ALL MY FRIENDS SAY
At the end of each year, I like to honor my friends that have blogs by linking back to my favorite story that they wrote this past year. It is just a way to support my friends and let them know I enjoy their work.
I hope you take the time to click on the links and read about their lives and their thoughts.
- A Day In The Life…
Mother’s Day at a baseball game - Above Tree Line
This brought back an old memory for me that I once blogged about, too, not long after I started this blog. You can check my old entry story at here - Adventures in Poland
Plans for the future - beauty for ashes
Floating Lanterns - Bring His Hope
Orphans Night Before Christmas - Erin Bird’s Web Nest
Avoiding getting a big head - Fye Family
A new family tradition - Dave & Amy Terpstra
Finding your passion - Jen’s Blog
Be warned; with all of her great recipes on her blog, I think you can just gain weight by reading it. My favorite this year, Seedless Blackberry Jam - The Journey of Writer Danica Favorite
Overcoming fears while at the Botanic Gardens - My Random Thoughts… by Thomas
I have had too many of these types of days - Mindy’ CaringBridge
This is a place where we update people on Mindy. Really my favorite part is all the comments from our friends and family. So I am just link to the main site page, so if you want you can go to the guestbook and enjoy the comments, too. - No Ordinary Love
The challah look so good - Notes From The Morning Meeting
Since Todd never blogs anymore, I thought I would pick a blog entry by Rick that mentioned Todd - Pocket Lint
The power of siblings - Pretty Much The Coolest Family EVER
Just another reminder to keep soldiers and their families in your thoughts and prayers - Stephens Family
A review of 2010 - Win, Lose, & Drew
Tebow must be great for Drew to draw. I think he is having fun with drawing Tebow. Here is my favorite of the year.
MIGHT WIN AN OSCAR
It is a tradition of this blog near the end of each year to rank the movies that came out during the year (2011) and that I saw in the year (2011). These are just my thoughts about the movies. If it is different than yours, that is OK. We can have different opinions, really.
Why do I put this list out? Well, no reason really, but I just to do it. It is just a yearly feature of Admirable Thoughts: Writings of Code Monkey.
I would like to thank the Local Public Libraries where I checked out all but three of these movies. One of the movies we saw going to Hawaii. It is nice to watch movies for free. Without the library, I probably would not have wasted hours watching movies because I don’t want to spend the money on them.
- Soul Surfer – Very good movie about never giving up your passions
- X-Men: First Class – A character driven action movie. That was nice to see
- Super 8 – “Bad things happen but you can go on living”…that sounded like the sermon at church a few days before I watched this movie
- Unknown – I enjoyed how this movie as it had good twist
- Captain America: the First Avenger – Still my favorite hero even if the movie is not the best super hero movie ever
- Thor – The Stan Lee standard camo for Marvel movies was great
- Battle: Los Angeles – I really enjoyed this movie as it was surprisingly good. It was nice to see the actress Michelle Rodriguez not die in a show for once
- Kung Fu Panda 2 – It had many more laughs than I expected especially for a sequel
- Mr. Popper’s Penguins – Pleasance performance pleased
- Pirates of the Caribbean, On Stranger Tides – Much better than the third one in the series
- Lucky – This was a really strange and enjoyable movie that kept me waiting to see what was going to happen
- Larry Crowne2 – Going back to college does not seem very fun to me
- Cars 2 – It is a scary world where it is up to Larry the Cable to save us all
- Water for Elephants – The circus life does not seem very fun after this movie
- The Big Year – It would be so easy to say this movie is for the birds, but I won’t
- Flypaper – A pretty crazy heist
- Fast Five – They sure oiled up Dwayne Johnson’s muscle in every scene they could
- Green Lantern – An alright movie, as it did not make me green or yellow
- Win, Win – It fun to see a movie about a bad high school wrestling team with the Pioneer as their mascots. Reminded me of of my high school memories
