Not in First Class
~ I am writing this post while on the plane.
The San Antonio trip is over. The conference was excellent, some great stories to share and funny times with the Betas, team GVSU, and all my AFA/NIC friends. Right now I am writing this from the plane, with Shawna stressing over the fact that sometimes planes can crash on take off (she was really scared). I have never really been scared on planes, I get on, find my seat, take my shoes off, and pretend like I am in first class (we are one row behind them) by putting my feet up on the seat (or wall) in front of me. Good times.
The conference ended well. Our stay at the Quinta hotel (it was across the street) was interesting. The sign in front read, "Yes we are still open", how inviting. It was next to a Denny's and one night walking home I got to watch the cops wrestle a guy to the floor while he still yelled what he planned to do to the other guy. What fun. But we got free continental breakfast, so it worked out. The cinnamon twists were awesome.
The closing banquet was great. Ammar (SLB President) did the invocation and showed how much of a powerhouse the Betas really are in the Greek world. It was a good feeling sitting with all the National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations (NALFO) and we represented for the cultural Greeks. The weekend of networking was great. We also had a mini GVSU reunion when we all skipped a session to watch the national championship football game. We won the game, and then Shawna and I ran to some receptions.
One of the best parts of this conference are the fun receptions. It is a nice change to catch up with some folks and have a beer and talk about how work, school and family life are going. I love being in such a personable field. Example; when I saw Jon Hockman, who is one of most well know Greeks in the country (Delt Sig Executive Director for many years, now a consultant) the first thing he asked was about Novali. How cool is that?
It was also a good time at the Order of Omega reception to get recognized again for the hard work on winning the case study. The Order of Omega scholarships and competition are all normally dominated by folks from BGSU. It was nice for us to get some representation for our program at GVSU.
~ Right now the first class people are getting their hot towels. Would it be that hard for the rest of us 'common' folk to get a hot towel?
We land in a Ohare in a few hours, then a one hour layover and off to Grand Rapids. Tonight I will have to pack, hopefully talk to all my family, do the Beta photoshoot, relax (not too much), take care of some school items, and get everything ready to fly to the homeland. I am so excited.
I am sure you are wondering what I mean with Beta photoshoot. I was asked to help do some pictures for the new national website. So as part of my break this afternoon when I am in Michigan I invited the GVSU and WMU Betas to come over and we will take tons of pictures. I want some fun shots, I was hoping for some snow to get those pictures but no luck (probably a good thing since I am flying and all).
Being sick is no fun right now. I have been sick for the last few days, all the stress and traveling caught up with me. Shawna and Aaron were hoping I would not give it to them. I hope not to, cause being sick sucks. Especially for me since tomorrow I have to fly again. This entire weekend I had to run to the bathroom to blow my nose and it just plane out sucked. I am not a huge medicine person either, but I just might have to pick up some 'Tussin. At least the sun burn (okay... 'tanner' burn) is starting to feel better.
Well I am on the plane, and I think I might try to get some sleep. Shawna is eating her granola bar one kernal at a time, I inhaled mine, and now I need sleep. Oh yeah, this time I got the whole coke can, not just that mini-cup with lots of ice and a little pop. The whole can! It is the small things which make me feel special, I mean since I am not in first class.
I will post this when I touch down in Michigan. Adios!
Yeah its GVSU!
Well I am in San Antonio. I arrive on Wednesday and we are having a good time. Who is we? Well I mean team GVSU Greek; Aaron Haight, Shawna Cullen and of course myself. We are here for the Association of Fraternity Advisors (AFA) annual meeting. Lets recap my trip.
Getting ready to come was insane. Very busy. Had to write some papers, then pack, get stuff from Meijers, prepare for my Bolivia trip, and get a haircut. Lots to do, and I still found time on Tuesday night to go to Perkins to eat with my Brothers. Good times, even though Ramiro almost killed us a few times on the way.
