You have entered 93,774 Bills worth $265,158
Bills with hits: 7,249 Total hits: 8,242
Hit rate: 7.73% Slugging Percentage: 8.79% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,240.07
Your rank (based on George Score) is #260
(out of 52,008 current users with a George Score. [99.5 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 21 out of 7,741 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,886,558 miles.
They have averaged 480.0 miles per hit and 188.93 days between each hit.

It looks like another Florida county fell. The same bill that got me Wakulla three weeks ago has now gotten me Liberty County. (You can see the bill report here.) This leaves 8 counties. It’s amazing that I had to wait so long for a new county and now, they’re falling pretty quickly.

I also found a bill with this comment. I’m not sure who the kids are. Is the person referring to the markings and the site? Maybe a child dropped the bill and the person felt that they were so irresponsible with their money that they didn’t deserve it back. Maybe they’re just kidding.

Since my last entry, I’ve hit two more bills. One originated in Feasterville-Trevose, PA. The other is from Cleveland, TN. This brings the total up to seven so far this month and 130 bills in all.

I also received a 1957-series silver certificate from a local Publix. You don’t see too many of those around.

Speaking of Publix, one of the employees informed me last week that they may be switching to a new system that may make it harder for them to give out change. I don’t know if it’s that store or all of them or if it’s really going to happen.

This is important because a few days ago, I was told that I’d need a checking account to be able to get change at the Washington Mutual by Aventura Mall. That’s understandable, but that’s the only bank where I can get change past 4:00 Monday through Thursday. Friday’s not a problem since most other banks are open until 6:00.)

I’ve been able to get change at several Publix locations and at the casino, but if Publix isn’t able to give me change, it will affect how I am able to get change. I’ll have to go to banks in the morning to get change. I’ll have to see what happens.

Hits, hits and more hits

You have entered 91,832 Bills worth $260,351
Bills with hits: 7,157 Total hits: 8,133
Hit rate: 7.79% Slugging Percentage: 8.86% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,238.43
Your rank (based on George Score) is #270
(out of 52,171 current users with a George Score. [99.5 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 20 out of 7,721 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,820,139 miles.
They have averaged 478.1 miles per hit and 188.93 days between each hit.

I’ve hit 128 bills since joining Where’s George. At first, they were few and far between. To give you an idea, it took me over four years to get the first 113. That’s about 2.2 bills hit per month. I hit 10 bills last month and another five so far this month. (Point of origin in reverse order: Staines, United Kingdom; Wattsburg, PA; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Cullman, AL and Appleton, MN.) I don’t know if it’s that more people are becoming active or if it’s just random distribution. Notice that only one is local. One even came from someone based out of the United Kingdom. (Interestingly, I haven’t hit many bills from people I know in the chat room.)

As for hits on my bills, I got one hit on a bill that was supposedly found in an Aventura Casino. There are no casinos in Aventura that I know of. I think the person got it from Gulfstream Park Racetrack and Casino in Hallandale. Part of the property is in Aventura, but the actual building is in Hallandale Beach.

I had a random idea to travel up to Orlando, but I doubt I’ll be doing it any time soon. I need to worry about a job first and I’m not sure that my car could take the long trip. The only reason that I even thought of it was that there are three counties by Gainesville that I need and there are lots of attractions in the Orlando area, but Orlando and Gainesville really aren’t that close. There are a few other trips I’d want to take first.

Rickenbacker Causeway going cashless?

You have entered 91,041 Bills worth $258,494
Bills with hits: 7,109 Total hits: 8,078
Hit rate: 7.81% Slugging Percentage: 8.87% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,237.62
Your rank (based on George Score) is #267
(out of 52,253 current users with a George Score. [99.5 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 17 out of 7,712 [99.8]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,798,487 miles.
They have averaged 479.0 miles per hit and 188.91 days between each hit.

In the continuing saga of cashless toll plazas, I was reading in today’s Miami Herald that there’s a plan to make the Rickenbacker Causeway Toll Plaza cashless. (You can read the article here.) It appears that the favored plan includes a cash lane, but I started thinking how bad a cashless system would be.

For those not familiar with South Florida geography, the Rickenbacker Causeway is the only land access to Key Biscayne. If you want to go to Key Biscayne, you either have to take The Rickenbacker or learn to swim. For the cyclists, a cashless toll plaza would mean that the traffic wouldn’t be regulated and there is no other causeway to and from the island.

I began to think of this from the perspective of the drivers. My first thought was of teenaged drivers. In Florida, you can drive at 16. However, you can’t have a credit or debit card until you’re 18. If someone has their own car at 16 and lives on the island, they have to maintain an account, either with SunPass or C-Pass as their transponder.

From the user agreement, both transponder programs take cash. However, you have to be 18 to enter into an agreement. First, it means that you either can’t leave the island if you’re under 18 or effectively have to get your parents’ permission. Secondly, it means that there’s a way for parents to see when their children come back from the mainland.

Also, there are a lot of people that, for whatever reason, may not want a transponder. I don’t go to Key Biscayne a lot, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t ever. Suppose I’m invited to a party on Key Biscayne. Does that mean that I have to get a transponder just to go there? Suppose I can’t get one in time. I’d either have to turn down every invitation or get one now on the off chance that I will be invited one day.

This isn’t even including the argument that there are several attractions on Key Biscayne. Suppose someone comes in from out of state and wants to go to Crandon Park or Bill Baggs State Recreation Area? There’s also a high school on Key Biscayne. Does this mean that all of the staff and students have to get transponders?

As I said, the favored plan would leave one lane for those paying cash. I really hope that they do. It’s basically all of the issues I had with cashless toll plazas in general, but with the added issue of restricting access to the island. For those that complain, those in charge can’t say that you have the option of taking a different route.

