Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like college basketball. Now that college football has officially concluded its recruiting season, the Super Bowl has passed and the golf season hasn’t heated up yet, college basketball has my main attention right now. I fancy myself a fan of Duke University’s men’s basketball team and have for a long time. This appreciation was instigated by my mother’s family in North Carolina. My cousin Margie has sent me an autographed team poster every year for over a decade now. I have watched several Duke games this year and thoroughly enjoyed their 10 point win over UNC last night. My dispersal of affection for sports teams is pretty weird. Here’s a breakdown:

College Football: Auburn University
College Basketball: Duke University (men’s)
Major League Baseball: Chicago Cubs
National Football League: Undeclared
National Basketball Association: Undeclared
National Hockey League: what???

When it comes to TEAM sports, my loyalty is to those squads with brief histories of success but not much hardware to show for it. But to me, that heartbreak keeps me going with higher hopes for the next year!

This week, I love fast weeks and slow weekends. I've been pretty busy at work lately and the weeks have been flying by. My weekends have not show the same pace due to the cold weather so I have gotten to enjoy some down time. I think Julie has some plans to help fill up my weekends though.

This week, I don’t like taxes. Specifically, I don’t like the tax applied to the renewal fee for my car tag. You know the tiny little sticker that indicates that your car tag is registered for the current year? I have to renew that sticker each February (Julie does too, now). The normal fee for this sticker is pretty staggering on its own but you can imagine the delight I had in realizing that the tax for this fee is nearly TWICE THE RENEWAL FEE! I Tweeted my original frustration with this fact. Now I want to write a letter or go knock on someone’s door. But I don’t know where to start. What’s worse…the incredible tax or not knowing who to yell at about the tax? Here’s another doozey: the tax on my fee is nearly $30 higher than the tax on Julie’s fee. What’s up with that?!?! I only assume this is because of the “Assessed Value” of my vehicle is listed on my reminder as a higher amount than the “Assessed Value” of Julie’s car. BUT WHO SET THAT VALUE? HAS ANYONE EVER INSPECTED MY CAR? NOOOooooo! FINAL doozey about all of this – I went into the nearby license office to attempt to get the address on my driver’s license changed. I was the only customer in this massive office. I counted 8 workers – more could have been in the back – who were all sitting down and watching CNN on the lobby TV. Maybe this blatant example of overstaffing explains why this tax is so high!

Please – if you can help me direct my frustration to the appropriate official, please email me: nbaggett@hotmail.com. I don’t know if my issue is with the state or the county. Thank you for your consideration!