Marc15Orrock

This past weekend the Minnesota Vikings went into Detroit with a lot of questions surrounding their team. The biggest one being who is going to be taking the snaps against the 2 - 10 Detroit Lions. The answer, struggaling Brad Johnson was the starter. Now just a week ago Brad threw four interceptions and posted a 13.8 passer rating. Clearly not his best performance, but due to injury and nervousness Brad was the only option. Bollinger was still out with an injured shoulder, and Jackson did not feel he was ready to grab the reigns yet. Johnson had a very average performance against the Lions, but did manage a rushing touchdown. Thanks to a great rushing attack the Vikings were able to defeat the Lions 30 - 20. Next week the Vikes take on the New York Jets at noon.

Posted by Marcus Orrock at 10:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This past weekend I went out to the lake, with a buddy of mine, to go ice fishinig. The past week or so have been cold enough to put a nice sheet of ice over the lakes. We first went out to Lake Baxter were we found about eight inches of ice already on the lake. Fishing was slow on Baxter, and after an hour of catching little sunnies and perch we packed up. Our next stop was at Blue Lake. This lake is slightly larger than Baxter so there was a little less ice, about 6 inches. That didn't stop any of the other fisherman from parking their trucks on the ice and cruising around the lake on their atv's. Fishing was a lot better on Blue Lake than it was on Baxter. The sunnies and perch had more size to them. Also we caught a couple 14 - 16 inch walleyes, and a few crappies worth flaying. One exceeded a pound in size. This weekend I will try out Elk Lake for some Northern Pike, and big Crappies.

Posted by Marcus Orrock at 9:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This year in my english composition class we watched a documentary called the 7-Up Series. I thought it was a very cool idea to film these kids and document there progress every seven years. I enjoyed wathing ages seven through twenty-one in class. My favorite person from the series would have to be Tony. He was one of those kids that I could relate with when he was only seven years old. He reminded me a lot of myself when I was seven, running around being abnoxious with my friends. I was allowed by my parents to be a kid. Some of the rich kids in the documentary were being deprived of their childhood by all the pressures that their parents put on them. This series was very interesting, and I look forward to watching the rest of it some day.

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Next week is finals week already. It seemed like last week I was packing up my room and moving it into the dorm. Now half the year is practically over. It is kinda scary how fast it went by. Now I am starting to get nervous about taking my finals. I have two finals on Thursday December 14. It starts at eight oclock in the morning with a biology final on the west bank. Next I have a calculus final at 1:30 in the afternoon. Once that is over my brain is going to be so burned out that i will probably take a couple aleve and crash. Then I have four days to study for my physics final Monday evening. After that its done. My first semester at college will be in the books and I have the next month off to regenerate my ambition and get ready for another run.

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At what point does Brad Childress and the Minnesota Vikings start looking into the future? I mean Brad Johnson has made his career on managing the game and not making costly mistakes. This past sunday he threw four interceptions and completed eleven passes for 73 yards all game. Bollinger came into the game in the fourth quarter once the coaches finally seen Johnson wasn't cutting it. Bollinger was seven for nine and had 70 passing yards, and he was cold when he did it. Bollinger was injured after leading the vikings on their first touchdown drive of the game. Jackson then came in and went three for four and had 35 yards passing. If I were Brad Childress I would start giving the young guys on the team a shot to prove what they can do. The offense can't get much worse than it already is. That way you would know what you have and need for next year. Tune in this Sunday to see what the coach actually does.

Posted by Marcus Orrock at 8:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today in my english composition class we talked about homosexuality. This is a very touchy subject that can easily offend people. I mean on one side you have a group of people that say homosexuals should not be viewed any different than heterosexuals. This group says that just because the life style is a little different they should not be denied equal rights and benifits that a traditional couple recieve. Then on the other side you have a group saying that homosexuality is wrong. They believe that it is morally wrong. Also they look down on homosexuals because of their inability to reproduce. I would have to say that I fall into the second group. I don't believe it is a good idea for a gay couple to raise a child. It is not fair to the kid. They will be missing the ever important mother/father figure in their life. Also when that child grows older they will be put into unfair and difficult situations with their peers.

Posted by Marcus Orrock at 8:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This deer season I made it a point to get a deer no matter what. I have been craving venison jerky for about a year. This year I decided I was going to do something about it. So after shooting my doe opener weekend I ordered a nine try dehydrator and went to Cabelas to pick up some seasoning. This past weekend everything finally was lined up and I could make the jerky. So Wednesday night I stopped by uncles house and picked up his meat grinder and his jerky shooter. I forgot to take the veniso out of the freezer so it was friday before it was defrosted enough to grind. So I began mixing the spices around noon Friday. A buddy of mine came over around one to assist me. After grinding the meat, mixing it all with the spices, preparing it on the dehydrator trays, and running the dehydrator it was three O'clock in the morning. I had no idea that the process would take that long and demand that much time. It took a lot of time and effort, and the next time a see a bag of jerky selling for six bucks i will better appreciate the value.

