Stolen, and morphed a little, from a comment posted to e-musings‘ request for jokes:
| Did you hear about the cowboy to whom everyone kept saying, “Get along little dogie.”?
He bought a Dachshund. |
Today was a TurboTax day in the neighborhood.
I was up at the crack of dawn, since I went to bed at 8:30 last night. After coffee and some breakfast, I loaded TurboTax 2008, and first did Robert’s taxes, followed by my own.
With regards to my own taxes, I have a question about two different 1099-DIV forms, plus a correction form for each, that appear to be for the same account, but show different amounts. I’ll call Ameriprise about it on Monday.
I started on my friend Jeanie-baby‘s taxes, but they are a complicated mess that I wasn’t able to finish. I have a bunch of questions to send down to her daughter that I need answers to before I can wrap them up.
Now, explain to me again how it’s gay people getting married that’s “denigrating the institution of marriage”…
| When James Brown died on Christmas Day 2006, he left behind a fortune worth tens, maybe hundreds, of millions of dollars. The problem is, he also left behind: Fourteen children (pending DNA tests); Sixteen grandchildren (and counting); Eight mothers of his children (that’s a low estimate); Several mistresses (the man was a rock star); Thirty lawyers; A former manager; An aging dancer; A longtime valet; And a sister who’s not really a sister but calls herself the Godsister of Soul anyway. All of whom want a piece of his legacy. The rest of the sordid details… |
I’m just saying.
I met Kevin (av8rdude) at the gym at 3:15. I think he has arrived at the gym before me once, maybe twice, in all the time we’ve been going together, so when I didn’t see his car in the parking lot, I just got on the elliptical machine and started my cardio workout.
I looked at the clock after thinking, “He should be here by now; he’s never this late,” and after seeing it was 3:30, I looked over in the free weights section where he does his weight training. Voilà. There he was, and had been for 20 minutes.
I listened to a three-short-story episode of The Story today, of which two of the three episodes engaged me.
| Thriller!
Michael Jackson’s Thriller is 25 years old – an anniversary that’s inspiring fond memories all across the globe. Rashod Ollison was 6 years old when Thriller came out. He’ll never forget the day his mom brought the album home. He and his sisters played it on a special record player that sprayed rainbow lights across the walls and brought joy into their house. Rashod tells Aaron Henkin how Michael Jackson’s album helped him get over his sadness about his parents’ divorce and turned him, temporarily, into a star at school. Today, Rashod is a music critic. |
It was the weirdest thing. At one point in this story, I actually got a little emotional—almost to the point of tearing up a little bit (I hate when that happens at the gym, but luckily, usually I’m sweating so much that the tears would just blend in)—when they played a clip that’s been added to the 25th anniversary edition of the album, of Michael Jackson in a studio rehearsal session working on Billie Jean.
I’m not quite sure what got to me about it, but I think it had something to do with being reminded of the enormous amount of talent of Michael, hearing him in his innocence, and thinking, of course, about the loss of that innocence that has been his life.
Also engaging, albeit a little less so, was the third story:
| Searching for home—with my Peeps
When Libbie Stellas’ daughter left for college, Libbie found herself feeling the empty nest acutely. So Libbie decided to take an ambitious, extended trip. Before she left, a friend gave her a box of candy Peeps. Libbie took photos of herself, and of the candies, as they traveled the United States. By the end of her trip, long after the first box of Peeps had melted, Libbie figured out what was really important to her. |
Today’s workout statistics:
Type |
Duration |
Burned |
|---|---|---|
|
Cardio |
60 |
1142 |
Dancing was just okay tonight. We had eight dancers, and we were stopped right at 10:30. Most of the patrons in the bar were watching UNC getting whomped by Kansas in the NCAA Final Four on the TVs in the place.
Joe and I spent a little time talking with a guy named Tom from Pennsylvania. Then Rob (Ameriprise) joined us and they seemed to hit it off. They went over to CCs together, and shortly after that Joe and I went to The Borough for a late-night snack.
It was super-crowded in there, so we initially sat with Ben, Adrian, and a guy named Joey, who has an online pet store, mostly for two kinds of parrots—African Grays, and I forget the other kind. It could be this website, but I don’t know that for sure—just googled it. They were pretty much at the end of their meal, so they left shortly after that and we had a table.