Ben Benner’s Blog

… the more they stay the same.

Let’s see, updates on what has been going on.

1) The Benner family has gotten a new bunny. I am not referring to Zoe, who joined the family back in June. I am referring to ‘Wash’, yup his name is Wash. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of Wash, but Gina has been snapping plenty of photos.

2) Gina got an early X-mas gift. She got a Canon Rebel EOS XSi. She has long been into photography, but her old 35mm Canon cameras need to be repaired. You might think that the reason I got her a digital is purely due to my love of technology, it is not purely due to my love of technology. She has really liked her digital cameras in the past and has scanned several pictures for web posting or reprinting. It just seemed like the best logical progression.

(note: Gina will tell you that I also got it for her, so that she would have a hobby. I prefer to think of it in terms of helping her find a creative outlet, mine lately is bread.)

3) I got a Mac. John bought a new Mac Pro (desktop) and cut me a great deal on his old 13″ Mac Book Pro. I have made the conversion from my HP laptop to the Mac. There are A LOT of things that I like (Exposé for instance - it is FANTASTIC) , but there are some thing that I am still getting used to. Like the fact that the ‘control’ key doesn’t do anything I want it to do anymore, meaning I have not yet finished the training myself to use the ‘command’ key yet.

4) Work has been extremely busy. There has been the normal fare, the day-to-day stuff that always takes up time. But we have also been knocking out a few new things here and there. One of our customer’s Oddcast had us work with them on a project for Whataburger. If you are from/in Texas then you definitely know the name, from what I am told other southern states have this unique burger chain as well, but anyone from Michigan will likely be a bit clueless.

The Whataburger project itself is a variation on a few different projects we have done for Oddcast in the past, but there was a spark of genius in the way in which we implemented this project that I hope to leverage for all future projects like it, in terms of fluidity and efficiency I would dare say that the underlying work represents a 10x increase in both areas. That project launched on Nov 9th and runs until Dec 21st, which reminds me the entire dev team will be heading to Whataburger to get ourselves an A1 Thick and Hearty Burger here either on Friday or Monday.

With the new team that I have assembled to work on web applications for the parent company, we launched a new web app for a customer. Unfortunately, I cannot state who that customer is at this time. I do want to note that Kevin and Daniel (the two senior developers on the team) played a big part in completing this project for a timely launch. We have found (and corrected) some bugs here and there, which is to be expected with as quickly as we rushed it into production. But along the way we have also made some enhancements that I feel really proud of. We will be re-using parts of what we have done on other parent company projects in the future.

The other notable project/product that we have been working has recently launched a pilot with a retailer that I think everyone would know the name of, but at least right now I cannot state who that retailer is. The product is CommentFunnel. (Jaduka blog post)

We took some of the telephony tech that we had created for Oddcast in the past and reworked it a little bit here and there to allow for a comment recorded by a customer can be immediately be emailed to the store’s management and we also provide a dashboard that allows for reporting and reviewing comments right on the web. As we move beyond the pilot phase we will be upgrading the telephony and the web aspects of CommentFunnel. We will look to add in text (sms) messaging for mobile couponing and look at transcription technologies to allow us to make the audio comments searchable.

5) I fixed Gina’s big red chair. Had I not lost the IKEA receipt for the chair, this item would read ‘I got a replacement for Gina’s big red chair.’ The Chair’s ’spring’ supports had broken away from the frame, causing you to sink into the chair. After much contemplation (which sounds better than, ‘I was being lazy’), I finally devised a solution for the chair. A square piece of 1/2″ plywood, some metal ‘L’ brackets, many wood screws, my trusty Black&Decker drill, some muslin and my Powershot staple gun. After a couple of hours in the garage, the chair was ready to be put back into the living room. I used the muslin and staple gun to replace the fabric covering the bottom of the chair, and unfortunately hiding my handy work.

I am sure there are mundane things that I could list out here, but I will leave that for another blog post.

Back to the grind.

Laterz

bdbenner apple, gina, mac, work bunny, commenfunnel, gina, Jaduka, mac, oddcast, update, whataburger, work

For those that do not know, the Dominguez part of Dominguez-Benner is known for their artistic talents. I got some of this talent, but to be honest, just never practice. I have tabled in clay as a medium, making small ceramic things and painting them. Some of which I felt were good, those being the ones that came after doing, many, many in a row. i.e. ‘Practice makes perfect.’ (Notably my Mother and Sister are very good artists, and my Abuelo (grandfather) is a real Renaissance man of art, all of my uncles have the talent as well.)

