ahhhh, iowa...

there are things i do miss about iowa--when all the bulbs and flowering trees are starting to come out; taking a walk outside for the first time since the previous summer without getting a migraine from the cold; the cheap and readily available organic beef. and there are things i do not miss--the winters (obviously) and getting inundated with crap like this on a weekly basis:
(click to enlarge)

this lovely letter was written (by me) to answer that one:
"March 14, 2007

Jeni Lewis
Cashier’s Office
5 Calvin Hall
The University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242-1316

RE: Acct. 180758 ($60.12)

Dear Ms. Lewis:

I received your letter dated March 9, 2007 stating that my Iowa tax refund was being held by you for alleged delinquent accounts. I would like to formally appeal this action.

I received a bill from you in September notifying me that charges had been made to my UBill during the month of July; my wife called your office at that time (and again in November when I received another notice) to let you know that I was not even residing in the state during the month of July and could not have made the alleged charges. I can only imagine that someone pretended to be me and used my old hospital badge after I had relinquished it (it was returned on June 30, 2006 to the administrative offices). Perhaps someone should check and see if my keys have been misused as well.

I absolutely and completely refute these charges and strongly request that you release my Iowa tax refund of $358.00 immediately. Please feel free to contact me if I can be of any further service to you in this matter.
Sincerely,

Richard C. Allen"

we used to get notices about once a month firmly explaining why the garbageman had not picked up our weekly garbage, which forced us to live with rotting chicken skin and the like for another week (we developed a bit of a raccoon problem over this). the reasons usually fell into three categories: your garbage can is too big, your bag is too big, or my favorite, "i see some lawn waste in there so i'm not going to pick it up." we were only allowed two medium-ish bags of garbage per week by the city--this is a great way to force people to recycle, which they should be doing anyway--so when they skipped you it was actually kind of a big deal. fortunately we lived near the university and found many a vacant dumpster that gladly accepted our refused refuse. i so wish i had kept those notices now--i wonder if the city would send me some to post here?