baselle's Financial Diary

Went to the Museum of History and Industry, Seattle version (there's a museum with the same name in Chicago) for my free museum day. Did it because we went to the Greek Festival afterwards, less than a mile away.

A non-too-often photographed view of an "old style" street light.


For scfr - unfortunately, the Lusty Lady passed into history a couple of months ago; at least the sign made it.


A lego version of 1930's Seattle - the white 3 story building with the street lamp in front of it was the old SeaFirst #6 bank building. These days, its our office.


Speaking of the 30's many of the Depression -era photos and exhibits really spoke to me. Seattle was known then as the The Soviet of Washington; it held the first general strike in the nation. Seeing the Hooverville stretch for many acres south of downtown was chilling, as was a shot of 10 adult males in long 30s-style overcoats at the city dump picking through garbage for anything to resell. Times are bad now, but they could be (and have been) far, far worse.

The Greek Fest was a bit pricey... always is when you're buying the good stuff - eg a large can of olive oil. Also picked up a bag of the braid cardamon-y cookies, kasseri cheese, bunch of greek oregano. The cookies were sweet, but not so much that you need the insulin shot. $52.

When I got home, I discovered that my first payments coming from the flu study came. So far $175.

A little late, but perhaps you have no frugal plans tomorrow, September 25.

http://ebm.email.smithsonian.com/c/tag/hBMmnRtArQQLoB8Ut0cD3...

You print yourself a ticket for 2, and attend a museum participating in your area. Last year DH and I went to the Museum of Glass.

I had a laugh scanning some of CNN Money today. My favorite giggle inducer was 3 Easy Ways to Boost Your 401K. I'll link to it

here, to keep me honest, but I'll tell you what gave me the giggles.

Easy Way 1: Up your contribution. (They gave the example of 6% to 10%). Wow. Mind blowing. Insert two smart-ass remarks here. 1) How EASY will that be when you are living paycheck to paycheck? 2) How do you make a small fortune? Start with a large fortune...

Easy Way 2: Change your asset allocation to get an 8% return. Hah hah. Shall we take accounts? Cash - interest is at best 1%, 10yr treasury bills at 2.7%, bonds at about 3%, dividend stocks at about 2.6%, regular stocks variable between some negative number and 20% if it was a smashing single year. And we apparently blithely forget the "past returns are not indicative of future results". So where is that dependable, sure-fire EASY 8% gonna come from?

Easy Way 3: Work until you are 67. Just don't get a psycho boss, a health issue, or God forbid, be a 50+ year old standing in the unemployment line. But those are EASY to avoid, right?

Its not the advice that gave me the giggles, but the EASY. Investing is worthwhile, but not EASY.

Totally, deliriously off the fiscal topic. I think I saw a ghost in the newspaper website today. Take a look at the

picture. I'm nearly certain that that was the car my boyfriend had in the late 1980's. 1960 pink Caddy. Tells you something when that car was the "compact" lady car in 1960. We lived maybe a 1/2 mile away from the Wallingford Dick's at that time. And who knows, that might have been me taking a little junk food break and ordering on the left. (Brown hair, jeans, white shirt).

Good times, good times. Except that I probably still haven't lost that pound that I gained eating the hamburger, tartar sauce, fries, vanilla shake.

And I still haven't gotten over the shock of seeing a three foot long raccoon dumpster diving at that Dick's. Not pictured.

Weather has been very unsettled, as if late summer and fall were having a full-on wrestling match. First it would be sunny, then downpour, then wind, then heavy clouds. I'm not declaring Venus yet, but fall, of course, will win. Brown leaves have already started to hit the gutters and the first leaves of Fremont are turning red.

It has been a slightly spendy weekend - got my hair cut for $15 (it needed it badly), went to the Half Price books warehouse sale and picked up 6 books for $15. Next weekend will be spendy also - its Greek Festival time and I need olive oil and grape leaves.

Sausage from our cow is ready and I pick it up tomorrow from lawyer friend.