I can definitely feel that practice makes you better, in my opinion there is no such thing as perfect, sorry Google and Apple, but keep striving for perfection, please. Back to the real topic of this post. I have probably always been a sketcher, a doodler, someone who likes to draw little things. I really, REALLY enjoyed the drawing class I took with Rachel (the only other Dominguez-Benner in existence) a number of years ago.

Well, technology has gotten better at allowing artistic expression and thanks to the economics of technology (i.e. it gets cheaper every year), the cost of really GOOD digital drawing tablets has come to the point where it is not a MAJOR investment to get one. Particularly, when it is your Birthday.

Gina bought me a Wacom Intuos4 Small tablet. Kevin has one at work (technically two Wacom tablets, the small and I believe the mediumis at home). I had thought about asking for one of the larger Bamboo brand, also made by Wacom, but Kevin advised me that the sensitivity of the Intuos is just better.

I hope to be able to get the hang of digital sketching and also definitely work on doing some ‘photoshop’ editing of pics. Just from playing around with it for the about 15 minutes, I can tell that the sensitivity that it provides would allow for some very creative editing of existing digital media.

Here is the pic that I drew real quick. I was just messing around and it all sort of came together, I tried out doing the different pieces in layers and seeing how they blended onto one another.

Time to go to lunch with Gina and John.

Laterz

bdbenner art, digital birthday, drawing, gina, wacom

No wait, you’re not Scotty!

I won’t give any spoilers but the reboot of the Star Trek franchise has some unexpected twists that help make the whole movie understandable to those of us that might know a bit more about Star Trek than we normally care to admit. However, there are already websites out there that will outline for you all of the inaccurate events and facts in the movie.

I wanted to get a quick post out, before Gina and I head out. We are going to go see Star Trek, again technically, in regards to Gina. Our friends over at UnwiredNation were nice enough to snag us some tickets for the IMAX preso that happened down at the Bob Bullock history museum, on behalf of the Austin Planetarium Foundation.

However, Gina suffers from motion sickness and could not really watch the movie last night on the HUGE screen. I have to admit there were a few times that I found it, well disturbing to watch the movie with all the twists and turns, not necessarily sick feeling but it was giving me a wee bit of a headache to try to follow along some of the parts.

This afternoon’s showing will be my third in the last 48 hours. I saw the movie at 9:45AM yesterday morning with the Jaduka dev staff (including Jeremy & Kevin) and John came along as well. The movie theatre was mostly full, but not packed.

Gina asked me if I minded seeing Star Trek again this afternoon, to which I tried to come back with something witty and failed, but no not a problem at all.

Well, I best publish this and get my shoes on.

Laterz

bdbenner movies gina, imax, jeremy, john, star trek, unwirednation

My wife has recently become addicted to technology, one might go so far as to call her a TechnoSnob. I just got off the phone with Gina a few minutes ago, she is in Florida for the next few days on vacation with her mom and a few of her cousins. They are all in town for Bubba’s wedding, one of her cousins from Lansing who has since moved to the Florida (somewhere in the Ormond Beach Area).

Well, apparently there is no Wi-Fi in the vicinity of their hotel. Gina told me that she was not able to find any available networks when she booted up her macbook earlier.

NO INTERWEBS!!!!

Whatever is she to do?

Apparently, the correct course of action is to text me and ask for locations that are nearby that have wifi access. I found a couple of places, the one that actually looks pretty neat is 15 miles north. I didn’t bother to send her the link for the BeachHouse Beanery. Maybe if she gets online and reads this post, she might think about heading 15 miles north for some wifi and coffee on the beach.

The only time that I have ever really been without access to hi-speed Internet access was up at the cottage and well I kind of found a way around that as well.

Back to the grind.

Laterz

UPDATE: I was looking over the hotel website and it says “We also offer our guests a lobby business center with complimentary high speed internet access.” I read this as them offering wi-fi in the lobby, it could just mean they offer a computer that is hooked to the Internet. I have yet to hear from Gina as to what form the “complimentary high speed Internet access” comes as.

bdbenner Technology, gina, travel, vacation florida, gina, travel, vacation, wifi

These were the sounds heard the other day as my wife made the purchase of her Kindle2.

