A Cold, Wet, and Impressive Kauai

Before Amy and I arrived in Kauai for our honeymoon, we read that this small island in Hawaii was the rainbow capitol. That rainbows would be visible at all time of the day. What we did not appreciate was the two sides of the local saying: You can’t have rainbows without rain.

Because it rained every day we were in Kauai. In fact, Mount Wai’ale’ale, in the center of the island, is the wettest place on earth with an average 460+ inches of rainfall. Knowing that, I expected a tropical rainfall pattern – steamy heat all morning with a hard downpour every day at 4pm. Such was not the case.

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Presenting Mrs. Amy Ross Vota

Years ago, I saw a photograph of a joyous bride, a woman in mid-laugh and beamingly happy, being led to the altar through a crowd of wealth and stature, by a father swelled with pride.

In that photograph I saw a dream, a vision of a life I wanted to live, a moment I wanted to see with my own eyes. Yet, I never thought it possible. I did not have that wealth, and I did not know that bride.

Until today, January 12th, 2008, my wedding day. Today, after months of planning, weeks of preparation, and days of stress, I saw that joyous bride. That father filled with pride. That crowd of wealth and stature.

Today I saw that image, I saw that moment in my own life. No. I lived that dream! It is my life now.

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A Weekend Wedding Ceremony

Yes, Amy and I are already legally married. We did do a Thanksgiving JoP run in Georgia. But you know what, that wasn’t our real wedding ceremony. No, that was a legal contract, nothing more.

Its Saturday that is our real wedding ceremony. Its January 12th that we’ll proclaim our love to closest friends and family. It is at 7pm that we’ll be truly wed.

For we have the belief that marriage does not start with judges, cannot be enforced by courts, and will not be constrained by paper. Marriage comes from the heart, flows through community, and returns as a bond most public.

And here is a public proclamation of my feelings these moments before being a groom yet again:

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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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