Surprisingly on Wednesday at 8am I was able to get a haircut. I opened the Allendale phonebook, which is very thin, and found the first place in the book. Anne's Beauty shop. I called and she was able to get me in. Yeah! So I drove over. The place was on the side of a house, very small, she (I assume Anne) was a shorter old lady. She started to cut my hair. We chatted. She happened to be going to San Antonio this weekend as well! Wow. And the other great thing was, the haircut was only $7! Nothing beats a good $7 haircut, with no appointment, at 8am in the morning.
Well that afternoon, after some good times with Shawna on the place (she is a scared flyer) we made it to Texas. It was not very warm, but kinda sunny. Either way better then Michigan. The riverwalk is awesome! Very scenic, great places to eat and drink, and awesome atmosphere.
Now the conference. Well it has been awesome. Some of you might know about what AFA is, for those who don't here is a recap. It is the national association for people who advise fraternities and sororities. The conference is held in conjunction with the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) which is the national group for all of the large national fraternities. So there are tons of Greeks here, and every Greek advisor in the country. Lots of fun.
Last year I developed a good professional network here. Made some great connections and reunited with some of the people who made a difference in my life. That is why I am in the field, because people can make a difference. The field might not make me rich, but working with fraternities and making a difference is very rewarding. It beats designing car parts and making other people richer.
Well at this conference there is a case competition. That is when teams of two students are given a hypothetical situation and then have to say what they would do to solve it. Some of you might remember that I won the GVSU competition with Becky in February. Shawna and I competed last year and did not place. So we came back for more, figuring that Bowling Green would win again. See, BGSU is the big school in Greek Life. They have the most professionals in the field and have a great grad program. They usually win the competition and are really cocky at the competition. Was team GVSU intimidated? No way. And guess what... we won! We won! We won! When they announce our names I could not believe it (well I could since I dreamed we won, and Shawna predicted it) and walked to the stage to get our award check. It felt good. you know what felt better... when leaving the luncheon, I heard a group of the BGSU grads complaining to one of their supervisors... it felt good. Did I mention we won?
So I have had a blast. Good receptions, good times, excellent talks with many old and new friends. I am dropping hints on jobs, and also getting many people coming to me about jobs. It feels good to have people seeking me out, instead of me out there hunting. Did I mention I am having a good time? Well I am.
Right now we are watching GVSU on ESPN2. We are in the national football championship football for division 2. It is exciting. Watching to see our students on TV. The things which excite you at a small school... sad I know.
Back to the game. Tonight is the fancy dinner, then at the crack of dawn to fly back to Michigan. I will be in Michigan for 24 hours, then I turnaround to fly to Bolivia! Yeah!
The Spork
As many of you have been witness, I know a lot of random stuff. People always ask me, why do you know that? I simply answer, I read it somewhere. Today I will lay to rest the mystery and let people know why I know, what it is that I know, and how I came to know it. Stick with me here folks.
I went in to work at GVSU today at a little before 8 am. I drank tea today instead of coffee, and I got some work done. Then around 11 I was done with meetings and such and headed to my other job, downtown to CompuCraft. On my way I picked up some Taco Bell, which I know is not authentic, but who cares. I got two soft tacos and my favorite item, the Zesty Chicken Bowl. What does this have to do with my random knowledge? Nothing yet, I am getting to it, stick with me folks.
The two tacos were great, I put mild sauce on them. Then the chicken bowl, they always kinda overflow and just smell great. I love them, but you know what I really love? The spork. Now you are really wondering, what does this have to do with anything? Stick with me folks.
As I ate I wondered about the spork. Where the name came from, and maybe even who invented it and when. Who first uttered the word, 'spork.' Then began my quest. Using my favorite intellectual resource I searched the web. My first couple google searches came up with sites with no useful information. Some non-reliable sites like this: The Ralph, and Housing and Food. Then I got it... what I was looking for. I found some useful information on the US Patent Website. The first listing for a the spork was in 1907, with new updates to the spork in, 1960, 1970, 1978, and an ornamental design in 1998.