90,000 bills

You have entered 90,944 Bills worth $257,860
Bills with hits: 7,083 Total hits: 8,051
Hit rate: 7.79% Slugging Percentage: 8.85% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,237.27
Your rank (based on George Score) is #268
(out of 51,926 current users with a George Score. [99.5 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 17 out of 7,708 [99.8]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,784,461 miles.
They have averaged 478.8 miles per hit and 189.02 days between each hit.

Well, I finally passed 90,000 bills entered, but I think I may have to rethink my strategy of going to the casino. Part of the problem inherent of gambling is that I’ll more likely lose money than gain it. Even if I go in, put bills in and cash out without gambling, I have to pay gas money there and back. I also risk raising suspicion of the casino management. They may wonder why I’m putting money into their machines, but not playing.

I was thinking of cashing in some quarters tomorrow, but it may be better to not have the cash around to spend. In fact, the cash that I have now is in marked singles. I really don’t like the idea of depositing marked singles. Not that I have a lot of bills in my possession, but I may have to find a way other than the casino to swap out bills so I have unmarked bills to deposit if I need to.

I do have several leads going on jobs. One is at a bank. All I’ve gotten back so far is an automated reply, but that was last week. I‘m hoping that they’ll start calling people in starting Monday. There are a few other jobs that I applied to a while ago, including Sears. I think it’s been long enough that I’m probably not going to get an interview with them. However, I believe Sears keeps applications on file for a few months, so anything’s possible.

I’m even considering writing on Epinions again, even though there was very little income involved. At least it would give me something to do during the day other than watch TV. The days of making serious money on that site are long gone. I really need to find a job and soon.

New Jersey County Bingo

You have entered 89,799 Bills worth $255,543
Bills with hits: 7,049 Total hits: 8,014
Hit rate: 7.85% Slugging Percentage: 8.92% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,236.62
Your rank (based on George Score) is #266
(out of 52,154 current users with a George Score. [99.5 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 19 out of 7,704 [99.8]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,762,615 miles.
They have averaged 478.1 miles per hit and 188.92 days between each hit.

It turns out that I got New Jersey county bingo a few days ago and I didn’t even know it. The last county was Warren County, located in northern half of the state. With Hawaii, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware, I now have five state bingos.

It looks like Massachusetts is the only state where I need one county and that’s Nantucket County. New Hampshire is next with Cheshire and Coos Counties remaining. Those seem to be the only two states that I’m close on.

It looks like by the end of the day today, I'll have entered 90,000 bills.

9 Florida Counties to go

You have entered 89,395 Bills worth $254,513
Bills with hits: 7,035 Total hits: 7,997
Hit rate: 7.87% Slugging Percentage: 8.95% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,236.35
Your rank (based on George Score) is #275
(out of 52,318 current users with a George Score. [99.5 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 19 out of 7,701 [99.8]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,753,749 miles.
They have averaged 478.0 miles per hit and 188.77 days between each hit.

I’m down to nine Florida counties that I need for county bingo. The addition of Wakulla County brings me up to 58 of my home state’s 67 counties. The remaining counties are Bradford, Calhoun, Franklin, Gilchrist, Gulf, Jefferson, Liberty, Madison and Union.

I also almost got a three-year sleeper. I guess it’s like they say, though: Close only counts with horse shoes and hand grenades. Still, another four weeks…

I had the opportunity to go to Gulfstream Park Racetrack and Casino today. When spending my bills at the casino, I noticed this on a bill. I looked it up and it seems to be someone not related to Where’s George or currency tracking. I guess that he or one of his fans felt compelled to put his myspace page on a bill.

That’s all for now. At least now, I have a record of when my last Florida County was.

DSC_0428

DSC_0428
Originally uploaded by Brian Kuhl

I don’t think I posted this picture. The markings look a little intricate. It’s definitely more than random markings. (Everything other than the Where’s George stamp was done by someone else, presumably the same person.) I wonder what the Owl signifies.

You have entered 87,421 Bills worth $250,036
Bills with hits: 6,939 Total hits: 7,891
Hit rate: 7.94% Slugging Percentage: 9.03% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,234.68
Your rank (based on George Score) is #286
(out of 52,320 current users with a George Score. [99.5 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 17 out of 7,690 [99.8]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,696,012 miles.
They have averaged 476.9 miles per hit and 188.21 days between each hit.

I have two interesting hits to report. One waited 1 year, 204 days, 3 hours and 4 minutes to go 0.0 miles. It’s nice that I got a sleeper, but it sucks that it went nowhere after all that time. The other hit ended up in Milan, Italy. Almost 5,000 miles in just under 20 days.

In other news, it looks like I’ll finish the month with 6,676 bills entered. It’s conceivable that I could get 10,000 bills in one month, but I don’t want to spend a lot of money without a job and if I don’t go to the casino, there’s no real way to get that many bills into circulation. The fact that I got so many bills this month was a bit of a fluke.

I am looking for work. I’ve applied at Sears and a few banks. My parents even want me to apply at the casino, but it doesn‘t look like they have anything I’d be interested in. I just have to keep on looking.

So many hits, so little time

You have entered 84,800 Bills worth $244,119
Bills with hits: 6,827 Total hits: 7,768
Hit rate: 8.05% Slugging Percentage: 9.16% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,232.66
Your rank (based on George Score) is #288
(out of 52,570 current users with a George Score. [99.5 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 21 out of 7,668 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,625,979 miles.
They have averaged 475.0 miles per hit and 188.23 days between each hit.

Ok, so it’s been a while since the last entry. Not much has happened in the past few weeks. I did get Rhode Island county bingo with Bristol being the last holdout. I’m not even really sure when I got it. It just sort of showed up as having been completed in the report. I’m not even sure if I can search by county or not.

