Redwolf's Journal (continued)

So last night the area was hit with a power outage. Lights were out from about six to seven. Knowing there'd be some issues when things got back on track (and being able to do nothing at home), I drove back in to work in order to help out. Predictably, there were problems with gettings all our servers back up and running as they should be, but it wasn't too bad. Then I got back home and pretty much crashed. The last few days I've felt unusually energetic and awake, but that ended rather abruptly. It was almost like someone flipped a switch. Ugh. And I wasn't much better today. It appears to be the beginning of my personal allergy season as I spent the morning freezing my tail off in my office with a runny nose and itchy eyes. Then the day got increasingly stressful. Some settings on our router were reset by the outage and ended up causing the most bizarre connection problems... but only for a few computers. I never would have guessed that was the source of the probl

Okay, so the tax thing became a serious enough issue for me to dig a little deeper and actually pay to consult a tax advisor. At least I was pleased with the answer. Since I know I won't owe what that tax software estimated for me through this year, I can ignore the vouchers it printed out and not worry about its estimated taxes due next year. Yay. I feel less assaulted by the IRS, and I can finally put that out of my mind.

I can't escape this year. I swear, the federal government is out to get me. When I printed out tax documents and saw vouchers for paying 'estimated taxes' for next time, I was a little concerned. I looked closer, though, and they specifically say "If you are paying estimated taxes..." I figured that shouldn't apply then, since I had no desire or plans to. But it's been nagging me on and off. So, I consulted the rest of the documentation recently. There are something more definite there, along the lines of "Your return indicates you must pay estimated taxes..." Errr. That was troubling. So, I thought maybe I clicked something wrong. After all, why would I want to pay money I won't owe next year to begin with? So, I get into researching a little more. What I found was not pleasant. Under certain circumstances - usually large amounts of income that weren't subject to withholding - it seems you are required to pay estimated taxes for th

... Okay, I'm just about brain dead tonight. First we thought we'd switch to the new system at noon. Then six in the morning. Now we're hoping for Sunday sometime. Ugh. One unexpected issue after another, and this upgrade has sapped the sentience from me for the day over a thirteen-hour period. And the sticking points are exactly where I knew they would be. Our advertising and editorial databases are interlinked. You can't just upgrade one and expect everything to be fine. And... and... bleh. That's about all I can muster to say for now.

It's been a very busy day and it started off poorly to say the least. Yet, I experienced a moment of peace... serenity... contentment... It feels pretty strange to use those words to describe lying on my back out in the parking lot this morning. After the initial shock, however, I simply acknowledged having no desire to get up. And there it was. I felt no anger at having slipped on the ice. I felt no frustration with the setback. I felt no fear of being run over. Instead, I felt as though that was exactly where I was meant to be at that moment, and I was perfectly okay with that. It probably lasted less than a minute, but it was truly a moment of note.