Momo, Momo, Momo... pass me a tissue.
Despite being sick... I needed to get some car work done. My new steering wheel has been sitting around for a while and this week I got the last part I needed to do the install. So Wednesday afternoon... I got down and dirty and worked on the ride. It felt good, read further for more info on the install (I started writing this blog a few days ago and just now finishing it).

Epsilon Chapter Retreat
I was in Kalamazoo for the last two days. I went down on Thursday with Ramon and Ramiro to see the WMU gang at Club Soda. The place is the same and it reminded me of some good times. Colleen, Marcie & Ismael, Zandy and I ended the night with a trip to The Big Burrito. I can't belive Zandy has been at WMU for nearly a year and had not been there... Hermen you need to visit more and take your sister out.

Friday we ate breakfast at Theo & Stacy's, and then we had our first meeting. It was awesome to get us alums together with the Brothers. Later we took a break and headed to the mall. It was funny watching 6 Betas go sale shopping. We got some sweet deals at Marshall Fields and then ate in the food court. It was fun clowning around and hanging out. We restarted the meeting over at Geo's place for a few hours and then shot pool at Bilbo's Pizza.

Friday night we went to Wayside for a Mardi Gras party. Reymall snagged a great table and we watch people trip over a loose piece of carpet for a while and ate some fries I never paid for.... yeah! We ended the night with a trip to Steak & Shake. In a matter of 2 days we managed to do all the things we used to do in Kalamazoo. Oh yeah, and today on my way home... got some Qdobas!

Now I am home, I need to do laundry and get ready for a busy week of traveling. Monday I am heading to Chicago to spend time with Novali. Then Wednesday I fly to Oregon. I need to get things organized because once I get back I will have a lot of close deadlines. I also need to keep fighting off this cold... Fun fun fun.

Back to the car story from Wednesday...
When I bought my car it had an older steering wheel in it, no airbag anymore. I have been wanting to get it replaced. I installed a Momo Thunder Wheel and hub kit. The things looks great and really pulls all my Momo accessories together (shifts knob, brake handle, seats, floor mats, and leather shift boots).

The steering column torn apart.

The messy wires.

I was still not able to get my horn to work. I needed to get the wheel back on (since I drive this car everyday) so I did not have a lot of time to mess with the wires. I am going to read up on what it will take to work out the horn and do it once I get some more warm weather.

She looks great!

Rub-a-dub-dub... sweaky clean.

After the install I ran over to the car wash and got her nice and clean. It was a mini-Love Your Car Day. I had to take advantage of the warm weather.

What was sad is that I noticed a rust spot coming back on my car... just a small one. I love my little NX, I hope she does not require more body work soon. Either way I got to get her ready for racing this summer. Speaking of racing I have a quick poll.

I graduate on April 24th. That same day there is a race with my Car club, actually the first of the year for my group. Should I skip commencement? I rather my family come out and watch me race on my graduation day and be out in the sun then sit inside a stuffy arena and watch me get another folder with no diploma in it. Ideas? Suggestions?

I am sick... where's my travel agent?
I have been busy... but the pile of stuff is getting manageable. However, now I am starting to feel a little bit sick. My throat is scratchy and I am feeling under the weather. Yes I said under the weather. This is the worst time for me to get sick, I am on a roll and I need to keep things running. Hopefully the vitamin cough drops Becky gave me help!

Okay so I need a travel agent folks. I travel a lot, more then the average bear. I the last 90 days I have been out of the country, to Texas and to Chicago countless times. I already have a few big trips planned for this year, Hollywood this coming fall, Orlando this summer, and San Francisco twice. Well yesterday I got a call and the University of Oregon wants me to fly out and help facilitate an IMPACT Weekend there. I did one of these for the University of Texas - Arlington and I loved it. This program is put on by the North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC, if you visit their site, click on educational programs, then click on IMPACT, I am on the testimonials page) and when I attended as an undergrad it mad a big difference on views of Greek Life.

