how do you make $600/hr?

get a bad tax accountant.

so this year laura and i decided to have our taxes done by a "professional" due to the retardedly complicated nature of tax code and our situation this year. we dropped off all our paper work near the end of february. i called after three weeks to check on them and they hadn't even looked at them yet but got right on it after i called. we went in a day or two later to pick up the returns.

i was quite disappointed to find out we owed money because in my previous attempt to do them on taxcut i had thought i was getting ~$2k refunded. they told us we owed $974 in federal taxes, we were getting back $873 from maryland and owed $421 to the state of virgina - all in all we owed $522. a quick look over the return and a few questions later i realized they had not included quite a few things, for example one stock transaction which was a loss of about $450 had no purchase price and was therefore listed on my taxes as a short term capital gain. i told her about a few other issues and emailed her some more records later in the week.

i went back last night at 6pm, straight from work, hoping to find a completed tax return but alas, it was not to be. i stayed there until nearly 11pm pointing out mistake after mistake after mistake. and it was really weird stuff, like negative numbers listed as amounts for charitable donations. by the time all was said and done, we had gone from owing $522 to getting a net refund of $2403.

to top things off, after all that, we had to pay the accountant $540 to do our taxes. and the worst part, i'm still not convinced it's correct. since now somehow we now owe maryland money instead of getting a refund, and are getting refunds from virginia and the feds instead of owing.

collection of random rants

* the illinois senator situation is actually quite infuriating. the system has been hijacked. it's clear that neither blagojevich nor the person whom he appointed, roland burris, are acting in the interest of the people of illinois. these are elected positions, intented to represent the will of the people. regardless of whether or not he has broken any laws, i don't believe anyone from illinois wants blagojevich in office anymore and he refuses to step down, even though it would be the right thing to do. similarly, it appears that his appointment is legal and the senate will have to allow it, burris should recognize that source of his appointment is not representative of the people and by extension neither is his appointment. i think blagojevich knows he's screwed at this point and is doing his best to stick it to everyone on his way to jail and burris is a egotistic powerhungry opportunist. at any rate, it's very sad to see such blatant disrespect for the spirit of democracy. here's a snippet from a new york times op ed on burris.

On the negative side, you might want to include the fact that Burris has already constructed a mausoleum for himself that is topped by Illinois’s state seal and the legend “Trail Blazer.” Those are followed by a list of his historic firsts, ranging from the impressive (first African-American elected to a statewide office in Illinois) to some stuff you would really try to refrain from bragging about except at parties in which there had been a great deal of drinking (first African-American exchange student from Southern Illinois University to Hamburg).

There also is a sidebar granite slab for “Other Major Accomplishments.” As the mausoleum illustrates, even in an occupation in which oversized egos are practically a career requirement, Burris can be a little alarming. The fact that he made Illinois history by being elected state comptroller in 1979 is something you would feel like admiring a lot more if Burris had not told The Associated Press in 2008: “I’d say if there hadn’t been a Roland Burris, that there would not have been a Carol Braun or a Barack Obama.

* the government tv converter box coupon program has run out of money. lots of people are whining. get over it. the government is not obligated to pay for you to watch tv. plus, who knows how many people got the coupons because, hey, free $40, even though they have cable and don't need them.

* all of the bridges from virginia into DC are going to be shut down on inauguration day. i don't quite understand how they expect to get 4 million people in and out of downtown dc when the only way in or out is going to be up through maryland. and while i am fortunate enough to not have to go downtown or even leave my house that day but 4 million people PLUS all the vendors, hotel staff, restaraunt staff, security staff, metro staff, organizers and various other people will. metro certainly can't handle it. i will either be blockading myself into the house or trying to get out of town the day before. by the way, there is anecdotal evidence that people, as i imagined, are not getting the ridiculous amounts of money for renting out their houses during inauguration.

* monday night i stepped in dog poop. it was not a little poop either. i might have to incinerate my shoes. i'm pretty sure it's one of our neighbors who just lets her dog out of her house because she is too lazy to walk them. it sorta wanders around until it finds a shoe to poop under and she opens the door and starts hollering for it to come back. this is also the same neighbor that while she rarely picks up after her dogs, when she does, she leaves a little pile of poop filled bags by her front door for days and days while flies congregate around them. she is also the neighbor who has a really obnoxious barky dog and leaves the windows open during the summer so they can see ever person and squirrel that walks by and bark at them as loudly as possible. i've also seen her sit in her car (which is filled with garbage) smoking a cigarette with the engine running listening to the radio for up to 20 minutes on some occasions.