You might remember that I work for a non-profit that starts with "U" is two words, and the second word rhymes with the Canadian "ay". As in, "ay, you hosers." Work has been picking up for this year's campaign and I've been fielding calls from others in the same "united" system. We've all learned a lot about what happens to all of us when our local banks get closed by the FDIC. In a nutshell, all employee pledges from the bank that gets closed are considered a loose end, a debt, and die. They will not be paid out. What happens afterward depends entirely on the bank that buys the old bank from the FDIC. Most do nothing, just absorb the new employees and wait until next year. A few of the new banks will allow the former employees to run a small bridge campaign, and one even assumed part of the old bank's corp gift. Very interesting!

Had a genuine no spend day today. Attended an all staff meeting where there was coffee, muffins, bagels, so no coffee spending; brought my lunch, so no lunch spending; didn't have an any burning grocery needs, so no spending there.

Found out at the all staff meeting that the health care costs didn't rise much and that many of us would get a little (1.75% raise). It usually happened in August, but in these times, we won't complain no matter when it happens. In my case, the raise would be about $35/paycheck more.

And today I met with the outside auditor (our non-profit gets an outside audit every year) about some of the financial data I booked. I could give the appropriate answers, so whew (!) on that.

My bank's online website has been

down for two days. I can do some business by text, but right now its a buggy-whip like PITA.

Dang sure that its an attack, either inside or outside job; I can't imagine with all the money that Chase can wield that they bought incompetence.

I've been sick with a cold for the last few days. I've been sleeping, but I've been walking a bit to get fresh air in my lungs. I took the day off, more to keep from spreading the stuff around. But there has been some news:

Beef fest occurred last Saturday. Lots of beef, and most of the people who became part of the consortium came. The consensus was that red angus four was quite tasty. At the time we named her Ginger (I didn't blog about that before, it made the meat just a tad more personal than I had liked) - ironically most of the dishes people brought contained some spice ginger also.

Screenwriter son's film did not get into Milwaukee, did not get into Chicago, but did get into Ellensburg (college town in central Washington) for a waived fee. Its also up for consideration at the Tallgrass Film Festival in Kansas.

Went up weight to 172, but I think I am back to below 170. (Yay illness and its appetite suppressing qualities). A couple of weeks ago I bought 2 more pants in size 10, one more in size 12. I've gotten rid of nearly all my size 14s. How's that for buring a bridge?

Another Tuesday, another blood draw for the bird flu study. No chicken behavior seen. No payments yet; so far I've gotten was a good working thermometer. I ran a slight fever with the shot, I've run a slight fever with this cold.

While I haven't been blogging where I've been finding change, I've been finding change just to see how much I can find. I've been finding a lot more. Last month I found $6.75, this month $6.02.

My dividend stocks have been bouncing around, but generally have been going up. 403B has been going up steadily also. Might just as well let it ride at 50% stock, 30% bond, 20% cash for a little while.

I'm sure I've spelled that wrong.

There's been so much discussion here in the states regarding who is middle, upper-middle and rich, all with the move afoot to increase taxes or get rid of tax breaks to the "rich".

How about my definition of rich, aka who would get taxed or non-untaxed?

Rich: President of the United State's salary and above. The POTUS salary happens to be $400,000.

Advantages:
1. President takes one for the team and can tell people so.
2. For the business/owner/CEO: Are you really taking more risk than the president? Really?
3. For the public sector guy: How did you manage to make more than the President of the US?
4. For any athlete whom you don't like: You are not having a better year, either.

How come I'm not getting any of those weird Chinese wedding dress comments in my blog? Huh huh huh?

First off, its my favorite show and it was my Sunday afternoon date - walking or jogging from my Sunday coffeeshop to the Fremont Bridge. Precisely 3.11 miles.

Now my NPR station is moving it to exile at 5pm. Wha? Time to complain!

But this last Sunday the episode was fantastic because of the juxtaposition between two stories. First off - data mining. Apparently when you pay with plastic, one throws off a tremendous amount of data which banks, credit card companies and businesses slice and dice with wizardry.

(And why I much prefer cash)

Second off was HAMP. Home modifications. And how these very same banks, credit cards, and business manage to lose paperwork, don't return phone calls, etc - incompetence with equally mindblowing skill and wizardry.

It amuses me that if a fiscal entity sees a profit in it, information is treasured; if the same entity fears a loss, incompetence is treasured.

Hey, KUOW? Moving Marketplace Money? What are you treasuring - information or incompetence?

