Studio711.com – Ben Martens

Commentary

Back to Work

All in all I have to say it was a pretty good three day weekend. I actually stretched it into a three and a half day weekend by leaving at noon on Friday. I'm still happy about pulling out a win in that poker tourney on Saturday night. Hopefully they'll invite me back for another one. My lack of projects from a couple weeks ago has completely gone away. I now have plenty of stuff to keep me busy and good ideas for future projects. Right now I'm mainly focused on getting my site completely operational on GoDaddy and getting Jay moved over as well. That's getting pretty close to completion. I'm also reading again. This weekend I made it about 70% of the way through the second Harry Potter book. We had such perfect weather this weekend that I spent some time reading outside on the back deck and put about 250 miles on my motorcycle. It's good to be busy with fun stuff again.

And finally I'll leave you with my thought of the day: "Mondays aren't so bad when they're Tuesdays."

Saturday Morning

Whatever happened to the days when I didn't wake up until 1 or 2pm on Saturday? It's 8am and I'm wide awake. On the positive side, it really is nice to get up early on the weekend because it makes your weekend feel so much longer.

Today I'm heading out on another ride with the Lockheed motorcycle gang. We're a fearsome bunch. I'm not sure where we're going but it will be somewhere up towards New Hope and the Delaware water gap. For anyone who has a motorcycle and is looking for a good place to ride, I stumbled across this site last week: http://www.motorcycleroads.us/

Hope you all enjoy your Labor Day Weekend!

Rainy Day

It's a pretty gloomy day here in Jersey, but that's ok since I haven't had much time to look out the window. I've been too busy answering my phone and email. Apparently there was a patch applied to a bunch of servers and it simultaneously destroyed every one of the applications I support. Yada yada yada…

But on to more serious issues. I find myself bored at home. This is the first time in quite a while that I haven't had a project. Going back to the spring of 2004, here are the projects I can work on (the big ones that I remember anyway): the arcade machine, moving to the new house, the home theater, [break for a couple months for skiing], car iPod setup, motorcycle license, and the Ticawa shirts. I've been thinking for the past couple weeks and I just can't come up with a new project that really grabs me. I have a couple programming ideas but nothing that has really grabbed my attention yet. Poker has been a good diversion but I only play that for an hour or so every night. (I started with $50 and I have about $62. Not bad.) What I really want is some snow. I want to ski! Last year the first day we skied was December 18. Assuming a similar start date that means I have 4 months to wait.

Anyone have an idea for me?

Sauron’s Helmet

Yesterday, Aubry, his friend and I rode up to New Hope. It was a nice little ride to the motorcycle mecca. We stopped for lunch and some Rita's and walked in a few shops up there. One of the shops we stopped in was a medieval shop with armor and clothing from that time period. They had a case full of Lord of the Rings props. One that caught my eye was Sauron's helmet. Can you imagine buying this thing and wearing it down the road as your motorcycle helmet? It's probably not a good way to pick up women, but I don't think anyone would try to headbutt you.

http://www.hotmovieprops.com/product_info.php?cPath=2_84_163&products_id=556

A Glimpse Behind The Curtain

Some people are impressed when I tell them I work for Lockheed Martin. I have a security clearance and write code that protects the country and brings peace to the world (by bombing the snot out of the bad guys.) I'm like a geeky James Bond. Maybe. I thought I'd give you a little glimpse into what happens behind the scenes in this high intensity work environment. The scene takes place five minutes ago in my cubicle.

I said, “I wonder what people would do if I started wearing my motorcycle helmet around the office.” I put on my helmet and went back to work. Pretty soon Rick had stolen the baseball that I keep on my desk and was throwing it at my head to see how well my helmet worked. So there we were… I'm wearing a helmet and typing at my computer while my cubemate is throwing baseballs at my head.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go back to saving the world.

Random Thoughts

This morning I went out for a long ride on my motorcycle. Aside from the usual thoughts of “Does that car see me?”,  “What if a duck waddles out in front of me?”, and  “Do I look like a dweeb on this thing?”, I was pondering something else. They say that there is one guy for every girl and vice versa. That's always bugged me. First of all, there are 6 billion people in the world. If there's only one girl out there for me then we're talking about a search of needle-in-the-haystack proportions. Even if I know 10,000 people, I've only met 0.00014% of the 6,000,000,000 on this planet. Of course only approximately half are women so that gets me up to 0.00028%. But let's forget about that part because obviously it's not quite that bad. Look at all the married people. If those odds were really correct, then this planet is on an incredibly lucky streak. Ok, so “the one” is out there. What if I had been born five miles away from where I was born? What if I had been born 3 years later than I was? Would “the one” still be the “the one” or would there be a different “the one?”

