I recently started a PhD blog: Vanilla Draft. Feel free to follow along if you're interested. Also, a special note to my non-RSS-feed-using family members: there is an option to subscribe via email on the Feeds for Syndication page.

Thanks to everyone who helped me recently to make the decision on whether or not to continue in the PhD program. I deeply appreciate your input, advice, and willingness to be a sounding board.

From the most recent post:

This last week, I had a mid-academic-life crisis where I found myself thinking and praying as to whether I would continue with the PhD program or not.

Why? Postponing progress would let me focus on other areas of my life that are important to me: family, friends, reading, playing sports, being outside, and sleeping.

Not to mention the fact that we're having a baby in a couple of weeks (God-willing). It's admittedly tempting to quit a program that is hard to do and doesn't promise much in terms of career payoff to spend more of it with the people I care about. When I think of it this way, it seems obvious that I should quit.

However, I really want to do the PhD, and I enjoy research, and learning, and reading, and writing, and working on hard problems. I feel that God has given me a desire and an interest in working towards this, and so, why not? Also, I have 90% of my coursework requirements already completed. Why would I stop when I'm this close?

After seeking counsel from family and friends, I decided, in fact, to continue with the program, but to reduce my load for the next semester while we get used to having a new baby at home.

Well, in light of the fact that I got zero (zilch) responses to my desperate plea for landscaping help, I just ended up going with a Washington Hawthorn, and one very "bad-ass deciduous" (Sugar Maple):

Mandy was laughing the entire time at how small the tree was. I might have to tie an orange flag around it so I don't run it over with the lawn mower next summer.

It's only about 18 inches feet high right now (don't confuse the bamboo shoot with the actual tree in the photo above -- it only goes as high as the highest green twist-tie), but should grow to 60 feet just in time for me to retire in 2044.

Dear Friends: During the month of September, I plan to satisfy my hubris by drafting daily illustrations of mustachioed monsters. The set, in its entirety, will be called Monsters with Mustaches (MwM) and will contain 24 unique works. Each piece will have the dual characteristic of (A) containing one or more monsters, and (B) containing one or more mustaches.

We're planning to plant some trees on the East side of our house to cover up the large naked barn-like surface that's currently welcoming our guests.

Potential Layout

Legend

A. Tall bad-ass deciduous
B. Short decorative tree, or medium coniferous shrubbery
C. Qwest underground network
D. Xcel Energy buried electric

Options

• Ginkgo Maidenhair (Ginkgo Bilboa)
• Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)
• Prairifire Flowering Crab (Malus 'Prairifire')

Are there any arborists out there that have ideas of other good trees that live well in clay-rich East-Central Minnesota? (Contact.)

Mandy and I entered the 2008 Logic Egg Drop Competition with a piece titled Oviparous Rover, which was built to withstand a 6-story drop to asphalt while protecting a large chicken egg from breaking on impact.

No names will be dropped, but word on the street is that a freestyle rap battle spontaneously broke out between team Lefty & Skinny and the rest of the pack coming out of the second checkpoint at Minneathlon v2.0. Overheard on the course:

Hunched, shivering, goose-pimply and bare, I assembled with other pubescent boys on the wet, slippery, and slimy concrete of our Junior High locker room after a pre-swim rinse. I could smell the dry chlorine in the air, and had already started prophesying to myself the inevitable ashy dander that would ensue that afternoon in the form of an anhydrous itchy epidermis.

After a year of riding a fixed-gear without brakes, I decided to add a cheap front calliper and lever (AKA, a Chicken Switch) so I can have some additional stopping power during my impulsive kamikaze bombing runs down by the river. I figure if these guys use one, so should I. Here's a few photos on Flickr.

In a couple of days, Mandy and I are going to France on a missions trip with an intergenerational team from First Baptist Church to help two missionary families with church-planting. During our trip, we'll be updating our team blog with photos and stories, so please head on over there if you're interested in learning more.

Earlier this spring, I made my first attempt at some graphic art. "The Promise" was inspired by my hopes of getting outside for a summer hike in the mountains, like Mandy and I did on Mt. Rainier a few years ago. Read on to view the image.

As I'm sure all of you have heard by now, the I-35W bridge, spanning the Mississippi river, collapsed on Wednesday. My family and close friends are OK, but it hit close to home. I arrived on the scene 15 minutes after the collapse on my bike (not knowing anything that was going on), to find that my normal bike path was destroyed. Good thing I was running late I guess.

Last weekend, I built two Adirondack chairs thanks to some plans I acquired from the St. Olaf Master Carpenter and the use of a co-worker's wood shop. Read on for a photo.

