Operation Fire Comcast

It seems like no matter who you ask people tell you they don't like their internet/cable carrier... and for the most part I was reasonably happy with Comcast for our Cable and Internet bundle here in South Bend. Over my years I have had DSL and Cable internet and am well versed in the pros and cons.

Well at home we have been wondering if what we paid for cable was worth it. In our bedroom upstairs we have just used an antenna since we bought out house. We get the main networks and a few other channels and the picture is better HD than we get from Comcast on our TV downstairs.

So we thought, lets cut the cable and save money. Well the hangup was, if we only got one thing from Comcast we would lose the bundle discount. So to go from cable plus internet to just cable we would of only saved $15 a month... WOW. We could save $20 a month if we went with their slowest internet speed, but without cable would also require a service visit we had to pay to have them come and install filters to ensure we didn't get cable and just internet.

I did some research and found that if I went with AT&T DSL at their fastest speed we would save $50 a month... it was a no brainer and Operation Fire Comcast commenced. There were a couple hang ups and things I had to be sure fell into place during this tactical operation.

First was purchasing an antenna for the main floor TV. After some research and reviews I picked up a $24 antenna from RadioShack and it worked like a charm. NBC, ABC, CBS, Weather, CW, PBS, and a few other channels all come in crystal clear (full HD) and with surround sound (5.1 Digital)!

Second was getting DSL installed. Our phone lines were all cut, but we got it all wired up and had a live wire in our kitchen that I found. I got it configured and the speed tests at the same speed I was getting with Comcast. the downside is that I need to find a good place to mount my router since it has to be in the kitchen (until this spring when I can work to run lines through our crawl space under the addition).

While I was at it I took the time to rewire everything. We don't need a cable box now, so I moved all of our equipment (DVD, VCR and Receiver) under the TV and it is all tucked away nicely in our built in cabinet.

Today was the final manouver of Operation Fire Comcast. I took all the equipment back to Comcast and turned off my service. The lady at the desk tried to tell me she could see if she could get me a special deal... I told her don't bother, I asked the people on the phone if they were offering me the best deal... they said yes, so I moved on. Any last minute tactic from them on a lower price because they saw I was serious about leaving wasn't going to work now...

Well they owe me $43.11 for the month I paid for already. So I guess the final move in this Operation is in their court now... to send me a refund. I am sure they will do their best to nickel and dime me out of my money, but I am ready to fight for it!

So hopefully AT&T will work well.... so far it is good and the air TV reception even through the snow storm has been great. I do miss ESPN... but hey the savings are worth it, and there are better things I can do with my time.

Daddy Daughter Decorating

One item on my to do list with our house has been updating our light fixtures. Well with a baby on the way spending money on lights has taken a backseat to painting baby room, refinishing my childhood dresser (for the baby room), and assembling cribs and baby stuff.

Last weekend when putting up the Christmas tree we noticed that some of the lights in the living room chandelier were flickering. I started working on it and noticed the electrical connections were in bad shape, and the chandelier actually had some bad parts that should get fixed.

So I did some research... you always see the home shows when they paint old chandeliers and update a room. I found some info on concerting ours to match the rest of our oil rubbed bronze fixtures we got for the curtains. I found parts to fix the electrical connections and decided, lets rehab this old chandelier, and better yet it will be a Daddy Daughter Decorating project as a gift for Heather for Christmas.

Before

I researched and found all the parts that I needed right here at my local Menards. We got Rustoleum Metallic Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint for $5 a can, all new candelabra sockets ($6 per pair), and new socket covers ($4 for 6). So in total I spent under $30 and I scored some wire, connectors and extra roll of electrical tape to round out project supplies.

This weekend Novali was here and we started the project. She was excited and really wanted to make it a surprise for Heather... but I think she would of noticed us sneaking around the house with a big chandelier so I told her it is the thought that counts and Heather will love it either way.

Saturday morning we popped off the chandelier, she held parts and handed me tools while we brought the light down. We took a break during the day and watch Toy Story 3 at IUSB and made time for shooting baskets (she is shooting now at 9.5 feet!).

In the afternoon it was back to work. She cleaned the chandelier while I figured out how we would wire up the new sockets and do the painting. Once it was cleaned and prepped for paint we hung it up in the basement. I got a little paint trigger so it would be easier for her to paint and she was a champ at painting and learning how to spray surfaces.

We did a few coats of paint and in between worked on the electrical connections. I explained electrical connections to her. We had to make pigtails that we would hook up to the new socket and twist wire connect the pigtails to the wires from the chandelier for each candelabra. She cut the wires to the right length and stripped them for me. I took the stripped wires and put the connectors on the end to clip into the socket bases. It was a nice little assembly line. Then she helped connect the wires to the socket bases.

We needed more paint at night so we had to wait until the morning to finish the electrical. After she went to bed I did some prep on the lights and cut the old socket bases out and prepped the wires to get connected.

In the morning we made quick work of the connectors. She screwed on the socket bases, then we put the twist connections on and taped them into the socket base. Then we slide the socket covers on and got ready to get her hug back up. We tested it and it all worked! So we got it mounted up, tossed a big Christmas bow on it and presented it to Heather... Merry Christmas!

After

So Novali really likes trying to help me do stuff... she even then wanted to help me change the wheels on Heather's car. I got her a set of snow tires on a used set of rims for a steal on craigslist. So I needed to swap out the wheels and it was cold out... but she toughed it out with me (well mostly) and helped get the wheels off and changed on the Jetta. Novali might be a good future crew for Team PLP... Now Heather and Lemon are rolling on some super grippy snow tires!

I posted more pictures and descriptions: Daddy Daughter Decorating (and pit crew)

Thanksgiving Deals by Sam

So this past weekend was the big shopping weekend... In the past I have done the crazy Black Friday deals, gotten up early, fought crowds and got mad over deals lost, and excited over some good deals.

This year, with a baby on the way, and my new frugal (well trying to be) self had no plans on hitting up the morning sales. Most of the deals are on stuff I don't need, and regardless of how much you "save" you still have to spend money and extra money. That is the part people forget... yes you are saving, but really you save more by just not spending at all.

Now I am not saying that we didn't buy anything this weekend... but we were more careful, and were sure that things we bought, we really "needed". So here is a recap of my fun special buys for the special holiday shopping.

Ladder - scored a good deal on a ladder at Lowe's. I know, exciting right! Well it really was, because the one I bought (online - ship to store) the store didn't have in stock. So they upgraded me to the next up in weight rating. So I got a $67 ladder, for $19 (the original sale ladder was $53) so I really got a deal!
Shoe Tree - Last year I got a few shoe trees and really love them. So I wanted two more, and have been waiting for a good sale on some. This weekend Men's Warehouse had their nice ones for buy one get one. Now theirs normally sell for $14.99 and are nice, the cheaper no name brand ones from Meijer are regular price for $9.99 (not as nice). So this way, I got the nice ones for $7.50 each pair. Can't beat that! (better still, I resisted buying another pair... despite it being a good deal, I don't need to spend on more).

Tools - yep... I like tools. Well I try to buy them when they are on sale, not when I need them. That way I get them at a good price, not at whatever price they are when I need them. For my Z a few months ago I bought a Craftsman screw remover and the part was so rusted it broke the remover tool. I returned it for store credit (love Craftsman warranty). I saved the card until now, and this weekend they had the screw remover and bolt remover for 50% off. So I got both tools for the price I paid for one this summer. Score.

