Ben At Random

Bro-Jitsu: The Martial Art of Sibling Smackdown

2010-08-27T20:41:00.003-04:00

I read a review today of a book called Bro-Jitsu: The Martial Art of Sibling Smackdown
at BookDads.com
After reading the review I’m going to have to get a copy. It’s my understanding that this book is a detailed guide on how to kick your siblings A$$.

My brother and I used to give each other hell when we were kids. This book is supposed to be a funny look at just that type of situation. Several times since we were kids my brother and I have regaled the stories of the severe butt kicking’s we gave each other. They are quite amusing. I’m looking forward to checking this book out.

ummm FUSHIGI

2010-08-26T12:35:00.002-04:00

As we all know I am an uber geek. I’m into sleight of hand, and wine, blah blah blah. Back in High School and into early college I made an attempt to learn to contact juggle. You remember contact juggling. It was that cool thing that David Bowie did with the crystal balls in the Labyrinth. Ok It was not actually Davie Bowie; it was another guy contact juggling to make it look like Bowie was doing it. You know what I mean. Anyway I picked up a few moves but I lost interest and gave it up.

When we were in the hospital last week I saw a commercial for Fushigi. If I understand it right this is basically the current attempt to market and teach contact juggling. This may be a mirrored ball instead of the regular crystal or acrylic balls we used when I tried to learn to do this. Fushigi might actually look cool if they did not ham up the commercials so much. Then again, I’m sure the commercials are aimed at kids and not geeky adults.

I’m not sure if I’m interested in this or if it’s just the nostalgia of having tried it before. Either way I thought I would pass along a videos and a link for other geeks or parents to look at.

Welcome Home Elizabeth

2010-08-22T13:48:00.006-04:00

We had our little sleep over with Elizabeth at the hospital Friday night and the doctors said she was ready to go home bright and early Saturday morning. We packed up all Elizabeth’s things and got in the car.

If you thought I drove like a little old lady before, you should have seen me driving her home yesterday. I’m pretty sure a little old lady passed me in her Oldsmobile and gave me a WTF look. I’m sure I’ll get used to it.
Once we got home mom got her fed and I got her pack and play put together in our bedroom. This pack and play came with bassinet, changing table, napping station, and side bag accessories. The only thing it’s missing is a cup holder. We have not decided how long, but Elizabeth will stay with us in our room for a little while before moving to her nursery. I’m not sure if that’s for our comfort or hers.

Mo, Frazier, and Casper have no clue what to think of Elizabeth yet. Mo, and Frazier’s ears perk up every time she makes a noise. Off and on they both seem really curious about her. There are lots of new sounds and smells for us all to get used to.
Grandma, Grandma, and Guy-Guy came over to visit and brought us dinner last night. It was nice to have some calmer more experienced parents around to help put us at ease.

We all slept pretty well last night. It’s much easier to relax when you’re at your own house. Amy and I took turns with the feedings so that we could both get some rest. Hopefully we can work out schedule that keeps us both as rested as possible.

Although we have not been able to paint the little song that I am writing on the walls of the nursery yet, here are a few pictures of things in the nursery.

Keep Your Fingers Crossed

2010-08-20T09:59:00.000-04:00

So yesterday I was sitting at my desk when Amy called me to tell me that one of Elizabeth’s Doctors said that they thought Elizabeth would be able to come home on Saturday. As exciting as that statement was I had to hear it for myself. When I went to Lizzie’s 5:30 feeding last night I asked the doc to give me the rundown of how she was doing. She said that Lizzie was doing great, and as long as nothing changed between then and Saturday, she would be able to come home.

Amy and I are setup to “Room In” at the hospital tonight. All that really means is that we will be spending the night at the hospital with Lizzie in the room with us. Parents of full term babies get to have their child in the room with them while mom recovers. The hospital wants to make sure we get to spend the night with her, and have the ability to ask the nurses questions about every little thing she does that we have not seen before.

So as long as nothing changes between last night and tomorrow afternoon we will be able to bring our little girl home tomorrow.

Keep your fingers crossed.

The Big News

2010-08-17T14:58:00.002-04:00

On Thursday August 5, 2010 at 7:36 pm my daughter Elizabeth Anne was born. Some of you are saying hmmm I knew Ben‘s wife were pregnant but I thought the baby was not due until the end of September. Well your right, Elizabeth was not due until September 27th. She was born via C Section due to complications with the placenta.

The good news is that both baby and mom are doing well. Mom has had a really tough time since the birth and had to be readmitted to the hospital but is now home and doing really well.

