What's in a name?

This is really accurate.  It's a little scary.
Yanked from karlita:

What Erika Means

You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are a seeker of knowledge, and you have learned many things in your life. You are also a keeper of knowledge - meaning you don't spill secrets or spread gossip. People sometimes think you're snobby or aloof, but you're just too deep in thought to pay attention to them. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

What's in a name?

This is really accurate.  It's a little scary.
Yanked from karlita:

What Erika Means

You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are a seeker of knowledge, and you have learned many things in your life. You are also a keeper of knowledge - meaning you don't spill secrets or spread gossip. People sometimes think you're snobby or aloof, but you're just too deep in thought to pay attention to them. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

So, what's new?

I mean with me.  As the lovely karlita nudged me recently, I haven't posted in a while.  Mostly because I've been so busy I haven't had any time.  Since my former assistant, Chris, left near the end of January I have been working like a mad woman.  This is SO not a one person job.  Of course as soon as Chris left all kinds of cases started coming out of the woodwork.  While I am glad that the Litigation department seems to have caught on to the reason I am here, it does make it difficult to keep up with everything.  However, I am thrilled that the woman I first interviewed for a replacement accepted the offer last night.  She probably won't actually start and be useful until sometime in the middle of April, but at least I know there is light at the end of the tunnel.  I hated interviewing anyone else after I met with Jeanette - she is perfect and we both knew it.  But I had to go through the motions and see more candidates just to keep HR happy.  All's well that ends well.

I am looking forward to Spring and the coming of birds, flowers, warmer weather and BASEBALL.  As cazul_blue reminded us all yesterday, we have to set the clocks ahead on Sunday.  I don't really hold with Congress screwing around with our time but I will enjoy the added light at the end of the day even if it does mean getting up in the dark again for a little while.  And anything that gets us closer to opening day at Shea is all good in my opinion.

David and I need to plan some long weekends away.  The Lilac Festival in Rochester, NY is on the horizon and I know we'll go up for that and get to see his best friend, JC again which is always fun.  But I'm thinking that we need to plan for something else too.  Both of us have been very stressed and tired and we need a break.  The kids are going away with idiotboy for the week of April 19 - 26 and I'm debating whether we should get away then too or just stay home and enjoy the solitude.  Jury's still out on that one.  (For those who may be new to this journal, idiotboy or IB is how I refer to my ex-husband, when I'm not calling him buttface or BF.)

I have a moral dilemma to consider these days.  According to my divorce decree, if idiotboy pays any child support at all - even the measly $100 a week I have garnished from his salary - he gets to claim the kids as tax deductions.  Since $5200 a year doesn't make much of a dent in supporting 2 teenagers on Long Island, I really  think this is unfair.  Even the nice lady I spoke to at the IRS last week thinks it is unfair.  Well, I filed my 2007 taxes a couple of weeks ago and my accountant messed up and listed the kids as deductions on my return.  Evidently idiotboy has not filed his yet, which I found surprising.  Every year he brings me the paper from the IRS that I have to sign that gives him permission to claim the kids.  Usually he is Johnny on the spot with this, shoving it at me through the door sometime right after New Year's Day.  This year I hadn't heard from him about it and I was puzzled but I try not to concern myself with his doings much.  But sure as God made little green apples, this week Sarah came home from dinner with him bearing a little envelope with said form for me to sign.  Oops.  Too late.  I've already filed.

So my dilemma is this: do I do the "nice" thing and amend my taxes to let him take the deductions or do I put my foot down and say that it isn't right that he should get the deduction and let him chase me for it?  I'm not sure what the ramifications are if I stand firm.  The decree does say that he gets the deductions, but he does not support these kids.  I do.  $100 a week doesn't even cover the grocery bill for 2 teenagers.  He's never contributed a penny towards their orthodontia (over $15,000 and counting for both), school costs ($600 for Sarah's chorus trip to Boston this year alone), clothing (don't ask), and all the rest.  He's also on the hook for Aaron's college costs and I know I will never see a penny of that.

