Saturday, July 20, 2002

Absent-minded me.... these last 2 days, I've forgotten all about 2 very important appointments...both costly in different ways. On top of that, now I just feel down because I really need to pay more attention to my Palm Pilot (which I've conveniently forgotten about the past couple of weeks).

Friday, July 19, 2002

ZZZzzzZZZ....that's all I feel like doing right now.....ZZZZzzzzZZZ
Lumps yesterday... so we started an intro to the book of Habakkuk which is about the seriousness of our sin and God's justice. Habakkuk is a prophet from the Old Testament who asks God how he can let evil and wickedness abound in the nation of Israel. And I won't give away God's answer but suffice it to say, sin does not go unpunished. I am a sinner. You are a sinner. We are all sinners. Will we ever stop sinning? Yes, when we are in God's Kingdom. Until then, all we have is God and the covenant of Jesus Christ to give us the hope of an eternal life. Hope. Are you hopeful?
Had lunch with Lumps brothers & sisters, WC and his friend L, EC, JL, and LH. I've definitely been getting to know my bro EC a little more and that has been very encouraging. He has alot of energy (even though it doesn't show all the time) and a lot of inner strength that just can't quite be described in words. 4:30...almost time for the weekend...can't wait. I can't wait to rest this weekend.
So, I've been out sick the last two days from work and one big thing happened while I was gone. I was given the green light for a project that I proposed last Thursday (of course I was also put in charge of) and I was told that it would be of minor importance. Then I took the last couple days off and when I got back this morning, I discovered that, suddenly, the project's been promoted up to the highest level of importance with visability up to the highest levels of PG&E.... people are being told to drop whatever they are doing and work on my project. In fact, I have to meet with my big boss like every three days to review the status of the project. Crazy huh? Good thing this project should last awhile...or then again, maybe not so good...Better not mess it up...

Thursday, July 18, 2002

Bought a paper shredder today. Yes, what's a former auditor & current CPA to do without his trusty shredder? ;-) What I learned from Enron? To shred things earlier =P. Seriously though, a paper shredder is a necessity in this day and age of identity theft. You don't want people to obtain your address, your account numbers, your social security numbers by browsing through your mail or other documents that you just were to lazy to shred. In my mind, a great investment!

Wednesday, July 17, 2002

So my Mom, my Aunt, and I met tonight to discuss the 706 and my family's finances. My aunt is a CMA who passed the CPA exam. She never got her CPA hours so she's not licensed but her knowledge and experience in the affairs of personal accounting and estate accounting far surpasses my own. The meeting was long...3 hours and we discussed many of the complex issues that are going on and my aunt finally made my Mom realize how tough this is going to be. So yes, my Mom now understands why I have to stay up way into the night trying to work on this. At the same time, my Mom is frustrated because she wants to put all of this behind her as fast as she can. I can't blame her for that because we all want to put my Dad's passing behind us as fast as we can. The problem is, the federal laws and internal revenue code doesn't let you do things simply and easily unless you want to pay the fines/penalties. I've worked hard on this thing....and the end still isn't near. On top of that my LSAT is fast approaching... must start studying for that. So yeah, I'm definitely stretched.
Took the day off today. Working on the IRS Form 706. For those who are not familiar with it, it is the Estate Tax and Generation Skipping Tax Form which must be filed when someone dies. In this case, my Dad. It hurts triple to do this return....once because this form has to be one of the hardest that the IRS prints out with so many schedules and pages that it's insane to even try to do it unless you're a CPA (and unfortunately, I am), secondly, my Mom is putting pressure on me to finish it so it's exceedingly frustrating to explain to my Mom that this return is more than the 1040EZ...and lastly because as I look back at my Dad's bank statements, investment statements, and personal items, I remember my Dad's "man to man" talks with me. You see, ever since I can remember, my Dad and I had "man to man" talks on a near monthly basis to talk about serious issues. Real bonding time between my Dad and me. I have to fight back the tears just thinking about them. We mostly talked about my life and his advice usually came from some experience that he was having or had in the past. So as I go through my family's documents, I can see letters that were written to my Dad documenting decisions that he made over the phone. Many of these decisions came up in our "man to man" talks and of course, those memories seep up to my conscience...painful...now, I just feel like an old man who wants to be that child who clings to his Father's hand on the first day of kindergarten.

Tuesday, July 16, 2002

Ok, I was feeling tired but now I feel refreshed. To work! To work! To work!

Monday, July 15, 2002

A sister JS gave me a really cool card made by Kristone that basically gives my name a meaning. It reads:

Alfred
(Old English Origin)
"Counselor"
"God loves you, you have been chosen."
1 Thessalonians 1:4

YAY! Thanks JS!