Novi Time
I hadn't seen Novi in three weeks... and hadn't talk to her in nearly two weeks. Each time I call they aren't home... busy time of year for everyone. So this weekend I went to Chicago. I arrived late on Friday night. I had to pack for my trip to Ohio University on Monday (I am driving straight from Chicago there) and then the horrible rain storm slowed down my a lot. I got there and she was sleeping at her Abuela's house. I picked her up to take her home... as she was walking up for me to take her to the car... she told me... "Papi, I learned how to read... finally." For those who keep up on my blog you will get the joke (if not read two posts below).

Saturday we played in the morning, she spelled words on my computer and watched some Sponge Bob. Then we got ready for a birthday party of Novi's friend Carissa. Tamara and I are friends with Carissa's parents (one of Tamara's sorority sisters and one of my frat Brothers). I took Novali because Tamara had class and was not able to go.

The Clown's "business card" was a picture with her number on it for kids to color and take home. Clever.

The clown at the party was great! This was Novi's balloon animal.

Novi got her face painted and a tatoo on her hand. She was mad that she was not picked to be a volunteer for the magic show. She got over it and enjoyed her hot dog and small glass of sprite.

Saturday night we worked on a light catcher. Heather bought the craft for Novi to do as a birthday present for Tamara (on Sunday). We got to work on that, and I got to enjoy how compulsive Novi is when working on projects. Everything had to be exactly perfect. Each grain of the plastic had to be in the right place. I was surprised though when she picked her own pattern for colors and not the paint by numbers they have on the box. I was more impressed though... when doing the second bug that she noticed that the color she picked would not be enough to do both sides of the wings, so she picked another color. Wow... I probly wouldn't of noticed that until half way through the project.

All set up and ready to roll.

It took two hours... grain by grain...

Bug number 2... grain by grain...

All done!

I think she really understood the concept of the plastic melting in the oven into glass (or glasslike). It was a fun project. Novi would surprize her mother in the morning with it.

Sunday was Tamara's birthday. Un benounced to me (I was still sleeping) Novi woke up and went into her Mother's room to surprise her with the gift. It's funny that I am sure it was the first thing on her mind to get up and give her mom the present. Kinda like when she yelled happy birthday to wake me up a few weeks ago. Tamara opened some gifts and we had a late breakfast that Syed prepared. Then I hit the road...

Monday I was speaking at Ohio University in Athens, OH. So I decided that on Sunday I would drive to Columbus, OH for the night. It was a nice 7 hour drive... ouch... but I got to a nice comfy hotel and prepared for my following days presentations. So Monday I awoke in Columbus and drove an hour and half to Athens. Wow it was a beautiful campus! Founded in 1804 it is an old school with lots of tradition. I was there to give a Hazing lecture to kick of their programs for National Hazing Prevention Week. I was more excited about the consulting I was hired to do working with their multicultural Greeks in starting a new council there. One more experience for OutSight Consulting.

Monday after the presentation I drove to Findlay, OH to spend the night. Another comfy hotel, some time spent in the hot tub before bed was just what I needed. This morning I woke up at 6:30am and drove to Albion for work. It was a lt of driving this weekend, and a lot of fun...

Common weekend site... coffee cup and my Siruis radio tunes.

4 days... nearly 1100 miles.

Back in Albion... well for a few days at least. FYI, new photos on Novi's page: Novi's Pics