Donald Pushed Back

Weight = 177.4 lbs.; holding on in spite of Ms. S making chocolate chip cookies.

Coinage found = $1.92; two different quarter curb finds.

No GPS data, phone was dead

Topic: Donald Pushes Back

Recently the Moneywalker has been embracing the “nobles of MidCity” New Orleans.  Rather than turn these street residents away, if they ask for “bus money,” and if I have change from the walk, it is offered.  I always introduce myself and ask for their name.  Eye contact and a brief conversation are encouraged.  Smugly, I felt their humanity, and mine, were being enhanced. 

Turns out, exchanging aspects of humanity is a tricky transaction.  For example, on the walk, a gentleman was getting out of a streetcar and heading directly toward me.  Central casting would not have used him—way over the top even for Hollywood; old tennis shoes with no laces, beltless pants held up with his hand, matted hair, and unshaven.

Certain that he would ask for a handout, I preemptedly offered him four quarters. 

MoneyWalker: “Sir, could you use this change?”

Noble: without a preamble of thanks but with a certain swagger stated, “This money is just in time.”

MoneyWalker: “My name is Bob, what is yours?”

Noble: with a street nuance mumbled “Donald.”

MoneyWalker: not understanding, “Pardon, I missed that.”

Noble: with some impatience spelled, “D-o-n-a-l-d.”

MoneyWalker: sensing the humanity transaction was nearing an end, “Well, nice meeting you Donald.”

And thus the episode closed.  If the MoneyWalker’s ego  needed a little appreciation, it was not Donald’s problem.  Somehow the word patronizing surfaced, regardless of one’s status in life, no one wants to be patronized.

MoneyWalker

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

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

Altruistic Walking

Altruistic Walking

The MoneyWalker is intrinsically motivated to sustain his walking habit because he has internalized and accepts the scientifically demonstrated values of walking e.g. weight management, emotional energy, avoidance of premature memory loss, cut the risk of heart disease, and reduce the chance of type 2 diabetes. There are more. However, walking is not necessarily a strong ally of intrinsic motivation. The steady routine can lead to boredom and walkers’ burn-out. One cure for walkers’ burn-out is altruistic walking, a fence straddler it turns out on the motivation internal/external continuum.

How so external motivation as a tenant of altruistic behavior? The research of Alberto Oliverio, a genetic and molecular biologist, leads him to believe that one of the important motives of altruism and moral judgments is grounded on the principle of reciprocity. In other words, we expect to be treated as we take care of other people. Neuroscientists including “evolutionary psychologists” are now able to probe deep into the brain lobes and learn much about behavior, much of it traced to evolutionary sources. Interestingly, the area of the brain that fires neurons during selfless behavior is the same area that fires during selfish behavior and with the same intensity and duration. For the ancients, success in the survival game might have been just as dependent on being a helper as being helped.

As a near daily walker, opportunities for altruism abound. For example, during a Christmas morning walk, the MoneyWalker found a Louisiana drivers license. It belonged to a Mario with an Hispanic surname and included his address. My first thought ran to selfishness; not my culture, dump the card. Then selfless behavior kicked in and I sought to find his telephone number from the address. No success. I then remembered that an Hispanic work crew had been renovating a building behind the curb where the license was found. Later, finding the crew at work, I stepped into the building and was greeted with coolness by one of the workers (not his culture group). Not deterred, “Do you know someone named Mario?” as I showed him the license. He exclaimed in a loud voice to one of his co-workers, the one that seemed to be the boss, “Mario, come here, look at this (In English obviously for my benefit.)” One look told me the license belonged to Mario. “Thank you, Thank you”, he repeated over and over; “You have made my Christmas!” And his joy helped make mine.

Now will someone help me find my cell phone, it must be out there somewhere!

Happy New Year everyone.

Remember the big four resolutions for weight lost: Weigh every day and journal the results; eat a healthy breakfast; walk 10,000 to 15,000 steps a day; and practice portion control.

The MoneyWalker

Recent money success: Found a $20 dollar bill during last Sunday’s walk. It, like all found money goes into the charity bag.

Recent weight gain/loss: Up two pounds from the Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year’s holidays. In the words of Governor Perry—Opps!

Paracletic Walking and Dieting—Discerning Together

Photo from Gallery of Fine Art America

Feature Entry: Paracletic Walking and Dieting—Discerning Together

The MoneyWalker’s blog is in part, an attempt to practice paracletic walking and weight control. The ancient word paracletic is scriptural and is frequently called the Paracletic Canon, or discerning together. While the MoneyWalker prefers solo walking, he gains strength of purpose by sharing his walks with others. In his book “Practice Resurrection”, Eugene Peterson opines that we humans “...need heart to heart talks, soul to soul talks, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers to hear our confession, cry with us, encourage us, and hold us accountable.” By blogging about exercise, weight loss and maintenance, and the motivation to sustain these positive habits, the MoneyWalker is practicing paracletic cannon.

Paracletic walking as a topic occurred on a recent walk. On an earlier walk, I had found a full pack of Salem cigarettes, about a four dollar value. The moral dilemma followed, trash them or give them away. I opted to give them to one of the numerous “brotherhood of the street” members in the neighbourhood. The brother selected was right out of central casting—unshaved, matted hair, soiled clothes, etc. I knew he was a smoker from previous observations. I spotted him in his usual haunt, nodded our acquaintance, retrieved the Salems, and asked, “Would you like these?” He smiled, then shocked me with his response: “I can’t use that brand.”

