Yeah, I know, it's shameless of me to borrow a riff from both Cheers and Battlestar Galactica, but hey, if BSG can borrow a riff from Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix in their previous season's finale, so can I.
I'm taking a small break from doing our taxes. Yes, I know, it's pushing the edge on the deadline, but we wanted to make sure we had enough money to cover our payments ... we weren't exactly sure how much the new job and the marriage would impact our taxes, but now we know: we owed just a little bit more than we did last year, and we're probably not getting a refund. However, we will get the tax relief rebate later this year, which will help a lot and will likely go toward debt reduction.
Taxes normally wouldn't be a problem, but it seems like I've rarely had a case where I could use tax prep software, due to changing situations that the software couldn't handle correctly or due to farm payment income or something that the software didn't quite process correctly. And don't get me started on e-filing. I'm in IT, and I work in the security arena, so if you think I'm going to trust my electronic personal data to the IRS, think again :-).
On one hand, I am proud knowing that I've done my taxes myself either by hand or with the assistance of tax software every year since I started filing. On the other, I wish that my former state of residence would have gotten on the ball and updated their PDF fill-in forms so that you could actually SAVE the darn things rather than have to re-do the entire form to do a correction.
And on other fronts, this morning was a series of errand runs: I found it rather amusing to be taking the mower in for annual service while it was snowing outside. It didn't stick, but it snowed from about 8ish this morning until around 2. After that, it was off to the store for some gardening/landscaping supplies, and then to the post office to get birthday gifts for my niece and nephew into the mail.
So for now, I'm working on the numbers for the Iowa return, Lauren's making coffee after taking a winter nap (she'd rather be gardening), and the laundry is being done as well.
Showing posts with label Taxes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taxes. Show all posts
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Morgan Spurlock
This has been a busy weekend here in the 'ville.
Friday night and most of Saturday found us doing yard work: moving brush pile items from the ice storm to the curb for pick up next week, when the city will be sending around pickup crews, re-edging most of the gardens, adding more rock to finish the newly rebuilt watercourse, and some assorted plantings (as well as a quick trip Saturday afternoon to St. Joe for some rock, since the local Earl May garden shop closed up their Maryville branch, forcing us to go to the one down the road). Add to that doing taxes and the laundry, and we're both tired.
Lauren and I have never laughed so hard for so long ... Morgan Spurlock is GENIUS!
Unassuming, humble, but funny as hell, the writer/producer/star of Super Size Me! reminded all of us that careers don't happen overnight: telling us his story, Morgan related how he'd graduated from the NYC Film School after countless rejections from the UCLA film program, and how he had happened to graduate in the same class as M. Night Shamalayan ("you may have heard of him"), before becoming a runner/gofer for Tribeca Films (Martin Scorcese's studio) and later working as an intern on The Professional with Luc-Besson. After a short acting career (including the mental ward aide who is assisting Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) during the first part of Terminator 2 (who knew???)), Spurlock then became a live media spokesperson for Sony and later a producer of promotional films for Sony before developing a web-based show for MTV.
He then laid out the story of Super Size Me! Spurlock related that he had come up with what a friend and fellow producer called "the worst good idea" that Spurlock had ever had over a Thanksgiving, where after watching a news report about the two girls who were suing McDonald's restaurants as the cause of their weight gain, he decided to do a movie about the fast food industry and McDonald's in particular. He noted that he did it using $50,000 he had in hand (despite being in extreme credit debt), plus a cashed in annuity from his grandparents, and how he went from relative obscurity to overnight success at Sundance almost a year and a day after finishing the film.
Mixing that in with funny movie related tidbits: "America's number one steakhouse is Australian (Outback)", and that your average Bloomin' Onion appetizer has roughly 2,500 calories, Spurlock managed to convey that, jokes aside, the fast food lifestyle is unhealthy (even though he sometimes causes his vegan wife issues as he admits to still liking a good burger ... the kind you get from a local diner).
Following his talk, he opened the floor to questions, which ranged from the silly "want to come to our place for a beer bash afterward?" to the serious "how has becoming a father affected your work?"
The questions, and the evening, ended all too soon, but it was a great evening nonetheless.
Friday night and most of Saturday found us doing yard work: moving brush pile items from the ice storm to the curb for pick up next week, when the city will be sending around pickup crews, re-edging most of the gardens, adding more rock to finish the newly rebuilt watercourse, and some assorted plantings (as well as a quick trip Saturday afternoon to St. Joe for some rock, since the local Earl May garden shop closed up their Maryville branch, forcing us to go to the one down the road). Add to that doing taxes and the laundry, and we're both tired.
But we've also had a moment of celebrity this weekend. I'm blogging this from the auditorium on campus, where indie documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me, 30 Days, Where Is Osama Bin Laden?) is about to speak.
