I Can Hear You Now
I have been sick... I missed a day of work last week which is very rare for me... I don't miss work for being sick very often. It put me behind on work, and not to mention just in a bad mood. Mostly moody from being sick, but also because of the frustration over not being able to get my work done. I am still sick and trying to rest... not fun.

Some of my old readers might remember the trouble I had with Verizon when living out in Oregon... in short they were a pain and I decided I hate them forever. Lately my phone has been acting weird and needless to say I was not looking forward to trying to working with Verizon to fix it. On Friday I was in Jackson at the mall and stopped at a Kiosk to see if they could help... the girl was incompetent and had terrible custom service. I was not surprised...

Saturday was a fun trip to Royal Oak. Heather was going for a hair cut and hangout with her friends and I tagged along. I like that area and have always enjoyed my trips out there, and the CMU crew is fun. Well as we walked into a store I saw a real Verizon store... so I said why not and I stopped in. After I described the issues with my phone the guy said, "Okay, I'll get you another phone." I was shocked... no fight... no telling me no... no bad service... I actually got smiles, and what I wanted... good service. So now I have a new phone and hopefully this one will last me longer then my last one. For once, thank you Verizon.

Sunday I got to catch up on life... washed clothes, cleaned my apartment, went to Autozone, and did some shopping. It was a good day of catching up and just trying to relax and get better for the week.

Monday... well it was Heather's Birthday and I decided to do something I have not done in a long time. I cooked a full meal. I made Spanish rice, and black beans with chicken fajitas. It was fun cooking and cutting peppers and onions... mixing ingredients, marinating meat... I need to cook more! So included in my gifts was the gift of some Old Sam... the Old Sam who cooked. Happy Birthday Heather! 26 will be a ton of fun.

I'm a Techy!
I am still making plans and working on the new/old Sam. Some updates.

So some old me...

Last week I bought two old Macs. Two PowerMac G3 Blue and White (Yosemite Model) towers. These are an awesome backup machine, FireWire and USB, Built in Ethernet, and they can run Apple OSX. I had an old 9100 Mac at my house which I used for a back up machine until it died. So I robbed some parts from that, and then I robbed parts from one of the B&W Macs and made one sweet little back up computer. It was fun taking the computers apart and swapping parts... I miss being a techy!

It was fun... three computers opened up and being worked on in my apartment. It felt good!

I hadn't run an OSX.1 Computer in a long time... I need to install all the latest stuff on it!

So some new me...

Well I got my new rims, I went with the 16 inch Enkei MM2. That means the new me is driving on a smaller more conservative rim from now on. At first I thought I was gonna miss the cool 17 inch size, but I really am happy with how these rims turned out. I think the Sentra will get used to them quickly, we are both appreciating the smoother ride already.

I took these pics quick in the morning before work.

Soon I will wash her up and shine the tires and take some better pics for the PLP Page.

So some old me....

This weekend was WMU Homecoming. Old me... we reserved a section at Old Country Buffet and the Beta gang ate like kings. Then we went to the club, had a good time with the costume contest and betting on who could dance with whom. Jeff won the prize by breaking it down with the baseball cheerleader. Saturday morning was an alumni meeting, I have been involved for three years trying to get the group started. Years of pushing... and it looks like we finally did it. We have a small group now who is going to move forward on plans. I am excited.

Nothing like Betas and friends at Old Country Buffet!

Then we went to Cheek to Cheek... always fun!

Almost everyone made it out to the dance floor.

We left the club... where do we go... DENNY'S!

We had a great turnout for the Alumni Meeting.

Soon... there will be a Latino Society of the WMU Alumni Alum Assoc.

So some new me...

This year I took Monday off work to be in Chicago with Novali for Halloween. So right after the homecoming meeting I rolled out to Chicago. After battling some weekend traffic I made it there and when I asked Novali what she going to be she said, A Fairy! Novi was funny at Target and we found the perfect costume. Tamara had a list, and Novi pretended to read it, and would say: Halloween Costume - Check. Mustard - Check... and draw little check marks. I also noticed she is starting to sound words out... so I taught her how to spell pizza (her dinner).

She is always all excited to see me, I love it!

Chili - Check, Costume - Check, Leche - Check, Cute little girl - Check.

At home she wore the wig from her mom's costume...

Last time I taught her how to type her name, this weekend she spelled: table, dog, rat and chair! Not to mention Pizza the day before!

