City of Lost Wages

You have entered 69,656 Bills worth $199,920
Bills with hits: 5,572 Total hits: 6,332
Hit rate: 8.00% Slugging Percentage: 9.09% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,209.29
Your rank (based on George Score) is #337
(out of 50,792 current users with a George Score. [99.3 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 24 out of 7,401 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 2,810,730 miles.
They have averaged 450.3 miles per hit and 171.77 days between each hit.

I’m actually considering going out to Las Vegas next month. There’s an unofficial gathering out there from the 12th to the 16th. (For those few readers of this blog, if you’re signed up with the site, there’s a post in the forums.) I’ve been to The City of Lost Wages twice in my life. Both times, I was under 21. That meant no gambling. Now, many years later, I’m well of the legal age to enter a casino.

I’ve been looking at the travel sites. For just the hotel and flight, I’m looking at upwards of $400 if I want to stay on the strip. That’s assuming that I arrive on the 11th and leave on the 17th and doesn’t include a rental car or food. Depending on what the plans are, I may just go for a few days. It also depends on how scheduling works out and if I can get the time off. Days off can be a bit tricky where I work considering that I’m the only full-time employee other than the manager.

If I can’t get those days off or if the gathering falls through, I may just go anyway. I’ve never done a major trip like that by myself. I would prefer to have other people to do things with. I’ve heard of people going to Vegas solo and going with friends. Which is preferable often depends on what kind of person you are. I could see doing either.

You have entered 68,579 Bills worth $196,240
Bills with hits: 5,510 Total hits: 6,263
Hit rate: 8.03% Slugging Percentage: 9.13% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,207.96
Your rank (based on George Score) is #344
(out of 50,506 current users with a George Score. [99.3 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 21 out of 7,383 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 2,777,741 miles.
They have averaged 450.1 miles per hit and 170.94 days between each hit.

I finally got rid of a lot of $2 bills I had been hoarding. I had gotten in the habit of saving the 1976-series $2 bills, mostly because I was born in February of 1976. It actually got to the point that I had hundreds of them. I realized that it was a bit hypocritical of me, considering that I don’t like others hoarding them. Now, I just have one that I’m saving. It’s one of the date-of-issue bills with the postmark on it.

It took me a while to get rid of them all. I did find a few new machines at the casino that take them. Five appear to be new machines. Another three are machines that I think are new, but may have been moved from elsewhere in the casino. Up until a few weeks ago, there seemed to have been one bank of machines that took $2 bills. It’s not many more machines, but it’s pretty drastic percentage wise.

I went into a Winn Dixie that had those self-checkout machines. I got on line for them and paid for a Gatorade with a $2 bill. Apparently, I’m finding all sorts of machines that take Toms. I don’t think there are many vending machines that take bills other than the one-dollar variety, but I have seen some parking machines that explicitly indicate that they take twos.

I’ve been hearing a little about the new series of bills, 2009, that will be coming out. It seems like it will be released either late next year or early the following year. There’s no news yet on whether or not $2 bills will be issued. It’s doubtful, considering that they’re not requested by a lot of people. In fact, I find it odd that they were issued for two consecutive series. (Those series being 2003 and 2003a.)

Since this entry is so two-heavy, I will leave you with this article. It is a bit old and I may have posted it, but it seems interesting.

Bingo!!!

You have entered 66,668 Bills worth $190,019
Bills with hits: 5,324 Total hits: 6,054
Hit rate: 7.99% Slugging Percentage: 9.08% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,204.14
Your rank (based on George Score) is #352
(out of 50,675 current users with a George Score. [99.3 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 20 out of 7,339 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 2,684,002 miles.
They have averaged 450.2 miles per hit and 167.41 days between each hit.

I got 50-state bingo and didn’t even know it. With the addition of an Idaho hit, I now have all fifty states. I guess the next thing to do now is get county bingo in each county.

Speaking of which, I also got a hit in Middlesex county, giving me all eight counties in Connecticut. That makes three states (and the District of Columbia) that I have county bingo in. Granted, D.C. is the easiest to get and the states that I do have are among the easiest of the states. It’s still pretty nice. There are a few states that I’m one county away from.

I’ve always wondered what I would do if I got every county in the country. What would be left to do?

