Business Blogs (303)

I pay an accountant to do my corporate and personal taxes. She's a licensed CPA and we usually work via email. I scan and send documents to her and things that require original signature go by US postal Service. I'll mail checks to her for services. We are both good with this arrangement and have been doing it for years.

Last year, I received a letter from the IRS stating I didn't pay all the 3rd quarter tax. They found an error in the calculation. She missed adding a number from a previous column to the total. My accountant review it and apologized for the error. I mailed the check to the IRS two weeks before the due date. It went out certified mail.

Saturday, I received a letter from the IRS threatening to seize my property for non-payment.

I went online to review my bank statement and my check cleared 20 days after it was mailed and 3 days before they sent out the notice. What irked me was it took more than 2 weeks for them to receive my payment. Obviously a postal delay.

Monday was a legal holiday, but the first thing today was to call and find out what happened. The agent I spoke to stated the account now has a zero balance and the interest and penalty had been removed. She noted my account in the event 'the left hand didn't figure out what the right hand was (or wasn't) doing' so I have no repercussions.

I prefer mailing checks, but in future I would consider going online to make an electronic payment... that way, they won't lien on me!

Summary: I dislike the threat, and not a "did you receive the first notice? Please send a check" Certainly the post office taking weeks for a certified letter when it should have been 2-3 days or mail mis-delivered that happens a few times a month.

I'm working on the final installations for a project that started nearly a year ago.
It's been a struggle as the designer and contractor are working with me for a nice, but difficult client. It's an extreme renovation to a 40 year old mansion located on the coast, but it had severe water damage.
My first visit revealed walls cut open to treat for mildew, machines to dry the moisture between the walls and strong chemicals sprayed in attics, crawl spaces and all the areas affected by the water.

I got the contract for built-in units that include bathroom vanities, laundry, bar, butler's pantry and mud room. That went through. After, I was invited to bid closets and wardrobe units. I got that part added under a separate contract. Closets should be easy... but it turned out to be the hardest part of the project, as the client specified ultra details that took several rounds of drawing changes before she would approve production.

The client/designer ordered the hardware (handles) late delaying the installation. I did a walk through with the client and installer to go over the locations of the handles. It didn't appear that anything unusual would happen, but the client did an inspection after the hardware was installed and made a list of complaints.

Her email was copied to everyone in the team. She's out of town and only comes a few times a month to see the progress. I met the contractor this morning to address the issues stated in her email. No big deal. The installed mis-drilled a hole for a handle in one door, patched it and it's only visible when you look at the back of the door. That needs to be replaced. She and my installer agreed to the placement of the hardware, a specific distance from the edge of all the doors that was centered between the width of the 2-1/2" perimeter moulding. The master bath and guest bath doors have a wider moulding. It's 3" so the installer put the hardware in the middle of the space of those doors and the client complained because it's 1/4" different that the discussion of the other doors. Now she wants us to replace those doors.

The contractor & designer and I agree we installed them in the correct location. To use the dimension for the other doors would be wrong. All the instructions were verbal as we stood there holding hardware on the doors to agree the location. I'm now going to put in writing to explain why we did what we and hopefully, she will accept it.


Speaking of things in writing... There is a comment on a current forum thread asking who invited protesters on January 6th and was it in writing?
The answer is yes. @therealdonaldtrump did so on December 26. It's documented and part of a Twitter archive:
"The ‘Justice’ Department and the FBI have done nothing about the 2020 Presidential Election Voter Fraud, the biggest SCAM in our nation’s history, despite overwhelming evidence. They should be ashamed. History will remember. Never give up. See everyone in D.C. on January 6th."












Sometimes, when you put things in writing, it comes back to implicate you in an insurrection. But... that's the topic for another blog!

Posted for all Amerikans who think they have seen an Insurrection .
From the best channel on the Tube . .A U S ..

My studio / home office is in turmoil. For years, I've been working for companies as a salesman & designer on a commission or sub-contract basis. Sometimes, they provided a workspace, cubby or office of my own. When the workload increased, I stayed longer hours or took work home to complete. Remembering back more than 30 years ago, my design drawings were done at a drafting table in their facility. I had a portable drafting table at home maintained a fully functioning office, complete with phone lines, FAX, scanner & printer.

10-15 years ago, I abandoned the drafting table and started making drawings by computer. I subscribed to a service that allowed me to seamlessly remotely link my home & office computers. They claimed to have a secure connection and all seemed okay. With the approval of the company I'm working for now, the IT guy said there was a 'worm hole' security weakness to their network and redid the connection so all my files are supported by Google products that synchronize to all my devices. I no longer have to pay for the other service.

For the past few months, I've been working on a project that has lots of rooms. Main kitchen, catering kitchen, summer kitchen, 6 bathrooms, his & hers master baths, bar, 3 laundry rooms... it's a big freaking job and lots of drawings. Most of these dealings are digital, but my meeting notes are on printed copies, so I need lots of space to layout all the documents. I'm a paper guy and retain more information if the drawing is printed and not on a screen.

