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Friday May 09 2008 1:27pm

Life is Bullshit (Happy Birthday)

So I just got an early birthday card from my insurance agent, one of those things that is supposed to make you feel like you have a relationship with someone you may have never met. A card generated, printed, and addressed by a computer. Of course it was addressed to Steve Lance. Obviously the first problem with that is the last name. So many places since Audrey and I have owned a house together have my last name as Lance instead of Smith. That only angers me a little bit. The part the really drives me crazy is the "Steve" part. Yes, I go by Steve, but my legal name is Steven, and the name I use on anything official is always either "Steven L Smith" or "Steven Lee Smith". Only my friends can call me "Steve" in print or on the screen; everyone else I expect to waste the extra characters worth of ink to at least get that "n" down on paper.

That really isn't the thing that got my mind going when I read the card. Inside is a look back at 1981 with a list of how much things cost. Here's how I know life is bullshit (read as: the country is on the wrong track). In my lifetime so far, from 1981 - 2008 the average income has just about doubled; yet the cost of a loaf of bread and the average cost of a new home have more than quadrupled.

HAPPY FREAKING BIRTHDAY.