Mental Stimulus Package

So, if you're like me, you filed an extension on your taxes and waited until the last minute to send in the paperwork.

Me, I don't end up like this because I'm unpatriotic. To the contrary, I think taxes are necessary to have the things a society needs to sustain itself. I just wish my tax dollars went to the most beneficial and practical places to help us be the best nation we can (I won't go there... you know what I mean).

Nah, I just wait until the last minute because it stresses me out with all of those forms and then I have to hire someone to do it for me anyway. So this year, the nice CPA tells me that I'm eligible to get that $600 for the "economic stimulus package" that was bandied about in the springtime. I just figured this refund was either an urban legend or something that I wouldn't qualify for.

The CPA assured me that yes, I do qualify. I asked him if the government still had $600 to give me and he laughed. I don't know if that's a yes or no, so I'll just be positive about the whole thing, but then try not to be disappointed if the government changes its mind about stimulating me.

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I know that I'm supposed to run out like a banshee and spend the theoretical $600 (see how I'm not getting emotionally attached to it?) on clothes and stuff so I can boost the economy, but the economy is probably so much in the crapper now that I have another idea.

I'm going to have what I am calling a Mental Stimulus Package, starting tonight. This election season has worn my brain out and I need some recharging.

I saw this event being held at the Herbst Theatre, called "Benjamin Franklin and the Invention of America." Just the idea of sitting in a beautiful theatre and learning about men who really broke the mold when it came to making this country sounded like a good way to spend a little bit of the stimulus package that I may or may not get.

I don't know too much about Benjamin Franklin, really. I probably know the things you do. I had a little bit of an imaginary camaraderie with Ben when I was in college. I got my degree in printing, and in my classes, I had to learn how to run a 2-color printing press. The whole deal: making printing plates, setting up the press, running it. I wore the little apron and everything. Watching paper being transformed from blank sheets to printed page in a whirring, breathing, noisy piece of real machinery (and an HP laserjet does not count) is kind of a rush. You feel slightly rabble-rousing and free-pressian and it's cool.

Anyway, that was my very slim association with Benjamin Franklin. But I'm looking forward to learning more about him, as an inventor, diplomat, philosopher, printer, athlete, musician. I hope it's going to make me feel good to hear about people who really did things to build and shape our country, in ways that we don't ever see now. I guess this event will be really inspiring or really depressing.

So, now you know another thing you can do on a Friday night in San Francisco. Be a history geek! I love that idea. I'm looking forward to my Mental Stimulus Package. I hope it helps me be a better American.

For more details about the event, looky here.