One site had some useful information as well, and about tons of other inventions: About Dot Com. That site linked to another site which was all about the Taco Bell Spork! This was so cool, and so delightfully strange that I had to link to. Sporks are Godlike. Look at the anatomy of the spork, too funny.
Does that answer the questions now? I have random knowledge, because I look up random things when the idea comes to me. So if anyone ever happens to ask about the spork, I can say, "It was first patented in 1907, with updates as recent as 1998." Guess what, you now have some more random knowledge as well. Wasn't that fun?
Well I just wasted a lot of time, I got to get back to this huge to-do-list I got. Later.
Reading
I am at MSU relaxing and doing some reading. Last night my fraternity crossed many new men into our Brotherhood. It was a great night and now I have 16 new men to call my Brothers. I was especially proud of a one guy, Ismael Vargas from WMU. I always wanted him to become a Brother, he is smart, hard working, dedicated to his family and wants to better his community. The perfect Lambda Beta man. He did it, and as of 12/6/2003 WMU has a new Brother. Congrats Ish! Now I got to update the website...
Now I am killing time at the MSU Union, waiting for Andres to call me and see what is up. We are getting some food then hanging out before the party tonight. I need to get back early cause I have a ton to do tomorrow. Still need to pack, get more done, and prepare for my trips. I am excited.
During my time killing here I was looking for a funny quote I had read before from Donald Rumsfield. I found it, and I want to share it here on the blog:
As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns.
The ones we don't know
We don't know.
That is deep. No not really. I found it funny and I thought I should post it and share with the rest of you. Back to my reading.
This posted late because Blogger was messed up.
Vacation
Yes the Centellas boys like to work until we are so stressed out we get sick. Then we take a mini-vacation-sick-day and feel all better and back in the swing. So today is my day. I was run a little ragged the last few days and now today I am home.
What is funny is that I get more work done on these sick days then I actually get done in the office. I work in such an unproductive environment at GVSU.
All the stresses of this week are behind me. Ordered my passport. My group presentation went well last night. I got almost everything ordered for my trip to Bolivia. My new laptop is everything I wanted and more (the backlit keyboard). I taught Becky how to drive stick. Updated my websites, and I cleaned my room.
I still got a lot to get done before next week. GVSU Greek Conference coordinator work done. Western Regional Greek Association promotional materials need to be created and sent out by Monday. End of Semester report for GVSU is due tomorrow. Work out my next semester schedule with CompuCraft. I need to catch some fake bake so I am not in Bolivia all pasty. And I got get some food cause I am hungry.
Well back to my to-do-list.
Getting it done
Alright, I have had a ton of things to get done the last few days. I went to a UPS store to get an "Instant Passport" done. That was a trip. This guy took out his training manual in front of me on how he is supposed to do the paperwork. I am still a little worried about not getting it in time... I will not rest until it is in my hand.
I have a few last class project things to get done this week. Next week I leave for San Antonio so I have to have all my final projects and everything done ASAP. Plus not to mention all my end of the year GVSU things I have to complete. End of semester report, learning contract, evaluation, on top of all my regular duties. Oh yeah... that Board of Directors I am on... Western Region Greek Association needs my attention as well for some web work and promotional materials. I love being busy!
On the brighter note, my newer laptop came in, equipped with backlit keyboard and everything. Did another data transfer last night and she is up to speed now! I love it. I also got my delivery notice from Staples that my jumpdrive is in. Sweet. USB Quick storage here I come! Andres - I will be at MSU this weekend and I will bring yours.
Well I am done working here at CompuCraft for the day. Now off to GVSU and good times at class.
Ciao!
Passport?
I used to be the most organized, structured person in the world. Everthing in its place, neat, and I planned ahead for everything. Things have changed this last year and half. I forget stuff, lots of stuff, I put things off, I procrastinate, I just am not the same ol Sam.
