I got all excited when I got home yesterday and saw the letter laying on the dining room table.

In great big letters on the front of the envelope it said “United States Census 2010.”

Finally! I thought.After listening to all the hype and the urgings of my local officials, finally it was time to fill my census survey in and be counted.

At the very least, I could maybe make a column out of the querstions to fill up a lonely-hearts letters page.

But alas, when I eagerly tore open the envelope it was nothing more than an advance scout – alerting me to the fact that our census was on its merry way and would appear at some point NEXT week.

Honestly, what bean head conjured up this little scheme – and by little, I don’t mean little dollars.

They say this census will be the most expensive one yet. Up until today, I figured it was understandable, after all, everything costs more now, right?

But alas, my government has once again showed me that it does not need inflation or hard-time economics to spend more money than is necessary.

First of all, if you have not heard that the census is coming around, then you live under a rock and are not going to get this advance warning anyway.

Second, it’s been pounded into our heads why it is so important to fill it out and send it back. I don’t think this terse note from Robert M. Groves, Director, U.S. Census Bureau is going to add anything to the message.

It seems that some things never change – if there’s a way to make it cost more, you can count on it that our government will figure it out.