Tax Refund in your favor - collect $2000

I feel like I just landed on Free Parking. Notice to students/parents of students! If your child graduated or left school in 2005, you may miss out on taking the Lifetime Learning Credit if you don't pay attention!!

DH and I were doing our taxes, and one of the questions that TurboTax asks is "did you pay tuition or fees in 2005?" Naturally, I answered yes, since I paid tuition and fees for the Spring 2005 semester at Georgetown. I then realized that I didn't receive a 1098T (or whatever the form was). When I went back and looked through my records I noticed that the forms I did receive in 2004 and 2003 were for full year tuition amounts. ($26k and $27k respectively)

Georgetown's forms went by when they billed me (which for Spring Semester 2005 was in December 2004) rather than when I paid (which was in Jan 2005). I called the IRS, twice, to make sure that because I paid my bill in Jan 2005 (and my student loans were applied in Jan 2005) that I could take credit for the ~14k in tuition and fees that I paid and therefore qualify for the full Lifetime Learning Credit.

So what's the bottom line on this whole rigamarole? Only about $2000 extra in our tax refund. That's my new leather couch! That's my vacation!

That's huge, as far as I am concerned. So watch those tuition expenses and claim them in the year you paid - not the year they were billed (unless that works better for you)

Disclaimer: I am not a tax accountant, IRS employee, or other tax professional. Every situation is different, and you should check with a qualified tax professional before making any tax related decisions. Don't sue me if you get audited!

Eye-opener

I just finished reading this post by a friend of mine who just got back from a trip to Israel, Palestine, and Jordan. Her experience has been amazing -but the famed Israeli security procedure is certainly eye-opening.

Think you are safe after a screening through a metal detector by a minimum wage employee who couldn't hardly care less half the time? Try going through what she describes in her post.

And, in reflecting on her comments about the building of the border wall in Israel - they tried it in Germany too, and although it took a long time to come down, it eventually did, to the surprise of everyone. I have this small shred of faith in humanity - that the same forces that led to the destruction of the Berlin Wall will eventually lead to the destruction of this.

Why can't humanity learn from itself?

Espresso perfetto

Tonight DH and I got our Intelligentsia Black Cat coffee - whole bean - and boy was it awesome. Really awesome. The color was gorgeous, the taste smooth and rich. I made a french vanilla latte for myself, DH got a mocha and they were spectacular. Better than we have ever had in any Starbucks.

I still need to refine my technique for perfect tasting straight espresso - but man are we cooking with gas now. The only reason I'm not drinking one right now is because I do want to sleep sometime tonight.

Inspiration

I was at a training session not too long ago, and one of the little activities they had us do was to map our life's timeline, and at the end write down the ten things that we wanted to do before we died.

I usually don't go for all that touchy-feely corporate training bs, but I am definitely a planner, and think about how I am going to accomplish my ten things. They include:

- Going to New Zealand
- Going to Thailand
- Diving on the Great Barrier Reef and with Great White Sharks
- Writing a novel
- Participating in a major international treaty or organization
- Living abroad and in NYC
- Speaking at my undergrad college graduation ceremony

It's good to have some life goals, I think. I think that I'll be able to do at least three or four of them by the time I am 40 - which is a pretty good start. (NZ, Thailand, and diing the Great Barrier Reef - maybe the shark thing too)

The novel is going to be tough. Ideally I would have a sabbatical of two years or so, rent an apartment on a canal in Venice, and just write to my heart's content. I have story ideas floating in my mind all the time - I need to capture them at some point. Heck, tons of people have told me that just a year in my life could make a novel. Sadly, that's probably too true.

You have to have some short term goals too... mine for this year are to learn how to SCUBA dive, see a shark snorkeling, line up my work rotations, and renovate the kitchen. I think that I'll do at least three of those (kitchen, SCUBA, and work rotations - the shark thing will be a function of chance and luck)

So dream a little dream today

Monday morning rant

I don't need to reiterate yet again how much I love taking the MARC train to work, especially in light of DH's daily grind on the road to his job in Fairfax. That doesn't mean that little things don't still bug me.

People, it is a full train. It is always a full train, and you need to recognize that. Stop being so G*( d*&% passive agressive/selfish/obnoxious by leaving your stuff on the seat (especially on the two seat side of the train) to encourage people not to sit next to you. It's rude, and quite frankly it makes me want to ask you to move your stuff and sit next to you - even if there are other seats available. I mean, really, can't we all be adult about this.

Okay, I'm happy that's off my chest!