This weekend, two weeks before my trip to Bolivia I decided to check on my passport. I swear I thought it was still good... but it was not. So now I have less then two weeks to my trip and I need a new passport. Issues: my old passport for some reason is at my parents house, I was born overseas which is always an issue, and I don't have time to drive to Chicago to go to the Bolivia Consul.
So what am I to do? I always manage to find a way, which might be what has lead to my increased amount of laziness (knowing that it will always work out in the end). I found a place in Grand Rapids that can do it for me super fast. My dad is mailing me my passport, next day air. So I should get my passport on time, more costly, but on time so I can make my trip.
I sense a New Years Resolution coming on... No More Procrastinating. But I will wait to start that resolution until New Years.
Quiero Mami
Tonight she cried. It has been a week and tonight she asked were mami was... and then she cried. She stopped once I got Finding Nemo started, but she still sniffled a little. Tomorrow morning we head to Chicago and I have to give her up again. I will not see her for two weeks, and when I do see her again it will be briefly before I board my flight to Bolivia. So that means it will be sometime before I get such great quality time with her.
This week was the best. We played, we drove from city to city, we ate, we watched movies, we shopped, we ate, took lots of pictures and just had a good time. So for those who missed the action, here it is in living color. Check out NovalÃ's picture page: Novali's Pictures
Long day of driving tomorrow... then it is back to the grind.
As American as apple pie
There greatest of all American traditions is the day after Thanksgiving shopping. Nothing is more American then over shadowing a family day with good ol' free capitalism. So in true turkey day fashion we got up early to hit the sales, but not early enough. We thought we would wake up around 8am and hit the stores by 9 and get some deals.
Well when we arrived the lines were long, and all the stuff we wanted was out. They lure you in with the cheap prices, run out of those items and then try to take you into something else. Best Buy was the worst, lines around the entire store, piles of DVDs and CDs all over the place, people rushing to get as many $29 DVD Players as possible. It was insane, it was crazy, it was a purely American Holiday!
The rest of the day was spent with NovalÃ. She warmed up to Andres (Tio Candy as she says) and ran around the house with him hunting the cats. Later my mom and dad bought her a new outfit and got her pictures taken for Christmas. Now we are winding down the night and she is playing and drawing pictures with grandpa and fighting her bedtime.
Tomorrow we go back to Allendale, then Sunday I run to Chicago to take Novalà home. It was a fun trip!
El Corte De Pelo
Novali got her hair cut. At first she did not want to. We went with Grandpa who needed his hair cut as well. Grandpa went first and she watched and kept reminding me that she didn't want to do it... "Papi no lo quiero." When dad was done I just grabbed her and hoped into the chair with her on my lap.
She was fine, she let the lady cut her hair. I was surprised that she did not cry or anything. She sat there, eating her sucker and getting her first hair cut. Once we got home she had to show everyone. She wanted to call her mom and tell her about her hair cut. "Mami me corte mi pelo!" It was funny.
We have had a blast the last couple days. She got more toys, a cooking set, more stuffed animals and just hangout with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma loves giving her baths, and like any goood Grandma insists we take pictures of her in the tub.
The family is over now. Kelly and I got some McFlurries while we wait for the turkey to be done. I love McFlurries... small Oreo McFlurry please. My dad, Andres and I fought over the last piece of shrimp, no you can have it, no you can have it, no really, you can have it... Now Andres and his fraternity Brother Manuel got the ads from the paper and Andres is planning the attack for cheap electronics tomorrow. Ah, Thanksgiving. Turkey Day has arrived.
Novalà on Tour
Well we arrived in Saginaw tonight. Nice 2.5 hour drive and here we are spending time with the family. I am planning on posting all the pictures from the trip at once, and updating the blog as we travel. So here goes, let me recap the last few days.
We had a blast in Allendale, MI. The Brothers at GVSU and all the people from work were excited to get to meet her. We had fun at the house, she played with Hermen, Ramon and Ramiro for two days and watched tons of movies with them. She also got to meet Santiago and Oso on campus as well, so all the Brothers got to meet her. Ramon will also be happy to hear that she played with the chess set this morning... at least someone is using it.
