Ben Benner’s Blog

I took the photos a while ago, but haven’t really had a chance to put together a post.

(One of my gifts has been taking up a lot of my ‘free’ time.)

I’ll let you guys figure out which one.

Last year my mother-in-law, Brenda got me a cookie basket (mmmm… cookies). This year, to be a bit more healthy I got a fruit basket (with a balloon). The basket was mostly melon, which I will have to admit I am not a huge fan of. I have on occasion eaten a few pieces of musk melon, but not a fan. So I let Gina eat the melon, she LOVES it. I really enjoyed the grapes, strawberries, apples (dipped in cholocate) and the pineapple stars.

Thanks MOM(-in-law)!!!

Our good friend John Hale got me a 4th Gen Nano, in light of the fact that Steve Jobs stole my last one.

Thank You John!!!

This brings us to what the wife got me for my birthday.

The first thing I will mention is that she got me a Neti pot. Which I actually used, after weeks of it sitting in my bathroom, in the box. I NEEDED it when I was sick to help remove the pressure from the sinuses that were giving me a serious headache.

The next thing she got me was pretty much the only thing left on my list.

The Nerf N-Strike Vulcan EBF-25 gun. It is a fully automatic, belt fed NERF machine gun.

Because of the fact that while shooting the dogs might be fun (namely the evil little black and white one), the fun would be short lived as the darts would probably mean costly trips to the emergency vet, the gun is staying at the office.

The gun is a bit louder than I originally was expecting. I didn’t think it would be silent, but not quite as loud as it is. However, the speed at which it can burn through the full 25 dart belt is quite impressive. But the noise makes it like a after 5pm toy. (unlike the revolvers which are more of a ‘not on the phone right now’ kind of toy)

I also bought myself a couple of gifts, Civilization Revolution (for the Xbox360 and the Nintendo DS-Lite).

The folks at Firaxis did a great job of optomizing the play control of the game for both the Xbox360 and DS-Lite. As a long time Civ player, I really enjoy the fast paced action of the game. They made certain parts of the game simpler, in a good way. Except one.

They only give you one Nuke. For whatever reason, as Jeremy can (and does) comment on, I seem to like games with Nukes. In part, because I actually use them. In Rise of Nations, I can be found to use them to help level the playing field. In Civ3 and Civ4, there were a few times I found myself at a relative stalemate (cold war if you will) and had enough cities with high production, to be able to build enough of a nuke stockpile to be able to hit every city of my computer opponent, in a single turn.

The one thing I will say about the nuke in CivRevolution, is that rather than simply eliminate the enemy units (and reduce the population of a city) as it does in the other Civ games, the Nuke in CivRevolution completely removes the city in question off the map, nothing but a smoking crater.

Well, I need to pack it in and get to bed.

Laterz

Technically speaking (my modus operandi) I turned 30 last night at about 11:15 or so, give or take a few minutes. I am of course adjusting for Central timezone vs Eastern.

It was 30 years ago somewhere around 12:10-12:15 (I forget the exact) in the morning that I was born to Graciela Dominguez (Now Graciela Underwood) and Thomas J. Benner.

A couple of years back my father sent me an strangely thick envelope, it contained the receipt for my birth. The charges for all of the various bits of hospital equipment, room charges, diapers ($4 back in 1978), and a few other odds and ends. The total was somewhere between $3,500 and $3,800 (I am sorry to report my memory isn’t quite as sharp as a few years ago, course I also didn’t try to commit the number to memory).

I found a few inflation calculators online and ran $3,800 through them to see how much I would have cost in today’s day and age, purely on an inflationary basis. It would appear that it is between $12,000 and $13,000. I find it interesting that three different calculators all produced three different results. I can only surmise that they are using different inflation staticists for each year.

Regardless, having the hospital bill sent to you some twenty-odd years after the fact is kinda weird. After receiving the envelop, I jokingly asked my father if I was expected to pay him back. I forget what his repsonse was, but since we didn’t setup a payment plan, I am guessing he declined.

But that brings me to the next thing. I received a package from my mother recently. The contents of which filled in several holes what I knew to be the story of the day of my birth and some backstory on my parent’s early years of marriage.

It also contained some family tree information.

I have to say that I was quite touched to have my mother be able to recollect in a fair amount of detail the events leading up to my birth. For instance, my parents had gone bowling before I was born. My mom did not start giving birth at the bowling alley, though that would have been quite a story and a sign of things to come.

She did however manage to bowl the same score three times in a row, while not a high score, it is worthy of a league patch. And there apparently was a write-up in the Lansing State Journal about it, next time I am in Lansing I will need to hit up the library and see if they have the microfiche available.

I knew that when I was born that I was sick and had to stay in a “special box with lights” for the first few days of my life. This apparently was because I was jaundice(d) and apparently the lights in the “box” helped me get some vitamins that I needed.

I am pretty sure that my parents and wife will agree that the box with the lights probably has had a profound effect on me, as it has granted me the ability to fall asleep with the lights (and tv on). Course it may or may not have anything to do with me being solar powered.

I woke up early today and headed into the office. I have been here for about 20 minutes, I caught up on a the few emails that came in over night and have been writing this post, which I now must wrap up. As of about 4pm yesterday this went from being a normal week with a couple of birthdays thrown in there, into a week with a tight deadline and a couple of birthdays.

Jeremy’s birthday is on Friday, I forget his exact age, but I know he is OLD(er than me). I regularly forget that Jeremy is a few years older than me, to that effect I can never tell whether that is because I still act older than I should or if it is just Jeremy’s youthful spirit.