I guess you probably think I'm stressed out about this, but I'm not. I'm enjoying life and looking forward to whatever is coming down the road. That whole saying is just an odd phrase when you really start to think about it. And when I am left to think alone, I think about odd things. I'd probably scare/bore you if I blogged all my random thought topics. There's one good example of this. I was driving along on a cross-country trip with my girlfriend. We'd been talking for hours and ran out of things to talk about for a while so we were enjoying a nice period of silence. After about half an hour she utters those words that every guy hates, “Penny for your thoughts.” I was scrambling for something deep to say because my current train of thoughts was not worth sharing. “Ummm…..” “Just tell me what you were thinking right when I said that.” “Ok, well… if you're taking care of your car and you have the money you'll buy the expensive gas. The rest of us buy the cheap stuff. Why do they make mid grade gas and who buys it?”

Risk

We take risks every day of our life whether it's skiing down the side of a mountain, getting dragged behind a boat on skis, or driving a little too fast down the road. Even eating that piece of chicken involves risk. How much risk are you willing to accept?

For the past few months I've been working on a new project. Some of you won't be happy with me, and that's one reason I've kept it quiet. Only a couple people know that I've been working on this. I tend to blabber on incessantly about everything I do so I figured I'd use this as a little test to see if I could keep my mouth shut about something.

Over a month ago, I passed the written exam for a motorcycle license and got my learner's permit. Last weekend I took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's three day training course and got my license. Friday I purchased a used bike. Saturday I got insurance and registration and I've been riding all weekend.

A motorcycle is still a dangerous mode of transportation, but there are things you can do to make it safer. I bought a 1995 Kawasaki Vulcan 800. It's an old cruiser, not a sport bike. I wear a full helmet, not a half helmet. I have a coat with protective pads instead of riding in a T-shirt. I drive two lane roads with stop signs to work instead of bopping down the interstate. My friend Aubry has been riding for years and has been my mentor through all of this from pointing me to the MSF course to teaching me motorcycle maintenance and giving me tips for riding.

Feel free to call me and tell me what a fool I am, but trust me, I know what motorcycles can do. A childhood friend passed away my second year at Purdue in a motorcycle accident. I had that fairly serious accident with a motorcycle two years ago. Plus I know a number of people who set off metal detectors because of all the metal plates they have in their bodies.

So why do it? Hop on the back of my bike sometime and I'll show you (although it will be a few weeks before I'm comfortable enough to give someone else a ride.) The feel of the open road is difficult to describe. The power of the bike underneath and the roar of the pipes as you accelerate are invigorating.

But enough of my excuses, some of you think this is awesome and I know you want to see pictures. Head on over to see “My Whips.”

In case you didn't make the connection yet, this is the answer to the three clues I posted. Here's how they relate.

  • Clue #1: Take the first word of each line. Slow, look, press, roll. That's how the MSF course teaches you to turn. Slow the bike down, look where you are turning, press on the handlebars to initiate a lean, and roll on the throttle to increase stability in the turn.
  • Clue #2: Some of you think my choice is illogical, and the bike I bought is called a Vulcan.
  • Clue #3: My horse (the motorcycle) is significantly faster off the line than my pony (the Mustang.)

There you have it. The end to the mystery and the end of my little silence experiment. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to figure out where I'm going to ride my bike to for lunch.

Another Geek Project

I've gotten a lot of questions lately about what my “next project“ is now that the movie is done. You may have already noticed the new link to the right there called iPod Car Stereo. I'll be chronicalling the potentially disastrous results of my attempt to install an iPod in my car.

Also, it looks like the battle over Terri is over. 14 days is about the longest you can live without food and water and that's how long Terri lasted. It makes me think that she was pretty healthy physically, but you can make your own judgements from that. Keep up the good discussion in the comments on the last post.