- Winne The Pooh – Just what one would expect to see for Lynzee’s 18th birthday, old school Winne The Pooh
- Source Code – Strange but everything will be ok
- The Adjustment Bureau – Good potential for a movie with a so-so plot and a very weak ending
- Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes – I am not sure what to say, I didn’t hate it or love it. It did have some nice CGI
- The Green Hornet – I liked the shout out to Bruce Lee
- I Am Number Four – Surprise! They ended it so it was set up for a sequel
- The Lincoln Lawyer – This is way we hate but probably need lawyers
- Cowboys & Aliens – I did not find Daniel Craig to be convincing as a cowboy
- Crazy, Stupid, Love – Pretty dumb till the nice twist near the end made it interesting
- Season of the Witch – Lame plot, but at least good ethics and strong character were include in the story
- The Dilemma – Had some funny scenes, but other wise it was just another average comedy
- Zookeeper – Very, very predictable, but still kind of funny
- Judy Moody And The – This was kind of a bummer of a movie
- Just Go With It – Very predicable. Nothing like trying to build a relationship on many lies
- Something Borrowed – It contained more drinking, lying, and cheating than any old time country song
- Love, Wedding, Marriage – Lot of good actors in this movie who were not very good
- Eagle – Wow, I did not expect this movie to be sooooo boring
- Rango – The movie had no point, story, ending, or reason to watch of it, yet I did
HE PRETENDS LIKE HE CAN AS HE LAUGHS AT THE PICTURES IN THE FUNNY BOOKS
In years past, I use to do a trivia contest on the books I read for the year since I list them what I am currently reading on the left hand side. However, do to lack of interest I needed the contest. However, I decide this year not to do the contest again. Instead, I am going to start another end of the year tradition. I am just going to list the books I read this year below just in case you are looking for a list of books to check out. They are listed in the order I read them.
| BOOK | AUTHOR |
| Riven | Jerry Jenkins |
| Horns, Hogs, & Nixon Coming | Terry Frei |
| Heart Shift | John Trent |
| What Good Is God | Philip Yancey |
| Danger Close | Tom Morrisey & William G. Boykin |
| I Beat The Odds | Michael Oher |
| 50/50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons In 50 Days | Dean Karnazes |
| When Helping Hurts: how to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor– and yourself | Steve Corbet |
| The Promises She Keeps | Erin Healy |
| Fatal Convictions | Randy Singer |
| Fasting | Scot McKnight |
| Run! | Dean Karnazes |
| Certain Jeopardy | Jeff Struecker |
| Crazy Love | Francis Chan |
| Ultra Marathon | Dean Karnazes |
| The Essential Runner | John Hanc |
| How A Man Prays For His Family | John Yates |
| Heart of Ice | Lis Wiehl |
| Blaze of Glory | Jeff Struecker |
| The Priest’s Graveyard | Ted Dekker |
| The Road To Unafraid | Jeff Struecker |
| Try Dying | James Scott Bell |
| Radial Question | David Platt |
| Deep Blue | Tom Morrisey |
| Dark Fathom | Tom Morrisey |
| Through My Eyes | Tim Tebow |
| Love & Respect | Dr. Emerson Eggerichs |
| True Grit | Charles Portis |
| Soul Surfer | Bethany Hamilton |
| Erasing Hell | Francis Chan |
| Inside Threat | Jason Elam |
| The Markers Diet | Jordan Rubin |
| Yucatan Deep | Tom Morrisey |
| Farraday Road | Ace Collins |
| Forbidden | Ted Dekker |
| Swope’s Ridge | Ace Collins |
| Queen | Steven James |
| The Tehran Initiative | Joel Rosenberg |
| True Strength: My Journey from Hercules to Mere Mortal – And How Nearly Dying Saved My Life | Kevin Sorbo |
| Kiloton Threat | Tom Morrisey & William G. Boykin |
| 10 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe | Larry Osborne |
| The Resurrection File | Craig Parshall |
| A Dog’s Purpose | W. Bruce Carmeron |
| The All-Pro Diet: Lose Fat, Build Muscle, and Live Like a Champion | Tony Gonzalez |
QUIET CHRISTMAS MORNING IN THE COLORADO SNOW
December 15, 2011FOR A LONG, LONG TIME
Oh, wow, it has been two months since my last post. I know I have been so busy as the last three months of the year are killer work wise for me. Sorry for not posting anything for a long, long time.
