Taking Back My Life from Social Media

First, you should listen to the TED Radio Hour Podcast (from NPR), specifically the episodes titled "Screen Time." It's in two parts, the first on January 27, 2017, and the second on February 3, 2017.

Links: http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/?showDate=2017-02-03

http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/?showDate=2017-01-27

Next, you should read this talk by Elder David A. Bednar titled "Things as They Really Are"

Link: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2010/06/things-as-they-really-are?lang=eng

I've come to the realization that I spend a lot of time online, and that even though I'm home, I'm not spending time with my family. I've turned off notifications from social media apps on my phone, and have given myself a rule of not getting on my phone just because I'm bored. Instead, I need to a have purpose before I get on. And there is rarely anything on my phone that truly needs m immediate attention. The digital world isn't real, and I don't ever feel fulfilled from my interactions with it. I don't even remember most of them. I will instead spend my time writing the novel that I've been neglecting for the past while, and writing in my journal so that my kids might know more about me than what they'll learn from the public face I display via social media. Maybe I'll even contribute more meaningful, thought-out blogposts instead of 140 character fleeting thoughts.

My reply to Chancellor Blank's letter

Chancellor Blank,

I appreciated your message sent via various methods to members of the UW-Madison campus community on January 26, 2017 concerning the UW-Madison student desiring to form an "alt-right" organization on campus.  From what I understood, the main points of your message are that the University does not tolerate discrimination, harassment, threats, hate crimes, etc. and that the actions of this individual do not represent the University community as a whole.  However, I felt that your letter could have been crafted differently in order to communicate those points without resorting to the belittling of that student's viewpoint.

First of all, I felt that the inclusion of the student's 2005 arson convictions were irrelevant to the conversation.  As stated in your message, some students may have made mistakes in the past, but having paid their debt to society, they should not be discriminated against.  This information may have been appropriate to include if it was related to the organization the student is attempting to form.  However, the student's desired organization claims to be affiliated with the American Freedom Party, which was not founded until 2010.  As this student is not one of the founding members, the inclusion of this information only serves to unnecessarily vilify the student in question.

Secondly, the American Freedom Party, while holding relatively radical viewpoints, is an association of citizens of the United States of America, who have the right to express their viewpoints, no matter how unpopular they are.  I do not necessarily agree with their viewpoints, and suspect that most UW-Madison students don't agree either, but they are still viewpoints.  As a member of a religious faith whose history is riddled with aggression and discrimination from the government because of viewpoints we hold, I feel that you went too far in stating that you were "heartened to see many students state their strong disagreement with the views of this group."  As the Chancellor, you are a government official and have the responsibility to keep the Office of the Chancellor in a viewpoint-neutral position whenever possible.

Third, you say, presumably in reference to the student expressing his opinion and disseminating literature on campus supporting his opinion, that "the mere presence of this activity is concerning." As you state in the following sentence, "handing out political information and expression [sic] objectionable, even hateful, viewpoints is not illegal nor a violation of campus policy."  I would add that the free expression of viewpoints, without fear of government reprisal, is protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and is the basis of a healthy democracy.  I would conclude that this activity should not be concerning, but encouraging.  It is a sign that our campus is a place that allows for the free exchange of ideas, even those that are unpopular.

Let me be clear in stating that I do not agree with the viewpoints expressed by this student on our campus.  I do not agree with white supremacist groups, or with violent action against others, especially when motivated by racist, sexist, or otherwise inappropriate ideologies.  However, I believe that, lacking any evidence of inciting people to violent action, this student has done nothing wrong.  And having done nothing wrong, it is unfair for him to be publicly disparaged in a message from the Office of the Chancellor.  I do feel that it would be appropriate to remind the student body that discrimination, hate crimes, threats, violence, etc. are unacceptable and illegal, and do make it clear that the actions of this student do not represent the viewpoints, policies, and mission of the University.  I would hope that in the future this information can be communicated to the student body without resorting to the denigration of a member of our campus community.

