Jon Brown

Beginning our Honeymoon in Cuba

November 23, 2015 by Jon Brown 5 Comments

Our first week in Cuba was amazing. More on getting there, being there and visiting Elena’s uncle in Havana is all coming soon.

I just wanted to share a couple scenes from week one.

First, the iconic classic cars that greeted us walking out of the airport.

They reminded me of visiting Yellowstone National Park and gawking at the first bison I saw entering the park. I was simply in awe, until a week later the novelty started to fade and they became just another part of the scenery. Similarly tourists reactions to them are also a metric by which you could tell how long someone had been in Cuba. Day 1, exuberant photo snapping. Day 7, only taking note of the most exceptionally preserved. Day 14, only taking note of the most exceptionally decrepit and being aware that the brakes could fail or a tire come loose at any moment… More of the beautiful ones coming soon.

Then there are “animal trucks” as one of our drivers later referred to them.

After which a conversation ensued where I tried to explain the difference, at least in American usage, between a truck that carries animals like pigs and cows, and a truck drawn by an animal. I say “at least to Americans” because I long ago learned that “our” use of terms is far from the only one. Maybe Brits, Austrians, Hong Kongers or South Africans do call these “animals trucks”. Regardless, they’re common outside Havana and fun to see.

This is not to say there aren’t any new cars in Cuba. I was actually surprised by how many newer and more expensive cars there were, including some rather expensive Mercedes and Audis, but most new small sub-compacts.

Oh and yes… there are pro-Cuba/Fidel/Che billboards and graffiti all over the place, again more of that later.

Out of the airport we spent our first week in proper honeymoon style completely unplugged at an all inclusive resort in Veradero. Which I still can not for the life of me pronounce properly.

It was the first time in a long long time that we were sincerely “on vacation” rather than working and traveling. We were just relaxing, every day, all day and it was glorious. I never really understood the purpose of taking a “honeymoon” after getting married. It always seemed to me just a convenient excuse to take a vacation, when one should just do that from time to time anyway. Being completely unplugged for a week however really allowed Elena and I some time to connect and to express our love for one another without any of the usual disruptions and distractions of day to day life. Perfect. More on traveling as a digital nomad couple coming soon to JonAndElena.com.

…and Caribbean beaches aren’t bad either:

The best part of the resort though was this pool directly outside the front door of our suite with a swim up bar. We pretty much spent 75% of our time in that pool reading, lounging, sipping on Cubatas. It was in and around that pool that I read both of the Cuba themed books that author Eduardo Santiago gifted us, Midnight Rhumba and Tomorrow They Will Kiss. The first two books printed on actual paper I’ve read in years, and both a delightful reads.

Blogging is hard

November 14, 2015 by Jon Brown 4 Comments

I wrote my first blog post in March of 2006. That means I’ve been doing this, or not doing this as the case may be, for close to 10 years. I’m already making plans to mark that anniversary with a little celebration, but for now just wanted to write a bit about blogging.

Blogging is hard, for me, for so many reasons. It’s hard to find the time. It’s hard to establish a routine. It’s hard to not get lost in all the seemingly important, yet ultimately inconsequential, junk I know about publishing content online.

What photo should I use as the featured image? What keywords should I target? Is there an affiliate link I can/shold include? Is there a good time of day to publish it? Should I look at my historical analytics and let that drive what I write about and when I publish it? It’s paralyzing.

And then… Wait? What was I going to write about?

I know people… I know lots of people actually that blog daily. One of the most prolific being my friend Chris Lema. Where does he find the time?!? The inspiration and dedication? Ok, if you know Chris you know the inspiration and dedication is never a problem, the time is still a mystery.

He’s not the only one I find inspiration in. Mindy and Ligeia surprise me every week or two on Bounding Over Our Steps with writing I really enjoy reading. Kelsey and Peter on TravelinFools whom I know from Maui and _just_ moved to Bali are fun to read as well. And of course my former business partner John Hawkins still turns out infrequent but great writing on VegasGeek. The list could go on, but then that’s another post topic I don’t want to waste.

So here’s my goal. I want to publish a post at least once per week. I use the word publish because while I don’t write a lot, a lot of what I write remains 90% complete and goes unpublished. I literally have 4 draft posts sitting in WordPress right now waiting for grammar editing, or a photo, or… enough of that. Publishing weekly or better is the goal. So establish the routine now, and then in 2016 do it with ease. Some of that will be here, some of that will be on the wedding site turned shared blog Elena and I are building on JonAndElenasJourney.com.

Help me, inspire me hold me to it. Tell me what you want me to write about. Tell me it’s too long, too short, has typoos, whatever… help me get on track to blog the next 10 years.

Dream Desk Built from Black Iron Pipe and Bamboo

August 10, 2015 by Jon Brown 5 Comments

After years of dreaming and several weekends over several months spent sourcing, measuring, figuring, cutting, building and painting I have the desk of my dreams. It’s beautiful! So beautiful I never want to leave it! (j/king in a couple weeks we leave for a couple months, but I’ll get to come back home to this!)

The desk is built from 3/4″ black iron pipe and has a 3/4″ custom cut bamboo plywood top.

I’ve long wanted an L shaped corner desk. I like to have extra room on my desks and I like to stretch out my legs, so this arrangement is perfect. I’ve looked for years for something just like this and could never find it. Ikea’s Bekant desk comes close and was very tempting, but wasn’t quite perfect. Not to mention there is no Ikea in Hawaii and they won’t ship to Hawaii. I could (and have in the past) arrange shipping myself but it gets expensive fast. Combining this desk with my treadmill desk (just out of the pictures to the right) I now have the work environment of my dreams.

If people want I’ll try to put together a more detailed write up with pricing and how I planned and built it. For now though I just wanted to share the joy and the photos!

A few detail shots of the beveled edge of the bamboo plywood. Note: I was planning on cutting and staining the top myself. I hate staining and I’d have whimped out and done a straight cut on the corner instead of the radius, so I’m glad I hired that out, it was crazy expensive, but they did a fabulous job.