Month End Report August '09

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?

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

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!

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

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

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

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!

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!

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

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!

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

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!

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?

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

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

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