God is Good, Taxes Done, Sleep Coming, Wheee!

So yes, it’s 2am. I finished the last bits of my final number crunching, and I have come to a conclusion, it is so time for accounting software and taking the time to learn it. TN has been growing slowly, nearly 10k more in this past year, and about another 1k in actual profit made, and of course, this year is going to be no different, with costs lowered on my end, and in turn also offering more to customers, I see some growth, but then also this calendar year I have a W2 coming, fun fun. In the end I paid more than last year (which I expected) the total was $282 (about $100~ more than last year), and as usual, state is no refund, nothing due. PTL.

Lots of prayer during taxes, TurboTax always scares the crap out of me every year, as it keeps a running tally of Tax owed, then after areas adds in the new deductions - so at one point I had $1,925 in taxes, and just started praying as I went over numbers again and again, (I need sleep) - only to run thru things, and finally say the classic “Your will be done” as over the last week funds have been coming in very steady, so I figured God was preparing me for taxes, well after hitting next to go into the new area, it re-calculated and it was less, then I got EIC and we arrived, lots of prayer tonight, and really a lot over the last few days, stress at work, taxes looming, and the upcoming court fun of my ticket, going to call the courts today from work and see what they say, if I can just pay it and do traffic school, so game.

Sleep is nearing, just HAD to get taxes done, and with the e-File it’s already post marked today, but again as I say every year, I want to do next year better, and I may form a LLC for ThrustNet and go from there, not 100% sure, but it may be time for an accountant as well - but with work in under 6 hours, I should probably wrap it up.

Anyhwoo - I’ll hit up the blog tomorrow from work, just been busy, tad crazy, and in this job I feel like I am re-living my first year of businesses as I am once again having hassles with what used to be Arrival, but at some level it’s not their fault, and yet they aren’t working with us either, long story, more later I am sure, but for now — thanks for all the prayers, thanks to folks who IM’d me tips on dealing with my court date if I indeed have to go, good stuff, much appreciated - but I must sleep, winds finally lived up to their purpose and brought the temp from 80F->52F lovely. Night folks. More later. Wheeeee!

Before I lay me down to sleep…

Tonight was much needed. Nephews, Niece, Dan, Val, Solomon, etc. a nice end to my day, which ended previously after work by being ditched for a meeting setup Monday, and then having my friend insulted as well as myself, basically told that I was a complete idiot as well as Dan who had no skills what-so-ever - not a fun thing in the least, I brought it up to Dan before the night started because it really bothered me and I didn’t want to let my friend be bad mouthed by this kid who has had very little experience in the world of Web Dev. basically call myself and Dan noobs - kindly told him to shut it - got Dan a little riled up as well - and rightly so.

The part that sucks and has me torn of course is A) I do business with this company. B) The owner and I have know each other for years, and C) $500 a month is nice when I get it, before the following month - so a tad frustrated already with the entire thing, then throw this on the fire - kinda just leaves me wanting to just walk away. As much as $500 would be handy, and the occasional 3-500 more for side work is nice, it’s still not my standard rates, and it’s still not getting paid on time so needless to say I am seriously praying the idea of just cutting ties, one less thing to worry about, and focus strictly on other side projects and jobs which pay me up-front, on-time, and what was agreed upon, plus I don’t have to deal with the drama of it all.

So thankfully this is all going down of course during the week my boss is gone @ my day job, and gives me some time to toy with it some more, but I honestly don’t know what I want to do, possibility of $800 extra a month on average is nice, but like so many if I have to wait over a month for even the local guy to pay me, it’s not helpful, and I spend more time chasing after the local boy than I do chasing after the guy on the east coast who owes me $5 for a month, $5 is simple, $800 is a car, insurance, and credit card payment! So big difference.

