I've been very busy since I've been home. But I am planning to have photos on here, as well as on Facebook, and a blog post in the next day or so.

My mom used the trip to Dallas and back to swipe my brother's cat, Tishka. Eugene had been willing — dare I say eager? — for her to adopt the cat for some time. Tishka is a Russian name; I believe it translates to "cat."

Tishka did not much care for his pet carrier. But he arrived at my place safe and sound. My mom and Tishka spent one night here, before continuing on to my mom's place in TN. In the second leg of the journey, Tishka played Houdini and learned how to open the double latches of the pet carrier. But he didn't give my mom any trouble while she drove, so she let him stay out.

Tishka seems to be a pretty smart kitty. He had never been potty trained as far as we know, but he figured out the litter box on the first go. He's also pretty athletic for a cat of his size. At my brother's place he was known for jumping up on the porch railing in a single bound, and from there jumping up onto the roof.



Poetry in non-motion:

Around April 1, I won an eBay auction for a Toyota Prius. My mom was kind enough to fly to Dallas (I paid her fare) and drive it back for me. She arrived with it on Friday, April 18 — two days before my vacation to Sweden.

It's a 2005 model, with 80,000+ miles. I'm quite happy with it. The price was pretty decent.

I'll be posting a couple photos soon. In the meantime, if you know anyone looking for a used Jeep Cherokee, give me a call!

On April 20, I'm flying to Sweden for a one-week vacation. I'll be staying with my friends at LifeStyleTV, not far from Malmö. I'll also fly up to Stockholm for one day to visit friends there. I'll post photos and more details when I get back.

My plane flies in to Copenhagen, so I'll get to see a little bit of Denmark too.

It's been a crazy month, trying to get everything wrapped up and squared away for one little vacation abroad. It will be so nice to be a loooooong way from work for a little while!

Tags: travel, europe

Although I always do my own taxes, and it usually is a fairly smooth process, it is also time-consuming and sometimes stressful.

I'm usually quite meticulous about hanging onto even the smallest receipts until I've accounted for the spending. I even record the 50¢ or so I pay for snacks that I bring home from work. Of course, sometimes things slip through, and so every so often I compare the cash I have with what I think I should have, and the difference goes to miscellaneous expense and/or my best guess. Because I am so careful, it really bothers me when I have a bill that I cannot account for, or when a discrepancy shows up in a balance. This doesn't happen too often, but there's usually one or two snurks in each year's tax preparation.

Of course, there are also the occasional happy surprises. There have been at least two years when I found, while getting caught up on my bank reconciliations, that I had $500–1000 more than my checkbook balance contained.

And here's a little FYI for you: Did you know that, according to IRS policy, if you make a loan to someone, and do not charge interest, or charge interest below the "applicable federal rate," you have to pay tax on the interest you did NOT charge? It's true! You can read all about it in Publication 525. (It's way down the page under "Below-market loans.") Not only that, but the borrower who did not pay the interest that you did not charge, may have to pay tax on what you didn't charge them, depending on the circumstances. I'm not a tax expert, but my best guess is that this is based on the idea that the federal interest rate represents inflation, and inflation is the only way to rightly estimate the value of money; and if you don't charge interest, you are effectively losing money, which is effectively the same as giving it away to the person you made the loan to. Naturally you cannot give away something you never had, so the IRS taxes you for receiving the interest (as though you received it and then gave it away). At least this is the impression left by their explanation of how this tax law works.

Also from the same IRS publication: (I hope this doesn't apply to any of you!) "If you steal property, you must report its fair market value in your income in the year you steal it unless in the same year, you return it to its rightful owner." Hmmm. What if someone returns something that they stole, but waits until the following tax year? Does it become taxable income for the person who receives it back?

Occasionally I learn that someone has been trying to contact me through my old Shawneelink email address. Unfortunately sending friendly messages, your cousin's baby pictures, forwarded spam, love letters, and YouTube links to that address is about as effective as printing them out, stuffing them in an old paper envelope, and burning it. To put it simply, that address is no more.



If you have this address in your address book, or penciled in a coffee-stained notebook opposite your online banking passwords (I'm not telling how I know), please DELETE IT, cross it out, or whatever you must do.

That address has been defunct for about eight months now, so if you've sent anything important (money, fan mail, etc.) to that address during that time, I haven't received it.

Here is the address you should use:



Besides being easier to remember, it has this major benefit: It works. You can, of course, also contact me through this website. Or at my workplace. Or by phone. Or chat. Or Facebook or MySpace. Or just Google for my name—it's everywhere!

If you want a free and easy way to keep your contact information current, try Plaxo. It synchronizes your contact information with the latest updates from other members. Works on Macs and Windows PCs. I've been using it for some time now, and quite a few of my friends use it too. It seems to work reliably, and has been a great help. The only gripe I've had is that it has merged contacts who shared an email address, such as married couples. But if you make sure Plaxo is set to require confirmation before making changes, rather than working in fully automatic mode, that kind of error won't happen. (It doesn't hurt to backup your data first, either. I believe Plaxo does this automatically the first time you run it, at least in Outlook.)

Tags: contact