Some eye candy thanks to the new Sony Nex – 3
life
Photograph’s and images
As a society they have grown with us and sometimes lead us.
Photographs portray a moment in time.
And yearning.
Bandits
pleadings
The improbable
Attitudes
Gentleness.
They allow us to imagine and explore our planet and our place in it.
A photograph can make the ordinary beautiful.
Most importantly, photographs allow us to reach beyond where we are.
Pictures teach.
Say no to child porn. It teaches us to harm other for a picture!
I installed Windows 8 and I love it!
I first installed it on my old laptop 
as I had heard how it really revitalized the older models. And I was very impressed with the final result
. It took awhile to get there though!
There was a problem during the install but I prevailed!
It was my wireless internet security settings and the new program did not like the simple set up.
So, I went around the house, reset the iTouch, the AP client, the second desktop and main desktop, the router and of course the laptop. That took a bit as I had a dyslexic 
moment in memorizing the password for the new settings. The AP client where I stream my music was the most frustrating as I really need my music and this was where I inverted the code for the security. Oops
! It was only when I realized that I needed to reconfigure the wireless printer and was entering this long code for the third time that I had switched the position of the code. The light went off and I fixed the AP client and had music once again streaming thought the house. 
This took the better part of my day. (I really lead a quite life but enjoy my toys for my working environment!!)
So, a lot of work to make the laptop faster and easier to use. And it is faster and easier to use. Before, it was a glorified lump of coal
in the guise of a snail paced computer. Now, it is fast and streamlined for my work. And I work a lot!
The second computer I installed it on was problematic.
My partner uses this and he tends to keep things simple. A few trusted programs and if they give him any grief, the are quickly removed.
So it should have been very straight forward.
The issue that was most confounding was the wireless internet. I had rest the security so it should have been good but the installation bumps persisted. On the laptop I had to hardwire the internet for the install to complete. On the second computer at the third attempt, we turned off the wireless and it installed ok. 
The second desktop computer was still weird and that took some hunting to discover the cause.
My husband had set the icons to 180% so that he could see the screen. Windows 8 didn’t recognize the odd number but installed anyway. The windows explorer would not show on the screen but disappear in a blue bit of screen. Not a good start! I heard about the non working computer at every moment of his day until he headed off to work. That was not fun!
So, in the quite of Mozart
, I took a good look at the settings and changed the 180% back to normal. Then I found the change the PC setting in the charm bar and with a click of the mouse, Windows 8 repaired it’s self 
. Life is much better with his computer doing what it should.
Third one is the charm they say! And I do too. I learned my lessons, turned off the wireless and let Windows 8 do its own install. I was so confident about it, I started the install and headed out 
on errands. Upon returning all I had to do was enter my preferences and passwords. 
Aside from my learning curve around the install, I love what I see. I am tweaking this and that with a password or a reinstalling an older program but it is to be expected. 
Now to get ready for the tax season. I have my PTIN, my 2012 tax programs so I am ready. Just a dusting in the office and the fabric to put away until May.
Life is good!
What to keep – Terms of Reference:bookkeeping terms for the self employed and the curious!
Loki waiting for me to stop working and take her for a walk!
Terms of Reference:
The language of the banking, taxation and economy can be confusing or just plain strange to the uninitiated.
v Assets – what you own
v Liability – what you owe
v Income – what you are earning
v Expense – what is it costing you to earn the income
v Equity – earnings after expense plus what you have put into or taken away from the business
v Debit –(always left column of the ledger sheet) a transaction against a ledger :
Ø Assets including Bank – you are putting money in
Ø Liability– you are increasing what you owe
Ø Income – you are losing income
Ø Expense – you are gaining a usable supply
Ø Equity – you are taking out of your pocket and putting it into your business
v Credit –(always right column of the ledger sheet) a transaction against a ledger:
Ø Assets including Bank – you are taking money out
Ø Liability – you are decreasing your debts
Ø Income – you are making money
Ø Expenses – you are reducing you costs.
