The Legend of Luke Sidewalker

All Tweaked Out, Help Wanted!

2009-11-02T06:30:00.004-05:00

By now you should be well aware that I'm not the most technically proficient human on the planet. So the following story should come as no surprise to you.

You will notice the blog has a slightly different look to it today. This is the result of me tweaking with the blog template yesterday, and after a bizarre series of miss-clicks (by me) the situation snowballed! Not to worry I have a back up of the template saved, right? Er, no. Back ups are (were) for sissies.

I've been contemplating changing the look of the blog for sometime, I just didn't know that time was yesterday! My options were to spend hours reconstructing my old template only to change it in a month or two, or to stride boldly into the unknown. So off I went.

I have managed to export all the posts, links and comments from here to the new address of the 'virtual' Castle Sidewalker which is below:

http://lukesidewalker.com

I don't know how this will workout with my followers (come on Dad, you can figure it out!), I hope it is not too much trouble and if you could bookmark the new place and come join us there that would be fantastic. If you get lost in the move, it has been a pleasure to sidewalk with you and may all your sidewalks be littered with coins...

If you make it to the new place, I'll see you there. It's not the finished article yet, due to the haste of the move, but we're getting there!

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $24.28

Month End Report October '09

2009-10-31T14:00:00.003-04:00

Days since inception: 669
Cash balance: $24.28 (all time)
Cents per day: 3.6293(since inception)
Predicted day for $1,000,000: Friday December 25th 77,446 AD

10/31/2009
$1,000,000
= 957.21 oz of Gold @ $1044.70 (as per Nymex close near month)
= 12,998.70 barrels of oil @ $76.99 (as per Nymex close Light Sweet Crude near month)
= 61,553.61 oz of Silver @ $16.246 (as per Nymex close near month)

For two months in a row now I have missed my target. By the end of this month I had hoped to be at $25. Is my declining rate of finding money due to a deteriorating real economy even in the face of better than expected GDP numbers published this week? Is coin finding seasonal in my present location? Every month end seems to throw up more questions and never any answers!

Disappointingly for the first time since records were kept the completion date for my quest to find a million dollars has actually moved away from me by 107 years since last months report. It's a bit deflating to be honest, but the journey will continue. And my currently projected completion date falls on Christmas Day!

This month saw the 100 year flood at Castle Sidewalker. I also had an article published about Black Holes at FiLife and Sidewalker Jr. almost got expelled from Pre-K for shaking down the dinner line.

There is never a dull moment around these parts! I hope next month will be better, but I will have a conservative target of $26 by the end of November.

Happy Halloween...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $24.28

Sidewalker Mailbag #8

2009-10-30T07:28:00.009-04:00

It's Friday, so it's as good time as any to delve into the mailbag once more at Castle Sidewalker. After the flood the day before last the letters are a little damp, but still legible. This week I received a letter from Cap'n Tinkerson, for those of you not familiar with him you can find his bio by clicking this link. It is about half way down the list of miscreants!

Anyway this is what he had to say:

Lord Sidewalker,

Baltimore, the city of my residence, has introduced a new scheme for collecting charitable contributions for the homeless. They have placed a series of fake parking meters at random points on the sidewalk. (Note these parking meters are not near obvious parking spaces to avoid confusion). I assume they are recycling the old style parking meters which have been replaced by "pay and display". I recently found a coin at the base of one of these charity collection devices. I shall not share my next action, but I am curious to know what you would do on discovering coinage in a similar location?

Regards,
Cap'n Tinkerson

LS: After recovering from my initial shock - people pay for parking in Baltimore? I settled down to consider the question at hand. The mantra we live by at Castle Sidewalker is; 'Every coin has a home...in my pocket!' But as you see not every situation is created equally. There is a low probability that this coin was dropped elsewhere and rolled to the base of the charity meter, therefore one would have to pick it up and proceed to deliver the coin to its intended location within said meter.

I'm not going to ask the good Cap'n to reveal his course of action, as I know he does a lot of good work for charity, and there is no way that the coin in question found it's way into his chest full of booty.

In other news, this week I did an interview for one of my favorite blogs Red Pine Mountain. It is based on a rural outpost in Vermont, she has some lovely photographs and good posts. It is my 'virtual' escape from the concrete jungle that surrounds me. I'd like to thank the 'Mountain Woman' for the opportunity to be interviewed and the flattering lead-in she bestowed upon me. The full interview can be read by clicking here

Have a great weekend...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $24.23

Not Re-MOAT-ly Funny

2009-10-29T07:17:00.005-04:00

Living at Castle Sidewalker definitely has its challenges. It is not the newest construction on the block, probably by a good hundred years. Over time I would like to restore it to its former glory. Among the renovations I'd like to perform would be the essential addition of a moat. No self-respecting castle can exist without a moat!

As you can imagine a project like that would take plenty of planning and plenty of money. Taking up a lot of time and cash, two things that are quite scarce in my life at the moment. Yesterday we had excessive rain in the local area, and as I looked out of the window with Sidewalker Jr. to see the run-off surrounding the Castle; we both imagined it was our moat-to-be. Then we heard the water rushing which I thought was strange because we were inside and the water was outside...wasn't it? Oh no, not the basement!

I rushed down the stairs past the cellar; still dry. Further down I went, past the dungeon; still dry but the noise of rushing water was increasing. Then I arrived at the sub-dungeon and sure enough the natural moat that was surrounding the Castle was also running right through it!

The falling leaves had blocked the storm drain and it seemed the whole neighborhoods' run-off had been diverted to my basement. I sifted through the flotsam and jetsam to see if any coins had been carried in on the flood waters, but no such luck.

Today the plumber comes to take his cut of the Sidewalker Fund...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $24.23

Heard at the Scuttlebutt

2009-10-27T07:36:00.005-04:00

I heard a very disturbing rumor yesterday at the Castle Sidewalker scuttlebutt. I normally don't give much credit to rumors, but as you will see this one may have some legs.

The word out there is that Bank of America (BAC.N) may need some more money to stop from going belly up. It would be no great surprise to me, after their acquisition of Countrywide and then their forced ingestion of Merrill Lynch; I'm shocked they have managed to survive this long!

Previously I have commented about Bank of America's CEO Ken Lewis when he testified to Congress in the post Flaming Pantaloons in D.C. It came down to the fact that either Mr. Lewis, or Bumblin' Ben Bernanke the Federal Reserve Chairman was telling a massive whopper about the Merrill Lynch transaction. At the time it was a tough call to make, as Bumblin' Ben has a great portfolio of whoppers himself, including but not restricted to "...we have sub-prime contained" and denying the recession until we were a year into it.

It looks like Bumblin' Ben won that encounter as Ken Lewis is stepping down at the end of the year to concentrate on enriching a host of lawyers, as they try to defend him from the raft of lawsuits headed his way.

So as you can see there is no honor amongst this bunch of thieves. With their track record I can't dismiss any rumor I hear in the financial sector.

Will Bank of America be dipping their hand into my pocket once again? Hopefully not. Can I guarantee it won't happen? Definitely not!

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $24.10

The Return of the Loyal Correspondent

2009-10-26T08:10:00.010-04:00

You may remember about a month ago I had a particularly entertaining email from a self described Loyal Correspondent. We deduced he/she is from overseas and more than likely from the United Kingdom, due to his/her references of V.A.T. (Value Added Tax) which is their version of G.S.T.

Well, my published article last week about The Black Holes of Currency has once again drawn this mystery correspondent out of his/her hole.

I received the following email from them:

Dear Lord Sidewalker,

I suggest you stand next to a ‘hand-cranked press-a-penny souvenir machine’ with a large bag of foil wrapped chocolate pennies. By substituting the real thing for the much loved confection you will save the US legal system many headaches and also make a mint!!

As ever, your loyal correspondent…

LS: I thought this a very witty and ingenious suggestion to the issues I outlined in the article. However, it seems that our Loyal Correspondent has little knowledge of how attorneys operate here. Far from reducing their headaches, they spend most of their energies in seeking 'headaches' in order to rack up the billable hours.

My suggestion to cure the US legal system of 'many headaches' is very simple and easy to implement. Whenever a court case is found to be frivolous, just disbar the attorney representing the plaintiff. In no time at all we will have a more efficient and headache free legal system...

As long as the Loyal Correspondent keeps providing this humorous content, I'm left wondering whether or not to give them a regular guest spot here at the Sidewalker Journal. What do you think?

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $24.06

Sidewalker Scissorhands Jr.

2009-10-23T07:20:00.011-04:00

Sidewalker Jr.'s adventures at school are continuing a pace. His coin finding/dinner money shakedowns have slowed, which is a good sign. He seems to be enjoying the experience and he delights us with random words in Spanish and pointing out various mammals from time to time. They seem to have a really diverse curriculum for the youngsters, either that, or Jr. is only paying attention for 25% of the time.

The other day when I picked him up his teacher said, "I'm sorry about Jr.'s hair Mr. Sidewalker." I haven't got the keenest eye for detail and apart from looking a little ruffled the mop on top of his head seemed much the same as normal...until he turned to the side. I thought, "that's funny he didn't have a receding hairline on the right hand side this morning at breakfast!" His teacher went on to explain they were doing some scissor work in art class and Jr. had thought it a good opportunity to give his fringe a trim. I had to explain to him that we get haircuts at the barbers and not in the classroom. I asked him if he would do it again. He replied, "No, because everyone laughed at him." Not quite the answer I was looking for but it is a step in the right direction.

We will shortly be celebrating Jr.'s birthday. He thinks he is getting a toy aircraft carrier for his present. I have different ideas. He will forever remember this birthday as the year he got a haircut for a present! Maybe that will help the lesson sink in...

A harsh lesson? Perhaps. A necessary lesson? Definitely. The haircut costs 66% of the Sidewalker Fund.

Have a great weekend...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $23.78

Luke Sidewalker Meets Stephen Hawking

2009-10-22T07:51:00.000-04:00

Today I'm very proud to announce the publishing of my fourth article for FiLife. Could it now be described as a series?

You are probably expecting some bold statement from me, about how excited I am and proclaiming that I'm the best writer no one knows about in the whole world, and it's just a matter of time before I sign my first book contract. About how I was prancing around the grounds of Castle Sidewalker this morning, with Mrs Sidewalker shouting "Relax rooster boy!", after me. Well that's not going to happen today.

To get any article published when you are a writer of my ability you need a little luck and a great Editor. So today I'd like to thank Ari Weinberg and his editorial staff at FiLife for their efforts reorganizing my rambling prose into something resembling an intelligent article. (Time and time again!)

This months offering sees me consolidate the theories of renowned physicist Stephen Hawking with a machine often found in tourist hot spots. I like to think of it as the Luke Sidewalker Universal Theory. So if you like black holes and penny arcades I suggest you click the link below. If neither of those subjects turn you on I suggest you still click the link below; and give me the chance to surprise you! Enjoy...

The Black Holes of Currency by Luke Sidewalker

For those of you late to the party here are my other three attempts:

The Penny is Dead, Long Live the Penny by Luke Sidewalker
Dollar Advantage: U.S. Open by Luke Sidewalker
A Dollar Found is Worth 67 Cents by Luke Sidewalker

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $23.74

Peter Pan Recovery?

2009-10-21T07:35:00.011-04:00

I love a good fantasy story just as much as the next man. Except that is, when this present fantasy becomes reality.

With the Federal Reserve saying the recession is over, and the S&P 500 up approximately 65% from the lows reached in March things definitely took better. But are they? With neighbors still losing jobs, and more and more mortgages falling delinquent; is this a Peter Pan recovery rooted in fantasy?

This week we have seen good earnings numbers from companies such as Coca-Cola (KO.N) and Caterpillar (CAT.N). However on closer inspection, these two companies like many others are creating earnings by cutting costs. Their biggest savings have been made by laying people off. There has been a big absence of revenue growth for these companies which is worrying going forward. When will the cost cutting tonic end? Well you can only cut costs to zero right? WRONG. It is possible to cut costs to below zero, if the company is the beneficiary of Government subsidies, which is even more worrying! As we are footing the bill.

So where do we go from here? When the cost cutting reaches it's natural conclusion and there is no revenue growth, do we fall back into the abyss? Or will the Government step in again with our money to create lots more "programs" to support the fantasy a little longer?

I'm not against companies making a profit, I'm against companies making profit on the back of Government gifts. When I see the Financials hit it out of the park playing with our money for free, it literally makes my stomach churn. All the while they give us prudent savers anemic yields on our savings. I know life isn't fair, but I didn't expect it to be this one sided...

My conclusion is that a jobless recovery is a feasible outcome for an inventory led recession, but not for a credit collapse led recession. But what do I know, I'm just a guy picking up coins in the street!

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $23.72

Mind The Gap...

2009-10-19T08:00:00.005-04:00

...the penny gap, that is! Are you familiar with the penny gap concept? It has been in the news recently as some online publications have considered going from a free content model to a subscription based model, of particular note was this announcement by Rupert Murdoch in August of this year concerning his portfolio of newspapers' websites.

The premise of the penny gap, is the fact that the hardest money to get people to part with is the first cent. As in the difference between FREE aka $0.00 and the princely sum of $0.01, they say that it is easier to get people to go from 1 cent to 2 cents (although I've never tried). It has something to do with inertia, and mental transaction costs. For those of you interested in a more eloquent description of the penny gap pertaining to web based content you can find it by clicking here. (I love the graph.)

Where am I going with this? Well coins have been thin on the ground lately (that's no secret I publish my total). That has led to some soul searching here at Castle Sidewalker, and we have been mulling the idea of charging a fee to read this content. I thought a penny a view would be fitting price schedule, what do you think?

It was just after that thought when the lightning bolt struck! You, my dear reader, are not a customer; you are my partner. I rely on you to distribute my content by word of mouth. Luke Sidewalker is not 'main stream', in fact it's not even main trickle. Where would your motivation be to spread the word of Luke if you were charged for access? Probably marginally less than where it is now! Anyway, upstanding people do not charge partners for access to content. And you are my greatest asset. Without you I'd just be a sad old guy scratching around the waste grounds of America trying to find beat up old disks of metal under the guise of teaching his two pre-K children the value of money.

So my partner, I salute you. Now go forth and spread the word of Luke!

In other news, I've been working on another article for FiLife.com, as always if it gets published I'll make sure you're the second person to know. That's FREEmium service right there, that is; don't say I never take care of you!

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $23.62

Changing Fortunes

2009-10-16T21:07:00.005-04:00

I just had a look at my tweets for this week and I noticed I had only found three measly cents! Ever since I made my comeback in February of this year, after my online banking debacle of 2008, I don't think I have ever found this little in a Monday to Friday span.

I used to be a guy that found lots of change in the street and posted about it on my blog occasionally. It seems I am now a man that post a lot on my blog, and finds change in the street occasionally!

Perhaps it is just all part of the ebb and flow of money. Perhaps there is more seasonality in sidewalking than I had previously thought? If I'm only bagging 3 cents a week in October what are my numbers going to look like in the middle of December?

If this trend continues I may have to consider going on a TV game show to supplement my sidewalking revenue. But the thought of losing my anonymity is a pretty strong deterrent! Until the hunger pains kick in that is...

Have a great weekend.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $23.62

Shopping with Sidewalker #3

2009-10-15T11:37:00.008-04:00

It's the 15th of the month, so that means it's time for a trip to the supermarket. This is the third month of the Shopping with Sidewalker feature. It has been the most expensive month so far indicating inflation perhaps?. However the Federal Reserve has told us the threat of inflation is minimal, so that can't be the cause of the price rises then can it? Perhaps it is their weak dollar policy that is increasing the price of imports? Ding, ding, ding, ding. That was the bell going off for anyone thinking that trashing the dollar would be an easy way out of this credit mess. Perhaps it will get the banks off the hook, but with a weaker dollar guess who is paying the bill (again!)?

Some observations I've made. The price of the white seedless grapes are very erratic. I guess that is seasonality and shipping costs. Meanwhile the price of sugar is creeping up every month. Other than that there is nothing too crazy apart from the fact it was $2.41 more than last month! That is just under 3% month over month.

$3.99 {+$1.20} 1lb Land O' Lakes unsalted butter
$2.49 {-$0.01} 1 dozen Eggland's Best large grade 'A' eggs
$1.34 {+$0.01} 2 liter bottle of Coca-Cola Classic
$3.45 {-$0.50} 5lb Perdue Oven Stuffer whole roaster chicken
$9.99 {No Change} 12 pack of Charmin Ultra Strong toilet paper
$3.19 {No Change} 1 loaf of Wonder Bread Classic White
$3.79 {No Change} 2.5 Gallons of Poland Spring drinking water
$2.79 {No Change} 6.4oz. Starkist Chunk Light Tuna in water
$4.98 {No Change} 2lb of 80% lean ground beef
$3.19 {No Change} 5.6oz. Aquafresh Triple Protection toothpaste
$2.99 {+$1.70} 1lb Seedless White Grapes
$2.50 {-0.99} 5lb Idaho Potatoes
$2.29 {No Change} 3 Bars of Dial Soap white
$27.99 {No Change} Nestle Good Start 2 Natural Cultures 9-24 Months baby food
$2.99 {No Change} 12 oz. box of Kellogg's Cornflakes
$3.49 {+$0.50} 11.3 oz Folgers Classic Roast coffee
$5.49 {No Change} 3lb Uncle Bens long grain rice
$1.79 {No change} 4 pack 9 Lives cat food
$2.99 {+$0.30} 50 oz. Ajax laundry detergent
$3.69 {+$0.20} 5lb Domino Pure Cane Granulated Sugar
Total: $95.41 {+$2.41}

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $23.60

Reigning in Sidewalker Jr.

