Will work for money

I’m down to needing only two Florida counties on Where’s George: Gilchrist and Madison. I’ve had to let my membership to Friends of George lapse because I just can’t spare the money right now, which makes it harder to tell when I’ve gotten the hit that gives me a new county. Thus, I don’t have links to post.

It’s been hard to post stuff here because not having a job means not having money to do anything interesting. I’d post more, but I don’t think that the general public wants to hear how I spent most of the past month sitting at home looking for work or going to the mall to fill out applications. There are a few prospects that I’m hopeful about, but I have no idea how many people I’m competing against. All I can do is keep filling out applications.

I know that I can work, but it’s hard to prove that to someone, especially when all they have is an application or a résumé. If I’m given 40 hours every week, I’ll show up for all 40. I’d even take 20, especially considering that most places are only hiring part time. Working 20 hours per week is better than sitting around waiting for my unemployment to run out.

I wish I knew where to look. It gets frustrating when you fill out 20 or 30 applications and you know that most of the places aren’t even hiring. Even among those that are hiring, you have to figure that everyone and their pet Chihuahua has already applied there.

I can’t give up, though. I know that sooner or later, I’ll find a job. I can only hope that it’s sooner.

A long time coming

I’ve been kind of busy looking for work. That and not having much cash means that I haven’t had many interesting hits. Much of what I have is spread over a long period of time. One is an article on Apple not taking cash for the iPad. I’m actually surprised that it’s still up there.

There are also two bills that I entered several months apart, here and here, that came together. I don’t imagine that it happens too often. (Yes, it’s been so long that one of the bills got another hit.)

In the interesting comment department, this bill is from someone who thinks that the bill is defaced. I think that the idiot part is a bit much. I remember first entering bills on Where’s George, worrying that someone would confront me about it. While I never had someone insult me about it, I guess it’s much easier when you’re not doing it in person.

Then, there’s the person that held on to the bill for two years. I don’t mind having a sleeper like that, but why wait two years to enter it? I can only imagine that they got more Where’s George bills and realized that my bill wasn’t so special.

One last note is that Calhoun County fell, leaving me with four Florida counties. I don’t have a link as I only noticed yesterday. I have so few counties left that I don’t really expect it.

Two new counties

I actually have news to post today. I’ve gotten two new Florida counties in the past week, both near the state capitol. The first was in Union County. Apparently, it’s still good to go, so I may pick up some of the other counties in that area. (This was one of three bordering Alachua County, where I have nearly 40 hits.)

The second was in Franklin County. It looks like this one was from a regular. It’s nice to know that there’s at least one Georger in one of the more difficult Florida counties.

This brings the remaining counties down to five: Bradford, Calhoun, Gilchrist, Jefferson and Madison.

At Long Last

You have entered 151,824 Bills worth $385,430
Bills with hits: 11,839 Total hits: 13,333
Hit rate: 7.80% Slugging Percentage: 8.78% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,295.21
Your rank (based on George Score) is #154
(out of 49,161 current users with a George Score. [99.7 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 11 out of 8,155 [99.9]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 6,413,163 miles.
They have averaged 487.6 miles per hit and 205.29 days between each hit.

I just took a look at this blog and realized that I hadn’t posted in two months. I know it’s a far cry from posting three times per week. I’ve been a little busy looking for work, but I do have a link to post.

It’s Use The Two, a site having to do with what the name implies. It’s not much, but I do like finding sites about toms. There’s even a link back to Where’s George.

It doesn’t look like any new $2 bills have been printed, but I have seen 2009-series $1 and a few $20s have been spotted. According to the BEP production reports, the new Hundreds are being printed, although I don’t know that I’ll be seeing any in the near future. I can’t seem to find anything on when they’ll be released. (If you can find an exact date, please leave a comment with a link.)

I’m hoping that the April report will be posted soon.

The Color of New Money

You have entered 139,662 Bills worth $360,573
Bills with hits: 10,693 Total hits: 12,059
Hit rate: 7.66% Slugging Percentage: 8.63% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,283.96
Your rank (based on George Score) is #174
(out of 47,976 current users with a George Score. [99.6 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 16 out of 8,077 [99.8]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 5,674,981 miles.
They have averaged 476.5 miles per hit and 199.15 days between each hit.

