If you want to learn some handy tips and tricks for controlling the amount of time you spend reading and responding to email, or if you want to learn some commonly-accepted email etiquette, then I suggest you head over to Inbox Zero and read a couple of articles. They'll definitely be worth your time!

No, I'm not asking how much of a refund you received, or how much you had to pay when you filed your taxes. I'm talking about the number that shows up in Box 1 of your W-2. If you're married and your spouse also works, add the figures in Box 1 of all of your W-2s (in the event you hold more than one job) and add in all the figures in Box 1 of your spouse's W-2s. What does that sum turn out to be? $10,000? $20,000? More? Less?

For a more accurate calculation, now do one of the following. Either subtract your income tax refund from that sum or add the amount of income tax you owe to that figure. The total is your income tax bill for 2006. Does the number depress you? Anger you? Make you feel cheated that you're not getting back what you put in?

With all the emotions that probably well up when discussing how much we pay in income taxes, do you ever stop to think how our federal government spends OUR money? Neither did I. In fact, I really hadn't given it much thought, except for the vague concept that the taxes my husband and I pay were being paid out mostly to "lazy, undeserving" people who "should get off their arses and work, damn it." I constantly think to myself, "Why the hell am I paying for these lazy good-for-nothings to sit around at home procreating like friggin' rabbits when I'm out working my fanny off and don't feel that I can even afford children, myself?"

A bit harsh, to be sure. But I'm nothing if not politically incorrect. And you know what? That's OK by me. In fact, as it turns out, I wasn't so far off as my conservative rant might lead you to believe. Take a look at this graph of federal spending in 1956 (ah, the good ol' days) and 2006.

This chart, courtesy of Newsweek.com (never known to be a bastion of conservativism), shows what I consider to be creeping socialism infecting this country. Back in 1956, we spent 60% of our federal budget on defense and only 22% on social security and other entitlement programs such as welfare, Medicare, etc. Fifty years later, those numbers are flipped; we now spend 60% on entitlement programs and 20% on defense. What's wrong with this picture? How about more and more people living off the hard work, sweat and back of John Q. Taxpayer?

I've already spent about 30 minutes typing up this blog post, and my lunch break is almost over. So I'll let you read the entire article over at Newsweek.com. Maybe then, you, too, will be as inclined to run your head through a wall as I am.

Grumble grumble grumble grumble ...

Ours has been a very quiet Christmas. No family get-togethers for us today. Nope. ... In fact, this is the first Christmas that my darlin' little husband and I have spent as "just the two of us." I made a modest Christmas lunch/dinner today with a small ham, stuffing, and roasted sweet potatoes and onions. I could have gone bigger with the meal, but we only had two people to feed, and I didn't want to end up with a lot of leftovers. So I nixed the crescent rolls, dinner salad, cranberry conserve and mashed potatoes with gravy. Still, I did make two desserts -- a pumpkin pie and a refrigerated dish I know only as "Cherry Chiffon."

We imbibed a bottle of white wine given to us by a coworker. I swear, I must be allergic to alcohol because even though I waited until I had finished eating all the food on my plate before partaking of my wine, after just one small glass, I was fully loopy, buzzed, couldn't think straight, and had lost my equilibrium. I fell asleep for the next 1.5 hours, and when I awoke, I had the most awful taste in my mouth. I'm just now coming to my senses. It seems no matter how many different ways I try to enjoy a glass of wine (with dinner, after dinner, with dessert, etc.), the same thing always happens. Hence, I wonder if I am allergic because my reaction seems too fierce to be normal.

Did anyone get any nice gifts for Christmas this year? I'm curious to hear of any new techie gadgets y'all received. I had thought about purchasing a digital photo frame for my mom and stepdad, but considering that my folks aren't very impressed with techie gifts, I was concerned that we'd spend $150 on a gift that would wind up in a spare bedroom never to be loaded with photos. So, we opted for the old standby -- a favorite movie for each of them.

Between the two of us, we did not exchange gifts this year. Yes, yes, I know that sounds bad, but it was a mutual decision. We spent so much money on scuba diving classes this summer, and we're also now saving for a house of our own, so it was a decision that made sense to us. Besides, to me, Christmas is not about consumerism; it's about spending a special day with your loved ones, and if you're religious, it's about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.

With that, I'm off to enjoy my husband's company now that I'm returning to a normal, non-inebriated state of mind. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Thirteen Famous Trees to See in California

Sorry folks, but I'm so busy at work that I don't have time to elaborate here. Wish I did, though, because I have a thing for large, majestic trees (as evidenced from my photo series this fall of the trees in my neighborhood).

