What's “must-see” in the mid-Atlantic region?
Hey traveling people, I need your help: What places and things should I visit in the next 5 weeks before I leave this part of the country for good?
See, it looks like we'll be moving at the end of May—where has yet to be decided. Yeah, we decided when to move before we decided where. Sound crazy? That's just how we roll.
But wherever we end up moving, it's going to be pretty far from the D.C. area, which means there's no time like the present to make sure we've done and seen as much of that area as possible. So I ask you: What mid-Atlantic places would you put on your “must-see” list? Things I know I still want to do before I go include:
- Arlington Cemetery and the Iwo Jima Memorial
- Baltmore—harbor, aquarium, and what else?
- Colonial Williamsburg, VA
- Some beach in Delaware or Maryland maybe (I haven't been to the Atlantic coast once since we moved here!)
- ??
I'm obviously thinking of things that aren't too far from D.C. -- daytrips, a few hours of driving at most, probably. I was thinking about heading down to the lighthouses in NC but they are 300-400 miles away, which is definitely pushing it. Still, if there are must-see places at such distances from D.C., please let me know about them. We might be able to fit in a short multi-day roadtrip somewhere in there. And if not, at least we'll have a list of things to do some other time when we make it back this way. Thanks!
Posted 08:22 AM | Comments (26) | TrackBack
Tootsie Pop Conspiracy
From a recent comment on this photo of Tootsie Pop wrappers:
I have a theory on why you can never know how many licks it takes. Have you ever seen the center of a tootsie pop? It's not even round, so depending upon which side you start licking on.. it will always be different. It's a conspiracy I tell you.
More proof that the mysteries of the world are not accidental.
Taxes? Done.
Thanks to Turbotax, my taxes were once again pretty easy this year—and a snap to do at the very last minute! It's much simpler when you make almost zero money. In fact, as you can see from the screenshot at right (click to enlarge), my income in 2005 was negative. It's a good feeling, actually—nowhere to go but up!
While Turbotax makes doing my taxes pretty simple, I'm not sure it does them right. I've used Turbotax online for 3-4 years now (always free for the federal return through the Tax Freedom Project) and I've never been audited or had any problems, but for some reason this year it says I get a huge refund from DC even though I only paid about $20 in DC taxes last year. I think it's wrong, but I can't figure out how to make that refund disappear w/out lying, so I'm just filing and we'll see what happens.
Posted 10:06 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Happy Bunny
Two years ago I mentioned the “Thank you easter bunny, bawk bawk” M&Ms commercial that popped into my head for some reason in relation to Easter. Recently, one of the people who claims to have been one of the kids in the commercial (I'm not sure which one) wrote me and sent the link so you can now download or watch it for yourself.
From that entry two years ago it seems I was pretty bitter about world events. Perhaps I've just become resigned to the fact that when things look bad, they can always get worse, so and instead of treating you to another rant I'll just wish you all: Happy Easter!
01:02:03 04-05-06
01:02:03 04/05/06.
That will never happen again. Kind of cool, huh?
Yes, very! But it will happen again in a hundred years, won't it? Still, it's definitely a once-in-a-lifetime event for most of us. How should we spend it?
Here's an idea: If you're a student in class at that exact moment, you should stand up and shout “Time!” and then sit down. It will be like a flash mob thing. Speaking of which, what a perfect moment for a flash mob. Let's get a thousand people to storm the WTO bookstore at 01:02:03 today; everyone should shout “Time” and then quickly and quietly disperse. Yeah, me and my 1,000 friends.
Whatever happened to flash mobs, anyway? They seem to be over for some, but don't tell these people.
Posted 08:09 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
Good Poetry, Other, Wigs, and Bb-days
Good Poetry: Thanks to the Scoplaw for a great reading Monday night.
Other: Blawg Wisdom just got its most recent monthly update. Please share any thoughts you may have on GPA in the law school application process.
Wigs: One of the things I detest most about my future as a lawyer is that I will have to wear suits far too frequently. However, today I am reminded that it could be much worse—I could have to wear a freaking wig.
Bb-days: Screaming Bean was three years old Monday. You should go wish Beanie a happy blog birthday. Maybe the positive energy will lead her to the perfect job!
Posted 07:52 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Cherry Cherry Bloom Bloom
The National Cherry Blossom Festival started yesterday. If you're in D.C., you better go check it out. After I saw the Tidal Basin in bloom last year I can guarantee you won't be sorry. We went down there this morning and only a few trees were really in blossom. I'm thinking that by Wednesday or Thursday, the Tidal Basin will be awash in white, so plan to go then, if you can.
Posted 04:01 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Online Airline Ticket Ripoffs
Ok people, please tell me I'm insane. Here's what just happened: Yesterday I checked on a flight just to see what the prices were. I checked Expedia and Orbitz. I also tried Hotwire but didn't get far Hotwire can't sell same-day return tickets. On both Expedia and Orbitz I found non-stop roundtrip tickets for $225.
