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it rained the whole day. all that moisture in the air made the house seem colder than usual, enough so that i had to put on some socks (normally i'm barefoot). the crackle and pitter patter of raindrops hitting the house and windowpanes was unsettling.

i watched a screener of black swan today, trying to catch up on as many nominated movies before the oscars on sunday night. i didn't think i'd like the movie going in and afterwards i still didn't like it. and natalie portman is the academy frontrunner because of this film? i'll be rooting for annette bening to pull an upset. i still have to watch winter's bone (seems depressing) and that facebook movie (seems pretentious).

when i received work from client E in the afternoon to go ahead with some fixes, i was actually relieved because it meant i could work from my bedroom, door closed, spaceheater on.

the most important thing i did today was doing my taxes. normally i'd wait until april, figuring i'd have to pay anyway so no point in doing it sooner rather than later. but this year, if i can get my taxes done early, i can try to switch my health insurance to a better rate, especially since i made very little in 2010. i still figured i had to pay an additional few grand on top of the chunk of change i mailed to the IRS as my 4th quarter estimated taxes. so it was with some reluctance that i started plugging numbers into my turbotax program. it didn't take long for me to suddenly realize that not only was i already all set in terms of tax payments, but actually i paid too much and would be getting a sizable refund this year. how did this happen? well, a combination of a low income, mortgage interest, self-employment health insurance deduction, and selling some stocks at a significant loss. but this is the first time in many years when i'm actually excited about sending in my taxes.

victor came home around 5:30, all bundled up even though it wasn't nearly as cold outside as he looked. so i'm starting to figure out his work pattern, an alternating cycle of early and late returns. i didn't see him much for the rest of the evening since he basically kept to his room.

for dinner i microwaved a trader joe massaman chicken curry dish. even though fringe was on television, i spent my time massaging my tax numbers, trying to see if i could squeeze out any additional savings (i even made myself a little excel spreadsheet of all my payments for 2010).