foolishness: aaah-chooo!

In retrospect, I should probably not have gone out in the rain with neither umbrella nor hat, given that I'd been sneezing a bit yesterday morning.

But I don't have a good rain hat right now, and I don't much like umbrellas. And it wasn't raining hard.

That started suddenly, while I was eating lunch.

So I got wet, and here I am, sneezing again.

foolishness: aaah-chooo!

In retrospect, I should probably not have gone out in the rain with neither umbrella nor hat, given that I'd been sneezing a bit yesterday morning.

But I don't have a good rain hat right now, and I don't much like umbrellas. And it wasn't raining hard.

That started suddenly, while I was eating lunch.

So I got wet, and here I am, sneezing again.

in line 1, a Scientific Wild-Ass Guess

Line 1 of the worksheet is where I put my expected annual income for 2002. First, we ignore the advice that I look at my 2001 income tax forms: neither Andy nor I has the jobs that provided most of our 2001 income, nor have we had them for even one day of this year.

The problem is, I sort of assumed that I could toss the attached paperwork for the unemployment check any-old-where, because the feds will send me a form 1099. Now I need to stop and figure out how much they've sent me this year; it's so much a week, minus the weeks I worked or was otherwise unavailable. And the one week where they only sent me one day's payment, without clear explanation: I think that was where I rolled over from regular to extended benefits.

Okay, we can do this: the unemployment is the inverse of the weeks I worked, allowing for the week I was out of the country and thus unavailable and not collecting benefits.

<fx>: consults calendar, scribbles on assorted sheets of paper, does simple arithmetic</fx>

Okay, if I'm multiplying a not-at-all-round number by 15.3%, I'll give in and use a calculator (or, this being 2002, the nicer of the two calculator apps on my Palm).

Oh, here's a nice one: "16: Subtract line 15 from line 14c. (Note: If zero or less or line 13c minus line 15 is less than $1,000, stop here. You are not required to make estimated tax payments.)" This is amusing because we haven't previously done this calculation. It's also convenient: in my case, 13c-15<1000, so I can stop here, rather than writing a check.

And make a note to do it over in a few months.

in line 1, a Scientific Wild-Ass Guess

Line 1 of the worksheet is where I put my expected annual income for 2002. First, we ignore the advice that I look at my 2001 income tax forms: neither Andy nor I has the jobs that provided most of our 2001 income, nor have we had them for even one day of this year.

The problem is, I sort of assumed that I could toss the attached paperwork for the unemployment check any-old-where, because the feds will send me a form 1099. Now I need to stop and figure out how much they've sent me this year; it's so much a week, minus the weeks I worked or was otherwise unavailable. And the one week where they only sent me one day's payment, without clear explanation: I think that was where I rolled over from regular to extended benefits.

Okay, we can do this: the unemployment is the inverse of the weeks I worked, allowing for the week I was out of the country and thus unavailable and not collecting benefits.

<fx>: consults calendar, scribbles on assorted sheets of paper, does simple arithmetic</fx>

Okay, if I'm multiplying a not-at-all-round number by 15.3%, I'll give in and use a calculator (or, this being 2002, the nicer of the two calculator apps on my Palm).

Oh, here's a nice one: "16: Subtract line 15 from line 14c. (Note: If zero or less or line 13c minus line 15 is less than $1,000, stop here. You are not required to make estimated tax payments.)" This is amusing because we haven't previously done this calculation. It's also convenient: in my case, 13c-15<1000, so I can stop here, rather than writing a check.

And make a note to do it over in a few months.