Tax Day

Happy Tax Day. 

If that's not an oxymoron.

I went through tax day yesterday. 

Back in January, the IRS sent me a copy of form 1040 with an instruction booklet to help me fill it out. I quickly read through the part that said that I have a small enough income that I don't need to file taxes, and put the envelope aside.

Then the IRS sent me a certified letter. A certified letter from the IRS is something that's enough to make me certifiable. It said that they had discovered that I owe them taxes from 2002, and they've assessed interest and penalties, and therefore doubled the amount I owe. They wanted about a thousand dollars instantly.

Since this is more than my income for a month, I didn't have it.

Since I didn't have it, I am now saddled with an agreement to pay them some money every month and file a return and pay taxes owed every year. So, now, suddenly, at the last minute, I find that I need to file taxes.

I spent the whole day yesterday filling out 1040EZ, finding out I owed $79 (which I don't have), then reading it again and finding out I'm not allowed to fill out that form, tracking down the correct forms and information online (because I didn't keep track of forms I knew I didn't need), doing more arithmetic than a math lesson, and finally finishing up last night with the discovery that I actually don't owe anything, and getting the whole mess in the mail.

I still have more stuff to fix with them, but it doesn't have today for a deadline.

I hope it was a better experience for you than it was for me.

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I ground my teeth, bit the bullet and sent another order to Knit Picks to replace the yarn that I have to return to them. Not that I can afford that, either. I chose the (I hope dark) purple shade of Gloss Lace called Pinot. This would work even if I'd already bought the beads.

I've been repeating to myself over and over all month "I'm saving money for the Sheep and Wool Festival." It hasn't helped me save any money so far, though.

In the meantime, I'm knitting socks from the yarn I bought at AC Moore almost a month ago now, and have almost finished the first pair. There's enough yarn for another pair.

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I got a comment from somebody at ReaperDMV yesterday thanking me for my mention of Reaper and asking me to fight for a third season. If you're a Reaper fan, get on over there and join the fight! Even if you're not a Reaper fan, get over there and click on the link to save a whole list of other shows (including Dollhouse), and there's also a lost cause category for shows that are not just in danger of cancellation, but that have already gotten the ax. The catch is that you can't vote for Chuck, Reaper, Dollhouse and Life. I wanted to vote for all of them, but you can only pick one. It will ask for your email address and password, but you don't have to be a member to vote, just fill in your name and the little box with the word they give you.

Lost is on again tonight! A new one, following Better Off Ted.

Have a great Wednesday! Remember, if it's Wednesday, we're half-way to the weekend!

Happy Labor Day!

There has been lots of knitting going on, but it doesn't look like much. I did a gauge swatch for the mitts, but it was too loose, so it got ripped out and reknit, so there's not much that's actually finished.

The IRS made a big mistake and sent me a stimulus payment. I suspect that I'll have to give it back to them to pay taxes, but in the meantime, I have it.

My winter coat is ripped and looks old and really bad, so I was looking for a new one today, when I found this coat. A winter coat for about $30 including shipping? I couldn't let that pass. It doesn't look like it'll be very warm, but it looks wind resistant, and with warm clothes underneath it, it should be very warm. Which is good, because with lighter clothing, it'll be a good coat for chilly days, too. And for $25, I couldn't ask for more.

There will be what appears to be a new episode of the Middleman on ABC Family tonight.

I hope you're having a great Labor Day!

Ho Hum Wednesday

First of all, I want to correct something that I said in my last post.

There will be two hours of Bones on Fox Network tonight, but it will not be the season opener. By the way, please click on where it says "Fox Network." There's an ad for Fringe in the upper right corner. Make sure you mouse over it. By the way, Fringe will be premiering on 9 September.

Bones is not science fiction, but it's a really good program, so I just threw it into the post.

I have finally given up on the knot on the side and finished it.

The loop of the knot that starts at the top also ends with a loop at the bottom. There is only one other loop.

It's not quite as wonderful as I'd hoped, but not as bad as I'd been afraid it would be. Considering that the bottom of it was ad lib, it's not bad.

I'm going to have to start writing down what I want to say, because I know that I thought of ten things I want to say since the last post, and I won't remember them until this post is done.

In the meantime, I've written the letter to go with the appeal I'm sending to the IRS. I wanted to take a break and do something else before printing the letter so that I could read it again.

Actually, everything that made the appeal necessary was caused by the IRS, and is just a thinly-veiled way of saying that the economy is going down the tubes and that they want more money because they're suffering just like the rest of us. I want to make that clear in the letter without saying something like "You idiots! I'd make a mistake, too, if I thought that you'd pay me $4,000 for doing it!" 

