Studio711.com – Ben Martens

Fantasy Football 2019 – Week 5

The pass from Wilson to Lockett will be one of those that you see for years to come. If you haven’t seen it, go watch it and then argue at the water cooler about whether or not Wilson was throwing the ball away. That wasn’t the last amazingly lucky thing that happened during the game though. There was the unbelievable fingertip interception by Thompson and the highly improbable Zuerlein miss to hand the game to the Seahawks. They probably didn’t deserve the win, or some of their other wins so far, but they’re 4-1!

In our league, Tim smashed his own season record for the most points in a week… only to get the bad end of the “biggest blowout” for the week! Luke smashed Tim’s all-time record with 202.63 points! If you want to be really amazed, check out the points on Luke’s bench. His optimal lineup was 251! Keep in mind that Luke has only made one roster move this season. That’s quite the autodraft team! Elsewhere, Andy and Tyler both put up big scores only to see Andy win by 0.56. This all means that Luke is alone in first place and he is two games ahead of Tim, Tyler, Andy and Logan who are all 3-2.

It goes without saying that Luke is at the top of our power rankings, but here’s how the rest of the top 4 shake out:

1. Luke (Helmetheads)
2. Tim (Beer-me) +2
3. Andy (RAAAWWWRRRRR!!!) +2
4. Logan (Goat Roapers) -1

On to the weekly awards…

This Week This Season All Time
Highest Team Score Luke had 202.63 Was: Tim had 150.29 (Week 1) Was: Tim 200.51 (2015)
Lowest Team Score Nick had 96.67 Nick had 83.87 (Week 4) Andy had 41.29 (2015)
Biggest Blowout Luke beat Tim by 33.52 Luke beat Andy by 61.07 (Week 1) Luke beat Andy by 113.02 (2010)
Closest Win Andy beat Tyler by 0.56 Was: Tim beat Logan by 1.35 (Week 4) Tyler beat Nick by 0.01 (2018)
Longest Active Winning Streak Luke has a 5 game winning streak Was: Luke has a 4 game winning streak (Week 4) Micah (2011) and Ben (2015) had 8 game winning streaks
Longest Active Losing Streak Nick has a 5 game losing streak Was: Nick has a 4 game losing streak (Week 4) Kyle had a 14 game losing streak (2011)
Highest Scoring Player Deshaun Watson had 51.74 for Tyler. Was: Russell Wilson had 45.35 for Andy. (Week 3) Drew Brees had 60.54 on Tim’s bench (2015)

Bailey’s Pumpkin Patch

It’s pumpkin patch season and pumpkin patches are big business. The grandaddy of them all is Remlinger Farms where you’ll pay $25/person for the privilege of walking in. We’ve been going to Bob’s Corn for quite a while but it has gotten busier and busier until this year they jumped on the admission train and it’s $18/person. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to see them doing well and yay capitalism, but we decided it was time to move on to a place that wasn’t overwhelmed with mustachioed hipsters from Seattle.

So this year we headed a bit farther north to the Bailey Family Farm. They have a really nice (but small and not too crowded) set up with everything we were looking for. We met up with some other friends there and had a nice morning. I think we’ll be heading back again, and since it’s pretty close to the route that Tyla and Elijah drive every day for school, we might end up using their veggie stand in the future.

Fantasy Football 2019 – Week 4

The Seahawks got back on track this week against the hapless Cardinals. Pete Carroll’s nose was all patched up and Carson was holding onto the ball and staying on his feet. 3 and 1 is a great start to the season but they’ll have a tough test next week with the Rams at home.

In our league, Luke continued his undefeated streak and handed me a loss even though I had the second most points in the league. Yes, I’m bitter. Logan lost to Tim on Monday night even though he only needed 4.4 points from Juju to beat Tim. I assume Logan is bitter too. Tim gets the next crack at taking down his brother’s streak next week while I try to keep Nick from getting his first win.

With four weeks under our belts already, my pointless, inaccurate, custom power ranking algorithm is ready to go!