Anywhoo - if your reading this sir, and you know who you are, shoot me an email when your around, we need to chat a bit, or setup a time to discuss what’s going on, and get some level of resolution - but to everyone reading this, keep me in your prayers - busy busy, lots going on, still no speeding ticket stuff, and still haven’t had a chance to push my 9-to-6 concept…. so prayers are appreciated, but for now I am going to go talk to my pillow. Night!

Good -> Bad -> Worse = Today

You know it’s friday when your day makes the progression of the title today. What started off as a fair day, some minor blips, but nothing major, got things rolling, got around, got things lined up for a time-table of fun, but then after lunch things went down-hill, server ate it, find out all these end of month things as they happen, well except one - just insane.

So after that, I am driving home, as I am coming in the home stretch, a CHP pulls up and tailgates me with no lights on, so I move out of his way, then he suddenly gets behind me again, and lights up his lights and pulls me over - what was casual speed of traffic driving is suddenly 20 over (85 in a 65) - blah! Of course since I have no priors in over 18 months (more like 4 years) I am up for Traffic School (just like last time) - part of me wants to contest it, but again I just don’t want to 1 wake up for court that early to have a judge say “Sorry kiddo” and Two - I just want to clear it, point be gone with traffic school and move on, I have only had 1 other ticket ever, granted I have had a major accident once, but even that was over 6+ years ago? I dunno, long day, brain is tired.

So there it is, I could rant some more, but honestly - this day just needs to be put to bed, I’d considered going to see Solomon, but I think I am going to hold off as I don’t know if I am just tired, or fighting a bit of a cold myself, so better safe than sorry - Solomon isn’t going anywhere (unless Dan and Val are planning on leaving the country) so for now I am going to work on some EE code, was going to move it during my lunch break, but that didn’t happen with all my fun insanity today - continued prayers are still greatly appreciated, still finding all the balance in this job, my business, and downtime for myself.

Anywhoo for now, I am going to do something, not sure what, but something - maybe go cry in the corner - I hope everyone has a good Friday, a fun weekend, and all the toast they can eat… mmmmm… toast. Night/Afternoon and Good morning All.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well I beat my last 2 years time in making a plan for my birthday! Hooray! This morning I sent out word of the gathering this evening - Denny’s is the place, may seem odd, but its last minute, mid-week, and I know many folks will be maybes at some point, but already we have 4 for sure, and some folks as maybes - the real-deal is Saturday at Ming, in what looks to be sunshine and lovely weather - so one step at a time.

Today I got pictures of Mr. Solomon Poon, good looking baby! So that brightened my morning after surviving a marketing meeting… I and about 3 other people nearly fell asleep at the meeting, it was hilarious, but all in all today has been a good day, I am hoping to squeeze in some private work here for a bit, I hate my auth scheme for EE - so I am going to do a quick swap and see if the new idea I have in mind works, I just backed up the code so going to give it a whirl.

All in all though for 4 days straight here at the new job, it’s going well, things are smoothing out, even got a few folks thanking me for my hard work, just a lot of little things I am trying to iron out, Charlie did some good work out here, but as he said I am a salesman, and a few things I have sold them on are taking hold, Google Apps vs. Arrival (hooray!) and I put in for a quote for on a entry level dell server with 1TB of storage/no-os/2gb ram/mid-range drives - so I may have a big dell order, who knows maybe they’ll hook me up with a dell XPS laptop ah a man can dream can’t he!

Anywhoo! Off to code, if anyone would like to come out to Denny’s to celebrate with us, 7:30pm @ Weedpatch, buzz my cell so I know how many seats to ask for, you know that place get’s packed out! More later!

Pee in a Cup, get a job.

So far so good on the job front, on my 3rd day solo, 2nd day on the payroll, I’ll get paid the 1st it looks like, or a very small check on the 16th, but so far so good, I finished the last leg of the HR hoops today (well the core stuff) by peeing into a cup, first time for doing it, even when I worked for KHSD I didn’t have to do a drug screen, I think it’s random in that case, but here I got to pee in the cup, it was a tad awkward with a wall-length mirror, but I survived!

