As usual, we start with the Dots in Books. I’m happy to announce two… drum roll… likes! But who are those guys who like my counting books for children? David is the founder of jAlbum, the (free) software I use for presenting my photos. It’s because I got to beta-test their Blurb API that I published the Dots in Books with Blurb. Todd, as you can see, has a vested interest in my product selling – he works for Blurb… I guess it’s about time I return the favor and go like jAlbum!
[Done. That was easy!]
— 2 —
Other exciting news in the world of software is that Google Maps can now map indoors. Yes, that’s right: you no longer need to ask where the restaurant bathroom is, you can just whip out your Android and be guided there.
— 3 —
Of course, the exact same technology is also was also used for other purposes, one case in point being tracking customers in a mall on the busiest weekend of the year. It made perfect sense on the drawing board, but ended up getting a US senator involved. I just wonder who else is triangulating phones without announcing it!
— 4 —
Here would be a candidate: CarrierIQ. For once, I’m happy I’ve got a Windows Mobile 6.5 OS on my phone.
Speaking of tossing, I frequently toss Joseph around, like most dads I’ve seen. It’s made me think about how dependence and trust act as a channel for greater joy, about how the greatest pleasures on earth (& beyond) come from trusting someone fully, and not from the independence that’s so highly valued in our society. Of what joys do I deprive myself because I dare not give up my independence? True community, in the family and beyond, requires interdependence. Independence stunts community.
— 7 —
The other day, we had a visit from the midwife. She showed us one position to massage Janet, and Janet made some groaning noises to get Joseph used to a louder mommy. What does Joseph do? He helps massage Janet’s back, and then groans himself. Joseph’s a great imitator. He observes us closely, assuming we are right, consistent, and worth imitating. There’s no skepticism in his mind, no doubt. Is it a sign of adulthood to approach other people with skepticism and the notion that they very well could be wrong? Or is that one of those traits we need to let go of in order to be truly childlike?
Joseph, besides being adept at turning pages in his counting book, also has (inadvertently) exposed a favorite parable on heaven and hell, that of the long spoons. Told as in this source, it reduces the inhabitants of both heaven and hell to an intelligence below that of a 15-month-old. Joseph knows he can get a long spoon into his mouth by simply not holding it at its handle end, but closer to the business end. The folks in the parable either starve or resort to elaborate cross-feeding schemes.
So, if you’re tempted to tell this parable, use a better version.
— 2 —
Years ago, I bought a CD from the now-defunct band TDK. One of the members has since come out with solo music, so if you’re interested in some Bernese Swiss German to Country-esque tunes, Burgersongs might be for you.
— 3 —
I bought shoes this summer, for $11 plus tax, at Payless. They are American Eagle, wide enough for my feet, and have a semi-sporty semi-classy look. Well, in less than half a year, on both shoes a loop holding the laces has slipped out of the seam that was supposed to hold it, and I now have symmetric glue spots on my shoes. I’m not sure $11 plus tax comes with a right to complain, but from new to hemi-demi-semi-classy in just a few weeks made me search for “American Eagle Sucks.” Looks like, in a preemptive strike, AE bought www.americaneaglesucks.com. What I can recommend, however, is UHU glue.
Somebody decided on this questionable public health ad campaign in Milwaukee. To me, it looks like Graco bought the politicians: “All ads follow up on the initial shock they may cause by offering a phone number for parents to call to receive a free Pack ‘N Play, a collapsible crib, she said.”
— 6 —
Somebody decided Blacksburg’s the best place to raise kids. We used to call it a drinking town with a football problem.
— 7 —
To finish this off, a rather odd hate crime: Mullets trim beards. So, you can’t own a phone, but when you’re meting out justice, battery-powered trimmers and cameras are ok? Looks like those Mullets need their heads inspected.
You’ve seen Joseph and his counting book before, but I still wanted to include it on a video page.
Joseph one day decided he wanted to carry his pot to the toilet himself. It’s often a slightly harrowing experience, but generally he does a good job – with a little help from his friends.
This is a task he’s been doing for a longer time and clearly enjoys.
Joseph discovers jumping off the couch.
One day we’ll stop posting videos of Joseph on the phone.
But not today.
Joseph’s hard to get with a regular camera.
Joseph has discovered his building blocks cart as a vehicle.
