Archive for April, 2009

IRS beat the Kentucky revenue bureau

Every year that I lived in Kentucky, my refund from the state always came back sooner than my federal refund from the IRS. Sometimes Kentucky beat the IRS by a week or more.
But this year the IRS beat Kentucky. The Federal refund showed up in my checking account yesterday, which was also pay […]

Hope the runners stay hydrated

I just went outside for lunch and it’s pretty toasty out there, mid-80’s. Luckily not that humid but still it’s warm. Tomorrow is expected to be about the same or a little warmer. So I hope everybody who’s running the Country Music Marathon downtown remembers to stay hydrated. There will be […]

If you’re going to run an English-language web site, hire an English-speaking proofreader

I was at Consumer Depot this morning, it’s a surplus electronics store here in Nashville. Sometimes they sell junk, and you have to be very careful about what you buy there. But with those caveats, sometimes you get pretty good deals. Like this morning I bought a Mio P550, mostly because I […]

Taxes are finally done

I think this is the latest I’ve ever been in filing my taxes. Though I partly blame my previous employer, Humana. They did not mail me my W2 for the partial year that I worked for them. So I had to fax them a form to request a new one, and it […]

Navy SEAL snipers must be scary good

When I read that the Navy SEAL snipers killed three of those Somali pirates, the first thought that crossed my mind was how impossibly difficult it must be to be a Navy sniper. First of course the target is moving around — a boat at sea, even if it’s adrift, is moving around quite […]

Sad to see the F-22 Raptor get cut

I worked briefly on the F-22 Raptor program, though I doubt any of the code I wrote ever made it onto the airplane. It was back when I worked at a company called Simmonds Precision, at the time a division of BF Goodrich Aerospace. They were working on the fuel management system (FMS) […]

I need a vacation

On the one hand of course I’m thrilled that my employer has a string of new customers coming on board over the next few months. In this economy it’s a wonderful thing to be busy and gainfully employed.
On the other hand, I’m exhausted right now. I rolled right from the last new customer […]

Traded in the old DS for a DSi

Well actually, the Nintendo DSi doesn’t come out until Sunday (Gamestop is going to be open Saturday night at midnight to start selling the new system). But I went ahead and traded in my DS for the $70 credit towards a DSi.
Haven’t really played the DS much anyway lately, and the new stuff in […]