I disagree. Sometimes just having them is enough

Toys?!

Toys. Man I miss that movie.

Failed Project 1: Upload TpF excursion episode to YouTube.

While not happy with its text narrative, I finalized Transport Fever Scenic Excursions ep15 Monday morning, intending to upload it overnight that evening. Totally forgot about it until already in bed for the day. Same thing happened Tuesday, didn't remember until too late. Am hoping I do better tonight.



Failed Project 2: Prepare 2018 Fed & State tax returns.

This past Sunday, during my brother's visit, I checked to insure I have all needed tax statements. Lacked two, a bank statement, which I swear I have somewhere, and a Mutual Fund statement. Went online and was able to get needed Bank info. As for the Mutual Fund statement, turns out it will not be ready until mid month. Bah! I want it done and over with, much as I fear finding myself owing far more than ever before, as so many lower income folks are discovering this year.

Project: Upload Transport Fever Scenic Excursions episode.

TpF SRA ep15, "Fuel for Chesham: What, this again?" edition, was uploaded to YouTube overnight and is now available for view. A link is found in our "What are you playing?" thread.

Otherwise, I've no in-progress projects worth mentioning until later in the month when I can at last prepare tax returns. None other than to begin work on another Scenic Excursions episode, that is.

What a frustrating day this must have been! Well, I know Episode 15 got up and was spectacular; so hopefully your taxes got done at least partially as well as the vid.

I find it ridiculous that the people (with the most to do it with) seem to find a way to pay the least taxes and put the burden of the taxes onto the people least able to come up with them! Grrrrr!






And it's a great one! I just saw it a little while ago!

Wait, how did I not know this?????????????

Been working on Tax Returns since my Mutual Fund company notified me that its tax forms are at last available. Hit a bit of a SNAFU at the very end. TurboTax says one State form is not yet finalized. I'm dead in the water until it's available. I suppose I can go ahead and file my Fed return. Might do so, but think I'll wait it out.

That's not my amazing surprise.

My state refund is normally minuscule. So close to zero that I can easily end up owing. Hasn't happened in some years, but it's possible. This year I noticed an odd thing while inputting info into TurboTax. State Tax kept showing a potential circa $750 REFUND!!!!! I assumed it would drop to 'normal' level at some point in the process . Nope. No drop. Then...entering my military retirement pension, I was greeted with a check-mark to exempt the ENTIRE amount!!!! I'm like...wait...wait, what's going on? Checked online. Sure enough, beginning 2018 my State began exempting military retirement in its entirety!!!! Prior to 2018, it exempted only the first $6k. How in the world I didn't learn of this sooner is beyond me. Not that I'm complaining, mind you.

That is Awesome! Congrats, I'm sure you will put the extra fund to good use! If it ends up being enjoyed in an extra dinner with your Brother; we want the story on it!

I want to know if Decrepit finally ordered dessert!

I went to Target and by the grace of the Toy Gods I found the PERFECT playset for my Horde figures and I mean PERFECT!!!

Oh, a friend of mine had something like that to bring his figurines to my house and play = when you opened it up it had a whole setup of a castle in there with drawbridges and everything; plus all the figurines; etc = I wanted one!

Sounds cool. I have most of the Master of the Universe playset vintage and modern I even have Snake Mountain but all the play features are on the outside as the inside...Take it away Skeletor.

OMG, I am in love with this vid! When he ate that popcorn and got the prize I thought I would bust a gut laughing!!! AWESOME vid and especially the song!!!!!!

I love Retroblasting, he has some good videos both funny and informative.

Completed Project: Upload Transport Fever - Scenic Excursions Ep16 to YouTube.

Yesterday I at long last rendered out an acceptable video of my latest Scenic Excursion fiasco, and uploaded it to YouTube overnight. A link is found in our What are you playing? thread.

