The IRS are Criminals

I just got a letter from the IRS stating I made a mistake on my 2007 return.  They are billing me for the amount of the mistake plus interest from 4/15/08 – 11/12/09. 

Yes, they are charging me interest for the past year (plus a month in the future) for a mistake they just informed me about.

After looking over the paperwork, I agree that I made the mistake.  My employer never sent me my W-2, and it is ultimately my responsibility to make sure I report all my income. 

So I will begrudgingly pay the $542.00.  However, I think it is totally unfair to charge me interest when no one found the mistake until now.  Especially to charge me interest for a month in the future!

A bunch of criminals they are!

San Diego

Day 1

Our first day in San Diego consisted primarily of picking up a rental car and finding our hotel.

On the way to the hotel, I was admiring the green California scenery. With the exception of all the mountains and hills, the landscape reminded me of Florida. Green and lush beats the brown and sparse landscape in Tucson.

Another thing that reminded me of Florida was the stores. Shopping anyone? I was super excited to see some of my favorite stores and restaurants. Oh, I could totally move here.

We went to a seafood restaurant near our hotel. It was horrible. The seafood was underseasoned and overcooked, and my cocktail tasted like a blend of rubbing alcohol and cough syrup.

Day 2

This was the day I was waiting for… SeaWorld!!

We got there nice and early to beat the heat and the lines. We got the opportunity to see a bunch of the smaller exhibits and save time for the shows later in the afternoon.

One of my favorite things there was the motion simulator ride. The theme was an arctic exploration, so everyone climbs into a “helicopter” and sees the sights through the “windshield”.

I’ve been on many motion simulator rides before, but this one shook more than I could have expected. It was so much fun! This thing was really shaking everyone up. People were screaming, I was cracking up. It was a lot of fun.

We went to the Pets show, where all kinds of pets perform tricks. It was cute. I had no idea you could even train cats to do tricks like that.

Of course, the Shamu show was a highlight. It was really spectacular. I guess it has to be in order to pack so many people into a stadium, baking in the sun. I got a sunburn on one arm. It was worth it.

Here’s a video I made from clips at SeaWorld.  There are captions and stuff for the benefit of the kids in my life.

We spent most of the day at SeaWorld, then went back near the hotel for dinner.

We went to Bennigans (I used to love that place when I was a kid). I thought I was ordering a ham and cheese grilled sandwich. I was only half right.

What I actually ordered was a Monte Cristo, the epitome of fat people food. It was a ham and cheese sandwich, battered and deep fried, dusted with powdered sugar, with a raspberry dipping sauce. And yes, it was as overwhelming and hard to eat as you can imagine. I think I took two or three bites, then called it done.

Day 3

Today was the perfect day to go to Balboa Park. The weather was incredible and we were in the mood for a relaxing day to see some culture and admire the architecture.

First thing we did was buy a pass to visit several museums and the IMAX theater. The first museum we went to was the Natural History Museum.

The museum was hosting the Body Worlds exhibit. I love these exhibits. I have been before in Ft. Lauderdale, but it was worth it to go again.

The exhibit displays human bodies in various stages of dissection. What is especially amazing is the bodies illustrating just the blood vessels. I can’t even begin to imagine how the scientists were able to extract only blood vessels from a body, keeping it all in its intact form. It’s truly incredible.

One of my other favorite parts is the pregnant woman. How often does one get to see a cross section of a pregnant human? The exhibit is awe inspiring, informative and entertaining. Really a must-see.

Next we went to the Museum of Man, an anthropological museum. It was very interesting to see the anthropological roots of different cultures. Especially interesting to me was the mummy section. Of course, there were Egyptian mummies. There were also mummies from other parts of the world, like bog mummies from Scotland and shrunken heads from tribes around the world.

After that, we had a coffee at an upscale joint at the Art Museum. I can’t remember what it was called, but it was a very cute place with tables amidst modern sculptures.

