Taxes and eyes

I filed our Federal income tax return electronically this morning and put our Indiana and Arkansas returns into the mail after lunch, so I can now move on to other things.
According to the TaxCut software, Arkansas requires a copy of our Federal return in addition to the Arkansas forms. Kinda bizarre, but I guess they like lots of paper.
Now it's back to the wedding album that I hope to send to the printers in a day or two.
I paid $19.99 for an H&R Block tax consultant to help me determine whether we could claim any kind of deduction for the $15,000 our contractor stole from us last year on our abortive garage project. There is a provision for cases of theft and I was hopeful that could also be interpreted to cover fraud.
Turns out our situation isn't included, so we're hosed again.
Got an appointment with a new ophthalmologist tomorrow morning. I've been having trouble seeing well enough to read and I'm wondering if it's time to deal with the cataracts my Indiana eye doc said were forming a year or so ago.
Everyone who's had cataract/lens replacement surgery tells me it's easy and amazingly effective. I'm more than ready to get back to seeing 20/20 or better and using glasses

Happy Birthday, Doreen!

Today is Doreen Tracey's birthday.
I won't divulge her age except to say she was one of the original Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeers.

Awwwwwww

IRVINGTON, N.Y. — An 80-year-old man who thought he'd lost the only recording of his dead wife's voice can hear her again, any time he wants. When Verizon upgraded Charles Whiting's telephone service, his wife's voice, saying, "Catherine Whiting," disappeared from his voicemail system.

She had died in 2005 and Whiting said he listened to her voice every day for comfort. He blamed Verizon for the loss, saying, "Now they took her voice away."

But Verizon had archived all the old greetings and messages. Company spokesman John Bonomo said Tuesday that a contractor found the recording and restored it to the new voicemail system.

"I'm glad they rescued it," Whiting said. "I'm very happy."

Senior Classic '08

This is Mason Mitchell, 9, one of the younger Elvis impersonators I've seen, performing with a kids' dance troupe at half-time at the boys' Senior Classic game this afternoon at Jonesboro High School.


One of my shots from the boys' game.


One of my shots from the girls' game.

Shooting basketball one more time

The Jonesboro Sun sponsors the Senior Classic - basketball games featuring the top boys and girls seniors in the area.
I'm shooting it witj James Byard today.
Should be fun, although the JHS gym is very dark. Maria's on a run to get a brick of AA batteries for my flash.

He's not heavy

BMW friend Wayne Garrison under the foot of a lightweight Metzeler elephant at the BMW MOA National Rally in Morganton, N.C. in July, 1996.

Looking for deductions

I'm hunkered down with TaxCut this weekend, working through the complexities of our Federal, Indiana and Arkansas income tax returns.
It's one of those situations where I can't just blaze straight through because the software keeps asking questions that require going to Quicken for research.
I know I could just import all of the pertinent Quicken data, but I want to go through it item by item to make sure there are no mistakes that might trigger an audit. I've been through an audit and I don't want another.
It's gonna be a long weekend.

+++++++++++++++++
The weekend just got shorter and brighter!
I'm finished with the Federal, Indiana and Arkansas income tax computations and TaxCut says we're getting refunds from all three taxing entities. Amazing. I was sure we were going to have to write some big checks.

2/3 full or 1/3 empty?

This is what passes for a large coffee at the McDonald's at Caraway & Nettleton in Jonesboro, Ark.
Note the recommended fill line.

Getting rich very slowly

I know many of you are wondering...
Well, some of you...
OK, so nobody gives a damn. I'll tell you anyway.
Those little Google AdSense ads under the top three posts on the page seem to be generating some money into my AdSense account. At last report, the total stood at $41.46, based on a mere 67 clicks. When the total reaches $100, they send me a check. Or put it into my Paypal account. Or my bank account. I don't remember which.
So I'd really appreciate it if you would click on those little suckers and see what fabulous deal you're offered. Don't be shy. Click, click, click...
(My heartfelt thanks to everyone who has checked out these "sponsors.")

Hey, look down there!

In case you haven't scrolled to the bottom of the page lately, you haven't noticed a couple new additions to the blog:
A U.S. map from World66.com showing the extent of my motorcycle travels in the 48 contiguous states.
A banner announcing this blog is now part of the BMW Motorcycle Web Ring.
Woo-hoo.

No birds allowed

I was paging through a Lowe's advertising insert in this morning's paper when I found this ridiculous thing on page 3. They call it "Birdhouse Clock with Thermometer" and it stands 47½ inches tall. The description on the Lowe's website opines, "Perfect for patios, porches, sunrooms, decks and gardens." So it's not really a birdhouse. But it can be yours for only $49.97.
This image belongs with this Wikipedia entry: "Kitsch is a term of German or Yiddish origin that has been used to categorize art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an existing style. The term is also used more loosely in referring to any art that is pretentious to the point of being in bad taste, and also commercially produced items that are considered trite or crass."

