Nothing is certain but taxes and taxes.

Ben Franklin was slightly off when he made his famous "death and taxes" quip. Obviously, he had never tried to register a vehicle with the Virginia DMV.

I just ran along this little goodie while researching what we will need to do to get our cars registered in the state:

Beginning July 1, 2008, customers are urged to avoid renewing vehicle registrations (decals) in Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) customer service centers (CSC) where a $5 service fee will be added under a new Virginia law.

Yes, you read that right. In Iowa - if you send in, they charge you a fee for having to deal with the postage, paperwork and whatnot. In Virginia, they charge five bucks just to go renew your plates in person.

Stupendous.

Also, in totally unrelated news - Virginia has an official State Bat. That's kinda cool, in my opinion.