The United States Internal Revenue Service, that bureaucracy rich government agency, despised by many revered by few, just confounded me.

I did my taxes early this year because I was expecting a sizable refund since I left my job last July and prior to that, my withholdings were based on being paid for the full year.  As I completed my taxes, I calculated that I would receive a sizable refund.  I attached my W2, sealed it, stamped it, and sent it off to the IRS.

Yesterday, I received a letter from the IRS that began:

We are writing to you because there is an error on your 2008 Federal Income Tax Return.

Oh joy, now what, I said.  Well, joy is not the exact word I used.  The letter went on to say they recomputed my recovery rebate credit, blah, blah.  I didn’t know what that was.  I finally noticed the Amount of Refund box and the total was about $600 higher than what I had calculated.  OK,  joy now seems to be an appropriate word.

It said that if I agree with the change, I need do nothing.  Well how kind is that?  The letter even went on to let me know who to contact should I disagree with the change they made.  Thanks IRS, but no thanks.  There was another page that said if I was affected by the recent disaster in my area and needed tax relief, do this or that…

I’m not aware of a recent disaster in my area and I didn’t know what a recovery rebate  credit was, but I like it.  Am I just out of touch or what?

I’ve since looked it up and the recovery rebate credit is a:

one-time benefit for people who didn’t receive the full economic stimulus payment last year and whose circumstances may have changed, making them eligible now for some or all of the unpaid portion

Apparently I didn’t qualify last year but now I do.  I don’t know what the limits are but you should check into this, you may qualify.  Find out more information from the IRS.

Today, I was surprised to find my refund check in the mail, for the corrected amount.  How about that?  And just to let you all know, I’ve been doing my best to stimulate the economy, but it’s a tough job, I can’t do it alone.   I need some help please because I’m running out of money, so get out there and invest and spend; go forth and… and, well… you know, stimulate.

I come from a family of coal miners and farmers in West Virgina and Ohio.  Good, honest and proud people; hard working, loving families, real salt of the earth folk; at least, that’s the impression I got growing up.  My father grew up in that environment and I sometimes try to imagine what it was like.  My father, like most of his seven brothers and sisters, moved on to other vocations and raised families of their own.  My generation lived in the big city of Chillicothe and would aspire to other things eventually.

Growing up in Ohio in the late 60s, in the big city, I always enjoyed our visits to see family “out to the farm” west of Chillicothe.  While the adults sat around the kitchen table talking about whatever adults talked about back then, I remember running around the place exploring barns, tormenting chickens, and climbing and jumping off hay bales.

When feeling especially bold, I would venture farther than I was supposed to, down the hills and through the woods to the back forty where the cows were.  I’m not sure why I did that, because my recollection is that I was afraid of those cows, them being so much bigger than me and all.  If one so much as looked at me, I’d get skiddish and start scoping out my exit route.

Years later, after many had moved away from Chillicothe or even Ohio, we started having family reunions, and of course the best place for them was the farm and my Aunt and Uncle would graciously host the hordes.  It was a great time for all, catching up, sharing lots of wonderful food, laughing…  Not always, but sometimes during my childhood visits to the farm and of course during the reunions, Uncle Carl and cousin Dale and cousin Ham, and Uncle Will, and whoever else was there would bring out the guitars and banjos and start pickin and singing.  Oh it was such a treat which I remember fondly. Read Full Article & Comments…

In mid December 2008, I took off on a road trip of the west coast of the U.S. from top to bottom.  Starting in Lynden Washington, just south of the Canadian border, I headed to the Olympic peninsula of Washington, and down the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California to LA.  I left at the beginning of one of the worst winter storms we’ve had in a long time here in the Pacific Northwest and I returned to the worst flooding we’ve had in decades.

I stayed in hostels along the way, of course.  Met a lot of neat people, did a few hikes, saw beautiful scenery.  It was great time.  Hope you enjoy.