Then I noticed the $49.97 37¾-inch-high statue of a bear with a hat leaning on a shovel, and the $9.97 "Animal Hangabouts" illustrated with a picture of an owl and a bunny sitting on swings.

The people working in third world factories cranking out this crap must think Americans are obscenely wealthy morons.

WTF?

Hey, look!
We're under a flash flood warning and a tornado watch.
Again.

Revenge!

Found this amusing little British motorcycle safety video on She Rides a Beemer, the blog of Gail Hatch who has a blue BMW K1200GT just like mine. Gail is also on the board of directors of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America.

Photoshop Disasters

I stole this link from Lauri's blog link list because, well, just because it's cool.
Photoshop Disasters is a collection of blunders - usually in online advertising - made by careless or inept designers in the process of photo manipulation.
Most beg the question of whether anyone reviews their work before it goes before the public.
This image is a classic example.

Your medical records on a thumb drive

Here's a cool thing I noticed recently in the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America Owners News and probably the ideal way for motorcyclists to carry their medical info in case of a crash.
Here's the pertinent poop:
Whether you are cruising across town or the USA, MedFlash, a new product, allows you to carry your complete medical history with you. The MedFlash has shown to be a valuable source of medical information, regardless if it is a routine physician visit or an emergency. By owning a MedFlash you will have peace of mind that you can provide any physician, caregiver or emergency personnel key medical information in a flash. MedFlash is a revolutionary medical record device that is the future of the medical alert bracelet. MedFlash is easy to use and can be taken anywhere. The MedFlash unit can be attached to your key ring or worn around your neck.
MedFlash stores critical information such as: Allergies, Medications, Special Conditions, Emergency Contacts, Medical History, Insurance, Permissions and much more!
The sophisticated, easy-to-use MedFlash program consists of 5 medical screens that a user can simply type (or cut & paste) their data into. Also, the program includes a picture/document uploader that enables the owner to upload MRI/EKG/X-rays photos. Windows 2000 or newer operating system required.
You can order it online from the MedFlash site for $29.95.


A screen shot of the MedFlash software.

Dog wig

This is my former sister-in-law Kathy Teerman.
The occasion was a meeting of my then-wife and her two sisters to divvy up their parents' personal effects after the death of their mother in March, 1991.
Their mother had several wigs and Kathy couldn't resist seeing how her German shepherd looked in a wig.
The dog looks strangely pleased.

Jeez Louise! Not again!

The weather pattern is stuck on stupid.
Seems like three or four times a week, I click on the Weather Channel website and see this same freaking map with a line of storms draped up from Texas, our part of Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana.
Of course we would have had the same weather if we'd stayed in Indiana. It would just be a colder rain.
I'm ready for a few months of drought.

Mister Hanky is sooooo popular!

Since I installed the Feedjit Live Traffic Feed widget on this site a week or so ago, I've been able to tell how people get here.
Some, who know where they're going and maybe even have it bookmarked, come in directly to the blog's URL. A few get here through our friend Lauri's blog link.
And the rest come via a Google search for a subject that I've written about at one time or another.
Guess what the most frequent Google search is that bring people to my blog.
An Oct. 15, 2007, post titled "Unfortunate Resemblance" in which I noted how much the Goobertown Tree Farm Christmas peanut looks like Mister Hanky, the Christmas Poo, from South Park.
Well, now I've given Google yet another Mister Hanky reference to find.
And just for good measure, here's a photo of a larger-than-life (think about it) image of Mister Hanky that adorns a commercial building down at the west end of Front Street in Fairplay, Colo., which is where the real South Park is. I shot it about three years ago while visiting our friends Tim and Linda in nearby Alma.
Come to think of it, we're overdue for some Colorado mountain air.

Snikes!

Knowing I hate snakes, (or, as the Steve Erwin would say, “Oy hite snikes), Maria just emailed me this link http://www.snakesofarkansas.com/Main/Snake which goes to a web page titled “Snakes of Arkansas.”
I was impressed to learn there are 28 varieties of snakes to be found in the area where we now make our home, including four venomous snakes of the pitviper family.
Here's the list, with the bad guys in italics:
Southern Cooperhead
Western Cottonmouth
Timber Rattlesnake
Western Pigmy Rattlesnake
Northern Scarlet Snake
Eastern Racer
Prarie Kingsnake
Speckled Kingsnake
Milk Snake
Rough Green Snake
Great Plains Rat Snake
Western Rat Snake
Flathead Snake
Midwest Worm Snake
Ringneck Snake
Mississippi Green Water Snake
Plainbelly Water Snake
Broad-banded Water Snake
Midland Water Snake
Graham's Crayfish Snake
Midland Brown Snake
Redbelly Snake
Western Ribbon Snake
Common Garter Snake
Rough Earth Snake
Western Earth Snake
Western Mud Snake
Eastern Hognose Snake

Gotcha

Turnabout, as we all know, is fair play.
So here's granddaughter Lisa's recent shot of her dad, Steve. Looks like she shot it with his iPhone as he reached into the back seat to put her into/help her out of her car seat.