Ageism and Mayday

Weight = unknown, too busy with renovating bath and kitchen at Folsom to take mind.

Coinage = $.01 on residual walk to Home Depot to fetch materials for Folsom project, about ½ mile round trip.

Observation = Today, ageism reared its ugly self.  The term was coined in 1969 by Robert N. Butler to describe discrimination and patronization against people my age (about 35 in “mind” years and 70 in calendar years).  So on my residual walk (any walk that is not a planned daily fitness walk) I had just found a penny and a few steps later a  ground score (a non-monetary find, in this case a device used to mix sheetrock “mud” or joint compound).  Still zooming and scanning the curbs, I failed to notice a one inch high fault in the sidewalk.  My foot caught the elevated slab in such a way as to lose balance instantly.  Sometimes the brain signals and SOS message, to make bodily adjustments so as to regain one’s balance.  This was a mayday signal, the Moneywalker was going down.  Being experience in the art falling, the ground score was discarded and the hands braced for the fall.  Perfect landing, the wrist, elbows, and shoulders absorbed the shock without even one scuffed palm or knee.  The problem occurred on the way down when I noticed three generous folks observing the entire production.  They rushed to my rescue assuming the worse, that the old gentleman must certainly by in need of an ambulance, or at least helped to his feet.  I looked them in the eye, thanked them for their concern, and before they could lay a hand, was back on my feet zooming and focusing in search of the next find.

Caution out there walkers, cars are not the only obstacle that must be monitored; sidewalks can result in nasty spills.  As for growing older, the Moneywalker plans are to push the “mayday” of living back at least ten more years, then we will see.

Moneywalker

A Tribute to Boston

Weight = 177.4 lbs

Money found = $.25 at a McDonalds drive-thru at 5:30 a.m. on the way to continue the Folsom, LA renovation project.  I asked for the senior discount.  Should have passed on the cinnamon buns.

Statement:  The Bostonians are great walkers.  Mark Twain often took long walks from New England outposts to Boston.  As it is national poetry month, I thought of a poem that helped Ms S and I during Hurricane Katrina.  This link of Wordsworth’s ode is dedicated to the citizens of the city of Boston.  It is printed both on Facebook and the MoneyWalker blog. 

Ode: Intimations, 176-81 by William Wordsworth

What though the radiance which was once so bright

Be now for ever taken from my sight,

  Though nothing can bring back the hour

Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower;

  We will grieve not, rather find

  Strength in what remains behind.

MoneyWalker

Keeping It Green

Weight = not available

Coinage = $1.38

Best find = many dimes and pennies along the curb of Airline Highway

Comment:  This morning, rather than wait idly for two hours for new tires to be installed, there was enough time for a major fitness money walk.  While searching for coins in a parking lot for a new branch of New Orleans’ Capital One Bank on Airline Highway (Metairie) I noticed what must be for a green solution for storm water drainage.  Every year, the U.S. paves or repaves a quarter million acres of land.  Asphalt and concrete surfaces pollute rainwater, deplete groundwater supplies, contribute to rising temperatures in cities, prevent tree growth, destroy aquatic habitat, and cause erosion.  Rather than a catch basin they created a channel with a man-made bed and bank which allows storm water to flow over and through a series of natural functions including gravel, grasses, sedges, and rushes. Instead of draining into canals and eventually into our precious water ways, their water returns to the underground cleansed naturally.    So hats off to Capital One Bank for their creative storm water drainage of their parking lot.  Who says Seattle is America’s premier green city.

MoneyWalker

 

Keeping the Focus Low

Weight = 178.6 lbs., down again

Coinage = $2.41, all the money spots were hitting

Best Find = a "base quarter" found at the bottom of a newspaper stand; sometimes it pays to keep the focus low.

Observation = found a curb book by John Prebble, “The Lion in the North.” Prebble was an active writer of fiction and nonfiction principally about Scotland.  As a result he “exerted a powerful influence on the way Scots view their history.”  Daily exercise combined with daily reading of serious literature is said to delay the aging process.

MoneyWalker

When the Telephone Rings!

Weight = 179.0 lbs and an end to a three consecutive day weight increase.

Coinage = $4.71, a good day at the carwash.

