Well, it's Friday evening once again, and that means that the week has brought one more weekend to us. Usually that means that the work week has ended and a respite has begun. This week it means that the vacation, albeit a short one, has ended and the final two days before returning to work have arrived. I take solace in the fact that this year we will not be driving long distances to visit with family on Easter, and driving long distances back home again Easter evening so I can be at work on Monday. Dodged that bullet. Now on with some unfinished business.
I was on vacation in Miami when the NCAA tournament ended so I didn't have the chance to wrap up my gloating over the fact that I do a better job of picking NCAA basketball winners than our President does, and it's a darned good thing. As it turns out I chose 43 winners and our President, Barry Baby, chose 41 winners. I had him by two in that category, but as it turns out he picked the eventual winner of the whole thing, North Carolina, and I, alas, did not. I picked Connecticut to win it and maybe I was thinking about the Women's NCAA, because they did win that one, but not the one I had brackets for. They lost to Michigan State, who went on to get their butts beaten soundly by North Carolina. I now go to shred my brackets along with paid American Express bills and bank statements. They are useless to me now. Time to move on. The Cubs have not broken my heart yet this year, although I find Lou Pinella's choice of that Gregg guy as closer is a bit disturbing. Carlos Marmol is my guy. For the record, Gregg blew it in Milwaukee this afternoon. Went into the 9th inning with a 3-2 lead and well you know the rest, 4-3 Milwaukee. Tomorrow's another day.
One really good thing happened today. Babs and I went to the accountant to pick up our tax returns and to find out the bad news. As it turns out, the tanking economy and making slightly less money this year than last made a big difference in the tax bill. We paid big time in estimated taxes every quarter last year and that was more than enough. We did not have to pay a cent to the feds or the State of Illinois this year on April 15. It was all covered, and we do not have to make any estimated quarterly payments this year. How cool is that?
Now we are on to refinancing the home on the 14th floor. 5.85% mortgage rates are passe. We're looking at a much lower rate and a 15 year mortgage instead of 30. Let's get this thing paid off for goodness sakes. I want to retire and sell this place so I can buy a year round warm weather residence and pay cash for it. Won't be any of those $1 million plus condos in Miami for me, but there is something nice waiting down the line. I'm sure of it.
In more good news, the Dow Jones finished the week above 8000 for the first time in a while. Babs and I got our monthly statements from Wachovia and the stock investments are larger this month than last. That's new. We've been hemorrhaging money like my nose loses blood in a fist fight. Got into a fight with Kenneth Ansley in 6th grade and actually I won the fight, but you never would have known it by the blood gushing from my nose. Looked worse than it was. The money gushing outward from our retirement accounts, on the other hand, well that looks bad and damned if it isn't bad. Just glad to get some of it back. Never got any of the blood back after that Kenneth Ansley debacle, but he learned not to mess with me. A lot of my blood ended up on his prissy monogrammed shirt, and very little on me, and he ended up on the ground getting pounded. Then the bell rang and recess was over. Had to go back inside and do math. Don't think my retirement account managers have learned shit, except maybe, "Thank God no one named Bush is running the country any more." A lot of working people's blood and sweat has ended up on themselves, and GW has waltzed off to Texas without a trace of a struggle.
Forgot to give the weather report at the beginning of this one. It's 41 degrees at the Mini, under partly cloudy skies. The wind is steady out of the Northeast at about 5 miles per hour in Streeterville. There are whitecaps on Lake Michigan, and the water is looking pretty brown and churned up close to the shore. The lights just came on at Navy Pier and the Wheel of Life keeps turning. The lights of Indiana are clearly visible in the Southern distance. It looks as though Indiana may have moved a couple of miles closer while I was in Miami. Turn your back for a moment... TGIF boys and girls.
No comments:
Post a Comment