Then we went to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. This place is awesome for kids, but still entertaining for adults. There are a lot of hands-on gadgets to play with.

The Science Center also houses the IMAX theater. We saw an underwater movie which was so cool. It really felt like we were underwater peeking inside the world of these fish.

The movie was a great way to end a relaxing day. We had dinner, then got ready for some nightlife.

We went downtown looking for some hot nightclubs. We decided to go to a place called Envy. A friend and local told me this nightclub was good. Well, I won’t trust him again!

My boyfriend and I are used to clubs with a more latin flavor (where people can actually dance). I am from South Florida, after all… Anyway, this place couldn’t have been more different from any club I have ever visited.

The music was terrible. I used to be a dancer, and even I was having a hard time dancing to this music. For example, they even played Respect by Aretha Franklin. Seriously? Is this karaoke or a dance club?

Speaking of karaoke… The whole club was singing along to all of the songs. Who does that? Maybe if they stopped singing and focused on dancing, it wouldn’t have been so awkward.

And if terrible music and singing wasn’t enough, the DJ kept spraying foam and blowing dry ice fog on the dance floor.  It was really annoying.

We did manage to have fun because we kept laughing at how bad the club was.  Another source of entertainment was a group of cougars slutting it up on the dance floor.  Ladies, have you ever heard the term “age appropriate”?

Day 4

Today was devoted to spending time with my boyfriend’s family.  Luckily his family was great.  We spent a lot of time laughing.

We went to church, then went to the casino, Barona for a fantastic lunch buffet.  The food was really good, so I stuffed my face.  Good thing I was wearing a dress instead of pants, so I had a little more room for my stuffed belly.

We hung out a bit more, then went out for ice cream.

Day 5

Our very short last day was spent getting breakfast at  Denny’s and packing.  We went to the airport and headed back to Tucson.

All in all, the trip was great.  I will definitely go back to San Diego.

A Few Days in Florida

I hadn’t been back to Florida in about nine months, so I was very excited to see my family and my old stomping grounds.

I was only in Florida for a few days for my sister’s birthday.  I wasn’t able to do much, but I managed to cram in some time for family and friends.

I did a ton of shopping, going out for some night life, and doing some touristy stuff.  For example, I went to my favorite nature preserve, Gumbo Limbo.  They have all kinds of native sea animals, including sea turtles.  The university does all kinds of studies on sea turtle babies.  Here’s a photo inside the facility.

There were little turtles attached to strings, swimming around in these containers.

Gumbo Limbo also houses these large starfish (although they look pretty small in the photo).

That’s pretty much it for my trip to FL.  It was good to go back.  I look forward to going back for Christmas.

At Least It’s Not a Brain Tumor

I know I keep promising to post my trips to Florida and San Diego.  And every day, I have the intention to do that.  I just have to type it up and upload some photos…

However, I seem to be spending all my time lately in the hospital or in bed.  These “recurrent complex migraines” are getting worse.

Now, in addition to the numbness, headaches and nausea, I am unable to walk due to dizziness. I fall down almost every time I get up.  I sucks like you can’t even imagine.  I feel like I’m going to vomit every moment.

I finally got the MRI and CT scans done, and it showed nothing abnormal.
That’s good in one way, but the bad thing is that I think the doctors are not taking me seriously because they can’t “prove” that I’m sick.

They ask me these leading questions, insinuating that I am exaggerating my symptoms.

These people have no idea how much pain and discomfort I can actually take.  I am into rather extreme sports after all… Prior to this, you could often find me sparring with a worthy opponent or climbing a mountain somewhere…  You think I would let some mild headache slow me down?

If these doctors knew me at all, they’d know they have to take this seriously.  Hopefully I will have more luck with the neurologist that I get to see in a week.  Can you believe one has to wait 3-4 weeks to see a neurologist in this town?

