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

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.

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.]

Cute Thor Video

Plus, check out all the cool stuff by clicking on the tabs at the top!

GKTAEF is back!

BCS standings are out, which means that the GKTAEF is back too.  Check out how the 16-team tournament would turn out according to my rules if the season ended today!  It looks like it's going to be an interesting year.

In other news, life is getting busier and busier.  I'm trying to stay on top of everything, and sometimes this blog gets pushed to the bottom of the pile.  Just don't abandon me both ye occasional, and devout (if any) followers of this blog.  I'm trying my best!

Maybe a picture of Baby Thor will hold you over until the next time I get to post.

I look mad because I'm hungry.

Baby Thor Is Here and Other Interesting Tales of Time and Space

Or, just tales of time.


Baby Thor is here.  He is super cute!  As you can see, I think he's got cutest newborn ever in the bag!

Now for the tales of time.  A while ago my dad and I were discussing why New Year's Day was January 1st, among other standard calendar practices, and we decided that it didn't make any sense for the New Year to begin that day.  So, we decided to make our own calendar system, and thus the Thurston Reckoning of Time was created.  It was forgotten because of my young age at the time, but I've decided to resurrect and improve it.

Here's how it works.  There are four "months" or seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.  Because I live in the Northern Hemisphere, Spring starts in March.  Each season begins on the corresponding equinox or solstice, because life makes more sense that way.  They are the only solar events that are regular and universal on a global scale.  Day numbers keep increasing until the next season begins.  The Spring equinox marks the beginning of the new year.

Currently, 92 days have past since the Summer Solstice, and this is the thirteenth year since the Thurston Reckoning, so today's date is stylized as 92 Summer 13 TR.

The days of the week are something I recently renamed.  Starting with the equivalent of Sunday, they are: Lordsday, Familyday, Thirday, Fourthday, Fifthday, Sixthday, and Festivalday.  The numbered days might be named after really important or impressive people at some future point.  So, today is Sixthday 92 Summer 13 TR.

Hopefully this will be used by people in the future, but we're too attached to tradition to give me any hope for real change.

Prierium Saga #3

Continued from Prierium Saga #2.

For those who are wondering about Baby Thor, he's still not born, but there are less than 2 weeks to go.  There will for sure be a post when he is born.

            Jenny helped herself to her feet. 

            “So why didn't you change?”

            “Shielded coat.  Keeps the P-rays from getting through to me.”

            Jenny stared at the stranger with a puzzled look on her face as they started leaving the pool and began to walk south.

            “P-rays.  Like X-rays, but from prierium, got it?”

            “So the P-rays are what made me change?  You could have shielded me a little, you know.”

            “There wasn't enough time.”

            “So, which government agency do you work for?  There's no use in hiding it from me.  I can see that you are an agent of some kind.  It's like your brain is screaming it at me.  Plus, only an agent would look out for their own safety before letting me know about the dangers of P-rays.”

            The stranger stopped walking, turned, and stared at Jenny, trying to make out if she was bluffing or not.  If she was, it was the best bluff he had seen in a decade.

            “Alright, I am Agent Brock Anderson.  I am a government agent for an organization called the Terrestrial Homeland Executive Mission, or T.H.E.M. for short.  We are in charge of all the cases where conventional tactics and thinking simply aren't good enough, like prierium-related incidents.  We try to keep a low profile; the public wouldn't react very well to threats from people with superpowers.  Of course, I assume you know I will have to kill you if you tell anyone about what I just said.”

            Jenny looked at him, unsure of whether or not he was serious about killing her.

            Anderson continued, “Now let's get back to finding this other change-ling so we can go home.”

            “Wait a minute.  What are you going to do to this 'change-ling' when you find him?” Jenny asked, even using air quotes around the word “change-ling.”

            “The same thing we do to all change-lings: try to convince them to work for us, or obliterate them.”

            “Obliter... You can't do that!” Jenny stuttered, then yelled.  “He's a person too, you know.  You can't just go around killing people.”

            “Well, that's my job.  I keep normal people safe from superpowered psychos.”

            “What about people like me?  You made me a change-ling and I didn't even have a choice!  Wait, I'm a change-ling.  That means...”

            Jenny suddenly realized that Anderson was going to make his offer to her eventually.

