Ben's Journal

Shira made me quite the treat as an appetizer for lunch today: mozzarella sticks! Apparently: Panco + cheese sticks + love (and a few o...

For some time now I've been able to fully develop PhoneGap Android Apps on Windows without ever opening Eclipse, but I couldn't sa...

Here are two ways to look at scented candles: (1) they are a pricey gimmick that give us just another excuse to spend money and accumulate ...

When it comes to all-in-one printers and scanners I have very low expectations. I fully expect I'll need to download hundreds of megs ...

Thanks to my wife, I watch way more tennis than any other sport. So much so, that I can't help but learn things from it. And the les...

Pete Seeger passed away today . I know embarrassingly little about the Man, though I have to admit to loving the romantic notion that he b...

For almost 10 years now, we've been watching the TV show Bones , and for nearly that long I've been complaining about it. When Bon...

I've always known my Dad was cool. But until these slides were unearthed , I had no idea just how cool: 1. Rock'n the 70's lo...

This is the plaque David and Maryn recently gifted to me, and now hangs proudly in my "office:" It reads: Please, Let me Dro...

The other day, I had a kashrut question I wanted to pose to the folks who use this hecsher (that is, the company behind this shield symb...

Well known fact: the game Monopoly gives you the chance to pull a Get Out Of Jail Free card. Less well known fact: during WW II, the Briti...

Here's proof, from a recently discovered set of slides . Shades? Check. Powder-blue Double breasted suit? Of course. Swimsuit shot? No ...

PocketNow has a wonderful piece out: One month with a Pebble . The article, as the headline suggests, covers one reviewer's take on sma...

When we were finalizing my grandparent's estate I came across a big 'ol box of slides. Being the Chief Blogger of the family, I q...

This morning, Shira, David, Maryn and Myself took advantage of our day off from work to do a little exploring. We headed out to Fredericks...

Yesterday, we kept our trail running habit going by doing a 7 mile loop in Prince William Forest. The loop was inspired by this LocalHike...

It's been a big weekend for my non-existent martial arts career: Shira and I earned our yellow belts (or level 1 in plain English) in K...

I'm a big fan of AutoHotKey . I believe it's one of those Swiss Army Knife type tools that every developer (who uses Windows, anyw...

Picture Correct picked up on a story from National Geographic where a group used a remote control car to get especially close up photos o...

P&G's: Pick them back up : Via Adrants . Girls first Ski Jump : Via Kottke.org . Dang, I'm such a softie. How...

Go ahead, take a side. Which of these two list of reforms are you behind? List A. End the long-term unemployment crisis Tear down t...

Life whizzes by in a flash, but journaling helps keep it from all fading into oblivion. There are countless ways to keep a journal, from an...

I finally got around to reading a wonderful piece published in Arlington Magazine last year: Crossing The Divide . This article covers th...

The weather was finally warm and dry enough that I could coax Shira and Dawn out for a trail run. We did the 4.5 mile loop trail at Burke...

You know how has winter dinners figured out? The Swiss. I figured this out years ago , when we traveled to Switzerland. Of course, I'm ...

During a development cycle, as I make changes to the database, I log those changes in tweaks.sql . Some of these changes might be structur...

We all know the best time to buy a generator. It's not during a Polar Vortex , that's for sure. It's on a random, 70 degree aft...

I've been waiting my entire blogging life to create a blog that uses Polar Vortex in the title, today I was finally given that chance....

I just accidentally stumbled over the story of 'Gene' Hambleton , an Air Force Navigator who was shot down and then rescued in dur...

Imagine this scenario: We walk into a room and the door slams and locks behind us. In front of us is a table that contains a cabinet. Th...

This Sunday afternoon we had a bit of free time. Did we hit a Smithsonian or visit the Corcoran Gallery ? No, we did what any Rochester nat...

I've been biking to Morning Minyan for the last few months, and after freezing my butt off during a few 20°F'ish mornings, I'v...

This evening my run turned out to be a bit more adventurous than I planned: there was snow! As I was running, I think there was probably a ...