My next trip will be three weeks after that when I travel to San Francisco for the Western Region Greek Association Conference (WRGLC). I am excited for that trip, I love the San Francisco area. During all of my business trips I plan in some time to visit and have fun. I have two extra days planned in Eugene, OR and three extra days in San Francisco. I recommended Becky for a conference staff position and she will be there in San Fran as well. Who doesn't want a free trip to the West coast?

Also tomorrow night I am heading to Kalamazoo. My chapter is doing a little retreat on Friday and I want to go early and go out. I think some Salsa with Colleen and Marcie, the Gamma neos, is what the doctor ordered for this cough I am developing. I will see Rey again and Vic better come out, along with the undergrads and for sure everyone's favorite masters student, the Geo. Good times and good way to kick off spring break!

Spring Break is two and a half days away...

The Weekend Report
Last week was stressful. On top of my school work and jobs I had to prepare presentations for this weekend and get things my stuff finalized for the thesis focus group. Now things are over and the focus group is running as I write this... we had a good student turnout and I want to give a huge thanks to Jose and Gaby from MSU for coming to facilitate the group. THANK YOU!

(MGCA) Conference was awesome! It was a great networking opportunity as always and my presentations all went well. Thanks to Aaron Haight and Michelle Guobadia who both presented with me and the Miami University for asking me to be part of their panel discussion. Having the faculty demarkation on my name tag was just plain out cool!

Out of 1600 attendees... Santiago and I were the only Betas.

The GVSU delegation at the final banquet.

While there I also had a quick board meeting for the Western Region Greek Association. The conference we put on is getting close and we have a lot to do... I had an awesome experience at MGCA doing research for WRGA. I got to be in the AV booth and help with their final banquet. Being in the booth with the headphones and helping with all the equipment was a great learning experience. The AV at WRGA is going to rock this year!

The highlight of the weekend was getting to hangout with Novali. She was not too keen on meeting new people there and so we did not stay with the GVSU group. We had fun getting some Mexican food and she showed me some new art work she has done. I love posting her pictures by my desk at work.

Placing her order, she loves reading the menu.

She has this dress that she loves to put on... as soon as we got home she ran to grab it.

I got her PJs on... and like a good little monkey she wanted to jump on the bed.

Laying down with Papi and trying to sleep.

Friday night went out. That week was Angel's (Novali's uncle) 21st birthday and Tamara and I threw him a party. I wanted to help as a thank you for the times he watches Novali and has been a help. We went to Transit a Latin/Hip Hop club in Chicago. The place has three rooms, one with Latin music, another with new Hip Hop, R&B and Reggae and then the final room has slower and older Hip Hop music. The place has a great atmosphere. Happy Birthday Angel.

Angel and Tamara.

Tamara and her friends all came out.

Reymall came out and we chilled like always...

Rey doing his thing..

The focus group is still running right now... Becky is stressing over if the tape recording will work. I am wondering how much longer it will take. We are both procrastinating and not looking forward to the paper we have due this Tuesday for our Career Guidance class.

Spring Break is one week away...

Off to MGCA
This will be my fourth year attending the Mid-American Greek Council Association (MGCA) Conference. I attended twice as a student at Western Michigan and this will be my second time attending as a professional with GVSU.

This year is exciting because I am presenting and facilitating. Not only am I presenting, but I am doing three topics! I am doing one called "Your Council Dot Com", which is a program about why Greek councils need websites, ideas for building them, and resources to help them realize their online potential. I am doing one program with Aaron Haight, my supervisor at GVSU, called "My Culture, Your Culture, Greek Culture" which is about commonalities between Greek organizations and ideas for collaboration. My final presentation is with Michelle Goubadia who is a Zeta Phi Beta from North Carolina and that is called "Stepping, Handsigns and all those Shrieks: what's it all about?". That program will be fun! It is about the traditions of culturally based Greek organizations and how groups can respect the differences.

The University of Miami-Ohio Greek Life office has asked me to participate in a discussion with their students on Friday morning. I will provide the viewpoint of a member of a historically Latino fraternity and involved on the national level. I am pretty excited about this because it is something not normally done at MGCA. I am glad to be involved in this trial run. If I end up living in Chicago as planned I would like to get more involved with the MGCA Conference.

