. So when I get home now the last thing I want to do it work in the kitchen. So Hungry Howies is on my speed dial, and the Chinese place knows my regular order. I enjoyed the show and did actually buy something. Whether I use it a lot remains to be seen.

Mixed throughout the last few days has been late night trips to the fraternity area to help with issues at the houses. I am enjoying my new housing responsibilities and know it is a good experience, just weird hours sometimes. Working on housing has been very buys lately, it's the last week of summer... all the students will be back this weekend. Most of them area actually already back, but starting next week the rat race begins. So then my housing stuff will slow down a little... and the other stuff get busier. AH.

Well I need to get back to work. Tonight Hermen is rolling through, we are gonna hangout, work on some websites, maybe design a new Beta Shirt, and for sure heading to the Phoenix for Wings!

Big Updates
The pictures from the two weeks with Novali are now posted. I was trying to get pictures of everything she did during her trip. The only ones I am really missing are her catching fish, this is fairly complete so please enjoy!

Novi's Michigan Vacation

Friday Night we celebrated Hermen's birthday. Went to Grand Rapids for a little gig at the house. It was a ton of fun, saw some people I had not seen all summer so that was cool. I miss those guys, living out there was a lot of fun. The best part was really the BBQ and hanging out on Saturday. It was cool to chill, install a car stereo, and eat at the Country Cupboard. I did not get to grill anything special for Bolivian Independence Day... but just grillin' out with the guys was good times.

Me and Birthday Boy.

Got to end a birthday party with a midnight Fraternity Stroll!

I also am nearly settled into my new apartment. I will post pictures once they finish all the work they are doing in my apartment. It is going to be a good space and I am excited to get it all done. Last night I hung the big Bolivian Flag so now it is officially home.

There is one other big update... a very sad one. As many of you might know, my NX has been through some great times with me. Many trips to Chicago to see Novali, my first Autocross (now I am hooked), my first time doing a full audio install, first time doing a lot of car stuff, she it was a learning ground for me. She was a great ride, but for this past year sat around a lot. I decided to see if someone would buy her... and this past Sunday a guy from my car forum drove from GreenBay to take my baby away. I got a good price... and she is going to a good home.

This little car is going to be missed.

Her final photoshoot...

If you think my Sentra is small... look how little the NX is next to her!

On the trailer... heading far far away. Sniffle..

The guy is gonna put in a turbo and race her like I had always intended (but never had the money). If you love something... let it go... she will be happier with him.

Pictures!
I know I need to post pictures... work is crazy busy right now, my email on my Mac is not working right... moving was crazy and I am trying to get settled... and I have no internet at my new apartment yet.

I will get pictures posted as soon as I can.

Quick Taste
The time in Saginaw with Novali was awesome! We went to Gladwin to the lake house twice, she mowed the lawn with grandpa (he has a riding mower), she swam in the pool, watched movies, rode a bike, sang songs, played with Valerie, and tired her grandpa out. Having her has been great.. and now being away from her for two days has been very hard. I stayed with her in Saginaw until Monday night and then I had to come to Albion to work.

I will post a full gallery of her visit next week once she is back. I have a ton of pictures so far, let me recpa what we have been up to:

Wednesday and Thursday of last week she had to come to work with me for an hour. I had important interviews those mornings and she came and played with Jennifer in my office. She had fun and warmed to Jen so that was cool. Wednesday was fun also cause we had a campus picnic lunch on the quad. She was having fun until a huge ant crawled on her chip as she was about to eat it... then came the tears... then the screaming... and then we had to leave. Both nights we watched movies and hungout. Wednesday we had ice cream with Jen and Novi's cone fell and got chocolate ice cream on her shirt.

Thursday we went to Kzoo to visit Miguel. (I posted links to pics below). It was fun, we went to the kids museum and then to RocketStar Cafe. She taught Miguel to play her LeapFrog letter game and mocked him for his loss (he had been winning the game). She baked cookies with Miguel and then later that night she made brownies with Heather. Becoming a regular baker this one.

Friday it was off to Ann Arbor for the Art Fair. She was a trooper, we walked and saw stuff for nearly three hours! No worries Tamara... she wore her sun screen. She made some art to give to grandma and used her new picture taking skills (she makes me stop and let her take pictures of things) to photograph some of the art. Then we rolled to Saginaw! As soon as we got there, hugs for everyone and what else do you do at the Centellas house... We got in the pool! Man it felt good on that hot day.

Saturday it was off to Gladwin to the lake. Kelly took Valerie and and we had a full house up there with my cousin and her kids, and it was a blast. She swam, played, rowed a boat, rode on a boat, and saw some fish. We made a bonfire and she refused to eat cooked marshmellows and then we rode home. On the ride home we stopped to see deer on the side of the road and she counted them over and over again. Until they scampered into the woods.

