Death, Taxes & the Speed of Light…

Well, this post really won’t be talking about Death or the Speed of Light (3×108 m/s in case you were curious), but I shall mention the other constant in life – Taxes.

Yup, today is the day I decided to do my taxes. I was rather sad when I realized, after doing my taxes using TaxCut software, that I could have used the free file TaxCut instead of paying for the software. My AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) was below the requirement, so I could have done it for free. Well, I did it for nearly free since I decided to mail in my paperwork rather than pay $16 to e-file it. And last year I discovered that Ohio has completely free filing – yay! So I used I-File for state and school taxes. And send in the very odd paperwork we always do for the town taxes. And as usual, I’ll be getting money back from the Feds, the State, and even the school (only $12 there). But, also as usual, I owe for the town taxes. I hope you choke on that $8.55 check, town tax man! 😉

Now, last year I bought a lovely new laptop (and accouterments) with my winnings refund. What am I pondering this year? Well, I don’t know if I’ll do this or not, but I have been pondering getting a mini-PC upon which to house my music collection. I’d like a machine that I can turn on and forget about for, well, a long time which will send to my Roku Soundbridge. Anyhoo… I haven’t worked the details out yet. Do I go Linux? Do I go Windows MCE like my current PC? Is there a MediaMonkey or iTunes-style program for Linux? Still, it’s something fun to research knowing that I could afford it if I wanted it. 🙂

Anyhoo, there’s plenty of time to decide what to do with my refund. You know, I could put it all in savings? 🙂