Things That Make You Smile

I smile a lot these days. I wake up each morning with a smile on my face. I can’t wait to discover what the day has in store for me. As I go through the day I smile at everyone I meet and I find it’s infectious – even people who are seemingly having a … Read more

No Such Thing As A Temporary Tax

IRS

The other day I received an e-newsletter from my loan officer down in Key West, Ruben Concepcion. One of the articles dealt with the IRS’s recent decision to stop collecting the Federal Excise Tax on long distance phone service. Taxpayers will be eligible to file for refunds of all excise tax paid on long distance … Read more

Ahh! The Opera

This past Saturday evening I attended my first opera – Madame Butterfly. My house-mate, Sascha, is a bass player in the opera so he was able to get me a $5 house ticket. It was definitely in the nosebleed section – the very last row in the upper balcony – but the acoustics were great … Read more

I Love My Dad

Honda car commercial

I was on the phone with Dad until midnight last night – he was trying to go to the links on my recent blog entry about the Honda car commercial and the fantastic machine, but he didn’t have the flash player he needed, so I walked him through it. We finally figured it out (hard … Read more

Masked Marauders In My Yard

When I lived on the Outer Banks I was fortunate to have a house located on 12.5 acres, surrounded by Nature Conservancy land, so it was not uncommon to be visited by critters of all kinds (read about them here). I had deer, fox, snakes, HUGE snapping turtles, nutria, giant Osprey, big ‘ol green warty … Read more