You guys gave me a lot of work to do this week tracking comments. I'm afraid to see what the points are going to look like after this. There were more posts than usual during the week, but most of the points were obtained early on.
Holy crap it's getting close! Mike caught up to Kyle by finding three errors this week over Kyle's two. Mike, now is your chance to pull ahead. I happen to know Kyle is busy at least until tonight (Sunday) night.
From this point forward I will have to carefully review my posts. You guys lucked out in that a few last week I made from work, which means I rush them and don't review them too closely.
Our new cookie sheet performed admirably last night, but I think the oven might be a little off. Perfectly golden snicker-doodle cookies on top where a not-so-lovely shade of black on the bottom. I'll have to figure out what to do.
Good Morning...
27 02 10 - 08:17. Category:
What a lovely Saturday. For my "short" day today I'll be pushing to work eight hours. This week begins our 60 hour week gauntlets.
This morning I woke up at 5:30, and was quite happy to realize I had another 15 minutes before my alarm. I got to sleep just a little bit more!
Apparently my brain took this as a signal to freak me the hell out. In my head today was the Saturday of my CPA exam. I was in the bathroom doing something (I think it was fixing my hair) when David walks up and says "Don't you have to go to your CPA exam soon?"
I glance at the clock and it says 13:XX and my test was scheduled for 12:30. I pretty much immediately starting going "shit! shit! shit!" in my head, in my head. I had a good moment of utter panic before my alarm actually went off.
The funny thing is that one of my favorite coworkers is taking an exam today, and her's is scheduled for 12:30. I get that empathy is important, but having anxiety attacks/dreams for another person's CPA exam? Really?
Tax Accruals
24 02 10 - 18:16. Category:
I'd like to announce that I conquered income tax accruals today!
There are topics in accounting that I have a hard time wrapping my head around. They are never super complicated, but if I can't conceptualize something I tend to not be any good at it. Tell me where the numbers go all you want but if I don't know the "why" behind the numbers or the process of determining them, I struggle. If I can't follow all the pieces I just won't be any good at it.
I didn't do as much conquering as I did finally figure one out, after going hours over budget, taking much longer than it should, and enlisting the constant help of a partner for several of those hours today.
Still, it's a thrill and a proud feeling when after hours of work and being run around in circles (income tax accrual do this a ton) finally getting everything to balance and tie.
And this is why I like my job.
A Love Poem
23 02 10 - 12:10. Category:
This is one of the reasons I love World of Warcraft, for the people and the interactions...
Cast Tieren: Level 80 dwarf hunter, nicknames include Tbag and "The Prancing Finger." This is my toon in WoW. Ahni: Level 80 human priest, rumored fan of ABBA and poetry. This is Kyle's toon in WoW.
A Love Poem Down the stony path I walk, humming a sad and lonely song. I think of days, long since past, when I would wear a thong. Those were the days I loved so much, I wish they never left. My heart is torn, I can't go on, I stop upon the cleft.
"Where are you now, my sweet love Tieren?" I shout into the chasm. Silence is my only reply, and my heart begins to spasm. I'm all alone, I lost my chance, I never was a good singer. My voice turned away my one true love, the mighty Prancing Finger.
Just before I take the plunge someone calls my name. "Ahni, fear not, you're not alone, and we can bring you fame!" I lift my eyes, and there they stood, the greatest band of all. "Thank you ABBA, you saved my life, I almost took the fall."
A year goes by, my training complete, I set off to find my love. I find him soon, sitting all alone, admiring his silver glove. I sing the song within my heart, and soon we are together. Thanks to ABBA, I won the heart of the Prancing Finger forever!
- Keoni, level 80 night elf priest, Crimson Dragoons
This probably doesn't make a lot of sense, there's definitely some inside jokes in it. But I had to republish it for safe keeping.
Laser Tag!
