Give It Back!!!

I always procrastinate. I don't know why, it always ends up good for me. OK, not much time left, time to get to it. All the stuff is over there on the counter, let's see... Damit, I'm missing one of my W2 forms. Dig, dig, dig... minor setback, but I finally found it. Starts off easy, then comes line 6C, gotta put in the kids SSN's in there. I don't know what that number is, I'll have to find that. I'll be back for that. Line 7, add up my income. 8A, add in the pittance that I get in my meager savings interest. 10, add in my refund from the state last year. Not a whole lot more for that section, managed to dodge having to fill in line 19 for unemployment compensation. Add it all up for line 22.

Lines 23 to 36. Adjusted gross income. Nope, nothing in there for me, move the sum from 22 down to 37. While I'm at it, flip the form over and put that same number on 38. Line 39 has a place that says to check this box if you are blind. I consider putting a check mark a few inches away, and decide against it. Line 40, now things start looking good. Time to break out the Schedule A for more line filling fun.

Lines 1 through 3 on Schedule A are all about medical. Being as I'm nicely insured, it's usually under the threshold of 7.5% of my gross income, so I've not kept track of that. Possibly I should start, but I'd have to start doing that. From the beginning of the year. Not real likely to happen. Lines 5 and 6, state and property tax. A little preview of what I can look for from the state. Not bad. Skip down to line 10 for the interest on the mortgage. Down to 15 and 16 for gifts to charity. Gifts other than cash. How much do those old clothes and appliances I gave to Goodwill rate??? Probably they get considerably more for 'em than I'll claim. Call it $85 to keep from raising any flags. No job expenses, no casualty or theft losses, I don't even know what other miscellaneous deductions would be. Add it all up for line 28. Nice.

Back to the 1040. Line 41, take out the Schedule A deductions. YES!!! Line 42, multiply the number of deductions on line 6D by $3,300, then subtract that for line 43. Even better!!! Line 44, go to the tax tables and see how much they'd like to get out of me. Not bad. No alternative minimum tax for me, so blank 45 and move 44 down to 46. Nothing for me on lines 47 through 52, but at 53 things start looking good again. Child tax credit, see page 42. $1,000 per kid, or the amount on line 46 of the 1040, whichever is less. Haha, THAT'S where I break even!!! C'mere and gimme a hug, my little deductions!!! Could this get better??? Less than zero taxes??? Well, lets see, taxes minus credits is only line 57, this goes all the way to 76.

From there to line 63 is blank for me. Line 64 is what they withheld, how much I could ask for, nay, will ask for back. Line 66a, earned income credit. What could this be??? Flip to page 46 and check it out. Nope, apparently I make more than enough to be less than eligible for that. Line 68, additional child tax credit. Hmmm, I'll be needing a for 8812 for that. Subtract the difference between the child tax credit I already took and the $1,000 per kid. Takes it from the tax table amount to the full $2,000. Not bad. Not a huge amount, but made it worth my while to spend a few hours working this all out.

Didn't I tell you before??? I don't mind The Man taking his chunk. I'll have it back come April 15th, and then some!!!

Tundra

Here's another new comic that

my paper has started running recently. Once again, not one of my favorites, but every once in a while one of 'em tickles me. Anyway, this is the one from today's paper, which I found to be amusingly topical being as I just read Moon Goddess' post last night that she is thinking of starting each post with a nursery rhyme!!!

Eaton Canyon

Not only has it been a while since I've made a substantive post, but it's been a while since I've gotten out with my camera and taken any shots.

My mom called up on Thursday, I think it was. They were planning on coming up on Saturday for a little picnic and hike up Eaton Canyon. Were we interested in meeting up with them to join in???



Actually, that sounds like a great idea!!!

The road closest to the falls was locked up, so we ended up hiking up the streambed from a ways farther back. Strange, the streambed was dry, but once we got back in the canyon, the stream was a-flowin'!!!

Can you tell which shot I knew was the money shot as I took it???

A great way to spend an afternoon!!!

The Doctor Is In

This is a relatively new comic strip to my paper. Probably about a year they've been running it. It's not much on dialogue, usually more of a visual. Its not my favorite, in fact a lot of times it's not that funny. Today's, however, I thought was great.

