How Did I Get Here?

Saturday

I’m not a big tax complainer. I mean, I don’t like paying taxes as much as the next guy but the truth of the matter is that I make so little, the amount they take off for taxes is negligible. I mean, my only taxable income is my basic pay so what’s the big deal? I can write off just about everything and since they take out so much per month, I end up getting thousands back each year.

I know, I know, they are keeping my money to make money off of but to me, it’s a savings account that, OK, fails to draw $10 over the year in interest. I’m willing to give that up to get 4K+ chunks in the first quarter of each year.

This year promised to be more complicated. Last year and the last few years, I have done the tax software routine but since we moved and I still own a house in Virginia that I rent out, I thought I needed a bit more help.

Yeah, they offer free tax service at the base but these are just Marines that are assigned there, given the basics, and let loose. I would rather pay a bit to get it all professionally taken care of.

Carrie made an appointment with a tax consultant who I had been referred to by a friend who uses him every year. The two drawbacks was that he was in Irvine (an hour away) and would cost a little over $200.

The good news is that all we had to do was show up, show him what we got, and he did all the work right there. He even would send it in electronically so we left with everything taken care of. Even better, if the IRS had questions or needed something else, he would take care of it for us.

The appointment was at 0900 today (on a Saturday morning) which would normally be a taboo situation because that’s my long-run running time but after all the running and all the sickness lately (not to mention a race tomorrow), I was taking the day off.

Natasha, the name I give my GPS system, took us right there and after a brief confusion over why we were there when they didn’t have us scheduled, we worked it out. I was having second thoughts about paying $200+ for tax prep and if they didn’t have us on their schedule like they were supposed to, I was out of there and would use the base.

They figured out that they had us as a no-show last Wednesday but that was their problem, not mine. They ended up seeing us (gee, thanks) and we sat in this guys office while he hen-pecked the keyboard.

He asked us all sorts of questions and thought of stuff we could write off I wouldn’t have thought of or known how to do (cell phone charges, uniforms, stripper tips, etc.)

After he was done, he gave us the final amount.

It was quite generous.

It looks like the computers will be paid for and a couple of other bills. The rest will be a “rent nest egg” since our renter has a habit of not paying the rent and then a slam on the credit card. It was just nice to have this done.

When we were coming home, I mentioned to Carrie that I had forgotten my sunglasses and running shoes at work and since we were on I-5 anyway, we should swing by there and get them. A little out of our way but I would have to do it sometime today anyway since I have a race tomorrow.

So we got all the way to the base and discovered that we were using the single Pilot key. This meant I didn’t have my key ring that had the building keys on it.

Shit.

I called the duty but all he had was the external key, not the one to my office. I was denied by the thickness of a single door. I would have to go all the way home and then come back.

Double shit.

I was not happy.

We tried to salvage the trip by going to lunch at Jimmy’s but all I got for my troubles there was Carrie making fun of the place. Yeah it’s old and yeah, the upholstery on the booth seat was torn and fixed with duct tape but the club sandwich is awesome. She laughed at me trying to defend it and I called her a princess for the rest of the meal.

We went home and I had to turn around and drive right back to get my running gear. There are punishments for being a dumbass but in the big scheme of things, this wasn’t all that bad. I even took old Buster with me and we hung out during the trip.

Taxes are done, I got my stuff, and am ready for tomorrow. I’m still feeling a little under the weather after yesterday but I think I’ll be fine for the race. Maybe all I need is 13.1 miles of hard running to snap me out of it. Yeah.

Not bad for a day’s work.

Free Advice for Today: “Don’t expect your love alone to make a neat person out of a messy one.”