23 02 10 - 06:56. Category:
Last night my company had its mid-tax season event. In the past these have always been something non-interactive like going to a theater.The idea is to do something to relieve the pressure of tax season for a little bit.
This year however, I got us to go play laser tag! About half the office went, and I think everyone had a good amount of fun.
I was pretty much put in charge of planning the event, and I was the one who pushed for it to happen. I was a little worried it wouldn't turn out well, but I think it did.
Today my legs are rediculously sore. Going down stairs is dangers, cause it makes them want to just give out and drop me on my butt.
You are never, ever, too old for laser tag. Ever.
Derek's Typographical terrors, Week 11!
21 02 10 - 11:17. Category:
I only had one post during the week, which is pretty lame. This is post is also a day late again. I'm oozing lameness.
Yesterday I retook the Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) section of the CPA exam. I got hammered on questions on accounting for goodwill impairment, which I've never understood very well, and of course after really working on learning exactly what the hell governmental accounting is doing I hardly had any govt. questions.
I was still guessing a bit through the simulations, but I didn't outright leave anything blank this time around. I pulled a 74 last time, I would hope I did as well or better this time. If nothing else, I actually tried harder.
The greater half of success is simply the application of yourself an perseverance towards your goal. It's arguably one of the hardest elements to sustain too.
Caro got the only point for the week, getting herself back in the game again. Here's the current standings:
Mike: 5 Caro: 2 Kyle: 6 Doug: 3 David: 2 Dan: 1
My Valentine
15 02 10 - 14:27. Category:
I think one of my coworkers knows me too well.
Derek's Typographical terrors, Week 10!
14 02 10 - 08:34. Category:
It's been 10 weeks! My Saturday posting hasn't really happened because working on Saturdays makes me not want to do anything else the rest of the day. The table functionality is completely broken in Word Press, or Chrome doesn't like it, or something. Here's our current standings, in a boring list:
Mike, What Some Would Call Lies: - 5 points! The one Mike found during the week put him halfway there!
Caroline: - 1 point! She found one a long, long time ago.
Kyle: - 6 points! He's in the lead! I'm sorry Kyle, but I'm not giving you a point for my "input a new towel rod." It was odd, and not the best word choice, but I'm not considering it an error. Rather it's an indicator of how awesome I am. I input new fixed assets at work all the time. That's probably why it was at the front of my mind.
Doug: - 3 points! He hasn't found one in a while either.
David, Croxis.net: - 2 points! He's as bad at spelling and grammar as I am. I'm surprised he has this many!
And just so you are all aware, there is at this very moment a box of snicker doodle frozen cookie dough in my freezer. I don't know that it will make it to the end of this competition, but it's a possibility.
Lastly, if you couldn't tell no 12 of 12 for me this month. Ten hours in a cubicle makes for a hard set of pictures.
To Whom it May Concern
12 02 10 - 09:03. Category:
Dear King County, Washington:
Your property tax return report listings suck. They suck bad.
It's probably not nice to round things you're levying taxes on to the nearest $100 in value. It's also not nice when I'm trying to reconcile actual asset costs to your report.
I'm done trying, now I'm just guessing.
Sincerely,
Me
Boxes!
11 02 10 - 08:50. Category:
Our office recently had about 30 boxes of paper delivered, enough to last use through tax season and beyond. This is despite of the fact that we are supposedly going "paperless."
Of course, that many boxes of paper naturally makes me want to build a wall somewhere. So that's exactly what we did, via a coworker's phone:
First, we walled off a coworkers cubicle for him to find when he came in.
Then we walled off part of the hallway, so another coworker discovered it trying to get to her cube when she came in.
It was good fun, unfortunately one of the partners didn't appreciate the joke too much. We had to take it down before anyone else could discover our impromptu blockade. But it still lightened the mood, gave people a laugh, and mixed things up for everyone's morning. Goal accomplished.
