Thanksgiving and Other Happenings

Our wonderful Thanksgiving meal with the missionaries.
L to R: Baby Thor, me, Elder Harmon,
Elder Humble, Sister King, Sister Kelley

I was planning on using my journal to help me fill in the parts of November that I forgot about.  You can guess how well that plan is going to work out.

Thanksgiving was absolutely wonderful.  I really liked having Hayley be in charge of the Thanksgiving food.  There was only food that I wanted to eat, and no nasty green bean leftovers that I feel bad for not eating.  Children in Africa and all that.

Our wonderful missionaries, Elders Harmon and Humble, and Sisters King and Kelley, came over to share our meal.  Elder Humble made a cheeseball, which was the first one that I've actually partaken of.  Don't worry.  We had one at Grandma's every year, but I never ate any.  #OrangeDelightFTW

Earlier that morning I decided I would hike down to the hospital fields, where we had decided in Elders' Quorum we would play football.  At 9:10 I look across an empty field of snow in 15 degree weather and see no one.  Maybe they're on the other side, I thought.  After a 5 minute trek across the frozen tundra, including some time where I thought I was in Antarctica (until I looked up and saw all the buildings), I still didn't see anybody.  Then I saw someone I thought looked like Elder Harmon.  At least he was the same height.  I couldn't see his nametag (hidden under a coat), so I awkwardly walked over, relieved when it really was them.  A total of 4 people showed up for football.  A total of 0 footballs and 1 frisbee were brought.  Thus Turkey Bowl 2014 was mildly successful.

I also have to say that I've been to Gray Thursday (Black Friday on Thanksgiving night).  JCPenney was having an awesome deal, giving away anything under $10.  Got a couple of shirts for our little family, a new pillow, a couple of other things, and spent less than $15.  I felt like an extreme couponer.

We're excited to see our families for Christmas.  And really excited for our paycheck to be increased by the department next month (finally!).

As an update, I finished the Infinite Atonement and started where I left off a year or so ago on Sherlock Holmes.  I also started a short story that will post after I'm done with it.

Another month down.

Books, Book Clubs, and Other Stories

So, a couple of ideas have been rattling around my head for a while, and I just wanted to put them out into the ether so that maybe someone, someday will hold me responsible for my goals.

I've always had a goal of writing a book.  If you'll look at the Prierium Saga, you can see that I don't have enough patience, diligence, perserverance, or interest (or something) to see a project of this kind to completion.  This is where the idea part comes in.

I'm considering purposely constraining the length of my writing, so that I actually get a sense of completion.  It's probably because of the internet, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.  Super-short stories, like 200 words or less, I think will help me focus on developing basic plot, setting, conflict, and resolution in my stories.  Then, if I feel like it, I can expand any of them I actually feel passionate about.

Also, I've decided that I can become a more well-rounded person by reading books while I'm on the bus, and during other down time.  This has necessitated me to move my scripture study to the early morning, which hasn't been bad so far.  So far I've read My Story by Elizabeth Smart, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, and am now working on The Infinite Atonement by Tad R. Callister.  This is all within the last week or so.

I thought that maybe I could further my well-rounded-ness (by making up words) and guide my future reading by having a type of book club.  Don't really know where I would go with that at all, especially since that's all I remember my high school English classes being (I didn't really like my English classes, probably because of all the writing).

Any comments or suggestions are appreciated.

Update (November 11, 2014):
I discovered that through the miracle of the internet, you can buy most books published for less than $4.  If a book club read twelve such books in a year, that would be a total investment of $48 every year.  I guess I wouldn't have to limit myself to the public domain this way.

October in Review

Life in Wisconsin has been fun.  It's also gotten colder.

Fall in Wisconsin

It was nice to have a fall for a change this year.  The leaves actually turn colors and stay there for a significant amount of time before the snow comes.  It reminded me of the pictures I've seen of myself in New Jersey when I was a kid.  I would say that I remember it, but I don't really remember it much at all.

