Delta Kappa Epsilon

Week of October 24, Construction Update & Halloween

Monday night started with dinner and chapter meeting. Northern Deke had their monthly meeting. Brian and Paul introduced Bob to us. Bob is our new Property Manager. Northern Deke has decided that the cost of hiring an outside person to be the day-to-day contact for us was worth the cost.

We agree. Having someone “on call” that knows what he is doing is much better for the operations of the house, frees up time for the Alumni to do other things, and makes us more accountable of keeping the house clean. Bob’s a no nonsense kind of guy so we know what is expected of us.

The roof is done and the huge crane is gone. It is nice to have the parking lot open again. The new pipe for rainwater has been hooked up and now runs out into the parking lot. Not sure how that will work during major rains or ice during the winter time but we will deal with that when it happens.

Next up on the construction list is the window wells facing the boys next door. Sounds like the window wells will be filled in and put in glass block at the ground level with an exhaust fan so we can better air out the basement during social gatherings.

Oh, and the heater in the basement works again too. Nice.

Some guys went to Madison for Halloween. A few of our guys are from there so having a place to stay and park was not an issue. Last we heard all of our guys came back on one piece and without any tickets.

For those of us that stayed here there were a few parties to go to away from the house. For the most part is was a quiet weekend.

Week of October 17th, Let The Construction Begin

Paul our Chapter Advisor warned us that it was about to happen, he was not kidding. Monday and Tuesday we had guys doing tuck point work on the roof.

Wednesday we got word that the roofers were moving up their timeline and that we had to be out of the parking lot by 3 pm on Thursday.

Thursday and Friday they took off the old roof and started on the new one. We also had plumbers breaking through the concrete wall in the boiler/laundry room to run a new rainwater run off pipe from the roof to the back lot.

We have also had the window well drains outside capped and there is talk of filling that in and replacing the old basement windows with glass block and a dual fan for the basement.

The boiler was inspected and each room in the house had its steam traps and valves looked at. The idea is to make sure we are running as efficient as possible this winter.

Saturday we had hoped they would finish the roof but the weather forecast was for rain. Wouldn’t you know it, a perfect day to be outside. That’s the way it goes…

More Homecoming Pics

Better late than never…

Week of October 10th, Wisconsin Badger Football Game, Dekes Of Hazard

It was a quiet week. That was until the weekend. It was the football game against Wisconsin after all. Not saying much about the football game as the last 90 seconds or so were awful at best.

That night, 15^th, we had our Dekes of Hazard party. For some reason or another we do not seem to have any pics from the evening. Needless to say there were many Dekes and guests dressed in appropriate Hazard attire. We had a good time and had a great turnout.

Brotherhood Event Pics

The Deke boys got together for a brotherhood event at the beginning of October. Took a while to get some suitable pics to post. Here goes:

Sunday in Ann Arbor

Forgot to mention earlier that the Tulane boys left the game early. That’s right. Football is king in Louisiana and they rode along to Ann Arbor to see the game, and they left early. There is a word to be used here but it’s not at all politically correct.

We made arrangements with Dennis, DKE Staff, to meet him at The Shant so the Tulane boys could get a tour.

After that we went to lunch, err breakfast. Paul and Jason left early, as they had to get the rental car back and to the airport for their flight back. There’s a word for that too, but, moving on…

Our drive back was rather uneventful except for the dead deer in the road that Dave ran over with Lindsay’s car. Put a nice dent in it.

Overall we had a great weekend, met a lot of new friends in Michigan, know more about our Alumni and their stories that we will one-day use against them, and saw a great game.

We are already making plans for next year’s Michigan game at the Metrodome. We have invited our Michigan Brothers and Alumni to Minneapolis.

Minnesota Dekes are making plans for a trip to Ohio State and meet our Deke brothers there.

Saturday Night In Ann Arbor

The campus is more laid back then Minnesota. They do not have the festivities that we do or the organized parties after the Homecoming game. So were on our own for the most part.