On Monday I took her to work with me at Student Life. She had fun in the morning and sat in a meeting with me. Then she hungout with everyone from my office while I ran to a meeting for Compucraft in downtown Grand Rapids. She was well behaved and loved the Sapo (frog) in the office. Heather and Andrea came over from ARC and played as well. She even sat at my desk and pretended to be papi. The day was a big swarm of people and Novali was very over whelmed. However, as usual, she was very well behaved.
She slept the entire trip to Saginaw, which was good for papi. When we arrived she excited to see my parents and Kelly. She was also very good with Daniel, Kelly's boyfriend. Of course my parents got her tons of new toys and she was very entertained.
Then we ate dinner, she got more gifts, clothes from my mom, and then we watched Finding Nemo... again. I have seen the movie at least 5 times in the last four days I think. Novali has a few parts memorized I think.
Thinking of getting Novalà her first hair cut tomorrow... exciting stuff!
Novali and Papi
Alright... this weekend was a ton of fun! I don't have much time to write, Novalà is playing with Ramiro and Hermen and getting tired. I want to recap the weekend and download some photos quickly. Here goes.
Above are some pictures of Novalà with Hermen, Becky and I at Chucky Cheese. She had a ton of fun and wore us out! She rode every ride there, and watched us win her tickets at Skee Ball. We saved enough tickets to get her a little flower and a hopping frog... ribbet ribbet ribbet... is what she said all the way home.
Novalà warmed up to Hermen right away, and in no time warmed up to Becky as well. Novalà loves to copy anything someone does, monkey see... monkey do all weekend. The other two photos are our trip out with Becky and her friend Reggie from DePauw. He was cool. We also meet up with our friend Cressie, her boyfriend and another friend of hers from back home.
From Chicago Hermen and I took Novalà to Kalamazoo. She was very shy around the new environment. When she started to warm up to everyone it was time to go, no worries she will see my fraternity Brothers at WMU more often and remember them more. It was great to see my Brothers and the Gammas.
Now we are in Allendale, she just got done chasing Ramon around the table and now she looks very tired. I got to get her to bed.
I am excited. I get Novalà to play with all week. But for now, Good Night.
Chicago Weekend
In a few minutes Hermen and I leave to get Becky, and then off to Chicago! Hermen made the last trip with me and we had a blast. This time we are going to hangout downtown, take Becky to the airport, and then bring Novalà to Michigan to spend Thanksgiving with the Centellas family.
Sunday Hermen and I will roll over to Kalamazoo for the 6th annual Thanksgiving dinner with the sisters of Sigma Lambda Gamma. This has been the longest standing tradition with my chapter. Novalà will get to see all my chapter Brothers again, who I am sure she will not remember. But I know she will get aquatinted with them again quickly. As long as no Gammas put Novi's feet in their mouths I am sure she will be fine... Don't laugh, that happened before and I think she is still tramatized.
New but not perfect
I got my new laptop yesterday. It is the new 15 inch Powerbook G4 from Apple. It is twice the speed of my old laptop, 6 times bigger hard drive, better wireless internet, built in Bluetooth, more USB and Firewire ports, and cool sleek new look.
But guess what? I don't have the backlit keyboard! One of the benefits of these new machines is the backlit keyboard, I was excited to get it. However, it only comes standard on the models with the Superdrive. On my model it is a 69 dollar option! 69 bucks! If I had known I would of added it, but I didn't (thinking they all came with it) and now I am not sure I can upgrade my keyboard now. So as happy as I was before... now I am bummed cause one of the coolest features is missing. I am looking into what parts I would need to order to add the lit keyboard... hopefully I can make it happen.
69 bucks! If it had been a 200 option I might not be as mad, but it was only 69 bucks to add it... I am so sad right now. I wish one of our sales people had told me about that. Oh well, at least the screen works on this one!
