tax time, yippy freakin doooo

Every year about this time I start sucking down alcohol, smoking cigarettes and taking St. Johns Wort capsules by the handful. I make a mad dash through piles of receipts, picking through to find every known write off. Every year Jason and I have had to pay. Our tax man (who we fired two years ago) would say “have a kid or buy a house. ” Well most of you know how we feel about housing here in California and we’d been trying for a baby for years. IT FINALLY HAPPENED thanks to little Pierson!!! We will get some cash back from “the man” this year. But it did take some tooth pulling, Quicken checking, Quicken changing, Quicken reloading, Quicken checking again, then finally some TurboTax inputting and some attempts (a dozen or so) at transferring last years return (Turbo as well) then about 2 days worth of answering STUPID questions like did your child live with you last year? HELLO the question right before that was his age and the one before that was our marital status, and the one before that adoption? GEEZ for $63 you’d think a product made from a Company who’s name is “Intuit” as in INTUITIVE would be able to I don’t know BE INTUITIVE or at least know that some standard information doesn’t change through the tax form process. SO once all that was done I had to do the same sh*t fOR state filing, then calculate, fix errors, etc. Etc. ETC…and to think we used to pay someone to do this for us.

Tax Man $150

TurboTax $97 (that’s each year) $63 for the software PLUS e-filing 16.95 for state and 16.95 for federal. For the savings of $53 and not knowing if I screwed anything up, I’m not sure it’s worth it.

Note: for those of you who get to file EZ, my tongue is extend out to you in jealousy.

Posted by linuxgrl Posted in: Uncategorized 3 Comments » April 2007

Object in mirror may weight more than it appears

So I went to cutely hop up onto a kitchen counter today and much MUCH to my surprise the counter top seamed higher or maybe gravity was a little off today . It felt like I was trying to jump in an elevator going up. My arms just could not lift me up and my feet could not pop my butt up onto the counter. WHAT THE?? I guess I’m starting to feel those thirty lbs. Not that I haven’t experienced the midnight leg cramps, wow those are not at all fun. I laughed at myself, thinking hahaha you forgot you’re pregnant and can’t do that. Funny!

Posted by linuxgrl Posted in: Uncategorized 4 Comments » October 2006

I love our church community

Last night was AMAZING!! We had church as we always do on a Tuesday night; nine of us sharing food, wine and conversation. Normally we talk about music, film or that day’s headlines. Occasionally we get deep about Jesus, church and Christianity. Last night was one of those conversations; we spoke about deconstructing our religiosity and really questioning our belief and where we are in it. We talked about how good it felt to not be so sure of ourselves in our belief. How our uncertainty really gave God room to move in our lives, really show us his grace, support and provision. It was amazing!!

I have to admit during most of the conversation I was installing drivers (it was my ministry for the evening and I very much enjoyed it !!

Just being there listening in on “the church” my brother and sisters in Christ digging deep was truly a gift and I love THIS idea of church. My husband and I for a long time have been over the idea of sitting in a room full of people we’d like to talk to but can’t because the focus was on the pulpit. We’ve always wanted to be apart of a community comfortable just working through this thing called Christianity. To many times we’ve found ourselves in an institutional setting where everyone had the answers.

Anne Lamott said it best “The opposite of faith is not doubt, it’s certainty”

Posted by linuxgrl Posted in: Uncategorized 5 Comments » September 2006

Amazing Grace, who’s got more

I’m glad my husband has enough grace for the both of us. After reading my post this morning he emailed me about how navigating uncomfortable situations regarding how we hope to have and raise our children may continue to be questioned or seen as absurd. I’m glad he pulled me down from the roof. I was feeling pretty sorry for myself not having someone to sympathize with my angst. After it all I felt sorry for the woman who meant well, I probably scared her more than her advice scared me. Who ever you are lady with the apple sized hemorrhoid I apologize. Next time just try to remember how scared you were when you were pregnant AND how hormonal.

Looks like Jason and I are going to skip the whole birth center gig and go 100% hippie holistic and have Jason deliver our first born in the desert at the Burning Man festival.

Posted by linuxgrl Posted in: Uncategorized 5 Comments » September 2006

YOU’RE NOT HELPING !!