Today, I was ready to purchase a ticket so I returned to Expedia only to find that the nonstop tickets were now $335! If I wanted to transfer flights once, I could get $255, but the $225 tickets were no longer available. Hmm. After just one day? It's possible, but.... So I checked Orbitz. Same thing. What about Travelocity? Same thing. Damn! It looked like I'd just missed it.
But as I was complaining about this to L., she suggested we check it on her computer, just to see if we could get that $225 price again. And guess what? The exact same search in Expedia on her computer gave us that low price—$5 less, in fact. So I bought the ticket through her computer for $220.
At first I thought the travel sites must have set a cookie in my browser; once they saw I was returning to search for a flight I had recently searched, they jacked the price. So I searched with two other browsers (Omniweb and Camino)—they both gave the higher prices, too. This seems like pretty clear proof to me that these travel sites are actually watching my IP address. They track what IP address looks at what flights, and if you return w/in a reasonable amount of time to the same flight, they jack up the price.
Am I insane here, or is this true? L. says Amazon is doing something like this now, too—charging different prices based on purchase history or something. Can this be for real? Swanno suggested the airline ticket sites were doing something similar last summer, but somehow this seems even more sinister. A few minutes searching around Google doesn't reveal any complaints about this, but how else to explain the fact that the same search produced different results on different machines?
Posted 10:04 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
This imbroglio's PersonalDNA
According to this test, this imbroglio is a:
It sounds mostly right. What's your PersonalDNA?
Congratulations, Seester!
Yesterday was a great day—my sister just got a new job! I don't write much about my family here but this is just such great news I wanted to share it with the world. So: Congratulations, Seester! I hope this position will be as great for you as it looks like it's going to be!
Fingerprinting in DC
I know it's not something most people need or want to do very often, but if you find that you need to have police take your fingerprints for some reason and you live in D.C., here's what you do:
Bring proof of District residency (driver's license or utility bill) to 300 Indiana Ave., NW, Room 3058, between 9:00 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. The cost for D.C. residents is $10. Call 202-727-4409 for more information.
I'm posting this here because I couldn't find the info online and I just went through a few phone calls to get it so I thought I might save someone those steps.
Note: If you're a VA resident in the DC metro area, try the Arlington Sheriff's office.
Posted 09:17 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Can you cook up sumpn' good?
If you were going to make a nice meal for some good friends who don't eat meat or dairy, what would you make? Fish may be ok (I have to find out); eggs are ok, too. Any suggestions?
Posted 08:03 AM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
Lover's Rock
In honor of Valentine's Day:
“Lover's Rock,” by The Clash, is a great song, but its lyrics are nearly indecipherable.
Discuss.
Heartowie: Please Send Anti-Valentines
Energy Spatula, everyone's favorite superhero, has had a little romantic setback. Don't you think she deserves a card from you?
Posted 09:42 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
I, Postmodernist?
This quiz brought to me by Lyco: What is Your World View? You scored as Postmodernist. Postmodernism is the belief in complete open interpretation. You see the universe as a collection of information with varying ways of putting it together. There is no absolute truth for you; even the most hardened facts are open to interpretation. Meaning relies on context and even the language you use to describe things should be subject to analysis.
What is Your World View? (updated) created with QuizFarm.com |
Posted 09:44 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Top-40 Flickr Interestingness Is Mine!
I was happy to discover late last night that my recent photo of the Washington Monument and its reflection made it into the top-40 on Flickr's “interestingness” scale yesterday. The screen capture at right is proof! If you look through those “interestingness” pages right now the photo has fallen to around 75 and will probably keep sinking, but it's just nice to see it getting so much attention.
For you non-Flickerites, “interestingness” is some amorphous measure of how many times a photo has been viewed, commented on, and made a favorite by other Flickr users. So it's both a measure of popularity and of an image's ability to spark conversation or elicit a response.
My ambivalent images project will hit its 2-year mark on March 10, 2006. I wasn't really sure how long I would continue it when it started, and there have been times when it has just seemed silly, but it has also been a fun diversion and I'm really glad to have the odd sort of record it provides of life in the last two years. I started trying to cross-post some of the “best” shots (the ones I liked or ones that other people commented on) on Flickr both to give them a wider audience and because it helps me connect w/other photographers (both casual and more professional) and gives me inspiration by giving me a chance to check out what other people are doing. The only problem with Flickr is that it's like a very deep well and once you start looking in you have to be careful you don't fall in and get lost fo hours. I just today found out about all these great Flickr Toys and I can already see I'm going to waste a lot of time playing with them sometime soon.
Anyway, once I'm finished with school it's kind of up in the air whether I'll be able to continue posting a photo every day, but we'll see. For now, I hope you see one occasionally that you enjoy!
Note: If you've ever wanted to have a screenshot of an entire webpage rather than just the bit that fits into your screen at any one time, check out Papparazzi for Mac OS X.