I wanted Baby Thor to have a similar false memory, however, and made sure to have him play outside in the leaves and took pictures of him sitting in them.  He loved crunching the leaves under his feet, but he had just learned how to walk, so wearing shoes and not falling over outside on the bumpy ground didn't really happen.

That reminds me that Baby Thor learned to walk this month.  Now he does his very best at running at full speed.  Thankfully, he's not quite there yet.  He also knows a few baby sign language signs (I have to admit that I made some up for him) and frantically signs everything he knows all in a row when he wants you to do something.  If he was talking, he would say something like "Please please milk please more please please" when he wants a cracker. It kind of defeats the purpose of teaching him the signs.  But it's better than listening to him cry.

We also took him to the ward Halloween party on the Saturday before Halloween.  He was a very cute Captain America.  There was a trunk-or-treat at the church and we went around teaching Baby Thor to say "hi" and then say "please."  And by say I mean sign, with us as interpreters. The hard part was getting him to let go of the candy and put it in his bag.

It got cold enough for hot chocolate one day.
Bonus points for the glass stir rod.

Just musing here.  It'll be interesting to see how much more documented Baby Thor's childhood will be than mine, thanks to the smartphone.  It doesn't cost me anything (except hard drive space on a Google cloud server) to take a picture or a video.  And I don't have to own a camera or a camcorder.  Or buy film for either one.  The wonders of technology.

I joined a research group this week, which is a relief for me.  I wondered for a second about what might happen if I didn't get into a group.  I could only think of sitting by myself in the TA office (where we hold office hours and hang out when we aren't in our groups) and possibly getting kicked out of the program.  I would be stranded in Wisconsin without anywhere to live (can't live in student housing if you aren't a student) and without enough money to get home (we're on a tight budget, but making it).

Anyway, I'll be doing research that I'm excited about, and I like the people that I'll be working with as well.

Hayley and I set up our Christmas tree on November 1st.  Now, before you go all Thanksgiving-comes-first on me, we've decided to make it a Thanksgiving tree.  We'll add a crappy plastic ornament every time we show our gratitude for something.  Then, after Thanksgiving, we'll add all our sentimental ornaments, just in time to fly home for Christmas and spend it with family.  We would be coming home for Thanksgiving too, but I only get a four-day weekend.

I've been busy and not writing in my journal, so I can't think of any really funny things that have happened to us.  I'm planning on getting better at that.

And good work voting America.  If you are able to vote and didn't, [insert guilt trip here.]

Mormon Response: Please explain the part prayer plays in your life.

Recently I've been determined to expand my Mormon.org profile.  Part of this involves answering questions about my faith in 2000 characters or less.  I've decided that these might also be good to post here, since I don't really have time for a lot of writing anymore.  I've decided to call these Mormon Responses, since I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka a Mormon) and I am responding to something people might potentially ask me.
Please explain the part prayer plays in your life.

Prayer plays a large, huge, enormous role in my life.  I strive begin every morning with prayer.  I try to do this after I'm a little more awake, usually after I've taken a shower.  I also try end each day with prayer, hopefully before I'm so tired that I'm falling asleep.  I'm not perfect at this, but I'm trying.  I also try to pray with my family both morning and night, which goes better or worse depending on whether my one-year-old is trying to get into something.

We also pray at every meal, thanking God for providing for another meal.  I pray when I'm feeling good, I pray when I really need help.  I thank God for the many ways he blesses me: a loving family, constant nourishment, a living prophet, a safe home to live in.  I ask Him for I things I think I need, keeping in mind that He knows what I really need and will give them to me if I ask in faith.

Prayer seems to be inextricably alloyed into my soul.  It's a part of me.  The best part: knowing that He hears my prayers.

No Time, Like the Present

Just wanted to say that grad school keeps you so busy!  Between classes, teaching, and research, I barely have time to breathe. Too much to do.

Baby Thor can toddle now, and favors walking against a wall to crawling. Good thing he can watch other kids walking at church.

Other random thoughts: it's hard to be poor. I'm thankful I have wonderful parents, one of whom is an economist. At least we have a furnished apartment now and we have plenty of food to eat.