Posted by Marcus Orrock at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today in class we discussed a piece by James Baldwin. The topic was on racism, and how it is still around today. I believe that racism is still out there, but I feel it is not as serious as many people today think it is. It wasn't to long ago everything was segregated and "blacks" and whites" did not co-exist. Now days we are ever so close to making every person equal no matter what race, or gender for that matter, the person is. There always will be those groups of people out there that won't view different races as equals. These are the groups that give society a bad name. I grew up in a small town where we had no minorities in our school. Now that I attend the University of Minnesota the diversity is huge. Just because these minorities have different colored skin then I do does not mean they are any less qualified. In fact I am sure that a lot of them are more qualified.

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This past Sunday the Minnesota Vikings hosted former coach Denny Green and his Arizona Cardinals. The Vikings have been in a rut lately and it wasnt looking good early. Minnesoata kicked the ball of to start the game. Not 15 seconds into the game Arizona led 7 - 0. Thanks to a 99 yard touchdown return. The Vikings looked impressive on their first drive answering back with a strong drive that resulted in a touchdown. The number one rush defense in the NFL demonstrated their dominance, but the pass defense was questionable. The vikings ofense seemed to be back on track posting 31 points in the game. It looked over, but thanks two a critcal fourth quarter drive and an onside kick recovery Arizona was left with three final shots to the endzone. Good thing for the Vikings the results were better then 2003 when the Cards beat the Vikes on a last second shot to the endzone. Next week the Vikings roll into Chicago to try and upset the division leading Bears.

Posted by Marcus Orrock at 8:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I don't even want to get started on the Vikings. My Mother once told me if I don't have anything good to say don't say anything at all. I think I am going to take her advise this week. Maybe next week will be better.

Posted by Marcus Orrock at 10:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This past weekend was the final weekend of deer season. I went up to my Grandpa's cabin to in hopes that my luck my change. Saturday morning started pretty good. Around 7:30 I heard steps to the North East of me. So I brought up my gun and watched the shooting lane intently waiting for the deer to cross. But just like my luck has been going this year I cought a glimpse of the deer off to the right walking in thick brush and pine trees. As fast as I seen the deer it disapeared into the thicket. Thinking that this was a good sign my hopes were high for the rest of the weekend, but they slowly drained as the day drew longer. Finally just before dark I heard more footsteps. This time they were comming from the South West. Of course I couldn't see anything through thi pines. Finally it popped out right beneath my stand and waddled into the clearing in front of me. I sat and oserved it until darkness set in. Then I brought up my gun, put the crosshairs on its heart, and pulled the trigger. BOOM, It dropped in its tracks. I had just shot my first Porcupine.

Posted by Marcus Orrock at 10:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This week in a meeting with our teacher we were supposed to come up with a phrase that we would put on our tombstone. I thought about it for awhile and decided that i would put, "In whatever you do shoot for the monn that way if you miss you land among the stars." I like this saying a lot and I try to live by it everyday. What this saying means to me is that no matter what you do try give it your all. Because if you give it your all but you still don't quite succeed you will still look back at the end of the day and feel good about yourself. If you do something with only half effort later on you may look back and think back and wish you would have given more effort. I think its important to set high personal goals. If you try your hardest to reach these goals at the end of the day you will be a better person.

Posted by Marcus Orrock at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This weekend the Minnesota Golden Gophers swept the defending national champion Wisconsin Badgers. After a semi disappointing series against the St. Cloud State Huskies the Gophers looked to come out strong against the Badgers, and did they ever. Minnesota won the the first game in a narrow 3 - 2 final score. The second game looked to be controlled by the Badgers until a goal in the third period put them right back in the game. Lucia broke the tie by scoring his first goal of his collegiant career. The Gophers made a statement this weekend, and hope to continue rolling next weekend when they faceoff against Michigan State and Michigan.

Posted by Marcus Orrock at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The other day in my english composition classwe discussed whether age determines how good of a teacher you are. I believe that a good teacher is one that has good experience in the field that they are teaching. Also they need to be able to relate to the students. Although with age comes experience, in this case it is not exactly that easy. You do not get as much experience when you observe something rather then participate. For example, someone will learn a lot more about the game of hockey when when a player/former player is teaching as opposed to someone who has casually watched hockey on weekends. Also the teacher needs to be able to relate to the students. A good example of this is when a teacher rambles on about a topic assuming the student knows the vocab and a little background on the topic. You don't learn much in this situation, but if the teacher breaks it down into terms and concepts you can easily comprehend a lot more of it sticks. These are two big qualities that make up a teacher.

Posted by Marcus Orrock at 9:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Minnesota Vikings hosted the annual boarder last weekend when the Green Bay Packers were in town. The Packers have been struggling this year, but so have the Vikings as of late. Minnesota came out a little slow and it showed after the first quarter when they trailed ten - zero. They came out in the third quarter and showed signs of life. Billy McMullen scored two touchdowns in the second quarter. This was quite impressive considering he had only one career touchdown comming into the game. After those touchdowns it was all downhill. The Vikings defense held Packers Running back, Green, to under sixty yards rushing. Green came into the game with over 100 yards in each of his last three games. The Packers passing game ripped Minnesota apart for 347 yards and two touchdown passes. Packers prevailed 23 -17. Next week the Vikes square off with former Quarterback Daunte Culpepper and the Miami Dolphins.

Posted by Marcus Orrock at 9:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)