Gina has had her current Kindle since October of 2008, during this time period she has raved about the marvels of this ingenious little electronic device. I don’t know this for a complete fact, but I am pretty sure she has convinced a few people to buy one of those buggers.

Did I mention that she is a bit of a Kindle fanatic?

At lunch we listen to the Kindle Chronicles, a weekly podcast debuting every Friday. The man’s voice that narrates the Chronicles has got this weird soothing aspect to it. Maybe that is what got Gina to make the purchase of the Kindle2.

Gina was not originally planning to buy the new model. She had, like many Kindle fanatics been reading all of the gossip possibly available. Reading about how it would no longer have a SD card slot or how the battery would no longer be replaceable.

But after reading all the hype and the transcriptions of the Amazon press conference, she decided that she had to have it!

Hence…

“Ohhhh, Shiny. [Click]“

The new Kindle is due to arrive  on the 26th. That is unless she changes her mind and pops for the overnight shipping. She is sitting here next to me, waffling on whether or not to spend the extra $20.

I won’t even get into the planning she has been doing on what to do for a new Kindle cover, given that her old cover (which is not really even that old) does not fit the Kindle2.

Of course, I have yet to mention the most important fact of all this hub-bub.

Gina gets a new Kindle on the 26th. This means that I should have my very own Kindle on the 27th. I figure it will take her about 24 hours to settle into the new unit.

I have had the opportunity read probably 30 pages worth of various books on it. I am honestly looking forward to having this cool piece of technology for myself, the ability to carry hundreds of books in something that is small and relatively light.

Gina is looking forward to us being able to read the same books, namely the books that she reads, as she finds my books boring. I am looking forward to reading some of the fiction that she loves.

I do need to note that this is one of the few, if not possibly first time that I have been gifted technology. In the past I have normally been the one to pass along technology.

Laterz

bdbenner Technology, newTechnology amazon, gina, kindle, kindle 2

And I don’t have any real plans.

I need to get the house straightened up, finish doing some laundry and what not.

I just got the call that my new glasses are ready, my prescription changed a little, like -.25 or something in each eye. I was almost talked into getting these black plastic frames with little skulls on the sides. However, I think that would only work if I was in a band or was back in college.

I am debating about what to do with my current glasses. I could keep them as a spare pair, or I could get new lenses (tinted) put in them for about $70. Because, I would really like to have a pair of sun glasses again, though I am quite used to being blinded when I go outside.

The Corolla needed an oil change so I dropped it off this morning. However, a couple of days ago the engine started to sound really LOUD, at first I thought maybe it was just because it needed an oil change, but the volume was significantly higher than just a rough idle.

I could smell just a wee bit of exhaust fume from when you open the hood, so after some searching on the Internet and Jeremy hearing it too, I am convinced it is something to do with the exhaust assembly in the engine area. I am really hoping that it is just something that has come loose. But more likely something has a hole in it.

Which makes me think that a 14 year old car back in Michigan would like be on at least it’s second muffler and likely it’s third one. I have never replaced a muffler on it and the car was only 4 years old when I bought it so it is unlikely that was replaced back then either.

I am awaiting the call from Brake Specialists to let me know how much it is going to cost.

In the meantime I am installing Asterisk 1.4 for a work project. Fun, Fun I love installing from source.

(I really mean that, btw)

Back to the grind.

Laterz

bdbenner Cars, corolla, travel, work Cars, gina, travel, work

Gina is in the Philippines, so I haven’t been sleeping too well. Several reasons why.

1. With no curfew, I find myself staying up later than usual.

2. The dogs go nuts with every little noise and usually wake me up in the middle of the night.

3. Cuz I miss her. (I just heard someone say ‘awwww’)

I have neglected my blogging.

I should have drank another red bull and headed down to this networking party that Jeremy is at tonight. But I have to save my strength for the networking party on Saturday. I hope I don’t miss anything too cool at the party tonight, but I definitely need to get some sleep tonight.

I had a maintenance window last night that had me up late and tomorrow morning at 8am I have a conference call with some folks in UK or somewhere in Europe. Good times, good times.

Well, I wanted to do a little update before going and passing out.

Laterz

bdbenner travel blogging, gina, jeremy, travel