what to do when you hate your job

here's some advice i got from a college friend of mine after complaining about my waning interest in my job

Anyways, sorry that your job is still seeming like "work"..my suggestion if for you to adjust your expectations downward...and if you still seem unhappy, do an additional downward adjust. Keep doing this until you realize that your job is "awesome!". This should do the trick for about 2 years at which time you and your new wife will be read to start a family. At which time 9 months of excitement will produce a very needy infant that will be a huge responsibility and require every single minute of your time and concentration while you are at home....which in turn will make going to your job seem like daily "mini-vacation" from the stress of homelife and you will wonder how you could ever think you didnt' like working.

seems pretty reasonable to me.

i hope it doesn't suck as bad as the title

i hope this doesn't get botched up like a certain other trilogy which will remain nameless. i guess this means i will have to replace my indiana jones box for the third time.

high expectations - update

i drank it. it was pretty good.

side note, some of my favorite beer stores in the area:

• corridor wine & liquor - 3321 fort meade road laurel, MD 20724
• astor wine & liquors - 364 domer ave, laurel, MD 20707
• chevy chase wine & spirits - 5544 connecticut ave nw, washington DC

high expectations

high expectations are generally a precursor to disappointment. a little over a year ago they had this jack's pumpkin spice ale on tap at the green turtle and i really liked it, though unfortunately they didn't have it this fall and i'm not sure why. i tried in vain to find a six pack of this stuff and hit all the beer stores i know that have really good selections and came up empty and i stopped actively looking.

then, on one of my many trips to florida, i went to a piggly wiggly or peebles or something to get some dinner, and there in the middle of the floor was a stack of cases of the stuff. of course, being in florida, it would have been pretty inconvenient to try and bring it home, and i figured, hey, if it's just sitting here in some random grocery store, i should be able to find some at home, right?

when i got home i renewed my search for the brew, and again, after trying a number of different stores came home empty handed. as all the seasonal brews changed from fall to winter ales, i gave up. and then it happened. saturday. after christmas. laura and i went to cuba de ayer (get the empanadas!!!) for dinner. afterwards, i popped into the liquor store next door to grab some beer for later that evening and there it was. hiding on the bottom shelf of the cooler. the last six-pack of jack's pumpkin spice ale. i grabbed it without hesitation and headed to the counter. i asked the clerk if they had anymore but he said that was the last one.

i tried so hard to find this beer, i'm now concerned that is has become over hyped and that if i drink it, i'll just be disappointed. the beer has been sitting in the fridge for three days now, unopened.

on a side note, if anyone knows where to get shipyard brewing company caramel lager (had it on tap once in hilton head and never heard of seen it again) or their pumpkinhead ale around washington dc, please let me know.

Road Trip - Yosemite

Epic Fail. All the roads across the Sierra Nevada's are closed in the winter. They aren't barricaded off or anything, but Mike wasn't feeling particularly adventurous so we went around. We had to go all the way up to Tahoe to get across the mountain range. We stopped for gas at some tiny little town and I went into the convenience store. Honest to god, they must have scoured for the one Indian guy in a 300 mile radius to work there. It was incredible.

Road Trip - Graceland

Graceland, Memphis, the land of all things Elvis. Except on Tuesdays, December through February, when Graceland is closed. We were still able to walk up to the mansion, but couldn't go inside. Elvis and his family are all buried on the property, including a stillborn twin brother. Imagine if his brother had lived. It boggles the mind. After walking around the property a bit, we looked through a handful of the 16 separate gift shops they have in the complex. Some items of interest: Velvet Elvis Paintings, the hip-shaking Elvis clock, and the Viva Las Vegas poker set featuring photos of Elvis on the Kings of the deck.

Road Trip - Hard Rock Cafe Doesn't

My fiance has a collection of Hard Rock Cafe shot glasses. I usually try and get her one when I travel. We made it to Nashville tonight and had some time to go downtown and walk around a bit and get some dinner. Downtown Nashville on Broadway is Music Row. It's a street lined with bars and clubs and concert halls. There's live music everywhere, neon signs, bars, karaoke, you name it. Alcoholics and music lovers can presumably rock long into the night. We walked around a bit and walked down to the end of the street. The Hard Rock Cafe Nashville is located on the last block of Broadway, right at the water front. I wasn't planning on eating there, but I wanted to run in and get Laura a shot glass. Nope. Closed. The Hard Rock Cafe closes at 8:30. EIGHT THIRTY!!! What the hell?