Ginger and the IRS

This is a quick post to present, but not explain, a wondrous thing.

A couple of days ago I faced an IRS audit.  They were examining my tax return for 2008.  Because I have lost a lot of money at my business, there was a real risk that my business would be declared a hobby, thus costing me many thousands of dollars in disallowed deductions, or many thousands in tax court, take your pick.  My business has lost money, but it is a real business ... and that point was made with the help of my dog.

I do deduct some of the expenses for my dog, Ginger.  Ginger works 40-50 hours a week.  She is a marketing tool, a model, a prop, and a security system, she's always on the job, and she works for kibble.  Of course, I offered proof of all of this, including 3rd party witnesses, etc.

The interview with the IRS had been proceeding properly and professionally, and without overt hostility.  But when I brought up Ginger, and showed her picture, the entire atmosphere of the interview changed.  The agent went "oooh, she's beautiful."  From that point it was problem solving, not "gotcha."

The specific moment the mood changed was when I showed Ginger's picture.  Later, I asked my CPA what the turning point had been.  He replied, "When you were talking about the dog."

We haven't gotten the formal audit report, but it was quite clear that the only problems were technical ones.

Meanwhile, Ginger gets a porterhouse, on me!

Expedition Box update

Platform that supports box is now at the welder's, being generally strengthened and reinforced, as well as having some half-round eyes welded on to facilitate "hanging" the platform from the tailgate door hinges, per Joe Fuller's suggestion, which should further reduce oscillation.  The welder didn't think so much of the way the platform had been done, and I suspect he'll reinforce the hell out of it without adding much weight.

All I can do.  You do your best and live with the results....

More problems with the Expedition Box ... and some solutions

This is written in haste, after a long hot day.  I'll upload pix when I have the whole problem solved.  But, and I'm serious, thanks to the guy who runs a failure testing lab for his sobering counsel.


I had another response to my blog entry about the Expedition Box, this time from a guy who runs a failure testing lab, saying that my kind of rig craps out all the time and the best thing to do is get a trailer.  We admired the problem a bit and I now have a better understanding of the problem.  Fundamentally, overhanging weights aft can set up sympathetic vibrations (remember about the soldiers marching in step across a suspension bridge?) that break the welds holding the platform to the car's receiver hitch.

He liked the fact that the spare tire between platform and car was damping oscillation.  But still... the whole rig can oscillate on uneven roads and build up to a spectacular dispersion of the energy ... not an explosion but close.

This is not a joke. His suggestion was get a trailer, or put safety wheels on the platform holding the ExBox.  That's not too workable, and I pressed him about the likelihood of failure with things as they are.  It's somewhere between 10 and 20%.

He also suggested bulking out the 2" tube to 4" tube.  Another good but impractical suggestion, given time.

Not good.

What I can do:  have the welds inspected.

I also turned to my friend Joe Fuller, an engineer with some 20 patents behind him, and a world-wide sailor.

He grumped, and thought, and suggested I might hang the rig from the car's frame to stabilize things. I pointed out that this was a unibody vehicle, so it had no particular strong points. But, lo!  it does.  I can pass a tie-down strap through the hinge which takes the whole load of the tailgate ... strong enough for this job, I hope.  Then feed the strap over the box and around to the platform itself on which the Ex-Box rests.

Basically, this creates a triangle defined by the trailer hitch mounted to the frame of the car, the back side (aft) corner of the platform,  and the body of the car at the tailgate hinge.  If I can get this mounted properly, in should stabilize the platform (and Ex-Box) far more than it is at present.  Risk is deformation of the car at the tailgate hinge points.

The other part of the solution is continuing weight reduction.  Lighten the load, reduce the forces throwing things out of whack (a technical term for sure).