Mac Mini - so I used to be a MacAddict, I had it bad. I was the first person to own a iPod... had one in 2002, and got into Mac Laptops before every college kids begged for them for Xmas (actually most begged to not get one). Lately I have gotten way behind.... but the PowerBook (my old G4 ABook) that Heather has been using was on its last leg. So I started looking for a used Mac Mini, she doesn't need high power, but does need something more reliable, and something we can hook up back up drives for photos and video of the pending family addition. So I found one, with a broken superdrive (DVD burner)... but I can get an external one and we saved about $400!

So there it is folks... deals by Sam. Feel pretty good about the weekend. Did buy things like light bulbs, outdoor light strings, and little things like that... but held off on big frivolous items.

Dear Nissan

Nissan Consumer Affairs
P.O. Box 685003
Franklin, TN 37068-5003

Dear Consumer Affairs,

I know that I have exhausted my options on this warranty item and a final decision has been rendered. I still feel I want to express formally how utterly disappointed I am in Nissan USA. As a valued customer for the past 8+ years I would have never expected this type of treatment. I wanted to outline my dissatisfaction with not only the final decision, but the process and how you handle the promotion of your extended “Service Agreement” as part of purchasing a Certified Nissan pre-owned vehicle.

I have been a loyal customer since my younger brother purchased a 1991 Nissan Stanza when I was in college. The car was a good lucking tank named George, ran proud and true and so when I was looking for a used car a few years later while I was in graduate school I stumbled into and purchased a 1991 NX 2000. It was not only a cheap dependable car but I eventually turned it into a second car and started using it for SCCA Autocross racing. There began my love for Nissan vehicles. My next car was a 2000 Sentra GXE that I purchased used from an economy lot of a Nissan dealer in Grand Rapids, MI. That car was a great vehicle and the first time I financed a car all on my own.

As I progressed in my career I got nicer vehicles. I sold my NX 2000 and eventually purchased a 2002 Nissan SpecV from a Nissan dealership in Jackson, MI. That car was purely an autocross car, I got a jacket and put Nissan patches on it and enjoyed being one of the few Nissans in my race class (which I would regularly win). Around the time I got my SpecV it was time to get more grown up and I purchased a 2005 (two years old) from a Nissan dealer in Battle Creek, MI. I searched and searched for a used Altima with a 5-speed because I like driving stick and that costs of ownership on a stick are lower (well usually).

Recently I sold my SpecV in exchange for a 1975 Datsun 280Z. Have you picked up on how much I have enjoyed my Nissan ownership experience? I wear Nismo hats, I am on all the Nissan online forums, and I even subscribe to Nissan Sport Magazine (I just renewed).

I have enjoyed having a certified Nissan car. I purchased it with the understanding that the car, with the exception of regular wear items, would be worry free until 100,000 miles or 5 years from purchased date. I know, and never complained when I needed tires, brakes, and other regular maintenance items needed to be done that were not covered.

My first concern was at around 40,000 miles (I purchased the car with 27,000 on the clock). In stop and go traffic in Chicago the clutch pedal went limp. I was able to pull up on it to shift gears and get off to the side of the road. I was preparing to call Nissan when I started the car again and it drove fine. I took it to the dealership right away, thinking the hydraulic fluid was over heating, or something went wrong. The dealership (Les Stanford in Jackson, MI) said nothing appears wrong with it. My issue was that it clearly was something wrong, and they told me when it did it again to let them know.

The issue came up again at about 60,000 miles. This time I took it to Gurley Leep in Mishawaka, IN. This is the dealership that had been servicing my SpecV and Altima and I was EXTREMELY pleased with them. They checked it out, of course the issue did not repeat itself, but I know that the issue happening caused wear on the clutch when the pedal failed. They helped cover some of the cost as they drained the fluid and upgraded the type of fluid used in the transmission.

The issue happened again about a month ago. Once again once I let the car cool down it went back to normal. To me that means the clutch cylinder or something else must be the problem causing it to lose hydraulic pressure. I took it to the dealership with that issue and some clunking in the front of the car. They could not reproduce the clutch issue (again) but did warranty some of the steering items.

Well three days after picking up the car… my clutch pedal felt weird, but it was not the same feeling as before though. The clutch was slipping. That never happened before, before it was the clutch pedal not having pressure. Luckily the car was drivable still so I brought in to the dealer the next day. Well by the time I got to the dealer with clutch was completely slipping.

Of course at this time is when the service manager at Gurley Leep says the clutch isn’t covered and quoted a price of $1280 with one clutch and $950 with a cheaper clutch. I was not in a negotiating mood, kept my cool in the service department and went outside for some fresh air. That is when I was approached by a salesman about buying a new Nissan. Normally I would have loved to chat cars, and about how my wife and I have discussed trading in her Jetta for a Murano this spring once we have our first child (expected Dec 30th). He told me to let him know if he can help with the service department, or if I want to trade the car in like it is. I told him I would contact him, but I wanted to contact Nissan customer service first about my warranty. (That evening I sent him an email, the following day he didn’t respond, and only called once I complained to the service guy that I thought I was blacklisted from the dealership now)

So the following day I called and started Report # 6983311 with (agent) who was very nice on the phone. He explained that my case was “worth investigating” and I could expect a 24 hour response from a Regional Specialist. Here I thought, now I am getting somewhere. I did ask (agent) what would be a typical response, he explain it could be anywhere from covering the repair, to helping with the repair to not covering any of it. I explained my years with Nissan and he thanked me for being a loyal customer. I optimistically waited for the response.

I got a call from (Regional Specialist) from Consumer Affairs and promptly called her back. I was explained that because of the mileage on my car that they would not cover the repair. I explained about the miles on my certified warranty and about how I had taken the car in several times about clutch pedal pressure issues that would of clearly caused the clutch to go bad faster. She explained the decision was final. So I asked, “So I am stuck paying for this entire repair?” She then explained that the dealership told her they offered me a $300 discount on the repair. Which I explained to her was not true, they just offered me a lower quality part to be used instead. She told me she could do nothing but said they “care about my business”, to which I told her clearly you don’t. It is of course her job to refute that, she did, and I wasn’t going to argue so I told her have a good day and hung up.

My mother taught me that actions speak louder than words. My grandfather taught me that loyalty is the most valuable trait from a business. He was a small business owner and had a car repair and tire store. He taught me about business and how to treat people. He retired a successful business man because he knew that his word was all he had to show people and to earn their business. So he made his word count for something. So Nissan, I want to say that this is the most disappointing thing that you could have done. Your word from a dealer in selling me a car, to your word about standing behind your products, and your words of “valuing my business” mean nothing.

I called the dealership back. The service manager (who I know is working hard for me) was only able to get the repair down to $828 for me. Where is my $300 discount that I was supposed to get? A local recommended shop quoted me $750 to do the repair. So a place that doesn’t know anything about me is getting me a better deal than the company with whom I have spend thousands of dollars at for cars and service. Big Nissan, who values my business can’t beat this little local shops price?

