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!

Our House
Our House... in the middle of our street... Our House... was our castle and our keep... Our House... that was where we used to sleep..

Well like that well known 80's pop ditty Heather and I now have Our House. I really fell in love with South Bend and knew Heather would love it. Each time she would visit, and I would have Novali we explored more and more of the city. I grew to enjoy the location, the cost of living, my job, and the people. So we started house hunting. Not very serious at first, we looked here and there, drove by some areas and learned more about South Bend.

On Labor Day Weekend, we scheduled visits to a couple houses. One was out of our price range but we figured, hey, why not? When we got to house we learned it had a huge price drop, bringing it closer to our range. Talk about good timing right?

Well let us introduce you to Our House

It was built in 1939, full brick and plaster with a unique slate roof. The house is nearly 2600 sqft on the main floor, about a 1/5 of that is an addition. It has an attached two car garage, beautiful hardwood floors, interesting antique door handles, trim and light fixtures, and the plaster walls are in great shape.

Main floor has a open space kitchen, formal dinning room, large living room with a fireplace, a cozy family room, and a den/guest bedroom. There is a full bath on the 1st floor with shower and laundry. The backdoor opens into a large backyard with a playset with swings and a slide.

Upstairs are three bedrooms and a full bath. The master bedroom is very large but no closet space. The bathroom is pretty dated but large enough so when its renovation time we'll have lots of options. The other two bedrooms are good size and will serve as great rooms for kids.

The basement has potential, and the first thing to go will be the huge boiler. Hopefully it holds on for a few more years... the house also has a 2 zone sprinkler system, decorative crab apple trees in front, and an alarm by ADT.

Our area is called Ridgedale and is considered a top neighborhood in South Bend. It is near the big golf course, good schools, and close to a 24 hour grocery store. It is a Jewish neighborhood and has a beautiful Synagogue as well as a big Methodist Church we visited once already. Its an old neighborhood with rolling hills and very unique homes including one designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (Mossberg House) just four blocks from our house.

This will put me about 2 miles from work and close to the highway to head to Chicago for Novali or to the South Bend airport. So after nearly two months of negotiation, paperwork, and lots of lost sleep... today at 1 PM Heather and I closed on the house. We are now proud first time homeowners and couldn't be more excited. Thanks to everyone for their advice and support through this tough process.

Ciao!

The Soccer Star
This past Saturday was the first game of the Carlos Fuentes Eagles 2nd grade team. They were no Chicago Fire but they got the job done. Their game was at a really cool indoor soccer facility in Chicago called Chi Town Futbol. It had two indoor soccer fields and one indoor pee wee field. It had a nice concession stand and soccer shop. The pro shop came in handy because I was a bad dad and forgot her shin guards so we luckily bought some on site.

We got there early... the only ones. We were told to arrive 30 minutes before the game, and we arrived 45 minutes before the game. At 30 minutes before the game we were the only ones there... ha. Either way, the game started a little late but it was a ton of fun. Novali was all excited and I was pumped to watch their first real game.

It was a cool facility.

Ready for game time.

They played two games and won them both. She has a couple guys on offense that are really good and just blew out the other team. Novali played defense which was cool cause that was my position. What was funny is that their coach taught the defense to not push up a lot and stay back (reminded me of zone soccer) and Novali took it to the extreme and just stood in place most of the game.

Novi looked left...

Novi looking right.

She did get some time on offense and got the ball a couple times. I had fun cheering for her and I think she spent more time looking at me in the stands then watching the soccer ball! We will keep working on her skills and see what happens. Maybe she has a future in soccer!

Check out Novali's website for more pictures: Novi's Pics

Also... you might notice my camera is struggling... it lasted me nearly 5 years and took many photos. She needs to be retired soon... so sad.

Fall Updates
I finally have some new photos of Novali to post. I know I know.. its been a while. We had a lot of fun visits in late August, September and now into October. We had some fun things from attending her first baseball game, learning how to cook new things, reading books, went to Notre Dame, learning to swim (still not ready), attending a car race again, going to the beach, hearing a jazz band, watching old Dr. Seuss movies, joining a soccer team, playing at the park, and most recently this weekend we went apple picking.

