Studio711.com – Ben Martens

Throwback Thursday – 1981 Toy Box

For the Christmas of 1981 when I was 15 months old, Grandpa Martens made a toy box for me. That toy box survived our family and then sat in the basement at Mom and Dad’s house. A few trips ago, Mom said that the toy box was mine if I wanted it. At first it seemed silly, but then I started thinking about what we were going to do with Elijah’s toys. Should I build something similar? Wouldn’t it be cooler to have the actual toy box that Grandpa Martens made?

On this last trip to Indiana, Dad and I hauled the toy box to FedEx and got it all packaged up for shipment. It wasn’t cheap but it probably cost less than buying all the wood and the stain and it means a lot more than if I made it! The box made it out here without any damage (other than what we did to it as kids.) When Elijah is done I’ll probably refinish it but he’ll just add his own knicks and scuffs to it anyway.

The left photo is me sitting on it in 1981 when it was brand new and on the right you see Elijah sitting on it. I love seeing this in our house!

benmartens June 12, 2014 Throwback Thursday

Crimes By Year

As Tyla and I were discussing yet another public shooting, I made the comment that we shouldn’t get discouraged because this kind of thing has always happened throughout history. The difference is that now we hear about every single instance because of the Internet. When I said that, I was referring to the content of a book called The Better Angels Of Our Nature. The author goes back in history and shows that we’re living in the most peaceful time ever.

But then Tyla said, “What about compared to 10 years ago?” Umm… I don’t know? To the internet we go!

I found crime data for the last 55 years, pulled it into Excel using Power Query and then made a nice chart. I only showed every 5 years so that it would be a little more readable. The answer is yes, the US is a safer place than it was 10 years ago.

benmartens June 11, 2014 Commentary

Yard Project Update 2

Tim and I worked pretty much every night last week. I got the fence along the west property line close to complete and Tim spent a lot of time getting the bottom layer of the retaining wall perfectly placed. We were hoping to have the wall done by Friday night but at 10pm that night, we called it quits and decided to finish it in the morning. Saturday morning we met at Home Depot at 6am to make sure that we could rent their walk-behind skid steer loader for the day. It was a critical piece of the puzzle. We finished the retaining wall by about 9am and then backfilled the wall with a drain and gravel. Andy and Logan stopped by to help out too. They started by digging a couple postholes and then started the French drain and irrigation trenches. It was really difficult digging. Thank you! We had another 15 yards of dirt delivered. It would have taken forever to drive each load up into the yard so we set up a relay instead. Tim used the machine to fill wheelbarrows. The other three of us took turns with the two wheelbarrows running loads up into the back yard. Moving 15 yards of dirt one wheelbarrow at a time sure takes a while but I was incredibly thankful to have the machine, someone who knew how to operate it, and lots of people to run the wheelbarrows. We called it quits for the day after that and fired up the grill to enjoy some dinner.

Since we had church Sunday morning and then I was busy in the afternoon, we decided to take the day off to catch up on some other chores like mowing, bills, etc. But even with that, Tim and Chelsea came over for a couple hours to cut and glue the caps onto the wall.

This week we are focusing on completely finishing a couple parts of the project like the retaining wall, the fence, and yard cleanup. Then we’ll move on to trenching for the French drains and irrigation. I need to get the next walls of the fence started at some point too.

I’d guess that in terms of effort, we’re more than halfway though the project. That’s not too bad for less than two weeks of work! The remaining bit might take us a little longer in terms of calendar days though since the schedule starts to fill up a bit with Father’s Day, Elijah’s birthday, etc.

I had the GoPros running on Saturday for another timelapse. I’ll also throw in a picture of where we finished on Saturday.

benmartens June 10, 2014 Home Improvement

2014 Indianapolis 500

Tyla, Elijah and I flew back to Indiana for Memorial Day. This trip was planned around the Indy 500. I lived a few hours away from the race for most of my life but I never went to the race. This year, I decided it was time to change that.

In it’s prime in the 90’s, the race drew 400,000 fans making it the biggest single sporting event in the world! There were some issues with the series, but the event still gets about 200-250,000 visitors each year. With so many people going to a single location, Dad, Luke and I decided we would get there early to fight our way through traffic. We planned to arrive at 9, three hours before the race started, and it worked out quite well. We had very little traffic getting in and found our reserved spot in the North 40 parking lot.

We killed some time walking around and a bit of the track and into the infield. The track is HUGE. It’s 2.5 miles per lap so we obviously didn’t explore very much of the overall festivities.

We arrived in our seats about a half hour before the race started with a cooler full of water and beer, and a backpack full of snacks. We also each rented the FanVision devices which combine driver radio scanners, TV broadcast, and headphones/hearing protection. It’s a great way to keep up with what’s happening in the race.