And, by the way, they're still sending these things to the wrong address after six written versions they've gotten and at least five times that I've given them the address over the phone. I wish I could be as well paid for being totally inept.

Anyway, have a great Wednesday!

Dragon Sword

Sunday evening on the SciFi Channel, Dragon Sword will be on again! If you follow that link, it leads to a movie by another name, but it's the same movie.

Aside from being a great children's show, this is also wonderful for adults. It's one of those virtually unknown movies to fall in love with. And I have.

Dragon Sword will be followed by The Brothers Grimm, which is another good movie.

In the meantime, the universe continues to find more and more ways to take money away from me whether I want the things they're taking money for or not.

After fighting with IRS, and getting them to not take money out of my August payment, I get a note from Social Security saying that I'm suddenly eligible for Medicare, and they're taking about $100 out of my August payment.

So, now I have more running around and filling out forms to do.

In the long run, this may be helpful. It would've been helpful during the last month, which was filled with sickness and dental problems, which are still continuing.

I hope you're having a great weekend.

Down with IRS!

I was going to write about knitting.

Really, I was.

Then the mail came.

First, it included a letter from the Hospital, charging me about $400 for visiting their emergency room. 

I don't have $400.

But the reason I got the mail so early today rather than checking it later was that I got a call from the front desk at the apartment telling me I had a certified letter I needed to come down and sign for.

My first reaction was to jump to conclusions, and think that the finance company had put their threat into action, and was attempting to get a judgement against me.

They'll probably do that eventually, being the scum that they are, but that wasn't who it was from. The certified mail was from the IRS.

Now, I spoke to them on Monday, and it looked like I probably will owe them (after they take money out of my Social Security this month) about $35.

The little note from them today says that they're levying penalties against me for not filing my 2002 return (which I did file) in the amount of just under $4,000! That's right, four thousand dollars!

They have tripped over their own feet on this one. They're mad at me because they kept sending letters to a place I haven't been in about six years, I didn't get the letters, so I didn't respond. But the only way they could've gotten that address was from my 2002 return.

Right now, I'm too upset and angry to deal with it. If I do something now, I'll probably regret it.

So, I'm going to deal with the dental problem tomorrow, and then with the IRS problem on Friday.

All the things that are happening are so overwhelming that I can't deal with them all at once. So, I'm making a list and trying to get at least one thing done every day. Two, if I can (like yesterday).

And just when I think how bad things are, I read this. It really puts my problems into perspective. Don't read that if you don't want a big dose of sadness. It contains a story of unbelievable courage, though, so in a way it is inspirational. But so sad. The story changes narration viewpoint a few times, and is about an SCA member.

SCA stands for "Society for Creative Anachronism" and is a historical reenactment group that does the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. We do everything that was done during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. I know blacksmiths, brewers, vintners, bowyers, fetchers, etc. It's fun!

Friday I'll get back to the knitting, science fiction and photography as usual.

Tomorrow is my day at the dentist, so you may not even get a post.

Just so there is a little knitting content, yesterday, I took some acrylic yarn from my stash and started knitting a hood as a Christmas present for somebody who will remain nameless (for obvious reasons). I picked up another skein of (no dye lot) yarn to match it while I was at WalMart. Mainly, I wanted a carry-around project, and a chance to really try out my new Options #8 needle.

Instead of buying the whole set, I bought one set of size eight tips, and a set of 24 inch connectors to see if I'd like the Options needles. Well, I love them! Someday, if I ever have any money, I want to buy the whole set ($60 which is why I didn't just spring for it in the first place and wanted to see if I liked them).

I had great fun knitting on the bus, and practically hypnotized one of my fellow riders with it. My hood or wimple patterns are great for mindless, take-along knitting projects. And they make very unusual presents. Most non-knitters have never seen anything like them.

My friend, John, went to Arizona for lunch. He met with the person who is working with him on the Steve Canyon project, and the step daughter of Dean Fredericks, the actor who portrayed Steve Canyon on TV. She donated photos from the TV series and from Dean's private life, and they discussed more DVDs. He alerted me to the possibility of more cover art. I can't wait!

See more on Steve Canyon here.

Have a better day than I'm having.

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Addition:

I read another blog which mentioned the Declaration of Independence. It details a long list of wrongs committed by King George against the colonies and declares our independence of British rule.

I was surprised how similar the situation is to our relationship with the current goverment.

Long, Hard Day

Today was a long, hard day that involved a lot of walking.

I got up early (for me), got on a bus and went to WalMart to pick up the things I went to get on Sunday with Holly, but they didn't have.

