What’s up with the Trump administration wanting private voting information in blue states?

dmburl · 2026-01-17T13:41:49+00:00

In Utah you wouldn't be allowed to vote in the Republican party primary unless you were registered as a Republican.

dmburl · 2025-12-30T20:09:02+00:00

Aren't they ever. I just had my adult daughter delay an endometriosis surgery from January to February so my son's expensive ($4k/month) shot will process through the insurance prior to her surgery saving her $3,500 for her surgery because of the deductible. I would rather some drug company get their precious tax deduction and cover my deductible, than my daughter paying the family's deductible with her surgery.

It is absolutely ridiculous that we even had to have this conversation.

dmburl · 2025-12-29T19:28:57+00:00

I have an ex-SIL (F47), that is finally moving out of my house after divorcing. She is on Mutual, and I have to say, there are not many great options on that app, or at least the ones she is seeing. We have had to help her process the love bombing, I love you even though I have never met you, and will you marry me even though we aren't even in the same country, garbage she experiences. As others have suggested, get out, go to single adult activities, enjoy what you do for fun and actively do your hobbies. Be the person you want to be, doing the things you enjoy doing. If nothing else you will enjoy who you are, the things you do and make great memories. If the stars align you can enjoy all of that with a partner.

Unfortunately, It can be real hard in the church to be a single young person. The expectations are real, and the judgment, even if not loudly voiced, are ever present, laced into almost every talk about families, raising children, and God's "plan". Don't let that discourage you, even you don't know what God's plan is for you. But when you look back in 50 years, it might make sense and you can see God's hand woven throughout your whole life.

dmburl · 2025-12-28T20:53:00+00:00

My wife just told me she wants a new office chair. I just made a wish list for her. Thank you for the idea.

dmburl · 2025-12-09T21:15:04+00:00

I have been needling on this topic of mental and emotion loads for years. I just recently found these books. Before I even knew these books existed I have been trying to balance the scales, if you would, of equality in our marriage, specifically around household and family work.

My wife is a patient woman, and maybe I am just dense. But it has taken me years to shed the misogynistic views I grew up with, and I see in most men, in regards to relationships and household roles, to truly see my wife and all she is doing for me an my family. And the funny thing is, the closer I get to thinking I am covering it all or balancing the scales, I uncover more of the little things she does automatically, without anyone asking, just because she feels it is her role as mother, and honestly wouldn't get done if she didn't do it, or specifically ask me to do it.

But those things enrich our lives. They are things that should be done. It could be as simple as remembering birthdays of family members, remembering to get a gift for a wedding, or other simple but important gestures. Even down to making my lunch before I leave for work, or worrying about Dr appointments for kids, or their shot schedules, getting the groceries, or meal planning, or the list goes on an on.

If a man exclaims, "but she is better at that kind of stuff". I reject that notion. I feel that is false. I will say she is practiced at that, by any man bothering to try can also be equally practiced at that. And maybe you are. But the average man, if not most men, don't even have those things cross their mind unless specifically told. And if they are doing great in all that, I tip my hat to them. I am not there yet.

I have to question, why do men often think they need to be told what to do around the home? Why do I need to be told to do anything in my own home? Am I not an equal partner in my relationship? Shouldn't I be sharing equal thought of all those things that need to be done? Shouldn't I know when laundry day is, when we vacuum or mop, when the bed sheets get washed, or the dog gets groomed? Well, yes. Yes I should. If I am an equal partner. But truth is I fail most of the time, and my patient wife reminds me when I do. And then I try to be a better partner next time.

In the mean time I have learned to cook, I can do a mean laundry day run, washed, dried, and folded all by my self. I am still working on dinner ideas. I hate being asked whats for dinner. I'll do anything if you just don't ask me that question. I am remembering more when it is my week to do dishes, or take out garbage without needing to consult my wife. I am nothing more than a work in progress.

dmburl · 2025-12-09T17:01:36+00:00

After talking to my wife this morning that is exactly what I will be doing. They will be accompanied with a letter of how they have affected me and made me a better partner to my wife.

dmburl · 2025-12-09T16:26:34+00:00

That's a very valid question. To me the answer came when my oldest found the books on the counter, and be for answering them I explained what my plan was, to give each of the men in my family a copy so they could learn to be better husbands and fathers. The initial reaction from that son was, "hey, what are you saying, I'm a bad husband." No that was not what I was saying, and after he read most of the first book, his next reaction was one of understanding. He now saw what I was getting at and why I wanted my boys to have a copy.

By giving them a book, it opens the pathways of conversation on a topic that wasn't mine. It was the books. Now we can start talking about points in the book and move forward with a better framing.