Congratulations Caravan4Christmas
Congratulations to Law-Rah for successfully collecting and delivering a truckload of toys to needy kids whose Christmas was dramatically changed by hurricane Katrina. The project was a big one and she and her team had to overcome many obstacles along the way, but they did it and it looks like it was a huge success!
Posted 12:50 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
2006: The Year the Fourth Amendment Disappears?
Hi there. We just returned last night from our travels and we had a most excellent time relaxing and enjoying the company of family and friends. My loved ones spoiled me ridiculously so I have lots and lots of loot to wear, play with, and use in this new year, for all of which I am extremely thankful. Family and friends are the best part of life—something that's easy to forget in the day-to-day when you're far away from them. I'm very much looking forward to finishing law school and finding a job closer to the people I care about and who care about me the most.
Being immersed in all that family goodness for the last 10 days or so meant that I was largely tuned out of what was going on in the world. I tried to follow the domestic spying story but found that the Billings Gazette didn't seem to think it important enough to cover, other than to say the spying was more widespread than was originally thought. Instead I heard bits and pieces about the one-year anniversary of the tsunami, I learned that the Billings, Montana City Council seems pretty spineless, and more recently I heard repeatedly about an Iraqi child with spina bifida who has come to the U.S. for treatment. CNN Headline News seemed obsessed with that story the other day and curiously kept repeating that U.S. troops found the child during a raid on her parents' home. The message seemed to be that it's a great thing for U.S. troops to raid your home because then they can find your disabled child and maybe get her some medical help! Gee, CNN, when you put it that way, I'm thinking maybe we should all hope our homes get raided by U.S. troops! I'm sure they could find something they could help me out with.
The lesson I learned was this: If you depend on your local small-town newspaper and/or CNN for news of what's going on in the world, you're likely to get a really strange, fragmented, and incomplete picture. Oh, how I missed the internets!
And yet, now that I'm back and catching up on what matters to me most at the moment, I'm sickened to learn that just before Christmas 49% of Americans thought Bush's domestic spying was Constitutional and 50% thought it made the country safer. All I can say is that these people do not know their history. When the President starts spying on any American he wants and does so in secret and without any oversight, that can never make anyone safer and if it's only Constitutional if the Fourth Amendment is meaningless. But what's worse is the brazen way Bush continues to claim what he's done (and apparently is continuing to do!) is legal and necessary. Not only that, but he's trying to shift the focus from his own impeachable offenses:
No, Mr. President, Whoever “leaked” this to the press is a hero. the fact that you are unilaterally spying on Americans without their knowledge or consent and without any judicial oversight in contravention of the Fourth Amendment is what is causing great harm to the United States.
Oh yeah, Happy New Year!
*sigh*
p.s.: Thanks to Marshall for making my point better than I did in arguing that whether the domestic spying is legal is not the point in terms of this being an impeachable offense. Marshall writes in the comments to that post:
I could not agree more.
Posted 12:22 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Gotta Run; Happy Holidays!
It's time again for us to hit the holiday road so updates here will be sporadic at best for the next ten days or so. Thanks so much to everyone who chipped in on my most recent job search post—I will be putting your advice into practice over the coming weeks. Best wishes and Happy Holidays to all of you!
Posted 06:41 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
In Praise of the Palm z22
Are you looking for the perfect little gift for that lawyer, law student, or just about anyone else in your life? Have I got a suggestion for you!
My wonderful girlfriend recently gave me a Palm Z22 and I have just fallen in love with this thing. I don't know how I ever lived without one! As the cheapest and smallest PDA Palm has ever made, the poor thing has taken some hits from critics as being too small, having a poor quality screen, etc. I think the critics are missing the point of a device like this. The Z22 is small and cheap; that's it. If you don't want small and cheap, you don't want this. But small and cheap are exactly what I wanted for one reason: I can drop this tiny thing in my pocket and have it with me all the time, anywhere, and since it was relatively inexpensive I'm not constantly worried that it's getting scratched or damaged—I can just use it and not think about it.
And use it I have! The absolute best thing about it is reading ebooks on the metro or any other time I find myself sitting or standing around waiting for something. The other day I got stuck waiting in court for about three hours. What to do? I pulled my Z22 out of my pocket and read several chapters of The Burden of Proof by Scott Turow. The time just flew by!
But, of course, it's also great to have all my contacts' names and numbers at my fingertips, and this little thing makes it worthwhile to keep my calendar up-to-date so I'm less likely to forget an appointment or to-do item. Plus, there's always a quick game of solitaire or Word Wiggle if I just have a few minutes to fill. Finally, I need never be caught w/out pen and paper again—the Z22 is always in my pocket to capture a note or bit of info I would otherwise forget.
For you lawgeeks, here's something very cool you could do with the Z22: Carry around your state's civil or criminal code and/or reference materials in your pocket! For example, here's Illinois Criminal Procedure, Virginia Crimes and Offenses 2005, and the Michigan Code of Criminal Procedure 2004. Not every jurisdiction is available, but if yours is, this could be an incredibly handy reference tool.
