Article 24
Good conversation group today. Six people, two from last week and four new ones. We did introductions, and talked about the news from Japan, superheroes, and modes/verbs of locomotion (fly, jump,...
View ArticleArticle 23
I have been entrusted with the taxes of a couple of total strangers, with a complex return. This was a referral from a friend from my leadership class. I met with them this evening, at their home...
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Article 22
I had a nice evening talking about tax stuff with drcpunk and then having Turkish food with her and mnemex. I managed to get to their apartment without going into Manhattan, by taking one bus from my...
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Article 21
After a couple of phone calls, I have concluded that my Brilliant Plan to reduce my taxes probably won't work. I was considering paying the IRS in full and seeing what options there are to spread...
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I'm at my mother's place this evening, to prepare for the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament that starts tomorrow morning. One thing I had the opportunity to do while I'm here is look through the old...
View ArticleArticle 19
Through six out of the seven puzzles at the ACPT, my ranking is 214 out of 655. I completed all perfectly but puzzle #5, always the hardest one, which I filled about 2/3 of without error. My brother...
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Article 18
The final results for this year's ACPT:My rank: 215 out of 655. Approximately 68th percentile, up about 10% from 2010. I continue to improve my performance even though I didn't really train as much as...
View ArticleArticle 17
I was a bit dismayed to find that none of the nice people I had at my conversation group last Monday came this week. Naturally, I'm looking for what I'm doing wrong, that even the repeat visitors...
View ArticleArticle 16
I'm still struggling with the novel. I have a week to go after today, and I'm only at about 16 and a half thousand words.A big part of the problem here is that, even after writing, I really don't have...
View ArticleArticle 15
Jeez, I thought I'd posted some time this week, but it's been six days!For my future reference, and as a service to any of you who have to concern yourselves with New York State sales tax, here is a...
View ArticleArticle 14
The novel stands at 25,122 words with an hour and a half to go.I still have till midnight to add another 24,878 words, I suppose.I have the Dodgers-Giants game on, and that's a bit distracting.Plus I'd...
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Article 12
I still have to write up what I learned about writing this March, and I really should be working on taxes for the people I promised to do that for. So why am I blogging?Good question. After asking this...
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Article 11
This afternoon agrumer and I went to the New School to see a new musical theater piece by the great Ben Katchor. It was part of the New School's first annual Arts Festival, whose theme is Noir. I...
View ArticleArticle 10
Hi. I'm alive.I've been swamped the last couple of weeks with tax prep work, but it's worked out well, and I may have more soon, which would make me very happy.Life is mostly good.More later.
View ArticleArticle 9
In re Bin Laden: this is what's been going through my head. My mind works in very strange ways.
View ArticleArticle 8
Something I've decided I want to hear: a period-instruments, Baroque orchestra playing the Theme from Rocky ("Gonna Fly Now"). Natural trumpets, squawky bassoons, theorbo The Annihilator, the whole...
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Here's why the US Postal Service is in such trouble right now - a Bush-era mandate to fund retirement for employees that don't exist yet. Rescind that and the USPS is out of danger.My father was a...
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Via LGM, here's a fascinating discussion of the origins of money. I've been wanting to read this guy's book for weeks, and this post just whets my appetite.Edited to add: Just wanted to note that the...
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My English conversation group is now meeting on Tuesdays rather than Mondays, because the library changed the days it's open late. I expected this to work out better for me as far as commuting, since I...
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