Sunday.... typical Centellas Sunday. Mom ran the song service and impressed Novi with her singing. I think she was more impressed to see her grandma infront of everyone. Some LoneStar for Steak and Pork Chops and then lounging around the house.

Monday she wanted to go to the lake again. So we went and this time she was more daring in the water. She let me swim with her all the way out to the raft and she even climbed on top! We went looking for fish and frogs and found a couple big ones. She paddled the row boat with Valerie in it and just got a blast. I hated to leave at night... but work and moving awaited me...

Mom and Dad are having a blast with her I am sure. I hope they are taking plenty of pictures. I will have a monster page of pictures once she heads home. So look out... for now I am enjoying that my Mac is back and all fixed, and that tonight... I start moving to my new places. Windows or not... I am moving. (its a long story about the windows, but my apartment has none).

Exotic Vacation
Edit - July 27th, 2005 - Miguel posted pics and a write up on our Kzoo visit: Read his post here.
Or view the pics he took:
With Cats, board game, or with animals.
We are in Saginaw now... the Art Fair was awesome and many more adventures await us.

Today started a week of a vacation. I am not flying anywhere, not road tripping to some new city, not spend the weekend relaxing at a resort. My vacation is going to be even better... I am spending it with Novali! Let me recap the last couple days and then talk about our plans for the week.

Saturday I raced again. It was a good outing, the rain stayed away long enough for us to race. I was debating on running in STS (with my upgraded rims) or in HS (with stock wheels) and ended up running in HS. Big mistake. The course was very rough and my Kumhos would of done much better then those stock cheapo tires. Anyhow... I still fared well. I took third in my group, not bad since the fastest car of the day was from my group. I beat a BMW 325, a SER SpecV, a Porsche 942, a RX-7, an Integra and was 5/100 of a second behind a Mitsubishi EVO. Not too shabby... the rest of the weekend included trips to the mall (I love Burboun Chicken from Japoni grill!), ice cream cones, and sleep.

Yesterday was my only work day this week, and then I headed to Chicago. Before going to see Novali I met up with Miguel who was out there in Wickerpark. We chilled at InnJoy and I had some great 25 cent wings and PBR. We chatted and made plans for Novali and I to visit Kzoo on Thursday.

This morning Novali and I drove to Albion. Despite her ten stops to pee, we made good time and even stopped at a McDonald Playland for a little break. We just got into Albion and I wanted to post quickly before I send my laptop to Apple (her poor latch broke and needs fixin').

We have a ton of fun planned this week. Tonight is movie night with friends here, tomorrow there is a grill out at work and then we will head to a pool for some swimming. Thursday we will roll to Kzoo to visit Miguel and see the children's museum. Friday off to Ann Arbor for the big art fair there, and then off to Saginaw. Time in Saginaw will involve lots of swimming, a trip or two to the lake, maybe some Chucky Cheese, and for sure some bike riding and maybe a backyard camp out! Andres comes into town next weekend so we have to plan some fun things for that weekend as well.

Well... signing off for a few days, pictures and fun stories coming soon. Stay tuned.

SLB Retreat 2005
The 2005 Sigma Lambda Beta National retreat is over. It was a great weekend full of fraternity firsts, exciting programs, alumni networking, and catching up with Brothers I have not seen in a long time. It was a ton of fun. We had the first ever Alumni Retreat and that went great, we unveiled the first fraternity Charter (which I designed and OutSight will produce) document, and we had the first retreat with programming created entirely by Brothers and presented by Brothers.

I did not take a ton of pictures because I was very busy. As part of the facilitation group and a large session presenter I spent a lot of time working on the final touches to programs and running the sessions. It was great during the Alumni session to see all Brothers I have not seen in a while. We had two founding fathers there, two ex-national presidents, and tons of Brothers I have not seen in two or three years. It was great.

The programming we presented was good and I think the Brothers really took a lot to heart. I am excited to see the evaluations and hear what the Brothers have to say about the programs. Well her are the photos I did take...

We were at the beautiful Indianapolis Hyatt right next to the capital.

The WMU Neo, Ben and I at one of the sessions. Good work bro.

We had around 170 Brothers there.

After one of the alumni sessions with some UoM Alums.

The Michigan/Ohio Brothers.

I presented the final session of the weekend and wrapped everything up.

I have never been so nervous presenting. I have spoken to bigger crowds, and I have worked with my fraternity before as a presenter... but this one was different. Usually I talk about Risk Management or Hazing, the topics people hate to hear so I don't normally expect a good response from the crowd. This time I was presenting a motivational program I designed on the importance of courage in leadership. It seems that the Brothers liked it and I had several requests for my slides. I hope they took my message to heart and feel empowered to make differences on their campuses and communities.

Today it is back to work. I have some big projects I really need to start tackling and catching up on. Next week I have time off with Novali so really I am running low on summer time. I also need to plan when I will be moving into my new apartment... lots to coordinate right now.

