Whats the Haps
So what's been happening since my last blog? I thought March was busy... Well April was as well and its been four crazy weeks... in the last 5 weeks I have had three fraternity trips. One for my Board of Directors Meeting just outside of Chicago, one to Washington DC for the North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) House of Delegates Meeting and Congressional Reception, and this weekend I was in Houston for the National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations (NALFO) convention.

All of those trips were a ton of fun. I wish I had some pictures to share. In between those trips I was also very busy. The weekend between SLB and NIC Meeting I went to Michigan for a regional fraternity meeting in Ann Arbor and then up to Saginaw to spend some time with Raquel, her girls and my Uncle Ed and Aunt Cyndi. Despite the busy time traveling and driving spending time with family and just relaxing on the couch catching up is very nice.

SLB Board Meeting at the Hyatt Schuamburg, IL.

My Desk in April... Argh...

Hippies in Ann Arbor

Valerie hard at work

Just before my NIC Meeting I went to Chicago for the night. It was just before Novali's birthday. Tamara and I went together got her a bike. Friday night we went out to Chuck E Cheese and had a great time. Back home we put her to bed, and then Syed and I put her bike together for her... in the morning we surprised her with the bike in he living room. She was excited and I hope she does learn to ride soon without training wheels and we can ride around South Bend this summer. I missed her kid party on Saturday... but it was fun just doing a family thing with her.

Novi's birthday presents!

Ready to ride.

Chuck E Cheese

In DC... the pencil.

Simon Boliviar

The Blossoms in DC

In between my NIC and NALFO trips was an even busier weekend here in South Bend. Here on campus we hosted a dance marathon on April 19th. It was a 24 hour Dance for the Homeless. Our campus worked with a local agency here to raise money for their homeless shelter. It was a HUGE event... we even had Regis Philbin on campus come and do some announcements! He talked about our event on his show twice, on Monday April 21 (Monday show) he talked about the Dance Marathon and showed photos. It was a ton of fun... and a ton of work to pull the event off but we did!

Also... like that weekend... like it wasn't busy enough was the first autocross for my new club here in South Bend (South Bend SCCA). I didn't want to miss the event, and despite the lack of sleep I went out to compete. I slept in between heats and even nearly missed my driver meeting cause I was napping. Anyhow... bad luck of the draw, in my class I have two drivers who compete nationally! Man... so now I really need to get good in order to start winning. I took third in my class which was good (behind the two fast guys) for my lack of sleep. Total times for the event from all 86 drivers put me in 25... not too shabby for a guy operating on a couple hours of combined nap time.

IUSB Dance Marathon!

Live with Regis

AutoX at the Tire Rack

Rim Heaven...

#86 G Stock ready to roll

TeamPLP

Houston trip... so so... it was a fun city, the meetings were grueling though. My Brothers in the area took us out both nights I was in town and it was a good time. We had some adventures and it will be on the list of places I need to visit again some time. What was fun about this and other trips... being close to Chicago I go out there the day before my flight and spend some time with Novali, and get to see her after the trips as well. Its great.

Speaking of Novali... yesterday after my return flight we of course went to BDubs (her favorite place to eat!). they call it Buffalo Wild Wings in Chicago for you non-Michigan readers. Afterwards we went and got her a haircut. She wanted her bangs cut again and her a little shorter. It was cute and she was very good and patient while the lady cut her hair.

Haircut time

The bangs are back!

Then it was back to South Bend... more work... this week is a tad hectic. I have another big event this weekend so things aren't slowing down around here at all. It has been nice being able to see Novali more regularly even though it was for shorter times. I will have her this weekend here in South Bend. I hope the weather get a little better.

Some family updates... wow there has been a lot. Andres graduates with his MBA from UDel at the end of May, Miguel just got a new tenure track job at Mount St. Union outside of Baltimore so him and Kate are moving, Raquel is busy working and taking care of the girls, and my parents have planned their summer visit. So lots going on...

I posted a link to these pics in larger format. Pics