Almost Me

Today I mailed my federal income tax returns for 2005, 2006, and 2007. It’s been three ridiculous years but it feels good to finally be caught up.

My father traditionally did the income taxes for my family, and so my brother and I never got around to really learning what’s all involved. However, it came to light that it’s three years later and my father hasn’t been able to get around to the taxes. I don’t blame him, he’s got things to do and I know the taxes were on his “to-do” list, but I figured it was time to take the matter into my own hands.

It turns out the IRS doesn’t get too concerned when they owe you money. And, whatever I was doing, I had too much withheld from my salary for those years. I should be getting a hefty refund back from the government soon. I decided to change my withholding status to something that might be a little more logical so that I can keep (and presumably save and invest) more of my money instead of having it tangled up at the IRS year after year.

One piece of advice I can give—I bought a dedicated Taxcut program, thinking that I needed all the help I could get this year. Once it came time to file I was surprised that it’d cost so much to e-file, and it looks like there might be better online tax preparation websites and “freefile” services I could’ve used. I think I would’ve been better off trying the free online version of TurboTax or any of the freefile alternatives. I know it sounds stupid that I’d be so worried about being nickel-and-dimed after being so apathetic about the state of my tax refund the past couple of years, but I really can’t stand it when I feel some company is trying to capitalize on my ignorance.

I’m still keeping my fingers crossed until I get the direct deposit and confirmation that everything went through smoothly, but I’m happy to be done.

It’s been a long time coming, but it feels great to finally witness the Patriots lose a football game—especially the one game they’ve been playing for all season. The New York Football Giants are the winners of Super Bowl XLII in Glendale.

Too many times have I seen teams with heart, determination, and talent basically beat themselves when playing against the Patriots. And it’s never seemed as though the Patriots were the better team, it’s just that the cold and machine-like style of football they play keeps them from making mistakes and it ends up being the difference.

I had faith in the Giants. For the most part Tom Brady has been well protected this season, and always had time to consider the coverage and make the best throws. The times when he’s been hurried and pressured, like in a couple of close games they’ve had, he’s been noticeably frustrated. If there was anyone that could get to him, it’d be the Giants excellent defensive front and they delivered. Shutting down the Patriots offensive line, and in turn, Brady, was the key to the game.

I’ve been indifferent to the Super Bowls that don’t feature my home team, the Steelers, but, as odd as it sounds, I actually had close to the same level of excitement when cheering on the Giants as I had the Steelers in 2005.

Congratulations to the Giants—this was a win everyone could appreciate.

Definitely worth seeing it again.

I’ve built a computer for my dad this Christmas—most of the parts came from NewEgg and TigerDirect, and I’m happy with how it turned out so far but he hasn’t had the opportunity to use it much yet.

What I really want to is put together a timeline for replacing my current computer at home that I built in 2003. I’ve always tried to support AMD CPUs (bought my first Intel in a while last year via my MacBook), and I’m under the impression they’re not as much as a value anymore. Building my dad’s computer was a good exercise for understanding what I’d want for my own replacement as well, though.