June 14, 2025 · 4:14 PM

Random Thoughts on Immigration

I’ve been spending a lot of time off of social media this year. Partially due to how chaotic and depressing social media tends to become during a Trump administration, partially due to the fact that I usually end up doomscrolling, and partially because I’m worried I’ll say something that will be used to get my company in trouble. We’re working on some defense tech applications that I think will make a big difference in the defense of our friends and allies in east Asia in case of a China war, but the current administration has shown a gleeful willingness to cancel useful programs when the people tied to them are deemed to be political enemies. So, I’ve mostly tried to bite my tongue on things. But frankly I feel a little bit like a coward for hiding my opinions when I feel the country is headed in a dangerous direction. So I figured, I’d use this blog to share my thoughts on policy/political topics that aren’t directly space/technology related (I’ll save those for Selenian Boondocks), realizing that almost nobody reads anything here, but that it still could very well be used against me at a future date. That’s a lot of preamble, and some of you are probably thinking I’m pretty paranoid, but I felt it needed to be said.

So I wanted to start with some thoughts on immigration, which has been fairly front and center under the current administration. I’m not going to try to organize this into a super long article, but here were some of my key thoughts on the topic:

Thoughts on illegal immigration:

  • I’ll be honest that I think our immigration system is broken, and that the vast majority of illegal immigrants are people who are here because they want to work, raise families, and be part of the United States and the American dream. As a libertarianish sort, I really don’t see the value in deporting people who fall into this category, who while technically violating the law, are not actually harming and are in fact helping by being here.
  • I also think that arresting and deporting people who came here legally, and while working the way through our broken immigration system made honest clerical mistakes, or missed paperwork deadlines, but who have otherwise been active, contributing members of society is particularly stupid, and morally bankrupt.
  • That said, I can totally understand deporting non-US citizens who are here but who choose to hurt other people, whether through property crime or violence. While I think there’s a reason to consider mercy in cases where people made honest mistakes or were stupid and are willing to try to repair the damage they caused, I think that not enforcing laws against immigrants who hurt Americans is only going to turn more Americans against immigration, and hurt the many who are here not actively hurting others. Religion or culture should not be an excuse for harming others, whether citizens or other immigrants.
  • I think that while the immigration system is broken, that leaving it broken is also not idea. I like how Frédéric Bastiat put it: “No society can exist unless the laws are respected to a certain degree. The safest way to make laws respected is to make them respectable. When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law.” I feel like in many cases our restrictive immigration laws do contradict morality (to say nothing of common sense or our national interests), and they should be fixed, not just ignored.
  • One interesting example is Elon Musk. AIUI, he came here on a student visa (which doesn’t allow you to work), dropped out of school (which AIUI technically requires you to leave the country within 15 days if you don’t enroll in school somewhere else) and stayed and started a startup (which technically violated the terms of his student visa). At this point he was technically an illegal immigrant. He later filed for a green card and US citizenship, but both of those applications require answering a question of if you have ever violated the terms of previous visas or other immigration authorizations. Since he was granted a green card and eventual citizenship, we can assume that he probably lied on his application, which is also illegal. So, based on the evidence I’ve seen, there’s a very good chance that Elon was an illegal immigrant. Some on the left, after his cozying up to the Trump administration, even suggested he should be deported. But seriously, is there anyone in their right mind who really thinks our country would’ve been a better place with Elon deported? I have plenty of bones to pick with Elon on how he treats his employees, and companies he works with. I think his business ethics leave a lot to be desired. But I think you have to be a blinded ideologue to think the country would’ve been better had he been arrested and sent back to South Africa at any point in the journey. The thing I wish people on the right would recognize is that there are so many other people in this country who are also technically illegal immigrants, who also contribute to this great country, even if not in as visible or flashy of ways, and who also deserve that same level of grace.

Some immigration reform ideas I’d be in favor of:

  • I know amnesty is a dirty word on today’s right, but I absolutely think that there should be a way for previously-arrived illegal immigrants, who are otherwise law-abiding, contributing members of their communities to get right with the law. I also don’t think they should have their pathway to eventual citizenship completely barred. I’m fine with making that path difficult, in a way for them to show that becoming a citizen of this country is something they’re really willing to work for.
  • I’m generally against the idea of quotas on the number of work visas, or at least think they should be greatly increased. If there’s a lot of demand for labor, and people are willing to come here and work, why should the government be micromanaging who companies can or can’t hire? I can see blocking entry for people who have violent criminal records, or who currently have infectious diseases, but quotas are basically government micromanaging the economy. Also, if you make it easy for people to come when there’s work, it also makes it easier for people to leave if work dries up. When getting into the country is really dangerous and illegal, it incentivizes staying even if the work situation goes bad. But if you make it easy for workers to come and go, you’re less likely to see immigrants stick around if there isn’t work.
  • I don’t think there should be a lot of visa types that don’t allow you to work, and I think that those few that might fit in that category (like short-term tourist visas) should have a way to convert to a working visa if you do find work. And I definitely think anyone here as a refugee or asylee should be allowed to work. Letting people in, but not letting them work is a recipe for creating a welfare weight on cities and communities, and generally turning people against immigration and refugees in general.
  • As mentioned above, I actually do favor a path to citizenship even for illegal immigrants. I’m fine though with making their naturalization be something that is structured to directly benefit existing citizens more clearly. For instance, if someone who was given amnesty and allowed on a work visa wants to apply for a green card, maybe some requirement should be that they need to pay taxes, including social security and medicare/medicaid taxes for X number of years before they’re allowed to apply, with none of the social security payments they’ve made prior to getting their green card counting toward what they can take out later when they retire. I think many of them would still absolutely think it’s worth it, and ideas like that could help keep entitlement programs solvent. I’m also a fan of letting former illegal immigrants earn their way into a green card via public service, or service in the armed forces. I’m also fine with making demonstrating English proficiency be part of the required process.

