Goat Day 3: I know, you're already sick of me.
6Good afternoon, my friends. It's now the 3rd day into my Goat Run and wow, it's not as easy as I thought it'd be. I'm getting gray hairs. The blames are coming from all angles. I've done you wrong, and there's no way I can repay you. This job is almost as stressful as being President of the United States... without the jet, and the power, and any kind of decision making power. And to top it off, I'm keeping a journal. To be honest, it's kind of fun.
TODAY'S DEAL
I got these for free as a VMP a few months back. I tested it out. They kinda work. You have to make sure they are seated properly in the USB slot, otherwise it's an exercise in futility. But I'm all for Meh branded stuff. It's cool. I still have mine on my keyring along with 7800 other items.
ODDS AND ENDS
Surprisingly, my discussion on cell phones before the iPhone was kind of a hit. So many of those phones look familiar to me. We thought that was the pinnacle of tech back then. Oh how we were wrong.
My phone right before the iPhone? A Palm Treo 700wx. Yes, a Windows Branded Phone. What a piece of junk. Before that, I wanted one of those sliding phones you'd see in the Matrix films. Those things looked so damn cool. Too bad the movies after the first one weren't as great. I remember when I first started dating my ex-fiancee, we went to an IMAX screen in Rochester, NY to see The Matrix Revolutions.... Probably not the best choice for taking someone on a first-ish date. I guess that's why she's my Ex.
THE FEED BAG
Today's question/complaint comes from @Brandon. He writes...
"I may be in the minority on this but The Goat is way funnier as something the community finds ways to blame. A vocal Goat is the guy at the party explaining the punchline to every joke."
Thanks for writing, sir. I had no idea that being forced to read my musings was a requirement of anyone named the Goat. Here I am, thinking it'd be kind of cool to start a daily journal, contributing content for the site because I like to interact with people here, raising questions, having fun. I'm sorry you and the 8 people who starred your comment hate fun. Perhaps we should bring back the Parody threads. I'm sure @unixrab would love that.
TODAY'S QUESTION
Apropos of nothing, I got my tax refund back today. I just bought a home last year, so it was shocking to see what my federal refund was this year. I was ecstatic, thinking of the possibilities, then realizing that it'd be better off in a home repair fund, because homes are just money pits with a backyard.
My question to you is: What is the most lavish thing you've ever spent money on using your tax refund?
Until tomorrow, (To everyone who's left) BLEAT!
- 21 comments, 18 replies
- Comment
I think "THE FEED BAG" should be titled "The Goats Soap Box" or "Goat Complaints" although I'm pretty sure the goat has no right to complain about anything...ever.
We don't hate "fun" we just don't like the March Goat. I guess you're doing your job but I'm certainly not going to blame anything on the goat this month. I get enough of that guy already.
EDIT: oh and though I wasn't "forced" to read your posts like @Brandon (I couldn't "make" myself read all of this one) its enough just knowing you're there. every.god.damned.day.
Whilst in college I spent my refund on a 2 week kayaking trip through the NC outer banks. Seriously, just post the question. Its the best (only good?) part, and wading through the rest is probably why @Brandon isn't a fan.
@RedHot Speaking for everyone. Nice!
@RedHot I think this might be the first time someone just straight up said, "we don't like the goat this month." I'm pretty sure it wasn't necessary or worth typing, but to each their own. We all know it's @BillLehecka's fault you don't like him, anyway.
@Thumperchick I have to admit, the outright hatred is kind of humorous. It's like I pissed in his cornflakes or something because I am keeping a journal. AND HE STILL ANSWERED MY DAILY QUESTION.
@BillLehecka Not everyone just the 9 of us. @Thumperchick How much of what any of us types on here is worth the time it takes, we could be reading books, cleaning our homes, actually working, almost anything is more productive than Meh. We do it because its "fun" :-P Oh, and I do like @BillLehecka , I just think he's the worst Goat ever. We've all got things we're good at and things we're bad at, never know til we try. In this case, we know immediately :-)
@BillLehecka hatred? I really can't read that in a way thats hateful. dismissive and bored certainly but hateful? I'm way worse than I thought. And I don't eat cornflakes! I eat that chocolate Kashi cereal with the chocolate pieces in it. Maybe you should ask about that on day 18 or something. I promise to be there to answer it :-)
@RedHot Wait... you mean to tell me I could be spending my time doing something OTHER than making comments on the internet? I must re-evaluate all of my life choices, immediately.
