First we went to go get our taxes done. Every year we say we're going to a legit place but end up going to the same old dive we go every year- Sergio Centro Latino. Sergio is an Argentinian guy with an ambiguously shady past who happens to be the most successful tax accountant in Utah county mainly because he caters to Latinos with similarly shady pasts. Hence, most of the people I know and associate with get their taxes done there.
Let me paint you a picture. When you get there, the waiting room literally looks like the waiting room at a free clinic, complete with jam-covered toys for the tots, mismatching rows of chairs with shabby upholstery, and an obnoxious buzzing tv turned to an even more obnoxious television program (in this casa Noticias Galavision!). You take a number, wait 30 minutes, sit down with some lackey hired to type in the info on your W-2's and then wait another 20 minutes to talk to another lackey who handles people with no unusual tax issues.
If you own a business, a house, a rental property, or anything else that requires a brain to process, you wait another 50 minutes to sit down with the man himself- Sergio (last name unknown). Sergio is a tall, white-haired man with olive skin and a thick accent who is basically a magician who's specialty is slight-of-hand with income tax. He interviews you, asks you about anything that you might possibly count as a deduction, types everything in and presto- 20 minutes later you walk out with a tax refund you probably don't deserve.
It's all very shady and I'm constantly afraid we're going to get audited, although Sergio swears it's all legit and we've been using his services for 5 years with no problem.
Also, we have 2 houses, 2 full-time jobs, and 2 businesses on-the-side so I don't really feel like the H and R Block kiosk at WalMart can really fulfill our tax accounting needs, although next year I'm pretty sure we're going somewhere else. I said that last year, though, so we'll see how it works out.
Regardless, our refund this year is actually double my income from the first year we filed joint taxes, which made me feel nostalgic and totally happy. It's nice to see that your life is moving forward.
After that, I needed to eat so we drove a block north and ate at Apollo Burger- the world's single greatest fast-food chain. It's actually not a chain, I think. There are three restaurants that I know of- one in Orem, one in Provo, and one in SLC (there may be more). They all have different names, identical menus, and almost-identical food. They are owned by a Greek family (or families) and Luis swears that the reason they all have different names is for tax-evasion purposes. Hmm... Are you noticing a theme?
Anyway, the make the best sandwiches on the planet and their menu is a mix of mom-and-pop's drive-in burger joint and Greek food, which is nice for a change. I highly recommend it. They also have the best fry-sauce on the planet. I don't even like fries, but I order them from Apollo Burger because I need them to convey the fry sauce from my plate to my mouth. Mmm. Delicious. Luis only at half a tuna melt because he's got strep and when the big man gets sick, he REALLY gets sick. He's barely eaten anything for the past 48 hours, but I forced him to eat some protein so he could function, which he isn't really doing well right now, especially after the crying baby extravaganza at Sergio's. I'm not exaggerating. The second lackey was literally carrying her snot-covered crying baby in one hand while typing our tax info into the computer with her other hand.
After that we went home to bask in our tax-refund glory. Aka we took a nap.
When we woke up we got Andrei from Rogelio's where he'd been spending the day with his cousins for a couple of reasons: a. We don't want him to get strep which Luis has and which I apparently have as well and b. we didn't really think that sitting around for 2 hours at a tax accountant's office would be good for our family's mental health. If you've ever observed Andrei and I interact in public, you will have experienced why we are not allowed to sit in waiting rooms together for long periods of time.
We then took Andrei and myself to the doctor to get anti-biotics for his sinus infection and my strep and when we got home after 2 hours it was bed time. Woot.
Happy President's Day!
Oh. I forgot- I dyed my hair today back to almost it's real color. I'm not sure because I've been dying my hair since I was 19 and I'm not entirely positive what color it is anymore, but I took a guess and it looks pretty good, so I'm going with it. I prefer blonde, but it's pretty much fried these days so I'm going to take a break this year from the monthly root-touch ups in an attempt to grow some hair that's not terribly damaged before it reaches my ears. If it's darker than you remembered it's because my hair actually has darkened quite a bit since 2001, but it's been masked by Garnier Nutrisse number 91B. Here's some photographic evidence.
Ta da! Please not the eyebrows and hair are virtually the same color. Mission accomplished!
Hope you had a good day, too!
2 comments:
Hooray on the taxes. I've been doing ours and figured out that we're getting back more than twice the amount we had withheld. Hooray for way too many deductions.
Also, congrats on going darker. I like it. I, too, have given in to the dark side. I got really tired of constantly failing to keep my roots blonde. And my hair has gone so dark in the past few years that when I went back to (close to) my natural color (with some extra red tones for fun) I was shocked at how dark my hair looks and how pale it makes my face look. After a few months of dark, I am still getting used to it.
Get better fast, all y'all! (Yes, in fact, I did just say that.)
Thanks, Smelissila. We're already feeling much better today. I like my hair dark. I told Luis I think it makes me look like a fat Angelina Jolie. I was only half-way kidding. :) Hooray for deductions for you!!!
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