Happy Birthday Colorado

To celebrate it's birthday (I believe 130th) the state of Colorado didn't think it was going to get enough gifts so it had the tax man demand nearly $1000 from me. Surprise surprise I didn't want to pay - nor did I think I had to! So I freaked out for a while, took a vacation to Stapleton* and then took Monday afternoon off of work to get the whole thing straightened out. I wrote a nice letter that used big tax terms to prove that I was a part year resident and so there was no way I owed that much. Got myself all geared up to be assertive and not a push over and then marched on down to the tax office - conveniently located 4 blocks from my apartment. After waiting in line for about an hour it was my turn - 57, number 57? I went up, stated that I needed to challenge this tax bill, the lady looks up my account and asks "Were you a partial year resident?" I say why yes of course I was so she gave me a form to fill out that I didn't include with my taxes - although I remember filling it out - and once I (re)submitted that form I was fine! I don't know why they just couldn't have sent me a note that said - please submit this form or you will owe $1000 - noooo of course they had to scare the shit out of me first!

*Stapleton is 15 minutes from our house and I think quite possibly within Denver city limits. It's the site of the old airport that's in the midst of redevelopment. Which means Sheralee, Vivian and I could get a nice cheap hotel room for the night and sit out at the pool and hot tub. It was AWESOME and I hope we get to do it again soon! Oh - and we ate at iHop. Who does that?