Tuesday, August 30, 2011

It's been a busy month.....

I've got some catching up to do.  In some ways it seems like there really isn't a whole lot to report but in other ways there are.  I have started down that path that my own burning bush called me to do, and although I started with a sense of trepidation and wondering if I was really doing the right thing or was even up to it in the first place, I find myself glad to have started this.  I have a sense of peace and well-being about it that I can't describe.

I won't get any more specific about this.  It's an interesting situation and I'll leave it at that.

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Things on the work front are also turning out to be interesting.  It took a few weeks to settle in to this new assignment and to feel comfortable at it, but I find that I am enjoying it a great deal more than I thought I would.  I'm not used to a project being run in the way that this one is.  No, that is not a reflection of management, it's instead the nature of the project itself that has it set up this way.

I can honestly say that I've been blessed with a great selection of co-workers.

It's one thing to have a job.

It's another thing to have a job where you enjoy having the right people on the team.

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I am still slowly going thru that box of nickels that I bought back in early June.  I'm not even at the halfway point.  So far, two of the sought-after 2009D nickels have turned up.  I hope to get lucky and score several more.  

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Speaking of coins, I have an amusing anecdote to pass along.

I purchased some $80 worth of half dollars at one of the Wells Fargo branches here.  No, I didn't score any silver (I hardly ever do), but no big deal.  I like spending them, and I also sell several of them to a manager at one of the Quik Trips here in Tucson (he also buys $2 bills off of me).

Anyway, I forgot to sell him my half dollars my last time there, but again, no big deal.  They're legal tender, and can be used as such as long as a vending machine isn't involved.  I was on my way to the swap meet to visit a longtime friend of mine who owns a business there, and I decided to stop off at a Chevron nearby to get a cold soda.

I decided to ditch two of these half dollars in the transaction, along with other change.  The young lady behind the counter stared at the half dollars for a second, and then asked me, "are these the fifty cent quarters?"

I said yes, and left it at that.

I figured that would take a lot less time than in correcting her as what the coins really were, and how many of them it would take to make a dollar.

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At the swap meet, my friend Mercury showed me a counterfeit ten dollar bill that had been passed in his store the night before.  A lady had come in before closing, the lights were turned off, and she used this in her purchase.  It wasn't after she was long gone that Mercury and his wife Michelle had learned that they had been stuck with a counterfeit.

The bill almost fooled me; it was that well done.  It was colorized like the real latest issue ten dollar bills are.  However, there was nothing in the watermark area, and the microprinting was a bit fuzzy.  Also, the back was  a bit fuzzy if you looked close up at it.

It's probably no surprise to the Secret Service that the counterfeiters are keeping up with technology.  I have seen fake bills before, and this one was one of the best.

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That's all I have for this evening.  Have a safe Labor Day weekend!

Don't forget to pet a dog or a cat!