@Thumperchick I can't really spend a lot of my time doing something else, but I'm okay with that.
@BillLehecka I think the nature of the goat is that some will hate you. I didn't so much care for that part of the job, but oh well. IMO, you're doing a great job. Fuck those other guys. I like reading your musings. And way more worth my time, honestly, than most of what gets posted here, unfortunately.
I bought a TiVo one year. Does that count?
I never received a tax refund larger than a few hundred dollars. Early in my career I didn't earn much and later I adjusted my withholding to eliminate or reduce my interest-free loan to Uncle Sugar.
The first time you get to write off loan interest and local property taxes is pretty nice - especially in this state. Every little bit helps. We do try to get that refund amount as low as possible - I don't like the idea of Uncle Sam holding onto my money for no reason - but we're about as close as we're comfortable getting, so we get a decent refund.
We tend to spend tax refunds a surprise loan payment money. An extra mtg payment on the house, or paying off furniture, etc. We budget for lavish stuff.
A long time ago I used it to buy a car. We have run out own business for a number of years now. We calculate things so that we owe a bit. I have no desire to provide the government with an interest free loan.
@Headly Also, I like turtles.
@Headly our.
Nobody cares what you say, goat.
Most lavish thing I've done with a refund is finish paying off student loans.
This year promises to be more exciting!
@dashcloud Me too! The day I got my tax refund (a couple years ago) and paid the last of my federal student loans was one of the happiest days of my life. It was exciting for me - I was free of interest payments!
If you haven't shared that windfall with the rest of us, you've got some 'splainin to do, goat.
What is this "tax refund" you speak of?
No idea what I ever spent tax refunds on, back when I used to get them. Probably used it to buy a computer once.
@katylava I'm glad I'm not the only one who's forgotten. Ultimately, my first wife spent all of our refunds. And it worked out well actually.
@joelmw I'm sure there are times I spent it on groceries too.
I once bought a house at a property tax auction with my tax refund.
Why do we get these mildly amusing writeup every day? I blame @billlehecka
Sick of you? I'm just starting to warm up to you.
I mean warm you up. Damn ESL.
You didn't get the jet? I'd blame someone for that if I were you.
Goats are funnier when they're blamed by others and not, sadly, apparently daily, looking to insert themselves into the discussion. The funniest part of this post was you reading into my interest level in you versus showing up to the forums for once and seeing this was the monthly focus
I cannot believe the level of vitriol and negativity regarding the diary. The position of goat comes with very few policies or procedures, and each goat is free to do it their own way. The fun part of each new goat is seeing how they will handle their position for the month.
Heck if they all did it the same way, we wouldn't need to select a new one each month.
@SIMBM You're right each goat is free to do it their own way, and we're free to like or not like the way this particular goat does it.
@SIMBM Well said. And as an ex goat, I thank you.
@RedHot And I agree with you. However, I do not agree on how that dislike was expressed. It's like we turned on one of our own, and up to now, Meh hasn't been that way.
@SIMBM it's always been exactly that way. We're you not here for the east coast/west coast/entitlement/Fuku 4 extravaganza? Open your eyes, Meh is on the same Internet as everything else.
First ALL PRAISE OUR HOLY GOAT OF MARCH!!!! No... seriously... it is mandatory...
And I bought 3 cars one year... blew the head on one 5 days after getting it home
Looks like we have 28 more of these to suffer through. I blame @BillLehecka.
Also, your user name is too difficult to spell. I blame you for this @BillLehecka.
Last year I used part of our tax refund to pay off my $5k of credit card debt. This year hubby and I used part of it to buy a new sofa and love seat.
When we filed last year we had anticipated a larger refund than usual since we had bought a house the year before. Nope, got the same as usual. (We get about $5k each year.) Our accountant said it's because our mortgage was so small ($118k) and our interest rate so low (3.75%).
@bluedog That's weird. I doubled my refund because I itemized and claimed Mortgage Insurance and the Mortgage Interest. Plus I had one point that I was able to claim
@BillLehecka I think you're having a little too much fun with the goat...