2009-10-14T15:57:00.005-04:00

About a month ago we sent Sidewalker Jr. off on his merry way to start school. I made a little jest about the playgrounds of pre-K being a barren coin-less wasteland. How very wrong I was. Sidewalker Jr. has bagged a modest 60 cents since starting school. Fear not, we did not include that in the Sidewalker Fund total. Although I see him as an angelic little toddler, there is always the chance that when the school gates close he turns into a vicious ruthless gangster. Shaking down his classmates in the dinner line, and running an extortion racket on the substitute teachers.

So with this in mind, all his unsupervised finds at school have been returned the next day in the teacher/parent folder with a note. If his teacher is driving a new sports car by the end of the year, the long finger of suspicion will pointing once again!

To make a short story a little longer, I think it should be noted that Junior Sidewalkers need supervision up until the point that their solo finds can be assumed to have not been originated in any way that my lead to expulsion from school.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $23.60

Cashing in on Chris Columbus

2009-10-12T08:00:00.002-04:00

I have made no secret of the fact in prior posts that the ultimate sidewalker find would be some type of ancient coin. My trip to Europe in search of Roman coins was a bust, so I decided to focus my efforts back on these shores. Where would be a good place to start that search?

After some head scratching my logic (not always the most apt direction) led me to surmise that a good place to find ancient coins would be where Christopher Columbus made landfall here in the New World. Perhaps a few sailors overdid the grog when finally coming ashore after a tortuous trans-Atlantic passage and a few doubloons may have slipped out of their pockets.

It was at this juncture that I discovered the point of landfall for Christopher Columbus is still quite a contentious issue. It appears it was somewhere in the Bahamas, before continuing on to Cuba.

This search is obviously going to take some major funding and with $23 and change in my coffers it may have to wait for some time. I'm thinking needle and haystack when it comes to locating any coinage that traveled to these shores from the Old World aboard The Nina.

That being said, you can see why the value of these old coins is so high. I like to think of myself as a modern day Christopher Columbus exploring the many Sidewalks of America. However, I have made it very easy for any of our future generations that wish to follow in the footsteps of Luke Sidewalker. I have left them my Cash Trail Map hopefully eliminating any guess work. If only Chrissy Columbus had taken the time to log into Google maps...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $23.59

Luke Sidewalker and the Lost Symbol

2009-10-10T12:34:00.007-04:00

After the rant/disgust in my last post, I put myself in the cooler for a couple of days! I'm going to keep it brief today as I have to prepare Castle Sidewalker for Halloween.

The other day @TJPrz sent me a very interesting picture if you like coins and like symbols. It can be seen by clicking here. He thought it was a sign and so did I!

Like him it inspired me to go out and buy The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. I just finished the book last night (no, that's not the reason I haven't posted in a couple of days!). It was a good read, but it was very similar to his other Robert Langdon novels, The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons.

I found it enjoyable with a wicked twist towards the end that I did not see coming, but I won't spoil that surprise for any of you that haven't read it yet.

Is Dan Brown a great storyteller? Yes definitely (even though it is the same story every time!). Is Dan Brown a great writer? The jury is still out on this one. But I'm no literary genius... obviously!

Have a great weekend...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $23.54

Regulate This!

2009-10-07T12:20:00.010-04:00

It's been a while since we had a Sidewalker rant so I think we are due. I went down to the basement storage unit at Castle Sidewalker (that's one level above the dungeon, for those of you keeping track at home) and I've fished out the Sidewalker Flashlight of Clarity that I'm about to shine brightly on the latest outrage!

I'm going to present two cases to you, and the question is; which of the two industries needs to feel the full force and weight of Government regulation immediately?

Case 1: Banking Industry
An industry where they lent money to under-qualified homebuyers earning big fees and big bonuses. They then sliced and diced that debt through securitization and sold the pile of poop to each other, earning even more big fees and even more big bonuses. Then when the whole charade blew up they looted the U.S. Treasury of every last cent of taxpayer money to the point where the smallest unit they talk about is Billions, in order to cover their incompetence.

Case 2: Blogging Industry
Joe Sixpack wrote on his blog that he took a diet pill and lost 10lbs in two weeks, overstating his weight loss by 8lbs. He promotes this diet pill and implores you to buy it for $19.99 including shipping and handling. Is it a sugar pill? Probably. Should you believe him and buy it? Probably not.

So which one needs instant attention? Just for the record our Government went with Case 2 this week, as they announced the FTC will be regulating blogs. If you are still trying to figure out how the Government works let me leave you with this little hint.

Bloggers have ZERO lobby dollars...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $23.42

Sexy Finance?

2009-10-06T08:00:00.002-04:00

Yesterday after my decision to buy a CD with the Sidewalker Fund proceeds, I alluded to the fact that finance could not be sexy. In fact you could make a good argument that the title to this post is an oxymoron. However I've never seen an argument I didn't want to take the other side of, so yesterday afternoon I did some research in an effort to disprove myself. (Have I lost you yet? Because it is sure as hell confusing me!)

Off I went on my merry way into the blogosphere, and to my great surprise I found that some sectors of finance can indeed be sexy (just not getting rich slowly). As you all know by now my mission is to get rich at a snails pace, one cent at a time, by picking up coins I find on the sidewalk. My blog is not about asset allocation, retirement planning, college tuition etc. Which enables me to give the following recommendation without fear of losing my 'reader'(you know who you are)!

I came across a blog about budgets and budgeting in general. It is a subject I barely touch upon, but it is something we all should take an interest in. I just thought it was a bit boring that is why I have never taken up the torch. I stand corrected, so let me introduce you to the blog in question by clicking the link below:

Budgets Are Sexy

It is a well written blog scribed by a guy that goes by the name of J.Money, and to be quite honest a very clean looking blog. (I think I need a revamp of my layout, but that is a post for another day). The writing style can be a little edgy at times, but then again it's not called Budgets for Kids!

Anyway, it's proof positive that some aspects of finance can be sexy...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $22.91

Mundane Monday

2009-10-05T09:14:00.006-04:00

After much deliberation about how to invest the Sidewalker Fund a decision has been reached. After careful consideration, and taking into account the amount of time it has taken to amass the cash, there was really only one option left at the end of the day.

I ruled out buying shares, as the transaction costs were prohibitive. I liked the idea of buying a silver bullion coin, but the cost of shipping and handling was prohibitive. I loved the idea of going to Atlantic City and playing roulette with it, but the cost to my relationship with Mrs Sidewalker was prohibitive. The idea of trading in Mario's Pizza credit was intriguing but the moral and ethical implications were prohibitive.

So that left me with one option, the Certificate of Deposit. Today I entered into an agreement with ING Bank, I bought a $20 12 month CD with a yield of 2.10%. I know it's not sexy but it is safe, besides when has getting rich slowly ever been sexy? On 5th October 2010 the Sidewalker Fund will be 43 cents richer when the CD matures. I have a year to figure out how I'm going to represent those 43 cents in My Cash Trail Map to the right!

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $22.90

Sidewalkers Have Feelings Too

2009-10-02T08:02:00.002-04:00

The other day I received an email from a 'friend' of mine. The title really grabbed my attention. It was 'Check this out: Premier Financial Bloggers'. I quickly opened the body of the email where there was a short message and a link. It said, 'You'll never believe this article in The New York Magazine'

Instantly my mind started racing, it was an article about the preeminent financial blogs of our time. Could it possibly be that Luke Sidewalker had grabbed some major column inches in a widely distributed publication? I felt giddy with excitement as I opened the link, just like that first time your parents let you go on the wooden roller-coaster at the State fair (you know, the one with the 15 foot, 45 degree drop that appeared like it came from the heavens!). This publicity would be the defining moment in Luke Sidewalker's two year meteoric rise from total obscurity.

The article focused mainly on the blog Zero Hedge and rightly so. An inspired and informative piece of blogging from an anonymous (like me) former hedge-fund insider (not like me). After reading the first six pages I was a little disheartened at my lack of mentions, but hopes were raised on the last page when I saw a list headed by the line 'A few of the more prominent financial bloggers'.

Alas you will notice if you clicked the link that the New York Magazine passed me by this time. And the email from my 'friend' was a timely reminder that my head needs to experience a little deflation of its own from time to time. My own brand of short posts and anecdotal economic insights will have to flounder around a little longer in not quite total obscurity thanks to you, my dear reader.

So if you have ever enjoyed my blog and never told anyone about it; don't feel guilty. Just tell the next friend you see!

Have a great weekend...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $22.65

Month End Report September '09

2009-09-30T16:28:00.007-04:00

Days since inception: 638
Cash balance: $22.55 (all time)
Cents per day: 3.5345(since inception)
Predicted day for $1,000,000: Sunday January 18th 77,339 AD

9/30/2009
$1,000,000
= 993.54 oz of Gold @ $1006.50 (as per Nymex close near month)
= 14,220.70 barrels of oil @ $70.32 (as per Nymex close Light Sweet Crude near month)
= 60,808.76 oz of Silver @ $16.445 (as per Nymex close near month)

Although I did not reach my target of $23 by the end of September, I fell 45 cents short, I did manage to knock 7,000 years off my predicted completion date. I started off the month at the U.S. Open. Also, this month marked the first time we found paper money on the sidewalk when Mrs S. snagged a buck in the parking lot at the Malibu Diner in Hoboken. Is this further evidence of inflation? My Shopping with Sidewalker feature showed a month on month decline in prices, is this further evidence of deflation? And by the end of the month I had dogs living with cats, and cats living with dogs (see post below). These are indeed interesting times as we, as a nation, seek our 'new normal' in a testing economic environment.

For the sake of nice round numbers I will make my target for the end of October $25.In the next couple of days I will post about the investment decisions we have taken for the Sidewalker Fund. Let's hope the fun we had in September continues on into October and the Halloween season.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $22.55

The Dog Shelter Never Lies

2009-09-29T08:01:00.008-04:00

I must admit on the odd occasion I see the business news channels it really makes me laugh. When these programs want to discuss the state of the economy they invariably trot out some blowhard economist, who has attended Harvard Business School and is currently employed by one of the tax dollar guzzling big banks. He or she more than likely has two homes, several cars, a base salary of at least $500k plus bonus (if their institution can wring any more money out of us peons).

You will hear them talk about leading indicators, budget deficits, GDP, inflation, deflation, trade balances, (un)employment, money supply; the list goes on and on (I don't want to loose readers, but you get the idea).

With my hand on my heart, I tell you I could do their job by making four local phone calls a month, lasting less than a minute each. I call my local homeless dog shelter and inquire about their occupancy rates. Their answer tells me all I need to know about the health of the economy. No business school, no big salary, no holiday Castle Sidewalker in the Hamptons for me.

So if you want to know how the economy is doing pick up the phone, make the call to the dog shelter and consult my handy guide below.

1) They have one dog - You should start taking dance lessons to learn the Charleston. The roaring 20's are upon us once again. Buy, buy, buy this party ain't never going to end.

2) They have a couple of strays - Go refinance your permanent residence to buy a vacation home in Florida. Then refinance the Florida home to buy a mountain lodge in the Rockies. Rinse and repeat.

3) They are half full - You won't get a pay rise this year, but it shouldn't stop you buying a jet ski and an ATV, both of which will get used once, before becoming garage ornaments.

4)They have a couple of spare kennels - Your salary will get cut in half, but it rocks that you still have a job. Your two next door neighbors will soon be jobless and buying groceries on their credit card.

5) Every kennel is taken - If you are not yet, you soon will be jobless and penniless, going without food so your wife and children can eat. You'll take down the kitchen cabinets to burn as firewood, and you'll be looking to sell the copper piping from your plumbing, if you could only find a buyer. Everyone on your street will soon stop paying their mortgage.

6) They sent the overflow of stray dogs to the cat home - Watch out when this happens. We will be dangerously close to the event horizon of a financial black hole. I hope it's not tomorrow.

So go ahead make the call, I sincerely hope your local dog shelter has plenty of vacancies. And when they answer you, think of that blowhard economist on the TV...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $22.54

Sidewalker Mailbag #7

2009-09-25T10:00:00.013-04:00

It's Friday so that must mean it's time to open the mailbag at Castle Sidewalker. I'm going to take a departure from the normal format this week. After my recent posts on tax, I received this correspondence from a fellow Sidewalker in the United Kingdom. In this day and age where we are always looking to abrevi8 evry thng mainly due 2 twts n' txt, I thought the following letter should be viewed in its entirety. To give it some context, it was inspired by my FiLife article on tax.

Dear Luke,
I know nothing of tax and to be honest that’s for the best. If I did I would have exploded long ago I suspect. However, consider this:
A company earns a pound/dollar (the existence of which you inform me proves it has already been taxed).
The company pays corporation tax or the US equivalent and employers’ national insurance.[LS: Social Security in the USA]
The company pays an employee who donates income tax and employees’ national insurance.
The happy employee spends half of what is left. The price of the item the employee buys includes VAT, GST or whatever it is.
The employee invests the remainder for the children – obviously paying tax on any interest earned.
On receiving their inheritance the kids pay inheritance tax.
Spending what’s left involves paying VAT, GST etc etc.

My point: if you can get 67c for a dollar take their arm off.

Meanwhile, in this country at least, the “glorious leaders” are out buying houses for their ducks out of taxpayers’ money (though not their salary which is, of course, paid by the taxpayer).
Obviously, I’ve got not a clue if the above is correct but suspect it’s not too far from the truth. If you can allay my concerns I would be most grateful.

Your loyal correspondent,

LS: Thank you 'Loyal Correspondent' for taking the time to share your observations. As for allaying your concerns I fear I will disappoint you. At this point I feel I could only exacerbate said concerns. I'm sorry my friend from across the ocean, "We're all taxpayers now..."

In other news, Mrs Sidewalker found our first dollar bill yesterday (or should that be our first 67c bill). It looks a little out of place in our 'change' jar!

And I still need help and comments with my investment portfolio in the post below this one, all comments welcome.

Have a great weekend...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $22.57

Silence Please Ladies & Gentlemen

2009-09-24T07:20:00.000-04:00

It is with great honor I stand before you today as the Chairman and Chief Bottle Washer of the Sidewalker Fund. It gives me great pleasure to welcome each and every one of you to this, the first meeting of the Sidewalker Fund Investment Committee.

For those of you that have been following my quest for some time, you will know that I have often mentioned this day. The point at which we now stand is where the Sidewalker monies have swollen to a total that they must now flee the relative safety (assuming my bank doesn't go belly up) of the Sidewalker checking account. These coins we brought in off the street, were first nurtured back to usefulness by an extended stay in the Sidewalker Change Jar before Jr. and I deposited them in the bank.

It is time these coins repaid my faith in them (and their free board & lodging at Castle Sidewalker), and to that end we must put them to work. It is at this juncture I realized that the burden and responsibility of controlling such funds was a task that could not fall on one man's (mine) shoulders. So I have drawn up a short list of possibilities to allocate the $21 and change. I urge you to look over my list with due care and attention, then leave your suggestion in the comments section please.

So, in no particular order here are the suggestions.

Option 1: An ING Certificate of Deposit
Pro - These CD's are FDIC insured up to $250,000
Con - The yield sucks and who is insuring the FDIC?

Option 2: Buy 5 shares of Citibank (C.N) at $4.50
Pro - With a 52 week high of $23.50 there could be lots of upside potential.
Con - Major perpetrator of today's financial mess. Next Lehman perhaps? Lots of downside potential.

Option 3: Buy 1 American Eagle Silver Coin .999 fine silver
Pro - I get rid of my dollars before the Federal Reserve Bank devalues them to zero.
Con - It is a shiny piece of metal with a nominal value of $1.

Option 4: I go to the Borgata in Atlantic City and put it all on Black
Pro - I get to feel like a rock star for the time it takes the ball to settle.
Con - Tough to explain to Mrs Sidewalker why two years of sidewalking has yielded nothing when it lands on Red.

Option 5: Buy a Mario's Pizza Value Card for $20 that is redeemable for $30 worth of pizza, and sell it for $25 to the Hoboken Paddler
Pro - An easy $5, my very own printing press.
Con - Slightly unethical, borderline illegal for dealing in unofficial currency.

So what option should I go for? Have I missed an option out? What say you?

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $21.27

Three Times a Charm

2009-09-22T18:48:00.004-04:00

Having taken over 24hrs to get over my outrage posted yesterday, I have some more pleasant news today (from my perspective anyway!). I had my third article published on the FiLife website. The website has some really useful financial tips and tricks mostly delivered in a manner relating to families, life stages and everyday living. To be honest I'm rather flattered that they think my articles bring some value to their readers. When they plucked me from obscurity (true, some may say I'm still there) to write my first article, The Penny is Dead, Long Live the Penny, I thought it was a bit of harmless fun and I welcomed the opportunity with open arms. Then when I was offered another chance at literary immortality with my second article, Dollar Advantage: U.S. Open, I started to have delusions of grandeur.