It is funny... she loves working on my laptop. So she entertained herself on that as she learned how to spell. She is pretty good at sounding out letters. I never realized how many letters have such different sounds in English. Its hard to explain to a 4 year old why Cat and Chair both start with the same letter, or Gym and Great... but either way she is learning!

Halloween! She dressed up as a fairy and was very cute. She got some sparkly pink shoes to go with it and was ready for the big day. It was great. She had a party at her Day Care at 3pm, which she was very shy at, maybe cause I was there, she said one of the kids costumes scared her... Ha! Then we went to the Mall and that was fun. Tons of kids all dressed up, Novi was shy at first, but then she warmed up to it and really had a good time and then did not want to leave.

The front of her Fairy costume.

Her little Fairy wings.

She loved saying Trick or Treat.

With her Papi after getting tons of candy.

As always the trip home was hard. I hate having to leave. It was a good weekend. Playing with Novali is so much fun, and she goes to bed so early now that I get plenty of work done as well. It rained the entire drive home and that made it worse.

Well, hope everyone had a good halloween and have a good week!

The New Old Sam
My Brother Andres wrote in his blog last week about how he has changed a lot of his habits. It got me thinking about my habits, and what changes I have made in my life lately. Some for the better, some for the worse. So after some thinking, I figured I need to get Sam into a better place... maybe some regression to a better previous self, maybe some forward planning and plotting based on past mistakes, and then some just regular growing up.

Roadtripping
Well this is the same, but different. Yes I still like to travel and drive a lot, but the purpose is different. Friday I drove to Grand Rapids for a regional National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) Conference. It was a good learning and professional experience. Then dinner at San Chez (I have written about my fav Tapas Bistro before) with the Albion group and then I rolled to Kalamazoo. A quick meeting with the guys, and then a beer at the Ground Round and I hit the road home.

My Car
Well for the last couple of weeks I have had some trouble with my wheels. When I got my new tires 2 months ago the shop failed to mention to me that one rim had developed a crack and would leak air. So for the past couple weeks I have been having to stop and pump my tire often. Discount Tire has agreed to fix the problem they missed, and I could order some new rims from them super cheap. Well Friday after all my driving my tire finally died... it won't take air anymore. What does this have to do with the new me... I was more conservative with my new rim selection. Instead of 17 inch, I went with 16 inch... and instead of a bling rim I decided on a solid brand with proven performance.

My 17 Pinzettis... got them from Andres and they served me well...

In my future... 16 inch Enkei MM2, at least a little more conservative.

Files
This weekend was originally going to be a trip to Chicago. But because I was behind on work I canceled the trip and bumped it to this coming weekend. Good thing to, cause that popped tire would not have been fun to deal with in Chicago. I spent all day Saturday working on organizing my life again. My fraternity Brothers in college will attest that I was the most organized person they knew. I filed and sorted everything, and my room was always spotless. Somewhere since then I fell behind on everything, starting throwing things in piles, and just losing track of everything. Well I changed all that this weekend... I bought file folders, hanging files, and relabeled everything. I am finally organized!

I had piles of stuff everywhere in my apartment!

Consulting Files, Taxes, Bank Statements... everything nice and organized!

So there you have it folks. The New Sam is here... some good things from the past brought back, and some new changes looking toward the future. My dad will be happy to know that I am creating a more strict budget now, and already have documents for my 2005 Tax Return together in a folder.

Well lets see how long this works for me...

Fun Stuff
So the last few days I had some fun things going on in Albion. First off on Saturday my chapter Brothers from WMU came over for a mini-retreat. We grilled chicken and brats, made plans for the semester, talked about recruitment, squashed some personal issues, and just hung out. It was a good time. I miss those guys and I am excited for the direction of the group now.

Ish, Rudy and Raul... chillin in front of my apartment.

Ben the Neo brought Hot Sauce... they know I don't keep hot stuff here.

Then Saturday was the best... OLA and Union Board had a Salsa program for Hispanic Heritage Month. We had a band from Chicago come and they were great. I miss dancing to Latin Music. So it was just a lot of fun, and the turn out was great. I was glad to see the Albion students really appreciating the culture. I danced with some great partners which was a lot of fun. Jennifer even broke it down withe the instructor, he was so good! I miss Latin Night once a week like in Kalamazoo.

The band was from Salsachicago.com.

Many of the students take dance class at Albion and knew the steps.

The room looked awesome and was packed most of the night.

I busted out my Cuban shirt and had a blast dancing.