I know these opinions aren’t popular. I’m not advocating for these things because I think it’s likely to be politically advantageous for me. As a libertarianish sort, I expect I’m always going to be a political minority, with or without more immigration. I just think these policies are the right principles. Let people come who want to work, enforce the law against those who actively choose to harm others, but only use deportation on those who choose to hurt rather than build, let people here work and be active members of their community, make it easier for honest people to come and to go as needed, continue to keep non-citizens ineligible for government welfare. Maybe I’m an unrealistic radical for believing these things, but I wanted to at least share my thoughts on the topic.

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Filed under Immigration, Politics

May 30, 2025 · 9:50 PM

Shrimp Ceviche Recipe

Shrimp Ceviche is a Peruvian dish that uses lime juice to “cook” raw shrimp to make it safe for eating. Me and my boys tried it in Ecuador during our trip there last year, and when Tiff asked for Peruvian Chicken for Mother’s Day, we found this delicious and simple recipe to go with it.

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails off
  • 3/4 cup fresh lime juice
  • 1 large tomato, diced
  • 1 large avocado, diced
  • 1/2 cup red onion, minced
  • 1/2 cup cilantro, minced
  • 1 Jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

  1. Thaw shrimp in a bowl with warm tap water for 10 minutes.
  2. If using fresh limes, squeeze juice from the limes into a bowl while the shrimp is thawing.
  3. Drain the shrimp and gently squeeze them, and then dice them. Mix the diced shrimp pieces in the bowl with the lime juice.
  4. Let the shrimp marinate in the lime juice for 1.5hrs. You can do this in the bowl, or you can put them in a ziploc bag in the fridge. At the end, the acid will have “cooked” the shrimp, changing the color to a more opaque white and pink color.
  5. Shortly before the shrimp is done marinating in the fridge, prepare the other ingredients — dice the tomato, avocado, red onion, cilantro, and jalapeño. Once the shrimp is done marinating, mix them in with the marinated shrimp.
  6. Add salt and pepper to taste, and serve the dish cold with either tortilla chips, or on tacos.

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Filed under Recipes, Uncategorized

January 7, 2025 · 8:31 PM

2024 Goals Accountability: The Good, the Meh, and the Ugly

Now that we’re into January, I wanted to do a write-up of how I did on my goals from last year, as an exercise in personal accountability. As you’ll see, I did well in some areas and poorly in others. To me, a good goal is one that gets you to change for the better, even if you don’t knock it out of the park.

The Good…

Of the ten goals I set for the year (nine that I set initially, and one I added part way through), I was able to achieve four of them all or most of the way. I’ll once again start with those…

  • Return to the Philippines to Participate in the Philppines Urdanetta Temple dedication (4/28): The first goal we achieved was actually the first one on my list for the year. After serving a mission in the Philippines in 2000-2002, I had never been in a financial position to make a return visit until very recently. About 14yrs ago, my church announced that they were building a temple in Urdaneta, a town just two town only a few miles from two of the areas where I spent almost half of my mission (Calasiao and Binmaley). I decided that I wanted to try and be in a position to return to the Philippines to be there for the dedication. When they finally announced the dedication date last year, I set the goal to go there with Tiffany. I’m really glad we went. It was a beautiful experience seeing so many old friends, and seeing places I hadn’t seen in decades. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you can find more pictures and stories from that week near the end of April. We also got the chance to visit Taipei on our way home from the Philippines. Hopefully I can make it back to the Philippines again in the coming years, and maybe bring some of my boys along for the adventure.
The Urdaneta Temple, the evening after its dedication (April 28th)
  • Help Jonny get his mission papers submitted (5/21): My second goal that I completed was helping Jonny get his application submitted to serve a mission for our church. It took a while to finalize things, but he received his “mission call” from the church in the fall, and has been assigned to serve for two years in the Los Angeles California mission, starting in early February.
  • Help Peter and Jamie prepare for a 10K and run it with both of them (5/27 and 10/28): I had to adjust this goal a little bit. The original goal was to help them both prepare to run the Bolder Boulder 10K in May, but Jamie sprained his ankle in late March, and while he was out of a cast and walking before the race, we didn’t think it was wise to have him start training again right away. So Peter and I ran in May, with Peter beating his old time by nearly 15min (1:15:47), and I beat my old time by almost 10min (1:20:04). In the fall, we found a local Turkey Trot 10K, so we started training, and Jamie ran that 10K with me. That was Jamie’s first 10K, but he set the best time for the family (1:07:27), and I beat my old time by around 12min (1:07:48). Jonny and Peter also ran with us in the Turkey Trot, but they did the 5K loop. It took a lot of work, but I’m proud of my boys for persevering until they could accomplish something challenging.
Peter and me at the Bolder Boulder in May (left two), Jamie, Jonny, me, and Peter at the Broomfield Turkey Trot 5K/10K in November
  • Reread the Book of Mormon cover to cover, marking all scriptures referencing Christ in red (12/20): This one I ended up modifying a bit fairly early on. I was originally planning on also marking some other types of scriptures in blue, but decided to focus on just the references to Christ.

