Studio711.com – Ben Martens

Hog Heaven

Everything I own fits in 96 boxes. The movers dropped them all off yesterday at the condo. (Side note: I find myself wondering whether I should say "house" or "condo.") As soon as the movers were done I ran down to the garage and fired up the motorcycle. It has been over a month since I've been able to ride and I can't wait to get out this weekend. There are so many fantastic places to ride. It should also cut down the commute time since I can use all the carpool lanes when I'm riding.

So I have a stack of boxes in the house. Which ones get opened first?
1. TV, stereo, speakers, Xbox360, etc
2. Computer
3. Sheets

Those are the necessities. The rest can wait.

benmartens June 22, 2006 Commentary, Motorcycle

Monday Morning Musings

It's Monday morning and I don't have anything particularly interesting to write about. (It's a good thing I'm not in marketing.) Let's start with a bulleted list and see where it takes us…

  • Jay has long been a SimGolf addict. I think I am too. I don't really remember much of the weekend. The game employs some sort of futuristic time-shifting technology whereby 20 minutes of gameplay results in 2 hours passing in the outside world.
  • That's the first time I've ever typed "whereby."
  • We had our first 80 degree weather on Saturday. I celebrated with a 60 miles motorcycle ride and sleeping with the windows open.
  • I started my own Easter tradition: bratwurst, mac & cheese, and Xbox. I suppose you think that an Easter tradition should be different from every other day of my life, but who are you to judge, Mr. or Mrs. Fancypants?
  • This week may involve the first Phillies tailgate of the year (Thursday.) Let me know if you're interested.
  • "I feel like a fugitive from the law of averages." – William H. Mauldin

And finally let's close out with a few chuckles:

benmartens April 17, 2006 Commentary, Motorcycle

Out Of Quarters

I officially sold the arcade machine today. I've had the word out on the street for the past couple months and finally had an interested party. He got a great deal out of it, but I'm just happy to have it off my hands. It was a fun project. I'd actually be interested in doing it again, but this time I'd do things a little differently. It would be nice to have a trackball in there to play Golden Tee, a bigger monitor would look nicer, and a four player machine would be pretty sweet for some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles gaming. For now I'll pocket the money and be happy I have one less thing to move when I make my eventual escape from Jersey.
benmartens March 20, 2006 Gaming, Projects

A Few of My Favorite Things

Xbox, Microsoft, and motorcycles. Oh my! Looks like the good people of the Xbox team are doing a motorcycle ride for charity. I wonder how long it would take me to ride to Redmond to join up with them. I was thinking we should start up something like this at Lockheed. I know a lot of people ride, and I bet we could get a fairly good sized group together.

Speaking of motorcycles, I had the first warm ride of the spring yesterday and I'm looking forward to a lot more of it today and tomorrow. I own an extra helmet now so if any of you lovely ladies would like a ride, just let me know.

benmartens March 10, 2006 Links, Motorcycle

I’ve Got a Fever

It's funny how some of my strongest memories are stupid things I've said and done. For example, I remember riding in the car with Mrs. Hintz around this time when I was probably 11 or 12. We were sitting at the intersection of Hickory and Cleveland in their old brown minivan. “So Ben, do you have spring fever?” … “Nope, I feel fine. I know a lot of people are getting sick though.” At least we were the only two people in the car for that one. It wasn't nearly as embarrassing as my answer to Mrs. A's “So Ben, have you ever had a yard sale?“ question on the trip from Boston to Harrison in a car full of people I didn't know very well yet. I think the recurring theme here is that I'm a moron.

Anyway, back to my point, I do in fact have spring fever. Our ever-reliable weathermen are predicting 68 degree weather by this weekend. (But then again these are the same weathermen who had live “Winter Storm Coverage” last Friday simply because it was raining all day.) This weekend was still chilly in the 40s but it was sunny. I got my car washed and my motorcycle cleaned and oiled up. It's time for spring. Ski season, such as it was, is winding to a close around here. Until I move west, March means grass showing through the snow.

Every season has it's charm, but the freshness, warmth and vibrant colors of spring make it my favorite. Bring on the warm weather, the sunshine, barbeque's on the deck with friends, and long Saturday rides on the motorcycle. Bring on rollberblading along Kelly Drive, tailgating at Phillies games, and the endless debate over whether or not someone will punch Hibbs at the next softball game.

