Liese, I'm in a very similar situation. Only now that I'm finally clearing a year on the souped-up escrow, my actual taxes seem to have risen enough that it may be going up even more. Fuckity.

Do they keep giving you Sounder? What's the thought process behind that?

The ones I can see from my chair are Marley and Me and Sight Hound (about a dog with bone cancer, for fuck's sake). Seriously, my chest is tightening up just looking at it. What are people thinking? I know for some people it might be cathartic, but you need to ask that questions before you start handing out the freaking dead dogs.

Don't you love it when someone comes back to work from vacation and is REALLY loud about it just so everyone knows they are back (early mind you, because they are oh so dedicated and/or important and/or bad time managers)? Isn't great when you didn't get a vacation? And when the rest of the office has been quiet, respecting the near emptiness with some peacefulness.

brenda, WTF? Regift those suckers or trade them or something.

msbelle, gloating is never pretty. Do you have headphones?

Liese, I'm in a very similar situation.

It's very annoying. I mean, technically it's money I would have had to pay eventually, so it's not really a loss. It's just a loss Right Now. And avoidable. I hate stupid stuff that was avoidable.

my actual taxes seem to have risen enough that it may be going up even more.

Fuckity indeed. That sucks.

Things I fear going from a NYC co-op mortgage to a TX house mortgage:

taxes, water bill, trash bill, mineral rights

I like the way my mortgage company handles my taxes; they cut a check jointly to me and the city treasurer. It gets sent to me, I endorse it and take it to city hall where I pay any difference or get a refund on any overage. That way I don't have to worry did the bank pay it or not, etc. Plus, this year I found out I hadn't been getting a lottery credit and got $80 cut off my taxes. Yay!

My feet are cold and I don't feel right. t /whine

I'd suggest using those books to bash the heads of the people who gave them, except that I seem to recall that Marley and Me isn't a very thick book.

No, being a grown up is no fun at all. I just read insurance plans for two days and decided to stick with the one I'm on, mostly because the prescription coverage will work out better and there's no lifetime limit. (Crosses fingers that eliminating lifetime limits survives in the health care bill.)

My feet are cold and I don't feel right.

Me, too, except substitute "hands" for "feet". It feels like the building management decided to shut the heat down a little early today.

Great. Internet seems to be freaking out again.