Studio711.com – Ben Martens

Back To Reality

It’s October 1, and that means I’m heading back to work. The last time I walked in the door there or even checked my email was August 31. My month of parental leave is over.

When I filled out the application for parental leave, I had to select a reason for the leave. The one that dads pick is called “bonding.” I thought it was odd at the time, but I totally get it now. This past month has been an incredible time to bond as a family. He grew up so much in that one month and I was there every day to watch the changes happen instead of just hearing about it when I got home from work.

Co-workers said that after 4 weeks at home with a baby, I’d be itching to go back to work. Umm… nope. I’m thankful to have such a wonderful job, but if I could afford to stay home, that’s where I would be.

In addition to taking countless naps with Elijah, I did get quite a few house projects knocked off the list and also gave Tyla a break so she could shorten her todo list too. While I didn’t get nearly as much done as I thought I would, I will always look back on September 2013 fondly. Thank you to my company for giving me this opportunity!

benmartens October 1, 2013 Family

Orcas Island

While Dad and Mom were out here, we hopped on the ferry at Anacortes for the one hour ride out to Orcas Island. Tyla and I spent a few days there back in March before Elijah was born and thought it would be a fun place to show my parents. We had lunch on the waterfront at The Madrona Bar & Grill (our favorite restaurant on the island), stopped at the Rosario resort to walk through the mansion, and then drove to the top of Mt. Constitution. We had been encased in fog the entire day but the top of the mountain was above the clouds and had a spectacular view!

We intended to catch the 5:20 ferry back to Anacortes, but when we arrived, we learned that the 2:20 ferry had run over a sailboat. The whole schedule was messed up and yada yada yada we were going ot have to wait for FOUR HOURS to get off the island! That’s bad enough but with a three month old kid in the car, we were wondering if we’d survive. Thankfully Elijah was a champ and hardly put up any fuss.

Unfortunately Mom and Dad never got to see the awesome views from the ferry ride so maybe we’ll try another island next time they come out.

Some photos are included below and I also posted a quick Photosynth from the top of Mt. Constitution.

benmartens September 30, 2013 Uncategorized

Do The Puyallup

Tyla and I seem to have started a tradition of getting one of those ridiculous giant photo buttons at the fair every year, so there’s no option of skipping the fair when it comes to town. This year was a bit of a challenge with Elijah in tow, but when my parents came to visit, we all piled in the car and headed to Puyallup.

Elijah did great with us lugging him around all over the fairgrounds. He’s a real trooper! We ate fair food, saw plenty of animals, and of course posed for a photo button.

benmartens September 27, 2013 Commentary

Pacific Northwest Rally

A recent episode of the American version of Top Gear featured multiple locations in Washington State. (You can watch the whole episode at history.com) It started at DirtFish rally school which is down the road in Fall City. Tanner Foust had a segment driving his car along some of the roads in the area and I recognized a lot of them from my motorcycle rides. Later on, they headed out to the south east corner of the state for some driving along the Snake River Canyon.

During the show, I learned that there’s a new rally race in the area called the Nameless Rally. It happened on June 21-23 so I’m way too late this year, but if they run it next year I’d love to go out and watch it.

That Dirt Fish school isn’t cheap, but I’d love to take a class there some day. Maybe if I combine birthday and Christmas presents for a few years it would add up.

benmartens September 26, 2013 Links

Fantasy Football – Week 3

How’s this for league parity? We’re going into week 4 and everyone is either tied for first or only one game out of first. Both undefeated teams lost to the teams with no wins in spectacular fashion. Austin beat Logan by 50.02 points and Dad beat Andy by 63.83. At one point Dad was up on Andy by 100 points! Here’s how Yahoo summed up that game: “EndOverEnd registered the highest point total this season to put a drubbing on RAAAWWWRRRRR!!! 173.00 – 109.17. This was a legendary beating, with the 63.83-point margin of victory being the highest recorded in the league this season.” Sorry Andy, I guess Dad didn’t get you a wedding present! If you guys aren’t reading the Yahoo league recaps, they can be interesting. Here’s the one for week 3. They point out that only 65 points separate first and last place.

Now on to the weekly awards:

  • Highest Team Score: Dad had 173.00 (Previous record, Week 2: Tim had 154.46)
  • Lowest Team Score:  Tim had 85.40 (Previous record, Week 2: I had 87.42)
  • Biggest Blowout:  Dad beat Andy by 63.83 (Previous record, Week 1: Ben beat Dad by 62.37)
  • Closest Win: Jim beat me by 6.42 (Record, Week 1: Logan beat Tim by 0.89)
  • Highest Scoring Player: Drew Brees had 37.78 for me. (Record, Week1: Peyton Manning had 60.28 for Andy.)