We moved on with my mind trying to understand his incredible discernment. Then as often happens during walking, I quizzed myself as to why the word discernment popped into my mind to define his choice to refuse my gift. Why wasn’t this homeless and penniless person eager to accept this significant gift? It wasn’t his lack of perspicacity; it was his quick judgment and discrimination of brand that produced the descriptive “discernment.” And it was his use of words that triggered my several blocks of reflective thinking. When he said, “I can’t use that brand.” he indicated a sophistication of thought processing. Poverty or no, the gentleman obviously doesn’t like menthol cigarettes and possessed the language skills to clearly and succinctly communicate his position. For the MoneyWalker, another stereotype bit the dust.

Now, back to the theme of the blog—Paracletic Walking and weight control. The episode resulted in a thought journey that linked discernment to the strength that is gained when we discern together. The Holiday season is a landmine filled with tempting negative food choices and reasons to forgo exercise habits. But together, we can encourage one another to hold our resolve. When we post our temptations and admit our frailties of purpose, we are following Peterson’s advice to seek “soul to soul talks” with like minded travelers.

It is the holiday season; for walkers it is a time to discern the bad choices and opt for the good ones. It will be easier if we do it together.

MoneyWalker

Journal Entry Summaries November 16 through November 29, 2010 with seven reports included; averages and grand totals where appropriate for body weight, coinage found, glass bottles, and ground scores.


Weight Average: 174.5 lbs.
Coinage: $9.71 total
Coinage Average: $1.62
Total Pennies found: 295 Pennies Average: 42
Total Nickels found: 18 Nickels Average: 2.6
Total Dimes found: 27 Dimes Average: 3.9
Total Quarters found: 20 Quarters Average:2.9
Total Glass bottles: 66 Glass bottle Ave:11
Total Ground Scores: 24 Ground Score Ave: 6

MoneyWalker

Green Walking, Turning Trash to Treasure: Part I

Photo from Green Diary, Your Guide to Sustainable Living

Journal Entries

Oct. 4, 2010: Weight = 172.8 lbs; Coinage = $1.05, 25 pennies, 2 nickels, 2 dimes, 2 quarters; Best finds = a three coin scatter, 2 nickels and 1 penny and a curb quarter; 6 glass bottles; ground score = 2.

Oct. 3: Coinage = $2.74, 104 pennies, 3 nickels, 13 dimes, 1 quarter (most from vacuum canisters); one glass bottle, one ground score.

Sept. 30: Coinage = $1.43, 43 pennies, 3 nickels, 6 dimes, 1 quarter; one glass bottle; three ground scores.

Sept. 29: Weight = 170.2 lbs; Coinage = $2.77, 107 pennies, 7 nickels, 11 dimes, 1 quarter; 4 glass bottles (about ½ from canisters; 2 ground scores.

Sept. 28: Weight = 172. Lbs; Coinage = $1.40, 30 pennies, 2 dimes, 4 quarters (one super find in a telephone return; 2 glass bottles, 1 ground score.


Feature Entry: Green Walking, Turning Trash to Treasure: Part I

For the MoneyWalker, the mission of walking is foremost about fitness and weight management. A close second is using the walking experience to be environmentally responsible. While taking a daily 90 minute early morning walk it is surprising how many objects people lose or throw away. The MoneyWalker has learned to retrieve items (referred to as “ground scores”, see above under Journal Entries) and then practice the 3R method of recycling. Kandance Graves of New Orleans’ Gambit Weekly defines 3R as recycling, reusing, and repurposing. The practice allows the MoneyWalker to turn “trash into treasures.”


Founded on a belief that “green matters” nearly every day a portion of my time is devoted to creating a new life for items that have been thrown out or discarded. Over time the practice contributes to a growing practice across the U.S. and indeed the world that leads to “sustainable living.” In Gambit’s current edition (response@gambitweekly.com volume 31, # 39 Sept. 28, 2010) Graves writes about several "reuse districts" of New Orleans. Their website provides sobering details of the environmental impact of waste being put in landfills and how garbage ends up in the ocean. Tips are provided for consumers about how they can repurpose various items rather than curb them for the garbage collectors.

In a future blog the MoneyWalker will explain specific ways that he and Ms MoneyWalker have utilized the 3R method to enrich our lives while practicing green. Also, the blog will explain how green walking has provided thousands of dollars for two of their favorite charitable groups.

MoneyWalker

Hogarthian Walking

Journal Entry: June 2, 2010: Weight = 170.2 lbs.; Coinage = $2.93, 114 pennies (one wheat), 3 nickels, 5 dimes, 1 quarter, 1 dollar bill ( a paper find is always special); Glass bottles retrieved = 7; Ground Scores = 4.

Journal Entry: June 3, 2010: Weight = 172.6 lbs; Coinage = $1.39, 49 pennies, 4 nickels, 2 dimes, 2 quarters; Glass bottles = 6; Ground scores = 10; Best coinage find = a totally blackened quarter, a “step over” quarter, also a 5 peso coin.

Feature Entry: Hogarthian Walking

This morning during my walk Malick cried out Bob, Bob! He wanted to say hello. I had talked with him and two street companions on the day before. The three homeless men had talked about seeing me frequently walking the area and were curious about what I seemed to be doing. They could tell by my dress and determined look that I was not a typical walker in the neighborhood. I had met one of them before and he knew that I was a money walker.