So tonight everyone, I would like you to take pity on poor Mrs. Sidewalker, as she has to live with a husband who's head has swollen to the size of a small European principality due to the publishing of article number three. It can be viewed by clicking the link below. Enjoy.

A Dollar Found is Worth 67 Cents by Luke Sidewalker

As always comments welcome, good and bad.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $21.27

Outrage Dead Ahead?

2009-09-21T09:55:00.011-04:00

I just want to preface this post by reiterating that all four of us residing at Castle Sidewalker are apolitical (mainly because, as taxpaying non-nationals we can't vote), but when I see something wrong I call it, no matter what part of the political spectrum it originated from. I urge you to read the whole post, as it has far reaching implications for all of us.

Last week I was hanging out in the lounge with Little Miss Sidewalker and she knocked the television remote control on the floor for the umpteenth time (I know I should move it higher out of reach). The fall of the remote caused the channel to change, I can't remember if it landed on Fox News or MSNBC. Anyway the anchor of the show was talking to Elizabeth Warren, the chairperson of the Congressional Oversight Panel, that keeps tabs on the TARP program.

They were discussing about the banks jacking up interest rates to as high as 30% on credit cards without warning. The anchorwoman asked Elizabeth Warren why Congress would not move to curb this loan sharking activity. Mrs. Warren replied, "The public do not have enough lobby dollars to win that battle." Let me just type that again to make sure you get the full gravity of the sentence, she said, "The public do not have enough lobby dollars to win that battle."

Two things jumped out at me from that statement. Basically she is saying that the banks have more money to shower on our elected Representatives than we the voting public have, thus ensuring an outcome favorable to the banks. So what is the point of electing these people if we don't have enough money to give them to look out for our best interests? Something is very broken here. Don't we the public pay their wages to be there on our behalf and work for our best interests in the first place?

Secondly the interviewer just breezed on through after that statement. Has pay-to-play become so ingrained in us, that the anchorwoman did not even pursue this thread with Mrs. Warren? She just shrugged it off. Yep, that's right, me and you don't have enough money to persuade our elected Representatives to have our back.

Does the notion that the general public has a need for lobby dollars abhor you? It should do...

Rant over.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $21.16

The Trifecta of Life for a Sidewalker

2009-09-18T10:30:00.011-04:00

There are three certainties in the life of Luke Sidewalker.

1)Finding money on the sidewalk
2)Taxes
3)Death

Number three I'm OK with. I'm very comfortable with my own mortality. It is the relationship between one and two that is my problem. It had not occurred to me, until it was pointed out to me the other day, that the IRS (the taxman in the U.S.A. for my overseas readers) treat found money as income! I'm not an accountant, so if anyone believes this statement to be false I'd be more than happy to hear from them (fingers crossed).

If it turns out to be true then the question is, how much money do I have to blog about finding before the IRS arrests me on tax evasion charges? And if I do get arrested, could I just not say that I dropped all the money I found on the sidewalk on the way to court? Which leads to an even bigger question, if they treat found money as income, can I use money that I've dropped over my lifetime as a tax loss/deduction?

Knowing the tax code here I would probably have to pay tax on the found money, and the lost money would just be 'my bad'. Maybe I could just employ myself as a coin collector, but then I would be saddled with a payroll tax no doubt!

This post has created more questions than answers. Help anyone?

In other news, my Staycation is looking for a hit from Norway, so if you know anyone located there please forward them the link. Thanks.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $21.05

Sidewalking in Antarctica

2009-09-16T09:24:00.009-04:00

It is not often I ask for help from you, but today I have a request. My good friend The Vulcanologist is attempting to go on a geological expedition to Antarctica and he needs your help.

He is so determined to get on the trip he is happy to waive his anonymity in the process. I told him I would do this on the understanding that all cash finds on his trip would be sequestered to the Sidewalker Fund! Then he told me the trip was to Antarctica, hmmm not many coins dropped there, and if they are dropped they are soon covered in snow. So we came to a compromise. He would find me a pet rock from the unspoiled continent and it could become my familiar that I've been searching for. Plus the added bonus of, if he is there, he and his tons of rocks will not be moving apartments (again).

So enough blather, this is what needs to be done. You need to click the link below, register and vote for Mark Couch. Thanks in advance from me and The Vulcanologist for all of those that participate.

http://www.blogyourwaytoantarctica.com/blogs/view/650

Also any promotion of this endeavor amongst your network would be very much appreciated. I think he needs this to go viral, in order to have a shot!

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $20.94

Shopping with Sidewalker #2

2009-09-15T16:47:00.003-04:00

I've just returned from doing the monthly research for my grocery shopping feature. Wow, that is all I can say....just wow. Ever since I fled the nest of Mama and Papa Sidewalker several decades ago I have been doing my own grocery shopping. I always look for a bargain and, most likely as you do, I load up when I see one. As long as my total bill came within an acceptable range week over week I never broke down the individual cost of items. So let's just say this little exercise has been an eye opener as to how much base prices gyrate month over month.

Just to reiterate, this is not a budget exercise, these are base prices without coupons or loyalty card discounts (both of which I use on my actual shop, as opposed to this virtual shop). It is intended to look for evidence for inflation or deflation in the weekly grocery shop from a baseline perspective.

Below are this months prices. The amount in brackets is the change from last months report.

$2.79 {-$1.70} 1lb Land O' Lakes unsalted butter
$2.50 {-$0.79} 1 dozen Eggland's Best large grade 'A' eggs
$1.33 {-$0.33} 2 liter bottle of Coca-Cola Classic
$3.95 {-$0.80} 5lb Perdue Oven Stuffer whole roaster chicken
$9.99 {No Change} 12 pack of Charmin Ultra Strong toilet paper
$3.19 {+$0.69} 1 loaf of Wonder Bread Classic White
$3.79 {No Change} 2.5 Gallons of Poland Spring drinking water
$2.79 {No Change} 6.4oz. Starkist Chunk Light Tuna in water
$4.98 {No Change} 2lb of 80% lean ground beef
$3.19 {No Change} 5.6oz. Aquafresh Triple Protection toothpaste
$1.29 {-$0.70} 1lb Seedless White Grapes
$3.49 {No Change} 5lb Idaho Potatoes
$2.29 {No Change} 3 Bars of Dial Soap white
$27.99 {+$2.50} Nestle Good Start 2 Natural Cultures 9-24 Months baby food
$2.99 {No Change} 12 oz. box of Kellogg's Cornflakes
$2.99 {-$0.50} 11.3 oz Folgers Classic Roast coffee
$5.49 {No Change} 3lb Uncle Bens long grain rice
$1.79 {No change} 4 pack 9 Lives cat food
$2.69 {-$0.30} 50 oz. Ajax laundry detergent
$3.49 {+$0.30} 5lb Domino Pure Cane Granulated Sugar
Total: $93.00 {-$1.63}

As you can see 10 of the 20 items this month had a price change, resulting in an overall reduction in the total of $1.63. So for the time being the pendulum swings to the deflation side...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $20.94

One down, one to go

2009-09-14T15:25:00.006-04:00

It was a momentous day at Castle Sidewalker today, and I'm not referencing the 15 cents I managed to pocket. Today was the first day at school for Sidewalker Jr., I played the part of the proud father admirably well! I sent him on his way with his rucksack full of supplies for the coming term. I cautioned him that school would probably be a barren wasteland as far as finding change goes. Last time I checked pre-K was largely a cashless environment, so I tempered his expectations accordingly.

When I picked him up his teacher said, "His ability to draw rainbows is somewhat behind that of his classmates, however his grasp of Keynesian Economics is formidable for one so young!" This disappointed me greatly, as I have always been a big fan of the Austrian School of Economics, obviously my hours of tutoring had not permeated the depths of his unfettered noggin. Oh well, each to his own, he is on his own voyage of discovery now and I'm looking forward to hearing his many 'tales of the classroom' in the years ahead.

Now all I have to do is get Little Miss Sidewalker into a school and I may be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

In other news, keep an eye out for the second Shopping with Sidewalker feature which will be posted tomorrow.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $20.89

Staycation Newsflash!

2009-09-12T10:50:00.004-04:00

We interrupt the regularly scheduled programing to bring you news that Luke Sidewalkers Global Staycation has finally arrived in Antigua after a record 108 days stuck in Utrecht, Holland. The full story can be found on my staycation blog by clicking the link above or in the sidebar to the left.

I will shortly be looking to the good people of Canada to propel me on the next leg of my 'stay at home' global trip!

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $20.69

Sidewalker Mailbag #6

2009-09-11T10:34:00.009-04:00

Today eight years ago a lot of friends of mine were taken from me prematurely, they are in my thoughts and they always will be. In an attempt to continue on in a 'business as usual' mode, as I believe would be their wish, I will go ahead and post the Mailbag.

For various reasons the Sidewalker Mailbag has been left unopened for some time. Which is quite shocking when you think I have never found a bill in the mailbag, nor do I anticipate doing so at any point in the future. So lets enjoy our bill-free perusing, and see what turns up.

"@LukeSidewalker thank you for one of the most original blogs on the internet & GRRRR for not doing the Euro sidewalker on vacation. "
-DarthSpacegrass from Tehran, Iran (apparently!) via Twitter
[LS: Thanks Darth it is always nice to be missed. I was hoping to give real time updates whilst on vacation but I just couldn't quite figure it out. I hope to have that nut cracked by the next time I cross the ocean in February next year.]

"@LukeSidewalker Welcome back! Just wanted to let you know I picked up a quarter, then gave it to a guy who needed change for the bus :D"
-JayEeeEhN from Online, USA via Twitter
[LS: Just another example of the good that can come from sidewalking! JayEeeEhN consider your Karma bank account to be well in credit from that selfless act.]

"I would say 'penny loafers' but that may be too cheeky!"
-WritnWit from Alabama, USA via Twitter
[LS: This was in response to my suggestions for footwear, as mine were deteriorating at an accelerated rate due to excessive sidewalking. Very inventive suggestion WritnWit.]

"Dear Luke, I was recently traveling North on the N.J. Turnpike when I had to answer the call of nature. I pulled into the next service area to remedy my situation. On looking into the urinal I immediately thought of you. There at the bottom of the drain was a nice shiny penny. What should I have done in this circumstance? Is this the ultimate Sidewalker conundrum?"
-Cap'n Tinkerson from Baltimore, Maryland USA via e-mail
[LS: Cap'n, you know the Sidewalker mantra is 'no coin left behind', however there are exceptions observed by even the most ardent sidewalkers, me included. I think you have come across such a scenario where even I would be forced to turn the other cheek, pardon the pun. Although, if the Sidewalker Fund stood at $999,999.99 and I was in that restroom...]

I can't believe someone looked into a urinal and thought of me! Should I be pleased or annoyed?

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $20.43

Join the Circus...become an Economist!

2009-09-10T14:01:00.011-04:00

Since our return from the trip to the United Kingdom I have seen a big drop off in the number of coins laying around our streets. Either I'm going blind or did something in the economy change in our absence? Is the lack of coinage a sidewalker thing or a circumstance of the broader economic environment?

I did a little research and it appears some of the eminent economists amongst us have been making noises that they think the 'great' recession of 2007-2009(?) has ended. If that proves to be correct that is fantastic news for all of us in America. However this is the same bunch of analysts that never saw the financial tsunami coming in the first place; even as it washed over their (and our) heads, sweeping their bonuses and our jobs out to sea.

Maybe I have encouraged everyone to pick up the loose change, thus explaining it's disappearance from the streets, and that extra money in the pockets of America has dragged us back from the edge of the dark abyss of total and utter financial meltdown?

As always there is a caveat and I think it can be best illustrated with this jest I found in the comments section over at The Big Picture:

A mathematician, an accountant and an economist apply for the same job.

The interviewer calls in the mathematician and asks “What does two plus two equal?” The mathematician replies “Four.” The interviewer asks “Four, exactly?” The mathematician looks at the interviewer incredulously and says “Yes, four, exactly.”

Then the interviewer calls in the accountant and asks the same question “What does two plus two equal?” The accountant says “On average, four – give or take ten percent, but on average, four.”

Then the interviewer calls in the economist and poses the same question “What does two plus two equal?” The economist gets up, locks the door, closes the shade, sits down next to the interviewer and says “What do you want it to equal?”

My personal recession has shown no signs of receding to date. How about yours?

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $20.43

Prepare Trumpet...and Blow!

2009-09-08T12:42:00.010-04:00

If you own a trumpet you may as well blow it, that's what I say! So here is my effort at blowing my own trumpet.

You may recall about a month ago I got my first ever article published on FiLife.com. It must have gone down well with them as they invited me to do another piece, this time about my trip to the tennis. Please excuse my self-indulgent glee, but the fact is (and remains so for the time being) I'm not a writer and I find this all very exciting!

So without further ado here is the link to my second article:

Dollar Advantage: U.S. Open by Luke Sidewalker

As ever comments are welcome, good or bad.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $20.32

Flush in Flushing?

2009-09-07T21:46:00.007-04:00

I've lived in the New York area for 15 years and I've never been to the US Tennis Open, that is until Friday last week. I managed to score a ticket to the Arthur Ashe Stadium. I took the 7 train from Times Square and 45 uneventful minutes later (of which I'm thankful for) I arrived in Flushing, Queens. As I walked to the main gate I saw that the "official" event magazine was on sale for $17 or ~19 months of sidewalking, ergo I sit here typing from memory! There was a crowd at the main gate so I skirted the perimeter fence to enter from the South gate, a fortuitous decision as I found 2¢ under a bench in Corona Park on the walk around.

The security guards at the entrance confiscated my sunscreen in the name of the war on terror, or some such. At the time I thought it was just to make me pay a heavy premium for USTA approved sunscreen on the inside. Wrong. I took my seat in the Arthur Ashe Stadium, an impressive venue of 23,157 seats of which precisely 0 are in the shade. In another case of unintended consequences the Open has become a great place to develop skin cancer!

I saw Daniela Hantuchova (pictured above, sadly not a Sidewalker original) win her match in straight sets. At which point my stomach suggested it was time to go visit the concession stands. $12.50 and a hot dog and Pepsi later my hunger was satiated and my wallet was hungry!

After eating I took a stroll down the Walk of Champions, I had a double take when I saw the picture of Roger Federer's 2003 success. Whilst celebrating his victory with a fist pump he had covered half the Nike logo on his shirt, so from a distance he looked like a debonair movie star from the 1930's complete with compulsory cigarette in hand.

Still struggling with the sun on my unprotected face I almost bought a Lexus just to get in the shade, but after paying $5 for a Ben & Jerry's ice cream I was a little short of ching!

I found another penny in the higher regions of Arthur Ashe Stadium as I was trying to crawl under my seat to get out of the sun. So with all the money floating about I only found 3 cents, I put this down to a combination of very keen grounds staff and the prevalence of plastic. With the winner of the singles tournament bagging $1.6 million this year maybe my quest could be expedited by taking up professional tennis. What do you think?

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $20.31

A W(h)ale of a Time

2009-09-04T19:13:00.005-04:00

We are finally back from our European expedition, it is great to be within the walls of Castle Sidewalker once again. That being said we also had a fantastic time on our trip, even though we did not find any ancient Roman coins as we had hoped to, we did find £1.13 and €0.05 boosting the Sidewalker Fund to over $20 after converting the currency at some favorable rates with our family over there.

Mrs. Sidewalker left a week or so ahead of me with the kids and they found £0.07 in Sherwood Forrest, the old hunting ground of Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men. Perhaps they were so successful at robbing the rich that they didn't miss the coins found by Mrs. Sidewalker. It was during this leg of the trip that Sidewalker Jr. came out with this little gem. One morning whilst putting on a pair of socks he said to his Grandma, "We don't wear socks in America because it is Summer there!" It gave us a chance to explain to him what 11° more of Northern latitude will do to a climate. And yes he was running around sock free today shouting "Look Mommy it is Summer again", so perhaps we need to go over that lesson once more.

I finally caught up with rest of the family in Wales and with the Grandparents present to look after the children it gave Mrs. S and I a little freedom to explore the local area. We read a leaflet about the oldest pub in Wales called the Skirrid Mountain Inn so we took a stroll down the country lanes to find it. The first mention of the Inn dates back to 1100 AD, it has apparently been open every day since then, that is until we turned up and after 909 years of continuous service it decided that Tuesday August 25th 2009 was an ideal time for a day off! We did return later in the week to enjoy a great homemade steak and ale pie.

Mrs. S was in a rich vein of form as she proved by finding £1.01 in the Llanwenarth Hotel and Restaurant a beautiful place located high on the Eastern bank of the River Usk halfway between the towns of Abergavenny and Crickhowell.

Fear ye not, I did actually find some money also. We were on a day trip to Monmouth, the birth place of King Henry V, so it was fitting that I found 5 pence whilst taking Sidewalker Jr. to see his first game of cricket. (No I'm not explaining the rules here!)