Dj friend came by yesterday and bought 4 lbs @ $7/lb. 2 steak cuts which are each packaged paired, so either package will make a nice special meal, plus one pack of hamburger.

As we were talking, he reminded us that we told him about Lenny's ... and I have been complaining about produce prices, how nothing is under $1/lb. Okay, $.99/lb, but that's only for loss leader items. Not that I don't take advantage of them, but it would be nice to turn back the clock to, say, 2004 or so.

So we went back to Lenny's. $.99 for blueberries, .69$/lb for carrots, $.89/lb apples. Ah, back to where it takes a fair amount of weight to get to $5. I also picked up a bunch of swiss chard that looked good - $1.19/lb.

I sauteed the chard leaves in olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes. However, I found a great recipe for the chard stalks:

Creamed chard over pasta

1 bunch chard stalks - about 3/4 lb, or 2 cups
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 stick butter
1 cup heavy cream
dash nutmeg (my twist from the recipe I found)
pasta - I used penne
salt, pepper

Clean chard stalks if you haven't already, chop into 1/2 inch pieces.

Melt butter at low/med low heat, add garlic, saute for 1-2 min. (watch the butter, I burned my first batch. )

Add chard, saute until chard is soft. (5-8 minutes)
Add the heavy cream to the chard, stir, keep at low heat and reduce to half the volume. Add nutmeg after about 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

Cook pasta al dente if you haven't already.

Dress the pasta with the cream sauce, serve warm.

Friday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $5 groceries

Thursday
Saving log - $4 tip box
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $7 groceries

Wednesday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $0

Feels very good getting back to work. Not because work is always super fantastic, but it is something that really keeps you from spending money. Hours can pass, and none of my money spent. Glorious. Vacation can be stressful in its own way, even if you do nothing. Nothing means, if nothing else, you are eating and spending more.

I did a bit of catching up. Sister enjoyed my creation for her birthday gift - a flipbook made from one of the books I made from a Japanese book binding kit, some pictures I took around the farmette, and a few fortune cookie fortunes.

Unfortunately, the Milwaukee Film Fest didn't accept the movie, so no quick trip to visit sister. I did mention to screenwriter friend that he could show it at another great Milwaukee venue: sister's-across-the-street neighbor owns a converted funeral parlor. This guy's "man cave" was once the main viewing room, and now is a large room with a home theater, 8 barcaloungers in a semi-circle, and a full size pool table many feet behind the loungers. Mammoth man cave, in other words. You could easily fit about 100 people comfortably for a show.

Still fine after the experimental flu shot. No pecking. Well, DH would probably disagree. Actually, I figure that this is going to be the safest flu shot I'm ever gonna get because I'm going to be one of a few hundred being heavily monitored. That has to be far safer than the average one that millions would get a few years from now.

DJ friend is interested in buying a few pounds of beef from us. I figure that our price for all our beef averaged about $7/lb, so that will be his price. However, the twist is that one of those pounds will be hamburger just to get the average right. Selling a little bit will have a useful function - it will make a little room for some bartered duck. Beef fest is still going to be Sept 11.

V.I. passed her 1 yr anniversary with us. So far, she has a little bit of a scratching issue. The vet hasn't found an obvious cause. No ringworm or fleas or anything that can be cultured. So its a watch and wait - change her diet from dry to wet, give her lots of affection and not too many stresses. No surprise vet boardings while we go on summer field trips.

And I got paid today.

I've also volunteered, been picked and have embarked today on a medical study on the bird flu vaccine. Apparently there is a killed-virus bird flu vaccine that is safe, but only effective at high doses; there's an adjuvant (little molecule that seems to encourage a large immune response) that is also safe and works well for other vaccines; this study seeks to test whether putting the two together produces a safe, effective vaccine.

I'm excited to be in the study - I've been following the bird flu for a few years now (the flu wiki link) and I'm happy to be a part of possibly helping others.

So the study group took my medical history, made sure I wasn't preggers, made sure I wasn't sick (with the flu hah hah), that I was in general good health and didn't have any physical issues with flu vaccines in general - I get my shot every year without issues. Then the nurse took my blood pre-shot, I got shot, and I was taught how to keep a memory log.