Dave and the Alumni went to quite a few bars wearing their Minnesota gear. Sounds like they had a really good time and from what they said the locals were friendly towards them.

The rest of us hung out, watched some of the games on that night, and found a few parties to go to.

One really good story to share. The Tulane boys were talking to some girls and were talking about the hurricane and stuff. It’s a great icebreaker with the girls. Well the girls were on their way to a party and they asked if the Tulane boys had any plans for the night. About this time Omar walks up to the group. The girls ask Omar where he is from. He answers Minnesota. The girls left.

Turns out being from Tulane is only cool as long as you’re not hanging with guys from Minnesota after their team has lost the Little Brown Jug.

On To The Shant

It’s a good distance to walk from The Big House to The Shant. Nice walk on a nice day after a nice win though makes it a lot easier.

Paul and Jason made it there right before we did. So we all walked into The Shant and up the stairs singing the Minnesota Rouser. We got a warm welcome of boo’s as we walked in but it was all in fun.

We spent a couple of hours talking with the Michigan Alumni. We met David Easlick, DKE Executive Director, for the first time. Saw a lot of DKE memorabilia.

Back to the Michigan chapter house for a much needed nap and shower.

Minnesota vs. Michigan, Battle For The Little Brown Jug

What an amazing game. That’s all we have to say. Go Gophers!!!

The Big House is good place to see a game. Although with that many people in a stadium we thought it would be a lot louder than it was.

Ann Arbor, Friday – Saturday before the game

So we are a little behind on our blog posting including the blog a day from Ann Arbor. Below are some pictures from the trip to the Big House and The Shant.

We left Minneapolis on Friday afternoon. Dave, Tim, and Matt. Pledges were Dan and Omar. Tulane guys Stephen, Phil, and Robert. Crush Princess Lindsay too. Lindsay was driving the Tulane boys in her car the whole way.

We Stopped at Tim’s house in Madison for dinner and a switch of cars. We did not make to Ann Arbor until around 3 am Eastern Time. Between the 12-hour drive, too many stops along the way, dinner in Madison, we made the trip a lot longer than it needed to be.

To make the drive worse our Alumni, Paul and Jason, were calling us as they went on to each bar. Paul and Jason flew to Detroit on Friday morning. Heck, they landed before a couple of us even woke up that morning.

Anyway, they called at 2 pm on their way to lunch with DKE Staff member Andrew. Apparently they went to a bar every hour or so because we logged that many calls.

It sucked to know they were having that much fun and we had a long way yet to go.

We tried to get our revenge. We called them as we pulled into town. Unfortunately they had turned their phones off before going to sleep.

The Michigan Dekes were not so fortunate. We caught one guy on his way to bed and coerced him into staying up with us.

After all, we just got there and we were not going to bed. So we started tailgating right there in the front yard of the Michigan Deke house at a very early hour.

As the sun came up some of the Michigan guys woke up and came down to tip a few with us. At 8 am we were allowed to wake up the rest of the chapter house. Some of them were not yet pleased to see us but after a few beers they liked us a lot.

Dan our Pledge was given the phone list of the Michigan Pledges to call. Dan and Omar wanted some other “new” guys to hang out with them.

Dave, Matt, and Tim met Paul and Jason, our Alumni, at the Minnesota Alumni Association tailgating location at Pioneer High School. Paul and Jason looked very refreshed. Us, not so much.

Apparently Paul had a few beers for breakfast and he was more jacked up for a Gopher game than usual. We see Paul a lot and he usually acts old and mature. He is 35 after all. But this day he was getting ready for the game. He has been attending Gopher football games since he was 12, season ticket holder with his Dad, and was at the Michigan game two years ago in the Metrodome. Paul and Jason were at Ann Arbor last year too. Needless to say they were hoping for a big win.

We also met Al another Minnesota Deke Alum who is now living in Kalamazoo, MI. Paul and Jason bumped into Al last year accidentally at the Michigan game at the same place. They had not seen each other in 10+ years.

It was approaching game time so we made the walk to The Big House…