What’s All This Then!

Today I added this blog to my Google Analytics account so I can track how well Google thinks I’m doing in the Internet world. In order to have Google continually monitor my blogs, I have to install a little code. The easiest way I found to do this is by installing this Google Analytics widget.

Popularity: 29% [?]

Almost $12,000! At least that’s my estimate right now. I don’t know how I missed this, but yet it happened. My CPA was supposed to be taking care of this. But this time last year, I was finishing up a five-year divorce battle and a major down and dirty with the IRS. Somehow this detail got lost in the avalanche of events of this past year. That is until today.

To get my freedom from the wicked witch of the West, I had to over-pay the IRS. My CPA assured me that he would be able to get the money back and pay my 2005 tax bill. Here I am a year later. My CPA forgot or lost track or is incompetent — in any case, I never got my money back. The tax bill is waiting.

So in February I went to the bosses of the IRS — Congress. I wrote to my peeps: Richard Burr, Bob Etheridge, and Elizabeth Dole. Apparently, I matter to Ms. Dole only during election time because I haven’t heard a single word from her. On the other hand, Mr. Burr and Mr. Etheridge immediately answered my correspondence.

Today I received an interesting package from Senator Burr. It contained my tax account transcripts and a letter from the IRS to Senator Burr. The letter basically said they were sorry that they overcharged me but that they were within their rights to keep all the monies. So I spent the day going through the transcripts. Not only did I find where they did not credit a couple of my payments to them, but I also discovered that they mistakenly keyed in my 2001 return. I had brought this matter up to my CPA two years ago. He said that he would take care of it and I trust him to do so. If he did so, no one in the IRS took care of it. That in itself is a $12,000 error in my favor. I’ve also learned in this fight with the IRS that, not only can they charge you interest, but they also have to pay you interest on money they don’t refund in a timely manner. If they follow their own procedure, I will be a very happy man. Of course, if they had followed their own procedures to begin with, I would not have begun a battle with them 10 years ago. Oh well, you know the creed of tax collection agencies everywhere: “if we can bring one little smile to one little face today — then somebody slipped up somewhere.”

If you’ve ever wondered what happened to the bullies that terrorized you in school, rest assured. They’ve gone on to professional status. Some work for criminal organizations. And the rest try to legitimize their actions by working for government tax collection agencies. Thank goodness we live in a free society….

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Something doesn’t seem right. When gas reached $62 a barrel in December of last year, I was paying about $2.25 a gallon (here in North Carolina). At the beginning of March of this year, gas teased a cheaper $61 level. Yet, the gas stations teased my wallet at a more expensive $2.50 per gallon. As far as I can tell, no new taxes have been added. But as you can see from the graph, we are paying a lot more per gallon than the refineries are paying per barrel. Anyone have any clues????

By the way, you can see this interactive graph at here. And you are not limited to just North Carolina gas prices…

Technorati Tags: gas prices, business, finance

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The name of the game is making your business successful – having customers clamoring for your wares, having people happily give you their money, having the popularity of unstoppable repeat business. If you want to use the resources of the Internet, then you know that it is all about getting visitors to your site, getting your site ranked high through multiple links from other sites, basically getting yourself and what you stand for noticed throughout the wide world web. Well, here you go! You can go all of this in one shot by signing up with PayPerPost. Imagine having almost 30,000 (as of today) creative bloggers ready and willing to write/video/sing/whatever about your product/service/site. Is the success of your business important to you? Then the form you want is in my sidebar. Fill it in as your next successful step for your business! $$$

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After I reported on Subway restaurant’s subtle theft of my money, I began receiving equally disturbing emails and stories from my friends and readers about Subway’s less than ethical practices. So I wondering if any readers here have experienced any similar incidents with Subway?

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For almost three years now, I’ve been using Skype as a reliable replacement for my long distance phone service. It was free, now it’s not quite $15 per year. Much cheaper than Vonage and doesn’t have the same threaten of going bankrupt.

Skype also has an Instant Messenger portion to its program. Today I learned that there is yet another virus attack using Skype’s IM. So please take a look at this link so that you can protect yourself!

