using both Optional Methods

I have been slogging through our 2009 tax forms lately. I had a good start on it last weekend, but getting it all figgered out required all this week's lunch breaks too. Last night I put the finishing staples in the stacks of married-filing-jointly a-go-go's Federal 1040 and California 540 thoroughly beaten dead horses. Shew!...

That knocks one big important thing off the list of things to do before the Big Trip, but I can't get over the randomness of it all. Last year we had a nice fat refund from both the feds and the state. This year our income was a little higher, our Federal withholding was lower(!?), our state withholding was higher, and the result?... $21 refund from the feds and we owe California $71. Huh? Who figures this stuff? The withholding allowances didn't change, and my income was up a smidge.... how did my Federal withholding go down? All said and done, I'm happy to not have the fat refund. That's just $$$ we couldn't earn interest on during the year, but how did California eat so much more of my wages? State withholding went up and they swallowed last year's refund too. I dug all around looking for where they slipped in the increase, and I'm still not sure how they did it. The tax rates went up but not enough to account for most of the change. I have a degree in economics and I can't figure it out.

Oh well it's done and I can move on to the next item on the list. So long adjusted gross income. See you next year.

one pho the money...

When we head off on the Big Trip we are figuring that we won't be returning to Los Angeles. We need to find a new place to plant our feet, and Los Angles is just too dern expensive. There are things I'll miss here, and near the top of the list is the variety of food. Furthermore, near the top of the list of food is pho. I have been a fan of this Vietnamese soup since my first sip. It is an unparalleled cold day meal, but I like it any time. I'll risk being corrected here and say that it's pronounced fuh. I'm sure there is a subtle sound in there that I can't hear or pronounce, but that is the best transliteration that I can make based on hearing it uttered by a Vietnamese friend.

Our favorite place, Pho Huynh, (so far, we're always sampling new ones) is in El Monte, and requires a half hour drive from us. It's worth it. The majority of patrons at the place are Vietnamese, and I figure that's a good sign. It's family style seating at long tables, cash only, and when it's busy you may feel like they are itching for you to finish up and make room for the next hungry group. None the less we come back for more.

A good bowl of pho is a delight. The hot broth could stand on its own. Add lime juice, tear up some leafy Vietnamese basil like herb, stir up your choice of meat (or no meat), and dig in. When my bowl comes I don't even take a breath until I am at least half way through the noodles and have slurped up a belly full of broth.

Los Angeles isn't the only place to find pho, and we are researching places to find it on our trip. It will be hard to replace the pho I know.

anecdote, Salton Sea and Bombay Beach

Way back in October 2007 we had a brief visit to the Salton Sea. We only visited a small part of the northeast shore and there is so much we missed. There wasn't time to visit Salvation Mountain near Niland, California or to travel to the western and southern shore of the lake. We were making our way home from Bisbee, Arizona by way of Interstate 8 and the green fields of the Imperial Valley. Bombay Beach was just off the road so we stopped to stretch our legs in the ever popular photo spot filled with salt-crusted, abandoned furniture, and derelict structures.
After uploading this photo mrs. a-go-go found on Flickr many portraits of the same chair from the previous two years. The chair seemed to be making the rounds to visit all the neighbors and see how they're holding up.

The Salton Sea and the developments on its shores are much maligned, but it's an extraordinary and surreal place. A number of structures on the Bombay Beach shore line have been left to shrivel as the sun and the salt whittle them down. It feels a little sad but the place has earned that ghost town charm of splintering dried out frames and scattered odd debris. I've heard tall tales about the stink of the lake, but that day there was just a hint of under-the-pier-damp smell. The horror stories are probably overblown unless it's bacteria bloom season. There are still a significant number of residents at Bombay Beach. Some of the houses are kept in a reasonably good state, others are suffering in spite of the efforts of the owners.
The late afternoon was warm and still. Looking up, the sky was a deep blue, but standing at the edge of the dead calm lake it was impossible to distinguish lake from sky in the distant sand colored haze.

