Coffee Pot #3 March 2012 5+ years and going strong and its for all to chat. Plenty of coffee and sweet ice tea for all. Come and join us and chat. GRITS for the Yankees.

[ChiefEagles]

Reclinerized too long.  Sleep tight.

[Demay]

Konnichiwa,

We spent the last three days in Tokyo and we just returned home a little while ago.  I'll write more later on some of the sights we saw and hopefully post some photos.  We had a fun time and even received about five solid inches of snow yesterday.

Sayonara,

Joe

[Buckeye Riveter]

It is March 1st and that means I have lipotripcy surgery this afternoon.   I hope everyone else has a much better day.  Kidney stones suck.  This may be my 7th stone blasting and no they don't use the tank of water anymore.   It is not the blasting that is so dreadful, it is the recover in the next few days as the particles begin to pass.  If they clog up the pipe, we call the squad.

No food or drink until after surgery, so of course I'm hungry, but first off to work so I can pay the Chief's and now Laz's cushy retirement. 

[RockIsland52]

Good Mornin' Y'all From Snowy Taxachusetts, 

Five more inches of the white stuff expected today with an additional inch tonight.  Will come in bursts, so the road crews should have a relatively easy time of it.  Some snow removal necessary in a few, but it doesn't look like too much.  So far we must have gotten spared by warmer air closer to the ocean in my neck of the woods, so rain mixed in.

Buckeye.........hope they blast those suckers to smithereens and that they pass virtually unnoticed, and with little discomfort.  LAZ always said you had stones.  I just didn't know how many.

Later, gang.

Jack

[laz 57]

Hi GUYZ,

  42 and a bit rainy here.  Not much happening.

JOED, 5 solid inches of SNO HI O.  CHUCKs CANNON has gone WILD!!!

RT, with those numbers yor're a regular EDDIE EINSTIEN!(ALBERTs younger brother)

Stay frosty,

laz57

[jonadel]

Good luck Buckeye -- getting stoned at your age can't be easy, hang in there buddy.

Spent the last three days in Dubuque, IA and Galena, IL -- wonderful communities, so much history that just comes alive.  Doug M. -- what's the deal with IL gas?  $.50 a gallon difference between IA and IL borders and that's not even downtown Chicago??????

Spring is almost here

[Banks]

Hello all,

Foggy 42 as I left home this AM. Breezy low 50's on the way home. Gas here is still at $3.799

Sad news from Ohio earlier and now the Storms. to all affected.

Good news from SPray, 8N and Brutus

I'll add a for Buckeye's procedure and that they pass easily.

I spent a couple of hours Tuesday morning with my daughter  and some other friends & family chasing an escaped 350lb steer. Mrs' cousin finally went home and got his horse. The horse was able to tire him easily. I was wiped out, too old and fat for that stuff now. By last evening I could hardly walk. I wish it wasn't so citified around here. I could have left him come back on his own.

Taking Mom and Dad out to celebrate their 66th anniversary this evening.

SS Fund calls

 

Prayers for those in need

[Blueberryhill RR]

Good Morning from Blueberryhill RR....

It is a sunny 50 degrees. Windy. Going up to 55 with sunshine.

Today is a busy day. I have a bunch of errands to run. After a few chores around the house. I will have to catch a quick nap this afternoon.

Buckeye...Good luck with your surgery.

Dining car is here with Cheerios for breakfast.

Y'all have a great Thursday.

Chuck

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning.

Wet flurries ending this morning then 60% chance of showers this afternoon.

 to all those suffering from the latest storms across the US....

Going to try to finish off the transfer of all my stuff from the old computer to the newer computer today..got the email from a couple of the companies that I need to reauthorize the programs from last night so that will get done this morning...

Jack:  We had our dog tested for that as well(hypoparathyroidism) as he did exhibit some of those very symptoms..he did have it...it might just be one of those things though as well..some dogs/cats just have some skin issues....

[ChiefEagles]

Morning.  Storms never made NC.  We only got a light shower.  Prayers for those hit hard west of us.  Sunny and 80 today.

