Of Chariots, Pumpkins, and Lemons: Who Wants Property Tax Assessments!!!

Well, as is customary at this time of year, "The Man" who works at "The Office" somewhere in "St. Louis County" has sent us all our property tax statements. For me, the only listing is: my car. Which I also affectionately refer to as "Da TAAANK" or somewhat less affectionately as "Da Piece Of Crap" depending on how recently something broke. Through His Infinite Wisdom and so forth, The Man has determined that my car is worth...(drum roll)... $320. Hold for applause. Actually, that seems about accurate given that it was "totaled" in a hailstorm a year ago. Basically, if it were mashed into a cube, that would be the value of the scrap metal in the cube. By comparison, over the summer, I made a trip to Champaign and the cooling system shat itself on the way back and it stalled out about 5 miles from home. It cost slightly more than that to get it fixed. Or, that's rougly 2/3 the cost of a semester's books. But hey. It still drives (less than 50 miles at a time) and it's not like I can afford another one. So yay for my car.

So far, the other major highlight of the new year has been my Official Dave Berry Flip Calendar, which I got for Christmas. This is a slight upgrade from the Dilbert calendars I've had in years past. Except it lumps Saturday and Sunday into one page. So that robs me of an entire 52 days of enjoyment. Drat. Owell. A week and a half until school starts again.