Respectfully,

Glen Thurston
Graduate Student

Introducing the Adventurers of America

Adventurers of America logo

After a while of feeling disappointed that there wasn't something similar to Scouting for adults (besides volunteering with Scouting units, which is also very rewarding), I decided to create my own program.

The purposes of the Adventurers of America are:

• the promotion of volunteering time, money, and other means to the cause and purpose of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA),
• the improvement and personal development of its membership, and
• creating an environment for the sharing of ideas, pastimes, and virtues among adults.

In order to achieve these purposes, I created a set of badges that can be earned.  Each badge has 5 levels of proficiency, each with their own set of requirements.  This gives everyone the opportunity to explore new skills, as well as improve in them.

The current badges we have requirements for are:

• Camper
• Chef
• Runner
• Chess Player
• Cyclist
• Geocacher
• Hiker
• Golfer
• Mini golfer
• Bookworm
• Movie Buff
• Sports Fanatic
• Marksman
• Citizen
• Sailor
• Audiophile
• Believer

We are always looking for suggestions for new badge and updates to requirements, and have a few additional badges in the works. 

If the Adventurers of America seems like something you would like to participate in, please sign up here.

Additionally, we encourage folks to meet together to work on these requirements, especially the ones that are not already in your field of expertise.  To that end, we also register groups, which we call expeditions.  If you would like to start an expedition, either with people in your neighborhood, people at work, or even with friends across the country, please fill out an application for a expedition here.  Everyone who is not part of an expedition will become a member of the Independent Expedition, designed for those who don't have enough interested folks in their area.

Please contact me with any additional questions you have about the Adventurers of America.

I have a confession to make (or why I'm okay with the recent election)

My fellow Americans,

I write to you in the wake of the federal elections we held on Tuesday.  It appears as though Mr. Donald Trump will be chosen by the Electoral College as the next President of the United States.  I have seen strong, negative reactions to this news from some of the people I am privileged to associate with as I go about my day.

There are a couple of things I need to get off my chest, things that I don't feel could be done justice in the course of a typical conversation.  I'm writing this post to stay true to myself, and allow others to understand how I see things.  I've bolded them for your convenience.

First of all, I am a registered Republican.  Hopefully this doesn't come as a surprise to those who have sincerely listened to my opinions on political issues.  While I don't agree with everything the national party does, I feel that as a voter who is registered in Utah County, Utah, my ideals, beliefs, and values most closely align with the Republican platform, and that the discrepancies between how I think and the party platform are trivial.

You should also know that I have had to opportunity to vote for electors during three presidential elections.  The second big confession is that I voted for Barack Obama in 2008, the first year I was eligible to vote.  My 18-year-old self was trying to figure out exactly what my beliefs were, and how important each of them were.  In fact, I'm still trying to figure that out today.  In any case, I thought President Obama would do a better job than Senator McCain.

I was out of the country, serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the first two years of Pres. Obama's service.  When I came home I began to think more about how I felt on certain issues.  By the time the 2012 election came around, I felt that Mr. Mitt Romney could do a better job than Pres. Obama.  However, as you all know, Mr. Romney did not win the presidency.

There was certainly a large helping of doom and gloom passed around a lot of Republican dinner tables that year.  The end of the world was near, and our country would soon fall apart.  Except that it didn't.  Yes, I was opposed to a lot of the policies Pres. Obama was in favor of.  But he was still the leader of our country, and over the next four years, I came to appreciate what that meant.

Now, in 2016, the candidate I thought would do the best job will again not be chosen as President.  It's probably because Mr. Evan McMullin ran as an independent candidate, among a large variety of factors.  Going into election night, all the polls suggested that Secretary Hillary Clinton would be chosen as our next president.  My next confession is that I felt relieved as I watched the likelihood of Sec. Clinton's election slowly diminish, and Mr. Trump's chances increase.  I disagree with Sec. Clinton on a majority of the issues.  This isn't to say that I think Mr. Trump is the candidate I think should be in office.  Remember, I think Mr. McMullin would do the best job.  But Mr. Trump has a lot of policies, at least the ones I could elucidate, that I agree with.