Treasures of Comcast On Demand

I hate Comcast - passionately. I grudgingly admit, however, that there are some wonderful benefits of having Comcast digital cable. Comcast-on-demand has some really terrific (free) movies available that, if you are lucky (stupid?) enough to have it you should certainly take the time to check these out:

American in Paris - oh the music
Casablanca - need I say more
Citizen Kane - classic
Gigi - with the delectable Maurice Chevalier singing "Thank heaven for little girls" and "I remember it well"
Mrs. Miniver - Just wonderful WWII-in-England movie. Those stiff upper lips! The unbelievable Greer Garson
Mutiny on the Bounty - classic
Mildred Pierce - Joan Crawford in one of her best roles!
West Side Story - I was watching this movie, crying when Tony got shot, when our realtor called to tell us we got the house

Apparently most of these are part of a TCM (Turner Classic Movies) thing going on. Every single one of these movies is the bees knees. There's also a couple of Woody Allen classics (Husbands and Wives and Scenes from a Mall).

So sit back and watch a phenomenal movie or two this weekend. After all, there's no football.

When will the agony end?

I had a 2:30 meeting yesterday that I expected would wrap up around 4; it was another runthrough of the presentation that I have made the powerpoint for. I didn't get out until 6:30! And this morning I get to make more changes to presentation (like more animations!) to "spice it up" a bit. I already have 3 animations in this 26 slide presentation. It's a presentation for those who have ADD.

Ho hum. When do I get to go on rotation again?

Be careful what you suggest!

Excerpt from an email I sent to Jeffro yesterday

"I made an offhand suggestion (get a standard ppt template for all
presentations given by our office) in a meeting yesterday that got
slipped into a request from the Director of my division (as part of
efforts in our office to streamline its executive functions into
standard processes).

Now guess who is being asked to design it.

Lesson: Keep your g** d*** mouth shut!"

His response:

"hah!!!!! sounds like a good blog post..."

I'm rotting my brain

I have realized that I am watching way more TV lately than I have in the past few years. I usually get so bored with shows so quickly (i.e., CSI, ER, Joan of Arcadia, etc) but I must say that there are a few shows on now that I am in love with.

First, I'm back on the sitcom love train; shows like Scrubs, My Name is Earl, and The Office are hilarious and mostly intelligent. South Park, which I used to love because of its fairly equal opportunity offender nature, has been slipping by skewering the obvious a little too obviously.

I am also interested in some reality TV now. Although you wouldn't catch me dead wathcing American Idol, The Apprentice, Fear Factor, the Bachelor/ette, etc - these shows thrive on the humiliation factor a little too much for me - I absolutely love the Amazing Race (love to travel) and Project Runway. Project Runway has been great because these people really do have amazing talent, and the human drama is not as transparently manufactured.

I am just in love with Discovery in so many ways. Mythbusters is a total gas - I love seeing those guys figure out ingenious ways to solve ordinary mysteries. I also love Seconds from Disaster - which I think is only on The Science Channel or some other weird, digial station. Watching them pick apart the myriad variables that came together and caused a calamity is fascinating to me. The episode on the Chernobyl disaster and the Sioux City airplane crash were really compelling.

Last, but not least, there is Lost. I am addicted, like millions of others. I am going to be disappointed, I know. It can't possibly have an explanation or resolution that satisfies the expectations intelligent people are going to have. I'll enjoy the ride for now and pray that the mystery isn't too lame.

Post # 100

This is my 100th post… so I’d like to get that out of the way!

I wanted to write something deep, or something typically me, or something hilariously funny, or something though-provoking - but I just cannot do it. This kind of thing needs to flow naturally - and I don't have it in me right now.

So I'll just write this post, and then I can move on. Heh. Me move on, that's hilarious.

Hello old friend!

Hi. This post represents me waving at a friend I had in college. I hope that you're waving back, and I hope to hear from you soon!

For the coffee addicted among us...

I bought a small French press at Target, and just today started to use it at work. What a great little cup of coffee. It's really small... I get just about one normal sized mug of coffee from one go. But the coffee tastes so good. I'm impressed. I only need one packet of sugar, although I wish I had just a touch of milk.

This should keep me awake for all the excitement I experience here at work!

John Travolta was totally wearing an iPod

This morning I finally remembered to grab my iPod on my way out the door (which I had charged the night before) and enjoyed listening to some Course of Nature and Disturbed (their cover of Land of Confusion is way fun) on the train. When I got to Silver Spring, I had changed over to some Marilyn Manson (This is the new S**t & his cover of Personal Jesus). I totally realized that I had started to strut along to the music as I walked through the parking garage to the elevators. So now I am left wondering - am I the only one doing this? Have I done this before? Have people noticed?