Also, I would like to apologize to all my professor from freshman year in college. Sometimes freshman are so needy! We just had our first exam, so of course everyone waited until right now to be concerned with their grade. No one has come to office hours the entire semester! Not that I ever went to my TA's office hours.

Lastly, I'm glad conference is coming up. I need a break from life.  Plus I need someone to teach me how to be a good missionary without being pushy. It's a tough balance.

Anyway, the Church is true and sometimes 24 hours doesn't seem like enough. But I'm glad I only have to deal with things one second at a time.

The Adventures of Señor Turtlefish, the Incredibly Awesome Guy, Part VII

Writer's Note:  There once was a part VII - XI, but they were lost due to the aging of the internet and certain website being forgotten.  These are complete re-writes.  If you have a copy of the old ones, think of this as a choose-your-own-adventure story.

Continued from Part VI...

As Turtlefish remembered the events of August 25th, he realized that there happened to conveniently be a raft after he became conscious again in the ocean.  "That must have been how that raft got there."  It dawned on him that this power would allow him to surely defeat Señor Turtlefish with ease.

Turtlefish quickly got to work.  He first imagined a large curtain to hide things behind.  But what should he hide behind it?  Of course!  The police, since his plan was to send Dr. Nemesis to jail after all.  All of a sudden 2 policemen, who also happened to be good at being stealthy and quiet appeared behind the curtain.  Turtlefish pulled the curtain back just to make sure it had worked, then continued on with his preparations.
****
The red dot was getting closer and closer to the green dot on Dr. Nemesis's screen.  Why can't programming a GPS be as easy as pushing a button.  But wait!  It is now.  Welcome to 2014.

Just as he was about to get there, Dr. Nemesis remembered something very important.  He didn't have a present for the party! He also didn't even know who was throwing this party.  Or even what kind of party it was.  This is sounding more and more like a trap.  (*insert meme here*)  It's probably a birthday party, since everyone has birthdays and they seem to be the most common kind of party.  But what if it's a costume party?  Better get a costume just in case.  And learn to use quotation marks, since the reader is probably confused as to what's going on now.  Thank goodness someone decided that stream of consciousness is a writing style now.  I don't even know what that means, but I think it's something like this.  Off to buy party supplies!

To be continued...

The Adventures of Señor Turtlefish, the Incredibly Awesome Guy, Part VI

Continued from Part V, after many much months of waiting...

Dr. Nemesis, seeing that this would be a good opportunity to leave work without being noticed, quietly slipped out of the teacher's lounge.  When he thought no one was around, he reached up to his large goggles and flipped a switch.  He could now see a map of Over-here-ville with a red dot at the location of the party.  He also saw a green dot which was where he was.  But Dr. Nemesis, being as not-so-smart as he was, didn't know what the flashing blue dot on the map was for.  All he knew was that he needed to line up the red dot with the green dot to get to the party.

****

Meanwhile, Señor Turtlefish knew Dr. Nemesis would here soon and would be expecting a big party.  He had to set something up.  He sat down to make a list of how he wanted everything to look.  He wanted helium balloons floating to the ceiling, colorful streamers from wall to wall, and five thousand of those weird round tables you can find at LDS meetinghouses around the world, each with its own magnificantly decorated 20-layer cake.  All of a sudden, he looked up, and everything in the building was exactly as he had imagined it.

Suddenly, his thoughts turned back to the August 25th event and the anti-freezing freezing ray...

To be continued...

Welcome to Wisconsin

Not the chemistry building, but a pic from the bus stop.

So much has happened this month!  I'm just trying to collect a few of my first thoughts and impressions of Wisconsin.

Baby Thor loves his new home!

We went to Sam's Club on one of our first days here, which isn't too far away from our apartment.  They sell wine at Sam's Club!  I didn't even know that.  Not that I'll ever buy any, but I guess it just doesn't sell that well in Provo.

Sam developed hand, foot, and mouth disease right after we got here.  We had a rough couple of days, but just rolled with the punches.