I also got a hit in Ha Noi, Vietnam. Apparently, it’s living the not-so-good life in the Hanoi Hilton. Interesting, though, that it took almost a year to make it to West Palm Beach before going out of the country.

This hit is from a recent trip to Palo Alto for my brother’s graduation. I doubt it was a direct hit as I generally don’t eat in Quizno’s.

I do, however, go to Wal-Mart occasionally. Apparently, someone found one of my bills on the floor of the men’s room there. I really don’t want to know the details.

Speaking of stuff I don’t need to know the details of, I got this hit not to long ago. It’s hard to tell if people actually are serious or are making stuff up. Occasionally, I have to assume that they couldn’t possibly make this stuff up.

That’s all for now. Hopefully, I’ll have more soon.

Bill pictures

You have entered 80,745 Bills worth $235,133
Bills with hits: 6,620 Total hits: 7,531
Hit rate: 8.20% Slugging Percentage: 9.33% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,228.83
Your rank (based on George Score) is #302
(out of 52,623 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 21 out of 7,631 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,479,078 miles.
They have averaged 469.6 miles per hit and 185.46 days between each hit.

I uploaded the pictures I mentioned before, but I’m just now getting around to posting them here. Things have been a little hectic and strange with the store having closed last week. (I still have one or two issues unresolved.)

The first picture simply says to boycott Jane Fonda. It seems that there are a few groups that don’t like her. Of the first few returns on Google, one had to do with not liking liberals and another having to do with Viet Nam. I really don’t want to get into politics that much here, so I’ll leave that one alone.

The next one is of a bill stamped with FairTax.org. The site seems to call for a national sales tax. I’m not sure I completely support that, but I can see where the appeal is. Again, I don’t want to get in to every political debate I come across, so I’m going to post the link and let you decide.

I also came across one that just has LUX with a red rectangle around it. I don’t know what this is. If there were a few more similar ones, I’d say that people were stamping it’s travels or something, kind of like how people put stickers on suitcases. Does anyone know if it has a meaning beyond Luxembourg?

The last one comes from Janet somebody. I can’t make out the last name. It was handwritten in pencil, which makes it more difficult to read. This is another one of those bills that I seek explanation for.

That’s all for now. I know that there was something else I wanted to post. I know it will come to me later.

You have entered 79,017 Bills worth $231,717
Bills with hits: 6,541 Total hits: 7,441
Hit rate: 8.28% Slugging Percentage: 9.42% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,227.31
Your rank (based on George Score) is #285
(out of 52,646 current users with a George Score. [99.5 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 20 out of 7,617 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,438,086 miles.
They have averaged 470.1 miles per hit and 184.57 days between each hit.

I haven’t been writing here a lot lately mostly because I’ve been busy closing the store. We had to make a final deposit, which wasn’t big per se, but I brought in some twenties to swap out for the coins and small bills. I did this mostly as a security precaution. Two of us had to take the deposit over and I didn’t want the person taking the deposit over to have to walk in with a ton of change. Even though we did it at the night depository, someone would have to count all of those coins.

I also wanted to get the small bills, which I noted were the last that the registers saw. If you hit one of my bills, you may see a user note referencing Wolf 1390. That’s one of the bills that I entered. The store closed a few days ago, but I didn’t get around to entering the bills until this morning. I had been going in early and getting home very late, so I didn’t have much time to enter them. The funny thing is that the next time I refreshed, I ended up with exactly 79,000 bills entered. (I’ve entered a few bills since, so it won’t reflect in the stats at the top of the page.)

I also got a hit with a user note referencing Belmont Park. I have a lot from Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, mostly because I spend so many there. With a little work, I could have a thing going with all the major race tracks.

I’ve uploaded the pictures that I mentioned a few posts ago. I may post them one at a time or I may just link to them. It’s not easy posting links directly from Flickr, so I may not post my stats if I do it that way. (What I may do in that case is to make a normal post and do a picture post directly after.)

No more job

You have entered 78,734 Bills worth $230,667
Bills with hits: 6,485 Total hits: 7,378
Hit rate: 8.24% Slugging Percentage: 9.37% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,226.40
Your rank (based on George Score) is #303
(out of 52,717 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 22 out of 7,603 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,405,676 miles.
They have averaged 469.5 miles per hit and 184.02 days between each hit.

It’s official. The store I work at is closing.

It’s kind of sad considering that this was the first real, permanent job I had. It’s also the job I had that allowed me to find out about Where’s George and enter so many bills. Yes, I know I would have found out about it anyway, but I may have grown bored with it if I didn’t have steady funding to back it up.

I’m going to miss the people I’ve worked with. There were a lot of people, may of which are no longer with the company. I’ll remember a lot of the regular customers, but not all of them fondly. (There was a sign that my friend’s parents had in their house. It read along the lines of, “Everyone brings joy to this house, some by coming and others by leaving.”)

It’s not very likely that I’ll be transferred, as there seem to be more employees than positions. I’ve been asking people if they know anyone that’s hiring, but everyone is worried about being laid off themselves. It’s a tough economy.

This blog doesn’t bring in much money, nor have many of my other endeavors. I may write on Epinions to bring in something and I will have unemployment to look forward to, but I have to find another steady paycheck, so if you know anyone’s who’s hiring…

Red-faced George

You have entered 78,632 Bills worth $230,537
Bills with hits: 6,473 Total hits: 7,364
Hit rate: 8.23% Slugging Percentage: 9.37% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,226.20
Your rank (based on George Score) is #296
(out of 52,761 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 21 out of 7,598 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,395,496 miles.
They have averaged 469.0 miles per hit and 183.84 days between each hit.

As predicted, my state rank is back in the twenties. I’m not surprised. I think everyone refreshed.

