Just Another Post

It's been a while, so I'm just giving you the bullet point version of blogging.

Things that I don't think I've blogged about yet:

• I love my family!
• I'm on Twitter! (@gkthurston)
• Toddler Thor apparently wants to be Iron Man (see video)
• I love college football!  
• I made this thing
• I'm terrible at blogging
• Grad school is hard
• Mathematica is difficult for me to figure out, so I use Matlab instead
• My writing projects die because I don't actually have time for them
• I'm reading the Book of Mormon (again!)
• My goal is to finish before next General Conference
• I need to work on writing in my journal
• This is another of my goals from General Conference
• Baseball is an acceptable alternative to college football (saving my CFB offseason)



My first (and only so far) MLB game. Thanks Elli and Tom!

• New apartment
• Double the square footage
• Double the bathrooms
• Double the curtains
• Double the fun!
• New baby (soon!)
• It also means I can't wait for Christmas/my birthday because my mommy will come visit me and I like snow.
• I like tutoring more than research.  A lot more.  Makes for difficult life choices ahead.
• And $40/hr. isn't bad either.
• My phone finally died.  Saving up for a new one.
• A cracked screen eventually (4 months later) lead to a phone on a continuous power up/down cycle, with no way to stop it, besides letting the battery die.
• Only $200 to replace it though (no phone insurance, expensive phone, should have gotten a case, blah, blah, blah.  I KNOW!)
• Other stuff probably happened, but I don't remember off the top of my head.

Well, hopefully that was somewhat interesting to someone in the universe.  The Church is true, life is good.  Time to get back to work.  Go team!

Spanish Blue

My little brother, Danny, has started a blog called Spanish Blue.  I'm assuming that since you like my blog (at least you're reading it) you'll like his even more.  It's like my blog getting an upgrade.

This is all I knew about Jenner growing up.  I didn't even realize
he had anything to do with the Kardashians.
Well, congrats on your gold medal, I guess.

Anyway, the idea here is that if he can blog, so can I.  Plus, I didn't want my last post ever to be about Bruce Jenner.

So, updates.  Well, #ToddlerThor is bigger than ever, and talks to himself in his own language.  It sounds like a mixture of English and Chinese, though it's probably a mixture of English and made up noises that sound funny.  I can't wait until he learns to read and figures out that Dad's scribbles are not just coloring.  It's a secret code for sounds!

Project #IronBaby is also well on her way.  20 weeks down, 20 to go.  So far, everything is normal, and Hayley says she moves around all the time.

Only four more years of graduate school left.  Which means one down.  If you know of a good job for chemists with a Ph.D. that require no previous industrial experience (I only have 3 months of experience in industry.  This pesky little thing called school gets in the way.) and pay big bucks (anything >$27,000 would be nice) and will be around in 4 years, let me know.

Lastly, we are officially all Cougar fans in this house.  The brainwashing is complete!  Also, Toddler Thor informs me that BYU plays in every sporting event on TV, even in MLB games.  Good to know that BYU wins so many games.

Well, I guess I better let you get on with the rest of your lives.  #GoCougs!

Veritas et Virtus

My Thoughts on What Bruce Jenner Did

Please be aware that this is a rough draft that I may never have the time to polish.

Before we get started, here are some assumptions I'm making.  If you disagree with these, please just assume they are true for a moment.  I'm a scientist, not a lawyer or logician:

1. God exists.  If there is no God, there is no compelling reason to make a decision in any direction, besides the relatively short-term consequences of that decision.  
2. God is our Heavenly Father.  As such, he created us in His image.
3. "Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose."
4. Same-sex attraction is real, but is not a action.  Homosexuality is the result of acting on same-sex attraction.

I don't think that what Bruce Jenner (or whatever he wants to be called now) did should be celebrated.  

Please carefully read the above sentence before you jump down to comment.  This sentence, except for maybe what is between the parentheses, is exactly what I would say to someone at work, school, church, wherever I am, if they asked me how I felt about the how Bruce Jenner thing.