One of the first things the Chemistry Department had us do were the qualifying exams.  They aren't used for a whole lot, but they were certainly intimidating still.  They're graded on a pass/fail standard, so they aren't too stressful.  I just wanted to brag a little bit about how I was the first person to finish the inorganic chemistry exam, but I still passed.

Just a few our details from the rest of our adventures so far (you'll have to imagine the rest of the stories, I guess):

I think these seats are original to the building

• I love hearing Baby Thor laugh and giggle.  He really loves being thrown onto our bed.  
• It's wonderful to have LDS friends nearby.  Brian Graham also came from BYU this year, so we've been spending time together during our new grad student training.  It's also great to remember how awesome it is to show up at the local ward and meet a wonderful group of people who are accepting of you the way you are.
• Wisconsin cheese is delicious.  We got some cheese curds and other local cheese in Middleton, which is essentially a suburb of Madison.  I think we'll always have cheese on hand.
• I hate the humidity.  It's like living in a cloud of warm sweat.  Maybe I just don't like the fact that I can't afford, and it doesn't make sense, to buy an air conditioning unit this year.  
• Lastly, Baby Thor falling asleep on his own has been such a blessing.  He definitely understands that being carried into his room means that it's time to go to sleep.
• Some of the classrooms are okay, but others of the lecture halls, and especially the teaching labs, are absolutely outdated and should probably be re-done.  If I was looking at being a professor instead of a grad student, I might think twice about teaching here.
  
  

  

  Lecture hall stuck in the 60's. 

The Adventures of Señor Turtlefish, the Incredibly Awesome Guy, Part V

Continued from Part IV...

****

Over-Here-ville was one of the strangest places on earth.  On the outside it appeared as though it was perfectly normal and average and anything else you could ever want.  But upon closer inspection, you noticed that it had only one school, just like any other small town; but this one was different.  It of course had many teachers and students, as many schools do.  There was a teacher in particular, though.  He simply had this oddness about him.  He had super huge goggles, a long black lab coat, hair that was permanently spiked upward, and crooked yellow teeth.  Being the Chemistry teacher, he didn't seem too out of place.  His name was Dr. Nemesis.  Everyone thought that Nemesis was his strange last name and that the doctor signified that he had a doctorate degree in something.  In reality, Nemesis was a mad scientist name and Dr. really did signify he had a doctorate degree. 

One day during school, Nemesis went to the glorious haven of the teacher's lounge.  Here, teachers could relax and let the care and worries of school float away into nothingness.  Returning to our story, as Dr. Nemesis sat down on one of the comfiest couches in the room, he thought he felt something brush his hand as he reached for the remote.  Dr. Nemesis, now looking down at the little side table, saw Señor Turtlefish's colorfully decorated invitation.  He stopped to open it, when one of other teachers in the room yelled, "PARTY!!!"  Suddenly, a disco ball dropped from the ceiling and they began to dance and scream in the soundproof room.  While this was going on, Dr. Nemesis tried to yell to the other teachers about the party he just learned about, but the music was simply too loud.  He figured that since they weren't invited anyway, it would be okay.

To be continued...

The Adventures of Señor Turtlefish, the Incredibly Awesome Guy - Part IV

Continued from Part III...

...His printer was out of ink!  Señor Turtlefish didn't have time to wait for the stores, like OfficeMax or Staples, to open.  He need the ink now, before Dr. Nemesis woke up.  He sat down and began to ponder over his dilemma.  As he thought, all of a sudden, there was a popping-type noise.  This caused Turtlefish to look up and observe the ink cartridge sitting on the desk in front of him.  He began to wonder, "How did that get there?"  It obviously hadn't been there before; the frantic search would have revealed its location on the walnut-stained piece of furniture.  But Señor Turtlefish didn't have time to think about that now.  He hurried and installed it into the printer and printed his beautiful invitation.  Little did Turtlefish know, but creating things by thinking about them was another side-effect of the August 25th event.  Turtlefish hurriedly grabbed the print-out and was out the door in a flash.

 

To be continued...

