Lucky Find

Ha. So much for not concentrating. I found a $5 bill Saturday evening after coming back from a Kentucky Derby party. Didn't win on the bets I made but hey, this helps.

"Monthly Deposit"

Let's admit it: My heart isn't into streetchange this year as it was last year. But I still find money, though probably I'm not looking as religiously as I should. Since the last post, I've found 19 pennies, 3 dimes and 1 quarter. So 74 cents.

Working behind the scenes

Yeah....I haven't been updating. I know. To those few of you who are out there reading this, I apologize. Let's say that a few other things in my life just sort of transposed themselves on other areas of my life and a few things just got neglected. Updating the blog was one of them. I also wasn't concentrating the last few weeks...month, I guess....with looking for money. But I did find some since my last update. 70 cents throughout that time. Hopefully I'll update a little more and actually make a concerted effort once again.

Training Day

This past Monday I was off and had a pretty productive day. I went to the Guggenheim, ran a few miles and then walked down to this specialty store to refill a growler. Well, I found 8 pennies on that little trip. And I was scanning. A few I found near the intersection, some were just blatantly obvious. It was pretty encouraging since I had suffered a few setbacks recently. Then I went to the supermarket and outside the store there was a dime and a penny. I may be getting back the touch.

Glimpse of The Future?

So I've still been collecting street change despite the dearth of posts. There haven't been any crazy finds or unusual places where I've found money. Just your typical places and typical amounts. Streets and pennies.

However, I think I'm going to have to go back to Street Change Training Camp or complete my "street change training" in some remote area (akin to Luke's Jedi training) because I faced one of my worst "defeats" ever recently.

I was walking in my neighborhood last weekend to get some lunch. Normal day. No strange weather patterns. As I cross the intersection, I pass by a city trash receptacle and this wiry haired middle-aged looking guy. We're both walking in the same direction when he suddenly jerks his head over to the garbage can.

And he bends down and starts to pick up this object nestled next to the can and in a slight nook beside one of the upturned bricks.

It's a penny!

For one of the weirdest moments of my life, I stood there stunned thinking "I should've gotten that!"

He got the penny and continued on his merry way. Dejected I scoured sharply the rest of the sidewalk as I walked along but alas found nothing.

Did I encounter what I could become in the future?

My friends find the bills, I find the change

Hmm. My skills must be going. My friends are finding bills. Me, just change. I was just finding your usual left money: dimes and pennies. Up until Thursday, I had found 27 cents: 2 dimes and 7 pennies. That over about a week. During that time, Alicia found a dollar and Laura found a tenner. Sheesh. Then going with the trend that I find change on Thursday I found 92 cents! All in one spot. It was at this place called Vivo in my office building. Someone had just left it on one of the tables. That was a cool find but still, just your usual coins. I guess I've got coin-dar. My friends have bill-dar. On Friday I found a quarter. And I've found a few more pennies today. Maybe I'm like the tortoise --- slow and gradual?

Scratch-off update. For my second attempt I didn't win anything. I do have enough now to buy a third ticket.

Losing My Skills

Well I have to report that twice in the past few weeks I missed money that was lying on the ground. Very blatantly out in the open too. I think I'm losing my skills. I missed a dollar lying in this one store and what's even more embarrassing is that I was standing in line for a minute before someone else noticed it. Then this evening I passed up a nickel at the subway turnstile. I went through, saw something shiny and realized it was a coin. Sigh. It was too far for me to lean out with my leg and get it. Hope that this is just a minor slump.

I do have more coins to add to the stash. A dime I found on Sunday night and then four more pennies. Meaning, my total has broken $2 and I have to buy another scratch-off. Wish me luck!

A Week of "Ones"

This definitely was the week of ones or pennies as they're more commonly known in the Street Change world. But before we get to the amount, two friends of mine sent me the exact same story:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-ODD-Pennies-Saved.html

Wow! 55,000 pennies. That's unreal! I'm no where near that in my collection.

How'd I do this week? Well, this week I found 18 pennies. One morning I found three pennies as I walked down to the subway platform. It's as if someone had left a trail either for me to find or to help the person get out of the subway. Most of the time I just found the single penny on the street. But last night there were four pennies right near the turnstile at the 1st avenue entrance to the F train.

But the week was not all pennies. I found one dime right near my apartment building Friday night after I had enjoyed some improv comedy at the UCB Theatre.

Hash "Cash"

So I went hashing yesterday. First time in about three years. I had a lot of fun. I didn't find any money on the run and I would never pick up money while on trail. That would be undue cause for humiliation later on. But on the way to the start, I found a penny. And after the activities, I found another penny. Oh, I guess I should also add that after the run, a bunch of us jumped in the ocean at Coney Island. !!! That was cold.

There Will Be Change

On Friday I collected five pennies throughout the day. A few at the Dunkin Donuts in my office building, a couple at my subway station. My average rate of change for 2007 was over 9.5 cents a day. I'm a change laborer.

So 5 cents is about half of that.

On Saturday, I had a bit more luck. I picked up a dime on 1st avenue near Xunta which has some really good tapas. Then at the 2nd avenue station there were two pennies someone had dropped. Lots of people were waiting for the train but no one would have these neglected pennies. Finally I was walking home because the lovely F train needed track repairs and wasn't stopping where I normally get off. And I found two more pennies.

