The Tax Man Cometh

I'm going to shamelessly plug http://www.taxact.com/.

For those of you who have not yet filed your taxes and plan to do your own, this is a great program to use for doing it yourself. It's pretty user friendly. And the best part, it only cost me $21!!! [That includes e-filing both federal AND state and having our taxes available electronically for 3 years. Using H&R's "Tax Cut" the past two years has cost me $40-50 and has not been as convenient.]

If your tax situation is more complex, I can't blame you for handing things off to an accountant! Just call me the die-hard "do-it-yourselfer."

I guess the one good thing about "tax time" is that we know spring is right around the corner!

Along those lines...

So, along the lines of VFL, my employer decided to incorporate a corporate wellness effort through webmdhealth.com. Kinda cool. One of the features on that site is the ability to sign up to receive different articles-slash-newsletters regarding specific health topics the user signs up for. One of those that interests me is stress reduction.

It just so happens that the first article I read was all about the therapeutic nature of writing, journaling, blogging etc... so I am fully justified here in maintaining this blog! Not that I desired any justification. But the truth is, I do feel better by writing down my thoughts--good, bad, ugly.

Vitality For Life

I'm really getting a lot out of this awesome program Panda and I are doing through Melaleuca. It has totally changed my mindset toward everything I eat during the day, balancing my daily activities with exercise, and overall physical wellness.

I expect it to trickle over into mental and spiritual wellness, as personal habits tend to blend into these areas all together.

One of my only beefs with VFL is their website seems to be mastered by an amateur, and I can't get my "ticker" to update... so I'm posting it HERE! On my way to 180, baby! Who knows, maybe I'll go even further...

[img]http://www.vitalityforlife.com/melaleuca/addfoods/tickers/461698.jpeg[/img]

Haha... it doesn't work here, either. And no, I'm not admitting to any user error!

Short tribute to another dearly departed

Well, Grandpa Paul decided not to wake up this morning, which, while not entirely unexpected, was quite a surprise to the family. Just last night, Nana Carole on the other side of the family asked my dad how Grandpa was doing, to which the reply was simply, "Great!"

Grandpa lived a full life, and I have no doubt that his active energy carries over into the next state and that he's in Paradise with Grandma.

When I think of the transition from this life to the next, a.k.a. death, I can't think of a more peaceful way to go than Grandpa did. I wasn't there, and as I understand, nobody was. But the present indicator is that he went peacefully and without any pain.

Another silly thought I had was how Grandpa avidly read the newspaper. He would read BOTH local papers EVERY day, even if he had to set them aside for a day or two. One of the things he read unfailingly (one that I read, too) were the obituaries. I'm willing to bet he wrote his own at for its eventual use, and if so, I know he will have made it humorous. He's had many letters to the editor published in the past, but now will be published his personal "hurrah." I know there will be many solemn friends and associates who will read his tribute and feel his loss. He was a good man.

I'm sure he's happy on the other side!

UPDATE: As I suspected of him, he wrote his own obituary. It's a fitting final hurrah, as I guessed! :) See it here.

I'm special!!!

Haha... by that, I mean this: I swear I have A.D.D. and maybe even a little touch of $@#$!*& tourettes! Possibly a little bipolar disorder, too... isn't that sweet? DANG IT ALL!!

hahahahaha

I just had to get that out! Do we truly not know ourselves better than any doctor or professional might? Sure, they are familiar with the symptoms, but I am self-diagnosing---as "unfamiliar" with or "uneducated" on the subject as I may be.

a.d.d.
All day long, I find myself with a serious inability to focus in on any one thing, unless it is something like this--writing--or something entertaining or physically constructive, some project I can see a beginning and an end for right in front of my eyes. Even then, I find my mind wandering, I'll turn away and be distracted, or I'll even lose interest in entertainment and fall asleep! (That's usually only if I'm already familiar with it, like watching a movie for the umpteenth time.)

I think it's really starting to screw with me when it comes to working in an office, at a desk, doing routine and mundane tasks... but I keep doing what I can to do it anyway because it pays the bills. And with school... oh dang... I just won't even go down that path. Not until after next Friday, at least. I mean, I seriously need to be wrapping up this paper on Strategic Leadership so I can start reading my textbooks in preparation for my big honkin' exam, but I'd rather vent my feelings in my blog. ADD? Yeah, I think so.

tourettes
Now, I think my touch of this one is minor... nevertheless, it's there. I don't @$%&^#$ doubt it! Even if it's mainly inside my head. It's not often that I spout off a chain of profanity in an uncontrolled matter. (The first three words are key in that last sentence.) But by golly, connected to the above diagnosis, it'll all catch up to me sometimes, and eventhough I may not manifest it out loud, sometimes that chain of boiling cuss words is just burning inside. Awful! I know.

bi-polar?
I know this one is a chemical thing determined by genetics... and I know it is not absent in mine. I have never taken any medications for it, and I don't think mine is a very severe case, but I do believe I have a touch of bpd. How else can I go from being unpredictably kind and loving to equally unpredictably angry and pissed off??

Okay. I wish I could say that now that I've "admitted" to these things that I felt better. But I don't. So I'll end this entry now ... oh look, a spider... and get back to my #@^*!%& schoolwork! AAAAAHHHHH!!! Isn't that nice? :)

Empowering thoughts and words...

What a weekend. I have really put myself "under the gun" or I guess I could say "under the Gunn" as my "mentor's" name is Linda Gunn. I'm talking about school. I've been such a lazy-ass procrastinator that I am now crunching to get three papers written and turned in (hopefully by morning---no joke) and then I have to figure out how to pass a 145-question exam that is worth twice as much credit as these 5 stinkin' papers. That test happens, ready or not, in 11 days.

So, last night as I sat in the leadership meeting of our stake conference, I wrote down on one little piece of 3x5 card all the negative thoughts I've been feeling and attitudes I've had towards school and life in general. Then, on a separate 3x5 card, I wrote pretty much the opposite... the "can do" side of the picture. It was actually an empowering practice. I've decided I need to make a physical effort to do that... probably every single day, unfortunately. That's how negative I've let myself become, I fear.

Therefore, here's celebration for a "new attitude" and a picture to illustrate the point! :)

So much time, so little change...

Wow. I decided it was time to get back in here and post again. When I opened up the blahg with my last entry of 11/12 staring me in the face, I was amazed to realize how little has changed! In fact, I feel pretty much the same way today about my job as I did more than TWO MONTHS ago.

We'll see what happens.

Our credit administrator was canned last week, and Terry got the boot officially today.... all over one shitty deal that went south. I guess a bank our size doesn't handle a $2.5MM charge off too well. I can understand that.

My good buddy Tyson was "outsourced" again, too. Same crap that went down at GE when we worked together, only the severence for him this time sucks rocks.

All this job loss stuff has me a little freaked out. And the national economy is apparently in the toilet. The fed cut rates today more significantly than any other rate cut since 1984. I value and appreciate my employment (notice I didn't say my job, cuz frankly "I can't get no..." [satisfaction] from it). All the same, changing jobs is no fun.

Well, I'm high off the fumes of polyurethane. Time to post pics on the family blog.