To make matters worse, I obviously have not been able to work.  I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to do.  I guess I’ll call HR.  This is so crappy.  I’ll let you know what happens.

It Could Be A Brain Tumor

Since my migraine disaster at work a few weeks ago, I have been feeling incredibly sick ever since.  I’m having pounding headaches, debilitating nausea and irritating numbness in my face and arm.

I kept thinking it would go away, but I finally decided to go to the doctor.  They acted like I was stupid.  “You’ve been having nausea and headaches for two weeks?  Why didn’t you see a doctor sooner?!?”

I replied that I thought it would go away.  The vast majority of headaches and nausea do not last forever, so with each passing day it became increasingly likely that it would go away.  Duh.

Anyway, the doctor agreed that this is not normal.  So not normal in fact, that he suggested several possible causes…

“Well,” he said, “it could be a brain tumor, or a tumor on your thyroid, or epilepsy causing low-grade seizures…”

Holy crap.

So now I wait to be called by a neurologist to start scheduling tests and scans.

You’d think I’d be nervous or anxious.  But I’m in so much damn pain and discomfort that I almost hope it is a brain tumor, so they can cut the damn thing out and let me start feeling better!

So that’s why I haven’t been blogging recently.  I still have to upload my pictures and stories from Florida and San Diego.  Hopefully I will have time and the physical capacity to actually do it.

Whisked Away at Work

Have you ever had one of those moments when you know something is wrong, but you keep looking around to see if anyone else notices something is wrong?

Yesterday, I was at work, sitting at my desk.  I was going over some data on my computer, and my vision started to blur.  I kept rubbing my eyes, thinking I was tired or something, trying to snap out of it.

My vision started getting more and more blurry.  I started getting dizzy, and I kept looking over at my co-workers.  Eventually I couldn’t see them anymore.  So I said, “Could someone call the fire department, because I don’t feel so well.”

I work in a secure area, so the company has their own firefighter/paramedics.  About 5 or 6 men came to my cubicle with all sorts of equipment and started hooking stuff up to me, pricking my fingers, and asking questions.

It was really overwhelming.  I guess my pulse started going up.  They asked if I was nervous.  I said, “Of course I’m nervous!”

They told me that I was probably dehydrated.  They gave me some water and told me if I didn’t feel better in an hour, they would come back and take me to the hospital.

After they left, I felt incredibly embarrassed.  I sit in a large office area, so people saw the big commotion, and I had to explain it by telling them I hadn’t drank enough water that day.  I felt pretty stupid.

After about half an hour, my vision started getting a bit better, but an intense headache started coming on.  Soon after that, my body started going numb and I was loosing color in my fingers.  So I decided to call the fire department back. 

This time, even more people came out.  They hooked me up to an oxygen tank, an IV, and several monitors.  The city fire department came so they could take me to the hospital.  At this point, there were 11 men huddled around me with at least 6 medical kits.  It was quite the spectacle.

Then they wheeled in the gurney to take me to the fire truck.  Oh god…  I begged them to let me walk to the truck, but they insisted that they weren’t allowed to bring me any other way.

So I was wheeled down the main hallway at work, with many firemen in tow.  That hallway appeared so much longer than usual, as I passed all my coworkers, looking on in concern.

We made it to the hospital, where a slew of more tests were performed.  And probably 6 or 7 thousand questions were asked and answered, again.

They gave me a bunch of medicines intravenously, which made me feel a little floaty.  I ended up falling asleep.

Finally, the doctor came in to give me his diagnosis.  He told me I had a really bad migraine (his words were more scientific, but that’s the gist of it).  Apparently, the first symptom of a migraine is commonly blurry vision.  He said the numbness can also be explained by migraines.

The medicine he gave me treated the symptoms of migraines.  I was feeling quite a bit better at that point.  So he gave me a prescription to take if I ever get those symptoms again, and he sent me on my way.

