Studio711.com – Ben Martens

Heybrook Lookout

The Washington Trails Association website is great for discovering the status of various trails (covered in snow? etc) and finding new trails. They have one great site that lists a bunch of mountain fire lookouts that are reachable by day hikes. On Sunday afternoon, we headed for Stevens Pass to check out Heybrook Lookout.

The trailhead is on the north side of US-2 just east of mile marker 37 (east of Index.) The hike itself is about 1.25 miles each way and 1000 vertical feet. It’s a pretty steady steep incline but we made it up to the top in good time. Once you reach the top, you can climb the 86 steps almost to the top of the lookout. Fire lookouts, by definition, have a great view of the surrounding forests and this one does not disappoint. Tyla was a bit nervous when I mentioned that there were bears in the area. We didn’t see any, but I read some trip reports from that area from the same day and some bears were spotted. Make sure you know what to do when you see a bear if you hike around here.

On the way back, there was a lot of traffic heading west and it got backed up around Sultan. We decided to skip the traffic and explore some back roads so we headed south out of Sultan on 311th and the took Ben Howard Rd west to 203. I don’t know if it was faster, but it was a fantastic drive! We need to head back on the motorcycle. I wish I could figure out how to commute to work from there, but the drive is too long. There are some great houses back there.

Pictures are available in the photo gallery and you can click on the photo below for a large panorama from the top of the lookout. It was a bit hard to snap photos because of the sunny day. Not that I’m complaining.

benmartens May 19, 2009 Outdoors, Panorama

Weekend Recap

I haven’t had a real weekend recap in a while, but this one was so full, it deserved a post. Commence the bulleted list!

  • On Saturday, I met Tyla and Oskar at Twin Falls State Park. I hiked this alone last summer and thought it would be a good quick hike for us. We just went up to the falls and came back down (only ~800 feet vertical and ~2 miles roundtrip.) Oskar loved all the water although I was a bit nervous to let him swim in the swiftly flowing current. The trail was completely packed with people. It’s probably a combination of it being Mother’s Day weekend and most of the good mountain hiking still being snow covered. It was a beautiful hike with a beautiful girl. At the falls we made a video for nephew David who had a birthday on Friday. Pictures are available in the photo gallery.
  • We headed back to Kirland, picked up Tyla’s sister Megan, and headed up to the outlet malls in Marysville. After some shopping and exchanging by the girls (I picked up a couple things too), we came back home and grabbed some Mongolian Grill dinner.
  • Instead of heading to church on Sunday morning, we participated in a 5k run/walk which was partially sponsored by Tyla’s company. The main event that morning was a half-marathon. We walked although I’m tempted to try to run it next year. Maybe I’ll just run the downhill parts. (FYI, Pastor posts all his sermons online which is great when you miss a Sunday.)
  • We headed back to my house and jumped on the motorcycle for some exploration. I thought it would be fun to go on a ferry so I looked at a map and stabbed my finger on the Bremerton ferry. After getting on, we found out it was an hour ride. It was our own little hillbilly cruise. Round trip was $18 for 2 hours on a boat on the Puget Sound. Not too shabby! Bremerton wasn’t much to look at, but once we got out into the trees of the Kitsap Peninsula, the roads got pretty interesting. I’ll have to look at the GPS logs to figure out exactly where we went, but we cruised along the north and east sides of the Hood Canal straight west of Bremerton. After stopping to check out Belfair State Park and getting some ice cream, we missed the return ferry by 5 minutes and had to wait an hour for the next one. Looking at a map, I realize now it would have been faster to drive around the Sound, but the ferry was fun too. Next time we’ll know to grab a ferry schedule. We rode through a small shower on the way home but thankfully dodged the heavy rain. I wouldn’t mind heading back over there with a little better idea of the route I want to take. Pictures are in the photo gallery. It’s the first 8 new photos.
  • The weekend was capped off with some delicious homemade burgers, fries, and fresh raspberries and strawberries. Yum!

