We made it home in good time. We left Arlington at about 9:16 and made a little over 60 miles in the first hour and shortly after that started to see some farm land north of the metro area, though there was still quite a bit of traffic. The last time I went through that particular area was on a business trip in the 90s and most of the route I took seemed to be under construction. There wasn’t much construction and, though heavy much of the time, traffic seemed to move pretty smoothly, with only a few minor slowdowns. I left plenty of space in front of me for aggressive drivers.
There are probably a lot of people who would think my posting about traffic in the Dallas area is just a big deal about nothing – because they deal with this kind of traffic day after day. I agree. It’s not a big deal. It’s just different from what I am used to and I am thankful that I have not had to deal with it in a very long time. I learned to drive in the Houston metro area – I was pretty good at weaving in and out of heavy traffic and can still pretty easily slip in to a small hole in traffic when I want to. The thing is, though, that it really freaks my wife out and driving like that is stress for me that I do not need. Since I backed off from being aggressive in my driving several months ago, I find that I enjoy driving much more, and when we get where we’re going, my neck and shoulder muscles aren’t all tight and sore.
A lost Exit78 post, recovered from Internet Archive WayBackMachine; March 2011
We’ll be heading home today, but we’re taking our time getting ready to go so that, hopefully, rush hour will be pretty much over and the traffic will not be too terribly bad.
I guess in these larger cities that the term “rush hour” isn’t quite accurate, because the heavy commuter traffic actually lasts two or three hours or more in both the morning and the afternoon. Of course, for those of us that aren’t used to it on a daily basis, the traffic is heavy all day long.
We did quite a bit of driving around the area on both days on the weekend. We found that the traffic in many areas on Saturday and Sunday in the greater Dallas area is as heavy or heavier than weekday commuter traffic in Little Rock.
We’ve seen a lot of very aggressive driving and very little law enforcement on the roads. I can only recall seeing one vehicle pulled over by an officer.
A lost Exit78 post, recovered from Internet Archive WayBackMachine; March 2011
We are about 7 hours or so from home, staying in a motel in Arlington, Texas. The main reason for our visit was to see the Dallas quilt show. Karen is a quilter and I know a bit about quilting from listening to her talk about it, plus I had my camera along for taking pictures.When we got in yesterday, I started to look in the phone book for the name of a fellow that I knew came to this area not too long ago. However, my eyes were pretty tired from being on the road most of the day and I couldn’t read the small print in that book – I WILL be getting an eye exam in the near future – so I put the book away with the intent of checking it later. Didn’t happen.
We were nearly three hours into the quilt show on the last row of vendors booths and I was waiting for my wife to get done in one of them, when I looked down the row and thought I saw a familiar face – I did see a familiar face, the guy I had thought about looking up in the phone book.
“Scott,” I yelled. He glanced in my direction and was obviously surprised. Even though he lives in the area now, he didn’t think he’d see anyone he knew at the Dallas Quilt Show.
I don’t think I’ve seen Scott since we worked together as instructors several years ago. We spent a good ten minutes or so talking and catching up.
I don’t think either of us were surprised to see that we each had a digital SLR camera in our hands!
I gave Scott this site as a way of getting in touch, by leaving a comment on any of the blog posts.
Later: Going through my photos, I found that Scott and I must have walked right each other at least once earlier as he and his wife were in one of the photos from about an hour before we met up .
Arlington, Texas
Sometimes when we stay in a motel, I’m not able to sleep very well. That was not a problem last night. I slept the whole night, even though just before I went to bed, it sounded like there were a bunch of kids running back and forth on the second floor balcony.
This morning, when I went down to the lobby to get a cup of coffee, the small area set aside for the “continental breakfast” was so packed with teens that I couldn’t even get to the coffee or see what food they had down there.
Fortunately, our room has a coffee pot and we had stopped last night at a Super Kmart to pick up some breakfast stuff, just in case.
A lost Exit78 post, recovered from Internet Archive WayBackMachine; March 2011
Earlier this month, I got a bit of a shock at the high price of coffee at a Rosebud, Arkansas, convenience store.
Today, traveling to Dallas, Texas, I got coffee twice and, in both instances, was pleasantly surprised at the cost.
At a station south of Morrelton on Arkansas highway 9, just over the Arkansas River bridge, the coffee was 27¢.