Buckeye, tired to tell you I could crush those stones when you were here.  Got Great Great Granddad's anvil and mall.  Free for me.  No co-pay. [good luck old buddy]  

Going fishing in the pond in the Crappie Jon.  Picked up two deep cycle batteries at Sam's last night.  Half the price of Bass Pro Shops and made by Deca/East Pen.  The number one battery company in USA.

Have a great day.

[anjdevil2]

Hello from gray and rainy New Jersey

Buckeye - Good Luck!!

Off to get coffee and delivery Princess to college. 

I'll hang there for a while, I have paperwork to do. 

Work at 1300.

for our ailing and needing friends....

Rich

[cheapclassics]

Good morning all,

IIABSDISEI with temps in the 50s.  Back to work.  Battling Tax form issue.  Could be long.  Did not sleep much worrying about it.  Long day ahead.  Wanted to post on first page of thread.  Hope all "goes" smoothly, Buckeye.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good luck with your lithotripsy procedure Buckeye.

[blownout cylinder]

Good luck on the procedure, Buckeye

[KRM]

Gray and cold today. 

Yesterday I spent an hour basking in the sun sitting in front of the shed. It was 60 degrees and there was not much wind under the porch on the shed. Boy it felt good.    All of that is history today.

Joe looking forward to those pictures.

Buckeye Prayers for you today best of luck and God bless. 

Jack and LAZ enjoy that wonderful snow. Even if you don’t like it your dogs will. 

Jon, the Galena IL. area is one of the prettiest areas in the state. Not just plain flat land. The gas thing, may be the state taxes. 

Well today is the first so got bills to pay,

Have a great day,

Kev

 

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 68° and cloudy with patchy fog. The high will be 80° and there's a 20% chance of rain.

Well here it is the first of the month. Again! That means it's a day for paying bills. Again! Most of the bills I pay online. There's a couple of them I have to go into town to pay. Some companies are still in the stone age and insist on the face to face thing. Oh well, I have to go to town anyway for gas and groceries. No plans for layout work today.

[Stourbridge Lion]

Good Morning CTTFans!

It's 33F and Cloudy with snow on the way later today so we are getting a start on our March snow totals right away.  Cup of coffee to go please and toss in a couple of donuts too please...

[sir james I]

36 degrees, we had rain and wet snow earlier but it's gone now. Jeff as far as  paying bills I'm staying in the stone age, still pay by check. It's not a I can't do, just have no trust in the net. I use only one card for on line purchase's that way I only have one bank to deal with if there's a problem. Oatmeal is waiting.....S.J.

[KRM]

I am with you SJ.

  I have online access to my bank accounts and use it for transfers within the banks accounts.

I am not going to give anyone access to just take money out of my account whenever they please. My accounts are just that, mine! I use debit or put most of my stuff on one credit card and only have one card bill at the end of the month that I pay in full. If I don’t like what is going on with a card I will set it aside for a month and let it clear and use my other one. They can call it old-fashioned if they want, I call it keeping track without the worry of computer crashes or Internet fraud. I use a spreadsheet and write checks. Besides when you take the time to write the checks you are looking at what is going on with the billing as well as your account health. E.g. DirecTV slipped in a $4.00 increase this month to the bill so am looking at replacing them. Their service still sucks.

I still remember not to long ago when RT’s PC took a dump and what he went through. . Not going there.

JMHO

Kev.

 

 

[sir james I]

Kevin, my feeling exactly. I'll stay old fashion...

[RockIsland52]

Greetings From Winter Storm Watch Taxachusetts,

Watched a near five minute weather segment of New England Cable News (NECN) around 6:45AM with some woman meteorologist going on and on about the weather with maps, fronts, timelines, and a whole lot of ifs and buts.  By the end of it all, she had neither covered nor summarize with one of those simple color-coded maps: just how much today, where, and when.  I couldn't believe it!!!   Who cares about the rest?!?  Just give us the Cliff's Notes version, what we need to know, and be done with it, in one minute!!!! Asked the wife what she learned from the segment and she responded "Nothing, Jack.  It is probably going to snow.  Go clean off the car, warm it up for me, make sure there is gas in it, and put the snow brush back in the back seat on the floor." 