Ø Equity – you are putting money in your pocket and taking it from you business
v Accounts – a place to allocate any of the above
v Ledger – the data sheet of the accounts
v Bank Statement – a ledger data sheet of the transaction per account that you own in the bank
v Credit Card Statement – a ledger data sheet of the transactions per account that owe to the company
v Income statement – a report of the accounts of income and expenses
v Balance Sheet – a report of the accounts of assets, liabilities, and equity
v Invoice – the document you present to a client for payment of services or goods and what you receive from a contractor or supplier for services or goods
v Receipt – a document that shows payment of goods or services – can be the same as an invoice but should not be considered to be an invoice when there is only the confirmation of payment transaction.
v Capital Cost – a item that is purchased by you or your business that has a long term use
v Depreciation – a deemed cost based on a prorated value of use per year for Capital Costs
v Proration – the relation of a given amount to 100.00 – a duel valuation of the expense based on time, usage or similar cost allocation.
v Legislation – an act or statute of government to implement rules of conduct, process and taxation
Date – this is a little understated as it is only the Date. However the date of the transaction is a determining value in the processing of all of the above. For this purpose I will use the date system of month/day/year. Be forewarned that there is no legislation in the implementation of the date in the receipt or invoice. So have fun with this – no amount of patience can unravel the date of 07/03/09 on the lone receipt that resurfaces after a year or more of collecting dust at the bottom of the cupboard! And yes, the size of the receipt is not necessarily the issue; big ones do this as well as the small receipts (size and value). It is a part of humanity that we really need to accept – we lose things and they sometimes come back. If we are organized and aware of this – we can spot the whole in the accounts that this missing invoice.
What to keep–a look at what is needed to show compliance with the “Tax Man”
To date this year, I have prepared 190 tax returns – T1 Generals, T2 Corporate and 1040 US tax forms. It sure adds up. And quick.
The spring time for me is brutal. Thousands of receipts are queried by these hands and eyes. Coffee is good for this. Especially when you punctuate the day with chocolate covered espresso beans! I digress but in my defence it was a blog about coffee that brought me to this – tax season.
Tax-season will be upon us shortly. All too soon my phone will ring and the appointments will be set. My clients will arrive with bags, boxes and envelopes. Some will have tallied the mountainous receipts but mostly they are in order.
The receipts are in order because they have been here before and know the drill. It takes a few times with new clients to get that they need to keep the receipts. Of course some receipts are easy to reappear like the dentist and chiropractors. A quick phone call, the fax number passed on and the receipt appears here in my office. Others are elusive and take time to make it to my desk.
For some, all I can say is “Sorry, if you are audited then you will owe. If the receipt dose reappear, then we can adjust the tax return(s) for the year and claim the expense or credit.” Sometimes the client walks away never to return. Most take the lesson and begin the process of keeping the correct receipts.
So then during the year I get the call, is this receipt worth keeping, can I claim it. If yes, they then keep it and safely. It is important and will possibly reduce the tax liability if they do have taxes owing.
But what do you really need to keep for our compliance? And why compliance?
Compliance is the new buzz word with governments. It a state of being that we are following the rules as set by the elected ruling party.
Now the funny thing that I see is that the elected ruling party inherits a slew of civil servants to set up new rules with the new ideas of governance. As these new rules must be legal, the language is the language of lawyers and because it deals with finances, the language of the accountants are added to the mix. For most it is confusing. Some days it confuses me too, but I can get over it! Part of my hardwiring is figuring out intricacies like a puzzle.
My clients are teachers, counsellors, artists, retailers, retired, new immigrants, and corporations. Some are just simple folk, not educated nor are they well enough to maintain compliance with complex rules. Really, it is the people that I enjoy the most. The stories of travel, new jobs, new businesses, loves and losses. And I enjoy helping them though the rules of taxation.
Thanks for reading this. I will be adding more in the coming weeks as I begin to prepare for tax season.
Seeking the dragons breath
SEEKING THE DRAGONS BREATH
Seeking the dragons breath
I venture onwards
Daring to dream of success
Seeking the dragons breath
I venture out
Some say look to the north in silence
And you shall find him.
Others say dance in the East
And he shall find you.
Children say listen to the west wind
And follow the sigh unto him.