At Mt. Pleasant, Texas, Karen got my coffee while I was filling up the car. The coffee was free – that’s right – 0¢.
Total cost of my two cups of coffee today was less than 1/4 the cost of that one cup of coffee in Rosebud.
There have been a number of times lately where my cup of coffee has been quite inexpensive, usually when we are on the road traveling somewhere. There are three stations I can think of that we stop at somewhat regularly because, at some point in the past, the coffee was free or at a low cost.
Low price coffee for travelers can result in repeat business.
I won’t be getting coffee at that station in Rosebud – if I happen to pass by that way again!
Today they were having a cookout where I used to work and I dropped by for some free food – and to drop off some notes I had put together for the guy who now will be doing much of what I used to do Actually, I didn’t just drop by. I was invited by the department manager.
While I was there, I related to several former co-workers that I only regretted one thing about retirement – that, because of age, I couldn’t retire earlier. That was worth a chuckle or two.
Up until this last year, I had not seriously intended to retire as soon as I reached 55. However, various things over the last 12 months aggravated me to the point that I made the decision that I was going to retire and not work for at least a year.
Even though the aggravations caused stress and heartache for me during that period, I now see them as a hidden blessing that led me to make a decision that was good for Karen and me that would have otherwise been delayed.
Leaving when I did was the right thing for me to do – no regrets!
One of the things that I see all too often in blogs I review is the excessive replication of text from other sources. I generally will not stay long on a blog that is little more than material copied from other places.
Replication is just another word for copying. Copying of any portion of a work of original expression is an exclusive right of the copyright owner. The only exceptions for this are when permission has been given by the copyright owner and when the copying is being done under the principles of fair use, which allows for limited copying under some circumstances. Other copying is an infringement of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner.
Factual information in a work can be conveyed without replication and without infringement of the copyright. Just because a work is copyrighted doesn’t mean everything in it is. A work’s copyright protection can only be extended to those parts of a work that are original to the author.
When the author clothes facts or ideas with an original description or other original collection of words, then this written expression may be protected. However, the underlying facts or ideas may be copied by others, but not the precise words used to present them. If a compiler adds no written expression and only lets the facts speak for themselves, the protection of copyright may only be extended to the originality of the selection and/or arrangement, if there is any originality.
If you have company stock in your company savings plan, when you retire or otherwise leave the company, you should be able to elect to receive the stock in shares or in cash. In either case, there will be some tax consequence. If you elect to receive the value of the stock as shares, you will have an income tax liability in the year in which you receive the stock for the average original cost of the stock. When you later sell the stock, it will be taxed as capital gains on the difference between the original cost of the stock and the price at which it is sold, which is termed net unrealized appreciation.
Example: In working for XYZ Company, you have accumulated 100 shares of XYZ stock. Over the years, the price of the stock has risen from $15 a share to $100. The average price paid for the stock was $40 a share. On retirement, you elect to receive the stock as shares. The current value of the stock is $10,000. The average cost basis for the 1000 shares is $4,000, which will count as income for tax purposes for the current year. If the entire 100 shares of stock is sold, the net unrealized appreciation is $6,000 which would be taxed at the much lower capital gains tax rate.
The company stock in your savings plan may be grouped in multiple categories, depending on when it was purchased, how it was purchased and the rules that applied at the time of purchase. When you leave the company, the IRS net unrealized appreciation rules will apply to all of the stock, regardless of how it is categorized in your savings plan.
Disclaimer – I am not a financial adviser or specialist in financial matters. The material in this post is based on what I have learned in my own situation. The financial situations of others will differ. I recommend consulting with a financial adviser. More information may be found on line by searching on “net unrealized appreciation.”
Electricity producer and retailer Entergy (ETR – Cramer’s Take – Stockpickr – Rating) has been rated a buy since March 2005. The company has exhibited impressive EPS growth over the past 24 months, gains in net income that outpace its industry and improved return on equity.
TheStreet.com
A lost Exit78 post, recovered from Internet Archive WayBackMachine; March 2011
The infection in my leg has still not cleared up completely. I’s called cellulitis and is basically an infection in the skin cells, hence the name cellulitis. There are no open sores and it is not contagious. It can be extremely difficult to clear up. However, the prognosis is that it should clear up completely.
I am currently beginning my 6th week of antibiotics and will be seeing the doctor at Millard-Henry Clinic in about an hour.
