Jun 25, 1998, 5:30pm

A few observations.

Is it just me, or does Madonna's new song, Substitute for Love, kind of break her mold? A lifetime Madonna-music hater, I have to admit, this song doesn't sound like a typical Madonna song. Jean bought the new CD, and I typically looked down my nose at it (note - she also bought the Spice Gurls SpiceWorld CD yesterday!). Sure enough, most of what I heard from the CD is typical Madonna-fluff. But Substitute for Love stands out. Maybe it's just me.

I'm starting to get into way too many personal issues. I don't want to do that. I thought I got away from that. I'll continue to mention some personal things (like Jean's SpiceGurls fascination! hehe) but you know the drill.

Isn't Dan Quayle a riot? Lucky Americans, you... he plans on running again for the next Presidential elections.

I wanted to launch Spiffle last weekend. Damnit. The interface is completely done now. Completely. I've even got two of the first four stories done (the html code built, that is - the stories were written by others). I can tell you this - I do have four stories ready to launch - a tale about tequila, a story about bouncing, a psycho date from hell, and some semi-innocent stuff about summer vacation and youth. I do have some ideas on how to design the stories I still have to do, just finding the time... sigh. As I mentioned before, you can get a (now sorta obsolete) view of a beta of the site at www.spiffle.com. I will work overtime to try to launch this weekend.

Lemme talk a bit about Spiffle, since I've been so cryptic in the past as to what it's all about.

Everyone's done this: You go out for a few beers with some buddies, or pop over to an old friend's house, and have coffee or tea. Soon, you start reminiscing about the past a bit. The crazy things you did in your youth. The wacky adventures you had. Every time you tell the story it changes a bit - gets more grandiose maybe - but the core of the story remains. It's something you did that, at the time at least, you were embarrassed about or ashamed of. Heck, you may have been extremely proud of it at the time, but loathe to tell anyone the story!

Later in life it truly becomes one of those things you could laugh about... you know the deal: "sure, we can laugh about it now".

That's what Spiffle is all about. Laughing about it now. Sharing the experience with others on the Net. That's the entire core of what I conceived, with the help of friends, almost a year ago now. And it's taken this long to launch the damned thing.

Part of the problem I had was a lack of submissions. Frankly, I was a bit disappointed by this, but I've gotten over it. To this date, I've received about 10 stories, and I'm launching with four of them. Here's some info:

Tequila is Spanish for Evil
The anonymous person who submitted this story tells about his experiences with what was once his favourite choice of liquor. It's not a tale about alcoholism - I doubt the lad is one, but more a tale about the personal embarrassments involved over getting completely drunk.

How to Knock Yourself Out in Three Easy Steps
A short little ditty by Jeanette about her experiences with bouncing and EMTs.

Summer Fun
Beth's story about being a teenager away on a camping trip with the family, and other families. Oh, and moonlight swims and dares.

Psycho Date From Hell
Martin shares his rather scary experience with a woman who just wouldn't take no for an answer. Find out what scared this 6 foot tall, 190 pound guy to near death.

I'm fairly happy with this initial launching. I hope the things a success.

What does success mean to me in this case? Simply, it means that people, when reading the stories, have a chuckle, have a laugh. That's all. That's all I want to achieve with this site - certainly not financial gain. Just the satisfaction of knowing that people were entertained by what they read.

Over the past year, I've invested a lot of time and effort into what was essentially a hobby - I designed about a half dozen different "spiffle sites" (most of which you've never seen, and never will see probably). But when I launch the thing, it turns into a project, one I will continue to invest a lot of my time and effort in. Heck, if I charged my normal rates for what I do on Spiffle, the bill would be nearing 6 digits now... but that's not why I do it.

I'm doing it to entertain you. And I hope you do get entertainment out of it. The only thing I ask you for is this: feedback. Whereas I don't ask for much feedback here on my personal site (though it is appreciated when it happens), I would really like as much feedback as possible concerning Spiffle. If for no other reason, at least I can then tell if you like what you're reading or not.

You'll be able to do feedback in a few different ways - first, each story will have its own feedback area online (a la Fray). Second, just about anywhere you see the Spiffle Logo at the top of a page, you can click that to send mail to me or the writers. Third, if you like what you see, and you have your own story to share (remember, letting out those skeletons is good for the soul!), then by all means, write something up, and submit it!

I'm really getting juiced for this launch. As I've mentioned ad infinitum, I've got a lot of time and effort invested, and it will sure be nice to get the monkey off my back and have the darned thing launched. I really do look forward to that moment, and hearing what all of you think about it.

Other rather short news briefs.

I've been labelled a web pimp by Justin, one of the guys I was training the other week. He meant it as a compliment. Me... I'm not so sure.

In part two of my abortive rant (linked above), I mentioned a purchase I made recently. I have to mention it here again in case you miss it.

I bought myself a limited collectors edition (which means it's been mass produced) Simpson Chess Set! I love the thing! Jeff and I broke it in by playing at Benny's outside in the sunshine. The game drew a lot of commentary, ranging from "it's soooooo coool!" to "man, has Groening sold out completely, or what?" Jeff got pissed off at the pieces, blaming them for his two losses! "Damned things, I can't remember which piece is which! Which one's the knight again??"

I also splurged a bit, and treated myself to something Jeanette said was a long time coming. For years and years, my office chair was actually a "bistro-style" chair, one of four I bought years ago from Ikea as a dining set. As a dining chair, it's kinda cool - one of those round seated chairs, with the hoop backs, and the support hoop on a 45 degree angle under the seat. As an office chair, it sucked. But I've used it as my main work chair for about 8 years now.

Well no more. I always balked at getting a proper desk chair because I always felt they were very expensive. $200, $300, $400 for a chair! It isn't a couch, for gosh sakes!

But my thinking changed over the past six months. I got to thinking, if I'm spending 5-8 hours a day in the damned thing, isn't it worth a good investment? Isn't my back which is getting worse as age rolls on, worth it? Damnit, yes it was.

So yesterday, I went out with the purpose of spending about $150, not including taxes, on a chair. I went to Office Depot, but it was closed. I drove to Ditchmond and went to Staples. What they had sucked. Ikea was across the street, so I decided to venture over. I should note that I've checked out Ikea's office chairs before, and was less than impressed. But yesterday I was.

As you walk into the Vancouver Ikea store, the office furnishings section is right at the entrance. Right in the front of this section sat the Ansgar Executive leather highback chair. A $400 chair. On sale, half price. It seems I happened into Ikea just as one of their two sales per year was starting. Yowsa.

I sat in the chair, liked it a lot. Especially it's styling - very sleek for a leather chair - not bulky like most of them, and it had proper back and butt support - using several different densities of padding. After rolling around for a bit, trying out the levers and sticks on the thing for adjustments, I decided on my new chair.

So next to do was to wait for a salesperson. And wait. And wait. And wait. Finally I got help, but was told the sale doesn't start for another two days. I said "why put up the signs then!" and was pointed to some small print that said when the price started... I made like a baby, and the saleswoman succumbed, and let me have it for the sale price. Cool!

So now I'm sitting in my new comfy chair with the 5 year complete guarantee, typing this. And my back is feeling better already! I feel a bit guilty for spending what I did on a chair, but I think the rationality is sound - I do spend 5-8 or more hours a day in the thing, so why not?

Ok, enough already.

Lastly, bought the new Smashing Pumpkins CD yesterday. It rocks, big time. The new Tragically Hip CD is released next week, can't hardly wait!

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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