The episode reminded me of William Hogarth(his "Beer Street" painting is featured above). About 250 years ago Hogarth, a noted painter and artist, walked the seedy streets of London and painted what he saw—usually impoverished men and women living in debauchery. New Orleans has always been a city with thin layers of wealthy and wretched communities existing side by side. Thus, as one walks in our city, one moves from opulence to Hogarthian-type low rent districts in a matter of minutes. In the Canadian Forum, a Hogarthian walk is interestingly described as follows: “You don't stand back and observe the city from a safe distance as you would with, say, Canaletto. You are swept along the alleyways, jostled from each side, forced to dodge the contents of an emptied piss-pot or to step over an inebriated harlot.”

There are places in New Orleans like that. The MoneyWalker avoids the ones known to be high crime areas. But an urban savanna is a full context of dwellings and situations, not just an oasis for the well educated. Not walking into the full range of neighborhoods is to completely miss the Hogarthian philosophy of walking. “One of William Hogarth’s consummate skills as an artist was his ability to make you feel part of his world.” New Orleans neighborhoods can be a seedy world? Many are places of indeterminacy, disorder, and confusion where lives are being played out in a way understood in no better way than by walking and reflecting on the sights, sounds, and smells of the neighborhoods.

The MoneyWalker is cautious and selective of the streets that are selected for walking, but if there is no reason to suspect that an area is inclined to support criminal behavior, he will allow his “psychogeographic” curiosity to direct his path; and, he thinks, better for it.

MoneyWalker

Gardening Versus Walking With An Aside About Dog Walking

Monet's home in Giverny France.


Journal Entry, May 18, 2010: Weight = 173.6 lbs; Coinage = $1.71, 66 pennies (one wheat), 3 nickels, 4 dimes, 2 quarters; Best coinage find = two quarters in a pay phone, a “super find” (.50 or more in one side, does not include car wash finds).

Journal Entry, May 19, 2010: Weight = 171.2 lbs; Coinage = $6.93, 133 pennies, 10 nickels, 26 dimes, 10 quarters (big day at two car washes).

Journal Entry, May 21, 2010: Weight = 172.6 lbs; Coinage = $.80, 55 pennies, 3 nickels, 2 dimes ( what happens when the car wash canisters have been “visited” by the competition).

Journal Entry, May 22, 2010: Weight 173.2 lbs; Coinage = $4.91, 96 pennies, 16 nickels, 24 dimes, 3 quarters (an asphalt nickel, my first).

Feature Entry: Gardening Versus Walking With An Aside About Dog Walking

May 20th (note the gap from journal entries) was gardening day, but not any gardening day, it was outdoor prep day for the huge weekend party for the MoneyWalker’s Bible study groups. We are the hosts. Ms MoneyWalker is agonizingly thorough counterbalanced by the MoneyWalker who is a worriless procrastinator. But two twisted ears notwithstanding, four hours of work later, the yard was stunning.

We attacked the task together and early. Upon entering the front yard, we encountered a dog walker. Her dog had just finished his business on our curb grass garden. Unobserved and without cue from us, the walker reached into her bag and fetched a rubber glove and a plastic bag. In it went. She looked up, we smiled, she smiled, “good mornings” all around, and away she went on a 3 mph pace. Using the caloric expenditure table and estimating her weight at 130 lbs and 40 minute walk duration , she would have burned about 150 calories.

Meanwhile the MoneyWalkers went to work—mowing (no self-propelled mower), edging, hand trimming, weeding, thinning, transplanting, sweeping, pruning, hand watering—and four hours later we called it a day. The only stoppage was two brief G2 Gatorade breaks (G2 is diet). Again using the caloric expenditure table: .032 x 40 minutes x 173 = 225 calories burned. Using the dog walker’s weight of 130, she would have burned 165 calories for forty minutes of gardening. Incidentally, the Consumer’s Report Health Newsletter reported that dog walking is ranked as the number one source of motivation for taking the daily walk.

Measuring caloric expenditure using the table developed by nutrition and exercise physiology scientists is relatively simple. The table lists most daily household tasks in one section and most recreational/sport/fitness exercises in a second. The first factor (see .032 above) is a measure of caloric effort per one minute of exercise. The weighting is based on METS or “metabolic equivalent of tasks.” See Bill Yates, M.D. in his blog, “Brain Posts, Commentary on Research in Clinical Neuroscience” for a good discussion of METs and Wii computer game technology. The formula for measuring caloric expenditure is as follows:

Cal/min/lbs

To calculate caloric expenditure, use the table to locate the physical activity and gain the caloric expenditure per minute of exercise for the specific activity. Multiply the caloric number by the number of minutes of the workout. Then multiply the previous product by your weight in pounds. Using the MoneyWalker’s pace of 4 mph and his weight of 173 and a walk of 90 minutes, calculate as follows:

.042 x 90 = 3.78
3.78 x 173 = 653.94 calories burned

Using the table to calculate the MoneyWalker’s caloric expenditure for their gardening labor, Ms. MoneyWalker first: .032 x 200 minutes x 118, Ms MoneyWalker burned 755 calories (note two 20 minute breaks were deducted from the 4 hours workout calculation.) The MoneyWalker ‘s calculation is .032 x 200 x 173 = 1107.2. It is obvious that the more one weights the more calories are burned.