Since I usually get singles, I was beginning to wonder if I’d ever get to see a 2009 bill. The first bills to come out as Series 2009 were the $20 bills. Next came the $1 bills. Despite occasionally getting twenties from ATMs, I have yet to see either. Now, according to The Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s production report page, there are now going to be Series 2009 $100 bills.

It looks like the Series 2009 will be of a new design. I don’t see anything on exactly what it will look like. I guess we’ll have to wait until next month to find out. I guess this means that the BEP is producing them, but will be holding off until next month before releasing them.

For now, I’ll just have to keep going through the $1 and $20 bills to be able to enter a Series 2009.

Series 2009, where are you?

You have entered 138,792 Bills worth $358,997
Bills with hits: 10,606 Total hits: 11,952
Hit rate: 7.64% Slugging Percentage: 8.61% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,282.98
Your rank (based on George Score) is #174
(out of 47,860 current users with a George Score. [99.6 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 16 out of 8,067 [99.8]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 5,622,420 miles.
They have averaged 476.4 miles per hit and 198.56 days between each hit.

Series 2009 $20 bills came out last month, but I have yet to see one. This has to do mostly with the fact that I don’t usually get twenties. It looks like Series 2009 $1 bills have entered circulation, as it’s now possible to enter them on Where’s George. (The 2009 option isn’t at the top, which makes it a little hard to see, but I’m not complaining.)

I have been getting twenties from the casino whenever they can’t give me all singles. I have yet to get a 2009 $20 bill. When I went to Publix yesterday to get some bills, they gave me new bills, which I was hoping would be 2009. No such luck; again, they were 2006.

It seems like whenever a new series comes out, they try to get rid of the new bills from the last series before releasing the newest series, so I can probably expect to see a lot more of the new, sequential 2006 bills before seeing any 2009. It also doesn’t look like the Atlanta branch of the Federal Reserve Bank has requested any new bills, so it will probably take even longer for me to see one.

Things Forgotten

You have entered 138,508 Bills worth $358,524
Bills with hits: 10,478 Total hits: 11,811
Hit rate: 7.56% Slugging Percentage: 8.53% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,281.76
Your rank (based on George Score) is #168
(out of 47,912 current users with a George Score. [99.6 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 15 out of 8,055 [99.8]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 5,529,167 miles.
They have averaged 473.9 miles per hit and 197.63 days between each hit.

I realized that there were a couple things I’ve forgotten to post here. One is a Nantucket Limerick. That I had wanted to post with what I was saying about not having a hit there. The Limerick is as follows:


I once got a hit in Nantucket
From Miami, an hour by bucket
----In my heart I could feel
----That the hit wasn't real
But it's my only Nantucket ducket


I also don’t seem to have posted anything about ZIP code 33309. I had noticed that I have two hits there, but couldn’t think of how I had come to enter 2 bills there. I had assumed that I had intended to enter them in 33009, which would have been Hallandale Beach. (Basically, two bills I had gotten at Gulfstream Park.)

Someone in the chat room showed me how to look up bills that haven’t gotten any hits yet and it appears that one is a twenty and the other is a five. It looks like I may have been up in the area and broken some bills for someone, so I think the hits may be legitimate.

I know it’s not much, but I am setting a goal to post at least three times per week.

You have entered 138,451 Bills worth $358,467
Bills with hits: 10,450 Total hits: 11,783
Hit rate: 7.55% Slugging Percentage: 8.51% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,281.52
Your rank (based on George Score) is #175
(out of 48,107 current users with a George Score. [99.6 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 15 out of 8,049 [99.8]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 5,507,388 miles.
They have averaged 473.1 miles per hit and 197.47 days between each hit.

Gulfstream Park Racing and Casino recently finished building a shopping area. As part of the shopping area, they put in some wi-fi. Being that the Hallandale Branch library was closed, I decided to give it a try.

