Doing taxes online part 2

I checked back in with TaxFreedom.com, the turbo tax online ap, on Monday. It told me that my return had been accepted by both the Feds and Maine and that my refund should be in my bank account by the end of the Month. I had to do some more hoop jumping, like send the state a form with my signature saying that I had done my taxes online. The feds let me sign electronically and it sounded like next year the state will send me something that will let me do that to.

I finished all this before I left for work although I left my printer churning away. Of course when I got back it patiently explained that there was a jam. I'm not sure the lexmark 3200 was the best choice. Anybody who wants me to test and review they're printer email me and let me know. But I digress.

I am very pleased with the process and I continue to stand by my recomendation and rating of Turbo Tax.

Doing taxes online

I was reading an article in the New York Times this morning about tax software online. A very nice article that listed the URL of the IRS page on E-filing. I decided to do my taxes. I chose turbo tax, be sure to see if you qualify for their free tax offering. I had been looking for a new tax software because I just wasn't satisfied with the other major brand that I had been using. Email me if you want to know what that was.

I loved it. It was easy it wasn't alot of fun but it was way better than doing it by hand and better than loading the software. This was the first year I tried turbo tax and I am abosolutely going to use them again next year. The efiling process was pretty much seamless. It allowed me to print off a copy of both my state and federal returns and save a copy as a pdf file. Everything went very smoothly it asked the right questions. In all it took me maybe 4 hours to finish my taxes. That includes printing which took a long time so my session at turbo tax timed out and I had to go back to the home page and log in again. I had read the FAQ and been warned about that so it was expected.

Things to remember before you start.

Get your papers together. I had most everything but had to make a few trips to the filing cabinet and the car, it's kinda chilly outside in Maine, in the middle of it all.

Read the documentation. This is a stylin ap but it's on the web so things can happen and it needs to be secure. The FAQ's will tell you what to expect when to expect it and what to do if it happens. They are well written and worth the time to read.

The Ratings out of five

User Interface      4.2  Really nice, very usable. When I had questions help was available and often my question was answered by clicking on a link off to the right.

Ease of use     4.2 It did what I wanted when I expected it to do it. It was amazing.

Overall      4.2 I didn't have to load software. I have a broadband connection. I am most satisfied. It caught a few mistakes I made and allowed me to correct them. Come back in a few days to find out if the IRS accepts my form or if I have to do this over again. I think they will.

So you might ask if I'm so happy with this experience why aren't I giving it a five. Well there was no food and nobody bought me beer I didn't meet anybody particularly interesting. But hey, it cracked the 4.0 ceiling without food, beer, or interesting party goers and that's pretty hard to do.

February NetPM

So what does it take to get over a four from me. It takes a real party not something at a bar where I have to fight for a bartenders attention for the priviledge of buying a drink. It takes a real party where interested hosts have taken the time to prepare or purchase some tasty snacks. It takes a real party where the people know me and if they don't they are interesting and have something to say not only about what they do for a living but about something else too. Music is nice too.

I went to one such event tonight. Sage Data Security hosted this month's Mesda NetPM which is always a good time. The food and drink are served with a smile by people who understand the value of a happy person. The food is often catered and sometimes quite creative. The people are techies so there is a great deal of tech talk. But it turns out that that's not all they do. Elizabeth is the skiing guide for about.com. She also works for Anne Kennedy at Beyond Ink an international Search Engine Marketing firm out of Portland. Dan Corwin from Lexicos showed up always good to see him. Didn't get a chance to talk to Morten of Interface Publishing another sponsor of the event with Mesda.

The Ratings

Food      3.9 Finger sandwichs, fruit and cheese. Nothing exciting but they didn't run out.

Drinks     4.2 Oh yeah. the beer flowed Sage picked up the tab. A good time was had by all.

Music      2.1 They had a guy there with a guitar who was actually quite good but they stuck him away in a room so I didn't hear much. But a couple of points for trying.

Overall     4.0 free food and drink fun interesting folk what's not to like.

Maine Media Market and Portland Marketing Association After-Hours

I was at the Maine Media Market yesterday. It was mostly functional but the freebies were kind of lacking. I got there kinda late and didn't get a chance to visit the lower level. I did get on camera at the OurMaine.com booth, look for me in a couple of months. I'm thinking that you really can't have enough bags certainly their weren't any to be seen at that show. On the upside I was very selective about the stuff I brought home and didn't bring any big catalogs or brochures to immediately recycle. It's important to have a bag for people to carry stuff to many is better than none at all.

The Portland Marketing Association sponsored an after hours event at the Portland harbor hotel. Good food, met a few potential clients. One of whom bought me a beer. I met a potential new host for client sites but they didn't by me a beer either not sure I like that.

