Back at 35k feet.
Spring is my busy travel season. This past weekend I was in Chicago for MGCA, I went a day early, and stayed two days late to spend time with Novali. Took her to school, picked up from school, and played, ate, and watched movies in between. I was glad I happened to be in Chicago this weekend of all... Tamara's very close friend Alma was in a bad car accident over the weekend. Novali had been wanting to go see her in the hospital but of course she is too young to see someone in the ICU. Well Monday morning she passed on to be the lord, I knew her as well, but more importantly was glad that I was able to be there to help Tamara grieve, and that Tamara and I broke the news to Novali together. She took it well... it might hit her more later, she is still a little young t fully understand.

For Alma... who was a great friend to Tamara, always gave me a warm greeting, and was a great baby sitter and practically an aunt to little Novi... Rest In Peace. In all the tears this weekend I thought it was important to remember the good things... Alma always had a little something for Novali when she visited. Novali always had little toys she would say, "My friend Alma gave this to me." Thanks Alma.

There was good news in Chicago though over the weekend. The conference went very well, one of the most diverse conferences ever! I'd like to say I had something to do with it... but I know I at least have contributed. I am looking to try and get more involved in MGCA and fade a little from WRGA so I can give more time to one association. Other good news and fun was that Novi and I made JELLO! She had it at dinner on Sunday at the local Chinese place (her suggestion!) and I asked if she ever made it. She got excited when I told her we could make it at home! So we did.

For some reason she loves to get dressed up all the time. And of course pose with Nono.

Mixing the Jello. When we called Heather she explained to Heather how to make Jello.

She was so excited as we put in the fridge... she was not excited to learn it would take hours to sit.

We planned to have Jello for desert the following night when it was done..

We didn't have small bowls.. but these martini glasses matched the orange so we went for it.

The Lil Chef... taking her fancy desert to the table. Yum.

So I am back at 35k feet and right now I am blogging from my plane. I used to travel a lot more a few years back, and writing in planes and airports for some reason was always great inspiration for me. Either that or dedicated down time when I could relax and write. Lately not a lot of down time for me to relax and blogging has often become something brushed to the side. Especially now that most of my family emails, I don't have the need to update as much.

Anyhow this spring will be busy. I have a busy travel schedule lined up. With in the next three months I will be in San Francisco (en route now), couple trips to Chicago of course, Toledo, Iowa City, Washington DC, and Atlanta. This is excluding all my short trips planned to Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Saginaw (Kelly I am coming to visit!). Add up all the trips and its nearly every weekend, so either I am traveling for business or hanging out with Novali. I will rest this summer.

Wish me safe travels, say a prayer for Alma's family, and keep checking my site for updates... with all this traveling you get a few blogs a week!

My Little Philanthropist
During one of my holiday posts I wrote about Novali and our adventure to give to Toys for Tots. And how after donating at KMart, she made me give again at Circuit City. Well since then she has done can drives at school, and she explained to me how some people don't have food... and now she is doing a new program to raise money for the American Heart Association.

I figured I would post her link in case other people want to donate for her. The program is called "Jump Rope For Heart" and she is very excited about it. I think it sounds like a great program and please give a couple bucks if you can.

Jump Rope For Heart :: Novali

She just started the campaign and she is nearly at her goal. Thanks!

Da Bears
I am in Chicago during SuperBowl... but not cause of the Bears. If anything I am trying to avoid the Bears buzz... more then likely I will be leaving the city just a little before the game starts to try and avoid the traffic. I am in Chicago this weekend to hang out with Novali.

I arrived on Friday night and picked her up from her Abuela's house. She was all dressed up, she had wanted to be dressed up when her Papi arrived, too cute! We went home and played for a little bit and then got ready for bed. She wanted to sing some kareoke, I joined in during the song from Shrek 2 "Accidentally in Love" and was the drummer. She was fine with it, and even held the mic over for me sometimes. But then, during a Gwen Steffani song... she told me I could not be the drummer, I said why? Cause Gwen doesn't have a drummer! Too funny... I told her a story and put her to bed.

She wore a skirt! As we walked to the apartment she said, "Tights aren't very warm."

Here is the bookshelf her and I put together last time.

Her self we built and her letters and a pic of my parents.

Singing along with Gwen, hands on the hips. Future American Idol?

Saturday we slept in and then relaxed all day. We colored, ate pancakes, I flipped her around in the air, she took a bath until she was fully wrinkled, we used her new Curious George stamps, took a nap, did some crafts, watched TV... it was a fun day. The day flew by, and before you know it I was reading her a bedtime story again and tucking her in.

