2003 August Archive at Rik Abel

Archive for August, 2003

Exillent!

Published on August 29, 2003 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

I am a very happy bunny. I have a lovely new toy, a Casio Exilim EX-Z3 digital camera. And it was a bargain as it was a sample for Firebox so I got it at cost price. Yay. Initial impressions are that it is VERY COOL INDEED. The coolest thing is the 3X Optical Zoom, which in a camera with such a slim profile is nothing sort of miraculous (the lenses slide sideways as they retract into the camera body. Clever, these Japanese!). I’ve been using the office Exilim S2 for a while, which is excellent (and even smaller) but I can hardly wait to see what my new toy can do! Expect numerous new Photo Libraries in future.

Actually, Adrienne and I have a nascent project to document the frankly stunning array of crap which turns up on the footpaths of our neighbourhood in Manor house. Scarcely a day goes by without a new Cooker, Fridge TV set or sofa appearing. Often in threes. You’ll see…

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Blackout! No Big Deal!

Published on August 29, 2003 in Current Affairs. 0 Comments

First New York, then London! We had a blackout last night for nearly…ooh…three hours. The tube trains were all stopped - some people were trapped underground for several hours in the dark. It was no big deal. Unless you are a tabloid newspaper for whom it seemed to be a dress rehearsal for the apocalypse. People had to take buses instead. Or walk! Imagine the inconvenience. Naturally in the report I read the “Dunkirk Spirit” was summoned in about the second paragraph. Let’s try to get some perspective here, people.

I rather enjoyed it, actually. Normally reticent Londoners bonded in their shared incovenience and discomfort and opened up, talking garrulously and sharing their innermost feelings. Ha, no, of course they didn’t. On my bus I would estimate that 70% of the passengers were totally absorbed in txting on their mobiles. The rest stared fixedly at a spot about 10 inches in front of them, as is standard London protocol.

Anyway, things like this just reinforce my determination to commute by bike whenever possible.

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How do you like them Apples!

Published on August 28, 2003 in Apple. 0 Comments

Doug ‘StopDesign‘ Bowman and Jeffrey ‘Zeldman‘ Zeldman have been contracted to help redesign the Apple website. Big, nay HUGE congratulations to both of you! And congratulations to Apple for joining the ever-growing standards-based posse. With those two on board I am confident that the next version of Apple.com is going to be a killer site. KILLER! Maybe once they are in there DB and Jay-Z can convince them to kill brushed steel interfaces for good. A boy can dream…

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118

Published on August 27, 2003 in Current Affairs. 3 Comments

Those 118 guys are really starting to freak me out. Am I alone in this? In fact, I have dreamed about them. Twice. Which means it is probably a quite brilliant advertising campaign. Certainly kicks the arse of the dancing 11 88 88 people. Apologies to non-British people who won’t have a clue what I’m on about.

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Moulton

Published on August 27, 2003 in Cycling. 2 Comments

Alex Moulton AM18

A guy overtook me the other day on a Moulton AM series bike. Dr. Alex Moulton has been making his distinctive, small-wheeled, full-suspension bikes for over 40 years, quietly innovating away and producing what many of their adherents (including Sir Norman Foster and James Dyson) claim to be the best bicycles in the world. Not to be confused with small wheeled folding shopper bikes, the latest Moultons use a space-frame construction which is a marvel of engineering and a thing of beauty. The same cannot be said of the website. Perhaps I should offer to redesign it in exchange for a Moulton New Series Speed Stainless - a bargain at only £5000.

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Dyke to open up BBC archive

Published on August 25, 2003 in Television. 1 Comment

The BBC has announced plans to make its entire archive of TV and radio shows available online. Pretty amazing, and unthinkable before the wonder of broadband. I love the interweb…

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6am

Published on August 21, 2003 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Adrienne and I have taken to getting up at 6am. She goes for a run, I shuffle to my computer and work on my freelance projects. It seems to be working fairly well at the moment, except it would be easier if, as Adrienne puts it “sleep weren’t so nice”. It is about the only time that our immediate neighbourhood is quiet and peaceful (the cataclysmically loud kids next door are still asleep at this time). I do like the early morning, who knew, eh?

