To start, this was my first time in California and the minute that we touched down, there was a 5.4 earthquake! How crazy is that? Luckily, we really didn’t feel the earthquake in the plane, but there were a lot of people huddled around television screens in the airport. It was pretty weird, but definitely a fortuitous event in terms of how my delegation and I fared at the national convention.

As for Long Beach itself, I wasn’t overly crazy about the location. Granted, the temperature was nice and there was nearly no humidity, but there was no “beach” in Long Beach. The closest beaches were 20 minutes away north or south by car. There was a nice tourist area with a Hooters and an Outback and some other places that you can find across the country, but only a few places with local flavor. We did spend one night in something called GameWorks and that was a blast. However, I find that as I get older at these events I want to go to the bar less and less and I enjoy the time I get to hang out with my friends from far away more and more. The last thing that I’ll say about the location is that the convention two years ago was about a 3 minute walk from Bourbon Street in New Orleans and I don’t know how anyone can top that scene!

Once again, my undergraduates and alumni volunteers wiped up the awards. I have 7 chapters out of some 130 that are under my direct supervision. Of those 7, THREE were awarded as among the Top 25 chapters in the nation! Better yet, of those 3, TWO were listed as among the Top 12 in the nation. The culmination of the event came when my chapter at The College of New Jersey won an award for being the #1 chapter in the nation. Absolutely amazing.

I was extremely proud of my chapter at Rowan University which won the Most Improved Chapter Award. In 2002 when I attended the convention as an undergraduate, my chapter won runner-up for the Most Improved Chapter. It only took four short years for us to rise to be the number one chapter in the nation and I expect the same thing will happen with our young men down at Rowan University. They have great leaders, great brothers, and a plan for success that is unmatched.

Our alumni volunteers also did a magnificent job of bringing home some awards. Each of our chapters has a direct advisor which we call a Chapter Director and the gentleman who advises our group at The College of New Jersey won the award for being the #1 Chapter Director in the nation! Each chapter is also required to have a Faculty Advisor and the professor who serves for our Monmouth University chapter won the #1 Faculty Advisor in the nation award! And the hits just kept on coming as I was honored and humbled to be awarded the #1 Province Archon in the nation award (we have 33 different regions in Sigma Pi, each with a Province Archon). We didn’t expect to receive so many awards and even though we’ve been building a history of success in New Jersey, this was a beautifully shocking event.

Also, I decided to run for a seat on the Board of Trustees on our Educational Foundation and thanks to the support of my brothers from around the nation I won the election. Once again, I am in debt to my fraternity brothers both local and far and I thank them for their support. I pledge NEVER to let them down so long as I serve on this Foundation!

Two more somewhat significant events took place for the New Jersey guys at Convocation. First, our delegate from the William Paterson University chapter proposed (and passed) a major new merit reimbursement program for the fraternity. That’s awesome. In a world where costs are going up and responsibilities are increasing, Sigma Pi Fraternity has decided to provide financial incentives to those chapters which adhere to their commitments to our National Organization. Second, our delegate from Monmouth University proposed (and passed) a new awards program that awards those chapters which perform the most outstanding events for the Sam Spady Foundation, our international philanthropy.

For some pictures of the event, you can check out my galleries on Facebook or on Google’s Picasa Web Albums (both have the same pictures in them). And, as I always say at the end of these events, this was one hell of a good time and I can’t wait to go to the next convention in 2010 in Boston!

Anyone who has been to New Orleans can automatically tell you that I was not amid the devastation from Hurricane Katrina. I was in the French Quarter and spent quite a bit of time on Bourbon Street. But even on Canal Street and in the French Quarter, you can see the effects of the hurricane. Pretty much all of the sidewalks on Canal Street are being ripped up and replaced due to damage from the storm. The most striking thing about being down in New Orleans, though, is the huge police presence all over the city.

I didn’t get to take a picture of it, but the New Orleans police and Louisiana State Troopers are literally lined up car after car on Canal Street. I asked one of my undergraduates who lives in Mississippi why they were all over like that and he said that if they weren’t there, the entire place would be rioting. Weird, huh? A year ago that city was beaten up by a hurricane and still, even in the “best part of town,” there is a need for increased police presence. The excessive presence on Bourbon Street I can understand – that makes sense. But it really is a shock when you drive up and down these beautifully decorated roads and see state troopers all over the place.

Bourbon Street was a lot of fun. I guess the only way to describe it is to say imagine the best party you’ve ever been to and imagine it starting around 6pm and going straight until 4 or 5am. That’s no lie, people. The party does not stop on that street. The shot girls are kinda pushy. They take the shots and pretty much put them in your mouths and shove them down and expect to get paid for it. All you have to do is bitch about not paying for a few minutes and then pay them and they’ll leave you alone. But I think everyone was taken aback by the forwardness of those shot girls.

And they don’t look like the girls that are serving shots in New Jersey – that’s all I’ll say about that!

The locals are all nice people. The hotel staff was great as was the food. Actually, the food was phenomenal. I’m not big on pork, but we were served a piece of pork that was just out of control. And the hotel had a buffet breakfast and lunch option with the best food out there. We went to a local place called “Evelyn’s Place” and had gumbo one night…but we were really drunk and Miss Evelyn started projectile vomiting at the end of her bar so we sorta high-tailed it out of there as soon as we could.

Another thing that was interesting about the trip was the New Orleans airport. Not only is it small, but it was pretty much empty. If anyone wants to know whether or not people are flocking back to that city, just go stand in the airport. It was eerie, especially since I’m used to dealing with the Newark Liberty International airport.

In any event, it was a great trip. The fraternity provided a great atmosphere for the alumni volunteers as well as the undergrads and it was a great experience overall. I’m thankful to be in such a great fraternity with such great men of all ages. The view that one has of this great fraternity becomes only more passionate as you attend these national and regional events and I’m glad I could have been a small part of the Convocation in New Orleans.

Now…back to work!