Stats mostly via TMQ:

  • DeMarco Murray has rushed for 428 yards in his last two games against the Rams.
  • The Washington defense is on a pace to allow 7,808 yards; the NFL’s all-time season worst is 7,042 yards.
  • In the first half at Carolina, the Giants had 1 net yard passing.
  • The Patriots and Bengals are a combined 28-4 when BenJarvus Green-Ellis scores a touchdown.
  • Alex Smith is on a streak of 26 touchdown passes versus five interceptions.
benmartens September 25, 2013 Fantasy Sports

Woodinville History

Earlier this summer, I was surprised to see a “20th anniversary” parade for the city of Woodinville. After some research (translation: reading Wikipedia), I learned that the city was incorporated in 1993 after Bothell started discussions of annexing the area. Take that Bothell!

The area was settled in 1871 by a logger/farmer named Ira Woodin. The cabin he built ended up serving as the first school and the post office. 93% of the buildings built since then have been wineries.*

The city held 10,938 people in the 2010 census which is a 19% increase from the 2000 census. Every one of those people apparently drives through downtown Woodinville at rush hour. There are some old train tracks that run through the middle of the city and make for awkward intersections under the bridge. At some point I think all 11K residents are going to be willing to pay a bit extra in our taxes to rip that thing out. Luckily my route to work avoids that whole mess.

Tyla and I continue to be thrilled with the location of our home and I’m happy to call Woodinville home. It’s nice being part of a smallish community inside the huge 3.5 million population of greater Seattle.

* Not true, but probably not far off.

benmartens September 24, 2013 Commentary

Stephen Bautista Visits

We had a visit from musician Stephen Bautista in church last Sunday. He travels around the country with his 7 kids and wife in a van and camping trailer playing music for churches in our synod. Various traveling musicians have come through before, but Stephen was in a class of his own. I heard lots of people commenting on how good he was. He’s still playing at other churches in the area so consider stopping in to hear him play. Everything is posted on his website at http://www.stephenbautista.com

Stephen played a bunch of songs during the service and then gave a mini-concert during the time slot normally occupied by Bible class and Sunday School. I recorded that concert and posted it on YouTube. The audio isn’t great, but if you like it, he has two albums you can buy and is working on a third. Both albums are on Xbox Music and Spotify so I’m guessing they’re available on iTunes, etc too. And of course you can buy music and get more info on his website.

benmartens September 20, 2013 Music

Tracing Waterways

On a hike through the mountains in the Pacific Northwest, you’ll often cross some streams flowing down the mountain. Where do they start? How do they make their way to the ocean? There’s a tool from nationalatlas.gov that can answer these questions. You click on any point in a river and trace it upstream and downstream. It’s neat to see how differently a raindrop could flow if it lands just a couple hundred yards east or west. One is a quick trip to the Puget sound while another might be a more roundabout trip into the Columbia River and then out into the Pacific on the border between Washington and Oregon.

benmartens September 19, 2013 Links

Fantasy Football – Week 2

Naturally 50% of the teams won in the first week and this week, 50% of those teams won again leaving us with two undefeated teams: Andy and Logan. Both of those undefeated teams play the two teams that haven’t won a game yet (Dad and Austin) so we’ll see if they can keep their streak going or succumb to an upset.

Now on to the weekly awards:

  • Highest Team Score: Tim had 154.46 (Previous record, Week 1: Luke had 151.22)
  • Lowest Team Score:  I had 87.42 (Previous record, Week 1: Dad had 87.89)
  • Biggest Blowout:  Andy beat me by 56.55. (Record, Week 1: Ben beat Dad by 62.37)
  • Closest Win: Logan beat Luke by 7.1. (Record, Week 1: Logan beat Tim by 0.89)
  • Highest Scoring Player: Aaron Rodgers had 42.90 for Tim. (Record, Week1: Peyton Manning had 60.28 for Andy.)

Stats mostly via TMQ:

  • Tim owns the two top scoring players this week: Aaron Rodgers and Michael Vick.
  • Baltimore has won 11 straight versus Cleveland.
  • Peyton Manning is 3-0 versus Eli Manning.
  • At 7:08 Eastern on Sept. 15, the Jacksonville Jaguars became the final NFL team to score a touchdown in the new season.
  • San Diego, which won at Philadelphia, is now the favorite to win the Super Bowl. The Eagles’ four most recent home-opener opponents, the Saints, Packers, Giants and Ravens, all won the Super Bowl that season.
  • At New England, Geno Smith’s passer rating was 27.6, below the 39.6 an NFL quarterback receives if every pass is incomplete.
  • The Giants, who committed 21 turnovers in 16 games in 2012, have committed 9 in two games in 2013.
  • Detroit, which just lost at Arizona, has not won a game in that state since 1993. Sunday the Lions travel to Washington, D.C., where they have never won — 21 consecutive road losses versus the Washington team.
benmartens September 18, 2013 Fantasy Sports