Phone conversation, representative from Honda calling, wondering about my recent visit to the Honda dealer to get my car serviced

Dude on Phone: Is it okay if we send you a short email survey about your experiences?

Me: As long as the email address is not sold or spammed

Dude on Phone: No, it will only be used for this one instance.

Me: Okay, but I'm giving you my scary email address ......at irs.gov...You don't want to send spam there, now, do ya?

Dude on Phone: Hells no!

BWA HA HA! Don't mess with the IRS. WATCH OUT!

Finally, it is warm here and not so windy and rainy that I can't even open the door to get out of Caribou Coffee (true story).

Fergie dance class was mucho-fun, but I am now so sore I feel like an old man.

"I've fallen, and I can't get up!"

Let's just say the crapiness of having to be at a Tax Research Conference all day was severly turned around when I went to a street jazz class with my roommate Joy. My only wish was that we got to dance to Akon and Fergie. Not only did we warm up to Akon and Ludacris (yes!) our dance was to GLAMOUROUS (by Fergie)! Talk about the best day of my life.

Despite me dancing in a studio with professional dancers after at least 6 years sans dance training, I held my own and it was crunkin' fun!

Being so close to VA here in Washington DC, the Virginia Tech shootings hit close to home for many here. There are a good number of my coworkers that attended VT, including my cube-neighbor and manager. Many of my coworkers have kids and relatives at VT. What a sad week for them.

Of course we will all learn lessons from this like we do a day-late-and-a-dollar-short after every tragedy. But my main question to be answered is: how was a gun sold legally to a 23-year-old who walked off the streets with a credit card? I do realize state governments have jurisdiction on weapons policy, but it is time we outright banned conceal and carry laws. Having guns on the street is ridiculous. I am dumbfounded by the fact that I could walk in and buy a gun somewhere. That is sick and ridiculous. I am not blaming the man who sold Cho the gun, rather the laws that are in place that allow it. Who is anyone to ask to carry a gun?

Of course my thoughts are with the families affected by the shootings at VT. The flags flying half-staff here in Washington reflect the morose fog that has settled over the city.

New look. Pink for the Washington cherry blossoms!

I never actually made it to the Cherry Blossom Festival, because even though I go on daily Lunch Hour Adventures my boss forgot to give us 59 minutes of administrative leave (I'm not kidding, that is what it is called) to make it there and back during work. I could have gone one weekend, but time out, it was snowing so that wasn't going to happen...

I will say, the good think about working near all the shady-people at Union Station, is that you can have Smithsonian lunch hours, which I do quite often. If I am not at the Smithsonian, I am ususally at the Botanical Gardens. A little walking and a lot of flowers later, I am ready to brave the rest of the day at the IRS. It even makes up for last week when one day, I (by "I", I mean metro riders) were greeted at the top of the escalators by Muslim fundamentalists who were screaming out the rules of Islam and had defaced pictures of Jesus at 7:30 am. The next day, there were Christian fudamentalists doing the same thing on 15th & C. See what I have to go through on a daily basis just to get to work? At least the lady who sings spirituals to a harmonica has not been on my train as of late...

It is the last two weeks of class, and my life will significantly improve once this week is over. I have my 15 page (single spaced) proposal due on Wednesday and my 15 page paper on government contracting due on Thursday. Oy. The best thing, however, is that I got a ticket home to go to MN and attend the G-Choir 75th Anniversary celebration at Gustavus the first weekend of May. I am so pumped! I'm going to NYC the weekend before and then MN, meaning I have to somehow write my 10 page final worth 30% of my grade in three days (ahhh!!) but I think I will overcome the madness. I cannot WAIT to go home for the weekend!

Mini-computer drama left me standing at a Comp-USA this morning that turned me away because they are closing and stopped accepting cases YESTERDAY and Best Buy told me to buy canned air so apparently everything is a-okay with my computer. I hate the fact that servicing a computer is never short and or less than $100. I have a three year warranty on my lap top, but all the Comp USAs out here are all going out of business within a 40 mile radius of me. NOT hot.

Back to my paper then working out. I wonder what trashy tv I will watch on the elliptical machine today! Oh joy!

Having reliable and fast internet is worth the cost. The end.

I just got done applying my new flamingo-pink nail polish on my toes. Let's just say it would be perfect for a grandma sporting a straw bag and palm tree earrings. I LOVE IT!

Just two weeks of class for this semester and then I am free for two weeks. I am counting down the hours.

Happy 90th Birthday to my Grandpa Laine. You always know when a birthday is special due to the lack of the cards available at Target. I only had one choice for a Happy 90th Birthday so obvs that is quite an accomplishment. 1917 was SO LONG AGO!