In addition to those official goals, I had two unofficial goals I accomplished worth mentioning:

  • Visit a Spanish-speaking country in Central or South America for a few days (11/1-11/7): This one was actually one of my goals from a previous year that I didn’t achieve then, but did successfully achieve this November. I’ve been teaching myself Spanish using Duolingo for almost a decade, and Pimsleur for a little over a year, but I wanted to go some place that would force me to actually use my Spanish language skills. I had a friend from Colorado who had take a job in Quito for two years, who had invited us to come down and visit him. After surviving the proposal silly season in October, we decided to take him up on the offer, and spent time in Panama on our way to and from Ecuador, and spent several days in Quito and the surrounding area. It was a wonderful adventure, and once again, I’m glad we did it. Between this and the Philippines trip in April, these were the only trips beyond the US and Canada that I had done since my mission in 2000-2002.
  • Climb a 15er (11/5): Jamie told me in September or October that he wanted to hike a 14er (a mountain with a summit over 14,000ft) that year. The problem is that that was way too late in the season to do that safely, so I figured we’d have to punt until next year. But when my friend we were visiting in Quito sent us a list of things to do in the area, one of them was a hike of Ruku Pichincha, a volcano that was on the edge of Quito, and whose summit was 15,400ft — higher than any mountain in the continental US. Reading the reviews, it actually sounded like it was probably one of the easiest 15ers in the world, with a cable car going up to the 13,000ft level, most of the hike just a steep trail hike, and only some scrambling in the last quarter mile. We decided to go, and ended up hiking the mountain on one of the clearest days in Quito that our friends remembered. We safely made it up and down, thanks to our friend’s help, and a Boost Oxygen cylinder. I couldn’t think of a better place to be on Election Day than on a 15000ft volcano in the Andes.
It was probably the hardest and scariest hike I’ve ever done, but we made it safely to the top and back, thanks to our friends, the Burnses.

…the Meh…

Ok, so not everything went according to plan. Three of my ten goals for the year were only partial successes:

  • Complete Levels 1-5 in Pimsleur Spanish Lessons: I started the year with Level 1 lessons completed, but not the exercises, and by the end of the year I had made it a little more than half way through Level 4 with both the lessons and exercises. The lessons are ~30min each, and consist of a pre-recorded conversation that you participate in, and the exercises are about 10-15min worth of different tasks like saying phrases, cue cards, matching exercises, and reading. Because the lessons themselves were purely verbal, it made it convenient to do them while driving or going on a walk or a jog, but the exercises require eyes and thumbs, so a lot of time I’d get ahead on the lessons and then have to take time catching up on the exercises. It helped that I’ve done enough Duolingo to understand a lot of the grammar and vocabulary, but these lessons helped me start getting more used to conversational Spanish. I didn’t finish in 2024, but hope to finish this up in 2025.
  • Invite neighbors, church friends, or friends over for dinner at least three times per quarter: I did ok with this, but didn’t hit it 100%, especially early in the year. If you don’t count feeding the missionaries, we only had one dinner with friends over in Q1 and one in Q2, but then ramped up to three in Q3, and four in Q4. One thing that helped was that half way through the year, the stake rearranged the boundaries of our ward (congregation), so half of the people were now people we didn’t know well, so we’ve been making a concerted effort to invite people over for dinners or desserts every few weeks. Even though we didn’t make it 100% on this one, I still think this was a successful goal, since it got me, even though I’m a total introvert, to reach out and invite people over on a regular basis.
  • Complete Level 1 and 2 of Pimsleur Tagalog before the Philippines Trip: This wasn’t on my original goal list, but I realized in January or February that I really needed to brush up on my Tagalog before my trip, because I hadn’t used it regularly in two decades. Pimsleur only had two Levels for Tagalog, rather than five like they did for Spanish, but it was better than Duolingo, which basically has nothing for Tagalog. I didn’t do the exercises, just the lessons, and only made it through one Level worth of lessons before the trip, but getting through one still helped a lot. Coincidentally, doing this is probably part of why I wasn’t able to finish the Spanish Pimsleur levels, since I paused working on the Spanish while I was doing Tagalog. But still definitely worthwhile, even if not fully successful.

…and the Ugly

As with last year, I also had three goals that I did not complete, and only made modest progress on:

  • Get my weight under 175lb before my birthday: This was my first time setting a weight-loss specific goal, and I only made it about halfway from 185 down to 175 by my birthday. I tried extending the deadline to the end of the year, but never managed to get back down below 177lb at my lightest. By the end of the year I was back around where I started (~185lb). That said, while I didn’t succeed in losing a lot of weight, I think trying to lose weight likely helped me avoid gaining more weight.
  • Learn how to use my Snapmaker 2.0’s rotary 4th axis, 40W laser, and dual print head, and design and make at least two items using each process: I bought the Snapmaker, and a lot of upgrades in late 2023, and used a bunch of them for some consulting work in November/December 2023, but hadn’t had a chance to really learn how to use a lot of the tools. I had a chance to dabble with the 40W laser and dual print head, but not really figure them out. In the end, I only really managed to make time for the 40W laser in late November and December, and only for wood, not also for metal color engraving like I wanted to learn how to do. But I was able to make some two-layer maple/walnut temple ornaments for my Filipino friends (using a design my sister Julia helped me with), and we also made a rather cool Guinea Pig warrior pencil holder for Jamie. I still want to learn how to use the laser for colored laser engraving on stainless, and I haven’t even tried unboxing my 4th axis, so I think I may re-up this one for next year.
I didn’t achieve most of what I wanted with this goal, but did manage to make some cooler wood projects this year using the 40W laser
  • Help teach each one of my boys one or two skills they want to learn: One of the things I did this year was arrange my work schedule so I could take extra time during the day on some weekdays to do homeschool activities with the boys. My original plan was to help each of them learn some sort of skill they wanted to learn, but the only one who was consistent at it was Peter, who I setup with some tutorials to learn how to use the Fusion 360 CAD program. He did make it all the way through the lessons, and even used it to design a medallion to 3d print for his choir director. So I’d count that as a success, but the others it was off and on if we even did anything formally on skills each week. I did cook some stuff with Jamie, and read some stories with Pip, but not as much as I had originally intended. I think next time, if I set a goal like this, it’ll be for a specific skill that they specifically asked me for help on.