It ain't easy being marked green

You have entered 65,851 Bills worth $187,948
Bills with hits: 5,262 Total hits: 5,988
Hit rate: 7.99% Slugging Percentage: 9.09% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,202.86
Your rank (based on George Score) is #351
(out of 50,410 current users with a George Score. [99.3 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 21 out of 7,325 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 2,641,027 miles.
They have averaged 447.8 miles per hit and 166.04 days between each hit.

It’s hard spending marked money, especially two-dollar bills, because you get people looking at you funny. Being that yesterday was Friday, I decided to go to the Chinese buffet. The buffet cheaper on weekdays, so I’d rather go on a Friday than a Saturday or Sunday. (For those noticing the post time, I’m in the Eastern Time Zone.)

Normally, when I go to the Chinese buffet by my house, I get a pause, but the money is usually accepted. Yesterday, when I went to pay for lunch, the bills were immediately refused. In her limited English, the waitress pointed to the markings and told me that she wasn’t allowed to take them. The best I could offer her was marked fives. The only other thing I could do was to pay debit.

I don’t think I’ll be going back there if I’m paying. If I do, it will probably be with large bills. They’ll be given the option of accepting a large unmarked bill or small marked bills. It was a good thing I had a debit card and that I had money on it. Had I not had that option, I may have had to walk out without paying and not be welcomed back at all.

To make matters more interesting, I went to Target later in the day to buy some stuff. The bill came to $17.05. I happened to have a bunch of two-dollar bills. Nine seemed like a good number to cover it. I’d even get back change. The cashier actually looked for a watermark. When he didn’t see one, he had to call over someone to verify the bills’ authenticity. We waited a few minutes for someone came over and take them to be tested with a pen, presumably. When she came back, she gave the OK and I got my change. As I was getting my stuff and leaving, I could see the cashier put the twos under the fifties and hundreds.

Well, there’s always tomorrow.

Sweet Irony

You have entered 65,300 Bills worth $186,311
Bills with hits: 5,225 Total hits: 5,943
Hit rate: 8.00% Slugging Percentage: 9.10% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,201.98
Your rank (based on George Score) is #346
(out of 50,695 current users with a George Score. [99.3 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 23 out of 7,309 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 2,615,801 miles.
They have averaged 446.9 miles per hit and 165.18 days between each hit.

A funny thing happened to me tonight. I had to go out to do several things, including getting a floor amt for my desk chair. I go into Office Max and grab the only one they have, which goes for $29.99 plus tax. I take out a few fives and a bunch of singles. The guy sees the singles and asks me to break some bills.

At first, he wants $100 in change if I have it. Unfortunately, I don’t. Even if I did, though, I don’t like admitting to having that much money on me, especially not to a total stranger. I do agree to sell off $20 in singles. The good news is that he’s going to a strip club, so I may get a few hits soon.

The irony is that I had just gotten some $2 bills this afternoon, but I hadn’t entered or marked them yet.

Ten Years

You have entered 65,066 Bills worth $185,594
Bills with hits: 5,219 Total hits: 5,935
Hit rate: 8.02% Slugging Percentage: 9.12% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,201.79
Your rank (based on George Score) is #344
(out of 50,565 current users with a George Score. [99.3 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 22 out of 7,307 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 2,614,058 miles.
They have averaged 447.4 miles per hit and 165.22 days between each hit.

I took a look at my last post and realize that it was made last month. One of the problems with working in retail is that I get kind of busy, especially this time of year. I had to decide to make another post today.

I’ve passed 1,200 George Score. It seems like each hundred gets harder and harder to pass. I think it has to do with the natural logarithms used in the formula. I’m almost past the #20 mark in Florida. It looks like there are a few people that like to wait 10 or 15 days before refreshing. Past five days, your score drops one percentage point for every day you way, so that on the fifth day, your score is normal. In the sixth day, you lose 6% of your score. One of these days, I’ll make it to #19.

I also found a strange comment, located here. I can’t make heads or tales of what it means.

I also had one hit removed for reasons that I can’t explain. It’s possible that someone entered the wrong series. It’s also possible that it was a bad hit. There are reasons that someone might try to enter a bill and have it removed.

I’ve also heard that Where’s George turned 10 recently. Apparently, the site came online December 23rd 1998. I started almost 3 years ago. This would be the first milestone anniversary. Here’s the forum thread.

