david-s.net - David Schlosnagle's Words, Photos, and Links

That’s what I’d like to know. According to the IRS’s “Where’s My Refund?”:

Your tax refund is scheduled to be mailed on April 29, 2005. If you do not receive the refund by May 27, 2005, please contact us again. We are unable to take any action until then.

Can someone explain exactly how they can schedule a date to mail my refund over a week in advance, but not send it out until then? If it’s already been processed, shouldn’t the Treasury cut a check and give me my money back? It only seems fair that since they’ve been collecting interest on it since I earned it, that I should get it back once I’ve told them how much they’ve overcharged me.

After over 2 years of pestering from my mom and I, my dad finally gave in and traded in the 11 year old barge for a more yacht like Acura RL. As you can see, its a beautiful car, and a blast to drive (although its still in the “break in” period). Enjoy the new car Dad, you deserve it.

In another show of how much GM just doesn’t get it, they have decided to add GM badges to all of their cars (Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Hummer, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn) to show that despite all attempts to not suck, they just can’t escape the black hole (or should that be red). I think my mom may have taken her car company killing to a new level recently. The deceased Eagle (Chrysler) has since merged with Mercedes (Daimler-Benz) who are having continuous quality issues. With her Oldsmobile purchase 6 years ago, she killed off the second oldest surviving auto marque in the world, after only Daimler. Never one to rest on her laurels, she stepped it up a notch and has decided to take down all of GM. GM stock has dropped over 1/3 in the past year, with no end in sight.

I think its time to start persuading Mom to trade in the Oldsmobile for a nice TL to complete the Acura family set.

BusinessWeek has an article on Cracking the Street’s New Math. It’s just a high level overview of how money managers are using computer algorithms to spread trades over a finite timeline. Reverse engineering these trades and algorithms gives you Pi.

So I’m driving to Potbelly after softball practice with Ms. “No Name” to get a yummy turkey sandwich, and as I’m driving along I notice what looks to be a very nice Mercedes CLK, then I notice the Kleemann badge, and I realize that its a CLK 55K S8. Wow, 596hp can make you just gawk, and I’m not a Mercedes fan (although the CLKs are very nice, and I wouldn’t turn down the SL 55 AMG at the Vegas slots if I had won).

It was bound to happen sooner or later. With Google’s acquisition of Keyhole late last year and their release of Google Maps almost two months, they’ve finally merged the two. You can now get satellite pictures of the Whitehouse, however some more “secure” areas are invisible to at certain higher resolutions, but visible from afar.