The worst of this is… I never thought I would have to think about doing a safecar.gov posting about my dear Nissan. I didn’t think I would ever want to no longer where my Nissan jacket, or even contemplate selling my Datsun race car or give up on talking the wife into the 350Z summer car I have been wanting. I never thought I would be shopping for anything but a Nissan, and now I might be shopping for anything BUT a Nissan.

I know it doesn’t mean much now, because as your agent said this issue is finished, but you lost a costumer. Maybe you get these letters a lot, maybe business is so good you don’t care, but I am writing in the hopes that you do care. If you don’t, shame on you Nissan. Shame on you for losing a valuable customer.

Sincerely,

Sam Centellas
2005 Nissan Altima 2.5s
2002 Nissan SE-R SpecV
2000 Nissan Sentra GXE
1991 Nissan NX2000
1975 Datsun 280z

Thanks ND. You did the Right Thing.

Its not good news, but it is the news I had hoped would come. Today ND put out a press release about the death of a student on their campus.

ESPN News: "President: Notre Dame responsible"

I wrote a blog the other day and if you didn't read it I basically just wondered if ND would do the right thing.

They didn't dance around the issues, they didn't blame the kid for not bringing down the lift, they didn't say we didn't know the weather was that bad, we didn't ____... they said this:

"Declan Sullivan was entrusted to our care, and we failed to keep him safe," the Rev. John Jenkins wrote. "We at Notre Dame and ultimately I as president are responsible. Words cannot express our sorrow to the Sullivan family and to all involved."

Obviously he wrote more, but that is sometimes all you can ask for when tragedy strikes. So thank you to Notre Dame for restore faith that in the midst of a legal battle, during a losing season, during hard times they just flat out said "We failed".

I think in the midst of all the current politics, mud slinging, elections, and other distractions in the world this is refreshing. Someone just flat out said, "We failed".

So ND answered by blog Will ND Do The Right Thing? They did and today I am proud of their actions, and even though it won't bring Declan back hope it brings the family more closure. I just became a little more Irish today.

I Hate Elections

I hate elections because at the end of the day people don't listen to each other.

I hate elections because I hate going and casting a vote knowing that no matter who I vote for things won't really change. I can vote on a property tax cap, but that just means sales taxes will get raised and parks will get closed cause the government won't actually learn to operate on less but give me less instead and still end up charging more. Did that sentence even make sense?

I hate elections because I hate knowing that people judge your intelligence on if you agree with them or not. What? I thought intelligence was defined as your ability to comprehend and learn from experiences. So why is me having a different opinion then yours make you: 1. Better than me. 2. Smarter than me. 3. More connected with reality than I am.

I hate elections because no matter the outcome everyone ends up mad. You either lost and are mad at people like me who aren't as smart as you and didn't vote the same way. Or you are mad because it took two years for you to win your seat back. Or you are mad because you should of won by more. Really?

You want to know what I really hate? No like really, really hate... You don't want to know but here it is anyways.

I hate elections because at the end of the day people don't listen to each other.

I hate elections because the winners assume that winning means that they don't have to listen to the losers views. The losers assume they have to do everything they can to undermine the winners chance of success in order for them to become winners next time around. So technically everyone loses and we do it all over again next time.

I hate elections for the simple fact that they divide people. They divide us into colors, regions, views, income brackets, and pit us against each other. So things like if you believe in a certain something, makes you vote against things that someone who believes something different brings up regardless of if that thing a good idea or not. I call it the Ex-factor. You hate your Ex, you hate your Ex so much that you hate things they like, if even you used (or still do)to like it you say you don't anymore.

I hate elections because they are about winning. They aren't about helping people, making things better, or improving the lives of our future children. They are about winning at all cost, saying anything (even if you don't mean it) and then doing a happy dance when you won (or a cartwheel I guess).

I do love when elections are over and I don't have to see the yard signs and and attack advertisements on TV. So to that I am thankful, but all the money spent on elections could of helped feed all the homeless in our area, put my daughter through college, and fixed the roads around here. Instead it was spent on electing someone who promises to do those things (but won't).

I hate elections because at the end of the day people don't listen to each other.

If you are wondering, yes I voted. If you want to know how it doesn't matter, it was my opinion on the issue.

I hate elections because I know you really want to know how I voted, because you want to judge me based on it. Did you listen to anything I wrote above?

I hate elections because at the end of the day people don't listen to each other.

So I want to know... will ND do the right thing?

In my law class in grad I always remember the line from my professor, "There is the wrong way to do things, the right way, and the legal way."

I use that phrase all the time, and for those who know me know that I have thought about going to law school for a long time. I am the risk management and legal consultant for my fraternity and we use that thought process to make decisions.

I train my board members and national volunteers how to respond during a crisis. I am reflecting on how we handle things, and looking at how ND is going to handle this situation with the death of a student.

You are trained in crisis management to avoid legal issues (civil suit) to:

Never Apologize
Never admit responsibility
Say you feel bad
Say good things about the victim
Say good thing about the people who (accidentally or on purpose) caused the incident
Say you sympathize
Never let anyone, but someone trained to speak, speak to the media

So far since the death of the student last night at football practice the ND statements have been just as outlined above. The football players have been instructed not to answer questions, and no one from the team but Coach Kelly and Father Jenkins have given a statement. Those statements were completely along the lines stated above.

So I want to know... will ND do the right thing?
Now we are in day two... so will the statements change? I am sure ND is worried about getting sued by the family. I am sure ND is trying to figure out how to mitigate their liability. I am sure ND is worried about what this means for their football team.

So I want to know... will ND do the right thing?
Will they say, "NO" to their lawyers and come out and say they are sorry? Or will they keep up the song and dance to try and avoid a bigger lawsuit? Will someone call the family? Or will they send a heartless, tight rope walking letter hoping to get sued for less?

Here is the difference... just like my fraternity, ND isn't a heartless corporation. They aren't Walmart trying to not get sued for a lot of money and have to raise prices. They are a values based institution that values human life and more importantly doing the right thing. There are banners all over campus that talk about ethical education...

So I want to know... will ND do the right thing?
Will Coach Kelly take a press release. Will he look straight at the camera and say, he is sorry. Will he say that he is ultimately responsible for everything that happens. Wins, Losses, Signing the best players, and yes... when something tragic happens. Will Coach Kelly say that hindsight is 20/20, but he can't go back and make different decisions. Will he say we should of not had him up there. Will he say that they might not of had a good process for deciding if the lift should of gone up. Will he say, that he knows that no matter what he says he can't bring him back, but that he will do all he can to ensure his memory is forgotten.

More importantly, will Coach Kelly, as a father himself, call the father of that young man and say... I am sorry. I can't bring him back, but I will do anything in the world in my power to make this right.

ND. Do The Right Thing. Do the Right Thing and make us all believe that sometimes its about more than money, or more than admitting a mistake... and make me believe that even if I become a lawyer someday, and I have to answer a question like this in my fraternity that I will do the right thing.

So I NEED to know... will ND do the right thing?

I don't want to be Holster Guy... But...

Oh man... got bad news today, I guess smart phones aren't supposed to be kept in your pocket. When they are transmitting data they are supposed to be kept a certain distance from your body, it is even in the fine print of the instructions.