I’ve been finding a lot of interesting bills lately. This is the only one I have uploaded to Flickr so far. I know that this one is a little boring. Taking a magic marker to a $1 bill like this doesn’t take much effort. (There weren’t any markings on the back, although the ink seemed to bleed through.) I’ve seen more creative designs.

I’ll be editing and uploading others later tonight. Some are more political while some are harder to figure out.

You have entered 77,985 Bills worth $229,066
Bills with hits: 6,410 Total hits: 7,288
Hit rate: 8.22% Slugging Percentage: 9.35% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,225.04
Your rank (based on George Score) is #293
(out of 52,626 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 19 out of 7,586 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,360,998 miles.
They have averaged 469.1 miles per hit and 183.17 days between each hit.

When they opened a Five Guys Burger and Fries in Aventura Mall, I decided to have lunch there. I like their food and I have to think that getting bills into circulation at a mall is always a good thing.

The total comes out to $12.38. I give the cashier $13.08. She hands the eight pennies back to me. I try to tell her to keep the 8¢. What does she do? She puts the pennies in the tip jar. If I had given her three pennies, I could understand. When both amounts end in eight, it’s a little obvious.

I don’t know if she didn’t have much experience with a cash register or if it was that there was a line, but I don’t think she realized what I was trying to do. Since there was a line, I didn’t argue. I wasn’t going to make a scene over such a small amount of money.

In other news, I made it up to #17 in Florida. I got knocked back down to 19, but that’s ok. I expected it.

I’m probably going to go back to Five Guys. (Maybe even today.) If I get the same woman again, I’m not sure that I’ll bother with the pennies.

Dilemma

You have entered 77,387 Bills worth $227,993
Bills with hits: 6,389 Total hits: 7,266
Hit rate: 8.26% Slugging Percentage: 9.39% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,224.62
Your rank (based on George Score) is #297
(out of 52,848 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 19 out of 7,579 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,349,873 miles.
They have averaged 468.9 miles per hit and 183.03 days between each hit.

I’ve just passed 900 counties. By Where’s George standards, there are 3,142 including the District of Columbia. This means that I’m at roughly 28.686%. My next milestone will be 1,000, which would put me near a third. (1,044 would be exactly one third.)

I’m also still hovering above 20th place in Florida. I broke 300 overall, but I don’t know how long that will last. As I said before, overall rankings tend to fluctuate more than state ranks.

On a side note, I have an interesting math question. (I think it would fall under game theory and I don‘t know if there’s a definite answer.) My store is closing, but I don’t know when the exact date is. I want to use the time to get bills into circulation, but I don’t want them deposited and I don’t know if I’ll be there to swap them back out.

If I keep going until the bitter end, I get the maximum number of bills into circulation, but I know a lot of bills will get deposited. (For those wondering, deposits containing large quantities of marked bills tend to draw unwanted attention to the site, thus possibly resulting in account termination.) On the other hand, if I stop depositing now, I miss out on all the days that we’ll eventually be staying open.

The best scenario would be that the last bill we hand out is the last of my marked bills. Not having a crystal ball, I have no way of knowing how to time it. The question is: When should I stop swapping out bills? Should I play it safe and stop now? Should I go to the bitter end? Or is there some trick I can use to tell when to stop?

Any responses would be appreciated.

Top Twenty in Florida

You have entered 77,287 Bills worth $227,893
Bills with hits: 6,379 Total hits: 7,255
Hit rate: 8.25% Slugging Percentage: 9.39% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,224.45
Your rank (based on George Score) is #301
(out of 52,796 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 18 out of 7,574 [99.8]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,344,734 miles.
They have averaged 468.9 miles per hit and 182.87 days between each hit.

I’ve hit 18th in Florida, which is a new high for me. I’ve been bouncing between 19 and 22, mostly as a result of people not refreshing. It looks like that’s what’s going on now. I’ll probably end up back down at 20 or below soon, depending on who refreshes and when. There are at least 3 people that could knock me down to 21 if they all refreshed at once.

I’m also at 301 overall. The Where’s George site has a top-user list, but it only goes down to 201. According to the Bank of Frank, it will probably be a bumpy ride. My George Score is within a point of several users. In fact, the last time that the site indexed my score, it had me at 299, so I have been in the top 300.

I’ll have to wait and see if the top-20 rank holds.

Jumbo Buffet Redux

You have entered 77,242 Bills worth $227,554
Bills with hits: 6,357 Total hits: 7,227
Hit rate: 8.23% Slugging Percentage: 9.36% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,224.05
Your rank (based on George Score) is #310
(out of 52,789 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 21 out of 7,570 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,328,317 miles.
They have averaged 468.7 miles per hit and 182.60 days between each hit.

Tonight, I had to take care of dinner for myself. I don’t like making stuff, which is why I prefer restaurants. It’s been a while since I’ve been to Jumbo Buffet. The last time I went, they refused my marked money. I had actually considered keeping large, unmarked bills with me for that purpose.

Before going to dinner, I went to the casino in Hallandale. I left with 25 singles, two marked fives and a marked $20. I was debating whether or not I should spend any of them in the casino. If I spent the singles, I knew that they’d be in circulation, leaving me with a safe bill to spend on dinner. On the other hand, I could put a twenty and a five into a machine, leaving me the marked singles. If I was wrong, I’d have to pay by debit, which is what I had to do.

I figured the safe thing to do was to keep all of the remaining bills. If the waitress refused the marked money again, I could give her the twenty and get change. (It would have been nice to have a fifty or hundred.) It’s been so long, I think that they’ve had enough turnover that few employees would recognize the bills. If the manager’s still there, though, he may have to remind everyone. I have this vision of me going there again and seeing a wanted poster on the wall saying that I’m banned from the place.

