Author: sheldon

Okay, so I’m a pessimist. The guys at Enron were convicted today and that’s great, the systems works, right? Some people see a dead roach on their kitchen floor and think “The pest control is working. Hurray for Truly Nolan!!!” I see a dead roach and think “There are roaches in my house!!!!” If the guys at Enron did whatever they did I figure there are a ton or people breaking rules that are nearly impossible to enforce.

I don’t cheat on my taxes. I don’t know how. And I don’t know anyone who cheats on their taxes. But do I think a lot of people are “cheating”? Hmmmm. That’s where it gets confusing. What is cheating? If you “break the rules” but don’t get caught did you cheat? What if you don’t break the rules but you get audited?

Do business take deductions for expensies that are not business related? Is there a way for the “tax man” to know what was discussed at each of those deducted lunches? What are the chances of being audited in the first place?

Everything hurts today!!!!!

I’m not religious by any stretch but I just read another reason to avoid the whole issue:

I went to a Lutheran grade school for two years and we were told all about about “this is my blood” and “this is my body” and I don’t remember anyone mentioning that it was symbolic.  I was young and didn’t realize what we were doing at the time.  I know Catholics/Lutherans/etc have a great rationalization behind the whole thing and next time religion comes up I’ll see what “the believers” think.
Sheldon

Hello,

Back in 2002 I bought a new Honda Accord V6 LX. At the time I just graduated college and thought I deserved a new car. I didn’t have much money and was upside down with trading in my old car but I figured my Honda would be with me for 20 years!!!

Well, it didn’t make it much past year 3. After 63,000 miles and less than 4 years, the transmission went out. The shop said I had three options, $2000 for a used one from a junkyard, $3000 to rebuild the old one and $4000 to get a re-manufactured one from Honda with a 5 year warranty (longer than the 3 year/36,000 that came with the car).

I still owed $12,000 on the loan. Add $4000 in more debt and I would be out $16,000. A few thousand more and I could buy a new Accord again!!!

I found out that the 2000 and 2001 V6 transmissions in the Honda Accord were recalled. The dealer said the problem was fixed with the 2002. I disagree.

I let it sit at the shop for over a week. I was in disbelief that my Honda had done this to me, again.

About 2.5 years after my purchase the “brake light switch” went out on my Accord. Again, I was in disbelief. The part only costs like $35 but it was so simple it should have been less than $10. And the install costs would have been over $100 (I did it myself in less than 10 minutes).

Anyway, the Accord again is ranked very high and from my experience I’m not sure why. A friend of mine got a Nissan XTerra the first year it was out and he’s still driving it 100,000 miles later and has never had a major repair.

Sheldon

Hello,

In the November 28, 2005 issue of time there is a “8 Great XBox 360 Games” section. I happen to like the “7 books you gotta read” or “Music this year worth listening too” sections but talking about the eight great XBox 360 is laughable. There were less than 20 games available at the time (okay, I’m not a journalist and I didn’t look up that number but I expect you to) . . . how can 8 be great? Launch titles? No way.

I know you must get this 100 times a day but: How much did Microsoft pay you? Seriously. And I realize that this isn’t something that most people would care about even if you did get paid but it just makes me wonder what can be bought at Time (new product hype) and what can’t be.

I’m not MS hater either. I like Microsoft. They overcharge for stuff but what’s really cool is that there are alternatives that are getting as good or better than what MS has to offer. But I have an XBox and I’ll get an XBox 360 when I have more time to play. But there is no such thing as eight great games for a launch system. You fell into the hype.

Sheldon McGee