So my thought is that I will tell idiotboy when he calls me - and he will - that I will waive his having to contribute half the college expenses (which will increase mightily when Sarah goes to college in the fall of 2009) and he will let me keep the tax deductions on the kids.

Any thoughts on this from anyone?

So, what's new?

I mean with me.  As the lovely karlita nudged me recently, I haven't posted in a while.  Mostly because I've been so busy I haven't had any time.  Since my former assistant, Chris, left near the end of January I have been working like a mad woman.  This is SO not a one person job.  Of course as soon as Chris left all kinds of cases started coming out of the woodwork.  While I am glad that the Litigation department seems to have caught on to the reason I am here, it does make it difficult to keep up with everything.  However, I am thrilled that the woman I first interviewed for a replacement accepted the offer last night.  She probably won't actually start and be useful until sometime in the middle of April, but at least I know there is light at the end of the tunnel.  I hated interviewing anyone else after I met with Jeanette - she is perfect and we both knew it.  But I had to go through the motions and see more candidates just to keep HR happy.  All's well that ends well.

I am looking forward to Spring and the coming of birds, flowers, warmer weather and BASEBALL.  As cazul_blue reminded us all yesterday, we have to set the clocks ahead on Sunday.  I don't really hold with Congress screwing around with our time but I will enjoy the added light at the end of the day even if it does mean getting up in the dark again for a little while.  And anything that gets us closer to opening day at Shea is all good in my opinion.

David and I need to plan some long weekends away.  The Lilac Festival in Rochester, NY is on the horizon and I know we'll go up for that and get to see his best friend, JC again which is always fun.  But I'm thinking that we need to plan for something else too.  Both of us have been very stressed and tired and we need a break.  The kids are going away with idiotboy for the week of April 19 - 26 and I'm debating whether we should get away then too or just stay home and enjoy the solitude.  Jury's still out on that one.  (For those who may be new to this journal, idiotboy or IB is how I refer to my ex-husband, when I'm not calling him buttface or BF.)

I have a moral dilemma to consider these days.  According to my divorce decree, if idiotboy pays any child support at all - even the measly $100 a week I have garnished from his salary - he gets to claim the kids as tax deductions.  Since $5200 a year doesn't make much of a dent in supporting 2 teenagers on Long Island, I really  think this is unfair.  Even the nice lady I spoke to at the IRS last week thinks it is unfair.  Well, I filed my 2007 taxes a couple of weeks ago and my accountant messed up and listed the kids as deductions on my return.  Evidently idiotboy has not filed his yet, which I found surprising.  Every year he brings me the paper from the IRS that I have to sign that gives him permission to claim the kids.  Usually he is Johnny on the spot with this, shoving it at me through the door sometime right after New Year's Day.  This year I hadn't heard from him about it and I was puzzled but I try not to concern myself with his doings much.  But sure as God made little green apples, this week Sarah came home from dinner with him bearing a little envelope with said form for me to sign.  Oops.  Too late.  I've already filed.

So my dilemma is this: do I do the "nice" thing and amend my taxes to let him take the deductions or do I put my foot down and say that it isn't right that he should get the deduction and let him chase me for it?  I'm not sure what the ramifications are if I stand firm.  The decree does say that he gets the deductions, but he does not support these kids.  I do.  $100 a week doesn't even cover the grocery bill for 2 teenagers.  He's never contributed a penny towards their orthodontia (over $15,000 and counting for both), school costs ($600 for Sarah's chorus trip to Boston this year alone), clothing (don't ask), and all the rest.  He's also on the hook for Aaron's college costs and I know I will never see a penny of that.

So my thought is that I will tell idiotboy when he calls me - and he will - that I will waive his having to contribute half the college expenses (which will increase mightily when Sarah goes to college in the fall of 2009) and he will let me keep the tax deductions on the kids.

Any thoughts on this from anyone?