I also have a few strange markings to share, here, here and here. The first one looks like a sports team logo. The second one appears to be a business logo. There is a J & M Scaffolds of Florida located in Key West. I can only assume it’s them, as there were no other direct hits on Google. There do appear to be other places in Key West that do business with a place called J & M, but I don’t think any of those other places are in Key West.

As for the third picture, I think we have another case of way too much time on someone’s hands. I’d love to know if they do this to other bills, or if this was an isolated incident.

I also came across a 1928G $2 bill. It looks like it’s in pretty good condition, considering the age. I’ve only come across a few red-seal bills, all of them $2 bills. This seems to be what the banks have. I’d assume that there are other red-seal bills out there, but since other denominations are requested more frequently, I doubt they last as long.

That’s all for now.

You have entered 61,317 Bills worth $175,444
Bills with hits: 4,877 Total hits: 5,535
Hit rate: 7.95% Slugging Percentage: 9.03% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,193.92
Your rank (based on George Score) is #362
(out of 52,071 current users with a George Score. [99.3 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 21 out of 7,218 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled an average of 445.17 miles per hit with an average time of 159.27 days between each hit

I was looking online last night to see if there’s a possibility of a new series of $2 bills. I did find two links worth sharing. One is about someone making the decision to spend or keep $2 bills. The other is from NPR about how $2 bills are making a comeback for various reasons, some of which I hadn’t heard.

I don’t know that they’re making a comeback. I’ve been spending them to be different and to log them into Where’s George. To notice an increase in hits wouldn’t be saying much. Ones still get the lion’s share of hits. I have been noticing people giving them out as change, so that is a good sign.

I’m debating over whether or not to close my account at TD Bank. (Formerly Commerce Bank.) I went there last weekend to get change and one of the tellers gave me grief about it. Apparently, they don’t keep a lot of singles in the front and it’s a big deal to go into the back to get more. Also, she looked up my account and told me that my account was ’inactive’. Change was a service that they only performed for ’active’ accounts. Yes, I could just deposit a check every now and again. I’ll have to think about it.

I do have a correction to make. In my last entry, I said that I was 12,000 bills shy of being on the top 201 list for bills entered. It should have been 1,200. I’m now actually on the top 201 list. I was able to get a few hundred bills last weekend and a few hundred yesterday. That put me on the list.

I have also noticed new stats on Where’s George when I refresh. The new additions are the average time between hits and the average distance per hit. I am also able to access the top 200 people per state by clicking on it. I just thought I’d mention that since it is in the stats that I copied.

You have entered 59,847 Bills worth $171,763
Bills with hits: 4,809 Total hits: 5,454
Hit rate: 8.04% Slugging Percentage: 9.11% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,192.08
Your rank (based on George Score) is #373
(out of 52,946 current users with a George Score. [99.3 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 20 out of 7,197 [99.7]

I never thought I’d make it to the top 20 in Florida so soon, but I seem to have jumped. I doubt this will last very long, because it probably means that several people haven’t refreshed. If I understand correctly, your George Score drops after five days of not refreshing. If enough people refresh by this time tomorrow, I’ll be back down to 23.

I’m also to within 12,000 bills of being within the top 201 list for total bills entered. I know it’s not much, but it’s something. I figured I’d get something in.

209-E, Dress Down

You have entered 58,744 Bills worth $168,458
Bills with hits: 4,730 Total hits: 5,366
Hit rate: 8.05% Slugging Percentage: 9.13% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,190.18
Your rank (based on George Score) is #384
(out of 53,052 current users with a George Score. [99.3 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 26 out of 7,167 [99.6]

I came across some interesting bills last month. One has a red rectangular stamp with 209-E inside of it. I don’t know what this means. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I’ve actually submitted it to a group which specializes in strange pictures. I’m wondering if it’s some sort of bank stamp or something. The only thing I can think of is that it’s some sort of vendor code. I’ve been to plant sales where there’s a centralized bank of registers. However, it would probably be an easier way to keep track of money, since there’s no real need for any particular vendor to get a specific bill.

The other had Dress Down written on it. I have no idea what this means. I can’t think of any definition of dress down that applies to money unless you’re applying money to dress something down. Maybe someone got dressed down, as in reprimanded, and had to put write the phrase on a bill before putting it in a jar.

I got singles from Washington Mutual last week. I felt a little bad because the guy that usually helps me said that they haven’t been getting a lot of twos in, mostly because of the whole takeover situation. At least Chase is a stable bank, which would mean that the branch will stay open. I don’t see why not, since I don’t know of any Chase banks in the area.

