Something Random

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
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Do I have any reason to be concerned about the new Heartbreak virus or whatever it does?
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
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I am omnipresent
Do I have any reason to be concerned about the new Heartbreak virus or whatever it does?

Only if you trust your personal data to any number of large and largely unaccountable internet-based services. Facebook and Google apparently don't have a problem but Yahoo does, for example.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
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Can you use some of the special glasses to correct your vision, or is it totally out of whack?

It's possible to do that, but the way it's been explained to me is that this is something that usually just goes away on its own. Right now I'm looking for medical conditions for which this could be a symptom, like advanced diabetes or brain cancer. If that stuff has been ruled out then the accepted medical practice mostly falls along the lines of "Come back to us if it's still happening in a year."

I've never officially had an A1C and that's really the only thing I'm sweating. At least brain cancer would be a quick end.
 

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
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It's possible to do that, but the way it's been explained to me is that this is something that usually just goes away on its own. Right now I'm looking for medical conditions for which this could be a symptom, like advanced diabetes or brain cancer. If that stuff has been ruled out then the accepted medical practice mostly falls along the lines of "Come back to us if it's still happening in a year."

I've never officially had an A1C and that's really the only thing I'm sweating. At least brain cancer would be a quick end.

Why? Diabetes is quite treatable. Even with some reduction in average lifespan, you may have another 30+ years. With brain cancer of course it is not so much, but not so quick either. :(
 

snowhiker

Storage Freak Apprentice
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tl;dr - Socket fixed - Computer works - I'm still a clumsy SOB.

I've successfully replaced bent LGA pins quite often, but I have a very good close range vision, despite my age. An exacto is the best tool for the job. A magnifying glass is cheaper than a new motherboard. I know you mentioned that reading glasses aren't enough, but I expect a magnifying glass to be more useful for this. I admit that I don't know much regarding reading glasses, not needing those myself.

Sweet Jesus. I'm one lucky stoopid SOB. I'm not screwed, CPU socket saved.

Two hours of memtest86, several runs of Intel CPU test program, prime95 for a while and no problems. Installed Win7pro x64 and 150 odd updates, printer drivers, Firefox, etc, etc, etc. All good.

Sweet little Mini-ITX build. Waaaaaaaaaaaay overkill in performance and $$$ but fun nevertheless. I'll post on it later.

I went out and bought a 2x magnifier. Still not enough mag power to see pins. I went out again and came back with a 2x magnifier lens with a tiny 6x bifocal lens on it. That was barely enough. Lens was about 1.5" from socket and eye right on lens. DoF was non-existent. Thanks for the exacto knife tip Coug. Took a lot of time but I got to a point where I figured the cpu would "flatten" the pin into the right shape.

HUGE RELIEF. I dodged the bullet on that one.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
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Why? Diabetes is quite treatable. Even with some reduction in average lifespan, you may have another 30+ years. With brain cancer of course it is not so much, but not so quick either. :(

Diabetes is just a very slow and very expensive death which for me would largely remove what little joy I could take in life.
 

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
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Diabetes is just a very slow and very expensive death which for me would largely remove what little joy I could take in life.

People born with it deal with it, so you could too. At this point you don't even know if that is the issue. Life in general is a slow death. ;) Hang in there.
 

LunarMist

I can't believe I'm a Fixture
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Only if you trust your personal data to any number of large and largely unaccountable internet-based services. Facebook and Google apparently don't have a problem but Yahoo does, for example.

No, I don't have those.
 

mubs

Storage? I am Storage!
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Somewhere in time.
People born with it deal with it, so you could too. At this point you don't even know if that is the issue. Life in general is a slow death. ;) Hang in there.

+1.

I was diagnosed with diabetes about 3-4 years ago and it's controlled with pills. But the fact is that with pills, control is never as good as the instant, constantly adjusting control your body used to have. I have adjusted dosing myself and have improved the control of my sugar. Most physicians are interested in making very small adjustments so you'll end up going to them again and again so they can increase their revenue.

I've heard some say that insulin shots provide more natural (even) control than pills, but I've also heard that once you get on insulin, you're on it for good.

My father lived with it for about 37 years, and his control was not very good. And insulin & meds in his days were much more primitive than what we have today.

As Lunar said, you learn to deal with it and be a bit more careful, and it's no big deal.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
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People born with it deal with it, so you could too. At this point you don't even know if that is the issue. Life in general is a slow death. ;) Hang in there.

I already eat like I'm a diabetic. Tiny meals, controlled portions, almost no sweets. I go to the gym at least three times a week even when I'm ridiculously busy. It's kind of miserable, since eating has been one of the only pleasures I consistently have. I lost a huge amount of weight and got to a point where doing anything more was just pure misery. If I've done all that and I'm STILL diabetic, there's going to be medication and testing and it's just a slippery slope of more and more bad news. I don't want to be sticking myself in the stomach three times a day and paying $1000 a month for maintenance or else decide that I really don't need my feet any more.