I'm declaring an end to winter in Philly. It's spring. I'm ready.

PS. If you don't understand the image I chose for this post, watch this SNL clip.
benmartens March 6, 2006 Commentary, Motorcycle

TGIF

It's Friday. The engineers have shunned their tan khakis in favor of jeans that are a little too tight and ditched the brown shoes for the velcro sneaks. It's like a fashion runway at a bingo tournament.

I must say that even though it's rainy and cool outside, I'm in a pretty good mood today. It has been a great week. I've been out of my house the past three evenings and that's always a good thing (except my Xbox is feeling neglected.) Tuesday night was Valentine's Day, Wednesday was our ski trip escape, and last night was a melding of representatives from three different groups of friends at PJ's. (Cue the clip from George on Seinfeld: My worlds are colliding!) My only regret is not getting out on the motorcycle during the warm days we had, but there will be more days time for that in the coming months.

I have no big plans this weekend, but catching up on sleep is high on my list. Sunday afternoon will be filled with HD NASCAR. The rest of the time will be periods of Xbox360, chewing, and sleep (did you know you technically cannot catch up on sleep?) Sounds like a good time to me. Three meetings and 6.5 hours of work stand between me and freedom.
benmartens February 17, 2006 Commentary, Motorcycle

Victory!

Today was the day. It finally happened! All the waiting has paid off. Here's how it happened…

Around 3pm I was sitting at work and I got notified (notifywire.com) that there was a new bundle for sale on WalMart.com. I definitely didn't want to buy 6 games and all the extra stuff they were selling just to get the 360, but I had this plan to return everything except the console. It was a risky move though and I've been holding off in hopes of getting one in a store with no bundle. While I was searching around looking for information on Wally World's return policy, I saw a couple links to inventory searches at Best Buy and Circuit City. The Best Buy site said there were two stores that had them in stock! I immediately called the one in Northeast Philly and he said there were two premiums and three cores left. In about 30 seconds I had vacated my desk and fled the building. It took me a half hour to get there (thanks to Cho for navigation help on the phone), but I was too late. There were only two cores left by the time I got there. For those that don't know, the Core version is $100 less than the Premium version but it comes with a wired controller instead of wireless, no hard drive, and no HDTV cable. In short it's not a good deal. My willpower won out and I didn't get the Core. I flew back home, jumped on the computer, and saw that the second store still had them in stock. I called the store as I ran down the stairs armed with my GPS, but he wouldn't tell me how many they had. Oh well, I didn't have anything else to do. I drove up to Levittown (about 30 minutes up the interstate), walked inside, and was greeted by empty shelves. I decided to at least ask if they had any Premiums and he went in the back to check. Sure enough, he walked out with a box. It was too good to be true! I picked up a copy of Call of Duty 2, and I was on my way back home.

So why am I blogging instead of playing? I was able to play for about an hour, but now I'm headed off to dinner in Philly at the Melting Pot to celebrate Kristin's birthday. Believe it or not, there are a few things in life better than a new game console. Large pots of cheese and chocolate in the company of good friends qualifies.

It's going to be a fun weekend.

benmartens January 19, 2006 Gaming

OnDemand

I was flipping through the OnDemand section of our digital cable subscription and was surprised at some of the content they have on there. You can get a lot of the new movies that are out on DVD as well as some of the more popular TV shows, but of course you have to pay for all that. The free selections aren't too bad. For example, what happens when the karaoke bar changes their karaoke night? Just head on home and flip on the cable box. There are karaoke songs out there! And what happens when you get tired of hearing your friends belt out barely recognizable tunes and you want some authentic NJ lovin'? Flip on over to the section full of Bon Jovi music videos! They have music lessons for guitar and piano as well as a couple movies that I've actually heard of (including Warren Miller and Monty Python.) Comcast has a website that lets you search through all the content which is a lot easier than using the on screen guide. There's a lot of junk out there but there are a few gems worth finding. Now if only I could get OnDemand HD content.

benmartens January 17, 2006 Geek, Motorcycle

2005 Year In Review

This is the third installment in my "Year In Review" series. You can head back in time to read 2003 and 2004 if you're interested.