Travelers say sail south,
Mayhaps you shall find him.
Seeking the dragons breath
I venture onwards.
Trekking though the north
Elusive is the trail
Galloping in the east
I brush right by
Hiking hard to the west
An incandescent whisper, come hither.
Sailing the southward currents
A taste of what may yet come.
Seeking the dragons breath
Daring to dream of success
I breathe deep the north wind,
His essence tantalizes me with startled cold
I grasp hard the east wind,
Strength assails my senses entwining anon.
I stretch within the western breeze
Enveloping my soul with dew bent mists.
I reach openly for the southern gust
Tantalized within the perfumed warmth
Seeking the dragons breath
I venture out
Searching the northern sky
I spy him in a stayed motion dance
Our ethereal eastern spear
Radiates the warmth of tomorrow
The majestic western horizon
Bespeaks his soul in reflective beads
Blazing southern light
Dances across our flame swept eyes
Seeking the dragons breath
I venture on
The northern tundra crackles beneath my feet
Its coldness shatters me
The eastern sands swallow my gait
I gasp as I am engulfed
The western hills accept my step
Prickling with intensities
The southern waters lap at my feet
Plying to carry me away
Seeking the dragons breath
Daring to dream of success
Motionless
I search our vast blue sky
Hollow wailing of wind bumble across the icy tundra
Breathing deeply beyond the cold
I am bound
The dragon’s breath billows deceptively across
The depth of stars circling the dome of midnight
Waiting, daring, dreaming of being touched
Sleepily nudged by the east’s tantalizing glow
I unbound the jaded sleep
Garnered in the southern warmth
I embark forward into the day
With the western dusk
Again I pass to nigh
Daring to dream
Seeking the dragons breath
I look back at the way that I came.
The southern haze reflects his image,
Distorting all before me in swaths of light
The western mists echo deeply,
Vibrating laughter clings enticingly electric
The eastern emptiness shadowed with light
Obscuring desolate alone stands
The northern sky
Shimmers with visions of otherness
Seeking the dragons breath
I need only look within
Daring to dream of success
Seeking the dragons breath
I venture in words…
My dream: a poem
‘the sun is high, just shy of noon
I stand in this warmth – confused
beneath my feet, a once familiar place
is but dust and gravel.
‘All around me are the hues
of desolation, textures long buried
fray the landscape of brown and gold.
I pan the horizon, shattered
gray green tuffs plot an
unseen venue, familiar but broken.
‘From behind me a man speaks,
Only one word he utters “Look”
the sound of the syllable barren
I am compelled, commanded!
‘Stretching his arm, the owner
points to a glimmer of light.
Upon the horizons edge. It is small
and hard to see anything other than
the gritty landscape.
‘This glimmer of light, nothing
more than a reflection draws my focus.
I see it now, small but growing
against the bleakness of this
foreign landscape.
‘As it draws closer, I can not see
how it moves over such a barren
landscape. Yet is moving, closer
and now I recognize it to be a
cruise ship.
‘But how can this be, gliding over
land like it was on water?
The movement causes ripples
where the two meet!
This is not so! A ship cannot ride land
like water! And Yet
‘ the gritty uneven land did bob and weave
not unlike the ripples of a pond
The ship drew nearer and it was
a gleaming spectacle
in these hues of destruction.
‘My perplexity deepened upon
inspection of passing rows upon rows
decks and windows sealed and void.
This spectacle of white appeared lifeless
as it moved forward to an untold destination.
“Look” I turn to my left and there is blue
where there was none before. Long
jetties skimmed the surface
revealing familiar blue hues of water.
The hulk of white slipped into this cleared port
the jetties clicked to a closed
position keeping the gritty sludge at bay.
‘Once docked a bay door
pressed down to the parched earth.
A single automobile disembarked
and sped along a dusty path
to some unseen destination.
‘It was then that I awoke, my
breath shallow and my heart pumping,
I looked to my familiar bedroom, clamed by
the breaths of my partner beside me.
I slept once more and yet this dream
haunts me in its entirety.
By Cathryn E Tremain July 2012 – Dream Jan 2011
austerity101 