All in all it was a great trip and we will be returning in February next year to attend my sister's wedding. As we were leaving the security area at Heathrow Airport yielded some more small change. All the locations of our finds are dutifully plotted on my Cash Trail Map located in the sidebar to the right. --->

With the Sidewalker Fund now boasting over $20 in the coffers I will have to call a meeting of the investment committee and we will have to allocate the funds, but that can wait till next week as I feel another wave of jet lag about to wash over me...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $20.26

Month End Report August '09

2009-08-31T09:36:00.002-04:00

Days since inception: 608
Cash balance: $20.13 (all time)
Cents per day: 3.3108(since inception)
Predicted day for $1,000,000: Monday March 28th 84,704 AD

8/31/2009
$1,000,000
= 1,050.75 oz of Gold @ $951.70 (as per Nymex close near month)
= 14,318.44 barrels of oil @ $69.50 (as per Nymex close Light Sweet Crude near month)
= 67,082.57 oz of Silver @ $14.907 (as per Nymex close near month)

Another incredible month at Castle Sidewalker and the totals are in. For the first time in the history of my quest the predicted end date is within 100,000 years of today! If I ever needed a sign that my quest was achievable I think I have it in that prediction date!

I have had some great finds this month with the Sidewalk Sofa incident, and my very successful trip overseas. I will give you more details of that trip in the posts of the coming days. The more observant of you will have noticed my total jumped from $18.30 to $20.13 without much documentation, I will fill you in on the missing details of that $1.83 shortly.

My target for the end of September is to have more than $23 in the Sidewalker Fund. A little ambitious, maybe, but my upcoming schedule requires I spend more time in Manhattan this month, so lets see how that pans out.

On Friday 4th September I will be heading to the US Open to do an article for FiLife.com. I hope to have that ready for publishing early next week, so keep an eye out for that.

Keep on looking down fellow Sidewalkers...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $20.13

Anyone for tennis?

2009-08-27T09:31:00.000-04:00

About a month ago I wrote an article for FiLife.com about the value of a penny. Much to my embarrassment it was rather well received and so the good people at FiLife have invited me to submit another article. This time I will go on the road to the US Tennis Open at Flushing Meadows New York to write about the general experience, ticket prices, costs at the concession stands etc.

So doing one article was fun, but now doing a second does that make me a journalist? Is there a Pulitzer Prize for random ramblings of a penny finding sidewalker? If so I must be an early front runner. Don't worry I won't get carried away, Mrs. Sidewalker will be on hand as soon as I show the first signs of bloaty-head syndrome...

Anyway, we are still away, but I have tentative plans to attend the US Open on September 4th on a fact finding mission. I'll let you know if it happens and of course if my article gets published.

This is another auto post. I won't know if it has worked until I return.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $18.30

Cash For Clunkers Explained

2009-08-24T09:20:00.002-04:00

At 8p.m. this evening the cash for clunkers program is being suspended. Following on from my post Riddle Me This? where I explained in easy to understand terms the basics of the TARP program and how it affects you, today I have decided to shine the Sidewalker flashlight of clarity squarely on the cash for clunkers program. Disclaimer: Never forget the four inhabitants of Castle Sidewalker are apolitical, and we just call it as we see it.

1. Take $4,500 of your money (as a taxpayer) give it to a total stranger and tell them to get rid of their old ride and buy a new car.

2. Joe your local mechanic, who has had a totally viable family business for four generations servicing the older cars in the neighborhood is out of business within six months.

3. The bloated car manufacturers will implode next year instead of this year, because there will be no one left to buy new cars as all the demand has been brought forward due to the cash for clunkers program.

The big question is how do we profit from this? The simple answer; buy vacant lots in the Detroit area because they are going to have to park these cars somewhere unless they stop making them!

I have published this post on auto (pardon the pun) as you know I'm away.
Feel free to comment...

-Luke Sidewallker
-Current balance $18.30

Eastward Ho!

2009-08-20T22:29:00.011-04:00

It's that time of year again when Castle Sidewalker gets shuttered up for a week or so, and we get to deliver our very own brand of havoc on a different location all in the name of family recreation. You may recall a while back; we got inspired to make a trip after reading about the ancient Roman coins found in England that I mentioned in my post European Expedition. Well we pooled some air miles that Mrs. Sidewalker and I had left over from our corporate lives and it's off to jolly old England we shall go. Actually to be more accurate we are flying to England and staying in Wales. It is in this western area of the British Isles that is rumored to be the location of Camelot, the fabled home of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. So if we don't find any coins there's still an outside chance I could find a sword in a lake, or Merlin's hat perhaps.

It's all been rather hectic the last couple of days, making sure all the livestock is penned up (actually it's a wormery, and they have plenty to eat and to be honest it didn't look like they were going to escape in our absence but anyway...) and doing last minute repairs on the Castle roof just in case that hurricane blows through while we are away. Consequently coin finds have been minimal of late but that happens sometimes.

I will try to post as often as possible with updates from Wales but I think we will be in quite a remote place with questionable internet access, so just try to hang with me for the next couple of weeks.

One last thing, in case you were wondering if the artists impression at the top of this post is Castle Sidewalker, I can confirm it is not...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $18.23

A 'Familiar' Story

2009-08-19T15:22:00.011-04:00

It is not a closely guarded secret around these parts that I'm always looking for ways to improve the blog, and let's face it I have a lot of scope to work with. I have been cruising around the internet checking out other successful blogs and I noticed a lot of the bloggers have pets or "familiars" as they are sometimes referred to. Often there will be a weekly feature surrounding the pet with accompanying photos. For example there is Tanner the irascible cat of Mrs. B. Also there is Chuck the cheeky canine over at Dooce.com. If I want to compete with the blogging heavyweights then Castle Sidewalker needs a familiar. So the other day I told Sidewalker Jr. to saddle up because we were going on a trip to the pet store.

On the way I had a chat with Jr. about what pet we should get. Maybe we could get a parrot, they always seem to make people laugh. Perhaps we could get something a little more orthodox like a cat or a dog. Or should we go exotic, and get a jaguar to roam the grounds of the Castle. We could even get a bird of prey, it could kill the rats in the dungeon and be our pet, what a bargain (Right about now I can imagine Mrs. Sidewalker regretting she did not join us on the trip).

We entered the pet store and spoke to a very nice assistant there. She asked what our budget was? I replied sheepishly "$18.07", before adding "maybe a little more if we go for a quick walk and get lucky". She pointed out that they only had one pet in our price range. It was a goldfish. Hm I thought, not quite what I was thinking but it could work. Although it would not be roaming the corridors of the Castle I could still make a weekly feature for "Goldie" the goldfish. Then I analyzed it a little further trying to consider how I would keep the readers interest with a weekly pictorial post. Week one, Goldie playing in the seaweed. Week two, Goldie hiding in the fake sunken treasure chest. Week three, Goldie getting sucked into the water filtration system... Week four, Jr. and I going back to the pet store!

So I broke it gently to Jr. that we were leaving the pet store empty handed this time. He was a little down, at least for five minutes until I gave him an ice pop. Mrs. Sidewalker greeted us back at the Castle with great relief seeing us empty handed. She knows that is a good result when Jr. and I have been let loose together without proper instruction!

After further reflection perhaps we should get a tortoise and name him "Speedy". Does anyone know how much they cost?

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $18.22

A Total Eclipse of The Sidewalker

2009-08-17T10:20:00.006-04:00

When I first started this blog I was writing for an audience of one (if you included me). After an hour I was very proud as my readership had exploded by 400%, until that is, Mrs. Sidewalker pointed out that Sidewalker Jr. and Little Miss Sidewalker can't read yet and two was a more realistic estimate of my following.

As time has passed the readership has expanded slowly but surely. Using all different avenues, such as word of mouth, friendships with other bloggers, and Twitter for example. The blog is no longer written by me, for me. It is now written by me, for me and YOU. And with that in mind I would like to thank anyone and everyone that has ever passed this link on to friends and family. This being my first blog of any substance (if you could call it that) I have resisted the urge to go back and rewrite any of the earlier posts now that I have a wider audience. I like to view their rawness as testament to how far the blog has progressed (or regressed depending on your point of view). And if you ever take the time to read any of those nascent posts it will bring clarity to the fact that Mrs. Sidewalker was my only reader in the early days!

Anyway, all of this introspection has me wondering how do you know when a blog has got "traction"? I did a little research and it seems that one of the metrics that answers this question is found in the comments section after the posts. I found that there is a consensus out there that says when you get a comment that basically outshines the post or a commenter takes your initial concept and elaborates intelligently and constructively on your subject of choice to the point that you are eclipsed, this is a sign that a blog is gaining traction. So I'd like to draw your attention to the comments section after my Shameless Chest Beating post. Check out the comments, can you see one that would qualify for my above statement?

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $18.06

Shopping with Sidewalker #1

2009-08-14T11:17:00.014-04:00

The day is finally upon us for the inaugural shopping with Sidewalker feature and the list has been finalized. We often hear the talking heads on finance TV blather on about inflation and they often reference a basket of commodities, a basket of currencies, a basket of bonds etc. That is great (for them anyway), but I have never seen Bonds ready-mixed with mayonnaise, or oven-ready Gold, or Light Sweet Crude cooking oil in my basket when I go shopping. So I have set out to create a list of twenty products we all find in our shopping baskets on a regular basis, and I'm going to track their cost once a month. Hopefully this will help us "foot soldiers" defending our cash on the front lines in the battle against inflation! Think of it as an inflation barometer.

I'd just like to make a few points. I will do this "shop" on the weekday closest to the 15th every month. This is not a budget exercise, I could get the stuff cheaper by using coupons and/or changing brands, but I want to choose products that are readily available in supermarkets from coast to coast. I'm not a dietitian, do not use this list and market it as the "Sidewalker Diet Plan"! I wanted to choose products that we see on our shopping baskets more often than televisions, cars, washer/dryers and houses that the economists like to use as a measure of inflation/deflation. It does not represent the weekly shop to stock the pantry at Castle Sidewalker.

$4.49 1lb Land O' Lakes unsalted butter
$3.29 1 dozen Eggland's Best large grade 'A' eggs
$1.66 2 liter bottle of Coca-Cola Classic
$4.75 5lb Perdue Oven Stuffer whole roaster chicken
$9.99 12 pack of Charmin Ultra Strong toilet paper
$2.50 1 loaf of Wonder Bread Classic White
$3.79 2.5 Gallons of Poland Spring drinking water
$2.79 6.4oz. Starkist Chunk Light Tuna in water
$4.98 2lb of 80% lean ground beef
$3.19 5.6oz. Aquafresh Triple Protection toothpaste
$1.99 1lb Seedless White Grapes
$3.49 5lb Idaho Potatoes
$2.29 3 Bars of Dial Soap white
$25.49 Nestle Good Start 2 Natural Cultures 9-24 Months baby food
$2.99 12 oz. box of Kellogg's Cornflakes
$3.49 11.3 oz Folgers Classic Roast coffee
$5.49 3lb Uncle Bens long grain rice
$1.79 4 pack 9 Lives cat food
$2.99 50 oz. Ajax laundry detergent
$3.19 5lb Domino Pure Cane Granulated Sugar
Total: $94.63

So there we have it, the baseline has been set at $94.63 it will be interesting to see what number we come up with next month and to monitor any future fluctuations. We must keep a vigilant eye out for the stealth inflation tactic of shrinkage as well! Isn't it weird how every price seems to end with a 9. I had never noticed that before, all very weird. Any psycology majors out there want to give us the reasoning behind that?

I would like to give a big thank you to Mrs. B the Pagan Soccer Mom for sending her "angry horde of pagans" to help me build my list. And indeed thanks to everyone who participated in the list building, it was much appreciated.

In other news, I busted through $18 last night...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $18.01

Sofa...so good!

2009-08-12T15:45:00.007-04:00

If you have been reading me for some time you will know I don't like to dwell on individual coin finds. But every now and then I get a find that is somewhat different to the run-of-the-mill penny in the street . Today is just such an occasion. I found the most I've ever found in one hit, almost 10% of the Sidewalker Fund to date found in one moment of genius (or stupidity, depending on how you view my quest).

I live in an area that has quite a transient population so it is very common to see large items on the sidewalk like televisions, desks, lamps, hatstands left by people moving on. All these items are collected by the local waste management team, that is if they haven't been snaffled up by an opportunist "street shopper" first. If you spoke to a sampling of people around town I bet the majority of them would have at least one story relating to "street shopping". And I'm sure there are one or two that have furnished their whole apartment using this method!

I'm not curious by nature, but sidewalking has definitely made me more so. I have the proof that coinage can be found in the most bizarre places, and so it was the case today. I was walking along and I noticed a sofa waiting patiently on the sidewalk for a new owner. At that moment a flashbulb went off in my head. Whenever I used to need some small change I would go to my sofa and it would never disappoint me. Could it be possible that all sofa's share this coin eating attribute? I looked both ways down the street suddenly feeling a twinge of embarrassment at what I was about to do. All clear. I moved over to the curbside couch and slowly lifted the cushion closest to me. And to my surprise I found a quarter, two nickels and a penny. On to cushion two, one nickel, two dimes and a penny. I was starting to get the "fever", I no longer cared who was watching me as I continued to ferret around the sofa like a man possessed. I felt like a '49er panning for gold! The third cushion yielded two quarters and two dimes for a grand total of $1.32 in twelve coins. My hunch had been spot on, this was a first class piece of sidewalking.

Talk about throw the baby out with the bath water, or should that be, throw the coins out with the sofa...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $17.89

New Feature!

2009-08-11T08:21:00.006-04:00

I have decided to run a new monthly feature, and it's going to be called "Shopping with Sidewalker". And I'm going to need your help as you will see later. Right now there is a battle raging in academia about whether we are entering a deflationary death spiral or are we on the threshold of hyperinflation? The deflationists cite the falling price of cars and housing, of which I may buy one every five years and maybe one a decade respectively! (I buy groceries once or sometimes twice a week, as I'm sure you do to.) The Inflationistas cite the money printing initiatives of the Federal Reserve to stabilize our economy. One thing is for sure these academics sitting in their ivory tower crunching numbers must never go grocery shopping, because us common folk know that is the true inflation litmus test. I have decided to put together a monthly shopping list of twenty everyday products and together we can watch my total spent for any signs of deflation/inflation. Now all I have to do is build that list. Below is my provisional list, and this is where I need your help. Is it suitably balanced, can you suggest any changes to be made to it? All input is welcome as always. Leave any suggestions in the comments section at the bottom of the post.

1. Half Gallon of store brand 2% Milk
2. 1lb Land O' Lakes unsalted butter
3. 1 dozen Eggland's Best large grade 'A' eggs
4. 10z Kraft Cracker Barrel Sharp Cheddar
5. 1 Can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup
6. 2 Liter bottle of Coca-Cola
7. 5lb Perdue Oven Stuffer whole roaster chicken
8. 12 pack of Charmin Ultra Strong toilet paper
9. 1 loaf of Wonder Bread Classic White
10. 2.5 Gallons of Poland Spring drinking water
11. 6.4oz. Starkist Chunk Light Tuna in water
12. 1lb of 80% lean mince meat
13. 5.6oz. Aquafresh toothpaste
14. 4 pack Bounty White kitchen paper towels

I have left six slots open for suggestions from you. I know I need some fresh produce I'm just trying to figure out what to go with, and maybe some pasta or rice too. The final list will be revealed on Friday as I will be doing this "shop" on the 15th of every month, or the weekday closest to the 15th.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $16.22

Sidewalker Mailbag #5

2009-08-10T08:26:00.001-04:00

Finally the Mailbag has been opened again. The last two Fridays have seen the Mailbag get relegated to the back burner here at Castle Sidewalker. Two Fridays ago it was bumped for the article about this blog in The Jersey Journal, then last Friday it went up in smoke as I held an impromptu BBQ to celebrate my first published article on FiLife.com. That has led us to this point were we have an unscheduled Monday version of the Sidewalker Mailbag. So before the correspondence turns to dust, like a piece of papyrus from the reign of King Tut, let's rummage around inside the sack and see what we have.

"Just had lunch with @LukeSidewalker, did not know I knew him."
-patmoroney
from New Jersey, U.S.A. via Twitter
[LS: Note to self; never forget the cloaking device when lunching with friends that you know, don't know who you are, when you're not being yourself. Well you get the idea right?]

"So Luke IS for real? This changes everything!"
-mikecmusic from New Jersey, U.S.A. via Twitter
[LS: Let me assure you Mike, and anyone else wondering out there, I am very real. This blog is not on auto-pilot even if I wish it was at times.]

"@LukeSidewalker Congrats on making it to $15! My daughter found a quarter at the pool yesterday. :-) She always finds money at the pool."
-SuziesArmoire from Pennsylvania, U.S.A. via Twitter
[LS: Whilst being an avid supporter of minors learning to swim, I cannot condone minesweeping the pool for quarters. Especially if it happens right before I take a dip!]

I must admit that I have struggled this Mailbag to come up with a viable candidate to fulfill my naysayers slot. So I decided to go with this snippet of a longer missive I received by e-mail.