And did I mention how small this thing is!? It's about the size of a full-size iPod but weighs less than a deck of cards. It's so small and light that sometimes I even forget it's in my pocket.
Of course, as much as I love this thing, it's not perfect. I find myself wishing a little that it accepted flash memory cards to expand its 20MB of usable memory (I've already used over 17MB of that). And if it had the expandable memory, it would need a headphone jack so it could be your portable mp3 device along with everything else. It might be nice if it had bluetooth and/or wifi capabilities, but I haven't found a time when that would really be super-usefulyet. And, of course, I also dream of the day that something this small and light can do everything this device does, plus be a phone. You can already buy Palm devices that do some or all of these things (the Treo does them all, I think), but they are all either bigger or heavier, and all of them are definitely more expensive. For my needs right now, the Z22 is the perfect compromise of size, weight, and functionality, and I bet it would be perfect for someone on your wishlist, too.
(Note 1: Palm is going to give me $5 for every one of you who buys one of these things in the next ten days, so get shopping please.)
(Note 2: Note 1 is a lie.)
Posted 08:48 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Why are baraccudas so naughty?
This seems to be a pressing question among spammers recently, and I've wondered about it from time to time myself. Why are barracudas so naughty? Will we ever solve this age-old riddle?
The same spammer that's full of deep questions is also full of sage advice, such as “Dont listen to rap music it's toxic to your soul.” I'm sure this spammer must have heard that guns don't kill people, rappers do—ask any politician and he'll tell you it's true.
Isn't spam just a wonerful thing?
Posted 07:27 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Turkey Travel Time
Happy Turkey everyone! We're off for a few days of vacation and I don't know if I'll be able to update, so if not, I will just say: I'm thankful that you take the time to stop in and see what's going on around the imbroglio once in a while and I hope you have a grrrreat holiday!
One Great Weekend in DC
The weekend has been just about as busy and action-packed as the last post predicted. What an incredibly cool weekend to live in D.C.! My photos from yesterday's peace march are here. I'll have more about all of it in the coming days, but for now it's all about Blawg Review #25.
The Fisherman and the MBA Grad
I heard this joke a few weeks ago and forgot it, but just saw a variation of it over at George's Employment Blawg. It's about a fisherman and a businessman (MBA for short):
MBA: You spend your morning fishing, but the you spend your whole afternoon sleeping. Why not go fishing all day?
Fisherman: What's the point?
MBA: With the money you get, you could buy another boat.
Fisherman: What's the point?
MBA: You could invest your money, go public, buy more boats, and become a leader in your country.
Fisherman: What's the point?
MBA: As a tycoon, you could sleep the whole afternoon.
Katrina's Aftermath
Scripting News is following the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, and it looks like New Orleans may not have seen the worst of it yet. One of the links there is to the New Orleans Times-Picayune weblog where you can find frightening stories such as this:
Those trapped in the city faced an increasingly lawless environment, as law enforcement agencies found themselves overwhelmed with widespread looting. Looters swarmed the Wal-mart on Tchoupitoulas Street, often bypassing the food and drink section to steal wide-screen TVs, jewelry, bicycles and computers. Watching the sordid display and shaking his head in disgust, one firefighter said of the scene: “It’s a f---- hurricane, what are you do with a basketball goal?”
Police regained control at about 3 p.m., after clearing the store with armed patrol. One shotgun-toting Third District detective described the looting as “ferocious.”
“And it’s going to get worse as the days progress,” he said.
In Uptown, one the few areas that remained dry, a bearded man patrolled Oak Street near the boarded-up Maple Leaf Bar, a sawed-off shotgun slung over his shoulder. The owners of a hardware store sat in folding chairs, pistols at the ready.
Uptown resident Keith Williams started his own security patrol, driving around in his Ford pickup with his newly purchased handgun. Earlier in the day, Williams said he had seen the body of a gunshot victim near the corner of Leonidas and Hickory streets.
“What I want to know is why we don’t have paratroopers with machine guns on every street,” Williams said.
Like-minded Art Depodesta sat on the edge of a picnic table outside Cooter Brown’s Bar, a chrome shotgun at his side loaded with red shells.
“They broke into the Shell station across the street,” he said. “I walked over with my 12-gauge and shot a couple into the air.”
The looters scattered, but soon after, another man appeared outside the bar in a pickup truck armed with a pistol and threatened Depodesta.
“I told him, ‘Listen, I was in the Army and I will blow your ass off,’” Depodesta said. “We’ve got enough trouble with the flood.” The man sped away.
“You know what sucks,” Depodesta said. “The whole U.S. is looking at this city right now, and this is what they see.”