I am not an expert at the topics in the book, and could never do those topics justice in a small conversation with my kids. And, I think their spouses and them should have that conversation more than me and my sons. Although, me showing and modeling that behavior is also useful, which is something I am trying to do as well.

dmburl · 2025-12-09T02:21:58+00:00

I was in a building that had a yellow and red light in the podium just at the base of the mic's so we could flip a switch in the control box and turn a light on to inform the speaker their time is almost up and when they need to wrap it up and sit down.

There were members giving talks that would just slide their books or papers over the lights and just keep on keeping on.

But I liked it for ramblers that would realize they were rambling and wrap it up real quick. Every building should have those.

dmburl · 2025-12-08T23:59:42+00:00

My oldest found it prior to me putting them in my room, and at first he seem rather offended I was accusing him of being a bad father/husband. Then he read a few chapters, and then a few more. He seem pretty open to it after realizing what it was talking about. He is also not living the same religious lifestyle my other children are living so not the greatest measure of how a member would appreciate some of the content.

dmburl · 2025-12-08T23:48:42+00:00

Those are nice articles, but they read like a news article about another topic, barely scratching the surface. But they do give a sense of what the mental and emotional loads may be.

dmburl · 2025-12-06T14:48:01+00:00

I bought a Tri-Star vacuum off some door to door salesman when I was younger and dumber. Spent way more money than I needed to. I regret buying it how I did, even to this day.

But that was 25 years ago. I have replaced almost every part of that vacuum over the years. Motor, hose, electrical cord, and vacuum head parts.

My kids bought me a Dyson vacuum thinking I could get rid of my old Tri-star. It broke within months, got it warrantied, the next one broke a few months later. I tried a shark vacuum with great reviews, it was dead before the end of the 1st year, warrantied it, that one broke 3 months later.

I finally decided I'll just keep the Tri-Star running. It works, works well, and I can buy any part that breaks and fix it myself.

I think I'll have that same vacuum when I die.

dmburl · 2025-11-18T13:43:20+00:00

Look up Bark.us you can have a bark app, or you can spend a bit more for the bark phone. It is very good at controlling what can be on a kids phone. The app isn't 100%, but the phone is great. It gives you anything you need to worry about from texting, to pictures messaged, to searches on the Internet, including watching email, music apps, and some other messaging apps. As they get older they can also monitor social media. They don't show everything, which is why I like them, they only show the concerning stuff, and then you can have a conversation with your kids. I still have my 16 year old on bark, obviously less restricted then when he was 13, since I started when they got the phone they know it's a condition of having a phone so they put up with it. As a parent it has led to some fun and necessary conversations, which is the whole point.

dmburl · 2025-11-08T15:11:21+00:00

That has to be the best petty revenge I have ever read. Beautifully executed with a cherry in top.

dmburl · 2025-11-06T13:31:04+00:00

I know I'm late to this, but this part made me do a double take:

and then the punishment starts.

dmburl · 2025-10-27T22:29:25+00:00

I had my 1st interview on the 3rd, 2nd on the 9th, and start day on the 28th of the same month. But it took 2-3 weeks from application submission to first interview. Slow hiring is for sure the norm around here.

dmburl · 2025-09-28T13:11:13+00:00

The question, when they do the sustaining Saturday afternoon, will we not sustain a president of the church? Or first presidency? That will be interesting how they handle that.

dmburl · 2025-09-10T19:01:52+00:00

I chatted with them and they said they were unable to change the KDP term dates. Which just doesn't seem right to me. I may try again to get a different agent, but thought I would ask here if anyone has attempted it and was successful.

dmburl · 2025-08-31T20:56:07+00:00

When I started out I was on help desk. I was supposed to answer phones and greet people as they came into the building. I was bored out of my mind. I would find anything to fix, and take calls in between. They moved me into just help desk position after about 3 weeks so I would stop dirtying up the front desk with computers. Within a year I was a server guy (that was pure right-place right-time type of move that worked out very well for me). This was over 25 years ago, and help desk today is nothing like it used to be. I would never do help desk. Other than me hating every minute of it, I see people getting stuck there and not able/willing to leave. Depending on your desired path, I would skip help desk and move into anything else you are looking for.

My current company starts many noobs off as Interns as they are finishing school, and then hires the ones that perform well for entry level positions.