Then I just missed the bus and had to wait for the next one. I walked around the Dollar Store because it was cool in there, and they have lots of neat stuff.

Came out and caught the next bus and got off as near as I could to the Post Office, and mailed all my IRS stuff, along with all the forms for the hospital to tell them that I really can't afford to pay them $200 because I saw a doctor there a couple of weeks ago.

The stuff for IRS went certified mail so that I could prove that they got it.

I was hoping to get a chance at the free clinic, but missing that bus at WalMart made it too late.

There is a free clinic locally. You have to arrive sometime between 3:30 and 4:30 on Tuesday with proof of income and local residency. If you meet all those requirements, you get a number, and after 4:30 there is a lottery. If your number is chosen, you get a chance to see a doctor.

It sounds pretty awful, but there are too few doctors volunteering, and too many people who need help. The volunteers aren't able to see everyone.

Anyway, it was 4:30 almost exactly when I left the Post Office. Catching a bus and riding back there was not an option.

I have a long list of stuff I have to do, and I'm trying to get at least one thing done every day. And I did get some more spinning done yesterday for the Tour de Fleece.

If I had gone to the clinic and actually gotten to see a doctor, then I would have had to decide how to spend the money I borrowed from Holly. I had planned to pay my phone with it, but a clinic visit would have given me (probably) a prescription that I'd have to fill to get any use from it. And I have a tooth in the front that had a small cavity, but during my recent illness, took the opportunity to virtually explode. Now I'm desperate to get something done about it, and I don't know how I'm going to be able to do it. That money is enough to get it x-rayed, and for the dentist to tell me what can be done and how much it's going to cost. I'm hoping I don't wind up without one of my teeth in the front.

So, the hard choice is: doctor and prescription, dentist or phone?

Incidentally, there's a "donate" button on the right for anyone who feels moved to help.

Obviously, this problem wasn't caused by the IRS, but it was made much worse by them. I'd have about $250 more now to get some help with if it hadn't been for them. I did get them to release my Social Security payment in August. They said it was too late to get the collection for July released. But by the time they take a payment this month, it should make us close to even. I thought I was going to get some money back, but they told me about other charges that I wasn't previously aware of. So, I don't know how it's going to come out, but they said I could expect to hear from them sometime in September.

Incidentally, when I went in the post office, my knitting bag set off their alarms. I pulled out the #8 Options circular needles (nickel-plated) that were in the bag and stuck them through the sensor, and they set it off. That may be something to consider for those of you who are traveling by air. I was really surprised that they'd do that. Although my knitting bag set off the alarm at CVS the other day, and the knitting needles weren't in there. So, there's something else that's doing it. WalMart's sensor was perfectly happy with my knitting bag, though. So, I'm perplexed.

Running a couple of quick errands without a car is an all-day experience.

I hope all of you had a much better day than I did.

Hi! and Bye!

I have loads of things that I have to do all of a sudden, a lot of it paperwork inspired by the IRS, who are taking money away from me before I even get it, and will continue to do so until I prove to them that they shouldn't be doing that. Eventually they'll refund what they shouldn't have been taking, but it's a hardship at the moment. It's probably going to take me a week or two to get it all done.

So, for a while, there will be fairly short posts.

Like today.

I have to get moving and get some stuff done.

Have a great Tuesday!

SF Update!

Well, Eli Stone was a bust this weekend. The pilot episode was scheduled, but they showed something about NASCAR instead. I was disappointed. It's beginning to look like I'll never get to see the pilot. It is scheduled for next Saturday evening. We'll see if it's on.

But there is other science-fiction-on-TV news out there!

Special Unit 2 will be on the SciFi daily rotation schedule tomorrow, and Tru Calling will be on the daytime schedule Wednesday.

As far as evening Science Fiction goes, Supernatural seems to be the highlight of the week, with a rerun on Thursday.

Oh well, some shows will be returning in July, although not much.

My Risata Marionberry socks have metamorphed into a pair of mitts and a beret. I've transcribed Crazy Aunt Purl's beret pattern from bulky to fingering yarn. If it works out well, you'll get photos and a pattern. Not that I really expect anyone to want to knit a beret in fingering weight yarn. I'm the only one dedicated enough to do that.

In the meantime, I finally managed to get all the information I need for the IRS (I think I have it all), and need to spend some time filling out forms and getting them xeroxed (I don't trust them not to lose them) and mailed off.

Have a great week!

Great Weekend!

The weekend started on Thursday evening, when my sister, Lynn arrived.

