Death and Taxes

Ufile... where have you been all my life?

Is the only thing I could say to myself on Saturday afternoon and pretty much every moment since then.

Yup - that's right. I did my taxes on Saturday. It wasn't even CLOSE to as hard as I would have thought. Until now, I have managed to go all these years without ever having to do my own taxes. I've had other people do them (my dad, sister, friends) but I have never actually done them myself.

I suppose part of the reason is that I hate accounting/accountants/counting.... the other part of the reason is that I was just a little scared of screwing something up or spending all night slaving over numbers (and then ending up in jail anyways). Lucky for me, it didn't turn out that way.

Wow, the things they can do with technology these days.

I go to ufile.ca and in only a few minutes, I'm using their software and entering the appropriate info. Few minutes later paying only about 20 bucks to use the program to submit and bam, done. Now I did have to call CRA to get some info for my online submission but that was a snap.

Now I all have to do is figure out what I'm going to do with my tax return. Obviously, most of it is going towards my retirement (which won't be for a while). But I am also terribly conflicted about what else I should get.

Part of me wants to get an HDTV but the problem is that I don't watch TV... at least proper TV. I don't have cable and my current TV doesn't fit with my decor so I consume most TV at my friends' places or online. And the truth is that you can watch most TV online, whenever you want. MTV Canada has this down pat.. shows are up only an hour after they are on air and they only have one thirty second commercial each break -at best. Some shows have the commercials less frequently. Afterall, who with the budget for that type of spending is buying up time on Double Shot at Love...

So then I think about computers. I have two laptops. My old Dell, which is only alive by the grace of a new power cord, which cost me $100. I use it in my "beat lab".

No, I don't have a "beat lab". I just wanted to use that sometime/somewhere.

And I have an IBM ThinkPad which is a total tank but nearing the end of it's useful life. I could erase everything on it, wipe it and donate it to a good cause. To replace it, I either buy a netbook (which I want to so bad) or a media type computer to run my new HDTV. I want the netbook really badly because it will do everything I need - surf and turf - in a package the size of a daybook and weighing in at just over a pound. Most notebooks are over 4 pounds. Perfect for somebody that's on the go - except I am finishing school in the spring and don't plan to get into that mode again for a while.

Lastly, I could get a bike. Now, I could get a sweet bike and splash out some money or I could get a cheapo. Afterall, I plan on moving to the East side soon and bikes there last as long as Frosty the Snowman in Miami. But I recently saw an awesome conversion project. An old high school friend of mine converted a cruiser into an electric bike. Complete with battery and lights, it will so close to 30 km/h.

The dark horse 5th option - dj equipment. I could go all out and get a pair of Pioneer CDJ 1000's but they tend to be a pretty penny and I need two. But part of me has been enjoying djing the most I ever have recently and why not start getting more serious about it?

Anyways, the new Beyonce song "Halo" is on the radio so I better go cry.

Seriously though - listen to the words of the song. "Baby you're my saving grace... I can see your halo". Those are some pretty high expectations to live up to. For almost any guy who's not an angel or wearing a lighbulb under his hat.

What happens when he cheats on her with her best friend or runs off with some younger girl? Can he just pull out his halo and make it all better?