That’s all for now, which is why it’s taken me so long to post. I hope I’ll have more soon

It's not easy spending green

You have entered 57,347 Bills worth $164,885
Bills with hits: 4,627 Total hits: 5,246
Hit rate: 8.07% Slugging Percentage: 9.15% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,187.55
Your rank (based on George Score) is #402
(out of 53,202 current users with a George Score. [99.2 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 25 out of 7,137 [99.6]

It’s not easy using $2 bills. I went to Panera today and ordered lunch. The total was a little over $10. I handed the cashier 6 bills, but she said that she was told not to take them. When I asked why, she said that the bank shredded them, referencing the markings. This bothers me for several reasons.

First, there aren’t many banks in the area and I know that the Wachovia nearby does, in fact, hold on to them. I’ve actually gotten some of my marked bills back from them. It’s possible that they recently switched to the Commerce Bank, but I doubt it.

I also doubt that they shred the bills. I’m thinking that her manager may have meant that the were sent back to the FRB to be shredded, but either way, why would Panera care? If they’re being credited with money, it shouldn’t matter. I guess that the manager (or whoever made the decision) knows that I don’t want them shredded. I guess it’s better to hold on to them and at least spend them somewhere that will hand them back out as change.

Most importantly, it means that they’re not getting them back into circulation. Instead, they’re depositing the bills. For this reason, it’s probably just as well that I not spend them there. If a store is actually refusing them for this reason, there’s very little chance that they’d ever change.

After Lunch, I went to Party City. I wanted to get some glow sticks, but didn’t want to pay $15-$20 in shipping. I was able to get an assortment for very little money and paid for it in… you guessed it… $2 bills. The cashier had to ask someone if it was ok to take them. I guess it was because she eventually took them. This is pretty common, but is still annoying.

I’ve also decided that it’s too much of a pain to spend cash in the Apple Store at the mall. They are able to go through the line and process credit and debit purchases right away, but you have to wait for cash. I was first in line and had to wait at least five minutes to be helped, despite the fact that several cashiers were just standing there. All I wanted was an iTunes card. I even had the money counted out. Could they suspend a transaction and help me? Obviously not. I’m thinking that I should get my iTunes cards elsewhere.

Driving

You have entered 56,575 Bills worth $163,083
Bills with hits: 4,554 Total hits: 5,164
Hit rate: 8.05% Slugging Percentage: 9.13% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,185.77
Your rank (based on George Score) is #381(out of 53,196 current users with a George Score. [99.3 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 23 out of 7,119 [99.7]

I’ve been driving for a few weeks now, which is part of why I haven’t been writing as much. It’s odd having to do certain things like buy gas. (Which I am doing with cash, in case you’re wondering.) I haven’t been posting in either blog, even though I’ve been taking a lot of pictures. (Check out http://sixmegs.blogspot.com/.)

I haven’t noticed any real change in the distribution of my bills, but spending them at gas stations is something that will affect the distribution within the county in which they’re spent. Since I’ve bought gas within a few miles of my house, I would think that the northeast quadrant of Miami-Dade County will be the most affected. I just don’t know how.

Having a car has had me thinking differently. Theoretically, I could go on a short trip if I had two days off. I wouldn’t necessarily do this to pick up hits in new counties, but it is something that has crossed my mind. As of this writing, I have 53 of Florida’s 67 counties. It looks like there’s one county south of Orlando that I need, and that’s De Soto County. The only major city listed seems to be Arcadia and that barely warrants an entry in the AAA book. The only way I could see going there is on the way to Sarasota or something.

There are a few north of Orlando, like Union and Bradford. It looks like all of the counties with major destinations are taken though. I also don’t want to go too far north. If I did make up my mind to go somewhere, I’d like to be able to go there and get back no later than the next day. Saint Augustine, which is pretty close to those counties, would be almost a five-hour drive from where I live. If I left early enough, I could get there by lunchtime, but I’ve never really planned a trip like that and would have no idea where to go or what to do.

Granted, all of this is just me thinking about the counties I need. I definitely don’t want to waste the gas just to spend the bills. However, if I happened to be heading in a certain direction, I might try to stop in or near a county I need. This is just one of the things I’ve been thinking about since I started driving.

