Busy Season

Those two words strike fear (it's actually more anxiety, depression, sickness, cold sweats, etc.) in the hearts of accountants every year . . .

Different accountants might define "Busy Season" differently (there's actually a pretty good definition here on Ask Yahoo!), but it is generally the period from Jan thru March if you're an Auditor, or mid-Feb thru April 15th if you're a Tax accountant (they might have another mini-Busy Season in the Fall, to finish up all the extended returns). For hybrids like myself (actually, I'll probably only touch a handful of non-1040 returns this year) it starts today (1/19) and goes all the way thru April 15th (I started growing my "busy season" beard on Christmas Day and plan on rockin it til my wife's Birthday, at the end of March).

My company has a "One Firm" concept, so we all end up working the "same" hours these next 3 months. Technically, we don't have folks that are 100% Audit or 100% Tax, and since we want to help everyone out and not have the Tax folks feel bad about working so late come April 1st, we all have "Required Hours" each week that will increase as the Spring moves on . . .

It starts this week, where the required hours hit 50, and will increase to 60 in the next few weeks. Now, I know doctors, lawyers, hedge fund analysts, etc. complain about having 70 or 80 hour weeks, but how many of you have actually worked a 60+ hour week?? I dont care who you are, it is not fun!!

I'll try to keep the blog posting semi-regular these next few months, but I can't make any promises :(

On a much happier note, the LOML and I drove over to Greenville, MS this weekend to see Baby Jackson and his parents, Heather & Jonathan!! Jackson turns 1 (month) on Thursday (the 22nd), and we had a blast hanging out with the whole family!! PLUS, I got to try out my SB-26 and 50mm 1.8/f on little Jackson (Thanks, for my Christmas and Birthday gifts respectively, sweet wife!!). I'm still learning how to master the flash, but hope you enjoy these picts of little Jackson!!