Hey look at that...

I still have a blog. For all the good it's doing me.

Dear Mr. President: Thanks for the Pay Cut

First, I'll acknowledge the futility of having a blog when you post as infrequently as I do. Acknowledged. Moving on.

Today is the first day my employer is doing payroll under the new withholding rules established by the Obama administration. Essentially, if you haven't read up on it, the new lower withholding amounts for most employees reflects the "Making Work Pay" Credit, doled out throughout the entire year instead of handed out in one lump sum at tax time next year. The credit - maxing out at $400 for individuals and $800 for couples filing jointly - is projected to result in an average of an additional $14 per week (this info may have changed since I last read about it) for the American worker. Not substantial, but in these times nobody sneezes at a little extra income. In case you're curious (read: nosy) my bump is right around the national average. To quote Monty Python "there was much rejoicing." Yay. Yay.

Here's the twist though. Because of the mid-year implementation of the new rules, several groups of taxpayers are at risk to have too little income withheld, resulting in a larger tax bill next April. Among those possibly impacted: taxpayers with two or more jobs (me), joint filers who both work (us), and those who can be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer. All this is to say, I will very likely have to increase my voluntary withholdings to be responsible and avoid getting slapped next April, which will effectively be a pay cut in terms of my bi-monthly paychecks. Note this is the opposite of what this tax credit was meant to achieve. Thanks Mr. President. Keep up the good work.

If you are concerned you might need to increase your withholdings, the IRS has kindly provided more information and a withholdings calculator here.

Just.... no.

I was doubtful of the Disney-movies-turned-Broadway-musicals and was proven wrong. Beauty and the Beast is at least as good on stage as on film, and the Lion King is arguably superior.

I was hopeful when they wanted to put Dr. Seuss on the big stage, until I learned of their casting decisions and knew that Seussical was doomed.

I'm not sure the best casting in the world can save Spidey on Broadway. Yes, that's right. The web-slinger, singing and dancing and zinging his way around a Time Square Theater. Oh. Boy.

Are we so devoid of creativity that we simply spin and re-spin the same stories over and over again until all forms of media are a homogenous blob of garbage? And the American consumer is expected to buy this crap?

Oh, wait. We did allow Spiderman III to gross $37 gazillion, so maybe we are getting exactly what we asked for. Hm.

I feel like I need to rent a quality indie film to cancel out my past consumer behavior. Suggestions?

Fail

They say you never fail until you stop trying.

I think there might be a limit.

The Man Cave

Every guy wants a Man Cave, the location where he can fart and burp and smoke cigars and let his testosterone hang right out. Women want their men to have Man Cave's too, because it allows them to concentrate their most offensive habits in one area and be more civilized the rest of the time. Like housebreaking a dog or toilet training a kid, it keeps all the guy's sh..stuff in the right place.

I have always wanted a finished basement to be my Man Cave. Nothing fancy, mind, just a finished basement, with a walk out onto a patio. And a bar with a keg-o-rator. And a flat screen and bumper pool table with a card table top and a plush sofa and a casino grade air filtration system for sucking out the cigar smoke. Like I said, nothing fancy.

It never occurred to me that, while I lacked a finished basement (or a basement at all), I had the next best thing - a garage. It didn't occur to me that is until I saw that my father in law had turned his garage into a Man Cave of his own. Now the project is on.

The first step was to repair the garage door openers, which mysteriously ceased working in unison six months after we bought our house (Big nod to Tom on the assist there). The next step was to arrange the stuff that belongs in to garage in such a way that the Man Cave stuff will fit in without too much headache. One wall of my garage is now tools and yard implements, leaving the other free for novelty beer signs and automotive calendars.

The thing about a garage - a "working" garage as opposed to a room that serves no purpose - as a Man Cave is this: it will never be the swank, sophisticated and high tech Man Cave, but it has great potential as a dive-bar-meets-swap-meet Man Cave. I have the card table and folding chairs complete with duct tape, a crotchety 13-ince television that used to get three channels on a good day, and a CD player/radio that is now only a radio. I'm feeling a big igloo chest and cinder block bookshelf. But really, I want your thoughts. Call this "Pimp my Man Cave" and let me know what you think it needs.

WLTX.com is the Jerry Springer of local news websites

One of my friends made this observation recently. I think this story more or less drives the point home.

Totally irrelevant to anyone in South Carolina, but it gets web hits and idiotic comments from the same ten people that comment on every story they carry.

I don't know why, but . . .

I am deeply disturbed by the flash animated people who do strange dances on the insurance ads that show up on web pages.

Nothing that moves like that is natural.