Fall is Here!
So by the end of the week Albion will of had its first snow of the year... yep its that time of the year. BOO!

Speaking of Boo... its that time of the year as well. Where as I have never been a big Halloween fan of course Novi is and I spent the weekend out there. We bought a costume and Novali will be Sleeping Beauty (Princess Aurora). We went to a little makeshift Fall Fest in Chicago. The hayride was pulled by a tow truck, the horse rides were on a basketball court, and the pumpkin patch was a fenced in area with small pumpkins thrown around. All in all a fair attempt to bring the country to the city... but just not the same.

There was a petting zoo at the Fall Fest.

Novi looked through the patch, and found her pumpkin.

They had some inflatable games, those were her favorite.

She climbed over and over again.

We had some fun working on some craft projects Heather sent along with me again. I also got to help her with some homework as well. We went to the mall and looked at winter coats and shoes for the wedding. She is getting excited for her role in Miguel's wedding. It was a fun little weekend.

Decorating her candy bucket.

Trick or Treat!

She is working on tying her shoes now.

Some of her homework from school.

Well this week is Homecoming at Albion, so I am busy with that... and it is also Homecoming at WMU so I am trying to get over there as well to see some folks. Not too busy, just a lot of places that I want to be...

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

Race Weekend!
Lots of fun things this weekend... it started with a drive to Allendale to visit the guys at GVSU. Nothing big planned, I needed a place to crash for my race on Saturday in Muskegon so it was perfect for me to crash with the guys. We got some drinks and watched football at Main Street Pub. I can't believe how big Allendale is now!

Saturday it was off to the My Import Auto Center in Muskegon. It was a smaller lot which is good for my under powered car. I have never been to this event, but this dealer is a huge import specialist. They sell all types of imports and they did a big event for our car club. They brought out some of their special sponsored cars, and had free lunch for everyone. I was excited coming off the Grattan event cause I knew on a smaller course I could compete a little more.

I love car shopping...

Numbers on... ready to go!

I had a smaller heat but did well... actually really well. Unfortunately I did not place... I fell one spot short in 4th. It was a great outing... I was running good times. I was keeping up in my heat and moving up spots slowly. As usual I had the smallest motor and probably the lowest horse power in my class... so gaining on faster cars takes work! Anyhow... we had 6 runs... after 5 runs I was in 4th and knew I needed to do a lot more to move up. My car was struggling coming out of the sharp corners... my tuned suspension handled the curves well, and my knew brakes helped cool my speed into the big turns, but my lack of power was costing me time coming out of corners. I figured if I down shifted into 1st in the apex of the turns I might be able to get a little more pick up out of corners. I knew this would redline my car and hit my rev limiter quickly... but it was worth the shot. I tried this before at races and it never worked well, but I thought this time I could do it and have it work. So I tried it...

In the first sharp corner of the course I pulled out of it in first... BAM... finally the pull I needed and I cleared the corner well. At the third corner I did it again... YES... OH Wait... whats all that smoke? I flew out of the corner... but in my rear view I could see nothing but white smoke. I didn't give it a second thought and pushed to finish the course, so I took the third corner the same way and it worked. I flew towards the finish and did it perfectly! Oh but wait, right at the finish line I hit a cone... just one of the ones that is there to slow you after you finish, but still counts against you. So that run was docked... so what about the non-docked time you ask? It would of moved me into a trophy...

This is corner two... nice slide.

The last straight away...

The car is okay... I think I have a gasket going bad... I need to have it looked at. I took my 6th run slow despite all desires to push her hard again. I drove home proud of the accomplishment... and they gave me a T shirt for biggest smoke out. Ha... FYI: for those of you out there that wonder about my racing and how I do... Let me list some of the cars that I beat on Saturday... I killed a 240SX Nissan, a Nissan SER, Honda Del Sol, Mitsubishi Eclipse, Pontiac Grand Prix, 2 different Mazda RX7s, some Miatas and of course a Honda Civic. I wonder how much better I would do with a better set up car for AutoCross... who knows... but I love racing and it was a good weekend.

How was the rest of the weekend? Saturday night was a party at GVSU and that was fun. Hungout with the guys, ate some burger king, and just chilled. Sunday I went back to Albion for our Latino Dinner to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month events for our Organization for Latino/a Awareness. A few tamales, some rice and beans and the weekend was complete.

I better get some sleep... Ciao.

Novali and School
So Novali started school this week... it was fun. I called her on the first day and talked to her. She was excited about new friends and of course GYM!

Tamara sent me some pics of her first day of school, and her gym outfit!

She made it very clear to me... she wears a girl tie, not a boy tie.

