Income Tax Withholding Matters

Take a look at this article in the Miami Herald that came out Tuesday about income tax withholding

The article states that one of the “Stimulus” bills that Congress passed will result in a new withholding schedule effective April 1. It may result in less being withheld from your paycheck. The article warns, however, that you may be among those who will, as a result, “under-withhold” and that you should be concerned about that.

The article refers to an on-line withholding calculator, but the website address the article gives is incorrect. Here is where you should start on the IRS website.

Thanks to Carol for bringing this to my attention.

Watch Out for the Socks

Speaking of Military History.

Top Books on Military History

Tom Ricks' list, at least. (But is Catch 22 "military history?"). Thanks, Glenn Reynolds.

Weekend in Philadelphia

Friday morning Carol and I flew up to Philadelphia to visit Mary. After we landed, we took a train north from the airport into the city and the 30th Street Station. We transferred to a train that went west out of the city to Rosemont, and then walked through a driving rain to Mary's apartment building about two suburban blocks south of the station. (We had our umbrellas, so no real problem). We were there, snug in her apartment, when she came home from school about 2 PM.


About the time we arrived at Mary's apartment building, the weather cleared and the sun came out. So after she came home, Mary drove us the two miles over to Bryn Mawr College, and gave us a tour of the science building, her real home-away-from home, and the rest of the lovely campus.

Spring was just at the threshold of bursting forth there, and several trees had already bloomed. The first photo is of Mary and Carol in front of one of these harbinger trees after we came out of the science building. The second photo is of Taylor Hall, one of the main buildings of the college.

The lawns, well watered from the rain and a deep green, the flower beds freshly mulched with the leaves of tulip and other bulbs popping up and soon to flower, and the old stone, neo-gothic buildings of the campus rising up from all this promise made a very pleasant sight. We walked by student guides and their charges, young women, apparently high school seniors, who seemed to be giving the place one last look before deciding whether to come next fall. The season favors a positive decision.

From there we drove a mile or less to Ardmore, another of the little towns that seem to overlap one another along the "Main Line," where there is some serious shopping available. As Carol and Mary enjoyed themselves (buying after all very little), I sat in a plaza surrounded by J. Crew, Talbot's, a vest pocket Macy's, and the like, watching a Robin for about 15 minutes look around another freshly mulched flower bed for a worm with no success.

The shoppers rejoined me, and we walked about a block to "Trader Joe's," a sort of toned down Whole Foods and a favorite grocery store of Mary. From there, we went around the corner to "the Farmer's Market," where we ended up buying supper on a take-out basis. This was an interesting place - the vendors inside the Farmer's Market manned 21st Century "stalls" or "stands" (which words do not come near to describing how classy these points of sale are). There was a Mennonite bakery, although we successfully resisted the temptation to load up, a wine vendor, an Asian food stand, where we bought some talapia and a tofu dish, an Italian stand, where we bought some potatoes (we were eating eclectic that night), and several other places that made us hungrier and hungrier. So with our haul we quickly went back to Mary's apartment, which was already redolent with some bread she had baked for our visit, and had supper. We topped it all off with a trip back across the street to a McDonald's for their 1$ caramel sundaes - a dessert tradition that we first adopted on our trips to Spain.

The next morning we were up fairly promptly, and Mary made her very strong, Kenya edition of cafe con leche for herself and me. She had thoughtfully bought Muesli for Carol's breakfast, and there was oatmeal and yogurt, all with bananas and blueberries and, of course, the homemade bread. Yum.

Then, as we had planned, we took off for the Valley Forge National Historic Park, which is part of the National Park Service. This, of course, is the site of the "encampment" of Washington's Continental Army which began in December 1777 and continued until the spring of 1778. It is a sprawling park, but has a good visitors center, and an exhibit where several very small log cabins have been built, replicating over 1000 of such shelters that the soldiers built for the winter. We learned that the winter, while cold - was moderate for Pennsylvania, and that the army, while tested during the winter, emerged transformed by the training they received from Von Stueben, fresh arms from France, and the encouraging news that France had come into the war on the side of the Colonials.

