Patrick is a NINJA CPA Blogger.

Two weeks left to my REG rematch in Las Vegas (but not at Caesar's Palace). I am a wreck.

My scores are slowly starting to improve but I'm having a hard time staying focused. I keep thinking about all the things I want to do after I pass, which is hurting my chances of passing.

We ended our cruise and rented a nice house in Las Vegas. My family arrives tomorrow.

We were all sad to leave the boat life behind. My daughter cried on the last day. I tried to console her (as I fought back tears). I told her that she'd finally have her own room. She said she already had a room. To think it all started as a financial decision.

The boat is up for sale, but this is a tough market. It we don't sell her by next Friday, we will probably donate it to Sea Scouts. Nothing would please me more than to tell all of the low-ballers that we gave it away.

It's one thing to negotiate, but when a person offers you 50% of your asking price to “make it disappear”, and in the same breath, tells you they won't be using it till Spring (because they live in Vale during the off-season)….. well, I don't feel too bad for them. It would make a good exam question and even without the write-off, I feel like we came out ahead.

I've made a lot of progress on taxation of property transactions lately, thanks to the flashcards that I made. This was one of my weakest areas but now I'm averaging 70's on these questions.

The Wiley books has been useful for drilling down on my weak spots, since the questions are organized by topic (e.g. involuntary conversions or like-kind exchanges). When you use the software, even if you're practicing a specific unit, you have to wait for the right questions to randomly appear, which wastes time.