Driver, Can You Wait A Moment...I See a Penny!

Well, it's official. I'm a nut...for pennies!

For the second time since I began this little project, I have made the driver a vehicle stop in traffic so I could pick up a penny I saw on the street. Well, actually...only once was a penny. The second incident this weekend was for dime. SCORE!

Yes, it's true, I once made someone stop for a penny (it was a cab driver who probably charged me $4 for the extra stop, so I don't think he actually minded all that much). It was later at night in downtown DC, so the traffic wasn't THAT bad. I only heard one honking horn behind me. But how could I pass up a penny that was so clearly calling out to come home with me. Plus, it was a huge testament to my eagle-eye, penny finding skills. I saw this bad-boy at night, from a moving vehicle, on a brick sidewalk. Do you know how hard it is to spot pennies on brick...let alone at night? It was too sweet a find to pass up!

Which brings me to incident #2...the dime in Georgetown. I was on the way back from seeing a pre-release of the movie "Sex Drive" with my friend & her husband (you HAVE to see this movie if you need a good laugh. Seth Green as an Amish guy...totally worth the price of admission. Which was actually free for us because we both traded in coke reward points for free movie tickets. SCORE...again!). Anyhow, coming out of the theater I found a penny on the stairs. Then I found a dime on the sidewalk. I was pretty excited...having used the coupon and then finding 11 cents it felt like I MADE money going to the movies! Anyhow, we got in the car and began heading home to Columbia Heights when I sort of half screamed, half snorted, "Stop, stop, stop!" and banged on the door signaling that someone needed to hit the unlock button.

Now I don't know what's worse here...the fact that I demanded to stop the car (in my defense we were at a 4-way intersection already pretty much stopped anyway) or that my friends didn't seem all that phased by my odd request. Wow...I always wondered why I didn't have that one eccentric friend that makes life a little more fun & unpredictable. As I'm writing this I have just realized it is probably because that person is me...jumping out of moving cars to pick up loose change. Nice.

Anyhow...for all of you that use the excuse "but I drive to work" to explain why you don't find that much change, think about keeping your eyes peeled at intersections to up your total. It seems to be working for me!