April 11, 2001
Dear Everyone:
I finally got my Income Taxes squared away this week. I’ve had everything I needed to do this since early February. Everything except time. It only took a few hours, but it’s not the sort of thing you want to try and tackle at the end of a long day.
And weekends have been pretty busy since the beginning of the year. I generally spent one day with “Jeannie” and the other at the office. So I took a look at the calendar and decided that a week off in April would be just the ticket. I could get the taxes squared away, do a little work on some small projects, even get some reading done. And the weather in April is generally pretty good, not too hot during the day, not too cold at night.
So, of course, we’ve been having unseasonably cool weather (better than a heat wave). And it turns out, there were a couple of terribly important meetings that had to take place this week at work. So for a couple of days, I got dressed and went into meetings, then went home again. For the record, I’ll be taking next Monday off as a “Comp Day” to make up for essentially losing two half-days of my vacation.
But the important thing is that my taxes are completed, electronically filed and, as of this afternoon, officially accepted by the IRS and the state of California and now all I have to do is wait for the refunds to appear in my checking account. And the rest of the week is mine to do whatever I want.
Last weekend, “Jeannie” and I went up to “Oakley” to see Cousin “Perry”. My new prescription lenses had arrived and we were there to pick out new (titanium) frames. “Perry” also had a special pair of computer glasses made up for me. This is something new, intended for people who use bifocals and work on the computer a great deal of the time (i.e., me).
The bottom part of the lens is the close, reading prescription. The middle is the arms-length reading-the-monitor prescription. And the top part of the lens lets you focus up to 5-7 feet away. So if someone comes to your cubicle door, or you just need to get up and pull a file out of a drawer, you don’t have to change glasses to do it.
I have to say, these glasses are fabulous! (Of course, it helps that my eye doctor finally got the reading prescription for the right eye correctly.) If you use progressive lenses, and spend a lot of time on the PC, I definitely recommend that you talk to your optician about this. They cost more, but they’re certainly worth it.
In other news…
That love seat in my living room is probably older than “Jeannie’s" cat, Monroe, but not by much. I figure we got that sofa-bed around 1980. It’s time for a change. So, after finishing earlier than expected in “Oakley”, we went sofa-hunting.
After looking at the factory-direct place that “Jeannie” used for her new furniture, we continued to a place which was going out of business in Walnut Creek. There we had an epiphany: Forget about getting a sofa. What I really need is a couple of big, comfortable chairs. This would allow a lot more flexibility in arranging my rather cozy (read: tiny) living room.
Having reached this conclusion, we’re going back to the factory-direct place next weekend to select style and covering. We’re also going to “rewire” “Jeannie’s” home office.
When she got the new laptop computer and, more importantly, the laser printer, we quickly determined that the household wiring was not up to the more intense requirements of the printer. Last Sunday, “Jeannie” had an electrician come in and set up a separate circuit for the office equipment. (It had to be Sunday because she kept having to reschedule when work came up during the week.)
Now we need to set the office up so that everything is plugged into the right places. After that, who knows? We might even find time to take in a movie.
Everyone have a Happy Easter!
Love, as always,
Pete
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