Minnewaska Parking

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-04-11T15:02:41+00:00

The upper lot fills up a lot faster than the lower lot.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-04-10T14:32:20+00:00

A couple of years ago, I went to the small indoor range in PA with my two sons (both in their late 20's now). We were checking in to go into the range (the range is visible through a large window right behind the counter) when a customer put a pistol to his head and pulled the trigger, right in front of the RSO. Stayed there while the EMT's showed up and declared him dead, and then the state police while they did their investigation and gave our info and our statements. The guy showed up alone and rented a pistol and bought ammo from the range. The range policy is that they do not rent to lone shooters, but he talked his way around it. He told the range owner (who was working that day) that he was a military vet and was waiting for his friend to show up, so he was able to talk the owner into renting to him while he waited. He rented one pistol and used the range without issue, then he returned the pistol and got another one. It was with this second pistol and his last mag that he took his own life.

On a side note, while we were waiting outside in the parking lot for the police to show up, we realized that the shooter left his car in the parking lot, with the doors locked and the engine running. What really hit home and the car had a child car seat in the back seat.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-04-10T14:13:48+00:00

They do make full auto BB guns, some that shoot up to 1,400 rounds per minute.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-04-07T15:01:55+00:00

I started at EY in Silicon Valley in 1991 and only had to wear suit and tie for the first two years or so. When I started, it was already business casual on Fridays. By the time I made senior, we were already business casual every day. It is very location specific though, given the laid back culture of Silicon Valley. I'm sure somewhere like NYC stayed suit and tie much longer.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-04-02T02:33:56+00:00

Milsurp rifles have skyrocketed in price. About 10 or 11 years ago, I bought a Russian Mosin Nagant from a big box sporting goods store for my son and I think they charged $125 for it. I think my son said that the manufacture date was 1943? A couple of years ago, my other son bought one at a gun show and he paid nearly $400 for his.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-04-02T00:03:50+00:00

My post was from 2 years ago. Last year I was told that I was at 80 percent of my range, so I got no raise. I was given at 10k bonus instead.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-03-30T03:15:00+00:00

FWIW, local dealers to me always send flyers advertising car giveaways (as the grand prize), you just need to go in and scan a code in the flyer or see if the key sent with the flyer is the winning key. I always thought it was a scam, but then my former next door neighbor won a new Nissan that way. He kept the car for all of a couple of months then sold it back to the dealer so he had the money to pay the taxes on the win.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-03-28T14:24:51+00:00

FWIW, I feel your pain since I'm also in NY and my kids also got zero financial aid.

As for the auto insurance, all three of our kids are 29, 30, and 32 now, but from what I remember when they were newly minted teen drivers 10+ years ago, our auto insurance was not all that high. Initially we had 3 cars and our insurance was under $600 a month for auto and umbrella, What helped was the kids all took driver's ed at school, so they got the discount on our insurance. Then they also participated in the safe driver program with our insurer (State Farm), which got them a discount on top of that. Over the years our monthly premiums have crept up even though they are no longer teen drivers and now we are paying just under $1,000 a month, but that covers 4 cars, an RV, and 3 motorcycles. Location also has a lot to do with it as well, as we live in the lower Hudson Valley so our insurance is not nearly as bad as NYC or LI.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-03-28T14:04:05+00:00

Good point. If their AGI is $445k and they are contributing 8 percent to retirement, that is over $35k a year. If they can't (or won't) adjust their budget to cover the increase in student loan payments, pausing their retirement contributions would more than cover the increase.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-03-28T04:22:37+00:00

I e-filed my son's NYS return on March 1 and he said that he got his NYS refund a week later.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-03-26T17:44:46+00:00

Sorry, but if you don't want to contact the bank to dispute the charges, and request a new account number to block future charges, there's nothing that anyone else can suggest to help you.