Then I shovelled.  We got the really heavy slushy accumulation overnight, 3 inches the best I could tell.  It's not the depth but the sheer weight.  Wasn't worth taking out the snowblower.  Polished that off in short order.

LAZ...........Chuck is apparently suffering from Cheerios Syndrome and has neglected to adjust the snow cannon coordinates.  He's looking in the cereal box for a toy when he should be looking out for us.

JON and KEV........agree, Galena IL is pretty country, not far from the Mississippi.  My FIL's gas in Kane County (Elgin) usually runs about $.20 a gallon higher than here.  Must be the bang up job the Pols are doing in a stacked Illinois "protecting" the resident voters' interests.  NOT!!!!!

Banks.......hope you and your folks have a memorable celebration of their 66th wedding anniversary.

Blownout........I called the vet re all of the bloodwork they do during his annual physical, which was the first week of February.  Needless to say, thyroid function wasn't one of the tests performed.  If I had half a brain I would have thought about that when discussing Maximus' skin and coat issues.   No matter, the skin issue is gone while the wife's angst has now turned to the thickness of his coat, which is improving.  This too shall pass.

Buckeye........I thought the Eagles' Nest XXX Moonshine you had while visiting the Chief would have cleared up those boulders.  Maybe you didn't drink enough of it.  That stuff can melt concrete.

Rich.........exactly how much does the ANJDEVIL2 limo service charge to shuttle the Princess around?   I also want to thank you once again for all of the expert automotive advice (SRX front suspension issues) you gave me via PM two years ago.  The dealership service technicians were allegedly clueless.  And you, without even having the vehicle to diagnose, were spot on.  For the rest on the Pot, Rich told me exactly what they should check based on the symptoms and his internet research on my particular vehicle, and he was absolutely correct.  It is great to have so many folks on the Pot that know far more than I ever could.  

MikeC.......you are far too young to be worried about that 1099R stuff.  There are still just under 7 weeks until the filing deadline April 17.  Since YOU are guilty until proven innocent with the IRS, and they get all of their data directly by tape from the local (to you) institution in question, you may want to just drive over to the institution and tell them you will sit there and wait until they correct things and give you what you need.  If you are worried about penalties and interest,  you can slightly overpay your tax liability (if there is one) and wait for a refund.  Isn't worth losing sleep over.  Been there, done that.  Some may disagree with what I just said or what I am about to suggest that you consider..  I've gone the "be your own tax expert" Turbo Tax route when I was younger and my taxes were less complicated, the H&R Block route (lots of temporary seasonal employees!?), and now for quite some time the private tax professional route.  The latter may at first seem a little pricey by comparison until you factor in the intimate details they know about the past tax code, past changes (and when), the current tax code, the numerous concurrent tax code changes year-to-year, and the substantial amout of valid legitimate tax planning advice they can provide you for the future, tailored to you and your family.  The amount they can prospectively save you, legally, and over the long haul, can make their annual fees seem quite palatable if not a bargain.. Peace of mind?  What is that worth to you?   If anything goes South with a return, they stand with you; and they have forgotten more than the IRS agent or IRS manager looking over your return will ever know.  Find an older well credentialled guy if you go that route, by personal referral only.

Darren........we need some updated stats on your record snowfall this Winter season!!!!

Jeffrey.......what companies and institutions require face-to-face bill payment monthly, quarterly, or annually?  Must be a Reb thing!!! 

SJ/KEV........I'm with you about internet security.  You are pretty smart isolating and restricting all on-line bill payment and purchasing to one card, keeping th chinks in the armor down to possibly one.  Simple is better.  We use a single debit card for all of these and can check/monitor transactions on-line, every hour of the day and night.  If someone wants to somehow steal our specifinc account information or card, they will be sorely disappointed to see how little they can steal from us when they go to fraudulently purchase something or withdraw cash.  Bank backs us up anyway.  Norton security software allows "secure site" access.  We keep zero password or account info. on our pc.  Wife used to be  very unhappy because her two inch stack of store credit cards and her bank credit cards were ALL placed in the bank vault; and she had to learn to operate on a "cash" basis.  If she/we are going to need to buy a bigger ticket item, or cover (say) the Christmas crush, we have to move money to cover.  In a pinch, the bank will move money for us with a cell phone call.  Never had to do it, though.