Apple iPhone recommends 15mm (5/8 of an inch)
Blackberry recommends 25mm (7/8 of an inch)

I saw it this morning on the CBS Morning show... "Cell Phones in Pockets"...and this one really got my attention. I am trying to find what the distance is on my Palm Pre.

WOW that is a lot... so for the ladies who keep it in their purse, that is fine. For me and I bet tons of other guys we just keep it in our pocket. I personally hate holsters... I don't want to be holster guy...

I tried a holster a little this summer because it was annoying always carrying it in my pocket at work. I didn't like it...

So what am I to do? Man bag? Murse? Or the dreaded holster?

The Terminal

I have been on the road lately, a lot... more than usual. For the month of October I had a weekend board meeting in Chicago, consulting trip to Ohio University, consulting trip to University of Arizona, conference this weekend in Grand Rapids, MI and then a family trip to Flint next weekend.

So I am a little worn down right now. I like the trips, I like working with students at other schools, I love seeing the good work my chapters are doing around the country, I am excited to take students to this conference.... and I am VERY excited about the family weekend with Novali and Kelly's girls all together again.

November will be chill... we will do all our baby prep and finish the room, some final organizing and things around the house we need done to prepare for the stream of visitors will be having this winter. Including the newest little Centellas... it is really exciting and that energy is what is keeping me going right now.

Wish me luck as I get through one of my busiest months in a long time... I know that soon... it will get even busier!

Whoa Karting

So tonight was the monthly meeting of my car club. For those who don't know, I am a member of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) through the South Bend Region (SBR). We have a monthly meeting on the first Tuesday of the month. I am the chair of our Street Survival Program and of course do my racing with the club.

Well for this monthly meeting we decided to go Karting. Besides at amusement parks or things like that I have never done "real" karting. So this was an adventure for me and man it was FUN. We went to Michiana Raceway Park out near North Liberty, IN.
It was a really fun track layout and the cars were a lot faster than I thought they would be... It was easy to spin the cars in a circle but once I got the hang of it man it was fun drifting them around corners.

I was surprised that the karts didn't have harnesses or seat belts. We were required to wear fire jackets, neck supports, gloves and full face helmets though. Surprisingly the seats kept you in tight, even when you were getting bump drafted or spun out in a circle... We got to run in groups of 8 at a time on the track. We got three run heats in before it got dark and we had to stop. On my first time out I ended up 7th of the 8... but for a first timer not so bad I thought. For the second heat I moved up to 6th, and then for the final run I was getting the hang of it and moved up to 4th!
So it was a fun night, I for sure want to do this again sometime. Now I want to take Novali out there and see if she really wants to drive a KART. It would be an expensive toy, but man it would be fun! Then Lemon can grow into it and drive it as well! I smell family hobby coming on...

Its Fall Time

Well there are a lot of good things I enjoy about fall... nice 60 degree days, my Nissan jacket, school is back in session, and many other things. I don't like picking up crabapples, raking leaves and the thought that soon I will have to put away my grill...

This weekend Novali was here visiting and we had a lot of fall time fun. We did some indoor go karts, played basketball and she even wanted to learn how to grill chicken. So needless to say I was a proud papi for the weekend.

We went to Strikes and Spares in South Bend. Surprisingly I have never done the go karts there, it was a nice little indoor track and we had fun. We did two runs, one which was just us and it was fun, the second had a flock of girls who just crashed into each other (and us) but we still have fun.

On Sunday we went to campus and hit up the SAC. It was family hours so they had the small rim pulled out and she got to practice her shots. She is thinking about trying to play basketball at her school this year, so we need to practice more.

It was a fun fall Indiana weekend. Weird to think a month ago I had her during the week and now I just have her every other weekend. She was bummed because in Sunday school they practiced for a play, but she won't be here then... maybe she can do a winter play here.

I posted a few new pics on her website... I know I know... Finally!

Novali: Oct 2010 - Fall Fun

Whew...

Well I made it through the first week of classes at IUSB. I am in charge of all of the Welcome Week events and so I was a little stressed... But we kicked off school in style, had bigger events, some new events and lots of good times.  Needless to say this weekend I needed a break... and of course to go along with school busyness was my birthday.

I was able to sneak away from work on Thursday and run to Chicago to do Novali's conference with her teacher. So we got to meet her new teacher, see her classroom and organize her desk. It made for a long day, but it meant we got to kick the weekend off a little early and I had Novali for four days before she starts up school.

We had a fun weekend.... my birthday I had to work, but I took Novali so it was fun. Heather and Novali took me to Hacienda for my Friday favorite, Fish Tacos. We had to cut dinner short because I promised our Latino Student Union I would help out with their Lock In that night. Novi was excited to come with me and we had a great time. She introduced herself in front of 30+ strangers, we did a Zumbda class, shot some baskets, and she even danced with all the college kids. She said she loves college and I had to drag her out of there past midnight!

Saturday and Sunday were chill days.... we needed them! It was full of football, grilling brats and hot dogs, movies and of course some yardwork.... and not to mention a little work on the Z which I am doing right now that Novali is in bed. Tomorrow we will finish organizing her folders for school and get her back to Chicago. Then fall really kicks off!

Bad Car Times

So this was a bad car weekend....

On Friday night I came home, worked on the Z a little trying to get my AFM boot repair finished. She fired right up, idled strong and I took her around the block. She had about a quarter of a tank (from my lawn mower tank cause I ran out the weekend before trying to test drive her) so I figured while I am out, lets run and get some gas. She ran strong and I was zipping around the neighborhood en route to the local Speedway. Well at the busy intersection just before the gas station... BAM... died... ARGH.

She would not turn back over. Tried and tried... nothing... finally a guy offered to help push. He ran to park his car and right then... she started! I got her into the Speedway but man she was running super rich. I udjusted the idle and got her to stop stalling... but I figured I better try to drive it home at a less busy time... so I left her there...

On Saturday at home I was trying to finish up a project. I got some white leather seats from a Z in a junkyard and I was in the process of dying them black. I did the back side of them and they looked great. I started on the front and... BAM... paint issues... ARGH...

Once it dried the paint looked flat and like it didn't want to stick. I cleaned em well, and they looked better but still look flat (the back was all glossy). So I went and got one more can of the dye and tried again... BAM... still flat. So now not sure what I am going to do, might just use some leather conditioner and see if that will make it glossy. It looks like the paint dried and it is not flaking off... so not sure what happened.

So to round out my weekend on Sunday I had to work. I ran in we had a training sessions for some students. As I was leaving I was hurrying to get home and as I pulled out I turned too sharp out of my end spot and.... BAM... curb rash... ARGH...

Now my front rim has a big curb rash on it and will be a constant reminder to stop being in a rush (or stop working on Sundays).

Rough weekend for my rides... luckily nothing wrong with the Jetta... knock on wood...

The Trend

So the trend is that I am back! Yes I am blogging... I finally updated the links on my homepage to reflect the new rides (removed NX pics) and someday I need to update my personal site.. details details. My Home Page

Anyhow today I wanted to rant about the heat here... so our house doesn't have AC. It is an old house, and to put ducts into an older all brick home with real plaster walls would cost a ton and ruin all beautiful walls. However when it is consistently over 90 degrees with lots of humidity it makes me wonder... should we start saving for AC?