Please accept this sparse list of famous trees (or tree groves or parks) in California. In exchange for not writing much about each tree, I list fourteen famous trees instead of thirteen. It's like a baker's dozen for Thursday's Thirteen!

1. Mariposa Grove
2. The Lone Cypress
3. General Sherman (Close to my hometown, this was one of the first "famous" trees I saw as a child.)
4. Wawona Tunnel Tree (fell in the winter of 1968-1969)
5. The Faithful Couple
6. Chief Sequoyah (named after the famous Chief Sequoyah who created an alphabet for the Cherokee language)
7. Joshua Trees
8. Methuselah (oldest tree in the world at 4838 years!)
9. General Grant (also known as the nation's Christmas tree, the General Grant tree is also located close to my hometown)
10. The Avenue of the Giants
11. Redwood National and State Parks in California
12. The Chandelier Tree
13. Robert E. Lee Tree
14. The Lone Bristlecone (I've always found the idea of a pine tree in the middle of a desert rather spooky. Makes me wonder what that desert looked like thousands of years ago when this tree was just a sapling.)

Tinseltown is a Christmas theme with holiday imagery including Christmas lights, snow, reindeer, presents and more.

For more information about Tinseltown, you can visit the creator's website. You'll also want to make sure you're running Firefox 2.0 (as I soon discovered when trying to install this theme while still running Firefox 1.5.0.9).

If you know me, you know I'm an incredibly organized person; I'm so organized, in fact, that I've been called "anal retentive" by more than just a few people when it comes to organization. Unsatisfied with how inefficient I've been in years past, I decided to try a different approach to keeping organized during Christmas this year. While hunting for organizational ideas on the internet today, I came across D*I*Y Planner. What an awesome website! It's chock full of homemade planning pages and other organizational tips for people who like to organize their lives on paper (lists, calendars, Day Runners, etc.).

My first search -- Christmas organizational material. Quite handily, D*I*Y Planner offers a holiday planning set. It comes with a master gift list, menu planner, holiday planning calendar, several checklists of common holiday tasks (organization, planning, gifts, cooking, decorating, and celebrating) and a couple of pages for writing down tidbits of info about people you're going to give gifts. The set's creator even offers a short instruction set (a half-dozen paragraphs, or so) on how to most efficiently use the planner.

But the best part? Well, that's easy. It's FREE! In fact, everything on D*I*Y Planner is free. Each sheet or form has been converted the the incredibly handy PDF format. Entire sets, like the holiday planning set, download as compressed ZIP files.

I'm going to try the planner this year and see how I like it. It may take a bit of getting used to because I've relied so heavily on my monthly planners for several years now. Even if I don't use it the way it's intended to be used, at least I'll feel like I'm approaching the Christmas holiday in a more organized fashion.