Posted by linuxgrl Posted in: Uncategorized 4 Comments » September 2006

NOT done yet

so you thought I quit blogging, NOT!! Set up your RSS, when I have something interesting to say you’ll know. In the mean time…

Posted by linuxgrl Posted in: Uncategorized 4 Comments » March 2006

BG & The 4400

Two small cable stations have “one hit wonders” currently running. Sci-Fi’s Battlestar Galactica and USA’s The 4400. Why I’m calling them “one hit wonders” lets’ discuss. It is not a reference to San Diego’s north county weed but a reference to a band/channel having one break through song/show that makes it into the mainstream.

Battlestar Galactica: I know many have assumed that the number of BG viewers are a select few BUT I must say Time magazine awarding BG best TV show for 2005 squelches that idea. Not in the top ten BUT NUMBER ONE!! BG beat Project Runway and Weeds (HBO). Also I hear peeps won’t watch the new series cause the old one was so “badâ€?. I have two words that may clear that up, 70’s television! Need I say more…oh but I will, the old series was meant to be funny and kitschy. The new one is a Sci-Fi drama. Edward James Olmos is Admiral Adama for goodness sake. He is serious talent (that’s industry talk for, he would NEVER take a cheesy, understated role.) One of the rumors for BG being put on hold until October is that NBC (owns Sci-Fi) wants to air it, pulling BG from the cable audience. NBC has in the past tried to spur the interest of the “Everybody Loves Raymond” audience, but between showing already aired pilots and the networks audience’s need for brainless sitcoms, lets just say it was not well received.

The 4400: Best plot in years, great characters, lots of Sci-Fi AND it’s on USA. I was very curious about that pick. But hey if they keep funding the series I’ll keep watching. Which, by the way if it wasn’t for The 4400 getting nominated for 3 that’s THREE Emmy’s the USA network would and almost did chuck it. For those unfamiliar with this series, here’s the gist of the plot. A ball of light drops off 4,400 people on a lakeshore. All the people were missing persons from 60 years to 3 months prior. They haven’t aged a day, the government freaks cause they don’t know what to do with them. Are the 4400 apart of a planned alien invasion, are they clones, no one knows. SO Big brother throws them in quarantine, nothing happens so the gov. lets them go, but they all are required to check in once a year. That’s about when sh*t really gets interesting. You see, the 4400 start popping up with curious abilities. Such as telekinesis, mind control, foresight, power to heal, etc. And the agents in charge are noticing coincidences within the events that unfold, a “ripple effect�. Example: a genius falls into a stupor with an unknown cause, a 4400 builds this crazy devise she thinks is going to take her back to her planet but in reality the devise cures the genius who then becomes the father of an amazing technology that heightens the 4400’s abilities. CRAZY!!! And that’s just one episode.

Posted by linuxgrl Posted in: Uncategorized 6 Comments » March 2006

heart crushing news

Be prepared, I wept…

http://bitsofnews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3448

Although 4400 starts up in June, I find it can NOT fill the LARGE shoes of BG.

Posted by linuxgrl Posted in: Uncategorized 4 Comments » March 2006

I love the rain

It’s SO rainy, but most of you already know that. I love the rain, the smell of wet asphalt, the sound of the rain hitting tin covered carport outside my bedroom window. I even love the gray haze that covers the sky, the wind and the cold. The whole package puts a smile on my face. Jason and I have threatened to move to Seattle, peeps always tell us “It’s so rainy, dreary and depressing” WHATEVER!! So what if I like that kind of weather. I don’t mind if peeps don’t move there cause of the supposed mass quantities of rain (San Francisco get’s more rain annually than Seattle) If more peeps think it’s all rain all the time, that’s fine with me. Those cheery little sun shiny peppy people get under my skin. We need the rain, it keeps us from taking our sunny days for granted. The only down side to the rain (besides the scary mudsides)… Californians CAN’T drive in it. It’s like watching a toddler on ice skates for the first time. GEEZ, and the media, STORM WATCH 2006,”Los Angeles has gotten a whapping 2 inches this week.” Wooohoooo, and Shreveport, Louisiana gets something like 8 inches on any given DAY in the spring.

STORM WATCH, ha (middle finger extended)

Posted by linuxgrl Posted in: Uncategorized 12 Comments » February 2006

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