So today, I took the step to fill out the FAFSA, which is the federal student aid something or other that lets me qualify for federal government grants and loans and all that jazz. But to do that, you also have to file your taxes. And being a 20-something year old male with no notable assets (well, I do have a really cool vinyl record collection) and a measly amount of income, it takes a lot of time answering "no" to all these questions of shit that I don't own and thus, won't pay taxes on. No, I don't have stocks, bonds, or mutual funds, nor am I transferring money to foreign bank accounts, and on and on and on. But I did finally finish my federal taxes and am getting a good chunk of change back from Uncle Sam, so that was worth it.
Filing my state taxes though (which, by the way, you might qualify for free e-filing for your state return here), even though I answered a similar amount of mind-numbing questions, resulted in a a whole dollar of a return. That was fun.
And finally, I go to fill out my FAFSA. And I log onto their site, and I'm hit with a "browser not compatible" page. Yeah, I use Google Chrome. It's the new, cool kid on the block and I guess the feds only want you using Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. I remember the White House IT department went out of their way to make sure whitehouse.gov was compatible with the iPad's browser by the iPad's launch date, but I guess they haven't gotten around to compatibility for Chrome when filling out government forms.
And finally, about my only political thought for today. An e-mail landed in my inbox announcing the formation of two new Indiana Tea Party organizations, one in Boone County and one in Marion County. Their call out meeting will each be held at public county library branches. I guess the irony of meeting in a government owned and operated building (likely with a free or cheap meeting place) is lost on them.
Good for you !!!! You obviously have a lot of potential.
ReplyDeleteAhh come on the Libraries are one of the really good things that government pays for with our taxes. No age limit, free book and videos for reading and viewing and top it off with free fast internet service. No discrimination between the rich or poor or nationality or religion. I would hope the tea party would support the libraries as one truly great government service.
ReplyDeleteOh by the way I still have a truly impressive vinyl record collection, more for the album art then the music. I have digitized most of the tracks over the last couple of years. I truly feel sorry for my kids no longer discovering an artist by listening to a album of 8 to 12 songs instead of just one or two hits songs. Oh well time marches on...
Good luck. Those FAFSA forms are always a PITA. As for Tea Party filings... yay. Like we need anymore extreme right wing fanatics organizing..
ReplyDeleteAs for systems, I was pondering the other day how often government updates it's software and with what. I work for a corporation and there is always some sort of update going on, which is always Windows based. I think back to when the CCB was the subject of a lot of media attention regarding it's hardware updates. It sounded like they were operating on old vacuum tube technology.