Checks?  Our Doberman Pinscher Club experienced check fraud over the holidays.  A member mailed in a check for annual dues.  It never made it to the club.  The check came up literally "washed" and fradulently cashed/deposited by someone, with the payee and amounts changed, but not the signature and date.  Your bank can tell you what kinds of ink cannot be washed.   

JoeyD.........I thought you were out defending us from foreign threats, and here you are running around on vacation!  What's with that?

KEV........no, Maximus the dog did not enjoy this type of snow, mixed with sleet, rain, and wind.  Picture the Wizzaed of Oz and the wicked witch of the West screaming:  "I'm melting!!!!"

RT........I had to laugh when "others"  opened the door, "Eddie Einstein," over you track computations and your Pot post calculations.   

Later, gang.

Jack

[Stourbridge Lion]

RockIsland52

Darren........we need some updated stats on your record snowfall this Winter season!!!!

Jack - February 2012 will go into the books as the 2nd snowiest February in Denver history with the record being 1912.  Normally February is Cold / Dry so it makes one wonder what March will bring.  Right now we have snow falling and they say we should get 1-4" from this one so here we go again!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

KRM

I am with you SJ.

 

  I have online access to my bank accounts and use it for transfers within the banks accounts.

I am not going to give anyone access to just take money out of my account whenever they please. My accounts are just that, mine! I use debit or put most of my stuff on one credit card and only have one card bill at the end of the month that I pay in full. If I don’t like what is going on with a card I will set it aside for a month and let it clear and use my other one. They can call it old-fashioned if they want, I call it keeping track without the worry of computer crashes or Internet fraud. I use a spreadsheet and write checks. Besides when you take the time to write the checks you are looking at what is going on with the billing as well as your account health. E.g. DirecTV slipped in a $4.00 increase this month to the bill so am looking at replacing them. Their service still sucks.

 

I still remember not to long ago when RT’s PC took a dump and what he went through. . Not going there.

 

JMHO

Kev.

 

 

 

 

Not a bad thing to do. The account I use online is a debit account and there's no online access except for those few monthly drafts I pay online.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

RockIsland52

Jeffrey.......what companies and institutions require face-to-face bill payment monthly, quarterly, or annually?  Must be a Reb thing!!!

One of them is a loan office. They insist on paying in the office.

 

Got the bills paid. Before going to town I went to my parents place and reimbursed my father for paying the car insurance and electric bill. Electric bill for last month was $52. I then helped him move a power chair transport rack from their garage to his tractor shed. He wanted to move it on a dolly but proved to be too cumbersome and kept falling off. I came up with the idea of getting his tractor and trailer and loading it in the trailer. Took both of us to get it in. That mother is heavy! Neither of us is supposed to lift loads like that but it had to be done. Got it over to the tractor shed and parked it there. He'll have my brother-in-law and one of his friends carry it into the shed later. That's a bit out of my range. Lifting is one thing, carrying is something else. It's a major job just getting the groceries from the van to my home.

[fifedog]

Evenin' boys.  Evenin' English.  Good to be back.  Still very sore, but hopefully problems will all be behind me in a couple weeks.  Watching grandbaby today.

Buckeye - Good luck with the blastin'.

Banks - Any word from TCA.  Just sent in my Spring York mailer today.

[ChiefEagles]

RockIsland52

Greetings From Winter Storm Watch Taxachusetts,

Watched a near five minute weather segment of New England Cable News (NECN) around 6:45AM with some woman meteorologist going on and on about the weather with maps, fronts, timelines, and a whole lot of ifs and buts.  By the end of it all, she had neither covered nor summarize with one of those simple color-coded maps: just how much today, where, and when.  I couldn't believe it!!!   Who cares about the rest?!?  Just give us the Cliff's Notes version, what we need to know, and be done with it, in one minute!!!! Asked the wife what she learned from the segment and she responded "Nothing, Jack.  It is probably going to snow.  Go clean off the car, warm it up for me, make sure there is gas in it, and put the snow brush back in the back seat on the floor." 

