Have our cake and eat it too!
31 03 09 - 20:41. Category:
A client brought us a cake today! But not just any cake, a U.S. 1040 Individual Income Tax Return cake!
I didn't quite make it to the kitchen fast enough when the email went out, but I caught the important part. Pretty good shot from my camera phone too!
First Read
28 03 09 - 08:11. Category:
MSNBC has this great little news email called
First Read. It's an email every morning about the top topics in politics, and a wrapup email "Looking back at today" at the end of the day. When I have the time to read it I love it, it's just enough info to stay up to speed.
But I also hate it.
The First Read email arrives at around 6:30 in the morning, which is fine. The sad part is that it hasn't arrived when I check my email when I wake up but it's there waiting for me when I get to work... But again that isn't too bad.
Looking Back at Today however arrives at around 1:45. It makes me want to hurt things. "Looking back at today"?! It's a quarter to two! My working day still has anywhere from three and a half to four hours left during tax season!
It's like a little kick in the shins to my afternoon. It's just not cool.
Starbucks impossible
26 03 09 - 08:44. Category:
The last few days I've wanted a Starbucks caramel apple spice to kick off my morning when I get to/drive to work. So far my lust has gone unfulfilled and I've had only the diminishing satisfaction return of instant hot chocolate at work.
I realized why today. There's no Starbucks on my building's block.
There's also no Starbucks on the blocks to the north, south, east, or west of my building. The blocks to the northwest, southwest, southeast, and northeast are also.
A quick Google Maps search shows that the closest one to my work is six blocks away (oddly there are none in the entire oldtown/chinatown district). It'd actually be a trip to find a starbucks.
I think I now believe in miracles or the devil's influence on this Earth, depending on your perspective.
CPA process
25 03 09 - 07:32. Category:
Applying for the CPA exams is ridiculously convoluted and not well explained. I'm mostly writing this blog post so that I can have it actually figured out.
Step 1: Submit the application and candidate release form. Pay (re)application fee. Also submit transcripts. I did this step yesterday!
Step 2: Receive an Authorization to Test (ATT) From the Oregon Board of Accountancy.
Step 3: Receive payment coupon for tests authorized under the ATT from NASBA (I don't know what this acronym means).
Step 4: Submit payment for tests to NASBA.
Step 5: Receive a Notice to Schedule (NTS) from NASBA.
Step 6: Schedule test dates.
Step 7: Sit tests.
Step 8: If you passed the test, congratulations! If you failed the test, please see Step 1.
Quickies
20 03 09 - 20:45. Category:
Quickies
- I realized just how twisted my sense of humor might be when I texted a friend "Go for the throat if you want to shut her up and get a fountain show."*
- I got a forward spam from my mother this week: "The Lotus Touts must leave your hands in 6 MINUTES. Otherwise you will get a very unpleasant surprise. This is true, even if you are not superstitious, agnostic, or otherwise faith impaired." I kept it long enough to copy that second paragraph before I deleted it. "Faith impaired," c'mon now no need to get offensive.
- I love new office supply day. We got in new red pencils this week. I stocked up. We also FINALLY got in new thumb tacks so I was able to unify all the ones in my cubicle wall to the same simple clear.
Excessive Email Subject Lines
- "I am going to storage in 15 minutes to p/u some files. Do you need any files from storage?"
- If you would like a bowl of ice cream or an ice cream cone, stop by the Large Conference Room.
*Said friend texted me about a gross, gussied-up, girl with a child's voice in her class who said the following: "There's a difference between not really having to think about something, and like, school." I suggested she remove the girl from the gene pool, and then elaborated how.
Kings, cont.
17 03 09 - 20:02. Category:
In case you still haven't caught on, Kings is building some serious steam. IMDB has it up
98% popularity since it premiered. One of the bloggers/writers for the
Portland Mercury did a good job summing the show up, and you should listen when he says to go watch it. It's up on Hulu now.
I poked my nose around a little at
Court Historian, a great old-world tie into a reinvented show idea. Not much on the site now, but definitely room for development. I almost don't want to get too into it cause it'd be one more thing to try and keep up with.
Kings
16 03 09 - 02:07. Category:
Caught the premiere of this show tonight. The pilot set up a lot of points of contention for the series to follow, and while some of the story line was a little obvious, it was good none-the-less. The setting is unique, and I think they're incorporating elements such as the concept of God-ordained royalty decently well. If you are interest, NBC is showing the full episode on their website.
On a self-indulgent (damn I'm all about the hyphens tonight!) there's two doses of hotness in this show:
This would be the main character, you may recognize him from Eragon. He's grown up a bit. He brings the nice, homely, honest, ignorant adorableness to the show.
Here you have the current prince of the kingdom, you may recognize him from The Covenant. He brings the angsty, angry, emo hotness. He's also a gay character, which I hope they do well with portraying (xref. points of contention).