Just before sundown we piled back in the car to continue on our way home. The raking light brought out the very best in the Chocolate Mountains to the East. They really did look edible. I checked the map and was delighted to learn such an appropriate name for the range. Then looking closer, I noticed that a large area in the Chocolate Mountains is an active aerial gunnery range for the Navy and Marines. That put to bed any notion of visiting there on future trips. Apparently, there is a rich gold deposit in the mountains and a little research hinted that gold mining rights to the mountains have been bought up in anticipation of the eventual closure of the gunnery range. Sorry to imagine the worst, but I can't help grimace at the likelihood that once the military is done making pot holes the mountains will be strip mined. It's a shame... the area has kept its beautiful desolate face in spite of the accidental salt lake and the ill fated resort development. I wonder if the mountains will still make me think of rumpled bon-bons after the gold is rooted out.

getting out

This will be a long weekend as I have Monday off from the job that I am about to quit. We had planned to take the weekend to visit family in San Luis Obispo, but mrs. a-go-go is under the weather and I would rather not drive alone. So we'll have to go another weekend. With the visit off the agenda the weekend is now open for all the things whizzing around in my head that we have to accomplish in the next two months to prepare for the Big Trip.

I hope to complete our Federal and State tax returns (that alone will be a victory). Then I will start the packing process and get our plans together. We have a good idea of how the trip will go but it is time to nail everything down and start contacting all the people we hope to visit and give them our expected arrival date.

Giving notice and telling my coworkers that I'm getting out has been an odd process. I'm excited to have a change and to start a new cycle. It's been a long time since I was last unemployed, and I hope to make the most of it. Meanwhile, the people at work have all reacted with that strange mix of, "Oh, no. We're going to miss you." and, "Congratulations!" The place where I work is kind of a clunky bureaucratic circus, and most people who work there have mixed feelings about it. Those mixed feelings are the source of the congratulations, as so many of my coworkers seem to have a perpetual vague feeling that they need to get a job somewhere else. It's nice to hear that I will be missed. A few people have responded with dismay as though I'm the only thing holding up the walls. I think I have been an important part of the machine and at times a critical part but I can't believe the place is going to implode without me. Things ran smoothly before I worked there and I'm sure they will continue with out me. When I describe our plans for the Big Trip the people I will be leaving behind at work all have that glassy-eyed response, "Wow, really? I wanna go do that too." Now how the devil will we get by without the health insurance?

I can't decide if getting out feels more like walking off a cliff or if it's more like activating my jet pack and waving good bye.

hell or high water

Ok folks, it's official. I have given notice. My last day will be April 23. We'll have a free week to complete packing up, move our junk, and get out of our place by the end of the month. Then we'll be on the road in early May... come hell or high water. We're running toward an uncertain future but I'm elated none the less... and worried.

ak!

Nope, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. I have lots of ideas for new posts that I need to do but I've been ridiculously busy. The day has come for me to notify my boss of my imminent resignation. Gadzooks, it makes me nervous even though it's not worth it. I mean, what are they going to do, fire me?!

drive! sock monkey drive!

We couldn't help but notice that Kia will be running an advertisement during the Superbowl showing a sock monkey (and friends) driving a Sorento. I love the disclaimer in the picture. It doesn't mention the hazards of letting your sock monkey drive. If you watch the advertisement at the link above you'll probably notice that the flavor is not quite the a-go-gos, but I can't help thinking that Kia couldn't get closer to real sock monkeys driving the Soul than having the a-go-gos drive the Soul 20,000 miles across North America in three months. Case in point:
For years I have been making unique sock monkeys as gifts for mrs. a-go-go, each based on a recognizable sculpture. Add to that the hundreds of armless spazimals I've cranked out and we've got an unstoppable army of sock plush toys. They all thought I was crazy, but who will be laughing when I rule the world? Huh?! Yeah that's what I though... Not to mention that mrs. a-go-go really IS a sock monkey.



We make idiot costumes and take them to silly places for photo opportunities. Who but a couple of real live sock monkeys would get married jumping off a fountain? (and who else could pull it off for less than $600 including the dress and rings?)


We may not be stuffed with fiberfill or some other fluff but we are truly full of beans.












Heck, we jump everywhere we go. We're silly, we're creative, we're adorable, squishy, fun, and spazy. Couldn't get closer if we were made of socks.

Now for some shameless cross promotion: We have had some initial positive response about our Big Trip from the marketing company working for Kia that put together the new Superbowl spot. No promises and it's all very preliminary but I really appreciate the responsiveness. So, if you are reading this and you are a sports fan or just happen to watch the game I hope you will vote for Kia's spot and throw them some positive feedback for doing something fun. Here's a place where you can do just that:

Ad Blitz

And if you're not watching the game you can see the advertisement and send postcards from here. Take a look. It's silly.

Confidentially... sock monkeys don't really ride jet skis (the one in the commercial clearly was coerced), but mark my word, put one on a toboggan and get out of the way!