The Verbal Commute Got to Get Away!


Santa Rosa, CA. ~ It is al- most that time to get away for a summer chill time getaway. Already it’s July and Christmas is less than six months away. In addition, the summer solstice (June 21st


) marks


the longest day of the year and the beginning of summer.


It ap-


pears it is off to a very warm start. Right in


the middle of putting together this issue for July and yet another letter arrives from the IRS. My friend, who is also my CPA attempted to help, but we were both confused about what they were saying and what they wanted. It meant more money. Of course they wanted more, which was to be expected. But it is the telephone call to them that cracked me up. When they fi nally are able to talk with a person (45 minutes later) I real- ized that I needed to laugh. T e reason is, is that all the fears of talking to an agent( I think is was agent # 23100456782- 11229987345102) come right to the surface. I can say, I would not want their job. But, as it turns out, aſt er an additional 40 minutes, the problem was solved. T e person on the other end seemed to have no patience what-so-ever for the fi rst 25 minutes of our conversation. By the time we were done, we actually exchanged thank you’s for


the help and what they


needed. Money. Yes, I was as clear as they were! Here I am today writing this


because it takes me some time to assess situations and to be entirely fair about what has transpired. It is important to know that the person on the other line of a telephone or a


“Attitude is that little thing that will make the most difference in the accomplishment of your goals.” ~ Roopleen UPBEAT TIMES, INC. • July 2016 • 3 Paul Andrew Doyle ~ paul@upbeattimes.com


communication device is just the same as we are, so-to-speak. No face, or body. Just a voice. Remaining positive while


I’m trying to explain it to you. If you talk Mr. Doyle, while I’m talking, we’re not getting any- where...ok?!” ...


‘Ok, go ahead”, I replied. T at was a


hard one for me, but I felt like a stronger better


person


now. Humbled. Reprimanded


by someone I’ve never met, or I guess, want to meet. My


imagina-


tion goes wild. I visualize a person there with


sitting visiting fellow


agents, talking,


talking to the IRS took all of what I had for those brief two hours. To be honest,


it actu-


ally seemed like an entire week. I’m pretty patient most of the time. It is vital to remain op- timistic and fairly benevolent when talking to these certifi ed agents. I was careful because I did not want to be sent to the end of the line. It’s almost like fi nally real-


izing you’ve been defeated way ahead of time and taking your ‘medicine’. I was guessing the mistake was on my end when the agent asserted, ‘Mr. Doyle,


laughing and drinking Folgers Coff ee that has the consistency of tea, and the timer goes off in their cubical letting them know they can fi nally pick up the phone from its holding pat- tern. T e persons voice sound- ing like I just interrupted one of their favorite TV shows and they can’t wait to get back to it. I’m just kidding about this of course, but, as you know, like I said, the imagination goes wild. At least mine did! Now, I’m really ready for the


vacation. No phones, no tech- nology, no letters, TV’s or any-


thing that reminds me of work. I know it will take me three days to unwind, but it will be worth it. I’m already there. T e out- side temperature is 94 degrees and skies are partly cloudy, and I can just feel the bone chilling 43 degree water running over my toes in the little creek that runs year round, while I visit with my wife and my daugh- ter and our two little dogs. My daughter quietly reads one of six books she’ll consume with- in the fi rst six days. I’m a bit jealous of her because I’ve not made the time to read an entire book in over a year. But,


I get


to do one of my favorite hob- bies while camping ...and that’s cooking outdoors. Breakfast...a snack for lunch and a huge din- ner all under magnifi cent 1500 year old fi r trees and the sound of running water. T e best part of vacation is


being able to come back to the Upbeat Times with fresh and new ideas, and being able to talk to my friends and all the people who make this paper happen. I am like a conductor of an orchestra making sure the fi nal rendition of the paper fl ows like the river you see in this article. It is steady and al- ways knows its path.


May this issue fi nd you well!


UPBEAT TIMES, INC. • July 2016 • 3 First Humor


A company was doing an English-language


movie where, at one point, an exhausted messenger was supposed to dash in, collapse, and gasp out a vital message in Swahili. They even found someone who knew the language, and the scene worked beautifully in the movie -- until it played in an African town where Swahili was well-known. A moment of high drama nose-dived into comedy as the panting messenger gasped out: “I don’t think I am being paid enough for this part!”


privelege it is to be alive ~ to breathe, to think, to enjoy,


to love” Marcus Aurelius


moring, think of what a precious


“When you arise in the


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