Anyhow, that’s the reckoning for 2024 goals. Even for the goals that I wasn’t very successful on, I still think they were useful goals to have. I’m going to have to put a bit more thought into what I want to do for 2025. But remember, even if you don’t get 100% in a goal, if it gets you to be intentional about improving something you wanted to improve, it’s still worthwhile.

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Filed under Goal: Learning Spanish, Goals, Goff Family, Personal History

June 22, 2024 · 3:48 PM

Instant Pot Monggo (Filiipino Mung Bean Stew)

Monggo is a stew of mung beans, pork (and/or chicken) and shrimp, typically served on top of rice. 

We had found this recipe a few years ago, but when I went to make some again for an open house for our Philippines trip last month, I found that the link to this recipe didn’t work anymore. Thanks to the Internet Archive WayBack Machine, I was able to find the recipe again, so this time I’m putting it up here on the blog. This recipe was originally from Brenda Boggs of the Hapahash.com food website.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 8

Ingredients:

  • 2 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
  • 1 onion, chopped white or yellow
  • 3 tbsp garlic, minced
  • 1/2 to 1 lb pork and/or chicken cut into bite sized pieces
  • 1-2 tomato, chopped
  • 1 cup mung beans
  • 2-3 tbsp salt
  • 4 cups spinach
  • 1 lb shrimp cooked
  • 3 cups water

Instructions:

  1. Set the Instant Pot to sauté. Once it heats up, add oil and sauté onion and garlic until fragrant and translucent. Add the pork and/or chicken pieces and brown on all sides. This browning step is primarily for additional flavor and can be skipped, if desired.
  2. Add the chopped tomato, mung beans, water, malunggay leaves (if using) and 2 tbsp salt.
  3. Turn the Instant Pot on Manual (high pressure) and set for 10 minutes. Make sure it is set to sealed. Walk away.
  4. Let the Instant Pot naturally release for 10 minutes. You might still need to quick release after 10 minutes and then add the spinach and shrimp, stir to combine. Carefully taste and add additional salt as desired.

Additional Notes:

  1. If you have a local Asian grocery store, depending on the season, you may be able to get Chili Leaves (Dahon ng Sili in Filipino) to use instead of the Spinach. They add a little bit of a peppery flavor that’s more authentic.
  2. If you want a more authentic flavor, you can use patis (fish sauce) rather than the salt. I’m a little too much of an Amerikano, so I usually don’t use patis. Patis can also be found at most Asian grocery stores.
  3. If you can find them, you can also add Malunggay (aka Moringa) leaves to the mix in Step 2. I’d add at most 1 cup of them. These have been hard for me to find, so I usually leave them out.

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Filed under Philippines, Recipes

February 10, 2024 · 5:26 PM

CFM Thoughts (1/29-2/4): Other Ships We Need to Build

Nephi and his brothers building a ship (from the Book of Mormon Stories Chapter 7)

This wasn’t my thought, but it was one that was shared in Sunday School last week that I thought was profound enough that I wanted to share it. We were discussing chapters 16-22 of 1 Nephi, which included part of the story of Lehi’s family building a ship to sail from the Arabian peninsula to the Americas. As an engineer with a manufacturing background, the thought of trying to build a ship capable of oceanic travel, with just one extended family and no infrastructure, out in the middle of nowhere is fascinating. I can get why when Nephi’s brothers heard what he was trying to do, they thought their brother had cracked.

But the comment that someone made is that the challenge most of us face in life isn’t building a physical ship to sail across the ocean, but building other types of ships, that frankly can seem just as daunting at times: building friendships, family relationships, and discipleship.

Given how flawed most of us are, and how imperfect our family or work relationships may seem at times, figuring out how to build them into something that can last is something that can seem like an impossible task. I think Nephi’s example of faith, prayer, and trusting that if the Lord asks us to do something that he can prepare the way are all relevant in our daily efforts to build these other types of ships.

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Filed under Come Follow Me Thoughts, LDS Philosophy

· 5:07 PM

CFM Thoughts (1/15-1/21): The Iron Rod as a Via Ferrata

Lehi’s Dream by Steven Lloyd Neal

For my first Come Follow Me Thought, I wanted to share an idea I had that came out of a Sunday School discussion a few weeks ago, while we were discussing Lehi’s Vision of the Tree of Life from 1 Nephi 8. This was a fascinating vision the Book of Mormon prophet Lehi had, shortly after his family fled Jerusalem shortly before the Babylonian captivity. There are so many interesting lessons you can take from this vision, but I wanted to focus on one new idea I had that relates to one specific element of the vision — the “iron rod” that led along a strait and narrow path leading to the Tree of Life, which is a representation of the love of God.

During our lesson, one of the other members of the ward pointed out that the word used to describe the path isn’t straight with a -ght ending, but strait, which means something very different. Using Webster’s 1828 dictionary, strait means narrow, tight, difficult, confined, strict. As a noun, a strait is a narrow pass or passage, either on a mountain or ocean, between continents or other portions of land. I had heard this thought before, but as I was thinking of the strait and narrow path as being a winding, tight, and difficult path, I remembered a type of hiking trail I had learned about a few years ago called a Via Ferrata.