Our Liquid Amber Tree

Thirteen Things I Am Thankful For

1. Of all the blessings in my life, I am most thankful for my husband. He is the light of my life and the only person who can always make me smile, even when I'm sad and feeling rather blue. He is the very best friend I've ever had. Having seen how few truly good men there are in this world (I'm talking about real men here, folks, not boys whose bodies have aged and matured but who still act like the boys they are. I'm talking about men who own up to their responsibilities, who do what it takes to get the job done with work ethics that are par excellence, who would never think of being unfaithful or disrespectful to their wives, and who take immense pride in providing for their families no matter how hard they have to work to do so.), it boggles my mind that I was one of the lucky few. You know what I'm talking about, don't you? ... I was one of the lucky women who, in my random travels through life, happened to bump in to one of the dwindling number of real men out there. Not only did I bump in to him, but I ended up marrying him! To me, that is a miracle beyond all belief, yet here I am, living this miracle every day. So yes, I am most thankful for my darlin' hubby. He's the absolute best!
2. I am incredibly thankful that both DH and I are, as far as we know, in very good health. Having seen some of the medical ailments inflicting other members of my family, how common poor health is among the population in general, how ailments and poor health impact daily life and the stress and worry they bring, it is both a wonder and something to be truly thankful for that both of us are doing as well as we are.
3. I am thankful that I live in a comfortable, homey abode located in a nice neighborhood where I don't have to fear for my personal safety. That may not make sense to some people, but a scant three years ago, we lived in such a neighborhood. At the end of our time there, things had become quite bad, indeed, and even though I had a very large dog to "protect" me, I was still very scared of walking around in that neighborhood. So having enough money to afford to live somewhere other than a neighborhood like that makes me very thankful.
4. I am thankful that (knock on wood) we have reliable vehicles to get us to and from work each day. I've had an unreliable car before, and the stress of worrying if the car would turn over in the morning or leave me stranded on the highway took it's toll on me. Now, not only do I have a reliable vehicle, but I have one of those "real men" husbands who takes pride in maintaining our vehicles better than I would expect from a dealership! All I need do is mention that I think the oil needs changing, or I saw a drop of fluid on the driveway, and he's out there giving it his 100-point inspection. And if he discovers that it will be a bit expensive to repair the problem, we don't stress over it because both cars are paid-in-full, so the money we save in car payments each month can go into repairs when the need arises. True, our vehicles are both more than ten years old, but they run like champs. What a feeling that is! ** Now throwing a bit of salt over my shoulder, knocking on my wooden desk, and making sure I don't cross paths with a black cat or accidentally break a mirror! **
5. I am thankful that I have three (yes, three!) families who love me and will be there for me, no questions asked, if I ever need anything. That kind of family support is something I've always had, but never fully appreciated because I just believed that all families were that way. (Naive? Absolutely! Then again, I've always been fairly naive and gullible about many things.) Now, as I've grown older, I've learned that not everyone is blessed with such wonderful families, and I am truly thankful for mine. Let this be an example that just because you may have had something all your life and never realized how special it is doesn't mean that you can't one day grow to appreciate what's been right under your nose the entire time.
6. I am thankful that my life has settled down and is no longer worthy of being nominated for a daytime Emmy. Yes, I am a drama queen, but thanks to the influence of my stable and rock-solid husband, I have entered Drama Queens Anonymous and am in rehab. My time in the theatre has pretty much come to an end. Oh, sure, every once in a while the stage still beckons, but my performances are becoming fewer and farther between. Believe me ... that's a GOOD thing!

Hmm ... this list is so serious it would make a great Hallmark film or television show for the WE network. Let's lighten it up a bit, shall we?

7. I am thankful for ... what else? The Sims! Those wonderful little walking, talking ones and zeros that exist nowhere but in the cyberspace of my computer. To have such control, such power ... I'm a god, and don't anyone forget it. Let no Sim anger me lest I teach them how vengeful gods really act. They might find themselves living in a one room shack with no plumbing and only an outhouse with no walls to relieve themselves. Or, worse yet, they might find themselves stuck in the purgatory that is the "Sim-bin." Ha ha ha ha ha! Cackle cackle! Ha ha ha! ** storm clouds start to swirl above me **
8. I am thankful for American Express for allowing me to spend so freely. They're just so generous and altruistic to let me spend and spend on anything I need without having to fork over any Ben Franklins. Well, generous, that is, until the end of the month when, strangely, they like to send me a statement and proceed to act as if I actually owe them something! Harumpf! The nerve of some people. ;)
9. I am thankful that I am a safe driver. Otherwise, I'm sure my auto insurance company would have a field day with my premiums!
10. I am thankful to have great hair. It's thick, and other women have always commented positively on it's color. DH is now in charge of cutting my hair, but when I used to get it cut at a salon, the stylists would always gush over my hair. Not that I'm some kind of remarkable beauty in any other physical aspect, but my hair really is top notch.
11. Speaking of physical attributes, I am thankful for my freckles. ** thinking, thinking ** Nope, sorry, 'bout that. I must take back those words. No matter how silly I'm trying to be, acting thankful for something that has done nothing but garner me strange looks and teasing comments is beyond my capacity as a drama queen. So, let me think. What can I put in place of freckles here? Oh, I know. I've got it! ... I'm thankful for the spiders living in our house. Yes, they love to annoy me with the cobwebs they leave all over. But darn it, if it weren't for cleaning up after those spiders, I'd have nothing to do around the house! How boring would my life be then?!? ** wink, wink **
12. I am thankful for Post-It Notes without which I wouldn't be nearly as organized as I am. Plus, they come in such wonderful colors these days. No longer am I limited to light yellow. Now I can really shout from the top of my lungs, "Hey, look at me! I'm so effervescent that I need lime green Post-Its to write my To-Do lists!"
13. I am thankful for Tapioca pudding. DH loves the stuff, especially when I make it from scratch. When he's devouring an entire container of my homemade Tapioca pudding, it's like hearing the words "You're a culinary goddess. Thank you, my dear wife, for opening my eyes to another level of Tapioca. I never knew pudding could be this good." Ha ha! OK. So he doesn't say that. But we can all make-believe, can't we?!?