Now, for the lessons I hope people learn from reading this post.

1. When your candidate doesn't get elected it isn't the end of the world.  Pres. Obama received a second term in office, and America isn't that different from when he first was elected.  Our freedoms are still in place.
2. Americans support the president, because he is the president.  While I have disagree with some of the policy choices Pres. Obama has made, I still support our government.  In fact, when Pres. Obama has finished his term in January, he is welcome to my home for dinner.  I think we could find a lot of things to talk about that we agree on.  Because we're both Americans, and more importantly, we're both human beings.
3. Although Mr. Trump will be our next president, we need to support him in his office, just as we would support whoever we voted for.  You don't have to agree with everything he does in office, and you are allowed to express your opinions.  But in four years he'll have to account for the actions he's taken.  In the meantime, please be civil.  This election sure hasn't been and that's the change we need the most.

My fellow Americans, we are Americans.  We've endured a lot together, and we can endure the next four years.  In fact, we can endure them well.  

To my Californian friends, please don't leave us.  CalExit is not a solution to anything.  Americans don't give up and leave when their candidate doesn't win.  They stay involved in the political process, make their opinions known, and work together to make America a better place.

To my friends who would have been happier with Sec. Clinton as our next president, please don't leave us.  Americans stick together, through thick and thin.  We've survived as Civil War as a country, and we don't need to survive another.  Stay involved, keep voting, and contribute to the greatness of America.

Finally, to everyone, please continue to be the people in "We the people." America needs all of us.  Please don't let us down.

Patriotically yours,

Glen K Thurston

Citizen of the United States of America

Election Day is Coming, plus my semi-annual rant against (really in favor of) Daylight Saving Time

The time where we decide, not only who will head the executive branch of our federal government, but who will fill many other important positions in federal, state, and local governments is just around the corner.  Some people have already voted.  Maybe you have.  I'll avoid the awkward political discussion by simply urging you to vote.  Voting matters.  If you are eligible to vote, (citizen, non-felon in most states, etc.) do it.  If you want to know my opinion about who I think you should vote for, email me or something.

The other thing that's coming up is the end of Daylight Saving Time.  It's the magical time of the year where most of us set our clocks back an hour because the government says to.

Well, it's stupid.

There are plenty of reasons to just stick to one schedule.  Most of them are things that don't know how to read a clock, like cattle.  The reason that's a part of my reality now are my children.  They have no idea what time it is.  Ever.  I have a hard enough time convincing them that the lack of sunlight outside means it's time for bed.  They stick to their internal clocks.  For example, my 3-year-old son wakes up every day between 6:15 and 6:30.  He doesn't care what day of the week it is, if it's a holiday, or even what time he went to bed (unless we keep him up really late).  Can you imagine how frustrating March will be when I have to get him up an hour earlier than he's used to, just because some people thousands of miles away in the Capitol Building said we should?

I really don't care whether we're on Standard Time or Daylight Saving Time.  I just want to pick one and stick with it.  (Arizona and Hawaii are my role models in this situation.)  I prefer staying on DST year-round.  Why?  Because in the winter, there aren't enough daylight hours for it to matter which time we're on.  In the summer, there are so many daylight hours that it doesn't matter.  When it matters, near the equinoxes, I would rather go to work in the dark and play with my kids outside while the sun is shining.  But I'll sacrifice that if it means I don't have to switch my clock twice a year.

If you live in Utah, please encourage your state legislators to support my father's bill that would give voters the power to choose whether the state should opt out of DST.

This blog is a zombie -- you can't kill it. But this isn't a zombie post.

I feel like a zombie right now, but that's because I've been getting up early every day, either to get ready for church, or to go running, because I'm excited for college football (#GoCougs), or because the kids are awake.  I've got a lot of little projects that I keep cycling through during my free time, this blog being one of them, so I keep track of what's going on with Slack.

Slack is a program (kids these days would call it an app, but I'm old enough to remember when Windows 3.1 was what there was) that is designed to consolidate messaging between members of a team, like at a company or business.  I've taken the features available on the free version and turned it into my own private version of Facebook. See my previous post.