The funny thing is I am not really sure what to blog about. It has been two months; so you would think I would have lots to write about.
I could talk about number fifteen as some days you have to go a whole two or three minutes before you can find a new story about him online, or someone talking about him on any station on TV or radio. I love his character, attitude, and that he fines way to overcome no matter what others say. I love the website where it shows people at various places doing what we used to call kneeling in prayer. I love this video (warning this might bring bad memories to my loyal readers who are Bears fans) where he is singing “Awesome God” because he signs as bad as I do. Mostly, I am just glad he has help the Team start winning again and I am going to enjoy the ride no matter how long it last. Otherwise, I only have to the Rockies to look forward to and they don’t believe in having a second or third baseman apparently.
I could write about how I am really enjoying CSI again with the addition of Ted Danson. He has made the show more interesting again in my opinion. I really think he is a great actor, but I tend to never notice that because he is so good at it. The show is no Lost or Psych, but it has improved a lot with Mr. Danson.
I could mention that I finally ran a 10K in my runs last week. It took me an hour, but ran there all the way without stopping. Finally, I am hoping to improve my time and be in my first (non-snowshoe) 10K race in March of 2012. I have been improving my time in the 5K races and I hope to keep that up, too.
Then again I could mention my wife is now half way through her chemo for her cancer. After the chemo is finished at the end of January 2012; she will be doing radiation, but we don’t have a handle on how long that will be or what it will look like. However, most people who want to be updated on how she is doing; keeps up with her updates at her CaringBridge Site.
Maybe, I should mention that there is the fact we are looking at adding solar panels on our house soon. I am hoping that helps us save money for our electric bill so we can pay off other bills.
Maybe, I should write a note saying if you looking to help the poor and orphans this Christmas season I recommend you check out the Christmas Catalog at Heavenly Hopes Ministries.
However, I probably should say thank you for reading the blog even with a two month hiatus.
HIS ARE THE HANDS THAT THAT SPREAD THE SKY
This blog entry is meant to be a public and Big THANK YOU to David Crowder of the David Crowder Band.
If you know me or have paid attention to this website and/or the blog, you know I am a huge David Crowder Band fan. Over the last 11ish years we have gone to pretty much most of their Denver area concerts. The one on October 14, 2011, at the Ogden Theater is probably the last time we will see the band as they are on their last tour. However, David Crowder did something that made it even more special for Mindy and I.
The evening started with us and our friend Colleen standing in line waiting for doors to open. While we were waiting two guys came up to me and starting talking. They told me they were the unofficial welcome committee. As we talked for awhile I found the one of the guys was Mike D of the David Crowder Band and the other guy was Chris August. They were trying to keep it on the low down, so I did not ask for a picture. However, that was very cool. Mike and Chris were great guys.
When we got inside, we choose to be upstairs where we could sit down and saved a couple of seats for Ethan and Jennifer who were also joining us for the concert. So we did not have the greatest view, but it in a smaller place like the Ogden it was all good and the sound was great.
The concert started with John Mark McMillan. It was the first time I really have heard him. I am going to have to listen more to more of his music.
Next up was Chris August who we had meet while waiting in line. He sang a few songs and let the crowd know he was coming back again later so we would not be surprised. Along with his good music, Chris was very funny.
Then come the local Denver group, Gungor. They did this incredible acoustic performance. They were unbelievable good. They were accompanied by Kevin “K.O.” Olusola, who I read they found on youtube. He was like a one man band. I am looking forward to seeing Gungor again in the spring when they are said they will be back on tour in the Denver area.
As promised, Chris August came back and sang more songs. He was still good and funny the second time around.
Then the main event, the David Crowder Band came and they played for at least an hour and half or more. They were awesome!!!!! That is not an understatement, they were on fire. However, in the middle of the show came the event I am thanking David Crowder for.
He was in the middle of singing, “You Are My Joy” and he did this thing he does where he stops in the middle of the song and talks and jokes with the band and audience. Then he said “Is Scot Marion here”. Really that is what he said. In a split second my mind thought I hope he is not asking so he can point me out to security to escort me out. However, I shouted yes, but he had to ask if I was there again because my friends (Mike and Sarah Fye, Jeremy Moot and Adam Moot who were near the stage) had shouted for joy when they heard David say my name. I shouted again and he asked how I was and I responded. Got to admit it was funny and kind weird to be at concert where the artist on stage and you have a conversation.