Then I shovelled.  We got the really heavy slushy accumulation overnight, 3 inches the best I could tell.  It's not the depth but the sheer weight.  Wasn't worth taking out the snowblower.  Polished that off in short order.

LAZ...........Chuck is apparently suffering from Cheerios Syndrome and has neglected to adjust the snow cannon coordinates.  He's looking in the cereal box for a toy when he should be looking out for us.

Buckeye........I thought the Eagles' Nest XXX Moonshine you had while visiting the Chief would have cleared up those boulders.  Maybe you didn't drink enough of it.  That stuff can melt concrete.

Not man enough to handle it.

Later, gang.

Jack

Afternoon.  Went fishing.  Pond water was 57.8 degrees.  Temp outside was 80.  Caught bass and massive bream [blue gills to you Yanks].

Now to go fill the deer feeders and then get ready for a reception for elected officials. [free food and drink ].

Later

[dougdagrump]

Afternoon All.

Buckeye, Hope all goes well and they don't need to drag out the jackhammers.

Banks, to your folks on 66 yrs.

Meds seem to be helping with da crud. Have to wait to see the final results.

Fife, Hope whatever is behind you is done & complete.

Gettin tired, see y'all later.

[jonadel]

Jack --  for a fleeting moment I thought my wife had somehow logged into this forum and shared with everyone her thoughts about tax preparers and the IRS as her philosophy mirrors yours.  Sharyl has more acronym's behind her name at work than two people and they all deal directly with finances but not once in our 39 year marriage have we ever done our own taxes.  For years it was a friend of ours (former math teacher) who when their children were born chose to stay home until they reached middle school.  She took all the advanced tax courses that Iowa State offered and built a successful tax prep business out of their home, sadly she retired and we had to look elsewhere.

After lots of searching and many questions asked we found a CPA and tax specialist that had high recommendations locally.  Sharyl basically does all the work for him in preparing our files but he knows the laws that change every year and has saved us (we think) the angst of "what did we do wrong" issue.  All I do is drop off the info at this office -- go pick it up and sign a check to him and the IRS.  I figure I have to work 1 1/2 Saturdays of judging to pay him, I don't mind at all   plus Sharyl and I can't blame each other if there ever is a problem ....... and that's a very good thing.

One of my best buddies at the Y is a retired executive from AMOCO and he received a nice golden parachute when BP bought them out.  He invested wisely and has made a ton on his investments, he's also suffered the last several years and whines about it all the time, he receives no sympathy from me.  Last year he bought Turbo Tax, used it and liked it but he had H & R double check it.  Two weeks ago he did his taxes with Turbo Tax again and didn't like the results, I really gave him a hard time as this guy has more money than he will ever need or spend.  Here's a guy that can afford any tax person but he doesn't because he's a total control freak, ugh.  But, I still love him like a brother -- he's a wonderful, caring person.  We really give it to each other during our time at the Y and always leave smiling and laughing after our conversations.  Even though he thinks he's 100% right in his beliefs and I think I'm about 50% right on some issues I have swayed his thinking about education, so some progress has been made.

Kev -- I can't tell you how much we enjoy Galena, it's like we've stepped back in time when we go up there.  The history of Dubuque and Galena just blow me away, what a unique geographical area in American history.  We could never afford to live there but it sure is a fun place to visit, over and over again.  Something about those old river towns that just draw me in.

OK, time to get supper going before the boss gets home, it will be nice to have a home cooked meal after 3 days of over indulging on the road.  I honestly enjoy cooking, great hobby and I never get any complaints, especially from Sharyl.

[KRM]

 get ready for a reception for elected officials. [free food and drink ].

Later

[/quote]

Chief, Think you should show them the link I sent to you. You will be the life of the party.  NO Fear!!

Kev

[KRM]

 

Fifedog Glad to see you back,, hope all is well. 

Kev

 

fifedog

Evenin' boys.  Evenin' English.  Good to be back.  Still very sore, but hopefully problems will all be behind me in a couple weeks.  Watching grandbaby today.

Buckeye - Good luck with the blastin'.

Banks - Any word from TCA.  Just sent in my Spring York mailer today.