Feb 11, 2003, 2:30am

It's been another very long day for me, and one where I felt I got none of the things I wanted to get done... done. Sigh.

I've been getting more than a few emails in the past week or two from people asking how my Mom is doing, so I figure I'll post an update, to get you all up to speed. First, some photos, of my Mom and Dad, because, well, both are having their health problems (more below). You can click each photo to see a larger version.

	With Grandchild My Mom with her first (and so far, only) grandchild, Aiden. Both are tuckered out after a long Christmas day.		Brother and Sister My uncle Bobby with my Mom, on Christmas Eve, before we headed to my Dad's place (my Mom and Dad are separated, but on good terms).
	Serious Fart I call my dad "Old Fart" (to his face too!) but it's a term of endearment. Everytime I call up, I figure out another way to say it, "Woain, est ce que le vielle smellieuse habit lavas?" (loosely translated: yes, is the old smelly one living there?) heh heh. This is how he looks at me when I say it.		Mark did something dumb. Hey, I must have done something really goofy off camera - this is the only time he would laugh like this :) Just kidding - my Dad is a gregarious laugher when he wants to be :)

Current Situation.

With my Mom, she's no longer getting chemo, and at times it seems like the Ottawa Cancer clinic has just kind of forgotten about her, or pushed her to the side. She's taking pain meds every day now, but has put on a lot of weight (very good news). Still she's fairly lethargic and gets out of breath very easily. She does hear positive news from time to time, and most recently, was invited to get a "treat you like royalty" service from another cancer organization - they come by once a week and basically do anything and everything she wants! :)

She has gotten some minor hope - her MD says that the main lump still in her body seems to be shrinking. Right now we don't know. I am concerned that she has to take so much morphine just to get through the day.

With my Dad, something I haven't made "public" till now: he had triple bypass heart surgery a week ago today. My Dad has got to start taking care of things a bit better, and maybe this is his "wake up call". He quit smoking when he had a minor stroke back in his mid-late 30s, (quit cold turkey, just like that), so maybe this will put a new scare into him.

He came through the operation okay, but has a bunch of new scars, and will require quite some time to recover. He's not quite out of the woods yet, but we're all positive. I've been kind of putting his operation in the back of my mind because to be frank, the impact of my Mom's illness and my Dad's heart problems combined were too tough to bear at the same time.

Now that he's through it, I can talk about it more. So he's got new shiny valves connected to his pumper inside, and soon, he'll be feeling like an energized Mr. Burns! :) And get this, later this year, he's having one (or both, I can't remember) of his knees replaced. Yes, replaced.

I figure next time I call him, I may have to have the Steve Austin (6 million dollar man, not stone cold) theme song playing in the background, and start off with the words "we can rebuild him. Better. Stronger. Faster..."

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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

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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

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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
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Globe and Mail
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The Olympian, WA
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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
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CoffeeGeek
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CoffeeKid Website
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enGadget
Great gadget site run by the guy who used to do Gizmodo.

Google News
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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
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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