1. Luke (Helmetheads)
2. Ben (Kool Aid Kid)
3. Logan (Goat Roapers)
4. Tim (Beer-me)

On to the weekly awards…

This Week This Season All Time
Highest Team Score Luke had 145.94 Tim had 150.29 (Week 1) Tim 200.51 (2015)
Lowest Team Score Nick had 83.87 Was: Andy had 81.19 (Week 1) Andy had 41.29 (2015)
Biggest Blowout Luke beat Ben by 17.09 Luke beat Andy by 61.07 (Week 1) Luke beat Andy by 113.02 (2010)
Closest Win Tim beat Logan by 1.35 Was: Logan beat Ben by 2.87 (Week 3) Tyler beat Nick by 0.01 (2018)
Longest Active Winning Streak Luke has a 4 game winning streak Was: Luke has a 3 game winning streak (Week 3) Micah (2011) and Ben (2015) had 8 game winning streaks
Longest Active Losing Streak Nick has a 4 game losing streak Was: Nick has a 3 game losing streak. (Week 3) Kyle had a 14 game losing streak (2011)
Highest Scoring Player Nick Chubb had 37.80 for Ben. Russell Wilson had 45.35 for Andy. (Week 3) Drew Brees had 60.54 on Tim’s bench (2015)

Wooden Spaceship

Back in June, Tyla and Elijah got me a copy of the Wooden Toy Spacecraft book. It was one I had my eye on for a while, but it took some time to finally dig into a project. A couple weekends back, I had some time with Elijah in the garage so we started building a spaceship. It turned into one of the best afternoons I’ve had with Elijah in the shop! He was engrossed with taking all my offcuts, telling me where to make additional cuts, and sanding until it fit the vision in his head. After a couple hours, his six year old nature got the best of him and he lost interest so his spaceship still isn’t quite finished, but mine is!

I built this completely out of wood in my scrap bin – walnut, padauk, sapele and pine dowels. If I was doing it from scratch, I think some woods with higher contrast might have looked better, but I still love the way this turned out. The only problem now is figuring out where to display it!

Name Toy

Last fall, one of the last projects I did before my CNC arrived was a name toy for Emelia. I really liked how that project came out so when it came time to make a gift for another child, I decided to do the same thing again but this time I used the CNC. That dramatically simplified the project and reduced a lot of errors but I did struggle with cleaning up the milling marks left by my slightly out of square CNC machine. I used the same paint colors because I still had a lot left in the can and I liked how the enamel paint created a nice coating on the letters. I used a piece of walnut for the backing and finished that with spray lacquer.

Fantasy Football 2019 – Week 3

The Seahawks were a mess on Sunday. Chris Carson continued his league-leading fumble stat while also slipping all over the field. They stuck with the run despite limited success and bumbled their way to a loss in what should have been a game that was easier to win given the lack of Drew Brees. Meh.

In our league, Luke is now the sole owner of first place! I have the next chance to topple him from his perch. Elsewhere in the league, Dad got his first win over Tim who looked very strong the first two games and Andy broke out of his slump to win with the highest score this week.

On to the weekly awards…

This Week This Season All Time
Highest Team Score Andy had 145.47 Tim had 150.29 (Week 1) Tim 200.51 (2015)
Lowest Team Score Tim had 95.61 Andy had 81.19 (Week 1) Andy had 41.29 (2015)
Biggest Blowout Dad beat Tim by 38.42 Luke beat Andy by 61.07 (Week 1) Luke beat Andy by 113.02 (2010)
Closest Win Logan beat Ben by 2.87 Was: Luke beat Nick by 3.04 (Week 2) Tyler beat Nick by 0.01 (2018)
Longest Active Winning Streak Luke has a 3 game winning streak Was: Tim, Luke and Tyler have 2 game winning streaks. (Week 2) Micah (2011) and Ben (2015) had 8 game winning streaks
Longest Active Losing Streak Nick has a 3 game losing streak. Was: Nick, Andy and Dad have 2 game losing streaks. (Week 2) Kyle had a 14 game losing streak (2011)
Highest Scoring Player Russell Wilson had 45.35 for Andy. Was: Lamar Jackson had 43.56 for Tim (Week 1) Drew Brees had 60.54 on Tim’s bench (2015)

Tub Drying Rack

We end up using the tub in our bathroom to dry stuff out fairly often, so when I was at Rockler the other day, I paused when I walked by the walnut dowels. I picked up three 5/8″ dowels and a small piece of figured walnut. It’s a little tricky to deal with figured woods with the tools that I have available, but eventually I got both ends cut to size and looking nice. Elijah used his favorite tool (the drill press) with a forstner bit to put six holes in the ends and then it was just a matter of a quick glue up with a few coats of spray lacquer to finish it off. It fits perfectly (phew!) and I love looking at that beautiful grain!

 

Fantasy Football 2019 – Week 2

Drew Brees and Ben Roethesliesilseilberger are both out for a long time. Yikes! Ben wasn’t owned in our league but Nick will be scrambling to replace Drew. As for the Seahawks, they are now 2-0 despite their offensive line getting run over in the early part of the game. Getting sacked is one thing, getting sacked on two consecutive plays is another… getting sacked on two consecutive plays by the same player? Come on! Thankfully they were able to make some changes to avoid having a pancake at quarterback.