David went on to mention that most every time he comes to Colorado that I have asked him to play a song (for my wife, Mindy) and he has never sang it. He told the band he didn’t think they had not played the song (without naming it) in probably ten years. Then he started singing it and the band joined in. I cannot tell you how incredible awesome this was for me and for Mindy. It was well worth the wait over the years for the song.
I can never thank David Crowder enough for singing the song, and I promise to try to not let it go to my head. The song he sang for us was “He Is The Love” and then he finished “You Are My Joy” without messing a beat.
Then the band went on to sing so many great songs. It was a wonderful night of worship. At one point Michael Gungor, Chris August, and John Mark McMillan joined the DCB for the last song before the encore. Then they did a few more songs to end the show. The last song he performed was the first song (“All I Can Say”) off his first independent album, “All I Can Say”. I thought that was very appropriate.
Again, thank you David Crowder.
As Mindy said on Facebook,
“Thank you for the amazing show last night in Denver!! The musical gifts God has provided for the entire band are simply awesome and I can’t imagine the end of this era. I also want to thank you so much for singing “He is the Love” at the request of my husband. This will be a memory to hold onto and smile as I go through my treatments in the next few months. Thanks again DCB!!!!! You are a classic band!!!!!”
Click To See Photos – I may have a video soon of the song. I took one but it was not good, but our friend Jeremy Moot said he got most of the song before his battery died. So I will can see if it good enough to put online.
Monkey Meditations
- What They Say…What They Mean: We are bring back the whole coaching staff…We did not know Terry Francona would be available
- I mostly stay away from politics in the blog
- However, a friend of mine is running for Jefferson Country (Colorado) School Board
- So I thought I would link to his website for you to think about voting for Preston Branaugh
- What They Say…What They Mean: Orton gives us the best chance to win…Win the Andrew Luck Draft Pick
- The Bronco QB thing has gotten to the point it is painful to hear Tebow fans whine for him while Orton turns the ball over and over especially in the fourth quarter
- I say take a page out of baseball and have a three QB starting rotation
- One week Orton starts, the next Quinn starts, and then Tebow starts. Then the fans can watch the games where the QB they like starts and will not need to shout for another QB at the other games.
- What They Say…What They Mean: Worn With Pride Hockey Team…Get ready for life without the NBA
- I think the Colorado Avalanche really need to hire a better marketing team
- No one really seems fired up about the team
- With no NBA to complete with, why can’t they could do a little better promoting the team
- What They Say…What They Mean: We are willing to give Steward another opportunity…We can’t afford David Wright
- It is nice to live in a world where people are working hard to fight injustices like
- People have to hear leaf blowers
- So much for college young adults fighting for ending things like war, unemployment, poverty, slavery, hunger, etc.
SOMETHING YOU GOTTA GAIN OR PROVE BY WINNING SOME SILLY FIGHT
With the 2011 regular season ending for baseball, it is time for the fifth annual Admirable Thoughts Awards.
- Code Monkey’s Jim Leyland Award
Description: Given to someone who quits on their team early in the season
Nominees:- Florida Manager Edwin Rodriguez – 6/19/2011
- Washington Manager Jim Riggleman – 6/24/2011
- Manny Ramirez Retires – 4/10/2011
Winner: This is a tough one for me as I dislike managers who quit on a team as I am sure they preach to the players not to quit. That being said, Manny “retiring” a few games into the season was sad. So for the third time in five years Manny wins this award.
- Code Monkey’s Cubbie Choking Award
Description: Given to someone that falls-apart when it matters
Nominees:- Red Sox
- Braves
- Rockies
Winner: Without a doubt this going to the historic choke job of the Evil Nation from Boston.
