New Year's Eve 2014

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

____________________

This Is Who I Am

     

Going Home Today

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme."
--Mark Twain

cognition
noun
1. the act or process of knowing; perception.
2. the product of such a process; something thus known, perceived, etc.


In psychology, cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time, or is confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas, or values.
--wikipedia


I was going to write a piece on my personal experience with cognition.

But I changed my mind.

__________

This Is Who I Am

   

Guest Blogger 12/28/2014

Jobs

I love my job! Even during the "bad" times, when those around me ask me with overwhelming concern in their eyes, "How are you doing?", I love my job. There's been some stress, but I think I still don't know enough to be truly as stressed as I ought to be, and there's been some uncomfortable decisions, but as long as those decisions don't get me fired, I'm fine.

I have two people who sort of report to me. I'm not in charge of their human resources items, but I oversee the system and workload that they're responsible for. When workload or system decisions are needed, they come to me. This last month, that's been just about every day.

I'm learning both how to oversee a process and how to be a boss. It's very strange.

My team is still very happy to have me with them, and I'm overjoyed to be part of this team.

I even love my other job, doing stuff for my husband's family business. Though there are times when that's stressful, too. For instance, in January I have to create the 1099s. I remember last year's attempts...

The year before, we let our payroll company do it. We'd send them the information for each 1099 recipient as we paid them. If we wrote a check to Mr. Jones, we sent in Mr. Jones's information and what we'd paid him to our payroll on the regular payroll day. They kept track and at the end of the year produced the 1099s.

Incorrectly.

Not only did we pay Mr. Jones, we also paid Mr. Jones's son. Somehow, Mr. Jones got all the 1099 dollars, and none went to his son.

I spent until early March trying to correct this. So this time, I figured I'd do it. Certainly I couldn't do worse.

In January, knowing they had to be out the door by the 31st, I began to hunt for how to do these. I did the research and found what the current reporting rules were. I found all the people we'd need to send one to. I was ready!

I tried to find the form I'd need. The IRS site has downloadable forms. What luck! I went out there and downloaded both the 1099-MISC and the 1099-INT, since I had at least one of each. I downloaded the instructions, too, since someone had told me these things had to be typed, and I haven't had a typewriter in years.

I opened and read the instructions, but found nothing about typing the things. Well, maybe that was on the form itself.

So I opened the 1099-MISC form.

The very first page says in big red letters that you can't use this form to actually send anything to the IRS. (So why have it available?) So where was I supposed to get the form, then?

There's a number on the IRS site, so I wrote that down. Of course, when I was doing this was too late to call, so I called it from work the next morning.

"Thank you for calling the Internal Revenue Service," a pleasant female voice said. "For English, press 1."

I pressed 1.

"Thank you for calling the Internal Revenue Service. For English, press 1."

Hadn't I already pressed 1? I did it again.

"Thank you for calling the Internal Revenue Service. Our Web site is www.irs.gov. Goodbye."

And the pleasant female voice hung up on me. I tried it again, sure I'd done something wrong. I got hung up on a second time. I was frustrated and began to panic, but I couldn't do any more about it from work.

That afternoon I called my accountant. "Oh," she said, "I can send you some, no problem."

I sighed with relief and watched my mailbox. Within three days, I received the forms. They didn't look any different.

However, I still didn't know if I had to type them (it hadn't occurred to me to ask my accountant).

I looked over the IRS site again. Nothing there was helpful for me. I looked over the actual forms I had, and there was another number. I called but they were closed.

The next morning from work I called the number. I got someone very helpful (and real) who told me where to find the actual filling-it-out instructions and that while they preferred typed, hand-written was okay if it was legible. I thanked her.

The next day, Saturday, I began to fill out the pesky forms. My accountant had also sent me two 1096s, which I hadn't known I'd needed. Everything went well until I started on those. I needed two, one for the MISC and one for the INT.

But after I'd filled them out, I couldn't tell if I could send them together or not.

On Monday, I called the helpful number. They weren't so helpful this time; it was Martin Luther King day and they were closed. So I called my accountant again.

Of them all, she is definitely the most helpful.

Finally, the task is done, and I'm confident I did a better job of it than my payroll company.


Copyright 2014 Michelle Hakala
http://www.winebird.com/

     

Second Day After Christmas 2014

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

Watch Earth roll by through the perspective of ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst in this six-minute time-lapse video from space combining 12 500 images taken by Alexander during his six-month Blue Dot mission on the International Space Station.

LINK

__________

This Is Who I Am

The Day After Christmas 2014

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

I found a curious image somewhere on the Internet, don't remember where. But I don't understand it, and nowhere could I find any context for it

Here it is:

There are a lot of things I don't understand.

A couple days ago I watched a movie that I don't understand. Its title is Fruitvale Station. I think the movie was supposed to bring some sort of racial understanding to me. It did not.

I don't understand much of what passes for meaning in this life.

__________

This Is Who I Am

   

Christmas Day 2014

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

__________

This Is Who I Am

   

Christmas Eve 2014

     

Tucson Weather Today

____________________

The wind was strong out here East of Tucson yesterday. Kept me busy (off and on) most of the day skimming all the floating seed pods and little leaves from nearby trees. Good exercise.


Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network were still blacked out for Dish Network subscribers as the two companies remained locked in a contract negotiations battle.

Losing Fox before midnight on Sunday is just the latest development in the fight between cable and satellite providers and the networks over subscription fees.

More...

__________

This Is Who I Am