Catherine

My CPA Site Solutions web site has some built-ins as well -- you are welcome to pop over and use them anytime. There is an online visual graphic called "Karl's Mortgage Calculator" which is really cool; I've used it off and on for years. http://www.drcalculator.com/mortgage/

When I get to feeling like winter is a bit too much, I go check out the forecast and current status for Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada (old DEW station WWAAYY up north). Current conditions -22F; wind chill -50F. Maybe two hours of daylight (sunrise 11:30 AM sunset 1:30 PM). Blowing and drifting snow. NO advisories; this is "normal" winter weather for them. http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=zmw:00000.1.71925

Up to 54F here today but the drop is starting. Tonight's low will be 14F and that will also be tomorrow's high. The snow is gone from the driveway, courtesy of the rain. Fortunately that has stopped and with any luck we will not be one sheet of ice tomorrow. If so, though, the sun will melt/evaporate/sublimate the ice during the day. As for Taxed's snow blower -- nice! We also have an Ariens and while it works great I wish we could have bought one size up. Instead of those handles, ours has bales to hold and my hands go numb with the grip required. But a bigger one won't fit inside the garage to store.

I do indeed. We missed the storm itself, as we were in NY state visiting Gwen at college (she was at Wells for her freshman year; now at Keene State in NH - MUCH closer). Got back the day after the storm. We still had power but the block behind us and the block across from us were both bereft for a week. Had two neighbors' freezer goods in my freezer for that week. Folks across the street borrowed by kerosene lantern for light at night. No gas in our neighborhood; the line stops about a 1/4 mile from here. When we moved here oil was $1.18/gal. Last delivery we got was $3.90/gal -- up almost four-fold in ten years. Makes propane look intriguing, I'll tell you. Three times in ten years folks surrounding us have had week-long power outages. First one was a truck that took out a pole that brought power across Rt 2. Then two storms - one of the hurricanes took out the whole area behind us, then the Halloween snow/ice storm took out behind us and across from us. We have a working fireplace, gas grill (and gas burner than I use for canning as my electric stove can't handle the prolonged heat needed), candles and kerosene lanterns -- and skills honed by years in the hinterlands of central Mass where the power went out all the time. A week without power with an infant and a toddler grows you some mighty coping skills. Double when you get that once in summer and once in winter in the same year.

If you do need to use the candle-heater trick (great idea!) choose a smaller room and if it's that cold hang blankets over doorways. Have also heard of folks putting up a tent in living room and camping out; body heat will keep a tent warm inside a house. When I lived in central Mass., we would have the power go out for days at a time in winter, several times a season. Anytime a storm was predicted, we had clean plastic buckets i the tub, full of water. Wood stove ready. Long-burn candles ready. You can cook lots of stuff on a wood stove top - and more in a gas or charcoal grill outside. Annoying for many days but completely do-able. Easier in winter in some ways as there are no worries about food spoiling; put it in a cooler full of snow!

This dog has been incredibly well-trained and you can see he enjoys his tricks too! http://www.flixxy.com/jumpy-the-dog.htm

No way I know of to automate a cold metal restore -- the good news is it doesn't have to be done daily, or even weekly, necessarily. Just often enough that you can update programs easily. Once a month? Once a quarter? Put it in as a recurring appointment in your calendar...

There are two kinds of backups -- data and "cold metal restore." The first is the easy kind - and the easiest to automate. It's the kind that Mozy, Carbonite, iDrive, and others will do online daily (or more often). The other gives you all your executables (programs) and doesn't need to be done daily -- but certainly after major updates. Those are the ones that will put all your software back on a new machine. Then import your data from the data backup. Old saying in the field -- electronic devices run on smoke. You let the smoke out, they stop working. Permanently.

Need to hire help - an annual problem since my in-house helpers both grew up and moved out. Also will be using Drake this year so there is new-er software (used it for about half of last year's returns).

Thomas Jefferson: "My reading of history shows that most bad government is the result of TOO MUCH government." Please note - Mr. Jefferson was NOT a Republican. The first Republican President was Abraham Lincoln; the Republican Party was founded as an abolitionist party.

There was a great cartoon a WHOLE bunch of years ago; a guy taking down a mostly-bare real tree with a couple of tired ornaments still clinging to it. Caption said, "Every year after Labor Day, Harold finally takes down the Christmas tree." But that's not one of the choices... I do know one family -- with a really small living room -- who puts their tree up (only with lights) on the porch. They leave it up 'til there has been enough of a spring thaw to actually remove it safely. Usually mid-March.

Very true! But we would see it when we got back and (1) know we'd been thought of kindly, and (2) been able to answer at that time.

Hi KC -- Thanks for your concern. We're fine here; a little light snow today and very grey skies. Pretty doggone cold yesterday; today is less frigid. That's all.

And for some of the *dangers* of bitcoin... http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=227045

I just *adore* the Darwin Awards!! Somewhere we have a book of their episodes.

Have a chuckle! Then later I'll tell the one about Santa and the angel.

LOL!! (But as we all know, the Roman year started in March and the Jewish year (though it migrates due to the lunar calendar) also does not start in January.)

Thanks!

sneak preview -- looks *epic* http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/2014-sneak-peek.htm

My doctor warned me a year ago she was going to retire rather than deal with all the new ACA rules, reg's, and limitations. She did -- and I have yet to find a new doctor in my plan who is taking new patients.

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year to all my friends here!

An EA I know here in Mass who specializes in OICs recommended to me several years ago to put in a very lowball offer, get it rejected, and get to Appeals as quickly as possible. The idea is that only the folks in Appeals have any real authority to negotiate -- the "regular" office staff are only able to agree to near-full-payments. Worked for me the two times I went all the way through. After which I decided that trying to do OIC's as a one-person office is madness; tons of paperwork up front, the IRS offices ignore you for months, after which time you get maybe two weeks to re-do all that paperwork while every other client's work gets ignored. No, thanks - I have easier ways to hurt myself! YMMV.

An elderly man in Oklahoma calls his son in New York and says, "I hate to ruin your day son, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are getting a divorce; 45 years of marriage... and that much misery is enough!" "Dad, what are you talking about?" the son yells. "We can't stand the sight of each other any longer," the old dad explained. "We're sick of each other, and I'm sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Hong Kong and tell her!". Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. "Like heck they're getting divorced," she shouts, "I'll take care of this." She calls her elderly father immediately, and screams at him, "You are not getting divorced. Don't do a single thing until I get there. I'm calling my brother back, and we'll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don't do a thing, you hear me?" she yelled as she hung up the phone. The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. "Okay", he says, "it's all set. They're both coming for Christmas and paying their own air-fare."

Sunspots are responsible for SO much more than most of us realize!