- Code Monkey’s Jose Canseco Award
Description: Given to the player or team who who had the worst defensive day
Nominees:- Magglio Ordonez (normally a DH) playing RF at Coors Field – 7/17/2011
- Nyjer Morgan bad play – 6/28/2011
- Geovany Soto throws to second with no run going to second – 8/2/2011
Winner: Well I don’t have a video link to it but I was at the game where Magglio Ordonez had to find a glove and play defensive since there is no DH in NL parks. He looked lost out there probably even more than I do when I play softball and he should have been given about 4 errors. My brother-in-law was with us for the game and he is a big Tigers fan and could not believe how bad Magglio looked. So he easily wins this award.
- Code Monkey’s Terry Tate Award
Description: Given to the best home plate collision of the year
Nominees:Winner: There were not a lot of big hits at home plate this year it seemed to me. Probably because of the injury to Posey. I think the winner this year is the Pena – Martin hit. Unlike the Cousin – Posey (which I thought was a clean hit and the problem was Posey position), I thought it was a cheap shot by Pena on Martin.
- Code Monkey’s Hatfields & McCoys Award
Description: Giving for the best brawl
Nominees:Winner: It seemed to me the fighting was down this year, which made this award tougher than normal a good list of brawls. The O’s and Red Sox fight was interesting because of the war of words afterwards, but the Giants and Phillies is the winner. It was a carry over from last year’s playoffs and that makes it more interesting to me.
- Code Monkey’s Congressional Award
Description: Given for the biggest waste of money
Nominees:- Vernon Wells – $26m+
- John Lackey – $15m+
- Carl Crawford – $15m+
Winner: Oh, I doubt anyone in Boston thinks John Lackey was a Wicked Good Signing anymore, so I am giving this award to Lackey. If Crawford has another bad year, he can be leader for this award next year.
- Code Monkey’s Deer Meat Award
Description: Given to weirdest injury of the year
Nominees:- Eric Thames fouls ball off his face
- Chris Narveson slices hand cutting glove laces
- Chris Davis injured shoulder sleeping
Winner: You would like to think a major league pitcher could have someone fix his glove or at least know not to put his thumb near the scissors. However, this year’s winner, Chris Narveson did not.
- Code Monkey’s Michael Jackson Award
Description: Given to the weirdest event of the season
Nominees:- Throwing out the first pitch by Cirque du Soleil performer -June 27, 2011
- Tulo hits the ball twice in one swing – June 25, 2011
- Fielder needs sunglasses from a fan at Coors Field – July 15, 2011
- Bug invade Holliday’s ear – Aug 23, 2011
- Foul Ball gets stuck in catchers mask – Sep 4, 2011
Winner: Yes, because of how tough the competition was I have five finalist this year. The Tulo one reminds me of an old Bugs Bunny cartoon. The bug in Holliday’s ear reminds of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. However, I really enjoy watching the Cirque du Soleil performer throwing out the first pitch. It is just fun to watch, thus he is this year’s winner.
Finally, congratulations to the Cursed Mountain Goats (my fantasy baseball team) who had a great Goatember 2011 and was able to repeat and become back-to-back championships. The scary part is I did predict a victory for them back in April in my annual PUT ME IN COACH – VII entry.
HUNGRY, I COME TO YOU FOR I KNOW YOU SATISFY
I am just saying that I have become a big fan of this Noosa Yoghurt. I really enjoy it with free strawberries and blueberries. The fact that it is a Colorado company just that much more special.
DREAM OF A PLACE WHERE EVERYTHING CHANGES
When I added this blog to my website, my wife ask me not to write about her and I agreed. However, I am going break that agreement for this entry.
In an effort to help keep everyone better updated on Mindy as she begins her fight with cancer; we decided to setup a blog that we will do our best to update with information about Mindy is doing.
You can sign up for this blog at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mindymarion
Also, so many people have asked to help out with meals and we really appreciate that. As my friend Drew said, “That way neither you or your wife have to cook. Especially you. She’s been through enough already.”
Right now we are not sure how everything will look, but I have setup an online calendar for people use if you really want to bring us meals. I will probably change the dates on the calendar in the future when we know how the chemo will play out, but the calendar is online for you to use if you really want to bring us meals during this time.
http://www.takethemameal.com/meals.php?t=ARLN5748&v=ece74db20b
IF YOU COME DOWN TO THE RIVER
I am posting this not to brag on everyone, but because I just thought this was too cool not to share.
