I Hate Turbotax

Who was it who said, "Nothing is certain in life except death and taxes"? Right about now death sounds a whole lot easier. The marvels of electronic filing have failed me. I have submitted my taxes at least 3 times now and been rejected each and every time due to a reoccurring technical error on the part of Intuit’s turbo tax software. Bastards.

I’m trying not to think about that. I’m trying to enjoy a nice cheese sandwich on wheat bread. It is a wonderful aged cheddar. Outside the world is beginning to bloom. I saw my first flower yesterday and this morning the ferns in the garden had shot up and opened. I was outside walking the dog.

We have added a new member to the family. Odin the dog. He is half black lab and half golden retriever. He also happens to be a fanatically wonderful guy. He is very laid back and doesn’t jump and pounce on people like some dogs we know. (names withheld to protect the guilty.)

I’m having trouble focusing here. I want to relax during my lunch break but there is so much noise in here! Ugh.

Today is May Day. Happy today! Summer starts today but you wouldn’t know it. We’ve had a freakishly cold April. After a warm winter without hardly any snow it goes and turns into the 3rd snowiest April on record. We had 20 inches and the average is four. Slowly but surely it is getting warmer. This weekend is the big May Day Parade and festival. We’re having a breakfast party on Sunday before the parade. I hope a lot of people show up. I’m going to be cooking waffles like mad! I’m excited to see how Odin reacts to a crowd of people. It will be good for him to meet people at the house first. There will likely be thousands of people at the parade.

Interestingly, last year the parade’s theme was "The flowering of compassion." This year it is "Pray for the flowering of compassion." In other words, we’re not there yet. I have a feeling that with the crackdown on civil liberties in light of the terrorist attacks we’re going to see a fair degree of criticism of the Bush administration. It’s about time.