tax insanity

Let me just start things out by saying, I hate taxes. I hate doing my taxes, I hate thinking about taxes.
It's no surprise that every year I have been using a different way to do my taxes. I used a cpa, then I tried TurboTax, then TaxCut, this year TaxBrain. I had never heard of Taxbrain before, but was recommended to my by a friend. They have a five star rating on both Planet Feedback and Epionions and have been making the product since 2000. This is the first year that it is completely online. Being a self-proclaimed hater of all things tax related I have to say TaxBrain was the briefest encounter with tax prep yet. Almost painless. I was done with my federal return in 45 minutes and only cost $20. Easy, fast, done.

Gamefly FastReturn Speeds Thing Up

As a Gamefly subscriber, I have noticed a big difference since the FastReturn™ program was introduced. Ship times are down to about 2 days.

Here's how it works,
"When you return a game in the mail, the U.S. Postal Service will scan the return and send a confirmation to us. We will then send the next available game in your GameQ BEFORE we have received the game in our warehouse.

We will scan the game a second time when it arrives at our warehouse.

Your GameQ may temporarily show that you have more games out than your plan allows. This is because we are processing your next game via FastReturn. Your GameQ will be updated as soon as we receive the correct game in our warehouse."

PayPal Security Key

The PayPal Security Key generates a unique six-digit security code about every 30 seconds. You enter that code when you log in to your PayPal or eBay account with your regular user name and password. Then the code expires, no one else can use it

There is a one-time non-refundable fee of $5.00 USD (waived w/ paypal business account). After that, there’s no monthly fee or recurring charge – your extra layer of security is free.

Paypal is now being accepted now at One Suite a site recently mentioned in my blog.

A quick look at Tax Season

Yeah, so it's tax season, again. We all know about the main tax prep sites out there. I decided to try a new option this year, TaxBrain. They had a great epinions review so i decided to give em a try.
To start out sign up was quick and easy. After asking me a couple questions it decided what forms i needed, and started into the 1040. Before I knew it, taxbrain had found a few extra deductions i could use and said i was done. The whole thinkg took 45 minutes, from signing up to having everything efiled. Sweet! I had never finished my taxes in 45 minutes. I didn't even get to use the online tax help feature, but no complaints, didn't need it. This blows the other tax programs out of the water.
Time to celebrate and forget about taxes until next year.

Also check out the tax calulator too, give you an idea on what you'll get back, or pay.

Apple and 802.11n

Apple has introduced the 802.11N Airport Extreme. When do they release the 802.11N cards for my macbook? Isn't kind of useless without those. I wonder if this will push the N format even further and possibly will help it get finalized.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9011378&pageNumber=1

10 Fun Things to do with 1 Dollar.

1. Buy yourself a bottle of bubbles, take them to the park with
your friends, and pretend you're 9 again

2. Now pretend you've aged a year and you're 10. You've just hit
the jackpot. Proceed to take 2 quarters, 3 dimes and 4 nickels and
spend lavishly at gumball machines.

3. Visit the farmers market and ask each stall what they'll sell
you for a dollar. Take everything home and cook it. When your family
asks what's for dinner, tell them the dollar menu.

4. Make a game out of kicking your caffeine habit. Stop dialing
regular 411 and call 1-800-FREE411 (1-800-3733-411), which saves you
up to $2 for each call. For the dollars you save, put them in your coffee
piggy bank, and tap into it only for an emergency caffeine fix.

5. Buy a bunch of iPod ear covers, take a glue gun, and create an
ear sculpture. Display it proudly as your center piece. When people
ask, tell them it's L'ear du Avant Garde. And yes, it was expensive.

6. Buy a phone card and leave 20 one minute messages during the
month for your Mom to tell her you love her. With each successive
call, tell her you love her more than the time before if that's even humanly
possible.

7. Read romance novels? Sure you don't, and neither does anyone
else you know. Buy a bunch of bodice rippers from the dollar bin at
your library's fire sale, and send them to your girlfriends with an
unsigned note stating simply, "For your eyes only."

8. Buy King size Snickers bars, tie a bow around each, and put
one on each of your coworkers' chair. Sign them from the Easter Bunny.

9. Buy a bottle of Two-Buck-Chuck, draw a warm bath, light a
candle, and have yourself two glasses. On a school night. Heck, make
that the entire bottle. Just because you can.

10. Get 100 pennies, go to a fountain, and make 100 wishes.