The weather was perfect making for a great race day. It was between 80 and 85 with not a cloud in the sky. Thankfully there was a breeze throughout the race to keep us from getting too hot in that mass of people. We stayed in our seats for the whole race (most people did) since it was a lot of work to work our way to the aisles.

The race was awesome. I can’t do justice to the sights and sounds of cars traveling in excess of 230mph and doing an entire 2.5 mile lap in less than 42 seconds. I actually felt a little queasy for the first quarter of the race and I think it was a combination of the hot sun and the fact that seeing cars move that fast just doesn’t make sense when you see it.

Watching on TV gives you a better view of the strategy involved in the race, but being there in person gives you all the emotion of the race: screaming fans, roaring engines, cars whizzing by, etc. It was an experience I’ll never forget! We sat near the top of the stands in Turn 3 which gave us a great view all the way from Turn 2 through Turn 4. The more expensive seats are on the front stretch, but I think we were all happy with our choice. Remember that if you buy tickets for a race, the higher you sit, the better your seats!

When the race ended, we took our time getting back to the car (not that we had much choice with the sea of humanity trying to leave). Instead of starting our car and moving a couple feet every 10 minutes, we fired up the grill and cooked some brats. That worked out perfectly and by the time we were ready to leave, the traffic was just dying down enough for us to get out without much trouble.

Our ride back took a little longer than planned because we got a flat tire. That’s normally not a problem for a car full of three guys but the safety cable that straps the tire to the bottom of the car was rusted on and we couldn’t get it off. Someone who lived nearby finally stopped to see what was going on and came back with just the tools we needed to get it loose. The rest of the drive was uneventful.

I’m so happy with how the day turned out and thankful that I could experience this. Thanks to Dad and Luke for going too! And thanks to Tyla for watching Elijah all day while I was playing! All that being said, this was more of a single experience than something I want to do every year. It’s great to try but I don’t need to do it regularly.

Photos and video don’t do this justice but it will at least give you a taste of what we saw and heard.

benmartens June 9, 2014 Sports, Travel

Weather

This spring has been WET. It’s so wet that even if we didn’t get another drop of rain until August 1, we would still set the record for the wettest February through July ever in Seattle! That’s saying a lot because spring is incredibly wet around here.

Since we started the yard project one week ago, we’ve had 70-75 degree sunshine every single day. It’s mind-boggling how nice the weather has been and how perfectly it lined up with our project. I’m so thankful! Heavy rains would really have changed this project.

benmartens June 6, 2014 Commentary

Throwback Thursday – 1988 Birthday Party

GregF’s wife recently changed his Facebook profile picture to one of his school pictures (unbeknownst to Greg.) That got me thinking that I probably have some pictures of him too. As I was looking through those types of photos, I found this gem from my 1988 birthday party. I was apparently showing off by climbing the rope while Greg was launching himself off the ladder.

benmartens June 5, 2014 Throwback Thursday

Yard Project

From the moment we looked at the house, Tyla and I have had some dreams about improving our yard. We’re both used to huge lots in the Midwest so having 1/6th of an acre (which is a big lot in this area!) feels constricting. On top of that, lots of the plants were overgrown and the yard was in two tiers making the useable space even smaller. And on top of that, drainage was terrible so the yard was muddy a lot. Now that Elijah is walking, we really wanted to give him a place that was dry and safe to play in.

Thankfully, TimS does this kind of thing for a living and was willing to help us out in his free time. It’s a massive project but we’re trying to knock a lot of it out in just two weeks. Here’s what we’ve done to this point:

  • Remove the trees.
  • Remove all sod in the back yard, all remaining bushes and plants, and the fence. This took two dump runs with a big dual axle dump trailer and one concrete recycling trip with that trailer. Thanks to Don for loaning us his truck so we could pull that trailer!
  • Build a retaining wall along the northeast corner of our lot. Fill in dirt to raise that corner up about three feet to level out the back yard.
  • Build a new fence.
  • Add French drains along the west side of our lot to catch water flowing down the hill as it hits our property. Add drains behind the retaining wall. Tie the downspouts into the drain.
  • Add an irrigation system.

We’re making great progress. All of the demolition happened last Friday on Day 1 of the project. We rented an excavator, and with Tim at the controls the work got done quickly. Since then we’ve been digging postholes (thanks Don and Logan!), building the retaining wall and building the fence. The goal is to get the wall done this week and then rent a machine to trench and move dirt around this weekend.

It’s a massive project but so far it’s going pretty smoothly. The only set back so far has been cutting the Comcast and telephone lines. They were wrapped around and through a big tree stump that we were trying to remove. Oops! If that’s the only problem we have, I’ll be thrilled!

Tyla has the hardest job of all. Normally when I come home I try to take care of Elijah and give her a break and I try to do a lot of that on the weekends too. With me being out in the yard working every minute I’m awake at home, she’s on full time baby duty. This project couldn’t happen without her. Thank you Tyla!