Ready for gym... posing with a little doll.

So today Tamara emailed me a story from Novali on her way to school this morning. I had to post it:

So we're driving to school this morning and she goes, "I don't like school because we're not learning how to read and write yet." So I say, "Well, it's only the first week. You have to be patient." And she says, "I'm trying to be patient but every day I go to school and wait and wait and then the end of the day comes, and NOTHING!"

Its funny cause she is so literal about everything. I mentioned that in my last post. Also when her and I talked over the weekend about school I asked her if she was excited for school to learn things like reading and writing. So now she is expecting it... she is only in kindergarten!

Big Weekend!
So this was a big weekend! Not only was it a nice three day weekend, but I had Novali, it was my birthday, and I had my first race on a real track. So needless to say I was driving all over and keeping busy.... but whats new right?

I started the weekend taking Friday morning off of work. I met Tamara and picked up Novali and took her to work with me that afternoon. She is not as shy anymore and was a lot of fun at work, she talked to everyone, and even told Kristi that she needs to dust her office cause it was dirty... man! Novali has become very observant of things, like when I first picked her up she told me my car was fast and bouncy (I got new stiffer suspension). She picks up on everything and is very literal when you tell her things. Like on Sunday she got scared of a praying mantus... large bug... so I told her... "You aren't afraid of bugs are you?", she responded, "Nope... I am not scared of lady bugs and butterflys, those are bugs."

After work on Friday we hungout and went for ice cream with Heather. The weather was not as nice as I had hoped but we had fun at my apartment. Saturday was a fun day... we woke up and watched the Wiggles, had breakfast and then got ready for the day. First on the agenda was a trip to Cereal City. It was not what I expected... most of the display were for older kids. However Novali had a blast meeting Tony the Tiger and getting her picture on a box of Frosted Flakes. We did get to see how they make Froster Flakes and play some games.

After that was a trip to the mall... just hungout, she played in the kids place and we had a late lunch. Then it was off to Heather's place. Her parents came to visit so we got a soccer ball and some hot dogs and brats and grilled at her apartment. Novali kicked the soccer ball around, played with some of the local kids, and then we ate. It was fun just grilling and relaxing and enjoying the nice weather. Too bad it was too cold at night for the fireflies cause I had hoped to catch some with Novali.

Sunday was fun... it was my birthday. It was great, Novali came and woke me up... I was trying to open my eyes and asked Novali if she wanted me to put on the Wiggles. She said no... I need to tell you something... HAPPY BIRTHDAY she yelled. It was great that she remembered all on her own. We had some breakfast and went to Jackson to meet up with Heather and her parents. We found a little fair at Cascades park in Jackson. Not a big fair by any means, but they had a carousel and Novi always loves those. They also had a big 35 foot slide that she got the courage to go down... not once but twice! We got some fair lemonade (man they don't make it like they used to!), played at a little playground there, and took some time out to chat with my parents who called from Bolivia. Later we had a nice Birthday dinner and got ready to take Novali back to her mom.

I had a lot of fun with Novali and glad we were able to do some cool things. She enjoyed Cereal City and playing soccer and just hanging out. I liked learning some of the Wiggles songs and just lounging around with her. It was great. We dropped Novali off with her mom and then Heather and I went to Grand Rapids.

We arrived at Grand Rapids really late Sunday night because of traffic. We got some drinks and food to go from Bennigans and relaxed. Monday morning was a big race at the Grattan Raceway near Grand Rapids. It was too much fun! It was my first time on a real race track... so my first run I took it a little slow to feel the course out. We had 4 runs and on my first three runs I did better each time. I did 72 seconds my first run, 69 on my second run and 67 on my 3rd run and I was feeling good. I was in 8th out of 13 cars... some of the best STS cars in West Michigan were there so I was feeling good about the day so far.

On my fourth run I was determined to hit 66 seconds... which would move me up at least 2 spots. I pushed the GXE hard from the gate, the coming out of the second turn I lost traction and got my car almost completely sideways on the track! Not sure how but I was able to save it and not hit anything... needless to say the run was slower... but a respectable 68 seconds anyhow. I ended with 8th in my class, not bad being that my Sentra was the smallest motor out of the 13 cars. When I returned to the starting grid several guys congratualted me on holding the car on course... they all thought I was for sure gonna loose it and go off the course. So all in all it was a good outing.

On the ride home something was wrong with the Sentra... I might of torn my CV Boot and the race caused my CV joint to go bad... or worse yet it also sounds like my wheel bearing might be bad. The race I am sure did not cause it, but the high speeds and hard turning on Monday I am sure helped speed my aging car into more repairs. But Who Cares! I got to drive on a nationally known track.

