1143 No Fire

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Yesterday and today.

I got up early yesterday, Wednesday, got dressed, and got a good start on the tax docs, spreading papers all over my bed. I would have to leave the house at a bit after noon to go to the Maritime Museum to learn more about handling membership, and then I had the ballroom dance class that evening.

At just about noon, I got a call from Roman. He was calling from work, on his lunch hour, to tell me that Angie was putting together a group for dinner that evening, at an Indian restaurant. She had put a notice on the local Mensa Yahoo group, and since I hadn't responded, he figured I hadn't seen it. He said he'd like to see me there. I thought of the dance class, and without hesitation I said yes, I'd be at dinner. I'm such a sucker for being wanted. Especially since I had been so rough on him the last time I'd seen him, at the Third Thursday dinner.

Roman had a few months ago agreed to help me find the perfect laptop configuration, at the perfect price, so he went on to say that he had found a good deal for me, and had sent me an email with the details. Since I wouldn't have time to look at it before leaving for the museum, I suggested that he bring a printout to dinner and we'd talk about it there.

Four hours at the museum. The woman who had handled the membership procedures (renewal reminders, receiving checks, corporate matching grants, thank you letters with membership card and goodies, etc.) is quitting like immediately, so I'd better understand it all.

There were four of us at dinner, and it was nice. Afterward, Roman and I sat in his car, and he showed me what he recommended I get on the laptop. There were a lot of choices of features, and he had a good grasp of the kinds of things I do. I'd have to go to a website to make my choices and place my order, and the sale ended this morning. I asked if the website had fancy flash stuff, because if it did, it might take my browser down and I might not be able to do it in time. So we went to his house, and built and ordered my laptop there.

This is the first time I'd been there since, well, "the last time", in July. I thought it was safe.

I don't think either of us is entirely sure what happened, but I ended up spending the night. At the end of placing the order, I turned to him and smiled, and he kissed me, and my mind stopped working. I think he really did want me, until he got me, and then it was like "uh oh, what do I do with her now?" In the morning, he apologized for leading me on. For my part, I was aware he wasn't entirely "there". No fire. I learned something. I'm not sure what just yet, but something.

So this morning when I arrived home, I picked up where I had left off on the taxes. I was missing only one 1099-DIV, but I was able to reconstruct it from the last dividend stub (a piece of luck - last year I was missing five, and couldn't find the stubs). I was missing one sale-of-stock 1099, but that happened to be the one Piper had sold for me because it was certificates, not book-entry, so he had a copy (which, by the way, was the "disappeared" 992 shares of Wells Fargo - mystery solved). And I was missing a local tax receipt, but I have the check. Given that there are about 70 pieces of paper altogether, this is pretty good.

No fire there, either

I put everything in manila envelopes by category, and I took it all to Piper. He'll give it to The Angel, who will do my taxes. The two of them will then figure out how much stock I can sell this year without "going into another bracket". (Do brackets even apply when it's capital gains?)

My process this year was very simple. I put a box next to the desk, and anytime anything financial-related or tax-related arrived, I put it in the box instead of filing it. It worked quite well. Now I can file everything left in the box. I think I'll simplify that, too. I'll just file it all under "Financial 2006".
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