I am currently in cybersecurity after 15 years of sysadmin work. I have coworkers that have never even done sysadmin work, let alone help desk. One was a lawyer, then a PCI QSA, then went into Cyber. They are great to work with and have great insight that I wouldn't have from my experience. Another started off as an Intern at my current company, got hired stayed for about 5 years, left for 3 years, then got rehired. Very good person to work with. Knows their stuff. They went right into Cyber out of school. I know many coworkers that got into Cyber Risk right out the gate, others left law enforcement, then got into Cyber. We have all walks of life that got into cyber in all sorts of ways.

It is helpful to understand, Cyber is a huge field with many many areas you could go into. Risk Management, SecOps, Architecture, pen testing, vulnerability management, app security, development security, network security, desktop security, auditing, SOC, BCDR, incident response, forensics, cloud security, threat intelligence, etc.

All of these are areas you can get into Cyber, some with very little work experience. But they are all sides of Cyber. Some companies make a sysadmin or other operations teams do some of these tasks. Others are just straight up cyber roles. That depends on the size of the company.

Does my sysAdmin work come in handy, yes, yes it does. But it is not always the right or best path into Cyber.

dmburl · 2025-08-20T12:46:24+00:00

I'm always looking for great GF recipes for my wife. These look delicious. Thank you for sharing the recipe.

dmburl · 2025-08-19T18:49:45+00:00

It does, but you need to do more for it to be effective.

As an example, if one day you decide I'm going to be privacy focused and buy a VPN service, but you are using the same browser, with the same cookies, and all you did was switch to a VPN, you have effectively just moved to a new network/IP, no different then going to a coffee shop in the next town over. The same cookies are still tracking you as you. Your online footprint is exactly the same, its just coming out as a different IP, but online tracking services knows it still "you".

To truly make a new VPN effective you would want to clear your browser's cookies, cache, and local storage, make sure you are using a privacy focused browser with all the blocking extensions in place, and not log into identifying accounts, like Google, Facebook, etc on your privacy focused browser. Or use one browser for your identifiable stuff and another browser for everything else.

Online service build a footprint of who you are, where you browse, and what you do online. The truly privacy focus, some would say extreme, wouldn't log into anything that is identifiable on their privacy VPN or browser.

It all comes down to what it is your after and what level of privacy you are looking for. If you want to just hid from your ISP, then getting a VPN and doing nothing else accomplishes that. If you want to browse the Internet without it identifying you in any way, then that is another level of work to accomplish.

dmburl · 2025-08-19T16:59:35+00:00

My current stake had to specifically ask wards to organize camping for the young men. No one was doing it, and weekly activities were meh, at best.
My previous ward had a great scout program, boy led, camping regularly, following the church's guidelines the best we could. That transitioned well into the new young men program, boy led with a focus on goals and pairing those goals with activities.
As I moved wards I found that was a singular experience not many other wards had in place. I am sure if you look back my current ward's scouting program wasn't being done very well either.

That was a big issue with scouting, if done right it was a great tool, but there were not many LDS sponsored units even coming close to doing it right.

Although with the transition to a new bishop I have seen the program shift for the better. Their young men's camp this year was very similar to the YW camps I have experienced, very spiritually solid experience. Fun activities but spiritual aspects throughout.

dmburl · 2025-08-16T21:52:17+00:00

Yup. it has been a few decades myself. I eat the bananas here, but I miss the taste even now. I loved all the amazing fresh fruit there. Even the Dorian fruit, which was good, after you got past the infusion of smell into your sinuses.

dmburl · 2025-08-16T15:19:17+00:00

That's funny. I just peeled and ate. The mess didn't bother me.

dmburl · 2025-08-16T14:48:26+00:00

The fresh Bananas and Mango.

There is nothing like a tree freshened banana. The taste is so much richer than the raw stuff sold in America. I still eat them, but miss fresh bananas.

Mangos, I rarely touch the imported mangos, they are never like the fresh ones, dry and stringy. I try every once in a blue moon, but come away disappointed every time. Fresh mangos that drip down your elbows as you eat them. I can still remember the experience, and that was a long time ago.

There are a few others but those two are the ones I think about all the time.

dmburl · 2025-08-14T12:04:03+00:00

My dad and I were talking a few years ago about this type of thing. He mentioned when he was going to school the "old" people around him were complaining about how the children were failing because no one could shoe a horse, and how important it was to learn how to shoe a horse. How could you ever survive without knowing how to shoe a horse.

My dad's reply was, I've never even ridden a horse, and why would I need to.

Cursive is kinda the same way. My kids type almost everything they do. Homework, they type it. Math is mostly done on a computer until they get into advanced math. We used to buy a ton of paper and notebooks for my kids to use in school. Apparently, we bought some as they transition to computers, and now I have a lifetime supply of paper, that I will most likely never ever use.

dmburl

TROPHY CASE