The Incredible Shrinking Woman

My wife has been dieting and exercising for a bit more than half a year now. So far she claims to have lost more than 90 pounds (I seem to be weighing a bit less, too, but I'm not going to go messing with the wheel on the scale). Her main things are counting calories and fat grams, keeping the calories under 1200 and fat grams under 20 (I think). She also walks around the neighborhood for something like 300 minutes a week. As I said before, I'm not sure about the actual weight loss, but she sure looks a lot better!!!

In addition, she feels better and has more energy.

Way to go, baby!!!

The Ides of March Random Post

Did I actually hear what I thought I heard on the radio after the 2007 Rose Parade??? A storm trooper from the 501st Legion calling Bob Eubanks out over comments he made during the broadcast???

I bought gas tonight. I didn't need to that bad, but I figured it would probably be the last time I would be able to get gas for under $3.00. I pumped until it stopped, and it took 2.92 gallons. After I got my change, I checked the trip odometer, and it was at 92.9. Wild.




Why are there always long lines at Wal Mart, and they never seem to open more than maybe a fourth of the registers???

Didn't the clock in the cafeteria at work used to have red numbers??? They're green now.

There are several staircases to go to the different levels of my area of work. All the ones in the center are split so you come up uneven if you try to skip every other step. The ones on the north and south end work out evenly, though.

If the gas I bought tonight had been selling for $2.92 a gallon instead of $2.999, I might have had to bought a lottery ticket or something.

These chipotle crackers my wife found at the dollar store are REALLY good!!!

A few weeks ago, they were fertilizing or mulching or something (whatever it was, it STANK!!!) out in the center courtyard at work. I think if work were a learning institution, they would call that area the Quad. I was walking through in the morning, and one of the gardeners was dumping the stuff from a wheelbarrow. There was steam rising off the stuff, and I thought to myself, "That's the stink coming off it, you can actually SEE it!!!"

I hope you are enjoying these pictures. I took them all on the same day, and there's more where that came from!!!

A family that we are friends with got a new dog. They named her Olive. The mother told my wife to sing the first part of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to her while they were walking her one time. When she got the the part that goes "All of the other reindeer", Olive turned around and nipped at her!!!





Now the clock in the cafeteria is back to red. Huh???

I guess Olive was in no mood for that old gag.

That's how the dollar store always gets you. They have something you fall in love with, then they stop carrying it.

Max Would Approve

I took this over the weekend. This was up on the Pasadena end of the 110 freeway, where it's narrow and curvy. Gee, I wonder what happened!!!

I think Mad Max would approve!!!

XIII. Lisey and Amanda (The Sister Thing)

An excerpt from Stephen King's Lisey's Story

Image stolen from GardenWeb user name Kentuck_8b

Lisey's car was the only car in the parking lot, and the picnic area was deserted-not even a single backpacker getting high on nature (or Montpelier Gold). Amanda walked toward one of the picnic tables. The soles of her feet were very pink, and even with the sun hidden, she was clearly nude under the green pajamas.

"Amanda, do you really think that's-"

"If anyone comes I'll nip right back into the car." Manda looked back over her shoulder and flashed a grin. "Try it-the grass feels positively slinky."

Lisey walked to the edge of the pavement on the balls of her feet, then stepped up into the green. Amanda was right, slinky was the one, the perfect fish from Scott's pool of words. And the view to the west was a straight shot to the eye and the heart. Thunderheads were pouring toward them through the ragged teeth of the White Mountains, and Lisey counted seven dark spot where the high slopes had been smudged away by cauls of rain. Brilliant lightnings flashed inside those stormbags and between two of them, connecting them like some fantastic fairy bridge, was a double rainbow that arched over Mount Cranmore in a frayed loophole of blue. As Lisey watched that hole closed and another, over some mountain whose name she did not know, opened, and the rainbow reappeared. Below them Castle Lake was a dirty dark gray and Little Kin Pond beyond it a dead black goose-eye. The wind was rising but it was improbably warm, and when her hair lifted from her temples, Lisey lifted her arms as though she would fly-not on a magic carpet but on the ordinary alchemy of a summer storm.

"Manda!" she said. "I'm glad I'm alive!"

"So am I," Amanda said seriously, and held out her hands. The wind blew back her graying hair and made it fly like a child's. Lisey closed her fingers carefully around her sister's, trying to be mindful of Amanda's cuts but aware of a rising wildness in herself all the same. Thunder cracked overhead, the warm wind blew harder, and ninety miles to the west, thunderheads streamed through the ancient mountain passes. Amanda began to dance and Lisey danced with her, their bare feet in the grass, their linked hands in the sky.