The three day weekend is over... and this week is going to be busy. Tonight kicks off Sorority fall recruitment and this weekend is PARTY on PERRY! The big event I helped start last year and we got to keep it going... please hope for a good weather forecast for this weekend for us!

One Week Down...
The first week of classes at Albion College are done. Well nearly done, couple more hours left on this first Friday. It has been a very interesting week. Small flood at TKE, no sidewalk in front of DeltSig and SigChi, the Sigma Nus are sleeping on the floor... and sorority recruitment issues have already started. All in just one week.

It has been a fun week though. We are getting ready for some of the more fun events of the year... Party on Perry, Briton Bash, All Greek BBQ, and of course recruitment! Good times...

Last weekend was one of the most fun ones ever. I was invited to a Bolivian wedding! It was a ton of fun, Heather knew the groom and the bride is actually the granddaughter of the ex-Bolivian national president (Siles). It was pretty cool and a handful of Bolivians were there. I danced a little Salle and some Chueka (sp?) with the other Bolivians there. It reminded me of my first visit back to Bolivia after we moved to the US. I think it was in 1989 when at a birthday party for my little sister that my abuelita took me by the hand and showed me how to do it... she had her scarf in one hand and showed me how to dance. It was fun meeting other Bolivians and I made some connections in Chicago as well I met some members of Renacer Boliviano, so maybe sometime I can take Novali to a Bolivian event.

There also was a lot of family happenings this week. Thursday was the birthday of my younger Brother Andy... who is now known to the world as Andres. I grew up calling him Andy and when I call him that now around his friends they wonder who I am talking about. I wish I could reclaim my Spanish name more... but whenever I write Samuel on something, it gets pronounced in English... HATE IT. Anyhow... I called (he is still Andy in my cell phone) to wish him a happy birthday but wish I could of done more or gone to visit. We roomed together growing up so we spent a lot of time together. We played soccer together, road to school together, did one spring break together, went fishing, I taught him to drive stick, and we really bonded. I still remember him jackin' up the guy who broke my knee when playing soccer in high school. Brotherly love, can't beat it. Happy Birthday Bro!

Another family happening is that news from my parents is coming in more regularly now. They are in Bolivia, doing well, have a phone now, and have been buying furniture for their new home and getting accustomed to life in Bolivian again. My mom blogged about Andres' birthday and their new life in Bolivia. Mom's Blog.

So despite all the crazy work this week was fun... it is always great to see my old students back and the excitement on the faces of the new students. There is nothing like the buzz of the first week of school. Tonight is a comedian at 8pm, tomorrow is the IFC xBox Tournament, and Sunday will be my day of rest. Welcome back students!

Also this weekend... I will spend some time working on the car. Once again some solo Team PLP action... but either way I have fun working on the ride. I wish I had a local car club or something I could join. Hermen we need to get the team back together! I will be installing my satellite radio and maybe some lights on my interior. Well... off I go. Ciao!

School is Back
Well the last weekends, to no surprise I spent outside of Albion. Two weekends ago I went up to Gladwin, MI to my grandparents lake house where my parents have been staying since moving out of their home. They were getting ready to leave for Bolivia so I had to run up to say my goodbyes. It was a great time, Heather and I ran up on Saturday morning and stayed until Sunday. We sat on the porch enjoying the sun, went on boat rides, played cards, ate tons of fish... and my dad and I did a lot of fishing. Kelly also came up for a little while and Valerie is always a trip. It was a lot of fun, and makes me wish I had taken more time to go up fishing. I really do need more of those relaxing weekends.

Valerie and Grandpa driving the boat.

Valerie and my parents waving by.

The fish my dad and I cuaght.

I like cleaning the fish... my pops and I cutting up our fish.

This weekend I ran over to Chicago. I went early on Friday and stayed with Novi while Tamara went out. Its fun just reading her a bed time story, saying her prayer and being there to put her to bed. Saturday we slept in a little bit, and then went to have lunch with Miguel and Kate. Went to a cool place on North Ave. called EarWax. Funny name... it was a vegan place with a circus theme. Surprisingly Novi tried something new and liked it. Then we went over to Wicker Park and she ran, climbed, swung, and jumped all over. After the park we went to Miguel's and played with their cats. Novi had a ball and I sat and chatted with Kate for a little bit.

Novi and I then went over to the Boriquen Lounge... my favorite Puerto Rican place to eat in Chicago. We just sat and ate and enjoyed a nice relaxing day. Then we went home and took a nap... some of Novi's new school uniforms arrived so Tamara had her try some stuff on. Too cute! Then Novi went to bed late and then I relaxed.