So other haps around the house lately. Well we are finally getting our roof repair done. After dealing with two contractors that bailed on the job I think we got a winner and also a good price. The benefit of the slate roof is that it is easier to repair in just portion and it has lasted for nearly 80 years and still has a few more years left.

I do have the room addition bug though... yes we bought a big four bedroom house to grow into... but one of our neighbors is putting on a HUGE addition to their house (nearly doubling the size). It has me wondering how much it would cost, how long until we have equity to get an improvement loan or how much our house value has gone up from all the updates and repairs we have already done.

It is August now... so I am half way through lawn mowing time I think... don't remind me that leaf time is coming but I have enjoyed trying to nurse our backyard back to health. It was a jungle when we got the house and it is slowly coming along.

Anyhow... just a random blog about the house. Peace.

Happy Anniversary

Well it has been one year... wow time flies. It was on August 1st, 2009 that Heather and I got married. I unfortunately have not kept up on my blog like I used to, but it has been a busy year.

So I had to write today a little about this year in review.

We had our first Notre Dame Football season together. Even though the two of us didn't go to a game together, we enjoyed some tailgating and knowing that our tickets were put to good use for each game by friends and family who visited. Looking forward to WMU vs ND this fall. I commit this year to making sure that D and I get to see a game together.

Heather survived living with me as I travel a lot. I think she secretly loves when I am gone and she gets the house to herself. I visited I think 14 states and drove countless miles. I did start the habit of sending Novali a postcard from all the new cities I visited and I am sure Heather will someday help make Novali a scrapbook.

We painted our first room... I got Heather to finally pic a color and we painted below the chair rail in our dinning room. It is a lovely Summer Memory (the color name) now and started our journey on home improvement.

Unfortunately our journey on home improvements was steep after the painting. In November when I was in FL for a conference Heather calls that the house is cold... our boiler died. Lots of hassle, negotiations with insurance and warranty people, and laughs from contractors about our 70 year old boiler... we now have a grand spankin' new one. Add that to new windows and our house got some nice improvements this year.

Heather survived our first fall at the house... and all the raking and raking... and more raking, and hire fraternity brothers to come and help raking... and then there was a little more raking.

This spring it was dandelions... and then our first landscaping job. We did the southside path around our house. Preen, mulch, wood chips, step stones, bench.... it was a big job but turned out well and my back is still recovering from the trips to Menards for more mulch.

Now we are back at the home repairs... we are prepping a baby room upstairs and luckily my parents were here to help start the job. We painted my childhood dresser white with new knobs and you would never guess Andy and I shared it growing up, or let alone that it followed me through college from place to place and color to color. Novali got in on the job and helped with some painting.

So obviously in our second year we have a lot to look forward to... Yes I am sure more home repairs (stupid slate roof) but a new addition to the family will make the hardwork we put into our big old home worth it all.

Today is a low key anniversary. We will celebrate next weekend as just the two of us... (well Lemon is coming as well) but for today Heather and Novali are coming to watch me race my Z. Then we will run out and buy a camcorder to start the video journal of the Life of Lemon and come home and assemble the crib.

To Blog or Not to Blog

  So I got on the case of my friend V about blogging and then I realized it has nearly been a year since I posted on this blog! So here I am back in the saddle talking About the Life and Times of Sam Centellas. So what has been new in my life in a year.... well tomorrow is my one year wedding anniversary. That is pretty cool. This weekend I am also racing my 1975 Datsun 280Z... that is pretty awesome. This entire summer Novali has spent with me and Heather here in South Bend... that has been an adventure.

I will try to get back into the habit of writing a little bit. With Facebook now I post items there and forget about this... but there I am limited in how much I write so I need to get back into the Blogger Habit.

Check out the other places I "write":

www.meandmyz.blogspot.com
www.twitter.com/cruceno21
www.facebook.com/cruceno21

Thanks and stay tuned for a new post soon... and maybe a new blog.

Its September!

So most of my blogs lately start with a post about how long it has been since my last post and how sorry I feel that I have not posted more recently. I do feel sorry, but honestly with Facebook now I share photos on there and do some status updates so I honestly just forget about this site. Well here is a more indepth update on the wrapping up of summer... Novali: Cooking with Novali We had Novali all summer and one of the fun things we did was cook. Novali got a cute little kids cookbook and once a week she would pick dinner, shop for things on her list, and cook for everyone. Usually was had some leftovers for her to take to her mom or at least for lunch at work the next day.

Working hard in the kitchen.

Dinner is served!

Team PLP: July 09 July was a pretty good month for Team PLP... but I had no races in August. My two events in July went okay, I took 4th out of 98 on fourth of July weekend so that was great. It was fun because Hermen raced with me and we had a fun weekend in Grand Rapids with Erin and Heather. My second race of the month was back at the Tire Rack Test Track, it was a rainy day, I ruined my race rubber so I was on street tires, and I was very tired...

Team PLP finally got some groupies!

Hermen tearing it up at GVSU.

Wedding: August 1st, 2009 So Heather and I had this thing called a wedding... it was a lot of work, a lot of fun, and yes married life is great. We still have not gotten our official wedding photos but when we do I will post a link. I have a few photos linked above from friends and some that I took of the event(s) of the wedding. It was a great time and we had our one month anniversary already.

Verona Hills Golf Club.

Bad Axe, Michigan.

Rehearsal Dinner.

Saying our vows.

Parents No photos yet... I have some on snapfish. My parents were here for my wedding, my sisters wedding reception and just to hang out and visit family. They stayed with Heather and I and it was a treat as always to have them around. I am excited for this winter when Heather, Novali and I will go and visit them! So I am caught up... well kinda, I owe everyone photos of my sisters wedding reception, my brothers visit to South Bend, Labor Day Weekend, and pictures of my parents visit. Soon, soon... really I will try to do it soon this time. Thanks!

Photo Update

Haven't posted pictures in a while. So here is a couple updates in one and catching up on photos. I have been doing tons of yard work, finding time to get some racing in, and of course traveling. I got three new albums of photos posted so check those out: Novali: June Pics This past weekend Novali moved to South Bend for the summer. Pretty exciting! Heather and I are looking forward to spending more time with her over the next two months. Novali really likes South Bend so far and we have been doing a lot of yardwork, decorating her room, and just doing different fun small town stuff.

Novali doing yard work with Heather's mom... she likes gardening.

Novali played outdoor soccer this spring with her elementary school.

House: Fun Yard Work Well one big project at the house has been doing the yardwork. Wow its been a lot of work, but it is really paying off so far. We have beautiful flowers around the front of the house and once we get the huge tree from the backyard cut down we will start some plans for the backyard. Novali and Heather had fun planting flowers and I like finally having a hose for washing my car!

Bags and bags of leaves... and then more bags.

Novali loved the bed of daisies that we had.

Team PLP: May-June Well I am off to a good start for the racing season. Unfortunately I have not been able to race as much as I would have liked because of my busy travel season. I did race in my first Divisional SCCA Event and that was a lot of fun... but man it really showed me how much farther I have to go in my driving development. I did well in my other two regional events though and am really looking forward to work on my car a little in the garage now thats it nice out.

Team PLP pitcrew (me) changing the wheels to race rubber.

I won PAX for the first time ever out of over 70 cars!

