Feb 02, 2002, 2:15pm

I have been putting off doing a blog' style update here because Wayne Venables, our head honcho programming guru over at work spent the last few days putting the absolute latest version of our content management software up live on this here site.

The CoffeeGeek site is also the beneficiary of WIPS 2.5.2, our latest incarnation, and while that was a handful and a half, this site's backend retooling was a relative breeze, which is a testament to Wayne's skills. Thanks Wayne!

So what's different? For the visitor to this site, you'll just see a lot more consistency, and a lot more "pro" visuals, including fancy ass tables, a multitude of image layouts (including a thumbnail/popup image generator) and finally the ability for me to put "child pages" off of any page on this site. So the Kyosho Mini Z page under mixelania can now have sub pages (I'll get to it soon).

Also, you'll notice the URLs are much "smarter" than before. Sure, there's a lot of this kind of stuff behind the scenes: www.website.com/asbin/users/public/page?=cmd_112.22_02_02_99?ref=2984 etc etc. But you don't see that in the URL. You see a url that looks like www.spiffle.com/rants . It's a pretty sweet "smart URL" system that Wayne has developed. Again, big time kudos to him.

WIPS Today Page This is the "today" page I see when I log into the CMS system.

There's a lot of other usability tweaks to the front side that you probably won't notice, but are there to make this site function better. One you'll see soon is a site wide search feature. Pretty damned slick.

Behind the scenes, I get the brand spankin' new interface that makes it ultra easy to edit the site, add new content, and control existing content. I designed the interface myself, but Wayne and his small team made it real. You can see how the log in interface looks in the screencap to the right. Pretty cool, huh?

Anyway, enough of that. Next rant I'll be back to normal, and the frequency should be better too, since writing a rant is now a 1 click effort. New content on the site will be showing up shortly as well.

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Mixelania

Photos from Algonquin Park
Photos from my trip to Algonquin Park this fall with my Mom and two brothers.

War Stories

Making Snow for the Fortress
One of the worst jobs I ever had... till I got out.

Webiffied

Tools I Use
The tools I use to build websites and lead a tech life.

iPod and iTunes Offline

iMark's iTunes and iPod isn't iPlaying anything right iNow.

Most Recent Songs

Fiddlers Green by The Tragically Hip

Around The Bend by Pearl Jam

Here With Me (Rollo's Chillin' With the Family Mix) by Dido

With arms open wide by Creed

truffle pigs by Matthew Good Band

In the News

Burundi and Beyond - NY Times
Great article by Peter Meehan - provided some background.

St. Petersburg Times
Side mention in an article about good machines

AP Story on Espresso
Background and information provided

NY Times - Grinders Article
Especially proud of this one - got the reporter to focus on grinders

Globe and Mail
LOL - showing bad reporting, dude says I'm an American-based site!

The Olympian, WA
Talks about my love for the El Sal Siberia Pacamara

Seattle Times - Clover
Interviewed for comments on the Clover brewer

NY Times - How it Works
Background and information for various espresso machines

Time Mag Article
Just a brief mention, article about roasting beans.

NY Times
Front page article about consumers getting into specialty coffee.

Washington Monthly
Quoted reference to what I wrote in an article at CoffeeGeek.

USA Today - Barista Jam
Intereviewed for my thoughts on what the epitome of espresso is.

WSJ Article
The Wall Street Journal has interviewed me 3 times. This is the first time my name got in a story.

Reuters Interview
Interview with Reuters, Jan 2 - this is the USA Today version.

My Other Stuff

CoffeeGeek
Launched Dec 22, 2001, this is THE online community for espresso and coffee fanatics.

CoffeeKid Website
It's all new, as of March, 2002. My personal coffee obsession site.

WebMotif Services
My company's site - needs an update!

Amazon WishList
Hey, if you feel the need to buy me something, check here!

Daily Visits

enGadget
Great gadget site run by the guy who used to do Gizmodo.

Google News
This is how I get my daily news fix.

DPReview Forums`
The most active forums for digital photography online today.

Daily Zen
Need my Daily Zen fix!

Jalopnik
A blog about car stuff. Vroom Vroom.

MoCo Loco
An industrial design blog. Very cool stuff.

Friends and Family Plan

Beata Blog
Beata's got her own blog! She updates it most days.

Riddla on Flickr
Matt Riddle's flickr account, updated regularly

Irdy Photos
Irdy, my friend from Jakharta, on Flickr

Recent Acquisitions

Canon EF 24-105 f4 L Lens
The best lens I've ever owned. Super sharp and quick.

Canon 5D
A full frame dSLR, with luscious colour reproduction.

Alzo Digital Lights
Some amazing florescent cold lights for product photography

Canon Xsi dSLR
Amazing technology and image quality in a tiny package.

Canon 40D
Latest prosumer camera from Canon - a much better upgrade than the 30D

Fujitsu P1610
Great 2.2lb computer that does most of my travel / writing needs

28mm f1.8 Lens
A great lens for closeup work and full picture photography

Foodsaver Advanced
Finally got the right tools for freezing green coffee.

Canon 50mm 1.4
Most amazing lens I've ever owned. Produces stellar photos.

Canon 10-22mm
Super wide angle (full frame fisheye) zoom for my Canon 20D