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I have enjoyed most of the James Bond genre of movies. While I haven’t seen all of them, a few years ago I rented the very first movie called “Casino Royale”. As a spoof of Ian Fleming’s James Bond books, I didn’t find it that funny. So a few days ago, when I rented the latest James Bond movie, “Casino Royale”, I didn’t know what to expect. I have to tell you that this is the first James Bond movie that is actually believable – to a degree. It doesn’t depend upon high tech gadgets and beautiful women to maintain a thrilling story. The only frustrating thing about this very entertaining movie is its ending. You know that there has to be a part two to this very engaging and realistic story. I hate to say this but I think that Casino Royale is the best one in the entire James Bond series. Let’s hope that part two is just as engaging!

Popularity: 23% [?]

Usually April 15th is the deadline for filling in your sudoku puzzle known as the 1040. Since the 15th is on a Sunday, the deadline has been moved. Yet this year’s Tax Day isn’t on Monday as you would expect. Instead we have until Tuesday the 17th to grind and gnash our teeth over convoluted paperwork. And “Why do we have an extra day?” you may ask. Well, today Washington DC observes “Emancipation Day” – a recognition for when government outlawed slavery in the private sector. Ironically, tomorrow we all get to observe slavery by the public sector as we celebrate having the fruits of our labors taken from us – not asked for, not earned – taken for pork barrel projects (like the million dollar appropriation for a teapot museum in North Carolina), wasteful spending ($100,000 for goat-meat research in Texas), and needless regulation (estimation of 4.7 million people dying in the last 40 years while waiting for drugs finally approved by FDA). Our ancestors were a little crabby about a 3% tax without representation. Yet, as a result of their revolutionary whining, is 50% taxation with representation much better? Happy Tax Day, everybody!

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One time, in band class, I made this girl lose control of her clarinet. It all started a couple of weeks previously when our high school English teacher assigned us Kurt Vonnegut’s book, “Cat’s Cradle” to read. In it, there is a scene where the daughter of the main character is playing the clarinet as impending doom approaches her. This doom is caused by a substance known as “Ice Nine” which is quickly causing everything around her to solidify as water does when it turns into ice.

So there we were, in band class, struggling to perfect a piece for a upcoming concert. In the middle of this piece, my friend had a clarinet solo. She turned her page of sheet music in preparation to give the performance of her life. There, in the middle of her page, was a note that I had placed earlier. It was simple, in large print, and just two words: ICE NINE. It caught her completely by surprise and she immediately became silent. (In fact, she later told me that she had been imaging herself in the same situation as the character in the book. When she saw the note, a startling image flashed in her mind and she forgot to exhale for a few moments.) Some of the band members sitting to her sides and behind her were in our same English class. When they looked over to see why she stopped playing, they immediately burst out in laughter when they read the note. Our band director, already upset from the pressure of preparing for the concert, angerily stormed over to my clarinetist friend while madly waving his baton like a whip. Fortunately he had a sense of humor and had also read the book. With a crazy laugh, he returned to his podium all the while shaking his baton at me. How they knew that I was the culprit for this little joke is beyond me! ::: he said with a bambi-eyed look of innocence :::

This little walk down memory lane came to me when I learned the sad news that Kurt Vonnegut died a couple days ago. I don’t think that he knew how his works affected a small New Hampshire high school. Although given the depth of his imagination and the width of his wit, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. Thank you Mr. Vonnegut for all of your incredible works.

Popularity: 15% [?]

If you been shopping around for new cars, you probably noticed that more and more of them come equipped with navigational systems. In the next couple of years, you will probably see those systems display traffic congestion as a standard feature. Right now, you have to buy an additional service from another company that broadcasts traffic conditions over the radio.

Since part of my job involves working with GPS systems, I came across a new company today that has a new take on with their navigational system. Instead of relying on traffic reports, “Dash Navigation” is going to create its own traffic report by connecting its navigational systems as a large traffic-reporting network.

While this is very interesting news, what caught my attention is that they are looking to give their system for free to 2000 drivers as a nationwide test. Here’s a website if you are interested:

http://www.dash.net/roadtest.php

At this website, you will submit a survey to Dash Navigation. By the end of May, they will select their drivers. I have completed my application but I would think that they may be looking for people who do a lot of driving in large metropolitan areas. Still, it doesn’t hurt to try.

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It’s a wonderful feeling when you believe that you are wanted and appreciated. It has this fantasticly motivating effect that makes you want to work harder, more diligent — you can do little to contain your heartfelt enthusiasm. Some businesses and people tend to nurture and reward this support. Other unfortunately prey on this type of enthusiasm. In either case, it can be a very harsh reality check when you realize that you are not as vital or as important or as appreciated as you had come to believe yourself to be. This applies whether you’re dealing with a business, a friendship, or even a marriage.