Fuck it. Just kill me.
 

sedrosken

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I hate to say it but I concur with Merc. If I were to develop Diabetes, of which there is a tangible chance though my metabolism acts like it's on crack, as it runs in my birth mother's side (wow, I just get hammered with diseases, considering Diabetes, Parkinson's Dystonia, classic Parkinson's, heart disease, and depression run in my family as a whole), I would just want to get it over with. Food isn't the only source of joy in my life, by far, but it will signify a significant change in lifestyle for me if I want to live for very long afterward. I don't eat sweets very often in comparison with my peers but I do enjoy consuming them when I get to. That was what took my grandfather on my step-mom's side, he got diagnosed and refused to change his lifestyle. He went blind and (towards the bitter end) crazy, and he died a few years ago. It was quite sad, though it was before my step-mom came into the picture.
 

Bozo

Storage? I am Storage!
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I have diabetes. I have been taking a pill for over 15 years. It sure the hell is better than going blind.
 

Handruin

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I know a number of people with the diacritic, but none have the palsy.

WloZuPS.jpg
 

Handruin

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Late is relative. Many have filed extensions.

I've always wondered about that because in order to file an extension, one must still calculate the taxes to pay anything owed or else you get hit with late fees and penalties. If you're going to file for an extension, that means you must have done most of the calculations anyway...
 

ddrueding

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I've always wondered about that because in order to file an extension, one must still calculate the taxes to pay anything owed or else you get hit with late fees and penalties. If you're going to file for an extension, that means you must have done most of the calculations anyway...

I asked my accountant about that last night (he has an office party on the night of the 15th). He says he just ballparks a number and sends the IRS a check for that, then does the math later.
 

Handruin

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In addition to this years' taxes, I had to redo the past two years worth of taxes because they were not done correctly from the place in which I paid to have them prepared. I was able to get 2012 resubmitted for state and federal with the correction which will now return a decent chunk of cash that was over-payed. As an aside, apparently the government pays interest on over-payments, so in theory the return made more in interest with the government than in my bank anyway. I still have to correct 2011's because of an improper filing for "house-keeping" forms. The reason I went to someone in the first place is because I didn't understand fully how to file these taxes and apparently they didn't either. :-| Taxes are too over-complicated.
 

ddrueding

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My accountant is very good. I don't pay him, but I know his regular rate is $300/hr and average client has an 8-figure net worth. Every year, just for kicks, I try to do my taxes myself before sending it all to him. I sit down with a bottle of scotch and actually try to do the forms and math to make sure I have all the documents I need and get a better understanding of where I am financially. Every year, according to my calculations, I would get a couple hundred back. Every year, when he is done with my stuff, I get a five figures back.

It is hard to recommend him because he is so darn expensive, but I know he would pay for himself at his rate compared to me doing my own.
 

jtr1962

Storage? I am Storage!
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Doug,

I find that while taxes are complicated sometimes, it's beneficial to me to do them myself rather than pay money to someone else to do them. Unless a person is running a fairly large business, or has very complex investments, I'm not seeing why anyone would need to pay to have their taxes done. I filed as an S corp for a number of years. I now file as an independent proprietor because the costs of the the S-corp outweighed the benefits. I also do my mom's taxes which are actually more complex than mine due to pensions, Social Security, and some investments. In the end you and you alone are responsible for what goes onto your tax returns. I'd much rather do them myself than pay someone who might make a mistake. I find that so long as I keep a spreadsheet of my business expenses as I make them, doing taxes myself is relatively painless. No need to go through the proverbial box of receipts a week before April 15 like many people do.

Anyway, it worked out in your favor but it's a good idea to at least learn a bit about what your accountant did and why. Sometimes you might not be able to do your taxes yourself the first time, but next year you can copy what the accountant just by looking over the forms, and substituting the new numbers.
 

Handruin

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Doug,

I find that while taxes are complicated sometimes, it's beneficial to me to do them myself rather than pay money to someone else to do them. Unless a person is running a fairly large business, or has very complex investments, I'm not seeing why anyone would need to pay to have their taxes done. I filed as an S corp for a number of years. I now file as an independent proprietor because the costs of the the S-corp outweighed the benefits. I also do my mom's taxes which are actually more complex than mine due to pensions, Social Security, and some investments. In the end you and you alone are responsible for what goes onto your tax returns. I'd much rather do them myself than pay someone who might make a mistake. I find that so long as I keep a spreadsheet of my business expenses as I make them, doing taxes myself is relatively painless. No need to go through the proverbial box of receipts a week before April 15 like many people do.

Anyway, it worked out in your favor but it's a good idea to at least learn a bit about what your accountant did and why. Sometimes you might not be able to do your taxes yourself the first time, but next year you can copy what the accountant just by looking over the forms, and substituting the new numbers.

I get that it is important to understand them but the amount of time I dedicate to learning them is costing me more than if I just paid someone to help me with them. For all my career up until 2011 I did do taxes myself. I had several new events that had tax implications in 2011, 2012, and 2013 that I didn't understand how to figure out and properly pay taxes on. If I had done them myself and screwed up, the penalties and fees (and time spent dealing with an audit) would have more than trumped the small amount I paid to have a "qualified" person help me with my taxes. When I owed the government 5 figures worth of taxes above and beyond my normal withholdings, it's not something I want to get wrong. Fortunately in my case in 2012 I paid too much so there is no fees and interest.
 
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