In our league, Tim continued his hot streak by posting the highest score again. The Scherschel brothers are holding down the top two spots and Tyler rounds out the trio of undefeated managers. Tyler and Luke play each other next week so one of them will get their first lost. Nick and Andy play each other next week so one of them will get their first win.

On to the weekly awards… notice that the season record and all time record for biggest blowout are both Luke beating Andy. Hmm…

This Week This Season All Time
Highest Team Score Tim had 141.92 Tim had 150.29 (Week 1) Tim 200.51 (2015)
Lowest Team Score Logan had 98.48 Andy had 81.19 (Week 1) Andy had 41.29 (2015)
Biggest Blowout Tyler beat Logan by 30.14 Luke beat Andy by 61.07 (Week 1) Luke beat Andy by 113.02 (2010)
Closest Win Luke beat Nick by 3.04 Was: Logan beat Nick by 10.13 (Week 1) Tyler beat Nick by 0.01 (2018)
Longest Active Winning Streak Tim, Luke and Tyler have 2 game winning streaks. Was: Tim, Luke, Tyler and Logan have 1 game winning streak (Week 1) Micah (2011) and Ben (2015) had 8 game winning streaks
Longest Active Losing Streak Nick, Andy and Dad have 2 game losing streaks. Was: Ben, Nick, Dad and Andy have a 4 game losing streak (Week 1) Kyle had a 14 game losing streak (2011)
Highest Scoring Player Patrick Mahomes had 39.62 for Andy Lamar Jackson had 43.56 for Tim (Week 1) Drew Brees had 60.54 on Tim’s bench (2015)

Modern Rogue Sign

I’ve mentioned the Modern Rogue YouTube channel in some past “Best of YouTube” posts and they’re still going strong. In fact, they recently built a huge new building on their property to ramp up their production capabilities. At one point, Brian mentioned that he thought it would be neat to add fan submitted stuff to some of their buildings on the property. I don’t know if he was serious or not but it seemed like a good excuse to try making a sign on the CNC.

Since Brian has a fire eating stage show and they do a lot of fire stuff on the YouTube channel, I decided to start by burning the wood with a torch. Then I used the CNC to carve their logo into the board and I finished it off with some spray polyurethane to keep the black ash from getting all over.

A mutual friend helped connect me with them to get a mailing address. I shipped it off and thought that would be the end of it, but a couple weeks later, they did a special Instagram post to show it off and say thank you!

Loft For Elijah

Elijah has been asking for a treehouse for quite a while. Despite my best efforts, I can’t find a good spot to put one in our tiny yard. So much of it is covered with French drains, irrigation lines, etc. But I still wanted to give him something fun to play in and to climb on.

I was putting him to bed one night when I looked up and realized that the vaulted ceiling in his room left a lot of space above his bed. So I chatted it over with Tyla and then build a platform above his bed.

Since this will probably be torn down and thrown away in 6-8 years, I wanted to keep it simple. I used Jay Bates’s bunk bed plans and basically cut out the bottom bunk. The whole thing was designed to fit around his existing bed.

The 2x4s and 2x6s that I got from Home Depot were pretty bad. After a lot of picking, I was able to find some fairly straight boards but they were going to require a lot of sanding. So I had the bright idea of running them all through the planer to skim off a little bit on each side. That worked well but man did it make a huge mess! There’s no way my little shop vac could keep up with that so I just let the chips fly and cleaned up the mess later.

Elijah stayed in the shop for a lot of the build. It was fun to have him helping and seeing how it all went together.

I wasn’t looking forward to painting that beast but I didn’t want to leave it looking like dimensional knotty lumber so I finally pulled the trigger (pun intended) on an HVLP paint sprayer. I chose a fairly simple one from Rockler but it still has a detached turbine unit. I originally thought I’d move the loft into the back yard to paint it but the forecast was calling for rain. So I tried setting up our pop up kitchen tent thing in the driveway with tarps underneath and on the sides. That wasn’t terrible but the loft was too big to be able to spray comfortably. I did the primer but them moved it back inside to do the paint by hand. I’m looking forward to trying the spray again on something smaller. The photo below shows the setup before I added the final two walls of plastic. The side of the loft facing down did not need to be painted as it was going to end up against the wall in his room.

This loft is starting out very simple but I’d love to build a little house up there at some point. We’ll see how much he uses it. His favorite part right now is the bar I added on the bottom for him to swing from. I think we will definitely need some pillows or a pad up on the top. It’s hard on our knees!