Baby is in the NICU but is jumping through every hoop put in front of her. She has a few goals she has to achieve before she can come home. When she was first born they told us that before she could come home she would need to:

• Breath unassisted
• Take all nutrition orally
• Gain weight
• Maintain her body temperature unassisted
• Pass a car seat test

Now Elizabeth has done all of these things separately and some of them she has maintained for quite some time. Others like maintaining her body temp, she can only do for about a day. The big goals here are for Lizzie to do all of these things (except pass the car seat test) at the same time and maintain doing them for 2 or 3 days. Once she has done that, and then passes a 90 minute car seat test, she can come home.

I have been asked a few times already what it feels like to be a dad. I have only been a dad for 12 days and I have no clue what I am doing or if it is wrong or right. I have to say that I have had the privilege of doing some pretty amazing things in my life. I continue to experience love from family and friends, I married a fantastic woman, I have heard some of the most beautiful music ever written and performed, I have performed at the Kennedy Center, The 9:30 Club, I have been on the radio, and T.V. I have sat in silence and listened to the sounds of the world, I have loved and lost, watched the sun rise and set, seen mountains and oceans, met famous people, laughed, cried ,and hundreds of other little daily miracles that we all seem to take for granted. Combine the emotions felt in all of those situations and they still do not even come close to the flood of emotions that I began to experience at 7:36 pm on August 5th, 2010. Right now, that is the best description I can give.

First Luthier Building Project

2010-07-20T16:45:00.005-04:00

So I am saving up some dough so that I can afford to get the necessary items to start building a guitar. I’m looking forward to working with Sensei Todd to get started. I still need some more money before I can start that adventure.
In the mean time I want to practice, and test my wood working skills with a little project that should help me prepare for Sensei Todd. I’m pretty sure that project will be.....................................................A Mountain Dulcimer.

It looks like it would be fun to build, and fun to play. The materials are cheaper, and let be honest….Amy wants one. I really think it will help me improve my skills so I can really get going with the instrument building and repair. I am having fun with the little projects I have done so far, but I think I’m ready for the next step.
I still have some instruments that friends have given me to work on, and I will continue to work on those. Some of those require skill beyond what I am currently comfortable with. I’m hoping that building this dulcimer will help move me in the right direction.

Dad Life (Father's Day Opening 2010)

2010-07-11T12:07:00.000-04:00

HAHAHA I'm not sure I'm looking forward to this or not. Awesome video though. Thanks for sending it to me Spanky!

Update

2010-07-06T14:03:00.001-04:00

It’s been a while since I posted anything. Things have been really hectic. Some things are slowing down, and others are speeding up. They are all good things though, and I thought I would take a moment to share.

For those of you who do not know, I left my job at ABC and am now working at CGI as an Asset Analyst. I am starting my third week and I am enjoying it so far. The commute time is much shorter than before. Amy and I are carpooling together, and that makes the commute time even shorter because we get to take the HOV lane. I get home before the sun goes most days so far. Seeing the sun is a plus.

Because I get home at a reasonable hour, I feel like I have more time to get some work done around the house. I have not been able to do much of anything for a while. This past weekend we started prepping another room for paint and I hope to have it finished and start unpacking it this weekend. The next major task after this room will be the nursery. It started out as a guest room, but it has only had one guest in it. It’s mostly filled with boxes that need to be unpacked. Once it’s cleared out though it will be time to start turning it into the nursery. We have not picked out any nursery themes yet. It will have to be pretty generic since we do not know if we are having a girl or a boy.

The Twelve Days Project is going well. I won’t blab on about that now, but check out http://www.twelvedaysproject.org to see what’s going on. We are playing The State Theater on July 23^rd. Pre-sale tickets are available now at http://www.thedreamscapesproject.com/ so go ahead and get yours.

I have only been doing a little instrument repair. Right now I have an upright bass on the table. I’m lowering the bridge to make it a little bit easier to play. Right now the strings are too high.

Overall things are pretty good right now. Just busy! I’ll try to keep everyone in the loop better than I have recently.

Luthier Work/Merlefest

2010-04-27T11:34:00.012-04:00

Sorry I have not updated. Things have been crazy and I have not had much time to post. I did finish the bass I was working on a few weeks ago.
I replaced the tuners,
cleaned and polished, and did a setup. It was sounding great when it left my workbench.

Since Finishing this Bass, I received another one that needed some work. I have already started learning how to hand make a nut to replace the broken one on this Bass.

On a different note. Merlefest is this week! We will drive to Wilkesboro on Thursday Morning to try to be there in time for the Mandolin contest that afternoon. We love going and there will be even more family there to visit with this year. It's really hard to beat a four day music festival. Hopefully the weather will stay nice this year. It looks like it could rain Saturday and Sunday, but should be nice otherwise. I just hope it stays dry enough to see Steve Martin perform Saturday night.