Lauren and I have never laughed so hard for so long ... Morgan Spurlock is GENIUS!
Unassuming, humble, but funny as hell, the writer/producer/star of Super Size Me! reminded all of us that careers don't happen overnight: telling us his story, Morgan related how he'd graduated from the NYC Film School after countless rejections from the UCLA film program, and how he had happened to graduate in the same class as M. Night Shamalayan ("you may have heard of him"), before becoming a runner/gofer for Tribeca Films (Martin Scorcese's studio) and later working as an intern on The Professional with Luc-Besson. After a short acting career (including the mental ward aide who is assisting Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) during the first part of Terminator 2 (who knew???)), Spurlock then became a live media spokesperson for Sony and later a producer of promotional films for Sony before developing a web-based show for MTV.
He then laid out the story of Super Size Me! Spurlock related that he had come up with what a friend and fellow producer called "the worst good idea" that Spurlock had ever had over a Thanksgiving, where after watching a news report about the two girls who were suing McDonald's restaurants as the cause of their weight gain, he decided to do a movie about the fast food industry and McDonald's in particular. He noted that he did it using $50,000 he had in hand (despite being in extreme credit debt), plus a cashed in annuity from his grandparents, and how he went from relative obscurity to overnight success at Sundance almost a year and a day after finishing the film.
Mixing that in with funny movie related tidbits: "America's number one steakhouse is Australian (Outback)", and that your average Bloomin' Onion appetizer has roughly 2,500 calories, Spurlock managed to convey that, jokes aside, the fast food lifestyle is unhealthy (even though he sometimes causes his vegan wife issues as he admits to still liking a good burger ... the kind you get from a local diner).
Following his talk, he opened the floor to questions, which ranged from the silly "want to come to our place for a beer bash afterward?" to the serious "how has becoming a father affected your work?"
The questions, and the evening, ended all too soon, but it was a great evening nonetheless.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Moving Forward
Well, it's been a busy, productive, disappointing, unnerving, but overall good week so far, for various reasons:
1)Busy - Lauren had her annual review at work, and it went really really well. There are a few things that suggest they are grooming her for something bigger and better, so that's a good sign.
2)Productive - we both got our taxes in. I'm going to get a small refund (no small feat given how much I paid in tax and withholding), and Lauren will likely get an adjustment, because she forgot to file for the energy efficiency credit. That will get back most of what she paid in Federal this year.
3)Disappointing - because I didn't get the job I interviewed for earlier this month. Nothing wrong with me as a candidate; in fact, the interviewers commented that I interviewed well and would be a good fit for their company. However, the fact that I would have to commute down to KC did factor into their decision. It's a little frustrating; the local job market (poor as it is) is taken up by college students from campus, and for those jobs that I've applied for, I think I'm being considered too overqualified for them. I just have to keep looking.
4)Unnerving - because the events at Virginia Tech made me think about something that ordinarily no one should think about (i.e., the safety of your spouse). Granted, something like that probably would never happen here in Maryville: the staff at Northwest are well-trained and prepared, and the students (at least those I've met) are all good people. But still, it raised a worry that for me that I hadn't dealt with since working in a high school following Columbine: the tendency that you take the safety of your workplace (or your wife's workplace) for granted, and seeing events like that play out on a college campus are a little unsettling. And yes, my sympathies and prayers go out to the families of those killed or injured. No one should have to go through that kind of tragedy. Ever.
1)Busy - Lauren had her annual review at work, and it went really really well. There are a few things that suggest they are grooming her for something bigger and better, so that's a good sign.
2)Productive - we both got our taxes in. I'm going to get a small refund (no small feat given how much I paid in tax and withholding), and Lauren will likely get an adjustment, because she forgot to file for the energy efficiency credit. That will get back most of what she paid in Federal this year.
3)Disappointing - because I didn't get the job I interviewed for earlier this month. Nothing wrong with me as a candidate; in fact, the interviewers commented that I interviewed well and would be a good fit for their company. However, the fact that I would have to commute down to KC did factor into their decision. It's a little frustrating; the local job market (poor as it is) is taken up by college students from campus, and for those jobs that I've applied for, I think I'm being considered too overqualified for them. I just have to keep looking.
4)Unnerving - because the events at Virginia Tech made me think about something that ordinarily no one should think about (i.e., the safety of your spouse). Granted, something like that probably would never happen here in Maryville: the staff at Northwest are well-trained and prepared, and the students (at least those I've met) are all good people. But still, it raised a worry that for me that I hadn't dealt with since working in a high school following Columbine: the tendency that you take the safety of your workplace (or your wife's workplace) for granted, and seeing events like that play out on a college campus are a little unsettling. And yes, my sympathies and prayers go out to the families of those killed or injured. No one should have to go through that kind of tragedy. Ever.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
