Moles?

Having moles removed... oh what fun! It really wasn't that bad but now I have 6 little sores on my back. I'm hoping they heal up fast since they are a little itchy now. My doctor took off all the ones she thought looked suspicious, wow, I didn't know I had that many. A done deal now unless I need to have any redone and I won't know that until they heal up.

Next week we leave for a little trip to a warmer climate. We are first heading to Greenville for a little overnight stay at Karen's cabin and then the next day we are heading down 395 to Death Valley. I have plans to take her to all my favorite spots and some I have never been to like the Barker Ranch where Charlie Manson was captured. Somebody burned the place down last year so the house won't be much to look at but it's a spot of interest that I have never been to. We will be giving her Jeep a workout on that drive since we are going over Mengle Pass and that pass is a little rough. We should be down in the desert for a couple of weeks and the warmer climate will be a nice change for both of us... I can't wait!

She said YES!

Well, I asked Karen to marry me on Valentines Day and her answer was yes. I have been telling anyone and everyone that my goal was to get her to marry me and now I'm a happy guy! I think I have called just about everyone in my family and told them but if I missed anyone and they find out about it through this or the grapevine, I'm sorry. We haven't decided on when just yet, but the first step was to make the decision and that's done.

I've been doing the happy dance all week, but then I needed to do that to stay warm too since we are still locked in winter up here. It was 4° this morning and the high for today was around 30° but the sun has been out all day, and it looks pretty out there. Fortunately for me my boss gave me the day off today so I don't have to work again till Tuesday. The tax business is a little slow in our office right now so I've had a break from doing tax returns for a few days now. This time of year the folks coming in have a little more complex tax situations and they take a little more time and maybe even someone with a higher certification than me, so I have to be careful about which ones I start getting into. But for now, I'm off for the next few days and I'm enjoying that.

My computer wouldn't start a couple of days ago and I think I have it narrowed down to the power supply so I bought another one but it won't be here till Monday. The other thing it could have been was the motherboard and that would have been a major overhaul so I'm glad I only have to change out the power supply. One way or the other I'll have it up and running as soon as the part gets here.

So, for better or for worse... could be in the marriage vows, ya think?

For better or worse...

When I think about perspective I always marvel at how your outlook on just about any subject can change by gaining another perspective. I've pondered this issue many times as I was riding my bike alone in the woods or laying on a rock somewhere working on my sun tan.

When you put things in perspective, or merely put them in a different perspective than you have previously viewed them in, they often take on a totally different meaning. Sometimes the meanings are better for you and sometimes they are worse, that depends on your perspective.

So when life has dealt you a blow in one way or another, a lot of times it helps to try to look at it from a different angle and re-assess what it actually means to you. Often that reminds you that things could be much worse and your issue is nothing more than a minor bump in the road of life, to use an old cliche'.

For better or for worse, the decision to interpret that rock you just hit in the road is totally up to you. (By the way, I personally haven't hit any rocks in the road recently, so don't assume so)

Now that saying, "for better or for worse" also has some different connotations , again depending on your perspective... but that might be a subject for further discussion.

One week

Yep, Tom just pointed out me that I have been remiss in my duties of keeping up my blog. I worked all week doing taxes so I haven't had a lot of time do anything else. Anyway, today I was off all day and I'll be off again tomorrow before I have to go back to work. Next week is the second week of our peak tax season and I work Monday through Wednesday I'm off Thursday and then I have to work Friday and Saturday. Poor Karen is working seven days a week this week and next. She is such a trooper. For me, I'm perfectly happy to have that one day off in the middle. The week following they don't have me scheduled for so many days.

So there you go Tom, I updated my blog. Unfortunately I don't have a lot to say so that's it for now. Ya Gotta love it!

Workin'

We are starting the busiest season for doing taxes so working is going to be the main activity for a few weeks. I had today off and I'll be off again tomorrow but I'm not sure how much time off I'll have until the middle of February.

Everyone told me that I'd be making some mistakes and indeed they were right but nothing major yet. I got my first reject the other day and when that happens you have to figure out why and then contact your client and have them come in to fix it. That one wasn't exactly my fault but I have to take part of the blame. Anyway, sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's more difficult but the best thing is I'm only doing the easy ones right now since I'm a first year tax preparer. Even those can have some interesting twists though and they do... One of the other tax pros told me it's a game and that is a good way to put it. Even games can be opportunities to learn new stuff, and this game certainly is that for me.

Gettin' taxed

Yep, I guess you could say I'm getting taxed. Actually in more ways than one when the truth be known. Yesterday I had a total of 3 clients that I did tax returns for and I was really busy all day. Karen, on the other hand, had 10 clients done and I don't know how she did it. True, since I'm new at this I take a little longer getting through the process to make sure I don't forget anything, but having 10 clients in one day seems almost super human. We haven't even gotten to peak yet and then it is going to be much busier and back to back tax returns I'm sure. I guess back to back returns will be ok since when you are busy the time goes by pretty fast and with this job the faster it goes by the better.

So for now the saga of tax guy continues and every day is a new learning experience since in many ways taxes are like putting out forest fires, you never know what is going to happen.

Memory lane

So who are these jokers anyway? I think these guys worked together sometime in a past life.

Yep, Pete and his wife Paula were on their way to Montana and they happened to be passing through Idaho Falls and they called and ended up stopping by for a visit. It was great to see them and hear what they have been up to. This was the first time anybody from my past life has visited me here in Idaho even though I had them come to Karen's house since I don't have a place for visitors of my own. I could just imagine them coming to see me in my tiny apartment with no furniture. Anyway, it was a nice change of pace and even though we missed church that day it was well worth it getting to see old friends.