A note about the Portland Marketing Association website. Get a freaking clue! It's a redirect to the American Marketing site with not one but two popups one of which is just another window with the AMA homepage. How can they call themselves a marketing association when they can't even convince one of their members to build them a clean site. I'm thinking they aren't quite done with it yet but how much time does it take to put up a mission statement and a contact page. I mean really.

The ratings

Maine Media Market.     2.8 OK but giraffe events has done much better. So have the people that exhibited. What does it say about the state of marketing in Portland when you go to a trade show and don't come home with a bagful of office supplies and some stuff for your kids. OK some stuff but ...

Portland Marketing Association After hours event.

Food      3.0 simple but tasty could have been a bit more varied and plentiful. The fondue while tasty ran out of bread. Still it was almost enough for the group that showed up. Much better than some of the other parties I've been to in the last few months.

Drinks    4.0 should have had more people buying me drinks but I didn't pay for my beer so that was OK.

People    4.0 not really well attended but I met a strong potential client who took a bunch of my cards for her friends. Caron, http://portcitymodels.com/, showed up, always nice to see her. So that was good. Stayed looking for an invitation to more but it didn't show up. Although, I did hear someone say, Schuyler just left as I was going out the door. So I may have left a tad to soon.

Overall for the day  3.9 I finished up a piece of a project for a client. Met some interesting people, got some good leads. I was given some stuff, a good beer and some tasty food. I didn't spend any money.

I was listening to the writers almanac this morning on Maine Public Radio and Garrison Keillor was talking about Mary Leaky, the anthropologist.

She had found a the tracks of a pair of hominids, the smaller had stopped, looked around, and continued on her way. She interpreted the action as a very human moment of doubt.

Thinking on that I realize that she was writing about herself. Sure the tracks were a few million years old but like her they were in the middle of Africa. She was hot, uncomfortable, probably dirty, wishing for a good meal, some clean water, and she found a connection with one of her ancestors. The pair pre-people were in a similar situation to her own; looking for something that wasn't always there but that was where they found themselves.

I wonder if she had been in a better mood if she would have written that the smaller of the pair had stopped and marveled at the view. I guess it turns out that even when you are where you want to be and doing what you want to do, some days are better than others.

BMW Films part 1

Right. So I've just seen my first three BMW Films. The Hostage, Ticker, and Beat the Devil.

Give the Hostage a pass. Not one of John Woos best. I'm thinking he needs more than 10 minutes to really get rolling. Still the opening shots were very pretty.

Ticker was sweet. Lot's of shooting driving and a nifty twist at the end that I probably should have picked up on but didn't expect in this genre.

Beat the Devil was great. Gary Oldman, James Brown what's not to like. It was a nice departure from the first two. No shooting just driving to beat the devil.

I'm running winxp pro on a 355 chip with very little room on my c drive. I tried to play the movie on WinMedia player but it wasn't happening. Maybe I need an upgrade. When I tried to play it from the download my box just stopped. It started again but golly I'd hate to see what it would have done to Win98. Quicktime stream wasn't much better. Real Player came through though. Buffered and didn't skip. Go broadband. Rah. Kinda tough to watch it on the embedded small screen though.

The Ratings

the hostage       2 of 5 Pretty but not much there. An attempt at suspense that didn't really have the chance to build.

ticker                 4.1 of 5 Gritty literally lot's of dirt and dust. Exciting with a twist like a tasty cocktail during a really good date.

Beat the Devil    4 of 5 Witty gotta love James Brown and Gary Oldman.


Not sure it's a good idea to view them all at once. I'm thinking they should be savored. I haven't seen the first season yet. Maybe next week or this Weekend.

Friday Night at the Iguana

So another Status party. Not to shabby nobody to buy me beer this time but the molson at the iquana is cheap. I gotta thank Caron at Port City Models she has an email list that will make any party a happening thing. Right now she and her models and her email list are showing up at Status Parties.

The music tonight was rather generic I'm thinking they had like two cds because it started to repeat itself after a couple of hours. The food was once again nonexistant. The party was scheduled to start at 7 and didn't start until 8 or 9 it did give me a chance to meet some people though.

There is very little that is as sexy as a smart pretty woman. I met Amanda who is a paleontoligist, a sword collector and a model. She was able to explain to me what the big deal about mammoths in Maine was. Most folk I talk to about that just laugh and say there are no mammoths in Maine. OK so it doesn't come up much but it's been annoying me for several years.

Steve and Jane showed up. Steve is an electrical engineer working on among other things the large oil platforms in the harbor. I'm waiting for some rather interesting times when they start up their generators. Jane is a nurse a beautiful and very smart lady.