It began as a short tribute to JK's "Morning Star" steam locomotive mod. Only, disaster struck at the last minute. Its Project File corrupted before I could render a final upload-worthy video. That left me with an earlier render, missing much text, containing errors. For several days I debated uploading that version despite its flaws. In the end I decided against it, not so much due to its unfinished state, but because I'd been feverishly working to add scenery along the entire route. My thought was to hold off until enough scenery was in place to 're-film' the entire trip, THEN resume work on a YouTube vid documenting the journey. Which is how it worked out.


Project on Hold: Tax Returns.

I still await TurboTax informing me that a certain State tax form has been finalized. Otherwise I'm good to go. All info has been inputted, both Fed and State. I know what I'll be getting back, unless that one State Form change makes a monetary difference. (Thankfully I'm not one of those who saw their taxes skyrocket this year. )

Contemplated Project: A Still Image video supplement to Scenic Excursions Ep16, documenting scenery not well seen (if at all) during our train ride. Am thinking to use a Beethoven piano sonata movement as musical accompaniment. (I'll use a performance that always free usage.)

I would be very interested in seeing that vid! (With or without the music). I'd actually love to hear you talking about what you did; how you did it! (if you insist on music, you could always sing like you did on your Oblivion vids! I loved that!) .

Not sure this belongs here, but can't think of a more suitable place to post it.

New DNA test results from 23andMe on Familial Hypercholesterolemia.

"Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a genetic condition associated with very high levels of cholesterol in the blood, specifically low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad" cholesterol. High cholesterol due to FH increases the risk for early cardiovascular disease, which can lead to a heart attack. This test includes 24 genetic variants linked to FH.

Decrepit, you do not have the genetic variants we tested.

However, this test does not include the majority of variants linked to FH, so you could still have a variant not included in this test.

0 variants detected in the APOB and LDLR genes"

Personal projects wise, I'm still on hold awaiting a state tax form to finalize.

Being somewhat exhausted from adding scenic detail along the route traveled episode 16 for hour upon hour, day after day, I've done little more than putz around in the game since uploading.

So wait; I'm not sure I understand. Are they saying you do have it but they can't specify the variant you have because it isn't one of the strains they test for? Or are they saying you don't have it? I hope it is good news for you!

They're saying I don't have any variants they test for, but that their test doesn't include all variants. It's possible I might have one of those untested variants. It's just as possible I don't. Knowing I definitely don't have what they test for is a plus. As to untested variants, I'm no better or worse off than I was before in that regard. In a sense I'm better off, as there are fewer remaining variants I might or might not have. This wasn't a test conducted because some doctor thinks I have the condition. It's simply part of 23andMe's ongoing genetic research. Everyone who submits a DNA sample to 23andMe gets this sort of report on themselves from time to time.

Well, my best wishes that you don't have any variants of it then!

Still delayed: Tax Returns

Launched TurboTax first thing this morning. Was greeting with a message telling me the missing State form should be available tomorrow, 28 Feb. Sure hope so! I've not waited so late in the cycle to file in decades.


Not started: Next Transport Fever YouTube video

I think episode 16 spoiled me. No other train route comes close to equaling its track-side scenery. Too, it drives home my poor rail network planning skills early on, when almost all tracks and stations were put in place. The point being, it's hard to come up with a worthy follow-up. That said, I've raw footage for two "Revisit" episodes in-the-can. Just can't drum up enthusiasm to work them into a finished product. No biggie. It's not as if I'm force to upload on a weekly basis.

Which of these sound better in story format for Sky High and the Princess of Power?
Plan A: Sky High arrives in Etheria but gets captured and forced into servitude for Hordak but later defects to the Rebellion but has drug and PTSD issues.

Plan B: Sky High enters Etheria and after a couple of confrontations with Horde Troopers he finally arrives in Brightmoon to a festival being held and meets up with the Rebels there but in this story Adora is having issues with a break up with Sea Hawk and her She-Ra persona tends to seep through without her using her magical sword to transform. This path is linked to my original fanfic concept and makes for a much darker tone for She-Ra.

