Tax Season

Many years ago, a relative mocked a former inlaw for having earned less than $2000 in a year on about 8 W-2s. I have to admit that I was nervous as to how much better I would fare as we came near tax season this year.

You see I was laid off in February of last year and spent the remainder of the year either underemployed or over/underemployed. (I'll explain that in a moment.)

I was lucky enough to have a solid second job at the time and I quickly managed to get on substitute teaching lists for both Long Beach Unified School District and Kelly Educational Services. This kept me busy and kept the morgage paid (though little else). With the help of family, tax returns, some severance pay, government, savings, and prayer we managed to make it through spring.

By summer I picked up a second part time teaching job and by Fall I had three. This is what I called over/underemployed. I had the teaching load of 2 full time instructors but was not full time anywhere. Still, I could finally feel self sufficient again.

So anyway, it came tax time and I was grateful to find that while I did in fact have six or seven W-2s the total was well over $2000 so I guess I can feel confident in my worth as a father and husband.

Staci took me to her accountant to do the taxes. I've always done mine myself, but I have to admit this was more enjoyable. In part because someone else was doing the nitty gritty and in part because he was really a delightful guy to hold a conversation with. Our supposed hour and a half appointment lasted nearly 3 and poor Natalie and Richard got stuck with our kids, but they were very sweet about it.

Oh, by the way, after one full year of scraping for whatever jobs I could find. I do once again have a full time position. In fact it is my first tenure track job. I am now the newest Physics Professor at Pierce College a part of the Los Angeles Community College District. I have actually wanted to teach here for a long time as they are working very hard to implement the best practices of physics teaching. On the other hand, when I was working several part time jobs I could justify doing a good enough job, now I truly need to do an excellent job. When you combine that with the fact that it is a new teaching style, the administrative and committee responsibilities, and the fact that it is on the far side of Los Angeles County I am still working my tail off. I finally rented a room over there because the commute home each night was too hard and I was in after everyone was asleep and out before they woke anyway.

Still I am excited and very blessed. I am grateful to family and friends and a wonderful wife who helped me pull through a challenging year. I am grateful that we live in a country that helps those who are struggling and hard work is still rewarded. And I am grateful to the Lord for his tender mercies.

All Alcohol Must Be Radioactive

It's true! At least in the united states all alcohol for human consumption must be slightly radioactive. You see, the law requires that alcohol for human consumption must be made from fruits and grains, but you can also make alcohol from petroleum. (Oh don't go eww, vanillin (artificial vanilla) is made from petroleum too.) So the question is how can you tell which is which?

Now purefication is good enough that you couldn't tell from chemical analysis, but fresh (as in less than a few thousand years old) plant matter has significant amounts of Carbon-14 in it which is radioactive. By contrast, fossile fuels are millions of years old and all of the carbon-14 has decayed out. So if your alcohol is radioactive, it is made from grains and fruits, if it is not it is made from petroleum.

Just one of the many facts I learned in "Physics for Future Presidents" which I'll review soon.

How many blades

I've always wondered how many blades are really necessary to shave. You can still buy razors with only one blade (more on that later) but most have at least 2 and 3, 4 and even 5 are now common. Gillet fusion actually has 6 (5 on the front and 1 on the back for precise trimming when you want a single blade.)

I never was much of one to go in for these fancy things figuring 2 blades were probably enough. But lo and behold here I am a convert to that ridiculous fusion mostly because of excellent marketing.

You see, I bought a reusable gillet sensor razor my first year back from my mission hoping that if I kept a closer shave my girlfriend would want to kiss me more often. (That soooooooo was not the problem.) I kept it for well over a decade (still have it in fact) and I would probably still be using it except for that excellent marketing.

You see I never bought the fusion razor. They sent me that for free in the mail. That is no small gift to get for free in the mail as they retail for nearly $10 (I'm sure wholesale is much less.) So now I could try it, FOR FREE. And I'll be darned if 5 blades aren't more comfortable than 3. So now while I will still use cheap disposables if that is what someone has or someone buys for me, I really like the gillete fusion. (And they do stick it to you on cartridges).

So the real question is, at what point does more blades become counterproductive. SNL (I think though it could have been MadTV) did a skit on a 15 bladed razor. I thought 4 was ridiculous, but I love 5. Where does it really end.

(On a side note, I shaved today with a single blade razor. I thought it had gone reasonably well if slightly less comfortable. Then I turned around and noticed about 50 tiny dots of blode coming from my neck. So maybe it is more than just minimal comfort.)