In the Bywater, a supply store sported spray-painted signs reading “You Loot, I Shoot” and “You Bein Watched.” A man seated nearby with a rifle in his lap suggested it was no idle threat. At the Bywater studio of Dr. Bob, the artist known for handpainted “Be Nice or Leave” signs, a less fanciful sentiment was painted on the wall: “Looters Will Be Shot. Dr. Bob.”
...
The scene called to mind a refugee camp in a Third World nation. Liquor flowed freely and tempers flared amid complaints about the pace of the relief effort, which seemed to overwhelm the agencies involved and the city’s inability to contain flood waters.
Yikes. Vigilantes with guns against looters? Sounds like a pretty volatile situation, to say the least. I'm not sure about the Third World refugee camp analogy though; do Third World refugee camps have free-flowing liquor?
And, of course, there's always that little thing about oil—damaged production facilities in the Gulf mean the price is going up. Good thing Yubbledew is cutting his vacation short. I bet everyone suffering from Katrina will feel much better knowing the record-setting vacationer is in charge—especially since he's the guy that helped make sure the area would not be prepared for a disaster like this. Yeah.
Posted 06:18 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
You Suck and That's Sad
| What “Happy Bunny” phrase are you? you suck and that's sad You are a very compassionate and sympathetic person. You use your divine sense of humor to cheer up a situation.
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| Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests. |
[via TSC Girl]
Notes Upon Reading the Express
The Express is a free newspaper here in D.C. that you can pick up on your way into a metro station and read on the train. It contains ads, one-paragraph summaries of the biggest news, more ads, lots of little factoids and “news of the weird” type stuff, still more ads, and pages and pages of ads disguised as “information” about celebrities, tv-shows, movies, music, and crap for you to buy. It's published by the Washington Post and it has a more right-leaning competitor in The Examiner.
So anyway, yesterday's paper contained this real gem on page 8 I just couldn't pass up passing on:
Oh yeah, I love free trade. And capitalism. It's a good thing that “the chief business of the American people is business.”
The Express also tells me that Gary Cole, aka “Bill Lumberg,” is going to play a tough cop on a new TNT show called “Wanted.” Don't get me wrong; I think Mr. Cole is a fine actor and I've enjoyed his performances in many things, but, well, a tough cop? Mmyeah.
I'm Not a Libertarian
I'm chanting the title of this post like a mantra to keep perspective on this whole Maryland tax issue. I spent about an hour on the phone with people in various Maryland tax offices trying to figure out what they think is going on. First, I learned that they are trying to charge me MD state income tax for tax year 2002. That's all well and good, except that I don't think even set foot in Maryland, let alone lived there, until 2003, so their claim is clearly baseless. But the second thing I learned is that I have to prove it. I had to fax them my 2002 tax return and W2 form to prove I was really a resident of another state in 2002.
That's right: Maryland (or probably any other state) can bill you for taxes from three or four years ago and even threaten to garnish your wages—even if you had absolutely zero connection to Maryland during the time for which they are billing you—and you either have to pay or prove they made a mistake. Why should I have to prove them wrong? Why isn't the burden on them to prove they're right?
Ok. Mantra. They have to have the presumption here or they would spend all their time and resources proving their claims and have no time or resources left to actually collect taxes in an efficient way that benefits everyone who lives in or visits Maryland. Mantra.
But why did this happen to both me and my girlfriend? To me it looks like they're fishing for extra tax liability in a way that goes beyond a reasonable assumption. They claim that we probably received these bills because when we filed our 2002 returns we used a Maryland address. Since we filed in 2003 for tax year 2002, and we actually did move to Maryland for a few months in 2003, this seemed possible. But then I checked and neither of us used a Maryland address on a tax return ever. I told the MD tax people this and they just shrugged (over the phone no less—it was pretty amazing). So why are we being harassed like this? I dunno. My best guess is that MD just looks at change of address records from the postal service or something and if you've ever received mail in MD or paid a bill in MD or I don't know what, then they go back a year and assume you owe taxes there. The most helpful tax worker told me they spent lots of time fielding calls from people like me (at least 100 people/day) who are upset that they're getting back tax notices. She said about 50% of them actually do owe something, so it's worth MD's time to deal with the other 50% who don't. Hmmph. Mantra.
Posted 06:45 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
No Rascal For Us
After spending far too much time last week considering whether to get another dog, and after getting approval from the landlord to do so, I went to work yesterday morning thinking we were probably going to have two dogs soon. However, I was greeted with the news that somebody else took Rascal last Friday and he is already happily enjoying his new home somewhere in Pennsylvania with a building contractor who plans to take him to work every day, take him kayaking on weekends, and give him an acre of land to frolic in. Hmph. I can't really compete with that, can I?
While it's a little sad, I know it's all for the best—both for Rascal and for us. We were pretty ambivalent about getting another dog at this time. I think we both like the idea, but for all the reasons you all mentioned in the comments here and for others, now seems like not the best time. We had basically decided that we would be able to give Rascal a good home if his owner couldn't find anything better for him, but something better is exactly what she found! So it's all good for everyone.