For those of you who know me well, I’m not the type to go to the hospital unless I think I’m dying.  So it took a lot for me to get the nerve to call the fire department.  However, I now understand how bad migraines can be, so I have a revived appreciation for modern medicine.

Worst Few Months Ever

Sorry I have been MIA for the past few months, but I have had just about the worst few months you can imagine.

First, my job has been hell.  I have been putting in no less than 50 hour weeks for the past few months.  People keep telling me, “Well, at least you get paid for the overtime…”

I don’t want the overtime!!!  I would pay my bosses for more free time!  I took yesterday off, and that’s the first day off I have taken in a while.  I can’t tell you how much I needed a day off… Sigh.

And with all this hard work and overtime I have been logging, solving the program’s multitude of technical issues, you’d think I’d get some appreciation… Ha!  You’d be wrong.

The floor supervisor hates my guts and has made it her mission to ruin my career.  It has been absolutely the worst working environment I have ever experienced.

And I’m not the only one crumbling under her iron fist either.  One of my co-workers summed it up quite nicely when he told me, “Ever since I started working on this program, I’ve hated my life.”

Nice, huh?

Oh, and don’t think my “worst few months ever” stops at my job.  My fiance and I broke up.  Yup, the wedding’s off.

Is it in poor taste to keep a wedding dress if you never got to wear it?  I don’t really know what the etiquette is in situations like this.

Anyway, it totally sucked.

Hey, don’t think my “worst few months ever” is over just yet.  I saved the worst for last.

In the midst of dealing with a manager from hell, the dissolution of an engagement, and moving to a new home… the love of my life (my little dog, Sheena) passed away.

I have had my little Sheena since I moved out of my parents’ house.  She was absolutely the best dog in the world, and it was incredibly painful to lose her.  I knew she was old and she would eventually pass, but I never realized how hard it would be.  There’s a huge hole in my heart.

So that sums up my “worst few months ever”.  Now here’s the good news:

I have gotten a different job.  Same company, but different program.  It can’t possibly be as bad as the one I have been working on.

I’m single again, and partying.  I’m going dancing on the weekends, hanging out with friends, and generally having a great time.  And my townhouse is fantastic.  I LOVE my new place.

I’m still not over the loss of Sheena, but I’m trying to pay more attention to my other dog, Miso.  Miso took Sheena’s loss hard, too.  I’ve been thinking about getting Miso another friend, maybe a kitten.  We’ll see.

That is my past few months in a nutshell.  Hopefully I will be blogging more often again.

I’m headed to Florida next month, then San Diego.  So I should have a lot of good things to blog about.  Later!

May I Dance Here?

We checked out of the hotel and boarded a bus back to the station.

Sitting in the small station and waiting for our train, my mind drifted to a phrase I read in a Japanese phrase book:  “May I dance here?”  I was wondering when the hell that phrase would ever come in handy.

As I sat here, I pictured myself jumping out of my seat and announcing, “May I dance here?”  Upon receiving startled stares but no objections, I would twirl and twirl around the station.

Fortunately the train arrived before I actually decided to try that.  So we boarded the train for the first of our three legs of train travel today.  We were on trains all day, headed back to Tokyo.

We arrived at Narita Excel Tokyu hotel for our last night in Japan.  The hotel was very chic, and had the largest lobby I had ever seen.  The room was contemporary, but comfortable.

We arrived quite late at night, so we were one of the few people in the hotel restaurant.  We ordered Western food (steak and fries), and reminisced about the great time we had in the past week.

Windswept

Last night’s wind had blown in a full storm.  We gazed at our beautiful beach view through rain streaked windows.  We watched and waited for the rain to let up a bit so we could do some sightseeing.  Finally the rain stopped, but the wind was persistent.

I managed to purchase a bus pass.  We boarded the bus and headed to one of the local sights, the rock formation Senjojiki which resembles stacked tatami mats.

The wind was whipping so hard that I felt it was not super safe to be walking on the slippery rocks.  Knowing my luck, a gust would sweep me right into the ocean, and I’d never be heard from again.