I'm from the government and I'm here to track you

You have entered 76,710 Bills worth $225,999
Bills with hits: 6,324 Total hits: 7,190
Hit rate: 8.24% Slugging Percentage: 9.37% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,223.44
Your rank (based on George Score) is #303
(out of 52,593 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 21 out of 7,562 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,311,913 miles.
They have averaged 468.7 miles per hit and 182.00 days between each hit.

I actually had a customer refuse two marked bills today. She said that she lived in a heavily Hispanic area where most of the people would have refused the bills. We’re talking about a five and a one, both marked differently. I should have asked where she lived, but I doubt she would have taken it well. I ended up giving her six unmarked singles since I had no unmarked fives. (No, they weren’t entered.)

I don’t get out much, but there are a few active georgers in the area and I have yet to hear of any neighborhoods where marked bills are refused outright. I’ve had stores and restaurants refuse them, but never whole communities. I imagine out there somewhere is a city that has banded together against Where’s George. They have ordinances against stamping bills or purchasing certain kinds of stamping kits.

And people say I have no life.

More on SunPass

You have entered 76,029 Bills worth $223,504
Bills with hits: 6,252 Total hits: 7,107
Hit rate: 8.22% Slugging Percentage: 9.35% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,222.14
Your rank (based on George Score) is #309
(out of 52,303 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 20 out of 7,550 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,262,741 miles.
They have averaged 467.1 miles per hit and 181.34 days between each hit.

I’ve been talking to people about the SunPass and I got a response about it from the State of Florida. It looks like the best option is to plan trips so that I’m not taking toll roads. If I find myself approaching a toll booth, I’ll have to get off at the last exit and reenter later on, which could be tricky.

There are a few other arguments against a SunPass. First, you have to maintain a balance. It looks like you have to start with $10. Before you run out, you have to arrange to put more money on it. (And yes, there is a cash-only version of the SunPass. I’m not sure where you pay, but it’s not at a toll booth.) It’s just one more thing that I have to worry about.

Speaking of things to worry about, I also have to worry about bringing it with me. Since I’m single and tend to drive only the one car I have access to, it’s not an issue. I can just hide it somewhere in the car. My parents have one and have to remember to take it with them if it’s in the other car.

Having the option to pay cash makes things pretty simple. You don’t have to worry about bringing the SunPass. Yes, you have to worry about bringing cash with you and not running out of it, but I’d think that if you don’t have cash, you might have other issues.

It’s pretty sad that in terms of driving, I’m coming of age on a cashless road system. I don’t want a SunPass.

Cash-free toll booths

You have entered 76,012 Bills worth $223,431
Bills with hits: 6,231 Total hits: 7,082
Hit rate: 8.20% Slugging Percentage: 9.32% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,221.79
Your rank (based on George Score) is #316
(out of 52,495 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 24 out of 7,549 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,255,349 miles.
They have averaged 467.6 miles per hit and 180.97 days between each hit.

I read an article today that Florida expressways are going cashless. I find this disturbing on several levels. First (and most obviously) because I can’t pay cash. I kind of like being able to get cash into circulation and toll booths are a great way to do that. Someone else gets the bill and takes it somewhere you might not be going.

Cash is universal. Everyone has access to it. The plan is to get people to use a transponder. Florida’s is called the SunPass. From what I’ve read, it doesn’t operate by the same standard that other states’ transponders operate, meaning that people from other states can’t use their transponders.

What do tourists do when they come to a toll booth? According to the article, people renting cars can pass through and have the bill sent to them. I’m not sure what locals will do. Right now, there are only certain toll booths that will be SunPass only. I’m hoping that there will be some warning so that you can exit before the toll booth.

This could be an even bigger issue if you’re borrowing a car. Suppose I use a neighbor’s car. Is it fair that I could go through all sorts of toll booths and have him fined for it? Should I be forced to find toll-free routes to avoid this? Lending out cars just got a lot more complicated.

More basically, why should I be forced to get a transponder? What if I don’t want to? Do I have to get off before the toll booth and get back on? I just don’t like this. I’m going to ask the Florida Department of Transportation about this and see what they say.

Lots of news

You have entered 75,903 Bills worth $223,290
Bills with hits: 6,218 Total hits: 7,064
Hit rate: 8.19% Slugging Percentage: 9.31% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,221.51
Your rank (based on George Score) is #315
(out of 52,405 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 23 out of 7,547 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,245,665 miles.
They have averaged 467.2 miles per hit and 180.97 days between each hit.

I got to thinking the other day how it might be interesting to be able to compile the series and serial numbers for later entry in to Where’s George. I’ve heard that it’s possible to use film to record images of bills. Since the series and serial number letterings are consistent, it shouldn’t be hard to have the computer compile them into a list for me to copy and paste into the entry form.

I’m not saying that it would work or would even be allowed. I’m just saying that someone out there should be able to put something like this together. (Not that I’m endorsing it, but if you have done this, please let me know how it worked out for you.)

One thing that’s been bothering me is what I’ve come to call semi-sequential bills. I went to the bank last week and got 50 $5 bills which seemed to come from nearby straps. The letters and the first five numbers were all the same, but the last three numbers were different. They were all close, as if they were all within close proximity.

I think that when the bank processes them, the bills get mixed up. This makes it harder to enter; if they were all sequential and had no gaps, there’s a trick I could use to enter them. This tricks is useless with random bills. (Actually, the trick is useless with $5 bills, but it’s still easier to have no gaps.)

On an unrelated note, I’ve had two hits on twos in the past ten days, seen here and here. It’s nice to get them, but they’re pretty rare. A woman at the gas station north of Aventura Mall collects them, so I may not spend them there as often. Notice that both of these have gone unreported for over a year. I think that people either collect them or deposit them in the bank, which is not good. I spend two-dollar bills so that they will stay in play for as long as possible and get a lot of hits.