I learned something though: The next time someone asks you if you know anyone who wants a dog, just say no. ;-)
Posted 06:55 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
An Open Letter to Maryland Tax Authorities
Dear Comptroller of Maryland,
I'm writing to let you know that your office may be at serious risk of a class action for harassing the public. I lived in Maryland for a grand total of five months in 2003, during which time I neither owned property nor earned any income from anywhere. Yesterday I opened my mail to find a bill from you for $1,832.53 for back taxes. Um, excuse me? Taxes? For what? Not only that, but it's a very threatening bill, a “final notice” that says you're going to garnish my wages or take some other drastic action to take from me this money I do not owe. FYI: I have no income to garnish, so good luck with that.
But seriously, this is ridiculous. You sent my girlfriend similar letters months ago and tried to bill her for Maryland income taxes for 2002. That might be fine except that she lived and worked in Illinois in 2002! Then you had the gall to force her to prove that she lived in Illinois in 2002 by making her send you something from the state of Illinois as proof. It's one thing for you to make an egregious mistake; it's another to force her to go out of her way to prove that you're mistaken. If you ask me, the burden of proof should be on you to show at least some minimal evidence that you have a basis for your tax claims, rather than forcing good taxpaying citizens to waste their time proving how wrong you are in order to protect their wages from your greedy garnishment actions.
Don't get me wrong: I think taxes are great and I will happily pay my fair share. But just now, I've got nothing to spare and since I haven't really had any income for going on three years now, I really don't appreciate being slapped with a huge and threatening income tax notice from a state where I only lived for five brief and income-free months. Please, if you must harass someone, find a target who at least has some money to collect!
Yours in really resenting this threatening and absolutely baseless bill you sent me,
-ambimb
Posted 04:54 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Rascal
We went last night to meet Rascal, the dog I mentioned yesterday, and to let our current dog, Sisu, meet him and see what would happen. As you can see from the picture, the two of them wore each other out. They got along famously; I don't think we'd have to worry about dog fights. Actually, the two of them look like they're siblings or something—very similar builds and features. When they were racing around the field we let them play in they looked like they were having the time of their lives.
But that doesn't mean we should get another dog. I realize, in practical terms, another dog is probably a bad idea. More cost, more time, more hassle, definitely bigger issue when looking for places to live. But, well, since when is even one dog practical? Who gets a dog because it makes logical sense?
We really don't know. I keep reaching a point where I realize we just don't need another dog, yet the thought keeps creeping back in my head that it might be fun. Of course, our landlord could be the final arbiter of that plan, yet I'm not even sure I want to ask.
And then it's always possible this is all just a distraction from other things....
Posted 07:45 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
Dog Roberts
Ok, I heard that Yubbledew* picked a nominee for the Supreme Court, and NPR tells me that Republicans are happy, Democrats are “cautious,” and Laura Bush is pissed. (Ok, NPR didn't say that, but it did say that Bush ignored his wife's public plea for a female nominee. Tee hee hee.)
That's all very interesting. I mean, I know I should care, and I do, but... Well, anyway, I have a more pressing and weighty issue that requires careful consideration: Should we get another dog?
Specifically, I'm wondering if any kind reader out there has more than one dog and can tell me how much more work and effort and cost is involved in going from one to two. Also, more generally (if generalizations on this are even possible), do you have any thoughts about pros and cons of having one dog as opposed to two, or two as opposed to one? Am I just crazy to even consider getting another dog when it's likely I'll be moving a year from now and starting a new job as a lawyer? (That's something that is also worthy of consideration, but as E. Spat. notes, that subject causes way too much anxiety so I'd rather think about other things—like dogs.)
The situation is that someone at work must get rid of her 1.5 year-old pit bull mix. He's nice, friendly with people and other dogs, crate-trained, has all shots and has been neutered, doesn't bark, responds to basic commands (sit, stay, come, roll over, etc.) and is almost exactly the same size as our current dog. I know if we don't take him he'll still find a good home, so it's not a question of being forced into it for the dog's sake. It's just that, against my own better judgement, I kind of like the idea of having another dog. Am I crazy?
* When I say that name I'm also thinking of the witch Valerie in The Princess Bride who is married to Miracle Max (the character played by Billy Crystal). Valerie keeps yelling “liar!” and “I'm not a witch I'm your wife!” But really what I'm saying is that when I think of Yubbledew I also think of that voice saying “liar!”)
Posted 07:07 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
This Is No Modern Romance, Spam Edition
Hi. Could it be? Almost two weeks without a post?
I apologize for being away for so long. As I mentioned the other day in a comment, our trip was a bit more adventurous than we'd planned or expected and it's taken a bit more time than I thought to get back into the usual ebb and flow around here. Long story short, our car broke down on the way home from Michigan and we rashly decided just to buy a new one rather than fix it. So L. and I are now the ambivalent owners of a brand spanking new, 2005, “sunburst orange metallic” Chevy Cobalt sedan. She likes it because it's orange. I like it because it has cruise control. Yay! We spent nearly 8 solid hours trying to get the stupid thing inspected and registered today. Not yay.