Now the real challenge begins for the MoneyWalker. In seven hours, the party begins. How will the MoneyWalker deal with the temptations of all that wonderful food that will be served? Will he negate all of the effort and benefits of the gardening expenditure? Stay tuned for the answer.

MoneyWalker

The Obesity Debates, Part II

Journal Entry May 17, 2010: Weight = 173.6 lbs.; Coinage = $5.58, 178 pennies, 11 nickels, 15 dimes, 7 quarters; Glass Bottles = 6; Ground Scores = 4; best coinage find = plentiful canisters at the car wash.

Journal Entry May 16, 2010: Weight = 171.8 lbs.; Coinage = $1.49, 34 pennies, 4 nickels, 2 dimes, 3 quarters; Glass bottles = 6; Ground Scores = 7 (a nice office chair and a desk lamp all to be recycled); Best coinage find = 2 telephone return coins , a “super find.”

Journal Entry Mary 15, 2010: Weight = 172.0 lbs.; Coinage = $2.03, 38 pennies (one wheat), 2 nickels, 3 dimes, 5 quarters; Glass bottles = 6; Ground scores = 5; Best coinage find = 2 quarters in a parking meter return slot, still another super find, two days in a row—very infrequent.

Feature Entry: The Obesity Debates, Part II

Marc Ambinder, a writer for Atlantic Magazine has defined two causal forces that are considered the leading explanations for the overweight/obesity “epidemic” that is racing through America; a condition that has been defined as contagious by researchers at the U. of Colorado. In the presence of other overeating, we are also inclined to overeat. Thomas Frieden, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reminds us of what we intuitively know, the two big causes of obesity is the one/two punch of reduced exercise and increased food consumption.

But the debate is about who is the blame. Caution, the blame forces are politically loaded with financial, psychological, and sociological implications. When discussing this issue, it easy to slip into politically incorrect observations and suggestions. In a parlor party, one group will blame the overweight for not being able to control their urge to overindulge, another will blame agribusiness for over marketing foods that are intentionally designed and dietetically engineered to hook consumers on foods loaded with salt, sugar, and transfat.

Serpentining through both camps is an argument for and against government control. Those for personal freedom argue that is the right of the individual to choose when and what is to be eaten. This group would also be resistant to placing limitations on agribusiness. Another group advocate taking a “tobacco solution” which means heavy state and federal taxes on foods that are linked to obesity. One suggestion is to place a penny tax on each ounce of sugar sweetened soft-drink sold.

And Hollywood actresses are known to fuel the fire. Oprah Winfrey has been forthcoming about her yo-yo fluctuations and her frankness has tended to “normalize the conversation." Jennifer Love Hewitt, Tyra Banks, Kim Kardashian, Jessica Simpson and Kelly Clarkson are stars with documented weight gains and have responded to news reports at times with indifference and defiance at others. Some obesity experts warn that when stars gain weight it sends the message that gaining weight is acceptable; others contend the opposite, that profiling Hollywood stars that have gained weight adds to the national crisis.

What can really address the problem other than self control? Several have advocating one or more of the follow solutions: 1) strategically labeled caloric information on all food sold by fast-food restaurants; 2) restrains and govt. control of food advertising; 3) more govt. research for new treatments for the ow/obese; 4) rewriting insurance policies that penalize the obese or reward the BMI compliers; 5) city banned trans-fats from restaurants; and 6) socially marketing of the importance of exercise and eating healthier both in schools and in the work force.

Other suggestions include 8) increasing subsidies for fruits and vegetables; 9) using zoning restrictions to keep fast-food restaurants away from schools; 10) “removing unhealthy foods from all schools, child-care and health-care facilities, and government institutions”; and 11)“completely eliminating” children’s exposure to food advertising on television.

These recommendations leaves the MoneyWalker wondering, whose responsibility is it to fix behavioral problems that are individual in nature but have financial implications for all of us? Ambinder asks a worthy question: “Would it be fair if the government induced health sanctions to combat obesity? Or should it be the responsibility of individuals and families?”

An on-line discussion group on Pandalous includes several well stated opinions concerning the debate. The MoneyWalker invites you to enter the debate on this site. Let us hear from you.

MoneyWalker

Obesity Debate

May 9, 2010: Weight = 173.6 lbs; Coinage and Paper Money = $17.36, $11.26 in coins and $6 in paper money, a five and a one.

May 13, 2010: Weight = 175.0 lbs; Coinage = $3.74.

May 14, 2010: Weight = 173.2; Coinage = $2.03

Feature Entry: Obesity Debate

Marc Ambinder in the Atlantic Magazine has written a fact filled and sobering article about obesity and its cost to the American taxpayer. Obese Americans spend about 42 percent more on health care than so-called healthy weight people. Issues of personal freedom and the fact that obesity and improper diet are highly correlated with chronic diseases are the two factors that are driving the debate concerning obesity and health care cost. Ambinder indicates that chronic diseases account for three out of every four dollars spent on health care We all want our individual freedom, but is it fair that those of us that maintain our weight must help pay for high medical insurance to cover those that don’t?

On one side of the debate is a group that thinks that the obese lack the willpower to avoid overeating and gorging on fattening food. The other group blames the food industrial complex for creating and aggressively marketing so-called “hyperpalatable” foods, ones inexpensively processed that are sugary, or salty, and energy-dense. Some scientists believe that such foods change our brain chemistry with the results that make us overeat.