Project Complete: Tax Returns!!!!!!!

Well, not quite complete. I need to visit the local Post Office and make sure my State Return has adequate postage. Otherwise, I'm done this year (I hope). Fed Return has been e-filed and accepted by IRS. State Return is printed out and ready to mail. I've collected and/or printed out and stored my personal copies of everything.


No Progress: Transport Fever episode video

Am spending my TpF time adding/improving scenery to several existing train routes rather than mess with recording/editing.

My Dad got "violated" by the IRS and the folks that does his taxes. Pity we where going to use that to finally tag the Jeep---I guess we'll have to find another means .

Man! Lots of folk get rude, unexpected surprises this tax season. Me, I actually came out ahead. Then again, my situation is so simple I've always taken the Standard deduction. So no nasty surprises for decrepit me. Course my big windfall is discovering that my state no longer taxes Military Retiree pensions. That being my chief source of income, I came out like a bandit, State wise. Fed wise, I get a modest refund increase. (I'm gonna reduce my Military Pension state tax withholding after mailing my return tomorrow. No sense taking out way more than I need to.)

Today's projects:

Morning: Dropped off utility fees payment at "city" hall. Took State Tax Return to local post office to insure it had sufficient postage and have them mail it out.

Afternoon. Minor Transport Fever scenery additions along Goodstown-Chesham Passenger Service tracks. Captured raw footage for what will (hopefully) be a Scenic Excursions episode of said route.


Upcoming project:

I'm running out of room on my Video Projects partition. Gonna have to delete old no longer needed raw footage used or rejected for various TpF Scenic Excursions episodes. Might save at least some of them to DVD. We shall see. (I'm not getting rid of any actual finalized episodes, which are stored on a different partition in any case.)

Project: Edit raw footage into an uploadable Transport Fever Scenic Excursions episode.

All clips are in place. Transitions link them. I'm now stuck on what I least enjoy, creating text narrative. Push come to shove, I'll upload with minimal narrative. Would like to upload overnight tonight. Narrative aside, I still need to type out a YouTube description and create a custom thumbnail.


Afternoon update:

YouTube episode description, CHECK. Thumbnail, CHECK. Text Narrative, NOPE. I've acceptable if sparse text throughout intro clips and 'ride-along." It's outro clips I've stymied over. I ponder and ponder. Nothing comes. Not a clue.

Completed Project: Upload new TpF Scenic Excursions episode to YouTube.
This was done overnight. It's now available for view. A link is found in our What are You Playing thread.


Postponed Project: Help brother prepare tax returns.
We were going to do this today, Sunday Mar 3. He called yesterday, postponing until next weekend due to potential snows and a change in work schedule.

Tax related: I'm a fan of less paid, lower returns. All a large tax refund is is a free zero interest loan to the Feds.

Transport Fever looking good, and the MOTU stuff looks interesting.

My current project: update my passport. I'm heading back to the States. Not permanently, ofc.

Need to find somewhere to get a bank check though because that's the only mail payment they'll accept.

<nods> I'll soon be reducing my State withhold for that reason. No sense keeping it as big as it is, now that my military pension doesn't get taxed by the State. I'll still allot more than absolutely necessary, to be on the safe side. (Last year my State refund was something like a whopping $28US, but again that's with them taxing my pension.)
As to Federal withholding, though I got a bigger refund this year, I'll prolly leave it as is due to a couple of rinky-dink mutual funds whose dividends and interest-earned vary greatly from year to year. I suppose I'm something of an odd-man-out in that I believe in robust taxation so long as the burden is fairly distributed among the different income levels of society and the monies collected are used for the benefit of the many rather than the few. But now I stray into taboo political territory.