December 14, 2008 – Behind the ole mule barn – Lynden, WA to Port Townsend, WA

December 15, 2008 – Michelin Man – Port Townsend, WA

December 16, 2008 – Four hours and four hundred dollars later – Port Townsend, WA

December 17, 2008 – the back end of the car wanted to take the lead – Port Townsend to Westport, WA

December 18, 2008 – Snowy beach – Westport, WA to Seaside OR

December 19, 2008 – The Tropics of Oregon – Seaside OR to Redwoods, CA

December 20, 2008 – Damnation Creek trail head – Redwoods, CA

December 21, 2008 – watch out for all the elk poo – Redwoods, CA

December 22, 2008 – it will only be worth $800,000 – Redwoods, CA

December 23, 2008 – I got what I asked for – Redwoods, CA to Pescadero, CA

January 4, 2009 – my car would have been totaled – Pescadero, CA to LA, CA to Lynden, WA

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I think it would be cool if you were writing a ransom note on your computer, and the paper clip popped up and said “It looks like you’re writing a ransom note……. need some help?…… you should use stronger language, you could get more money…..”

I want to buy a bunch of hermit crabs and make them live together.  People will say, “are those hermit crabs?”.  Not any more…. those are mingling crabs…. very rare.

This summer I learned…. at a party…. that there’s a small, but important difference between peeing in the pool….. and peeing into the pool.  Location location location.

“Sort of” is such a harmless thing to say.  “Sort of”.  It’s just a filler, it doesn’t really mean anything.  But after certain things, sort of means everything…… like after…. I love you…. or…. you’re going to live… or…. IT’S A BOY!…..

I like video games but they’re very violent. I wanna design a video game…. in which you have to take care of all the people who’ve been shot in the other video games….  Hey man, what are you playing? ……. Super busy hospital…… please leave me alone, I’m performing surgery on a man who was shot in the head 57 times…

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This kid is the freshest thing in comedy today.  His stand-up comes with crafty one liners, what if’s and situational observations such as how lame paper is in rock/paper/scissors and he offers a viable alternative.  He’ll sometimes use large presentation pads to relate his findings, like good vs. bad pony tail locations or his breakdown of people that own hummers or why he thinks the glass half full half empty argument is pointless unless the contents of the glass are considered. Read Full Article & Comments…

Steve Martin, yes that crazy guy, hit the stage with his band on last week’s Saturday Night Live and played an original, albeit it silly, composition called Late for School. Me thinks this caught a few off guard who didn’t quite know what to make of it. It reminded me of a video snippet I saw when Steve came out on stage and played a nice rendition of a song called Father’s Pride on his banjo at a tribute for Diane Keaton. The audience was at a loss, snickering and laughing now and then, waiting oh so patiently for the funny, which never came.

One of the many things that I’ve dabbled in but never got good at is the banjo and I remember seeing Steve play the banjo in his first comedy stage acts back in the 70’s and thinking, he’s good. Through the years, he’s incorporated the banjo now and then into his other works but never seemed serious about it, at least not publicly.

Read Full Article & Comments…

I recently had a large copy job which I took to Kinko’s and it cost $90.  The job was to print 168 color pages from a Word doc and make it a book.  Then, I needed more copies and I sure wasn’t going to spend $90 for each one.  I searched on line and settled on a company called Docucopies.  Reasonable rates, but I didn’t know if I’d get ripped off.  I took a chance.  The order process went smoothly and a few days later, six copies arrived.

I opened them up and was very satisfied at first glance.  But then I noticed that not all, but several of the color pictures were pixelated.  Damn, just another bad experience I’m thinking, seems to be the norm these days, so sad.

After calming down, I called to report the problem and the lady I talked to actually listened and tried to understand the problem.  She got it and said she’d look into it and get back to me.  And you know what, she got back to me.  She apologized and explained that there was a problem with the printer they used and they’d run it again on a different printer.  She ran a couple of test sheets and said it was working fine.  And then she said they’d overnight it to me.  What?  Wait a minute, that’s not supposed… wait, huh?

Well, they did exactly what she said they’d do.  I got the new run and inspected it and lo and behold, perfect.  I’ve worked in customer service for 25+ years and know good service when I see it and I must say, it’s rare these days, but these guys came through for me.  You know what?  Every now and then, a problem happens, I get that.  It’s what happens next that distinguishes excellent customer service from mediocre.

The good people at Docucopies were pleasant on the phone and easy to work with and expressed a sincere interest to make things right.  They’ve earned my future business and I won’t hesitate to recommend Docucopies.com to others.

Oh, and every time I called, I got a live person on the phone, I love that.