Two of the three park rangers who gave talks were very good, and one of them gave some interesting detail about how the cannon and muskets were used to devastating effect. I asked this gentleman for some recommendations on further reading about the Continental Army, and he suggested two books, Joseph Plumb Martin's A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier, and Charles Roster's, A Revolutionary People at War.

The third photo is of Mary and me in front of the visitor's center, and the fourth is of the National Memorial Arch that was dedicated in 1917, commemorating the "patience and fidelity" of the soldiers who wintered there in 1777-1778.



On the way back from Valley Forge, we made a quick stop at King of Prussia Mall (by then, we understood why there would be a place named "King of Prussia" in that locale, for he had been a friend to the Colonials), and then home to Mary's apartment to rest and to put the finishing touches on the plans for the evening. Those touches mainly involved Mary and Carol studying the guide books for a good place for dinner in the city, not too far from the Kimmel Center, where we had tickets that night to attend a concert of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

They came up with an Indian restaurant, Lovash, and it proved to have delicious food and was moderately priced. There were all sorts of off-beat shops and other restaurants in the Lovash neighborhood, and there were lots of people, from the plainly tourist to 1980s grunge types - it reminded me a bit of Ybor City in Tampa.

After that it was off to Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts where the Philadelphia Orchestra performed under the direction that night of Andre Previn. Mary had asked me what we should expect to hear from the PO in relation to our friend the New World Symphony. I told her that we should be able to hear quite a difference, even though we enjoy the New World. Although we expected to hear something better, we were simply stunned at the quality of the orchestra, especially on the Mozart piano concerto. (Piano Concerto No. 24, K. 491 - click "System One," then scroll down to Piano Concertos)

Andre Previn, who turns 80 this year, seemed quite feeble as he approached the piano (for the Mozart) and then, after intermission, the podium for Strauss's Symphonia Domestica, but he carried it all off with strength and aplomb. We sat in the orchestra section, not that far from the stage, and you could see on the faces of the musicians how much they were enjoying Previn and how they connected with him. We all enjoyed it!

The next morning, we attended City Line Church, and heard a fine sermon on 2 Corin. 12:1-10, from the pastor, Steve Kim, and met some of Mary's friends who also attend there. For lunch, we went to a burrito fast food place and then back to the apartment to relax. At about 4 Mary walked us to the train station, and we back-tracked to the airport and then home by about 9:30PM Sunday night.

Dad Just Has to Brag

Poor Mary. She's been slogging through Chemistry these many months. She finds Biology fascinating and Physics, well Physics, is "just math," at least to Mary. And we know how Mary handles math.

But Chemistry, ugh.

I hated Chemistry at Duke, and the two Freshman Chem courses at Duke were the only courses in which I got a C. So I have been sympathising with Mary these past several months, as she complained about the Chem courses in her program. I sympathized as only a loving and completely understanding father can. Until she just now sent me this update:

Well, apparently I had a very good Chemistry week last week, as I got a 95 on my 2-day test extravaganza (the class average was a 74--guess I didn't help that curve), and a 99 on my last lab report.

Did I mention Carol got two A+s in Freshmen Chemistry at Duke?

Aunt Ann a G.L.O.W. Honoree

Our Aunt Ann is among 18 Georgia women honored by the Georgia Legislature as "outstanding". We've known that for many, many years, but it's good to know that this has become generally known. Among her many gifts is running the Dodge Hill Inn in Eastman, GA, where we have had simply wonderful visits.

Yellow Tababouia Tree and Orchid

On the left is the Yellow Tababouia tree to the west of our house. It is about a week after the blooms burst forth; just a few days after it's prime, and you can see the blooms on the ground. It's spectacular, though, even past its peak.



I took a close-up shot of a bunch of blooms still on the tree.



To the right of the Tababouia Tree, you can see the Sea Grape Tree that is outside our dining room window. Last year I put a little orchid in the the crook of its trunk, after it had bloomed in the reception room of our office, and it was blooming again last weekend. It's really hard to grow these things here. It takes a lot of effort to wedge the plastic pot in the tree and tape it there with clear masking tape until the roots grow out of the pot and grasp the trunk. But someone has to do it, and that, of course, would be me.