Thanks for a great weekend Tyla!

benmartens May 12, 2009 Commentary, Motorcycle, Outdoors

RIP Geocities

A recent story on switched.com (the newest addition to my RSS list) notified me that GeoCities is closing its doors! I have a soft spot in my heart for the service as it hosted the second version of my website.

I started my website in 1996. To put that in perspective there were 250,000 websites in 1996. (Note that all the personal pages on GeoCities would count for one website). Now it is estimated that there are over 150 million. Too bad I don’t get some sort of stock award for jumping in early.

Anyway, the demise of GeoCities got me thinking about the various homes I’ve had on the web. Here’s a rundown:

  • CompuServe: 1996-1997
    http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/d_martens
    My very first website was started during my junior year of high school. Archive.org used to have an old version of this site on display but it’s not showing up anymore. Too bad. It was a gem. This site started off with all the no-no’s of web publishing: animated gifs, blinking/marquee text, and background music. The highlight of the page was calendar for our baseball season that had a little write up about each game. The above link won’t work as CompuServe deleted the files a while back. Coincidentally, CompuServe is closing its doors on June 31.
  • GeoCities: 1997-1998
    http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/9124
    GeoCities was all the rage when it opened. A free place to host your web content? Sign me up! This site got me through the rest of high school and was when I really started learning more about the HTML standard. You can still view some of the content by going to this link and clicking around on the menu. I was able to salvage some of the files off of the server and the GeoCities site is now archived on my server. Note that I have never actually owned the domain name ben.com but for some reason I thought that would make a good banner. If you can somehow snatch that domain for me, I’ll be your friend forever. Oddly enough, the guy who owns it did a lot of Lego raytracing too.
  • Purdue: 1998-2001
    http://icdweb.cc.purdue.edu/~martens
    Purdue offered me hosting with 200MB of storage (wow!) and no ads so I quickly switched to them when I was a student.
  • Tripod: 2001-2002
    http://bwmartens.tripod.com
    As I neared the end of my career at Purdue, I knew that I needed a plan to get off the Purdue servers. I headed to Tripod with a new site design. Unfortunately this brought me back into the land of ad-supported hosting. There’s a decent historic view of this site on archive.org. Most of the navigation links still work.
  • Studio711.com: 2002-present
    https://www.studio711.com
    I ran studio711.com out of my apartment for a while on custom blog software, but that quickly got old. I switched over to GoDaddy and never looked back. Now when something goes wrong, I call a phone number and complain instead of spending my evenings trying to figure out why the web server is down. 2002 is also when i started pumping out content on a daily basis and my traffic numbers have been growing ever since.

It gets more painful to move each time so I don’t expect to change anytime soon.

benmartens May 5, 2009 Site News

Cornhole History

On Thursday night, Tim, Chelsea, Tyla and I met after work to play some cornhole. In the very first game, Tim made cornhole history. I’ve only seen three people have ever gotten three out of four bags in the hole in one inning. (I am one of them, go me.) Four seemed impossible. Until Thursday.

Tim nailed the first three of the inning. I had put one in during that time as well and had another resting on the lip of the hole. Tim tossed his fourth bag. It arced gracefully through the air, landed on mine, hovered there for a second and then they both fell in. Four cornholes in one inning. After much celebration and picture taking, the girls took their turn. Tim started off the next inning by sinking the first one for an incredible five bags in a row. How this didn’t make SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays, I will never know.

Tim, I submit to your cornhole skillz. You are the true Corn Star.

PS. This is a photo of Tim posing by his four bagger calling someone on the phone to share the news.

benmartens May 4, 2009 Sports

AutoCom Super Pro Avi

I know I said I was going to wait a bit before buying the communications system for the bike, but I decided it was worth it and the numbers worked out in the budget. So yesterday an AutoCom Super Pro Avi arrived in the mail. I immediately dug into the bike to install it.

