Accomplishments

I've made some real progress on stuff the last couple of days.

First, I've got an appointment to meet with a tax preparer this coming week. I probably don't need a lot of help in doing my taxes, but I figured it would be worthwhile to have them prepared at least once (and have my much more complicated 1999 taxes reviewed) to find out if there's anything I'm doing wrong. Plus I'd like to have a person I can call for tax consultation - seemingly a good idea if I'm preparing to buy a home. A cow-orker recommended this person to me.

I haven't actually talked to the tax person on the phone. I decided after putting it off for several days that it was easier to send e-mail than to try to fight another battle with my telephone-phobia. So I did that. In one way I felt like a wuss for doing so, but I felt I'd tackled the most important issue, which is getting moving on this.

Once I have my taxes done and ask some questions, then I'll go get preapproved for a mortgage. Well, I hope I will, anyway.

The other tasks were home things. I finally carted almost all of my comic books I've been selling to my comic book dealer, had him look through them, and sold them to him for store credit. Realistically I sold them for considerably less than they're worth, but once you factor in the effort it would take me to sell them, plus the possibility that some might not sell at all, then I think it worked out well enough. And best of all, I cleared out a whole bunch of closet space and won't have to move them when I finally leave this apartment.

I'm glad I finally did this. Actually vacating physical things like that is a real sense of accomplishment.

Finally, I made substantial progress in preparing for my fantasy baseball draft. Many statistics are being crunched, and I'm formulating a strategy for the draft.

I probably put way more effort into this than it's worth. since crunching the numbers even in a spreadsheet is kind of tedious. So why do I do it? Well, simply because the actual draft is so much fun. It's really unlike almost anything else I do. In some ways it a game: Competition among equals. But it requires analysis, reasoning and prediction skills which most games don't, because of its peculiar ties to real-world events. And there are basically few things more hilarious than eight hours in a room with a bunch of knowledgeable and sarcastic baseball fans. I enjoy it more when I'm prepared, and doing well of course is key to having a good season in a fantasy league.

Last year I did almost no preparation and had a poor draft and finished something like eleventh. This year I wanted to do better, and I resolved to start preparing earlier to avoid the horrid stress-related disaster of 1998 (arguably my lowest emotional point since I started keeping this journal). It's working as far as keeping my sanity is going. Will it result in a better draft? I'll let you know.

I also watched a couple of episodes of Sports Night and have now seen the whole first season except for the final episode, including the first episode I ever saw, where our heroes come back into the building after a bomb scare. These last few episodes are truly inspired.

John and I had an amusing exchange in the gym yesterday. John (and half the rest of the population) finds Sabrina Lloyd - who plays Natalie on Sports Night - attractive:

Me: I also rather like Sally.

John: Sally?

Me: You know, the other woman...

John: Oh, you mean the really tall one?

Me: Yeah. I have this thing for tall, statuesque women with last names like "Strong".

John: You just like women who can kick your ass.

Me: Well, sure.

John (trying to keep a straight face): There are so many places to go from there, I'm just going to... not.

Lastly, Apple has at last shipped the first release of Mac OS X. Pre-release reaction from the press and the stock market seemed predictably mixed, but overall more positive than not. Apple's stock went up about four points this week. It'll be interesting to see how consumer reaction pans out.

There's an old saying: "A battle plan rarely survives contact with the enemy." This is especially the case with software. Fortunately, engineers are often afforded the luxury of alternate battle plans. I think the essential elements of Mac OS X give Apple the ability to have tremendous flexibility in the future.

If the performance is there, and the apps are there, then I think things will work out fine. We won't know for sure until fall, but from everything I've seen, I'm optimistic.