Studio711.com – Ben Martens

Movember

It has been six years since the last time I grew a mustache for Movember. Tyla just loved it so much that I feel bad that I haven’t done it again for her to enjoy. (I’m not sure the full weight of that sarcasm can be communicated in plain text.) Plus, I think Elijah would find it amusing to see me with more than a little bit of stubble when I don’t shave for a while. So I’m putting the call out now: who’s with me for another Movember? Remember that the overall point of this is to raise awareness and money for men’s health so it’s for a good cause. In addition to growing that mo’, why not throw a donate a couple bucks too?

Here’s what I propose:

  • Leave a comment and let everyone know you’re joining in.
  • You’re welcome to get a running start on your mustache. Feel free to grow a full beard and start whenever you want.
  • Shave off that beard and let that mustache shine in all it’s glory during Thanksgiving week. I’ll probably go to work with it at least one day.
  • Send me a photo of your beautiful mustache and I’ll include it in a post here on my site.

Go forth and grow that mo!

movemberad

benmartens September 27, 2016 Commentary

Best Of YouTube

The first video is look behind the scenes at some of the special effects in the most recent Star Wars movie. Some might say that this ruins the magic, but it just enhances my appreciation for the movie.

Zane Lamprey is still making great videos on his channel. They aren’t all about traveling or drinking. He made one recently full of cute little animals.

Frank Howarth’s YouTube woodworking videos are well-known for his use of clever time-lapse photography and incredible turnings on the lathe. This video encompasses both of them and while I haven’t been completely enamored with his CNC use, this bowl does turn out beautifully.

benmartens September 26, 2016 Links

Chicken Kabobs

One of my favorite YouTube channels is Cook With Meat. He recently had a video about some marinated chicken kabobs that looked so delicious and easy that I had to try them. Instead of boring you with my own poor photos, check out this beautiful video that also includes the recipe:

benmartens September 23, 2016 Food

Book Quotes

wheeloftimelogoIt’s been a couple years since I’ve posted some of the text that I highlight while reading books on my Kindle. I’ll pick out a few good ones since the last one.

A Survival Guide for Life: How to Achieve Your Goals, Thrive in Adversity, and Grow in Character by Bear Grylls

  • If you can be the most enthusiastic person you know, then you won’t go far wrong.
  • Success almost always follows great attitude. The two attract each other.
  • How you speak about others speaks loudest about yourself.
  • The smart man and woman save the best for those they love. If we show our loved ones the most gratitude every day, then life will smile on us in return.

Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert

  • Reason is the first victim of strong emotion

The Well of Ascension: Book Two of Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

  • Those who take lightly promises they make to those they love are people who find little lasting satisfaction in life. This is not an easy time in which to live. That does not mean that it has to be a difficult time to love, but it does mean that you will find unusual stresses upon your lives and your relationship.
  • When you can’t have both freedom and safety, which do you choose…?

The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan

  • Any fool knows men and women think differently at times, but the biggest difference is this. Men forget, but never forgive; women forgive, but never forget.
  • Morgase claimed she had just made it up, her reply was “At my age, if I make it up, it’s still an old saying.”
  • Never make a plan without knowing as much as you can of the enemy. Never be afraid to change your plans when you receive new information. Never believe you know everything. And never wait to know everything.
  • Married life taught a man about women; or about one woman, anyway.
  • One nice thing I’ve noticed about getting older is that your body doesn’t seem to need its sleep as much anymore. Dying doesn’t take as much energy as growing, I guess.
  • Darkness cannot push back Light. Darkness exists only when Light fails, when it flees.

 

benmartens September 22, 2016 Books

Fantasy Football – Week 2

2016week2_camnewtonThat was not a great game for the Seahawks. Why are the Rams always so difficult for the Seahawks to beat? The defense was reasonably good (except for the notable lack of turnovers), but the offense was stagnant. Next up is the 49ers. They’re not going to lose to the 49ers… are they?

Andy and Tim are the only remaining undefeated coaches in our league. Jim and I are still waiting for our first win. This early in the season, it can help to look at the total points scored since those teams usually bubble up to the playoffs. That ranking would put Andy, Logan, and Austin on top. Andy and Logan face off next week so that should be a pretty good matchup.

This Week Season All-Time
Highest Team Score Andy had 128.47 Logan had 153.13 (Week 1) Tim 200.51 (2015)
Lowest Team Score Jim had 77.82 Was: Luke had 94.33 (Week 1) Andy had 41.29 (2015)
Biggest Blowout Andy beat Dad by 33.11 Was: Logan beat Jim by 32.09 (Week 1) Luke beat Andy by 113.02 (2010)
Closest Win Austin beat Ben by 6.14 Tim beat Ben by 1.90 (Week 1) Jim beat Ben by 0.12 (2012)
Highest Scoring Player Cam Newton had 37.82 for Luke Andrew Luck had 43.50 for Jim (Week 1) Drew Brees had 60.54 on Tim’s bench (2015)
Longest Active Winning Streak Andy and Tim have 2 game winning streaks Weekly streak is season record Micah (2011) and Ben (2015) had an 8 game winning streak
Longest Active Losing Streak Ben and Jim have 2 game losing streaks Weekly streak is season record Kyle had a 14 game losing streak (2011)
benmartens September 21, 2016 Fantasy Sports

Tree Recycling

We removed a couple small cherry trees along our driveway that were dying off. I saved some of the chunks of the bigger trunk in hopes that I could get a couple usable boards out of it. It will be way more work than just buying cherry boards, but it would be kind of neat to have something from a tree that grew in our yard. I watch lots of home milling on YouTube (especially Matt Cremona) but those are almost always bigger trees. I don’t really know how it translates to these smaller logs and I didn’t take the time to do a ton of research.

