For the past week or so, my hard drive had suddenly started to work overtime i.e. it was constantly active as if scanning for something. My CPU utilization was getting maxed out (close to 100%) and my whole operating system became extremely slow/ sluggish.

At first I thought that it was my Anti virus software scanning my computer but it wasn’t the case as the unexpected activity went on for days. Shutting down any open applications, Outlook and my Firefox browser didn’t do the trick. Rebooting didn’t do it either.

Evidently (according to a number of articles in the MSDN forum), the problem points to a bug within Microsoft Vista. The hard drive activity and high utilization is related to the Windows Search and Indexing service.

Here is the temporary unofficial fix:

1) Disable Windows Search services (within the Services area i.e. by going to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services).
or/and
2) Disable the .XML file extension from being indexed in the Indexing Options control panel (this was a reply from a Microsoft Support person within the forum)

I did disable the search but didn’t try fix #2. My computer is currently back to normal CPU utilization and everything seems fine.

I do have some questions though:

- does this bug occur on specific Vista versions only?
- what triggers the search service to overload the computer?
- when does the Windows Search service start? Randomly or periodically?
- what extra Vista functionality am I losing by disabling Windows Search and Indexing service?

My computer is brand new (less than a month old), running an unpatched Vista Ultimate operating system and is a Dell XPS (if it makes any difference). I am also wondering why this problem suddenly occurred within the past two weeks.

Hope this problem is fixed within Vista’s Service Pack 1. For now, this article may help those suddenly encountering a (Vista) CPU overload.

With the presidential primaries going on, thought it might be interesting to mention some left handed presidential facts and stats (being left handed myself).

Left handed presidents:

James A. Garfield (1881) 20th
Herbert Hoover (1929-1933) 31st
Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) 33rd
Gerald Ford (1974-1977) 38th
Ronald Reagan (1981 -1989) 40th
George H.W. Bush (1989-1993) 41st
Bill Clinton (1993-2001) 42nd

5 out of the last 7 presidents are left handed (71%). Considering the statistic that only 10% of the population are left-handed, that is pretty good!

Both Barak Obama and John McCain are left handers. Would you bet against, the next president being left handed?

Speaking of earworms …

Can’t believe I haven’t heard of this song until J told me about it. Now I am regretting ever hearing it.

With the ongoing planning of my new business (which I’ll be officially launching mid this year), I am trying to explore the best way to organize future receipts incurred for tax purposes.

In my personal finances, we’ve always taken standard tax deductions and not itemized anything (didn’t really need to). Receipts and tax related stuff go into one folder that is labeled for the relevant year. When taxes are filed, I put them into a big envelope, with the labeled year and store it in my filling cabinet. I can’t do that with my business as there is itemization involved and a lot more receipts.

While researching the web, I’ve found a multitude of ways people organize their receipts for the IRS:

1) Scan the receipts into pdf form with a Fujitsu’s Scansnap scanner, store them under appropriate folders on the computer. Then burn a CD at the end of the year, label it “200x Tax Receipts” and store it in a fire proof safe.

2) Buy an accordion file (one with a minimum of 12 slots/ pocket), label each slot for the month of the year. Record each receipt in Quickbooks or Quicken and then store them within the relevant month. Label it “200x Tax Receipts” and keep in secure place after the year is over.

3) Use Shoeboxed to scan organize email/ real receipts digitally

4) Use Neat Receipts to scan and store your receipts digitally

5) Put receipts in big envelopes categorized with the appropriate labels e.g. Food, Entertainment, Business Equipment, Office Expenses, Travel, Advertising, Donations etc. At the end of the year or after taxes are filed, bundle them, label and store.

6) Use Diners, American Express or dedicated credit cards for all business expenses. They’ll send an itemized invoice at the end of the year. An accountant can then sort out the relevant deductible expenses.

7) Store in paper folders, boxes or shoeboxes; then transfer every year to bank box or safe.

8) Store in a big box categorized by type (and not date). Receipts are stored after it is recorded in Quickbooks or other financial software.

Item #6 doesn’t tell me much on how the receipts are stored or organized. I’ll probably cross that one off my list of options to consider.

Regarding what are the acceptable practices in the taxman’s eyes, I’ve read conflicting advice:

- scanned receipts are accepted but if audited, they can question its authenticity
- scanned receipts aren’t allowed
- rule of thumb for keeping receipts is about 3 years
- you must keep receipts for at least 5 years
- receipt under $75 can be thrown away (according to the IRS) but you’ll have to justify the amount if audited.
- receipts aren’t needed for anything below $10
- receipts aren’t needed for anything below $500

(Definitely will have to seek the advice of an accountant to get the real answer)

I’ll have to decide which is the best way to organize my tax receipts. Right now, until I get an official answer on whether IRS accepts scanned receipts, I’ll store the originals and won’t bother scanning them (as it could be a waste of time). I’m inclined to buying an accordion file folder, storing the receipts by month and using Quickbooks to record/ itemize (which I already have).

How do YOU organize your receipts for tax purposes and deductions?

It just seems that I’m having less and less time to blog nowadays due to studies, our impending move and the preparation of my new business. On an average day, I have just enough energy to read blogs than to write it. I do apologize for not writing as much.

I hope that my worse fears aren’t coming alive … that this blog is dying a slow death. I can’t bear to see that happen and I’m going to somehow try to keep it alive at all costs. I hold The Foo Logs too close to my heart to have it disappear.

