Goodbye Facebook, Goodbye Twitter

I haven't posted anything on Facebook for months and am unlikely to.  My life, while it interests me, is both stressful and boring. s for Twitter, I can't even figure out where to start.  What are all those symbols and what do they mean?  Suppose I did it wrong?  I would feel like an un-with-it klutz, which I am, but why flaunt it?  I will still blog when I feel the urge, if I ever climb out of the ditch I'm in.

But the real reason I want to steer clear of these activities is that they are a terrible time-suck.  I can almost hear the remaining hours of my life circling the drain, while I ponder the mot juste.  So until someone figures out how to stretch 24 hours into 28 or 30, I think I'll abstain from social media.

Apology to Tim Geithner

I totally take back all the mean things I said about your tax problems with TurboTax.  I used a different online tax program & it was horrible.  I had to print out the forms and  fill them in  manually to figure out what went where.  I'm still not sure I got it right.  They are still sending me "Pay or Die" letters about my 2010 return, which I filed two years ago.

There's nothing more to say except I'm sorry.

How are the taxes in the Cayman Islands?

scammed!

So I received a phone call from someone with a heavy almost undecipherable Indian accent about my internet problems.  Calling herself Cindy, she said she was something to do with Windows, or Microsoft.  Whatever she said was unintelligible but sounded important.  The accent lent plausibility to her claim.  What phony would try to swindle someone without being intelligible?

It was a scam, but luckily my daughter arrived and got on the phone and scared them off.  So no harm was done, except to my faith in human nature.  Dishonest people with Indian accents--who knew?  I thought all people with heavy Indian accents were IT specialists, or at the very least, doctors.

Tough times at the U of Texas

The University of Texas is facing steep budget cuts.  To hear the administration tell it, if the university gets one penny less than they received last year, essential research will be sacrificed and the University will lose its first class status.  Important projects vital to the welfare of the nation will be lost,  catastrophe will no doubt follow and the research necessary to invent radar will not take place and we will probably lose World War II and the cold war--oh wait, we already won those didn't we?  Well, anyway, something disastrous will happen.

The more likely scenario is that one or two assistant associate deans of diversity won't receive cost of living raises and the official who plans and coordinates University Sex Week will have his/her travel budget cut.  Administrators now out-number faculty in most colleges; the tail is busily wagging the dog.

I remember when Mr Charm worked for the State of New York budget cuts were in the offing.  Our whole way of life was threatened.  Heads would roll, people would lose their jobs, the staff would not be able to purchase paper clips and its vital functions would be endangered.  A black cloud hung over the people of the State of New York.

In the event, two part-time charwomen were laid off and everybody lived happily ever after.  Except for the two charwomen, of course.