I also have to other unusual hits, here and here. Both were initially entered 35 days apart, but seemed to end up in the same place. I don’t know if they guy was holding on to them, as some people do sometimes, or if he found them together. I don’t mark my twenties, which means that he’s probably entering everything. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s allowed to enter them at work or swap them out of the register.

On a rather strange note, I seem to have ‘found’ $75 at the casino the other day. I usually put $25 into the machines at any time, then consolidate the tickets later on so that I can keep track of how much I won or lost. Thus, each ticket would have come from $25 or $100 in play.

I figured out that I had brought $500 to play. Somehow I ended up with five tickets from $100 in play and three from $25, meaning that I had put $575 into the machines. I think that I must have put three tickets together instead of four, meaning that some of the tickets had come from $75. I have no other explanation. I’m sure that I started with $500.

I’m sure I’ll figure it out eventually.

Looking for jobs in all the wrong places

You have entered 74,642 Bills worth $219,784
Bills with hits: 6,105 Total hits: 6,938
Hit rate: 8.18% Slugging Percentage: 9.30% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,219.46
Your rank (based on George Score) is #316
(out of 52,565 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 22 out of 7,529 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,177,894 miles.
They have averaged 466.4 miles per hit and 179.70 days between each hit.

It’s official. The store that I work at is closing. Ritz Camera filed for bankruptcy (on my birthday, no less) and, as a result, several hundred stores are closing, including the one in North Miami. Before you start hitting me up for information, I don’t know exactly when the store is closing, I don’t know if I’ll be transferred to another store, and I cannot cut you any special deals.

This will definitely put a dent in my ability to enter, mark and spend. I’m hoping that I can get another job. If I can’t, I would hope to be transferred, but there’s a lot of competition for a few spots. If I can be transferred, all will be well assuming I don’t get transferred to Naples. I do not want to commute across Alligator Alley. (I already have Collier County, anyway.)

A long, long time ago, I wrote in this blog how I was looking for a new job. I may have to do that again. I suppose that it all comes back to having money to enter and spend, so it’s still somewhat related to Where’s George. I’d prefer not to have to worry about it.

In better news, I got two hits, here and here, in the same ZIP code from bills that were entered months apart. It’s interesting how two bills can be entered (and presumably be spent) something like four months apart and find their way to the same place within an hour of each other. I suppose that it’s statistically inevitable that as you enter more bills, stranger things will happen. It’s just a matter of time.

On the Interesting Names category, we have Pennsylvania Furnace, PA. New York has a lot of interesting names, but I’ve found other good ones around the country. I wonder how they got Pennsylvania Furnace. Is that like Hell’s Kitchen? Is it really hot there? Or do they have a lot of bakeries. Maybe I’ll have to go there one day.

270 counties

You have entered 74,269 Bills worth $218,775
Bills with hits: 6,056 Total hits: 6,885
Hit rate: 8.15% Slugging Percentage: 9.27% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,218.62
Your rank (based on George Score) is #308
(out of 52,105 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 22 out of 7,518 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,134,022 miles.
They have averaged 463.2 miles per hit and 179.04 days between each hit.

It seems like not that long ago that I had hit 860 counties. Now, I’m at 870. What’s frustrating is that I haven’t picked up any county bingos for a while, despite being one county shy of several states. I’ve also been ten counties shy of Florida bingo. I still need Bradford, Calhoun, Franklin, Gilchrist, Gulf, Jefferson, Liberty, Madison, Union and Wakulla Counties. (As I mentioned, three border Alachua County.)

I’ve often wondered what would happen if I got every county in the country. I’d have other milestones, like countries, Canadian provinces and bills entered, but I don’t know if it would be as much fun. It seems kind of obsessive to worry about getting every ZIP code in the country, especially considering that some are extremely difficult to obtain. (Consider that some exist only within the confines of a post office branch.)

Speaking of ZIP codes, I have a bill that has four hits in the same one. The funny thing is how close together they are in time. The last one didn’t even take a day. It would be nice if it would travel around a little, maybe even picking up a few neighboring ZIP codes or counties. I wonder if this happens a lot.

Then, there’s the hit in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. I really don’t mind the foreign hits. I have to wonder how they all end up there. Some foreign countries do use American currency. (I’ve been told that Mexican tourist spots are very receptive to American currency.) I think there are some cases where people bring bills to other countries to do the user a favor. In other cases, it’s possible that they don’t convert all of their money before they leave the United States. When I figure it out, I’ll post it.

Lots of hits

You have entered 74,004 Bills worth $218,271
Bills with hits: 6,031 Total hits: 6,851
Hit rate: 8.15% Slugging Percentage: 9.26% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,218.07
Your rank (based on George Score) is #325
(out of 52,031 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 23 out of 7,510 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,118,272 miles.
They have averaged 463.3 miles per hit and 179.05 days between each hit.

I was surprised by a hit I had earlier today. The bill originated in Las Vegas, but was hit in Fort Lauderdale. At first, I thought that the bill had followed me home. I had spent the last of the Las Vegas-entered bills in the Salt Lake City airport. It wasn’t until about an hour ago that I realized that the hit was on a $5 bill, a few of which I had brought back with me.

I did get two hits in foreign countries. One was in Austria; the other was in El Salvador. Purple hits are hard to come by. I guess having spent bills in several airports recently helped.

In other news, I’m almost three-quarters of the way to six figures. I now have just over 74,000 bills entered, fewer than 2,000 of which have been entered this month. I’d have to get almost 200 bills tomorrow to break 2,000 bills this month. (Not an impossible task, mind you.) I’m $424 shy of $10,000, which would mean that I’d have to get at least some of those bills in fives. (Twos would be nice, though.)