Via Ferratas

To paraphrase the Wikipedia article on the topic, Via Ferrata (which is Italian for something like Iron Path or Iron Way) is a type of protected hiking trail/climbing route that has metal cables, rungs, or rails anchored into the rock along the path. The anchored metal fixtures allow someone on the path to clip into them using a pair of leashes attached to their harness, which limit any falls that could happen. I found out about them while trying to plan a trip to Banff National Park in Canada. Here’s a few pictures to give you an idea of what I’m talking about:

Mt Norquay Via Ferrata at Banff National Park
Also from the Mt Norquay Via Ferrata
Via Ferrata in Switzerland (from the Wikipedia page on Via Ferratas)

The Iron Rod and Strait and Narrow Path as a Via Ferrata

Anyhow, I think a Via Ferrata is actually an amazingly good metaphor for the Iron Rod from Lehi’s Vision, which Nephi later explained was a symbol of the word of God:

  • Via ferratas allow you to safely travel what could otherwise be a very perilous path. Allowing even relatively less-skilled climbers to access places that would otherwise be unreachable.
  • Via ferratas provide their safety by being firmly anchored into the rock of the mountain.
  • While I wouldn’t recommend trying it, a Via ferrata could probably allow you to safely reach your destination even if you were caught in a sudden storm, fog, or were caught out after dark.
  • Using a Via Ferrata properly, you are always connected to the fixtures through at least one of your two leashes. To transition across say a cable anchor point, you unclip only one leash, and then reclip it on the other side of the anchor, and only then do you unclip the first. By always keeping at least one leash clipped to the fixture, you’re always protected from accidental falls.
  • While a Via Ferrata protects you from falling, you still have to keep going on your path in order to reach your destination.

I still have never had the chance yet to use a Via Ferrata in real life, but I hope to some day try the one of the ones in Banff. I’m a bit of a coward when it comes to heights, but there’s something reassuring about knowing that you’re being protected by a system that if you follow its rules and keep going, you know you’ll safely reach your destination. It’s hard to think of a more apt metaphor for the iron rod from Lehi’s vision.

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Filed under Come Follow Me Thoughts, LDS Philosophy

· 4:28 PM

Come Follow Me Thoughts

My church has a program for church-supported, home-centered gospel study called Come Follow Me. We use it Sunday School at church, in Seminary on weekday mornings for the youth, and also in our home and personal gospel study. If you’re interested, you can find a link to the curriculum here. This year, we’re studying the Book of Mormon, but each year we alternate to a different one of our standard works of scriptures (last year was the New Testament, the year before that the Old Testament, and the year before that what we call the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price). As part of my study this year, I thought I would start a series of blog posts on thoughts I had from either my own studies, or from discussions we had as a family, at Sunday School, or elsewhere. Knowing how inconsistently I am at blogging, I don’t know how frequently I’ll do this, but I figured I’d give it a try.

Just as a reminder for those who’ve recently stumbled on this blog, this blog is focused on things related to my personal/family goals, recipes, religion, philosophy, and if I’m stupid enough I might get into politics and policy thoughts. I have two other blogs that are not dead yet — Selenian Boondocks, which is focused on space technology, policy, and business musings, and which has had a few cobloggers over the past 18yrs, and my Starbright Engineering blog, which is focused on professional writing related to topics such as satellite servicing, etc. As you can probably tell if you check them out, I don’t get a chance to write very frequently. I’m hoping that these CFM Thoughts blog posts can be short enough that I can do them more frequently.

Anyhow, wish me luck. Hopefully someone finds these interesting.

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Filed under Administrivia, Come Follow Me Thoughts, LDS Philosophy

February 6, 2024 · 11:14 PM

High Altitude Chocolate Chip Cookies

After experimenting with several recipes for making good Chocolate Chip cookies at Denver altitude, I finally found one that gave the right texture and taste. A couple friends asked me to share the recipe, so I decided to write this up. For reference, you can find the original recipe, with more details, and suggestions on how to tweak other cookie recipes for high altitude here.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup Butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup Sugar
  • 3/4 cup Brown Sugar
  • 2 Eggs, room temperature
  • 1 tsp Vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Baking Soda1
  • 3 cups All-purpose flour
  • 12 oz package of Chocolate Chips2

Directions:

  1. To have the butter properly softened and the eggs at room temperature, you’ll want to put them out on the counter at least an hour before starting to make the cookies3. This step is pretty important.
  2. Mix the butter and both types of sugar in a stand mixer, Bosch mixer, or mixing bowl, and keep mixing them until the butter and sugars are thoroughly mixed and creamy. Scrape the walls of the mixing bowl with a spatula.
  3. Add the eggs and mix until thoroughly combined. Scrape the walls of the mixing bowl again.
  4. Add the vanilla, baking soda, and 1 cup of the flour, and mix until well combined. Scrape the walls of the mixing bowl again.
  5. Add another ~1 and 1/2 cups of flour, and mix thoroughly. The dough will be pretty tough by this point, so you may want to switch to a dough hook, especially if you’re doing a double or triple batch.
  6. Test the batter at this point, scoop out a little dough and pinch it. It should squeeze easily but not stick to your fingers. If it’s still sticking, add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour, mix thoroughly, then try again. If necessary, keep adding flour 1-2 Tbsp at a time until it is the right consistency.
  7. Mix in the chocolate chips4.
  8. Chill the cookie dough in the fridge for at least 15-30min while preheating the oven to 375F. Between batches return the cookie dough to the fridge5.
  9. I scoop the cookies out using a 1 Tbsp measuring spoon, but heaping it up about double size (~2 Tbsp per cookie), and then rolling them into a ball. You can fit about 12 of these, evenly spaced, on a normal-sized cooking sheet. I tend to use an aluminum cooking sheet with a layer of parchment paper lining it.
  10. Cook for 9-12 minutes until the knobby parts of the cookie are starting to brown a little. The rest of the cookie might look undercooked, but it will keep cooking a bit after you remove it from the oven.
  11. Once it’s cooled down sufficiently, I then transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack.