I really do love this Web Comic

2010-04-16T11:43:00.001-04:00

Dalai Lama Recognizes New Bodhisattva of Strength {April Fool’s edition}

2010-04-02T15:19:00.002-04:00

I read this and it made me smile so I wanted to share it. Please take a minute to enjoy. Ploughman83! You will love this!

New Bodhisattva of Strength

New Tools and First Project

2010-04-01T16:03:00.006-04:00

When I got home from work yesterday, I had received the first of 2 boxes of tools that I ordered for instrument repair. Some of the things I ordered were not in stock so I have to wait a little longer for those.

The first box contained:
Bench Rest
Precision Straight Edge
String Action Gauge
8 Under String Radius Gauges
2 Dual Edge Nut Files
3 Piece Mirror
Digital Caliper
Nut Blanks
Bridge Pin Puller
Hide Glue
Preservation Polish

Here is a picture of my almost finished workbench. It’s usable now, but needs the top attached, and some sanding.
These new items, combined with what I already have will let me get started. I hope I don’t have to wait long for the other box.

A friend gave me his electric bass to work on. It is in decent shape and only needs some standard stuff so I feel pretty confident in jumping in with this one.

I cleaned off the dirt and grime from the body neck and the hardware last night. It needs some new tuners, that I already have, and a basic setup. The action is way too low on this bass. The neck is straight so I’m hoping I can take care of everything by adjusting the saddle and the neck. If I have to I’ll make a new nut for it, it may have to wait until the 2nd box of tools arrives.

Becoming a Luthier

2010-03-31T14:41:00.001-04:00

I have been thinking a lot lately about becoming a luthier. I have thought about it in the past when I was making minor adjustments to my own instruments. I really started thinking about it about a month ago when I had a dream that I was in my basement fixing a guitar. Ever since that dream I have not been able to get the idea out of my head.

That day I started searching for anything I could find about luthiery. Traditionally becoming a luthier involved a long apprenticeship with a master somewhere. Builders of classical instruments have been doing things that way forever. You could only become a luthier when your master said you were ready. As cool as it would be to apprentice and learn how to build and repair all the strings instruments it takes half a lifetime to do it traditionally, and there are not many places where you could actually apprentice. Also an apprenticeship is a full time deal, and in today’s world it does not make much sense.

I found several schools that I could go to, but they are expensive and not close to home. I would have to go out of town for several weeks. The shortest program I found is 6 weeks long. Others I have found are as long as a year. I love the idea of going to a school to learn the skills but, I don’t know how far I really want to take this. After all this is all based on a dream I had. I don’t want to rush into anything.

So I have bought a few books and videos from a luthier supply website, so I can learn some basics, and see how I like it. I have several friends and family members who have instruments that need repairs, and they have all been nice, and trusting enough to give them to me for me to learn on.

I won’t touch any repair that I don’t feel like I can handle, so I’m not worried about screwing up anyone’s instruments.

This past weekend I started building a workbench, so I have a place to work. All I need to do is attach the top of the table, a little bit of sanding and it’s good to go. I’ll put a varnish on it later if I think it needs it.

I ordered a big chunk of the tools recommended by the schools to get started. This type of work requires some very specific tools, so there was no easy way to get around buying them. If I decide that this is not for me then I can always sell the tools on eBay or something.

The tools should arrive today, and I’m excited to start. I want to share my progress as I make it. Maybe I’ll post some pictures as I start working.

I had to share these

2010-03-15T10:48:00.001-04:00

And this One

snOMG

2010-02-10T19:32:00.004-05:00

With all the snow recently, thing have been pretty quiet. We were snowed in all last weekend, and I did not get to work on Monday because the VRE, and the above ground metro stations were closed.

We managed to get the bed put together in the guest room, and cleaned the kitchen. The bathrooms are all functioning normally so we are good there. They still need to be painted, but there is no rush on that. Still need to finish painting the trim, and touching up in two or three little spots.

I started to work on the music room a little bit. Got a few shelves put together, and a few boxes empty. I do want to paint the room but I have no clue what color yet.

Nothing major happening right now. Things have just been on hold for a bit until this snow craziness lets up.

Check out this article about the snowball fight in DC
You don't bring a gun to a snowball fight!

Loving Kindness Meditation

2010-02-03T11:08:00.003-05:00

As both of you who look at this know, I have been studying up on Zen, and practicing meditation to work on some of my own stress related issues. I have been learning things about myself that I was not aware of in the process.

