Gas

Happy Thirtieth Birthday Dave! You old fart. There’s nothing like getting older to remind us of eternity. I know that turning 27 was hard for me, mostly because my wife started telling me I was past my prime 😉 Now I have to work out at the gym, drink Ensure and I get really interested in certain commercials 😉 But enough about me.

I hope that your birthday is especially bright because your little one is relaxed, your wife is smiling as beautifully as ever and your car doesn’t get stuck in a snow drift. Oh, that’s not too likely there, but the snow is really coming down here.

Tax SoftWhere?

Last night I spent some time on the phone with one of my favorite tax specialists, my dad. He’s got lots of experience in accounting, finances and way too many other things. “Why?,” you ask yourself. Thanks for asking, it makes it easier for me to answer. The reason for my call was the fact that the tax software I bought to use for my 2004 tax return pointed to what appeared to be the wrong line in my previous year’s return filing papers. What’s really weird is that I think that there’s an error. So, I’ve got to contact the (hopefully) nice people at H & R Block and raise some Cain so that I can get an answer. The issue is that the software says to look at line 56 in one place, line 55 in another [referring to the same information] and the wording is ambiguous as to what information they’re definitely looking for. I’m pretty sure they want line 55 since line 56 is self employment tax and they ask for it on the next page of their ‘interview.’

I know as a software developer myself that there’s a fine line between testing your software and doing quality control. I know that I’ve been responsible for a bug or a whole pack of bugs, however, I don’t think that my bugs had any legal ramifications. If I screw up my tax return I could be liable for those mistakes, not H & R Block. So, word to the wise: just because tax software is easy, doesn’t mean it’s right, double check the software.

File Under Double Speak

Piracy hits Hollywood in the wallet
OR
Record Profit from Movies

You pick. I doubt that the internet is undercutting the movie industry, the fidelity of the movies you can get online comes no where close to the giant screen that I saw Meet the Fokkers on last Sunday. And if Hollywood was producing outstanding films with regularity maybe people would be going to the movies more often rather than waiting to see them on DVD. Speaking of which, Mark Cuban has a good idea (again) along this line.

Filter Out Certain Commercials

A Whole Lotta Nothing: Cialis Disfunction: Can we please stop airing special commercials about fixing various penile issues? I really like to see commercials about erectile disfunction, really, it makes me feel so manly knowing I don’t need it. However, I really, really, really don’t want my two year old seeing things like that. The last thing I need is for her to be sitting at the breakfast table in a restaurant and say something like, “I want pancakes and viagra. Oh, and Milk!”

(via James Robinson III)

Better is Better

I just saw a commercial for some acid reflux pill that made me want to stop and turn off the TV in the front room. It was about how the pill (whose name I don’t know, but I’m sure someone will post it in a comment) will make you better. Their clenching statement was, “Because better is better.” Thanks for nothing pill people.

Loan Ranger

So we’re getting ready to meet the load arranger to start the (scary as heck) process of buying a house. There are several fears I deal with in all of this:

  • Lack of knowledge about what’s going on
  • Lack of control
  • Lack of resale value

I like control, I like knowing that I’m doing something the right way, and preferrably the best way. However, in this process I know it’s not going to be the best way, but it will be the way we can do it (I don’t have 20%+ down). However, I don’t understand how the whole process goes, and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to ‘get it’ quickly.

Because I don’t have a complete knowledge of the process and all of the terms involved I feel like I lack control.

Since the housing market is in constant flux I fear that the value of any home I may purchase will suddenly plummet because of any various change that may strike us, our neighborhood or the market in general. For instance, what if our Jerry Springer neighbors that live above us move into our neighborhood and bring the value of the homes down? I can’t imagine that driving by and hearing a young male scream, “You [words I wouldn’t type on my blog]! I’m going to [other words I won’t type] kill you!” I’m pretty sure that will cause some neighbors to want to move, and others to just call the police. Any regularity of either of those will bring the property value down. Also, what if Satan moves into our neighborhood and makes the Jerry Springer neighbors look good? This too is guaranteed to make the prices of the homes in the area go to hell [gosh that one liner amuses me]. And, lastly, what if the housing bubble that some have described us being in pops and I find myself paying the mortgage for a $230,000 house that is actually only worth $150,00 since Microsoft declared bankruptcy, WalMart bought out Target and Bill Clinton won a third term? Think of the catastophes!

So, as usual, I just need to trust God and seek His wisdom while all of this goes down. Pray for us in this as it’s going to be a bumpy ride and I’m going to have to go to the dentist in a week.

Film at Eleven

Back in the day when the News used to be on really late they’d say, “Film at Eleven.” Now the news is on all the time and they have the guy on the 4:30 news briefly tell you about what the 5:00 anchor person is going to tell you. Of course he or she will innevitably tell you about the 5:30 and 6:00 newscasters will be filling you in on. Apparently their news is unimportant to me now, but will matter in some time.

However, this post is not abou that, it instead is about camera film. This morning my friend Mike gave me an SLR camera. Not only that but it has a telephoto lens, which rocks my world. I’m stoked and can’t wait to use it. My only problem now is that I don’t have film. My only other problem besides that is that I need to re-learn how to use it. My only other only problem is that I can’t fix mistakes on a film camera like I can on a digital camera. This means that I’ve got one other problem: I’m going to spend a lot more money on film, developing and other expenses associated with film cameras. I’m looking forward to it because this could be a whole new side to camera work.

Oh, and the telephoto lens apparently also has some sort of macro focus length, the only problem is that you have to be about 3 feet away or more to get the macro to focus. I guess I’ll have to learn how to use that, too.

It’s a Pentax K1000, in case you care 🙂

Corn Girl

This afternoon when I put Abby down for her nap her breath smelled of corn chips that she’d had a little earlier with lunch. I said to her, “Good night, Corn Girl.” After about 30 seconds I heard her yelling through her closed bedroom door, “I’m Guacamole Girl!”

My mistake!

Free In Home Consulation

No, that’s not a typo in the title, it’s marketing. Actually, it is a typo, but it was on a commercial that I saw this evening while working out. There was a home theater company offering their services to come in and (apparently) ‘consul’ with you. I suppose that it would be pretty cool if you were their competition. They’d not only look incompetant, but it would also have helped if they had not shown the text twice on the screen as one of only three things they put on the screen as text. Oh, well. I guess that if I ever want to run a spell checker on this site it would return a lot of typos.

This is the white kettle calling the white pot… white.