Personally, I think that what Bruce Jenner did was wrong, both in my eyes, and in the eyes of God.  We should discuss that more.  This goes back to my second assumption, God created us in His image.  But does God make mistakes?  I don't believe that he does.  God gave some people the tendency to become alcoholics.  God gave some people the tendency to become chain smokers.  God gave some people the tendency to commit homosexual acts.  In fact, everyone has the tendency to commit sin and go against God's commandments.  Did God make a mistake?  What about those born with physical disabilities, or those born with Down's syndrome, or those who are born with six fingers?  God doesn't make mistakes.  He gives people challenges in order for them to grow into the people He knows they can become.

Does everyone having challenges make everyone a terrible person?  Absolutely not.  But should we celebrate people for committing sin?  Again, absolutely not.  Please don't misunderstand me on this point.  I don't care that much whether my neighbor has tendencies to become a chain smoker, to become an alcoholic, or whether they experience same-sex attraction.  I feel sad for them because they can be difficult things to deal with, but I feel happy for them because the Atonement of Jesus Christ is available for them to use.  I feel happy about the Atonement because everything that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement, including the difficulties we suffer in mortality.  But I do not believe in celebrating the fact that my neighbor is a chain smoker, is persistently drunk, or participates in homosexual behavior.  This applies to Mr. Jenner as well.

Because gender is an essential characteristic of eternal identity, do you think that God would accidentally give someone the wrong sex in mortality?  Whether He does or He doesn't, it isn't accidental.  But because gender is so eternal, I believe the situation will be corrected in the eternities, just like any other unfairness we encounter in mortality.

So, while I feel that Mr. Jenner has had some difficult things to deal with in his life, I believe that the Atonement of Jesus Christ will bring more healing than any surgeon could.  And his elective surgery is not something to be celebrated.

March Madness in the Thurston Household

If you have paying attention, Wisconsin played in the final game of the Final Four basketball tournament and lost to Duke.  I heard rumors of people getting arrested that night, but I don't really know since I was in Kansas City visiting my sister.

Thor feeding Cousin Kiwi

March was still full of good times for the Thurstons though. We got to go to stake conference twice.  The first time was our regularly scheduled stake conference.  The second was a special stake conference, and the rumor was that Elder L. Tom Perry was going to come and address us.  We then heard from the missionaries that Elder Craig C. Christensen of the Seventy would be at our stake conference since Elder Perry would be in Milwaukee.  We didn't get to hear from either of them, since Elder Perry was reassigned by President Packer, so Elder Christensen took his place.  Long story short, we had two stake conferences and it was great.

Toddler Thor is now old enough to go to Nursery during the second and third hours of church on Sundays.  He absolutely loves it.  I was expecting him to be a little nervous or hesitant to be left alone for that long, but he didn't even notice that we were gone.  And he doesn't like leaving when church is over and we come to pick him up.  He's growing up so fast!  Almost too fast.

L to R: Me, Uncle Blayne, Toddler Thor, Aunt Charlene

My Uncle Blayne and my Aunt Charlene came to Madison for a canoe convention and were nice enough to take us to lunch.  Toddler Thor loved them, especially my uncle, and even gave him a hug after they left.


While we were in Kansas City, we visited a farmstead where Toddler Thor got to feed some baby goats.  He thought that was pretty fun until we put him down, let him wander around, and the goats still thought he had food.  Toddler Thor also had a great time playing with Cousin Kiwi, my sister's dog.  He has his own little word for dog (which sounds something like "kak" or "keka") and he says it every time he sees a dog.

The best part of March was technically April.  We got to see a bunch of Church history sites, including Liberty Jail, the Far West Temple site, and the Independence visitor center.  All while listening to General Conference!  It was a very spiritual month for us.

February in Review

Oh my goodness. Baby Thor is growing up! He shall now be called Toddler Thor. He would have started Nursery at church today, except he was sick, so Mom stayed home with him.

I guessed I must have missed a post for January. Sorry. We'll see what I can remember.

February ended up being a great month. For one thing, we got our tax return. Thank you for returning our money Uncle Sam. We went on our first real date since we've been here. If you're ever in Wisconsin you should check out Sushi Box. It's cheap and good.

