CelticMCO

3 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

Pretty soon it was time to head towards our next destination...

 

 

A true man of the people - I just knew you would be sitting up front. 

38 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

"Let the Alchemy begin..."

 

Patron anejo and elderflower liqueur mixed with who knows what. Big Nikola...

 

 

 

Every time you write "Nikola" the "Ricola" cough drop commercial jingle runs through my head.  You knocked this review out of the park - safe trip back to the ATL... 

14 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

All checked in for my flight! I get one free bag with Delta, so my box of dirty clothes and Hennessy will fly for free.

 

 

 

 

Let's hope the ramp rats are kind to your box...

9 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

Next, I ran across a motorcycle exactly like mine back home. KTM 690 Duke... (It's my review. Deal with it)

 

 

Keep em' coming Kawi Versys 1000 (set up for touring/custom lower seat) here; former Harley dude...

1 hour ago, Shaded Lady said:

Nothing extreme with the weather here- just lots and lots of rain in central and southern FLA... a bit gusty in the south. And as someone said earlier, by the time you dock, the storm they wanted SOOOO badly to name will have moved on.

Yup the weather guys/gals heads were exploding; this was a big nothing burger...

43 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

There are many margaritas in the World, but this one is mine...

 

 

Nice Full Metal Jacket reference...

6 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

The guy on the sign is Tony Tarracino (Google him, quite the character); was Key West Mayor for two years, passed away in 2008.  I am a few years older than you Sid (still in 50's) but had a beer with him and his wife (way younger than him and his young son was there also) in that bar one weekday late morning in 1990 (yes 1990). Tony still owned the bar back then.  Jimmy Buffet played there in the 70's; also he wrote a song about the place.   

5 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

They didn't have Pac Man, Galaga, or Tempest, so I ended up playing Defender and Space Invaders...

No Asteroids?  Not sure why but the ship seems more visually appealing this go round.  Food/drinks look fantastic - my favorite thing may be no kids...

46 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

Almost to the airport.

Just a thought - since there are many new ships and options coming to Port Canaveral and you may want to be on one of those ships consider flying in day of the cruise.  I know it's rolling the dice but ATL/MCO there are many flights almost on the hour; start early enough not going to be an issue and you do not have to stay overnight in Cape Canaveral.  Welcome back!    

2 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

Street Eats.

 

 

 

Go Sid Go finish strong...I think there is just a general malaise these days - even on a cruise - they just do not feel the same; the constant doom drumbeat of the MSM does not help.  Like gas, this too shall pass; def a "free lunch Friday" on the Mardi Gras at least!

3 minutes ago, sid_9169 said:

One more before dinner.

 

 

Go Sid Go....

16 minutes ago, fyree39 said:

The beauty of being a federal employee is you can call in and say you have an eye problem. I often couldn't see coming into work. lol

 

Fellow Fed here (lurker) my bosses have always said they do not want to know what is wrong with me, just call in sick; gotta love it.  I still have 1700 plus hours in my account...

All you "I wanna be served people" - question, just where do you think the staff is going to come from to serve you on a fully booked cruise ?  The staff is already overworked.  Leave the buffet alone; if you are being served it is not a buffet it is a cafeteria and no one is forcing you to eat there as there are other options...

4 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

The Peachtree Road race is cancelled this year, but there are a lot of people out this morning running or walking their own race down Peachtree St... I took a walk up to the ATM this morning, since I was down to about ten dollars of walking around money.

 

I think that I've decided to call around to my credit cards, and see which one will give me the best deal on some balance transfer checks... I'd much rather pay interest to a bank than I would the government... The irony is, that I just wrote the check for the last little bit of credit card debt on Thursday... For the first time in six years, I'm completely out of credit card debt, and now I'm about to charge about $2,500 to pay my stinking taxes.........

I have been in this situation in the past; have you tried to to set up a payment plan with the IRS ?  It was actually very easy and can be done all online once you have an account set up and verified (they accept or not almost instantly).  $2500 is not that much, you could pay as little as 150 a month and the fees/interest will not be all that bad....Hang in there pal rooting for you!

Even when WDW opens it is not going to be the Disney most of us remember.  The most magical place on earth will be the land of "no".  No fireworks, shows, character interactions, parades, park hopping the list goes on.  Transportation, hotels and rides will all be subject to social distance rules et al.  Why would anyone spend the big money it costs for a Disney vacation and not get the real experience.   Have  been to Universal already (have an annual pass) and will not be back it is not the same...