Tamara helping her try on her clothes.

Almost ready for school... one more month!

Sunday I had to take off early cause I have to get some work done on Sunday cause this coming week... the first of my students start moving in... Summer is over... Monday got cracking on fraternity move in. I had guys come in early to help get the houses ready. On Tuesday we had a large furniture order arriving and that was a lot of work... however I was extremely impressed. Not only did the guys work really hard, but they all helped each other out. No matter what house furniture had to go to, they all helped out and got it all moved quickly. The team work was remarkable, one of those times to make you proud of what I do... work with Greeks.

Thursday I need to unwind a little. Vic was coming into Kalamazoo from Chicago so we decided to go to Club Soda. Thursday is still Latin night there, something our fraternity started nearly 8 years ago. When we arrived at Soda it was cool, the bartender... hey, its the original salsa guys... man if it wasn't for you guys none of this would of ever happened. Then he hooked up the drinks. Funny to still be remembered there, and I have never been called the "Original Salsa Guy." It was pretty cool. We hung out, some Gammas came through, we danced, caught up with some old friends and just chilled. Good times.

Thats So Vic: Shirt Says, A little hard work never hurt anyone, but why find out?

Thursday Latin Night at Club Soda.

So needless to say today I am tired.... TGIF.

Winding Down?
Well as usual my post is on the return part of a trip. Since my Miami trip I have been to Troy, MI for an event for Albion, to Chicago for three days with Novali, and then my fraternity convention in Las Vegas. Needless to say all this traveling is turning out to be more stressful then relaxing... but the next few weeks will be much more laid back... of course I am still looking at possibly trips to Toronto, Buffalo and home to wish my parents off on their move to Bolivia. However, the rest of these trips will be more relaxing and less crammed (I hope).

Well my time with Novali was great at always. We watched the movie cars.... Two Thumbs Up! We went to a BBQ, out to burbs, and then I ended the trip by taking her to summer school on Monday. She showed me her class, I met her teacher, and then hit the road to Michigan. It was a great weekend and I managed to survive the record Chicago heat without AC at Tamara's place... wow. I uploaded some new summer pics to Novi's page, check it out: Novi's Pics

Then it was off to Vegas. I have been excited for the trip for a long time. I was running for a position on my national board of directors... and one of the authors for a proposals that will revolutionize our fraternal operations if it passed... I also was excited to get to visit with Brothers I had not seen in a long time... so how did the trip go? Here's the recap.

I arrived Tuesday night, I came in with the head quarters staff. It was nice to chill with them and talk with Jim and Mary Peterson. We had a great time just relaxing at this beautiful resort, Hyatt Lake Las Vegas. Wednesday it was chill day, most of the people would be coming in that day so it was nice hanging out greeting people as they arrived. I had dinner that night with Mary and some other Brothers who work in higher education. Sigma Lambda Beta has an exciting future ahead of it... that night we wound down with some gambling and lounging around.

Thursday the work started... registration happened in the morning and we started convention. We had 8 hours of scheduled business meetings... the most important part was the elections for the new Board of Directors. So I am proud to now say that I am the new International Vice President for Program Development for Sigma Lambda Beta. It is such an honor! I am very excited. That night we celebrated and prepared for another long day of business.

Friday was the real action day. It was when we voted on important proposals. We pitched our proposal, it was me and four former board members. Before convention we heard several districts were going to be voting down and we prepared to try and sway votes. Our house of delegates had 53 eligible voting groups (my chapter was not one of them!)... we pitched and debated and did our best. Final vote count.... 52-1.... IT PASSED! SLB will never be the same, and I am proud to say I helped make that happen. Now as a board member I have to help ensure the planning success. Needless to say that Friday night... we celebrated again and this time in the pimped out Presidents suite.

Saturday was chill day. We had a quick first board meeting, an alumni senate meeting, and then chill time! I ended up out at the pool, despite that I don't usually do pools. I was in full clothing, so I sat on the side with my feet in the pool... and I shoulda known better cause sure enough I got tossed in! I did manage to get my phone out of my pocket. Late we got ready to hit the strip and a big Beta party that night... I had to iron my money to dry it cause everything got wet!

The club was great... the first perk of being a board member is everyone buys you drinks so I saved some money. Unfortunately on the flip I lost a bit on the tables... but its Vegas so whatever. Sunday slept in, chilled around the hotel and then caught a ride from some Brothers up to the airport. There is free wireless here so I am just hanging out with some other Brothers who have flights in my terminal. It is going to be a long day of travel, I will arrive in Detroit at 12am, then drive home, and then work at 8am.... AH!