So needless to say I will have a busy weekend. I also will steal time away to see Novali of course! The last two years I took her with me to dinner with the Western Michigan crew. The GVSU group went to a rowdy bar for Friday dinner and I really didn't feel right taking Novali. Steve no longer works at WMU so I am not sure what my dinner plans will be this time.

Snowboarding update: I think I seriously injured my shoulder. It is still very sore and it has been three days now. I have a bad feeling that I might have really hurt something there... when I get back from Chicago I will have to get it checked out.

NX 2000 update: In a prior post I mentioned I had not talked about my car in a while. Now she is headed back to the shop... boo hoo... I am not sure how but I managed to crack one of my rear rotors. I have cross-drilled race prepped rotors.

I gave her a wash this week.

The cracked rotor.

I always figured I would blow one in a race... like I did my exhuast... not while tooling around Allendale! I have to make a special trip with her to Holland, MI to take her back to my shop. Not many places are willing to mess with my custom brake set up. If it was not so cold I would try it myself! Team PLP really needs a garage...

Whoa... lots of updates
A lot has happened in the last few days. First off my team did not win the GVSU CSAL Case Study Competition. I had a good time and learned a ton. Mike made a great partner and even though we did not spend a huge amount of time on the presentation I think it was awesome. I wish all three judges would have stayed awake for the presentation though...

The team in action.

Striking a pose with Mike.

On Friday I also got my pictures from Monsters, Inc. on Ice with Novali. They turned out pretty good. Go to Novali's website to see all the pictures. Novalí

It was great to watch the show with her.

She loved the $10 snowcone.

Saturday was the best valentines day I have had in a long time. I slept in, cleaned my room, then went out. Becky called and wanted to get some dinner. So Ramon and I headed out to Grandville. The lines at places were crazy, so we decided to go to the mall. I returned a few shirts to Banana Republic (I hate trying stuff on) and then ended up finding some awesome old guy shoes at the Buckle and a new Fossil watch. We ended up eating at Qdoba's. Then I went home and cleaned the bathroom (it is my turn in house duties). What a day.

Becky talked me into snowboarding today. It was something I wanted to try when I was younger and was a skater. I did not know anyone who did winter sports really. It is an expensive sport and I was all into my soccer once I got into high school and lost interest. We went with Tommy and his girlfriend Laura. I did not really dress for the occasion but it was fun. I am in a world of hurt right now from falling on my butt, my knees and twisting my arm pretty bad. Despite the pain I want to try it again, maybe I won't end up so sore this time.

Taking a break. I usually landed on my butt and would rest before trying to get up again.

Trying to ride down the hill. Notice the snow all over my jeans?

This weekend was relaxing, and this week will be fun. I am presenting three different programs at MGCA and am looking forward to have the "Presenter" tag on my name tag! Sam's all grown up.

And their off...
At 12:00 PM today the GVSU CSAL 2004 Case Study Competition kicked into high gear. Teams were randomly assigned this year and the competition looks great. We have 24 hours to come up with a solution to a case dealing with higher education administration. My team (I got paired with first year grad Mike Slocum) presents pretty early this year.

Last year Becky and I won this thing and took the $500 prize. I also won the national Order of Omega competition with Shawna in December 2003. So I have a lot of pressure to perform. I am trying to not think about that, I am doing this for the fun and hopefully $500. The excitement of the competition is there and it has gotten me excited. Too bad I work all afternoon and Mike has class tonight. We will have little prep time tonight.

I just want to wish everyone luck tomorrow. It will be a ton of fun.

Weekend
I had some good travels the last few days. I got to run over to Detroit for some potential client meetings. I did not land any new business but it was a great trip. I got to run into some old friends over there, namely my good friend Megan! We met over in Birmingham which is one of my favorite places in Michigan. We had a great lunch and caught up on everything that has been going on in our lives. She is working her way up the Banana Republic ladder at Sommerset Mall and I am avoiding the real world at all costs. It was a great time over on the east side of the state.

