Monthly Archives: April 2008

Silliness

Tax Day

The following reminder is a public service.
Today is Tax Day here in the US. You only get to procrastinate on filing for an extension on your federal tax return until midnight. (You can procrastinate on filing the actual tax return until midnight August 15.)

Silliness

Stamp Out Postage

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If you haven’t heard already, the price of stamps is going up another penny on May 12. That means this would be a perfect time to run out and buy a bunch of “Forever” stamps. Partly so you can defer the price increase, partly so you don’t have to mess around with adding a bunch of additional 1 cent stamps. If you’re feeling particularly thrifty, you could go and buy enough forever stamps to last you for the next several price increases (though you might first want to take a guess at your likely stamp usage and figure out if you might be better off putting the money into a CD instead).
On Saturday I discovered that Costco (aka Price Club) is currently selling forever stamps for less than what the Post Office charges. Costco’s price for 100 stamps is $40.75, which means you’re saving a quarter. Not enough of a savings to make it worthwhile trying to resell them yourself. Also not enough of a savings for it to make sense for you to ask me to buy them on your behalf.
Of course, I do realize that certain of you (and by “certain of you” I mean, at the very least, Marauder) don’t see that as a problem; because I’m such a nice guy, you’re pretty doggone certain that I’ll pay the postage to mail you the stamps. What’s more, a certain percentage of you (and by “a certain percentage”, I mean, at a minimum, that portion of my readership which consists of the aforementioned Marauder) figure you don’t even need to worry about the postage for mailing me a check because I’m such a nice guy, I’m planning to send you the stamps at my own expense and wouldn’t dream of asking you to pay for them.
Certain of you (and by now you should recognize the pattern) are dreaming. I am a terrific guy. But I’m not that nice. You can make your own doggone trip to the post office.

Assorted Ramblings

Conversational Topography

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Moving around over the past 20 years, I’ve noticed that different areas of the country have different favorite topics that all conversations eventually gravitate toward.
For example, growing up outside Pittsburgh, all conversations eventually turned to the fortunes of the various local sports teams. Be it the Steelers, the Pirates, the Penguins or the rivalry between Pitt and Penn State (which is ongoing, even though the two football teams haven’t played in nearly 20 years), people who live in or near Pittsburgh love their sports.
After college, I spent six years living in Nevada on the Northern shore of Lake Tahoe. Frequent conversational topics included environmental issues, wildfire preparedness and local politics, but sooner or later, everything came back to recreation. Mostly skiing (the ski resorts are major employers), but plenty of hiking, camping, and boating too.
The tendency toward a single conversational topic seems to be stronger in the DC area than any other part of the country. The sports talk turns to the politics of funding for stadiums. The talk about recreation turns to the politics of who’s in charge of what, and when you turn on the TV or radio, much of the news and entertainment revolves around (you guessed it) politics.
The only relief I’ve found is that when folks meet Terry or Wylie, the topic turns to pets. So hurray for the kids! They’re about all that’s saving my sanity!