Walking Dan

New music that I heard Due to spraining my ankle, I didn't drive to work for a few weeks, so I didn't keep listening to library CDs.  I love jazz piano, and Diana Krall here is both an amazing pianist and vocalist in this 1996 video.    For a more modern song, I really enjoyed The Sound of Silence, arranged and performed by Pentatonix. Best Photo Only July 31st, we went to the city pool. New movie recap I watched five movies for the first time this month. My wife and I finally continued the watching the Academy Award winners, after watching the AFI Top 100 list.  So while we were watching AFI, we missed five Academy Award winners. So we finally watched the winner from 2016, Spotlight .  We both enjoyed it.  It was suspenseful, and the acting was amazing.  I gave this 10 stars on iMDb. We also watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988).  Since I had seen this as a child,I was seeing it with new eyes, so I counted this as seeing a movie f...

Since I joined back with worship team at church, and was on the schedule three times in June, which required some practice, and I kept working out with weights in the evenings, my blog and other things didn't get done to the same degree.    I don't really want to fall behind on things again, so maybe I'll skip working out when I get that busy in the future. New music that I heard I didn't listen to much music since I used my dish washing time to listen to podcasts. And even though the library opened up holds at some locations, they got flooded with so many requests, that it took a while for me to receive the holds.  I did hear this nice classical piece on the radio though.  Antonin Dvorak  - Scherzo Capriccioso, Op. 66  (This exact performance is not the one from the radio, but this one is still well done)   > Best Photo This is from our family water activities day at YouthFront Camp West.  Photo credit: Our friends, the Ryans. ...

New music that I heard I didn't listen to much music since I used my dish washing time to listen to podcasts. And the library was shut down so I couldn't get any more CDs for my car.  That was kind of the extent of my music listening before.  I did watch this amazing guitar solo though: Best podcast episode that I heard I have been listening to the podcast, The Bible for Normal People. My favorite ones have probably been these: Episode 125: Pete Enns - Big Ideas that Shaped Biblical Scholarship: Julius Wellhausen and the Pentateuch Episode 123: Jared Byas - Rediscovering Jonah - Part 1 I'm doing the awkward thing where you try to balance listening to old episodes of the podcast and catching the new ones as well. Best Photo May 2020: Right before our window framing was replaced    New movie recap I did not watch any movies for the first time.  As a family, we did watch The Princess Bride together for the first time.  Watchi...

It was much harder to blog every day this month.  The weather got nicer, and the kids started staying up later, and my personal free time shrank down to almost nothing.  So this won't be as comprehensive as the March blog post. New music that I heard The best song I heard was "Chelsea Bridge" , with pianist John DiMartino, and Eric Alexander on saxophone, heard on a jazz program on public radio.  Feel free to listen as you read this post!   Movie recap Accidentally left off the blog post for March 2020 was "The Lorax" (2012)   I ranked this 8 out of 10 stars.  I thought there was a lot of good humor, action, and animation, and a moral message as well.   I did not think it was overly preachy or environmentalist, because it was all hyperbole and entertaining. We watched "The Graduate" (1967) , to finish off our viewing of the original AFI Top 100 list, where it came in as ranked #7. I ranked this 6 out of 10 stars.   I was di...

Best song I heard for the first time This is actually not the first time I heard this, but it's amazing.  They can improvise as a duet (no bass or drums) and create a complete sound.  You can listen to this as you read the blog, if you wish! Best picture I like this one of my daughters posing on a wall Best thing that kids did I happened to sleep in, so my oldest child made a breakfast for herself and her sister.  She heated up water to make oatmeal, and microwaved sausages, and put fruit on each plate. This was the first time she made a whole breakfast like that.  I was really proud! They are really creative and made lego creations, played outside, made up stories, made forts.  They also have a lot of screen time lately. Biggest challenge I have issues with spending money on the house.  We got kind of a fixer-upper, and sometimes I wish we had taken on more debt, in order to have more of a finished house.  Either tha...

We will see how this blog goes.  My goal is to have a monthly blog to summarize the best and worst things from the month. Here are some ideas: Best song I heard for the first time Best video I saw Best picture taken by Courtney or me Best & worst thing that happened Biggest challenge What I learned in jazz piano Best & worst book I read Best & worst movie I saw Best & worst Star Trek episode I saw, or other program Best inspirational thought Religious thoughts Best & worst moment with children Best & worst marriage moment Best & worst work moment This should be a real challenge if I try to tackle all that, but we will see.