Now I'll be going through weekly blood draws, I'll get a second shot at week 5, more weekly blood draws - 10 in all.

And the part that belongs in a fiscal blog - I'll be paid 75$/shot, $50/blood draw for a total of $550. Not quite as tidy as disneysteve's surveys, but a not too bad haul nonetheless. Might as well put that tolerance for shots and blood draws to good use.

Even though its been a relaxing stay at home, a lot had happened:

Did the neighborhood gumshoe event for $20. It was a list of 30 clues that got you about and out and around the neighborhood, and you had to answer the question regarding each place. I think the preteen set had the best mind for it; they observed, took things literally, and didn't read too much into the clues.

Went up to Vancouver, B.C. for a surprise two day trip. That one was a bit pricey - about $200 for the hotel room and parking.

Sent off sister's birthday gift for $10 - most of her gifts were home or kit-made or were provided for from the Greenwood yard sale. I especially liked how the flip book of pictures of the farmette and the two framed pics of the farmette turned out.

The rancher delivered the beef to us this afternoon. That one was a bit pricey - $316. We got our 1/8, or about 50 lbs, and I think we got pretty much what we wanted. All told, it did work out to be about $7/lb. Best of all, it just barely fit into the freezer. Here's what 50 lbs of beef looks like in a top freezer.


DH had to re-pack the big bag of short ribs into two smaller ones - he got one of the bags of short ribs into the freezer, but the other is in the fridge. Anybody got a great recipe for short ribs?

Oh yes, the official beef fest is going to be on the 11th.

Well, I'm on vacay, trying to get the PTO levels down, but again it will be a staycay (don't bother, thief). Lately its been very pricey for us too with the $318 for the beef and car repairs totaling $600. And then vacay is a bit spendy even as a staycay - if I'm at work, reading emails, bringing my lunch, doing stuff at my desk - I'm not spending money. None of this I'll buy coffee here, buy lunch here, need admission here. Trainer is away getting married (she already is, this one's for the parents), so that will be a bit less spendy.

But with vacay I'll have time to finish up two craft projects. They are two radically different ones.

1. Sister's birthday is coming up. I've made the three books in the bookbinding kit. They turned out well, so I think I will convert one into a farmette picture book printing some photos I took from there.

2. Making a playlist for beef fest. I already have the music, I even have it at the playlist stage. Now, being the ultimate control freak, I want to figure out a way to link the song files together so they will play in exactly the order I want them to. Both winamp and windows media will skip around after awhile.

This time a 1938. 4 cents.

I'm saving them for laughs, just to see what I get. Thus far I have 4 wheat pennies (1956, 1951, 1938, 1927S) obtained by picking them up from where someone else dropped them. I've also been thinking of saving any copper penny, the ones older than 1982.

The final decisions were made on red angus four, now that she is no more and her carcass in the freezer locker.

We want as little hamburger as possible (lots of chefs and cooks in our group), so we opted for cube steak, additional chuck steak (beef bourgineon anyone?), some german sausage (long straight kielbasa-like sausage), some summer sausage, plus all the various steak cuts. We are going with the cut to maximize the New York strips and tenderloin. (Last time we asked for the 90 degree off cut to maximize T-bones, rib eye and porterhouse.) No hamburger patties, just 1 and 2 lb packets. I don't hate patties, just that one can make patties of any thickness from thawed hamburger and a pack of patties is a real PITA as it takes up space in the freezer.

Final cost amongst our consortium equals $2527.00 (the carcass price minus the deposit). It means that the 62.5lb 1/8 share = $315.88 if one paid their share of the deposit ($50 for 1/8 cow). In other words $5.85/lb total cost or $5.05/lb not including deposit. Not too shabby. Its grass-fed, grass-finished, organic, un-CAFO, we met the rancher-the land-and the cow beef. Thundering Hooves is probably the closest in quality - their hamburger is $9/lb retail and their steaks go up from there.

Now the real pitfalls begin. Who wants and who gets what cuts? The aim is that people get the poundage that they paid for, mostly get what they want, can cook (or are interested in cooking) what they get, and if there's a universally hated item, its split proportionally amongst the crew.