So have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone! I'll see you on the flip-side of turkey day when the real craziness for the year begins. Au revoir!

You'll find this week's photos of my two favorite trees in the extended entry section of this post.

With that, I must now take my leave. (No pun intended.) I'm scheduled in a "Lead Safety" class for the rest of the morning. As far as I'm concerned, I don't need to take a lead safety class. I already know everything I need to know about handling lead ... basically, don't monkey with lead bricks unless you absolutely have to. Then, if you really have to deal with them, talk someone else into doing the work for you! And voila'! You're safe from any harm that might come to you from handling the lead bricks. (Gee, maybe I haven't lost all my intelligence yet!)

In addition, it rained on Saturday, and our skies continued to be overcast all day on Sunday, so the colors in the photos are very dark and rather skewed from what they have been in previous photos with ample sunlight. Please keep that in mind as you view the pictures from Sunday. :)

In the future, I'm thinking of implementing a slideshow or some other type of photo view as these photos are starting to require a lot of scrolling to view them all. If any of you have suggestions on a good slideshow program I can incorporate into my blog, please let me know either by sending me an email or leaving a comment. Thanks!

(Clicking the smaller photos will bring up the larger, browser-sized version of the photo.)

Today, I'm going to display all the photos, in chronological order, so it's easier to see the changing leaves.

Our Liquid Amber Tree

Thirteen Bad Things About Allergy Attacks

In honor of last week's events, I dedicate this week's Thursday Thirteen to the allergies that have only hit me about three times in my entire life and decided to strike after 11 years of dormancy. Feel free to add your own list of bad things about allergy attacks in the comments section!

1. Red, watery eyes that give me ...
2. ... blurry vision.
3. Ear aches
4. Having a such a sore, dry throat that ...
5. ... when I talk, I sound like I've been a smoker for 60 years, and ...
6. ... swallowing puts such pressure on my ears that I can't sleep.
7. Constant sinus pressure that makes me ...
8. ... feel like my head is being squeezed by a vice.
9. Not realizing that I'm having an allergy attack (because they are very few and far between), so ...
10. I waste time and money going to the doctor thinking I've got strep throat, an ear infection, or possibly a sinus infection.
11. Inability to focus or think for very long
12. Three little words ... post nasal drip
13. Always feeling tired and worn out

So here we are. I've lost all the blog posts, pictures, everything that I've written to this blog since the earlier part of October. And because I didn't (and still don't) know how to do backups to an offsite location, I don't have any data to hand over to my web host for them to fix my account.

I'm pretty much at a loss for words. TCH has been a great host with world-class equipment. It boggles me how something like this could happen. I'm not going to get on their case because, as we all know, s**t happens. But I'm incredibly bummed because of all the email I am now missing and all the time I spent writing blog posts was essentially wasted. Not only that, but all the photos I took of the trees in our neighborhood are gone. So my week by week comparison is hosed.

All I can say is "It's a good thing I wasn't trying to run a commercial website." Had this happened to a business website, it would be potentially disastrous.

In order to enable me to recover from something like this in the future, I'd like to put out a request to anyone and everyone who is tech-savvy. Will you please teach me how to run offsite backups of my data? Please, please, pretty please?

The only type of backup I've got right now is a cron-daemon backup that saves the files to my own webspace outside the public_html directory. I don't really understand how the cron-daemon works. Someone once helped me set it up, and I've never touched it since.

I also never learned how to back up to an offsite location because I figured TCH had storage and backup redundancy. This kind of redundancy is a "must have" where I work. We're heartily discouraged from keeping only one copy of a digital file if we think it's important. When we save something to our personal hard drives, we are encouraged to do a simultaneous save to our server space. Then, to my knowledge, the server space is backed up redundantly, as well, so we're never out data if one image is destroyed. That's part of the reason why we've got more than a petabyte of storage here. (Most of our storage goes to experimental data being collected, but that's another issue entirely!)

Anyway, if any of you can help me set up an offsite backup of my website, I would very, very much appreciate it. I don't want to lose two weeks of data like this again. Thanks in advance!

Thirteen Places I've Visited

1. Morro Bay / San Luis Obispo, California
2. Custer, Wisconsin
3. Yosemite National Park, California
4. Fishkill, New York
5. Portland, Oregon
6. Pinnacles National Monument, California
7. Las Vegas, Nevada
8. Phoenix, Arizona
9. Sequoia National Forest, California
10. Kalispell, Montana
11. Reno, Nevada
12. Yellowstone National Park / Old Faithful Geyser, Wyoming
13. The happiest place on earth ... Disneyland!