So today, as you are out and about, look at people wearing iPods and see if they don't have a little John Travolta action going on there. And if so, go ahead and laugh, 'cause it's funny!

So you thought we were the crazy ones

There's a great New York Times article that discusses the craze over coffee-making, and how easy it is to get obsessive about it.

DH and I got our grinder two days ago, bought a total of 3 lbs of beans trying to get the perfect espresso, have gone through at least 1 lb so far, and have yet to produce anything remotely drinkable. (Well, that's not really true, but we would have needed a lot of sugar)

Say hello to Sarah Elizabeth

Okay, I am not a baby person by any stretch of the imagination... but these are some pretty damn cute pictures. I'm glad that I won't have to tell Steph and John that their baby is breathtaking.

Livin' la Vida loca!

Okay... this story about Ricky Martin - the cutest latino boy ever to crank out a pop hit - makes me want to never listen to his music again. Sometimes, Ricky, it's just TMI (too much information!)

Too scared to read the link... the pic's a hint. Ricky likes the showers!

Congratulations Steph & John

So much for almost. Steph and John are proud parents of a baby girl - Sarah - who was born last night at about 5:45 (just 10 minutes after I posted about her being in labor). She (the new baby) was delivered by C-section, so I guess Steph is going to be in the hospital for a few days. Now I have to figure out what I should send - if anything. She's pretty allergic to flowers (had silk ones at her wedding) so maybe I should think of something else? Ideas are welcome!

Almost an auntie...

So my girlfriend is in labor, and has been apparently for the last couple days. She's about 3 weeks early, but the baby is about 8 lbs already. Apparently they gave her some p-med that is supposed to make the labor advance - and if she doesn't have the baby tonight they'll c-section her tomorrow.

So I guess I am going to have to cancel any plans I have for next weekend... I foresee yet another trip to Jersey in my future.

Yippee!

Just livin' here, doin' stuff

Well, one of the few benefits of being a federal employee is random days off throughout the year. Today happens to be one of them. I guess I'll use this time to update the world on what I've been up too.

Last night I had dinner with a friend and her German boyfriend at Cafe Divan in Georgetown. Yummy Turkish food - and really excellent Turkish coffee. I recommend it!

I felt so hip this weekend when, on Best Week Ever, Project Runway was mentioned as one of the best shows of the season. I was on to this way before, so I know that I am ahead of the curve! Yeah me! Of course, I probably shouldn't admit that I have been watching VH1's old reruns of America's Next Top Model. But I just did.

They finally had pepperoni at Trader Joes this weekend - so today I am going to try making Christine's Famous Lentil Soup, as well as a curry vegetable soup recipe that I got from someone at work. This way I won't have to worry about what to bring to work for lunch this week!

That's all for now folks... 'til we meet again!

Yummy carniverous dinner

I don't eat a lot of red meat - my ground meat is turkey, I prefer chicken on the grill, etc. However there is one meal that I am really enjoying - tri-tip roast sandwiches.

Go to your local Trader Joes and pick up the following:

One Tri-tip roast
Horseradish
Rolls
Onion
Steak Grill and Broil Seasoning

Roast the tritip in a 425 degree oven for about 35-40mins (meat thermometer should read 135 for med rare). Remove from oven and let sit for 5mins under foil. Slice your rolls in half and stick in the oven for a couple of minutes to warm them up. Spread horseradish and sliced onion on the roll. Slice meat against the grain into thin slices. Stick it on the roll - add a little salt and viola - a great steak sandwich.

Tritip roast is a really great cut that I haven't seen anywhere but TJs - tender and juicy. Medium Rare it is perfect - maybe even better than filet (which I find to be totally overrated).

Buon appetito

Have an affair... but don't get fat

According to this, Italians feel more guilt about overeating than having extramarital affairs. Which I totally believe based on my own conversations with men in Italy.

Don't worry DH, the extra pounds that I have been carrying around since we got married should be evidence enough that my guilt complex would be exactly the opposite.

Just....eeeew

I've mentioned on numerous occasions how much I enjoy my commute on the MARC train - especially when I take advantage of the quiet car and can relax in peace, without having to hear people's inane cell phone conversations, etc.

Well this morning I nearly cracked when not one, but TWO people were loudly, and I must say grossly, snoring away. Just, eeew. The one guy had like sleep apnea or something, because you'd hear a really loud snore, then he would like choke himself awake and cough and go back to sleep. Frankly, it's so disgusting to hear people snoring like that I think that I might just prefer the noisier cars.