2 thoughts. 1.) Everybody provide what they most want, what they can cook, and what they hate. Then its like playing Hearts only using with beef cuts and the liver is the queen of spades. 2.) Rancher makes 16 equal piles. Those who are on deck for 1/16 get one pile, the 1/8s get two piles, the 1/4s get four piles ... and again with the whacked out beef cut card game making trades.

Sausage comes separately, next month. So I definitely want to be a bit short of poundage to get some sausage.

Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.75 coffee + $2 bottle of vinegar

I "sold" one of my stocks last week and just got the notice that the sale went through. I put sold in quotes because I had only 20 shares ('odd' lot) and it was part of a buy back Dutch auction. The price was going to be at worst $29/share.

The reason I sold was because it, call it company 2, really wasn't a drp - I couldn't reinvest the dividends - and it was hard to buy shares. I got the stock by convoluted means - my bank stock spun company one off which got bought out by company 2.

Since I'm still interested in keeping it in the stock market ... might as well let it ride ... I'll add to my position somewhere else.

Wonder when I get the check.

For part 3, analysis of change found in inside places,

here.
For part 2, the when I found change, here.
For part 1, my luck in finding change for the year, here.

I found 25% of my change inside places, which that I found 75% or $37.28 out in the wide open (as wide open as Seattle can be) space – places like the sidewalk, the road, the bus stop.

In most cases, I’ve found small amounts money in very disparate places, so I’ll have to give a high end overview.

The neighborhoods that I found the most change were the ones where I spent the most amount of time. Not a surprise – how could one find something when one wasn’t there? Neighborhoods broke out thusly: Greenwood (where I live) $13.41, or 36.0%; downtown (where I work) $8.96, or 24.0%; bus stops (how I commute) $4.48, or 12.0%; Crown Hill (next to where I live) $3.48, or 9.1%; Fremont, Queen Anne, and the U District between $1.51 – 2.50, or 4-6%, Safeway, which was a prime place to find change indoors, was also a reasonable place outside $0.84 , or 2.3%. Other places I found change in the $0.70 and under or 2.0-0.1% range.

Now in the general area I get down into specifics. I found the most on the sidewalk $11.51, or 30.9%; road $7.46, or 20.0%; planting strip (grass, dirt, tree, etc) $3.34, or 9.0%; parking meter $2.13, or 5.7%; the number 5 bus stop(s) $1.98, or 5.1%; on corners of sidewalk $1.76, or 4.7%; in the crosswalk $1.06, or 2.8%; in the gutter $0.88, or 2.4%.

I found a lot of change in odd places that I would have to consider miscellaneous - $1.79, or 4.8%. Places like bike hitches, fountain edges (pulling money from a fountain is tacky), stairs, between cobbles, ATMs, payphones, telephone pole, manhole cover, grates, banisters.

In other words, if finding change is like fishing, the money is likely to lurk anywhere at your feet.

You might remember our

beef cow, a red angus sporting a four ear tag. In an odd way, thank you for those red x's.

She had turned into a carcass last week, weighed in at 625 lb and is now hanging and resting. The rancher is now asking us for how we want it cut. Dressed weight is about 80% of carcass... all told, I'm expecting about 62 lbs to hit the freezer.

Lifehacker had an article about whole animal buying. The comments were a scream...you buy a whole animal with several people. No one's expecting you to eat it by yourself. Anyway, there was a fantastic link to an Iowa State extension buying guide. (Warning, its a .pdf.) Useful for any meat eater.

Part 2,

here
Part 1, here

A bit of an analysis of the change I found inside places. As I said before, I found $12.70 or 25% of my yearly total ($49.98) inside places like buses, grocery stores, etc.

I catagorized the inside locations and totals thusly:
Bus $1.72, or 13.9%; coffee shop(s) $0.80, or 6.3%; groceries other than Safeway $0.46, or 3.6%; gym $0.98, or 7.7%; miscellaneous places $1.52, or 12.0%; Safeway $6.38, or 50.2%; work $0.80, or 6.3%.

Of course, this is indicative of where I go - one can't find change in places where one doesn't go. The miscellaneous places that I found change at were particularly interesting and can give you some more ideas on good places to look - bank lobbies, elevator floor inside Group Health, thrift store floors, hardware store, restaurant carpets, vending machines, coinstar machines, chiropractor's office.

