Monthly Archives: September 2008

Ground espresso, North Sydney

Piazza d’oro coffee. 101 pacific highway, North Sydney. Named after the ground floor, this lobby cafe/restaurant is a haven for suits who are looking for a place to spend their lunch-hour. Not cheap, but still fairly priced for north Sydney. Staff are professionally distant, rather than friendly. A big range of lunch options.
The decaf is [...]

Playing with an iphone

I’ve borrowed an iPhone for the week, to try a work out if it’svworth getting one: after watching some presentations on oz-ia, I’m convinced that it’s a good platform for a lot of people, but I like to do a lot of typing on a mobile device, so it might not be the best choice [...]

A busy month

Before the end of October, i’m expecting that I will have:
- prepared and preached a sermon on sola fire (faith alone)
- completed three assignments for college, including one that requires me to conduct a 30-40 minute marriage counselling session on a role-play couple - If you’d like to help with that, let me know
- resumed [...]

yammering with Tinderbox

[markb] One of the benefits emerging with (Mac Application) Tinderbox is that its users are building straightforward mini-tutorials, like this one on how to integrate work-organisation-centric Twitter-like application Yammer with Tinderbox

dilbert at OZ-IA

dilbert at OZ-IA

How true: how many people think that you can just add “easy to use” to the list?

the foyer cafe

the foyer cafe

Caffe di Gabriel coffee. Shop 602, 207 Kent St, Sydney. Lots of outside seating for the smokers, and on the inside, there’s a high ceiling, a licensed bar, and a largish team of staff keeping everything moving along.
Coffee has a good texture, just the right temperature for [...]

simmone logue

simmone logue

Karmee Coffee. 2 Cross St, Double Bay. A combination of a deli and bakery, this place too is crowded on a Sunday. Queuing at the counter gives you a chance to watch the staff interact: even when the pressure is on, they’re professional, and handle the varying temperaments [...]

bar indigo

bar indigo

Bar Indigo Blend (roasted by Single Origin). 15 Cross St, Double Bay. With seating inside, and in the traffic island in the middle of the street, this place seems busy all Sunday long. They make up for their 5-8 minute wait for a takeaway coffee, though, by being [...]

oz-ia 2008 - coffee review

I’m now back home after OZ-IA 2008. Somehow, Eric Sheid (Long Black, but was drinking lattes this week) manages to pack 22 sessions into a two day conference. I missed one of the sessions, but I tried to ask the speakers how they have their coffee.
Here’s what I found out.
Day One
Where is Square 1? - [...]

the first 5000 posts

When you least expect it, a milestone will fly by. Wordpress tells me that I’ve now written over 5000 posts on this blog, in the last 8 years. In that time, I’ve used Blogger, Movable Type, and now Wordpress, I’ve visited and blogged about over 350 cafes (some of which have closed down), and I’ve [...]

finding and using flickr images

I’m not generally one to use photos that other people have taken on my own blog, but if you’re that way inclined, this guide to finding and using Flickr images is easy to read, and comprehensive in its coverage of the different copyright models that Flickr users have for their photos.

getting the small details right

The salt and pepper shaker that made Disney $100,000. How many businesses would do this, these days?

counselling courses for further training

After seven weeks of training in how to do counselling, a number of further training options were mentioned:

Grad Dip of Counselling or Masters of Counselling from the Wesley Institute
Various Courses from Relationships Australia
Diploma and Degree courses at Tabor College
Clinical Pastoral Education
Advanced diploma of Counselling and Family Therapy from the Australian Institute of Family Counselling

typewritten FAQ for a writer

In the days of letter-writing, this is an innovative Fan Mail solution.

dvd: equilibrium

dvd: equilibrium
This is meant to be notable in its unusually high body count (236 on-screen deaths), and yes, the martial arts / weapons scenes are well choreographed, but in general, this cross between “V for Vendetta” and “The Matrix” is not as good as either.

dvd: shut up and sing

dvd: shut up and sing
Documentary about country trio “the Dixie Chicks”, and the troubles that they had by speaking out against the president (a single throwaway line at a concert that was blown out of all proportion). Cleverly manages to make the frighteningly wealthy singers seem quite normal and down-to-earth, most of the time. A [...]

book: watchmen

book: Watchmen, though a graphic novel, is on the list of Time Magazine’s top 100 novels since 1923.
Tells at interwoven story, subverts the graphic novel genre. A complex piece, with lots of hidden detail for future re-readings. Not for kids, given some of the content. Oh, and they’re turning it into a film, somehow.

online etymology dictionary

[@mpesce] online etymology dictionary - find out the history of words.

dvd: intacto

dvd: intacto
An odd film, to be sure, but just as good as I remember it. Worth it just for the scene where the men run blindfolded through a forest.

tech product experience is more than just features

A post over at 37 signals on looking good vs technical features reminds me that in considering a tech product, there are plenty of other things to describe than just the size of the hard-drive, or whether it has this or that technology.
My current phone has a perfectly adequate screen and keypad, but its interface [...]