I recently read about CEO who was planning a gathering for his associates to be held this summer. At the moment, he doesn’t think that he will have the attendance that he expected. When this company first started a few months ago, the enthusiasm of the people behind his efforts was incredible. His associates had come to believe that they have an individual stake in his success which meant their success. Most of them had come to believe that they mattered much more than they had ever experienced. A few months and a few business decisions ago, these people experienced a very harsh reality check with this CEO. Like children who accidentally burned themselves on the stove, they now deal with the company cautiously. Their enthusiasm has diminished, you might even call it a more realistic level for a business relationship. And it’s no ones’ fault. I don’t think that the CEO expected the almost cultlike following that he garnered in the early days of building his company. Perhaps it’s better for all involved that this all happened in the early days of his company’s growth. Down the road, he could have had a mass uprising that would have destroyed his work. For now, the company can ride out this loss-of-faith and continue its growth. For now, any new members coming into the business won’t know any better. Maybe next year, if time really heals wounds, the CEO’s gathering will have the attendance he had expected and with a new army of enthusiastic associates who have forgotten that they are replaceable.

Popularity: 10% [?]

“We haven’t seen any measurable impact,” said Jason Cuevas, spokesman for Southern Co., one of the nation’s largest power companies, echoing comments from several large utilities.

That’s basically what I wrote earlier in a post about daylight shift time. Last year, the Energy Department predicted only modest energy savings because the benefits of the later daylight hour would be offset. Aside from the inconvenience of setting your time pieces, has anyone has seen, felt, heard, tasted, or even smelled any tangible benefits from daylight shifting?

Popularity: 19% [?]

Gees, I go away for a week and what happens — animated cursors have started messing up your computer if you visit certain web sites with Internet Explorer, and WordPress had to release version 2.1.3 in response to another security issue! Evil has too much time on its hands ….

Popularity: 15% [?]

I moved to North Carolina many years ago. Even though I lived in various parts of the United States, I wasn’t sure what to make of this state. One day I was watching the local news as they were interviewing a high school coach of losing team. When they asked him why his team lost, he replied, “Drugs.” My first thought was “Oh no, I guess they have a big drug problem here as well.” But then the coach continued by saying, “Yeah, we was drugged up the field and down the field all game long!” Living here has taught me the joys of living for the unexpected — which includes the people.

Take Cass for example. She is one of those superwomen that you hear or read about but rarely get to know. Luckily, I have had the good fortune of being able to correspond with her. Here is a mother of eight, a professional knitter and crafts maker, as well as a prolific writer. In fact, while maintaining several of her own blogs, she has found enough time and energy to start yet another blog with an unexpectedly fresh North Carolinian theme. Not only is she a knit wit but through her new site, The Native North Carolinian, you can see that her range of talents include being an N.C. wit as well. If you have a North Carolina related blog or you live in North Carolina, she would be very interested in hearing from you. Visit her site as soon as you can. Please let me know what you think. Now if you’ll excuse me I better drug myself over to the refrigerator for some vittles.

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It started out simple enough. I received an e-mail that my girlfriend had left a comment at my myspace account. This was rather exciting because this means I will have two comments since creating a myspace account a couple of years ago. Fortunately, I made a myspace page so that I could play with the CSS code, and not to hurt my feelings by my lack of popularity.

So I signed in; and there it was! I don’t mean my girlfriends comment although that was very important to me. I am referring to weird Al Yankovic’s link promoting his exclusive animated video, “Stuck In A Drive-Through.” (Great video by the way!) But by clicking that link, I found myself discovering many more famous people who have myspace pages. Through weird Al’s page, I found myself going to Emo Philips offerings where I discovered Penn and Teller which led me to James Randi who had a link to Stephen Hawkings and on and on and on. With the giddiness of a schoolgirl, I clicked on the “Add Friends” link of each of these celebrities’ pages.

In the real world, I would have a better chance of winning the lottery than meeting these people in person. In this Internet world of glowing screens and hyperlinks, I now have a slightly better chance of introduce myself to these famous folk. And when I become rich and famous, maybe they will even say hi. Except for Elvis…

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