Frank McMahon showed up and Stewart was doing photography. Jesse something had just come off pitching something to MTV and was most optimistic. Looking for something tasty in the next year or so. Drew and Heidi made the scene. Drew makes for an interesting event and Heidi reminds us again that smart is sexy.

I had a really good time tonight. I am also responsible for someone going home thinking that they met John Popper, another big guy with a hat. Zoe is in Austrailia so she didn't make it. I hope she's having fun.

People gotta start pushing their sites. I'd love to link to them but noone had anything.

So the Ratings out of 5

Started at 7 as the lamest party I've ever been to and I've been to some really bad events. Again what pulled it out was the people. It was just amazing to meet Amanda.

Food 0 nonexistant.

Venue 2.8 The Iquana is not what I expected. Essentially, it is a hallway with a bathroom at one end and a couch at the other. It has a couple of levels and a bar you can dance on. Throw in a bunch of folk and give them some alcohol and it's not to bad.

Drinks2.9 I hate having to buy my own but at least the Molson was cheap. The test tubes free at the last event were a charge but they were better. Jesse and his ladies were drinking a bowl of Alabama Slammers that were pretty tasty.

Music 2.5 What is up with Portland? The only decent music event I show up at and noone else does. The music tonight was generic. OK so there was some interesting calypso stuff but they only had the one cd. I mean come on. You know when the music on the ride home on MPR is better, Jazz on Friday nights, you should probably rethink your music choices. I mean, take some chances. OK so people were dancing on the bar and moving to the beat but getting drunk people to dance isn't exactly rocket science.

People What can I say I look forward these things cause I can usually count on seeing a couple of people I like and meeting someone interesting. It happened tonight and I suspect it will happen again. As always the beautiful people showed up.

Overall I left just after Midnight. I was done. Things were still happening but it was time to go. Closing down a bar is not hard but it needs to be worth it and it wasn't tonight. Leave 'em wanting more they say. So the rating better than the Plush but still not breaking the 4 ceiling 3.6. A good time.

Want me to review your event, movie, book, new cd, whatever send me an email to reveiws@skartdesigns.com and tell me about it or send it to me at

Schuyler Meyers
PO Box 11211
Portland, ME 04104

Alll Materials become mine with rights to quote from media and nothing will be returned. If I like the piece or if doesn't really suck I'll review it.

TCAHF

sky

Under the Mistletoe Party

Went to the Mistletoe Party that nightlifeone put on. I decided early on that I wasn't going to give them a link. Started to think that I wouldn't even give them a review. But I ran into Frank McMahon and Chris Watkin and I realized that It's the folk that I meet that make the trip worth while.

I stayed to the end and the music was much better. Mostly house with some interesting twists. The DJ's did an outstanding job although the volume peaked a bit to much for a brief period in what could only have been a desperate attempt to draw a crowd. I noticed that I didn't rate the music last night. That's because it was just to loud. Tonight it was at least interesting. So once again, I managed to find a couple of folk to keep me from leaving.


The venue worked tonight only because noone showed up. Plush lives up to it's name. Lot's of overstuffed couches and pillows a couple of beds for some rather interesting conversation. It's to small to provide a flow for a good crowd.


nightlifeonline It didn't suck as much as it could have, so here's a link. The potential is there for some good parties. Still no food.


Ratings

People - 3.5 out of 5 quality it turns out can make up for quantity and there was some eye candy though most not all left quickly
Food - 0 out of 5
Venue - 2.6 out of 5
Drinks - 2.9 out of 5 somebody else bought most of my beers but there wasn't a nice lady coming around with shots of strange concoctions in test tubes.
Music - 3.5 out of 5
Overall - got there after 10 stayed til after 1 (closing) more people should have shown up.but I had a good time. give it a 3. not better not worse just different than last night.

Status Christmas Party

Went to the Status Christmas Party tonight. Much better than I thought it would be. It was a mix of models, actors, artists and other intelligentsia. Zoe showed up, which is always nice. I also met a lovely and opinionated traveler named LaLa. She was right it was to smoky. Need to work on the venue. Less smoke more food. Still a good time. Find out more at LeClub. The Eye Candy was nice. The conversation when I could hear it was interesting. Producers talking about their next project, travelers talking about where they werre headed, and where they wanted to go.

As the list grows the venues should improve. The doorman was a nice touch and the room had promise.

Ratings

People 3.5 out of 5
Food 0 out of 5
Venue 2.5 out of 5
Drinks 3 out of 5
Overall got there after 9 left at11:30. A pleasent diversion. give it a 3.

Good food at the brunch. Daughter looks quite pleased with orange belt.

OK so blogs. Why not tell folk what I'm think. My daughter gets her orange belt today. All interested parties are here and a brunch will be searved afterward.