Playing with her new Curious George stamps.

Nothing beats an afternoon nap.

We did a craft, trying to teach how to copy a pattern from a box.

She got it... took a few tries, but we got it.

Sunday... back to Albion. Hopefully I get home in time to catch the end of the SuperBowl. It was my first road trip in my new car... I love the Altima, it was sad going to the dealer this week to sign a few more papers and seeing my Sentra with a pile of snow on top of her... all sad and abandoned. Getting a new car is fun... lately I been shopping and looking at ideas for the future of the car. This one will be with me for a long time...

There she is... the new 2.5S Altima. Alloy wheels, premium audio, and I just got her tinted.

The wood grain interior will be the first thing to go once the weather is warm enough for me to work on the car.

This week is going to be super busy for me, the busiest week of the year for me. I did the math and I will more then likely work between 70 to 80 hours this week from Monday to Sunday... WOW.

Wish me luck this week...

Birthday and New Car
January 28th is my Mom's Birthday. So of course I have to write and give my mom and birthday shot out. So for my mom.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I have a lot of things I can thank my mother for... but the most important is personal strength. I bet you all are saying... What's that? Well my mom has done a lot of things in her life. For a little red-haired white girl from Saginaw she got to do a lot of things in her life. She survived polio as a child, traveled to different countries, went to College, moved and settled far from home, married a guy who didn't speak English, and raised four crazy kids. I can only hope to be able to do half of the things in my life that my mother has done.

In the last 5 years... my mom survived cancer, and she barely blinked. Went home in record time, and never complained. She kept telling me how bad she felt that I left college for a few weeks to be there... "you don't have to be here...." She finished her Masters Degree, and then was surprised that her boys all came home from college to celebrate with her. Finally she has moved once again across the world... and is living in Bolivia. Despite the horrible heat... she is doing just fine and already planning her next trip to the USA.

Well Happy Birthday mom... you are the best role model and mom a guy could ask for. Thanks.

Final note... this weekend I got a new car. I traded my little Sentra for a nice Nissan Altima. Its a good four door family sedan. More leg room in the back for Novali, trunk room for family trips, and something that will last me a little longer. So now the big question is... what will I race this summer?

Holidays are over...
Well it was a great two weeks! I had Novali for 11 days and had a fantastic time. Spent a week in Chicago and shopped, visited with friends, shopped, and hung out with Novali. I spent Christmas in Chicago with the Gomez family and that was nice and relaxing. Andy flew into Chicago on December 27th and Novali and I picked him up and then drove to Albion. The following day we rolled to Gladwin to see my folks.

We had a great time at the lake. It meant sleeping in, or at least trying to with Novali waking up early. We relaxed, made trips to the store, did some ice skating, opened lots of presents and just had a good time with family relaxing and hanging out. Raquel came up with the girls and Dennis and we just enjoyed talking and hanging out. Novali and Valerie were really able to play together a lot, even with the extremely different energy levels!

I got to spend New Years in Bad Axe with Heather and Greg. We lounged, ate at Big Boy and just relaxed and rang in the near year on the sectional. I was looking at cars online and dreading the end of break and the fighting the weird desire people have to dream of great resolutions.

Below are a few pics from the holiday break. I posted a full gallery on Novalis website: Novi's Pics

Here are pics from the mosaic table Novali and I made:


Another project over break was building a bookshelf in her room:


In Gladwin we spent time with the Centellas family. Everyone was there but Miguel and Kate. The girls got tons of gifts!


Grandma planned a trip to take the girls skating. Valerie got frustrated, Novali went really slow but finally picked it up a little. It was a lot of fun.


After Novali's success at skating... we thought maybe she would like watching some hockey. She was slow to catch the game... but she loved the snacks.


Valerie's birthday in Jan 3rd. Everyone had to be back to work then, so we planned a birthday party for the 1st... unfortunately she caught the flu! Party was canceled...


Its sad that break is over. On the 2nd my parents drove out to Philly area with Andres and I took Novali back to Tamara. On the 3rd I had to be back to work and life would be back to some type of normalcy. This weekend my parents flew back to Bolivia (I still have not heard from them). We are working on plans for their next trip... and the potential for the first big Centellas gathering in Santa Cruz, possibly next Christmas. As we get older it is harder and harder for all of us to be together in one place... especially with us living in four different states and two countries.

Here's to the next Centellas Christmas Spectacular... and to hoping we can all be there.