There are pictures an a lot more details and suggestions in the original recipe, but I wanted to provide simplified/concisified version here on the blog. Let me know if you have any comment/suggestions in the comment section.

  1. If you accidentally put in Baking Powder, it’s possible to salvage the recipe by adding 2-3x the amount of baking powder (reference). It won’t be as good, but is still decent. Don’t ask how I know. ↩︎
  2. I prefer semi-sweet mini chocolate chips, as it spreads the chocolate out more throughout the cookie. And 12oz works out to approximately 2 cups if you have a bigger package. ↩︎
  3. If you forget to put the butter and eggs out in advance, you can soften the butter using a microwave (say ~20s at 50% power) or putting it in a Ziploc baggy and immersing it a bowl with warm water. The eggs can also be warmed by putting them in a bowl with warm water. More suggestions are provided in the linked original recipe. ↩︎
  4. If you want to add other stuff like chopped nuts or coconut, this would be where you’d add them. My dad goes with chopped walnuts and dried coconut. ↩︎
  5. You don’t have to do this step, but I’ve noticed that by the time you’re done mixing, the butter in the cookies is getting pretty close to melting, and you end up getting harder, flatter cookies. Chilling the dough seems to make it stiffer, and the cookies end up being more chewy like I like them. ↩︎

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January 13, 2024 · 1:36 PM

My 2024 Goals

Continuing another tradition, I’d like to post my 2024 goals, as a way to force some level of accountability. This year I didn’t set as many goals, and many of my goals are actually tied with helping others achieve their goals.

Spiritual Goals

I’ve had some success with spiritual goals that were very routine-based, like reading the scriptures cover to cover or going to the temple on a regular basis. They’ve been helpful, but I wanted to make things more meaningful this year.

  1. Return to the Philippines to participate in the Urdaneta Philippines Temple dedication: 14 years ago, the prophet announced they’d be building a temple within ~25 miles of three of the towns where I served in for half of my mission (Bayambang, Calasiao, and Binmaley). They finished construction late last year, and after a three week open-house period, they’ll be dedicating the temple on April 28th. I haven’t been able to make it back to the Philippines yet since returning home in 2002, and I’d love to go back and visit friends I haven’t seen in person for two decades. I’m not sure how I’ll be able to coordinate getting permission to participate in the dedication, but I think it’s an achievable and very worthwhile goal.
  2. Participate in gospel study daily, using the church’s Come Follow Me curriculum, marking all BofM passages that point to or testify of Christ, and all that discuss gospel principles or doctrines: This one is fairly specific, but is driven from something I noticed from the past two years. My goals of reading the books of scripture cover to cover ensured I was reading regularly, but I was almost never synced up with reading what my family was studying at home, my boys studying in seminary, and our ward studying at church. So this year, I want to stick to the church’s Come Follow Me curriculum, which is focused on the Book of Mormon this year, rather than just trying to read through at a steady pace. Also the marking of scriptures based on specific topics seemed like a way I’ve heard other people have gotten more out of study, so I wanted to try it.
  3. Help Jonny get his mission papers submitted: Getting his mission papers submitted this year was one of Jonny’s personal goals, and I wanted to assist him in doing so. He’s now about the age I was when I served, and he’s pretty excited about the opportunity.

Social Goals

I haven’t been as successful with my social goals, but I’m going to try again. Once again with things that are easily trackable, require consistent effort, and should be meaningful.

  1. Complete levels 1-5 in Pimsleur Spanish lessons: I was thinking about retrying my 2023 goal of visiting somewhere Spanish speaking for a weekend, but I thought this goal would also help ensure I get more comfortable speaking the language. The Pimsleur curriculum is primarily focused on guided conversation practice, and completing levels 1-5 (with ~30x 30min lessons per level) works out to ~75 hours of Spanish conversation, and will require me to complete at least ~3 lessons per week, so I’ll be doing the study pretty consistently. This goal seems both achievable, something somewhat challenging because it’ll take consistent effort over months, but also likely to make a difference in my confidence with the language. I’ll probably keep doing Duolingo study too, because that app is as addictive as crack, but may cut back a little on trying to stay at the top of the leaderboards.
  2. Invite neighbors, church friends, or other friends over for dinner at least 3x per quarter: This is similar to a goal I’ve had in the past, but with a little more increased frequency, and a slightly broader casting of the net. I’m also going to take better notes so I don’t lose track. To be clear, while I say dinner, it could be other meals, a party or other get-together, but something that we’re hosting at our place. I think this is a good way to get me out of my introverted little shell more often.

Physical Goals

Physical goals are ironically some of the ones I’ve had the most success with so far. This year’s goals are ones that will take consistent effort, but which I’m highly confident I can achieve. Since I may be done with both of these earlier in the year, I might decide to add a follow-on goal later.