Should the government get more directly involved? In one sense, this writer is all for personal freedom and believes that overweight people with their self-indulgence and limited willpower are spoiling it for all of us. But another part of me sympathizes with those that believe that Americans are losing the calorie war because of environmental factors such as fast food, sedantary competition with physical activity, and unscrupulous advertising.

We can't all have six-pac abs, but in our next blog we will focus on what causes obesity and what we can do to address the issue. In the mean time hit the streets with a money walking program. With that and a few weights you will look like Joe Six Pac in no time.

MoneyWalker

Green Steps

Journal Entry: 4/18/10: Coinage = $.89, 30 pennies, 5 nickels, 4 dimes.

Journal Entry: 4/19/10: Coinage = $2.12, 72 pennies, 13 nickels, 5 dimes, 1 quarter.

Journal Entry: 4/21/10: Coinage = $1.11, 26 pennies, 1 nickel, 3 dimes, 2 quarters.

Journal Entry: 4/22/10: Weight = 172.2 lbs.; Coinage = 18 pennies (1 wheat), 4 dimes, 2 quarters; Glass bottles = 9; Ground scores = 8; Best find = 2 curb quarters

Feature Entry: Green Steps

Today is Earth Day. We money walkers can do our part by taking green steps. Green steps (The MoneyWalker must copyright this phrase) is a walking approach that allows us to leave the car in the garage and walk to the grocery store, or bank, or drug store, or anywhere within one mile of our residence. For most of us this is a 15 minute walk. If you must drive, park and walk the last 15 minutes to the establishment. Stay focused along the curbs and byways for those “ventral striatum” ticklers, the coins and trophies to be found along the way.

For example, my barber’s shop is in downtown New Orleans, about five miles from my house. Rather than using parking meters, I drive to within one mile of his shop and park in a free parking area. I then gain green steps as I walk to and from his shop. It is easy enough to drive within a block or two of his shop and use a parking meter which cost 3 quarters. While walking I check the curbs, and the newspaper and parking vending machines . Yesterday’s walk netted a dime and a quarter and a discarded baby stroller with a slightly damaged wheel. It was easily repaired and will be recycled.

By walking to conveniently located shops rather than driving, over a year’s time gallons and gallons of gasoline are saved thus reducing the MoneyWalker’s carbon print. Green step walking is not the same as fitness walking, but it burns calories and supplements the MoneyWalker’s weight maintenance strategy. It has become common for fitness experts to recommend 10,000 steps a day. But exercise physiologists, while endorsing the concept, have shown that weight loss requires even more steps, probably 12,000 for most of us.

As for Earth Day and going green, the MoneyWalker is not totally convinced of global warming as a threat to our environment, but going green is good stewardship either way. Experts are divided. But not Missouri congressman Emanuel Cleaver. He said on Wednesday that “it is ‘sinful’ for Americans to use the amount of fossil fuels they do…the Bible commands people to be good stewards of the Earth.” “The Sun and the Earth is the Lord’s,” he said. Yet Roy Spencer, PhD in his book The Great Global warming Blunder: how Mother Nature Fooled the World’s Top Climate Scientists (Encounter Books, 2010) is not sure of the scriptural or scientific data.

Either way, the MoneyWalker urges all of us to go green by taking green steps whenever we can. The benefits will speak for themselves.

MoneyWalker

A Trip to the Bank with a Bag of Coins

Journal Entry 3/23/10: Weight = 170.8 lbs; Coinage = $1.25, 50 pennies, 2 nickels, 4 dimes, 1 quarter.

Journal Entry 3/24/10: Weight = 170.6 lbs; Coinage = $3.53, 63 pennies, 8 nickels, 10 dimes, 6 quarters.

Journal Entry 3/25/10: Weight = 171.6 lbs; Coinage = $2.44, 59 pennies, 9 nickels, 9 dimes, 2 quarters; Glass bottles = 9; Ground scores = 5; Best coinage find = a gas pump coin, a quarter. Caution, there are coin finds to be found in the gas station pump drive-thrus, but the drivers are not pedestrian friendly. Also, the practice of looking for coins at gas drive-thrus warrants a high stealth alert. Some attendants have been instructed to discourage non drivers from walking in the areas.

Feature Entry: A Trip to the Bank with a Bag of Coins

The MoneyWalker knew that it was time, time to go to the bank with a bag full of found coins. He had gone earlier in the week, but the coin counting machine was “broken.” “Broken?” I said, “Well not really broken, it just isn’t counting correctly,” she said. So much for my default feeling of machine fidelity. How troubling that all those found coins, carefully cleaned and straightened, and then lugged to the bank might not be counted correctly.

But in went the coins. Clingedy, clingedy, clingedy went the machine as the coins tumbled in. It was a very satisfying sound and the entire process very reinforcing. The machine gives a print-out of totals with frequency distribution by coin denomination. A month of walking yielded $51.15 and a total of 2,070 coins. And who was the king of coins, the denomination that yielded the highest net value of the five denominations—penny, nickel, dime, quarter, coin dollar? And the winner was the lowly penny yielding 35% ($17.35) of the $51.15 or 1735 coins. Next was the shiny dime yielding 32% ($16.60) or 166 coins. Third was the king of coins, the quarter yielding 20% ($10.25) or 41 quarters. Finally, the new dollar coin accounting for 2% of the total from one coin. But here is the concern, recall the repaired coin counter and fidelity—there were no one dollar coins in my cache. Also, these data are skewed. On several occasions, I have used the collected coins to make change from paper dollars. Now that I am using descriptive statistics for the coin finds, future reports will account for the times change are extracted.

