Surprise: State sales tax is lower

I?m not sure if everyone got the memo, but the state sales tax just went down by 0.15 percent Monday, July 1.

Well, you didn?t get the memo because there wasn?t one. This is the same thing that happened the last time the state sales tax went up.

Unless you follow the news, you wouldn?t know that the change is here and effective right now.

So instead of 0.880 percent in Hillsboro it is now .865 percent. The savings aren?t significant, even if you are spending a great big wad of money. You save $30 on a $20,000 purchase.

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I have been known to find something that I think is very funny and laugh about it for days on end. One such thing occurred this past week when I read Shelley?s column and the quote by Phyllis Diller:

?If your house is really a mess and a stranger comes to the door, greet him with, ?Who could have done this? We have no enemies.??

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I received a funny video link recently that still has me laughing. It shows a guy playing two trombones and two trumpets at the same time. He has accomplices who blow through the instruments, but one guy does the slide work on two trombones and fingering the valves on two trumpets?or maybe they are coronets.

Here is the link if you would like to see it. wimp.com/brassband/

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As you saw in the snippet above, the video is on wimp.com. There are five new interesting videos each day, so if you have more time on your hands than I do, have at it.

Another example is how to fold a shirt in two seconds. I tried to do it, but need to watch the video again. It?s at wimp.com/shirtseconds.

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If you watch Jimmy Kimmel, like I do fairly often, you would be familiar with a segment he does called ?Lie Witness News.? In it, people are stopped on the street in Los Angeles and given a question or asked their thoughts about certain things that have happened with celebrities that are not true.

The respondents answer as if they know all about it, or they are happy to show the rest of the world that they are oblivious to what is going on around them.

One segment was broadcast after the Justin Bieber concert at the Staples Center. Some teen girls were asked if they thought it was OK that Bieber parked his Ferrari in a handicapped spot when it was obvious that someone in a van was trying to park in it.

Their answer was that sure, it was OK if Bieber parked there because he was Justin Bieber, and that the woman in the van could just wait.

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My arms are a little sore from waving at everybody last week.

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I have a trip planned for later this summer that will take me to a board meeting in Dubuque, Iowa. I also will visit my sister, my nieces and great nephews in Minnesota.

I bought three one-way flights on Southwest and rented a car for one of the legs. I was quite proud of myself when I had finished scheduling everything.

One of my nieces is part of a band that is making a big splash in the Twin Cities area and they will be performing in a musical festival while I am there. Can?t wait.

If you wish to share your comments or ideas, my e-mail address is joel@hillsborofreepress.com.

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