Catherine

http://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/35829/JAMES-F-MURRAY http://virtualwall.org/dm/MurrayJF01a.htm http://virtualwall.org/js/profile.htm He was younger, when he died, than my younger daughter is now.

The others have pretty much said it all. My cousin Jim Brady runs the Holocaust Museum (thank you for your words, Lion; I'll pass them on to him!) so that's on my must-see list. Monticello. Mount Vernon is astounding, I am told by friends who saw it just a few months ago. Piece of trivia for you about the Washington Monument: ( 1 ) you'll see if you look carefully that the marble is in two colors -- this is due to an interruption in construction (and supply source) because of the Civil War (and a lack of funds) and ( 2 ) at the top, facing upwards, are the words "Laus Deo" (praise God), where no human can see them. Washington was a deeply religious man.

I use both Medlin Payroll and Drake for 941's (depending on whether they are after the fact (Drake) or a PR client (Medlin)). I do NOT e-file 941's; paper copies go to the client to sign & send in. Neither of them are as nice as the ATX payroll used to be - but I have gotten used to them. I also use CFS Tax Software for the instruction letters for those returns. CFS sells its own 941 software but since I already have two systems that will prepare them it seems more than a bit silly to purchase a 3rd as a standalone.

Thanks, KC and Lion. My first concern with this issue was how certain the reimbursement is -- most places, if you take a course for work, they reimburse right away. Any delay usually means they've come up with some obscure rule to weasel out of paying. But I will get hard figures on just how much help claiming this will (or will not) be, whether using LL or 2106. Catherine

Client took a grad-level course for work; paid for it herself, in 2013. Employer supposedly will reimburse for this course - but not until later in 2014. How does this affect how I can treat this course for tax purposes? I cannot find any clear guidance in The Tax Book or my other first reference point sources; they all deal with reimbursement the same year as the course, which is not the case here. TIA, Catherine

I have NO idea if this could be related to Heartbleed, but it could be something as "simple" as a permissions problem. Some of the permissions are buried layers deep in the anti virus software, and could be stopping the scanners from delivering the scans (writing them to disk): they may have "lost" the permission to write. After that gets checked, I'd be lost (and defer to Jack, Eric, etc).

On her way to CT where the Connecticut state courts will have jurisdiction. Here's hoping THEY do the right thing and get this girl back home where she belongs! Make no mistake, public pressure is the ONLY reason she is even getting this close to home! DCF just yesterday cancelled the family's "Mother's Day" visit -- what possible reason could they have had other then pettiness and a final assertion of power? http://rabidrepublicanblog.com/2014/05/12/justina-en-route-to-connecticut/

Mr. Greedy needs a lesson in sharing...

Happened to us -- snow avalanched off our solar panels. You would not believe the amount of noise it made! That snow was packed *solid* too -- my poor shrubs will spend this summer coming up recovering. Next fall I will have to build lean-to's to cover them.

And I will point out yet again that IF the DCF was correct, her physical condition would -- at the VERY least -- have stayed the same. Most likely, it would have improved substantially without the "excess treatment" they accuse her family of subjecting her to. Except the truth is that this girl was an ice-skating _competitor_ a mere two weeks before her hospitalization -- and is now confined to a wheelchair because she cannot walk. I also want to know how the BCH doctor who started this whole thing got in to see her in the first place, when she was sent to BCH to confer with one -specific- doctor (who had transferred there from Tufts). The whole thing stinks to high heavens from start to finish.

My best friend's dad was an auto mechanic who also never wore his ring at work, because (as he said) "I like my fingers!" He did take it out for special occasions.

How to get a ring off a swollen finger _without_ cutting the ring. By a doctor in the UK. http://www.wimp.com/removering/

Thanks for all the sympathy and kind words. Yes, it is really nice to do something completely unrelated to taxes. I also use practice (in the winter) as a way to warm up when I've been sitting at this desk freezing my patootie off; it does an amazing job at warming me up. Ten minutes and I'm toasty (ceiling fan in the practice room for summer!). Plus have had a brain break and can go back to whatever was driving me nuts when I'd left off. I actually have one more eligible year to compete in the novice category but Gwen (who is WAY better than I am) got arm-twisted by our instructor to compete in the "Open" (=adult non-beginner) category. She is terrified of coming in last (highly unlikely; she's good), so if I go for the Open, she is guaranteed _not_ to be dead last! What's a little public humiliation among friends, family, and a roomful of complete strangers, after all?

The NHHG info is here: http://www.nhscot.org/ Even if you don't see me, you would have a terrific time - there is always TONS of fun stuff to do! So far they only have the dance competition registration open. No fiddle yet.

Sigh. I have been working on a four-tune Scottish fiddle set for the New Hampshire Highland Games this September -- since last September. My instructor just added a whole slew of really excellent ornamentation and dynamics to the tunes. So now I've been working on adding those in. Thing is, my instructor broke her left (violin fingering!) wrist in *fourteen* places in February after falling on ice. She still made it sound easy and beautiful. With no broken wrist and no mobility problem I sound not *quite* bad enough to make the neighborhood cats howl. I don't think breaking my own wrist will improve my sound, though.

For anyone who has not seen this yet. Look Up.

I do charge for those returns BUT a very small amount. I don't want anyone getting used to getting services for free, or thinking of my work as not valuable (even for a 2 W-2 and $14 bank interest return). I will usually charge the parents, and show what the return fee would be normally, then my (deep) discount for a multi-return family. I still sometimes have trouble getting money from the kids once they're on their own - they are used to having mom & dad pay. Which reminds me, I have a $30 bill to re-send to a client's daughter....

So now I have TWO "Lake Catherine"s to go to!

We don't have official results yet but I do have a couple of pictures. This one shows what the targets look like from 200 yards away. The black bulls-eye (cleverly disguised as a medium-grey dot) is actually about a foot across. This one is of the folks on the firing line, taken from our assigned point about 2/3 of the way down the line. Surrounded by folks with high-power rifles front, back, and to both sides: a great place to be!

Cool! Should I ever find myself in Arkansas I will be certain to check it out. Thanks KC.

#7, for me. Client had been laid off and was starting a consulting business. We talked about the effects of unemployment (signed up for no tax to be withheld; didn't ask me first), requirement not to accept unemp if working, consequences of self-employment (SE tax, fed tax, state tax). She estimated she would get about $15K unemp and and $12K SE income (in addition to YTD earnings and husband's income). Gave her estimated coupons based on those projections with written and verbal instructions to call back if it looked like she was going to earn substantially more than estimated, as those amounts would be insufficient. Came in the next year - $34K unemp and about the same in SE income. Big tax bill. Mad at -me- as if I was the cause. Miserable little (I won't say it) griped and moaned about how I messed up and it was all my fault. She got fired. Possibly 3 minutes before she would have fired me. Not a surprise in some ways; her dad got his knickers all in a twist when he retired and turned day-trader and I charged him per trade (after telling him that was how I bill for that work). He got fired too. I have easier ways to hurt myself than deal with people like that.

Windows operating systems are like Star Trek movies -- every other one it not worth the time. Skip W8.

Pretty! But I guarantee you that I have never been there.

I skipped the overlays. But on time -- a character in a book I read some time ago had a fabulous statement about time. She said, "Time doesn't fly; it damned near evaporates on you!" And she was SO right.

FBAR and FUBAR are ---sssooo--- very close.... I stopped doing these for folks; I now have a one-page info sheet that I hand to clients with foreign accounts. I just include the 8938 (or whatever it is) with the 1040, as needed.