Sep 06, 1998, 7:35pm

Hey, a two parter today - some personal, some observations.

In the "what's news" section, first, no relatives or friends of relatives of mine were on that SwissAir crash. I'm thankful for that, but my heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones.

The wifey got back from the family vacation, so things are back to normal around here. Mitzy sure missed her, as did I. Now if only she would update her web site! :-) Spiffle2 is coming at any moment. Any moment now.... And of course, work has swallowed up a lot of my free time, but I'm working hard in those spare moments to get new content up around here, including maybe a new story. I have one going into the next issue of Spiffle, but I also have one that doesn't fit Spiffle's modus operandi. And now, the first part of today's rantaholic anonymous feature performance.

The Swiss Air crash. I've been thinking a lot about it the past few days, mainly because I stayed in Peggy's Cove for two days a while back. You know, if I had to die in a plane crash, or if I had to have a loved one die in a crash, I can't think of a better place.

For those of you who don't know, a Swiss Air jetliner crashed about 7 kms off the coast of Nova Scotia, right near a small hamlet called Peggy's Cove. Hamlet is the right word too - I think the entire population of the little village is about 80.

I visited Peggy's Cove at a time in my life when I was kind of despondent. I wasn't depressed - I just didn't know what the hell was going on in my life. I was 24, and I was in the middle of a long wandering period, one of two methods - to try to get away from responsibilities, and to try and find a new direction to take. By the time I hit Nova Scotia, despondency ruled.

Peggy's Cove is the kind of place that can cure these kinds of moods. The people there, some of the friendliest I've met in my wanderings, are what some would call the "salt of the earth". The scenery puts you in awe of what nature can do, and it reminded me of the Highlands of Scotland, with the craggy rock face to the ocean, the windy beaches, and the green grass everywhere.

Peggy's Cove got to me, just a little bit. I remember sitting on that rocky peninsula where that famous lighthouse is (the one you've probably seen in the news with the families of the Swiss Air victims going to look out to the sea). When it was my time to sit there on those rocks, I was entirely alone, both in my thoughts and in a physical sense. No one was around at all, and I still remember the day - it was foggy all morning, but by the time I got to leave, the sun was burning through and I could see for endless miles out into the ocean.

I didn't make my mind up about what I was going to do with my life... no, nothing's that easy. But sitting there, my mind, my troubles, my doubts were all put at ease. And for a long time afterwards, whenever I was feeling down, the mood I had sitting on that peninsula came back to me, and it helped ease me again. I'm not a religious person in any sense, but I have to admit, sitting there that day made me really wonder if this was all God's work.

That's why I think it's such a good place (not that any place can be good) for you to have to go to pay homage to a lost one. A lot of the SwissAir relatives and friends are in Nova Scotia right now, and most of them visited that same exact spot I got some solitude and serenity, and in a very distant way I know what they are feeling... I don't know their feelings on their own sense of loss, but I think I know what Peggy's Cove is doing to them, to help ease their pain and suffering just a bit.

A poignant image was shown on the news a few days back of a solitary mourner sitting on the rocks, stooping down to scoop up the water into his hands, and tasting it. His hands would then go to his face, and he rubbed the water on his temples. He was alone in his thoughts (and I felt ashamed watching them on the telly), but at that brief moment, I knew that Peggy's Cove was working its own magic on this person - helping him though his pain.

No one wants a loved one to die, but at the very least, they died in a wholesome, peaceful and powerful place.

And now to more trivial matters... First, no names or urls from me, re what I'm about to talk about - these are just my general observations on the WebWorld (boy, I sure have a lot of those, eh?)

There was a time when I visited about 30 personal web sites a day. I knew most of these people and while most of them were unabashed diarists, I enjoyed (for the most part) reading about what was going on in their lives. A few others tended to do the same thing as me - rant and rave about various topic du jour, and I enjoyed that too.

But these days, I find my "must see it everyday" list is down to maybe 4 or 5 sites. It's all part of my own disappointment with the Net environment I found myself in, but it's also much more. I find that some personal sites I used to enjoy reading have turned into more of a trophy case these days saying stuff like "look what I did at this site! Look what I said here! look who interviewed me! look - I'm famous! I have to be! they talk to me!". Still other sites have turned into mere shells of their former selves, having lost what brought me to their show in the first place - entertain me, damnit!

Some of these things you might recall from a few weeks ago, when I wrote about my own disillusionment with this here site. Entertainment - be it through frustration, anger, bewilderment, happiness, thought, or any process you get out of visiting a personal site - that is what is needed to entertain the visitor. Not mundane "look, I washed my hair tonight" crap.

I mean, how many times do you want to hear about a person's dog? How many times do you want to hear about how they did in that obscure sport they love so much? How many times do you want to hear about their personal angst that does nothing for you? If a site's content is diverse, if it pisses you off, if it makes you smile, if it makes you think, that's something. But if the darned thing isn't updated for 4 weeks, and when it finally is updated they tell you about yet another harrowing drive to the mall, do you really want to read that kind of shit? A lot of sites I used to enjoy visiting have gone down that mundane path. Blah.

On the subject of promoting, sure I do some of that here, but what other sites have I promoted other than my own stuff? I think the Web Standards Project was the only one in months (a good cause, btw!). Did you know for instance that I've been interviewed by the mainstream press about a half dozen times since last summer? Probably not, because I don't think I've mentioned any of the occasions here. There were other times YAWT and other stuff I've done got mainstream publicity but I've kept them out of this site - kept them out for a long time.

And it is for one sole reason.

People don't like reading about other people tooting their own horn.

It's true. I was told as much in ICQ about 6 months ago. It took a short while for me to dig it, but it hit home eventually. The situation was this - work was picking up for me, YAWT was featured on a syndicated computer show, I was travelling as part of business and I was bragging about all this to a colleague. That colleague told me that they didn't want to "hear that kind of shit".

At first I put it off as jealousy on that person's part, but that was wrong - most people (other than maybe your wife or mother) don't want to hear about your trophies, about where you got published, about who thinks you're just the top shit. It's true. It may be rooted in jealousy, but it's not as black and white as that - people simply don't like braggarts for a multitude of reasons.

So it's something I put a stop to here months and months ago (though I did kind of tone it down first last year). No badges, no promos, no "look, I'm famous" shit is on my personal site anymore, at least all I could catch. My own work on my own personal project sites got promoted, but that's it.

Meanwhile, a lot of websites I used to enjoy visiting have gone way down, way down this bad ass road, and as a result I visit them maybe once a month if that.

Hey, don't get me wrong - I still brag. But now I only brag to those who really do care about my success (read here, Mom, Dad, Jean), and to my friends who do it just as badly to me (read here Dave, Bernie, Cathy, Jeff, Rashid, Beth, Aaron, Martin, and a few other buddies around town). When I see sites that do it with such uh, lack of humility, well, it kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth, as I'm sure that colleague felt about me months back.

There is a line - one I'm sure I've crossed myself more than a few times - a line between bragging with humility, and just plain bragging. Too many sites I used to enjoy cross that line on a regular basis. Sigh.

And that is all I have to say on that! :-)

0 comments | reply

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