But, John, How Do You Really Feel About What Floats Our Boats?

Our end in leaving our native country [for Georgia] was not to avoid want (God having given us plenty of temporal blessings) nor to gain the dung or dross of riches or honor; but singly this - to save our souls, to live wholly to the glory of God. [Boldface added]

-John Wesley, from his Journal, Oct. 14, 1735.

Cutie Clippies

Did you see that Kellsey started her own business? Cutie Clippies!

You'd think starting an online business was in her blood, or something.

Also: I think that some of her clippies are so cool that I wish I could get away with wearing them.

To My Twitter Kith and Kin

"Five Best Sources of Free Entertainment on the Web"

Whadahyathink?

Nostalgia

Send down the grandchidren!

Say It Ain't So!

Duke is dominated by Villanova.

Yahoo Sports’s Dan Wetzel wonders what’s happened to Duke. “The Blue Devils are no longer the Blue Devils,” Wetzel writes. “They’re just another good program. Good, not great. They don’t have what Duke is accustomed to having. They haven’t for years. When they get into the grown-men rounds of the NCAA tournament, they don’t stand a chance.”

Cry, and you cry alone.

Or something.

Obortion

Yesterday evening I was caught in rush hour traffic, going south on US 1 and heading for the board meeting of the local Youth for Christ organization. The south part of the county is the more prosperous half, and the automobiles are mostly late model and many are expensive. I saw a number of Obama stickers on these cars.

I pulled up at a traffic light behind a car with an Obama sticker, and I saw, hanging from the rear view mirror, a Rosary. What in the world did that mean? Is the professional looking driver a Christian? A Roman Catholic? Or are those beads some sort of superstitious trinket, hanging there to ward off accidents and traffic tickets? Maybe the driver really struggled with Obama's views on abortion, on the one hand, and the less lethal and more promising aspects of his candidacy, on the other, but gave in.

With regard to human life itself, "change" with our new Administration meant, within hours after the inauguration, reversing the previous administration's pro-life policies. Putting aside the disastrous budget decisions that the new President and Congress have made so far, shall we focus for a moment on how many unborn babies have been killed since he began?

The Herald Celebrates "Diversity"

The Herald this week gave a lot of ink to a play by a local playright, Michael McKeever' Melt. A one-time performance at Guzman Center for the Performing Arts was attended by students and their parents. The play purports to be about the melting-pot of cultures in Miami-Dade:

McKeever's Miamians span South Florida's myriad cultures: a Cuban-American seamstress who was a Pedro Pan child and her son, a slick operator who works in real estate; an older Jewish man, whose wife left him, and his son, a gay high school teacher who wants to adopt a child; the teacher's partner, a black nurse who is unsure about fatherhood; and the nurse's sister, a lawyer and activist who wants to stop real estate developers from displacing lower-income Miamians.

That's it? That's Miami? I've only lived here 63 years, less a few years away at college and law school, and this is not what I see. But beyond that, it amazes me to read that the Miami Chamber of Commerce helped sponsor this event, where, if the description I have quoted is accurate, business people are described as "slick" or predatory; the only marriage featured is a broken one, the only family a single mom, the only professionals, community "activists," the only intact adult relationship, homosexual, and the only reference to fatherhood, a tentative and exceedingly doubtful one.

Beyond the C of C, what were the parents thinking who took their children to see this thing?

Teaching Toys

The current generation featured here. There were a couple of good ones we used, although none of them so automated as these. We kept looking for the "clean-up-your room" teaching toy, but never found one.

"Mr. Health Care"

Senator Baucus is worth reading about.

"A Devalued Prime Minister of a Devalued Government"

(Thanks, Drudge)

UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds' comments on this are worth reading.

Dear Family:

I've been right about sleep along.

(I'm going to bed now.)

Is Sen. Nelson Coming to his Senses?

Oh, I hope so!