Two thousand and seventy coins and one month of walking, a surprisingly high number when you do the frequencies. Also, all found money is donated to the Baptist Friendship House, a Christian ministry for battered women and their children.

MoneyWalker

“Happy Days Are Here Again” and Harry Reid

Journal entry 1/11/10: Weight = 172.8 lbs (sixth day in a row of weight reduction, you have to like those digit scales that weight in 1/5ths of a lb); Coinage = $.48, 13 pennies, 1 nickel, 3 dimes; Glass bottles retrieved = 11, Ground scores = 9 ( one being a cassette tape for my car collection, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue on one side and Revel’s Bolero on the other).

Journal entry 1/12/10: Weight = 173.8 (weight up thanks to a “calorie in the bank” splurge); Coinage = $.33 but one wheat, 18 pennies, 1 nickel, one dime (two nice two penny curb scatters); Ground scores = 6; Glass bottles = 7

Journal entry 1/13/10: Weight = 173.8 lbs; Coinage = $1.30, 60 pennies, 4 nickels, 5 dimes; Glass bottles = 2; Ground scores = 6 (one like new Office Depot desk chair with two broken casters easily replaced from Office Depot, Ms MoneyWalker wants it if the casters are forthcoming.)

Feature Entry: “Happy Days Are Here Again” and Harry Reid

The coinage is down, but there is one piece of great news. Ms. MoneyWalker, the person that provides the moral center for this blog and all other aspects of the MoneyWalker's lifestyle and daily behavior. By moral center I mean the core set of behaviors and ethics that are all things good and true. Yesterday she shared a research article that will change my life forever.

The article, something she just blurred out without intention, provided evidence that web searching for one hour each day helps delay aspects related to dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease. It seems that the active use of brain cells used during the searches helps prevent synapse deterioration and other critical brain function.

Think about it, if one hour is good, how much more good will two or even three hours a day provide. And what about Freecell, Solitaire, and Minesweeper, these games must be even better—and all now played guilt free. "Yes, dear I'll wash the car just as soon as I finish this web search of how Jay Leno's return to his regular late night spot will increase the ratings of NBC."

No her gaff will not rank with Harry Reid’s recent misspeak, or NBC's decision to take Jay into prime-time, but to borrow from the Dem’s favorite song, “Happy Days Are Here Again.”

Happy days are here again
The skies above are clear again
So let’s sing a song of cheer again
Happy days are here again
Altogether shout it now
There’s no one
Who can doubt it now
So let’s tell the world about it now
Happy days are here again.

MoneyWalker

Civility and Walking

Journal Entry: 12/17 Weight = 175.6; Curb coinage = $1.08, Canister coinage = $2.23; Glass bottles = 2; Ground Scores = 2. Note: a lined man’s extra large jacket was found on a recent walk, washed, smoothed, and placed on the garment pole. It lasted less than 30 minutes.

Journal Entry 12/18: Weight = 175.2, $1.31, all curb coins; Ground score = 1; Glass bottles = 4; Best coinage find = a quarter from one newspaper stand and a nickel from another by its side.

Feature Entry: Civility and Walking

Encounters with others while walking is a given when the walks are in busy urban confines. Things can go wrong so I try to walk with civility. I have had an unread copy of Stephen L. Carter’s book, Civility, Manners, Morals, and the Etiquette of Democracy in my library for many years, but an episode from this morning’s walk motivated the MoneyWalker to actually read a few pages. Among the gems was this comment: “Civility has two parts: generosity, even when it is costly, and trust, even when there is risk.”

The episode involved a cigarette lighter and what was to be my first ground score of the day. I was zooming through the parking lot of a Starbucks parking lot checking for change. At the same time of the lighter sighting, I spotted a stranger walking along the sidewalk just below. With civility I said “Good morning!” as I reached for the lighter. He announced with a non-hostile also civil voice, “I was just about to pick that up.” He was not of my race, but my response was an easy one, “Please, you take it!” I gave it a high toss for an easy catch and we both went on our way. Then he yelled back, “And it works too.” That is connecting, that is civility.

There are threats to civility; Dogs that bite—Territory infringement— Indifference to others-- The turning automobile-- An attitude of preferring isolation--Racial profiling. I remember when one snarly beast charged and I yelled at her apparent owner, “Keep your dog on a leash!” She yelled back, “It’s not my dog mister!” Another time at 6 a.m. I was cutting through a huge restaurant parking lot and the owner ordered me to stay off of his property.

It is not always easy being civil, but it is the right thing to do. What? Yes dear, I can be better at remembering to pickup my clothes.

MoneyWalker

Charity and Money Walking

Journal Entry: Friday Walk = $2.67, Saturday Walk = $.45; Weight = 174.0; Glass bottles = 15; Ground Scores = 6; Recycled clothes = 1 shirt. Yesterday, I met Jason, owner of both the Mid-City Car Wash and the Canal Blvd. Car Wash. From his office at the Canal Blvd. location, he came right up, introduced himself, and asked if I was the “MoneyWalker.” How could this stranger have known?

