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THE WEISS CHRONICLES
Chronological Account of the Weiss family with contextual remarks, some weather, sports and other news.
You can write to me at: mhw20854@yahoo.com
The people in the Weiss family are: Martin, Ann, Beth and George. I also sometimes write about other people or our pet.
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
IRS beats a low bar
Back on Nov. 17, the IRS said I would get my refund in 9 weeks.
I actually, received it today (over $4k - not the amount in the image).
Not quite 2 weeks.
So basically, they low balled back then.
Monday, November 28, 2016
Wild Kingdom in the morning in Industrial Rockville
A hawk (I think a red tailed hawk but I'm not sure about this) was eating a squirrel in front of the building today.
We (the workers at the caterer) were impressed with the size of the hawk.
It looked a bit like the image on the left that I got from the internet.
Thursday, November 24, 2016
The Curse hits locally twice in a few hours
At many times in my life I've had strangers come up to me and ask me things. For many years it was for directions to where they were going. Fortunately, most people now have either GPS systems available to them but I still get other questions.
Yesterday, about 730pm I was a few blocks from my house and someone got in the street in front of my car and waved his arms around. He was wearing a jacket with a letter and seemed to be high school age. I stopped and rolled down the window. He asked first where the bus stop was (it was a few feet from where he was standing). Then he asked where the bus goes. I said it goes to Montgomery Mall. Just then the bus came by with "Montgomery Mall' destination on the LED display on the front and side of the bus. I presume the guy was coming down from a drug experience or something.
A few hours later I was at the grocery store. In the vegetable department, a lady asked me, "Este es el precio para".
She was gesturing toward the beets.
I said, "Si, senora, they are beets - red inside and the price is $1.29 per pound".
She said, "gracias". A nice lady but not as good looking as the woman holding the carrots in the image.
Friday, November 18, 2016
Still have Flowers
We still have a lot of the firecracker blooms in the yard and most of the vase is filled with those (the red ones).
However, there are still a few of the hybrid asters (purple flowers above the lid of the vase.
Also, there was one pink rose in pretty good shape.
Finally, for the first time I added the money plant 'flowers'. My mother really liked the money plant, I'm not so fond of it but it does add variety to the arrangement (click a few times to enlarge).
UGA gets to guard the fish appetizer dish from contamination from meat.
Mail Call - A bit late
My father has been getting a lot of mail recently.
The
two images show some of it. The second image shows the backside of an
offer from Target but otherwise is the same as the first image (both may
be enlaged by clicking on the image)
The mail on the bottom is an offer from AARP.
The one in the middle is an offer from a company that provides insurance for water line that is outside the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission's jurisdiction.
The one on the top is from Target (if you are wondering, the first Target store opened in 1962).
Anyway, if you notice, the scratch off number matches the number on the pre print. That means my father would receive one of the grand prizes (I bet it would be the 7 day Caribbean Cruise).
He also got a card worth $100 in, I think, discounts.
.
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Great Meeting with the IRS until the last 5 seconds
I
filed (electronically) my 2015 federal tax year return in early October
2016 (after having filed an extension request in April 2016).
After
filing I received a letter from the IRS saying they couldn't process
the return with me meeting with the local IRS tax assistance office.
The
letter said I was to have copies of my 2014 and 2015 return, all the
1099s and w-2s that applied to the 2015 return, driver's licenses,
utility bills, car titles, etc. at the meeting (probably because someone
had attempted to fraudulently file for me last year).
I
scheduled a meeting for 1230pm today. Ann and I arrived about 1215pm.
The security guard validated our parking ticket by 1216pm and we went to
the receptionist .
After
showing her our driver's licenses, she said she could process our
identification at the reception station. She asked for a copy of the
2015 return. I gave her the copy. After entering some info into her
computer she said that would be all she needed. I asked her if she was
sure. She said, "Yes, but keep your information safe."
All this was great.
Then I asked, "So, when will I receive my refund."
"Within nine weeks." she said.
"Nine weeks???", I said.