It is always fun taking a weekend and just enjoying some time with Novali. I am really glad I made the decision to move here as living so close to Chicago has been great. I am posting a photo page of all the things we have been up to lately.

It was a fun fall... Novali did a lot of cooking with me.

I continued to try and get her into cars.

The newest adventure was a trip to the County Line Orchard in Hobart, IN. It is right on the Illinois and Indiana border. Heather and I met Tamara, Syed and Novali for a fun day trip. It was a great orchard. They had tractor rides, apple picking, pumpkin patches, farm animals to pet, huge general store... and tons more. Novali love the Moo Choo and we picked a lot of apples and she got us through the giant corn maze.

The County Line Orchard.

She had fun learning about and picking different apples.

Please enjoy the photos. The full gallery is the Novalí website and the direct link to the photos is here: Fall 2008 Pics

Next week Novali kicks off her first soccer game. I am returning from a conference the day before but I won't miss that game. I will make it out there and get some photos posted afterwards... I promise it won't take months for me to post more photos! Stay posted.

Go Irish!
Whenever you tell someone you live in South Bend they say... Notre Dame fan? My typical answer at first was, "No" I am not from South Bend and didn't go to Notre Dame so why would I be a fan? Well slowly that answer turned into "I am not a fan yet, I am trying to fight it"... cause man it is hard not rooting for Notre Dame here.

Well its not helping that this year Notre Dame is off to a good start on the football season. So maybe I am becoming a fair weather fan. Well this weekend I had Novali and we went to my favorite Wing place (I am still addicted to wings) and the Notre Dame game happened to be on the TV. Novi got excited and recognized the Gold helmets and asked me if I was cheering for Notre Dame... and my answer was simply, "Yes". So we ate our wings and cheered ... Go Irish!

Que Sera Sera
Its fall... campus is buzzing, I am thirty years old... Regardless of how scary it feels, the future is coming and though we can't control it we do what we can to make it the best.

I was always the guy who had his life planned out... well lots of things changed. I changed my major, I changed my career, I moved, I did many things not on my list and life has been good. I have always been blessed with good fortune despite my sometimes horrible decision making skills.

So what am I trying to get at... I don't know. I guess in the midst of wedding plans, talking about buying a home, trying to figure out how to get to Novali's soccer games.... my mind wanders back to past ambitions and thoughts of "Is this the next step?". Do I want to do more consulting and push that part of my career? Or do I focus exclusively on IUSB and in building my career here? What happened to thoughts of Law School? What happens if Heather finds a guy she likes more who happens to be her height?

I was never much of a "Que Sera Sera" kind of guy. Well Heather and I saw a house... fell in love with it... and after three weeks of going over and over it we have made an offer. I love the house, but you know what I can't help but think... maybe it isn't the right thing? I guess I will know when we hear back from our agent right?

I came up with a line a few years ago that I use when people ask you the ,"Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" question. My reply was designed around having changed my major but I guess now it revolves around having changed my life to meet my environment. My answer is usually:

"Five years ago if asked that question it would have put me someplace complete different than where I am right now. Right now I am completely happy and looking forward to the next step of life. So I guess in five years I want to be happy with myself over what I am doing and knowing that I am making a difference and that its the right place for me."

Usually you can tell the interviewer wanted an answer about how I really want their job. How I will be an awesome employee and make a difference in their line of work. Then I see them realize that I will be those things because I made the choice to apply and if they make the choice to hire me it will work out. I have several great stories about jobs I didn't take and employers who didn't take me... and I look back happy over the outcome.

I guess this blog is me letting off a little stress about life and also just sharing a little something about me. I end each blog saying that I will write more... which doesn't usually turn out to be true. I guess I will write more when I am ready to would be the correct sign off.

The new 20
So people ask how does it feel? I reply, how does what feel? Well... turning 30? I think in my head that it is pretty much the same as when I was 29 years and 364 days old.

However usually my answer is that I am not a big birthday guy... and thats true. Growing up birthdays were always low key, I always spent them up north for Labor Day Weekend and I brought a friend. In college no one was ever around for my birthdays since it was usually on Labor Day Weekend and people went home. So usually it was just a few friends out for dinner or something.

