Oct 08, 2002, 6:30pm

I'm back in Vancouver now, have been for a few days.

First, thanks to those who took the time to email me regarding my last rant, about my Mom's condition. It means so much. Ditto to the two of you who (as of this writing) posted comments. A micro update - her platelet count is dangerously low, so low they are considering blood transfusions. We keep hoping for the best.

Wireless Internet

I'm starting to like GPRS. For those who don't know, it is General Packet Radio Service, and through my GSM cellular phone (Fido, in Canada), for an extra $50 a month, I have unlimited, wireless internet connectivity in almost every major city in North America (California excepted, or any place that only Cingular covers).

$50 might seem like a lot, and early on with the performance I was getting, $50 was a gip, but my opinion on that is changing. I should note that before Fido offered the $50 all you can eat special, I was subscribing to a metered service for $75 a month, and only 20mb. I was ready to drop it all together, when the unlimited plan came available, so I hung on. The fact that is was unlimited, North America wide made it more appealing - I could go to Seattle, or Boston, or Chicago, and be "connected". With my Thinkpad, with my Pocket PC, heck, even with my iBook (after finding suitable hacks and stuff - Motorola, the maker of my GPRS/GSM phone (Timeport P280) does not support the Mac).

Right now, as I type this, I'm sitting outside Calhoon's Bakery on W. Broadway in Vancouver. I'm downloading iSync for my iBook, a 6mb file, and I'm getting 5,800 bytes per second. I would say that's faster than a 56k modem - maybe. I'm not sure on the math (if you know the byte vs bit math for a 56k, 33.6k modem, can you post in the comment how many bytes per sec those techs are?).

If they can continue to provide those speeds, I'll be happy paying for the service. But as little as a few months ago, I was barely getting 2,000 bytes a second on a download. I found that unacceptable. Hopefully it continues to improve.

I ended up using GPRS a ton the past three weeks, in cities like Seattle, Portland, Boston, and Ottawa. It turned out to be a godsend because I was counting on using my Mom's high speed access in Ottawa, but could never get the Rogers cable modem working with my iBook's Ethernet connection. I averaged about 5,000bytes per second connection speeds in Ottawa, which, while slow, was still a good clip. IM'ing was pain free, and email checks took at most 2 minutes.

One really cool aspect of GPRS connectivity was when I was in committee meetings for the SCAA while in Boston. I could silently connect to the Internet, and while discussions carried on, I would load various pages or online information about the stuff we were talking about. It really helped reinforce a few points I was raising, and helped me do on-demand research.

Lastly, I got another email from John Dvorak, one of my favourite tech authors. John liked what I wrote about blogs and his articles covering them some time ago. It's kinda cool to get an unsolicited, personal email from one of your writing heros. In my case, I've heard from Dvorak twice now! Cool!

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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