Jan 05, 2003, 1:00pm

Welcome to 2003!

No, I haven't set the New Year resolutions yet - I need to talk to Jeanette about it. Basically the deal is, I wanna have both of us fit into clothes we wore when we met. For Jean, this is almost a nothing deal - she's pretty much the same size and weight she was when we met almost 10 years ago. For me, it's a bit more of a, uhm challenge.

I have another, much more personal resolution that I won't be sharing with y'all :)

I spent 10 days in Ottawa over the holidays, spending time with my family and some friends.

Old Friends Janet and Heather, at an Irish Pub, catching up on old times.

I got to see someone I haven't seen in about 13 years, and that was Janet Gil (she's pictured to the right with my other old friend, Heather). Janet had a daughter this year, and she seems very happy and content (Janet - not her daughter - I haven't met her daughter), and wow, she looks almost EXACTLY the same as I remember except her hair is longer and a light brown now.

Hanging out with Heather was great. The night I took this picture, Jeanette (that's my Jeanette, not to be confused with Janet) was sick and unfortunately stayed at home, and I did feel a bit awkward with Janet and Heather because they mainly talked about "girl things" as I sat quietly by and nodded, but I got to spend a few other times with Heather and caught up with each other on a lot of things.

Heather and her fiance Eric brought Jeanette and I to a house party for New Years eve. It was a very, uhm, cozy apartment (read: tiny) with most of the folks at least 5 or 10 years younger than me, but I had a great time. I even got to show an old party trick of mine: I can flip a lit cigarette into my mouth, close my mouth, and smoke the cigarette... then flip the still-lit cigarette out again. I saw it in an old movie (Class) many, many years ago, and spent many a drunken night (and burnt mouth) learning the trick. It's nifty that I can still do it - it's been about 7 years since I last tried. There were a bunch of 18 to 24 year old women at the party, and they were seriously impressed with the trick (at first I thought they were being sarcastic, but as we were leaving, one of them came up to me and said "that was the coolest party trick I ever saw!!!", so I guess they were, uhm, impressed.

The main purpose of my visit to Ottawa, was of course to spent time with my Mom, who has cancer. I did get to spend a lot of time with her, but not nearly as much as I wanted to. We went to the National Art Gallery with her on our last day in Ottawa, and she seemed to really enjoy the visit. I have heaps of DV tape of her walking through the museum, making comments on the art she liked.

Lastly, Christmas day and Boxing day were not fun for me - I developed a massive toothache(s) that pretty much incapacitated me. I couldn't get to an emergency dentist until the 27th, and I had to see two. One pulled a tooth, the other fixed a broken filling. I still need my second last wisdom tooth pulled though. Grr.

After the dental work, my pain subsided somewhat, but the side of my face ballooned because of the pulled tooth - for a couple of days it was massive. Even by New Years' eve it was still noticeable.

	At the Disco Jeanette, all doled up for New Years (and shortest of the bunch) with Eric and his fiance Heather.		A Rare Photo I don't like photos of myself, but Jeanette loves this one, so here ya go. My face is still puffy from the pulled tooth. New Years Eve hijinx photo.		My Mom and Jeanette My Mom and Jeanette, from my last day in Ottawa. Both have great smiles!

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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