So my 30th is low key... here at work my department decorated my office early this morning before I can in to work. They hung a few banners and put a cake on my desk. One card they gave me was especially funny... outside says "Don't worry. 30 is just a number".... on the inside "You would still totally blend in at a frat party. Happy Birthday!"

In historical fashion Labor Day weekend was my birthday celebration. Novali and Heather baked me a delicious cake and Novali painted a plate for me. We had a lot of fun... we went to a South Bend Silverhawks (minor league baseball) game, went to Michigan City to the beach, went to my swimming pool, and just hung around enjoying the last weekend of summer.

Thanks to everyone so far for the birthday wishes, and the facebook posts and myspace comments. Its a busy day but I am enjoying my day so far in typical low key fashion. Ciao!

Quick Updates
So its been a while since my last post... I try to get into regularly posting but life and work gets busy and I fall behind and blogging is the first to go. Today was one of my busiest, I worked 13.5 hours today with no lunch break. I ate on the run in between meetings. However I wanted to blog this week so here it is, just a few quick notes.

Novali - well she starts second grade in a little over a week. We have had some fun weekends and last weekend did her back to school shopping that was fun. We got nearly everything she needs and will finish up a few items next weekend before she starts. It was a fun summer... I had her for five days last time and she came to work with me for a couple days. She was a trooper at work and even helped me with some programs.

Family - My mom started teaching at a local school, my dad is now in the construction business with some heavy machinery he invested in with my uncle. Miguel and Kate are getting ready to go back to teaching and Javi is about the size of a four year old. Andres and Saloumeh are planning their next trip to the Midwest and enjoying a new car (so jealous). Raquel is doing well and enjoying her job, but not enjoying that summer is nearly over.

Work - School starts at IUSB next week... this week students moved into our new residence halls and so I did some fun programming for them thats going on right now. Next week I am doing twice as many programs as have ever been done here at IUSB. On top of that my department is short staffed and I am going to be teaching a class. So talk about busy... but I earned a nice raise after only 6 months on the job so that feels good and I really love it here. Not to mention the new Student Life Website... let the 2008-2009 school year begin!

Fraternity - On August 9th, 2008 I was sworn in as the International President of Sigma Lambda Beta. I have been serving as president since January 1st but that was an interim appointment. I am now duly elected and ready to begin a two year term. I am very excited. Our convention was a great time to see old faces, meet new people, and enjoy the company of my Brothers. It was equally nice that Heather came and enjoyed my convention with me.

Wedding - Heather and I have picked a date (I think) and are now looking into places. We want a casual fun outdoor event. The problem is a venue... do they allow tents, catering and insurance requirements, do they allow music, does it have power, enough parking, easy to find, South Bend or Michigan... all these questions swirling around. To top it off the busy hunt for wedding location we are starting to do some home shopping. the market is stellar right now for buyers. It would be nice to get in while its good... but so many things going on its hard to focus on home buying. It would be nice to have our house purchased and ready to go so when we get married we are all set. Maybe even a rehearsal dinner in our backyard under the stars... I mean if we do a wedding in South Bend.

Racing - Well I won another AutoX. This time I won my GS class at a South Bend region race. Thats awesome because I didn't think I would win an event with my club because of the higher competition here. I might race next in the Chicago area on Labor Day weekend. Novi said she wants to see me race again... but she barely even watches so we will see if we do that or not. The season is coming to a close and I won't be going to nationals so I have to get in a few good races before putting the winter wheels on the Spec.

So thats it from me... hopefully I will have time to post some photos and new stuff soon. I have been planning to overhaul Novali's site and my personal site... but time time time is at a premium these days. Soon. Either way thanks for reading and come back soon.

Driver Weekend
This weekend I had no trip, no work, no conference calls, no fraternity work... just a weekend for myself to relax and get stuff done. So how did I spend my weekend? Driving... what else did you think?

Saturday I volunteered to help at the Tire Rack program called Street Survival. I figured they would have me helping with registration or other odd jobs. To my surprise when I showed up they had an Instructor poloshirt and said that I should be a driving instructor. I was flattered and then nervous... me a driving instructor? It was not a performance driving school, it was a driving safety school so I figured I would be fine.

We did in and out of car instructing.

We also taught them how to check tire pressures and know more about their car.