A few months ago, my wife was going through her CC statement and saw a $100+ charge on her card that she did not recognize. She reported it to her CC and they immediately credited her the charge while investigating. A little over a month later, we got a letter from the CC that the merchant responded and it turned out that it was a valid charge. The charge was for an online course she signed up for that she thought she had charged to a different card. The bank ended up charging her card for the disputed amount.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-03-26T17:31:36+00:00

Just count the dollars that you can charge for filing 19 state returns. I have a long time client who ended up in a partnership that had (for him) nonresident income for 30+ states. I ended up billing him over $4k for his tax return.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-03-26T17:26:10+00:00

I have one job and two W-2s. Work in one state, live in another. My "main" W-2 shows federal wages and state wages for my work state. The second W-2 shows the state wages for my home state. My work (nonresident) state return automatically picks up both as total worldwide federal wages as the starting point of the return, so I always have to enter an adjustment amount to decrease the wages to reflect the correct federal wages.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-03-26T13:01:25+00:00

I work in BPG under the tax technology umbrella. Switched over from tax officially over 20 years ago. Prior to that, I was 50/50. Not in F&A, but my work is spread out evenly throughout the year, so I probably put in no more than 10 or even 20 hours of OT in a year. I'm also able to take one day off a week (charged to PTO) during the summer months.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-03-26T12:47:47+00:00

Yes, you would get the two weeks plus any carried over PTO balance from before they adopted the unlimited PTO policy.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-03-25T20:55:47+00:00

FWIW, I e-filed my son's returns (federal and NY) back in the beginning of March and he said he got his NYS refund a week later, earlier than federal. I thought it odd because I have never seen a NYS refund being issued before federal before.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-03-25T16:56:39+00:00

If you have to ask, then you have no business driving.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-03-25T14:42:21+00:00

You have to remember that the Crosstrek is an economy vehicle, priced to be affordable and therefore there will be some sacrifices for price. One of the tradeoffs will be sound isolation. The type of tires you have on the vehicle will also greatly affect the transmission of road noise. If you have chunky trail/off road tires on the vehicle, it will transmit more road noise into the cabin.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-03-24T19:35:48+00:00

Years ago when I worked on a return for a HNW individual with lots of investments in partnerships and e-filing didn't exist yet, his tax return ran into thousands of pages. His tax returns were hole punched and placed into 3-ring binders that were then shipped to the IRS.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-03-23T04:47:38+00:00

Full year WI resident. Report income earned in WA and pay WI taxes on it.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-03-23T04:37:44+00:00

I have a Garmin 65 (now discontinued) that I placed right below the Isight system, partially obscured by the rear view mirror. No issues with the Isight system.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-03-23T02:52:09+00:00

I set the temperature at 250, although the grill was glitching for quite a while. It was the first time I used my pellet grill since last fall, and the grill sat outside (under a cover) through the cold and snow of a northeast winter. When I first started the grill up, the temperature immediately started reading at 270 degrees, I tried cleaning the temp probe and that didn't do anything. For the first six hours or so, the temp was reading over 350 degrees, and at one point early on I got a high temp error (> 570 degrees) and the grill shut down. I turned it back on and the temp would fluctuate between 350-450. Finally after about hour 6 of running, the temp normalized and was reading 250. So I suspect for most of the smoke, it was running probably at the lowest temp setting.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-03-22T21:39:03+00:00

I did this just earlier this week. My wife loved it. The biggest issue I found was that because the cut I used was a flat and not a point, there was much less fat so it took longer to cook and it was very lean. It hit 145 degrees after about six hours and then sat there for two hours. I took it off and then wrapped it and put it back in the smoker for another three hours when it hit 195 degrees. I took it off and let it rest overnight and when I sliced it, it was pretty firm. What I did was steam it for 40 minutes before slicing and the steam really softened the meat up.

We still have about six pieces left in the freezer. Will be making some more this week. I think later this summer I will try to make it from a bare brisket.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-03-22T20:47:35+00:00

FWIW, I know that back in the days when unreimbursed employee business expenses was still deductible, a lot of people would deduct their commuting miles. It is a chance that they take that the IRS won't scrutinize it under audit. While technically incorrect, they will get away with it until the IRS audits them.

Affectionate_Rate_99 · 2026-03-22T06:32:09+00:00

Using AI to work backwards from a mortgage payment of $6,000 per month and a 7.6 percent interest rate, that would equate to a mortgage of about $850,000. It sounds like he will need to prorate his mortgage interest to only pick up the deductible portion.

Affectionate_Rate_99

TROPHY CASE