The Traveler
This past weekend Heather and I went to Gladwin on Saturday. We met up with my Uncle Ed, Aunt Cyndi and my parents. We had dinner and it was a great time to catch up. During dinner the subject of points came up... (my family is big on collecting points, Speedway, Hilton, Best Buy, etc.). My uncle asked me about how many nights a year I spend in hotels. Off the top of my head I said maybe about 30 nights per year.

The following day we went to Saginaw and visited with my sister and her new baby Ayanna. Went to church with my folks and had a nice family dinner where my Uncle Bob and Aunt Genie joined us for some delicious Lone Star. Man I love steak... Anyhow the Saturday convo got me thinking... how many nights per year do I spend in hotel rooms? More importantly... how many nights do I not spend at home?

Well I did a quick look through my planner and realized in 2006 I spent about 60 nights in a hotel! So I tried to make a rough count of days spent in Chicago visiting Novali... not double counting business trips to Chicago that I stayed extra, I had nearly 50 additional days gone to Chicago. Then I looked through my planner and thought about weekend trips to visit friends and/or family and that was around 25 days. So if you total that up in 2006 (I did count my projected time up until New Years) I spent nearly 135 days on the road! That is more then 1/3 of my year, so 1 in every three days I do not spend at home.

Wow. So when I blog about being on the road again... really I am just back to doing what I do best and most often... So like I always say....

"Thats what I do."

Big Wedding
This past weekend was Miguel's wedding. It was a great weekend... Andres and I were in the wedding, Novali was a flower girl, and everyone had a great time in downtown Chicago.

The weekend started poorly for me. My flight to Chicago was canceled and all flights grounded into town... I was so distraught that I might miss my Brothers rehearsal dinner that I nearly started crying. Seriously it was that bad. I luckily was able to land a flight into Midway on another airline and had to get a one way ticket... after a fun cab ride to Ohare from Midway... getting lost in Des Plaines... I made it to Evanston for the dinner. Relieved to be with family, I ate and just had a great night.

At the wedding Novali was a doll, Kate was beautiful, and us Centellas boys looked dapper in our tuxes, and my mom had a sweet hat (and Novali complimented her on her jacket). We had a great time and my dad made an awesome toast! Little teary again.... maybe. Then we ate, drank and danced the night away! Novali was a terror on the dance floor and I think danced with everyone in the wedding party. She was the life of the party and I think half the reception video might be of her... hope she didn't steal the show.

Sunday we had a great brunch and packed up. My parents and Heather and I went to lunch with Novali, Syed and Tamara before hitting the road to Michigan. Hit some snow on the way home but made it back to Albion safely. I hate to make this short, but I have been out of my office for nearly two weeks and have a ton of work to do. I did find some time to post two new galleries on Novali's website.
Please check them out in her Pictures Section. Novalí's Site.

Today my parents arrive for a three day visit in Albion. I am looking forward to spending more time with them since we were so busy at the wedding. The students leave town this weekend and then I get a break for a little while and can catch up on paperwork and reports... fun fun fun.

Novali Vacation
So this is the longest amount of time I spent with Novali in a while! I came on Thursday morning and stayed until Tuesday afternoon. Not only was it a lot of time in a row, but no school, no work, no places to go... nothing but hanging out! We watched movies, went shopping on Black Friday, played at the park, went to the emergency room, read together, and tried on shoes for the wedding. Wow... I am tired just thinking about all of that! Needless to say there are some funny Novi stories in this long weekend. Here are a few highlights:

Toys 4 Tots
On Black Friday I took Novali shopping. We went to Kmart and I wanted her to pick out a gift for Toys For Tots. The night before we talked about it and what it means to give to others. She related it to a can drive her school did for Thanksgiving. Wow, they are teaching kids early these days about service. I told her we would not buy her anything since she would get presents for Christmas, but that we would buy something for someone who might not be getting anything. She said it was a nice thing to do as we walked into the store. In the store it was a little harder, she kept asking, "Can I get that... or this...", but she did not carry on or beg... she picked out two nice toys and we took them to the service counter. After we paid for them, I told her how proud I was of her and how nice of a thing it was. Her reply... "Can I get some pizza?" I said yes... she said, "With Crazy Bread?" I said "Yes, and I will even get the sauce", she said, "I don't like the sauce."

It was great. We sat and ate in KMart and talked about the toys she wanted for Christmas. Then later at Circuit City they had a Toys 4 Tots booth set up. As we are walking out Novi stops me... I think we should give for these kids to right? How can I say no? Another $10 out of my pocket and we headed home.