I had fun with my two students. I hope they learned a lot and it was fun watching them get faster and more confident on the skidpad, slalom and pushing their car hard and keeping it under control. I can't wait until Novali gets old enough and she can come to a school I teach! (I am sure she will love papi being there...)

Sunday was an Autocross. This week I got some used racing tires and was waiting anxiously all week to run race rubber for the first time. It would mean that I would have to arrive early and change my wheels on site (you shouldn't drive on the streets on race tires). I was looking forwarding to learn how to drive on them and move my skills up to the next level.

I got there early for set up and got a spot right in front.

Just changed my wheels... First run on V710s coming up!

I was surprisingly nervous running on my first runs on the tires. We were getting 6 runs and I figured it would be good seat time to practice the new wheels. It is supposed to be very different and yes it was. Well my first couple runs I was a little off and hitting cones but getting a little faster. At the end of the runs I was feeling great... my times were solid but I stilled end up in third (behind the usual suspects). Sounds like the tires didn't make a difference right? Well usually I am over a second behind the guy in 2nd, and then 1.5 or more seconds behind 1st place. The final times put me only a few hundredths of a second behind 2nd, and less then half a second behind first. So winning is in sight now! I ended 6th on the PAX Index and first in my class is in sight!

It was a great "Me" weekend... very relaxing. I am looking forward to this upcoming weekend because Heather is visiting and we will have Novali. Heather has a busy week at work so hopefully we can have a fun relaxing weekend as well. Til next post. Ciao.

Big Updates
Well here are some well overdue updates...

June 2008 Pics
I blogged several times about my parents trip to the states in June. Well I finally got the pictures done. Some of the pictures are from my dad's camera and during times that I was not with them so noted them as best I could. Enjoy folks!
Click here > Pics

Its Official
After dating for a few years and lots of discussions about the future and planning what life would be like married... I made the big step and asked Heather to marry me. Novali approved and I even talked to her father about it so everything was legit. I know it was a long time coming and many people were wondering if it would ever happen... I knew it would happen and I just wanted it to be perfect and I think it was. I am excited as we now more officially beginning the planning stages of a wedding, buying a house (with a garage), moving in together, settling down and having kids! Wow... Novali is excited to be a big sister someday and this is going to be great.

Happy Couple.

Heaher and Novali all excited.

Lots of weekend activities including the pool.

We made Jello Jigglers, Ice Cream... always something to do in South Bend.

It was a fun weekend and I posted a few pics: 08 July Big News

Team PLP
This week I also took the plunge... for race tires. I found a killer deal on some used race tires that I could not pass up. The timing was perfect as earlier I was deciding whether I keep saving for race tires or get other modifications done to my car. Well I decided to keep saving for race tires, and then this deal came up so the timing was right. Hopefully for my July 20th race I will be ready with race tires and really put down some serious times. ALSO... this is cool, below is a video from my last race, it is of my best time and you can see in the sweeper my car on three wheels! I love it.


Well folks... I hope everyone is excited about the engagement and we will keep everyone posted on wedding planning. We are looking at 2009 so it will be coming up quick.

Pull Out the Batmobile
Fourth of July weekend was tons of fun! Heather visited on Friday and we just laid out at pool and relaxed. It was a great day of lounging... no work... nothing but just relaxation. Then off to Jackson to get my SpecV and we headed to GVSU which would be the site of a two day race event with my old car club (Furrin Group).

The Saturday event was called a Test and Tune so it was not for points. I had a great event! There were 10 cars in my class (GS) and I finished 2nd, and then overall on the index (PAX) I placed 6th out of 54. My highest PAX ranking ever!

We went out and celebrated later. That meant some Red Lobster and met up with a friend of Heathers from college for dessert. It was fun catching up and just relaxing again.

Sunday we went out and Heather helped get the car ready and settled into a comfortable outdoor chair and magazine. I got to work timing and waited for my run group. I was stoked about my Saturday times and hoped I could have a repeat performance.

We got four runs. The guy that beat me the day before was off to a good start. I was off to a solid start on my first two runs... then on my third run... BAM... nailed it taking the lead in my class by nearly a full second!

Pic from Saturday afternoon leaning hard into a turn.

