Yeah!!!
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I filed the taxes today!
Between federal refund and state owed, I get a net $197 refund.
I know filing taxes doesn’t sound like much. But for some of us it’s a challenge having to log into 6 different systems (each with their own quirky MFA and ways of authenticating you and quirky UIs) just to get the necessary documents.
Oh, and also digging through “the pile” (where mail goes to die) to find that one document that’s not available online. All those documents that they don’t bother to tell you up front that you’ll need.
And then sit through basically an hour-long interview with a spastic artificial bureaucrat who keeps trying to sell you things you don’t want and asking questions in weird ways. Like “check here if you have a dependent that meets the following criteria: paid more than half of support costs for”. And then you get to a later step and it says your dependent doesn’t qualify because they paid more than half of their costs, but you checked it because the question as you read it was asking if you paid more than half the costs.
It’s not difficult to actually do the taxes, but there’s a whole lot of added difficulty, for flavor I guess. And then at the very final step they ask you for a document you don’t have and didn’t know you would need.
But I did it!
I’m thinking next year I might go back to just filling out and mailing in the forms, because that was always much easier than these online e-filing ‘solutions’.
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I am impressed at the spotless condition of your ladder!
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I have just paid my mother’s tax penalties for 2024 and estimated tax for 2025 in a Chicago hotel room on my 10-year-old iPad Mini 4.
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I successfully renewed my passport (technically just got a new one, since it expired ages ago). I was expecting an ordeal but for once in my life everything worked out. The guy at the post office was super polite and helpful. I finished the form in time and had access to all the information it required, so I did it all in one visit without having to make appointments or delay things. It didn’t get lost or damaged in the mail.
It’s kind of a small thing, but I’m so used to every errand every time having some obstacle beyond my control that prevents me from just getting it the fuck DONE that having everything work the way it’s supposed to felt like a huge relief.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to use it- current circumstances prevent me from leaving the country even on a short trip, let alone moving somewhere besides the USA as I’d like to- but it’s good for ten years and a lot can happen in a decade. I feel just a little less stressed out knowing it’s available.
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Completing tasks are often the sweetest victories. They make us strive to tackle more!
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It’s written into your mortgage agreement that you must have champagne to celebrate. I dislike champagne, but bought a tiny bottle of Veuve Cliquot and grimaced while I toasted myself.
You can watch the money roll in now that you’ve paid it off.
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I got my 20-year-old Onkyo receiver/CD-player fixed. This compact piece of electronics is like my R2-D2, in that it and I have been through a lot together.
I might write more about this.
But that is only half of the story. The other part of this “victory” is that, in getting this fixed, I have discovered a new resource: This store. It’s a small store filled with stuff and knowledgable people. Take a look at the pictures.
I wish I had more electronics that needed to be fixed so I could take them there.
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Pictures please!
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Oh boy, I could LIVE there.
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Here is a picture of it from 2011.
An Onkyo CR-305TX
I got this at J&R down across the street from City Hall. There is a stick on the back that says “2005,” so that must be the year I got it. I remember it being more like 2004.
J&R was a very good store that has unfortunately been replaced by condominiums. It was a collection of old buildings side-by-side. Each one had it’s own specialty. One was CDs, one was photography, one was computers, and one was hi-fi equipment.
They were a very good store because they had an extensive collection and allowed you to try things out before you bought them. Downstairs I remember there was a wall of headphones. A salesman would let you plug them into what ever device you had with you. Upstairs there were rooms set aside for testing out speakers, amplifiers, TVs and surround sound systems. The mini-systems were on a couple of tables in the middle of the floor, and of course you could test them.
At that time I was working paycheck-to-paycheck at Macy’s. I was listening to a few CDs and a few iTunes through my iBook plugged into a horrible speaker. A friend suggested I take a look in the store Academy Records, and suddenly realized that I had to do better.
So, I started thinking about getting a mini-system. Naturally, I looked in Target. It was terrible, but I didn’t know. I wasn’t expecting much and I wasn’t in a hurry to spend money.
Eventually I decided to look in J&R. I had bought a pair of nice headphones there sometime earlier as a stop-gap measure. So I went up to the second floor to see what they had. I bend down and put my head between the speakers of their various mini-systems to see how they were. They had reputable brands like JVC, Denon, Panasonic, Yamaha. I knew of Onkyo, but they weren’t very common. When I put my head between the Onkyo speakers, I was shocked. I ended up coming back to the store a couple more times because I didn’t believe it.
I can only compare listening to these speakers is like putting on glasses and seeing the individual leaves on trees for the first time. This system makes your ears relax. Most speakers, in my opinion, sound like they are struggling to do what they do. These speakers sound effortless.
And it’s not just me. I talked about this so much friends came over to my apartment to hear it and would do double takes when they did. They would hear familiar songs as if they were hearing them for the first time.
So naturally I had to through some parties. This humble device was the backbone of the parties I through in my minuscule cube of an apartment. A little bit of luxury for everyone on department store wages.
End of part one
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Oh, yes.
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