Then it was off to Chicago cause it is my weekend to see Novali. My chapter Brothers also were heading out there to hangout and relax and celebrate Gary's birthday. I picked them up on my way and we went to Chicago to meet up with Rey. Friday night they went to Transit, a club in Chicago, and I went to sleep cause I had to take Novali to Monsters Inc. on Ice in the morning.

Monsters Inc. was fun! At first I think Novali was confused. Being only two she did not understand that this was not the movie she is used to watching. After time to adjust, and once the annoying people in front decided to sit down, she enjoyed the show. She got a Monsters Inc. coloring book and had a blast.

Then we went to meet some of Tamara's sisters at the Cheesecake factory. The Brothers were supposed to come as well but they fell behind and then decided not to come. Before dinner Novali got to watch her mom try on make up at the Estee Lader counter in Marshall Fields and then played hide-and-go-seek with me in all the clothes racks. I pretended I could afford a $250 Armani dress shirt and then we went to eat. Grisel and Veronica met us for dinner. It was nice to see them again. Grisel is getting married this summer so I got to hear all the exciting plans.

Then finally I met up with Brothers again. Rey, Gary and Ismael met with us over to club Red No Five. We had a good time. Some Brothers from the University of Illinios-Chicago were there and we danced, some drinks, and caught up. The club was fun, not what I had expected, and there was nearly a fight outside between the bouncers some people they would not let it. I kinda watched to watch the bouncers boot the guys out cause they were holding up the line and it was cold out... but we finally got in. Cover was too high (20) for a regular looking club with a pretty bad DJ. Drinks as usual cost twice as much as in Michigan, but us Brothers had a good time either way. Hurting for funds today... but that is alright. A little Greek food after the bar and then hit the hay.

Red No 5

The basement

In the morning I went out to Mt. Prospect (suburb north of Chicago where Rey lives) and picked up Gary and Ish. We had lunch with Rey at Denny's and then rolled out back to Michigan. It was a fun weekend. We got to have fun, talk a little business, and I got lots of time with Novali.

What was sad though was on Sunday morning when Novali heard me say I was leaving she got all sad. Generally leaving is tough for me cause I wish I could stay more with her, this made it worse. She got all pouty and did not even want to kiss me goodbye. Saying goodbye is so hard to do... two weeks and I will see her again.

OutSight Design & Consulting
It was one and half years ago that I decided to start my own company. Originally I just designed some websites, shirts and other promotional material for some WMU groups I had worked with during my undergrad time there. It has started to grow into something much more and I am really excited for my newest client and some future opportunities. I signed a new client with the Michigan Medical Billers Association (MMBA) and have started doing website development for them. I am heading to Detroit for some meetings tomorrow with another potential client and a new t-shirt vendor. Some cool things are happening for my little upstart company.

Last year I designed a lot of different shirts with a few different vendors, did websites for engineering companies, a real estate property, a few other fraternal sites, and lots of t-shirts. I have gotten involved with some other types of marketing materials as well and even done some consulting on application support.

Here are some samples of what I have been up to lately, click on the text below each picture to visit that site:

My Home Page.

WRGA

CompuCraft

WMU Betas

Home 4 Sale

GVSU Greeks

Prototype Express

Shirts for SLB, SLG, GVSU, etc.

I really enjoy working on all these different type of projects. It makes life a little more interesting and keeps me doing diverse things so I do not get tired of doing the same thing. It also means I get to travel a little more as well, can't beat that!

For your technology needs... please email me at sales@outsightdesign.com

I remember when...
So this weekend I was in Kalamazoo. It was great to catch up with some fraternity Brothers. I missed a few like Vic who I thought was in town but he is still not back from NY, and Rey who I just talked to on the phone instead. However I made a strange realization over the weekend. It is official ladies and gentlemen... I am old.

My plans were to hit some of my old hangouts. Top on the list was Burdick's Bar and Grill. Which is on the first floor of the Radisson Hotel. It was the place I would always go with the IFC guys. On Sunday's WMU students got half off and we ate like kings. The cheesy spinach dip is awesome and the prime rib... well you all know how I feel about well cooked meat. The food was the same, but the entire place changed. They remodeled everything! I had to call my best friend (counterpart as we call eachother) Megan and tell her! I felt all old after I heard myself say, "Man this place has changed since I went to Western." I sounded like those 50 year-old alums you would see in the bookstore over Homecoming weekend talking about college before there were computers on campus...