The first thing I noticed was that there really isn’t much privacy except for the fact that few people were in the area. If someone saw you with a wad of cash, it would be a little obvious. Fortunately, it never got that far. The wi-fi wasn’t working today. I asked and it wasn’t just me. Apparently, others were complaining about it, as well.

I was lucky that they even had tables for me to use. I hate having to put my netbook to the side to use it. I’ve been wanting an Apple iPod Touch for this very reason. It would be much easier and possibly less conspicuous to enter bills at Gulfstream with one.

It seems to work only in a very limited area. I’m wondering if anyone will use the wi-fi at all. I can’t see people dragging laptops around a racetrack’s shopping area, although people do it at the mall. Whenever I go back, I’m going to take a look if anyone’s using it.

I ended up entering the bills in Hollywood. I don’t need that ZIP code, but it was nice to get a few more bills entered there. It’s a little far up to go over there and back, but it’s not too bad. At least I had some privacy there.

For some reason, I was getting a lot of new bills from the ticket-redemption machines, so I went back to the casino afterwards to get rid of them. Good thing I did because I was able to hit someone’s bill. I wouldn’t have gotten it if I didn’t go back.

I’m going to call it quits here before I start rambling. I’ll try to post more tomorrow.

Good news

You have entered 138,279 Bills worth $358,295
Bills with hits: 10,432 Total hits: 11,763
Hit rate: 7.54% Slugging Percentage: 8.51% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,281.33
Your rank (based on George Score) is #173
(out of 48,123 current users with a George Score. [99.6 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 15 out of 8,049 [99.8]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 5,489,852 miles.
They have averaged 472.5 miles per hit and 197.39 days between each hit.

In my search for places to enter bills and/or get change, I went to the North Shore branch of the Miami-Dade Public Library System located at 7501 Collins Avenue. I have to say that it’s the smallest library I’ve ever been to, but I now have 40 bills entered in ZIP code 33141. One good thing is that they have a second floor that has a few tables, one of which I was able to share with someone. They also have free Wi-Fi and lend out computers for people to use, although I don’t know what the requirements are for getting a computer. I had mine, so I didn’t need one.

The only major downside is that the nearest parking was metered. (I don’t know what employees do.) Miami Beach seems to be big on metered parking. It stinks that a public library doesn’t have its own parking. In fact, I think it’s The Beach that gets the money, so the funds don’t even go to the library system. (I guess you could say that the city pays into the library system, so it does get the money indirectly.)

When I go to the casino now, I usually enter bills, cash out and go to the Hallandale Branch of Broward County’s public libraries. They have a larger library there and work stations that offer a little more privacy. Speaking of which, I had $10 in free play to use at Gulfstream Park Racing and Casino today. I actually walked out with $45 that I didn’t have before.

In other good news, it looks like I’ll be working for the Census Bureau. I’ll be going in next month for training. I do know that it will be an office job, which is good. However, I really don’t know any other details like how many hours I’ll be working or how much I’ll get paid. It is work, which means more bills to enter, hopefully. At the very least, it means a bigger bank account.

Drug deals

You have entered 137,292 Bills worth $357,059
Bills with hits: 10,101 Total hits: 11,393
Hit rate: 7.36% Slugging Percentage: 8.30% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,278.03
Your rank (based on George Score) is #180
(out of 48,012 current users with a George Score. [99.6 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 16 out of 8,009 [99.8]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 5,296,774 miles.
They have averaged 470.6 miles per hit and 195.73 days between each hit.

I signed up with the Census Bureau to take a test to see if I can work for them. The pay looks good, but it’s temporary. At least it’s a paycheck. I keep hoping for something more permanent, but it’s hard. Everyone keeps saying that unemployment is up. People are looking for work. All I know is that I don’t have a job right now and my savings account won’t last forever. Hopefully, I’ll end up with some more bills to enter.

I think someone else may be thinking along similar lines, but reached a different career objective, as per this hit. I think that’s the second hit I’ve gotten that’s referenced a drug deal. Again, I don’t know how serious they are. I’m thinking that it’s a joke. I wouldn’t think you’d want something like that where people can see it.