A Summer-y Summary

Turns out that it's been forever since I've blogged.  I mostly blame getting a smartphone for that (yes, I just got one this summer) and Twitter.  And Facebook.  And social media in general.  And writing in my journal, which is exactly like blogging, except that I can be perfectly honest and candid without offending anyone.

So, I guess it's time to set some new blogging goals.  How about monthly? Maybe more often if I can.  For the between times, be sure to check out my Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ accounts, where I'll post my spur of the moment thoughts and ideas, and where I don't feel bad about forgetting to post anything.

A note on my social media policy: anyone can follow me on Twitter and see all my tweets.  Anyone can follow me on Google+ and see some of my posts.  Only people who I know in real life and I would call my friend (like I might give you my cell phone number) can add me on Facebook and see anything.  I think I'm essentially invisible on FB otherwise.

Back to the summer-y.

Baby Thor is huge now!  He can walk around (while supported by the couch, his parents, or whatever else he can climb up on) and loves climbing all the stairs we let him find.

My favorite thing is that he can now understand things we say to him (like No, Touchdown, and questions he doesn't know the answer to).  He is the cutest boy in the world and now I can't wait for football season to start.  (Thor, Touchdown! *Baby Thor throws his arms up above his head*) Maybe he'll learn to say words soon.  Then we'll be in trouble.

I spent the summer working at a temporary position ultimately for a pharmaceutical company called Actavis in their Salt Lake location.  It's been a real adventure and I've learned a lot about future careers.  (I will not spend the rest of my life conduct the same tests over and over on different products)  I somewhat surprised everyone by putting in my two-week notice, but when you're moving to another state there's not a real possibility of continuing your work.

I expect great things from you Wisconsin.

Speaking of moving to another state, we're getting ready to move to Madison, Wisconsin for graduate school in the next few days.  I have a vague idea of how cold the winters are going to get and how good the cheese will be.  At least those seem to be the only things my fellow Utahns know about the state.  All I know is that if your license plates say "America's Dairyland," there better be some incredible milk and cheese, to rival even the BYU Creamery.

Hayley and Sam took a trip to Oregon for a family reunion with Hayley's folks.  They had a great time, but it left like they were gone for way too long (10 days is a long time.)  While they were away, my 4th cousin from France named Christophe Doremus came to visit.  We had an awesome time, I found out that I can somewhat understand French, and I learned some basic vocabulary (breakfast, lunch, dinner, cake, ice cream, apple juice... we mostly had meals together.)  He and my parents took off to San Francisco and to Bryce Canyon, leaving me all alone on two separate occasions.  Worst days ever.  0/5 stars.  Would not buy again.

A Utah Railway train. Way different than Frontrunner.

I've been riding the Frontrunner train this summer, which has been a good adventure.  90 minutes each way
gives you a lot of time to think about life and the universe.  And restart my scripture reading habit - I read through the Book of Mormon again this summer.  And it helped me study for the advisory exams I'll be taking as soon as I get to Madison.  Did you know that there's no official publication to study for the ACS Analytical Chemistry exam?  Neither did I, and I'm confident that all my class notes from forever are packed up in a box somewhere at the moment.

But I miss seeing my family most of the day.  Leaving home at 6 am to be at work by 8 am, then not getting home until 7:30 or 8 pm makes for a weird loneliness.  It's hard to describe.  But getting to work as much overtime as I wanted was nice.

By the way, has anyone noticed that Pinterest is just Google Image Search except that you can save things?

Wow.  This ended up being a lot longer than I thought it was going to be.  I guess it's okay because I'm making up for months of no posts.

I watched the Saratov Approach on Netflix the other day.  It was really good, especially for an LDS film.  Go watch it right now and then come back to this.  Seriously.  It's only 100 minutes long or something.

And I'll be watching Guardians of the Galaxy soon.  That will be exciting.

You can tell that I'm running out of things to say by the increase of one-sentence paragraphs.  Let's call this the end for now.

Thank You for Tithing

Tithing is one-tenth of our income.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we have the opportunity to pay tithing. Tithing is mentioned in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants. As revealed in modern times, the law of tithing requires members of the Church to "pay one-tenth of all their interest [or income] annually." These funds are used by the Church to pay for meetinghouses, temples, help support missionary work, manuals and publications, and even subsidizing the education of those attending Church universities, like BYU. None of these funds are used to pay or compensate local Church leaders for their service.

