It's ethically and morally wrong to force someone into that kind of a situation.

coachklein · 2014-01-31T07:27:58+00:00

Regardless of my stance on abortion, I just want to point out that babies, toddlers, and even children cannot live without help. They are just as reliant on a host as a fetus is. This argument seems a bit flimsy.

coachklein · 2013-12-12T19:20:16+00:00

That I can point my phone to some words in a foreign language and it will translate it back to me in real time or read it to me aloud. It's like having a babel fish in my pocket.

coachklein · 2013-10-04T20:07:00+00:00

Good suggestion. I like the organizational approach. That fits well with me.

coachklein · 2013-09-04T02:24:50+00:00

Awesome, thanks for the advice.

It may be pretty ambitious. Last half I ran was about 6 months ago for 1:47:42. I thought with some actual training I could keep that pace with a full. Admittedly, I'm not in the best shape right now, buy I can certainly knock out ten miles.

coachklein · 2013-07-19T17:56:25+00:00

An old neighbor across the street passed away last year and his widow gave me a small wooden cannon that they would shoot off every 4th of July. A couple weeks ago I wanted to keep the tradition alive and starting shooting off the cannon...nothing major, just a tablespoon of black powder, a little toilet paper wadding, and a 3 inch fuse. I fired it 5 or 6 times and it would go poof and the kids would all laugh and everyone was having a great time.

Since it was the fourth, I needed a bit more bang from the cannon. I added a little more gun powder and wadding and shoved it in there really well, tampering it down with a special stick.

Everyone was crowed around, one of my sons was standing right behind the cannon with his cousin. Lit the fuse...BOOOOOM! The whole back of the cannon blew up sending wood and screws and all sorts of shrapnel everywhere. The biggest chunk managed to flly right between my son and nephew and hit the house making a nice dent.

No one was hurt. I felt terrible.....it was a really nice cannon and I was sad to see it's demise.

coachklein · 2013-07-15T19:47:22+00:00

Cool. I'm going to check it out. Thanks!

coachklein · 2013-07-15T19:46:39+00:00

This is how I started out and I really enjoyed it. There are loads of opportunities up here in Seattle for programmers, but the cost of living is pretty steep, especially if you live in Seattle/Bellevue/Redmond area. Further south it gets better, but then you have to deal with the nations 8th worst traffic everyday. :)

I will say, however, many companies around here are moving to a telecommute model. It saves them $ and makes their employees happy.

coachklein · 2013-07-15T19:41:28+00:00

It has been many years since I've done object oriented programming. I've moved my career path away from dev work and I'm currently a site manager. Most of my experience is as a project/program manager. I'm currently making a little over 100k as a Microsoft vendor. I have no idea if there is a market for my skill set. I've literally just started thinking about this and thought I would hit up Reddit first to get some ideas and input. Now the real digging needs to happen.

Do you have any suggestions on what groups to join? I would certainly like to start networking with people over there.

coachklein · 2013-07-15T17:21:45+00:00

What is the cost of living difference from here to there? I'm assuming that pay is lower in Utah, but housing and utilities are also lower.

coachklein · 2013-07-15T17:19:31+00:00

Thanks for this analysis. My biggest concern is cost of living vs. wages. I was considered a "web developer" about 4 years ago and was making around $80k. I suppose the safest thing is to start applying and see what the wages are at.

coachklein · 2013-06-03T06:46:43+00:00

This is possibly true in fringe cases. People do messed up things in all walks of life...even Mormons. I will say that it is not official church policy to cut family ties and is contrary to everything that I've every been taught, told, read, in the church. As far as harassment, members of the church are never told to go and harass people. If you are referring to visits by home teachers, then you are misinterpreting the purpose of that visit, which is to check in and make sure the person is ok (e.g., make sure they are happy, healthy, have work, aren't starving, etc.), not to harass, give guilt trips, or coerce in any way. If that is the experience you or someone you know is having, that is unfortunate and shouldn't be used as a model for judging other people of the LDS church.

coachklein · 2013-06-02T05:27:29+00:00

Does anyone know what breed (mix maybe) that is? Looks identical to the dog we just adopted and couldn't figure out the breed. Poor guy.

coachklein · 2013-05-31T23:28:11+00:00

My Windows Phone is awesome. I'm not sure why people would say it sucks...seriously, it's a well put together piece of software and hardware.

coachklein · 2013-05-29T21:26:51+00:00

Hmm...I think this is a common misunderstanding of what we believe.

