The Oscar nominations are out and for the first time as far as I can remember, Clara and I haven't seen all of the nominees. We began to cure this Saturday by seeing Slumdog Millionaire.
Visually stunning and with a compelling soundtrack, Slumdog is a movie like you've probably not seen before, and that's enough, isn't it? The story is Dickensian - it's Oliver Twist in India - so it's traditional in that sense but it's a clear case of style over substance and it's style carries it through. It's positive resolution to what could've been a glum plot makes it a strong contender for best picture. Stay around for the end credits, they're a delight as well.
A wild ride, and highly recommended.
(I'm not sure if we'll see the other best movie nominees; frankly, they leave me a little cold and there are other movies I'd like to see)
Thursday, January 29, 2009
The Limbaugh Stimulus
No matter your political leanings, you might agree Rush Limbaugh's proposal makes sense:
Scoff if you will but Limbaugh makes a perfectly good point: why not have things both ways? When energy costs sky-rocketed last summer, the debate was over more exploration and conservation. Why not both? Why not drill more and encourage "green" energy development. Let the marketplace of ideas settle this thing.
I believe you know the answer to that as well as I: this is politics. And politics doesn't pay if both sides win. And politicians aren't in it for you or me. They're in it for themselves.
Congress is currently haggling over how to spend $900 billion generated by American taxpayers in the private sector. (It's important to remember that it's the people's money, not Washington's.) In a Jan. 23 meeting between President Obama and Republican leaders, Rep. Eric Cantor (R., Va.) proposed a moderate tax cut plan. President Obama responded, "I won. I'm going to trump you on that."
Yes, elections have consequences. But where's the bipartisanship, Mr. Obama? This does not have to be a divisive issue. My proposal is a genuine compromise.
Fifty-three percent of American voters voted for Barack Obama; 46% voted for John McCain, and 1% voted for wackos. Give that 1% to President Obama. Let's say the vote was 54% to 46%. As a way to bring the country together and at the same time determine the most effective way to deal with recessions, under the Obama-Limbaugh Stimulus Plan of 2009: 54% of the $900 billion -- $486 billion -- will be spent on infrastructure and pork as defined by Mr. Obama and the Democrats; 46% -- $414 billion -- will be directed toward tax cuts, as determined by me.
Then we compare. . .
Scoff if you will but Limbaugh makes a perfectly good point: why not have things both ways? When energy costs sky-rocketed last summer, the debate was over more exploration and conservation. Why not both? Why not drill more and encourage "green" energy development. Let the marketplace of ideas settle this thing.
I believe you know the answer to that as well as I: this is politics. And politics doesn't pay if both sides win. And politicians aren't in it for you or me. They're in it for themselves.
Bipartisanship and the Weather
At last, there's something I can agree with Obama about:
Today's the third day the girls are home from school. No, all of the streets aren't bone dry and clear but they're perfectly passable, especially on the main streets. I'm sure it has everything to do with the "safety of the children" but, come on. We're burning snow days here, snow days we may still need later in the year. It's just late January.
Emily's perfectly fine with it; Rachel less so.
Well, maybe tomorrow. For now, I'm glad to be in complete agreement with the President.
(And how likely to you think it will be that I'll use the tags I've used on this post again? Looks like the weather is a great uniter.)
After his daughters got a snow day Wednesday, President Barack Obama wants to see a little bit of "flinty, Chicago toughness" applied locally.
"When it comes to the weather, folks in Washington don't seem to be able to handle things," a joking Obama told reporters Wednesday morning.
"My children's school was canceled today because of what? Some ice."
Today's the third day the girls are home from school. No, all of the streets aren't bone dry and clear but they're perfectly passable, especially on the main streets. I'm sure it has everything to do with the "safety of the children" but, come on. We're burning snow days here, snow days we may still need later in the year. It's just late January.
Emily's perfectly fine with it; Rachel less so.
Well, maybe tomorrow. For now, I'm glad to be in complete agreement with the President.
(And how likely to you think it will be that I'll use the tags I've used on this post again? Looks like the weather is a great uniter.)