Sunday afternoon... flying towards the finish.

No one beat my time in my class! I ended up 1st place out of 15 in GS! There was a total of 91 cars running and I was hoping I would get a top ten finish... well at the end of the day this guy placed 5th out of 91 cars! Another cool fact... only one car there on street tires beat me and that was a newer model Audi TT.

So Team PLP is doing well... I am looking forward to my next event and really hope I can keep this fast streak going!

Hittin Homeruns
So I am still behind on updating and posting photos. I did get this video posted of Novali from Memorial Day Weekend. Heather and I played baseball with her... we watched The Sandlot with her which quickly became a movie she loves now. So we thought she should learn how to play. Its hard to play with just three people but we made it happen.



She had a lot fun and got tired out from all the running around the bases.

$4.19 a Gallon
So June was the month of the driver... I made two trips to Gladwin, MI to visit my parents and grandparents, one trip to Saginaw, MI to visit my parents when they first arrived, I made a trip to Bad Axe, MI for Heather's HS reunion, and two trips to Chicago to get Novali. Then... I made a trip to Jackson, MI for a wedding, to Lansing, MI for a car race, and back to Saginaw to pick up my car that I loaned my parents.

All in all during the month I drove over 2800 miles! Most of those on my SpecV since thats what I had while my parents were in Michigan. Now I bet with my parents driving one of my cars that equals over 3000 miles on my cars combined! Ouch...

The biggest ouch here is the gas prices. Seriously whats the deal... in one week here in South Bend the prices went from 4.25 to 3.94 and then back up to 4.19. Why can't the price just remain one steady price? Is that too much to ask? If you do the math on my miles and the average cost of gas... in the month of June (assuming 25 mpg and 4.10 average gas cost) for all my driving I spent $462 on gas!!! Thats crazy, that could buy me half a flight to Bolivia!

So was it worth it? OF COURSE.

I had a great time with my parents and they are now back to Bolivia and I am looking forward to the next visit. We had some good times... fishing, cooking, racing, sitting on the deck, napping, bowling, talking politics, eating Bolivian food, gutting a catfish, and just enjoying the company and the long weekends. I got to see Javi and Kelly's girls again, saw my grandparents, raced with Andres, and enjoyed a car show and an elephant ear in Bad Axe. June was busy and tons of fun. I know I know... pics pics... they are coming.

Couple of fun updates.

Yes Novali is now a second grader. I think once you have a kid in the 2nd grade you are officially old. Not to mention that I will be 30 this year... its a scary year.

This past weekend I had a race again. This one was with the West Michigan Region (WMR) of SCCA. It was held at the MSU commuter lot. It was a good lot, but small so the course was mega tight! They only had 37 cars there but a fun group of regulars. I took 2nd out of 3 in my class... but I was 9th out of 37 overall! I was the second fastest car there on street tires, and I actually had one run that I thought made me the fastest of the day... but I hit a cone! ARGH. Either way good race day...

Well this upcoming weekend... you guessed it, more driving. Heather and I are heading up to Grand Rapids to visit some of our old stomping grounds and I have a race at GVSU. Its always fun to get to GR and see all the changes. That city just keeps on growing and the campus is also growing a ton as well. Have a happy fourth everyone!

Photos
Yes it is true... as your kids get older you take less photos. I remember when Novi was younger we took photos of everything she did... sneeze, cough, smile, roll over, sometimes even of a funny blink... well now we take less photos and unfortunately I am even worse about getting them posted. It has been a busy time but I am getting caught up. I was reminded of the tons of photos I used to take when Miguel and Kate brought Javi to Michigan and the immediate barrage of photos being taken of him upon walking in the door. Good times.

Anyhow I have two new photos galleries folks.

First from this past weekend... My parents are visiting from Bolivia. Last weekend was chill and we just hung out and welcomed them back. Well this weekend Andres and Saloumeh were in town and it so happened there was a car race in Midland. So I got Andres signed up and planned a fun day for the family at my race. I packed up my canopy tent, chairs, my grill and we made a day of the event. It was also fathers day so my dad got a few rides around the course as a fun gift from two of his sons. I posted times and place details on the Team PLP Site (link below).

The Barstow Airport in Midland is a great venue and attracts some cool cars.