 

2005 has come and gone. It's sort of memorable for it's lack of a major life changing event. For the past twenty-something years of my life, I've had something big happen every year or two. This year just  kind of slid by while I sat at work. I guess that's what happen as you get older. You work more, you play less, and time starts accelerating. While I'm thankful that no tragic events engrained 2005 in my memory, I also look back and wonder what happened to all that time. What did I accomplish this year? Well let's see…

 

Last winter was the first year I really took skiing seriously. I was on the slopes 11 different days which probably doubled the number of days I'd skied in the previous 24 years. Jay and I capped it off with a fantastic trip to Colorado. Not only did we get to experience Rocky Mountain skiing for the first time, but I got to spend some quality time with Chris. Chris and I have both come a long way from building those bike ramps into the rocks, but it's good to know that we can always sit down and pick up where we left off.

 

Springtime came with a fun decision. Pilot's license or motorcycle? I've wanted to do both for a long time, but I decided this year was the year for the motorcycle. The pilot's license isn't out of the question though. I figured I knew what the reaction to the motorcycle would be. I did it largely in secret only revealing the news once I had the bike in my possession. In retrospect I don't think it mattered much, but it was nice to prove to myself that I can actually keep a secret.

 

Two weddings kept me busy at the beginning of summer. The first involved an overnight trip across the country to the scorching desert of Tucson where it was about 300 degrees. It was worth the near death experience to watch Chris get married. I even ran into an old friend that I hadn't seen since my time at John Deere. The second wedding was Rachel's, and I now have a brother. He's a Settlers fan so I guess I'll give him my stamp of approval. The wedding was a blast. I got to play "crazy single older brother in a tux" which turned out to be the perfect role for me.

 

I played a lot more golf this year than I had in years past. Unfortunately, my golf game did not improve at all. Golf is probably one of the most frustrating things I do. I've played it since I was a little kid and even had lessons twice, but I never get any better. At least once each round I question why I even play, but the answer is always right there: the people. Golf by itself isn't all that great, but hanging out with friends for a couple hours in the sunshine is alright by me.

 

In the fall I headed out on a camping trip. The fact that we left while it was raining with a forecast of three straight days of rain should have been a warning, but it wasn't. It was fun to be out camping again, but pouring rain and near freezing temps are not fun. One of my goals for 2006 is to do more camping, but I guarantee it won't be done in frigid rain.

 

The year saw some fairly significant changes in my responsibilities at work. I became the unofficial team lead by default when the rest of my team moved on to other positions. It meant a lot more work, a lot more responsibility, and no extra money. We've hired a little and brought some more people on to the team so I'm learning how to divide projects and keep everyone busy. It has been a great experience and definitely a benefit to my career.

 

And as for that question that I'm always asked when I'm back in the Midwest, yes I'm STILL single. I had enough dates this year to keep things interesting, but none that grew into anything more. I seem to be the only one who is ok with that. Sure I'd rather be in a meaningful relationship than running around by myself, but I'm not freaking out about it. That's a whole post in itself and I'll save it for another night.

 

As I mentioned before, I did finish grad school this year. I now have a Masters of Science in Software Engineering. I completed my degree this December at Drexel. It feels good to be done, but it's also a little bit disconcerting. It's the last definable milestone I can come up with. In high school, I looked forward to graduation and heading to college. In college I looked forward to internships each summer and graduating. Then it was off to Lockheed where I couldn't wait be finished with the ELDP program. Then I started grad school and I had a completion date in mind that I was working for. What's the next major goal? A wife and kids? A new job? Retirement? Those are all pretty vague goals without solid dates. Now that I'm done with school, I need to find a new way to set goals and work toward milestones.

 

Thanks to all of you who visit my site. I've had a website since 1996 and a blog since 2003, but in this past year I've really started to see some increased interest. I've said previously that I do this for my own personal benefit and it doesn't really matter if people read or not. I suppose there is some truth to that. There is a lot of therapeutic benefit in this for me, but it's encouraging when I look at those statistics and see how many of you are reading. Plus I really enjoy the interaction with you and the great people I've met just by writing on this site.

 

2005 was a year of friendships for me. Some were old, and some were new, but they all made the year rewarding. I don't know if 2006 will bring any of those major life changing events that 2005 lacked, but it's comforting to know that I'll have some great friends experiencing it all with me.

benmartens January 9, 2006 Commentary