Rory Bore at Ink Interrupted hosts the Tuesday Coffee Chat, and this week's topic is Random time!! Just let your thoughts fly.
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There are a couple of things i want to discuss on this random Tuesday.
As noted this weekend, i finished doing Brother-in-Law, The Mouth's taxes.
He's single, does not earn much, has no deductions or property or complications that make his taxes difficult. So why did it take me two days and a lot of back and forth to get it done?
Because he is so afraid of someone hacking into his email account that he has a 70+ character password. (He also uses words like "majuscule" when he means uppercase. This should give you some idea of what i have to deal with here.)
When you sign in to TurboTax, they ask if you want to confirm who you are through a code they will send to your email, or if you want to answer certain questions. They ask things like, "Which of these streets have you lived on in the past" and give you options. We tried to answer the questions, and they said, nope, that's not him.
How that can't be him, i do not understand, but we tried more than once, and they must know stuff about him that even he doesn't know.
So we needed to get into his email He doesn't have his 70+ character password memorized, he cuts and pastes it from a notepad on his computer at work or at home. Yes, that's so safe, isn't it?
Anyway, he had to write the monstrosity out, and i had to tell TurboTax to send the email with the code, and then i had to log into his email with the password, get the code, and do the taxes.
If you are the President, or a President of something, or a High-And-Mighty-Somethingorother, you might have to be so overprotective of having your email hacked that you need a 70+ character password.
For the rest of us, it's just overkill. Yes, i now have his password, and i'm keeping it for next year. It would be tempting to get into his account and change the password just to mess with him, but i will refrain. He'd probably bump it up once i told him what i'd done, just to be safe, and i will have to do his taxes next year, and i can't take that.
Another random topic has to do with my two Monday ladies whose houses i clean.
The first is Ms. S, whom i have discussed. Her situation is so sad. Her house is hoarded up, and as she told me recently, she's passed the time of being able to make decisions like moving.
That's what her son and i would love to see her do -- buy into one of those places for the elderly where you live in your own condo while you can, then they move you to the assisted living area when you need it, and if you get to that point, they put you in the nursing home area.
She could move only exactly the items from her house that she loves and needs, and the rest of her stuff could be sold or donated or given to her son or thrown out. The house could be sold, and that would help pay for her to stay in such a place.
Ms. J, my other Monday lady, lives in a beautiful, well appointed five bedroom home where she and her husband, who died last year, raised six children. She's lived in that house for over 50 years. She has numerous collections of lovely items which are tastefully displayed and which i dust regularly.
Ms. J is moving to one of those places. She is going to have a condo. She gets to decide the floor plan and if she wants to pay extra for the kind of flooring she loves, she can do so. She will measure and figure and see what she needs to take with her, and she will take only the things she loves dearly and that bring her joy. Her kids will each get to claim whatever they want, the rest will be sold.
She sees it as a happy thing, that she can be in a place that needs much less care and be around other people. She loves playing cards, and her best friend who played with her moved to California to be near her own children. Ms. J will, i am sure, find card playing buddies.
Ms. S is stuck in her hoard and can't see her way out. Most of her nice things have been ruined from neglect. Ms. J loves her home dearly, but sees moving as a great way to spend the rest of her life, instead of trying to hold on to a home that's too big just to hold on.
It would be nice if Ms. S could have a happier ending.
Today is:
Asahikawa Winter Festival -- Asahikawa, Japan (through the 12th)
Charles Dickens Day -- read a chapter or two of his work, in honor of his birth
Daniel Boone Escape Day -- anniversary of the day he escaped from the Shawnee tribe which had captured him
Feast of Mulk (Dominion) -- Baha'i
Ice Cream for Breakfast Day -- because you have to do it at least once a year
Independence Day -- Grenada(1974)
Marriage Week -- UK (part of the Futureway Trust, and now observed around the world, celebrating the diversity and vibrancy of marriage as the heart of family life)
National Fettucini Alfredo Day
National Hangover Awareness Day -- internet generated and shouldn't it be on Jan.1?
