Well, just finished up the last of my taxes. Yay! Can’t wait for that refund! I make it a point to not claim anything on my W-4, which means that I’ll get a refund most years. Not claiming anything on the W-4 means that more taxes get taken out of each paycheck. If can live with that income, then that means that I’ll get a nice refund this time of year, which works great for me!

Had a couple of firsts this year.
1) This was the first time that itemizing actually helped me out. Since I had a full year of house payments, as well as property taxes, my deductions were almost twice as much as not itemizing. Cool!
2) I filed online for the first time, using free-file from H&R Block (via irs.gov). It’s nice to be able to file online, for free. Good way to double check your math, make sure you’re including all the deductions, etc. Definitely speeds up the refund as well. With e-file and direct deposit, I should have my refund in 8-15 days. Since I’m filing so early and avoiding the late March, early April rush, I should receive it quick. Sure beats the problems I had a couple years ago when it took about 4 months to get my refund, because someone entered my social security number incorrectly. And that’s another positive of e-file – I get to enter my own information, rather than someone who’s been staring at numbers all day.

Hmm, what should I spend my refund on? Oh, yeah, replenishing my savings account, which is very much depleted right now…

Well, I don’t know if he considers it big, but I’m taking Smokey, my cat, to the vet to get fixed tomorrow. Poor thing… This is almost gonna hurt me as much as him. I don’t want to imagine hurting him like that, but it’s gotta be done. I hope his behavior and personality don’t change as a result of this…

I’ve added some more pictures of Smokey, as well as some of his baby pictures. Thanks to Jennifer for these pictures. I got him when he was about 8 months old, so I wasn’t able to enjoy his baby days.

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday, dear Grandpa Vaught
Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday, dear Matt H
Happy Birthday to you

Take a few moments and add your website to the following geographical sites:
GeoURL.org
GeoURL.info

Each maps the geographic location of your website and the lets you lookup other websites near your location (or any location, for that matter). To do this, you’ll need to know your longitude and latitude. If you’re not sure what your coordinates are, head on over to heavens-above.com.

Here are the links for my blog, with other websites near me, for each of these services:

GeoURL.org Results
GeoURL.info Results

Hope to see more KY sites on the list!

I thought I’d be more extreme than this, considering the extreme things I’ve done…

You Should Try Roller Skiing

A little more dangerous than snow skiing But who cares when you can ski to the grocery store?

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday, dear Steven R
Happy Birthday to you

Lori and I played some old school Nintendo tonight – Super Mario Bros and Super Mario Bros 3. Wow, the memories those bring back. I was really surprised on how many of the secrets and such that we remembered. It’s like learning to ride a bike, I guess

Vote now: What’s your favorite Super Mario game?

My top 3, in order, are:

1. Super Mario Bros 3
2. Super Mario World
3. Super Mario Bros

I haven’t played the newer ones (Mario 64 or Sunshine), but I know they sure don’t make games like they used to. Nothing like the classics…

OK, this may help reduce back stress, promote better posture, etc, but doesn’t it just look uncomfortable?

Stance Angle Chair

This ultra sci-fi computer chair shifts from a normal seated position all the way to “reclined standing,” with several other points in between. Meanwhile, the computer monitor and keyboard positioning unit moves vertically so that your whole workspace is ergonomically optimized no matter if you’re up, down, or somewhere in the middle.

(Via Boing Boing)

I saw an article on nytimes.com a few days ago about intelligent design (the negative slant of course) and Darwinism

Unintelligent Design

But if we can’t infer anything about the design from the designer, maybe we can go the other way. What can we tell about the designer from the design? While there is much that is marvelous in nature, there is also much that is flawed, sloppy and downright bizarre. Some nonfunctional oddities, like the peacock’s tail or the human male’s nipples, might be attributed to a sense of whimsy on the part of the designer. Others just seem grossly inefficient. In mammals, for instance, the recurrent laryngeal nerve does not go directly from the cranium to the larynx, the way any competent engineer would have arranged it. Instead, it extends down the neck to the chest, loops around a lung ligament and then runs back up the neck to the larynx. In a giraffe, that means a 20-foot length of nerve where 1 foot would have done. If this is evidence of design, it would seem to be of the unintelligent variety.

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Let me know your thoughts on this article. I sure know I’ve got my own opinions about it!