When Amy and I visited the Buddhist Monastery in Sterling we learned Metta (Loving Kindness) Meditation, and it was fantastic. We sat with others and a Monk from Africa, who taught us this meditation topic. We sat for an hour, and I have to say I felt completely relaxed and grounded, and completely connected to myself and everything around me. It was really an incredible experience.

I look around for info on Zen, on the web and anywhere else I can find it, and I stumbled upon a great little motivational website that recently posted an article on Metta (Loving Kindness) meditation. This does not go into any of the detail that I learned at the Monastery, but I just wanted to share it with you.

Check out this post at zenhabits.net

Home Repairs

2010-01-31T12:14:00.003-05:00

Due to the snow between home and Raleigh the bands trip to Raleigh has been postponed. That being the case I have been able to stay home and work on the house. I have been looking forward to doing this for the last few weeks. I just want to get the place feeling like home rather than a project.

I have been talking about fixing the cartridge in the shower for a little while now. It has taken a long time mainly because I have not been able to work on it for more than a few minutes at a time. Friday night I really started to work on it. I started to remove the cartridge and only managed to remove the stem. Leaving the shell stuck in the pipe. I tried using the cartridge remover but this only made things worse as it was breaking off pieces of the shell. Finally I got to a point where I just did not think I would be able to get the thing out, and I was afraid that the diverter in the wall would have to come out. So we called a plumber. Several actually, and most of them were not able to come out over the weekend. Since this issue was forcing us to keep the water in the house off, we wanted someone to work on it ASAP.

Saturday a plumber came out and wanted around $400 to try to remove the shell. If it did not work he wanted even more to replace the diverter, which would mean more holes in the wall. We just could not do this so we sent the plumber on his way.

We headed over to Home Depot and we were told to try a new tool, and if that did not work to drill out the pipe. We got home, worked with the tool and it broke while trying to remove the shell. It was still usable, and Amy was able to break the shell free and get it to spin in the pipe. After that I was able to pull it out. Putting in the new cartridge was easy and only took a few minutes to get the shower up and running. Now it just needs a good cleaning before we can use it.

The tool that ended up making it possible to remove everything was the BrassCraft Stem And Cartridge Wrench. It did break in the process, but was the right tool for the job.

I hung curtains in the living room while Amy painted the trim in the living room. We only have a little but more work to do before things really start to come together and look and work the way we want them to.

Silly Plastic tools

2010-01-28T17:22:00.004-05:00

So I get home from work last night with the hopes of being able to finish the work on the bathroom. No such luck. First off I get the new kit open, and it turns out that in order to switch to the posi-temp control faucet you have to change the valve in the wall. Since I don’t have the time or the tools to pull that off right now, I just took the kit back to the good old Home Depot. While I was there I picked up a new cartridge, handle, and faucet, to replace what I was returning in the kit. The new cartridge came with the plastic cartridge removal tool. I got everything out and started to remove the old cartridge when the remover broke. So I was stuck not being able to get the old cartridge out.

Amy is going to pick up the uber cartridge removal tool on her way home. It’s more expensive and made of metal instead of plastic so it should do the job. If that does not work, I have no clue what to do.

The band is back in the studio this weekend, but this time we are in Raleigh at Low Watt Studios. This is where we recorded the last album, and where we started recording three songs about a year ago. We are finally going back to finish the job. The Drums and Bass are already recorded so only Keith, Eric, and I need to finish up. I imagine Keith will lay down guitar before I get to record cello parts.

With any luck this will finish up our recording for a while. As much fun as I have in the studio with everyone, I do have lots of work to do on the house. I really just want to get things to a point with the house that we not worry about it for a while. We are not too far away from that. It’s a matter of finishing up a few small projects, painting, and then unpacking some other rooms.

Weekend of recording

2010-01-24T17:11:00.004-05:00

I’m sitting in the control room at the studio right now listening to Keith record vocals. It’s been a long weekend, but we have been very successful. Friday after we all arrived we got all the scratch tracks finished and the drums recorded. Saturday we started with Bass, then finished Guitar, Cello, and Percussion. Today we did some Percussion, and Cello layering. We are working on vocals now, and then we have backing vocals to do.

As always we have been very silly all weekend. Doing things like pairing wine with beef jerky, which actually turned out fantastic! The Wishing Tree 2005 Cabernet Merlot Blend goes perfectly with Jack Links Teriyaki Beef Jerky. Seriously…. Fantastic!

Also you have to see things like dipping sour cream and onion chips into sour cream and onion dip, followed by dipping a sugar cookie into sour cream and onion dip. Honestly the drummers may be retarded.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to getting home and relaxing a bit. Possibly meeting up with my brother and getting some HDMI cables for the TV, Blue Ray, and computer.

