Month: March 2018

Misc

What’s up with this wacky weather?

james

What is up with the weather this year? I’m beginning to think Punxsutawney Phil should have predicted more than six more weeks of winter. We’re just a few days into spring and already, another nor’easter has come and gone. Yes, another. As much as I enjoy lots of snow and a frigid winter, when spring rolls around, I’m ready for Mother Nature to start warming things up. This year, she’s been hell-bent on keeping us guessing from one week to the next and terms like blizzard, nor’easter, and bomb cyclone, have become commonplace.

The first week of January, Winter Storm Grayson dumped 15 inches of snow on us. Since then, the daily high temperatures here in Ocean County, New Jersey have sporadically ranged from the teens to the high 70s. One week it’s shorts and t-shirt weather and the next we’re back in full-winter garb. As a result, everyone in our house has either had the flu or flu-like symptoms at one point or another. The constant back and forth between warm and cold weather even has Gracie, our friendly, furry feline, looking at us like, “Can I please move inside now? Please?”

This past week, the first week of spring, Winter Storm Toby delivered another foot of heavy, wet snow. The storm left our neighborhood without power for several hours. While I found the outage to be quite peaceful, not everyone in the house shared that perspective, especially not the kids. They were horrified at the idea of going without cable, the internet, or the Xbox for any extended period of time. It didn’t help that the power company’s notifications stated it would take more than 24 hours for the power to be restored. Fortunately, we ended up only going without power for seven hours and as you can imagine, a huge sense of relief was felt throughout the house.

It’s amazing how abruptly we’re reminded of all the things we take for granted on a daily basis during a power outage. Simple things like doing the laundry, washing dishes, taking a hot shower, turning on the heat, making coffee, charging iPhones, iPads, and laptops, or simply turning on a light. In the end, it was an opportunity to once again be grateful for the modern conveniences that we typically take for granted and that go unappreciated. Until the next nor’easter…

James

Monthly "Mise En Place"

Monthly “Mise En Place” – March 2018: Tax Time

james

For many Americans, April 15th accompanies a sense of impending doom. It’s a day of reckoning when Uncle Sam calls for his pound of flesh and when everyone must pay the piper. For some, April 15th is merely an annoying formality and something to be crossed off of their to do lists. For others, April 15th can’t come soon enough because they’re expecting refunds. Refunds that will be used for things like catching up on bills, taking a vacation, investing, making a down payment on a car or a house, etc.

Naturally, the unique circumstances of one’s financial picture determine which of these groups he or she falls into. With few exceptions, I’ve typically fallen into the third group. I prefer to file early and have almost always received a refund. At times, the refunds were relatively large and although I should have adjusted the amount being withheld from my paycheck, I didn’t. I simply enjoyed having Uncle Sam pay me instead of me paying him every time I went to H&R Block.

This year was different. For the first time, I needed a professional CPA. This is because I now own a business and because I moved to a different state last year. This means I had individual and business taxes to file in two separate states. This is also the first time I’ve had more-complicated taxes to file, so I wasn’t comfortable filing them myself.

The “taxes” item on my to do list stared at me every day for the past two months. Yesterday, after four hours of going through and making sure I had everything ready, I jumped in my car and headed out to meet my new CPA. On the way there, I felt like I had everything organized, neatly packaged, and ready to hand off. After sitting down at the large, round, wooden table in her office, I soon found myself repeating, “That’s why I’m here.” As organized as I had felt earlier, my need for a professional quickly emerged. A couple of times she asked for documents and as I sifted through what felt like a mountain of paperwork to find them, I began to feel disheveled. The prepared and organized version of me that first walked in had somehow evolved into a hot mess. I had made the mistake of bringing literally everything instead of only bringing the items I needed. While it seemed like a good idea yesterday morning, I began to think that yes, perhaps, less is more.

Fortunately, my new CPA was competent, patient, and helpful. She had been referred to me so I had no idea what to expect but I left feeling relieved and like I was in very good hands. Now that I think about it, I have no idea if I’ll have to pay Uncle Sam or if he’ll have to pay me but for now, I’m content simply knowing that someone else, someone much more knowledgeable about taxes than I am, is filing my taxes for me and has my back.

James

Today's Two Cents

Editing: The Hard Part

james

Only recently have I begun to seriously edit my book, and for the first time, I’m beginning to appreciate what is meant by the phrase, “Writing is easy, editing is hard.” I say seriously because all of the editing I’ve done up until now has been minor, on-the-fly stuff. When I wrote my first draft, I kicked out a few pages every hour. Now that I’m editing, it takes between one and two hours to get through a single page. This means a typical day of editing sees me through four or five pages.

Since this is my first book, I’m finding the process to be quite a learning experience. Not only is it a learning experience about writing and editing, it’s also a learning experience about myself. I’m beginning to recognize my tendencies and patterns and the way I think and feel about various aspects of the process. I’m also becoming acutely aware of how environmental factors and my mood can help or hinder productivity.

After I completed the first draft of my book, it sat shelved for nearly nine months. While I’m not sure I’d let that much time pass before beginning the editing process again, I believe it’s helped me view it from a more-objective perspective. For example, there are times when I will delete an entire paragraph or more. There’s no way I would have done that several months ago. It would have crushed me to delete anything immediately after completing the first draft.

During the nine months my book sat shelved, part of me wanted to begin editing it and another part wanted nothing more than to start a new book. I hadn’t expected to feel torn between what I really wanted to do (start a new project) and what I knew I must do (begin editing). It was like being forced to choose one child over another. Sure, I could have let it continue sitting on the shelf but since this is my first book, there was no way I could seriously consider moving on before seeing it through. Whether it was the desire to complete my first book or the desire to begin a new one, it provided the motivation I needed to get back to editing.

Currently, I’m up to my neck in editing it. Any thoughts or ideas I previously had about the editing process, have long since flown the coop. It’s exhausting, frustrating, enjoyable, surprising, mind-numbing, and rewarding. It’s also damned hard work. Some days I’m very productive and others feel like I’m taking two steps back for every one forward. It’s a process I’m learning to embrace because I’m fully aware that once I finish this first, full-edit of my book, I will have to rinse and repeat until I’m 100% certain it’s ready to be released upon the world all on its own. Well, maybe 99%. 🙂

James