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
John Updike dead at age 76
I didn't know Updike had lung cancer:
I was a fan long ago and I greatly admired his skill with words but his seeming inability to pull back from his explicit sex scenes finally drove me away. Yeah, I'm a prude. So?
Still, there's plenty of Updike's work to enjoy, and his essays are quite good. A few years back, he'd gotten into a literary dust up with Tom Wolfe but I remember thinking Updike's position lacked merit though I don't remember why. The lengthy of his career and prolific output should have earned Updike the Nobel Prize and while we all know it's more about politics than it is literary merit that gets you the prize, I believe Updike's politics should have been liberal enough to get him in. Who knows why he never snagged the Nobel.
Updike's death diminishes American literature.
That's not much from me, so let's go to National Review Online. Here's Rick Brookhiser:
And here's Thomas Mallon:
John Updike, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, prolific man of letters and erudite chronicler of sex, divorce and other adventures in the postwar prime of the American empire, died Tuesday at age 76. Updike, best known for his four "Rabbit" novels, died of lung cancer at a hospice near his home in Beverly Farms, Mass., according to his longtime publisher, Alfred A. Knopf.
I was a fan long ago and I greatly admired his skill with words but his seeming inability to pull back from his explicit sex scenes finally drove me away. Yeah, I'm a prude. So?
Still, there's plenty of Updike's work to enjoy, and his essays are quite good. A few years back, he'd gotten into a literary dust up with Tom Wolfe but I remember thinking Updike's position lacked merit though I don't remember why. The lengthy of his career and prolific output should have earned Updike the Nobel Prize and while we all know it's more about politics than it is literary merit that gets you the prize, I believe Updike's politics should have been liberal enough to get him in. Who knows why he never snagged the Nobel.
Updike's death diminishes American literature.
That's not much from me, so let's go to National Review Online. Here's Rick Brookhiser:
I wrote about John Updike in The Way of the WASP. I went through a phase of reading him wall-to-wall. It cooled off, but I still go back to his comedies of damnation (Roger's Version and The Witches of Eastwick), and his book about his Jewish alter ego, Bech: A Book. (Don't think there is such a thing as a hilarious bibliography? Bech: A Book has one). His first book on Harry Angstrom, Rabbit, Run, is also fine, and there are good things in the Rabbit series, though it runs thin as it goes. His African fantasia, The Coup, is also definitely worth it. His short story "Pigeon Feathers" is endlessly anthologized, deservedly so; some of the stories in Too Far to Go are also good.
But even in the failures there are good things. The Centaur is an early novel, crippled by a phony mythological structure; but the evocation of small-city Pennsylvania (Reading, I believe) is wonderful.
Fashion is cruel and time sorts, but I believe he has left us valuable things. R.I.P.
And here's Thomas Mallon:
Perhaps the keenest compliment one can pay him as a man is to say that his life will make for a lousy biography: Just about no scandal; precious little feuding; almost no phony contretemps and posturing. He was deeply interested in sex and God, but more than anything he was interested in working—steadily and prodigiously. The Rabbit books, taken together, are the great American novel of the second half of the twentieth century. Even when he was through with them, he kept writing fiction as if, culturally, it still counted—as if it could still land a writer on the cover of Time. He loved his country, avoided political faddishness, was a devoted Democrat and got both of his national medals—one in the arts and another in the humanities—from Republican presidents. On a personal level, I'm forever grateful to him. Fifteen years ago he took a shine to one of my novels and wrote several pages about my work in The New Yorker; I had a different career the next day, thanks to him.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Ice Storm Pictures
After I got Clara home, I had to run back out to get her 'scrips filled. Did I have my cell phone camera with me? I did! That means first-hand pictures of the ice storm.
Into our 'hood, looking through the windshield. Those blurs are water drops on the windshield:
Bleak enough for you? No? How about this? (More water drops near the bottom of the picture.)
I color-corrected through Picasa so if things look a little washed out, that's why. (Uncorrected, everything looks too blue and gray.)