Then I took a quick tour of the new engineering college. They built a new campus for the engineering college. It started when I was there but it is now finally all coming online. The buildings were awesome! Then I said, "Man I wish they had this stuff when I went here." Another old person comment. Kinda like wishing cars had been invented or something so I did not have to walk to class.

The redone Kalamazoo Radisson Hotel.

The Engineering main buiding.

It was a weekend of good memories. I looked through all of Geo's photo albums of his engagement, weddings and his last India trip. Man I had not been in his apartment for over a year! I remember when I used to go there like everyday after class to chill with him and Vic. I remember when you needed a place to stay over the summer... call Geo. I remember picking him up, and then heading over to get Vic for Club Soda every Thursday for Latin Night. Good times.

The guys had a little Superbowl gig at the house. I remember the days when I used to see them all the time. Now they don't even email (yeah I am talking to Gary and Rudy!) anyone. It was fun having to rush out and get Ish cause his car broke down, nothing like a last minute roadtrip like the "good old days"...

I remember...

Dashing through the Snow...
...in a one-horse open sleigh, over the hills we go... laughing on all the way... Ha Ha Ha.

No I am not in a one-horse sleigh or laughing all the way. I hate the snow, it sucks to drive in, the backs of your pant legs get that salt stripe on the back, your car always looks dirty, getting anywhere takes longer, you spend half the day putting warm clothes on and then taking them off, the inside of GVSU buildings are freezing, and dusting snow of your car is a pain!

So enough complaining. I needed to vent. I want to send a big shot out to the NX. My little NX 2000 has been a trooper. I have not gotten stuck, slid of the road, went out of control or had a hard time driving. She has been a total trooper. I was worried that with the winter rims and tires making her even lower to the ground she would struggle. But she is plowing through the snow and gripping the ice like a dream. I am so impressed. She just keeps on making me proud.

Piles of snow in front of the house.

The little NX, sitting on the winter rims.

I have not posted about the NX in a while. Mostly because I have not worked on her in a while. I do not have money to add any more cool things to her right now. She deserves something and I am not sure what right now. Maybe that MOMO steering wheel I have been meaning to install? Or how about finally hooking up the Satellite radio in her and getting the subs pumping. She deserves from TLC and I need to find the time to work on her.

At work, the NX gets me there on time and safely.

Here is the MOMO Wheel I have waiting to be installed.

This week I got a lot of things done. Wrapped up the Greek Leadership Conference stuff, just a few more things to do and that will be ready to get handed off to the new grad next year. Becky and I had a good thesis meeting and tonight we will crank out even more. And this weekend I am going to head to Kalamazoo to watch the SuperBowl with my chapter down there. It will be fun!

Oh The Snow
So we have a snow day. Classes as of 6pm were canceled at GVSU. So that meant no night class and I got to take a break for the night. So I am trying to get caught up on a few things. I finally got all my Bolivia pictures ready for the web. Here they are:

Bolivia 2003

Once you click on a thumbnailed picture you will get the full-size one with a description of the picture. If you follow them from the start to end they are in the same order as my trip. Also I explained most of the trips and other things in my blogs for the those days. Just look back for the details. The gallery will be up for a while, but I will delete it soon because it is using a lot of server space.

For the rest of my night I am planning to get some thesis work done, organize my room a little, finish some other class assignments, and also relax. I need to eat now and then get to work.

Maybe tomorrow will be another snow day. A man can always dream.

Michigan Weather
I think the conference was a success. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, the presentations all went very well and everything ran smoothly. I want to thank Shawna for putting up with my organizational style and we pulled this thing off. Good work. I am so proud of how it turned out.