All in a days work.

- edit - I forgot to mention. I was inducted into the Presidential Excellence Group. It is the second highest honor a Brother can receive. In total only 12 Brothers are in that group, so needless to say I was extremely honored. Now I get to wear a white ribbon and large medallion to offical events from now on. Cool.

First Class
For those who did not know... I just got back from Miami. Orlando, one of my fraternity Brothers, is getting married and I can not make it to the wedding so I told him I would visit. Then Rudy, another chapter Brother just moved there, so I made plans and went down there. Heather was able to get some time off as well and her sorority sister Valerie just moved there so we made it a trip.

It started on Saturday morning. We went to Detroit Metro and we were connecting through Ohare airport. At Ohare they made the announcement that the flight was over booked... we would get $400 if we went on a flight 2 hours later. Figuring the money was worth it... we signed up. A few minutes before the flight they called us up... said they did not need us to switch flights, but since we were so nice and offered the switch... they bumped us to FIRST CLASS! It was my first time in first class... PIMP... let me tell you, free wine, hot towels, and lunch on a no food flight... very cool. I was pumped!

We arrived in Miami and went to Orlando's house. We stayed there for two days. That night we went out, Orlando was at a wedding so it was Rudy, me, Heather and Valerie. We went to Mango's in South Beach. It was great, they had models dancing, dance lessons, a live band, a Tango performance, everything! We danced all night and then got some fries and cheese cake to end the night. It was awesome because Rudy has a nice little condo he is renting three blocks from the Ocean in South Beach! Way to go Bro!

Sunday Heather and I ventured around the city on our own. Rudy had to work and Orlando was not back yet from the wedding. We figured out the local metro bus and rail system. We made it to Bed Bath and Beyond to get Orlando and his fiance their wedding present. Then we found a little place to eat and watch the World Cup game... boo that France lost, and the Zidane had to go out on such a bad note (he head butted a player and was red carded). That night Orlando and Cristina took us to a cool Cuban placed called La Carreta. His mom who I love! and his Brother Chris who is also a Beta met up with us. It was great to see all of them, plus I love plantains, yucca and spanish spices on food!

Monday Orlando and Rudy of course had to work and Heather and I ventured again out on the metro. Orlando was amazed we got around so well on the metro. It was really easy, and the for the most part we found Miami folks really nice and willing to help explain to us how things worked. So for a buck fifty we road downtown and walked all over. I was amazed at how much it looked like Bolivia with the little interior malls, internet cafe's and lunch buffets. With the exception of the Starbucks on each corner it was very Latin looking. We found a Brazilian place to eat and I had some Churrasco (Brazilian BBQ) and it was awesome! After a day hanging out downtown we went and checked into our hotel. We booked a hotel room for the last night by the airport in order get a shuttle back for our flight on Tuesday.

That night we went to Coconut Grove with Orlando and Cristina. The four of us at a cool Tapas place called Tu Tu Tango. The place had artists all around painting stuff, and then lots of their stuff hung up that you could buy. It was also Martini Monday so we tried a lot of their specialty martini's out as well. I love tapas (small plates served family style) cause we all shared different items and just caught up and talked. As we were leaving Valerie finally made it... she had been lost... at that point Orlando and Cristina needed to head back.

Valerie took us back to our hotel. On the way we stopped and she drove us around Miami's campus where she just started work. Beautiful campus, not sure how students can make it to class was so many great distractions around them. At the Hilton we got some drinks and went up to our room to hangout... now let me tell you about our room. I am a Hilton VIP now they upgraded us. Our room had two floors! It had a winding staircase between the floors. One floor was a full bath, big TV couch, bar and chairs and the office area, the upstairs had the master bath and a huge bedroom and TV. the far wall was lofted and had a window that spanned both floors! Man it was awesome... we ooggled over the room a bit and chatted with Valerie.

Tuesday it was off to the famous Miami beach. You can't go four days in Miami without hitting the beach... well I could, but Heather for sure couldn't. So once again we caught the bus for $1.50 and made our way to the beach. It was nice... the heat was a bit much, but we had a little light sprinkle of rain that kept us cool and we relaxed and read some magazines. Rudy picked us up from the beach and we went for a late lunch. We ate a nice little Cuban place and I had the best pork fricase I have ever had in the states... not as good as in Bolivia, but it was good. We ate and then Rudy dropped us off at the Hilton. We caught the shuttle to airport... our time in Miami was done.

