Update

Here are some quick news items:

• I want to be vague here but some friends had a big day today. I'm so excited for them!
• I'm meeting a newcomer to PEI/Canada this week, probably tomorrow. I'll be showing him around the Island through a charitable organization that matches newbies with Islanders. That should be interesting. I don't actually know much about PEI.
  
• I thought I was done with the Tax Nightmare but having checked tracking numbers through Canada Post, I can only verify that 1 out of 3 Important Documents were received in the US. The other 2 arrived in the USA but I don't know anything else. Fabulous.
  
• In case anyone was wondering, I am still a cat person. I like dogs but "dog people" live in a world that I will never, ever understand.

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ps. Check out some new links over on the right-hand side!

Pro-Tip: Hire Professionals

After a long, frustrating search, I found a cross-border accountant this tax season (in Washington state). Within 3 minutes of our initial phone call, I could tell she was bright and professional.

And how. Several weeks after uploading a zillion scanned docs to her website, I received a giant FedEx package with multiple returns. 1 for Canada and 3 for the US.

The presentation was simply beautiful: each return was fixed to an envelope and with instructions. The instructions were essentially: (a) mail by the given date and (b) find the big green stickies that say "Sign and Date here" and, well, sign-and-date there, stoopid!

A chimpanzee could have followed the directions and that is exactly how I want to be treated. Seriously. I share a deep connection with the spirit here, because that's how I think software should be written: a chimp should be able to use it. I say that often a work, but I don't mean to denigrate the user, because sometimes I am the chimp.

This is one of those cases. This was an expensive service but it was absolutely worth it. I could not be happier. My only hope is that Canada Post delivers the returns correctly, as I am due for some refunds (bonus!).

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