It happened this way. After earlier meeting Jason’s employee Eddie who is manager of the Mid-City Car Wash, I dropped by a copy of a donation cover letter ($100 from coin finds) that I had sent to the Friendship House for Battered Women. Eddie had indicated that his company might want to donate to the organization. The letter had found its way into Jason’s hand. Jason indicated that he had observed me earlier at the Mid-City location and appreciated my tidiness and care in not disturbing his customers. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out more than five dollars worth of quarters and gave them for the cause.

2 Corinthians 9: 7 indicates that God loves a person who gives cheerfully. As God has blessed me, the small amount of change found on the streets of New Orleans hardly makes a dent in the poverty and social problems of our area, but it does show and communicate a concern for the poor and less fortunate. Jason and Eddie are doing their part as they work with the MoneyWalker.

MoneyWalker

Finality and Death and Dying

Journal entry: Weight = 173.3; Coinage = $.71, 36 pennies, 1 dime, 1 quarter; Glass bottles retrieved = 2; Ground scores = 2; Best coinage find = a 2 coin curb scatter consisting of a quarter and a penny.

Feature entry: Some believe that “all philosophy springs from the phenomenon of death.” On my morning walk, I came upon an automobile wreck. It was raining and had been all night. A light weight SUV coming off the interstate onto one of my walking streets had flipped onto its top. It was surreal--no police, no on-lookers, or no ambulance was present. I feared the worse—I feared finality!

Elisabeth Kȕbler-Ross’s “On Death and Dying: What the Dying Have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy, and Their Own Families” opines that all of us should make it a habit to think occasionally about death and dying before we encounter it in our own life. Indeed, the foundation of most faiths is that the finality of death is a myth, that we either live on spiritual in an another state (in heaven), or that we are resurrected for this world to live in another time and place.

Still, we humans are hard-wired to seek mortality, or at least to live as long and as well as we can. That is one of the primary motivating factors driving the MoneyWalker’s continuing habit of a constitutional walk. Death comes in many forms, sometimes expectedly during a terminal illness or sometimes unexpectedly from an accident.

The three leading causes of death in the United States are heart disease, cancer, and stroke. Other leading causes include chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, pneumonia and influenza, diabetes, and suicide. Research is clear, an active exercise program coupled with a balanced low-fat low caloric diet can forestall death and extend the quality of life.

As for the accident, it remains a mystery. Upon arrival to the scene, there were no passengers or driver in the car or in the nearby asphalt and green spaces. Soon a nurse stopped, then another samaritan, and finally we heard a firetruck coming. Assuming the authorities were in control and not seeing anyone injured or worse, there was nothing to do but to walk away and deal with my reflections of …finality.

MoneyWalker

Brad Pitt for Mayor!

Journal Entry, September 7, 2009: Coinage = $1.11, 31 pennies, 4 nickels, 6 dimes; Glass bottles = 9; Ground scores =6; Best coinage find = a well tanned dime from a heavily walked curb.

Journal Entry, September 8, 2009: Coinage = $3.03, 98 pennies, 4 nickels, 11 dimes, 3 quarters (yes these finds reflect an early morning raid of the vacuum cannisters of the local car wash); Glass bottles = 4; Ground scores = 2; Best coinage find = a nickel and 3 pennies in the curb in front of a coffee shop featuring the likeness of Brad Pitt (see photo above), also a dime was found in the Times Picayune vending machine at the building.

Feature Entry: Brad Pitt for Mayor!, he has my vote. Brad and Angelina Pitt are among the many national personalities that have given their time, money, and energy for the rebuilding of New Orleans. Among their worthy contributions is the rebuilding of the Upper Ninth Ward, the so-call “Musicians Village.” With their leadership, many of the City's musical treasures, the musicians, were able to return to New Orleans and rekindle the French Quarter music scene. This multi-sponsored Habitat for Humanity project has attracted many volunteers including the MoneyWalkers.

Just down our street is Warren Easton High School. This public and chartered high school is the recipient of thousands of dollars contributed by Sandra Bullock. The Moneywalker’s famous car wash is just five blocks away.

Perhaps more important to the recovery of New Orleans are the thousands of college students, high school students, church groups, and general population that continue to flock to the city and volunteer their vacation time for the recovery effort. One Idaho high school group totally “gutted” one of my properties two years ago.

Brad, you are a symbol of the great good will that we have experience from all parts of the U.S. and abroad. Thank you!

MoneyWalker

Altruism and Found Money

Journal Entry: Weight = 174.0; Coinage = $.89; 14 pennies, 1 nic, 2 dimes, 2 quarters; Glass bottles retrieved = 4; Ground Scores = 3; Best coinage find = two walkover coins that had been missed on repeated walks over the last several months, a dime on the ground near a paper vendor and a quarter semi buried in dirt along a curb. Good job foveal receptors! Best Ground Score = a pair of wonderful red size large woman's capris. These will be washed and recycled.

Feature Entry: Yesterday, the MoneyWalker presented $208.00 to the Baptist Friendship House of New Orleans. All but $90 was the result of finding coins and paper currency during MoneyWalking excursions over the last six months. The $90 was from the sale of china plate ware retrieved from the MoneyWalkers’ rental property flooded by Katrina. The plateware owners had abandoned the house which had received 7 feet of flood water. The plate ware somehow survived. After washing and sanitizing the china, it was sold through a consignment store. Our split was $90.