So we thought we were on our way home. Our VIP vacation flying first class and staying in a pimp hotel room... then came to a bad end. We were grounded in Miami... we sat on our delayed flight for over an hour... then they took us off the plane not sure how long the delay would be... then they boarded us again... and we sat on the plane still stopped... so we finally arrive in Ohare to find out we missed the last flight to Detroit. So guess what... we get to stay in the airport! They were not providing hotel rooms since it was weather not the airline that caused the problem, they had cots set up in a terminal for us. What? Heather and I needed some rest (I had a long day at work the next day) so we ventured over to the Hilton in the airport. We left the terminal and walked over there to find out they were sold out... as well as all the hotels in the nearby area! Oh no... well back to the cots. But then we learned that the security check points stop working! We could not get back to the terminal to even sleep on cots! So we slept on chairs in the American Airlines baggage claim area... freezing cold... wrapped in our sandy towels from Miami beach. Sad end to a great vacation...

Our luck ran out... and ran out bad! We made it back to Detroit finally at 10am on Wednesday (12 hours later then planned). It was bad for me because Wednesday night I needed to be at an event for Albion in Troy, MI. I still needed to get back to my office to print out somethings for the event... needless to say my day was rough. I drove back to Albion printed my stuff (Jen from my office helped a ton) and then repacked and hit the road to Troy. I barely made it in time to iron my clothes and head to my reception that I was in charge of and needed to speak at... all this with no sleep the night before cause of those highly uncomfortable chairs. The event thankfully went very well!

Well today I woke up not feeling well, I had my wrap up meeting with our reception site (Hilton in Troy) and came to work. Today is nearly over... meetings back to back this afternoon... the stress from yesterdays event is over... now heading home to rest and unpack from my Miami and Troy trips... and prepare for my trip to Chicago this weekend and then Vegas next week. Maybe I will get a first class ticket again... Ciao.

Driving Summer
This is the Driving Summer... each weekend another adventure on the road. This time it was a full week on the road! Last weekend (June 24th) I was in Saginaw for Miguel's engagement reception. It was a lot of fun to see family I had not seen in a long time and meeting Kate's parents. I am really excited for Miguel and Kate. Then my parents had a pool party at the house... the last one ever at the Curwood house... they sold they house and are ready to move back to Bolivia. It was nice being home, chatting with mom in the morning, watching World Cup with my dad... just relaxing in Saginaw.

Sunday I went back to Albion. I just packed and then Monday morning I drove to Indianapolis. I had a day and half long Risk Management College I was attending for my fraternity and Albion College. Of course no one enjoys risk management and fraternal law like I do... so I did enjoy it even though most people there did not. I am intrigued by the Law, maybe thats why I am really leaning towards getting my law degree... hum.

Tuesday night I drove to West Lafayette, IN to Purdue University. I was asked to be a facilitator for the Alpha Xi Delta Sorority Leadership Conference. It was a lot of work and long days, but still a lot of fun. Got to network with other professionals in Greek Life and meet and work with a lot of great students.

I got a free room upgrade at the Hyatt in Indy... wish I coulda stayed longer.

My AXiD Sorority bag... I rocked it all week!

This Sunday (July 2nd) I had a race at GVSU. So I woke up mega early and drove from Purdue to GVSU. I was majorly lacking sleep, Saturday all the facilitators at Purdue went out to celebrate so barely slept at all. It was my worst outing to date... out of 8 cars in my class I took 5th. I really struggled on the course, it really highlighted my need for a new suspension.

I could not get into a groove...

On three wheels... I need better suspension!

Monday it was back in Albion for work... big week of driving. I clocked over 1000 miles again. Wow. I was the only one at work on Monday so I got to just catch up on mail, emails and return phone calls. Then on the 4th... it was just time to relax. Heather and I went to her pool, I cooked some steaks and watched the World Cup, and then hung out around the apartment. Tomorrow it is back to work. Busy week... meeting with the Dean tomorrow, parents visiting on Thursday, and then this weekend heading to Miami! Man summer is flying by!

Fathers Day Weekend
This weekend was fathers day. I want to of course give a shot out to my dad and grandpas. I am very blessed to of had so much support, positive role models, and men in my life I could look up to and say... "I want to be just like that when I grow up." So when people tell me I am a good dad, in my opinion they are complimenting my parents and more importantly my dad.

Anyhow... I planned to be in Chicago with Novali for fathers day. It also happened to be the Puerto Rican festival so of course we had to check that out. Saturday morning we watched some World Cup action... Novali cheered for the team with the white sox and got more into the games then I thought she would. I need to start kicking the ball around with her. Once the games were over we got to ready to head to the famous Humbolt park for the festival.

She put on my flips flops and danced around.