Last night was fun, had Scott, Sara, Sarah, Beth, Michael, Ron, Karan and ME! we went to El Pueblo for dinner to celebrate the excitement that is my employment, it was awesome food, dad got mine, I got his (Chicken vs. Beef) - but still lots of fun, good laughs - I was going to hit Denny’s with Scott later, but I just got super sleepy - and backed out, still not 100% on this new schedule, and my body isn’t yet fully used to the concept that I can’t sleep whenever I want anymore - but it’ll level out in time, probably after the first check direct deposits into the bank I am sure that’ll give me peace of mind, but it is seeming like more and more I’ll be getting the apartment in March I am guessing, not a huge deal but it works.

Worlds are colliding with Work and Work, as it stands MLS is migrating from it’s current email offering with the local guys (who’s name I dare not speak, in fear I’ll go on a rampage) - but the replacement is the big question, I think Google Apps is the route I am going to take, it’s a nice solution for outside sales folk, 25GB of storage, etc. etc. but it’ll run the company about 3k a year in costs, as it’s $50/account - so we either need to slim down the email -or- one of these other options, currently Fusemail has my attention some, fair pricing, takes the cost for 25GB TOTAL storage down to under 1k a year, so a big savings in comparison. Granted I could always just setup something in-house, there’d still be some cost, but not sure. Already have the OK on Google, but I know there is resistance to it, so I want to have alternatives in the wings just in case, plus some of these offer anti-spam solutions so more for FH/TN to consider.

Anywhoo - things are good, getting the swing of things pretty well, the MBP is doing nicely (where I am typing now) and the office Dell I use for work, is not to shabby either. So now I am going to sit here and continue reading, lunch is in 2 hours, so tasty food is on the horizon! (I hope) I am thinking maybe of grabbing a slice or a dog from Costco down the street…. time will tell.

I have a Job.

And so it begins…. as of today around 2:45pm, I got the official word from the co-owner that I am officially on-board! So needless to say I was pretty excited - this means a lot for my monthly budget, my plans for my life, etc. this weekend I’ll probably even hit up the apartment complex and see what they have open right now - Lord Willing, I Hope they have the 2 bedroom + garage that I can come look at, that would be wonderful!

But a good first day on my own, only had 2 calls to the last guy for help, which meant calling my brother but all in all things went well - just wrapping up the afternoon, I have been on the phone here the last bit calling friends and family inviting them to come eat tomorrow night to celebrate, my sister made the good call and said El Pueblo, so needless to say my belly is excited! So tomorrow we will celebrate it up, and I imagine tomorrow I’ll get things going on my employed status, paperwork, etc.

So big thanks to everyone for their prayers! More news to follow I am sure, but I am just quick blogging this from Textmate here on the Mac - once I get home and settled in, I’ll probably post more thoughts, for now, PTL!

Weather!

Well so far at least 3 pieces of shingles have come off the roof. If the wind weren’t so bad (20-30mph gusts now) I’d climb up and take a look at the damage on the roof, because the rain will be following shortly it appears, the doppler is massively orange/red in some spots, we have a big yellow/orange blob coming towards bako - and when I say coming towards, I mean moving very, very, very, fast, under an hour ago the system was off the coast, its truckin.

So I am hoping my final migrations wrap up soon, as I am on the last batch, and it’s moving quickly, but the power has blinked 2-3 times already, thankfully the UPS is keeping up with the blips, so no interruptions on the internet/imac as of yet, but I have the phone and MBP charged and ready to go - just totally crazy.

Anywhoo - looks like things will be done within the next hour, maybe 2 tops, load across the server migrating is smooth, so I am hoping things will be complete very very soon, unpacking one massive site, packaging a massive site as well, so hoping things will wrap up, come Monday I can put in the final bits, and tada - all good. So as long as I don’t blow away here soon, I’ll be done and I can rest easy for a while. Night all! Happy Sunday!