Here's the house:
The last ice storm caused those trees near the house to bend all the way to the ground. So, no, things aren't as bad as then. But it's still not much fun.
(Go here to see my pictures from the 2007 ice storm and go here for a couple of shots from my office window of the same ice storm. Posting those pictures here would only confuse things, wouldn't it?)
Into our 'hood, looking through the windshield. Those blurs are water drops on the windshield:
Bleak enough for you? No? How about this? (More water drops near the bottom of the picture.)
I color-corrected through Picasa so if things look a little washed out, that's why. (Uncorrected, everything looks too blue and gray.)
Here's the house:
The last ice storm caused those trees near the house to bend all the way to the ground. So, no, things aren't as bad as then. But it's still not much fun.
(Go here to see my pictures from the 2007 ice storm and go here for a couple of shots from my office window of the same ice storm. Posting those pictures here would only confuse things, wouldn't it?)
Hospital Visit - Pt 2
Clara's follow up visit to the urologist after her kidney stone adventure yielded another hospital visit today. It turns out she had two stones, one on its way to her bladder on her right side and another still rattling around in her left kidney. No way to get 'em out other than by a little outpatient surgery. Add today's ice storm and, my friend, you have a recipe for fun.
Clara was scheduled to have her procedure done at 9:30 a.m, which meant she had to be at the hospital to check in at 7:30 a.m., which meant, because of the weather, we had to leave the house at 6:30 a.m. No real problems getting in though it was a little more thrilling than usual - we had the streets and highways to ourselves and there was a wicked peppering of sleet when we turned north just to keep things interesting. A normally 20 minute ride was only doubled, thanks to my mad driving skillz.
Surprisingly, we weren't the only ones to arrive early - the hospital and doctors seldom cancel these things due to the weather - and we got checked in and into our little cubby right on schedule. The staff kept things moving - our hopes were lifted when they revealed some patient cancellations had bumped us up in line but a slight complication with a procedure before Clara's put us back to our original time. No worries. By then, Clara had received her first ant-anxiety drug dosage:
Seriously, though, she was doing very well, considering the circumstances and the wait:
Okay, maybe it really was the drugs.
They wheeled Clara out right at 9:30 so off to the waiting room for me, where I waited for about an hour or so before the doctor came out to brief me: the dye he'd injected showed the right side to be clear but he knew that couldn't be correct. He went in with the scope and found the stone lodged in the tube wall, flapping in the stream. It was shaped like a baseball bat, about 6 mm long, but its irregular shape meant Clara would never pass it. He zapped it with the laser, then scooped up the pieces with the basket, and that side was done. On the left side, that stone was about 9mm big and he broke that into gravel with the sonic thingy. Those fragments should pass effortlessly. He had to use a stent - not like an arterial stent at all but one that threads through the entire tube from the kidney to the bladder - to keep the tube from shutting down from normal post-op swelling. The stent'll have to be removed next week in an office procedure. Other than some possible post-op pain and normal minor bleeding, Clara should be all set.
Thirty minutes of recovery later, I was let back into the cubby. Clara was awake but a little groggy, and feeling nauseated. They'd given her some meds for that before the procedure and more afterward but she was still clutching her vomit sock on the way out. The polar blast of wind helped her keep her nausea in check and she had no problems on the drive home.
The girls, meanwhile, had been busy, and had baked Clara a get-well cake for her arrival home. Clara made a nice fuss about it before finally crashing on the couch, where she rode out the rest of the afternoon.
More as things develop, if they do, but for now she should be fine.
Clara was scheduled to have her procedure done at 9:30 a.m, which meant she had to be at the hospital to check in at 7:30 a.m., which meant, because of the weather, we had to leave the house at 6:30 a.m. No real problems getting in though it was a little more thrilling than usual - we had the streets and highways to ourselves and there was a wicked peppering of sleet when we turned north just to keep things interesting. A normally 20 minute ride was only doubled, thanks to my mad driving skillz.