I had further catagorized where in the inside locations I had found the money. That worked out thusly:
Aisle $0.38, or 3.0%; Checkout $1.09, or 8.6%; Floor $6.77, or 53.3%; miscellaneous locations $1.28, or 10.1%; under something $3.18, or 25.0%.

The miscellaneous locations include escalators (surprising to me), on tables, cabinets, and stands, gym equipment, that edge between the bus seat and the window. You can find money just in the middle of the floor, but often the change lurks under things. Change especially lurks close to the source - when you get coins in exchange for a bill and you drop a coin or two.

Change found outside next.

Yesterday someone dropped a 1927 wheat penny in front of the parking meter. Actually that someone dropped a 1927 - S penny, with a little 's' underneath the year.

For laughs, I looked up its value

here.

Whoa! 40 cents.

Unfortunately, that describes me. I looked at my check stub today - we get those electronically too, so one can avoid looking at the particulars.

261 hours, or almost 7 weeks.

Its not my fault I don't get sick. Time to not feel guilty taking those mental health days; I'm chipping away at my PTO (paid time off).

And its my own version of the golden parachute/severence package. Actually, I'm sure the workplace cuts it off at 175 - 200 hours.

I take pictures every year, because its fun and how often does one buy a great $2 brat? Along with few free (for the taking) pics?

Perhaps you have seen a few of these Seafair m a few years running. Every year the components of the parade are similar - the Seattle police motorcycles start the parade, the Seafair pirates end the parade, and there are businesses, little kids, beauty pageant contestants, horse dressage, drill team, bands, and step teams in between. I did manage to take good pics of some components that I've never gotten good pics of before. Enjoy ... and hurry up before they turn into red x's!

There was an Irish step dance troupe that moved into the neighborhood last year - so Michael Flattley, eat your heart out...


And I finally got a great picture of the Chinese step team, a real Seattle hallmark. They did a very intricate step pattern on the street, video

here. Have got to love the sweep of that pheasant feather headress.


I caught the musicians on the drill team with confused expressions, however they were very good. Underneath the dragon was a huge drum.


And while I have taken pictures of the horse dressage team before, I just like the rhythm and movement of this picture.

I'll probably remove this post after awhile, or maybe not. I need to vent, and its a glancing fiscal issue.

Perhaps you know that I supervise - or as sister jokes, "stupervise" - two people at work. Supervising is a bit different than I had expected. A couple of issues were far easier to resolve than I had expected, but one difficulty is just throwing me for a loop because its so square 0.

I approve timecards.

Now ordinarily one should be able to do this in one's sleep. People fill out their timecards online, and are expected to do so unless there's an extraordinary circumstance. I then go in, glance at them, and approve them. While filling out an online card not as easy as writing one's hours out on a slip of paper or not filling a timecard out at all, it ain't rocket science. Besides, filling out a timecard means you get paid which means that even if the timecard was surrounded by alligators ... well, its important and it should happen come hell or high water.

Well, one of my people just does not fill out the timecard. I have to nag, the payroll person has to nag, and still ... no timecard to approve. According to the payroll person, my slacker is not the only one so that's something.

And yet, I don't get it. AT ALL. Why anybody "forget" to fill out a timecard. Or claim they don't have the online link. Ironic when one displays strong skills when one is on the computer doing something that they like. (Just like a guy who fails to write a check properly, but sure knows how to write one when paying the mortgage.)

Think of your workplace like a plane. With the current economy buffeting the plane, the plane is running turbulence, dropping thousands of feet in seconds. The masks come out. The mask is your paycheck. Without it, you're sunk. You're supposed to put on your mask before you help others, which in the terms of the analogy, if you need to help others fiscally, you especially need *your* paycheck, no? Now putting on the mask is not enough - to activate the flow of oxygen your supposed to yank on the tube. That, my friend, is what filling out a timecard is. Basic.

Now I have missed my own once or twice, I got reminded and I figured out a way to never miss because ... YOU WON'T GET PAID otherwise.

I don't scream, but man, I'm steamed. Next time it happens, no pay for you.

Had a very successful weekend of finding money. At Safeway, I look in the checkout aisles some for the size of the line, but mostly for any money. Last night there was a dollar bill on the floor, so I picked that aisle.

