I often jot down things that I think I might want to write a blog post about, but sometimes I don’t end up getting around to it – so I thought I’d just put some of these things here and call it good. Here are some bits and pieces from the last week or so:
January 28: I originally wanted to write something about Obama’s State of the Union Address, although I’ve lately been actively avoiding concerning myself with politics because it is just so annoying and distressing to see all this stupid stuff going on. It is very frustrating to have a President who really wants to get things done – and see Congress acting like a bunch of spoiled children! Personally, I think politics should have no place in the business of running the government. Be that as it may, the President did have some good things to say, as usual: State of the Union 2014: Excerpts from Obama’s speech; In State of the Union, Obama vows to expand opportunity, with or without Congress.
On a (very) humorous (and thinly-related) note: Here is something that I laughed hysterically over; the whole thing is worth at least one read. I am posting it here because of one particular review entitled “Ideal Gift For Your Congressional Representatives” (it’s a cruel world…). 😀
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January 31: I also wanted to mention that my son and I went and got flu shots this week. It’s alarming the number of people who have been dying from the flu this year! Reports are that the number of flu-related deaths in California has surpassed last year’s total and there may be more to come: Death Toll Rising in Bay Area Flu-Related Deaths. So – better to not take any chances.
The flu shot was easy, but the thing that really had an impact on me was that when my blood pressure was taken while at the doctor’s office (and it’s been a while), I was rather amazed at how low it was. I don’t remember it ever being that low (108/68) – and this despite the fact that (1) I am over 50; (2) I have not been exercising regularly for a while; (3) I have been especially stressed out lately (due to reasons I don’t care to go into right now); (4) I am currently and have been for some months smoking pretty regularly; and (5) I also take stimulant ADHD medication every day! But I have figured out why this might be: I have been taking a CoQ10 supplement daily for a couple of years (and feeling better for it!) and apparently a side effect of this natural supplement is that it lowers blood pressure. So why on earth do people take dangerous blood pressure pharmaceuticals when there is a natural supplement that not only does this same thing very effectively, but has other life-enhancing qualities. And we have had this information for many years. Like many other things, Big Business does not want us to know about it. And that is a sad fact. It pays to become knowledgeable about one’s health through ways other than just the doctors and pharmacies. The Life Extension Foundation is an excellent source of such information. And they are not for profit, which I find more trustworthy.
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And, another thing that I think is rather insane: I recently acquired a new client, for which I currently am required to work at their location using QuickBooks rather than the Peachtree program I use (and much prefer) in my office at home. One of my many complaints about QuickBooks is the difficulty I always have running basic accounting reports. The other day I wanted to run a Cash Receipts Journal so that I could find and clean-up A/R errors that I know are in existence. But QuickBooks does not give you an option to run this report, and try as I might, I could not get an adequate report.
When I got home, I googled How to create a cash receipts journal in QuickBooks – and no surprise how many items showed up; I didn’t even have to finish typing the query, it came up so quickly! And I did find instructions direct from the Intuit website – where I found that there are 10 steps to create this report! [Out of curiosity, I googled the same query for Peachtree. No surprise here – it shows nothing: because in Peachtree it takes only a couple of clicks to run this standard report.] Uh– isn’t a Cash Receipts Journal still considered a very basic, very essential, standard accounting report??? Honestly, I have never understood this about QuickBooks (and perhaps only bookkeepers and accountants could relate). But I think it is just crazy…
By the way, I think I’m going to have to get used to using QuickBooks in future – Peachtree has become Sage 50 – and I have not been hearing good things about it. At least I can still use my copy of Peachtree for clients I service completely here in my office, so I can be grateful for that – it’s a wonderful program. Too bad things always have to change (and now I sound like an old person – sigh…)
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And finally – February 3rd was my son’s 14th birthday. And, true to my promise to never again buy a greeting card, I made him this card. I took a partially-finished ink drawing and scanned it into the computer, where I edited it, printed it, worked on it some more, and scanned it back in again. And I think the card came out rather nicely. My son liked it and that’s what counts!
I think he had a pretty good birthday. I know that I am pretty proud of my pretty wonderful son.