The Inertia of Inaction A few years ago, my wife and I watched The Way Back, a “based on a true story” account of prisoners who escaped the Siberian Gulag on foot, finding their freedom in India. The following is a conversation between two of the escapees: JANUSZ: He has a plan. SMITH: Who? JANUSZ:… Continue reading May 2021 Update
It’s official! This is the first year I’ve filed for a tax extension. Every year I use the FreeFillableForms to fill out and submit my taxes. I was slightly concerned that I’d have to restart the process to file the extension. That was until I saw the nifty “File an Extension” button in the upper… Continue reading April 2021 Update
Spring has sprung! At this time of year, we love swinging downtown to check out the cherry blossoms. However, this year with the pandemic in play, we may skip our annual tradition. Here’s a picture from last year’s blossom excursion: Despite paying zero attention to organized sports, I did fill out an NCAA March Madness… Continue reading March 2021 Update
Tax Season – In Progress I finished filing the tax returns for both of my oldest two children. Both made well under $30k for the year. I laughed at how simple they were and also the sheer number of dark patterns that Turbotax employed to trick us into paying for what should have been a… Continue reading February 2021 Update
January 2021 Update The tax forms are starting to trickle in. Probably won’t start reviewing them until mid-February once the brokerage statements all land. We’ll see if we have any drastic changes to the tax code to account for in 2021. Covered Calls Update I’ve written before about the covered calls that I’ve been writing… Continue reading January 2021 Update
Happy New Year! I hope you had a merry Christmas and are ready for 2021! I know I am. Busting The Myths of Plastic Recycling This month I listened to Planet Money’s episode on recycled plastic, titled Waste Land. I remember hearing their earlier episode on how recycling of plastic has never been very viable. … Continue reading December 2020 Update
November 2020 Update Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! I started this blog a year ago. We were in the middle of our family DIY study abroad in Spain (remember when traveling was a thing?). After reading Jeremy’s suggestion to “do interesting things and share them publicly” in his Selling the Dream post, I decided… Continue reading November 2020 Update
Here are some highlights of October 2020. Creating Zoom Video Backgrounds I haven’t stepped foot in the office since mid-March when the pandemic started in earnest. Instead, I’ve been meeting with coworkers via Zoom. Early on, I decided to use photos from our trip to Spain as my background. It was a fun way to… Continue reading October 2020 Update
September 2020 Update It’s crazy to think that almost exactly one year ago we’d just arrived in Spain for our 81-day family trip. Remember, back when travel to foreign places used to be a thing? This September has been a little bit different, mostly uneventful. Having our oldest at college has been a little different.… Continue reading September 2020 Update
Each month, I find that there’s a bunch of small topics that don’t warrant their own post but that I want to share nonetheless. Here are some from August. Beach House In North Carolina In the eight years that we’ve lived in Virginia, we’ve rented houses near the beach on the southern coast of North… Continue reading August 2020 Update
