Our Anniversary

Today, June 8, 2006, Lenore and I celebrated our 66th wedding anniversary. We have lived a long, loving and very fertile life together and it warmed our hearts to receive so many very kind wishes from our family and friends. We capped this happy day at our local Imperial Wok, with a savorous Chinese dinner. Joined with us were two of our five children, their spouses, two of our twelve grandchildren and Lauren, Brian's lovely amante.

At our age, we no longer look too far into the future. But we do enjoy living with our memories of the past, of which we have an overwhelming abundance. If God is not impatient to have us, we will try to be here for our next anniversary. In the meantime, forgive this gratuitous bit of advice we extend to those who take this extraordinary gift of life, for granted:

Live this precious life thou hast

Wasteth it not in barren solitude

Endeavor ever to be first, not last

To proclaim thy sincerest gratitude

That thou wert incubated, then born

--- Dom Gabriele

mailto:domgab85@aol.com

Thanks!

“Here, Dr. Gabriele.
Bush says you can keep it, for now”

On April 11, 2006, I posted “A New Dawn” (Check it out)

In it I described how I had just received an advisory from the IRS which declared that I had under reported my 2004 income by $25,000 and that with accrued penalties, I now owed the government $8,998. In a politely phrased, and merciful, addendum, I was invited to submit any material that would definitively refute the government’s contention.

To access what was now a totally unresponsive 2004 Tax Disc, I was referred by TurboTax Support to a technician in India. That gentleman walked me through to the solution with astonishing speed, grace and cordiality. And, as a result of that serendipitous encounter, I am now a passionately ardent supporter of Globalization and Outsourcing.

I quickly submitted what was needed to undo the error I had committed when I filed my 2004 tax return. I also sent copies of those documents to my very dear, accountant friend, Howard Marks, whose heart warming, reassuring motto is, “Have no fear while Marks is here!” He had no doubt that a favorable conclusion would be forthcoming.

In today’s mail, there was a letter from K.C. Corbin of the IRS. It was ominously titled, “Closing Notice” ~ but these were the opening sentences ~ Thank you for providing us with additional information regarding the issue we recently wrote to you about. We are pleased to tell you that, with your help, we were able to clear up the differences between yours' and your payer’s records.

As the Bard of Avon once wrote, All’s well, that ends well. Thank you K.C. Corbin of the IRS. Thank you Howard Marks. And a very special thank you to that gentleman technician in India. Last, but not least, I must also express my everlasting gratitude to President Bush, who is striving so arduously to make the Department of the Treasury a benevolent arm of the U.S. Government.

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http://domgab85@aol.com