Of Steak and Shake and IHOP

You have entered 53,175 Bills worth $153,735
Bills with hits: 4,134 Total hits: 4,670
Hit rate: 7.77% Slugging Percentage: 8.78% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,174.78
Your rank (based on George Score) is #429(out of 53,561 current users with a George Score. [99.2 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 27 out of 7,009 [99.6]

My brother and I had an interesting experience last night. We went to Steak ‘n’ Shake, but found they had closed early. The sign said that they closed every night at 2 a.m. and we were there at 12:30. I’m pretty good at math, or at least at reading. I’m pretty sure that they should have been open at least another hour and a half. One of the people there just said that they were closed.

I understand this reaction when you are actually supposed to be closed. I work in retail and it does get annoying when people show up fifteen minutes after we’ve closed and everything is already shut down. You should have gotten there earlier. Also, we have another location about five miles away that stays open later. However, if we arrive well within the posted hours, we have a right to expect the restaurant to be open.

We ended up going to an IHOP in North Miami Beach. Not the best part of town, but it wasn’t too bad. We were a little surprised when we overheard someone talking about another restaurant that was robbed earlier this year and how it was her shift. When I went to pay, the waitress said that she needed the singles and had only twenties. I actually thought of trading with her, as I had singles with me, but it was late and there were people there. I didn’t want to be followed out to the car.

Contrary to what my mother may think, I do think of these things. The trouble with living in a big city is that you do have bad people. I’d like to get bills into circulation, but I don’t want to get mugged, especially when my brother’s there. (I don’t want to get either one of us hurt.)

I filled out a complaint form for Steak ‘n’ Shake, which hasn’t earned a response yet. We’ll have to see how it goes.

You have entered 51,669 Bills worth $147,780
Bills with hits: 4,014 Total hits: 4,529
Hit rate: 7.77% Slugging Percentage: 8.77% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,171.28
Your rank (based on George Score) is #441
(out of 53,747 current users with a George Score. [99.2 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 29 out of 6,969 [99.6]

I am happy to report that one of my two-dollar bills was given out as change at McDonalds the other day. This means progress. It’s hard to tell what kind of progress because I don’t usually hang around to see how the next person gets their change, not to mention that the next person doesn’t always use cash. I am noticing that fewer places are putting them under the tray. This means that they’re at least keeping them on standby.

I also ordered another stamp from stamp-connection.com. It seems like I get a stamp every time I need to order ink pads. I figure a few years from now, I’ll have them all. I definitely recommend them if you need to buy stamps, especially acrylic stamps.

I got two hits, here and here that will be (or was) used in a vending machine at Barry University, which is about a mile from where I live. It’s hard to think that two bills stayed together for almost 500 days and they’re still so close from where they were entered. This is why I’d like to see my bills entered more often. I’m assuming that since there are two bills that they were sitting in a bank somewhere, but for all I know, they made it around the world twice before making it back to Barry University.

I have a coworker that thinks it’s good that my bills end up at the bank. This is why it’s not good. I want my bills out and about and going places. They can’t do that if they’re sitting in a vault somewhere. Take a look at this bill, which ended up in Richmond, VA. Yes, it took a while, but I’ll bet it didn’t see the inside of a bank.

In other good news, I got Hawaii county bingo, but it’s an easy bingo of sorts. I should probably update the County Bingo Wiki. There’s one county that seems to be in dispute as to whether or not it’s a county. It’s called Kalawao County and doesn’t have a government, but does apparently have a sheriff. If you read the Wikipedia article, it’s kind of interesting. It’s also apparently difficult to get a hit there.

That’s all I have to report now. I’m sure I’ll think of something later.

You have entered 50,160 Bills worth $143,134
Bills with hits: 3,904 Total hits: 4,408
Hit rate: 7.78% Slugging Percentage: 8.79% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,168.12
Your rank (based on George Score) is #459
(out of 53,590 current users with a George Score. [99.1 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 27 out of 6,936 [99.6]

It’s been a while, I know. I also realize that this has become little more than a place for me to post milestones, but I haven’t come across many interesting bills. The most recent bill of any interest is here. Someone gave George a new face. Is Teresa the person that did it or is Teresa the person they’re trying to impersonate?

