Mary, our dear friend from college, is in town. She was at the big museum convention downtown, so with that wrapping up yesterday we drove up and picked her up (and marveled at all the change down there -- been probably 4-5 years since I was around the convention center and all), swung by Le Central for dinner, and headed back home.

And, as has been noted, today it's snowing.

Not a lot of particular activities planned. Margie's taking a few days off, and we have a Game Day planned on Saturday. I think the baseball game plans have been snowed out, but who knows what the ladyfolk are concocting at home.

Just nice to have her out here. She's not visited since Katherine's baptism (!), and though we see her over the holidays and at KOA, it's fun to have her on our own turf to chit-chat and catch up.

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Busy busy busy.

Busy.

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Wrong Dave Hill.

If nothing else, I like making goo-goo eyes at my honey-bunny. And a Jedi may not make goo-goo eyes ... 

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Yes, I've put it off a bit -- and since I'll be out of town next weekend, time to crack down and get it done.

My two pieces of advice:

1. TurboTax -- or some sort of prep software -- has become essential, unless you have very, very, very simple tax stuff to do. (And if you have any sorts of complications, it's probably worth going to a tax accountant or attorney to make sure you get it right). It's sad that our tax code has gotten that complicated, but there it is.
2. I keep a space in the downstairs cabinets where I throw in anything tax-related for the year. Receipts for contributions, check registers, everything. I sort it out at tax time. That seems to work great (and beats the hell out of having to dig all that stuff out of the overall bill basket).
3. A check-writing / bill-paying service is darned handy for identifying other contributions.
4. Reviewing last year's taxes is also helpful to remind you of stuff that needs to be done this year.

I don't claim any special virtue or abilities when it comes to tax accounting. But those things just make life easier, I find.

UPDATE: 8:30 p.m. and all's well. Took a few hours off to go to dinner with the family along with Jackie and Kaylee, to White Fence Farms. Yum. And ...

Between what we have to send to Uncle Sam and get back from Uncle Bill, we're only about $200 in the red, which isn't too bad, all things considered.

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A soft, steady rain down at home as I started off this morning, turning a bit slushy as I got up to the office.

All the ops folks in my wing are packing up to move to the other building this weekend. I have no idea when I am slated to move over there, as it's a different floor and the move coordination is being handled with all the planning, coordination, and aplomb of a bunch of three-year-olds (with IT saving the day more often than not).

Someone I've worked with for many years -- in fact, who I hired into the company -- is shifting their base of operations to the downtown office we gained in the acquisition last year. And someone else I've known here for some time is, rather goofily, being made redundant by that same office/acquisition, so I'm busy trying to figure out if I have a position in my department for them.

Last night was Family Art Night down at Katherine's school, with a (mostly) Asian Art theme. Katherine performed in a puppet play about the building of the Great Wall of China, and there were various calligraphy and painting projects, free food, Chinese dancers, dragon dancers (Katherine's favorite), and some Ultimate Martial Arts guys who were as much dancers and Power Rangers as actual self-defense masters (no matter how many degrees of black belt they claimed or how high they kicked). Good fun for all.

We're getting ready for some travel coming up. We're off to New York in a week for Doyce and Kate's wedding -- we'll be staying on a couple of days beyond so as to do some whirlwind touring (it's my First Time). Jim and Ginger are coming out on Monday to stay for a couple of weeks, including taking care of Katherine while we're gone; they have some fun touring plans, too.

While I'm glad that tomorrow's Friday, Saturday Margie's volunteered to do breakfast and lunch for 65 down at the church, Which we'll be helping her with, of course.

A busy, unsettled, changing, promising time.

Filed under :: Job Jollies :: Personal :: Religion - My Parish :: School Daze :: Travel :: Weather
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It was relatively quiet weekend at the Consortium, as we rested up from a very hectic week and tried to find some peace and quiet before our own personal March Madness commences. Most of it was relaxing, playing some LotRO, and sleeping in. 

But we also went on a flurry of errands on Sunday that included a stint at American Furniture Warehouse. While we didn't find what I was really looking for (a small sofa table for the breakfast room that I can use as a workspace rather than the breakfast table), we did pick up a new coffee table for the family room.

This week looks to be moderately hectic. Then a week from today I fly off to the Netherlands for a week of meetings, and fly out to Pasadena a week later for some other big action goodies. And elsewhere in the month we have a karate tournament (while I'm away), green belt testing (after I'm back), and ... just ... a lot of stuff. I added to that a bit by throwing some events onto the gaming schedule, but hopefully those will be more recreational than burdensome. 

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Yay, Kate!

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I had a dream last night that I had my ponytail back.  It seemed perfectly natural, and I was vaguely disappointed that nobody around me was commenting upon it.

I really don't know why (esp. since I don't particularly want to grow my ponytail back).  But it was only last this afternoon that I flashed on it, with a vividness that was close to being a "real" memory.

Weird.

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And many happy returns!  Except, y'know, of your birthday gift.  Which came yesterday.

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