I googled the word "turbo" the other day. It came up with 112,000,000 results, including a Web site that claimed to be for "users who love the rush of all things motorized."
It also seems a Polish heavy metal band went by the name "Turbo" during the early '80s.
The word seems to pack a lot of punch and a lot of power these days.
Turbojets, turboprops and turbochargers make things go - faster - and in this world, it makes sense that we'd all be interested in that kind of "rush."
Which brings me to my tax preparation experience last weekend.
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Yes, tax preparation. It seems odd that taxes would be associated with the word turbo, doesn't it?
It does make it sound sort of sexy, I suppose.
Turbotax.
You gotta admit, it's fun to say.
Already feeling the rush, I decided to put down the number two pencil this year and give it a whirl.
It also helped that my accountant, who happens to be my dad, said that's what we would do.
In past years, tax prep day has been a bit of a hair-pulling process, where my dad asks for specific numbers and I strain to see the tiny numbers I've entered into a computer spreadsheet.
If the numbers aren't there, I dig through my somewhat haphazard array of files that hold all things taxes. The files, of course, are also a bit haphazardly organized.
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You may know the style. No one else could possibly find the information, but to the amazement of my dad/accountant, I somehow manage to pull out the number, receipt or whatnot triumphantly nearly every time he asks for something.
I found that the software doesn't help in that department, but I noticed his part of the work was much more streamlined.
There were a few errors caught by the program, one of which explained we needed to enter a dollar amount for the purchase of the "freelance writer/photographer."
Oops, even software makes mistakes.
When we got to the screen that asks to you click and calculate your rebate or amount owed, I held my breath while he clicked.
And cha-ching! Rebate!
Now that was a turbo-type rush.