Sunday was a four hour long sorority recruitment training workshop. Which surprisingly was a good time, I enjoy sorority recruitment more then any man should. We talked about fun topics like Facebook, our new online recruitment program, and then my Master Schedule (my spreadsheet with recruitment planned out in five minute intervals).

Monday was the Panhellenic new member program. I love this program they have here at Albion. Each sorority introduces all of their new members to the rest of the sorority women. They talk a little about their chapter history and then welcome their new members to Greek Life. Then while their new members are on stage they sing one of their chapter songs to them. Last year I started asking them to take a huge all sorority picture after the event. It is a lot of fun.

All the sorority women come, nearly 300 women attend.

Each chapter brings their women on stage for their introduction.

Today was just a long meeting day... I did get to talk to my mom tonight. Today was her last day teaching... I know she is very sad about having to give it up. Because of her health she can just no longer work, and I know if she could she would still work. I am glad she is taking a break, she deserves it! Enjoy it mom.

Thinking of my moms retirement... makes me scared of the next 40 years of my life I will spend working. Craziness.

I fought the Law...
and it was a stalemate.... I would like to say I fought the law and I won... but that was not the case. I have not fought a ticket since I was 16... so that goes to show that I normally man up and take my punishment. But this time I wanted to fight it and thought I had a good reason.

Here is the deal... Munger (where I live) is next to a school. I usually come to work around 9am, so not problem with the school zone. On September 6th I was coming in early for a meeting, and got pulled over in the school zone for speeding. The issue I have is that the sign for the school zone is before the intersection that I merge onto Michigan Ave. So I never see the school zone sign to see if it is flashing.

So I took a picture of the sign and my intersection into court. The cop got me going 37 in a 35, but with the school zone it was 25. The ticket was written for 30 in a 25. I was contesting the entire ticket, and in court both the judge and officer were surprised by my photo... so I figured I am golden. The ruling... he gave me a ticket for 27 in a 25 and no school zone. That is TWO over... 2 over... Dos... numero 2.... Who gives a ticket for two over?

Because the ticket is still two points on my license. So I am appealing. I was not aware that I needed to ask to have points dismissed. I rather get the points off... the fine is not my main worry, it is the higher insurance for me. My idea behind the appeal is that I was only going 2 over... an officer would not of pulled me over for going 2 over.

The Man has not heard the last from me!

Its a Wrap
Another Poppori weekend for me. This weekend I was originally planning a trip to Philly to see my brother. Timing of weekends got messy, and I really needed to stay around and have a weekend with Novali. So I made plans to have Novali in Michigan. Right after I made the change to stay in Michigan I was asked to go to GVSU and speak at their Greek 101 Retreat. I figured Novali might enjoy watching me speak...

So the weekend started with some fun Friday night cleaning and buying stuff for having Novi. Tamara helped with the drive and we did our meeting at Exit #1 on our side of the Michigan/Indiana border. Not having to drive all the way is a huge help. We then rode to GVSU. Heather entertained Novali while I finished writing my presentation (nothing like last minute) and during my lecture. I say lecture instead of speach because I had a hard topic to present. I was asked to do the history of Greek Life, the different national councils, and then tie in talking about the differences and how groups can work together better... that was a lot to chew on!

I knew some parts of it would be boring... and with a room full of new members it can be tough because they are new to Greek life and don't know a lot yet... I did my best. Tonight upon getting home I read my review cards... of the 150 or so cards I only had 5 or 6 who didn't like it! One student said, "For such a boring topic he was pretty cool," one wrote, "I love him," another eloquently said, "Greek Life Rocks!" Most of the cards said they loved learning about the other groups and the things that make them different, but yet the same. I am glad I was able to get them to enjoy learning.

The rest of the weekend was spent learning all the new Novisms. She has her own little way of thinking most of the time, and just funny things that she says and does. I love how analytical she is, every little thing makes her ask more questions and then she has unique follow up comments.

Saturday after we got back from GVSU we rented Racing Stripes. It is a movie about a Zebra who wants to be a Race Horse. It is a movie with talking animals... one of those "if you try hard enough you can do anything movies" which just make you feel good. It was well done, funny, and the voices were good. I enjoyed it, but what was funny was that at the end of the movie what Novali said. Novi turned to me and send, in her most grown up voice, "That was a great movie." Is she a movie critic now?