We had lunch at the gift shop.  I’m not really sure why one would need a gift shop at a rock formation… But the gift shop/restaurant was great, perched on a cliff, overlooking the rocks and ocean.

We headed toward the observatory, where one takes an elevator 36 meters below the ocean surface.  It was only a few blocks away, but we managed to get lost twice.  While we were searching around for the observatory, it began to rain.  The wind was whipping the stinging rain into my face and eyes.  It sucked.  But we finally made it!… Only to find out the observatory was closed.  Defeat.

So we hopped back on the bus and got off at the beach.  The rain had stopped, so we tried to have a relaxing stroll, but the wind insisted on pestering us.

Clouds of sand were blowing along the beach and shore.  I got little bits of Australian imported sand in my eyes, hair, mouth and (I later found out) even in my ears.

We went back to the market and bought several different types of booze to enjoy in our room.  We lounged in front of the window, enjoying our drinks and the view, pretending we were outdoors.

Upon checking into the hotel, the attendant let us know that each person was provided with a yukata (cotton robe) and slippers.  He told us this was traditional Japanese sleepwear and we could wear it in the hotel on our way to the public bath on the first floor.

We decided to skip the public bath and have a pricey dinner at the hotel restaurant.  I wasn’t sure if we were supposed to get dressed up for dinner, so I put on a nicer top and headed to the restaurant.  Once we were seated, we realized almost everyone in the restaurant was dressed in the yukata.  This was the first $50+ per person restaurant I had been to where it was acceptable to wear a bathrobe and slippers to dinner.

Dinner was excellent.  I’m not sure what most of the food was, but I liked almost all of it.

By the time we returned to the room, the wind had died down.  Tonight, we were actually able to get some sleep.

Lifeguard Off Duty

After a not-so-high speed train to Shirahama, we finally arrived at tiny Shirahama station and followed signs that read, “Tourist Information”.  Considering the signs were written in English, I assumed the person at the counter would speak a little English.  Well, she spoke very little English.

I inquired about the one-day bus pass and she directed me to the bus ticket counter and to a man whose English appeared to be limited to the phrase, “one-day bus pass”.  I struggled, with my minimal Japanese, to ask if I could purchase a bus pass for the following day.  He answered “no”, then struggled with some hand signs and several “um”s before giving up and walking away.

I wish I had told him to just say what he wanted to say in Japanese.  I probably would have understood a lot more from that than from his attempt at English.  But I thanked him and walked away without any idea where to buy a bus pass.

We found the shuttle bus to the hotel and boarded it.  Without too much confusion, we got off at the stop for our hotel and checked-in.

The hotel was a traditional Japanese ryokan called Musashi.  The lobby was stunning and the staff were incredibly friendly.  We were kindly escorted to our very large room, even large by Western standards.  Looking out the window, we had an incredible view of the pristine, white sand beach, less than one block away.

We took a nice, long stroll along the beach, looking to eat dinner at one of the  restaurants near the shore.  Much to our surprise and disappointment, the restaurants and shops were all closed.  There was hardly a soul on the beach, except for the bulldozer operators, spreading more imported sand.

I had read that May-June was a great time to go to Shirahama because the beach was deserted.  The Japanese tend to go to the beach in July and August.

I decided to follow that advice and go at the end of May, thinking we’d have the facilities and amenities all to ourselves… The guidebook failed to mention that without tourists, the shops don’t seem to open.

With hunger quickly consuming us, we stopped at a local grocery store and bought some food items that didn’t need heating.  We had a dinner of sandwiches, cheese, crackers and pudding.

Later that night, the wind really started picking up.  Not long after that, the sustained winds were almost hurricane force.  Our windows were rattling so hard and whistling so loudly, sleeping became impossible.  We layed in our futon beds half conscious, because the wind would not allow us the courtesy of deep sleep.