Of course I couldn't just nab the bill. I patiently waited for the line to move - and for two sets of people to possibly notice and pick it up before I do. Fortunately the first set of people were two 20 yr old guys who had other concerns, and the woman ahead of me was reading a magazine in the checkout. As soon as they paid and headed out, the money was mine.

And I had a

reprise of the fishing for coins incident. This time it was just a quarter, but since I'm not fond of gum, I still had some left over. Found a 5 ft stick, chewed some gum, formed the demented pool cue, retrieved the quarter. All within five minutes, and no witnesses this time.

Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.90 coffee
Found money - $0.06 (road, inside the bus)

I decided that I couldn't resist maintaining the dirty money tracking. I at least want to see whether or not July and August in general are bad finding money months or whether I hadn't hit my stride yet. Since 7/14, I've found an additional $1.11 ... It appears that last year was a "hadn't hit my stride yet" issue.

Woke up a bit later than usual - I'm now in throes of perimenopause with the hot flashes and night sweats, so its hard to sleep through the night. The open window helps, but its not perfect. Since I was running late, I bought coffee in the neighborhood to drink on the bus rather than take the time to buy coffee downtown. Hence the slightly higher price.

Deposited $47 of tip box savings this month yesterday. The tip box savings are helping me out of a couple of months of spending. Sigh. So I am, with a number of people here, getting back on the saving rails.

Sister called - she lives part time in Milwaukee, part time at the farmette. The

sinkhole that developed in Milwaukee is in her neighborhood. (not her car!)

We had another person leave. This guy. The one who usually comes by and yaks for 30 minutes. An hour and a half this evening! Not a fan of him, but means that the screws are quietly tightening at work.

So part 1 was the general terms and now I'll get a bit more specific.

So month to month starting on July 14, it ran like this: July - $1.33, August - $1.20, September - $3.28, October - $2.37, November - $4.85 (found a $1 bill), December - $7.24 (found a lot of thrown change during Christmas and New Years), January - $5.02 (another $1 bill), February - $3.29, March - $9.43 (found that $5 that month), April - $4.12, May - $4.25, June - $3.60.

Hard to read if change finding has a season. It wouldn't surprise me if fall, winter, and spring are better seasons - in cold rainy weather people have more pockets to manage and don't want to stop and pick up change.

There were some days that I did not find any money - 53 in fact. But it did mean that for 312 days I did find at least a penny - an amazing 85% of the time.

I wanted to know if some days were better or worse than others.

Monday - $5,24, or 10.5% of the total, with 4 days of finding nothing
Tuesday - $5.80, or 11.6% of the total, with 5 days of finding nothing
Wednesday - $5.34, or 10.7% of the total, with 8 days of finding nothing
Thursday - $6.16, or 12.3% of the total, with 8 days of finding nothing (New Year's Day penny windfall happened on Thursday)
Friday - $4.74, or 9.5% of the total, with 11 days of finding nothing
Saturday - $9.23, or 18.5% of the total, 12 days of finding nothing
Sunday - $13.47, or 27.0% of the total, 5 days of finding nothing (1 $1 bill and my $5 bill was found on Sunday)

The weekend was a bit better, probably because I walk around and can look for longer. Friday is notably the worst. Monday, while a small haul, is very consistent - I always find something.

Screenwriter friend again.

He is now volunteering to help program events at the Everett Theater, which is now getting an upgraded sound system.

The Everett Theater with a stage and screen has a number of lectures, concerts, etc. Screenwriter friend is being tapped for movies (has a number of cult movies already) and whatever interesting things he can do, and emailed us for suggestions.

I had one and it was a real Jackie Handey wild idea.

Part 1 for other brain farts that I've had just to give you a sample.

How about this: you program a so-bad-its-good-film and at the same time you mike up live several teams of comics/improv artists/free range smart asses to produce live smart ass remarks, talk back at the screen, point out cameos, riff on continuity issues? It would be a bit like a live Mystery Science 3K, a bit like Rocky Horror performance art, even a bit like straight DVD commentary, with perhaps scoring (not quite sure how it could be done).

I'm calling it film karaoke, for the lack of any better term.

Screenwriter friend is genuinely mulling this wild idea. He knows of a number of improv troops that might take a whack at it. I wonder if its been tried before?