I got this one last week. It seems to have gone all over the place. I kind of like it when it does that. The distance between the endpoints is way smaller than the total distance traveled. (I also have a weakness for vectors and vector sums.)

That’s all for now. I’ll post more when I have it.

Massachusetts elects a Republican senator and I still can’t get a hit in Nantucket County

You have entered 136,916 Bills worth $356,541
Bills with hits: 9,948 Total hits: 11,226
Hit rate: 7.27% Slugging Percentage: 8.20% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,276.51
Your rank (based on George Score) is #186
(out of 48,163 current users with a George Score. [99.6 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 17 out of 7,989 [99.8]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 5,228,361 miles.
They have averaged 471.5 miles per hit and 195.68 days between each hit.

For those that don’t know, Nantucket is an island county off the coast of Massachusetts. There are several things that make getting a hit there difficult. First, you have to take a ferry over. From what I can see, the fares aren’t cheap. I don’t think a lot of people would go over just for the heck of it.

The other thing is that there don’t seem to be a lot of malls or Starbucks there. (There is a Starbuck Road, though.) Don’t get me wrong. There does seem to be retail there. It’s just that Nantucket doesn’t strike me as the kind of place that would like chains. So, even if I spent the $40 to get over there, I don’t know that there would be many places for me to spend my bills.

Now, I’m not saying that you should just hit my bills. I don’t want to be selfish. All I’m saying is that if you happen to be on Nantucket Island and you happen to find a marked bill, please enter it regardless of who originally entered it.

For that matter, you’re always welcome to start a bill’s history. If you have money, just enter it on Where’s George. Someone has to start the bill report. That’s not even considering all of the unmarked bills out there. I’m sure that there are a lot of other georgers out there that would greatly appreciate the hit. It seems that if someone needs a county in Massachusetts that the county they need is Nantucket.

Of Sanibel and Haiti

You have entered 136,519 Bills worth $355,822
Bills with hits: 9,889 Total hits: 11,164
Hit rate: 7.24% Slugging Percentage: 8.18% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,275.92
Your rank (based on George Score) is #187
(out of 48,291 current users with a George Score. [99.6 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 17 out of 7,980 [99.8]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 5,191,871 miles.
They have averaged 470.7 miles per hit and 195.44 days between each hit.

I actually found an interesting app for the iPhone that I’d use. The USPS has its own app that, among other things, allows you to know which ZIP code you’re in. This is very useful to someone who needs to know which ZIP code their bill is on before entering it on WG. The app also lets you track packages and know where the nearest Post Office is, both things that I could see using.

Yesterday, I went to a place in Florida called Sanibel Island. When I got back, I found that I had two hits related to Sanibel. One was actually hit there. The second simply refers to it in the user note. I did spend 11 bills there, but neither hit is from any of the bills that I spent there. Odd that it should take so long for one bill to make it over there and end up there on the same day that I did.

I also got a hit on a bill that was apparently intended to help Haiti. Yes, it looks like it was deposited, but it was just one bill. I’m assuming that the actual donation was much larger.

That’s all for now.

New Florida County

You have entered 134,556 Bills worth $352,623
Bills with hits: 9,616 Total hits: 10,864
Hit rate: 7.15% Slugging Percentage: 8.07% (total hits/total bills)
George Score: 1,272.98
Your rank (based on George Score) is #196
(out of 48,755 current users with a George Score. [99.6 Percentile])
Your State Rank in Florida is: 16 out of 7,962 [99.8]
Your initial entries with hits have traveled a total of 5,054,793 miles.
They have averaged 470.9 miles per hit and 194.74 days between each hit.

I got a hit in Gulf County, which brings the number of Florida counties I have up to 60. I’m now missing only seven counties in Florida.

I did get a few other interesting hits over the past month or two. This one was found on the ground in Las Vegas. (I just love the scrolling text.)

This bill Was waiting two years to be entered. I don’t know which is more frustrating: The fact that the guy held on to it for so long or the fact that it was at a local airport, potentially waiting to go out of state.

This one, I can’t say I understand. I just thought I’d share.

That’s all for now.