Tuesday and Wednesday -

I've seen 19 now. It's all starting to run together... hard to find time to post what with watching plays all the time. Not to mention working.
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Tuesday, August 8 - no clinkers! Also, dragged old friend Mark M into the craziness. "Wonders of the World" blew his mind and now he's hooked too!

7:00 PM Duchess of Devonshire - not bad, but pales by comparison
Presented by LAB Theater Company at Mixed Blood Theatre

8:30 PM The Wonders of the World: Recite - totally awesome! 5 stars
Presented by Totally Realistic Productions at Mixed Blood Theatre

10:00 PM Deviled Eggs - also really good. 4.5 or 5 stars.
Presented by Four Humours Theatre at U of M Rarig Center Thrust

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Wednesday, August 9 - I'm going to stop doing that thing where I see an absolutely great show and then get talked into seeing one I know is going to be mediocre. Better to end the evening on a note of artistic exhilaration.

8:30 PM Phyro-Giants! -- fantastic! 5 stars
Presented by They Might be Phyro-Giants Productions at Acadia Café

10:00 PM Hot Springs, Cold Sex…Good God! -- eh. Maybe a 3. I wish I'd skipped it, but I wouldn't go so far as to warn everybody against seeeing it.
Presented by Loosely Affiliated in Northfield at Bryant-Lake Bowl

Woohoo!!! I'm exonerated!

About 6 months ago the IRS started sending me notices that I had underreported my 2003 income by a vast amount (comparatively speaking) and that I now owed them thousands of dollars. My taxes that year were sort of complicated due to cashing in a chunk of stock options when I was laid off from Cisco. I had also taken the opportunity to sell a bunch of loser stock funds, so there were a lot of entries on my Schedule D form. Suffice it to say, it was not evident at a glance where the discrepancy was between me and the IRS.

As is my wont, I put it off until the communiques from the IRS turned menacing, then spent an entire weekend poring over my old tax return and comparing it to the pile of paper they sent me. I finally concluded that they were counting the stock option income twice, once as ordinary income (correct) and again as capital gains (incorrect). I sent them this explanation, and then tried not to worry as a new notice arrived each month with an ever-increasing Amount Due (penalties, y'know). Another envelope arrived last week and I was afraid to open it. Let it marinate on the front porch for about a week before I worked up the nerve to look inside.

Guess what! They agreed that my explanation was correct, and I now owe them $0!!! I honestly did not expect that to work out so well. *whew*