Jun 29, 1998, 11:50pm

Well, after a rather harried weekend, I finally launched Spiffle. Not as complete as I wanted, (there's one story to go), but as complete as I could get it. It launched with three full tales, one about drinking, one about bouncing, and one about swimming. If you haven't checked it out yet, pop over!

I'm sitting at Benny's writing this right now as I type this. I guess it's time for a bit of a refresher on what Benny's is, for those of you who probably wonder what the hell I'm talking about.

Benny's Bagels is a Vancouver institution. It's smack in the middle of Kitsilano, the neighborhood I live in. Words can't really describe the place - maybe "cool" will do - but as a brief physical description, here goes: It's a café / bagel place that also serves beer now. It has two levels - the main level with some bench and chair seating, and the cooking and service counter. Above the cooking area is the second level. Out front, there's 8 tables with two chairs each, all surrounded by some art-deco wrought iron frame. In the back of the place is additional outside seating, but I never sit there.

I love hanging at Benny's be it at 3 in the afternoon, or 2 in the morning - because after all, the place is open 24 hours, and it's a very short walk from my place. I've seen a lot go on here, some of it detailed in a story that's part of this personal website. In that story I talk about Shopping Cart Man, and he's part of my rant today.

Shopping Cart Man is actually Rolland, who hangs around Kitsilano by day, and sleeps behind a convenience story next to Benny's at night. He used to always sit at a certain chair outside at Benny's but was banned from the place last fall when new management took over. In fact, ScooterBoy from my story was also banned, for stealing coffee!

Last night, Jean and I were at Benny's late night, playing some Gin and discussing the various things that people living together discuss - financials. At one point, Roland walked by, didn't say hi, and went in (the late staff by and large let his "banning" slide if he wants to use the bathroom or get some hot water). At that point I told Jean something.

"Roland's pissed off at me for some reason."

"Why? What did you do to him?" she asked.

"I dunno. Just over the past two months, he doesn't talk to me anymore. When I walk down the street to Safeway for some groceries, I see him perched in front of that closed store, I say 'Hey Roland, what's up', and he looks at me briefly before turning away with a grunt. I certainly didn't do anything to him."

"Too weird..." was her only reply

I tried to remember back to the last time I spoke with Roland for any length. I think it was the time I baked some banana bread in my bread machine, and brought him half the loaf because he commented on how much he liked banana bread. We chatted for quite a while that day about this and that. Then he disappeared for a while, and next time I saw him, I was snubbed.

"Jean, I've been snubbed by a street bum."

Big time laughter from her. But it was true. I'm being geniunely snubbed by a street person!

Christ, my life sucks.

Oh well. In other happenings, Since launching Spiffle I got 4 stories submitted to me! That's pretty darned cool, I think. Two of them are unfortunately not really suitable for Spiffle, but both were excellent writings nonetheless. I want to tell all of you if you enjoy Spiffle, if it gave you a chuckle, or gave you pause to think... "gee, that thing that happened to me would be great for this thing...", then by all means, write up something and send it my way, whydontcha.

And, as they say: in other news....
My comfy chair is still comfortable. And I noticed a marked improvement in my back since using it - I'm no longer sore at all after a day of working at the desk. I think Jean is jealous of it.

Tomorrow (July 1) is Canada Day up here in hinterland. We have a full day slated, thanks to Jeff and his zealous planning. Jeff is turning into the guy amongst my friends who has an "event" every few weeks or month... which is cool by me - no planning - just the duty of saying yes or no! Jeff has the following planned: morning hike up at Grouse Mountain, afternoon soccer game up where we used to play v-ball on upper 8th Avenue, then Culpeppers for pints, while watching the World Cup game. We'll end the evening off by going to see the fireworks. Jeff calls it the "Canada Day of World Cups" event. Heheh.

Anyway, I think I'll sign off for now, and give you the reminder again in case you didn't hit the link above. Spiffle is live! Spiffle is launched! Spiffle is in the can! Check it out!

Till next time, thanks for stopping by!

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Mixelania

Photos from Algonquin Park
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Making Snow for the Fortress
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Around The Bend by Pearl Jam

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

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Burundi and Beyond - NY Times
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St. Petersburg Times
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AP Story on Espresso
Background and information provided

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

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`
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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