Speaking of faces, I’m not sure if I posted this one. It looks like they tried to give the smiley a long nose. It does give the face a little more depth. What’s with the checkmark, though? Are they saying that the smiley is good enough? “Hi, I’m Teresa and I approve of this Smiley.”
As for the milestone, I just entered my 50,000th bill. It took me about two and a half years.

I’m wondering if it will take me as long to enter another 50,000 bills. I’m thinking it will take me less time, as I am getting a little better at getting bills. There are those that are able to enter that much every month, which is why it surprises me when people worry about me.

I did hit three bills today, located here, here and here. The interesting thing is that two of them are two-dollar bills. I got all three bills from the same bank at the same time, which is what’s most interesting to me. I’ve always wondered why I don’t find more bills, especially considering that so many get hits.

I think it has to do with the fact that so many hits come from unregistered users. However, it is a zero-sum effect, if you think about it. For every bill that I hit, someone else gets a hit. Whenever I get a hit, it means that someone else has entered my bill. I would think that if you add up all the bills that are hit and do the same for all of the hit bills, the numbers would be the same.

I have yet to meet someone that has hit significantly more bills than has had bills that were hit. There are those that only hit marked bills, but many of these people have very few bills entered. We’re talking less than a hundred many times. I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually.

Top Toms update

You have entered 47,120 Bills worth $133,907
Bills with hits: 3,649 Total hits: 4,123
Hit rate: 7.74% Slugging Percentage: 8.75% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,160.49
Your rank (based on George Score) is #470
(out of 53,605 current users with a George Score. [99.1 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 29 out of 6,867 [99.6]

I just happened to notice that Top Toms link that I posted was way out of date. No one had been added at all so far this calendar year. So, I asked and it turns out that someone else is keeping the list. (You can find the list here.) I’ve submitted the information out again and hopefully, it will be added soon. (The person got back to me pretty quickly, si it may even be up there already.) I’m now stamping the bills and hope to have them in circulation later this week or next.

Top Toms

You have entered 47,117 Bills worth $133,904
Bills with hits: 3,639 Total hits: 4,113
Hit rate: 7.72% Slugging Percentage: 8.73% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,160.25
Your rank (based on George Score) is #476
(out of 53,611 current users with a George Score. [99.1 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 28 out of 6,865 [99.6]

Just after I posted about not being able to get $2 bills, I got a hundred of them. That put me over the 2,000 needed to get on the Top Toms list. I sent in the information and hopefully, I’ll be added soon.

I’m not sure if I want to mark them. It’s not because they put me over, but because they’re new. I hate having to mark new, sequential bills. It’s bad enough that I get looks for the marked currency, but people seem to hate new, crisp bills. The manager at the store where I work often alternates between new and old if he can.

I don’t really have much else to report. I just wanted to share.

You have entered 47,017 Bills worth $133,704
Bills with hits: 3,633 Total hits: 4,106
Hit rate: 7.73% Slugging Percentage: 8.73% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,160.04
Your rank (based on George Score) is #481
(out of 53,641 current users with a George Score. [99.1 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 28 out of 6,859 [99.6]

I know it’s been a while. I was out of town and I’ve been closing at work a lot, so I haven’t been writing much. I actually made it to the #25 spot within Florida, but got knocked back down. I may make it back up soon if I keep entering bills.

I have been trying to get twos, now that I’m within a hundred bills of being a Top Tom. (At last count, I have 1,948 twos.) It’s getting harder now that I’m closer. I can’t seem to get more than ten at a time. One bank near Aventura Mall, which usually has them, has been out for a while. There’s a teller at another bank that knows to tell me when she has any, but she wasn’t there the last time I went.

At the bank by work, I’ve been seeing the $2 bills that I’ve been marking. I had stopped spending them at McDonalds, so I can be relatively certain that it’s not them. There aren’t too many places that I spend them and there were a few last time I asked. It looked like it may have been from several deposits.

As for other bills, I found a $5 bill marked with a big purple circle. I don’t speak Spanish, but I think Azul is blue. I can’t make out the first word. If anyone knows what it means, please leave a comment here or on the picture.

On another bill, I also found "Fanfan" and "repent". It looks like it was two different people. I think I may have found a fanfan bill before, but I see so much writing, it’s hard to remember. I’m way too lazy to look back at my previous posts.

