2017 Winter January 15 Sunday

30 degrees this morning.  No walk.

Ice and rain continues although it hasn’t gotten that bad.  Bad enough to keep you inside, but at least it wasn’t bad enough that it created any major damage or electrical outages. At least it hasn’t yet.

It makes kind of a timeless day in a sense since you know you can’t really go anyplace. 

Started a a fiction book, it appears it will be good, now I need to check my schedule and when the book is due to see if I have time to read it.  It is not necessarily a “slow” read, it is just going to take some time to read it so I can enjoy it.  I feel myself getting caught up in the story and I don’t want to get caught up in it and not have time to read the book.  

Reading a lot about virtual reality or augmented reality.   I have to wonder if you can get caught in the world of “virtual reality” and somehow “slip” over from reality to the Virtual Reality world.  Maybe a way of travel.  

It does seem that somehow at least you could get psychologically “caught”, which is kind of a scary thought.  It seems it could happen if you think about it.  A “glitch” of some sort, although it would have to be a “glitch” that is a major glitch that someone hasn’t thought about yet.  

Of course, the chance of getting “psychologically” caught in the VR world would be much more likely, especially as advancements are made in technology etc.  

I have been reading up some on “smart cities”  and it is amazing what they can do, including  “holograms” of people who act as receptionists and guides. 

Started my tax returns for he 2016 tax year yesterday.  I used to make it an “all in one” experience where I started my return after I got the information in and then I started on it and worked on it until I was finished.

With “Turbo Tax”, I start early and just put in the income and deductions as they come in.  It seems to work a little better that way, plus there is less of a chance I’ll forget something.  

Of course it doesn’t help pay the taxes! 

In a way, taxes are kind of like a game, with finding the deductions etc. and putting everything in it’s place.  It seems like there is a  way to make it simpler.  

Actually, the basic income tax return has gotten down to the point where it is fairly simple, it is the deductions etc. that create the problems.  

Like the “home office deduction”, a “simple option” is offered that will clearly be a lot less than if you take “actual expenses” option.   It is almost like they are punishing you for  complying with the law and taking every deduction you can.

The way it works is you can take a “flat deduction" (I don’t recall what it is) or you can take the “expenses”.  I figured it out last year and the expenses will save you a lot of money over the “flat deduction” although we had to take the “standard deduction” last year (since we hadn’t owned a house the entire year) so it didn’t make any difference.

The sun is supposed to come out and it is supposed to get warm enough for the ice to melt so we can get out.  Here’s hoping!

That’s it for now, Sunday, January 15, 2017.