I wanted to show you how I use Slack, and invite you to join our Slack if you're interested.  Right now, the Slack is really centered around the things that I think are important, but you can help make it even better.

First of all, you should know that you can create more than one Slack "site."  So, on the left-hand side, in the green oval, you'll see that I have 3 Slack sites that I'm a part of.  One of them is from work (we mostly use it to share YouTube videos with each other, so that we can do research and not miss out on the nonsense that happens in the office), one is a personal one for my writing projects (like this blog, the novel I'm working on, my atrophying podcast, and my social media presence), and the third is my "public" Slack, which I'm hoping to use as my mini-Facebook.

Inside the red circle are the main channels within the Slack.  A channel is like a page within Facebook.  Kind of.  They're more like chat rooms.  All channels have to be in all lowercase (this is a stupid limitation) and begin with a #.  #announcements is the main channel on the Slack.  Everyone who will ever join the Slack is automatically added to #announcements.  We use it for... well, announcements.  Things like announcing new channels, welcoming new people to the Slack, explaining rules that are particular to our Slack, reporting on the progress of my other projects, and meta discussions about the Slack itself.

The other channels I have set up are mostly centered around discussion topics:

• #cfb is for college football, including the Top 25 ranking I do throughout the season (see my Twitter feed @gkthurston for more details).
• #photos is for sharing pictures that I don't want to be as public as they are on Twitter/FB.
• #pkmngo is for talking about Pokemon Go, mostly posting updates about which Pokemon we've caught.
• #politics is for political discussions.
• #running is for updates about my running activities, and to help keep myself motivated to run.
• #scripturestudy is for sharing insights that you find while reading the scriptures.  It helps me me even more motivated to study the scriptures.
• #sports is for discussion of all sports, though right now I just have a bot adding college football scores as they happen.
• #random is for discussions that don't fit anywhere else, like sharing funny videos.

I also have a series of channels that are location based.  The idea behind these is that when group members travel, they can post in the channel belonging to that area, and the Slack members who live there can give them advice about places to see, things to do, where to eat, and even set up a meet.  I'm currently subscribed to all of the location channels, and I'm the only one that really uses them.  But it's a good way to remind people of where and when I'll be.

You'll see that a lot of these things aren't information I want to be available to the general public, which makes it hard to decide who to add to the Slack.  So far, the problem has been solved by a lack of interest from others.  But I think a good minimum standard is people that I've met in real life and had a significant interaction with.

The last thing I'll write about is keeping up with the Slack.  It's designed to be a messaging program.  It's not very effective if people don't check it often.  But with the low amount of posts, it's not very rewarding to check the Slack constantly.  The best solution is to download the app on your phone (available on both Android and Apple as far as I know) and let it notify you when things happen.

Anyway, if you want to join the Slack, you have to be invited.  And you have to contact me to send you an invite.

Welcome to Slack

I don't know how many of you have heard of Slack. It's a platform designed for teams to work together on projects. I found out about Slack because they help sponsor a podcast I listen to.  After about a month of hearing ads for it, I thought I would just check it out to see what it does.  I made an account and now I'm using it as my own little personal version of Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Reddit.

A few of examples of projects I've been working on via Slack:

1. Writing a novel. I'm currently at >5000 words and my goal is ~50,000 words before I'll be ready to edit, fine-tune, etc. Slack has been useful for organizing my thoughts, and my brother has left me valuable feedback on Slack too. It leaves the Google Doc clear of meta discussion clutter, focusing only on editorial suggestions and the story itself in Google.

2. Running goals. I've been using it to help me keep track of my run times and distances. It's really nice to have a space where I can post stuff like that, and I know that my wife will see it.  And it keeps me accountable to my inner circle of friends and family.

3. My new fantasy football pick 'em league. Slack makes it really easy to survey people, on their own time, as well hold discussions on different topics, like college football.