Safer Internet Day -- organised by Insafe (promotes safe and responsible use of the internet by teaching children how to keep themselves safe online)
Send a Card to a Friend Day -- wonder which card company created this one
Saint Theodore Stratelates' Day (Patron of soldiers; Brindisi, Italy; for finding lost objects)
Wave All you Fingers at Your Neighbor Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays; wave to your neighbors, let them know you like them
Birthdays Today:
Tina Majorino, 1985
Ashton Kutcher, 1978
Chris Rock, 1965
Garth Brooks, 1962
Eddie Izzard, 1962
James Spader, 1960
Miguel Ferrer, 1954
Hector Babenco, 1946
Pete Postlethwaite, 1945
Gay Talese, 1932
Keefe Brasselle, 1923
Eddie Bracken, 1920
Oscar Brand, 1920
Larry "Buster" Crabbe, 1908
Sinclair Lewis, 1885
James Hubert “Eubie” Blake, 1883
Alfred Adler, 1870
Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1867
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, 1834
Charles Dickens, 1812
John Deere, 1804
Sir Thomas More, 1478
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"America's Most Wanted"(TV), 1988
Blazing Saddles(Film), 1974
Pinocchio(Disney animated Film), 1940
"The Cat and the Canary"(Play), 1922
Kid Auto Races at Venice(first Charlie Chaplin "Little Tramp" Film), 1914
"Chantecler"(Rostand Play), 1910
"The Deserter"(first ballet performed in US), 1827
"Il Matrimonio Segreto" (Comarosa Opera), 1792
Today in History:
The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir, 1238
Edward of Carnarvon,later Edward II, becomes the first English prince to hold the title Prince of Wales, 1301
The bonfire of the vanities occurs in which supporters of Girolamo Savonarola burn thousands of objects like cosmetics, art, and books in Florence, Italy, 1497
King Philip II forms an inquistion in South America, 1569
Academie Francaise begins a Dictionary of the French Language, 1639
An 8.2 magnitude earthquake shakes New Madrid, Missouri, 1812
The colonial Tasmanian Parliament passes the Electoral Act of 1856, the first piece of legislation anywhere in the world providing for elections by way of a secret ballot, 1856
The Battle at Ingogo, Transvaal: the Boers defeat superior British forces, 1881
The Great Blizzard of 1891 begins, 1891
Émile Zola is brought to trial for libel for publishing J'Accuse, 1898
Baltimore catches fire; 1500 buildings are destroyed in 80 blocks, 1904
The Mud March, the first large procession organized by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), 1907
Charlie Chaplin debuts "The Tramp" in "Kid Auto Races at Venice," 1914
The first wireless message sent from a moving train to a station is received, 1915
Bert Hinkler begins the first solo flight from England to Australia, 1928
Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either was discovered, 1979
Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), 1984
The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly on power, 1990
Haiti's first democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is sworn in, 1991
The Maastricht Treaty is signed, leading to the creation of the European Union, 1992
Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the King of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein, 1999
Bushfires in Victoria left 173 dead in the worst natural disaster in Australia's history, 2009
In Europe, ready-meal manufacturer, Findus, withdrew its beef lasagne meals from supermarkets after confirming beef supplied by French manufacturer, Comigel contained horsemeat, 2013
There are a couple of things i want to discuss on this random Tuesday.
As noted this weekend, i finished doing Brother-in-Law, The Mouth's taxes.
He's single, does not earn much, has no deductions or property or complications that make his taxes difficult. So why did it take me two days and a lot of back and forth to get it done?
Because he is so afraid of someone hacking into his email account that he has a 70+ character password. (He also uses words like "majuscule" when he means uppercase. This should give you some idea of what i have to deal with here.)
When you sign in to TurboTax, they ask if you want to confirm who you are through a code they will send to your email, or if you want to answer certain questions. They ask things like, "Which of these streets have you lived on in the past" and give you options. We tried to answer the questions, and they said, nope, that's not him.
How that can't be him, i do not understand, but we tried more than once, and they must know stuff about him that even he doesn't know.
So we needed to get into his email He doesn't have his 70+ character password memorized, he cuts and pastes it from a notepad on his computer at work or at home. Yes, that's so safe, isn't it?
Anyway, he had to write the monstrosity out, and i had to tell TurboTax to send the email with the code, and then i had to log into his email with the password, get the code, and do the taxes.
If you are the President, or a President of something, or a High-And-Mighty-Somethingorother, you might have to be so overprotective of having your email hacked that you need a 70+ character password.
For the rest of us, it's just overkill. Yes, i now have his password, and i'm keeping it for next year. It would be tempting to get into his account and change the password just to mess with him, but i will refrain. He'd probably bump it up once i told him what i'd done, just to be safe, and i will have to do his taxes next year, and i can't take that.
Another random topic has to do with my two Monday ladies whose houses i clean.
The first is Ms. S, whom i have discussed. Her situation is so sad. Her house is hoarded up, and as she told me recently, she's passed the time of being able to make decisions like moving.
That's what her son and i would love to see her do -- buy into one of those places for the elderly where you live in your own condo while you can, then they move you to the assisted living area when you need it, and if you get to that point, they put you in the nursing home area.
She could move only exactly the items from her house that she loves and needs, and the rest of her stuff could be sold or donated or given to her son or thrown out. The house could be sold, and that would help pay for her to stay in such a place.
Ms. J, my other Monday lady, lives in a beautiful, well appointed five bedroom home where she and her husband, who died last year, raised six children. She's lived in that house for over 50 years. She has numerous collections of lovely items which are tastefully displayed and which i dust regularly.
