Taxes Done and Dusted!

Well, that's a relief. The last time we do taxes on our own. With all the assets I'm inheriting from Mom's estate in 2026 it's just going to be too complicated to do this ourselves next year. Besides which, our eyes are getting to the point where we're having major trouble reading fine print, whether it's on a W2 form, a driver's license, even on a TurboTax screen. Best let a professional do it; after all, we can afford that little luxury now. My list of assets is going to wait until I see my brother next weekend at Mom's old house to go over all her belongings, decide what I would like to take or suggest giving to her brother in his assisted living apartment. Should be among my last trips to that part of New Jersey. But first I need to get through "PCAOB Week" at the office. Then only a few more days until April!

Sprrrrrrring!

I've decided to store my long winter coat in the home office closet tomorrow. Today we were so warm in the living room when we returned from food shopping that we actually ran the air conditioning for awhile! I know part of it is that the landlord has yet to turn off the heat, but knowing March (and after the winter we've had) I'm reluctant to mention it to his office as I'd rather the heat run and not need it than the other way around. I'm not even calling them about the annual rent increase letter, which ought to have gone out by now. Nope, that's on them! Meanwhile, we rested up a lot for tomorrow, when we plan to get our taxes done and when I finally start making a list of all my current and expected financial assets (which in the old days we used to call bank accounts and credit cards).

Time Out Times Three

Very, very glad we figured out how to use my iPhone's hotspot on Wednesday. I worked from home today when our internet and cable service went out for the third day in a row (for a period of a few hours, twice today) and was able to get everything done. I'm even, amazingly, in good shape as far as quarterly meeting scheduling, which I didn't think I would be. Only about a dozen to go between two clients! And all immediate fires seem to be put out. Next week is a big and somewhat stressful one, where we see if all our plans for the first PCAOB inspection at the new office come off without a hitch. Fortunately the logistics have been a team effort so I'm hoping things go smoothly, but that's a whole weekend away...

Innage and Outage

I'm told our home internet went out again today for a few hours, so it looks like this may be a regular thing for the next few days at least. This makes blogging, among many other things, very tricky, but I'm glad I learned how to use my work phone's hotspot to get onto my office intranet and such, so I can get things done! Not an issue today as I was physically in the office, getting ready for next week's big First Inspection at the New Office event (for which I'm in charge of logistics), mailing out more documents re Mom's estate, and securing more funds for laundry and such. Love how many Manhattan errands I can get done now! Ninth Ave might be a pain to get to and from, but once I'm in the heart of the Penn Station area the sky appears to be the limit. And I've managed to create (with Robin's help) a how-to so others with wonky home internet can access their phones' hotspots as well! So, very productive, but now I'm tired and I really, really want the weather to get milder again...

Cold Comfort and Hot Spots

So yeah, our internet went down around 6:30 this morning and didn't come back until almost 3 PM. As it was a work-from-home day (and I wasn't about to schlep into the office with the cold outside and my feet being what they are) I didn't think I had much recourse. I went back to bed, then had to resort to *gasp* going analog, and got through all my comic pamphlets and smaller-sized graphic novels. Around noon Robin reported he was able to connect to his phone's hotspot for wifi and I thought, let's try the same with my work phone, which is from a different carrier and has a decent data plan, I assume. We finally figured out how to work it and I had no connectivity issues at all for the rest of the time until the home wifi returned. My supervisor wants me to do a presentation to the other exec assistants on how to connect to wifi via the firm phones, so if I have time tomorrow I'll start playing around with our new PowerPoint tools to see what I can come up with. In the meantime, I'm just glad  I can play my online games again.

Top of the... um, Pops?

OMG, my poor aching feet. Not only did I do a lot of walking around the office, but I had a bone density test at lunchtime which involved walking to and from the subway in both directions, plus the usual commute, and it was damn cold and windy! My left big toe did not appreciate it at all, nor did other parts of my body during the test (which I found very interesting otherwise, it's like an MRI only with just one arm and you don't have to go inside an enclosure, you just let the arm scan you). In any case, I'm home now, settling in to watch the World Baseball Classic final (the commentators are of course rooting for Oo-Ess-Eh and the crowd for Venezuela, which let's face it has a lot of all-star players in MLB anyway) and grateful I don't have to move around much tomorrow as it's a work-from-home day!

Silly Site o' the Day

I'm trying like heck to ignore the torrential rain outside and the cold that's coming in at the back end of it, so I implore each and every one of you to Have a Dandy Day (via BoingBoing)!

The Ides of Oscar

I'm glad I had so many naps today, we stayed up way too late watching the Oscars and a little bit of the World Baseball Classic during the ads (Oscar ads are not as inspiring or fun as they used to be, seems like everyone goes for their debuts during the Stuporbowl now), and for the most part I enjoyed them. I had no horse in any race here, so I mostly watch it for the fashions. I still don't get the whole sculpted-front dress thing, but it's cool to see feathers making a comeback. Goodness knows how rested I'll be for tomorrow's work-related challenges. At least I remembered to steam my green blouses for Tuesday in Manhattan!

All the Stuff

Not sure if you've twigged onto this yet, but I'm a task-based person. Even the online games I play are almost all task-based. For some reason it's my happy place. And now that the worry over my eye floater is allayed I could concentrate on other needed tasks, like a haircut and the car's oil change. First we shopped and ate at our favorite sushi place, then I got my spring shearing, we rested at home for about an hour before going out again to have the car serviced. They said two hours, so we walked around our local business district, visited the local gourmet grocery store and marijuana dispensary (um, two separate stores), and waited a lot less time than estimated before getting our peace of mind back. Now I can take various trips outside my own vicinity with fewer worries! All the usual and occasional (earring sorting, wool wash) tasks are done too, leaving tomorrow as a much-needed rest day. Hoorah!

The Eyes Have It

Well, Friday the 13th done fall on a Friday again, but it's been kind of a lucky day for me. I got all my immediate job stuff done well before I logged off at 2:15, had to wait too long for the local bus (in each direction) but the doc gave me good news about my eye: the floater isn't affecting my vision at all, and I just need to be patient and let it drop out of my field of vision in time. But overall my eyes are fine, and so I can now get new glasses which I've wanted to do for awhile. Got a lot done electronically too - finally sorted the comics that came in last Monday, took care of emails regarding appointments I wanted to make (both the haircut and car tune-up will be tomorrow) and financial stuff, organized my phone apps so they made a bit more sense to me, even redid our kitchen inventory list so it's actually legible now. And so it's bad to the World Baseball Classic, a well-earned shower, and with any luck sleeping through the night.