Jay B. Rising is my mortal enemy

So, thanks to some delayed W2 forms, I had to postpone doing my taxes until I was here in Tampa. Since today was just my second day off in the 17 or so that I've been here, I thought this was a good time to dive in.

Now, I've done my own taxes since I was about 18, so I pretty much know what's what by now. Or at least I can wade through everything and figure it out eventually.

Since I've rarely just lived and worked in one state these last few years, I always have the joy of completing tax forms for Federal, Michigan, Grand Rapids and another state. It used to be Maryland. This year, obviously, it was Ohio.

Now, here's the inconceivable part. To complete all four forms took me roughly two hours. Well over half of that was spent on the Michigan State form. That means, for those of you scoring at home, that I was able to complete the Federal, Grand Rapids and Ohio returns in less time--combined!--than I needed just for the Michigan form.

This has been a trend in recent years, so I don't think this is an isolated incident. What will it take to simplify the Michigan state tax return?!?

I certainly didn't expect to use my travel blog to call for Michigan to simplify its tax returns, but we all surprise ourselves sometimes, I suppose.

Anyways, I'm eight days away from departing for Germany. Our travel schedule roughly looks like this:

4 hour bus ride to Miami
8-9 hour flight to Frankfurt
1 hour flight to Berlin

Throw in the 6-hour time difference, and we'll be leaving Tampa sometime Monday morning and arriving in Berlin sometime Tuesday morning. Hurrah, jetlag!

By the way, the NFL Europe is a whole different world than the NFL was. It's definitely had a "Welcome back to the minor leagues, Denver" feel so far. My boss from Germany pointed out that he thinks the "E" in NFLE stands not for "Europe," but for "Economy." I'm in full agreement.

I realize I'm pointing out all these negatives, but I am having a good time and meeting some interesting people, if not seeing many sights (or beaches) in Tampa. Just seeing my work on the league's website, fully credited to me, is very nice. It'll be very useful in building my portfolio.

All the best.