Bad Haircut, broken laptop and no McChicken
As you might remember from my last post I was looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend with nothing but some paper writing and cleaning the house. I was going to catch up on somethings, and just get ready for a long week of big assignments due. Well things did not go as planned.
Friday after getting out of work from CompuCraft I headed off to get my haircut. It turned out terrible. First I only wanted a trim, and the lady cut it super short and now you can barely see my highlights. Then she cut the back of the neck wrong, and each time I asked her to fix it... it got worse. So I smiled and said that is fine. Then my bangs were all messed up. I ask her to make them the same length as the rest of my hair and she argued that the bangs need to be longer for my style to look right. I am not rave kid... i like my hair the same length. Either way she cut it wrong again and I did not have the patience to continue having her redo my hair. So I complained some more, got the bad haircut for free, and I left.
Saturday started with a trip to the Speedway station to do laundry. Many of you might recall that I love Speedway. Anyways, while we were loading up the car I set my laptop bag on the side of the car and Hermen and I loaded the clothes into the car. Then while I backed up out of my parking space... bump... what did I hit? As I continued to back up, I see my Apple Saddlebag sitting on the pavement with tire tracks on it. Needless to say I freaked out. While I sat at Speedway, Hermen kept making fun of me. That did not help, but he was trying to get me to smile and it worked. I even got chili on my hot dog this time... and even that did not cheer me up. But you want to know what really amazed me and kept me from completely losing it. The laptop still works! I mean the screen is broken, but I can still use about 1/5 of the screen. So when I got home I backed up my files and went to campus.
I sulked all afternoon at GVSU. I still managed to get some work done with Becky on our Thesis which was good. Then a great thought came to me... I can hook up a monitor to my laptop. I stopped everything we were working on (Becky was annoyed) and I saw my screen on that tiny office monitor GVSU considers a work computer. I felt good, the Mac sustained much damage, but as a testament to Apple... she still lives! However, as happy as I am about the fact that she is still alive, I still need a new computer. I can not continue to use this for too long. Maybe my parents home owners will cover this... Mom... Dad... a little help please.
Alright so the weekend was rough. It ended on more bad luck. On my way home on Sunday from campus (another class project) I called the house to see what they wanted from McD's. They gave me their orders. A #9 with extra sauce and HiC, three double cheeseburgers (they are only $1 now!) and for me a McChicken. Get home... get all excited to eat... and bam! No McChicken. Can't I cut one break this weekend? Just one. Nope. Everyone else got their food. I ate some left over rice, proof read a paper, thought about going to complain getting my sandwich but instead I just went to bed.
Hope this week gets better.
8am Sam
This week was insane. I had a lot to get done in a short amount of time. For the past three weeks I have been coming into the office at GVSU at 8am or sooner. I am generally the first one into my office. It is strange because when I worked at Johnson Controls as an engineer I would normally get into the office at 7am and everyone else would generally be there already. This is a nice change of pace though. I like getting in early, I get a great parking spot (nice end spot to avoid door dings) and no one is in the office to distract me from getting work done.
This week I got a lot done. Tuesday I was in the office from 7:30am to 11:30pm... long day. Then Wednesday I was in from 8am to 10:30pm... almost as long. Thursday my schedule ramped down a little more... I was only at GVSU from 8am to 7pm, not even 12 hours... easy. So I worked a lot, got my survey instrument almost completed for my practicum research, more articles read for my thesis, meetings with the IFC guys about the upcoming elections, Greek conference planning, 2nd year grad student meeting, professional development, lunch with Dean Merkle, and the list goes on. Today is much slower, just working at CompuCraft and looking forward to a weekend of reading for my thesis and starting on the research proposal with Becky.
So what happens after a long week? You go out of course! Last week it was the typical BFE trip with the Betas for some pool and then for Heather's birthday us grads hit up Taps and Gardellas. This week us Betas got to BFE kinda late and both pool tables were taken so we just chilled and Ramiro explained his fear of not getting free refills on pop (hence why he asks for only a little ice). I was paying so why did he care? And anyways, who worries about that?