Love this ship; a bit smaller than Independence but similar.  Been on twice out of Canaveral barley felt ship move once...

4 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

Well, it looks like I'm the only one who didn't get a stimulus check... Although, I wasn't expecting it, since the IRS doesn't have my direct deposit information... It may be months before I see anything...

https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment

1 hour ago, sid_9169 said:

I was just taking a closer look at the picture my mom made. It contains her favorite picture of me ever. (Left side, midway down, Yamaha shirt) She never realized until twenty years later that I had my pistol shoved down the front of my pants... And, then there's the one from Disney World on the fourth of July 1976. My finger got smashed in a gate, and I had to visit the medical center there. Good thing Mini Mouse was there to console me. Also, the one picture she included from my "long hair days" (I was 17, bottom left) and near the bottom right, I'm wearing a Cheap Trick t-shirt that I still have in a box. They played at Six Flags back in 1982...

Love Cheap Trick still great in concert to this day; Bun E Carlos still officially in band but does not tour anymore, Ricks son now on drums....

5 hours ago, N7786W Flyer said:

Onboard the Mardi Gras.  Note all the wood paneling...

 

Nice looking couple, great pictures!  Your wife looks allot like the actress Lauren Tewes (yes Julie from the Love Boat) !!!

Best of luck; not going to be soon until all USA cruises cancelled for awhile...

Mere minutes or days away from the US Government shutting the whole industry down for at least a month...

1 hour ago, Greenpea2 said:

Can you pay estimated taxes? That would be quarterly payments. You just have to have paid within a certain percent of what you would end up owing, and there i no penalty (I think within maybe 20% of what you would owe.) Not sure. An accountant would know and would be able to tell you what your payments would be.) You can probably research this option on the IRS website. They send you 4 payment coupons.

Good point; you should always pay estimated quarterly taxes on income if there is nothing being withheld (usually when you are being paid not as an employee but as your own company/LLC);  Turbotax will print the coupons for you.  As far as Sid's 2K liability the interest/penalties would be minimal if paid monthly over 18 - 24 months or so...   

13 minutes ago, Shaded Lady said:

Yeah, count me in the group who's paying a couple grand to The Donald this year! And this was after I put another $100 a pay towards tax withholding! 

Everyone I know the last two years has owed more, myself included (last year 2018 tax season, which was first year of the new tax bill/code, owed additional 6K;  4K more than 2017 with exact same income/return/withholding).  You can thank the tax bill that passed two years ago by Speaker Ryan before he ran out of DC to "spend more time with his family"  right ...

18 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

The final day of my long weekend... I did a little side job for the owner this morning with one of the other guys from work. I estimated that it would have taken two hours total, but it ended up being about twice that long. The part that I thought would be the easiest turned out to be the most difficult and time consuming. Luckily, the part that I thought would be the hardest turned out to be not that bad, so I guess it all evened out in the end...

 

I got some not so good news about my taxes today as well... At my part time job I got a 1099, which means that it's all untaxed income... I was mentally prepared to bear a 20% hit on it at the most. Well, it turns out that I'm going to owe nearly 33%, which is a third of all my extra hard earned money. I'm considering just quitting, but I really do need that extra money... I just hate having to give a third of it to the IRS. I know there are plenty of people who pay that much anyway. People who make wayyy more money than me to begin with. Anyhoo, I'm not happy about it at all.

 

I went out and bought myself a nice big ribeye steak, but not prime or dry aged... Just the regular ol' choice angus meat counter stuff. In addition to that, a "nice" eight dollar bottle of Spanish wine... The reminder of the day will be spent doing laundry and eventually cooking my nice big, hopefully depression fighting steak and wine...

 

Tomorrow, it's back to the ol' salt mine, and hopefully a nice easy day to start out the four day work week. Oh, I almost forgot... I did go by the bank today and order my Mexican pesos for my cruise coming up in 88 more days. My bank has a minimum of $200, so I ended up with 3,420 mxp... Well enough to have a blast of a day eating and drinking, and probably have a little left over......

The IRS will allow you to set up a payment plan; you can do it all online.  You make a reasonable offer (say 150 a month) and they likely accept it and you set up a monthly bank draft.  Worth considering...

Go Sid Go finish strong...