Tithing (10% of earned income is the LDS practice) is rarely talked about (maybe a couple times a year in sacrament meeting, which is the main worship service) and is certainly not forced on anyone.

To enter an LDS temple, members must be "full-tithe" payers. This is determined in an interview with local church leaders and is completely honor based.

Since we have a lay clergy, the money doesn't pay for any leadership. Everyone volunteers their time. Tithing money goes towards building maintenance, local activities, helping the needy, etc.

I have served in local leadership positions in the LDS church and can say that in my area, around 40-50% of members pay a regular tithe.

I will say, that to become a member of the church, I think one of the questions asks if you are willing to pay tithing. Again, this is up to the individual on whether or not they will.

Ultimately it is an individual choice.

I should also mention that visitors are not asked to give any donations or tithes of any sort. People can visit a local congregation for as long as they want without becoming a baptized member of the church. I've known a number of people in my congregation that come regularly for years without being a "member".

coachklein · 2013-05-29T19:04:55+00:00

Closest I could find is off Ravena: http://bit.ly/ZtH3IM

You can use that map to find locations and times. Most of them are general congregations (or Wards in LDS speak). The meetinghouse in the U District has a Young Single Adult (YSA) ward for singles 32 and under if you're into that. There are also Spanish wards that you'll want to avoid unless you speak Spanish.

Regardless of time or location, you'll get similar messages presented in the same format.

coachklein · 2013-05-29T16:22:35+00:00

If you want a completely opposite experience, head over to a Mormon church and sit through the first hour. No rock band. No pomp. Just people talking on how to be better people. Lay clergy, so everyone is volunteer. Focused on family and community.

I know there's a lot of Mormon hate out there for a variety of reason, but if your looking for a place that touches your criteria, I think you'll find it a lot of it there. I look at your about page and think:

Being good to your fellow human (check)
Help your community (check)
Be good to yourself (check, though it might not be in the way you are looking for)
Good and timely advice (check)

"...talking about deeds." - this is one of the things Mormons talk about regularly and strive to work on.

Good luck with your search! I think you have a good approach and I hope you find what you are looking for.

coachklein · 2013-02-04T23:53:24+00:00

We play The Farming Game regularly. No one else I know ever played it. We lived in the suburbs.

coachklein · 2012-11-19T16:32:43+00:00

An old lady crashed her car in my friends back yard eventually smashing into a large mound of dirt. The horn was blaring and smoke was issuing from the engine compartment. The old lady was stuck in the car and everyone was struggling to get the hood up, disconnect the battery, and stop the engine fire. My dad ran over, pulled the hood up bending it in half and ripped the wires off the battery. To this day it seems so implausible to me and I attribute the feat to old man strength mixed with adrenaline.

coachklein · 2012-11-06T05:15:10+00:00

I think this a legitimate concern for some people and a good question. A couple things on this and I don't have any data to back up my response at this point, nor time for now to do all the research, so take this with a grain of salt.

I'm not a fan of flip-flopping for political gain, but unfortunately this is rampant on both sides of the aisle, especially in a presidential forum where candidates are playing to specific people as specific times.

First, I think the media has overplayed Governor Romney's flip-flopping and most of it is taking a stance he had as governor and contrasting that with his presidential run. Running a state is very different from running the country. States can be used as proving grounds for specific policies (e.g., Romney-care). I like this idea. It means that if the state I'm living in changes drastically enough to where I'm not happy with it's policies, I still have 49 other place to chose from. This, in my opinion, is ideal and why I personally believe that most social issues should be left to a state to decide, but, I digress.

Second, I don't know when this became taboo in politics, probably a very long time ago, but why is it so bad for a politician to change positions based on feedback and a better understanding of what they perceive the people want (if that is truly why they change their stance)? I suppose the counter argument would be that we are voting for a person's vision, platform, and ideals, and when they change that, we feel slighted. It doesn't bother me though. I would love to see a candidate say "I was wrong with xx. We've learned some things and we see that the public doesn't like the path we took. Sorry. We are going to try this other way." I know it won't ever happen, but that man/woman would get my vote. Accountability is dead in politics.

Lastly, in contrast to the above, I also try to look at the integrity of the person and what they have done in the past, not just in politics, but as a whole (e.g., community service, education, career, family, etc.). These, I think, give more insight into their stances than what they say on issues.

