Day 252: Tax 2020

Today’s story will be more about events than a retelling of the day. I thought this would be more interesting, and today was exciting for me, but I suspect it is less so for others.

Today was the last day of February 2021, and my deadlines, self-imposed for taxes. I spent the whole morning doing tax work with TurboTax online version. Others may fear using a cloud version, but I have found the experience very secure and much better than using a local version.

I also cooked oatmeal from scratch and nearly burned it while concentrating on tax stuff and not the bubbling pot of goo on the stovetop. I managed to pour cold water from the faucet on the bottom of the pan to reduce the energy release from stirring. This saved it (and can save rice too).

I had a couple of bowls of freshly cooked oatmeal with just a sprinkle of brown sugar. The unconsumed portion turned to glue in the pan and is soaking to get off the pan now. It was messy, and I will buy more instant!

I finally printed off the Fidelity tax documents, I was looking at the year-end statement in error, and blessedly the corrected cost bases for all the stock transactions were thusly available. I could then supply all the mysterious data TurboTax did not get when it supposedly uploaded the same data. I performed the usual rituals of clicking forever to finally accept the tax information.

I then paid the slightly discounted fee because I finished in February and sent in my taxes to the Feds and Oregon. I owe a lot. I had also paid early when I did some stock transactions. Hate to piss-off Uncle Sam; he got some $ early.

I was surprised to learn that the taxes run so differently now. Oregon is still using taxes as if 1040 was still the same before Trump’s tax cuts. This meant that while the tax changes prevent me from using itemized deductions on 1040, they do seem to work on Oregon 40. I am so glad I entered our charitable giving. I want to record our giving even if I am forced to use the standard deduction. It reduced my Oregon taxes, at least.

By noon I had pushed all the buttons, and the Fed and State of Oregon had my taxes. My checks will follow in April for the bill. I never pay early.

Nobody was up; I went on a celebration of my own. Sushi has not been on the menu the whole lockdown. I believe part of the Sushi’s enjoyment is sitting in a bar or restaurant and ordering and delivering it to you at the bar or table. The presentation on plates or on bamboo is part of the meal to me. It is not a GrubHub item for me. I also like cold draft Japanese beer with it.

It has been more than a year since I visited Wasabi in our area. Their website is hacked (it route you to a viagra website), so no link, but their food is good, and the bartender was the same guy I had a year ago. I ordered the small combo sushi plate and a beer. It was wonderful, and small is not a word I would associate with it.

My laptop was with me, and even the Internet password still worked. Again, it feels like I was there just last week and not a whole year ago. Again, everyone looked happy to be there, it was a bit busy, but there was that tiny hint of fear that this may go away again.

I went home from there and got Susie going. After pills, food, and getting dressed, Susie walked down our street with her walker. It is one of her exercises. She was tired after the walk, but we got in the car and drove places.

We stopped by Cory’s house, and I gave his wife Jenifer a copy of the Wingspan learning set. The board game Wingspan, a unique game where you create a bird sanctuary and manage it–a resource management game based on real science and good game design, can be hard to learn, and this kit, I bought two, so I gave Cory and Jenifer another one, helps teach the game. I have not been to Cory and Jenifer’s house since March 2020, our Sunday gaming group’s last Dungeons and Dragons game. We hope to play again in the summer!

We dropped off a jar of King Arthur Floor’s Vietnamese cinnamon for Dondrea. This spice is a bit sharper than my usual cinnamon and made delicious cinnamon rolls. I ordered some more items from King Arthur, and I ordered an extra jar to give away. I recommend this product.

We got home, and I made dinner (not interesting), and we watched the Pixar movie The Incredibles 2.

I returned to work in India afternoon time, 10:30PM PST.

Completing my taxes and closing 2020 has given me a hopeful feeling. I feel that 2020 is fading away, and 2021 will be better.

19,513 people were vaccinated yesterday in Oregon. These numbers will likely increase as it takes 72 hours to collect all the data.

1,253 people died in the USA from the virus today.

I turned in the Methodist Hymnal to We Shall Over Come–#533.