Ms. J is moving to one of those places. She is going to have a condo. She gets to decide the floor plan and if she wants to pay extra for the kind of flooring she loves, she can do so. She will measure and figure and see what she needs to take with her, and she will take only the things she loves dearly and that bring her joy. Her kids will each get to claim whatever they want, the rest will be sold.
She sees it as a happy thing, that she can be in a place that needs much less care and be around other people. She loves playing cards, and her best friend who played with her moved to California to be near her own children. Ms. J will, i am sure, find card playing buddies.
Ms. S is stuck in her hoard and can't see her way out. Most of her nice things have been ruined from neglect. Ms. J loves her home dearly, but sees moving as a great way to spend the rest of her life, instead of trying to hold on to a home that's too big just to hold on.
It would be nice if Ms. S could have a happier ending.
Today is:
Asahikawa Winter Festival -- Asahikawa, Japan (through the 12th)
Charles Dickens Day -- read a chapter or two of his work, in honor of his birth
Daniel Boone Escape Day -- anniversary of the day he escaped from the Shawnee tribe which had captured him
Feast of Mulk (Dominion) -- Baha'i
Ice Cream for Breakfast Day -- because you have to do it at least once a year
Independence Day -- Grenada(1974)
Marriage Week -- UK (part of the Futureway Trust, and now observed around the world, celebrating the diversity and vibrancy of marriage as the heart of family life)
National Fettucini Alfredo Day
National Hangover Awareness Day -- internet generated and shouldn't it be on Jan.1?
Safer Internet Day -- organised by Insafe (promotes safe and responsible use of the internet by teaching children how to keep themselves safe online)
Send a Card to a Friend Day -- wonder which card company created this one
Saint Theodore Stratelates' Day (Patron of soldiers; Brindisi, Italy; for finding lost objects)
Wave All you Fingers at Your Neighbor Day -- sponsored by Wellcat Holidays; wave to your neighbors, let them know you like them
Birthdays Today:
Tina Majorino, 1985
Ashton Kutcher, 1978
Chris Rock, 1965
Garth Brooks, 1962
Eddie Izzard, 1962
James Spader, 1960
Miguel Ferrer, 1954
Hector Babenco, 1946
Pete Postlethwaite, 1945
Gay Talese, 1932
Keefe Brasselle, 1923
Eddie Bracken, 1920
Oscar Brand, 1920
Larry "Buster" Crabbe, 1908
Sinclair Lewis, 1885
James Hubert “Eubie” Blake, 1883
Alfred Adler, 1870
Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1867
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, 1834
Charles Dickens, 1812
John Deere, 1804
Sir Thomas More, 1478
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"America's Most Wanted"(TV), 1988
Blazing Saddles(Film), 1974
Pinocchio(Disney animated Film), 1940
"The Cat and the Canary"(Play), 1922
Kid Auto Races at Venice(first Charlie Chaplin "Little Tramp" Film), 1914
"Chantecler"(Rostand Play), 1910
"The Deserter"(first ballet performed in US), 1827
"Il Matrimonio Segreto" (Comarosa Opera), 1792
Today in History:
The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir, 1238
Edward of Carnarvon,later Edward II, becomes the first English prince to hold the title Prince of Wales, 1301
The bonfire of the vanities occurs in which supporters of Girolamo Savonarola burn thousands of objects like cosmetics, art, and books in Florence, Italy, 1497
King Philip II forms an inquistion in South America, 1569
Academie Francaise begins a Dictionary of the French Language, 1639
An 8.2 magnitude earthquake shakes New Madrid, Missouri, 1812
The colonial Tasmanian Parliament passes the Electoral Act of 1856, the first piece of legislation anywhere in the world providing for elections by way of a secret ballot, 1856
The Battle at Ingogo, Transvaal: the Boers defeat superior British forces, 1881
The Great Blizzard of 1891 begins, 1891
Émile Zola is brought to trial for libel for publishing J'Accuse, 1898
Baltimore catches fire; 1500 buildings are destroyed in 80 blocks, 1904
The Mud March, the first large procession organized by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), 1907
Charlie Chaplin debuts "The Tramp" in "Kid Auto Races at Venice," 1914
The first wireless message sent from a moving train to a station is received, 1915
Bert Hinkler begins the first solo flight from England to Australia, 1928
Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either was discovered, 1979
Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), 1984
The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly on power, 1990
Haiti's first democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is sworn in, 1991
The Maastricht Treaty is signed, leading to the creation of the European Union, 1992
Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the King of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein, 1999
Bushfires in Victoria left 173 dead in the worst natural disaster in Australia's history, 2009
In Europe, ready-meal manufacturer, Findus, withdrew its beef lasagne meals from supermarkets after confirming beef supplied by French manufacturer, Comigel contained horsemeat, 2013