Taxes, Car Ride Services and a Spray of Blossoms in Everyday Ramblings

This is an old stone birdbath with a dusting of fruit tree blossoms a few blocks away. To me it is a perfectly imperfect shot.

Because of all my medical (mostly dental) and business expenses I hired a tax person to prepare my taxes last year and it was very much worth it. This year I hired her again. She works from home and lives way far out east in a mostly residential area with small homes past our heaviest traffic area on weekdays.

She emailed me earlier in the week that my taxes were done and I could either have her mail them to me then I could sign them and mail hard copy myself or come out and sign them so she could electronically file them. I did that last year. And received my refunds (Federal and State) maybe two weeks later.

This is a blue-collar neighborhood. The houses are for the most part lovingly maintained but out on the commercial streets there are strip clubs and tattoo parlors and there is evidence of a whole lot of drug activity and gangs.

The first time I went out there last year I took the light rail and did not feel safe, not even in broad daylight. I believe almost all the residents get in their cars and go places, leaving the streets for those who currently do not have access to their own car or some other business that involves interacting with other humans in public.

The 2nd time I went out there last year I took Uber.

It cost me $4.99 each way, and was a longish trip but fine. I planned on doing that again yesterday and took off work an hour early to miss the worst of the traffic. When I went to order the car (I chose Lyft because they are more acceptable as a business) and was shocked to see the price was now $19.94 one way! Eek.

How much is my time and safety worth?

I have a subsidized transit pass through work so the trip on light rail would have cost me nothing except an extra half hour and a bunch of hyper-aware discomfort.

I thought about taking public transportation home but it was a wild spring day with periods of hail and there was no shelter out there. (I know this because I went to stand under a big tree next to the water tower around on the next block and this woman with a bunch of small kids [perhaps undocumented] yelled at me that I had to go away as she was part of neighborhood watch.

In the end I engaged Uber for the ride home thinking it might be cheaper but no, it was a few dollars more. The rides were both nice and about 1,000 times better than taking mass transit but man…

Next year if I do this I am going to offer, say someone from church, $30 to drive me out there and wait 10 minutes and drive me back!

Normally I would be teaching my work class right now but this woman from Human Resources told me that yoga was not a legitimate business purpose to use the conference room and she needed it for some sort of vendor vetting and therefore I am out of luck today. I moved the class to two and a half hours later and hope at least one person can show up.

One of my favorite students for this class was in a car accident a few weeks ago and is still showing some cognitive irregularities from the concussion he received and his boss told him to stay home this week and heal. (The accident was not his fault, a woman came out of nowhere and slammed into the hood of his car on the driver’s side and spun his car around 90 degrees.)

But! My taxes are done done done. I am grateful I could afford the tax prep and the ride out to sign the forms and that I am making my way through the goodies in my Imperfect Produce box…the golden beets and carrots, the pears and dates, the apples and the yummy orange bell peppers.

And it is Friday!!! Yeah. Maybe I will have time to get around to read your posts soon.

Last updated March 23, 2018