Taxes Suck!

I dreaded how complicated it was going to be to figure out how to file my taxes this year. As a newly married person who worked in NY but lived in NJ & NY and whose spouse worked in PA and NJ but lived in PA, NY, and NJ (agh! that's a mouthful!), I was not sure where or how to start. This is what I looked like just thinking about it:

So I took my parents advice and decided to use Turbo Tax. Supposedly, the program would guide me through the entire painful process with as little pain as possible.

It was still very painful.

Even after gathering all the tax documents I needed (which is not as easy as it sounds when your husband can't find a copy of his W2 and has to talk to HR to get a copy), I had to do tons of calculations to determine allocations of incomes to each state, etc.

I began to look more like this:

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw my Federal tax refund. I patted myself on the back for planning ahead of time and having extra money taken out of my paycheck once I got married.

Then I got to the NY Tax Return. I was absolutely sure there was something wrong with the Turbo Tax program when it counted nearly all of my husband's & my income as the "NY Taxable Income". I re-entered numbers, asked my husband if it seemed right, and read about other's frustrations with this same problem.

As it turns out, living in NY for part of the year is basically equivalent to living in NY for the entire year, at least tax-wise. So what if NJ gives me a credit on their state taxes for some (and I mean only some) of the tax you pay to NY state. It's just not fair.

I dealt with the unfairness and moved on. After many many more hours, everything was done. I looked something like this after all of the work:

My plan for next year:

Hire an accountant!!!!!

Saint Patrick's Day in Hoboken

As any good Irish Catholic (or drinker) knows, Saint Patrick's Day is on March 17th every year. It is thought to be the day that Saint Patrick, who was a Catholic missionary who did much of his work in Ireland, died sometime in the 500's AD. The day is meant to be a feast in celebration of all of his good deeds.

In Hoboken, NJ, not only has the importance of the day been changed (to something like: "the day to wear a lot of green, start drinking really early, wait in line to get in bars that are charging a $25 cover, and stumble home at some point and pass out"), but the date has been changed. This year, Hoboken decided to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day on March 1st. Don't ask me why...

As a new NJ resident, I felt obliged to check the festivities out. Well, really, my husband wanted to check it out & I agreed to accompany him.

Our exploration began in Jersey City, where we hopped on the Hudson-Bergen light rail line to go to Hoboken. (We usually drive, but given that we would both be drinking, we thought not.) Instead of taking the train that goes to the main commercial street (Washington Street) in Hoboken, we ended up on the train that took us about a mile west of that.

Good thing we bundled up for the weather! I can't say the same for most of the people we walked by on our way to Washington St. Out of probably a couple hundred people we passed by, maybe 2 had coats. Apparantly, being drunk makes you either (a) not care about being cold, (b) not realize you are cold, or (c) forget that it's 40 degrees outside and not feel like going back home to get your jacket. Or maybe I'm just getting old and want to be comfortable, even if it isn't stylish!

Upon making it to Washington St, we decided to buy a couple of souvenirs to commemorate the occasion. My hubby got a clever button to wear. Check it out:

"Irish Whiskey makes me Frisky"

I got a cool headband with Shamrock antennas (we didn't get a photo of me wearing it, so here is my cat, Benny, wearing it):

We wandered up & down Washington St, only to find lines of people waiting to get into crowded bars. And even worse, all the bars seemed to be charging some insane cover charge to come in! Not because they had any sort of drink specials or special entertainment, but because they could. That just makes me angry.

However, we got lucky & found a place, Arthur's Tavern, that was cover-less with a short line to get in and plenty of room to stand. If you're ever in Hoboken, check it out. Here's my hubby enjoying himself there:

After finishing our 24 oz beers, we took off to find the Q'doba restaurant (fast food Tex-Mex, for those who have not enjoyed them before). As expected, the line there was huge, but the wait was well worth it. Chicken tacos for him and Veggie taco salad for me, and we were satisfied.

At that point, it was time to head home. After all, it was dark, cold, and...7:30 pm!! So we headed to the light rail and made our way home.

Overall, our fake Saint Patrick's Day celebration was a lot of fun. We're looking forward to celebrating, for real, in a couple more weeks!