Tax Time

I did my taxes last night. Yep both federal and state. Took me about 10 minutes. Now for one thing I only had one W2 this year, and I've lived at the same address for the entire year so that all helps. I don't own anything, and so far nothing owns me, but I'm sure there's a creditor out there that thinks otherwise. Last year I spent some time delving into my Turbo Tax. You know really trying to itemize all my deductions, and what not. After all my efforts Turbo Tax told me to take the standard deduction, and stop trying so hard. Fine! So after I was finished, and ready to file my 1040EZ I found out Turbo Tax wanted something like $50 for a federal filing, and another $30 for the state. What! That's $80 taken out of my return. I tell you I was so close to just doing it since I was getting a return. But I just couldn't stomach the idea of giving up the money. I turned to my trusty friend Google, and started searching for other online tax services. That's when I discovered Average1040.com. This site is super simple. You enter your info in a series of boxes, and if you do something wrong a pop up gives you suggestions. After all the important data is entered you get to print out your forms, and review them before transmitting. Best of all $6.50 to file. Not $50!
At first I was a bit skeptical of this site as it is so simple. I was sure that my identity, or maybe my sanity would get pilfered, then horse traded around the internet, but I took a gamble on them last year, and everything went fine. So I had no worries about going back this year. It's definitely not for everyone. Other tax sites offer more features, services, and information, but if those services aren't needed then I say stay away. Oh, and California offers their own online tax filing system for free. Now you can't beat that price.

So What is Mickey going to do with his tax return? Spend it wisely by paying down his credit card, save some money for that trip to Italy? Hell no! We're going racing of course. My "A" engine which has been sitting on my garage floor for way to long is going to go to rehab.

That's a good story my "A" engine. I like to call it that. Makes it sound like it's important. And it is, or at least it will be. Way back when I first started racing my partner, and myself kept blowing up engines. Now mind you I built all those, but that in it's self doesn't mean that's why they blew up, but up they blew non-the-less. So I spent some money, and paid an engine guy to build me up a really solid bottom end. That's the crank, and transmission part. I never got that thing to run right. Every time I thought I had found the problem I bought some fancy racing part to replace the problem part. So after nearly three years I have every hop up part you can get for an EX500 engine. Transmission, cam-shafts, head, valves, pistons, lighter, stronger, faster, and with more power, and never has the damn thing run correctly. I wasted the first two races last year trying to get it to work right. So mid season I took the think out put on the floor, of my garage, and there it has sat ever since. The thing is that in the brief moments it did run correctly it was fast. The bone stock engine I have now probably makes 55hp, and the one siting on my garage floor probably makes 65hp, and that's a big difference in racing. So in the continued effort to throw good money after bad, I'm going to take my "A" engine to a professional racing engine builder, and this time it's going to run great. I just know it!