Blogtrek

Keep it or nuts

My attic has reams of paper. Old Toastmaster and astronomy files back to the late 1970's, hundreds of books, income tax for every year since 1969, and all my paycheck stubs for all of the places I have ever worked. I need to throw much of this stuff out. They say you can throw out tax returns after 7 years. Then today I find that I needed a piece of paper from the year 1993! It seems the social security people say my Medicare wages were zero in that year. I worked in that year just like any other. I call them and they tell me I have to send them a copy of my W2 for that year. Well fortunately I kept all my tax records from way way back. I got it out, as well as my paycheck stub since the W2 was marginally readable. But this puts a question into my cleanup desires. I want to get rid of that old stuff, but you never know when you will need something.

I gave a talk on mathematics and religion today and convinced people that study too much of either will take you away from the real world. I wanted to convey to people the "just add one" philosophy, that no matter how far you have gone, you can go farther, and that there is always something to learn. No matter how huge a number you pick, I can pick a bigger one. I'll just add one to yours. This is why I believe in the Unitarian Universalist Fourth Principle: the quest for truth and meaning is never-ending.

I eat out every night this week, because of nightly activities. At least one of these meals will be paid for.