"Dear Mr. Sidewalker. Your punctuation is, frankly, odious. Mine, of course, is without doubt perfect."
-Smiler from London, England via e-mail
[LS: OK "Shakespeare", I admit I'm punctuation-ally challenged. But when you churn out the volume of drivel that I put forth, if I have a reader left at this point I'm guessing they are not overly disturbed by my mal-punctuated paragraphs.]

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $16.22

Shameless Chest Beating!

2009-08-07T10:50:00.009-04:00

Just a quick post to let you know that the article I wrote for FiLife.com has just been published. I have declared today a public holiday at Castle Sidewalker (and as soon as I get home from work I'm going to enjoy it!). I've instructed Mrs. Sidewalker to man the phones in my absence as I anticipate an uptick in the volume of calls we receive, especially from agents and publishers; I'm sure a "book deal" must be in my immediate future...

So without further ado, here is the link:

The Penny is Dead, Long Live the Penny by Luke Sidewalker

I hope to post the Sidewalker Mailbag later today.

UPDATE: The Mailbag post has been postponed until Monday as I'm trying not to burn the Castle down with an impromptu BBQ right now.

Have a great weekend...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $16.19

Hacked Off

2009-08-06T16:31:00.006-04:00

You may or may not be aware that two social networking sites, Twitter and Facebook were hacked today as reported here by the BBC. The hackers I'm told create a "botnet" to bombard the host systems with data until they crash. So that is the background, now here is the story.

As you probably know I report all my coin finds in real time via Twitter, so I was a bit miffed that Mrs. Sidewalker did not send me a congratulatory text when she received my first tweet of the day. She does not always send me an encouraging text, but my first find today was a 1940 Wheat Back, and by anyone's standards that is not your garden variety penny. With the right people in the room at an auction this coin could fetch as much as 3 cents as I previously outlined in my numismatic post. Enraged by this text snub I came bursting into Castle Sidewalker demanding that the Lady of the house present herself to me forthwith. After listening to my tirade with a bewildered look on her face she simply laughed (that was not the reaction I was looking for). She told me about the sites being down and sarcastically questioned why a man of my technological prowess would not know that. Then promptly reminded me that less than two months ago I had no idea that Twitter even existed, and then really twisted the dagger by throwing my famous quote from 1999 right back in my face.

And what was that quote I hear you ask? Well it went something like this, "I don't understand what all the fuss is about with this internet thingy, it's only good for getting the weather forecast, other than that it's bloody useless." A decade later I stand corrected...

I'm now going to the Sidewalker laboratory to continue the research and development of my "pennybot".

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $16.09

The Change Jar is dead; long live the Change Jar!

2009-08-05T17:41:00.011-04:00

After yesterdays sobering post about the TARP program, I'm glad today I have a subject that is sure to lift the gloom that has been hanging over Castle Sidewalker the past 24 hours. If you remember, last week Jr. and I had an absolute debacle between us, as we left the most revered artifact in Sidewalker history, yes the Change Jar, in the bank never to be seen again. As a result of this loss I ended up taking Sidewalker Jr. to a thrift store today. I let him choose the replacement to nurture his sense of pride in ownership. That is my way of saying it's not the jar I would have chosen! Anyway here is a photo of the new change jar, and just to show the positive effects of change, no sooner had we bought it than I found a quarter followed by a dime, taking a big chunk out of this months target.

In other news, I have been working on an article for FiLife.com. I must admit I was a bit shocked to be approached about writing an article for a proper website. It was a challenge as I didn't feel I could just spew out the drivel that I produce here on a daily basis! Posting here is like having a chat and a drink in the local neighborhood bar with close friends. Writing the FiLife.com piece felt like I was giving a speech to an auditorium full of strangers, but lucky for me Mrs. Sidewalker was on hand to calm me down. Anyway it has been sent for editorial review, you can be sure I'll let you know if the article gets published or not! I've never seen a drum I didn't want to beat...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $15.96

Riddle me this?

2009-08-04T11:56:00.011-04:00

The last eighteen months or so have been a torrid time in the financial markets, but it never fails to amaze me the amount of apathy I see from the general population towards this subject as I walk around. I have come to the conclusion that this apathy is born out of the main stream media's mediocre coverage of what has been unfolding in front of us. So with that in mind I thought today I would do a Sidewalker synopsis of the TARP program; hopefully this will bring some clarity to what can be a very difficult subject.

1) The banks became insolvent because they made too many poor performing real estate loans.

2) TARP was then created to float the banks. "Your money" (as a taxpayer) was given to the banks via the Treasury and Federal Reserve at very favorable rates ~0% to 0.25%.

3) The banks then lend "your money" back to you via credit cards, mortgages, loans etc. at rates ranging from 6% to 30% depending on your credit worthiness!

Are you still having a great day!? I'm not an activist, I will not be organizing any "Tea Parties" and the like. My goal writing about this subject is to provoke thought from the guy/gal in the street on what I consider to be a very important issue. This issue thus far appears to have fallen through the cracks somewhere between American Idol and their new iPhone.

I understand that my summary above is very brief, and laid out in the simplest of terms. If it is well received I will consider doing more posts like this to shine the Sidewalker flashlight of clarity on the murky world of finance. I leave you with this question, if you lent someone $10 interest free, how happy would you be if you went to borrow it back and they charged you 18% for the privilege? Now think in billions...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $15.59

Red Bank, N.J. : A Sidewalkers Perspective

2009-08-03T08:45:00.008-04:00

The Sidewalker's were back on the road again Friday. We had arranged to have a sleepover with some good friends that had previously lived within the long shadows cast by Castle Sidewalker, but had managed to escape to the suburbs in Red Bank, New Jersey.

As we left Friday I sat tantalizingly 2 cents short of my $15 target for July. I was worried that Red Bank would prove to be barren changeless wasteland. How wrong I was! I strolled into town to have lunch with a friend that also had escaped to the burbs. I was a little early so I took the opportunity to check the place out. Red Bank is twice the size, by area, of my normal hunting grounds in Hoboken, but it has about one third of the population. Let me lay out a few facts for the sidewalking purists amongst you. The sidewalks of Red bank are not the largest and they are paved in red brick, which nicely disguises the copper coins, but creates a very short floor-life for coins of the silver variety. Another observation I made was that Red Bank must have more benches per capita than any other city in America, and we all know that where there are benches, there are coins!

I was looking to find 2 cents in Red Bank, and I managed to find 41 cents. With my target handily reached it was off to The Dublin House for a spot of lunch with my friend who happens to be a graphic designer. I mentioned to him that I had a blog, and I was in the market for a logo. When I told him I was Luke Sidewalker he spat his drink out and nearly fell off his chair! He said, "You're Luke Sidewalker. I love that guy, I follow him on Twitter. I had no idea." It made me laugh that he then proceeded to talk as if Luke was not present in the room; and there I was sitting right across the table from him!

One last Sidewalker tip for anyone visiting Red bank, there are two bridges out of town over the Navesink River; make sure you take the correct one or you could find yourself walking two miles in the wrong direction...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $15.44

July '09 Month End Report

2009-08-01T14:00:00.007-04:00

Days since inception: 577
Cash balance: $15.39 (all time)
Cents per day: 2.6673 (since inception)
Predicted day for $1,000,000: Monday February 19th 104,655 AD

7/31/2009
$1,000,000
= 1,047.67 oz of Gold @ $954.50 (as per Nymex close near month)
= 14,388.49 barrels of oil @ $69.50 (as per Nymex close Light Sweet Crude near month)
= 71,864.89 oz of Silver @ $13.915 (as per Nymex close near month)

Another great effort in July has cut approximately 20,000 years from the completion date. It was touch and go whether or not I was going to reach my target total of $15 by the end of the month; with one day to go I still had a 2 cent deficit to make up. As you can see I made it with plenty to spare after a bonanza day in Red Bank, N.J. to finish off the month. I will cover the adventures of this trip next week. Other notable moments of the month included a positive article about the blog in The Jersey Journal by Troy Dreier, and of course the ongoing saga of the Starbucks gift card! I'd like to thank everyone for their words of encouragement, especially my followers on Twitter that are closing in on the 2,000 mark!

My target for August will be a little on the conservative side as we are off to Europe at the end of the month to see if we can find some ancient coins on the pavement there! I hope to have reached $17 by the end of this month.

Have a great weekend...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $15.39

In Transit to Red Bank

2009-07-31T08:44:00.011-04:00

We are going down to Red Bank, N.J. this morning. Later today or tomorrow I will be posting my month end report when we have finally got the tally in for July. In the meantime you may want to read the article linked below. I have been fortunate enough to get some good coverage in one of our local papers. Agreed, this is a little self-promotion, but it's not everyday you make it in the news (without getting arrested!).

The Jersey Journal: Luke Sidewalker Article

Check back for the latest update on my predicted completion date, let's hope it has gone down. And to see whether or not I brake the $15 mark this month.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $14.98

Carpe Diem

2009-07-30T07:47:00.008-04:00

Earlier this week I suggested you stay tuned for the third Sidewalker short movie. I had planned to shoot footage of a very tricky coin recovery. I had located a coin that was barely visible and stuck fast between two slabs of concrete; I was to return with the necessary recovery equipment and camera (when did finding coins get so complicated?) at a later date. I guess I got a little complacent and waited too long, because when I returned to the scene this morning the coin had gone! It goes to show you that I should have seized the day, and made the recovery a.s.a.p. Maybe I'm inspiring a few too many new Sidewalkers around town?

So today I thought I would take this opportunity to reintroduce the main protagonists in this blog to any new readers I may have picked up recently. Read below for the Sidewalker roster. They are a colorful bunch of characters, liberally sprinkled through my past posts. Have fun locating them.

Mrs. Sidewalker - She is the glue that keeps Castle Sidewalker together. Whenever the rest of us go off on our flights of fancy she is always on hand to administer a large dose of reality. She also seems to be a bit of a coin magnet. Thanks Mrs. S.

Luke Sidewalker - Yours truly. Fearlessly striding around looking for change, I have never seen a sidewalk I don't like. Trying to use this blog to teach our children the value of money. As the change piles up, so do the deficits. Castle Sidewalker is rapidly becoming a microcosm of America!

Sidewalker Jr. - A studious deep thinker for his three and half years, he is the natural heir to my quest. If you read my Month End Reports, you will see he may have his work cut out for many years to come.

Little Miss Sidewalker - The tenacious little sister, she can always be seen around the Castle and more often than not she will be eating (do not get too close to her). She will eat anything from fruit and yogurt to Sidewalker Jr.'s traveling magnetic checkers set. I fear the day I come home to find her eating out of the coin jar.

Cap'n Tinkerson - He comes from a highly distinguished family of salty old sea dogs. If you go to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore you may see him cruising around at the helm of the good ship Spiller. He once made a crew member walk the plank for not stealing an extra ration of grog!

Dr. Tinkerson - Pretty enough to play a doctor on TV, yet smart enough to be one in real life; she is the spouse of the Cap'n. This is one treasure the Captain will not be leaving behind on a desert island.

The Vulcanologist - A handy darts player with a passion for rocks. Try not to befriend him as he moves house quite frequently and his aforementioned rock collection is a back-breaker to shift. Trust me I know.

Mr. Andrew Gates - As himself.

I'm looking forward to meeting more characters as my quest continues. Is a Luke Sidewalker encounter in your future?

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $14.78

Alas poor change jar...

2009-07-29T14:22:00.009-04:00

Unfortunately I have some very sad news to relay today. It started this morning when I noticed that Sidewalker Jr. was a little antsy, so I suggested he join me on a field trip to help ease away the blues (and to bribe him into finishing his Cheerios for breakfast). I requested he ride shotgun for me as we took the Sidewalker Fund to the bank, and I would let him poor it all (ex-the '57 Wheat Back) into the change counting machine. Don't worry all you child safety police out there, shotgun in the Sidewalker jalopy is a child seat in the rear passenger side all nicely anchored and safely strapped in!

Anyway, we arrive at the bank. The Fund gets poured from the change jar into the counter by Sidewalker Jr., who is by now much happier, and visibly proud as it counts every hard-found penny we had. We proceed to get a deposit ticket then fill it out and with a receipt from the change machine go to the teller to complete our transaction.

The trip was a resounding success,we even found a penny on the way back to the car. On returning to Castle Sidewalker, Jr. rushes in to show off the new find. Mrs. Sidewalker tells him to put it in the change jar as we are starting anew, at which point I look at Jr. and he looks at me... CHANGE JAR!

Now we obviously had it at the cash counting machine, and I vaguely remember it at the deposit ticket desk, although not so much at the teller. Not to worry I say, I'll give the bank a call. I ask them if anyone has handed in an old jar, "No" is the reply. Oh. I say it must be at the deposit ticket desk, then the words hit me like a freight train, "No Sir there is no jar there either".

That jar had been with me for decades, it was like a trusty friend, always on my bed side table, the last thing I saw every night just as I was setting my alarm clock. The saddest part is, I've had to use an archive photo for this post, as I don't even have an original of my now departed vessel.

The flags will be at half-mast for the rest of the week at Castle Sidewalker. I took this opportunity to teach Jr., that just because something has always been there, doesn't mean it always will be there.

I looked into the replacement cost, (not that it can ever be replaced) somewhere in the region of $20, oh well...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $14.77

5 Reasons why I can't run for Public Office

2009-07-28T10:32:00.004-04:00

Following the arrest last week of the local Mayor, there is now the very real possibility of a special election being held to fill his spot should he resign, or be incarcerated. I have been flattered, and to a certain extent stunned, to learn that in some quarters my name has been put forward to run for public office in the event that a special election is called. My supporters cite my unparalleled experience with "change" making me perfect for the job. However, my opponents have rightly pointed out that I have a long and well documented record of handling "dirty money" and that may be a major stumbling block on my route to City Hall (or not in these parts!).

As humbled as I am at the suggestion, below are the reasons why it can't happen:

1. I'm apolitical, and with no affiliation to the Democrats or Republicans it would be very tough to run as an Independent.

2. As of the time of posting my "war chest" to fund a run for public office stands at $14.64 (although I hope to find a little more before the election).This is not nearly enough in today's cash infused political environment.

3. My non-negotiable stance about applying commonsense to all decisions will, in all likelihood, be very poorly received in political circles.

4. If I ever try to cut the budget for street cleaning my opponents will immediately cry, "Conflict of interest!".

5. This blog was written to teach Sidewalker Jr. and Little Miss Sidewalker about the value of money, and not to be a launchpad for any political machinations!

-Luke Sidewalker (For Mayor)
-Current balance $14.64

One Starbucks Gift Card to rule them all...

2009-07-27T08:30:00.001-04:00

I'm sure you will be glad to know that I have finally come to a decision regarding what should be done with the Starbucks gift card that I found a couple of weeks ago (Posted here - Lost and Found). My search to find the owner of the card proved to be an impossible task. I'd like to thank everyone that wrote in with suggestions as to my course of action. In the end I found a unique solution, and as with all decisions of this nature I'm sure I will not be able to please everyone, least of all myself!

As time ticks by, with each passing second the urge to use the card became stronger and stronger from deep within me. It had a similar effect on me as the One Ring had on Frodo in the Lord of the Rings. And so it came to pass on Friday of last week that the last vestiges of my willpower were finally crushed like a tin can at 2,000 feet below the surface of the ocean. Yes, I used the card, which is no mean feat given my aversion to coffee. I charged a freshly squeezed organic orange juice to "my precious" card. I'll admit it, the heavy burden of being the "card-bearer" is burning a hole in my soul that grows larger with each passing day. It threatens to tear apart the very fabric that holds us Sidewalkers together. I need to find my own personal Mount Doom, to cast the card into! As soon as I identify my "Mount Doom" we shall have some fun following the final fate of the now infamous card. (Does it seem like I'm making excuses to hold onto the card for a bit longer?)

In other news, I came across a penny yesterday that could not be retrieved in a conventional manner. I hope to return to the location to see the coin still in position. If that is the case I plan to use some of the tools in the Sidewalker Rescue Pack to salvage the coin; and further more, it is my intention to capture the whole episode on my trusty cell phone. So keep an eye out later this week for another original Sidewalker movie short...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $14.53

Say it ain't so...Cammarano

2009-07-24T08:45:00.003-04:00

The Sidewalker Mailbag has been canceled this Friday due to the stunning swoop and following arrests made in the local area by the F.B.I. on Thursday. Read on...

By looking at my Cash Trail map in the side bar on the right, you don't have to be Christopher Columbus to figure out that Castle Sidewalker is located somewhere in the dark recesses of Hudson County, New Jersey. For my readers from further afield, you may be familiar with this area as it is the "playground" of Tony Soprano, from the HBO series The Sopranos. Right now I wished we lived in the fictitious world of The Sopranos, as that would be more believable than the events that unfolded here early on Thursday morning. Once again the national spotlight shined brightly on Hudson County for all the wrong reasons. The Mayor of Hoboken, Peter Cammarano, was arrested for allegedly receiving payments from a property developer for preferential treatment at the local zoning board. The indictment does actually include the passing of brown envelopes stuffed with cash in the parking lot of a local diner, I kid you not! However I am not going to rush to judgement (that is not the way of the Sidewalker), I'll just wait and let the legal system run it's course. What I do find remarkable about the arrest is that the Mayor had only been in office for 23 days. Unfortunately most Mayors around these parts get arrested at some point during their 4 year term; but 23 days, come on, that has to be some kind of a record! Can anyone out there beat that?