These people are either completely lacking in either self-awareness that they snore so loudly and disgustingly, or are so rude that they don't care that they are disturbing others.

Coffee Update

So, after making gadwaful coffee and realizing it was most likely due to preground coffee losing its freshness, DH and I tried to work around not having a grinder at home (yet - we've just ordered the Gaggia MDF grinder).

We went to Trader Joes and picked out one of their darker roasts with 100% arabica beans (the best for espresso). Then we started grinding them... knowing that we didn't know what grind would work best with our espresso machine. We set the dial to "espresso," ground some beans, then moved the dial to halfway between "espresso" and "turkish," ground some more beans - but this time into a plastic baggie to keep it separate, then finally moved the dial to just about "turkish" and ground the remaining amount.

Then the experimenting began. We tried the regular "espresso" grind, too coarse and the espresso was bitter. We tried one of the baggies, and WOW - we got an espresso that didn't need any sugar or anything. There wasn't any bitterness, no sourness. Just good coffee. There wasn't very much crema - but we knew that we were almost there. We tried the other baggie, but without the same quality results.

Problem is, we don't know what setting we used for the successful espresso. We didn't mark the bags, thinking that we would remember what was what.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting the grinder so that we can experiment at home, and in the meantime I'll work on my frothing skills.

The face of evil

This is Eliza, evil incarnate.

We're such losers

So DH and I received our new espresso machine today! I won't lie, I figured that it would take us about 3-4 shots before we figured it out and we would be making drinkable, if not Italian quality, espresso.

Ring Ring

Hello?

This is your wake-up call!

We must have pulled 25 shots, trying all kinds of little tricks, trying to get better espresso. Sigh.

What the heck is this?

So DH and I were wandering the baby-product related aisles of our local Target (Tar-zhey) yesterday. No, it's not what you think; we had to buy a gift for my girlfriend's baby shower. Anyway I felt as lost and bewildered as a model in a grocery store. We were picking up random products, looking at each other and wondering "what the hell is this?" Ultimately I bought a receiving blanket (what the hell is a "receiving blanket?" Why can't they just call it a freakin' "blanket?") and a gift card, because I was so totally out of my element that my ovaries were revolting. And they were supposed to be drawn to this stuff. It's like two similarly polarized magnets - instead of attracting each other, they repelled.

The most disturbing thing DH discovered was the Womb Sounds Teddy Bear. Turn a knob and something sounding like an ultrasound came from the bears tummy. This was supposed to be soothing to an infant, but it totally freaked me out.

I'm not going to lie - we ran away screaming from those aisles. It was truly frightening.

Variety Six-Pack

Several things I am thinking about...

1) I hope that FSU wins the Orange Bowl.

2) Shame about the miners in WV. I remember hearing about the miners in PA a few years back, being convinced that they were dead, and then hearing that they were in fact pulled out alive. I hope that these guys are as lucky. That being said, I can't believe that in this "modern" world there are still people mining for coal. I know that the coal burning plants are supposed to be cleaner than in the 1800s, yada yada yada, but yikes. So much for progress.

3) The new Scrubs was fairly funny last night, but the first season was still a stand out. And Elliot's eventual return to Sacred Heart is so obvious it hurts. I've watched the last couple reruns of the Office and My Name is Earl, and they are both pretty funny. New Project Runway tomorrow too... I sound so pathetic.

4) We're trying to transition our cats from dry to wet food - and surprisingly it's not going well. I don't understand why they prefer dry food? Weird.

5) Former DC mayor, crack and ho' addict Marion Barry got robbed by two young youths who "helped him with his groceries." I can't wait to hear the real story on this... it's gonna be hilarous.

6) Tomorrow we get our new Gaggia Carezza espresso machine, and we're already planning on what grinder we are going to have to get to grind our own beans. Plus I want to get a French Press pot for work, so I'll have to grind some beans for that too.

There's my random thought six-pack.

Happy freakin' New Year

To welcome in the New Year, the state of Maryland sent us our property assessment, which is used to calculate our property taxes. Our home's worth, according to the state of Maryland, has increased to $492k. This is up from ~$250k when we bought the house in 2002. Yikes! Luckily for us, our property tax increases are limited to 10% a year and the increase in value is phased in over three years. Or something like that. Basically our taxes are going to be like $4500 a year or more when all is said and done.

At least we're not in New Jersey.

As a side note, it was just painful watching Dick Clark doing his NYC NYE thing.... let him retire already!