The logs were just a tad bit too tall for my bandsaw to handle so we sliced them up a bit with the chainsaw. Then I ran them through the bandsaw making ~2″ slabs. Those boards are now sitting in my shed with spacers between each one to allow for airflow. The goal is to get them to dry out as evenly as possible to avoid massive warping or cracking. I could have left them as a full log, but that generally leads to some pretty big cracks as the stresses in the wood are relieved. I don’t really know which way would work better, but a large part of this project is just about learning for myself.

I won’t know for quite a while (a year or two?) how well this worked. I have a moisture meter and it says the wood is at 36% right now. Professionally dried wood that has acclimated to my shop is closer to 10%. Once it’s dry enough, I’ll use my tools to mill them into nice square/flat boards and take out any of the warping that occurred while drying.

millingwood1 millingwood2

benmartens September 20, 2016 Woodworking

Thursday Night Football

nflontwitterIt’s fun (and frustrating) to slowly see media companies making their way to the online space. This year, Twitter bought the rights to stream ten Thursday Night Football games. It might seem like an odd purchase, but Twitter thrives on live “chat” so getting a bunch of people together to watch a live event makes sense. You can watch free for yourself on tnf.twitter.com. It looks like they only have the games that are also on CBS or NBC, but it’s still nice to have when you’re out and about.

Or at least I assume it’s nice… I can’t watch it on my Windows Phone. In a few months I’ll have an Android device and then I’ll be good to go.

benmartens September 19, 2016 Commentary

Elijah Update

elijahfirstdayschoolIt has been 10 months since the last update on Elijah. He has changed just a little bit since then…

He’s three years and three months old now and boy is it a big difference from a year ago. We’ve finally turned a corner and it feels like things are getting a little bit easier, specifically around bedtime. It makes our evenings a lot more enjoyable.

He just started preschool. We’re thankful that our church has a preschool so Elijah was already familiar with the building, the two teachers and some of the kids. He attends two days a week from 8-12. It’s a good opportunity for him to learn to take instruction from someone other than us.

I find that I’m able to do more activities with him around. The other day I set him down on the floor in the garage with a pile of Matchbox cars (thanks Ken!) and he played happily for an hour while I worked on some shop projects.

I know I’ll look back longingly on these early years, but right now I’m excited to be able to do more activities with him.

benmartens September 16, 2016 Family

Seattle Ice Block

seattleiceblockA 10-ton ice cube was recently placed in Seattle as part of an art festival. It’s an interesting science problem to estimate when it’s going to finish melting. Weather professor Cliff Mass has a couple posts about it:

My guess is November 26, but I’m probably way off.

You might remember an old post about a snowman I created in 1994. That one lived from January 23 through March 22, 1994 (58 days.) What’s your guess?

benmartens September 15, 2016 Links

Fantasy Football – Week 1

2016week1_andrewluckWhew. The Seahawks started off the season with a rough win. They were behind almost the entire game but finally put together a drive that culminated in a touchdown. That’s not what we’re used to seeing, especially at home and especially against the Miami Dolphins. Thankfully, a win is a win.

Our league had plenty of drama with a bunch of good games. When the dust settled, Tim, Andy, Dad and Logan had set sail on their undefeated season.

I’ll start the stats table off with some carryover stats from last season, but next week I’ll adjust that third column to be the current season.

This Week (Last) Season All-Time
Highest Team Score Logan had 153.13 Tim 200.51 (Week 3) Tim 200.51 (2015)
Lowest Team Score Luke had 94.33 Andy had 41.29 (Week 14) Andy had 41.29 (2015)
Biggest Blowout Logan beat Jim by 32.09 Ben beat Dad by 111.43 (Week 8) Luke beat Andy by 113.02 (2010)
Closest Win Tim beat Ben by 1.90 Ben beat Andy by 2.46 (Week 7) Jim beat Ben by 0.12 (2012)
Highest Scoring Player Andrew Luck had 43.50 for Jim Drew Brees had 60.54 on Tim’s bench (Week 8) Drew Brees had 60.54 on Tim’s bench (2015)
Longest Active Winning Streak N/A Ben had an 8 game winning streak (Week 8) Micah (2011) and Ben (2015) had an 8 game winning streak
Longest Active Losing Streak N/A Andy had a 8 game losing streak (Week 14) Kyle had a 14 game losing streak (2011)
benmartens September 14, 2016 Fantasy Sports