"Yes!" Thunder cracked and Lisey had to yell it.

"Yes, what?" Manda hollered back. She was laughing again.

"Yes, I mean to kill him!"

"That's what I said! I'll help you!" Amanda shouted, and then the rain began and they ran back to the car, both of them laughing and holding their hands over their heads.

Level Up!!!

I got my smithing level up to 73 on Runescape last night. It takes a while to increase your level once you get to the higher levels. It says I can now make adamant medium helmets, but really I can make swords by drinking a dwarven stout. I've got something like 600 adamant maces and 1150 adamant medium helmets in my bank right now. Those shall be converted into gold coin in due time.

My Nerdy Shortcoming

On my last completely random post (of which I would like to make another post like soon, this is Aye's Random Ravings, after all), I posed the question, "What are the differences between being a geek and being a dork??? Is there a quiz that you can take to determine which one you exhibit more characteristics of???" This was precipitated by my oldest sister trying to label her boyfriend during our Christmas gathering. Well, I found a site called OK Cupid that has the quiz finally!!! Turns out that I'm not really any of the above, but I do tend heavily towards nerdiness. Here's how it broke down:

Joe Normal

47 % Nerd, 34% Geek, 39% Dork

For The Record:
A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.

A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.

A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.

You scored less than half in all three, earning you the title of: Joe Normal.

This is not to say that you don't have some Nerd, Geek or Dork inside of you--we all do, and you can see the percentages you have right above. This is just to say that none of those qualities stand out so much as to define you. Sure, you enjoy an episode of Star Trek now and again, and yeah, you kinda enjoyed a few classes back in the day. And, once in a while, you stumble while walking down the street even though there was nothing there to cause you to trip. But, for the most part, you look and act fairly typically, and aren't much of an outcast.

I'd say there's a fair chance someone asked you to take this test. In any event, fairly normal.

Why Is There A Propeller On The Front???

Because there is a barber pole on the top, of course!!!

Black Wednesday???

This has been something of a strange week for me. Last Friday they asked me if I could work an earlier shift this week. I said sure, just tell me when. They said, how about Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for middle shift. OK, I'll be there. On Tuesday, they asked me if I could work an hour of overtime on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, so I would be going in at the same time as first shift, but leaving with the middle shift. I was looking forward to today, finally be able to stay in bed a bit longer and have a more leisurely morning. Yesterday they asked me if I could come in an hour early today, too. OK, I'll take it when I can get it, but it did mess up my sleep plans. Oh yeah, they do something pretty cool when you do overtime. Not only do you get time and a half on your next check, but at the end of February, they pay you the half again for your previous year's overtime, so in effect you end up getting double time.

One of my co-workers was telling me on Tuesday that Wednesday the 28th was going to be our busiest day of the year. Historically, it has been so, so that was the reason for that. It seemed odd to me that the 28th would be our busiest day. It didn't seem especially busier than normal to me. I wondered if it was because of the stock market's downturn the day before. Seems to me that if you get spooked by what turns out to be about a 4% downturn, maybe you shouldn't be in that business.

Rats and No Health Inspectors

Today we celebrated my youngest boy's fifth birthday. He wanted to have it at Chuck E. Cheese's. I was less than enthusiastic about that, but it's not about me.

It turned out to be a lot of fun, as you can see by the smile on his face. I even got a chance to play a classic space invaders game, qix (does anyone else remember qix???) and an Elvis pinball machine.

It was a little chaotic, but not as bad as I had mentally prepared myself for. Happy birthday, boy!!!

Drive Time

I took this picture on the drive home the other night. I thought it came out rather good. It was taken in the back of a tanker truck. As you can see, I need to replace one of my headlights. Good thing I got a new bulb for the driving light when I was at the junkyard!!! Replace a driving light bulb, and one of the headlights go out, how do you like that???

Second Life Revisited

The scene: Sitting on the edge of a jacuzzi in an ocean view house

Aye: Mmmmm, Lilly, you've got me drooling...

Lilly: Quit it, you nasty man!!!

Aye: Actually, its that cheese platter hat you're wearing. You know me and cheese!!!

