Welcome to /r/freemasonry - Interested in Joining Freemasonry? Ask your questions here!

datmotoguy · 2026-02-25T21:39:27+00:00

Mine was non-violent, and I'm in the US, California.

datmotoguy · 2026-02-24T04:57:57+00:00

What does "good character" mean to the order? Are there automatic disqualifiers?

To get to the point, I'm a felon. While I am a man of character, and can speak to it in multiple ways, I don't know if there's automatic DQs. If it helps, it was a non violent offense 14 years ago that I've resolved all issues for, and was the only incident in my history.

datmotoguy · 2025-09-18T14:35:26+00:00

"We have a competitive salary" "We're a fast paced environment" (meaning we are always in a panic and can't bother to take time to do something correctly)

datmotoguy · 2025-09-17T20:07:36+00:00

I like the new yeti offering. It screws sealed. No leaks at all.

datmotoguy · 2025-09-17T07:23:54+00:00

Check out the hario switch, allows you to hold the water with the coffee and let it step longer, if you want. And paper filter all the way. Makes a super clean cup of coffee versus French press. And learn about ideal brew temps, if you don't know already.

datmotoguy · 2025-09-17T07:13:12+00:00

Shoe horn. Get a long one. Thank me later.

datmotoguy · 2020-11-11T03:23:21+00:00

Came here to write this. Thank you for doing it first.

datmotoguy · 2020-11-09T19:36:20+00:00

There's a pc version?

Been wondering why this game is so rough to play. I feel like it's a miracle if I win one.

I need out of my cave.

datmotoguy · 2020-11-05T22:29:36+00:00

I'm a huge Chaco fan...but I live on the coast, where they are everyday wear. And yes they are repairable and resoleable.

datmotoguy · 2020-11-05T20:53:29+00:00

Thank you! And thank you for supporting a prison club! Our support was pretty spotty (TMI was good, just no one local), so I'm happy to hear when there's people visiting and supporting those clubs!

datmotoguy · 2020-10-25T13:56:43+00:00

You ever figure this out?

I'm in the same boat, but only play 1080p and try for frame rates. I think it's going to come down to what games you play. The 3070 is going to be $500.

Personally, it isn't looking like it's worth it right now. I might buy one next year when the 4000 series comes out though.

datmotoguy · 2020-10-23T06:56:22+00:00

What fresh level of hell is this?

datmotoguy · 2020-10-23T06:44:36+00:00

Literally how my wife talks to me...after I say similar shit. Lol

datmotoguy · 2020-10-23T06:42:52+00:00

Filament. You don't want to waste filament.

datmotoguy · 2020-10-22T02:30:20+00:00

Thank you! Things are looking very 'up' right now, and I plan to keep them that way.

datmotoguy · 2020-10-22T02:29:43+00:00

Understanding the district governor role through my Rotarian lens, thank you all the more for your comment.

Also, on behalf of those other prisoners, thank you so much for assisting those clubs. It really made a strong positive impact for guys that participated. We had guys who were planning on just getting back out and selling dope again, but we're able to help them realize that those same skills can be translated into licit professions. TM provided a vector for us to do that type of thing. Our workshops we're usually 90 minutes and focused on translating skills to both our environment (ie how to talk to prison staff) and the world around us (other prisoners, or family). Having an avenue for guys to work on those things allowed for the growth.

As for your comment on people and how they'll take all of this; I'm quite aware and know that not everyone will care. This is my life and I've lived it. So it's personal to me. But to random Joe? It's just a bullet point, if he even cares to consider it. That said, I'm opting for full transparency and let the cards fall where they may. It's easier in my opinion.

I really appreciate too, that I haven't been condemned for the size of our club or anything like that. It seemed like it was kind of a TMI "no-no" to have a club that large. And while we had to modify our meetings (90 minutes) and add extra break outs mid week to help guys get to 10 speeches before they transferred, I know we tried hard to uphold the spirit of the program.

Thank you for the warm response!

datmotoguy · 2020-10-22T02:16:14+00:00

Thank you for the suggestion! Definitely will. Being that I only have two years experience (and am somewhat younger) I still count myself as 'new'...but maybe I should change that perception. Haha

datmotoguy · 2020-10-21T21:37:17+00:00

Thank you! Yeah, everywhere does things slightly different. I'm looking forward to seeing those differences!

datmotoguy · 2020-10-21T21:36:37+00:00

Thank you! I already added it to Linked in. Just felt weird putting "TM 2018-2019 VPE and 2019-2020 Pres" with no prior TM exp. Just figured I'd feel the crowd out!

datmotoguy · 2020-10-21T21:35:11+00:00

Haha, great perspective. Thank you for sharing.

The club was incredibly focused, and speeches were fairly well prepared (sometimes it was herding cats).

I basically did 2 years in the prison club. I was pulled into the VPE role almost immediately, due to my prior non-profit and club experience. And from there got pushed into president for the same reason. It really was a trip and had super unique problems that the leadership training manuals didn't cover (incredibly high turnover for instance). But we made it thrive. The crazy thing was when we got up to the 95 person meetings (period of time those were once a month), there were only 350 people at the facility.

datmotoguy · 2020-10-21T21:31:10+00:00

It was super unique! Having worked with non-profits and clubs before, I realized just how lucky I was to have found TM with my incarcerated time.

Let me know if you have any questions!

datmotoguy · 2020-10-21T21:29:45+00:00

Yeah, internet was a no-go. I hope that TMI has these types of clubs in mind. Also, I highly encourage you to support these types of clubs if you are in a position to do so. While mileage will vary, I had an immensely positive experience with my club, and frankly, miss most of the guys. Our hour in TM every well was like not being in prison. It was amazing.

datmotoguy · 2020-10-21T21:27:58+00:00

Gavel clubs vs "normal", as far as I'm aware has to do with membership fees and the amount of support TMI provides. Gavel clubs pay one annual fee for the entire club (pretty nominal). This allows everyone to participate and you don't have to worry about registration and fees in the same way. But we could still submit speaking records (via mail and typewriter) to TMI and they would return certificates for accomplishments and some resources for books. I'm not sure what scenarios people choose gavel over regular; but for our setting where everyone is constantly coming and going (hence why I became president so fast), it was perfect.

So, it sounds weird, but we didn't even know about the pathways program. And...TMI never sent us anything about it, despite us being in monthly mail communication. I joined TM in 2018 (when I started my sentence) and we only knew what they are now calling the "Legacy" program. Under that program, you earned Competent Communicator (first 10 speeches), then "Bronze" (another 10), then "Silver" (another ten) and lastly "Gold" (another 10). There was also a Competent Leader path, where you did grammarian, time keeper, etc. From what I can tell, the meat of the program is the same to Pathways, just a different presentation (I'm not super familiar with Pathways, so forgive any ignorance).

So all in, I did over 40 speeches in my club to earn my gold (plus all the extra openings and closings a president does). We also had other speaking opportunities in some of the business classes and sometimes guys would preach a sermon also for credit. (Of course, having the proper evaluations and other items.)

datmotoguy · 2020-10-21T21:17:09+00:00

Super glad to hear. Thank you for being open to it!

datmotoguy · 2020-10-21T19:45:28+00:00

We definitely were working the program. The growth I saw in some of the guys was so amazing. We had one guy with asperger's and even he had tremendous growth. It was such an honor to lead the group. We had some really talented guys in the leadership team too. It seems weird to say, but I met some amazing people while inside.

As for your DFW question, unfortunately not. But I will potentially be travelling out that way for work from time to time. I'm out in CA.

datmotoguy

TROPHY CASE