The installation wasn’t too difficult. Kawasaki provides accessory power leads from the rear of the bike. I soldered some bullet connectors onto the leads from the AutoCom and got it plugged in. The unit is mounted under the seat, but I really wanted to have my MP3 player in the glove box at the front of the tank. I took the time to dismantle the bike and get the wire routed cleanly up under the gas tank and inside the front fairings. I was a bit nervous when I started unbolting the gas tank but it all worked out just fine. The end of the audio lead now pokes out from inside the glove box. The rider headset lead comes out between the front of the seat and the tank, and the passenger headset lead comes out under the left hand grab bar in the rear.

The helmet install takes a bit to get right. The ear pads need to be placed directly over the ear and preferably behind the padding of the helmet. The microphones need to be touching the center of your lips. There is also a wind sensor that detects the ambient noise.

That wind sensor is really what makes this unit so nice. As your speed increases, it detects more noise and cranks up the volume. It’s also tied to the level of sound needed to activate the microphone. This means that you can talk at a normal voice at any speed and the mic will activate as you’d expect. When the mic is activated, the music quiets to 50% volume.

I probably could have opted for one of the cheaper models but I ended up with the top of the line model. It has a lot of expandability. For example, I can buy an adapter to connect to my phone via Bluetooth. I can also plug in an FRS radio for bike-to-bike communications.

All in all, I was very happy with the install and my test ride. I look forward to getting on the bike with Tyla and trying out the chat feature.

benmartens May 1, 2009 Gadgets, Motorcycle

First Hike

Mt. Si stares at me every time I leave my house and mocks me for never having been to the top. It’s a 4 mile hike to the top that includes a 4000 foot ascent. I’ve put it off in the past because I felt like it was a bit out of my league, but this summer, it will happen. To that end, we put the date on the calendar (June 20) so we have something to train for. In reality, I think I could probably will my way to the top of Si right now, but it wouldn’t be pretty. I’d rather get to the top and feel good about myself.

Last Saturday was the first hike of the season to start getting ready for Si. Tim, MattW, Tyla and I headed up Tiger with Oskar and Reiko leading the way. While I haven’t checked the GPS data yet, I feel like we made decent time. I discovered that the lack of regular skiing this winter has left me in a lot worse shape than I thought. I think I’m going to need to supplement the training hikes with some exercise bike.

If the Mt. Si hike goes really well, I may look into finally making it up to Camp Muir. It is also 4 miles/4000 feet but it starts at 6000 feet so oxygen is a bit more hard to find. The end of the hike is also over a permanent snowfield which adds complexity.

There are five new photos from our hike tagged as Tiger Mountain.

benmartens April 30, 2009 Outdoors

Concours 14 Upgrades

I have completed my first upgrades to the bike (other than the ones the dealer installed.) I’m a big guy so the default setup is a bit tight for me. Over long distances I start to feel it in my back and knees. I ordered a peg lowering kit and handlebar risers from MotorcycleLarry.com. Two thumbs up for Larry. The products arrived very quickly and the instructions were decent.

The riser blocks were first for me. It was fairly nervewracking to pull the handlebars off my bike. I’m a keyboard jockey, not a mechanic. My Lego skills kicked in and I was able to follow the instructions and get everything assembled. The risers are the maximum change you can make without replacing the clutch, brake, and throttle lines.

Last night I started and completed the peg lowers. This one has a bit of a negative impact as it means I’ll drag my pegs with less of a lean angle, but I’m not a super aggressive rider so I’m willing to trade that for a lot more comfort. I was able to adjust the clutch pedal low enough to work with the lowered peg on the left side. The right side brake pedal is a bit more complicated. There was a brake pedal recall, and the new piece makes it pretty hard to get to the adjustment nuts for the pedal height. The directions didn’t cover that change. I decided to leave the pedal where it is. I don’t use the rear brake much (most braking on a motorcycle should be done with the front brakes), and when I do use it, I’m used to lifting my foot off the peg to hit the brake due to the size and angle of my feet. Also, I was a bit nervous about taking that much of the bike apart to make the adjustment. I can always do that later if I can’t get used to this.