We also took Toddler Thor to a restaurant for the first time. I could feel people's eyes when he would scream (which only happened a couple of times), but I would love for them to take over for me. It didn't help that the service was really slow at VIP Asian Cuisine (or whatever it's called).  One of us needs to be constantly entertained.  Overall, it was a stressful successful experience.

It was a really cold February, with single digit temperatures being the norm. March looks to be more promising so far.  We took Toddler Thor out to the swings and slides yesterday because it was so warm. (45 is warm, okay.). He loved it! A little too much in fact. He threw a tantrum when we had to go inside. He's been doing lately when he doesn't get what he wants.

School's been good, settling down. So much better than last semester, for sure. Looking forward to getting into the lab even more when I can stop being a TA.

Anyway, that's the update for this month.

State of the Union

The State of the Union Speech should stop being a speech in Congress.

Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution states:

He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.

First of all, from time to time.  George Washington's precedent was annually.  But maybe it should be more often.  Maybe less often.  Just time to time.  Don't be surprised if I ever skip one of these things if I'm ever President, or give a report in July, for example.

Secondly, these are recommendations.  Not mandates, not threats, not announcements.  This is the part where the President should give his input to Congress.  This is part of why it might need to be more than annually.

The speech is traditionally given the House chambers, since they are larger.  If I was the Speaker of the House, I would simply not allow the President to enter the chamber.  Or at the very least refuse to cede the floor to him.

Another thing, why is the Supreme Court even there?  They don't clap, according to Wikipedia, "in order to retain the appearance of political impartiality." How about not showing up to retain the appearance of political impartiality.  It seems to be an invasion of the House of Representatives and a show of force from the judicial and executive branches of government.  The House should be free to vote to ignore the report of the President, if they so choose.  Or to agree to read it on their own time, or have it read by the reading clerk.

Then we could just all tune in to C-SPAN if we want to hear it, and the local evening news can give us the highlights.

A Look Back at December

These kids are stressed out of their minds!

After administering a final exam for the freshman chemistry class, and taking a short final exam myself, we migrated back to the motherland of Utah.  We spent most of the month of December there.  And the stress of my first semester of graduate school was over!

It was so great to be home and get to see everyone!  We spent the first couple days with my family.  My sister and her husband flew in from Kansas City to be with us.  I think one of the best things about that first week was getting to Skype with my brother who is serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Indianapolis.  Baby Thor was so excited to see him (literally screaming at the computer screen) and it was great to see their reactions to each other.  

My parents got us Chromecasts for Christmas, which has been a pretty sweet deal so far.  Baby Thor (more like Toddler Thor these days) got a box of tissues and had a blast pulling them out of the box.  The only negative thing has been that now we can't let him get near any boxes of tissues anywhere.

We also went to Temple Square to see the lights. It was cold!

We also got to visit my grandparents in Morgan, visit Temple Square and see the lights, and we ate the candy that was going to be for gingerbread houses that never happened.  Shortly after Christmas, my parents left us behind to go on a cruise in the Caribbean.  So we migrate to Saratoga Springs and my in-laws.

I have got to say that I have some of the best in-laws ever.  I almost felt more at home there than I did with my parents. (I said almost, okay? Calm down.)  We had a couple of dinners with the rest of the family there and got to see everyone.

The best part: getting to watch both the Sugar Bowl and the Rose Bowl back-to-back, without my wife getting mad at me!  I feel like my father-in-law and I bonded a little more over football.  We also went to see the new Hobbit movie with my other brothers-in-law.

The worst part: 15-month-old diarrhea and vomiting.  Which got passed around.  It must have evolved by the time I got it, because I only had it for a day instead of a week like my wife and child.

Sadly, we had to come home to Wisconsin.  We made one last stop at the King house.  Their daughter is serving as a missionary in our ward in Madison.  Plus, we're related! (Thomas Jefferson Thurston for the win!) We had a good time meeting with them and laughing, taking pictures and whatnot.  When we got here though, we realized that this really is our home.  I'm starting to like it a little more.  Having snow on the ground certainly helped with that.  Now it's back to school and back to raising a child for us.  On Wisconsin!