Okay so I said Happy Easter yesterday, but I will say it again today. Happy Easter! I didn't eat ham today, but I did get scolded at for eating in the library. I was eating high fiber Wasa rye crackers. What food could be less threatening and spillable than Wasa Rye crackers? THEY ARE MADE BY SCANDINAVIANS, the epitome of equality and neutrality! I don't know how they missed me eating Subway yesterday with a large diet Coke, so at least now I need to know that I have to hide my food consumption in the AU library. I miss the GAC library where I could eat or drink anything I wanted anywhere I wanted. Love it! I just got done working out so I was obviously going to eat my Wasa rye crackers. I ate them after the girl left me and then I snuck my yogurt too, I am such a renegade!

Today at the soup kitchen was actually really fun. Despite me getting minorly lost, I planned ahead and still made it on time. The leader of the volunteers, I am sure was a cross dressing African-American male who had a very cheery tone. His eyebrows were too plucked and his hair was in a long sleek ponytail, obviously not so masculine. He reminded me of Angel from Rent. He was so fun, no complaints here! Our other leader Tony, kept telling me all the attention I was going to get because I am a "six-foot tall white girl with blonde hair". Well, luckily I had no problems, probably because my hairnet was so unattractive no one could tell I had blonde hair. Today, the Department of Health regulations were a win-win situation for all!

I accomplished 13 pages of my paper yesterday. Holla! Today is the bibliography and the rest. Peace out!

I woke up this morning and there was snow outside. WHAT?

Luckily the ground was dry, alleviating the annoying icy-mess that is usually the result of the crappy Maryland/DC snow removal system. Sadly, I just paid good money to have my car washed, vacuumed, and tires Armoralled (!) last weekend. Oh well, at least Halo stayed clean for one week. It was funny last Saturday because I thought some birds had left a "present" on my car circa 20 minutes after I got it washed and I was really, really mad. The next morning I went outside with some soapy water and papertowels to clean it off, but it wasn't there. Apparently, I had a dream this happened, becuase it didn't happen in real life. If that is the case, what does a dream mean with a bird pooing all over your clean car?

Tomorrow is Easter, and I won't actually be at home for once. Crazy! My mom said she is having Easter at our house, so that should be fun for her (not!). I am sure all my crazy relatives will be over with their random children. I don't really enjoy ham so missing the Easter meal is not actually that bad. I will be sad to miss my church service, however. I will not be in attendance at church tomorrow as I will be serving Easter lunch at a homeless shelter in DC. I feel like that is a good excuse, but not going to church on the single most important Christian holiday is ridiculous. Maybe I can watch John Hagee on TV. HA!

People, your taxes are due in 10 days, I hope you've completed them!

No more procrastination for me. I already spend two hours at the gym but that was probably only an excuse to no write my paper, but I actually have to do it now, or the next two weeks of my life will be even more ridiculously busy than usual.

Happy Easter pals!

So I will be the first one to admit that the government has its flaws. I don't deny it. I study the flaws and successes for at least six hours of class every week at school and live them for another 40 at work. My life revolves around the US government.

Upon random facebook searching, I come up to one of my coworkers facebook pages. He is from Michigan and just graduated from college in May '06. He spend one of his entire facebook notes complaining about two guys that work in our office.

These two employees he mentioned are developmentally disabled, and employed by the IRS as mail carriers. They also do other jobs such as mailing documents and filling the printers with paper and lugging the extra reams of paper around to where they need to be. They each have their own unique story. Brian suffered an accident as a child and was buried under sand at the beach too long after he and his brother were playing a game. His brain was deprived of oxygen too long and has since had developmental delays. While he looks like a normal 40-year-old, he lives in a group home and doesn't drive. His job allows him to pay his rent and he rides his bike wherever he needs to go. His parents have a trust fund for him and he is obviously not on public assistance. Outside of work he is involved in Irish dancing and Toastmasters (public speaking). In general, he navigates his portion of Washington DC like a charm. No, he can't do 99% of the technical things we do in my office, although he does use email like a champ, not bad for a fourty-year-old in my book!

The other guy, Glen, is also developmentally disabled. I am not sure what happened, but he is in his late 50s and still lives with his parents (although I am not sure how that really works). He does the same type of job at Brian and has similar characteristics although his defining feature is that he loves baseball.

For the work they do, they are not paid much. They are a grade level 4, and cannot advance to a higher grade, although they qualify for in-grade salary increases as well as annual increases. My guess is they make around $32,000 a year (this is after working for at LEAST ten years, mind you).

So my coworker (the one who is not developmentally disabled) starts complaining about how they are a waste of money and get paid to do nothing. He was complaining about having to hand deliver tax information to the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) which is a bit of a jog from our office. Glen and Brian are not allowed to carry tax information, even microdata files, because they do not work with data and are not trained in taxpayer privacy.

All I have to say to my coworker is: get a life and have a heart. These two men would never have the opportunity to have a job in the private sector. They are both kind-spirited and do a wonderful job at what they do. They fully understand the boundaries of what they are capable of doing and take care of themselves at work. I am proud that our government takes a small deviation from cost-based efficiency to employ these men. For the same reason all my office supplies are manufactured by blind people, the opportunity for opportunity is something I'm willing to fund with my tax dollars.