In the fall of 1994, my lanky 10th-grade bones quivered while standing under oppressively-frigid rain in a field near my high school. Suddenly and without warning, my solar plexus was rocked by an unbelievable force that swept my feet from the ground, knocked the wind from my diaphragm, and pitched me airborne.

In the interest of simplified terrestrial locomotion, I recently shed two old bicycles and acquired an urban boneshaker made of galvanized CroMo with low-profile road tires, a single fixed gear, and no brakes.

A collection of fictional letters for which I would be interested in knowing further details.

One of my high-school bands was named Factor 8 (think proverbial Eight Ball) and I played bass. My brother Brian was kind enough to dig up a little ear candy from "the early years." If you've ever been interested in knowing how a couple of pimply-faced teenagers interpret "alternative funkadelic hillbilly folk", by all means have a listen.

On Tuesday, I was sitting at my desk responding to an email when without warning, my eyebrows twitched and dozens of goose pimples formed on my neck as my body reacted to a disagreeable and breezy draft. I shivered and realized that there were cars honking while a strange and unfamiliar voice said, "Well, if I don't make it, tell my wife I love her."

There is a winding and irregular road in Brainerd, MN called the "Yee Yee Road" that exists for two purposes: (1) to provide a paved path to and from homes in the woods, and (2) to dispense titillating enjoyment to the hillbilly Benson/Schumann clan while they raced their rusted Chevy Citation over the hilly humps, with windows down, sans seat belts, unashamedly hooting, "Yee Haw!" repeatedly throughout the mid-nineties.

I've been in a few car accidents in my life--one of which sent my brother, my brother's friend, my Mom, and myself, soaring over an icy jump, howling in unison while we gripped the hand-holds of our fearlessly airborne Celebrity Wagon.

I read Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry again. Although I relish the book enough to be tempted to formalize a perennial reading, there's something about the idea of "planning" to read a book like this that just doesn't fit with the natural order of things.

I just got done hanging a print of Rembrandt's "The Return of the Prodigal Son" in my office. The print was a gift from my thoughtful dear sister-in-law JoAnne and has grown to mean quite a bit to me over the last year because of reading a book by Henri Nouwen of the same title--also from JoAnne. Read on for a picture of the painting.

Flagrant notational violence of the exclamatory--dare I say inflammatory--variety is rampant and must be extinguished before it does further harm. Ladies and gentlemen, grammarians and countrymen, it's time to raise public awareness of the overuse of exclamation marks. Allow me to introduce a new tool: the Exclamation Ratio (r).

In the Spring of 1994, Ryan (Sloot Dog) Van Slooten, Chad (Carrot Top) Schueller, and Mark (Sparkles) Benson founded the Hyper-Color Dance Squad (HCDS.) Heavily influenced by the provocative MC Hammer, the HCDS was most known for their matching outfits consisting of neon-yellow silky shorts, tight black shirts, dark shades, and Saucony sneakers.

The first time I tried an endo to impress some friends, my 10-speed Peugeot decided it was time to do its best imitation of a stubborn mule, causing my sans-helmet oversized biscuit to say "Hello Mr. Asphalt."

Recently, Mandy and I dropped nine (9) fazolies on popcorn at the AMC. Before sitting down, we made a pit stop at the automatic butter dispenser--a monstrosity with a single over-sized yellow button (the size of my fist) simply labeled, "Push for Butter."

I went into the woods a boy, and returned a man, for I have killed a squirrel. Like all men before me, I have reached the age of accountability, claimed rite of passage, and finalized my coming of age.

Chad, a childhood friend of mine, had a gerbil named Furball. Furball was a sort of runt--barely 50 grams--a disadvantage he lived with throughout his short 6-month life in a cage with some woodchips, rocks, and an oversized wheel for exercise. Furball was the Tiny Tim of Gerbilshire.

Growing up, due to my parents' responsible frugality when purchasing "dairy", my family saved gonzo moola while my knobby knees suckled instant non-fat powdered milk. Cousin, this is my story.

I can count on one hand, the number of people who have cut my hair. Growing up, I granted exclusive rights to my Ma. In college, I graduated to cutting my own hair, which meant that every quarter-year, I'd brush off the $12 Wahls, snap on a dismembered no. 2, and buzz myself an Astronaut-Heiny.