So May and June were busy months as always! I think July will be a little more chill... wait... what am I thinking... I get married in just a couple of weeks! Wow so lets buckle up and get ready for that because it is really coming up soon. This weekend for fourth of July I have a wedding and an autocross.... hopefully I can try to catch a tan as well. Ciao!

What's the Haps

Wow... What's the Haps you might ask... or What's happening in my life? WOW... yeah its an understatement to say that I have been busy. Things always pop up that keep me busy which doesn't help on top of an already packed schedule. So here is what has been going on...

For Memorial Day we had Heather's parents in town. Anita and Dave brought us some furniture from their home which finally means we have furniture in the "kids" room. It is very cute now and Novali was very excited about her new furniture and room. Now she wants to paint the walls purple and decorate it when she moves in for the summer... we will see how that goes with the purple paint. We were thinking a light blue. While the DeCourval fam was here we fixed a toilet, cut down trees, did some gardening, moved stuff and showed them around our town. It was a nice fun weekend despite all the hard work... next time they visit we will have to do more relaxing. Novali was excited because she got to plant some flowers, and thanks to my grandparents for that thoughtful birthday gift of money for flowers.

The following weekend I was supposed to go on a retreat for work. I got a Grant from Indiana Campus Compact and it was a retreat for all the people who received the fellowship. Well it got canceled so then I had a weekend to get caught up! Cleaned the garage, organized the basement a little and Heather and I did a HUGE donation of old clothes to Goodwill. Feels good to help people, and also get tons of clothes that no longer fit me out of the house...

This past weekend I was the Equipment Chief for the Great Lakes Division Autocross Series event in Peru, IN. It was a big event with about 100 drivers through out the weekend. This was my first event and I was hoping to see if I could hang at this level... well I learned that I can't, at least not yet. The event had several past and current class champions... and even an overall national champ. It was some stuff competition!

I think being in a chief position for my first big event was a mistake. It took away from my time walking the course and preparing myself to drive. My first run in one heat I barely got my helmet on in time to drive right up and run. Usually I get time to focus and clear my mind before a run.

Well this week is hectic as well. On Thursday I head to Chicago for a Chapter retreat with my fraternity Brothers from WMU and also a little bachelor party as well. While we are there we are stopping at a benefit event for one of our fraternity Brothers who was killed in the line of duty in Chicago. He was a police officer and passed last week. Very sad because he was expecting a son later this year. Hopefully we can raise some money to help the widow and his future son. Sad to lose a life so young, he was only 27 years old.

Last night Heather and I did some more yard work... and sat outside to eat dinner on our little patio. I do enjoy nice summer nights! Well hopefully my next post will come sooner than later. Ciao.

Yard Work

Finally had a weekend at home... no trips, no weekend work, no Beta projects, no conference calls... nothing but just being home and having fun. Heather was on gone and Friday and Saturday so I had some good guy time. Ordered hot wings for dinner, I went to the Tire Rack to watch the finale of the One Lap of America race. I got to watch the Nissan GTR compete despite the freezing cold. Then I ran some errands, enjoyed some basketball and just relaxed.

Sunday, in honor of Mother's Day I did yard work. Growing up we always bought my mom flowers and helped her plant them for Mother's Day. This year I can't be around my mother, so Heather and I spent most of the day in the yard together. Our backyard is a mess of a jungle so we ignored that and we worked on the manageable front lawn, bushes, and landscaping. We have been pleasantly surprised a lot this spring as our flowers and plants have grown in nicely.

Don't even know what this is... but it was purple and cool.

Heather loves daffodils and we had TONS of them.

Memories of Holland, MI... Tulips.

I need to start learning the names of our flowers... no clue.

We have several flowering bushes around the house as well.

These Lilac bushes are especially nice and smell great.

Well keeping up our huge yard is a lot of work. We bought a lawn mower, hedge trimmer, weed whacker, and lots of chemicals for killing dandelions! The worst part is all the leaves... in the fall my dad and I bagged 22 bags (30 gallon/50 pound bags), this spring I did 12 more, and this weekend another 14 bags! In pounds that is 2400! Wow...

The bags and bags and bags...

The hard work is paying off... at least in the front yard.

Hopefully we will tackle the back yard soon. I am hoping this summer Novali will enjoy some gardening with Heather and I. Maybe we can grow our own tomatoes! We will see...

Traveling

I just got back from Washington DC for a conference. It was nice on Saturday when Andres and Miguel came down and visited. We walked around a bit and had a late lunch together and caught up.  They even got to see me in action as we walked by a young lady with a flat tire. I sprang into car mode and changed her tire in less than 10 minutes. Andres took a picture and Miguel posted it on Twitter so it was a team activity.  The conference was pretty busy but on breaks I finally was able to post pictures from Novali's birthday. I have been trying to post more often but it is difficult. Maybe now that I am on twitter it will push me more to blog and then post the link. I am on the road a lot the next few weeks but once May hits it will slow down.  This upcoming weekend not only are we having guests at our house... BUT... I am an instructor for Tire Rack Street Survival school on Saturday and on Sunday off to Northeastern University for some consulting. The weekend after that I am off to San Diego for a board meeting. I have never been to San Diego so I am looking forward to that trip. After that life will slow down a little bit... at least I hope!  Aside from traveling the next couple weeks I will be busy with yard work and other projects around the house. There is so much to do and so little time lately. Not to mention that this is a super busy time at work for me, April is always hectic with end of the year programs and graduation. It has been a great year so here is to a busy but great ending. Ciao!

Birthday Season

April is birthday month in the Centellas family. Tons of them... just in my immediate family Miguel was on the 7th and Novali and my dad on the 10th. I got to call Miguel and my dad for their birthdays and this year for Novali her birthday fell on Easter weekend. The last couple years we started a little tradition of staying downtown Chicago for Easter and visiting a different church. Two years ago we did the Moody Bible Church and last year we stayed at the Drake and visited the Fourth Presbyterian Church across from the Hancock building. (Blog: Easter Bunny) This year we got a room at Palmer House Hilton. Luckily we got upgraded to an executive floor room because on Saturday we planned a little birthday party for Novali. Andres came for the weekend and it was set to be a fun downtown adventure. We checked in early on Friday and then we walked to Millennium Park and ate at the Park Grill.

Novali and her birthday hat at the hotel.

Dancing with Tio Andres in the hotel room.

Friday night we had dinner with the Gomez family at one of Novali's favorite places, La Villa. It is a nice little italian place where we have gone for several events. She opened some gifts and we had a good time with family. Heather and I gave Novali a locket with a picture of Nono in it so now she can take him everywhere! Saturday we got ready for her party. She had 5 or 6 friends coming up to swim in the pool, eat pizza and have a fun party. Heather and Tamara set it all up. Heather made some gifts for Novali to give her guests. She met them in the hotel lobby with a party tiara and a note card to go to our room. Once everyone arrived and changed it was pool time! The kids had a good time, Andres and Heather helped entertain all the kids in the pool. We also let them get into the hot tub for just a short time... then it was pizza time! The kids ate and then Novali had brownies her mom made for her as her birthday cake.

Every kid loves a pool party.

Happy Birthday!