I think that my favorite part of having a Slack (I actually have two now) is that I can post the things I want, without worrying about what people might think.  There's no pressure to like anything, I don't have to add people I've met once as friends, and people are free to join or leave any channel or discussion they want.  In this way, it's a lot like Reddit, except that I can control who gets to enter.  I can keep out all the crass language and not have to deal with it.  So, maybe it helps me be a dictator of my own little world. 

Anyway, after testing out Slack for a few months, I think I'm ready to let more people into my own social media platform and join the discussion I'm currently having with myself.  If you want an invite, please send me a message, tweet @gkthurston, or otherwise get a hold of me.  Give me an email address and then check your spam folder, since the invites come directly from Slack (there isn't another way to do it) and might look spammy to your filter.

Ye Olde Podcasting

Like I mentioned, I thought I would try my hand at podcasting.  So, here it is!  Just remember that you were probably going to waste these 6 minutes on Facebook anyway.

Here's to hopin' that there ends up being an Episode 2!  Enjoy!

I tapped this post out on Internet.

Hello friends.  It's been a while.  And the Blogger app still sucks.  Wish someone would get around to fixing that.

I guess I'm just going to write and let you read what I write.  No thinking, just writing.  Or "typing" in this case.  What do you call the way people input words on their phone? Maybe tapping is a more appropriate word. My name is Glen, and I'm a tapper.

We (relatively) recently went to Virginia for Spring Break.  The Mrs. served her mission in Virginia, so it was fun to visit some of the people she taught as a missionary.  Toddler Thor's favorite part was the water, both at the beach and at the temple. 

The most dissonant thing of the trip was coming home.  On our last day, we went to the beach and enjoyed the 80 degree weather.  We came home to snow, and it's actually snowing right now.  🌨  Being from Utah, you would think that I would be used to the extremes on weather, but I've found that there is thing called Spring that I'm rather fond of.

I'm trying to satisfy my desire to write, which is odd, since I've spent a large part of my life trying to avoid writing.  I think that I really just want to put something out into the world that could make someone's life better.  I'm trying to leave a lasting mark, so that people, besides my family, will know that I was alive and did awesome things.

The latest stressor in my life is being on student council.  I guess the political bug is going around our family, or maybe it's just been lying dormant.  In any case, I thought it would be a good idea to run, mostly because I hate segregated fees.  The frustrating part is that most of the money goes to things that don't benefit me.  And the increases in seg. fees are usually fueled by the Chancellor pushing some of the costs back into the fees, instead of cutting something from her budget.  So, my goal is to at least have them lower for graduate students, which is apparently a novel concept.  We already have separate tuition rates, so why not segregated fees?

Well, if you've made it this far, I guess you deserve a report on the novel I'm trying to write.  It's still going. Slowly.  Mostly because I haven't put much time towards it.  But I'm trying to put more time towards it.  Maybe over the summer after I'm done with classes (forever!) Also, I recently started listening to a podcast (I'm trendy!) which made me want to try my hand at it.  And for me, the planner, that means that I have to write a script beforehand. This incorporates more writing into my life. I guess my high school English teachers were right when they said writing was important.  For me, it's mostly another experiment in expressing myself.  So, look for that in the coming days (or years). 

Keep being awesome! 💂

Sabbath-Day Observance

Recently, Church leaders have placed an emphasis on better observance of the Sabbath.  Local leaders here in Wisconsin encouraged us to go home and discuss ways we can better observe the Sabbath as a family.

In our family, we already tried to make the Sabbath special by not watching sporting events on Sunday.  We decided to even further limit our television time on Sundays to only inspirational shows, eliminating our usual diet of shows like NCIS, The Flash, and Agents of SHIELD.  We felt that this would make the Sabbath stand out even more in our minds every week.  To help make this crazy goal more successful, we thought of alternate activities that would better help us remember the Savior on Sunday.  Here it is:

1. Read scriptures
2. Go to Church
3. Write in your journal
4. Call grandparents
5. Take a nap
6. Write a letter
7. Read a book
8. Have friends over for dinner
9. Plan the rest of the week
10. Do service
11. Blog
12. Play a board/card game
13. Watch BYUtv
14. Home teaching/visiting teaching
15. Call a friend (yes, on the telephone)
16. Draw a picture
17. Bear your testimony
18. Take a drive
19. Listen to sacred music
20. Bake cookies
21. Write a story
22. Be creative
23. Work on family history
24. Sing hymns & Primary songs
25. Crochet

Do you have any ideas to add to our list?