Novi and I watching soccer.

She is learning to tie her shoes.

Got it!

We picked up her abuela and headed out for some fun. I was starved and wanted some good food, and I love Coco ice cream which you can usually only find at Latino events. I was reminded why I love being Latin. The music, the energy, the food... everyone was dancing, from 2 years old to 80. The crowd was having a good time, wether they were their for hip hop or old school salsa. All the exotic fruits, and more meat then even I can imagine... it was great! The day started a little hot... late afternoon we got a short quick shower which was followed by a cool Rainbow that Novali loved... and early evening a storm appeared to be rolling in so we rolled out.

Novi and her abuela in front of the Division Str. Flag.

The atmosphere before we got to park was great.

Never misses a chance to ride a horse.

I never miss a chance to photograph meat.

I bought a sampler platter from the Argentinean booth...yum...

Novi and I. She kept stabbing me with flag, I couldn't stop buying helado de coco (my left hand)

Novi and her abuela enjoying the music. Not much dancing from Novi this year.

People taking cover during the short rain. My pic of the rainbow did not turn out.

After the festival we stopped at Target and I got Novali some new sandals. She is starting a summer school program next week so she needed some sandals she could plan in and take on and off easily. We settled on a cute Dora pair, got some pudding and headed home. All in a days work.

Sunday was Father's Day. Tamara cooked and her dad and Brother came over. Novali wrote in a card for me and painted a coffee mug. Very cute and I love the gift. I have to find a good place to display it. She made one for my dad as well that I will give to him this weekend.

Novi and her Abuelo Angel

My Mug!

The drive home was terrible... traffic in Chicago... traffic through all the Michigan construction... I left Chicago at 6pm and got home a little after 11:15pm.... what a way to spend your Sunday night. Sometimes I wish I had kept track of all the time I spent on I-94 between Novali and I.... buts its all in a days work. When you love someone, driving and staying up just doesn't separate you.

World Cup and Racism
Today (Wednesday) I am flying to Indianapolis for a meeting. My flight was at 10:15am so I planned to get to the airport by 9am so I could watch the World Cup game. It was Spain vs. Ukraine and it was set to be a good match. I haven't been able to watch a lot of World Cup so I am glad I caught the first half of that game at least. I am writing because I wanted to note of of the great things about soccer. In the same bar was a guy from Spain, and a Mexican guy. We instantly started talking soccer. They talked about the crazy opening game Bolivia had in 1994 when our best player got a red card. We talked and taught the bar tender a little about soccer. He noted how nice everyone watching the games has been. We all stuck around as long as we could watching the game before we had to leave... Spain lead at the half 2-0.

Before the cup there was a lot of talk about racism in Germany. They often times jeer black players, doing monkey calls and even going as far as throwing bananas on the field. So prior to the cup FIFA (the international soccer authority) did a lot of work and set up a lot of security to be sure no problem occurred. There have been a few small incidents, but fortunately nothing major.

Last night I had a little run in with someone. I was at KMart, buying some stuff and at check out, the woman in front of me got all mad that the little card swipper had spanish on the screen (mind you small and at the bottom). She joked to the cashier and to me about it... saying this isn't Mexico... why is it in Spanish. I replied to her, "That is the lamest thing I heard all day." She turned and got mad... saying if you come to this country you need to speak the language... blah blah... saying once again this isn't Mexico. I kept very cool, and replied to her that at one point everyone was an immigrant to this country. She paid and left.

What is crazy is that just this past weekend my father and I watched a clip on the news about a place in Philly that put up a sign that said, "This is America, speak English". It was the famous cheese steak place and they said if you can't order in English don't eat here. WOW.

There was more I wanted to say... looking back while standing in line I remember seeing a tattoo on her husbands arm of a four leaf clover. I did not see what was written around it, but I am assuming it had something to do with being of Irish decent. Weren't the Irish discriminated upon when they came to this country? So why would you turn and do it to the next wave of immigrants? How quickly we forget.

It really hits home with me because my family immigrated here without speaking English (well except my mom). I learned and fortunately so did my Brothers because we were so young. My father learned but he struggled, learning a new language in your late 30s is hard. He knew to be successful in this country he had to learn the native tongue. He learned the language, bought a home, paid taxes, raised his kids, and now is retiring before the age of 60... he lived the American dream. Sometimes the backwardsness of the American debate on immigration and language kills me.

That night, was a very timely rerun of the episode Carlos Mencia (Mind of Mencia - Comedy Central) did on immigration. He did a skit when a Native American came out and told everyone to get out of his country or learn his language...