The party ended... and then we just enjoyed walking around downtown some more. We did some shopping, Novali asked me to buy her a fedora and she wore it around all night! It was a lot of fun and we ended the night watching High School Musical 3 in our room. Sunday was a super early morning. We found the Chicago Temple online that had sunrise services in their sky chapel. It is 400 feet above the street level and was beautiful to see. We enjoy a nice early service, some pictures at the hotel and a quick breakfast and then took short naps. Then another quick stroll around downtown and packed up.

The beautiful Methodist Chicago Temple.

In the Palmer House after church.

It was a fun weekend, and I can't wait for next year as we make plans for another cool hotel and another Easter service. I posted more photos on Novali's website: Easter/Birthday 2009.

Maybe Spring?

So really spring is being lame and not really coming all the way in yet. We have gotten into the 60s and very nice outside, and then this past Sunday it was snowing! So what is going on over here while I am waiting for the good weather? Lets give some updates.  Plants - Novali and I planted some seeds in little indoor green houses. It was supposed to take 2 to 3 weeks for the plants to grow. Well in less than two weeks the plants are coming over grown! I had to take the lid off the green houses already. I am wondering how long I can hold off planting them but the ground is still very cold. Hum...  Workout - despite the spotty warm weather I am running at home outside in our neighborhood. It is nice as I am learning the side streets around here well. I also like getting ideas for our landscaping from other houses in the area. I am working on the perfect route around for distance and avoiding all the hills. The hills makes for a scenic neighborhood, but are hard on the knees. But to answer your question, yes I am trying to work out regularly.  Work - April starts in a few short days and it is a busy work month for me. All the end of the year programs, leadership awards, student government elections, and preparing for summer orientation all hit at the same time. However the slow summer time is coming soon!   Travel - well I have five trips in 5 weeks coming up. I am off to San Francisco this weekend to a conference where I am presenting 5 workshops. While out there I am skipping over to Berkeley to do a program for them as well. Then back here for a couple days and then off to Chicago for Easter Weekend with is also Novali's birthday. It will be fun, doing a little hotel pool party and Tio Andy will be visiting also. The following weekend I head out to Washington DC for another conference. It will be nice because I hope to catch up with Andres and Miguel while out there. I want to see little (or not so little) Javi. The following weekend I am waiting to hear on a consulting trip to a Chicago area college which at this time shall not be named. Then I finish with first weekend in May in San Diego for another conference. So on the road again... and then May-August will slow down a little for me. The  House - We did some spring cleaning, raked some leaves and cleaned up the front and side yard. The backyard is a whole other story right now. So many trees and we are waiting to just see what starts to grow where as the ground warms up. I really am looking forward to landscaping and doing work around the yard. Wish me luck... So there are a few quick updates from me... Ciao!

Girl Scout Cookies

Last weekend another bonus of the nice weather was that in front of nearly every store we visited had Girl Scouts in front selling cookies. Who can say no to their cookies? Well for one, not this guy that's for sure. I got some thin mints (that I know Heather likes) and I got some Samoas (they changed the name a while ago but they will always be Samoas to me. I was pleased, felt like I was supporting a good cause and during the rest of the shopping trip was looking forward to tearing into some Samoas! Yum yum...  Well that evening, sat down after dinner to a family movie with Novali and Heather. Of course it was time to bust into the Samoas. I had one... then two... and then I had the dumb idea of wanting to read the nutrition information. I turned over the box as I was getting ready to reach for my third cookie. I started reading the nutrition information from the top. It started fairly normal, yeah only 2 cookies are a serving. Seriously... all snacks are like that, does anyone really follow that? Well then it said the calories, 140 in two cookies. Man then the news started getting worse. Then the bad news hit, 11% of your daily fat intake in two cookies! What's worse is that for saturated fat... a whopping 29% of your daily value. WOW. In two tiny cookies... no wonder they are so delicious!  Don't Girl Scouts have to get some type of health merit badge? Don't they feel bad selling these cookies to unsuspecting consumers? I mean, yeah I am still gonna finish the box, but thats the point... I think they need to come up with something else that won't make me feel bad about myself.

Roses are Red

March has arrived, we moved the clocks forward an hour, and spring weather is slowly starting to show its head. We had Novali this past weekend and it was a ton of fun doing things outside. We got her on Friday and its always fun chatting with her in the car and hearing about her day.  Saturday was a fun day and started early. Everyone got up and made breakfast... some pancakes in fun shapes. I got some pancake shapes a while back and have been waiting to use them. So we mixed some pancake batter, cooked some sausage and had a nice big breakfast. Before getting ready for the day we through in a roast that would make a delicious dinner.

Pancake shapes: Heart, Star and Bear.

Novi's bed... her cool disney pillow.

Novali made her bed and then we went shopping. It might of been her first trip to Lowe's... we went shopping for plants. We got some indoor pots to start growing some flowers early. She had a ton of fun picking out the types of flowers she wanted to plant. We decided to get a rose bush as well and try to plant that for Heather. We toured around Lowe's for a while, Heather met us out there, we went looking at patio bricks and things we could do to out big back yard. After we returned from the store we got to work outside.  There was a lot to do... Heather and I cut ivy off the front of the house and cleaned around our landscaping. Novali climbed our front tree again, dug up some worms and wanted to make them her pets. Then we started to work on the rose bush. Novali started to dig the hole as I got the top soil and tools out. We dug a hole for the roots, and then planted what we hope will be a full flowering rose bush (wish us luck).

Novali up in the tree again.

Hopefully red roses will be growing soon.

We ended the night with some delicious roast pork sandwiches and watched Tinkerbell. We relaxed and everyone went to sleep early because we were very tired from all the hard work! Sunday we slept in, and then we worked on our indoor green house. We can't plant outside until the end of April or early May. So we decided to start planting some flowers indoors. The little green houses we got hopefully we will let the flowers start to sprout indoors and once it gets nice outside we can transplant them. It was a tun weekend.  Novali got to talk to my mom and dad and also with her Tio Andy. It is great because Andres will be coming to Chicago for Easter weekend which is also her 8th birthday. Can't wait for that weekend! For more pics from the weekend go here: Spring!

What a Month

So I am very behind in my blogging... yes I am aware. It has been a very hectic month! I made a consulting trip to the Michigan Multicultural Greek Symposium at MSU for a weekend, I did a trip for my fraternity board to Dallas to help facilitate a retreat, and then I had a trip to St. Louis to present at a conference. I have been a busy bee... and on top of that had my one year evaluation at work and kicked off a busy semester. Well what's new in my life? Not much, still traveling a lot, still enjoying our big house, still having fun in South Bend, and of course still having a fun with Novali on the weekends. Heather and I had her this past weekend... It was a snow filled weekend. Unfortunately we don't get good snowman making snow here, but we braved the outdoors and tried... we didn't get far but managed the worlds smallest snow man. Novali climbed a tree and did well for a city slicker.

Our little snowman.

Climbing up the crabapple tree.

Another fun indoor trip was to the movies. We have a discount theater and they were showing the Disney movie Bolt. It's is about a girl and her cartoon dog, very good and very funny for all ages. I highly recommend it if you have not seen it yet. That ended the weekend... right now I am wrapping up Sunday night getting some work done to make the weeks work a little easier and Heather is doing laundry. I had a car club meeting this week and it is really giving me cabin fever being locked up in the house waiting for warm weather. Hopefully there won't be too many more snowy weekends before we can do things outside again... like finally use our driveway to wash cars... reminds me I need to buy a hose. Ciao!

