Oh-ho-ho, I never get tired of that pun.

As you know, Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for Fifth of May) falls on May 5 this year. Anyway, to celebrate Mexico's independence (from France), and to reward ourselves after weeks of toil on this bar guide we're doing (coming May 4), CiN is heading across the river to the Beer Sellar. We'll be there around 5:30 with tons of swag to give away, plus we'll be handing out copies of the bar guide (which you should pick up, because it's gonna be boss). Also, specials on Coronas!

Does the Beer Sellar do a good margarita? I'm not sure; I've never been. But according to this page of reviews from Pubcrawler.com, they've got 60 beers on tap, which should be enough to keep us busy for a while ...

An astute (but anonymous) reader posted a question in the comments for this post, asking whether the staples need to be removed from your CiN Weekly before you recycle it. (The question arose from a story we ran last week about removing the caps from your plastic bottles, etc.) I said I'd look into it.

Today, I received a reply from Crystal Kirkland at Rumpke:

Kelly,

Hello, I just returned from vacation, so I am sorry I did not get you an answer more quickly. Staples are not a significant source of contamination, so no, they do not need to be removed. Thanks!

So, there you go. Recycle your CiNs, staples and all.

In other news, CiN Weekly is changing its name to Alanis Weekly, or possibly Jagged Little Weekly. Further details will be published as events unfold.

Must be some sort of rule: Send pages, then interesting things get announced. This week's exhibit: Alanis Morissette is coming to the Aronoff Center on Monday, June 20. Tickets go on sale Friday.

The acoustic tour celebrates the 10-year anniversary of Jaggged Little Pill and coincides with a new acoustic studio version of the album.

We'll let you judge this next part: The new album, out June 13, will be sold only in Starbucks stores during the six weeks of the tour.

I did not shop at DSW between mid-February and mid-March (if I bought any shoes then, they were from Payless or Target), and so my credit card information has not been stolen.

Unless they discover the identity theft was even more widespread than they thought. Which has already happened once.

This is the sort of thing that makes me think the people who prefer to just stuff cash under their mattresses have got the right idea ...

I wish they would pick the new pope already. I want to get my new papal-portrait tattoo right away.

ELR is the funniest, wittiest show on televison. It has an everyman charm and a razor sharp eye for the things that make being a sportswriter in America so unique.
I especially like the tall doofus who is jealous of Raymond. Hilarious.
Also like to give props to the make-up department for turning a mythical harpy into what appears to be an actual person they have named Patricia Heaton.

I feel kinda silly being 8 or so years late to the ELR train, but better late than never I say!

On Thursday night I finished filling out my tax forms. It was a little confusing, but I followed the directions and I think I got everything right - I'll even be getting a little bit back.

On Friday, I spilled coffee on the envelopes containing my tax forms.

Everything is still readable, but there are big brown splotches everywhere. For some reason - call me paranoid if you must - I don't want to submit splotchy brown forms to the IRS; I think it would make a bad impression.

Oh, well. At least I can just copy the numbers from the coffee-stained form to the clean new form.

Ohh - staff meeting, gotta go!

It seems only right to return the favor.

Ever since I turned 18, my parents have taken care of my taxes for me. "Just give us your W-2," they said, "and we'll let our accountant take care of it." (And, of course, they were able to claim me as a dependent.)

Now I'm 23 and living on my own, and my parents seem to think it will be a character-building exercise to file my own tax return. Oh, joy.

Actually, I'm kind of having fun with it (although it is supremely irritating to get halfway through the 1040A form, only to discover that I actually have to file the much-more-complicated 1040). If I can do this, I'll be extraordinarily proud of myself. ("There's Kelly Hudson," the people will whisper as I pass by. "She can re-fold a road map, program the VCR, and do her own taxes!") And if I don't do them myself this year, I'll never be able to do it - my funds ain't gettin' any less complicated.

I've also learned that doing your own taxes is also a great incentive to either:
a) learn more about your investments/sources of income, so you'll be less confused about them next year; or
b) get rid of anything more complicated than a savings account so that you can file the 1040-EZ form.

So far I've calculated my gross taxable income, and now I have to use the Qualified Dividends and Capital Gains Distribution worksheet to figure out my tax.

If I get audited, I'm going to see it as a "learning experience." But wish me luck anyway. :)

The official web site of The Holy See

AP's latest story

Comments from some University of Dayton professors and theologians (UD is one of the 10 largest Catholic universities in the nation.)

Do yourself a favor and pick up the new Will Smith album. It may seem a bit odd for someone to say that I'm sure, but it's true. In this world of 50 Cent clones who only make songs about sex or killing someone, the new Will CD is a throwback to hip-hop's "Golden Era" that a lot of (now) old-school hip-hop fans like myself so much. Make no mistake, Will is never going to be in the class of a Jay-Z or Rakim as a lyricist, but the former Fresh Prince has made an album that those of us who remember the goold old days should enjoy from (nearly) beginning to end.

I fully expect 99% of you to not believe that, but hopefully the 1 percent of you who do will find yourselves plesantly surprised. If nothing else, you have to listen to the album's title track "Lost & Found" and see if you don't agree.

And no, I wasn't paid to say that !

http://www.willsmith.com