My average dollar value so far this month is $5.24. The reason that I have such a high dollar value with so few bills is that I was entering a lot of twenties and hundreds in Las Vegas. (I don’t think I came across a fifty while there, but I did have cause to enter a ten.) I was aiming for smaller bills for a while, but I realized that there was little point since it was so easy to get change.

It’s getting late and I need to get some sleep. I’ll probably have a few more interesting hits in a few days.

6,000 bills and 860 counties with hits

You have entered 73,983 Bills worth $218,110
Bills with hits: 6,007 Total hits: 6,825
Hit rate: 8.12% Slugging Percentage: 9.23% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,217.69
Your rank (based on George Score) is #325
(out of 51,862 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 22 out of 7,509 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,091,761 miles.
They have averaged 460.8 miles per hit and 178.85 days between each hit.

I’ve passed 6,000 bills with hits, which I suppose is a good milestone to pass. Unfortunately for my hit rate, I’ve entered over 70,000 bills, which puts me at 8.12%. I also have 860 counties between the fifty states and the District of Columbia. It seems like the counties are harder to get now, which is understandable.

I have every county in Florida south of Alachua County, which is where Gainesville is. Alachua has plenty of hits, but I need three of the neighboring counties: Bradford, Union and Gilchrist. That’s the kind of stuff that gets me. I have 21 hits in Alachua, but they can’t travel over to any one of those three counties and get a hit. I’m sure that I have at least one in each county. It’s just that someone has to look at one of my bills and get to a computer in that county.

Yes, I’ve thought of going to Gainesville, but it’s a college town. They have malls and an aquarium, I think, but there’s no real reason for me to go there. It’s not like Orlando, which has Disney World. Aside from which, I don’t know that I want to make that kind of drive just to get hits. If I had to go to Tallahassee or Pensacola, I might consider going that way and planning on having lunch there.

All things considered, 860 isn’t a bad number of counties. 57 Florida counties isn’t bad considering that I only need 10 more.

Sick Day

You have entered 73,959 Bills worth $217,990
Bills with hits: 5,983 Total hits: 6,799
Hit rate: 8.09% Slugging Percentage: 9.19% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,217.30
Your rank (based on George Score) is #324
(out of 51,753 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 21 out of 7,505 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,071,730 miles.
They have averaged 459.5 miles per hit and 178.21 days between each hit.

I have 1,781 bills entered so far this month. I have a few large bills to break, but with the month ending so soon, it looks like most of the bills I’ve entered this month will be in Las Vegas. The bronchitis has really kept me indoors.

I had taken a few sick days before going and am taking one today. I’m not really in any condition to go to the bank and get change. Tomorrow or Saturday, I may go over to the bank or to the casino. (I haven’t been to the casino since getting back from my trip.)

The hits from Las Vegas seem to be waning. I haven’t seen any in the past day or two, but I did get one in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island. I don’t get many foreign hits, but my proximity to the Caribbean means that many of my foreign hits will be there. (The single most hit foreign country is Canada with 20 with the Bahamas rank second with 16.)

That’s all for now. At least one good thing came about from being sick: I can catch up on my writing. I may even post a few reviews on Epinions.

You have entered 73,954 Bills worth $217,850
Bills with hits: 5,952 Total hits: 6,758
Hit rate: 8.05% Slugging Percentage: 9.14% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,216.69
Your rank (based on George Score) is #330
(out of 51,685 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 22 out of 7,497 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,053,813 miles.
They have averaged 459.4 miles per hit and 177.75 days between each hit.

The hits from Las Vegas keep coming. I was a little worried that the casinos wouldn’t get them back out, but people are commenting that they’re getting them from the casinos. I got one today from the Tropicana. They’re getting out pretty fast.

I posted pictures from the trip, viewable here. It’s not all of them, but they’re some of the ones I think are among the best. I saw people out there with digital SLRs. I almost wish I had brought by D50, but it was probably best that I didn’t. I have several lenses and I would have wanted to bring them all. That would have meant having to drag around a pretty big bag of stuff. I could have gotten away with the Sigma 28-90 and the Sigma 10-20, I suppose. I don’t remember any situations where I would have wanted to use the Nikkor 35-135, but I probably would have if I had brought it.

I also got a Canadian hit. I don’t have many of those. I always find it odd that people will get the bill so close to me and take it far away like that. They do seem to be a registered user, so it is understandable. They may have understood that I’d want the far-away hit.

Then there's this hit. It looks like they’ve gotten one of my bills before. I don’t recognize the profile, but I don’t always look at all of them and it’s possible that the profile’s changed since I last looked at it.

Anyway, three entries in four days is a lot for me. That’s all I have for now.

More on Las Vegas

You have entered 73,951 Bills worth $217,800
Bills with hits: 5,939 Total hits: 6,743
Hit rate: 8.03% Slugging Percentage: 9.12% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,216.47
Your rank (based on George Score) is #329
(out of 51,627 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 22 out of 7,496 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,045,490 miles.
They have averaged 459.1 miles per hit and 177.65 days between each hit.

I’ve been getting more hits from the Las Vegas trip. Here's another one that seems to have come from the airport. I was going to post links to two hits from the same person until I got another set of hits from the same person, this time four.

I also got a hit from someone in the chat room. He was waiting until 10:30 to tell everyone. (Somehow, I knew it was me.) This is at least the second person in the chat room I’ve gotten a hit from, the other person being my george parent. (For those that don’t know, a george parent is the person who’s bill got you started if that’s how you found out about the site.)

My george parent is also one of at least two regulars in the room whose bills I’ve hit, the other person being Wattsburg Gary, the person with the highest george score and the most bills entered. I have this odd feeling that I’ve hit bills from others in the chat room. I’m sure if they see this, they’ll let me know.

