After all, he who hath no vices hath no virtue.

I like getting a phone call, telling me that I'm liable to lose my dorm room, just 'cause.

When I start talking to people, it turns out that, well, they haven't bothered to talk to me, but, oh hey, we sent you a -- oh, you didn't get it? Oh, my bad. So they tell me to talk to these other people, and they should help me sort it out.

So I call them, to find out that even though I have a receipt that says I paid, and that I even signed up for classes next semester -- but, hey, somebody decided I still owe the school money.

But they won't tell me how much I supposedly owe them. They can't. They can only tell me that I do owe them money.

And that I have to either pay it or prove that I don't owe it by noon tomorrow.


Believe me when I say that dealing with the UMBC Bursar's office is something akin to playing with a loan shark.

It's just a little less "I know a guy who'll break your legs. You don't want that, do you?" and a little more "if you don't want us to throw your stuff in the street, you'll have the money by noon tomorrow."