You may already know that I self-published a simple children’s counting book because of Joseph’s interest in the dot flashcards the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential sell as their math program. We’ve now received our copy, and here’s Joseph’s reaction to his new counting book.
Joseph loves his new dots book!
— 2 —
Two Sundays ago, we visited both our regular church and the Catholic church, for a bit of organ, hymns, and good liturgy. The sermon was on the parable of the ten virgins. The priest confessed that this parable had always bothered him. Why do those virgins get punished so harshly for such a small oversight? Did the bridegroom really place such importance on the virgins’ being ready with extra oil? The priest proposed that the main desire of the bridegroom was not the perfect preparation of those virgins, but that they be there to welcome him when he came. What made them foolish was not only their lack of preparedness, but their embarrassment at being caught imperfect, with unlit lamps, when welcoming the bridegroom. Their pride, their desire to present themselves perfect with lit lamps, their refusal to admit to their lack of preparedness to the bridegroom, caused them to insult him by not even being present to welcome him. The priest proposed that had they waited with unlit lamps, they would have made it into the feast.
I enjoyed this alternate take for casting light on another underreported aspect of the parable, but even more so, was happy to see my notion of all Catholics being all works-based go up in smoke.
— 3 —
The previous sermon at our regular church had been on the Prodigal Son. I’ve heard a number of speakers look more closely at the older son, the one who obeyed the rules and never partied (though he wanted to) and wouldn’t party when his brother returned. Our pastor pointed out that although the younger son openly rebelled, wishing the father dead, the older didn’t serve out of love, either. He served to follow the law and fulfill expectations, out of a sense of duty and a notion that his father was a taskmaster. He served with grumbling, thinking that would please his father. In the same way, his father was openly generous and gracious to the younger son, but by inviting the older one (and we don’t know for sure that he declined!) also showed plenty of generosity and grace to the older one. The question remains, though: is it easier to repent of obvious, open sin, than of having kept all the rules to (perhaps unconsciously) eliminate the need for grace, for God, in our lives?
— 4 —
Note, also, that the father placed no demands on the younger son, neither for repentance (though that’s there), nor for restitution, nor conditions on future behavior. I doubt any of us fully transpose that behavior of free, unconditional grace to God. Most of us would submit that repentance is a requirement; many of us that at least an improvement of future behavior should be part of the transaction.
— 5 —
Then, last week’s sermon was on Colossians 2:7 and context. Our pastor first pointed out how focusing on rules stunts growth, just like telling an apprentice only what he’s not allowed to do in the workshop. Real growth requires not a certainty of not having broken commandments, it requires being rooted in Christ, growing through the constant interaction with him and the permeation of his “nutrients” into our lives. A thought I had afterward is that there’s probably a direct connection with how focused I am on rules and boundaries and how strong my need is to defend and justify myself. If I’m rooted in Christ, he is my defense, and my fruit is my defense. I can overcome hurtful accusations because of the strong connection to Christ, and helpful correction serves as healthy pruning; neither requires defense, because my justification is in my roots. But if I rely on my observance of rules, my accomplishments must be defended, my actions justified.
— 6 —
I’m not sure whether to be entertained by the carousel of candidates and the hoopla surrounding it, or embarrassed. I do loosely follow reporting on it, and came upon an article that talked about the houses of the GOP candidates. My vote goes to Michele Bachmann – but only if that is really her car in the driveway.
— 7 —
I was driving for work again yesterday and for want of a CD player in the company car listened to the radio. Once again they played a song with some version of the “I’d do it all over again” line. I think the tradition started a long time ago; the oldest example that comes to mind is Edith Piaf’s “Non, je ne regrette rien,” but there must be previous examples out there.
Here’s Edith Piaf – you can listen while you read on.
Where, I wonder, do these singers get the confidence to say that? Are they so certain there wasn’t a better way to live? Can anyone really know enough of what he’s done, its effects on others, the circumstances surrounding his actions, to confidently and categorically conclude that he’s done right – nay, that he’s done the best he could possibly have done? Or are they just terrified of the possibility that they could have done better, and talking up their own courage? After all, admitting an action was wrong (or less than perfect) becomes harder and harder as consequences snowball. I can make it personal: if I realize my bluntness hurts people, what is easier, going back to all the people I have hurt in the past and asking for forgiveness, or casting my bluntness as a virtue and their hurt as their problem? Oui, je regrette plenty alright.
