So what has been happening, or not, as the case may be, around Northern Thunder for the last month? Well, the old saying about death and taxes being the two most inevitable things in life is all too true. Yesterday saw me sitting down and filing my first income tax return in nearly three years. When I was finished, I felt like I was ready to die: $4620 down the drain to the tax man.

This comes hard on the heels of last week's even worse news. The condo (highrise apartment/flat) that I live in has developed some serious water leaks. The roof, the windows, even the outside walls on the east side of the building. The total re-construction bill has been estimated at $961,000. My share of the total works out to $13,982. Yikes!

So what else can go wrong? How about the refrigerator (on its last legs for nearly a year now); my truck (lots of maintenance and repairs needed); my Chaparral trailer (broken axle mount, rear door spring, lots of rust, etc.). At the rate things are going, don't be surprised to see me walking to Mission Raceway this weekend, in the median, picking up bottles and cans. Or walking around the pits wearing a "Help! Alcohol Dragster to support. Please give generously" sign around my neck.

As Ken Lowe told me yesterday, with all these bad things happening, surely they must count as deposits in the "Good Luck Bank". Let's hope so, but with my "luck", when it's time to finally make a withdrawl . . . the "bank" will be in receivership.

Time's up for today, so yet again, I've managed to waste some more bandwidth without really saying anything. And the balance of this week doesn't look too promising either, with the Lordco BC Nationals taking up all my time. That, and trying to work as many hours as possible on my real job to pay some of these bills.