You have entered 73,829 Bills worth $217,575
Bills with hits: 5,919 Total hits: 6,720
Hit rate: 8.02% Slugging Percentage: 9.10% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,216.11
Your rank (based on George Score) is #326
(out of 51,602 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 20 out of 7,495 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,026,305 miles.
They have averaged 457.7 miles per hit and 177.85 days between each hit.

Not two days back and I got three hits from the Vegas trip. This was the first hit. I’m pretty sure it was a direct hit, as I spent a lot of bills in the MGM Grand, but I was staying across the street. It’s entirely possible that someone took it from the Tropicana and walked it over to the MGM.

The second one was indirect. I guess it got to see more of Vegas than I did. I’m not complaining, though.

I’m thinking that the third bill was spent at an airport. It was entered late on my last full day in Vegas and I know that I spent my last bill from the trip in the Salt Lake City airport. (I spent none of my Vegas-entered bills outside of an airport; I ate breakfast at Las Vegas’s McCarran Airport.)

It’s interesting, though, how I got a hit at the MGM and I got a hit on a bill that I got from the MGM so close together. Some might say it’s coincidence, which I’m generally not amazed by. (This is due mostly to a strong belief in math.) I’m hoping that I get many more hits in and from Las Vegas.

Back from Vegas

You have entered 73,707 Bills worth $217,365
Bills with hits: 5,910 Total hits: 6,710
Hit rate: 8.02% Slugging Percentage: 9.10% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,215.93
Your rank (based on George Score) is #327
(out of 51,614 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 21 out of 7,492 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 3,016,311 miles.
They have averaged 456.7 miles per hit and 177.69 days between each hit.

I’m back in Miami. It’s good to be back, but I was just getting used to being in Las Vegas. I actually thought about doing a blog entry in Vegas, but the laptop I had wasn’t really meant for typing. Also, I was too busy getting bills into circulation. (That should be read as gambling.)

I now have 1,265 bills entered in Las Vegas. (1,255 in 89109 and 10 in 89119.) This is more than I have entered in my work ZIP code of 33181. The only two ZIP codes with more bills entered are 33161 (67,517) and 33180 (3,900), which are my home ZIP code and Aventura, respectively.

I did get to meet the fellow georgers that went to Las Vegas. I think I would have been better off staying in the Imperial Palace, mostly out of practicality. (If you do stay at the Tropicana, I found the Garden Café to be better than the buffet. It ended up costing about the same or less and had better food.) I didn’t realize how great the distances were in Vegas.

In Miami, a difference of 100 in house numbers equates to one block, so that 345 N 1 St is between 3rd and 4th Avenues. This isn’t necessarily true in all places. Add to that that one block may be longer or shorter. When I saw that there was a difference of 300 or 400 in the addresses of the two hotels, I incorrectly assumed that the two hotels were much closer than they were.

I also learned to stay away from the table games. For my purposes, slots were much better. I got more game play per dollar. I got to play roulette, which I had wanted to do, but you can go through money pretty quickly.

On a related note, if you plan on playing the slots, sign up for the players’ card. I was advised by several people to sign up everywhere I gambled, but this may prove to be a hassle. I actually signed of at Circus Circus and never used the card. At the very least, you should sign up at the hotel where you’re staying.

All things considered, I’d say it went pretty well. It was a bit strange being on my own for a week. Vegas is definitely better with friends. I managed on my own, but it is nice to do things with people, and there are things to do in Vegas other than gambling. I’d definitely want to go back.

You have entered 72,433 Bills worth $209,694
Bills with hits: 5,841 Total hits: 6,628
Hit rate: 8.06% Slugging Percentage: 9.15% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,214.44
Your rank (based on George Score) is #327
(out of 51,409 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 23 out of 7,471 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 2,977,440 miles.
They have averaged 456.0 miles per hit and 176.33 days between each hit.

Well, I won’t be at a hundred percent when I go to Vegas, but I will be going on Wednesday. It looks like everyone else going will be arriving Thursday, which will give me a day to rest. I’ve been managing at work, so I should be able to manage to go out with everyone. I’ll probably need some Dayquil, as I only have a few days’ pills left for the cough. (I’ve been able to manage at night without them.)

I won’t disclose exactly how many singles I’m bringing out, but I’m bringing plenty. I’m also bringing some larger bills for several reasons. One, I don’t want to carry too many singles. Two, I want to be able to enter some bills out in Las Vegas. I will probably change my default ZIP code to that of the hotel to make things easier. The point of having a default ZIP code is to avoid errors in entry. One side effect is that I will be number five in the state of Nevada. The fourth-ranking person has a George Score of 1,214.53, which is just above my score.

And so, in a few days, I head out to the City of Lost Wages.

'Your Bills' Summary Statistics - Hide
You have entered 72,286 Bills worth $208,945
Bills with hits: 5,768 Total hits: 6,546
Hit rate: 7.98% Slugging Percentage: 9.06% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,213.17
Your rank (based on George Score) is #329
(out of 50,843 current users with a George Score. [99.4 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 20 out of 7,449 [99.7]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 2,926,915 miles.
They have averaged 454.1 miles per hit and 175.08 days between each hit.

This is going to be a short post. I haven’t been feeling well the past few days, but I wanted to at least post something, especially considering that I hit my hundredth bill two days ago. I also entered over 3700 bills last month, valued at $12,278. That’s a record on both counts.

Because of this cold, I had to take the day off from work. I barely have enough energy to stamp the bills I have, let alone go into work. I’ve also been coughing a lot, which makes me pretty much useless. My manager told me to take the day off.

I’m hoping that I’ll be well enough to go to Vegas next week. I should be, considering that I’m getting a little better. I should be ok.

That’s going to be all for now. I’ll have another post when I’m feeling better.

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.