Sun Burn
This weekend had many highlights. Kristi from work got married and had a beautiful ceremony at a golf course in Jension, MI. Helped moved Heather into her new place and get things arranged. Got a little sun burnt, what fourth is complete without some burn? Raced in my first Autocross in over a year, and got my first race trophy! So lets talk about how this race went...

We showed up around 9 AM, and when Jen showed up she said she decided to race as well. Hermen got there around 10 and Team PLP was in action. The course was long and fast, and I was worried about how the Sentra would do in its first race. I was entered in HS and Jen was in GS. I had 9 cars in my group and Jen had 5. Lots of competition.

Lots of great cars. EVOs, Miatas, an S2000, Hondas, and lots of hooked up rides.

The only other Nissan... and old Datsun Z Car. He was fast.

Jen and I were both in the second heat. So we had to wait for a while before we could race. In the meantime a bunch of the Betas showed and hung out with us. Finally it came race time, by then I was very anxious and ready to roll. We got six runs, and the first couple runs out felt good, but the guys said we looked slow. So we both stepped it up a little... by the time the day was done Jen cut 16 seconds off her first time to end with a 56 second time. I was able to shave even more off and ran a 51.6 second run... meaning I took 2nd place!

Ready for some fun.

I think the NX will be jealous of this #86.

Jen chose lucky #7.

Some 911s decided to park next to me... intimidating me.

#7 Ready to Roll.

#86 Ready to Roll.

The Sentra handled better then I thought.

Rolling through the finish line!

It was a great day, I never placed before. I even beat the times of some of the best drivers out there. I was just on fire when I ran my best time. So needless to say I was on cloud 9 after the race. Now I can't wait for the next race!

Well this week I get to work for just three days. Friday I am off to Indy for my national fraternity retreat. I am doing some programming there and really excited to see some old faces. We hope everyone has a happy fourth and have a great week.

The Weekend Trip
My weekends are generally full of a lot of driving and of course this weekend was much the same. Except this time the weekend started on Thursday since I took two days off work. Thursday was game seven of the NBA Playoffs, and the Pistons were in it so I figured we could do something cool. The pregame warm up was showing Heather my favorite Kzoo areas. We toured Wayside (no debate it is cooler then the CMU Wayside) and the ate at Burdicks, and of course we got the spinach dip. I got a suite at that Hawthorn (perks of all my Hyatt Points) and invited the Betas and Gammas to watch the game. We had a good turnout, and a good time, despite the Piston loss...

Finally got to see Ramiro back from France and Hermen back from Italy.

Marcie and our Neo Ben came out.

The Brothers smiles disappeared as the game came to a close.

We mourned the loss with beer and doritos.

Friday it was off to get Novali. A brief stop at the dollar store to get a pink swimming noodle and off to our hotel where of course... we went swimming. The weekend was a ton of fun, we went swimming, watched movies (Scooby Doo was better then I thought it would be), saw planes, blew bubbles, went to IKEA and the huge Woodfield Mall. It was funny... Saturday night I asked Novali what she wanted to do... I offered McD's Playland, the Park, the Mall, Swimming.... and she chose the mall. We had fun running up and down the ramps at Woodfield. It was a great weekend.

With her noodle at the pool.

she said we had to bite the noodle.

On the way to get food and videos we saw cool fountains.

She was entertained for a long time watching them go up and down...

You can't beat dollar store bubbles!

Nice picture with bubbles and flowers.

We stayed in Itasca, IL and there were a lot of ponds and fun things to see.

She finally was able to blow some big bubbles.

Who doesn't like IKEA... Novali stopped in each fake room and pretended... here she is cooking pancakes.

Here she said she was at work.

Here she is baking a pizza (she did not know it was a dishwasher).

Nothing is more IKEA then cool chairs! She does love pink.

It was a ton of fun. Sunday was a long day though. My presentation for LTA was at 8 AM... so I had to be there at 7:30 to prep. Needless to say it was an early morning. I was very excited to do it and met a lot of amazing women. I had several women ask me to come to their schools and speak. That would be great because I miss working with NALFO groups since we don't have any here at Albion. It was also great talking to leaders of another Latino group and hear that our struggles are all still pretty much the same. The best part was the email from a founder of their sorority thanking me for the job well done. Not every day a founder emails you..

The LTA Convention was at the Crowne Plaza in Rosemont, IL.

I had a cool powerpoint and some pictures which caused a little bit of a stir...

So now I am back in Michigan for a while... well two weeks at least before I head to Indy for my convention. I am helping with the curriculum for our convention and we have planned some great programs. I am doing the final session of the weekend to bang the points home, no pressure or anything... I am excited and have some cool things planned that I think will really impact my Brothers.

So right now I am doing the typical Albion things... The Phoenix for wings on Monday, mowed my lawn, oil change, returning videos, and working. This weekend will be spent at a wedding and then helping Heather move into her place in Jackson. Good times.