The Colley-Thurston Matrix

This past college football season I spent time developing a ranking system that would give good results, but still be based in some sort of mathematics.  One of the rankings I have followed in the past is the Colley Matrix Ranking.  It only takes into consideration the win-loss record of a team, and the schedule each team has played.  By storing this information in a matrix, it can simultaneously solve for a ranking of all the college football teams.

I decided to modify this approach, by incorporating the scores of each game.  One would think that if it was a close game, where a team lost by only one point, the two teams are actually fairly evenly matched, as opposed to a 42-point blowout, where the winning team is clearly much better than the losing team.  I also decided to curve the point differential, using the natural logarithm function.  This makes the difference between a 3-point loss and a 6-point loss more important than the difference between a 42-point loss and a 45-point loss.

The final rankings from the Colley-Thurston Matrix can be found here.  I'm looking forward to keeping track of this again next season.

New Year's Revolutions

I just counted, and I posted a total of 7 times during 2015.  That's a little sad, seeing as my goal was to post once a week.  Here's a breakdown of what's draining my writing reserve (I can only write so much, before I want to watch TV again):

• My journal (trying to write every day, but maybe getting once a week or so)
• This blog (trying to write every week, but maybe getting once a month or so)
• My short story/novel/work of fiction.  I don't know really know how long it's going to be.  It started out as a short story, but I thought I could do better.  Now the goal is 50,000 words, and to sell it as an eBook on Amazon.  Hopefully I'll remember to look for beta readers in the future.  As soon as I finish the first draft.  (3243 words down, 46757 to go)
• Twitter.  Surprisingly, it's easier to tweet funny things.  With only 140 characters, I don't feel the pressure of filling an entire screen with words.  Follow me (@gkthurston) for some of the random things I think about throughout the day, since that's apparently what Twitter is for.
• Facebook.  Posting on Facebook is somewhat of a rarity, but I can't resist commenting on articles and posts that declare pseudoscience as fact.

So, a summary of what's been happening since the last post:

• College football.  BYU lost to Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl 35-28.  And they almost sent the game into overtime.  It's more impressive if you remember that the score at the end of the first quarter was 35-0.
• More college football.  I developed an algorithm to rank the college football teams based on win-loss record and margin of victory.  It gave fairly reasonable results, and will be published for the last time this season following the National Championship Game.  (http://tinyurl.com/CTMatrixRank)
• The internet came through and helped pay for a rocking chair for my wife.  You internet folks are amazing!  Also, the rocking chair is optimal for feeding an infant.
• I agreed with something President Obama said. Here
• Sam helped ease us into sleep deprivation by having a fever for a long time, at one point high enough to warrant going to the emergency room.  And then I learned that the emergency room isn't a magical place where things get fixed, and they just want to make sure you're taking tylenol and ibuprofen, and staying hydrated.  Now I know.
• We welcomed a 8 lb. 14 oz. human into the world and named her Adelaide Ellen Louise.  And that's when the real sleep deprivation started.  
• My grandmother passed away the following morning.  That meant a spontaneous overnight trip to Utah for the funeral.  At least I got to fly first class on the way home and know what I"m paying extra for.
• Had family in town for Christmas and Addie's birth.  It was really fun to have my mom in town, and Sam loved playing with "Nona."  The in-laws also came, which meant delicious food and fun adventures.  Including looking for pie tins on Christmas Day with my father-in-law and finally ending up at Denny's for two pie tins, full of frozen pie.  Pie for dayz!

In conclusion, I like lists, I realize my writing style needs a lot of polishing with regards to storytelling, and here is a picture of our recently expanded family, with me looking like I'm 12.

No idea what I'm looking at, but it's 2016 now, so maybe the future.

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!

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.