Jul 10, 1997, 12:50pm

Here's a little treat for you folks - but it's only a nibble. Check out a sign of something to come soon - Spiffle. Well, ok.. it's not much - but hey, how bout that ray tracing, eh? eh?

I'm not sure what Spiffle is going to be yet, but I know one thing - it's going to be fun. Meanwhile, my friend Jeff wants to do something on the net too. He wants to become the Howard Stern of the Net, with a live 30 minute video feed everyday, kind of a Wayne's World meats Stern (typo half intended). Tied in with the video feed every day will be interviews on the street, a comprehensive web site, and lots of interesting content. I was a bit skeptical when Jeff said one of his ideas was to have a "sex worker" come in and give blowjobs to potential guests. Hrmmm.

But, I'm looking into the costs and such for him, and who knows. It could fly - after all, I don't see anything like it on the net right now. Have you seen something like this? If you have, do me a favor and tell me about it.

And in other ideas departments, buddy Zannah has completely redeisgned her site. Congrats Z, it looks great, and everyone should take a look. Z is trying to break the mold a bit - the one a few others have copied, including herself, and so far, I like what I see. Though a cool navbar woulda been nice <grin>

Did you know that the MonkeyBoy, a self professed guitarist, thinks that not only is Eric Clapton overrated and sucky, but my buddy Robbie from the Hip is a major HACK!! I hope he burns in hell for that kind of blasphemy! Anyway, if you think he's full of it, why not let him know! He does think that SRV is a definite god, and taken way before his time, so he redeemed himself a bit. But Robbie, a hack? Sheesh.

In yet other news, I am working like a dog on my secret projects, but the problem is plain to me - I only have so many creative juices to go around. After working like crazy on 5 projects over the past two weeks, I have no brain power left for my own stuff. Usually, when I need to be creative, I just sit and daydream, and I usually come up with a few ideas. But, it's like a well for me - I can't go to it too often or it dries up. Hopefully by this weekend I'll have some new ideas for my own stuff. In the meantime, learning CorelDream (Ray Dream Designer), has opened my mind up to new possibilities, so maybe I can go back to the well soon.

And to wrap things up, I got a very strange email the other day. The title looked like spam, so I almost didn't read it - and then when I started reading it, it sounded like another award mail... so I almost chucked it again. But I read it through and it was mail from a regular net person who commented on this site, complimented me, etc. I make it a point of answering all mail to me from new people, as long as it isn't spam, hatemail, or idiot mail (I seemed to get a lot of that kind last week).

I'm glad I did read it because, 95% of the time, I would have chucked the mail as soon as I saw the title, and then I would have chucked it again if I thought it was some lame award thing. But it wasn't and I got to write back to the person and start up yet another web pen pal thingie.

Oh, one other thing. A few people wrote asking me what the deal was with my "censored by the woman of the house" rant that I was going to put up on Monday. Well, here's the deal - it was on romance novels - I don't have very much respect for them, and I know exactly what they really are, but my rant was overly harsh toward Jeanette, so I pulled it. That's all. Nothing more, really. I'm not pussywhipped... I promise. Really! I'm serious! Ok... maybe just a little... But Jeanette told me not to tell anyone that... so nope, I'm not pussywhipped in the least... yah, that's it.

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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