  1. Help James and Peter prepare for the Bolder Boulder 10K and run it with both of them: Both Peter and Jamie set goals to run the Bolder Boulder 10K this year. Peter ran with me last year, and after the 9.5km point when I told him he could go ahead at his own pace, he left me in the dust. In spite of only joining me for one practice run. So I’m pretty confident he’ll do fine, but this year, I’m trying to help him train enough, and have things like a way of carrying his phone, so I can let him just run at his own pace, and really show us what he can do. Jamie just wants to be able to run the whole thing without stopping to walk, so I’m going to run with him at a nice steady pace. I’m not trying to set any new speed records, unless Jamie is up for it. Just maintaining the capability for myself, and helping them prove to themselves that they can do hard things too.
  2. Get back under 175lb by my birthday: I’ve never set an explicit weight loss goal before. In 2020, I just set the goal to use the Noom app for six months, and see where it got me. In the end, I got down to just under 170lb. Over the past three years, I’ve inched up a little, with my worst weigh-in after Christmas being up around 186lb. I know I can get back to 175lb without trying that hard, so long as I’m consistent, and it would help a lot of other things. Basically, I just have to try a little. And if I’m steadily exercising and prepping the boys for the Bolder Boulder, I have a feeling I’ll likely surpass this one by a decent margin. So while this is an easy one, it’s still worthwhile and meaningful.

Intellectual Goals

I decided to stop trying to set a blogging goal. I’ll either have time to rejuvenate that skill, or I won’t. I decided to focus my efforts a little differently this time.

  1. Learn how to use my Snapmaker 2.0’s rotary 4th axis, 40W laser, and dual-print head, and design and make at least two items using each process: as I mentioned elsewhere, I upgraded my Snapmaker Original to a 2.0 this last fall, right before I got laid off. During the two months I was freelance, I had a chance to start using the module, and made some parts using each of the three basic capabilities — single-nozzle FDM 3d printing, 10W laser cutting, and CNC routing. But I have a lot of other upgrades that I’ve either not tried at all, not figured out all the way, or barely started scratching the surface with them. I’m especially interested in seeing if I can figure out how to do color metal marking of Stainless with my 40W laser, and dual printing of a graphite or glass reinforced nylon with dissolveable support structures using the dual print head.
  2. Help teach each of my boys one or two skills that they want to learn: With my youngest three still in home school, and Jonny preparing for his mission, I wanted to work with each of them on one or two skills that they wanted to learn — either one I’m already good at, or one I’m learning with them.

Anyhow those are my goals for 2024. Do you have anything you want to try to achieve this year?

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Filed under Goal: Learning Spanish, Goals, Philippines, Uncategorized

January 12, 2024 · 11:01 PM

2023 Goals Accountability: The Good, the Meh, and the Ugly

Following my tradition from last year, I wanted to share how I did with the 14 goals I set for myself. I had some success, some of which were very fun, some partial successes, and some goals I completely failed at.

The Good…

I had five goals that I succeeded at all the way:

  1. Physical Goal #1: Get to the point where I can jog a 10K: This was the first goal I completed, when Peter and I ran the Bolder Boulder on Memorial Day (5/29) last year. About a month earlier, I was starting to warm up, planning on doing the 10K at the end of the summer, when a friend who knew about my goal had asked me if I had ever run the Bolder Boulder. That race was only barely over a month later, and I wasn’t certain if I could get ready in time. But one of our investors at Gravitics had gone from being in shape for a 5K to running a marathon in only a month, so I figured getting ready for a 10K might be possible. I got a heart rate monitor watch so I could do the aerobic threshold running that a friend had told me would help me build my endurance the best, and then started running almost every day. In the end we did it, running the race non-stop. My time wasn’t amazing, right around 1hr 30min, but that was me running non-stop for 1hr and 30min! Anyhow, given that three years ago, I couldn’t make it a quarter way around a track without wheezing, I’m pretty proud of this one.
  2. Spiritual Goal #3: Attend the temple with Tiff at least once per quarter and with the boys at least once per quarter: I finished this one in late October on 10/26/2023, shortly after getting laid off by Gravitics. We had managed to go somewhat consistently, but once I was laid off, I started going more frequently. All told, it was also a great experience.
  3. Intellectual Goal #1: Cook at least one new recipe per month, with at least on recipe this year from each of the six inhabited continents: This was probably the funnest goal. Some of the non-international recipes weren’t particularly memorable, but it was fun trying out cuisine from all over the world. I’ve posted some of the recipes here like the Indian Butter Chicken and Naan, the Peruvian Pollo a la Brasa and Aji Verde Sauce, but we also did Ratatouille and Honey Garlic pork chops from Europe, Tourtière (a French Canadian meat pie), a spicy Kenyan Chicken Jollof Rice dish, and finished up by doing an Aussie Burger, complete with roasted beet root, and a New Zealand Jelly Slice for dessert on 12/15/2023. This was one of my more unusual goals from last year, but I’m glad that I chose it.
  4. Intellectual Goal #3: Finish at least two significant crafts projects (making things that involve multiple components that weren’t a premade set from someone else): I actually didn’t think I was going to make it, having not really done anything for this goal at all through the first ten months of the year, but I actually had three cool craft projects that I wrapped up in November/December. The first one I can’t show many pictures of because it was for work. But right before I got laid off by Gravitics, I had completed a major proposal effort, so I rewarded myself by buying a Snapmaker 2.0 3-in-1 3D printer, with a lot of upgrade modules. When I got laid off, I thought at first that maybe I should return the printer, but when I realized I had paid for it on my credit card, and if I returned it, I’d only get back about 2/3rd the price, and then have to keep paying for the other 1/3 without ever having used the machine, I decided to keep it. A few weeks later, a friend of mine whose startup was moving asked me if I still had the printer. Apparently their printer was already packed up, and they had a short-fuse project for a client that needed parts designed and 3d printed. In the end, I ended up making almost as much off of that project as I would have from two months at Gravitics, and ended up designing, and printing 9 parts (3 from PLA, but most of them from Nylon), and machining about another four pieces from G10 fiberglass boards. It wasn’t perfect, especially since I hadn’t had a chance to really dial in my printing parameters before jumping into it. But the client was able to assemble the system, and run the tests they needed, and I got to learn a lot about my printer. The other two projects were Christmas presents, one a drawing board for Jamie (that included a riveted on clipboard clip), and one a water color palette for Tiff (that we bonded in about two dozen metal water color pans). We finished this one on 12/23/2023.
  5. Spiritual Goal #1: Read the New Testament and Book of Mormon cover to cover: I finished this goal on 12/26/2023. This was probably my fourth time all the way through the New Testament, and probably my 34th or 35th time through the Book of Mormon in English.

