One Choice Vote

A couple years ago I registered to vote; however, on the day of the election there was some kind of crisis at work, and I was not able to participate. So this year was the first that I participated in the U.S. election process.

Here in Thompsonville, the line was very short. I think I had one person standing in front of me, and then I had a few minutes of waiting before a voting booth was cleared. It was educational in a small but significant way. The first thing I realized is that I had absolutely no opinion about 80-90% of the candidates, either personally or in terms of their platforms (I’m including all positions, including local government). I voted on a few people that I had some opinion of, but mostly stuck to laws and propositions.

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Tax Time

Although I always do my own taxes, and it usually is a fairly smooth process, it is also time-consuming and sometimes stressful.

I’m usually quite meticulous about hanging onto even the smallest receipts until I’ve accounted for the spending. I even record the 50¢ or so I pay for snacks that I bring home from work. Of course, sometimes things slip through, and so every so often I compare the cash I have with what I think I should have, and the difference goes to miscellaneous expense and/or my best guess. Because I am so careful, it really bothers me when I have a bill that I cannot account for, or when a discrepancy shows up in a balance. This doesn’t happen too often, but there’s usually one or two snurks in each year’s tax preparation.

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