2004 Year In Review

I'm a few days late with this post so please pardon my tardiness. I know it's hard to start a new year without my words of wisdom from last year. Actually, if this post only contained wisdom it would be quite short and I hope to ramble on for a few paragraphs. I shall dispense with the wisdom.

The year started with my return from Eagan. When I took the position, I was worried that leaving would break a lot of friendships I had started to make. Thankfully it didn't and I picked up pretty much right where I left off. In addition, I gained a bunch of great friends up in Eagan. Somehow when I left Minnesota I was able to shake my insatiable addiction to Generals. I have Kyle to thank for that one. When I came back from Minnesota, I moved right into Harbour Drive in Palmyra. There was no more one bedroom apartment in Ryan's Run. I now had two roommates, although Jay took off soon after I arrived for his stint in Eagan. Why we couldn't have planned to be up there at the same time I don't know.

My free time dwindled significantly when I started grad school. My dreams of becoming enriched with a wealth of new information were quickly diminished by a never ending stream of weak classes. I figured at first it was just a couple bad classes that I was hitting but now I've decided that overall the program is just weak. Or maybe it's normal and my Purdue undergrad degree was just that good. I've met a few great profs though so that makes the classes more enjoyable. Hopefully by this time next year I'll be holding another degree in my hand.

I got some experience in house hunting this summer. It was the best kind of house hunting because I was spending Tyler's money. After some research and reading, I discovered a gem a couple hundred yards down the road from where we were living. Tyler walked in, decided it was good, and promptly placed and offer. After 6 months in the house I think we're all still happy with it. It's filling up with my projects including the arcade machine and the theater room.

I lost a close family member early in the summer, so I left on a trip back to Purdue for Grandma's funeral. It brought the entire family together in one place for the first time in quite a while.

That trip and Christmas were my only visits back home to Indiana. For Thanksgiving I headed up to visit beautiful Syracuse to bug the Abendroth's. They were more than welcoming to me over the year with my multiple visits to Camp and at Thanksgiving. You'll be a better person if you get meet any one of them. Two Sunday River trips, the Fourth of July, and the August trip to Camp Ticawa were all a blast. Quaggas, the giant caterpillar, Jay's waterfall, Whoopa™, Ben's dancing, spoons, Bobby being Bobby, and Robinston in general were all a riot.

My career at Lockheed moved along as only a career at Lockheed can move. I got a promotion and came off program into a permanent position that let's me program in my beloved .NET. It took 2 years to find the group but now that I'm here I hope to stay put for a bit. Switching positions every six months gets old pretty quickly.

I bought my first set of skis and all the junk that goes with them. A lot of people hear my stories about skiing are a little confused since I've never been excited about it before. There's a reason for that: I lived in Indiana and in case you haven't heard, it's FLAT. Skiing out here has been fantastic. As soon as I take that last run of the day, I'm planning ahead to the next time I can ride the lifts. It's a great combination of being outside, getting some exercise, meeting new people, and getting to know friends better.

Near the end of the year I finally made my first trips to New York City. I've seen quite a few random places as well as the basics like the Empire State Building and Times Square. I made some good friends up there and am looking forward to spending more time with them.

That brings me to 2005. I rung in the new year with good friends and 300 random residents of Harrison, Maine. Who knows what this year will bring. We have quite a few more ski trips planned for this winter including a big adventure to Denver. There has been talk of everything from a motorcycle purchase to working on a pilot's license. Grad school will continue chug along. I already know of three weddings in June. Jersey will continue to smell. I guess it's a lot of the same with a lot of new experiences. And I guess that's what life boils down to. You cling onto the people, ideas, and beliefs that make you happy while you ride the ever-changing waves of life. Ahoy mateys!

2003 Year In Review

December 31. It seems like every channel you turn to on TV is having their “year end review” show. Sounds like a good idea to me. I present you with “2003: A Studio711 Presentation of 2003 Because the Year is Almost Over and this is a way to Present the Recap Presentation.” (I might have to work on the title.)

It’s hard to believe all the stuff that has changed in the last year. Last January I was just getting the hang of this “real life” stuff. I was making some great friends and starting to have a social life after the transplant from Purdue to Jersey. I was just transitioning out of my first work assignment and moving into some new stuff. (ARG! STRUTS!)

