Studio711.com – Ben Martens

Until recently, I didn’t even know that 12v refrigerators were a thing that you could buy, but once I found out, I couldn’t stop thinking about how convenient it could be for our road trip. After some research, I settled on the BougeRV CRPRO 30. (For some reason it is much cheaper at Walmart than Amazon.) This particular model is powered by either 12v or 120v and the temperature can be set anywhere from -8F to 50F. Theoretically it has a voltage meter built in so it will shut off if the car battery gets low, but so far I have been unplugging it when we leave the car for very long.

I’ve enjoyed four main benefits over a traditional cooler besides the obvious one of not having to buy ice:

• Initially, it looks tiny when you compare it to a cooler, but when you realize you don’t have to add ice, it suddenly feels much bigger.
• I can easily add more cans/bottles to it as you go and they will get cooled off without destroying your ice in the process. (Did you know it takes over half a bag of ice to chill a 12 pack?)
• One of the last things I would do before a trip is buy ice and pack the cooler. With this, I can just have it sitting on the floor in the kitchen plugged into the wall and I can throw stuff in throughout the week.
• In a cooler, I have to protect many things from getting wet. With this, I don’t have to mess with all those extra bags.

We used it on our recent camping trip and it was great! It held all the chilled food that we needed and then we restocked it with drinks throughout the weekend. We had it plugged into the truck on the drive to the campground and then we used power at our campsite to keep it cold.

It was definitely a luxury to have it at the campsite, but I think where it will really be useful is on our big road trip coming up later this summer. We almost always pack lunches and snacks to save money and time so instead of buying endless bags of ice, we’ll have an easy way to keep things cool. It’s a little awkward to carry into the hotel and back to the car every night, but I bought a shoulder strap to go with it that will hopefully make it simpler.

When I had my motorcycle, I bought a set of 9 DVDs that explained a lot of maintenance tasks (including things like valve adjustments!) It was extremely helpful to be able to see the work being done on the exact same motorcycle that I owned.

Fast forward and now pretty much anything you need is on YouTube. I have a playlist of common vehicle things that I need to do, but I was very happy to recently stumble on the TRQ app. You punch in the details about your vehicle and then you get a curated list of videos specifically for your vehicle. It saves time clicking around trying to find the right answer, but of course it helps if you have a common vehicle. My F150 has over 90 videos!

I’m sure there are a lot more apps like this. If you have a favorite, please let me know. Thankfully I haven’t had to do much beyond basic maintenance but I’m sure that time will come.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.  He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.  Come and see the place where he lay.  Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee.  There you will see him.  Now I have told you.”  Matthew 28:5-7

Today we take extra time to celebrate Jesus’s resurrection. He took our place on the cross and died for all of our sins. His resurrection from the dead proved his power over sin, death and the devil. There’s nothing we can do to earn heaven. It’s a free gift available to everyone who believes.

Our church’s online Easter service is available after 8am Pacific time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY8c_wSBzvg

I recognize that this is a loosely supported hot take, but you know how we look back at smoking in the early/mid 1900s and wonder how they could have done that to themselves? In 30 years, I think we might look back at social media like that.

I’ve been chewing on this for a while and it’s one of the main reasons why I stopped using social media in general but more specifically, I avoid any app with an infinite scroll. That mind-numbing flick, flick, flick feels like the exact opposite of what we’re told about how to decrease the risk of cognitive decline (Alzheimer’s, dementia, etc.). Much of the research into those diseases is inconclusive at this point and then I realize it’s another big leap to say that doom scrolling makes it worse. But it seems illogical that repeatedly losing track of time while scrolling through 10 second videos is going to strengthen your cognitive abilities. Smoking one cigarette doesn’t give you lung cancer and flicking through videos on the toilet one time isn’t going to rot your brain, but what does prolonged and repeated infinite scrolling do to you?

This is going to take the scientific community a long time to study, but there are already papers available that link doomscrolling to poor memory, shorter attention spans, impaired decision making, and cognitive overload. In kids, it has been linked to increased rates of anxiety and depression. Links are one thing, but is it correlative or causal? This is harder to figure out but there is evidence for doom scrolling being causal. There are some studies that survey how people feel and perform after being exposed as well as fMRI studies showing craving reactions and abnormal prefrontal cortex activity. There are also strong causal links between doom scrolling and increased stress (cortisol) levels which has major known negative effects on long term health. At the same time, technology can massively improve your mental health when used correctly. There is a difference between passive scrolling and active, intentional use.