Then I headed downtown with the grads. It was was Ken's birthday. We hit up this place called Z's Sports Bar. It was my first time there, and we made up more then half of the crowd. The place was not too bad, the juke box had much better music then the one in the basement of Gardellas. The bar tender was not very good, but our waitress was awesome. She was fast, funny and very creative. When Jody mentioned that pitchers of beer tend to get warm, she came by with a glass full of ice and floated it in the pitcher. This way the ice does not water down the beer, and it stays cold. I never saw that before... what a great idea!
Throughout the night I for some reason managed to get into several discussions about GVSU's grad program. Talking with Heather about class discussions, Jen about practicum and internship ideas, Carissa about setting up a meeting to give background information for a case study project and Kacy about the ethic fest. There was some non-program talk though. Oscar was there with his wife and we talked about Novali and his daughter hanging out when I have Novali here, that will be fun! Then did some soccer talk with Pablo's friend, I miss Futbol. I also learned that I no longer know how to yo-yo. Which of course is a very important skill.
Back to today... I am hoping to get my haircut, then do some laundry and clean my place up a little. Tomorrow will be thesis day... got a lot of work to get done. Going to be a busy weekend working on school projects. Ah.
Two Post Day
I am aware that I already posted today, but I wanted to also include a recap of the events from my weekend. It was a fun one, relaxed one, and I still got a lot of work done. I was very productive, and fun at the same time.
Saturday was IFC's Fraternity games. It was cold, but we had a good time. We modified the originally planned games and played Kickball in stead of Softball, football still went on as scheduled, the water balloon WAR turned into "see who can hit Gaff's car" from 20 feet, the food... don't get me started on the food, and the final event was the chicken breast toss (everyone sucked equally).
If you click on the link above or right here you can go to IFC's pictures and see all the great shots from the day. Cooking never seems so hard until you have 10 fraternity men, trying to figure out how to defrost, cook, and eat frozen chicken breasts and brats. Whose ideas was chicken and brats anyways... Cobb.. Cobb... It was fun throwing the meat though and counting how many tongs we managed to drop on the floor. Man Down! I had a good time, can't wait for the one next semester.
Sunday was my day with NovalÃ(Click here to see more pictures). This trip was special cause Hermen joined me on the voyage. The trip started with the traditional stop at Speedway for gas, coffee, and hot dogs. This time it was two coffees, and four hot dogs. When we arrived Novalà wanted to watch a movie, so we sat and watched Finding Nemo. I never saw it before, so it was good. The entire movie, when Hermen would laugh, Novalà would look at him like, "who are you? why are you here? stop laughing at my movie."
Then we ran to one of my favorite Mexican food places in Chicago. Really I just like it cause they have Menudo and Pozole on the weekends. Hermen got a burrito and pozole, I got menudo, and Novalà ate rice and chips. It was a feast, after we finished I felt like sleeping... but instead the three of us rolled downtown.
We had a nice trip downtown. Novalà was good the entire time and really started warming up to Hermen. Every store we would go into if she lost Hermen she would tell me we had to look for him now. She walked, ran, and had a good time just enjoying all the people. We saw some kids playing plastic buckets downtown until they got chased away by the cops. Novali got excited over the horses. Hermen and I got excited in the Apple Store. You know...
Thanks Hermen for rolling with me. I had a good time, lets do it again soon. Alright I got to get to work now... Later.
Mom and Dad
Today is my parent's 30th wedding anniversary. Wow. This summer their present to themselves was a trip out west. They saw the Grand Canyon and took a great train trip around some different places out west. This whole year they have been doing cool trips. Several times they have been to Stratford to see plays, weekends in Chicago with NovalÃ, and just time for themselves with all the kids out of the house. Must be nice.
So I wanted to wish them my best on my blog. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! I don't know what else to say. What me? With not much to say? Yes... it happens on occasion and this is one of them. They are the worlds best parents.