A good day.

Another street changer?

Read this article:

http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_7955708

He's in California. Another one of our kind? I hope so. Looks like he started in 2006. AND he even makes the statement jokingly "Perhaps faithful readers, after reading last year's column, stole out into the streets ahead of me and threw coins for me to find." Ha! I know all about that with my friends. I'm going to email him. Maybe I'll get a response unlike the other person I wrote to earlier in 2007.

Yesterday I received a letter from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society regarding my donation and the "Northern Ohio Chapter admires your ingenuity in fundraising." Yeah! That was nice.

Over the past weekend I found a bunch of change: 1 dime, 1 nickel and four pennies. Last night I found a penny.

And we've got a winner!

So I had been relatively stymied the last few days. After embarking on such a strong start and nearing $1, I was stymied. I found four pennies this week until today. I was up to 98 cents and just wanted to break the $1 level to buy that first scratch-off.

Finally I got that break-through.

And big.

I found a quarter this morning near 10th avenue right near the rear bumper of a car. Cool! I can buy that first scratch-off. Then I found another penny.

Well, I've bought scratch-off tickets at this one bodega near me and never had much luck. So I decided to walk down to 5th avenue and look for a place. I found one near the Monk thrift store. I bought a Lucky 7's.

When I came home, I scratched it off with the quarter I had found. AND I WON!

$2! All going to donation. :)

Wash Warm

I found a dime in my laundry room this morning. I'm trying to get a bunch of laundry done....it's been piling up.

The "Force"

So I was out of town for a few days. I went off to Denver to see a good friend of mine get married. This is the change report from that trip. It includes a "supernatural" occurrence and a re-designation of a city to Street Change status.

Friday was a very odd day. I arrived at Denver International Airport and had some time to kill before I could head downtown to my hotel. I looked for a place to have some lunch. As I rounded the corner on the upper level, I came upon one fast-food chain and some people standing in line. I was just walking by when the girl dropped a coin. And then I got closer and she dropped another one. I saw that she retrieved one of the coins but not the other. I just kept on walking.

And then it happened again! Not even five seconds had passed. What was weirder was someone else in a different line dropped a coin just as I coming up next to them. That person retrieved their dropped change. Still, it was a little uncanny.

Saturday I had four more instances where as I came "close" to some people, they would drop a coin. Maybe I'm more attuned to dropped change now but it's a little funny too. Perhaps I've developed a "force". :P

At the Denver International airport on Friday I found 2 dimes. When I flew back today (Sunday) I found a quarter. I don't consider airports to be attached to a city. Airports and malls regardless of where they are are in their own category. People have to walk in these environments so all airports for major metropolitan areas are equal.

However, I will re-designate Denver as a Street Change city due to some great finds on Saturday. It was my second time to the city since I had started this blog and the first time I spent a week and barely found anything. This time was much different and I made a tactical change. I walked all around blocks ADJACENT to their 16th street mall. Now, you'd figure that a pedestrian mall zone would be great. WRONG. I don't know but that is one spic and span area. They must clean up those blocks all the time. I only found 1 penny on the mall.

Looking outside the 16th street mall: 16 pennies. And at one curbside parking space, there were 13. Just gotta know the environment.

Last, I found 2 pennies at JFK as I was waiting for my luggage. All told, a fantastic few days and soon approaching the inaugural lotto ticket purchase. Stay tuned!

Happy New Year!

Good-bye 2007. Hello, 2008!

Well, what a year! First year is in the books. I found $35.46 just lying around. Pretty amazing. There were a few memorable moments. The treasure of about 260 pennies I found on July 7. Talk about a lucky day. Finding the $5 bill when someone "challenged" to find a certain amount within a specified time frame. Talk about working "under pressure". And of course the pranks my friends did during the year. Thanks, Laura and Alicia.

On top of the total found, I'm adding in the following:
Foreign currency: $.49
Intentionally thrown down change from my friends: $1.57
Charity nickels (these are the nickels I get in the mail from other charities -- hey they're going back to charity): $.10
"Found It, Count It" Campaign: $.32

All told that side of the donation comes out to $37.94

So for 2007 I'll be donating $75.88. Pretty cool, huh?

Thank you to everyone who reads this, the people who helped out in the "Found It, Count It" campaign and to those of you who were also so generous to donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Coin stats:
896 Pennies
30 Nickels
85 Dimes
30 Quarters
$9 bills ($5 bill, 4 $1 bills)

On with 2008!

It started off really early. About 5am early! I was walking home from my lengthy night of revelry and on Prospect Park West. I found a penny. The street was pretty desolate and there wasn't much to distract me as I shuffled on home.

Later today, I went out and found 2 dimes right in my neighborhood. One was near the construction of a new 2-family home. Maybe a construction worker dropped it. Anyway, the first of the year has started off with a bang!

What's changing in 2008?

Here's the kicker: For every $1 I find, I will put that in the donation total and match what I collect at the end of the year. I will also buy a scratch-off lottery ticket and donate a portion (that's up to my discretion) of the winnings. Provided I do win. I never have good luck with those. Considering I found $35 last year, that's a bunch of tickets. As the slogan goes: Hey, you never know.