Surprisingly, we weren't the only ones to arrive early - the hospital and doctors seldom cancel these things due to the weather - and we got checked in and into our little cubby right on schedule. The staff kept things moving - our hopes were lifted when they revealed some patient cancellations had bumped us up in line but a slight complication with a procedure before Clara's put us back to our original time. No worries. By then, Clara had received her first ant-anxiety drug dosage:
Seriously, though, she was doing very well, considering the circumstances and the wait:
Okay, maybe it really was the drugs.
They wheeled Clara out right at 9:30 so off to the waiting room for me, where I waited for about an hour or so before the doctor came out to brief me: the dye he'd injected showed the right side to be clear but he knew that couldn't be correct. He went in with the scope and found the stone lodged in the tube wall, flapping in the stream. It was shaped like a baseball bat, about 6 mm long, but its irregular shape meant Clara would never pass it. He zapped it with the laser, then scooped up the pieces with the basket, and that side was done. On the left side, that stone was about 9mm big and he broke that into gravel with the sonic thingy. Those fragments should pass effortlessly. He had to use a stent - not like an arterial stent at all but one that threads through the entire tube from the kidney to the bladder - to keep the tube from shutting down from normal post-op swelling. The stent'll have to be removed next week in an office procedure. Other than some possible post-op pain and normal minor bleeding, Clara should be all set.
Thirty minutes of recovery later, I was let back into the cubby. Clara was awake but a little groggy, and feeling nauseated. They'd given her some meds for that before the procedure and more afterward but she was still clutching her vomit sock on the way out. The polar blast of wind helped her keep her nausea in check and she had no problems on the drive home.
The girls, meanwhile, had been busy, and had baked Clara a get-well cake for her arrival home. Clara made a nice fuss about it before finally crashing on the couch, where she rode out the rest of the afternoon.
More as things develop, if they do, but for now she should be fine.
Ice Storm
It's been a little over a year since we've had a significant ice storm. This one's much less severe than that last one but it's giving us a run for the money, nonetheless. Schools are closed and I've closed the office - Clara and I are busy today with her follow up procedure to her kidney stone incident - possibly more about that later - and good thing: it's treacherous out there. (Though not impassible.)
No pictures of my own so let's get something from The Daily Oklahoman:
Yeah, it's that bad.
No pictures of my own so let's get something from The Daily Oklahoman:
Yeah, it's that bad.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Don't Panic!
The economic news makes it hard to keep a cool head but John Stossel says this is no time to panic:
Besides his get tough message, Stossel has some good stats to back up his assertion that, though things are rocky, they're not as bad as they seem and certainly they aren't as bad as they have been before.
Will things get worse? Maybe. But unlike what's happened before, we have some things going for us to lessen the pain: lower taxes, lower gas prices, a long stretch of growth prior to the bubble burst.
Hang on. Things'll get better.
Have we become so fragile that we can't handle any recession? The 11 recessions since World War II are part of the "creative destruction" that ultimately drives our economy, yet today politicians act as if they can insulate us from pain with bailouts and "stimulus packages."
Besides his get tough message, Stossel has some good stats to back up his assertion that, though things are rocky, they're not as bad as they seem and certainly they aren't as bad as they have been before.
Will things get worse? Maybe. But unlike what's happened before, we have some things going for us to lessen the pain: lower taxes, lower gas prices, a long stretch of growth prior to the bubble burst.
Hang on. Things'll get better.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Turbo Tax vs. Tax Professional - Part 2
Sitemeter tells me I'm getting visitors from Google because of this post but I suspect most people who use the search terms "Turbo Tax vs. Tax Professional" are really interested in the trouble of the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury's tax woes. (Though Google searchers should be!) Instead, I think they're interested in finding the advantages and disadvantages off using Turbo Tax or a Tax Professional. If so, they've come to the right place.
Of course, I'm a tax professional so I think you should hire me to do your taxes but you might be surprised to know that I don't believe everyone should. In fact, I think computing your tax burden should be simple enough that everyone could do it on their own. Well, taxes aren't simple, and if you foul up, you could get into serious trouble, so it's best to leave the task to a professional and have at least some peace of mind. You might be able to change a washer in your kitchen faucet but you wouldn't want to install an entire faucet on your own, unless you're extremely handy. Most people aren't. They have these things called lives.