I took a test ride and it’s incredible how much of a difference those couple inches make. It doesn’t look like much, but this is really going to extend my comfortable riding range.

The next item on the list is a communication system for Tyla and me that will allow us to listen to music and chat. It’s a bit pricey though so I’m still trying to work it into the budget.

benmartens April 27, 2009 Motorcycle

2009 Tulip Ride

For the past few years, I have been heading out on motorcycle rides with the same group of riders. It started as a Microsoft thing but is growing to include lots of riders from the area. Last weekend’s Tulip Ride doubled our previous turnout record. Over 80 bikes joined the ride with well over 100 total people. The weather was beautiful and we had an awesome ride.

We started off at Xbox HQ and drove up I5 to Tulalip Casino. We met more riders there and attracted the attention of the Tulalip Tribal Police. They offered a police escort through town to block traffic at the intersections so our group could go through as one. It was a huge help. Thanks!

Unfortunately there weren’t many tulips in bloom yet. It had snowed up there 10 days earlier. We did find a large field of tulips and got some nice shots. That many people will overwhelm any restaurant, so Tyla and I split off from the group and had lunch at a little cafe in Anacortes. We then headed across Deception Pass and down Whidbey Island, caught the ferry over to Mukilteo, and headed home. It was a long day but we both had a blast.

Jeff, the organizer, put together a great video of the day. Look closely and you might be able to spot Tyla and I in the first two drive by shots. You can view all my photos in the photo gallery. I also posted my own video to YouTube that shows a walk down the row of bikes at Tulalip.


Tulip Ride 2009 from Tulip Ride on Vimeo.

benmartens April 23, 2009 Motorcycle, Video

SeattlePI Blogging

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is the largest paper in the country to go online only for financial reasons. They’ve always had a decent web presence, but now they are really ramping it up. They have one specific reader blog which I have followed for a few years called Ski Junkies. The writers are volunteers and don’t work for the paper. Last fall I wrote an email to the PI asking if I could write for the blog too. I didn’t hear back and figured I had been rejected, but a couple days ago, I got an email asking if I was still interested. They were understandably busy this winter as they made a major business model change.

To make a long story short, I’m going to be an official blogger for the Seattle PI! We’re going through all the paperwork right now, but I should be ready to rock in a few weeks. There won’t be much to write about this summer, but I’m looking forward to having this as an outlet for ski content in the winter. I’ll let you know when my first post goes up on their site.

[UPDATE] Wow, they work fast. My headshot and bio are already up on the page. http://blog.seattlepi.com/ski

benmartens April 22, 2009 Skiing

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

This is one of my summertime favorites, and even though it’s not summer yet, I decided to whip up a pan of this and take it to Easter dinner. Nobody there had seen it before, but most of the pan was gone by the time I left! It sounds weird but I promise it’s delicious!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups crushed pretzel sticks
  • 3/4 cups melted butter
  • 3 tbsp. sugar
  • 8 oz. cream cheese
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 8 oz. Cool Whip
  • 1 (6 oz.) package strawberry Jello
  • 2 cups boiling water
  • 16oz frozen cut strawberries, partially thawed

Mix first three ingredients and press in bottom of a 9"x13" pan. Bake at 350 degrees (metal pan) or 325 degrees (glass pan) 8 minutes. Let cool completely.

Beat 1 cup sugar and cream cheese. Fold in Cool Whip. Spread over pretzels. Put this in the fridge for now.

Mix Jello and water until dissolved. Add strawberries. Stir into Jello. Pour into a bowl and put it in the fridge. The closer you can get to letting it set without actually having firm up, the better.

Pour the Jello mixture onto the top of the mixture in your pan. Chill for four to five hours.

This is an easy one to make but it takes a while because you do it in stages. If you do it when the mixtures are too warm, the Jello will find its way underneath the white layer and it doesn’t look as nice. No worries if that happens though, because it’s still delicious!

PS. We were so busy eating that we forgot to take a picture. I found one on the web to use for this post.

benmartens April 20, 2009 Food