I recently made a hideously-fulfilling digital spy camera purchase and immediately concocted a filthy plan:

1. Infiltrate Blockbuster, act shady, and snap candid photo of unsuspecting clerk as brother-in-law pays for my movie.
2. Get Mandy to grin like batty tourist as I shake a fist and declare how I'm the smartest man alive.
3. Distract brother Brian by whipping out spy camera and snapping photo after betting him that he, "can't glance North and pick his nose at the same time."

Was I successful? Maybe if you read on, I'll tell you.

Lately, due to the increased number of tasks I've been collecting, I've revisited the way I capture info, make lists, and reallly just get crap done. My goal is to have a system that ends my worrying about the future tense, and moves the here-and-now, front-and-center.

I just finished my inagural semester of graduate school at the University of Minnesota and it wasn't without anguish. This fortnight, my classmates were grumbling to our professor about how much work we were being assigned. His response:

The beatings will continue until morale improves; and by the way, Merry Christmas.

I have deep love for a certain, righteous, compact, duel-door, tri-cylinder, wretchedly sassy, sans-A/C, manual trans, 60 mph/gal, robin-egg-blue hatchback jalopy. Pinky is my pimpin' ride. Browse on Holmes, for this is how I roll.

You see, I have this condition. It's my larynx. Whenever I try to speak a word with an open configuration of my vocal tract (AKA, a vowel), I end up sounding like some pimply seahorse hiding in a treasure chest in the middle of pimpleshire. It's not good, I'm telling you.

So long, Fall; it was nice knowing you. Every year, the time you get to stay with us seems to be shorter than the year previous. Maybe next November, you could stay for Thanksgiving. Mom would be so happy.

I wrote recently about taking a vacation from my problems and how I've found a restful refuge near where I work on the Mississippi river. The Hennepin Avenue Bridge is one of the places on the river for which I feel particularly amorous.

Dear Scarred Feet,

You might not remember me. We've met only once before--in the summer of 1987--for a brief but painful encounter which left you permanently marred and me unscathed but dirtied with your blood.

I'm the spokes of your Dad's Schwinn Cruiser, and I'm writing to say: "I'm sorry."

I went for a walk today over lunch. I put one foot in front of the other and slowly meandered through Minneapolis' North Loop, along 5th Avenue, past the condominiums, and down to West River Road on the Mississippi.

I go to the river for one reason: to run away--and today was not unusual.

This article is also available in Portable Document Format

I, Mark Benson, self-proclaimed half-Mexican, and innocent victim of blue-collar crime, submit earnest testimony against the nameless and nefarious victimizer whom henceforth shall be known as the Burrito Bandit.

Last night, Esther had her spring violin recital at the McPhail Center For Music in Minneapolis.

The recital was for students of Mary West and the level of skill displayed was astonishing.

Kids from 3rd or 4th grade, on up through high-school seniors played things that didn't seem natural. I was very impressed, and it's been a long time since I've listened to music with that high of quality.

Esther did a wonderful job, although she said afterwards that she was nervous about the fact that she wasn't playing her own violin (it's getting repaired), and instead, was playing May West's.

I recently posted an article on the announcement of the use of Robots for Camel Racing in the middle east. Today, the associated press released an article with some photos of these robots. You can see that article here, and the slideshow here.

The Bristol Zoo in Britain is announcing the birth of Kintana, the second aye-aye Lemur to be born and hand-reared in captivity.

This story is partly interesting because it doesn't happen very often, and party interesting, because the aye-aye Lemur is so fricken' weird.

Here's the BBC article. Here's another photo from National Geographic of the little fella'

Camel Racing is a big sport in the United Arab Emirates. Unfortunately, many of the jockeys are enslaved children as young as 4-years old.

The BBC is reporting that over the weekend, a prototype of a robot was successfully tested that would replace these child-jockeys.

Have you ever had a dentist, while working on you, stop abruptly and say "oops"? Twice? Well I have, and this is my story.

I went to the dentist a few months ago for a check up and found that I had to have a cavity filled. My dentist Dr. Colazi calmly started with the normal routine by injecting a little Xylocaine (like Novocaine) in to the back of the inside of my cheek.

The instant he finished emptying the syringe and pulled it out, and said "oops".

For the last few months, I've been reading A
Year with C.S. Lewis which is essentially a devotional book culled from C.S. Lewis' major nonfiction works (Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity, etc.). It's organized like most other devotionals in that each day of the year has a new reading. The entry for March 2nd is entitled The Moral Dilemma and is an excerpt from Mere Christianity.

The house next door to us exploded. It's not very often I get to write that! Mandy and I woke up very early this morning to a loud blast that blew out the windows on one side of our house, knocked pictures off the wall, smashed our fence, and burned our yard.