Puerto Rican Gold

What might you say to a sunny day in December? A sunny day you spend relaxing on a beautiful beach? A beach, warm, sunny, tropical, which is also still America? You might say “Florida” or “Hawaii” but would you say “Puerto Rico”?

I know I am saying “Puerto Rico” right about now. It’s the start of my Christmas vacation and I’m on Puerta de Tierra, a beautiful beach in Old San Juan the same afternoon I left cold, wet Washington DC.

Better yet, Mom is headed this way too. She’s joining me for two weeks of fun, sand, and sun on this interesting “Free Associated State”. Yes, Puerto Rico is part of the United Sates, everyone is a citizen and you do not need a passport. But like Washington DC, they do not have voting representation in Congress.

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Over One Million Served

Nine years and six hundred or so posts later, and I just passed a amazing milestone. By my calculations, the humble Belly Button Window has just past one million readers. That’s one million people who’ve read about my life, many for just a few minutes of course, but others who’ve been following my adventures for years.

Thank you.

While I don’t write this site for others really, its just to remind myself of all my adventures, and let my friends and family know what I am up to, I am always amazed that others find Belly Button Window worth reading too.

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31st Annual Marine Corps Marathon

It was a beautiful morning for a run, cool, clear, crisp, to the joy of the 21,000 runners awaiting the starting gun at the 31st Annual Marine Corps Marathon.

As they waited to cross the start line, a few thousand held up by a race-day heart attack, I bid them well. I was not in the pack, I was not at the start, I was in bed, sound asleep. Remember that I am an Olympic distance triathlete, not a marathoner.

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Movable Type Re-Mastery Recommendations

Yesterday I went to the Six Apart conference on business blogging, and while I didn’t learn anything new – I am a blogging expert of sorts – I did learn new and more efficient ways to promote blogging.

So while the conference wasn’t worth the $150 for the content, though I did enjoy the complimentary quality liquor open bar, I did have an amazing amount of face time with Marissa Levinson to bitch about Moveable Type, Six Apart’s flagship product.

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Congratulations Jingmei!

Congratulations, Jingmei! Yes congrats. I know that sometimes strikes people as odd, that I would be happy for your wedding, but I am. Very happy. Why shouldn’t I be? It’s not like I dislike you, or even have any ill will.

We tried, we really did. We tried so damn hard, over so long, over such great distances – of space and culture. We tried and we did not succeed. We also didn’t fail.

Failure would be not learning, not accepting, not moving, on. I don’t see us as failure. I see us as life.

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