outskirts: life and times in charlottesville

Let’s see what is on tonite. On the NBC29 analog feed (low def) they are showing the Olympics. For anyone that has ever seen HD, you can’t watch sports in LD. So, let’s see what NBC29 is running on their HD channel. Hmm…UVA basketball in low def. OK. So low def analog, low def high def, and then some other pointless ACC game on 29-2.

Why are they optimizing their low def broadcast hours? Oh well, I guess I’ll sit here watching some low def basketball while UVA pays millions to the coach they fired last year.

Will the village ever become a city? I think they would have to get at least one more mule for that to happen.

Update: We all knew an American won a medal today (since it was on the web about 8 hours ago). Good old NBC29 chose to run the lovely little “we have some snow outside” message during his race. Of course, with the limited technology they can’t show HD at the same time (why can only CBS WTVR in Richmond figure this one out?). Thus, the only medal today was in low def. To top it off, since they ran the stupid little ticker tape they haven’t remembered to flip it back to HD mode.

I bet I could train a monkey to flip that switch.

OK…I will give in to the fact that it could be a technical difficulty, such as they haven’t cleaned off their HD dish at the station…just like me…since if I had I wouldn’t be watching the local hoo-ha. In any event, sleep is better than the Olympics.

So in my plague ridden state I totally missed the 5k that took place this morning. For some reason I thought it was next weekend. Oh well. There is no way I would have felt good trying to run this morning. I imagine it was fun running through the light snow this morning. Winter 5k’s are pretty fun since you get to see some whacky outfits for running when it is cold. I go with the classic raggy sweats. Nothing fancy.

Well, the snow is coming down at a pretty good clip. If it hadn’t been so warm this entire winter it might be piling up. Right now the snow is just a bit ahead of the melting. Nothing yet on any roads, sidewalks, or houses. Yards have a good 1/4 inch on them.

Believe it or not, it is actually snowing! If we really get more than an inch or so I will be amazed. The current forecast is 4-8 inches. I’ll get a few more shots as the day goes on, provided my plague doesn’t pin me to the couch.

Tonite FOX is advertising the series finale of Arrested Development. However, they previously announced that the show had been cancelled.

I wonder what they are thinking. In any event, I’ll be watching the last two hours tonite despite my plague that is sucking the life force out of me. Be one with the Force. Don’t fight it, just feel it around you. Ugh.

OK…I’ll be shocked if this actually happens, but they have issued a heavy snow warning for us here in the village. I’d lay money there is no bread or milk left in the local stores.

BEFORE SNOW ENDS EARLY SUNDAY MORNING…TOTAL SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED TO BE 4 TO 8 INCHES…WITH UP TO 10 INCHES POSSIBLE IN THE CENTRAL SHENANDOAH VALLEY AND LOCATIONS SUCH AS CHARLOTTESVILLE AND FREDERICKSBURG.

I’ll be out getting lots of photos if we really do get snow. My prediction is for nothing.

My plague continues. Based on evidence around me (i.e. all the other sickos) I have about 2.5 more weeks before I feel good. I made it to the gym last night (always good to work out when you are sick…right…), and I was actually feeling only half sick for much of today. But it sure started kicking in during the past two hours. Sneezing…coughing…the usual suspects.

The tough part about this strand is that it never really knocks you down, but it just keeps you against the ropes feeling a bit dizzy for the entire time. Always a good idea to work on days like this…so on sick days you can really get sick…if you know what I mean.

One of the local counties is concerned since not many people have bought their car stickers for the next six months. If you don’t have the sticker (indicating you paid some tax of some sort) you can get thrown in jail, charged a penalty, and have to pay for the sticker.

Now, one might wonder why many people have skipped paying this year? It turns out the IBM printer from the early 70′s (my best estimate from the news video) stopped working at some point as it was printing out names on that old school wide green and white stripped paper with that tear-away edge thing with holes in it (the technology is so old I can’t even remember the name).

Did they care that it stopped? Did they bother to try to tell people that they had to pay their car tax?

No. Of course not. Here in VA the city, county, or commonwealth are under no obligation to tell you when taxes are due. They assume that if you don’t receive any bill, or any other notice, that you will always remember to pay a $25 car tax by Feb 15 every year. Yeah, that is always the first thing on the top of my mind.

I really wish that if they KNEW their ancient system had stopped functioning, they would at least try to do it again. Instead they just can’t wait so they can charge everyone double the price when they do have to pay the tax (the lovely surcharge).

I once got screwed by this village when I never received a notice of a $29 business tax I owed them. A month later I received a bill from them for $54. They stated I didn’t properly pay my taxes on time. I told them I had never received anything and they could care less. Did they check to see I haven’t been late on a bill in the 6.5 years I’ve lived here? No. Did they have any way to look in their records to see where the first bill had been sent (I had moved recently). They said they had no way of knowing that information. They really seem to know very little around here.

To show you how much they know, I’m heading off to the local court in a few weeks to do a bit of chatting. I’ll let you know what I’m up to as the time approaches.

So there were actually a few flakes in the air this evening. That is the first time since mid-December. Looks like winter is finally here, at least for the next week. At least I’m pretty safe on my bet that we wouldn’t make the average yearly snowfall total. Average is around 24 inches, so far this year, 5. Not a chance we’ll catch up…but there is always hope.

That time of year has arrived again…taxes. I spent about four hours working on them tonite. I’m truly boggled when trying to do taxes. I just do what the computer tells me to. I’ve used TurboTax in the past (desktop version) but wanted to migrate to online. The TurboTax site wouldn’t even import my data. The H&R Block site does, so it looks like I may go with that. I’ll compare the two sites and see who give me more money back…if I have the energy.

Of course, in theory it should be the same, but answering the questions is always tough. Trying to figure out where certain things go for deductions and income is brutal.

Currently it looks like a big $4k bonus. Not bad for four hours. Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe I owe that much. It’s always a gamble. Anyone think the Fins can win the Superbowl next year? Currently the odds are 20 to 1.