No Snow??? No Problem!!!

A while back my oldest began sledding down the canyon across the street. He gave it a rest for several months, but recently began doing it again. Over the last weekend I was able to get over there and take some video!!! Good thing he had his helmet on!!!

He took a little of me riding it out, too, but it came out a little bit long. If I ever figure out how to edit it down some, I may post it, too.

Love Is In The Air

How nice for Ron!!! Wonder if that's Referring to Ron "The Hedgehog" Jeremy???

The Gunslinger

"The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed"

I'm not fanatical about many things, but I have a few. Stephen King stories happen to be one of them. I've been to opening nights of movies adapted from his stories, and eventually I get to reading most everything he (or his dark half Richard Bachman) writes. Last Friday I saw an article about a series of graphic novels (read: comic books) based on his Dark Tower series. Appropriately enough, several comic book stores are having special midnight release events. Cool. I'm not sure of the quantity to be printed, but I was not going to miss out!!! Probably they will print millions. The Dark Tower series are some of my favorites, and of those "Wizard and Glass" is my number one. The comic that came out as issue one (of seven, same as the books, strangely enough) is entitled "The Gunslinger Born", and focuses on his early years as chronicled in the first book. Wizard and Glass also covers his youth, so I think I will enjoy the whole series. The comics seem to promise more than was in the books, so I'm looking forward to that.

I set out for the local store in Pasadena at around 11:40, not knowing what exactly to expect. I arrived around 5 minutes until midnight. There were probably around fifty people there already, and probably 10 or more showed up while I was waiting. One of the guy from the store was handing out a sketch book showing some of the artwork in black and white, as well as the coloring process. Cool. A few minutes after midnight they opened up and started letting customers in. As we filed in, a worker was handing out raffle style tickets. Apparently one of the two artists, Richard Isanove, was in attendance signing the comics. Cool. The staff informed us that they had a few copies of variant cover editions that they were going to raffle off. I had no idea what that meant, probably means something to comic book aficionados. My number ended in 521. Near to being a lucky number. It was after 12:30 before they got to doing the raffle. I had to stay, I figured my odds were pretty good with that few people there. I think they had something like 10 of the first variant, and I got not even close to my number. The second variant they only had three of. Second number, 521!!! Whoo hoo!!! (I actually said that) I got that one signed, too, and headed on home. I must be crazy staying out that late on a work night. Why do they do cool stuff like that and concerts during the week???

I got home after 1, and was too buzzed to sleep. Read the whole thing before I attempted to go to bed. Very cool, not exactly by the book, but very faithful to it. I had pictured Gabrielle as a blond, though. I can hardly wait until the next one comes out!!!

Like It Or Not!!!

No choice. I would have chose "no" if I had my way, but I didn't. Now I will likely have to type 18 characters instead of six to log in, as well as a use of the shift key. Thanks for nothing.

The Personal Side of the Junkyard

One of the things I never gave a lot of thought to that my dad brought to my attention was the things left in some of these cars. Kind of sad, people have a significant portion of their lives in these cars, then something happens and its off to the junkyard for them.



Speaking of my dad, there he is!!! Even if I have nothing in particular I need, its always nice to go and spend some time with my dad.

I'm pretty sure this is either a 2.6 or 2.8 liter narrow angle V-6 engine from a Ford or Mercury. My brother in law used to have a clean Mercury Capri with the 2.8, he put a lot of money into that car, and it was nice. There was one of those there I tried to get a pic of, but my battery was on its last legs.

The sea of cars. My dad happened onto one of the guys who had been in his auto body class. He was searching for a deck lid for a 3rd generation Camaro. Didn't find one to his liking. I think I've got one of those in the basement, I'll have to look.

I ran into this guy!!! He used to work where I used to work, several years ago. We always got along well, he always put a smile on my face. We stood there and talked for probably close to half an hour.

This was cool, an old Mercedes (I'm talking 30's or 40's old!!!) with a wooden dash board.

I like the shade of red on this wig. Wasn't going to bring it home, though.

This was just creepy looking.

Look!!! It's the Goodyear blimp!!! Just a little after this it was nicely lined up with a palm tree in the foreground, but once again, my treacherous battery.

Bullets holes. That can happen around some of the local areas.

This was a little footstool covered with tiger print fabric. I thought the colors went well in the back of this car. Not so good with this camera though.