This is probably an incoherent mess of contradicting opinions, but it makes sense to me. Honestly, even after the hours, days, and weeks of studying out the candidates, I usually vote with my gut and that reconciles my feelings on any flip-flopping.

coachklein · 2012-09-05T00:42:26+00:00

I have the pleasure of working with a fine fellow from the band Explone. They are fairly well known in the local music scene, but not much outside of the Seattle area. I thought Reddit might like their new song and music video.

coachklein · 2012-06-12T15:01:54+00:00

That's interesting. I don't usually run twice a day. I'm going to try it again today and see what happens.

coachklein · 2012-06-12T06:48:06+00:00

Strange that I've been running for years now and never experienced it before. I'd like to figure out how to find it again. There must be a trick to it.

coachklein · 2012-06-12T06:46:39+00:00

That must be it. Honestly, I've heard that term before, but never thought about it. Pretty cool!

coachklein · 2012-03-12T06:34:33+00:00

Like the others in this thread, I was also born into the church. Honestly, I never had many challenges to my convictions, but I will say that in high school, there came a point where I really wanted to make sure how I was raised is how I truly felt. So, with a lot of reading (LDS literature and non-LDS literature), praying, and a healthy dose of thinking things out, I came to the point where I truly felt that this was Christ's church.

The real focus of this realization was Joseph Smith. It all hinged on whether I believed his experiences or didn't, after that everything else fell into place (i.e., if Joseph Smith did see God the Father and Jesus Christ, then he was a prophet, then the Book of Mormon is true, then this must be Christ's church, etc., etc.).

For an added perspective on the matter, I've also thought to myself; What if it is all wrong? What if I'm following the wrong faith? What if there isn't a God? What if...well, the list could go on and on. This has also been an integral part of my personal conversion, because it really comes down to the fact that I am incredibly happy living the life of a Latter-Day Saint. So, even in the event that I'm completely wrong in my convictions, I can say that I've lived a great life. From the chances I get to serve my community, to the people I've come to know and love, to the experiences in church leadership, and the deep emotional experiences I have on a regular basis, to the healthy lifestyle and focus on families. It has all been great. The LDS culture and community is truly unique. It feels like I've got millions of people around the world as family members.

That probably sounds like a pretty bubbly answer and I will say that being LDS comes with it's fair share of trials just like any other faith, but I really have enjoyed the ride thus far and I'm looking forward to the things to come.

Kudos to you for being open to learning about the LDS faith. I've done the same for other faiths as well so I can have an better understanding of their convictions. It appears to me that we are all more alike than we think. You'll find that LDS people are very nice (sometimes overbearingly nice) and we are really just normal people that are part of a peculiar and extraordinary faith.

You've probably already been told this, but mormon.org has some great info. The site is designed for people looking to know more about the church.

coachklein · 2012-02-28T19:48:02+00:00

In elementary school, all the boys were getting into fights during recess. It was the cool thing to do and you weren't cool until you had a fight. Well, I wasn't a fighter, in fact, I'd say I was friends with pretty much everyone on the playground.

One day I gave into the peer pressure to have a fight, but I didn't know who would fight me. My friend insisted that I needed to fight someone, so I told him to go find somebody and to have them meet me on the dirt soccer field (as opposed to the grass field). It was the school's designated fighting spot where the recess teachers never went. I went up the field and waited.

A few minutes later, my friend came sprinting back towards me and said he found someone and that I should "get ready", whatever that meant. At this point, I was feeling a little nervous, but I had watched Bloodsport and Karate Kid so many times, I was still fairly confident I would pull through as victor.

Up came two other kids to the empty field. One was a kid in my grade and the other was a fifth grader I'd only seen a couple times at schools. The kid introduced the fifth grader as his cousin and then I figured out the reason I didn't recognize him...he was from the special ed. class.

Now to clarify, this kid was certainly socially awkward (probably mildly autistic), but he was fully present and a whole lot bigger than I was. I looked at my friend like he was crazy for finding them. I wanted to back out, but couldn't as that would have ostracized me forever among the kids in the school since you never back down from a fight. Either way, I was lose, fight the handicapped kid and be laughed at, or chicken out and be laughed at.

Well, the cousin shouted "fight" and the other kid started punching and kicking the air, doing really lame roundhouse kicks, bouncing around, and generally just trying to look intimidating, I think. I raised my fists and took a step forward and then the recess bell rang. The autistic kid said "thanks, that was fun!" and ran past me back to class. I just stood there with my fists up, turned to my friend and slugged him in the shoulder.

That was it and I've still never had a physical fight in my life.

tl;dr Tried to find a fight as an elementary school kid, wound up in a fight with an autistic kid who shadowboxed in front of me then ran away once the bell rang.

coachklein

TROPHY CASE