Things I've Learned While On Hold To Speak With The IRS

1. There is an entire category of  Kindle Books by Guests of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"

Of these only three are considered "Literature & Fiction." There are 42 biography/memoirs on the list. Poetry doesn't appear at all.

2.  The subject of an interview I'm doing is much smarter than I am.

3. The IRS plays an instrumental composition that seems designed to make one aware of the passage of time. It loops through with single notes played on what seems to be an electronic piano. It sounds like David Benoit. Occassionaly there's a sort of hint that the music is coming to an end. But it doesn't.

4. A blog called TaxGirl.com has a post from 2010 discussing the on-hold music in some details (that's where I got the David Benoit reference. I've never actually listened to the easy jazz stylings of David Benoit on purpose, and after this I probably never will (though the little bongo solo made me laugh because it reminded me of Dr. Sheldon Cooper's epic bongo moment on "The Big Bang Theory").

5. There are many "IRS customers."

6. Apparently there is internal IRS hold music, also. This I learned from the comments on the TaxGirl.com post.

7. If you file married filing jointly, always make your payments under the FIRST Social Security that appears on the return—even if it's not yours. 

8. Goo Goo Clusters are made in Nashville. There are three types: Original (introduced in 1912) that combiness milk chocolate, caremel, peanutes, and marshmallow nougat; Premium (introduced int he early '80s) has pecans instead of peanuts; and Peanut Butter (introduced in 1991) replaces the nougat with peanut butter. A 72-count box of any flavor costs $95.99 (not including shipping), but you can also buy Collector's Tins that contain an assortment. The Collector Tins are not in stock. From April through September, the company offers the option of a $10 "warm weather" charge for orders shipped in insulated shippers with cold packs. googoo.com

9. PAWS in Norwalk is hiring a Canine Adoption Coordinator. It's a salaried position. http://pawsct.org/

10. The Connecticut Department of Transportation is announcing the nighttime closure of the Scribner Avenue on-ramp to I-95 Northbound (Interchange 14) in Norwalk from 9:00pm until 6:00 am beginning Monday, August 10, 2015, and ending by Friday, August 14, 2015.

11. Erika Dreifus is not only a generous person (on her blog she posts a list of paying markets for writers every Monday), she is an incredible writer. You should check out her work: http://www.erikadreifus.com/publications/

12.  " Currently, an adjunct in the College of Liberal Arts is paid about $4,000 per semester to teach a three-credit course. The cost to a student for such a course is approximately $3,000. If 30 students enroll in the course, the university derives $90,000 from that course alone. Deducting the adjunct’s fee of $4,000 from the total leaves the university with $86,000 (minus a relatively small amount for the administrative and building costs attributable to the use of the classroom). The adjunct receives no health or retirement benefits.
If you apply the same calculations to 500 adjuncts, the results are astounding. If each teaches but a single class of similar size (some teach two or more), the income to the university per semester ($90,000 multiplied by 500) is $45 million. The total cost for adjuncts ($4,000 multiplied by 500) is $2 million. That leaves the university with $43 million per semester." Read this: Universities that rely on adjunct professors pursue profit over academic integrity by Samuel Hazo

13. I really need to change my jobs situation.