It may turn out to be that I'm not the only one who has been picking up cash in Hoboken! I have come to the conclusion that Hoboken may be the only town in America that can compete with Chicago when it comes to political corruption. If you were to measure corruption per capita, Hoboken really knocks it out of the park; which is rather ironic as it is also known as the "birthplace of baseball".

In other news, I have arrived at a solution for the now infamous Starbucks Gift Card. I shall reveal it's fate on Monday, so be sure to check back in then.

Have a great weekend...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $14.29 (plus pending Starbucks resolution)

Starbucks Redux

2009-07-23T09:21:00.006-04:00

If you remember a week or so ago I found a Starbucks gift card at a bus stop in Hoboken. The full story of finding it can be found here. After much publicizing of my find, and after a couple of opportunist attempts to claim the card by interlopers, the true owner has not come forward.

I can now reveal the amount outstanding on the card is $10. This sum of money would give an incredible boost to the Sidewalker Fund, but we are left with a couple of questions. Firstly how am I to monetize this find? Secondly, even if I can monetize it, is it within the spirit of my quest to add it to the total?

So let's look at my options:

1. I can stand outside a Starbucks and offer to buy people coffee for cash. I recall this being done in movie not so long ago, but I can't recollect which one.

2. Reader(s) of the blog could bid for the $10 value of the gift card, you may even get it at a discount!

3. I'm meeting a reporter this week who potentially wants to do an article about my adventures, we just happen to be meeting in a Starbucks. Perhaps I could use the card there, in order to break the ice at the interview.

Any thoughts on how I deal with this would be most welcome. Or are you a purist, and think I should not include the proceeds of this find in the Sidewalker Fund at all? Let me know what you are thinking...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $14.29 (plus pending Starbucks resolution)

Penny Finders Wish List & Other Rarities

2009-07-21T18:17:00.015-04:00

Ever since I found that 1957 Wheat Back penny last week I have done some more research into the different types of pennies in circulation. Now that I have got the concept in my head that not all pennies are created equal, I decided to draw up a wish list of those I would like to find in the street. So in no particular order here goes.

1. 1943 Steel Cent. During the Second World War there was a shortage of copper, so the 1943 pennies were made from zinc coated steel. The only US issued coin ever to be made from steel.

2. Indian Head Cent. Struck between 1859 and 1909.

3. All four 2009 Lincoln Cents. These four special edition pennies will have different scenes from Lincoln's life on the reverse.

While I'm on the subject of rarities, a Government bureaucrat in Washington spoke the truth today. If you want to see what it looks like when members of our "free" press, (in this case a financial cable tv channel, bought and paid for by the bankers) try to sandbag said official, then click on this link to the Market Ticker blog run by Karl Denninger and enjoy. If the subject matter does not make you feel queasy, the treatment of the Inspector General for TARP, Mr. Barofsky definitely will! I'm just the man in the street (albeit picking up change), but when Congress signed off on TARP wasn't it $700 Billion, how did we get to $23.7 Trillion (with a T, that is no typo)? I feel like Rip Van Winkle, did I fall asleep and miss something?

Just to stress this blog is apolitical, but the Sidewalker's don't like getting robbed just like the majority of you out there. When I see a wrong, not matter what part of the political spectrum it emanates from, I call it! As a taxpayer, Mr. Barofsky maybe our only hope...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $14.16 (plus pending Starbucks resolution)

Baltimore Bonanza!

2009-07-20T08:57:00.014-04:00

OK, so the post title is a little liberal with the truth, but our trip to Baltimore did yield 51 cents for the Sidewalker Fund. The purpose of the trip was to visit our good friend Captain Tinkerson, and his lovely wife Dr. Tinkerson. We were once again overwhelmed by the generosity of their hosting. However Cap'n Tinkerson comes from a long line of well decorated salty sea dogs, and it was hard to refuse his offer of a days sailing around the Inner Harbor on his barque, the good ship Spiller. The downside of this nautical extravaganza was the lack of coin finding opportunities on the open sea, so this took a real bite out of our predicted total for the trip. The highlight of the sail was when Sidewalker Jr. said, "Daddy there is a big boat behind us". To which I replied, "Don't be ridiculous son, we would...", just as five loud blasts from it's horn indicated we should move aside lest we get holed and sunk by the massive tugboat. I can confirm that Baltimore is still very much a working port!

The two most noticeable finds were the penny found in the demonstration of the steering mechanism on the pier next to the USS Constellation, and a quarter that Cap'n Tinkerson pointed out to us at the National Aquarium. I think he was trying to make up for the sailing debacle. Also Light Street was like a penny arcade, evidence of this can be seen in my Cash Trail Map in the side bar to the right, as I have plotted all the Baltimore finds already.

As we strolled around the inner harbor, I remarked to Cap'n Tinkerson that the local folk down here seem to dress real strange. After a raucous belly laugh befitting of his status as a "man of the sea", the Cap'n explained that Baltimore was hosting an Anime (Japanese cartoon characters) convention, and the fans like to dress up in the spirit of the event. My bad!

The picture above is a Sidewalker original of the transom of the USS Constellation, the restoration work done on this old Man O' War is quite exquisite. I would definitely recommend a visit if you are in the Baltimore Inner Harbor area. Likewise the Aquarium is a must see, and the dolphin show was a big hit with the kids.

So the window to claim my found Starbucks gift card has expired. Later this week we will explore the possibilities of how we are to proceed with this find.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $13.92 (plus pending Starbucks resolution)

Traveling Circus

2009-07-15T09:13:00.010-04:00

As much as I would like to write a multi-paragraph rant today about how, as a taxpayer, I feel I have been fleeced by Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and their record breaking earnings announced yesterday. Unfortunately I just don't have the time right now, as we are setting out on our road trip. And alas, right there, I have become part of the problem, and not part of the solution...

Instead I am just finishing the partition wall made out of our baggage in the back seat of the Sidewalker jalopy. This wall needs to be built so that World War III does not break out in the rear, when Sidewalker Jr. sees Little Miss Sidewalker shove the last piece of his traveling magnetic checkers set in her mouth around Exit 7 on the New Jersey Turnpike.

So without wasting anymore time lets move swiftly on to the ultimate clue in our destination teaser.

Clue #1: The target is a port city on the Eastern seaboard of the United States.
Clue #2: The target is South of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Clue #3: The target is the final port of call for the USS Constellation

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $13.39 (plus pending Starbucks resolution)

The New Numismatist

2009-07-14T10:45:00.000-04:00

Yesterday one of the four pennies I found was from 1957. On closer inspection I noticed a different design on the reverse of this coin. After further research I found out the coin is what is known as a "Wheat Back" in numismatic circles, for the two wheat sheaves as seen in the image shown here.

Up until yesterday I was of the opinion that all pennies were created equal. Today I stand corrected! Wheat back pennies were made from 1909 to 1958 and because of their rarity the price of them can range from three cents right up to $550 a piece according to this article from about.com .

On returning back to Castle Sidewalker I did not put my '57 Wheat Back with the general population of change in the jar on my bed side table. It is now residing in solitary confinement, wrapped in tissue paper, in a high security compound at the Castle (it is like the Pablo Escobar of my coin collection)! The reason for the heightened security being that this little Wheatie of mine may have a resale value of up to three cents, and as they would say on the Antiques Roadshow, for insurance purposes I should probably have it covered for a nickel!

In other news, yesterday a bird mistook me for a washroom and relieved itself on my head. It is not my intention to take this blog down the toilet humor route, but it is not every day you get dumped on by sea gull, so I thought it was worth a mention. This could be taken as a good sign in some quarters, especially if you are in the shampoo business...

OK, moving on, the road trip later this week is now confirmed, so I will roll out clue number two. I have only had one guess so far, which was Boston and it was wrong. Perhaps I should add an incentive to encourage more guesses? Any one care to guess correctly for a 52 year old Wheatie...?

Clue #1: The target is a port city on the Eastern seaboard of the United States.
Clue #2: The target is South of the Mason-Dixon Line.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $13.38 (plus pending Starbucks resolution)

What the ...?

2009-07-13T08:57:00.008-04:00

Well the Saturday night trip into Manhattan did not produce anything to add to my total. I was going to the house warming party for my good friend the vulcanologist, you remember that guy from the Density of Rock post? I had substantial hopes for New York City to give me a high yielding return, but the weather gods produced a fantastic lightning show with accompanying rain. So my aim went from finding coins to staying dry, both of which I failed at. I did bounce back with a couple of finds on Sunday to keep my total ticking over.

If you look at the picture associated with this post (it is a Sidewalker original), you will see that I have captured everything that we abhor here at Castle Sidewalker. Firstly there is the parking meter, the ultimate cash vampire! Then some genius thought they would display their disrespect of the penny by attaching it with chewing gum to said parking meter. At least they showed some remorse by not gumming up Abe Lincoln and instead defiling the tails side. The bigger question to be asked is; has the penny become so irrelevant that it's ok to be treated in this way? As much as it disturbed me, I thought it made for an interesting snap shot.

In other news, we are very much considering the Europe Expedition I mentioned last week. And in preparation for that we are going on a mini trip this week to test the logistics of taking this "circus" on the road! Let's see if you can guess our destination. I will give a clue every day, for the next three days.

Clue #1: The target is a port city on the Eastern seaboard of the United States.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $13.24 (plus pending Starbucks resolution)

Sidewalker Mailbag #4

2009-07-10T11:30:00.005-04:00

We made it through another week. On reflection it was a week of high drama, we had the as yet unconfirmed celebrity coin find. We had a family bug and quarantine, and we have the latest dilemma of the gift card find. One thing is for sure, hanging around Castle Sidewalker is not a dull past time at all. So without further ado let's dip into the Sidewalker mailbag and see what it has to offer us this week.

"I found $0.41 at Wal-Mart in a shopping basket. Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR, and Washington, all in a row!"
-jake_Iam from Wisconsin, U.S.A. via Twitter
[LS: I can't tell you how green I turned on getting this tweet. For the coin finding purists out there, this is the ultimate Grand Slam. Congratulations Jake.]

"When commuting by bike(6 miles each way), I did the same thing (bored, I guess)! Easiest to see 'em in the dark, by street lamp."
-dreamon51 somewhere in the Universe via Twitter
[LS: An interesting twist, by cycling I could cover more ground and pick up more coins, alas Lance Armstrong I'm not.]

"@LukeSidewalker haha you're a good guy....I had a dream the other night I found 10 pounds in coins...your influence I'm certain of it!!"
-DON4LD from London, England via Twitter
[LS: Never underestimate the power of the force Donald!]

And of course I would not deprive you of one from the naysayers.

"you will never reach a million... never..."
-dubbledutch from the United Kingdom via Twitter
[LS: Thank you for your opinion. One thing is for sure, if I never try I never will, however I have started, so the jury is out for now.]

I'm planning a road trip next week, so let's see if the fresh location pays dividends.
Have a great weekend.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $13.11 (plus pending Starbucks resolution)

Lost and Found

2009-07-09T17:42:00.007-04:00

Today's post is late because I have been embroiled in what can only be described as a bizarre sequence of events. It all started with me looking down, no surprise there! I was at a bus stop in Hoboken N.J., and down in the gutter glinting at me in the late afternoon sun was what appeared to be a credit card. I bent down with the intention to secure the card, and if possible repatriate it with the rightful owner, before it could be put to a more nefarious use by an individual less scrupulous than myself.

However on further inspection I saw that it was not a credit card at all, but in fact a gift card to be used in a Starbucks Coffee outlet. I would have given it no further thought, had it not been in pristine condition. Curiosity got the better of me and there are several Starbucks in town close by (isn't that the case in every town in America?), so I resolved to find out if there was any balance on the card.

Well you can imagine my shock when the cashier checked it and told me there was an active balance. My shock soon turned to panic when she asked me what I would like; I do not drink coffee, I don't even speak coffee and I'm totally out of my comfort zone in the company of Barista's (I guess I can rule out Starbucks as a future sponsor of my endeavor!). This leaves me with one and potentially two problems...

1)If you have lost a Starbucks coffee gift card at a bus stop in Hoboken, leave me a note in the comments section below or send me a tweet, stating at which bus stop you lost it at, and also the balance on the card before high noon E.D.T. on 16th June 2009. If your information rings true, I will return it to you.

2)In the event a legitimate claim is not made by the cut off time, how will I monetize this "plastic" find to add to the Sidewalker Fund?

When I started this adventure I never thought finding street cash would get this complicated. I think I need a coffee...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $13.11 (plus pending Starbucks resolution)

European Expedition?

2009-07-08T15:01:00.012-04:00

I'm happy to announce that the quarantine has been lifted at Castle Sidewalker and we are all feeling much better. During our down time it gave me a chance to surf the internet, where I came across this treasure hunting article from a UK publication called the Daily Mail.

It is a remarkable story about the finding of a massive hoard of ancient gold coins from Roman times. Actually to be more precise, the story is about the dispute of how the "spoils" will be distributed. This is the piece of these stories that I really love. There is always one guy that has been looking for the mother lode all his life, and there is always at least one other party that wants in on the action post find. Now are you are beginning to see the merits of my Cash Trail Map? Funny how my twelve bucks and change has not drawn any claimants!

Anyway, as I was picking up my third cent today (which incidentally I did not have to bend down for, as someone had kindly placed it on top of a parking meter for me), I could not stop thinking about this story. The earliest coins I am going to find on these fine shores will probably be from circa 1600's. I started to formulate a plan to go on a European expedition. Does anyone have any opinions on the viability of such a trip? Would you be interested if I chronicled the trip here on the blog?

As an aside, seeing the Royal Standard as my image for this post got me thinking that Castle Sidewalker looks naked without one! Are there any budding graphic designers out there that would like a shot at making the Sidewalker Standard? If so, they can have their work fluttering regally above the ramparts of Castle Sidewalker to signify my presence at the residence!

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $12.84

Quarantine

2009-07-07T17:29:00.005-04:00

I apologize for the brevity of the post today, but I'm not feeling great. Let's hope it is just a 24 hour issue. I just haven't quite got that hop in my step today, but the glass is still half full! Castle Sidewalker has been closed to the public and the four of us are under quarantine. I don't see any finds in my immediate future, unless the pharmacy can bail me out.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $12.81

Celebrity Coinage?

2009-07-06T10:46:00.014-04:00

Of late I have not been blogging on individual coin finds, unless they have been out of the ordinary. This holiday weekend Mrs. Sidewalker had such a find. Not only was it a big haul (45 cents no less) but the location and size of the find leads me to believe that it may be our first celebrity coin find!

Hoboken, N.J. is the location of Carlo's Bake Shop, the HQ of TLC's very own Cake Boss. Behind the shop is a back alley for deliveries and it is here that Mrs. Sidewalker found the four dimes and a nickel. The exact location can be seen on my Cash Trail Map in the sidebar to the right. I hope the Cake Boss does not read this blog, otherwise I may be getting an offer I can't refuse in the not too distant future! As long as it involves pastries (which are absolutely fantastic from there) and nothing to do with sleeping with the fishes in the Hudson River I won't mind too much!

So we are left with more questions than answers. Was this indeed our first case of celebrity coinage? What was Mrs. Sidewalker doing loitering by the delivery entrance of a "Bakery to the Stars" on a Sunday? There is much head scratching to be done at Castle Sidewalker today.

I'll leave you with a Sidewalker factoid of the day. The Cake Boss made the Sidewalker wedding cake! I can hear you thinking that is not very frugal having your wedding cake made by a celebrity chef. On the contrary, when you have it made many years before the chef achieves celebrity status it can be a great talking point at social gatherings! Seems a shame we ate it now...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $12.77

Sidewalker Mailbag #3

2009-07-03T08:52:00.010-04:00

I just want to wish everyone a happy 4th. If you are playing with fireworks this weekend be careful and stay safe. Well it's Friday so that means it must be mailbag time! Let's dip in and and see what delights are waiting for us ahead of this long holiday weekend.

"In this area, you're lucky to find a penny a year. Even my metal detector won't find it!"
- D_Old_Man from U.S.A., via Twitter
[LS: I'm sorry to hear that Old Man. If only I knew where you were located, I could avoid it like the plague. I don't think I could stand the damage to my cents per day stat.]

"I have found a 'wealth' of coins just sitting in trays on the counters of just about any convenience store."
- thecomputerdave from Florida, U.S.A. via Twitter
[LS: Dave I find your enthusiasm infectious, but I think you will find that is stealing.]

"Thinking @LukeSidewalker and @DavidSlocombe should meet! One is searching for a million, 1Cent at a time, the other giving away a million!"
- KarenLKay from Mississippi, U.S.A. via Twitter
[LS: Sounds too good to be true Karen, I don't think his intention is to give it all to one person though! Thanks for the heads-up.]

And I could not leave you without the obligatory rebuttal, just to keep it real.

"@LukeSidewalker WORST GIMMICK EVER AHAHHAHA. JUST DO LIKE THE WINOS DO AND STICK TO DUMPSTER DIVING FOR CANS. YOU'LL GET RICH FASTER HAHAH"
- MrFriendo from no fixed address via Twitter
[LS: Hey pal, you may want to take the caps lock off before I take anything you say seriously.]