So basically there is an overload of attractiveness, but the more important thing is there is a promising story with an interesting setting evolving as well. Like I mentioned, they get a little too obvious in the contention points they set up for future story lines, but otherwise it is pretty good. Definitely worth checking out.
If you've had a chance to watch it, what do you think?
Sharing time
14 03 09 - 09:44. Category:
Here is the new addition to my cube, the 2008 federal budget
Death and Taxes poster. I loves it.
What I do when I'm bored at work looking for a little entertainment:
Lastly, a guy buffing our windows (they're mirrored on the outside). I was kind of made fun of for taking this shot, since in a big city you see these all the time. But you don't see them all the time, and you definitely don't see them hanging right in front of your window on a regular basis (he's 10 stories up btw):
12 of 12, March
13 03 09 - 00:12. Category:
Unfortunately I did not participate in 12 of 12 this month. I was trapped in a conference room at a clients for nine hours today, and that was the bulk of my day. It would not have made for great pictures and I don't know that the partner would appreciate it. Wake up, go to fieldwork, come home, just did not leave a lot of time for interesting pictures.
As compensation I was going to post a picture of the latest and greatest addition to my cubicle. Unfortunately when I put my memory card in my desktop it was having reading troubles and the pictures wouldn't show up. Stuck in my laptop, it says I have to format it. Thankfully I keep my card cleaned out, so nothing was lost except my picture for tonight.
CONSUMER SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Don't buy cheap memory cards! I figured that they were a pretty generic technology at this point so I bought what was on sale but didn't have the brand reputation or recognition. I've had it maybe two-three months and it's already corrupted (granted, a reformat fixed it. It's just annoying). The memory card I bought with my camera 3-4 years ago hadn't had a single problem.
Speaking of cameras... the Canon SX110IS is seriously tempting me the last month or so...
PLUSormin.us
11 03 09 - 22:35. Category:
http://www.plusormin.us/
It's pretty nifty, check it out.
Time to go
08 03 09 - 12:55. Category:
It's time for the tongue ring to go. Being a guy that comes across as pretty bland, I thought it hinted at the fact that I like to have my fun. Plus it was always fun to play with.
But every time I see some overweight woman riding the MAX in a top that's too small licking a straw with a stud through her mouth I cringe. I guess it's time to be a little more adult, this is step two. Step one was falling asleep on the couch watching TV at 10:30.
Here's to you, tongue ring:
Quickies.. sorta..
06 03 09 - 20:52. Category:
The office's second sixty hour week (out of three) has mushed up everyone's brains. I don't have any quickies, because none have come to mind. Even email has been mellow the last week.
I'm pretty much just tired. Falling alseep on the couch every night is pretty enjoyable before I drag myself to bed.
At this point I'm running on the thought of having a four day weekend after tax season and how absolutely glorious my first fourty hour week is going to be. Getting to leave at 4:30 again and cut 15-20 hours of work is going to feel like the biggest relief I can imagine. Plus i will once again be in the world of the living.
Quickies
- I just realized the double meaning of "Friday" in German. "Freitag" is a combonation of two words: "frei" and "tag." Tag simply means day, and frei translates on a simple level to free. Friday usually isn't a free day, but it is the launching pad to weekend freedom, so it really is "freeday." Unless you're an accountant during tax season, in which case you'll be working Saturday.
Excessive Email Subject Lines
- FW: AICPA EBPAQC Alert #158 - New EFAST2 System and 2009 Form 5500 Revisions; COBRA Subsidies Under the Stimulus Package; DOL Electronic Subscription Service
Haircut
04 03 09 - 20:33. Category:
I got a haircut yesterday after work (sorry no pic). I know, nothing exciting. Well it wasn't the usual crew at my Great Clips since it was the late-evening people. Terry was working, whom I've never seen before. To clarify Terry is a guy, and he looked like a biker. His hand and arm on one side had old faded tattoos, he was rockin' a mustache, and he had that typical rough around the edges.
I've always found males in get in/get out hair places off putting. Call me sexist, but it just doesn't seem like something guys do. I always have to remind myself of all the gay men out there that just love playing with hair. So I was a little perturbed by Terry cutting my hair, I judged him to put it simply.
Turns out, Terry does an excelent job! Not only that, but he's fast! His rattling coffee maker-esque lungs due to years of cancer stick consumption was a little uncomfortable to listen to, but he managed to take my "usually 1/4 off, but I want it a bit shorter" and just take off and get it the perfect length. The girls are always "How much exactly? What clipper should I use?" Like they can't use scissors and do a good job.
Dare I say he knew a man's needs for his hair?
It occured to me, as I was walking out, that head-hair maintenance for men was a long-held art of barbershops. Terry mentioned he'd been doing his job for 26 years (rattling lungs slowly developing I'm sure). The local for him was a little strange, but he is probably exactly the type of person to cut a guys hair.
Thanks Terry!