I’m a lot earlier in setting this up than last time, which is mostly due to not wanting to bother with setting up a baby pool around Christmas. We are of course hoping that Little One stays inside a good bit longer, as his due date is January 16 or 17, I can’t remember for sure. You can participate as before by commenting with your prediction of Little One’s birth date, time, size, weight, and gender (unknown to us as well). Whoever gets closest to the truth will be crowned the grand winner and will receive an as of yet undecided prize, which is all the more tantalizing as the grand winner last time has yet to receive his…
Rules for determining the grand winner:
1. If you get the gender right, you receive 0 points; if you get it wrong, or don’t state it, -5 points.
2. For every day you are off, -1 point. Not stating day or time scores -5 points.
3. For every centimeter you are off, -1 point. Not stating anything scores -5 points.
4. For every 200 grams you are off, -1 point. Not stating anything scores -5 points.
5. The person with the highest total wins.
6. Entering after Little One’s arrival voids the entry.
Go to digitaldutch for a useful unit conversion link, or have a look at the Google spreadsheet I made for converting weights!
I copied these pictures onto the computer two weeks ago, but then they lay dormant until now. Here are photos of Joseph’s sixteenth month. A month later, he still loves his shoes.
No, I’m not talking about the US taxing its citizens abroad for once, but it does start with a US citizen moving abroad: Janet. In 2008, she did these things:
– she married me (legally) on December 22
– she taught music to a few children
Simple enough for taxation purposes, one would think. But:
– although we would now file jointly, she had not yet moved in with me (in Basel, another canton, and therefore another tax jurisdiction), and according to deregistration and registration didn’t until January 1, 2009
– she taught music in Germany
– she taught in school facilities
– she was not employed by the school
– she did not pay rent to the school
– she was paid in Swiss francs by Swiss residents
So, the questions multiplied. Would she have to tell Binningen about these earnings? Should she have registered with the German authorities because she’d exercised a business in Germany? Should she have registered in Switzerland? Where would she have to pay her social security contributions? Did she have to pay any at all, since in Switzerland she was now covered by my contributions? And where would she have to pay? The school she attended has headquarters in Aargau, so the Aargau social security system had written her that year for the minimum contribution the Swiss system expects of students, but she lived in Baselland, and was going to file taxes jointly with me in Basel-Stadt, working in Germany but getting paid in Switzerland, as a foreign resident.
Yeesh. This would mean a lot of phone calls.
Here is what I remember and what I can make of my notes.
– The Aargau social security office said to call Basel-Stadt, they were responsible
– The Basel-Stadt social security office said to call Basel-Land, because she was a resident of Binningen (Basel-Land)
– The Basel-Land social security office said to call Germany for the social security taxation, and Binningen for all other taxes
– The city of Weil am Rhein (DE), where Janet taught, said she needn’t register (either because she was a musician or because she wasn’t making enough or both)
– The city of Lörrach (DE), responsible for German taxation in the Weil district, said she was taxable in Switzerland, because she didn’t have a contract with the school in Germany and because it was a short-term engagement
– Back at the Basel-Land social security office, they said that as soon as they had the documents they’d send a confirmation in German that Janet was in the clear, and they’d look around for an English form to send the US social security administration
– Binningen said that in principle Janet’s residency would require two tax declarations, despite getting married, but considering the amount Janet earned, decided not to send one, and said to call the Basel-Stadt tax office
– Basel-Stadt said that they’d settle it with Basel-Land upon receipt of our tax return, and said that someone with as low and irregular an income as Janet need not itemize deductions, but could simply deduct a flat 20% of income
– I later realized that a deduction married couples can make in Basel-Stadt if both are working was limited to the amount Janet earned (for low incomes like hers), so whether we itemized or deducted 20%, the end result was the same
What we did in the end was declare our income only in Basel-Stadt, and pay Janet’s social security (AHV) contributions only in Basel-Stadt, as far as I remember. The take-home information for foreign independent musicians in Switzerland is to register for AHV early, and to check with all the involved tax and social security offices before accepting a gig. (And you wonder why so many musicians fudge on taxes…)