Sunday was fun, we decided it was the perfect day for a fall hayride. We found a cool place where you ride a wagon out to a pumpkin patch and get your own pumpkin. Novi loved the horses and walking around the field. Then we went to another farm where she fed some goats, went through a maze of straw, saw some kittens, and lots of other fun stuff. When telling my parents about the farm on the phone she told them everything in scary detail, and even told them how much I paid for the pumpkin... $4.

At the farm was another funny Novism. We went into a Port-a-John. No one likes those... and she was reluctant to step in. Once in she asked me why the water was blue, I said so that it does smell bad. She looked up at me, and flatly stated, "but Papi it still smells bad." Always the critic.

I would like to write more... but it is now past midnight and I need to get some sleep. I will post some pics early in the week from this weekend. I have a nice slow couple of days, which will be followed by an extremely busy weekend. Take care everyone!

What Happened?
So I have been away from Blogging for so long that Shawna is even calling me out. I mean she only blogs three times a year... but I guess she still thought it was needed to crack on me about my blogging.

What has been going on?

Trip to See Novali the weekend before last. I saw Vic and Rey out there and went shopping with Novi. Last week at work was very hectic since it was Homecoming week. So lots of preparations for a potentially long weekend... but it went well. I attended 10 different fraternity and sorority receptions and ate the best Big Roast ever at TKE... my mouth is watering right now thinking about it. No major issues over Homecoming so that was welcome news on Monday. Right now Sigma Chi Derby Days is going on and that is always a bunch of fun events I get to attend. Tonight I had a big speaker on campus and it went great... so that was good. Now the rest of the week is chill.. and this weekend I get Novali again. Life is great right now.

So there was a week and a half in one paragraph. No pics.. no time for that. No play by play... too much going on to fit into one blog. This one was short and sweet.

The Greek Advisor
I work strange hours... and more often then not I work a lot more hours then I am actually getting paid for by the college. Like this weekend, I spent my Sunday taking our Organization for Latino/a Awareness to a Latino festival in Ypsilanti. It was a lot of fun, and I even saw some Betas and Gammas there which was great. I spent Sunday night at two fraternity chapter meetings. Monday night I visited four more fraternities for meetings and one sorority mixer.

So today (Tuesday) is sorority bid day. I wanted to try and make some changes to make things better. So we talked about it a lot, voted a few things in, and really I think came up with some exciting new things which will make the process more fair. I know so far it has required a lot more work on my side, and also now involves me in informal recruitment more then ever. So for next year we will need to see how worthwhile the changes were and if we want to continue them.

The recruitment drama... is not what made my week. I did talk to Novali last night, it was great, we talk more often now so that does make my day. But something even cooler happened this week.

I am not gonna get mushy... but I really love my job. I have the opportunity to help create meaningful learning experiences for people. Last week I did a work shop for one of my sororities on recruitment and sisterhood. It went great and they really got excited about recruitment, which is something they normally hate. Times like that make a difference... or when I hear that the fraternity houses are finally not propping their doors... sounds like a small thing, but I made that difference and helped make their homes safer.

The real cool thing I have heard in the last week is that several students are thinking about going into higher education. Some Albion students, some GVSU ones, and some of my Brothers have all expressed this to me lately. The best part is that one of them recently said that it has something to do with me, and the kind of work I do with students. That they want to impact people they way I do... I guess I don't always stop and think about it like that, or the impact I do make.

Since those students told me that I have taken the time to reflect on some of the things I do teach them. About why holding each other accountable is important, why rumors are a bad thing to spread, but an important thing to confront, how to lead by example, how to raise the bar, how to motivate, how to do something you hate, but do it cause it needs to be done, and how to learn from life's failures. Whats funny, is that most of the time I am learning those lessons, or at least being reminded of them right along with them...

It just gave me a nice smile to think I mean enough to someone that they would want to be in my roll. I doubt any little kid will ever want to play "Greek Advisor" instead of a fireman or policeman... but it is cool that someone wants to be like me. I hear a lot that people want my job cause it looks fun, or I work with cool people, or that my hours are flexible (I doubt they realize how much I work), or working at a college must be awesome. But this time someone articulated that they wanted my job because of the difference I get to make... it made my night meetings seem not as long, and reminded me why I eat Captain Crunch for dinner at 9:30pm sometimes.

It reminds why I am sitting in my office tonight until 9pm. The sorority new members are coming here to turn in their Bid Acceptance Cards. New women, ready to join a sorority, and it is my job to make sure they have a positive and educational experience. Well back to work...

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.