But there will be time for more about that later, especially over at ambivalent images where you will soon find plenty of pictures, I hope. For now, part of the catching up comes from the fact that I was greeted upon my return with a big steaming pile off spam spam spam! Apparently, this and other sites on our shared server have been getting attacked w/so much spam it's been shutting the server down. This led to intermittent disabling of comments, and that might happen again. It also means the server seems glacially slow (at least from my end). And worst of all, Blawg Wisdom appears to be hosed in a completely mystifying way.
So, I apologize for all of that, and I hope to have everything back to normal ASAP. If anyone has any ideas for good spam control on MT (yeah, right) or if you understand what that stupid “parse error” is when you load up the Blawg Wisdom home page, please let me know. As far as spam control goes, we've checked out the spam guide and we're already using MT-Blacklist, MT-DSBL, and we've turned off commenting on some older entries. The next step may be a captcha, but I'm certainly open to suggestions.
Posted 04:06 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
And We're Out
We're off for a week in the wilderness! Ok, it's not so wild in the middle of Michigan, but sort of. We'll be doing the usual fishing and hanging out at the lake—fireworks tonight, I think. Anyway, if the Imbroglio doesn't update for a while, this is why. I often have good intentions to post something when I'm away from home, but somehow it doesn't usually work out. Sometimes when you're getting away, it's nice to, get away, you know?
So if you're going on any summer vacations in the next week, happy travels. And Happy Independence Day to everyone!
Posted 06:23 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
Dating Industry
My email box was shouting at me this morning. “Men Needed!” it said. Sounds like spam, doesn't it? Of course, it is, but this message was not trying to sell me viagra or some other drug; instead it's trying to recruit me to a dating event—my “chance to experience a dozen first dates in one evening, and to have a friend along to help!”
I really don't know what to make of that, except that, well, I'm glad I have no reason to go. Now I just want to know: How did these jokers get my law school email address? Is it possible GW sells its students' email addresses to marketers?
Posted 05:35 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Drama What?
What's Your High School Stereotype? created with QuizFarm.com |
Just for the record, I was never in any sort of dramatic performance thingy. I'm sure I would have enjoyed it, but I never had the, um, as Popeye would say, noive. Otherwise, this looks more or less right, although probably I was a lot less stoner than 44%. [link via SuperD]
Posted 06:10 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
Cheap Laptops?
Ok, it pains me a little to do this, but my sister is in the market for a *cough* Windows laptop. I have never before purchased such a beast so I have no idea where to look for the best deals. She's looking entry level, simple, basic, dependable, and cheap cheap cheap. Of course, it would be best if it weren't fall-apart cheap, but you know what I'm saying. Bells and whistles she's not looking for. She wants to run MS Office, surf, and do email. That's basically it. She might use it w/her digital camera, but that's not super-crucial. So where should we start shopping?
Posted 07:36 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
Happy Annibirthsaryday
This is a big day for the family Imbroglio—it's both my sister's birthday and my parents' anniversary. That may sound odd, but it's really mostly a coincidence, I think. My sister was born several years after my parents married, but it just so happened she decided that their wedding anniversary was the perfect day to see the world for the first time. I think they sort of planned it that way, sort of, but I'm not sure. The point is: I have a terrific family and I hope they all have a wonderful celebration day!
Posted 07:06 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Does this mean I have delusions of grandeur?
Which Incredibles Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
[another fun procrastination, this one brought to you via Blonde Justice]
Posted 08:04 PM | Comments (3)
Sounds Superfine to me
Your Inner European is Swedish!
Relaxed and peaceful.
You like to kick back and enjoy life.
I actually think my Inner European is Finnish, but Sweden would be fine. If I could fit my whole music collection on my stupid toy hard drive I would be listening to the Replacements, "Anywhere Is Better Than Here" right now. Writing this paper blows.
(Thanks to Denise for helping me procrastinate by linking to this poll...)
