ADWs Personal Quest

Ever since my daughter (Boo) started working I have done her taxes. I also do my own, my brothers, my mom and dads, and this year, my in-laws.
Boo got a notice from the IRS a few weeks ago saying there had been a mistake in her 2006 tax return. The notice also stated that she owed 404.00$ in back taxes and fees.

Hmmmm....

I redid the taxes 2 more times before i caught the mistake, which brings me to my small gripe. Why is there no standardization of W-2's?

For 2006 Boo had 4 different W-2's none of which were the same. At job "b" she had made just over 3246.00$ and her federal tax withheld was 346.00$. Guess which number i missed.

I told her i would pay the fine (i figured i made the mistake) but she had to pay the tax portion. She had spent the money so she should pay it back.
She agreed but didn't have the money at the moment. The IRS being ever vigilant had given her 2 weeks to either pay up or pay additional fines/fees.

Guess who had to buy the money order to pay the bill in full. Boo has always been financially responsable so I'm not worried about getting the money back (eventually). But I really do wish that the IRS would require ALL businesses to use a standard W-2 form

Hello again everyone,
As I mentioned in my first bog I don't post a lot, but I do read this forum every morning before work. Anyway, this one will be a bit on the sarcastic side.
Thirteen years or so ago I bought my current residence, being somewhat of a procrastinator I neglected to paint it with any type of consistency. Now I have major problems with the cheap siding they used during construction (it was a new house when I got it).
As anyone who has Georgia Pacific's press-board siding can probably tell you, if not cared for it will fall right off the house. I know mine is/has.
Well with the weather turning "nicer" I have decided it is time to fix the problems and paint it all at once. Alas. the siding for the most part is toast and has to be replaced. So being the "good home owner" that I am, I had several vinyl siding companies bid the replacement (plus I wouldn't have to paint anymore).
Now bear in mind I was prepared to pay to have this done figuring it would be in the range of $10,000 or so. Shows how wrong I can be. The lowest estimate was well over $14,500 the highest was $23,950.
After I got off the floor I decided that it didn't look that hard to do. And really it isn't that hard to do, if it's not raining (a joy of spring) the winds are not 30+ mph (another joy of spring) and my significant other didn't already have plans for every free weekend for the rest of my life (the last joy of spring).
I have so far spent just over $2000 on cement fiber board siding (yes I will still have to paint, but it will never rot) and the various things needed to install said siding. The stuff all arrived the Friday before last and I moved it all into my garage that day. Did I mention that cement fiberboard is very heavy? About 70lbs a piece and I ordered 240 of them, needless to say I was happy it was raining the next day. Also thank goodness for aspirin.
So far it has been nice enough only two days this week to do anything with it and I am doing the install after already working the day. The way I figure it, the entire house should be resided by late June….2010
Wish me luck and that I don’t fall off the ladders.

Hello everyone,

a bit about me. i am a rural mail carrier, married with 3 kids (two from a previous marriage and one is hers from her previous). All 3 kids are out out and out...but you wouldn't know it from the "visits" and phone calls asking advice. anyway...

as i said i work for the USPS (no postal jokes please) and yesterday (feb 23rd) we started our National Mail Count.

NMC is how the rural mail carriers salaries are determined.

a quick explination of NMC: Mgmt litterally counts every piece of mail we handle every day for two weeks. they also count our parcels and our "accountables" (certifieds registered ect) and several other things we do in our daily routine. i won't get into most of it because i barely understand alot of it myself (i know this sounds bad since it has a direct effect on my pay, but i never went to law school nor am i the brightest cookie in the jar).

the "standards" have been agreed upon by our union reps and mgmt but they leave alot of gray around the definitions.

this is where the "even keel" comes in. the 'counters' have their instructions, and the membership has ours. we have been told to question anything we have 'doubts' about as to their category ie: letter, flat, parcel.

i understand mgmt's stand as to trying to save money, but since i am on the other side of the fence, i am more apt to agree with the membership. there is a fine line between making 40000$ a year and making 41500$.

the real problem is we have to work together the other 50 weeks of the year. tempers and patience are already in short supply. so how does one know when your pushing to far and should back off? or should you trudge on and hope it works out for the best?


p.s. for the next couple of weeks please be nice to your carrier (wouldn't hurt the rest of the year as well) we are human just like everyone else.

A Dream Warrior

This being my first blog entry (anywhere), I'm not real sure where to start.
I would like to say that I admire alot of your blogs and respect the efforts everyone puts into them.
I have learned alot by reading the posts here and thought maybe i could contribute a bit as well.
Hopefully i can post at least once a week, (i'm not a prolific writer).

Just thought it was time to quit lurking and try to be helpful.

A Dream Warrior