Tag: taxes

Procrastination vs. Planning

So this year, the result of doing taxes is likely to be me sitting down and writing a very large check to the US government. If I’m lucky, it won’t involve a penalty for having to write TOO large a check. Back in the old days when I used to get refunds, I’d be waiting at the mail for my last W2 so I could get my taxes done by February 4th. Now, though, well….. let’s just say that several weekends have come and gone where I probably should’ve done the taxes and didn’t. Finally, though, we’re in April. (For all the weather doesn’t indicate that.) Time to be done and get it off my list and my conscience. So I sat down at my official tax and bill doing computer, read several websites, IM’d with my mom, found some baseball on MLB.com (Orioles vs. Rays – not sure who I’m cheering for), fixed my MLB.com account and then finally meandered over to log in to the tax web site.

Hmmmm… what’s my password? Maybe this one? Or that one? Or possibly the other one? And then I got a nasty note, “You’ve made 3 unsuccessful attempts to sign in. Your account has been locked for security reasons. Please try again in 20 minutes.”

Greeeeeaaaaaat.

So that’s what I’m doing right now. Burning 20 minutes (since I’ve already read all my websites) until I can try and log in again in order to have the fun! and excitement! of doing my taxes. You see where you rate.

Lessee… what’s up.

Well, today was the opening day for the Red Sox. I would probably be more ebullient about this, except they got creamed by the Rangers, which was not in our opening day plan. One game in, and Red Sox nation is already panicking because two of our best pitchers had bad outings. It’s great to be a Red Sox fan, when you can start whining while the winter snow is still on the ground!

Speaking of, we got real actual snow last night. I walked out and immediately experienced some nasty PTSD – Post-traumatic Snow Disorder. It’s widespread in New England this “spring”. I’m so ready for summer!

Still, it was beautiful coming home tonight. The snow reduces the visual noise, making heterogeneous locations momentarily homogeneous. The snow had melted on the branches of the trees, turning the trunks of winter-worn maples bright black against the white snow and steel sky. The tone of the light has changed from wan to bright, bringing a strange dissonance to the scene. And the trees are this wonderful pregnant grey, with a faint shimmer of red like a blush on a maiden’s cheek.

OK! Long enough! They let me log in! Now to really go do the taxes. Right after I check to see if any of my favorite blogs have updated in the last 10 minutes….

Tax day

So today is sacred to the Doing of the Taxes. I have to admit, taxes are super-un-fun for me because we often end up owing money. Very large chunks of money. Amounts of money that could be a lot of fun in other circumstances. So I have all the joy and happiness of doing taxes just so, at the end, I can have the thrill and fulfillment that come with writing a Very Large Check to the federal government.

So imagine my chagrin and disappointment when I logged in incorrectly to my tax website (which I use, you know, once a year) too many times and they told me I’d have to wait 20 minutes before logging in again. Oh, horrors! Despair! And I was so looking forward to it!

On a completely unrelated note, I can’t figure out why it takes me all day to do taxes, can you? Nope. Boggles the imagination.

So for today’s offering you get a completely unrelated and random grab bag of Stuff I’ve Been Thinking About. All of which may or may not get written in 20 minute interstices between incorrect logins.

Thing 1
So for several weeks now, my husband has been talking about his “Secret project”. He’s had this box that he works on that I’m not allowed to see. He spent many an evening in pursuit of his secret project. I was getting the distinct feeling I was about to be seriously outclassed on Valentine’s Day. Desperately, I bought some Hazelnut Lindor Truffles and hoped for the best.

Well, he gave me half a dozen red rozes, and a box of chocolates from Fine Chokolader.

Here are the roses:

A lovely bouquet!
A lovely bouquet!

A closeup:

Yes, those are origami roses
Yes, those are origami roses

Aren’t they lovely? I was taken completely by surprise by his hard work and the gorgeous outcome. Then he showed me the rest of the box — all these practice runs and different flowers. It was hours and hours of effort. It is gorgeous. And best of all, these flowers won’t wilt or fade. Thank you, love.

Thing 2 – the Olympics in Vancouver
When I was young and still learning how the world works, my family took a trip to Vancouver BC for Expo 86. (Funny, I could’ve SWORN it was Expo ’88, but the internet must know better than I!) This was a huge deal to my young mind. I remember distinctly the amazement at having my passport stamped by all these countries (or, er, their booths as the case may be). I remember the robot taking a picture with us. It was hot, I recall. And Vancouver was this mecca of excitement — the most important place on earth at that moment! (Or so it felt.)

I suspect my opinion of the importance of the World’s Fair was greatly affected by growing up in proximity to Seattle. If you heard about he history of Seattle, which I did rather ad nauseum growing up, you couldn’t miss the importance of the 1962 World’s Fair in taking a provincial town and turning it into a world class city proud of itself and its accomplishments. It was for the ’62 World’s Fair that Seattle built the Space Needle. My father was a Boy Scout volunteer for those games. It was, and still is, a Big Deal.

Finally, for the last couple years my husband and I have vacationed across the straight in Victoria. Which, for the record, is totally not like Vancouver. But I have a sense of fellow feeling, of “I’ve been there!” that makes the entire thing even more fun to watch!

OK, the tax software has finally let me in, so I suppose I should have at. Watch this space for more procrastinatory dialogue AND/OR bonus whining about having to pay more than was withheld.

(Note: I’m actually philosophically delighted to pay taxes. I generally think they’re a great idea, although my confidence in the system has taken a bit of a hit lately. However, that doesn’t prevent me from whining about it.)