Below you’ll find a timelapse video for our demolition day. Unfortunately both of my GoPros ran out before we got the stump out, but we did get it before the day was over.

And here is a comparison of what the yard looked like before and what it looks like now.

benmartens June 4, 2014 Home Improvement, Video

100 Beers

I’ve been using Untappd.com for the last 18 months. It has been fun to keep track of all the different beers that I’ve had. While we were sitting in the stands for the Indy 500, I popped the top on my 100th different beer! It was a Schell’s Deer Brand straight from New Ulm, MN. I suppose technically I’ve had more than 100 different beers but I’m not counting any that I drank before I started using the app.

So now that I have all this data, what are the best beers? First I should start by explaining the rating scale that I use:

  1. This isn’t what I call beer.
  2. If somebody hands me one, I’ll drink it, but I wouldn’t pay for it.
  3. If I can’t find #4 or #5, this is a good choice.
  4. If I go to buy beer and this is on the shelf, I will almost always choose it.
  5. Stockpile this beer! It’s awesome!

I also won’t let a beer get to #5 unless I’ve had it on multiple occasions. Sometimes a beer seems more delicious based on your social situation or the food you’re eating. A 5 star beer should be good any time!

So far, I’ve only given 5 stars to three beers:

  • Galley Mac Amber Ale – This is the recipe that we used when we made our own beer. It’s a copy of the Mac & Jack’s African Amber recipe.
  • Mac & Jack’s African Amber – The brewery is only a couple miles from work but I’ve never been there. WHY!?
  • Deschutes Brewery Red Chair Northwest Pale Ale – This is only made 5 months out of the year so when I see it, I buy a lot of it.

There aretwo more beers that are vying for a spot on the 5-star list:

  • Bell’s Brewery Two Hearted Ale. I had it for the first time on this last trip to Indianan and loved it. It’s similar to the Red Chair that is already on the list.
  • Hopworks Velvet ESB – I had this in Portland but can’t find it here!

There are lots of four star beers on my list: Fat Tire, Redhook ESB, Alaskan Amber, Double Take Amber, Widmer Hopside Down, 10 Barrell Hop Project #37, Redhook Audible Ale, Anchor Brewing Liberty Ale, Fish Brewing Spire Mountain Cider, Gustav’s Enchantment Ale, Great Lakes Burning River Pale Ale, Left Hand Sawtooth Ale, Gallagher’s Cealidh Wheat, Gallagher’s Hals Celebration, Goose Island Honker’s, Silvery City Ridgetop Red, Pyramid Pale Ale, Manny’s Pale Ale, Hopworks Velvet ESB, Alaskan ESB, Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, and Bell’s Two Hearted Ale.

That’s a lot of 4 star beers. I’m thinking I should run through them all again and see if they really are worth of their 4 star rating. Sounds delicious… challenge accepted!

benmartens June 3, 2014 Commentary

Bear Grylls Life Tips

I admit to being a Bear Grylls fanboy. I’ll watch just about anything he does, or at least give it a try. He has quite a few books so I decided to look at one. Meh. It’s really not very good, but there were three thoughts from the book that have really stuck with me.

  1. He talks about how it’s so easy to take your frustrations out on your closets friends and family. You see them every day so you feel very comfortable and you let down your guard. But if we love them the most, shouldn’t we give them the best of ourselves? “The smart man and woman save the best for those they love.”
  2. “We all have bigger and better stories, but it’s a good quality to be able to hold your tongue and allow the storyteller their moment in the sun.”
  3. “Here is a great definition of gossip I once heard: ‘If the person you’re speaking to will think worse or less of the person you’re speaking about, then it’s gossip, so cut it out!’”

The book is called A Survival Guide for Life: How to Achieve Your Goals, Thrive in Adversity, and Grow in Character. I can’t really recommend it if I can remember and act on even one of those three things then it was worth a read.

benmartens June 2, 2014 Books

Bye Bye Trees

I am Ben, Destroyer of Trees.

The next step in the yard project was to pull out a bunch of trees. Some of them were dying and some would have died after we raised the level of the yard above their current bases. Tim regularly works with one tree service and they had done some free work for the church so they seemed like a good fit for the job at our house. They pulled down a bunch of trees along our back fence and along the side of the house. As with most contractor work, I was a bit hesitant to pay someone to do this, but in the end I was glad I did. They had the whole thing done and cleaned up in four hours. It would have easily taken me all weekend and then I would have been left with a big mess of trees to haul away. It looks incredibly different in our backyard, but it’s not the finished product. Out with the old, in with the new!

In the photo below, Elijah and Tyla are both wearing their “Better Hearing and Speech Month” shirts. The clinic that Tyla worked in promotes this every month as a public service announcement. Make sure you protect your ears! Once you damage them, you generally can’t fix them.

benmartens May 30, 2014 Home Improvement