I also want to thank Andres for being a presenter and all the Brothers of Sigma Lambda Beta who supported me and helped make this conference a success. I think multicultural Greek organizations made up about 15% of the participants. That speaks volumes on the direction of the leadership of those organizations (since we make up about 2% of the Greeks in the state). Thanks to the students who took a Saturday to come to GVSU. I hope you all had a good time while learning new things you can all apply back to your campus and local communities. Thanks again!

Alright... so today Andres and I came home to Saginaw to see Raquel and little Valerie. We also wanted to wish my mom happy birthday. Her birthday is this week so we wanted to come and have a family dinner. It was nice. But now I have a dilemma. Tomorrow I am supposed to have a meeting in Lansing with a client for Outsight. However the weather channel just posted a Severe Weather Alert until tomorrow, and are calling for severe weather until Tuesday! I can not be here that long. Here is the doppler now:

So... I am thinking of running to Lansing tonight so I can be there for my meeting. The weather forcast for the Grand Rapids area is not as bad. So maybe from Lansing to GR will be fine so I can get back to my place tomorrow afternoon to work at CompuCraft. Time will tell.

Well I got to check on my laundry (got to wash clothes when I go home, its free) and call Andres to see how the weather is there and decide if I make the drive tonight still. Wish me luck getting home.

The waiting game
T minus 24 hours to the Greek Leadership Conference... everything is ready. Just have to pick up booklets from the print shop, wait for shirts to arrive, get speakers from airport and keep Shawna (also know as Shauna Colin from having a nervous breakdown about the budget)... and we are a go for lift off!

We had a typical poorly written Grand Valley Lanthorn article about the conference. The article can be viewed here, Lathorn on-line. The picture is actually of Alpha Sigma Phi from recruitment. Half the quotes are wrong and none of the facts are right. But they wrote about Greeks, so in a way I am happy. We now have over 250 registered and maybe more registering on site. I am very excited, this is going to be great.

After the conference I am heading to Saginaw. My brother Andres is coming and presenting at the conference, so he will stay with me and then off to Saginaw in the morning. I took Monday off work at GVSU so I just have to swing back in time to work at CompuCraft. Also... I have a meeting with a potential client for OutSight Design and Consulting. Wish me luck on that and the conference this weekend.

Peace!

Pictures
Yes I know, Bolivia pictures. They are coming, really they are. Just not this week. Getting everything done for this conference here at GVSU this weekend has consumed my time. However I did squeeze in some time to edit some Novali photos from her visit last weekend with my parents. I wanted to take a break this morning to do something fun, here they are:

Reading her LeapFrog book with my parents.

Running down the hallway, if you have ever seen her run you will find this funny.

Swimming with grandpa.

With her mami getting dry after the pool.

I also have a video here to post as well. I am putting this on her website as well, but here is the link. You need to have Quicktime loaded on your computer to view the video. Us Mac user will already have it loaded, you PC users might need to download it.
Video Clip

Alright I got to get back to work now. Finishing up a few things at Compucraft and now heading to GVSU for the rest of my day. Adios.

Single Genius
Becky IMed me today to tell me that she found that we have Aristotle and Plato to thank for Table of Contents and other writing items of interest. For some reason the first thing that popped in my head was to ask, "Were both of them single?"

Why would I ask such a question? They were both single (actually I just looked it up, and Aristotle was married, but briefly). Two of the greatest minds ever, were not only friends (Plato was Aristotle's tutor), but they both died single. They dedicated their lives to something besides the pursuit of love. They never had to worry about anniversary gifts, visiting in laws, finding a reception hall, or trolling the singles bars.

Is this a weird post? Yes. Maybe weirder then my spork one, but follow me here.

Greatness. What makes a man (or woman) great? How does one measure that? Is it the combination of all accomplishments; a body of work or an heir?

This weekend Becky and I went to the Detroit Autoshow. What beauty, what style, pure ingenuity. Many of those cars are a legacy of a mans work sculpted in metal, shrouded with electronic gadgets and sitting on rubber. As a small child I dreamed of designing one of those, being the man behind the design, to be the creator of the vision.