And you might be surprised to know that I think Turbo Tax is a good program. Before I resigned from the IRS, I used an online version of Turbo Tax and I was impressed with its performance. But I had years of experience with taxes to help me make sure Turbo Tax was doing the tax return correctly and I was familiar with most of the issues on our tax return. I can't say how the average user would do without that background. Turbo Tax makes it simple, so you'd likely have little trouble learning how to use it, but, again, there's that thing called a life you have which you'd rather spend living than learning how to use tax software. And once you've learned how to use the software, you still have to input your information, submit the return for filing electronically (or not), correct for errors, re-submit, print out a paper copy for your files, maintain that file for three years, etc.
And then what happens if you get audited? Turbo Tax won't represent you before the authorities. Turbo Tax won't advise you about the chances of appealing a Revenue Agent's findings. A tax professional will.
I guess the best selling point I can make about hiring a professional is that what you're really buying is your own time back. Sure, you can handle most of this stuff on your own and go through most of your life without any problems. But your time is more valuable than that. At least as valuable as any fee you'll pay a professional. Using Turbo Tax makes doing your taxes easier but it doesn't give your time back.
Have I convinced you? I hope so. To avoid spammers, I won't give out my contact information on Blogger, but if you want to talk more about this in person, Google me and give me a shout. I'd love to talk to you more about it.
Of course, I'm a tax professional so I think you should hire me to do your taxes but you might be surprised to know that I don't believe everyone should. In fact, I think computing your tax burden should be simple enough that everyone could do it on their own. Well, taxes aren't simple, and if you foul up, you could get into serious trouble, so it's best to leave the task to a professional and have at least some peace of mind. You might be able to change a washer in your kitchen faucet but you wouldn't want to install an entire faucet on your own, unless you're extremely handy. Most people aren't. They have these things called lives.
And you might be surprised to know that I think Turbo Tax is a good program. Before I resigned from the IRS, I used an online version of Turbo Tax and I was impressed with its performance. But I had years of experience with taxes to help me make sure Turbo Tax was doing the tax return correctly and I was familiar with most of the issues on our tax return. I can't say how the average user would do without that background. Turbo Tax makes it simple, so you'd likely have little trouble learning how to use it, but, again, there's that thing called a life you have which you'd rather spend living than learning how to use tax software. And once you've learned how to use the software, you still have to input your information, submit the return for filing electronically (or not), correct for errors, re-submit, print out a paper copy for your files, maintain that file for three years, etc.
And then what happens if you get audited? Turbo Tax won't represent you before the authorities. Turbo Tax won't advise you about the chances of appealing a Revenue Agent's findings. A tax professional will.
I guess the best selling point I can make about hiring a professional is that what you're really buying is your own time back. Sure, you can handle most of this stuff on your own and go through most of your life without any problems. But your time is more valuable than that. At least as valuable as any fee you'll pay a professional. Using Turbo Tax makes doing your taxes easier but it doesn't give your time back.
Have I convinced you? I hope so. To avoid spammers, I won't give out my contact information on Blogger, but if you want to talk more about this in person, Google me and give me a shout. I'd love to talk to you more about it.
James Taylor: Another Celebrity Hero
Celebrity heroes are becoming a trend around here but since I'm a fan of James Taylor, I couldn't let this go unnoticed:
James Taylor said he will give a California woman a brand new music player loaded with his songs to replace the one she said she had to give up to a taxi driver when her credit card was declined after a trip to the airport last month.
Natalie Lenhart, 20, said officers at John F. Kennedy International Airport made her give the $140 iPod nano to the driver as payment for the $49 ride from Manhattan on Dec. 8. The driver said he'd return her iPod for the fare.
Lenhart's red iPod was loaded with oldies, including songs by the folk singer. Taylor has written classics such as "You've Got a Friend" and "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)." Taylor said he might upgrade Lenhart's device to an iPhone.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency responsible for police at the airport, said it is investigating.
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