OK, so it’s been a while since I’ve posted a blog entry. Unfortunately, there has been absolutely nothing new, exciting, or interesting going on these days. Well, except for one curious thing.
A few weeks ago I was in Denver for an accounting conference. Sounds like loads of fun, eh? Nerd Fest 2009! Well, maybe not that bad, but there are certainly more fun ways to spend a week than sitting in seminars getting continuing ed credits.
I went to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch one day between sessions and ordered an Amstel Light to enjoy with my meal. The waitress asked to see my identification. WTF?! So, I said “You’re messing with me, aren’t you?” “No, ma’am. It’s our policy to ask for identification from anyone who looks like they’re under 30.” As a 47-year old woman, who hasn’t been carded in a while, I accepted the compliment and handed her my driver’s license.
She looked at the license, then looked at me, looked at the license, and back at me. Finally, she said “Well, I’m pretty sure you’re over 21, but I’m also pretty sure this is fake,” and handed me back my ID. I got my beer, and she got an appropriate tip.
So, to Mom and Dad: Thanks for the awesome DNA! To my friend and hairdresser, Jack: Thanks for keeping me young, hip, and gorgeous! What a hoot!
This afternoon it started to snow. No big surprise this winter, but today, the snowflakes were falling like cotton balls and it was beautiful outside. My husband and I decided it was the perfect weather for jumping into the hot tub and enjoying each other’s company along with a nice glass of wine.
No sooner had we doffed our robes and settled into the tub when the wind started up. I’m all situated in the hot tub with my hubby and my wine and I should be a happy camper, but instead I’m cold. I said “this wind is really harshing my mellow!” My husband, who is the same age as me, had no idea what I was saying. What the heck is up with that?! He’s a product of the 60’s, too! So, I explained to him that I thought it was probably something Tommy Chong once said in one of the old Cheech and Chong movies.
My husband said something about how Cheech and Chong really embraced the teachings of Jesus. Sounds pretty ridiculous, doesn’t it? However, being happy, living in the moment, and enjoying life seemed to be their philosophy, and I suppose, now that I think about it, it was part of Jesus’s philosophy as well.
Since I can only control this particular moment in time, I think I’ll live in the moment and enjoy life a bit. It may not involve smoking a giant reefer man, but I suppose there are some lessons to be learned from even the most unexpected places.
Sure, I’ll bet you’re thinking that the velocity of money refers to how fast it leaves you wallet or bank account, aren’t you? Well, think again.
We sure hear about ecomonic stimulus packages and bail outs a lot these days, but what we don’t really hear about is how they are expected to effect our economy. We don’t hear anybody talking about the velocity of money.
Anyone who took business in college had to take economics, so this will be a familiar concept to some. Basically, it is a measure of the amount of economic activity a dollar generates in a given time frame. Wikipedia has a great example here showing how $50 can generate $100 of economic activity. I won’t bore you with economic equations or graphs, which frankly, put me to sleep on more than one occasion during college, but I do encourage you to consider that economic stimulus check you got last year.
Let’s say that check was for $600. What did you do with it? Did you put it in your savings account? If you did, your bank or credit union reinvested it back into the economy in employee wages, loans, capital expenditures, etc. Did you buy a new television? If you did, that money was put back into the economy again by paying wages, making capital expenditures, etc. You get the point here, I’m sure. One dollar in our economy translates to many dollars of economic activity.
Economics is a complicated subject, and I for one, do not profess to be an expert. What I do know for sure is that when I hear in the news about all these economic stimulus plans, I know there is a lot more going on there than what that 15 or 30 second news story is telling me.
2009 is going to be a great year. Sure, it may be tough at times, but we will prosper.
It looks like this new attempt at stimulating the economy has lots of goodies in it. Check out this article from the New York Times for some of the details:
What’s in the Bill for You?
Why do ABC and HBO feel the need to irk me? Am I overly demanding? Do I expect too much?
I learned recently that one of my very favorite shows on HBO was not renewed for a third season. The show is – scratch that – was, Rome, and was a smartly written story about the early Roman Empire with historical fact intermingled with captivating fiction. Rome was the winner of several Emmy awards. So, what does HBO do? They cancel it.
A few days ago I learned that two of my other favorite shows are cancelled; Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone. OK, ABC, WTF is going on here?? DSM had a Golden Globe nomination last year, and the writers of Eli Stone won a Writer’s Guild Award. It’s not like we’re talking Super Nanny or Wife Swap here.
Is it too much to ask for programming that is intelligent, entertaining, creative, and engaging? I guess when all that really matters is the bottom line, it probably is.
This last weekend, my friend Julie and I drove up to Seattle to visit her cousin and enjoy a “girls weekend.” We decided that food should be the theme of our trip.