My Momma

Well today my mom gets a year older... when growing up our family would go to Zehnder's for family style chicken. It was a tradition that lasted until I was gone to college. It was nice last year when as a family we visited Zehnder's for an ice festival and to be in Zehnder brought back cool memories.  I called my mom... they complained about the heat, and the crazy Bolivian politics... you know, the usual. My mom talked about retirement, fun swimming in the pool, forgetting her cell phone number, and those fun things that come with getting older. She has turned 60 years old... time flies, and she looks great for her age! Hopefully means good things for my future! I can't send a card cause it will get lost (ie stolen) in the mail. So my blog will have to do. Happy Birthday Mom!

The Best of the Best

I need to get some photos posted but wanted to post a news update on the Spelling Bee. It was last night and was a very cool and professional event. It was hosted by the Uno Charter Schools at one of their elementary schools. There are seven schools in the system and each school had a spelling bee to prepare for this event and sent their top speller in grades 2 through 8.  It was a cool little auditorium and the participants would sit on stage in a row. Each one would come up, get their word and try to spell it. There was a screen behind them, that as they spelled the word the judges typed it out. If they got it wrong, they were eliminated and the proper spelling of the word was put on the board. The students during round one had to come up and introduce themselves, I think Novi was the only one that didn't appear nervous. They group them into three categories. It was 2nd and 3rd graders, 4th and 5th and then 6th through 8th. So that meant that Novali would be up against 3rd graders as well. Tough challenge.  Her group had 14 students (one 2nd and 2rd grader from each school) and they went first. It was off to a good start and the words got harder and harder. Novali made it to the top 7 and the words really started to get hard. SERENDIPITY. ALFALFA. BOUTIQUE. She got some zingers right (I forget what words she spelled in early rounds) and stayed on into the top 5! That's when words got really hard. She got IGUANA. CROISSANT. GENRE. and I forget what else right... and then she made it to the top 4! Thats when the words really ramped up. I don't remember all of them, but Novali got some mega hard ones correct.  Novali was eliminated on a word I am not sure I could spell had I not seen it on her spelling sheet. QUICHE. Unlike others though when they didn't know a word; she thought about it, was poised, and then spelled it phonetically as best she could. She turned around and waited to see the correct spelling and then took her seat. In the top three were two 3rd graders and one 2nd grader. So really she placed in 2nd place out of students from her grade. It was a very proud day as my daughter is the best of the best.  She took the loss well, didn't want to take photos but besides that was upbeat. I am glad she wasn't a sour sport about it, and happy that she made it so far. I will try to post photos this weekend...

Novali and the Bee

So 2009 is off to a good start! Last week Novali had a school spelling bee. She qualified as a handful of 2nd graders who spelled all their words right in their classroom activities. The school had 6 students per class that would compete for one spot in the district spelling bee. I took the afternoon off of work to go and see the spelling bee. I posted more details on her website: Spelling Bee

Novali spelling at the Carlos Fuentes Spelling Bee.

The big winner!

I also had Novali for the following weekend. She had Friday off, and I arranged to bring her to South Bend after the spelling bee. I luckily got Friday off as a snow day at IU South Bend.... Four Day Weekend! Unfortunately it was nearly 30 below zero, WOW. We enjoyed some indoor activities, we saw High School Musical 3 on campus sponsored by my programming board, we entertained some of my fraternity visitors, and then finally got to go outside and play in the snow. On the link above I have some photos of Novali playing outside.

Making a snow angel.

Making footprints in our deep snow!

Well now it is back to the grind... over the weekend we practiced her new spelling list and this Thursday she has the bigger spelling bee. Weather permitting I will be ducking out a little early from work again to get to Chicago for that as well. Wish Novali luck!

Holiday Pictures

Excuse the delay... here is the link to pictures from the holidays in South Bend and Chicago. Enjoy... 2008 Holiday Family Visit

Bed and Breakfast

This year for Christmas Gifts our family received an exclusive free stay at the Centellas DeCourval Historic Bed and Breakfast in the lovely Ridgedale neighborhood of South Bend, IN.  They got one free night in a tastefully decorated guest suite (some rooms more spartan than others). Included in the stay was full cooked to order breakfast with eggs, toast, sausage, breads and fresh juice and coffee. Some of the extended stay guests received free tickets to an IU South Bend (Titan Basketball game.  Friday night included some Central Michigan Football in the Motor City Bowl (unfortunately a loss). The night finished with a trip to J Willys a local rib place featured on the FOX hit show, Kitchen Nightmares.  Saturday activities included a driving tour of the Notre Dame campus to see the golden dome. Some guests enjoyed a drive out to the nationally known Tire Rack test facility and race skip pad. Other quests participated in a healthy outdoor afternoon walk through the Ridgedale neighborhood. Included in the neighborhood tours were several historic homes and was highlight by the Mossberg House designed by none other than Frank Lloyd Wright. Saturday evening was a big dinner for thirteen! It was a multiple course dinner... started early with soup and wings from the Wing Nut. A break for some more college football, some family photos and waiting for a turkey and dinner to be ready. Then the meal continued with turkey and homemade mashed potatoes... even Novali helped preparing some of the dinner.  All guests at the bed and breakfast enjoyed the meal. For future potential guests: Our Bed and Breakfast includes free parking, bedroom options on the first and second floor, activities for children, it is close to local shopping and wireless internet is available at no cost. During the week check in is at 5pm and on the weekends at 3pm. Check out begins at 11am after breakfast and guest not staying an additional night must be checked out by 1pm. We currently don't take online reservations, but we can take them via text.

End of the Season
Stores are having end of season sales to kick off the holiday season, the fall season is fully upon us and reminds us that fun summer season is over... so it was fitting that one of my car clubs, the Furrin Group decided to do a last race of the year. So last weekend (Nov 9) they had an autocross at the 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, MI. So despite the cold weather, and a little snow falling I packed up my car stuff and drove up.

It was a cold rainy day. My shoes got soaked, and unfortunately I wasn't very competitive because I didn't have good rain tires, but who cares it was fun! It was a mega long course with a few really tricky spots. I wasn't able to put together a good run, but I did well against a die hard group of racers. In GStock there was 4 cars and I took 3rd... not the best... and overall out of 24 entries I finished 9th in the pack.

It was a great autocross season. I entered more races this season than I did in my previous 5 seasons combined! I won my first race, and I took my first top ten overall finish. I also was ask to be an instructor for the Tire Rack driving school for teens (Street Survival) and got more involved with the Sports Car Club of American (SCCA). In the South Bend SCCA I will finish in the top 25 of nearly 200 members which is great for a first year member!

So what do I have to look forward to next year? Hopefully more races, more trophies, and possibly a trip in the next year or two to the national championship race. I also was asked, and accepted to be the co-chair of the Street Survival school for 2009, and potentially become the chair in 2010. I also would like to get to some big track events next year, I didn't do any this year but hope to have more time next year to work the Spec out on a track.
- Click images to enlarge

The Spec at the last race of the year...

The Spec tucked away in the garage for the winter.

So until then... the Spec finally has a roof over its head, gets some rest, and comes back ready to tear up Autocross in 2009!