Some of you may have seen that the band Radiohead is offering up their new CD via dowload free from their website. They ask that you pay whatever you feel like to obtain the new disc – essentially a contribution of sorts.

As I am a Radiohead freak, I thought I would take advantage of this offer. (The \”York\” in \”Dennis York\” was an homage to lead singer Thom Yorke, just spelled differently.) And to show my appreciation for the offer, I figured I would contribute 10 bucks… what I would normally pay for a CD. I am all about showing my appreciation to bands I like.

The only problem is, their offer only allows you to contribute in British pounds, not American dollars. Easy enough – I went to the old handy-dandy currency converter to figure out how much 10 bucks was. As you look at the chart from left to right, it shows that one American dollar is worth roughly two pounds. So I put my order in for 20 pounds, which would be 10 bucks. Right?

Actually, it would have been helpful if I read the chart correctly – down, rather than left to right. Actually, it\’s the complete opposite of what I thought: 20 pounds equates to 40 American dollars. So I have now paid 40 bucks for a CD I could have downloaded for free-ninety nine. Hooray for me!

The lesson here, as always, is that I am a complete idiot. No wonder my Russian mail-order bride cost so damn much….

SIDE NOTE: If you could maybe not tell my wife about this, that would be fantastic.