Saturday, we took a guided tour of Pike Place Market. The tour started at 10:30 and lasted until about 2:00. We learned a lot of the history behind the market, and we got to meet many of the local merchants and sample their wares. I had some of the best clam chowder I’ve ever tasted at Pike Place Chowder, I had a delicious genuine New York style pastrami sandwich complete with dill pickle on the side at I Love New York Deli, I had delicious authentic German sausage and beer at Uli’s Famous Sausage, and oh, there was so much more, I can’t begin to list it all. It was a fabulous tour and I highly recommend it if you find yourself in Seattle with some spare time on your hands. Thanks to Seattle Bites Food Tours for a great time!
Then, on Saturday night, we drove out to Woodinville and had dinner at The Herbfarm Restaurant. Yes, we are talking culinary herbs here, not the “medicinal” ones! I had never heard of The Herbfarm before, so I really didn’t know what to expect. They do only one dinner seating so everyone dines together at the same time, and dinner consists of 9 courses (yes, that’s nine) with 6 different wines paired especially to the fare of the evening. I ate stuff I thought I never would, and I actually liked (most) of it! Crazy! I did skip the soft poached quail egg with smoked steelhead caviar (ew), but enjoyed the housemade prosciutto, truffled albacore tuna confit, the applewood-grilled scallop, the duck paté, the braised and roasted lamb, the pork, the cheese……well, you get the idea. Yummers. There’s a wonderful hotel right across the parking lot, so this would be a great place to take a special someone for a weekend getaway and an unforgettable night out.
During our weekend, we decided we would have no bad coffee, so we spent a lot of time walking about Seattle checking out the best cafes. In walking around the city, we came across a number of chocolate shops, too. Being women, of course we had to sample all of that, too! It seemed like one of the new trends is salted caramels. This sounds odd, but it’s actually quite delicious. My favorite was the gray salt. Hmmm, with Valentine’s Day coming up, a box of Fran’s Chocolates would be apropos. Are you reading this, Smooch??
Schoeneman Snow
Living in Amboy can certainly be an adventure. Last winter, we had snow on the ground every day for two and a half months, and even got 36″ of snow on one day. Surprise! This year is starting to look like it’s going to be similar. We received a foot of snow last Saturday, and another 10″ yesterday for a grand total of 22″ of the white stuff.
Of course, every vehicle we own is 4-wheel drive, but none of them have enough ground clearance to get out of the driveway without pushing snow. That doesn’t sound like a big deal until you’ve managed to high center your vehicle in your own driveway and now have to shovel it out. I hate that!
While the snow can frustrate me greatly when it gets this deep, I find my camera to be wonderful therapy. I have been a photographer since I was a kid and find that when I peer through the viewfinder, my world somehow looks different. The snow stops being a frustration and starts to become beautiful. I stop hearing the sound of the shovel and I start to hear the quiet calm that only snowfall can bring. This particular picture is from our property. My fingers are frozen and I have popcycle toes, but I can now smile and enjoy the beauty around me. Hopefully, you are enjoying some as well.
The IRS has announced the mileage rates for 2009.
The mileage rate for business miles will be 55¢, for medical & moving miles 24¢, and 14¢ for charity miles. With the exception of the rate for charity miles, the 2009 rates are down slightly from those in place during the last half of 2008. An obvious reflection of the recent decrease in fuel costs.
For more information visit http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=200505,00.html
For some perverse reason, I decided to sit for the CPA exams. While that doesn’t necessarily sound like a big deal for a professional accountant (I currently hold the CMA & CFM certifications), it sure seems to be.
You see, the CPA exams are a series of 4 exams, totalling over 14 hours of testing, on subjects that I really don’t give a rat’s ass about and aren’t relevant to the needs of my clients. One exam is on auditing, which I never intend to do – not now, not ever. Blech. Yet, it is a 4.5 hour exam and it is mandatory if I hope to obtain this license.
I find that the older I get, the harder it is for me to stuff this information into my brain with any hopes of being able to recall it on demand. Maybe if the subject matter was even remotely interesting it would be different. Oh well. Today I take my second test which will put me at the half-way point on this adventure. My mantra for today: See it! Believe it! Feel it!
I suppose I’m weird in that I need intellectual challenge in my life. If it wasn’t this, it would be something else.
Wish me luck!
So, yesterday I was at a business networking luncheon where the guest speaker was a woman who “specializes” in website development and Internet marketing. Yesterday’s discussion was all about Internet marketing, but when asked about blogging, she made a comment that struck a nerve with me. She basically said, and I’m paraphrasing here, that the only good blogs are those used by businesses, and that personal blogs are the domain of perverts and child molesters.
My husband has a personal blog that he used to keep in contact with his friends and family while in Iraq. A friend of ours has a personal blog to discuss current events and politics. And here I am, starting a blog of my own. I’m pretty darn sure that none of us fit into her idea of what a personal blog is all about! Pfft, I say.
So, what’s up with that kind of attitude (from an alleged professional, nonetheless) about blogging anyway? Do we not live in America where we have the right to free speech, and isn’t a blog a wonderful way to foster the free exchange of thoughts and ideas?