While everyone is looking up at the fireworks this weekend, I'll be the one looking down for coins! Happy Independence Day.

Have a great long weekend.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $12.30

Trading Places

2009-07-02T12:37:00.011-04:00

This morning I came across an interesting blog. Some of you may already be familiar with it, it is the story of a guy, Kyle MacDonald, who started with one red paperclip and traded his way up to a house. He is now looking to trade that house, which got my mind ticking over. I have contacted him with a proposal. I have offered the full assets and balance sheet of the Sidewalker Fund in exchange for the house; that is not only the cash balance of $12.30, but all the royalties from my short movies, and all the Sidewalker image rights as well. If he drives a hard bargain I may well throw in Sidewalker Jr. and Little Miss Sidewalker as well!

I'm not saying I've had enough of Castle Sidewalker, but it does get tiresome herding the whole family into the dungeon for the winter, as it is the warmest room in the place. Also the air conditioning (a.k.a the three missing bricks in the North facing facade) lets in a lot of water during thunderstorms, but the place does have "character" in spades, and if the deal goes through we will be leaving with a heavy heart. I hope the new occupants will remember to feed the bats.

Having just previewed this post and reading what I have done, written down here in black and white, has got me feeling buyers remorse already and I haven't even heard back from Mr. Red Paperclip yet! In the current real estate environment I think I may have offered too much. Does anyone know how to retract a voice mail...?

In other news, the State of California is about to start printing IOU's. If only the grocery store would accept Sidewalker IOU's, but that is a post for another day.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $12.30

Sidewalker Taboo!

2009-07-01T12:04:00.012-04:00

Ever since I did my first video presentation (in the the post: Sidewalker busts $10 in video first!), I have been itching to do another. As premier coin finder and editor-in-chief of this esteemed publication, I allow myself the one indulgence of using this platform as a showcase for my nascent cinematography career. I do expect to get some constructive criticism from my readership, especially when I put my work in the harsh glare of the public spotlight.

Today's video short highlights one of the many temptations for Sidewalkers the world over. I can only imagine what it would be like to live in Rome! Throwing coins into a fountain is a practice that is said to come from ancient Greece. It was an offering to the Naiad nymph of the spring or well. These offerings were to insure that the source of the water would not run dry. Needless to say, it is not in the Sidewalker playbook to pilfer coins from fountains. It is strictly taboo and not one cent of the Sidewalker Fund has originated in this manner. I'm not one to incur the wrath of nymphs!

I can envision the Oscar's next year. Clint Eastwood on the podium, "And the Oscar for the 'best independent short film shot on a cell phone by a newcomer' goes to... Luke Sidewalker for Sidewalker Taboo". Applause.

We all need a dream, right?

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $12.29

June '09 Month End Report

2009-06-30T15:48:00.008-04:00

Days since inception: 546
Cash balance: $12.24 (all time)
Cents per day: 2.2418 (since inception)
Predicted day for $1,000,000: Thursday November 7th 124,137 AD

6/30/2009
$1,000,000
= 1,077.59 oz of Gold @ $928.00 (as per Nymex close near month)
= 14,271.44 barrels of oil @ $70.07 (as per Nymex close Light Sweet Crude near month)
= 73,664.82 oz of Silver @ $13.575 (as per Nymex close near month)

The big push in June has sliced just over 17,000 years off the projected completion date. I have managed to get my cents per day rate since inception over the psychological 2 cents per day mark. I have some travel plans during the next two months, it will be interesting to see if the new hunting grounds will accelerate or derail my quest. I will give a few clues to my destination a little closer to departure date.

I have set myself a target of $15 in total by the end of July. I will have to get lucky with a few quarters here and there, but fortune favors the brave...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $12.24

Shrinkage!

2009-06-29T08:29:00.009-04:00

With June drawing to a close, I can look back with a good sense of accomplishment as it has been a reasonable month. I have not crunched the final numbers yet (that will be done in time for tomorrow's Month End Report). It seems to me that the really tough part of my quest is not actually finding the money, but instead spending it in a timely fashion before the grim reaper of inflation destroys my purchasing power.

Lately all I read and hear about from the enlightened economists is that we are in a deflationary environment. All I can surmise from that is, these economists have never done the family grocery shopping. Sure it may be cheaper to buy a car, but I don't buy a car every week. Sure house prices may be cheaper, but I don't buy a house every week.

Digging through the Sidewalker groceries at the weekend, I found that I was the victim of a most heinous crime, yes SHRINKAGE! I'm not sure what the technical term for it is, but this is how I define it. Paying the same price for less product due to stealthy packaging changes. Either my hands are getting bigger, or there is something more sinister at play.

Most noticeably have been my breakfast cereal boxes getting thinner, my ice cream box getting smaller. However my favorite was the peanut butter jar. It looked the same and felt the same, it smelt the same and cost the same, all except the new massive concave bottom robbing me of 2 oz.!

So as you can see my grocery bill has not been going up, I have just been getting less and less product. This is a deterioration over time, it will only become apparent to most people when the weekly grocery shop turns into a daily event!

The most famous case of this over the years was the 5 cent Hershey chocolate bar. They kept the price at 5 cents for so long that if you compared a bar from year to year, it would give you a great visualization of inflation via shrinkage.

For further reading on the subject click this link to ehow.com

So tomorrow when I recalculate how long it's going to take me to pick up my million, I'll really be wondering how many tubs of peanut butter it will buy me when I finally get there.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $12.20

Sidewalker Mailbag #2

2009-06-26T08:41:00.011-04:00

It's Friday, so that means it's time once again to open the Sidewalker "virtual" mailbag. I'm happy to make this a regular Friday feature as long as I keep on getting the correspondence. So I will keep you waiting no longer, here are this weeks offerings:

"I'm pretty sure I saw 10c on 5th & Hudson this morning, but "Ron Jeremy" the friendly neighborhood hobo probably got it!"
- VanessaG5484 New Jersey, U.S.A via Twitter
[LS: This is scary, I think I know that guy. The hobo that is!]

"You got me to thinking, H1N1 is one (of many) reasons why I choose not to pick up coins, bills are one thing - credit cards are good!"
- visualdeviant Nevada, U.S.A. via Twitter
[LS: This one had me panicking for a while until I did the research, and discovered it is very difficult for a virus to exist for any length of time on a metallic surface.]

"I recommend @LukeSidewalker - clever twitter handle, funny idea and charmingly funny to read what he's doing."
- BarbaraHauck Arizona, U.S.A. via Twitter
[LS: Thanks Barbara, another one to file in the "Flattery will get you everywhere" category!]

Just to show that we are fair and balanced here at Castle Sidewalker and the blog is not all shameless self-promotion, I just pulled this little gem from the mailbag.

"@LukeSidewalker you have THE stupidest twitter I've ever seen. Well done, you really capture the spirit of twatter."
- saltwatersound U.S.A. via Twitter
[LS: Errr, thank you for the interaction, I guess. I appreciate the help in keeping me well grounded. I hope your day improves!]

Have a great weekend

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $12.06

R.I.P. Michael Jackson

2009-06-25T19:06:00.013-04:00

I've just learned along with the rest of the world that Michael Jackson is no longer with us having died of a cardiac arrest and been pronounced dead at a hospital in Los Angeles. With that in mind I will not spout any nonsense about finding coins today.

Michael Jackson was a talent without parallel as he dominated the world of pop in the 80's. Unfortunately his private life was not so successful, from pet chimpanzee's, to personal theme parks, dangling his children over hotel balconies and countless cosmetic surgeries; to name but a few of the bizarre episodes that plagued him. He was obviously a troubled soul away from the spotlight on the stage.

There are countless other outlets that can write an obituary many times better than I. Here are two of them, depending on when you were born click the appropriate link:

BBC
TMZ

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $12.06

Cellular World

2009-06-24T14:18:00.011-04:00

The other day I received the following email:

Dear Commander Sidewalker,
I noticed that a good percentage of finds take place in front of bars or restaurants.
How do you attribute this? Is this one of your tips for those who may take up the cause of becoming rich slowly? Or are you just a fan of boozing and eating?
Just curious.
-BGK Jersey City, New Jersey, USA.

First off let me just say I love the "Commander Sidewalker" label, flattery will get you everywhere! This reader is very observant and must have been checking out my Cash Trail Map in the side bar to the right. I do indeed find a lot of coins outside of bars and restaurants, and as always I have my theories, correct or otherwise. In this day and age the vast majority of people carry cellular phones, when they ring in a bar or restaurant they dash outside and rip their iPhone from their pocket with accompanying loose change falling on the floor like confetti at a wedding. They start to bend down to pick up the change but because the average attention span is measured in nano-seconds these days (are you still with me!?) they get sidetracked talking about the latest elimination on American Idol. The conversation then concludes, phone back in pocket, return to bar, coins left on ground for Luke.

Now onto the second part of the e-mail. Yes, I used to be a big fan of drinking and eating out (and during those days you can assume that I was not a penny-finder), but not so much so these days since Sidewalker Jr. and Little Miss Sidewalker took up residence at Castle Sidewalker. It is safe to say I have gone from being a net dropper to a net picker-upper; but just to keep it all relative, that does not cover the cost of having two extra permanent residents at the castle!

Staycation update: Still stuck in the Netherlands!

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $11.77

Karmic Merry-Go-Round

2009-06-23T19:56:00.015-04:00

For every Ying there is a Yang, for every Zig, a Zag. The forces of Karma are relentless in their search for equilibrium. And so it came to pass today that I had to take my medicine and address some imbalances in my Karma account. I was doing nothing more sinister than buying a bagel, but sometimes a simple task such as this, is all Karma needs in order to make it's presence felt.

Allow me to set the scene for you. The bagel has been ordered and I have it in custody, off I go to the cashier. I hand over three crisp dollar bills to settle the $2.49 transaction, and the cashier gives me two quarters and a penny in change. Nothing too crazy there right? Wrong. On closer inspection I see that my change is one quarter, one penny, and one whole Hong Kong Dollar. Struggling to contain my elation at the mistake the "dimwit" in the deli had made, I rushed home to share the news of my windfall with Mrs. Sidewalker. Well let me tell you, on returning to Castle Sidewalker it did not take long for that elation to turn to deflation and then spiral into full blown self-loathing misery! The reason for the mood swing? The ever pragmatic Mrs. Sidewalker pointed out that my one Hong Kong Dollar coin was worth about 13 cents US, leaving me as the dimwit and 12 cents out of pocket. I think that was Karma trying to balance out for my post on how to deal with finding foreign coins. Now if I can only resist the urge to shove that Hong Kong Dollar coin into the nearest parking meter my Karma account should be in good standing!

In other news, I'd like to thank Peter Backx for his very generous article about my blog that can be read by clicking this link to Streamhead. Meanwhile my search for a footwear sponsor continues, so if you know of any company that may be interested please let me know...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $11.77

The Law of Unintended Consequences

2009-06-22T03:00:00.004-04:00

"Unintended consequences", now that is a term that has been tossed around recently by the mainstream media in reference to the bailouts of the financial system. As my march to a million had a rain delay this weekend I was left gazing out of the upper-most window of the citadel at Castle Sidewalker pondering whether or not I had any of these unforeseen outcomes in my quest.

Below is the description of the law by Konrad J. Friedemann (you might have to wait for another rainy weekend if you want me to find out who this guy is!):

“the proposition that every undertaking, however well-intentioned, is
generally accompanied by unforeseen repercussions that can overshadow
the principal endeavor.”

And if you require further reading on the subject, a good place to start is this entry at Wikipedia.

I can imagine you sitting there reading this and scratching your head thinking, what has this got to do with picking cash up off the sidewalk? Well allow me to be the beacon of light in your hitherto foggy Monday morning. If you look over to the left you will see my last Twitter post has my running total at $11.66 (at the time of publishing). However, in choosing to walk (see post: Sixth Cents) in order to collect these orphaned coins, the result has been an accelerated deterioration of my footwear (twice the normal rate) and with a replacement cost of over $40 a time; well you don't have to be Einstein to see where I'm going with this...

The quest continues for now, but my frugal genes leave me deliberating the wisdom of continuing after the impact of this unintended consequence on my wallet.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $11.66

Heads or Tails?

2009-06-19T12:01:00.007-04:00

Whether or not to pick up a coin that is showing tails? That is the 64 cent question today. A lot of people have contacted me to say they would not pick up a coin showing tails because it brings bad luck. Now I do not live a life without superstitions, but not picking up a tailed coin is definitely not one of them. As you are well aware, I'm on the slow track to riches ($11.36 in ~18 months). I could not possibly afford myself the luxury of this superstition without severely compromising my mission.

The basis of this superstition is best described thus;
Heads for good luck, tails for bad luck. Especially when coins showed the faces of a ruling monarch, it was an easy step to the idea that face up meant the spirit of the ruler looked favorably on your wish or bet. -As described on WhoWhatWhereWhenWhy.com

I think the person who got the masses to believe that picking up a tailed coin is bad luck was in all probability an ancestor of mine. He was probably just as broke as I am and considered this little piece of scaremongery a stroke of Sidewalker genius, and a little something for future generations of Sidewalkers to reap the benefits!

Either way keep on walking by those tailed coins as it leaves more for me to find and further bolster the Sidewalker Fund.

I leave you superstitious types with this question though. How superstitious are you? If you came across a tailed silver dollar in the street...

Have a great weekend.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $11.36

Sidewalker Mailbag #1

2009-06-18T13:09:00.015-04:00

As promised yesterday I have a sampling of some the correspondence I received after my Foreign Exchange post. Opening the Sidewalker mail bag is like opening a box of chocolates; you're never quite sure what you're going to get. Thanks for the quote Forrest, and you were spot on as you can see from the selection below.

"Luke, you should put your foreign coins on Ebay. Everything sells on Ebay, over here I saw a 1 pound coin sell for 5 pounds!"
Mr. P.Judges - London, England.

"Hey Sidey, Perhaps you could travel to Germany and spend your Euros in the new gold vending machines they have there as reported in the Daily Telegraph"
Mr. L.J.Stingone - New Jersey, U.S.A.
[LS: That is an interesting article, and a subject I may address at length in a separate post at a later date.]

"Mr. Sidewalker, From the writing of the blog we can safely ascertain you had no formal schooling, however your interpretation of the law as set forth in Step 3 of your procedure is 100% correct. If only we knew who you were and where you lived you would be brought to justice at the earliest opportunity. Expect a visit from your local FBI field team in the not too distant future."
Mr. John C. Dugan, Comptroller of the Currency - Washington D.C., U.S.A.

In other news, we are experiencing some very poor weather in the local area at the moment and I don't foresee finding any money today as I'm housebound. So short of rummaging down the back of my sofa the finding streak appears to be ending today.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $11.36

Back in the Saddle

2009-06-17T20:12:00.014-04:00

I've been thinking about what a great run I've been on recently and why that came about. I like to think that revitalizing the blog has played a major role in reversing my fortunes. If you take a look at the blog archive (below in the right sidebar) you will see that I was muted for almost a year. The reason was documented in my post of February 21st 2009. I'd like to say the break gave me a chance to recharge the batteries blah, blah, blah, but that is not the case. I was just beaten down by the "system". However us Sidewalkers are a resilient breed and I'm back better than ever picking up street cash on a daily basis of late. You may think it is incredible that I find some money every day, but I like to turn that on it's head and say I think it's incredible that you walk by it everyday without picking it up!

I see some tough days of agonizing in my future, as the Sidewalker Fund balloons towards $15 I can no longer justify leaving it in the jar on my bedside table (just to the right of my bus pass and in front of my alarm clock; in case you were wondering). Controlling funds of this size comes with great responsibility. This means I will have to do some soul searching and get mentally prepared to dance with devil once again as I put the monies to work. Any suggestions what I should do with it? Note to self, avoid any Madoff-like ponzi's.

Tomorrow I will be opening the "virtual" mail bag at Castle Sidewalker as I have had some interesting responses to my prior post on what to do with with foreign coins that I feel compelled to share with you, so keep an eye out for that post.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $11.36

Extraneous Substitute

2009-06-16T11:19:00.016-04:00

Yes you guessed it from the the title of the post; today I am going to deal with the topic of Foreign Exchange! More specifically how I deal with the situation of finding foreign coins on the sidewalks of America in response to a question posed to me on Twitter by e1tje. The location of Castle Sidewalker is on a well beaten path of many an international traveler, so I am highly qualified to answer this question. I have an easy to follow three step procedure for such an occurrence which I am more than happy to share with you for free.

Step 1.
Search your local sidewalk for foreign coins. Once you have located a foreign coin proceed to Step 2.

Step 2.
Identify the coin's country of origin, followed by the denomination. Then look up the value of the coin in U.S. Dollars on a table such as this one here.

Step 3.
Determine if the weight and shape is comparable to a US coin. If it is comparable and the value calculated in Step 2 is less than the US coin (normally the case), then stuff it into the nearest vending machine* whilst wearing a smile as wide as the Mississippi. Otherwise put it in that cookie jar of interesting artifacts you have collected and never look at it again.

