What’s All This Then!

Ah, the 2008 Olympics starts today! Their motto, “Swifter, Higher, Stronger”, describes what athletics must do to win the gold. This phrase also happens to be a strategy in escaping from China as well. Oh sorry, let me start again …

When you think of the Olympics, you think of men and women moving with such energy and vigor that it makes me almost ashamed for getting winded when I take out the trash. For over 100 years, the summer Olympics have given us images of muscular athletics competing under bright, blue skies while deeply breathing fresh, clean air. So what better choice for a host city than smoggy Beijing. It’s one thing to level the playing field. It’s another to have the competitors laying level on the field in the midst of a hacking fit.

But the Olympics is about sportsmanship (and sportswomanship for those of you who like to get your knickers in a twist over such terms). Let everyone train to their very best potential and then let the best man and woman win. Does home field advantage matter? Probably not unless you get your visa revoked by the host government just before travel .

Of course, with all the millions of foreign visitors attending, security is very important. In fact, China has done an excellent job by bugging taxis, installing 300,000 surveillance cameras, and monitoring / restricting Internet usage. No point in allowing evidence of political oppression out, especially when everyone in the world already knows about it.**

So here’s my version of the 2008 Olympic symbol. What do you think?

**Of course, to be fair, 750 people out of 100,000 people in the USA are in prison verses 119 out of 100,000 in China. I guess strong-armed conformity works well in China verses arresting people for victimless crimes here in America.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Do you want to increase your gas mileage right away? One of my good friends at told me of a idea that is making the rounds on the Internet lately. According to these ‘experts’ on ‘Net, you should use the highest octane gas in your car. They reason that it will burn better and will pay itself by giving you higher gas mileage. Hmmmmm….

First thing that comes to my mind is to check is your car’s owners manual. It will say what octane your car is designed for. If you put 93 octane gas in a car that’s built to run on 87, you’ll just foul up the plugs, cause the car to run hotter than it should and get much lower miles per gallon than you had to start with.

Second thing is the cost. Let’s say that my car can use the super duper premium plus gas. What is the minimum miles per gallon that will make this temping change cost effective? Well, I get 30 mpg. At 3.00 $ per gallon, gas costs me 10 cents a mile. If I buy the “caviar of petrol” at 3.20 $ per gallon, I need to get over 32 mpg for any savings to be possible.

At the moment, I don’t know if switching to the expensive stuff will help me. I do know that there several alternative fuels on the horizon. For example, I’ve read about plans to make gas from horse manure. Will it improve gas mileage? I don’t know but I’m pretty sure it will cut down theft by gas siphoning.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Almost $12,000! At least that’s my estimate right now. I don’t know how I missed this, but yet it happened. My CPA was supposed to be taking care of this. But this time last year, I was finishing up a five-year divorce battle and a major down and dirty with the IRS. Somehow this detail got lost in the avalanche of events of this past year. That is until today.

To get my freedom from the wicked witch of the West, I had to over-pay the IRS. My CPA assured me that he would be able to get the money back and pay my 2005 tax bill. Here I am a year later. My CPA forgot or lost track or is incompetent — in any case, I never got my money back. The tax bill is waiting.

So in February I went to the bosses of the IRS — Congress. I wrote to my peeps: Richard Burr, Bob Etheridge, and Elizabeth Dole. Apparently, I matter to Ms. Dole only during election time because I haven’t heard a single word from her. On the other hand, Mr. Burr and Mr. Etheridge immediately answered my correspondence.

Today I received an interesting package from Senator Burr. It contained my tax account transcripts and a letter from the IRS to Senator Burr. The letter basically said they were sorry that they overcharged me but that they were within their rights to keep all the monies. So I spent the day going through the transcripts. Not only did I find where they did not credit a couple of my payments to them, but I also discovered that they mistakenly keyed in my 2001 return. I had brought this matter up to my CPA two years ago. He said that he would take care of it and I trust him to do so. If he did so, no one in the IRS took care of it. That in itself is a $12,000 error in my favor. I’ve also learned in this fight with the IRS that, not only can they charge you interest, but they also have to pay you interest on money they don’t refund in a timely manner. If they follow their own procedure, I will be a very happy man. Of course, if they had followed their own procedures to begin with, I would not have begun a battle with them 10 years ago. Oh well, you know the creed of tax collection agencies everywhere: “if we can bring one little smile to one little face today — then somebody slipped up somewhere.”

If you’ve ever wondered what happened to the bullies that terrorized you in school, rest assured. They’ve gone on to professional status. Some work for criminal organizations. And the rest try to legitimize their actions by working for government tax collection agencies. Thank goodness we live in a free society….

Popularity: 35% [?]