Movies and Macy's
Saturday we went see the movie Flushed Away. The movie was a little over her head, and at times scary. Half way through the movie she stood up, looked at me and said, "I don't like this movie, lets go home now." The funny look in her eye nearly made me crack up, I asked her to give it a second chance. She waited through the movie, and as we walked out she said, "I should picked the other movie." We left the theatre and walked next door to Macy's. One of the missions for the weekend was to get her wedding shoes. Man finding white shoes in Chicago in November is not easy.

Well in Macy's we hit the jackpot. They had a display pair on clearance, it was her size and a very cute off white pair of Kenneth Cole girls shoes with a little rose on them. She tried on the display and it was perfect... it was the only off white pair they had. Well guess what... they could not find the mate! Two different people looked. They kept asking us to white as they looked... NOTHING. When the last woman came to break the news to us for the third time that no one can find the shoe.... Novali told her, "How can you not have the other one?" It was not snobby or mean... very matter of fact. The lady apologized, and I think Novali's career in management just started.

I have problems
Sunday Novali awoke crying. The night before she had a slight nose bleed and complained after that her ear hurt. She took some medicine and went to sleep. Well in the morning it was worse and she was crying from the pain so Tamara and I took her to the emergency room. She has an ear infection... reminds me of when I used to have them all the time as a little boy. Must run in the family. Well on the drive home the topic of being good came up. Tamara asked Novali if she is always good for her papi, Novi said yes. So Tamara asked, "Why aren't you always good for me." Novi replied "I try, but sometimes I can't help it." Tamara asked "Why can't you help it?".... to which Novali responded, "Because I try and try, but sometimes I just have problems." Tamara and I cracked up... she said that because when she does act up Tamara asks her, "What's your problem?" Hence she internalizes it as when she is misbehaving she is having problems. Too funny...

Cheaters never win
Sunday night Novi was feeling better and after shopping all over for white shoes we went to the park. We played on the Tic-Tac-Toe board. Well Novali was cheating and taking more turns. I told her that she was cheating. She said she wasn't, but I told her that not letting me take my turn was not fair. She said, "Well it might not be fair, but its not cheating." I asked her what's the difference, she replied, "Not everything is fair, I didn't win because I was cheating." Such the young philosopher.

School
Monday I took her to school. It meant I had to get up horribly early. Its been a while since I had to be up that early, I can't believe that when I worked at JCI in Holland I was at work each day before 7:15am. How did I do that! Anyhow... back to Novi's school... I got to meet her teacher, and see all the other little kids in their uniforms. It was really cute and her teacher was great. After school I was outside waiting for her and she ran out, waving bye to her friends and asked to go to the park. So of course we went. We played, ran around, pretended to be on a pirate ship, and watched a big Dalmatian chase a little squirrel.

It was a great time! Tuesday I took her to school again and then I packed and went to the airport. I had a great time in Chicago as always. Now I am in New Orleans and I have back to back business meetings for the next 48 hours. Tonight I got to relax on Bourbon street and now its back to work. Its been a good week so far, and to top it off I finally got my new phone... and this post is brought to you by my new Treo 700p. I finally got a Palm Pilot Phone... its been five years in the making! I can't believe I was this patient. CIAO!

Thanksgiving
Wow... its been nearly a month since my last post. I really fell behind. Its been a busy couple of weeks. I spent the first two weeks of November dealing with my insurance company. Luckily everything from my car theft was covered, even a rental car to get around with while my car was in the shop.

Work is finally starting to slow down... so what does that mean? I start working on more consulting work, yep... life never slows down for this guy. I have a few new projects I am working on and some exciting programs coming up.

November 7th was a big day in Michigan. The voters passed a proposal to eliminate affirmative action, we re-elected a governor who clearly has done a poor job, and Heather got one year older. We went to a fancy dinner in Jackson and enjoyed some random political celebrations, wine, and a just time to be out and relax.

Yesterday my parents returned from Bolivia. I am glad they made it back without problems. The political situation down there is less then stellar again. We will have a fun holiday season traveling around and seeing each other and catching up with my family.

Tomorrow I head to Chicago for Thanksgiving. I will be in Chicago until Tuesday when I head to New Orleans for a conference. Then next Friday I fly back to Chicago for my Brothers wedding. Its going to be a busy travel time (nothing new for me) and some fun family get together. I am really looking forward to Miguel's wedding... the first of us to get married. Kinda crazy... we are all grown up now.

Hopefully during this 10 days of non-stop traveling I will find some time to post again. I need to get some new photos up. Keep checking back... I will be updating this again soon.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!