I used to have dual monitors before and downsized to a single 27" monitor for each system. Enough is enough. My eyes aren't getting any better. One monitor is 10 years old and the icons are starting to 'burn into' the screen. I have one 32" monitor for drawing and bought another that's new in the box waiting for me to get out of 'procrastination mode' and change that old monitor.

Year end now and I'm moving things around, archiving stuff and putting folders into plastic stackable bins for future reference. Okay, as long as I'm doing that, it's time to reconfigure the layout to get the added desk space.

Part of the turmoil is mixing and matching. The older monitors have VGA connections. Some have DVI, the newer have HDMI and the newest have Display Port. The VGA doesn't support ultra-high resolution, so I'm only using that on a computer that does email and web surfing. I bought some adapters that change the DVI and HDMI to work with Display Port so I can take advantage of high resolution with the larger monitors.

The showroom will be closed between Christmas and New Year, so I'm not planning to see too much activity next week. If I stay focused (no pun intended) I'll be able to organize 'my everything' that will allow me to put an end to the turmoil I've created.

I'm surprised no one picked up on this, but the suit that Trump wore in Georgia when he was arrested, booked and posed for the famous mugshot has been cut into pieces and being sold. This is similar to the coffee mugs and T-shirts promotion sold bearing his photo.
Last week, it was reported that Trump is offering 'pieces of Trump' in the way of cuttings of his blue suit, but you have to buy 47 $99 NFT's

That amounts to $4,653 and includes dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Trump himself.
It's an online purchase and the fine print states there's no guarantee you will get either.

Appropriate, isn't it?

I hit a few appointments today where one was at a construction site and another the service entrance to a large condominium. It's become normal to have NOW HIRING painted on the work trucks.
Why the constant advertising for tradesmen ??
I suppose when times are good, businesses are expanding and always have the word out for more help.
I cannot say, times are good right now, so my realistic thought is the working conditions with those companies is so bad that they have a constant turnover in help, thus requiring hiring all the time!

That reminds me of a company I worked for 35 years ago where the owner didn't have to fire many people... they usually quit after a month or two.

I think at one point, he had employed every cabinet maker in the county.

I'm into my 4th year living in a condo and every year the HOA monthly rates go up. It was $450 the first year and now over $625. Much of the increase was due to rising insurance. I attended an association meeting last month and the president (of the association) stated some of the expenses the residents have to pay was mostly for the roof and structure insurance.
She stated, they keep a surplus because coming up will be the expense of re-roofing which is done should it fail inspection. Historically they try to avoid special assessments when something in the building fails.
I noted the vent fans in the elevator have rusted and ceased working, it appears it's not covered in the maintenance agreement with the elevator company and will have to wait for some other event to be considered.

Today in Yahoo Finance they ran a story about condo owners in Florida hit with a 563% increase. Not to get political about this, I think the governor should be working on a plan to help lower insurance rate hikes.


Before this move, I lived in a 70 year old house without a mortgage so no one monitored that I didn't have insurance coverage. Old style construction so I took my chances and was very lucky nothing happened, like a hurricane taking my roof off or the original wiring going up in smoke. It became an issue for the new buyer to obtain insurance for a structure that hadn't been insured prior to the sale.

My current neighbor does building maintenance and his wife is a realtor so they have connections about the development. Many of the residents are in their 80's and retired for many years, unexpected increases have them strapped for funds where some of them were forced to sell and move to assisted living facilities... what a horrible thought.




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...side effects include suicidal hankerings, coma & DEATH !

THIS IS THE COMMERCIAL THAT $PONSORED THE BREAKING NEWS
THAT LIFE GUARD OF THE NEW ORDER, HEINZ KISSINGER HAS
DIED @ 100. .SIRIUS AS A HEART STOPPER

THE ad spot featured dancing , festive music & the obligatory font
.the you should consult your doctor to determine if COMA is what
You want ...
. standby..
Doctor, my eYes. ) Browne
Best of . ) Dr. Hook & medicine show
Post op. ) 4 out of 5 doctors

Many stores have extended Black Friday to Cyber Saturday. Cyber Monday sales are extended to Cyber Tuesday. We're on a roll and I see special sales that should be extended all through the month of December.
Black Friday extended... extended... extended...

The other day, I read in music news that Daryl Hall has filed a lawsuit against his former musical partner John Oates and has asked the judge to issue a temporary restraining order. Documents were sealed and information was sketchy. This morning, more details came forward.

Why Daryl Hall obtained a restraining order against John Oates has been (partly) solved.
It’s now been revealed that Hall is attempting to block his longtime musical partner from selling his share in their joint venture to Primary Wave Music.
Hall is arguing that Oates' plan to sell off his share of a joint venture would violate the terms of a business agreement that Hall & Oates duo had forged.

The judge temporarily blocked the sale while legal proceedings and a previously initiated arbitration continue.

Primary Wave has already owned “significant interest” in Hall and Oates’ song catalog for more than 15 years. In a 2021 interview with Sky News, Hall alluded to disappointment with the sale of his back catalog.

Daryl's statement:
“Oh, in the early days, it got sold off for me and I didn’t get the money,” he said. In the same interview, he advised artists to retain their publishing rights, saying “all you have is that.”




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