Questions:

1. Do you have a fireplace in your home?
No, but my neighbors do, and I love it when they burn wood. The smell is so nice, especially in the fall and winter.

This is my house; photo taken in 1910.

My old house used to have a bunch of fireplaces. They were closed up sometime in the 1960s. I think there were at least three. My house was built in 1855, back when people burned wood and/or coal for fuel. I know that there were fireplaces here because old records I own state that they were removed. My home was a church parsonage for a while, and those Methodists kept METICULOUS records. When we bought the house, I was given a folder of records going way back. They’d even saved the refrigerator sales sheet for the 1972 fridge!

Anyway, when they removed the bricks for the fireplaces, they buried the bricks all over the yard. :hmph: I don’t need to explain what a royal PAIN it is to dig flower beds around here….

2. Can you drive a stick shift?
Funny you should ask this– I was perusing cars at an auction car lot today. I am in serious need of a new car. Please pray I get a good deal on a sweet little Hyundai Sonata I saw!

Anyway, I *think* I can still drive a stick shift. I used to, about 17 years ago…. although I need an automatic now. My sciatica won’t let me mess with a clutch anymore.

3. How many computers are in your home?
OH GEE. ALL of them? I mean, I have some pretty old ones lying around, too. Ugh. I have a 1984 Macintosh (with original keyboard, mouse and printer still! It runs on floppy disks); an old Micro Windows 98 (first edition); one ME; three XPs; five Vistas; one Windows 7; a Linux Ubuntu; one Mini Mac G4. I also have an iPod Touch and iPhone 4, which I consider to be mini computers. Soooo….. that’s uhhhh 14 computers and 2 iPod/iPhone gadgets.

WHOA.

Think I have enough, LOL? Actually, I’m a freelance tech writer (and I do love to tinker in my spare time), so that’s why I have so many computers. At least, that’s my excuse. To top it all off, I want an iPad, too. :blink:

By the way, I have a tech blog, TheOlderGeek.com, where I write tutorials and other computer stuff for basic computer users. I invite you to check it out if you want to learn more about blogging and the Internet and computers. If you have any tech questions or want to know how to do something, leave me a question in the comment form. I do answer questions and write tutorials for folks. Some of the articles I have written are:

How to Publish Your Blog to Amazon Kindle
How to Install New Fonts to Your Computer
How to Auto Publish Your Blogger Blog to Twitter
How to Hide the NavBar in Blogger
How to Add a “Tweet This” Button to Your Blogger Blogs
How to Protect Your Facebook Account
How to Increase Blog Readership
Eight Terrific WordPress Plugins
How to Secure Your Wireless Network, Part 1

4. Are your taxes done yet? Do you do them yourself?
I don’t think so. My husband, the Brainy Science and Math Guy, does them. I stay FAR FAR away when he’s doing them. It’s kind of stressful. This year it’s going to be a little messy, because I am self-employed at home, and the IRS likes to slap us independent folks with 17% tax. Then there’s the perplexing labyrinth of deductions, schedules, forms, etc etc…. why must it be so complicated????

5. What is your favorite meal of the day?
Lunch. I don’t eat breakfast and I dislike cooking dinner. Although, I like dinner because that’s (usually) when we’re all together. We sometimes watch a movie or documentary for dinner, too. My favorite are Drive Thru History DVDs with Dave Stotts.

But I like lunch because the food is tastier– fresh veggies and cheese and etc.

That’s it for this week! Thanks for reading! Have a great Monday, and I’ll see you all at your blogs. :D

I *only* spent the entire morning (five hours!) today hashing through reams and reams of papers. Yes, boys and girls, it’s that time of year again– TAX TIME!
And that reminds me– here’s Uncle Jay to explain Taxes and the Deficit! This is one of my favorites.

Yeah, I’m depressed now, too…

Since I am “self-employed” (a writer), I not only have the wonderful opportunity of finagling through my own income, expenses, deductions, and paper cuts, I get to pay 17% income tax on top of it! Hahahah!!!
:coffeestat:

Anyway… most of the chart-making is done. And I even had enough time to goof-off and make a cute explanatory map of my desk. I did this recently in a New York Renovator post; it was such fun, I did another. Click to enlarge if you can’t read it.

Now for the easy work: hawking all my paperwork off on my husband, who crunches the numbers and does the filing! Muahahahahahah!

I hope that stupid IRS is happy…. :worship:

Yes, in case you haven’t noticed…. we FINALLY finished filing our income taxes! GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*seething hatred*

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

This was our first year of my “self employment” as a writer. Wow. My measly income comes with a 17% income tax. UNBELIEVABLE.

YOU STUPID IRS JERKS!!! You dumb ol’ Federal Reserve! As if it isn’t bad enough paying almost 10% sales tax, and the property tax, plus all the taxed taxes, surcharges, fees, and taxes in surcharges and fees, we have to pay income tax to the feds and state, too!

And ya know what else irks me? No, it’s not the fact that the taxes we pay go toward only the INTEREST for the debt incurred by our government… and no, it’s not the fact that Congress COULD ditch the Federal Reserve and go back to printing money interest-free according to the Constitution… and no, it’s not even the fact that the Federal Reserve Act and the direct tax is so un-Constitutional I could puke…

…it’s that Ron Paul ran for president saying that his first act as president would be to ditch the IRS– and he wasn’t elected!!! Do Americans just LOVE paying taxes or something?!

GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oooook. So either spend your paycheck on “yourself” (you EVIL factory worker, you!) and wind up supporting that nasty Hitler; or you frugally “save” your money by paying your income taxes and helping America win the war. Uh HUH.

Were people really that stupid in 1943?

Ok, so, well. We won the war! When do we stop paying income tax?

Video found at NoState.com. We now continue our regular programming of fluff and the latest news on diet pills.

Amazon.com is fighting back with a lawsuit trying to strike down New York state’s new law forcing the online retailer to collect sales taxes on the state’s behalf.

The dispute, which is before a state court in Manhattan, is heading toward a constitutional showdown that will center on whether New York State is hindering interstate commerce by imposing on out-of-state companies, such as Amazon.com, the burden of serving as a tax collector for New York.

The so-called Amazon tax has been a touchy political issue as Albany has looked for novel ways to fund the state government’s soaring spending amid a predicted drop-off in state tax revenue as the economy slows. The state’s tax department first set its sights on Amazon.com last year when it quietly changed its policy to require some online retailers to begin collecting state and city sales taxes — a combined 8.375% on purchases in New York City — on all orders from residents of New York State.

You know, this is SO typically New York State. It’s not my fault, really. I NEVER vote for these guys, but they always win the elections! And what;’s weird is that ever since the beginning, even before the American Revolution, New York State has been like this. I mean, there are lots of court cases where NYS tried to, essentially, steal other people’s money and call it collecting taxes. It almost started a Civil War right after the American Revolution! Back then, NYS tried to “collect taxes” on produce going from New Jersey to Connecticut, just because shipping boats passed through New York City’s harbor. I mean, WOW! It’s still going on, after all these centuries! We’ve got people suffering in this state, from high taxation, high energy prices, low wages, and the threat of foreclosure! And still, NY taxes away and the politicians spend, spend, spend.

So that’s why I hate NY. We all keep hoping for the state to change, but ya know what? If they’ve been doing this again and again for centuries, it’s not going to change!

I hope Amazon wins.