Like clockwork

Study week = I post to my blog. Hey, the first step to solving your problem is admitting you have one, right? This week, I have to relearn all the pathology I ever attempted to learn over the last five months, and add to it about 100 generic drugs -- names and functions. Ugh. We have our regular set of tests on Thursday this week, instead of Friday, and on Friday we take the pathology shelf test (a standardized subject-specific test, kind of like an SAT II).

We just booked our post-boards/summer vacation: An Alaskan cruise! We leave out of Seattle the afternoon of June 3 and return June 10, which still leaves a day and a half to hang around in Seattle before we have to fly back to DC. I'm very excited! Next weekend, when I have time for my life again, I'm going to start researching all the different shore excursions.

Tax season is upon us again, which means, for the ninth year in a row, I need to do my taxes early and file my FAFSA. Ugh. At least things have gotten easier the past few years, since I'm no longer claimed as a dependent and I'm old enough that the school doesn't even want my parents' tax info anymore -- my dad was always the rate-limiting factor in my FAFSA-filing equation.

I've noticed that there is a new type of commercial war occurring on television (even though we now have DVR, I still seem to be seeing commercials everywhere): the tax-filing method war. One of the DIY software brands (TurboTax, I think?) has a commercial wherein customers realize how easy it is to file themselves and take keyboards away from their tax preparers ("Did you make any donations this year? N-o..."). To fight back, H&R Block's commercial shows a couple freaking out over being audited. "We're being audited! What do we do?!" "I'll check the tax software for advice... oh wait, there isn't any advice." (These are paraphrases, not actual transcripts.) Lesson: Use real tax preparers and count on real advice when you need it. (Oh my goodness. I just checked the H&R Block website, and their slogan apparently is, "When you got H&R Block, you got people." Ugh. Since when is bad grammar appropriate for a tax firm?)

Along those lines, I have a dilemma. In 2004, when I was working at Merck, my income taxes were withheld in Pennsylvania, even though I had requested that they be withheld in Maryland, where I was still claiming legal residence for the purpose of applying to medical school (PA and MD are reciprocal states, so you can do that). But the paperwork apparently never went through, so my taxes were withheld in PA, and when I tried to claim exemption from PA income taxes by being a full-time student from another state, I was told that I had to pay my PA taxes then submit paperwork to file for a refund. Well, I finally my $444 refunded to me early last year, which was good. But last week I got a 1099-G from Pennsylvania that shows they refunded me my $444 and suggests I claim it as income for 2006. BS! I refuse to do it! That's ridiculous!!!! It wasn't income, it was me getting my own money back after accidentally lending it to them. So anyway, I'm not claiming it. And if they come after me, I'll claim ignorance. And delete this post...

And one final tax-related story: A man who won a free trip into outer space had to turn it down because the value of the trip ($138,000) would have to be reported as income and he would end up owing $25,000 in taxes, which he can't afford. Sucks for him. If you ask me, he made the wrong choice -- that's like not going on Jeopardy because you're sure you're going to win lots of money and will have to pay taxes on it.

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And in other news, Senator Barack Obama has pulled away from the Democratic presidential hopeful pack early on by announcing that he supports full and complete universal health care. Hooray! (Also notice that CNN misspelled his first name -- Barak -- yikes!) Senator Hillary Clinton has also called for universal health care, but she seems to be shying away from an all-out coverage plan and is instead focusing on SCHIP funding. Not bad, but I'd rather see some higher goals set. After all, as Les Brown (who?!) said, "Shoot for the moon; if you miss you'll be among the stars."