There are many worthy ways to dispense of found money and other “passive” streams of revenue. Vacation funds, gifts to family members, general family needs such as groceries, a rainy day fund, and a college fund are excellent ways to invest found and passive revenue streams. Yet, the Moneywalker has selected to give found money to a charity that ministers to battered women and their children.

The remainder of this blog entry will list reasons why philanthropy was selected as the outlet for the money. First is civic virtue—good citizens have a responsibility to help others in need.

Second is a need for individuals to contribute to a civil society that seeks to meet pressing social issues rather than to continually count on state and federal agencies.

Third, the MoneyWalker understands that giving to help others is a rich source of personal happiness. Finding a ten dollar bill brings an immediate source of satisfaction, but true happiness is found by giving to others. Thus, giving provides an “enlightened self-interest” which helps me experience an individual personal need.

And fourth, giving to others without expected reciprocity is a high form of altruism, a selfless concern for the welfare of others.

MoneyWalker

"savior complex"

Journal Entry One, June 14, 2009: Weight = 174.2; Coinage = $.79, 29 pennies, 3 nickels, 1 dime, 1 quarter; Glass bottles recovered = 4, Ground Scores = 7. Best coinage find = a curb scatter consisting of 1 quarter and 3 pennies. Finding a quarter always makes a walk. Ground scores included a working G.E. microwave and a new bathroom sink. It was the day after a yard sale. I hid the loot behind shrubs and retrieved it later with my pick up. Will run a “free” ad in the paper and give the proceeds to Friendship House, a ministry for battered women and their children. All of my coinage goes to their cause.

Journal Entry Two, June 15, 2009: Weight = 175.0, Coinage = $1.25, 50 pennies, 1 nickel, 2 dimes, 2 quarters (six pennies were residual finds); Glass bottles retrieved = 11; Ground Scores = 9; Best coinage = played a hunch, took a slightly different route to end point and found a dime/penny scatter. Interesting ground score = one perfectly working bathroom scales. I will clean and disinfect and sell it with the microwave.

Feature Entry: Numi, the World’s best at finding lost coinage west of the Mississippi River, recently said: “I love weathered coins. They are so much more fun to discover than shiny new ones!” I agree with Numi. I can’t speak for her, but I think I have a condition that Freud would have called a “savior complex.” (Note: Freud did not identify this complex but he would have had he followed the MoneyWalker’s blog. In fact there is reference to a “savior complex” in the literature but it is not listed as a pathological condition or even recognized by the psychology/psychiatry community. Maybe it should be.)

Anyway, other sources suggest that a person with a “savior complex” feels a responsibility to save the world. The person has a heart that yearns to “cure”—to experience the miracle of change brought about by one’s own doing.

Perhaps that is what I like about finding old coins. Coins were created to serve, to be of utility. Like with a soul, the longer a coin is lost and in the gutter, the less likely it will have to fulfill its destiny; saddly, to be a lost coin forever. And then to be the change agent, the person that was able to pluck the calloused and abused coin out of oblivion and replace it into useful service, ah, the pleasure of it all. And then all those calories consumed in the process.

Folks this entry could have been worse, in a future blog I will address existential personality therapy and walking to find money.

Opps, Ms Monewalker is requesting that after I finish saving the world will I mind taking out the trash. Yes dear, coming right up.

MoneyWalker

Coin Sorting Machine Etiquette

Journal Entry: Weight =174.2; Coinage = $1.04 (.63 from residual walk from 5/27/09), 89 pennies, one quarter; Glass bottles retrieved = 2; Ground Scores = 7. Significant Find was 57 pennies in the front load of a supermarket coin sorting machine. One of the pennies was 1919 wheat. Not rare, 1919 was a prolific year for Lincoln pennies.(See Feature Entry Below.) I also found 1951 wheat on this morning's walk.

Feature Entry: Yesterday the MoneyWalker found 57 cents in a grocery store coin sorting machine, but not in the rejected coin slot or on the ground, but in the main feed slot. Most of the coins were covered with a green powdery substance. Upon inspection, it appeared to be Comet or a similar cleanser. Then, unbelievably I noticed copious amounts of moisture on the conveyer pad. It appeared that some coin monster (see photograph) had attempted to wash the coins with water and the green cleanser, but instead of removing the cleanser and completely drying them, just dumped them into the machine. Obviously the corrupted coins and moisture shut down the machine.

In my coin shop are tools for rehabilitating damaged coins. The tools consist of an electric wire brush, a grinder, an anvil, pliers, and a hammer. In less than five minutes the coins were scrubbed and polished, then counted and stored in my change tender.

Seeing those abused pennies, perhaps there is a coin sorting machine etiquette that we can use for guidance. Not according to Google. What follows then is the MoneyWalker's six rules for bank and grocery store money sorting machine etiquette:

• Pre sort the coins and remove foreign, damaged and soiled coins before dumping.
• All coins are to be moisture free.
• Collect and remove sacks, boxes, plastic, coin roll papers and other containers from the coin sorting area when sorting is complete.
• Limit the time at the machine. For example, massive amounts of coins such as a five gallon bucket should be divided into smaller amounts and presented at different times.
• While using the machine, avoid blocking the aisles that others use for regular banking or shopping with your paraphernalia and or your friends/accompanists.
• For those that check the machines for lost coins, use discretion and polite behavior when searching the coin return and floor area.


There must be more etiquette principles, but these six are a start. The MoneyWalker urges everyone that seeks and finds money to use coin sorting machines owned by others with prudence and courtesy.

MoneyWalker