Derek's Typographical Terrors, Week 9
07 02 10 - 16:12. Category:
I'm a total slacker and skipped my week eight update for Derek's Typographical Terrors. We are now on to week nine!. The table is messed up and I don't know why. Here's where we currently stand:
Kyle found an error in week seven's update which is pretty amazing but not worth any bonus points. However this did tie him for first place with Mike. More excitingly, Dan found is first point ever!
I also earned myself some masculinity points today! Not only did David and I install a curtain rod and curtain for the basement window (curtains don't really equal masculinity, so it doesn't count), but I also input a new towel rod in the bathroom!
Steve > Me
05 02 10 - 20:14. Category:
I met Steve on the MAX today. Despite my little interaction w/ him I believe he is a fantastic individual, and here's why:
A woman about my age got on the MAX this evening on the phone, I couldn't hear her conversation because I was wearing my headphones. Just a minute later she got off her phone, and she looked visibly upset. That upset quickly turned into fighting back tears.
I had no idea what was going on in her life, but I felt so sad for her. I wanted to do something for her, but there was nothing I could do. I, unfortunately, do not have the magic to fix problems. She looked so distraught, like something had just upset her life in a very helpless way.
I thought about approaching her and simply saying "I'm sorry. For whatever it is, I'm sorry that you're having to go through it right now." But what is that? It's nothing really. A part of me feels that people just need to know someone cares, and often that someone is listening (when appropriate of course). But I think it mostly comes across as strange, especially were it to come from a stranger. I personally believe that being alone is part of the problem when people face tough times, and anything you can do to alleviate that might help.
I didn't approach her. I didn't want to risk making her uncomfortable. What would I have said? I most certainly couldn't have done anything. So I just watched and wished that I could do something for her.
As the MAX was stopping, this guy came up and talked to her. I couldn't see her reaction too well, and I couldn't hear them either. he talked to her for a minute, and then he and I both got off the MAX. I was walking next to him and asked him what he had said to her. He told me he'd overheard her phone conversation, and that her wallet had been stolen. All her ID and her methods of accessing money were gone. The bank wasn't being helpful. So what did he do? He told her he'd been through it too. He also gave her $20. On some levels just giving people money seems like a cop out, but then she just lost her wallet. It was more than I did. He also had her smiling as he got off the MAX.
I think it's hard to separate giving money to make a problem go away and giving money as an honest effort to help someone in the best way you can. When I was talking to him the best I could do was tell him that I appreciated his actions and to thank him for it. That was all I had. We got to walk and chat for a little bit, and I think he's a fantastic individual. I hope to run into him again.
This event made my day and it got me thinking what could I do? I don't have any readily applicable skill to give. I work in accounting. The ability to do journal entries and tax returns really doesn't apply on a great scale in the community service level. So far I've just done my best to get my coworkers to like the place they work.
At the least, I'm going to lobby my firm this spring to start approaching non-profits with offers to do their IRS filings at significantly reduced prices, if not for free. If we could get the partners to even agree to let each staff accountant in the office to do one organization's filing that's ten or so organizations we could be helping out. Hell, give me another five years of experience and I'll have the confidence to offer to do it myself without any review.
I think someday I'll end up working for a community organization. That day will have to wait until I no longer need the high income offered by public accounting, but I'll get there eventually.
"Jesus Christ!"
04 02 10 - 06:18. Category:
Here's how you scare the crap out of yourself at about 6:15 in the morning...
Step 1: Hear what sounds like a faint periodic "meow" outside, and later a dog bark.
Step 2: Hear a rumbling noise right outside your window.
Step 3: Peak through blinds to find out what's going on.
Step 4: See nothing.
Step 5: Have a black and white cat appear RIGHT in front of your face on the windowsill.
"Jesus Christ!" was my expletive of choice.
Star Wars
01 02 10 - 10:44. Category:
Continuing my dork theme for the week...
Pretty much made me giggle like a kid. And no, I cannot pick a side in the Star Trek vs. Star Wars debate.
