The brothers of the California Chapter recently replaced the floors in the front room, dining room, and alumni room with new, durable laminate. The new floor resembles a darker wood stain, and with new wooden blinds and a fresh coat of stain the rooms have taken on a whole new look.

The plan to have the original floors refinished gave way to the realization that they needed to be replaced entirely. With the bold direction of house manager Brother Jason Keats, the floors were ripped up and replaced within an amazing six days.

Check out some pictures and footage taken during the installation

The brothers realize that the effort was monumental. I can't believe we actually did this ourselves, says Brother Luke Beamer. The immense effort put into this project demonstrates the strength of the pride and brotherhood within the chapter.

The California Chapter is currently engaged in a large-scale effort to find lost alumni and bring them back into the Acacia fold. This effort, started in Fall 2002, will now be taken over by Brother Mario Tabares, the new Alumni Chairman for Acacia.

Brothers who will soon become Alumni members of Acacia played an important part in starting this new program. "The current database of information on all of our Alums needs to be completely updated and reorganized," says Brother Raman Bhatia, #947. "Information is missing and outdated. We realize where the problem is in our Alumni Program, and we are entirely dedicated to fixing it."

We stress that even though you may think we have your information, it is still vital that you send your current information anyway. There are now various ways that Alumni can update their information:

• Fill out The Alumni Information Update Form, found here.
• Send an email to The Alumni Update Email Address.
• Call Our Alumni Chairman, Donovan Rose, at 1-619-618-5278.

There are two things that will always be sure to bring great memories and stories to those who live in the Chapter house: road trips, and parties. This past November, 24 Brothers combined the best of both worlds in a 10 hour RV road trip that took them deep into Oregon, to the OSU Chapter of Acacia Fraternity for their annual "Night on the Nile" theme party.

And boy, were there memories.

"We have a special tie to the Oregon State Chapter," says Ryan Mills, former Junior Dean and Rush Chairman, and Oregon native. "They are our closest chapter, and the only other chapter on the west coast, which is of course the best coast," Mills added.

The trip, which lasted 10 hours each way, was only part of the fun. The OSU chapter provided dates for their Friday night date party. The OSU brothers then followed the tradition set by the California Chapter, throwing a regular party the next night making "Night on the Nile" a multi-day experience.

From swimming in the heated Nile River to a shaking Winnebago in the middle of the night, the trip proved to be a good one. The California chapter had the privilege of being able to hang out with their Brothers 600 miles to the North.