Another update on my arch-nemesis, the National Forest-turned-Clean Air hippie. Today he was at his usual post at the underpass, but instead of the usual pestering he was actually offering something: a summer job. Or to be more specific he was looking for new recruits to serve as his minions to be brainwashed and spread throughout the land with thousands of paper postcards.

Rather than take a break yesterday evening I opted to spend my time doing my taxes. At first it appeared that I was due an $88 refund, but oh was I mistaken. The mutual fund I invest in awarded me a whopping $2.79 in capital gains, and because of this I had to use a different schedule to figure out the taxes I owe. Of this $2.79, only 28 cents are taxable, so little that the extra amount is ignored. However, while the normal schedule allows me to divide the taxes I owe by 3, the capital gains schedule does not. Therefore because of 28 cents of extra taxable income I now owe the government $90. As you can imagine, I am not a happy camper. I can't claim any more deductions since my parents claim me as a dependent, so I may have to do some fiddling and rollover some of my mutual fund money into an IRA if I can't find a loophole. The ridiculous thing is that I have to go to all this trouble, and my taxes are increased by $170, because of $2.79. Ridiculous.