Geoff Fox: My Permanent Record
Back when I was in school teachers would always scare me with stories of how my exploits would end up in my permanent record. I believe this is it! – Geoff Fox
If you watched 60 Minutes Sunday evening, you saw Bob Simon’s piece on an out-of-the-way paradise on New Guinea. Even though I’d seen it before, I watched it again.
If you watched 60 Minutes Sunday evening, you saw Bob Simon’s piece on an out-of-the-way paradise on New Guinea. Even though I’d seen it before, I watched it again. Most TV isn’t worth watching once!
Here’s what I wrote when it first aired. I’m still envious of Simon’s job.
During the football season, it’s tougher to watch 60 Minutes. It’s on after football, so the start time drifts. The DVR is fooled.
I watched last night. Zip – right through A-Rod story. I just didn’t care.
What did catch my attention was an amazing story by Bob Simon. He went to a pristine, untouched area in Indonesia, hundreds of miles from any kind of civilization. As his scientist host said, “It�s probably basically the way it was five or 10,000 years ago.”
Think about the financial and resource commitment from CBS News and Simon. This story cost a small fortune to produce.
After a 20-hour flight to Jakarta, Indonesia, followed by a seven-hour plane ride to New Guinea, Simon and the team had concluded the easy part of the trip. They then boarded a single-engine plane with Bruce Beehler, the lead scientist from “Conservation International,” which stirred the world with its discoveries in 2005. After an hour in the air, they were looking for a grass runway.
The next morning, we loaded up a helicopter for the 45-minute journey up to the mountain. It’s at least a two-week hike from the village and there are no trails.
The destination was a jungle paradise never touched by man – never. These would be first footsteps over much of the ground. It was lush, green, astoundingly beautiful and bounding with life (though curiously, very few mammals).
I would love to go there. I probably never will. At the moment, I don’t even have a valid passport.
There aren’t many jobs like Bob Simon’s left. Some big newspapers still have foreign correspondents. The TV networks have deemphasized international news.
Bob Simon travels the world, covering wars and this week, covering paradise.
The distinguished looking man on the left is Mark Everson. You probably don’t know him. You’ve probably thought of him. He’s the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service.
Hey, Mark! I’ve just done my taxes. What exactly were you guys thinking?
I am a lucky guy. I make a good living. With few investments outside my home, cars, or retirement account, my taxes should be easy. After all, I’m an employee. I can’t deduct much of anything.
Even using an online service, it still takes hours! I tried to get it right. Can anyone be sure they did?
Don’t get me wrong. I’m willing to pay taxes to pay for government services and programs. Sure, I don’t agree with everything you guys in Washington/Hartford/Town Hall are doing, but I’ll pay my fair share. I just can’t seem to figure out what that is.
Why should doing my taxes be so stressful? Mark, are you with me?
The commish is probably a bright guy. He went to school here in New Haven at Yale. Yale is no guarantee of brightness (insert your own joke here since the last three presidents have gone to Yale), though it’s a reasonable reassurance.
Why can’t I, a former math team member, easily blow through this thing without worrying I’ve done something terribly wrong and will end up bunking with a former politician in Danbury, or worse? Why is it so difficult? Why is it so confusing?
Is there a reason you’ve got multiple forms, all named 1099? There’s 1099B, 1099DIV, 1099OID… I could go on. This is like George Foreman naming all his children George – and you know how we feel about that idea!
Then, there’s the question of money for Steffie’s college expenses. We were good parents and put something away when she was a little girl. Exactly how much did we originally invest in the late 80s? Uh – I’ll get back to you on that.
In the past, I’ve had relatives who worked backwards in their tax forms. In other words, they decided what they thought would be a fair amount for them to pay, then worked from there until the other numbers made that happen. I don’t do that.
I’m not looking to move my geofffox.com headquarters to the Cayman Islands or Bermuda. Should I? That really pretty yacht we saw in Cabo San Lucas, owned by a guy from Montana, flew the Cayman flag. Maybe he’s on to something?
A few years ago, Stanley Works, the tool company in New Britain, CT, tried to move its offices offshore. Lots of companies have. Even our cruise ship, Norwegian Caribbean’s, “Norwegian Star,” was registered in the Bahamas. That’s not part of Norway nor the US.
All I want is an easier tax system. Since none of the special exemptions I have to ponder are for me, you’ll probably have to tick off people with more influence than I have. C’mon Mark, you can do it.
Finally, am I being graded on spelling?
We had some pretty violent thunderstorms over the weekend and then, to a lesser extent, Monday. There were reports of hail and gusty winds and at least one house struck by lightning (a strike that melted glass lightbulbs and started a fire which gutted the basement).
As a photographer, I grab my camera every time there’s a thunderstorm in the area. I did Sunday, standing in the garage, under cover, shooting out the open door.
There is a fairly simple technique for shooting lightning. First, it helps if it’s dark outside. You have to manually set the camera for a very long shutter time – put it on a tripod or something steady – point in the direction you expect lightning – and then hope for the best.
It’s never worked for me. But, I continue to try.
On Sunday, the technique worked for Mark Schumacher of Southington. He caught this amazing photo while looking toward New Britain (basically northeast). It is, perhaps, the best Connecticut lightning shot I’ve ever seen.
Now I’ve got incentive to try even harder.
