Goodbye Bernard, May You Rest in Peace

Tonight I kissed a man. I put my lips to his without hesitation, without thought. I didn’t think of the blood on his face, only of pinching his nose. Of exhaling with force into his mouth, of filling his lungs with my breath.

All the while, my beloved Amy pushed against his chest with rhythmic thrusts, compressing his heart to make it pump. Pushing hard, she only stopped to feel for pulse. Faint. Gone. Faint again.

She, the medical professional, the physician’s assistant in George Washington University Hospital’s intensive care unit. Me the husband who heard the crash in the YMCA National Capitol men’s locker room.

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One XO Laptop Per Obsessive Fanboy

Wow! My XO laptop from One Laptop Per Child is finally here. It really exists and it’s in my very hands. I never really knew if this moment would happen.

Now, I never doubted that OLPC could build the laptop, or that it would be clock-stopping hot technology that everyone would want. I knew it would be the geek gadget to have this Christmas, I’m just surprised I have one, now.

I’ve been obsessed with OLPC for the last two years, ever since I first heard Nicholas Negroponte start talking about a “$100 laptop” in February 2005. Since then, I developed thought leadership on his grand plan through OLPC News, my obsession turned digital as a website that tracked the program’s every move.

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A Florida Running-Moon Vacation

What to do after you and your beloved have a legal wedding in Georgia? Why have a running-moon vacation in Florida, of course!

But what is a “running-moon vacation”?

That is when you fly down to Vero Beach, Florida to see your Mom and spend the entire long weekend running. Now Amy and I were not running from the law, or her father, we were running for the fun and joy of it.

Starting with easy three and four mile runs at the Memorial Park Fitness Trail, Amy and I built up our warm winter in the tropics stamina for Saturday’s grand challenge: the 24th Annual Jack Island Cross Country Run.

Don’t be fooled, the Jack Island run is a challenge. It may look like an easy four mile loop on a picturesque island in the Indian River lagoon, but once you get there, you realize that its four miles of hot, sweaty trails through swarming noseeums as the Florida morning heat dehydrates you by the minute.

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Legally, We are Married

Wow! What earth-shattering news today! Can you believe it? OLPC took G1G1 global and extended it to December 31. Yes, I know, it’s shocking, but it’s not the most exciting moment in world history today.

Nope, that honor goes to Amy Ross Vota. Yes, read that name again, slowly this time: Amy Ross Vota. Today the Betrothed Butterbean is no longer legally betrothed. She is my wife. In a mad dash to the Cobb County courthouse in central Georgia, Amy and I wed today in a quick civil ceremony.

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Portland Taxi Driver Perfection

A musical frog. That’s what my crazy Portland taxi driver is trying to show me as we speed through the city. A wooden frog he rubs with a stick to make sing, which is somehow more important than lanes, lights, or the cars around us.

After I relaxed, realizing that Andrew knew every street, curve, and alley in Portland, I too enjoyed the harmonious amphibian. It was just one of many curiosities that Andrew brings to his job as he bought me to my many destinations. And Andrew brought me many places in Portland.

When I travel for business, getting places in my city of operation is the largest source of frustration. I have no clue where my meetings are, beyond and address that may or may not be logical to the city grid. Often, I don’t even have an address, locations are often all known to inhabitants, but confusing to visitors. Directions like “turn left where the old schoolhouse used to be” do me no good.

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