No one owns the earth... we are renting it from god and last time I checked he speaks just about any language out there, even pig latin. So lighten up.

Fun Weekend
As you all know by now, my life revolves around where I am driving to a certain weekend. This weekend was much the same and I drove around Michigan. Friday night I had a chill night in Albion. I changed rims on my car (for my race on Sunday), organized my tools in my new tool box, cleaned my apartment, relaxed, and kicked myself for forgetting to watch the World Cup games during the day.

Saturday I went to Detroit for a fraternity alumni meeting at Wayne State. We had a decent turn out... being it was our first meeting in over 3 years. Slowly we are getting our alumni group back on track. I am hoping to be able to turn over the chair position of the association this summer and that the group is functioning much better.

After our meeting some of us went to eat.

It was Rob's first time so they made a fool of him at Hooters.

After my meeting I drove to Saginaw. Sunday was Raquel's birthday and their happened to be a race in Midland so I thought I could wrap both events into one trip. It worked perfect. Saturday night watched some taped World Cup games with my mom and dad and washed my car. Sunday I got up early to go register for my race, it was first time racing with this region (Saginaw Valley Region SCCA). There were 12 cars in my class and some good cars and good drivers. It was a fast course which does not favor the way my car is set up. My parents, Raquel and Dennis (with Valerie), Heather and my grandparents came to watch. So I guess you can say I had a lot of fans. Because of all the people there I really did not pay much to my times, my dad road with me on two runs and then my sister on my last run. My times got consistently faster but I was sure with all the competition I was not going to place. I finished my runs and my family stuck around for the second second while I worked one of the corners (for these car clubs you race one heat, and you have to work another heat). After I was done working we were getting ready to go and I went to finally look at the posting board... I took 3rd out of 12! I am totally caught off guard... I was not even trying that hard to do well and just giving rides to everyone. So I got my second free tshirt.

In Saginaw I washed the car.

It was my second race on my new tires.

The race was at the Midland Bartstow airport.

It was hard to get close pictures.

Valerie was out making friends.

And she played in the wild flowers.

After racing we went to dinner for Raquel's birthday. It was nice to just eat and relax and catch up. I don't see my grandparents a lot lately and we were busy at the race so it was nice to just have dinner and chat. I am glad that everyone was able to see my race, especially cause somehow I did so well.

Sunday night my dad and I watched some World Cup that he taped during the day. Man the Mexico vs. Iran game was awesome! I also took some time to post some photos I have been meaning to get posted.

My Race: 06-03-2006 (last weekend)
Novali: Michigan 2006

Well now I am done watching soccer and I really should get back to Albion. Have to work tomorrow. This week I am going to Indianapolis for two days for a board of directors meeting for Gamma Sigma Alpha. Then this coming weekend I will be in Chicago for fathers day. Adios for now.

Another Million Miles
So one more summer weekend done... and one more weekend of driving all over. Friday I went to Moline, MI after work for a Test and Tune race event with my car club (Furrin Group) That night I stayed in Grand Rapids and watched the Pistons lose... no Pistons in the finals... no fun at the Phoenix watching the games... BOO.

Saturday I got up and went to my race. The race was a lot of fun, I had new tires and they helped a lot. Heather came and went for a ride around the course. One ride is all she can take. After the race I went to Benton Harbor to meet my Brothers for our little retreat. We hit the beach in St. Joseph and man that was a nice beach.

I had a lot of fun with the Betas. Somethings never change... Vic shopping for a shirt two hours before going out, no one able to decide where to go, and making fun of Ben... hanging out with them will never get old.

Sunday I drove back to Albion to swap my racing rims. I had a little dilemma removing the rims (more on this later) but was able to get my car up to Midland. I spent the night in Midland at Northwood University.

Monday I hosted a meeting at Northwood for the Michigan members of the Association of Fraternity Advisors. I was very impressed with the campus, it was beautiful! I am glad we selected that sight and I had a great time. It is a great meeting for us Greek Advisors to get together... we share some horror stories, laughs, and talk about the upcoming year. After that day-long meeting I headed to Troy.

I stayed at the Hilton in Troy where I am working on an event for the Albion College Panhellenic. The hotel was great and it gave me a chance to catch up with Megan. We went to dinner in Royal Oak and caught up on life. She told me crazy birthday party stories and I shared news on Novi, life and my work.

Tuesday morning I had a meeting with the catering manager at the Hilton. The event is really starting to shape up. I am very excited for the event, it is going to be a huge success and hopefully become an annual tradition. Well now I need to drive over to Albion... later this week I will post the pictures from the week with Novali, and my race this weekend. But for now... back to the road, and then off to work.

CIAO.