Here is the 2011 Food Drive Countdown.
To see more photos of the event,Click Here
Also, you can watching teachings involved for the event this year:
GET AWAY TO WHERE THE BOAT LEAVES FROM
A little over two weeks ago, I was able to get away to Catalina Island to see my brother, Brian, get married to Maris.
It was a quick trip for me. On Wednesday night, I flew out to John Wayne Airport in the O.C. and got a ride to Dana Point where I meet up with my parents who had drove out there.
Then Thursday morning, we took the Catalina Express boat over to the Avalon area of the island. On the ride over, we did see two different schools of dolphins jumping in the ocean, but I did not get any good pictures or video of the dolphins. Still it was very cool to see.
Once on the island, we checked into the hotel that we were staying at and met Maris’ family. Then we just walked around the island most of the day till the wedding started later that night.
The wedding was a nice, intimate, and a quick event. Afterwords, there was the normal taking of wedding pictures which include everyone who came for the wedding. Then we were treated to a vegan meal and wedding cake. During the meal we got to get to know Maris’ parents and her brother. They were very nice people. It was a good time getting to know them.
Then Friday morning, my parents, Maris’ brother, and I took the boat back to Dana Point, I got a ride back to the airport and flew home.
So it was a very quick trip for me and for those of you who need to know — No, I did not get to an In-N-Out. However, it was nice to spend some time with family and see my brother and his new wife’s wedding.
THE KIND OF FAITH IT TAKES
It may only take a small amount of faith to move a mountain, but it appears to take a Faith Day for the Rockies to win on a Sunday in the 2011 season.
This was the fifth straight season I was able to attend Faith Day at Coors Field for a Colorado Rockies game and concert. It is a always a fun day, but I did not think the Rockies would get a win this year. They had lost 17 straight Sunday games, so I figured we would only get to see them lose before Casting Crowns performed.
However, to my surprise (and probably everyone else’s) the Rockies won on a Sunday again. They beat the Dodgers 5 to 3. To me anytime the Dodgers lose especially to the Rockies it is a good day.
The concert was good and like last year a big group stayed for the concert. A bonus for us was that the signing of “God Bless America” in the 7th inning was done by Jennifer Dreyer, one of the leaders of the worship team at the church we attend.
However, I am a little disappointed with myself. As we were leaving Dave Dravecky walked right by us going the other way. I did not want to stop him and talk to him because I was not 100% it was him. Which is stupid as how many one arm man who look like him could there be in this area at a baseball game. However, I known it was him and I wished I would have stopped him and said I like his ministry, Endurance, which helps those who are suffering especially from cancer. Next time I should not let fear stop me like that.
THESE ARE SOME GOOD TIMES
Today, Monday, August 22, is Lynzee first day of college. It is hard to believe my step-daughter is in college.
Last week, we took her to her college, University of Northern Colorado, and dropped her off.
So if you read this blog and want to send her a care package or anything this semester below is her new address:
Lynzee Parker
Harrison Hall, Room #225
Greeley, CO 80631-6949
Mindy and Lynzee as we dropped her off at college
Monkey Meditation
- Best Things About Shark Week: It is more interesting than fungus week
- So have you ever suffered from Brain Freeze
- and found hitting your head does not make it better?
- Where finally there is an ANSWER to what causes it and how to avoid it.
- Best Things About Shark Week: There’s an app for that
- This is a public service announcement for Brian Davis Band
- They are working to get their album funded
- If you want to help, click here
- Best Things About Shark Week: It beats watching the rockies lose
- The rockies can’t seem to win on Sundays this year
- So far they are 2-15 this year on Sundays
- However, at least they are not the Cubs who started talking about next year in July
- Best Things About Shark Week: It is better than another Jaw sequel
- I saw some hiking tips that I thought I would pass on
- Become a Better Hiker
- Learn To Read A Topo Map
- Best Things About Shark Week: It reminds me not to open my door for a Land Shark
- It seems there are a lot of tough health things going on for family and friends
- However, I am happy to hear some good news and that is
- Aunt Phyliss is recovering from her health scary
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