Lynn was determined to cheer me up, and she was wildly successful. We stopped by Arby's for a quick bite, and went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

It was wonderful! Everything you would expect from the next Indiana Jones movie, and everything they need to continue the stories. I loved the movie! I could go on and on about it, and, in fact, I did, all weekend to the total annoyance of everyone around me, no doubt.

I loved it so much that I want to run out and buy lots of Indiana Jones stuff (especially a hat), so I added a page to my store.

But I don't want to include any spoilers here, and anything I said would spoil it. 

On Friday, Lynn and I had planned to go to the IRS office and get all my problems straightened out. Well we went, and they weren't there.

The people from IRS on the phone promised that I could get my problems straightened out at their local office. Well, from what I could tell, there where a whole two people there! And one of them was a security officer, so there was only one person available for help, and they told me that they couldn't do anything that the people on the phone said they could.

They urged me to come back another day, but that's pricey on public transportation, and would have me walking a couple of miles from the bus stop on a foot that's been aching and making me think there's something seriously wrong with it. With no guarantee that they wouldn't help me then, either.

So, Lynn and I went out of there wondering what we were going to do with the rest of the afternoon. I made a few suggestions and asked her what she wanted to do. She said "Why don't we get you some new glasses?" At first, I didn't think she meant it, but she did, and I had an eye exam and new glasses.

They have a gunmetal finish metal frame which is a little bigger than I might otherwise want for glasses, but there are sunglasses that clip magnetically to the frame. They are the perfect size for sunglasses. Lynn and the saleslady said it was silly to buy glasses and not get bifocals, and the difference between line and no-line was a whole $7.50, so I have no-line bifocals.

Talk about the ultimate present! She said these are for my birthday, Christmas, my birthday next year and Christmas next year, and probably a few other presents, too. It's a present for the rest of my life!

Friday and Saturday evenings, we watched some TV and movies and talked. Movies seen were: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (she hadn't seen it before) and Practical Magic. Movie shows included Ghost Whisperer, and the Blink episode of Doctor Who.

Saturday, we went to the Potomac Celtic Festival, and met Holly, Everett and Jeff. 

There was no cider! They had a problem with some of the equipment that puts various drinks on tap, and so they had just beer and (I think) stout. They could only sell two drinks, so they eliminated the cider.

We wandered around and found loads of neat stuff, and then the sky got grey, and we shopped our way back to the cars. I wanted to go back to Echo and Wild and buy a sterling rune pendant that I had seen, but all the sales booths were being packed up for the rain that was coming and I couldn't find it for a while. I bought a beautiful silver Algiz (or Elhaz) pendant. Most runes have several names. Algiz is a rune of protection, and it's a rune that also appeared in New Genesis  (also known as Twilight of the Dogs--I'm in photo 13), a movie I worked on.

I bought my rune (which I love), and it was just starting to rain, so I headed across the field, directly toward the entrance, and the sky opened up and rained harder than I've ever seen it do. I had an umbrella, but my pants were soaked through before I could get out of the open and to shelter. This was not just rain, it was a storm. When I got toward the edge (near the exit), I hid under a tent with a lot of other people who wanted to get out of the rain, and called Lynn. She had gotten back to the car, and had pulled up near the entrance. She moved a little so I could see her headlights, and I made a run for it. We also picked up Everett and Jeff, and drove them out to Holly and her car.

After a little milling around in confusion, we went to Pizza Hut and had some wonderful pizza (what else), with all the usual stuff. It was wonderful! It gave us a chance to talk and catch up, and was loads of fun!

On Sunday, Holly got together with Lynn and I for lunch and we got a chance to talk and catch up on more things, we saw Lynn off on her trip home, and Holly and I went to see The Happening. It was spooky, and strange (you were expecting something else?). I was slightly disappointed with the ending.

We went to Borders so Holly could get a copy of the next Dresden Files book, and she bought a copy of Lord Foul's Bane to loan me and to read after I'm done with it.

Then she dropped me at home, where I crashed and burned with the current cold/sore throat/misery that I'm still fighting off.

What a weekend! I feel like I've been through an adventure to rival Indy's!

Have a great Tuesday! More on cameras and photography tomorrow

Dynamite Photography

I woke up today, and the phone rang.

It was Holly, letting me know a few things: She had just arrived at the airport in Detroit safely (she's staying with Malaia and John this weekend for John's going-away party). And that she had found the camera that she'd lost.

Robin gave her a tiny, but  wonderful camera for Christmas. I love that camera. It's easy to use, and had a great zoom mechanism, and tiny, so you can carry it around with you all the time. 

But she lost it (she thought).

