Trip Update So Far

First, the flights went . . . OK. Basically, each flight had to be sprayed with de-icer before they could leave, which put them behind schedule. This meant that my layover in Detroit was only about 25 minutes, which gave me just enough time to run across the airport to catch the next flight, meaning I did not have anything substantial to eat on Tuesday except a bowl of cereal and a poptart (my emergency food reserve for the flights). And there's no one here in Norwescon that will make me eat. The second delay meant that I arrived in Seattle after the rental car counter closed. So I went offsite for the rental car offices, got the car, checked into the hotel, and finally got to climb into bed around midnight in Seattle (which was actual 3am to my body). But nothing really exciting happened.

Today was spent driving around Seattle to bookstores and signing whatever stock they had of my books. I called most of the stores about 3 weeks ago to see if they'd be willing to get the books in while I was there, but a few of them were just random bookstores that I happened to pass and notice and so checked out. Here's the list of bookstores that now have some signed copies of my books, in case you're in the Seattle area and want signed copies:

Barnes & Nobles: Federal Way (lots of copies of all three books); South Center (a few copies of each book); Northgate (2 copies of Vacant); Bellevue (copies of Cracked and Vacant, no Skewed); University Village (2 copies of Vacant); and Downtown (3 copies of Vacant).

Borders: Tukwila (1 copy of Vacant); I stopped at a few other Borders, but none had any copies, so I just chatted with store personnel who were interested in fantasy or managers and whatnot.

University Bookstore: Main Site (a few copies of Skewed and Cracked, lots of copies of Vacant); Satellite in Bellevue (1 copy each of Cracked and Vacant).

Overall, lots of good contacts made, including a few employees who were willing to handsell the books. At one B&N, a customer overheard me talking to the employees at the desk and ordered a copy in of Skewed while I was standing there. In addition, she announced she once worked in movies and had many contacts in that industry and if she liked the book she'd definitely pass it on. I have her contact info and gave her mine, so we'll see what happens there. (I expect nothing, but a small part of me has already dreamed up a world in which I'm rich and famous and sleep on a bed of cash.)

After that, I ran off to see my new nephew, my brother, and his wife. We went out to dinner, then hit and REI clinic where the speaker talked about wild edible plants in the Pacific Coastal region and handed out recipes. Interesting talk, although I would have preferred a little tasting as well as a talk. During dinner and the talk, little Philip was a perfect angel, so I began teasing them that kids weren't so bad and I didn't know what they were complaining about so much. We then went back to my brother's house, where Philip began to show his true colors. There are pics with me holding the wailing kid. I'll post those as well as my brother sends them along.

And that's it so far. The con starts tomorrow. In the meantime, if you live in the Seattle area, check out some of those bookstores for those signed copies. Or come to the con! I'd love to meet in person some of the people I only know online.

Second Middle Finger Lowered

OK, so here's a clarification of my previous rant about taxes now that some commenters have pointed a few things out that would explain the $300 jump in taxes when I made that correction. I certainly don't want people getting irate over a misunderstanding perpetuated by me.

Recall the situation giving rise to the previous rant: I thought my stimulus check was $300 so I entered that. The Feds rejected my taxes because, upon further investigation, I'd really gotten $600 (so they claim), so I put in $600 in the form and my taxes jumped $300. I midread this as me paying back the stimulus check that I'd gotten earlier, and hence ranted about the stimulus check in the heat of the moment. I do not apologize for this, because anything dealing with taxes I owe is a touchy subject for me, mainly because I work my ass off for that money, so having people take it away from me and then proceed to give some of it to people who I don't think deserve it because they are taking advantage of a well-meaning system really pisses me off. But that's another rant for another time. (I think the concept and idea behind some of these systems is a good idea and I support them . . . but the abuse of the system seriously . . . vexes me. Yes, vexes is a good, safe word.)

What actually happened (courtesy of paulskemp, among others): I thought my stimulus check was $300 so I entered that. It was supposed to be $600, so TurboTax gave me a tax credit of $300 to compensate for the part that it thought I hadn't received. This effectively lowered my tax owed amount by $300. However, when I found out that the Feds believed I'd gotten $600 and changed the tax form, TurboTax realized that I'd already gotten the $300 that it had given me credit for, so it took it back. This looked to me like they were taking the stimulus check back, and hence the rant. From their perspective, I was trying to steal $300 from them that I didn't deserve.

So, second middle finger lowered and high emotions receed as logical thought returns. I think a little blip explaining the jump in taxes would have been nice, but . . .

In any case, my rant about the high taxes and the penalties incurred for actually paying my taxes on time and to the full amount (which I did even in the fervor of emotion) still stands.