Observation = On the one day I left my camera, a three alarm fire was being extinguished on one of my walking streets.  My thought was the repetitiveness of each day of life seemingly always the same as the last day; and tomorrow will be like today.  But then this morning, the owner of a carpet repair shop received a call from the Fire Marshall with bad news, his building had burned.  Walking is not a cure-all but staying in shape can help prevent another serious call, one from the hospital emergency room.

MoneyWalker

A Walk With A Best Friend

Weight = 179.8 lbs, still moving in the wrong direction, week-ends are not good for dropping pounds.

Coinage found = $.21

Best Find = a two coin scatter (dime and a penny) in a Family Store parking lot.

Comment = Broke off my Moneywalk to join Ms. S on her New Orleans City Park Big Lake walking path.  First day of the new year for walking shorts instead of jeans.  Weather is becoming warmer. Ms. S is a good walker and a good friend.

MoneyWalker

Soothsayers and Omens

Today’s weight = Not available

Today’s coinage = $3.09

Best Find, narrative follows

In terms of secular logic, I am absolutely and completely a bona fide scientific method person.  Yet I could not ignore some premonition to take a Sunday afternoon walk.  In the first block I found a curb nickel, surely an omen of good things to follow. But if the find was an augury, it was a negative one.  The next 30 blocks in spite of active scanning and focusing, not another coin, not even a penny was found.  I now knew, or thought I knew that my once promising walk was being foreshadowed by failure.  Still a modest amount of coins were accumulating, but well below average.  Then as if a horseshoe had been placed in my hand, compelled by a hunch, an inner voice sounding something like a soothsayer from the East, compelled me to take a detour from my established walking route and to the parking lot of New Orleans’ India House a youth hostel.  There along the curb was one of the largest scatters of my many years of moneywalking --six quarters, four dimes, three nickels, and eight pennies for a total of $2.13.  That plus the $.96 made a total of $3.09.  As I said, science and logic trumps fear and superstition every time.

MoneyWalker

Unrequested Favors

Weight = 179.6 lbs.   Not bringing the weight down as rapidly as hoped following the gluttonous vacation over the Easter holidays at Destin, Fl.  Still too much Easter candy in the pantry.

Coinage = $.63   Another off day for money walking.

Best Find = A dime and penny scatter along the curb just before the walk ended.  Although totals were low, the walk did yield four different scatter finds.

Comment = Today was a better day for reflection than reclamation.  Booker award winner Anita Brookner frequently has her characters taking long walks.  From Lewis Percy:   

“Whatever the reason, he was not anxious to get home without some kind of interval rumination, some time to call his own. The idea of covering a long distance appealed to him. Gentlemen in Trollope, to whom he was devoted, even more than to his early heroes, covered vast distances and were thus able to sustain their noble thoughts. He resolved to walk home regularly, and to tell Tissy to expect him an hour later than his usual time.”

Friday morning was extra cool in New Orleans and just outside of my home; I passed a young man with only a thin t-shirt and a back pack.  Wanting to help, I quickly retrieved a hooded warm-up top.  I had retrieved it curb-side from an earlier walk and washed it for the purpose of giving it away (reclamation).  Here was the chance—give it to the young man. 

Although shivering, he refused the warm-up.  Why?  Behaviorists explain that “unrequested favors” are often viewed with suspicion, that if accepted the person feels obligated to the donor.  So maybe my friend suspected me of untoward behavior.  Anyway, my two reclamation projects of restoring coins into the economy and recycling warm clothing both failed.  But, during the walk, the mind was free to reflect and 'ruminate.'

MoneyWalker

Staying Focused

Weight = 179.4, down .2 lbs

Coinage found = $.98

Best find = a curb quarter found in a most unlikely place

Comment:  This four mile walk yielded 4 or 5 pennies after two miles.  Slowly, the coins began to accumulate.  A couple of nickels, a scatter of pennies, a quarter and then another.  But try as I might, I could not break the $1.00 barrier.  Still, the work principle is reinforced, if you stay focused, achievement follows.

Coinage Found = $1.81

Today's weight = 179.6 lbs

Best Find = a "super find" two quarters in a grassy area near a pass through.

Comment:  weight up following a six day vacation.  Today's walk was cut short by thunder and lighting.

MoneyWalker