Then all of a sudden around March I found out I was going to Eagan. Surprise! In retrospect, I think it’s a good thing I went, but I spent a lot of sleepless nights stressing about it. The planning and move were a hassle, but by the end of June, I found myself packing up.

Right before that move, I took a trip with Jay and Melissa up to Maine for a fantastic weekend at Camp Ticawa. We basically did… umm.. nothing. And it was one of the best vacations I’ve ever had! The only bad part was leaving the unadulterated beauty of the woods of Maine behind and crossing that bridge from NYC into Jersey. Yuck.

That job up in Eagan was an amazing experience. My three main assignments up there really stretched my technical abilities as well as my soft skills. However, the best part of the job was definitely the new contacts I made and the perspective I got on the company. In college, your success is almost completely dependent on your own knowledge. But when you hit the real world, you have to add in a lot more skills. Not only do you have to be good at what you do, but you need contacts. You need to know who to call and where to go when you need an answer to a question, advice on a problem, or someone to take some work off your shoulders. On top of all that, I learned how much it helps to get some perspective on your company. Lockheed is huge. 125,000+ employees. I’ve only been exposed to two sites of our worldwide company so I don’t claim to come near knowing it all, but I did learn a lot just seeing how Eagan operates. It was really interesting to see what is similar between Moorestown and Eagan and also the things that are different. I’m not going to go into a lot of specifics here because I know some of you are taking offsites (Jay and Mel) and I’m interested in seeing what perspectives you come back with. It’s a lot of work and extra hassle, but I can guarantee it will be an eye-opening experience. It’s one of those intangibles that’s hard to explain until you’ve been there.

On a less philosophical note, I got mixed up with a bunch of guys down at ProKart Indoor in Burnsville. The first time I went there was with my cousin, Chad. We spent 8 minutes out on the track and I was hooked. Couple that with the fact that I didn’t know anyone around and I had a weekend activity. I spent a couple full days there racing anyone that walked through the door. I started off slow but picked it up quickly. On the fifth day I was at the track, I broke the track record (a record that to my knowledge still stands 3 months later!) One of the managers there noticed me and invited me to join their top league. That was definitely and experience, but I kept on learning. I’m definitely going to miss racing out there every week, but don’t worry, I’ll be back in Minneapolis somewhere along the line. I’ll stop in to defend (or reclaim) my track title!

This summer will also go down in history as the summer of weddings. I was invited to 4 weddings in a span of 5 weeks! All of them were over 700 miles away. I ended up having to miss Lisa’s wedding. (Sorry Lisa!) But I made it to the other three. It was definitely an interesting experience for me. It was my first time being in any weddings, and I was in 3 in 5 weeks! First Jim and Kristy in Lafayette, IN, Kevin and Heather in Grand Forks, ND, and Mark and Becky in Evansville, IN, . I had a great time at all of them! It was a lot of travelling, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Emily and Brian got married in September but I didn’t make it to that one either. So many weddings! Congratulations again to all of you.

The one blemish on my summer of travel was that little incident southern Minnesota. Thankfully noone was killed in that accident. As far as I know, his lawsuit with AllState is still open so that might make for some interesting blogging in 2004. Let’s just hope it doesn’t.

That all happened the week after the great weekend in Chicago when Mel came out to visit. We stayed with her sister and family, introduced her to Wrigley Field, and had a great time!
And let’s not forget the short week down in Sannibel with the family. Good times, warm sun, and the ocean. Another great vacation!

Now I’m back in Jersey hanging out with the old crew again. It’s good to be back. I didn’t miss the traffic or the (lack of) scenery, but I definitely missed the people. Err.. well, not all the people… just my friends really because Jersey people tend to be jerks in public.

It was a big year. My rough estimate puts me at about 16,000 miles of major trips this year. What will next year bring? Who knows? Hopefully I’ll stay in one place for a while. Classes start at Drexel so that will take a lot of my time. Jay, Tyler, and I are also thinking about getting a new house. But really, there’s no way I can predict it. If you asked me last January to write about the year I thought I’d have, there’s no way I’d come up with an article like this. And that’s what makes the future so exciting… every day is a surprise!

[UPDATE 12/15/05] I moved the post from “Inside My Head“ straight into the blog. I’m afraid it will get lost if it’s not in the database with everything else. The old page is here: 2003 Year In Review