Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Today I found $1.32. . . 5 nickels, 8 dimes, 1 quarter, and 7 pennies (the glorious change cycle).

You could have knocked me over with a feather if you had told me about the success I would have today. I didn’t make my first find until about 5:00pm as I was driving (quite late) to the ballpark. I stopped at a car wash in Tomball, TX and found 12 cents (one dime & two pennies). At another car wash I found two cents. At the ballpark, where I had to pay for parking (only 10 cents, but it still bothered me) I found one penny by a meter. I felt better when I got to the door to wait for the gates to open and I overheard three people talking about what they paid for parking. One guy was bragging because he parked in a $5 lot. The other two had paid $15 and $25, but I was still irked, especially when I saw a free space open by the ballpark that I was sure would have a car parked in it by the late hour when I arrived.

On my way home I stopped at a McDonalds drive-thru and I found a penny. My final stop, and most profitable, was the Kwick Kar Wash. I found $1.21 in change (one quarter, five nickels, seven dimes, & one penny). One of the dimes and the penny were on the ground by a trash can. The rest of the change was sitting on top of a trash can by a vacuum cleaner. How or why someone left all this change I might never know, and at this late hour I will not speculate.

An interesting side note would be that I believe, although I have not confirmed, that today was the first time in the Race of the Century that I have found more of a silver coin (nickels, dimes, quarters) than pennies. Today also marks the eighth day in a row that I have found at least one nickel, the hardest coin to find.

On the autograph front I managed four Cincinnatti Reds autographs, the only one that was notable was Adam Dunn. I also got Astros pitcher John Franco to sign a single ball for me. Mr. Franco recognized me from Spring Training and came over to chat. I hit him with the autograph request as he was about to leave, but he graciously signed. After the game I saw Ken Griffey, Jr. walk out, wearing a VERY ugly shirt, but he did not choose to sign for me. This is not unusual for Mr. Griffey, who is not the most fan friendly player in the world.

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May Monthly Report:

This month I found 567 pennies, 46 nickels, 68 dimes, 31 quarters, and 2 $20 bills (the $40 in paper money do not count towards the daily totals).

Total Found: $22.47
Change Cycle Days:13
Dollar Days: 9
Monthly Low: 16 cents (May 12th)
Monthly High: $2.02 (May 6th)
Daily Average: 72.5 cents

Totals for the day: $1.32
Race Totals: $70.54