*DISCLAIMER - THIS IS A FELONY IN 50 OUT OF 50 US STATES

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $11.27

Sweet Tweets

2009-06-15T18:57:00.009-04:00

I'd like to thank you all for the messages of encouragement I have received on Twitter since I joined the network. I have also received a lot of messages from people saying how much money they are finding. I find it fascinating just how much cash is laying around out there as we sit watching GM, Chrysler and the State of California going bankrupt. Not for one minute am I suggesting their ills could be cured by making their employees go on a sidewalk cash hunt, plus that is the kind of competition I don't need! It is intriguing though knowing all this free cash exists, but is it too widespread and too small of a denomination to help anyone in these hard times?

When I have more time I will try to do some Sidewalker math and calculate how much cash I believe is on the sidewalk at any given moment in America, unless there is a reader out there who would like to do my dirty work for me and suggest a total with accompanying methodology?

In other news, things are rolling along quite nicely at Castle Sidewalker and between the four of us we have amassed $1.12 so far this month, far exceeding my hoped-for 2 cents per day average for June '09; and we still have 15 days to go. Our latest finds can be seen on my Cash Trail map in the side bar to the right. It looks like Hoboken, N.J. is the town that just keeps on giving!

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $11.27

10 Signs you'll know I've reached a $1,000,000

2009-06-13T16:22:00.022-04:00

I'm feeling rather buoyant after my latest finds and I'm accelerating towards my goal, so just in case you are too lazy to check in on the blog every day to follow my progress (shame on you), I have made a convenient list for you to print out and tick below. The more of these things that happen, the closer to my goal of finding a $1,000,000 I will be. So just keep an eye out in the media and check these things off as they occur if you want to be an armchair Sidewalker follower. The day you have all ten checked off you can rest assured I have found my 100,000,000th penny.

□ 1. I will have more Twitter followers than Ashton Kutcher.

□ 2. You will see me on Oprah.

□ 3. There will be no more loose change on the floor of America.

□ 4. A loaf of bread will cost you $2,000,000.

□ 5. My latest Twitter follower will be the Great Great Great Grandchild of my first Twitter follower.

□ 6. I will be invited to participate in I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here 57.

□ 7. The photographic rights to my retirement party will be sold to Hello! e-magazine.

□ 8. Sidewalker Jr. and Little Miss Sidewalker will have soda every night with dinner. (See Tumbleweed Times post)

□ 9. George Lucas will be suing me.

□ 10. You will be buying Sidewalker's Own brand lemonade at the supermarket.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $11.08

Flaming Pantaloons in D.C.!

2009-06-12T08:47:00.011-04:00

The Fire Department of Washington D.C. was stretched to the limit yesterday as a firestorm of spontaneously combusting pants broke out on Capitol Hill. The Washington D.C. Fire Chief said, "We are not sure who started the inferno, but we have narrowed it down to two possible sources, Ken Lewis CEO of Bank of America (BAC.N) and Ben Bernanke the Federal Reserve Chairman". In a bizarre move the Fire Chief went on to give the responsibility of concluding the investigation of the conflagration to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. And these clowns want me to deposit the full $11.06 of the Sidewalker Fund in a bank!? Strange times indeed. The full story can be read here from CNN.

In other news, it gives me great pleasure to announce the first coin find by our very own Little Miss Sidewalker yesterday. I was in the middle of berating her for crawling around on the floor of a bar (before midnight) when she came up to me and spat a dime out of her mouth. Not the preferred Sidewalker method for retrieving a coin in that situation as I discussed in my post yesterday, but I have come to accept that Little Miss Sidewalker marches to the beat of her own drum. Ah the joys of fatherhood.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $11.06

Shaking the money tree

2009-06-11T09:46:00.012-04:00

Here is something to ponder. I think we all agree that money does not grow on trees. However in analyzing my found coin data I see a lot of my finds taking place at the base of trees. This can mean one of two things, either money does indeed grow on trees or the dog population of America is passing legal tender.

While I'm on the subject of ferreting around at the base of trees looking for coins I'd like to make one thing clear. As with all adventurous pursuits that have an element of risk, collecting street booty is not without its problems. When a company such as Odyssey Marine Exploration finds sunken treasure they have very sophisticated machinery to retrieve the treasure from a hostile human environment. This is exactly how we treat our hazardous finds at Castle Sidewalker. For example the repatriation of a coin at the base of a tree needs a technique that we like to call "hands off salvage". This technique involves a pickle grabber and a Ziploc bag, I think you can visualize the rest of the procedure...

Also I would like to thank Team Charity for the invite to their fund raising event on Friday, unfortunately I will not be able to attend. Details of the event to be held in The Shannon Lounge, Hoboken can be found here.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $10.95

Tumbleweed Times

2009-06-09T16:15:00.007-04:00

Whenever we find a quarter it is greeted with quite a fanfare here at Castle Sidewalker and a spontaneous party normally breaks out, not an outrageous party exactly, but just to give you an idea of the level of revelry Sidewalker Jr. and Little Miss Sidewalker might just get some soda with their gruel instead of the usual tap water.

Mrs. Sidewalker found a quarter today in the murky depths of a puddle (big time overnight rain in the area), at the base of a parking meter. I remember growing up, if a quarter was dropped the traffic would be stopped until all available hands had corralled the errant coin. These days it seems just the fact that it fell in a puddle precluded it from being picked up.

So as I proudly watched my kids quaffing soda tonight, it got me wondering how long it will be until we see dollar bills blowing down Main Street U.S.A. like tumbleweed?

Staycation update: Still stuck in The Netherlands!

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $10.92

Opposable opinions on generations

2009-06-08T10:08:00.011-04:00

Recently I have been wondering why there is so much change lying on the floor. I thought maybe the pool of potential picker-uppers has been diminishing. Which led me to come up with this theory, it is a little tenuous so try to stay with me and hear me out!

I came across a study that concluded if you push a doorbell with your index finger you are over 30 years old, and if you push a doorbell with your thumb you are under 30 years old. The rationale behind this comes from the proliferation of texting devices that are now part of our every day lives. The under 30's have grown up with these devices and are very comfortable texting with their thumbs and can probably text the full works of Shakespeare on a cell phone in a single morning. The over 30's used pen and paper for letters to communicate over long distances and in the extreme circumstances that they had to make a phone call when they were out, the hunt was on for a phone box (usually found in a pub back in the day), that had a rotary dialer perfect for the index finger.

So this is the tenuous bit. The under 30's have lost control of their index fingers, so if they were to pick up a penny they would have to bend down and use two thumbs, thus looking very stupid and also taking much longer. This my friends is one reason why there is more change on the sidewalk, the under 30's just can't pick it up and maintain their cool at the same time!

So if you want to have a bit of fun next time you are out, ask your group of friends how they would ring a doorbell, then confidently tell them how old they are.

Are you an Indexy or a Thumby?

The full story without the Sidewalker bias can be read here

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $10.66

D-Day +65 Years

2009-06-06T18:55:00.008-04:00

I'm going to keep it brief today. This is a post to reflect on the events that took place 65 years ago on the beaches of Normandy. A time to think about all those brave young soldiers who walked onto the beaches never to walk off of them so the likes of you and me can Tweet, blog and generally exist in a better world while they picked up the tab by making the ultimate sacrifice. If you get a chance today just take a moment to reflect and pay tribute to the massive undertaking that played out on the sands of Juno, Sword, Omaha, Utah and Gold beaches in 1944.

Thank you.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $10.64

The perils of T.M.I.

2009-06-04T15:43:00.008-04:00

Here at Castle Sidewalker we are always trying to push the boundaries of money finding by using all the new tools that modern technology has to offer us, not only to find the money but to deliver the news of the finds in a timely manner to the blog. As you saw just a couple of days ago I started my Twitter account. Well it would appear my novice status with this medium only took two days to come to the fore. If you click on my Twitter updates in the sidebar to the right you will notice an error of epic proportions in my first four Tweeets. In my giddy eagerness to utilize this new tool I think I inadvertently robbed myself of a find and ergo I'm the tool! I had got a text message from a very good source that there was an assortment of coinage littering the sidewalk at 14th and Washington St. in Hoboken. Even after my last post stating that I would only Tweet for finds I could not resist and expanded my mandate ad hoc, but it seems my Tweet about a tip off actually became the tip off (for someone), because when I got to the location I only found two Budweiser bottle caps and an empty packet of Marlboro reds.

I'm ready to take the flack, in fact I'll save you the trouble. Greenhorn Sidewalker, Rookie Sidewalker, schoolboy error Sidewalker! The only redemption being the cent I found as I walked home with my tail firmly between my legs.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $10.28

New Feature!

2009-06-03T08:51:00.004-04:00

I have taken the plunge and decided to join Twitter. This means that I will now be posting my money finds in real time. They will be posted on my Twitter account which can be followed by clicking here or on the link in the sidebar to the right. If you do not want to join Twitter my five latest posts will be fed directly to the blog in the section to the right. I only started this new feature two days ago, but if you take a look you will see I have already tweeted 11 cents! I will not be using it to log my every move, just as a tool to let you know as soon as I've found money, unless as my avid followers you request to know every time I sneeze, go to Dunkin Donuts or use the "facilities"!
I will still keep my Cash trail map updated.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $10.27

Sidewalker takes ownership stake in GM...

2009-06-01T18:58:00.007-04:00

...along with every other taxpayer in the U.S.! I have been dreading this day for some time. The day that is when someone I don't know, acting on information I'm not privy to, decided that I invest in General Motors. How come the "faceless few" never invests my funds in healthy companies?

I don't watch a lot of business news as I'm sure you're aware of if you have been a reader for some time, but I did come across this little gem on CNBC. One of the talking heads said "There is a silver lining to the GM chapter 11 bankruptcy, they are the number one car and truck seller in the U.S.". Lets think about this oral buffoonery for a second. If loss per unit sale is an irrelevance let me go on record as saying, you pick the product and Sidewalker Enterprises will be the number one seller of said product in the U.S., with the "doesn't matter what you lose" provision in place. And to think CNBC is a major source of business news for the majority of the Nation.

I don't like to rant but I could not keep a lid on this one. No money found since the last post, some money lost to Detroit though...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $10.15

May '09 Month End Report

2009-05-31T11:46:00.007-04:00

Days since inception: 516
Cash balance: $10.15 (all time)
Cents per day: 1.9670 (since inception)
Predicted day for $1,000,000: Friday January 7th 141,200 AD

5/31/2009
$1,000,000
= 1,020.30 oz of Gold @ $980.10 (as per Nymex close near month)
= 15,006.00 barrels of oil @ $66.64 (as per Nymex close Light Sweet Crude near month)
= 63,492.06 oz of Silver @ $15.75 (as per Nymex close near month)

Well the May effort has slashed a further 13,000 years off of the predicted completion date, so the trend of reducing this date has stayed intact which is a positive. My rate of finding money has almost reached 2 cents per day, hopefully I can find enough in the next couple of months to get that "Cents per Day" stat firmly above two, then we should see the completion date really come in.

One worrying point is if you compare the commodity prices this month to last months report, you will see that the dollars I'm finding are buying less and less real stuff. I feel like I'm swimming against the tide...

-Luke Sidewalker

Mets Meltdown

2009-05-30T16:24:00.010-04:00

As the Mets go, so goes Luke Sidewalker not, thank god. I finally got time to go and see my Mets in their new swanky digs at Taxpayer Field. The Mets have been running good winning four straight until I showed up and poured cold water on their hot streak, the Florida Marlins coming away with a comfortable 7-3 victory. However my pilgrimage to the Mets "Parish Church" as opposed to the Yankees "Cathedral" was not without its rewards. I picked up a very respectable 13 cents, to be fair it did not make much of a dent into my $4.75 soda and $5 hot dog but that is modern day baseball for you. The locations of the finds can be found on my Cash trail map to the right, maybe you can figure out how I got to and from CitiField just by analyzing my finding patterns. There will be a big shout out in the next post to anyone who leaves the correct answer in the comments section below, so if you want some free publicity take a stab at it!

In other news today, it is the Sidewalker's 6th wedding anniversary... I have just been informed, oops!

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $10.15

The trickle down effect

2009-05-29T09:22:00.006-04:00

The torrent of cash that appeared to be falling from the heavens to the sidewalks in front of me has been reduced to what can only be described as a trickle at best. Since the euphoria of breaking $10.00 only one measly cent has been added to the total. The faucet of free cash has been well and firmly turned off.

I feel I have to address an issue that has been brought to my attention by several skeptics. They have mentioned to me that they think my 1,000th cent find was a plant! To them I say review the video. If you look closely you can see the penny was covered in dust, and if in fact it was a plant (which it wasn't), it would have had to have been planted a very long time ago, and then lay undiscovered long enough to accumulate dust before my re acquaintance with said penny. It's all a bit "magic bullet" really when you think about it. So I suggest to the naysayers never question the integrity of a Sidewalker find. If I used plants I would have more than $10.00 after 18 months!

Staycation update: Still in Holland!

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $10.01

Sidewalker busts $10 in video first!

2009-05-21T12:36:00.007-04:00

Some very big news today out of Castle Sidewalker. I was going to call a press conference but the press were busy, so here goes. The single digits are firmly in the rear view mirror as last night I found my 1,000th cent. The Sidewalker Fund total now stands at the princely sum of $10. Not only have we passed that milestone but it was captured on video too. I have never done this before so if the video does not work it would not surprise me in the least. If you do get to watch it please forgive my finger being over half the lens, I'm no Ron Howard but I thought this video would give you a sense of this momentous occasion! Any feedback on the, errr, "video presentation" would be welcomed in the comments section below this post.

Meanwhile my Staycation has been stuck in Holland for ever it seems. Does anyone know of someone in Antigua and Barbuda that could help me out?

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $10.00 baby!

The count from Florida is in

2009-05-20T09:06:00.008-04:00

No hanging chads, no pregnant chads, in fact no chads of any description were to be found. However 78 cents in various denominations have been added over the last week or so, all the locations have been diligently plotted on the cash trail map to the right. One of the highlights was Sidewalker Jr. finding 3 cents that an astronaut must have dropped out of his/her space wallet on the way to the shuttle at the Kennedy Space Center, I figure the astronaut in question had trouble dealing with this pesky gravity thing we have working here on Earth.

I had an interesting request on the trip. Someone knew of my quest and spotted a quarter on the floor. He then refused to pick it up and instead pointed it out to me on the understanding he would get an honorable mention in the blog. So Mr. Andrew Gates the Sidewalker's salute you. I think this is the first recorded time that the excuse for not picking up loose change has been because of the presence of a Sidewalker. Just goes to show you that the force is strong!

There were some anomalies in my Floridian finds, namely the money that kept on appearing at the front door of my hotel room every morning accompanied with chuckles and retreating footsteps. I think I will leave that for the FBI to investigate...

So all in all it was a great trip. The wedding we went to was fantastic and managed to exceed all lofty expectations. Congratulations to the bride and groom (you know who you are). The 78 cents found on the trip has left us agonizingly 1 cent short of the magic $10 total, who knows perhaps that milestone will fall today...

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $9.99

Sidewalker Sells Out!

2009-05-12T08:54:00.004-04:00

I have had a couple of decent finds recently, nothing spectacular but it has been steady. The $9.00 mark is now firmly in the rear view mirror. I found 12 cents on trip into the city yesterday.

You may have noticed I have a new banner above the first post here and above my Cash trail. These two companies "reunite" people with their money. Apparently there is around $35-$40 Billion dollars laying around unclaimed! A lot of times this happens when utility accounts are closed and the company does not have a forwarding address to send the deposit etc. You may be one of the people with cash sitting out there, if you think that is a possibility I would definitely check it out, money is money after all, and if it is yours it should be in your pocket!

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $9.21

Incoming In-Laws

2009-05-08T11:09:00.005-04:00

I have the in-laws coming to visit for a week or so. They are going to look after the kids while Mrs. Sidewalker and I attend a wedding in Florida next weekend. So keep an eye on my cash trail map and hopefully you will see some markers from some Floridian finds. I have left them with strict instructions that the children's safety is paramount unless of course they see some money on the sidewalk, in which case they must do all in their power to get it!

I have found a couple of pennies since the last post, nothing stunning just your run-of-the-mill finds. I'm slowly closing in on the $9 mark. Also my Staycation is still rooted in The Netherlands, the good people of Antigua and Barbuda must be too busy relaxing in the sun to visit my blog, to be honest I don't blame them.

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $8.98

Cinco de Sidewalker

2009-05-05T13:54:00.008-04:00

Interesting factoid of the day. Not only is the 5th of May an over hyped Mexican holiday that is predominantly celebrated in America and not in Mexico, it also happens to be Luke Sidewalker's birthday! Which appears to be under hyped and not celebrated in my house, oh well. So another year has slipped by and I'm left pondering whether or not time speeds up as you get older, it's all relative I guess.

If you came here to read a story about me finding a pot of gold on my birthday I'm afraid you will be sorely disappointed. In fact I have found nothing of late, but I'm happy to say Mrs. Sidewalker has been picking up the slack (and the pennies) with various finds as documented in my cash trail map to the right.

My Staycation is stuck in Utrecht, I'm getting impatient to make it to Antigua and Barbuda, it would have been nice to spend my birthday "virtually" in the Caribbean!

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $8.95