Long list of Porsches, Jags, BMWs, Corvettes, and even a Ferrari.

Andres on his first run!

Yes thats right... as usual I am on three wheels.

Fathers Day Race 2008: Photo Gallery

Well now these photos are long overdue... photos from Memorial Day weekend in South Bend. It was a fun weekend and we packed tons of activities into a few short days. I wrote some details from the weekend on the photo page so check out all the pics on the link below.

Playing in the park

Petting animals at the zoo

Chocolate covered pretzels!

Memorial Day Parade

Memorial Day 2008: Photo Gallery

Well enjoy the photos... look for photos soon from my parents visit to Michigan. Hopefully those won't take as long as these photos took to post.

Milestones
Today (er this Month) is a day of milestones.

June 11th, 1985 my little sister was born. We were fresh American immigrants, my mom came over pregnant and my dad didn't speak English. It was interesting this last weekend to hear my mom tell Heather the story of being in the hospital giving birth to Kelly... they had no money, no health insurance, but they managed and made it through without $5 aspirin or $6 box of tissues. The first American born of the Centellas clan. She has over come a lot and has two beautiful young girls who were extremely entertaining this past weekend.

June 2003 I started this little blog. WOW! I clearly don't blog like I used to... for example I still have not posted all the pictures from the visit in South Bend from Novali and Heather for Memorial Day weekend (coming soon I promise). I am trying to post at least twice a month so hold me to that folks!

June 2004 I was offered a job to work at the University of Oregon. Great pay and possibly the best professional development experience I could have asked for out of grad school. I turned it down, opting to stay closer to family, Heather, my friends, and of course Novali. I did go out there and worked for the summer in an interim role until the Albion job brought me back to Michigan. Well now I am the Director of Student Life, potentially starting classes again, and I am glad I made the right choice.

June 2007 I went to the doctor and weighed in at 212 pounds. I had been gaining weight since grad school and hadn't worked out in years. Well today... after work I ran 5 miles in 50 minutes. I usually try to run two miles twice a week, and I just got some small weights to lift at home while I watch TV and do work at home. I decided to push myself today and I also jumped on the scale afterwards. My gym scale said 191 pounds, not as good as the false hope my uncle Ed's scale gave me this weekend (188 pounds) but it does mean I have lost over 20 pounds in 12 months. Not bad.

June 2008 I was out in Baltimore for the second time in six months. This time to visit for my Brother Andy's graduation from University of Delaware with his MBA. Thats a big milestone. Also this month my older Brother Miguel moved to Baltimore to start a new tenure track teaching position at Mount Saint Union. To top that off, Kate my sister-in-law is getting her PhD. On my top of my parents visit this mouth... its clearly a busy time and we are less than half way through the month!

Well there are some of my recent milestones. Ciao.

Summa Summa Time...
Ladies and gentlemen... the semester at IUSB is over so that means work is slowing down a little. My busy fraternity travel time has wrapped up, and now it is summer time. As the Fresh Prince said...
Drums Please... Summa Summa Time...

Now there are a lot things I love about summer: Novali will be out of school soon. That means more time to hangout, go places, do some fun things, and juts enjoy relaxing long weekends. It also means vacation time away from the office. I work a lot... luckily I love what I do so I don't mind so much. However everyone needs some time away from the office. I am not sure what I have planned right now, but I just need some time to relax and not working (that means no consulting, no IUSB, no fraternity, nothing). My parents and both my Brothers are coming to Michigan in June. Its gonna be great.

One passion of mine in the summer, and the thing I can not do in these cold winter months is RACE! Racing season is in full swing now and I love being close to so many events now! I blogged about my race on April 20th... well I did one on May 10th in Grand Rapids with Furrin Group and just finished one on May 18th with my South Bend Region (SBR) Sports Car Club of America.

I was thinking at my Furrin Group race that it was their first race of the season... I remember their first race of the season four years ago when I skipped my graduation to go and race. I need to look up the old pics of that day but I did find my blog post about it. Check this link for two posts about the NX: April 2004 Blog

While looking I thought I would compare my times. Times for AutoX are done in two ways. First is the cars are broken into categories by class. This is by engine size, types modifications, tires (Street or Race), and other items (too many to list). With my NX I an in STS (Street Tire Class that allows lots of mods) which is usually a big class with lots of cars. Right now I run GS (G Stock which means very few mods are allowed but you can run race tires) which doesn't have a lot of cars, but the class is very competitive and in SBR some of the top drivers are in my class. Second is all the cars are classed and put in a class index to rank all their times together.