Those were all the goals that I completed all the way. Many were fun adventures, others just the result of trying to be consistent. Now on to my partial successes…

…The Meh…

I had another six goals that I at least made headway on.

  1. Physical Goal #2: Finish getting my 5K race time down under 30min: Of my partial successes, this one was the one I came closest to achieving. In the fall, after we got back from summer vacation, I started training again for doing a 5K over Thanksgiving, using a training routine from my Polar Pacer heart-rate monitor watch. I figured that two months would give me enough time to get ready, and we decided to sign up for a race out in Springfield, OR again (the same place I ran my first real 5K race two or three years ago). In the end, I set a personal record, but missed my target with a time of 30min 26s. Given that any further 5Ks I ran would be at much higher altitude, and that the weather was rapidly shifting to winter, I realized I likely wouldn’t be able to get this goal completed this year. But I at least came pretty darned close. And a personal record is still a personal record.
  2. Social Goal #3: Invite neighbors or church friends over for dinner at least 2x per quarter: I didn’t keep good track of how often I had done this, so I don’t know for sure how well I did, but I think we only had people over maybe 5 or 6 times this year. Still likely better than if I hadn’t set the goal, so worth celebrating as a partial.
  3. Social Goal #1: Take Tiff on meaningful dates at least 1x/month: We had some good dates/activities this year, including a 20th anniversary trip to Hawaii in August. But once again, I didn’t keep close track of this goal, and am pretty sure I probably only had about 8-9 of the months where we went on at least one date, and I’m not sure if all of them were particularly meaningful.
  4. Family/Home Goal #1: Do at least two home or yard improvement mini-projects per month: I did do a lot of mini projects over the year, but probably nowhere close to 24 of them. And I didn’t keep close track of it. But some of the things we got done included setting up new shelves in the garage and basement, getting a food storage area setup downstairs, fixing two of our sofa chairs whose legs had broken, cutting down the brush around our back patio, weedwacking the 6ft tall weeds in our back yard, repairing my broken desk, and building out my home office. Not perfect, but there were definitely some wins in there.
  5. Physical Goal #3: Finish getting to the point where I can do all five Home Fitness bodyweight exercise sets at full reps, without having to take extra breaks in the middle: In 2022, I got a bodyweight exercise app that I started in on. By the start of 2023 I was just transitioning into doing the hardest of the three levels — Advanced, for all five types of exercise (Abs, Chest, Arms, Legs, and Shoulder/Back), but at around 1/2 of the reps they suggested per exercise. By the time I switched my focus in April to 10K training, I had gotten the Legs and Chest exercises to full reps, but with lots of breaks. I never really got back into this consistently enough to pick this up, and after the 5K, one of my shoulders was hurting in a way that I wasn’t sure doing a bunch of pushups was safe. So while I made some progress on this at the start of the year, I never finished this one all the way.
  6. Spiritual Goal #2: Do something meaningful for each ministering family at least 1x per quarter: I started off ok with this, but it tapered towards the end of the year, especially with how busy stuff got over the summer, lots of trips, then getting laid off. I don’t have great excuses on this one. I did some ministering, but only felt like I did much for one of the families.

At least in this case I made some effort towards achieving the goals, even if I didn’t succeed all the way. Without further ado, on to the last category, where I couldn’t even say that.

…The Ugly

I had three goals in this category, where I really feel like I didn’t make any real headway on them.

  1. Social Goal #1: Visit somewhere in Central or South America for at least a weekend, where I will have to speak Spanish: I’ve been teaching myself Spanish for about 8yrs now using Duolingo, and in 2022 I finished reading El Libro de Mormon in Spanish, cover to cover. But I still didn’t speak Spanish very well, so I wanted a goal to force me to learn how to speak Spanish. While I did do some work on Spanish speaking with a new app that was better optimized for teaching you to speak (Pimsleur), I never got far enough that I felt I could make the trip. I had been intending to visit a friend down in Equator for a weekend, but between my lack of preparation, and Tiff getting congestive heart failure, I decided to punt on this goal for this year.
  2. Family/Home Goal #2: Finish reading at least one book each on parenting for autistic and NLD kids: I did read like 2 or 3 chapters of NLD Super Stars, but that was about it.
  3. Intellectual Goal #2: Wrote at least two substantive (technology, policy, etc) blog posts series of at least three posts long each: I’m kind of embarrassed by this one. I used to be pretty prolific with Selenian Boondocks. But while I did write a few recipe blogs, and I think one opinion blog post, I don’t think I wrote a single substantive blog post last year. This is two years in a row that I’ve completely failed to resuscitate my blogging mojo.

Anyhow, that’s my report for 2023. Next up, tomorrow I hope to do a writeup on my 2024 goals, what I changed, and what I want to try that’s new. All told I’m still pretty happy at all of the full and partial successes, though some of the complete misses sting a little.

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