Today's Projects
1) Morning Grocery Run: Complete
2) Early afternoon, Balance Checking and Savings Accounts: Complete
3) Early afternoon, Log end-of-2018 Mutual Funds dividends, long & short term capital gains, and reinvestment into computerize account ledger. I should've done this during January, not that it matters. Complete

A past Saturday Project: find handkerchief
In preface, I should remind you that, due to a constantly drippy nose that's been with me all my life, I'm never without a handkerchief that sees steady use. This past Saturday, not long after lunch, I sat at my computer dressed, as usual, in sweatshirt and pants, house slippers and a light toboggan. Needed to execute a periodic nose blow. My handkerchief, which should have been either sitting wadded on the desk in from of me or tucked in my sweatshirt neckband, was neither place. Where could it be? I looked around the room. Didn't see it. Checked the kitchen cabinet and dining table. Nope. Checked the bedroom. Nada. The bathroom? Zilch. Checked all those rooms again, and again. Negative. Then, during my third bathroom search, I happened to notice myself in the mirror. There, perched atop my head, sitting wadded above my toboggan, was my lost handkerchief. I'm standing there looking at myself thinking, "Okay now Decrepit, this is decidedly odd, even for you." Project Complete!

Detective Decrepit and the troublesome case of the missing hankie!

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Gij5xNvCYiQ/maxresdefault.jpg


Othello Thug: "some honky's been honking in my hankie!"

Project WIP: Create new Transport Fever Scenic Excursions episode
Enough 'polished' scenery is at last in place to REVISIT the short train route first seen episode one. All needed video footage was captured yesterday evening. A thumbnail was created this morning. Still need to write up a YouTube description. Raw footage needs to be edited into a presentable video with proper transitions and text narrative. I've like to upload results overnight this evening, but highly doubt I'll everything ready until sometime tomorrow at the earliest.

Afternoon Addendum:
All footage is in-place, trimmed as needed, transitions added, a few save-pauses edited out. In that regard ep18 is good to go. My problem is text narrative. Beyond somewhat standard blurbs added near the start of just about every episode, I'm at a loss. No ideas whatsoever. I can always go minimal narrative if necessary, but what I have doesn't reach even that level.

Evening Addendum:
Gave up trying to think up worthwhile things to say. Am uploading the video as-is overnight. Should be ready for view tomorrow morning. Not the best time to be posting YT vids, assuming search filters remain broken. Assuming the issue isn't on my end. Doubt it, but can't rule it out.

Project: upload TpF SRA ep18
Status: Complete

A link can be found in our What are You Playing? thread.


Project: Reduce State monthly income tax withholding
Status: Complete

I didn't remove it all, to avoid potential nasty surprises come next tax season.


Late Morning Addendum:

Project: Upload TpF SRA 18 thumbnail with corrected spelling
Status: Complete

I somehow managed to leave out an "i" in REVISITED. Luckily, I keep the master files on hand. Took no time at all to add the missing letter and replace the existing YouTube thumbnail.

Project: Porch

Got a carpenter lined up to come out and take a look where and what we want done. Which means I need to draw up a sketch. And do some measuring. We can't span the entirety of the front of the house either, because that'd block off the path around to the basement door.

It also means we might have to do our own snow shoveling. We currently have a tractor that comes and does it for us, but we might not be able to have that if we want to prevent porch damage.

Hopefully it won't be too expensive. Get back to me if he needs a cavator

If that cavator can get an old oil furnace out of our basement....

Who in Hate would we call to remove this? When he replaced the furnace a decade ago they never removed it. It weighs half a ton*, we can't remove it ourselves.

* possible exaggeration but I really can't get the farker to budge much less drag it out of the basement... need to park my moped in there!

No, that's a realistic average weight for one of those. Don't even try! And the scrap value of the metal isn't enough to give it away to anyone who'll collect it.

I'm willing to pay someone to get it out, I just don't know who the f to call.

We can't move it ourselves.

Project: Change computerized Account Ledger to reflect changes to my military pension due to reduced State tax withholding and changes to Dental & Vision Care premiums.