My dad let me learn lessons on my own (remember when I bought that second Camaro... what was I thinking? And better yet, why'd you let me do it?), taught me that usually the hardest decision is the right one (something I still have trouble with), and that I can do what I want if I apply myself. My mom always ate breakfast with me on Saturday and Sunday mornings after I finished my paper route (got me addicted to coffee), reminds me to go to church, showed me what true strength is (when she had cancer), taught me how to be a parent (I learned from the best), and she stood her ground when she knows she needed to (even though I hated her for it at the time). I have great parents, and my goal in life is to make them proud. Cheezy I know, but if you had parents like mine you would to.
Birthday Parties
It seems like Birthday season is in full swing. Had a fun outing with the grads from GVSU last night, next week Ken turns older and then after that little Ramiro will get his wings (turns 21). It was a good end to a blah week. I never had so many meetings and conference calls in my life. Got a lot done though. But back to the fun... last night.
Started the night with the Betas. Santi, Hermen, Ramon and I went to BFE. We started what is becoming a tradition for us, Thursday night pool night. Last week I cleaned the table and went 5-1 (this old guy sharked me), this week it changed. I lost my first game to Hermen, I scratched on the 8 ball. So I consider that I lost, not that Hermen won, there is a difference in my opinion. Then Ramon lost to me (he scratched the 8 in his second shot). Santi was running the table last night... must of learned some tricks in the pool halls of SagiNAW. We stopped playing pool and just sat and chilled.
From there the grad outing started. I was picked up by the crew, Andrea's boyfriend was driving a two door Sundance and we managed to get 6 people in it (The guys up front, Shawna, Heather D, Andrea and Amanda in the back)... I almost felt like I was back in High School packing the car and running to lunch from school. We arrived at Taps and had to wait in line to get upstairs. After an hour of waiting (the birthday girl was already upstairs) the rest of us were getting bored. They came down, realizing we were never getting in and we all decided to leave.
We got all geeked to go to MargaritaGrill, but then remembered it closed down. So off to Gardella's we went. Dena and her husband took off at this time and wished Heather a happy birthday. The rest of the gang made it down to the basement, were we played with the jukebox all night long. The music selection was shoddy at best, but we made a good time of it. Heather D busted out the happy birthday camera, Von showed some mean dance moves, Amanda was droppin' game, Kacy and Carrissa danced on their chairs, Ken was low key, Andrea played the instruments Heather D brought, and her boyfriend walked Heather N to her car. I just kept requesting something from Cake, which when it finally played we were all leaving... so I only heard the first half of "Going the Distance..." I wanted to hear it all.
- Late Edit: I left off Shawna and her seduction of the metal iBeam on the dance floor and Paul leaving cause he was not feeling well (maybe he went and puked in the river).
Now I am at CompuCraft working and waiting for the rest of the weekend to kick off. On Sunday I am going to see Novali. Hermen might come with me, so I am excited about that. Hopefully the pictures from Halloween will be developed already and I will post them when I get back.
Have a fun weekend everyone!
Forced Vacation
It caught up with me. Last week I was fighting the flu that was going around the office. My ears were plugged, nose was stuffy, and I was working extra hard. Yesterday was a crazy day, at the Office of Student Life around 8am, then off to CompuCraft and had a lot to do. Then a conference call for my Executive Director position with the Western Region Greek Association, followed by a GVSU Beta colony meeting. Long day.
To top that off I had to drop the NX in the shop again. Some of you might remember over the summer, at one of my races, when I was driving her so hard that on an upshift I blew apart one of the welds in my exhaust? (For those interested, check the archives, 6.8.2003~"The Fast and Exhaustless...") Well it came back. Mark over at Tolman Auto who has gotten to know the NX had to reweld it for me. So I had to bum rides yesterday as well.
So right now I am sitting at the kitchen table, drinking tea, and watching CNN. After some rest I plan to get up to campus tonight for some meetings. Nothing like a mini unplanned vacation, even if I am not feeling well.