Well here is my comparison over two different Furrin Group Season Openers.

April 2004 - in STS placed 9th out of 12. Overall 44 out of 64 on the Index.
May 2008 - in GS placed 2nd out of 6. Overall 19 out of 83 on the Index.

So as you can see in a couple years I have really moved up the rankings! I am having a ton of fun and its is a huge stress reliever for me. I like coming home the days before a race and getting the car stuff ready, packing a lunch to take to the event, and then just hanging out with car guys. It has been a little sad lately cause all three events this year I have done alone. I miss having someone come and watch me and just enjoy the day.

Anyhow... no more races for a couple weeks. I am hoping to do a race with the Saginaw Valley SCCA club while my parents and brothers are in town. We will see... well here are pics from my first three races of the year: 2008 - April and May AutoX

Pics of my car were taken by photographers at the events, other pics were taken on my Treo so not the best quality but enough!

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

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

SLB Board Meeting at the Hyatt Schuamburg, IL.

My Desk in April... Argh...

Hippies in Ann Arbor

Valerie hard at work

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

Novi's birthday presents!

Ready to ride.

Chuck E Cheese

In DC... the pencil.

Simon Boliviar

The Blossoms in DC

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

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

IUSB Dance Marathon!

Live with Regis

AutoX at the Tire Rack

Rim Heaven...

#86 G Stock ready to roll

TeamPLP

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

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

Haircut time

The bangs are back!

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

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

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

Easter Bunny
It has been my busiest travel season to date... was in Bloomington, then Chicago, this upcoming weekend Schuamburg (IL), next weekend off to Saginaw and Ann Arbor, then off to DC and wrapping up April in Houston... oh man.

What is great... being so close to Novali so no matter the travel I can get trips and times up to see her. Well this past weekend Heather and I went up there and had a fun weekend planned. Using my leverage with Hilton (I stay about 60-70 nights a year at their hotels) I snagged a very cool family suite (living area, couch, tons of room) at the famous Drake Hotel. We had access to their executive lounge (proper attire required) with beautiful views of Chicago and Lake Michigan and hot cocoa for Novali.

Luckily the weather behaved for us on Saturday and we enjoyed a walk. Lots of interesting things happened on our walk, one was as we walked Novali needed to tell me a secret. She said, "Remember that guy back there, with the cup of change? Well we should go back and give him money because he is homeless." I explained that next time we would help. We walked the The Magnificent Mile, made it down toMillennium Park and spent the afternoon at the Chicago Children's Museum. It was a ton of fun and we all got tired and caught a cab back to the hotel. We alll tried fighting it... but before we knew it nap time struck and we all passed out.

We woke up barely in time to run off to the movies to watch the remake of Horton Hears A Who. It was a late show... so afterwards we grabbed some Chipotle and headed back to our weekend home, The Drake. We ended a long fun day getting ready for Easter and getting ready for bed.

Sunday we woke up early and planned on the 9:30 am service at the Fourth Presbyterian Church right on Michigan Ave and two blocks from the hotel. We were told to get there early... we arrive at just a little past 9am and there was a line around the block! News cameras and the church had people handing out coffee, hot cocoa and tissues to people in line. Once inside we warmed up and enjoyed the beautiful sanctuary. The priest was very good and it was a gorgeous service. When it was time for offering I explained to Novali how giving to the church is like helping the homeless man on the street, because the church helps them as well. I gave her a bill and she happily put it in the coffer.

After church we went back and packed the room and then met Syed and Tamara for brunch at the The Cheesecake Factory. It was a nice fun weekend... we lived like kings at The Drake (Royalty and Celebreties stay there... but I am sure they pay more then the killer deal I got) and hopefully we started a fun tradition of spending Easter downtown (last year we did as well: Easter 2007)

I posted some photos on her website: Easter 2008

I am trying to post more often... stick with me folks.