Last weekend, while rest of Fort Wayne celebrated long-awaited onset of springtime temperatures, I stayed inside and did something I've never done before.

I burned my first CD.

Yep, I joined Pepsi generation and got me a real CD-RW drive. And I actually copied a music CD onto a blank CD (my wife's favorite Eric Clapton CD -- so now she's got one for home and one for van; guess I better burn another one so she can listen to it at work, too.)

But it wasn't easy, let me tell ya!

If fact, I didn't think it would ever happen.

Why? Because when it comes to computers, I ain't most proficient guy in world. I know how to use my accounting and tax software, and I can peck away at a word processor with best of them, but hardware? I'm clueless, man, absolutely clueless.

To me, RAM is an animal, mascot for a pro football team that used to play in L.A. and then moved to St. Louis.

But my wife and kids have been pestering me for months to get a CD-RW so we can make our own music CD's. So last week I finally gave in and ventured out to my local discount electronics store.

And there they were, lined up on shelf, all 28 different models.

I picked up one of boxes and looked at "specs". The first label that caught my eye was called "Disc Formats": CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM (mode 1 and mode 2), CD-ROM XA (mode2, form 1 and form2), CD-DA, Bootable CD, Photo CD (single and multi-sessions), Video CD, CD-Extra, Mixed mode CD, CD-text.

I suddenly felt beginnings of a headache.

I know enough about hardware to know that you've got to make sure a new piece of hardware is compatible with your existing hardware.

Ah, yes, "interface", gotta make sure that's right!

So I looked at box where is said "E-IDE/ATAPI".

Now my stomach didn't feel so good either.

Finally, I turned box over and found what I was looking for, "System Requirements": IBM PC Pentium 200MHz or higher; 64MB DRAM, 1 GB for image recording, 150MB free HD space for installing writing software.

I no longer had a headache. I had a migraine.

By Collin Almeida

Police and auditors have one thing in common: they make even most honest, law-abiding citizens nervous. After all, who hasn't felt their heart jump at sound of a police siren close behind them even if they are obeying all traffic rules? Generally, same feeling comes over people when topic of an IRS audit arises.

Most taxpayers fear an audit because they don't know if they are adequately prepared. You may ask yourself: Did I save right documentation? Are all my deductions legal? Can I answer all of IRS's questions? For home-based business owner, however, these questions are even more pressing, so waiting for an audit to test their preparation is not best option. By following some easy guidelines, they can take guesswork out of keeping records.

Obviously, every deduction claimed needs to be documented, but many taxpayers aren't clear on what is adequate proof. The IRS does require more than just a few jottings in a notebook, but not much more. First, each deduction must be recorded with a copy of an invoice or bill. For example, if you are claiming your utilities expenses as a deduction, you need to keep a copy of each month's bill. In addition to proving expenses were incurred, you must also prove they were paid. So along with that utilities bill, you may want to staple canceled check or credit card statement that covered charges. Receipts, bank statements, and even invoices stamped "paid" also count as evidence that expenses were have been taken care of.