Taxes filed, beware TurboTax

I’m glad to have my taxes done and out of the way. This year (2008) was far simpler than 2006, or 2007. Back in college I had up to seven simultaneous jobs. The paperwork was painful. This year I’m down to two W-2s, my Roth IRA will be maxed out ($5,000 contribution limit, FYI) and life is good. Oh, and since I was such a charitable guy (donations to United Way), Colorado owes me $200. Sweet.

Back from Africa, I don't have malaria

We got back from a long vacation to Kenya for a safari. The trip was December 19th – January 9th. I had an awesome time and I now have 1,800+ pictures to go sort through. Plus another 40-50 minutes of HD video to edit, post online, etc.

Save time with TimeSvr virtual assistants

I’ve always been a big advocate of outsourcing through the use of virtual assistants. In fact, I wrote about personal assistants back in March and had started using a service called GetFriday. I had some mixed experiences (like sending a birthday greeting when it wasn’t someone’s birthday) and decided the cost was no longer justified.

The government's role in the economy

As a follow-up to this week’s previous post about the stock market and automakers, here is Rachel with more on how the economy works.

Stock market misconceptions

I’ve been thinking about the economy a lot lately, as I’m sure many of you have. It amazes me how much opinion we’re told (new sources, friends, etc.) but very little fact behind all the arm waving. This isn’t meant to be comprehensive but I want to make a few misconceptions clear:

Trip to Boston now online

Rachel and I took a quick trip to see friends in Boston, MA a few weeks ago. I’ve finally put the photos online. I love the various web applications out there, here’s how I used three to track my trip:

Overlooked feature in Facebook

When the new site design launched nobody realized that Facebook added the ‘Top Friends’ functionality:

Guide to working paperless

I think my simplest self-imposed challenge was to: go entirely paperless at the office this month. It was so simple it’s almost laughable. I’m so confident that I met my own goal I’ve posted this a week before the end of the month. So how did I do it and how did it spill over into my personal life?

I love birthdays…

… I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by. It seems like it was just a year ago I was celebrating the big 2-1. All four parties were great that year.

Social media best practice: be authentic