Interestingly, although I haven’t written a blog post in a while and with my infrequent sporadic posting, my blog traffic has somewhat increased. It has gone from an average of 250 unique visitors a day to about 800! It almost seems like I get more traffic when I am not writing than when I do write. I can’t figure that out.

Take a look at my traffic stats since Sept 07 (the time I installed the Mint traffic software on my web host). The traffic shown for today is up to 5 pm only but it is still more than I used to get on an average day.

All the more to keep writing and to keep this blog alive, right? :-)

Here is a teaser/ illusion:

How many Fs are in the sentence below?

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTI
FIC STUDY COMBINED WITH
THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS…

(look in the comments to see the answer - no peeking!)

Pretty funny what people come up with on the web. Take a look at this site, it’s called MizPee.

It’s purpose — to find you the closest and cleanest public restrooms in your area.

So the next time you find yourself needing a bathroom badly, just use your mobile phone browser to key in your City, State, Street Address and it’ll crank out the nearest ones which you can go to or avoid (with bathroom ratings).

It’s a good idea but there are 2 main drawbacks:

1) it seems to depend on individual recommendations to add bathroom reviews to its database and there seems to be a huge lack of it at the moment

I keyed in my street address and the nearest clean bathroom was in Cincinnati about 4 hours away. Being well known/ big cities, I did expect Cleveland or Columbus to be in there.

2) it is only limited to 13 states

Also check out the Looism trivia page to catch up on your toilet trivia… useful for breaking the ice the next time you meet someone new.

Being a Web 2.0 user generated website, they may have to spread the word more and maybe tie it in with companies like Mapquest and Google Maps where location/ directional data is more easily accessible. Until then, you can be sure that I won’t be driving 4 hours to go to a highly rated bathroom.

Steve passed away on Saturday, Jan 26 just after 7 am. Surrounded by his family at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia, he is finally at rest after a very long two year fight for his life. Thank you everyone for the prayers and support. He never stopped thanking everyone for the love he felt. He will be missed.

Steve was diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive form of cancer known as neuronendocrine cancer in late 2006. He was just in his early 20s and had a promising career in law enforcement. I had written about him in November of last year.

The viewing will be held at Morrell Funeral Home in Boyertown, PA on Tuesday evening from 7-8:30 PM. The service will on Wednesday morning either at the Funeral Home or at a Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Pottstown. Viewing from 9-10 with the a Mass following. Burial will be at the Hill Church. Arrangements are currently being made and details will be finalized on Monday.

My word of the day: Earworm.

They stay in your head, they dig deep, they never let go and there is no known cure for it. I’m not talking about an animal or creature, I’m talking about the *Songs stuck in your head* syndrome and those you ultimately find yourself humming when you least expect it.

Aargh! The songs, the jingles and the short tunes that irritatingly gets lodged within.

Can’t believe I haven’t heard that word until now. Nevertheless, it’s a term that fits perfectly for those many songs that follow me subconsciously throughout the day. The Hillary vs. Obama song is a perfect example.

Here is my top 15 list of Earworms (in no particular order):

1) YMCA (Village People)
2) The Mana Mana song (Muppets)
3) Who Let The Dogs Out (Baha Men)
4) Mission Impossible Theme
5) Austin Powers Theme
6) Ice Ice Baby (Vanila Ice)
7) Can’t Touch This (MC Hammer)
8) Don’t Worry Be Happy (Bobby McFerrin)
9) Cotton Eye Joe (Rednex)
10) I’m Too Sexy (Right Said Fred)
11) She bangs (Ricky Martin)
12) Barbie Girl (Aqua)
13) It’s a Small World
14) Wannabe (Spice Girls)
15) Hangin’ Tough (New Kids on the Block)

Special Mentions: Straight up (Paula Abdul), Tom’s Diner (Suzanne Vega) and You’ve Got the Right Stuff (New Kids on the Block)

The comic book world was rocked in the past couple of weeks when Marvel dissolved the Spiderman Peter Parker-Mary Jane marriage.

Titled “One More Day”, comic #545 sees Spiderman deal with a devil like villian Mephisto to save Aunt May (who was in a coma). In the deal, Mephisto wipes Peter Parker and Mary Jane’s memory, essentially making it look like their marriage never took place. So Peter Parker is now a 20 something bachelor living with his aunt (who is now alive and well). The deal with Mephisto also erased the part about Spiderman telling the whole world who he is (something Marvel shouldn’t have done that in the first place!).

Marvel comics had said they regretted writing the Spidey-MJ marriage plot. I guess the (dis)continuity of the Spiderman script is what spoils it for the fans (including me) — the writers should have thought about it more. In recent times, we’ve seen Peter Parker and MJ separating, MJ having a miscarriage and even a story line telling us that it was Peter’s clone is the one that got married. Joe Quesada, Marvel’s editor-in-chief then stepped in to say that the marriage just couldn’t continue as it was bogging Spiderman down as a superhero.

Says Quesada, “At the end of the day my job is to keep these characters fresh and ready for every fan that walks through the door … while also planning for the future and hopefully an even larger fan base.”

Bad scripts and storylines… come on guys, I think you can do better than that. It’s a fresh start but lets not screw this one up again. It would be interesting to see how they try to write MJ into Spidey’s life again. Reminds me of how DC’s Superman dying and came back to life again — pretty absurd.