"Yes." she said, "Nine weeks".
Monday, November 14, 2016
A Real Life Noodle Incident
There was a real noodle incident today where I was doing Mashgiach work. Actually it was called pasta on the menu (spaghetti and rigatoni). 
Basically, the caterer didn't have enough precooked noodles and wasn't able to cook noodles as fast as the client's attendees were eating the noodles. The attendees were mostly late high school and undergrad college kids.
One of the chefs, in an effort to meet the demand, used a piece of the kitchen he shouldn't have used so it wound up with a pretty serious kashrut violation.
The Calvin and Hobbs cartoons are from the late 1980s. The noodle incident was a running gag but was never explained in the comic itself. A 'noodle incident' fan club has evolved. Their discussion of the noodle incident is here.
Friday, November 11, 2016
Do we have flowers in mid November - yes we do
All picked today.
To the right are some chrysanthemums.
To the left are some of the firecracker flowers.
Next to the firecrackers are some of the asters.
On top of the asters, are some roses.
In the back are some of the daisies.
Click a few times to enlarge.
Wily Coyote is in the background (yes, that's a cross because Wily is a sometimes proselytizing Christian). He is not particularly interested in flowers, but he likes our new cutting board which turns into a bread basket when you lift up the sides (its a gift from Beth).
Wednesday, November 09, 2016
Hello, Mr. Weiss
I went to Goodyear yesterday to pick up the wheel and tire to replace the damage done last week (see previous post).
One of the customer assistance people greeted me with 'Hello, Mr. Weiss'.
I responded, "Hello Monica".
She recognized me as I had come in for an oil change in September, a new temperature sensor and ventilator repair in October.
As I picked up the tire and wheel, I said,
"If I have to come in again before my next oil change, I'm going to expect a nice hug."
Monica smiled and said, "That's a promise."
Of course Monica is a nice person but I really hope I don't have to come in before the oil change.
Wednesday, November 02, 2016
Beth In Baltimore and the Tire and Wheel
Beth took the Cobalt on Nov 1 to Baltimore to visit various people. She had a nice lunch with Irwin and Cheryl and then went to visit a friend of hers from College.
On the way she had some trouble finding a street and went over a curb. The tire was damaged.
On the way back to our house on Nov 2, the tire started smoking. Beth was frightened and pulled over into the left shoulder. Someone stopped and helped her change the tire (at first she was scared the person would kill her) and also helped her get back on the road (also scary). The tire was obviously shot. She got to our house and then I took the car in,
It turned out the wheel was also shot.
Tuesday, November 01, 2016
Schafkoftfest at Dallas
Our annual schafkoftfest was in Dallas this year at the end of Oct.
We played many dozens of hands of schafkoft (sheepshead).
In between this we also saw a few of the sights.
The top image is a view out of the window used by Lee Harvey Oswald to assassinate John F Kennedy. It is at the 6th floor museum which we visited. The trees were much smaller back then so the required marksmanship, while still considerable wasn't as high as it would be now.
Kennedy was on the curvy road and about to go under the bridge when the fatal shot was fired.
The second image is from the Perot Science Museum which we also visited. We saw several other places while there (e.g. GeoDome Tower and GW Bush Presidential Library).
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The
two images show some of it. The second image shows the backside of an
offer from Target but otherwise is the same as the first image (both may
be enlaged by clicking on the image)
The
letter said I was to have copies of my 2014 and 2015 return, all the
1099s and w-2s that applied to the 2015 return, driver's licenses,
utility bills, car titles, etc. at the meeting (probably because someone
had attempted to fraudulently file for me last year).
One of the customer assistance people greeted me with 'Hello, Mr. Weiss'. 
She recognized me as I had come in for an oil change in September, a new temperature sensor and ventilator repair in October.
The top image is a view out of the window used by Lee Harvey Oswald to assassinate John F Kennedy. It is at the 6th floor museum which we visited. The trees were much smaller back then so the required marksmanship, while still considerable wasn't as high as it would be now.