Taxing day, but the good kind of taxing

Brief note: my W-2 came today, and so I did my taxes using H&R Block's "Tax Cut" program. (Did the Federal part, at least...don't have the state tax module at the moment; I'll get that later.) I'm pleased to announce I'm getting back $809 in Federal tax refund...not as much as I'd hoped, but about what I expected. Since I e-filed it, it should show up in my bank account within 10-14 days.

Not that I'm going to be able to do much with it...it's already earmarked 1/3 to 1/2 for savings and the rest for debt management. Still, it's nice to get it out of the way early. Isn't it funny how much rigamarole we Americans go through each year, having part of our paycheck taken out just so we can get a lot of it back later? It's not even like we're getting paid interest on it while the government has its hands on it. You would think it would be more efficient for the government to take out exactly what it needs from each paycheck and give the rest back.

Up way too late. More tomorrow.

Picture This; Word From Work

Found some really amazing sidewalk chalk pictures linked from this LJ post. I didn't know you could do that kind of thing with sidewalk chalk...the pictures look real enough to fall into.

If I've been quiet over the last few days, it's just because life has settled into a kind of routine. You know how it goes. Get up, go to work, work, get home, play computer game, sleep. Not much worthy of note has happened, though there have been a couple of things.

The other day, I handled a call from this woman who owned a business, whose name was Big Dollar something-or-other. The funny thing is, the phone directory listings on two different accounts for that business had both munged the business name. One of them was listed as "Big Money," and the other—I kid you not—was listed as "Vig Dallor." It's almost like someone was trying to see how many different ways they could mess up that business name.

Yesterday, the bay supervisor Suzy Barrett, recently returned from chemo in the hospital, hit us with a little document outlining various items of business policy, which we had to sign. Things like "no feet on desks," "no more multiplayer board or card games," "no eating messy food in the bays," and "no personal activities during the first two hours of shift." Mrs. Barrett has the kind of stern motherly attitude that would be right at home on a second-grade teacher.

The document wasn't really too annoying to me, though it hit some others harder. I had never participated in the multiplayer board or card games anyway, and the bits about food and furniture were just was we were supposed to be doing in the first place. I'm not even resentful of the fact that we weren't trusted to abide by the rules without having to sign a piece of paper saying we would. The bit that irritates me is the "no personal activities during the first two hours" thing...as that's one of the least busy periods of the day. Oh well; at least that means we'll have plenty of time to do the paperwork we're supposed to be doing. And bless her heart, Mrs. Barrett sees my using my Clié as being somehow different from reading a novel...she thinks it's more "work-related." Well, I'll try to keep it so. The thing is that the activities we're supposed to do can be done within 15 or 20 minutes, leaving the rest of the time to do...well...not much of anything, if the calls are slow.

I have now seen absolutely everything

I am somewhere between hysterical laughter and stunned disbelief over this eBay auction. I mean...I can't believe they're actually selling...selling...oh, go and look for yourself, you'd never believe me if I told you. I don't even know what's the funniest thing about this auction. The item itself...the line about "This is the perfect [...] to start or add to your collection. [...] Approximate value $2.00 to $10.00"...or the fact that there have thus far been 5 bids for it and a current high bid of $2.50.

People do the flakiest things...