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teethgrinder

Published on August 20, 2003 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

I’m a bruxer. I brux. I suffer from bruxism. I gnash my teeth, or rather “clomp” them, in my sleep. This is very, very annoying. For my wife. Me? I sleep right through it, like a baby. I’m alright, Jack. Except today, in about half an hour, I’m off to the dentists to get a night-guard fitted. Hopefully then Adrienne won’t have to elbow me in the ribs every other night and hiss “STOP…GRINDING…YOUR…TEETH!” Poor lamb. I shoulda got it sorted out a long time ago. I’ve already lost one molar and cracked another one. Nobody know what causes bruxism, but it appears to be related to stress. I hope the dentist isn’t one of those guilt-trip running plaque bastards.

UPDATE: after doing a bit more googling, it seems that the latest, cutting edge bruxism-inhibiting device is the NTI-TSS, which is a small device which fits over only the front two teeth. This would be massively preferable to a big, clunky mouthguard, which I am kind of dreading wearing, since when I had a brace fitted (badly, I might add) as a teen I absolutely detested it, never got used to it, and talked like I had a mouth full of saliva. Which I did. In the end I ‘lost’ it, by which I mean I crushed it with a 56lb weight in our garage and then threw it in the sea, cackling hysterically.

I am prepared to bet that my dentist has not got an NTI-TSS handy, and has probably never even heard of one, us Brits being famously archaic in our dental knowledge. I’m certainly going to annoy him by banging on about it, though. I sure hope I can sort out my ‘adverse nocturnal tooth movement supraeruption’…

UPDATED UPDATE: Well, that was painless. Actually, it was just an initial check-up. I need, like, a billion fillings. Four. My teeth are in a parlous, but not yet desparate state, apparently. He stopped short of tsking and shaking his head in despair, but you know, you can just tell… This is what happens when you go to the dentist about five times. Ever. Ah well. He, the dentist was - annoyingly - very nice. Dr Parminderjit Singh Gill. He has a Hoxton Fin. He dissed the NTI-TSS, so I am going with the full-size guard. Boo Yaa! I wonder if I can get it in blood red? Or black. Black would be cool.

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All Creatures Great and Small

Published on August 18, 2003 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Adrienne and I spent an extremely pleasant and relaxing weekend in a farmhouse in the Yorkshire dales, in Arkengarthdale, just down the road from Langthwaite where much of “All Creatures Great and Small” was filmed. The farmhouse belongs to Rosemary who owns the Broughton House Gallery (I did the website) and is just wonderful. Being used to the incessant background noise of our street in London (shrieking children, police sirens, helicopters, yapping psychotic dogs, etc etc) we found it uncannily quiet - the peace was broken only by the occassional ‘moo’, ‘baa’ and whatever noise goats make. We really, really like it there. Thanks, Rosemary! I’ve put a few photos up, so you can see how ridiculously idyllic it was. Although it seemed very remote, it was remote in that wonderful English way where there were 3 pubs within two miles. Pubs selling Theakstons and Black Sheep. Perfect.

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Weasel Coffee

Published on August 11, 2003 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

I have made a resolution to only drink one cup of coffee a day, first thing in the morning, which I have managed to stick to without too many problems. But I had to make an exception today when I was given the chance to try some “Weasel Coffee”. Yep. This is coffee from Vietnam which has been through the digestive tract of a weasel, thus enhancing its flavour quite miraculously. At least that is the claim…

…and I have to say, in all honesty, it is indeed a most excellent and delicious coffee. Not that I’m a coffee geek, per se, but it just tastes expensive. And so it should, given that we will soon be selling it on Firebox for around £17 for a 100g bag. Which means my cup of coffee is about £5.

It has a complex, rounded, chocolatey or caramel taste, without any of the usual coffee bitterness. Those ole weasel digestive enzymes sure do make for a tasty cup a’ joe! (Rumour has it that most weasel coffee these days goes through a synthetic process and has never seen the inside of a weasel - aficionados claim that genuine weasel coffee is weaselly recognised and the synthetic knock-off is stoatally different. Not really, I just like that stupid joke…)

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