Now, ten percent may seem like a large commitment, but the blessings of the Lord are equally as large. As we read in the Old Testament, the Lord promises He will, "open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." (Malachi 3:10)

I believe the Lord in this promise. I have seen great blessings come because of my paying tithing. Recently, I have been blessed with the opportunity to have a job while I am between finishing my bachelor's degree and starting my Ph.D. program. I was busy finishing my finals, so I wasn't able to very actively search for jobs. I just sent my résumé into the void with a little prayer. I now realize that the opportunities I have been given are because the Lord is blessing me for paying my tithing.

So I don't see tithing as a tax or a burden. I see it as an opportunity to receive some of the best blessings Good promises his children. And I only have to pay 10% of my income! For these blessings, I would be willing to give all. I am thankful for tithing.

Graduate School Choices

Some of you may not know that I'm graduating from BYU soon.  Well, now you do.  Anyway, you might also not know that we're planning on pursuing a Ph.D. Again, now you do.

Today is an awesome day.  The new Captain America movie premiered today, and we've decided where we're going for graduate school.

We'll be going to....

The University of Wisconsin!  Go Badgers!

You may now carry on with your lives as previously programmed.

The Thurston Family logo and the
University of Wisconsin sports logo

Listen to a Living Prophet

It's been a while since I've posted anything.  I've been busy with school, trying desperately to balance schoolwork with my numerous site visits to potential graduate schools.

Life is still busy, but should be getting easier (I know that it never really does, but I'll pretend) at the end of April when I graduate.

I just wanted to take the time today to invite all my friends to listen to a modern-day, living prophet.  Just as God called prophets in the Old Testament, like Moses, Abraham, and Noah, He continues to do so in our day.  And just as Christ ordained apostles in the New Testament, like Peter, James, and John, He continues to do so in our day.  This Saturday, those men will speak to the world.  What an amazing opportunity!  The video below explains what the meeting, which we call General Conference, is all about.

Click on this link to watch it live on YouTube (in English, Spanish, Portuguese), or on LDS.org (in 19 languages).

Announcing the G. Thurston Shop

If you click on the "Shop" tab above, you will be taken to the G. Thurston shop.  This shop is a Cafepress.com shop and you can buy just about anything imaginable with our family crest on it, for cheaper than the marketplace price. Additionally, I get to make just a little bit of cash. Of course, you could always just donate straight to me, if you're buying for the benefit to me.

I'll try to put more designs up as I can/create them. Let me know if you're looking for something but can't find it.

Temples, Grad School, and Revelation

Provo Utah Temple

My wife and I recently attended the temple for the first since Sam (Baby Thor) came into the world and began demanding a large portion of our attention.  I didn't realize how much I missed being able to feel absolute peace.  In the temple, the Spirit is present so tangibly.  It was wonderful to be there with my wife and remember that God has welded us together for eternity, as long as we are obedient and faithful in keeping the commandments.

In other news, we have been accepted to four different PhD programs to continue my studies in chemistry.  I am grateful for a wife that is willing to follow me wherever I end up going to grad school.

Henry B. Eyring's biography

The prospect of making this decision has caused me to reflect, ponder, and ask for God's help in making this decision.  The process of receiving God's will for you, or the process of receiving revelation, is very interesting.  I was reading in Elder Henry B. Eyring's biography about how he received revelation and remembered a prerequisite to the revelatory process: you have to do your homework.  Part of the reason we are here on earth is to learn how to make decisions and to see if we will make the right choices. If God told us everything we should do, we wouldn't learn anything.  So, God instead confirms decisions that we've already made.  That's why I don't think I'll know where to go for grad school until I've visited all of them and made a decision for myself.

And who knows, this might be a decision God wants me to make on my own. I just know he won't let me get too far without warning me before a big mistake. That gives me the same feeling of peace that I can feel in the temple.