So, she went out and bought another similar one and discovered that Robin, being the fabulous photographer and wonderful boyfriend he is, had chosen an excellent camera, and that she didn't like the new one she'd bought to replace it anywhere near as well. 

So, she finally broke down and bought a duplicate of the one Robin bought her and had it shipped to Malaia so that she could use it while there. She planned to sell the replacement camera to her sister, Heather, who liked it.

So, now she's got two identical cameras, except one has never been used and is new in the box.

I thought about buying it from her when the IRS ever gets it together and gives me the money they said I should get. I like it a lot better than my tiny, carry-everywhere camera.

So, it got me thinking about camera gear as soon as I woke up.

If you hate photography, you can stop reading here.

I love photography, and would love to have a good camera again just for my own enjoyment. But aside from that, I plan to make and sell some things over the internet and you need good photos for that. Not high resolution, but taken with a camera that has the extra abilities of a more expensive camera. I'm also collecting knitting patterns which I plan to publish in a book, and for that I do need good, high quality, high resolution photos.

But while I was mulling all this over, I thought I'd put all my photo gear selections together in one section of my Amazon store for others who are wondering what gear to buy.

Good gear can make it so easy to take stunning photos, and the wrong gear can make it almost impossible to produce anything but junk.

I have three cameras listed. They're very similar. All have long lenses. That means that you can get a close-up without actually having to walk up closer.

I read an article by a camera expert with advice on how to take good photos for people who know nothing about cameras. He gave two rules: Walk up close. Walk up even closer. I couldn't agree more. If you watch most amateurs take a photo, they'll look through the viewfinder, and then turn around and walk further back and then take the picture. Exactly the reverse of what they should be doing. Having a long lens makes it easy to "walk up close" without having to move. You can take a portrait without having to get up in the person's face. You can take a good photo at the jousting matches at the Renaissance festival or football game.  With a long enough lens and a tripod, you can take photos of the moon that actually show the moon! 

To use the lens at it's longest length, you'll have to practice holding it steady, but the stability built into these cameras will make it much easier.

And the control for the zoom is the best I've ever used. I usually hate the zoom controls and would rather have a manual control. But Canon has made it easy to zoom quickly to almost where you want to be, and then slow down for precise framing. It's great!

These cameras all have swing-out LCD finders, too. That means if you want to take photos of a parade, but you're stuck in the back of the crowd, you can swing out the finder, swivel it a bit, and hold your camera over the heads of the people in front, and still be able to see what you're taking a picture of. You can also position it so that you can take a photo of yourself and see how you're framed in the photo while you're doing it.

The next important thing you'll need is the adapters so that you can put filters on your camera, plus the filters.

You'll do more to improve your photos with filters than anything else. Much more bang for the buck than any other photography gear you can buy.

I've chosen a selection of filters that create effects that can easily be seen through the lenses of the cameras I'm recommending so you'll be able to get just the shot you want the first time. 

First of all, they're all Cokin filters. Cokin has  a special filter system that has many advantages. The Cokin adapter holds square, flat filters that can be slid into place much more quickly and easily than screwing in conventional filters (and easier on the wrists). You can slide the filters to one side, and move a center spot filter (for example) off center to get the best picture composition. And if you buy a different camera that needs different size lenses, you just buy a new adapter rather than have to buy all the filters over again. They also have some of the most fabulous filters. Ones that are almost impossible to find elsewhere.

I've chosen several varieties of center spot filters. Pick your favorites from the selection. There are also fog filters to blur part of your photo. And star filters. Don't forget the star filters. They make photos with point light sources in them into magical vistas. I plan to add more, too. They'll all be the easy, spectacular filters.

And then, there are the flashes. Two of the cameras don't have hot shoes, so you can't use a traditional flash with them. I have two good traditional flashes for the S5, but they won't work on the S2 or S3. Don't forget diffusers! But even if you get an S5, you'll probably want a slave flash.

A slave is a flash that goes off as soon as there is a bright flash of light. That means you can use your on-camera flash to trigger a remotely-placed slave without having to connect them with cables and other cumbersome stuff. For instance, at a party, leave a slave somewhere pointing at the ceiling. Then when you take a photo, the slave will provide ambient lighting for the background of your photos while the on-camera flash will light the subject.

Feel free to ask questions about this in the comments.

Maybe I should write a book about this.

Don't forget: tomorrow is SciFi day! The Doctor Who episode, Blink at 5 am, Firefly during the day (including Jaynestown, Trash and The Messenger), the premier of Charlie Jade in early evening, followed by the all-new Doctor Who episode, The Doctor's Daughter. 

Check your local listings and set your DVRs!

Have a day packed with great science fiction TV tomorrow!