As many of you know, I switched to a Mac laptop last year – see this post for my reasons. Based on anecdotal evidence, I have gotten the impression over the past few months that the Mac was making inroads into the corporate world. An article on MSNBC today confirms these impressions.
If you are thinking about a new computer, think about a Mac. I have been using a Mac and living in Google mail, calendar, and documents for nine months now, and I don’t plan on switching back.
Many of you know that I was in a bad car accident about 18 months ago. I survived what looked to be an unsurvivable accident, but my classic 1968 Mustang did not. For the past few months I have been looking for a “new” classic Mustang to replace it. I monitored several Craigslist listings using a custom Yahoo pipes feed that I created and finally, a few weeks ago, found the exact car I wanted. For those who want details: “A” code 289, pony interior, a/c, power steering. I really feel that the Lord led me to this car and its seller, a young man working in youth ministry at a nearby church. We made the deal a few days ago and I now have my new car. While nothing can ever replace my old car with all its memories, this car is a new adventure that I plan to keep and drive as long as I am able.
I just want to use this post to publicly thank the Lord for this blessing. And to thank my wife as well for supporting me in getting this car. And yes, I will let her drive it. 
So I have been doing an intermittent series on using technology to improve your life. Here’s a case where relying on technology could seriously mess you up…
I received a free CD from TurboTax in the mail with their latest software. Pretty cool idea: it’s free until I decide to file. I used TT last year, so I figured that I would go ahead and use it as I wanted to get started on my taxes early to do some planning for our finances. So I start working through it and filled in my income, investments, etc. It then takes me to the “Federal Review” and tells me I owe a freaking large amount of money! I am trying to figure out what happened when I realize that I never entered in any of my deductions! We have several big deductions include mortgage interest and charitable giving, so I’m figuring I somehow missed it. After spending an hour or so looking for it I cannot find it! I finally gave up and sent an email to TurboTax support.
Today (a week later) I got the email shown below with the subject line shown at the top of this blog post. I don’t know how widespread this was, but this was a huge blunder by a very well-known company.
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Did anyone get caught by this and actually file? This could be a huge black eye for Intuit!
Our sixth child, Nathan Scott Bourgeois, was born December 19 at 8:17 AM at St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton, CA. He was 6 lbs., 12 oz., which was our smallest child yet. The timing was perfect – he was born the morning after we had just seen the last of our children’s performances. My son Aaron and daughter Corinne had just completed their performances in our church musical and my son Joel had just (the night before!) performed in his band concert.
Nathan is two weeks old today. Sorry for the late posting but I’ve been in “vacation mode” and just now am getting back to blogging.
So, the two-week update: Nathan is gaining weight, eating well, and doing all those things that newborns should do. His siblings all love him, with Aaron and Cori especially doting on him. He is sleeping pretty well at night: Marne usually gets up to nurse him once or twice and I usually get up just once with him for an hour or so to get him back to sleep. I am not teaching my usual Interterm course this January, which means that I do not have to get back to my regular schedule until the end of the month.
We are now a very full family of eight children: dad, mom, five boys and one girl. Our Toyota Sienna is now packed. What are we going to do when we have our next one?
I got a chance to go see The Lost Dogs at King’s Harbor Church in Torrance last Thursday night. Who are the Lost Dogs? It has been explained better elsewhere, so go ahead and read about them here and here. I’ll wait…
To me, the Lost Dogs are one of the great bands of all times. They deserve to be headlining big, or at least medium-sized, venues. So why were there only fifty people or so at the concert last week? I’m not sure…the music is amazing and accessible, the lyrics are deep and insightful… Popular culture is a funny thing: we all know of artists, whether they be writers, musicians, or actors, who are extremely talented and deserve the accolades and yet struggle in obscurity, sometimes forever. I am going to do my part to get these guys noticed. I am not sure how, but maybe I can convince some fellow fans to put something together with me to get them noticed. For now, I will blog about them.
The concert was a lot of fun. After getting off to a late start, the band performed about four songs before Mike Roe leaned over to Terry and whispered “I have to get off the stage”. The band promptly left, except for Steve, sitting at his drums, not quite sure what was going on. After a minute, he slinked off and the audience was wondering what happened. Turns out that it was Mike’s turn to have the flu and he needed to get offstage to, uh, “center” himself. They came back after about 15 minutes and proceeded as if nothing had happened.
One of the highlights of the night was the Lost Dogs Christmas play. Staged like an old time radio drama, Terry read reviews of the play saying that it was “so bad it was good”. And sure enough, it was. The play was based on the story “The Gift of the Magi”, though this time it was Mike and Derry giving each other the gifts. Mike sold his best guitar to get Derry the guitar he wanted (which was worth less than the guitar Mike sold…) and Derry sold his hand to get Mike strings for his guitar. Yes, that’s right, Derry held up a bloody stump. The story deteriorated from there, but that was the point. Terry played himself, the pawn shop keeper, and the narrator. And Steve played Tiny Tim, constantly popping up and saying “God bless us, every one!” It was Lost Dogs zaniness at its best. We all took it very seriously, of course, because they all used barely noticeable British accents.
Set List:
Break for Christmas Play (“so bad it’s good”)
Encore
The Lost Dogs have to be seen live to be truly appreciated. Keep checking their web site to find out when they will tour in your area.
Ok, I know this is off topic, but I had to comment…
Warren Buffet has been recently quoted as saying that the estate tax should NOT be abolished. Yes, you read that correctly – he thinks that the government should take a large chunk of your money when you die. And you know what, I think I agree with him. There are a few reasons why I lean towards keeping the estate tax:
Of course, the big argument I would have against it is that I don’t really want to give our government any more revenue because I am not sure I trust them to spend it wisely. . . Hey, I know! Just collect the money and give it to me, I will know what is best to do with it…
Lessons From Babel 