I want to try to buy new fixtures for the bathroom, just so I don’t have to wait until after next weekend to work on that. I don’t really think that I’ll get to it tonight, since I will be getting home a little late to do anything about it.

Anyway, we are excited about the recording. We are happy with what we have done so far, and we are looking forward to getting things finished up so we can get them mixed, and ready to be released.

Working on the house

2010-01-19T21:13:00.003-05:00

I'm excited to be getting some work done in the house this week. Last night we got the hot water working in the shower. Turns out there was a limited in the handle keeping us from turning the knob far enough to engage the hot water. Once we got that in the right position the hot water came right on. Once that was fixed we put the new shower head on. This shower being ready makes the wife very happy.

Also yesterday I got the bathtub in another bathroom caulked. There was still a leak from the knob that needed to be looked at. I took it apart tonight, and I'm pretty sure that the cartridge needs to be replaced. At the same time the tub fixtures are in pretty bad shape so we want to replace them. It should not be very expensive, and it's another thing we can do ourselves pretty easily.

Although I have the basic handy man knowledge, since I have not had a home, I have not cared much about working on home repair etc. Now that I have a home to take care of, I actually really enjoy working in the house. I'm looking forward to getting things all cleaned up.

Weekend Review

2010-01-17T20:41:00.005-05:00

We had lots of fun this weekend! The Jersey Turnpike was shut down for a while on Friday night, so it took us longer to get to our hotel than we had hoped. Once we got there we had a nice comfortable room.

Saturday we got up and met friends at their hotel in SOHO. We had lunch in Little Italy, and wandered around Chinatown and did some shopping.

After shopping we headed over to Times Square to try and catch David Blaine. We got lucky and were able to get an autograph and some pictures taken with him. Be sure to check out his website and donate to the American Red Cross for Haiti.

The band had a show at National Underground Saturday night, and we had a great time there hanging out with other bands, and then going to Katz's Deli. Really the pastrami is still to die for.

Looking Forward to the Weekend

2010-01-15T14:44:00.002-05:00

I’m looking forward to this weekend. We have a show at National Underground in NYC on Saturday night. I’ll put the details below if anyone want to go. The wife and I are driving to NY on Friday so we can hang out and wander around the city for a while. An added bonus is that David Blaine will be in Times Square between 43^rd and 44^th St- intersection of 7^th Ave and Broadway all weekend. He is fundraising for earthquake relief in Haiti. Hs performance began at 9am this morning and he is performing 72 hours straight, that’s without sleep, with the American Red Cross. We plan on going by to see what we can see. Any chance to see live magic is an opportunity worth taking, plus it is for a great cause.

I have felt off balance pretty much all week. Work has not been crazy this week, but things are awkward due to some personnel changes going on around me. The band is right around the corner from kicking off The Twelve Days Project. The Twelve Days Project was conceived by the dreamscapes project as an experiment to see what would happen if musicians, artists, film makers, and writers from the DC area all collaborated in a new way. Check out details here.

I have a lot of work to do on the new house. Although we have painted all the current living space, and made many major and minor repairs, there is still a lot to do. Plus we really want o get more unpacked.

Meditation has gone well this week, and has made me feel more grounded, but I still feel a little off balance. I’m looking forward to stepping back from the hustle and bustle of regular life for a few days, playing a show, and hanging out in NY.

National Underground

159 E Houston St

New York, NY 10002

212.475.0611

Saturday 1/15/10

We go on at 8:45

Link to the Twelve Days Project

http://twelvedaysproject.org/home/

New Years Resolution

2010-01-13T00:06:00.002-05:00

I have decided that this year is when I'm going to take the time to improve myself. Give myself the attention that I need. I know that sounds selfish. It has been a long time since I spent any significant time working on me. I do things I want to do, but I have not paid attention to the things I have needed to do for myself. So that is what this year is for. I'm going to give myself the attention I deserve.

I'm going to pay attention to what I eat and try to lose some weight. I'm not going to stress over it, just be better to myself. I want to get some exercise. I'm not talking about a workout regiment or anything, just some exercise. Anything is better than what I'm getting now.

I'm studying Zen, and the meditation has already helped me. I'm calmer, and sleeping better. I really like what I'm learning about myself, so I want to continue.

I want this blog to be a record of this process. I want to write in it every day, but I have a horrible track record with blogging. I'll write when I have something to say, and won't when I don't. I hope I will have lots to share.

I'm looking forward to this year, and the changes I hope it brings.