www.gabitevents.co.uk

[destin139]

[llperkiss]

I agree, the Olympics are awesome. I am so close, but never thought to get tickets. I live about a 2 1/ hour drive away....although right now a train would be a better idea. Probably take me an extra 3 hours trying to cross the border.
Did you see the picture of AT as one of the Olympic greeters.

[No1_sonuk]

Take a floatplane. They "land" right next to Canada Place.

[llperkiss]

[No1_sonuk]

[Trindajae]

[Keely]

Reading that actually makes me grateful for the Inland Revenue
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[llperkiss]

[Trindajae]

I'm so clever that I did my federal taxes somewhat... wrong. Thank God for my mom's tax lady. She glanced over my federal return while she did my state return and said that I'd probably not done anything wrong enough to get in trouble for it (probably), but I'd bilked myself out of about $300 that I should be getting back. So she filed the corrections for me.

I made her laugh when I asked if I was right in thinking that amended returns take a couple of weeks for the government to process. To her confused and disbelieving expression, I clarified that by "a couple of weeks," I meant 6-8. Yeah, she had thought I meant 5-10 business days. I work for the government, so I know that anything you'd bother to measure in business days is known as "immediately." In all fairness, though, the electronic filing for initial returns (as opposed to "I screwed something up" paper-form corrections) take 7-10 business days and she probably thought I meant that.
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Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.
- George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)
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[llperkiss]

They won't bother you unless you owe them money. For some reason it never bothers them when you mess us and give them more money then the correct amount.

[starsong]

I've just been catching up on the thread.

I beg to differ about the Feds only coming after you for what you owe. I have made over the years little and big mistakes on my tax forms that the Feds have found. But they once let me know I had paid too much and sent me a check
Of course that only happened once but it did happen.

I know a lot about taxes since we in the States are in the tax season. I've spent the last several weeks trying to figure out one form. The phone in IRS folks and I are on first name basis. They get a lot of grief and are the butt of many jokes but I have found them to be very helpful. They have been pretty patient with my really dumb questions and I appreciate that.

Anyway my 2 cents worth.

Switched to daylight savings time today. I hate it throws off my internal clock especially in the morning when I have to go to work, early!
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starsong

[starsong]

Starting to make my plane reservations. I have put together several frequent flier accounts; different accounts. So I will be making three one way trips. I'm going to visit family in Washington State but I don't know actually how far in advance it will be of SE. So far the only thing I know for sure is that I will be leaving Vancouver on August 9th. That leg I booked.

The leg from Milwaukee to Spokane will be flier miles and Spokane to Vancouver will be cash.

The TSA and customs folks are going to have a lot of fun with me. They like nothing more than touching bases with people who make one way reservations. I've left lots of time for the customs folks at the beginning of each leg

It should be a really fun trip.
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starsong

[Trindajae]

Just be sure to take lots and lots of liquids and gels. Oh! And a couple of keychain-sized pocket knives... Maybe some tweezers and a box knife?

Have fun. ;-P
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Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.
- George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)
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[starsong]

That's a thought but I don't think customs folks have a well developed sense of humor when it comes to such things Of course, I would be obligated to inform them that you gave me the suggestion that I should include those items in my luggage After all, it would be nice to have company in my little jail cell
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starsong

[Jacksbabe]

[mocha]

i'm sure most people on this site could tell stories of their strange customs experiences. my worst was crossing back into the u.s. in montana, by car. it was me and my 81 yr old mother strapped in her elec. wheelchair, and my diabetic dog in the back of the van, barking and wagging his tail like crazy. they took almost 20 min. looking at our passports and then back at us, passports, us. i must have a guilty look on my face. my mother looks kinda sinister too. maybe my dog wagged his tail too hard and they thought he was faking being a good dog. we were the only ones there...finally they let us go. weird, because when i flew into iceland last year, they pushed me "near" customs, i held up my passport(unopened) and the guard just smiled and waved.

[moody-weasel]

I just picked up my new passport and ID. As for strange customs experiences: about 12 years ago I brought back a VCR from the US.
The security check at LAX didn't even look at my stuff but when I landed in Frankfurt and my hand luggage (including the VCR) was security checked for the flight to my hometown I was asked to step aside. Two customs guys with machine pistols (I kid you not) escorted me to a room where they vacuumed the VCR and made a quick dust analysis. Apparently, that's how they spot bombs.
Anyway, no bomb in my hand luggage and I was on the plane a couple of minutes later.

[bubbles]

[moody-weasel]