Meh, could be both.

Back to the grind.

Laterz

And grateful it is Friday.

I have a number of home projects that need to get squared away this weekend to ensure a relaxing vacation, so this weekend will be action packed.

The trip back from Dallas was fun. Jeremy and I had a chance to catch-up with a buddy who lives in Dallas. It was good conversation and pretty decent food (we went to Bone Daddy’s).

On the way back we listened to the music on Jeremy’s iPod  (we listened to some of mine on the way up). Oddly enough most of the music we listened to I also have.

We finished off the trip listening to different tracks off of Billy Joel’s greatest hits albums. I always enjoy a good singalong with the Piano Man.

Back to grind.

Laterz.

Jeremy and I are packing up and heading to Dallas tonight. (like probably right after I am done with this post)

We will be up there for meetings all day tomorrow, then driving back that night.

Not sure if posted an update about his car, if he hasn’t then I will scoop him here.

They believe it is a sensor in his transmission, so between the part, labor and changing the transmission fluid he will be out about another $300 bucks.

The mechanics believe that is all the work that is needed to fix his car.

Well I best shut it down and get the laptop in the bag so we can motor.

Laterz

While listening to the radio during my morning routine, Alice In Chains’ song “Rooster” came on. I came to the realization that I have heard that song almost everyday on the radio since my days in high school. That is obviously a bit of a generalization.

However, whether it is in the morning, during the day or at night, I swear I have heard the Rooster song at least once a day.

Bear in mind, I listen to “Alternative Rock” stations about 100% of the time. Back in Lansing it was 92.1 The EDGE. Here in Austin, it is 101X. (92.1 is no longer on the air)

My reason for bringing up my choice in music is that, by listening to an Alterantive Rock station I increase my chances of hearing the Rooster song significantly. But as I reached this seemingly mundane epiphany about hearing this song from 1992 almost everyday, I realized that my choice in music might soon become a form of ‘Classic Rock’.

The DJs on 101x have stayed relatively young, swapping out every few years. One of the ladies that did the morning show when I first moved down now has a show later in the day. And some of the DJs from that time period appear to have moved into management.

Another realization that I have had lately is that more and more of the new music that is dubbed “Alternative Rock” is just noise to me. It all sounds the same. Funny thing is there were a few bands that hit the airwaves about 6 months back that all seemed to want to be Pearl Jam, I mean their lead singers were trying hard to sound like Eddie Vedder.

Back in high school the rock of the ’80s was just becoming phased out into the ‘Flash Back’ hours (lunch breaks or drive-time nostalgia music hours). I still tune into the Flash Back lunch hour on 101x, the majority of the music there is from the ’80s, some of is now music from the ’90s.

Yet, still the Rooster makes its way into prime air time. I guess I am curious about what when will the “Classic Rock” be the music of the ’80s and ’90s. I mean, if Classic Rock today is the music of the ’60s and ’70s, will they tack the ’80s and ’90s music onto that genre or will they create a new genre, say “Classic Alternative Rock”.

I guess one thing that I am starting to realize is that I am getting old(er).

This year I will 30, the next big milestone for me. I think most people find 30 to be a defining point, the point at which they are no longer young and not quite old.

I have always said that I feel older than I am, I usually throw out 70. Oddly enough, these days I would probably say that I feel 60.

So by the time I am 40 I will feel like 50, so in theory when I am 45, I will say 45.

Anyway, it is time to snuff the rooster.

Night

Gina and I had lunch @ Mandola’s yesterday, it is this great Italian deli that opened up a couple of years back.

They make fresh rustic bread, their own mozzarella cheese, they have a great selection of Italian cookies and they also have gelato. They have a few aisles of specialty Italian goods (sauces, pastas, cans/jars of preserved fishes).

They also have a restaurant part there as well, where you order sandwiches, pizzas, pastas, salads and some other yummy stuff.

We split a sausage and mushroom pizza and each had  their “Mista’ salads.

The staff member that brought us our food recognized the NetworkIP logo on Gina’s shirt. Now, I have had people think they knew NetworkIP, but really had a different company in mind. And the fact that Keith kept only saying “Network”, this led Gina and I to initially think he just had the name confused.

But then he mentioned Longview.

So, indeed Keith Nelson knew NetworkIP. He proceeded to mention some folks that work at Centris (formerly known as “Network Operator Services”). He had gone to culinary school in Austin and said that three years ago had met Amy (presumably a manager at Mandola’s, didn’t have a chance to ask) and he has been working at Mandola’s ever since.

He stated that he worked at “Network” while he was in high school doing odd jobs here and there and that he tried to be an operator at one point, but he just got bored. He at first mentioned that his family helped found Network, but I could not remember hearing about anyone with the last name of Nelson.

Turns out he is the nephew of one of the executives at Network Operator Services.

Keith was very surprised to hear that there was an Austin office, which actually isn’t that surprising as the Austin office isn’t listed anywhere, I guess it is a secret. (oops, spilled the beans.)

Anyway, he asked that Gina pass along a message to one of the executives that she works closely with.

It was an interesting chance meeting and from now on I will keep an eye out for Keith whenever at Mandola’s.

Back to the grind.

Laterz

New blog domain, “ben.dominguez-benner.com”

New blog engine, WordPress instead of Serendipity.

New blog name, Ben Benner Blog (for now anyway, probably change it soon).

Same old me.

Laterz