NC State Auditor Beth Woods can’t pay her taxes.

According to the News and Observer NC State Auditor Beth Woods admits she intentionally pays her taxes late every year and she  cannot pay them for 2009 until she gets her tax refund. What’s more shocking is the number of people who are okay with this because they say it makes her a “normal person like the rest of us”.

Well now let’s put this in perspective. Beth Woods makes $123,000 a year as the State Auditor. She has a property valued at $124,000 with an annual tax bill of $1234. That’s less than what I pay. I pay on time every year and make less than Mrs. Woods. I bet Mrs. Woods doesn’t have 2 car payments, 3 kids and a 45 mile commute costing her $70-$100 a week in gas. Hell, $102 a month would pay her tax bill. State employees get paid monthly so before taxes Mrs. Woods is paid $10,250 a month. Yet she can’t come up with $1234 to pay her tax bill.

Some people are saying it’s OK, “she’s human”. That’s bullshit. She is responsible for auditing state spending yet she can’t manage her own. In her position she needs to be above reproach and if she’s got personal financial difficulties then she is not.

Here’s the kicker: Her excuse is that she owes $90K on a loan for her campaign. Let me give you a little bit of financial advice Mrs. Woods: If you can’t manage your personal finances well enough to pay your taxes on time you have no business taking out a $90K loan to run for a public office making you accountable for the states spending. It’s not sound financial decision making. What unsound decisions are you making with the states money?

It’s one thing if your household earns around $40-60K a year, have a family of four and can’t pay your property tax bill right when it’s due. It’s another matter entirely if your are the NC State Auditor making $123K a year and can’t pay a $1,234 tax bill because you can’t manage your personal finances. I guess a credit check is not necessary if you are voted into a state office. Probably a good thing for Mrs. Woods. Based on the information available I speculate hers score isn’t looking too wonderful.

Logan gets up early.

I have been getting up with Logan between 4:30 and 5:30 AM every single day for a month. No sleeping in, at all, under any circumstances. I have even been very late to work on a few occasions because I must lay back down after Amy leaves to take the Connor to school in the morning. I have no choice, my stomach is in turmoil sometimes. Crohn’s disease and 5 hours of sleep do not go well together. What’s that you say? Go to bed earlier?

Well, Logan and Connor generally both go to sleep between 8:30 and 9 PM but Amy would like for me to stay up so she can have someone to talk to until 10:30 or 11:00 at night. Which is just fine if you get to sleep as late as 6:00 AM or if you get to lay down and take naps during the day if you’re exhausted beyond the point of being able to count to 10. But I have no such luxury. My body has now learned to wake up after approximately 4-5 hours of sleep. I hear stories on the radio where folks are complaining they don’t get 8 hours of “uninterrupted” sleep. Well boo f*#!ing hoo. I haven’t had 8 hours of “uninterrupted” sleep in probably 6 to 8 years. I’m certain I cannot sleep that long under perfect circumstances with medication.

Sleep is over rated until the drive home on I-540 at about 6 PM. This is where I will die and we all need to hope I don’t take someone with me. I have come very, very close to falling asleep at the wheel during my 45 minute commute.

But I’ve just got to deal with it. Can’t go to bed early and no way under any circumstances I’m I going to get to sleep late. Even when Logan wants Mommy in the morning instead of me, I’m up…changing pull-ups, making milk, and finding the right episode of Special Agent OSO or Mickey Mouse for Logan.

This morning I went upstairs and tried to lay back down at about 5:15. A few minutes later I heard Logan walking around downstairs calling “mommy…mommy…I need you to change me…”. I waited a few minutes. Finally I went downstairs to change the pull-up. Meanwhile Amy’s sawing logs.  I heard Logan all the way upstairs.  Amy didn’t hear him in the hallway outside our bedroom.

Amy has hard mornings. By hard I mean she does not agree with the beginning of the day. She can sleep through a hurricane and once she’s up you’ll wish she had. Sometimes it’s bordering on evil. In fact I’m not sure I want her getting up at 4:30 AM with Logan because I don’t think she would be able to deal with the fact that he’s up, not going back to sleep but up for the day.

Meanwhile I will just focus on making the evening commute without taking anyone else out in my Tundra.

Current Projects

  1. Installing a NetApp FAS2020 filer with an active-active controller configuration.
  2. Migrating recently acquired EDI accounts to Trimaco’s site ID and qualifier.
  3. Procuring a new Dell Latitude for more extensive Windows 7 testing.
  4. Spinning up LUNs on the new SAN to move SQL data on to for testing.
  5. A Microsoft Dynamics Great Plains 10 upgrade.
  6. Upgrading vSync too…
  7. Procuring a new PIX firewall to replace our legacy unit (the sh running config is extensive).
  8. Deploying two laptops to the field (hopefully the last XP units).
  9. Upgrading Label Matrix / Label View.
  10. Remodeling our bathrooms at home.
  11. Kitchen counters maybe?
  12. Nothing else because I can’t handle it in February or March.  I’m booked.