            “That's right.  After this mission, you belong to T.H.E.M., or us, dead or alive.”

            “Oh...” Jenny said in a quieter-than-usual voice.  There wasn't much to talk about after that.  Jenny was too busy contemplating what her future was going to be like.

            Jenny could barely get the words out of her mouth. “We're here.”

            They both looked around and realized they were in the industrial part of town – on Ironton Boulevard.

To be continued...

△A35B1-8.3

Less Than a Transfer To Go

There's less than a transfer (or 6 weeks) until Baby Thor is supposed to arrive.  A lot has happened since the last time I posted.  At least a lot of time has passed anyway.

Number one:  Birthing class was informative, but somewhat disgusting.  In any case, we now know
everything about the whole thing, know what door to walk into, when to go to the hospital, what is going to happen when we get there.  Most of all, I'm not as worried about getting to the hospital on time anymore.  The "early phase" of labor generally lasts for 5-8 hours, and they said not to come to the hospital until after that phase is almost over.  I think we'll have plenty of warning.  Hopefully.

Danny eating a glass of egg (not eggnog) for half-Christmas.

Número dos:  I miss Danny.  He's doing awesome on his mission and it sounds like he's having lots of fun.

#three:  (Not a hashtag.)  Football is coming up soon.  The season actually starts the day before Baby Thor is due.  Still looking for people to sign up for the Surprisingly Average College Football League.  Only 13 days left to sign up.  Also looking forward to how the GKTAEF will turn out this year.

Number 4:  Life is good.  The gospel is awesome.  The Church is true.  Keep being awesome everybody!

Best T-Shirt Ever

Since we recently went to see Iron Man 3, we of course talked about how excited we were to go and see the movie.  Apparently, Sam was excited as well.  Whether it was coincidence or not that Sam kicked whenever we talked about Iron Man 3, Hayley said that we should call him Iron Baby instead of Baby Thor.

Yesterday, I saw this t-shirt at the bookstore and thought that it would be a perfect way to show my loyalty to Baby Thor.  My proposition is to call our next child Iron Baby.

So, what do you think? Baby Thor or Iron Baby?

Sam's (Thor's) Future Home

(Real Photo will be included, pending our
putting up curtains in the room and making it look nice.)

After a long Saturday of driving past yard sales, looking on KSL, finding a crib, not having a big enough
station wagon, finding a truck, unloading said crib, the crib not fitting through the bedroom door, taking apart said crib, reassembling said crib, and going to the Real Salt Lake game, Sam finally has a place to lay his head when he gets here.

Special thanks to Shawn Cates for letting us borrow his truck in exchange for dropping yard sale off at DI.

(Photo will be included, pending our putting up curtains in the room and making it look nice.)

It's a... BABY!

Just letting everyone know Thor's gender.  Thor is a BOY!!!

Turns out he doesn't have clothes on.

More Baby News

The Mighty Thor

No, we don't know the gender of our child.  Not yet, anyway.  We got to hear the baby's heartbeat again, and it's still doing fine.  I've decided that I'm calling my kid "Thor" regardless of what we end up naming it, simply because Thor Thurston sounds awesome!  Or maybe I'll call it Thor online until he/she is born and is given a real name.  I don't think the Mrs. really approves of my calling our baby Thor.

Anyway, if everything goes according to plan, we should know whether Thor is a boy or a girl at the beginning of April.  Stay tuned!

My heartbeat is really fast

Our child isn't born yet. Don't worry; you still have time to
visit us and give them gifts.  Start booking those flights!

We went to the OB/GYN again at got to listen to the baby's heartbeat.  It was really fast.  I'd make the noise on here, but I doubt you would understand.  It's wonderful to know that the baby is alive and doing well.  The doctor said that there's a less than one percent chance of a miscarriage now, which is also a relief.  Now I just have to figure out the money this baby is going to cost, especially insurance-wise.

For Those Who Missed It: BABY!!!

Yep.  We're going to have a baby!!!  The FedEx man should be here in August with our delivery.  At least that's what I remember my parents telling me about where babies come from.

We are so, so, so excited!  It'll be the first grandchild for my parents.  It'll be the ninth grandchild for her parents, but the only one that'll be in Utah for a while.

So, life is an adventure for now.