Posted 08:59 PM | Comments (2)
Springing On
Hi. Happy Easter, late. The past few days have been busily unbusy. Things have been happening, and they have not. First, congratulations to LH, the masterful planner of the GW EJF Race For Justice. She almost singlehandedly planned and pulled off a really great event that raised something like $1500 for GW's public interest law students, and she did this against a backdrop of lukewarm (at best) institutional support. In this, the race's second year, it had over 100 runners (up from around 50 last year), including a lot of community support. I talked to at least one law student from GULC who was thrilled to be supporting the EJF, even if it wasn't at her school. (That reminds me: If anyone from GULC is reading this, the GW EJF would be happy to work w/you to do a joint race or some other joint public interest fundraiser next year. Just let me know if you have any ideas or want to talk about it.) The fastest runner was a GW alum who came in at 16:56 for a long 5k (b/c of where we stopped and started, the race was longer than 5k, but I don't know how much longer). I can't even imagine such a pace. I finished in a rather sad 26:49, but I was pleased w/that since the last time I ran at all was probably last year at this time. Ok, so my time this year was a close to a minute slower than last year; that confirms what I already knew -- my level of fitness has declined in the last year. I hope to change that in the coming months. Maybe next year I can come in under 21 minutes? Or maybe not. Besides the race, the weekend was filled with family things as L's family came to town to celebrate Easter and see the sites. We attended a Capital Steps show that was absolutely hilarious. Part of it is coming soon to a radio near you, so check your local NPR station for broadcast times. (The Capital Steps would make an awesome podcast, but I bet they're worried about giving their material away in digital format that way since they also try to sell it on CD....). We also ate at Maggiano's Little Italy, which was excellent and highly recommended if you'd like a really good, really big meal and are prepared to pay somewhere around $30/person. That describes me almost never, but for special occasions, I'll certainly keep it in mind. In between the entertainment and the eating there were many games of pinochle and some rounds of Ratchet and Clank w/L's brother, all of which adds up to an Imbroglio who had a great weekend but who is woefully behind and bewildered by the fact that he actually has to be in a law school class in just over an hour. Do you ever put school so far out of your mind you can't even remember what you're supposed to be doing/learning/thinking about? I worry sometimes that I can do this so easily and so often; does it mean I don't really care about law school or becoming a lawyer? Whatever. Posting may continue to be sporadic for the coming weeks. The finals schedule is going to be three finals in two days in the first three days of the finals period, plus a 30-page paper that I haven't started at all, so I'm basically screwed for the next six weeks, not to mention the auction a week from Thursday. Yeah. Awesome. Oh, and it's raining hard outside. That just makes this Monday the best!Posted 08:49 AM | Comments (8)
Capital Weather
It's snowing now in DC, with 4-6 inches likely. Schools are closing all over the place, but not GW. ;-( If you're a DC metro dweller and you enjoy accurate weather forecasts, there's absolutely no better resource than CapitalWeather.com. If/when I leave the DC area, I will miss getting candid and accurate weather updates like this. Their “staff” photographer posts incredible pictures of the region, as well.Posted 06:13 AM | Comments (2)
Perpetratin' ta be a lawya
Thanks to LawRah for leading me to Gizoogle, I bring you the first paragraph of yesterday's post translated into foshizzle:I'm perpetratin' ta read now so I can be a lawya fo' real yo. Word.
Posted 05:43 AM | Comments (1)
Not What I Wanted to Hear
Today's weather report does not please me:Temperatures around here have been yo-yo-ing from 60 to 20 degrees (with nasty wind chill on the lower end) and I'm really tired of it. Just be winter or spring, already, will you?
Posted 07:30 AM
All Hail Slapcast
So you've probably head about this “podcasting” thing, and now that Notes from the (Legal) Underground and Jeremy Richey are getting into it, I thought I'd give it a try. And while creating podcasts sounds like it could be very complicated, thanks to Slapcast.com, all you need is a phone! Here's all you need to do:- Create a free account at Slapcast.com.
- Call an 800-number and leave a message (up to 5 minutes).
- Log in and enter the phone number you called from. Slapcast finds your recording via caller-id.
- Give your recording a title and write some comments about it if you want.
- Publish your recording (or Slapcast can just do that automatically).
Posted 11:07 AM | Comments (4)
Picture Worth Thousands and Thousands of Words
Once again I thank everyone who has sent paintings in response to my request the other day. The gallery is getting rather large and I'll definitely be making a special display page for all your masterpieces just as soon as I can. Meanwhile, because the paintings are disappearing from the “front” page here, I just wanted to make sure you see this one in action: Lawrah with “Law Student View” (action!)
If you go to GW you'll know that Lawrah has almost precisely captured the experience of sitting in most large lectures there. I have a funny feeling the picture is not too different at many other law schools around the country. Absolutely frakkin' priceless (nodding to BSG for the otherworldly adjective).
Painting is therapy, and come on, you know you could use some of that. If you haven't painted a picture on ArtPad yet and sent me a link, um, why not? ;-)
Posted 09:36 PM | Comments (1)
Ambivalent Art
Thanks to those of you who sent links to your ArtPad Paintings, a small gallery of Ambivalent Art is beginning to take shape. Click the “action!” links beside each thumbnail below to watch masterpieces in the making from: Divine Angst with “untitled” on a vacation theme (action!)
Energy Spatula with an “abstract homage to Miami Vice” (action!) 
Second Person Singular with “untitled” (action!) 
Ashley with “untitled” (action!) 
Anonymous “Beret” (action!) 
Anonymous “Monkey” (action!) 
Anonymous “Moon” (action!) 
Why Law with “untitled” (action!) 
E. McPan with “E. Takes A Holiday” (action!) 
Screaming Bean with “Enter the Bean” (action!) 
Bamber with “dog” (action!) 