To Arizona and back

You have entered 44,360 Bills worth $124,108
Bills with hits: 3,420 Total hits: 3,866
Hit rate: 7.71% Slugging Percentage: 8.72% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,153.13
Your rank (based on George Score) is #509
(out of 53,120 current users with a George Score. [99.0 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 27 out of 6,797 [99.6]

I went to Arizona and came back and found I had Delaware county bingo. Granted, it’s only three counties, but it’s still my first real state. Next in line in terms of easiness would be Rhode Island, I believe, with five counties.

My mother spent a few bills in the Fort Lauderdale airport on the way out to Phoenix. It turns out that I got a few hits on some of the bills. I think someone got in line before her and got the bills as change, then got on the same flight as us. It sucks, but it happens.

When we came back, I tried to reload a Starbucks gift card, but the woman at the register said that she couldn’t. Apparently, some people had stolen money by pretending to reload the cards, but pocketed the money instead. The customers didn’t realize what had happened until they were halfway across the country. I tried to reload at Burger King, but they didn’t take the kind of gift card that I had.

I looked for places around Arizona, but I was only able to find a Subway at a mall and a Starbucks we stopped at. There weren’t many options.

I did find some interesting bills before I left. This one has some illegible handwriting on it. All I can make out is the 516. There’s also the Diver Down bill, here. Nothing worth writing a lot about, but worth sharing.

Last but not least, I managed to pass and stay above 30th place in Florida. I don’t know how long it will last since I think there are at least three or four people in the top thirty that wait a few days before refreshing. If they’re right ahead of me normally, I may get kicked back down if they all refresh. One can only hope they don’t.

100th post

You have entered 42,091 Bills worth $117,433
Bills with hits: 3,123 Total hits: 3,533
Hit rate: 7.42% Slugging Percentage: 8.39% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,143.33
Your rank (based on George Score) is #555
(out of 52,047 current users with a George Score. [98.9 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 32 out of 6,720 [99.5]

I got my new fives in the register today. They seemed pretty well received. I didn’t stamp them because I knew that I might get someone who wanted to say something just because they were new bills. I didn’t need someone getting confused by the stamps on top of that. A coworker handed out two without comment. I gave a few more as change and the woman asked for most of the rest for a twenty. I don’t know what happened to the last one. I have to see if I can get more.

I also got a hit on a twenty. These are pretty rare, especially considering that I don’t mark them. Usually, they go to the bank and I don’t expect a hit on them. However, if I’m going to the casino, I may mark them. (This way, I can tell if I get them back.) It’s not surprising that the bill only made it to Fort Lauderdale. From what I understand, twenties don’t travel too far. I am surprised that it took only 81 days to get a hit.

That’s all for now.

You have entered 42,083 Bills worth $117,352
Bills with hits: 3,117 Total hits: 3,526
Hit rate: 7.41% Slugging Percentage: 8.38% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,143.12
Your rank (based on George Score) is #557
(out of 52,002 current users with a George Score. [98.9 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 33 out of 6,716 [99.5]

I got some new fives today. I honestly can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t like them. Sure, there’s that big purple 5 on the back. It’s actually a lot bigger than I expected. And a lot more purple. The demo on the Web site doesn’t do it justice.

I’m going to see if I can get a few in the register at work tomorrow to see how customers react. Most people don’t think that the new bills look like real currency because they’re used to the old design that we’ve had for way too long. I thin we’ve been way overdue for currency redesign.

I did also get some interesting bills recently, including one with a hemp leaf. It had the corresponding "I grew hemp" stamp, but I couldn’t get that one without getting the serial number. This is the first I’ve seen of that bill up close and personal, although I’ve heard of people stamping bills that way.

I found a $2 bill, seen here, that said "Good Luck in 2006" on it. It would appear to be a bit past it’s prime, but it’s a nice sentiment. This one, I’m having trouble figuring out and only part of it has to do with the handwriting. (You have to view the full image to see the handwriting.)

From what I can make out, it says "Who ever receive this bill will be bless /// The Jesus-Christ". I’m thinking it was done by someone who doesn’t speak English as their first language. (I will admit that my fellow native English speakers never cease to amaze me with their poor literacy skills.) I still don’t get why people do this. I appreciate the fact that someone is wishing me well, but I’m an atheist. I don’t believe in God or that Jesus Christ is the savior.

Anyway, I’m not trying to start a religious debate. I started out just wanting to share that I had gotten a few of the new fives and I decided to throw in the pictures. Until next time…