The closest I came was working in an interior auto design studio. I worked on concept cars (Ariston, Kion and Playseat) and new car launches (namely the famous PT Cuiser, 2002 Accord, 2003 M Class). Living my dream, designing cars, being in meetings with the minds behind some of the most popular metal on the road. All these men were single, or divorced and never saw their kids. We worked 70 hour weeks together. We slaved over every detail of those cars. Our lives revolved around making those awe inspiring cars, to make kid's eyes pop, and adult's mouths drool. Similarly to how Plato and the early philosophers treated their trade.

One day I realized I wanted something else for my life. Every human wants to leave a legacy, wants to think that once they are gone the world will remember them. I decided I did not want my work to be my life, but rather my life to be my work. I started doing more things I wanted, crafting my life like a designer crafts a car.

So what am I trying to say? Lots of things.

Keep things in perspective.

Do what makes you happy, but not at the expense of others.

What you do is your legacy, so think out each action carefully.

Sometimes your childhood dreams should stay where they were... in the mind of child.

Don't be afraid to try. Trying is the one thing you will always succeed at.

Or in the words of the famed Henry David Thoreau:

My life has been the poem I would have writ,
But I could not both live and utter it.

I want my life to be a poem. Memorable, fascinating, tear jerking, dream creating, and so good you can taste it... and yes I think it should rhyme.

To Do List
I have a long to-do-list. I am not complaining. I had a great vacation and one of the draw backs is having to miss some work and school and make it up. I am making it up now.

In trying to keep up with work I have forgone the fun things in life. Like writing on my blog and posting pictures of Novali and my Bolivia trip. This will all get done this weekend, but for now I want to post some teaser pictures of what is coming soon and give some updates on life in Allendale, MI.

Valerie

Little Valerie and bundled up

Naked in the tub

Raquel is doing well with her little girl. Her and Daniel are handling everything as well as can be expected of first time parents. I remember what it was like... not knowing what to do, asking mom everything, non-stop gifts from dad for the kid, and hoping things turn out good. I hate that I was never there everyday to get the full experience, I am jealous of Raquel for that. Great pictures from our dad. He got a digital camera. Can't wait to see the pictures of Novali from the weekend dad... still waiting.

Novalí

Hanging around the house with the famous bunny, Nono.

Getting ready for the day (thats her potty... yeah for no more diapers)

On the way to Michigan she wanted milk...

...and juice at the same time!

When my family was in town we went to my favorite little bar...

With her Tio Andres at none other then BFE.

It was great seeing Novali when getting back from Bolivia. I did not see her for four weeks and it was killing me! Andres came, my mom got her in the pool, and my dad snapped a million photos (which I need copies of...). The weekend was great and got me relaxed before starting this crazy week.

Bolivia Pics

In La Paz walking around with Miguel.

At Rio Pirai with Felipe and abuelito.

I know you all want to see the Bolivia pictures. I took nearly 800 pictures and now I need to sort them and see what I want to put online. They will be up hopefully early next week. It will be a huge gallery so look out. I also will write a little about each picture.

Life
As crazy as work and things are I am feeling good about life right now. I made the decision that no matter what I am moving to Chicago this summer. I will not accept a job anywhere else. I had a hard time being away from Novali for four weeks, and I am tired of the long drives. I want to be closer. So Greek advisor job or not, I am moving to Chicago. I will find something, it is the one thing in life I can always count on, the unexpected good things. Life has a strange way of working itself out when you really need something, and I need to be closer. So that is that.

Car
No my car is not broken down, well not the Nissan. The Mercury just cost me a small fortune. Tamara lost the muffler to the car while driving over break, so I paid 200 bucks for that and an oil change. Then while on her way back to Chicago with Novali the car broke down... she needed to get towed. The bill for the repair was over 700 bucks. Ouch. When it snows it blizzards.

Weekend
Tonight: work and laundry. Not much fun. Tomorrow: work, meetings, and then thesis cram session with Becky. Not much fun. Saturday: Detroit Autoshow with Becky. Lots of fun! Sunday. Work, meetings, posting pictures, and maybe some time for fun, but I doubt it.

Life goes on. Thanks for reading and commenting folks. It makes my day.