This is the one day a year when I hate The Colorado. One day out of 365 that I wish I drove a beat-up little Volkswagen Golf or something. This is the day the tax, title and registration are due.
All $446 of it. Good lord. That’s more than my payment. That’s one giant chunk of change, I don’t care who you are.
I read somewhere that the average Nebraskan forfeits 40% of their paycheck in taxes. I believe it. My property taxes are still pretty low, because its still valued on the empty lot my house was built on. When its fully taxed, I shudder to think about what it will come to — probably $300 a month. Ridiculous. And to think I chose to stay here after graduating college. The lesson as always is I am an idiot.
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Today is the “Holiday Potluck Lunch”, which means everyone brings in something to share and eat together. There is some fabulous smelling dishes in that breakroom, which is why its so heartbreaking I can’t go. I have errands to run for AIGA, like getting labels for event postcards. Wendy’s or BK instead of homemade taco soup sucks. But alas. The venue for the event got a non-renewal notice from their landlord just a month before the event, with postcards already printed. So we have to improvise and slap “Venue Changed!” labels on 1500 postcards. Fun times!
I meant to run the errands last night after volleyball, but I was pretty upset by the time I got there and wound up staying afterward to drink a few beers and watch football. That first game was hell — just me being all surly after a long day, smacking the ball 10 feet past the court, cursing under my breath, good times! We lost the first game after I personally lost us five straight points by hitting the ball into the ceiling or past the end line. One of the guys made a comment to me as we left the court, but I just ignored him…
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Christmas morning, 1983. I’m 5 years old, and waiting for me under the tree was a bright shiny Atari 2600 with a selection of games. Pac Man, Keystone Kapers, good times. We hooked that thing up to the old RCA Victor Console Television in our basement, and my dad and I played PacMan in 27″ color greatness. Do you know how big the pixels were on a 27″ TV? Me neither, I was 5.
Christmas Eve, 2005. 22 years later, I’m 27 years old and waiting for me under the tree was a bright, shiny Atari Flashback with 40 built-in games and two controllers. No Pac Man, no Keystone Kapers, still good times. I hooked that thing up to my old Philco Woodtone 20″ Television in Polyfro Studios, and I played Pitfall in old-school greatness. The pixels are 1/2″ by 1/2″. Sadly, it does not contain
“Custer’s Revenge”.
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Continuing my theme for the week of one-word titles — screw that “search engine friendly” descriptive title crap one of the BeA authors is always pimping — this one is titled simply “Nice.” Because I’m a nice guy and spent my bonus on other people. Because I goaded a guy into hooking up with a girl that was chasing him. Because I told a perv to stick it. Nice. You bet.
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Tonight, I’m going to bust out the grill — its a warm 50 degrees and my “official” company gift, a stainless steel briefcase filled with steel BBQ accessories like tongs, spatula and meat thermometer, is begging to be tried out.
This thing is real nice. They must really like me here — here’s what I’ve received in gifts this christmas at work:
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