Status: Complete.
Pension details are now correctly entered through the end of the end, assuming no further changes occur. Don't know why I put this off so long. Pretty quick and painless.


Project Change computerized Budget to reflect the above.

Status: Complete.
A bit more of a hassle here, as due to changes not kicking it until the year was underway I had to enter correct amounts for each individual month. As above, it's logged in through year's end.


Project: Putz around in Transport Fever, smoothing out jarringly bad track junctions and the like along tracks between Easleigh and Epping.

Status: Ongoing.
I talk about this in our "What are you playing?" thread.


Project: Fill compartmentalized medicine box with individual doses to see me through the coming week.

Status: Complete.
This is, of course, a long time Saturday morning ritual, accomplished after downing my Saturday mid-morning heart-meds...unless I forget, which isn't often.

Nice to see your stuff is taken care of, Decrepit

I've felt rather crappy these past several days so have done next to nothing, productive or otherwise. Roused myself early this afternoon to prepare state/county/local taxes due on internet purchases, for mailing tomorrow. I have no issue whatsoever with paying those taxes. My issue is, as mentioned before, that the procedure we go through to do so is too convoluted for simple-minded folk like me. At any rate, it's now taken care of for all such purchases made this year to date. Truth to tell, as little as I owe, I could have held off payment another few months....assuming I make no substantial internet purchases within that time. But...the longer I extend the period between payments the greater the risk of forgetting individual purchases.

I also prepared a 'city' utility bill payment for hand delivery tomorrow during my errand run.

Oh dear, I hope you are feeling better soon!

Project: Skyrim Music Video, engage!

I'll make sure to post it when it's done, while I still can, because stupid copyright directive might screw up my channel.

No, it's not copyrighted music, but no one ever knows.

Project: Mow Lawn
Status: Complete

My first mow of the year. Was lucky in that one of my neighbors, I know not which, mowed the front for me early afternoon. My hearing being what it is, I didn't realize they did so until walking outside to check mail. Thought to wait until tomorrow or the day after to finish up. Checked online weather forecast. Rain and T-storms this evening and on through tomorrow afternoon, a several day break, then more rain. No choice in the matter but to mow today or wait until weeds might be super tall. Am not fully recovered from recent illness. Worried mowing might trigger a relapse. I certainly feel worse afterward, but nothing serious....I hope.

Project: Balance computerized checking/savings account ledgers
Status: Complete

Did this yesterday or day before. All debits / deposits had been entered correctly so was super easy this month.

Project: Peace of Mind
Status: Complete

Called my State Income Tax Division to early this week to ask about this year's refund, which hasn't shown up in my bank account. Checking "Where is my (state) Refund" online consistently shows my paperwork as not being in the system. Was worried it might have gotten lost in the mail. (My brother, who filed three weeks after me, received his refund several weeks ago.) The rep I talked with found my return listed as having arrived. They're just taking their time with it for some reason.



Which video editor did you end up going with?

I'm messing with Filmora. I like it so far, but snipping clips out of longer recordings is awkward.

I may just have to make shorter videos to edit and compile, as I was trying to work with a 39 minute segment.

I haven't bought the software yet, I want to get the project together first so I know how it works, then I'll see about buying it.

Want to be absolutely sure it's what I want first.

I also just found another song I want to do next. Progressive house is awesome.

Project video is coming along nicely, but I'd like to get some action shots thrown in there rather than the stealth bits. And I may have overdone the transitions.

I can't even get a preliminary go at it for opinions without a watermark yet, but eh, it'll be ok.

Extension cable from the house to the tractor garage is in the ground now, and it's all filled up again. We put the cable inside a strong hose for protection and both ends come up well under a roof. All in all, happy so far. Now we won't have to deal with a loose extension cable in the snow every Saturday because of the engine heater for the tractor. And we can charge the batteries whenever easily.

Can't get Filmora to stop crashing.

Ugh.