Driving and Driving
My holidays are generally filled with a lot of driving, and this year was not exception. The major driving started last weekend with the fraternity Thanksgiving dinners, as well as the major eating...

The Epsilon Chapter, WMU Betas.

The new Alpha Gamma Chapter, GVSU Betas.

My break started on Wednesday when I planned to run to Grand Rapids to look at some potential hotels for my fraternity formal, pick up my laptop from CompuCraft and then buzz to Kalamazoo. However the snow put a major kink in those plans. Grand Rapids got hit with 8 inches of snow while I was there, and since I had not put the winter tires on my Sentra yet... I was a little stranded. It was good because Ramon and Heather also got stuck in Grand Rapids and we made it out and watched a ton of high school reunions, left the MargaritaGrill petting zoo, watched guys with no game, and exchanged some fun stories (Ramon - somethings you are never supposed to tell anyone...).

Thursday it was off to Meijer to get some last minute things, and also to Division street to a Latino grocery store to find some yucca. I found what I needed and rolled to Kalamazoo to get Vic and Miguel... well not that simple. My typical route, 131, was closed and I ended up taking side roads into Kalamazoo. Making a normally 45 minute trip into 1 and a half hours... wow... I got the guys and we headed to Albion... once again... traffic turned a 45 minutes drive into... yep, you guessed it... 1 and half hours. No fun at all!

The snow

Dinner table.

Snacks... snacks...

Dad carving the turkey... a dark on the outside, but just right on the inside.

Fried yucca, one of my favorite Bolivian foods I can get in the States.

I think everyone got seconds... and thirds.

The good food made the wait worth it. My parents arrived and we started to munch... summer sausage, shrimp, crackers, assorted nuts, chips and salsa, and plenty of Coca-Cola. Everyone played Dominos while I watched the last couple items cook and fired up the yucca. Then dinner was served... the Turkey got a tad over cooked (I must have bumped the oven temp while I was cooking other things... it got switched to 450!), and the yucca I bought was not the best (not in season) and the rest of great!

We ate like pigs, and then in Centellas tradition we looked up movie times. We decided to see the Incredibles. Excellent choice, we all loved the movie. From there Mom and Dad went home, and us guys went back to the house and watched more movies.

Friday morning I took the guys back to Kalamazoo. I also stopped at Office Max and got a 9.99 Wireless Router! Then I buzzed up to Grand Rapids again. The snow caused me to never make it to pick up my laptop on Wednesday, so I had to do that, and also Ramon and I planned to see some more hotels. It was a good trip (plus I was pumped about the router deal and getting my laptop back), and Ramon saw the Hilton and like I figured it made him want to have formal there as well... Ramon and I worked on our Formal 2005 proposal and we will see how it goes. Fingers crossed.

Friday night I drove to Chicago to see Novali. She was a little crabby but still my little angel. In the morning we played and had a great time. Nothing too special on this visit, it was cold and rainy so not many options of things to do outside anymore. We watched some movies and I chased her around the house pretending to be a monster trying to eat her arm. Saturday went to a wedding, which was in an amazing church! The reception was also very nice, out in Joilet. Not much of a wedding guy.

Hide and Go seek...

hiding in the closet

Sunday her and I played some more, watched Lion King, and had breakfast (I had coffee, she had cereal). Then I took off back to Michigan. This past couple days I spent a lot of time in my car. It was great to get around and take a break from work. Today I tried to get caught up on things before taking off to Hollywood... the to-do-list is getting larger then the amount of time I have left... ah! Also, my laptop is acting a little funny since getting worked on, I am worried they did something wrong to her. With all the stuff I got going on right now I can not afford to be without my computer, or more importantly time to drive to Grand Rapids again to drop it off and pick it up.