“All in moderation” is a motto I support, but after setting up an app on my phone that tracked my screen time, I realized that I’m not able to do infinite scrolling in moderation. I’d rather err on not using it at all.

More reading:

• Frontiers | Prefrontal Control and Internet Addiction: A Theoretical Model and Review of Neuropsychological and Neuroimaging Findings
• Internet addiction-induced brain structure and function alterations: a systematic review and meta-analysis of voxel-based morphometry and resting-state functional connectivity studies | Brain Imaging and Behavior
• Structural gray matter differences in Problematic Usage of the Internet: a systematic review and meta-analysis
• Digital Dementia: Does Technology Use by ‘Digital Pioneers’ Correlate to Cognitive Decline? | Media and Public Relations | Baylor University
• A preliminary study on the association between social media at night and sleep quality: The relevance of FOMO, cognitive pre‐sleep arousal, and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation
• Frontiers | Understanding the relationships between physiological and psychosocial stress, cortisol and cognition
• The Dangers of Doom Scrolling | Psychology Today
• Scroll Fatigue: How Endless Content Is Reshaping Your Brain’s Attention Span – Very Big Brain
• Psychologist: How mindless scrolling impacts your attention span
• Your brain on scroll: how endless content is reshaping attention, thinking, and memory – SFI Health

As I change some of my volunteer activities, I’m setting myself up to spend more time talking to people who disagree with me. This can be healthy, but it’s also a challenge. I’ve been thinking about specific behaviors I want to keep in mind while I have those conversations. What’s missing? What’s wrong? How different would our world be if everyone approached discussions with this mindset?

1. Ask lots of questions. If someone’s argument seems absurd, I probably don’t understand what they’re trying to say or what led them to this viewpoint. Asking questions helps us walk back to common ground to find where we diverge so we can have a productive discussion.
2. Assume that everyone is logical, rational, and fact-driven even when they have a completely opposite viewpoint. It might not always be true, but it’s a healthy place to start.
3. Rhetoric is a red flag. If someone is using name calling or inflammatory language in their argument, resist the urge to join in or fight back. Call out the rhetoric and ask questions about the root issues.
4. Don’t use metaphors and similes to make a point. If someone disagrees with me, they’re going to pick apart my comparison instead of focusing on the point I’m trying to make. Facts and data are a much stronger argument.
5. Always be willing to change my mind when presented with enough evidence. Don’t engage with people who are unwilling to do the same.
6. When presented with evidence, don’t trust secondary sources that don’t link to the original material. (I’m very happy to see that Elijah is already learning this in school.) Related to this, use a neutral news source, but also pull content on a topic from multiple sources on both sides of the issue to understand where there is disagreement.

I fall flat on these very often, especially when the person I’m talking to is emotional and not following a similar approach, but maybe writing these things down will help me keep them in mind more often.

LUKE 2

THE BIRTH OF JESUS

¹ In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

When I used to work from home, I would usually end the day with a sore back. I figured it was because I was used to standing at my desk for part of the day at work and sitting all day was just not working. I had been shopping around for a while but wasn’t willing to pull the trigger… until the pandemic hit. The day we got sent home from work, I immediately placed an order, expecting there to be a shortage of standing desks.

Fast forward to 18 months later and I’m so thankful that I made the purchase! I raise and lower it multiple times throughout the day and couldn’t be happier with this model. I keep saying I’m going to build a nice top for it but I’m still using the cheapo plywood top that I built for it on day one.

My model is the VertiDesk v3 Electric Sit Stand Base. It has a keypad with four programmable heights. The key reasons I chose this one are:

• It raises up tall enough for me. I’m 6’4″ and a few models on the market wouldn’t quite be tall enough.
• It has very little wobble when raised up to it’s maximum height. This seems to be a major differentiator in the market. If you find a model that costs less, it’s usually because it has more wobble.

With a standing desk, it’s important to spend time with cable management. My main goal is to keep the CPU on the floor and then have as few cables running down to it as possible. This means having power strips and USB hubs move up and down with the desk. I stuck those on the bottom of the desk and then bought three a sleeve, raceway, and cord holder to help with cable management.

Even with all that, it’s still a rats nest of wires, but it’s enough to be functional and keep the cats from playing with the cords.