Average Wednesday

I didn't know what title to give this entry. Nothing exciting happened when I found it. Nothing exciting happened today. It was just an average Wednesday.

Today was my last day at my current office location. My office is relocating so we have boxes everywhere. Yesterday, my phone (and that of some of my co-workers) got cut off. Bell wasn't supposed to cut the phone til today but in their eagerness, cut some of the lines today. It was kind of nice - no one could reach me. But I needed to make work-related phone calls couldn't. I had to run around and find a phone that worked or I asked one of my teammates to make the calls since her phone was working.

Three of my work friends and I were going to this Korean place for lunch. One of my friends had been there before and said the food was yummy and she was right. The food was yummy. The restaurant, called Korean Grill House, is on Queen, east of Duncan. We were walking north on John towards Duncan, passing many other restaurants. In front of a place called The Ball Room, I found a green-edged 1993 penny. Copper does turn green so not surprising this one had a bit of green on the edges.

By the way, one day I'll get my act together and photograph the actual pennies I find, especially the odd ones and post the photos with the entry.

Monday's Ain't so Bad

Another frantic Monday morning. And why does that alarm always sound so loud on a Monday? I waited til the last possible minute to haul my sorry butt out of bed and go through the usual week day routine - too routine to describe again.

I did drive to the Go station like a mad woman but I got there with time to spare. Parked my car in my new favourite spot to park, got out of my car and looked down to spot a time in the empty parking space beside me. It was a 1975 dime.

Since July 5, 2011 (the date I started this blog), I'm up $1.56.

Beautiful Sunday

Today was an absolutely perfect September Sunday: sunny, lots of blue sky and warm - no sweater required. It was a perfect day to head on down to Queens Park to the Word on the Street (WOTS). I had a good breakfast, threw on a shirt and capris and off I drove to subway. TTC is the better way to get there.

Mr. Crabby Pants was working at the ticket booth at the station. A couple were trying to figure out how to get to the bus platform. From what I overheard, they got off the subway and made a wrong turn somewhere and needed help getting to where they needed to go and Mr. Crabby Pants (CP for short) TTC ticket booth attendant was of no help what so ever. Don't know if he was resentful he had to work on such a lovely day or had a fight with his spouse before he left for work or what was bugging his ass but I do know that his customer service skills suck. If I was a frequent subway user, I would have piped up to help this poor couple out but I rarely use the TTC so couldn't help them. They were getting frustrated with him, he was getting frustrated by them. They left in a huff - hope they found the right bus.

Mr. CP gave me the correct change so I could board the train and off to the subway platform I went. At the top of the escalator, just as you get off was a 1975 US dime just waiting to be picked up by moi. I pocketed it and got onto the waiting subway car.

I was meeting my friend Lis at WOTS. I haven't seen her for a while and since we both love the written word, what better place to meet up with a friend for a few hours.

We wandered, we talked, we bought and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I didn't spend my dime though. In my pocket it stayed til I got home.

Monday Monday

Monday's are rough. I'm not a morning person and that 5:55 a.m. alarm is particularly annoying on Monday. It's annoying Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday but it's especially annoying on a Monday. I ignore that alarm for as long as possible and then I jump out of bed and rush around getting lunches and myself ready. I run out the door and drive like a mad woman to the train station hoping to get there quickly so I don't have to run for the train. Some days I get to the train station early enough to take a leisurely stroll from the parking lot to the free papers and then to my spot on the platform. This leisurely pace rarely happens on a Monday. Monday's I rush for the train.

Today was a rush around morning. I had to run from my car to the train. I hate that.  On the plus side - the sun was out and it wasn't cold and I looked quite fashionable in my dress, sport socks and running shoes.

I got off the train, rushed to the stairs to get past all the slow walkers and made it outside in seconds flat. Ok, maybe not seconds but I avoided the slow pokes so I was happy.

I have to cross Front Street to get to my office. Today, as I was crossing Front, by the curb, on the street in front of Joe Badali's restaurant was a penny, just waiting to be rescued from the morning traffic. Nice to start the day with a find.

Two Pennies for a thought

The saying is a penny for your thoughts but a penny doesn't go far these days does it. But two pennies for thoughts doesn't have the same right. In any case, today I have two pennies for my thoughts.

Both the pennies were found during my lunch hour adventure. I met a friend for lunch. I have a standing weekly lunch date with this friend. Today's lunch was a quick burrito from the local burrito place and then a quick jaunt to Winners.

On the way back to the office, I found a 1980 penny on the south side of King, west of Blue Jays Way. 365 King Street to be exact. Right across the street from where this cent was found is a Shoppers Drug Mart. Then, a few blocks east, right in front of my office building, by a big planter was a dirt covered penny. I don't know if a squirrel or human or other creature dug it out or the penny knew about this blog and jumped out itself so I could write about it but there it was, waiting for me. This penny must have been buried in the dirt for a while cause even after I washed all the dirt off of it, I still couldn't make out it's year.

Watch the Step

Not sure if I mentioned in a previous post that I work downtown. Well not right downtown but in the Entertainment District, on King Street,  facing Duncan.

I take the GO train to work and generally I like it. The ride in gives me a chance to catch up on my reading, acknowledge the other regulars and to people watch. We have the Runner - she likes to be the first one off the train and runs for the exit and down the stairs. Now I like to be one of the first people off the train as well. I'm a really quick walker and hate getting stuck behind slow pokes.

There's Bicycle Boy (who I haven't seen in a while). He likes to put his bike by the door and sit elsewhere - this is very annoying as often the bike takes up far too much room on an already crowded train and if the train hits a bump, the bike falls. Once it fell on me. Good thing I sustained no injury but I did give bicycle boy a mild verbal lashing (it was too early in the morning to really yell at him.)

At the end of the day, I climb the stairs to get to the platform - Platform 27 to be exact. Today, I held up all the people behind me. I heard one impatient sigh but tough luck you sigher. There was a 2004 dime half way up the stairs and I had to stop my climb to pick it up.  I guess the Sigher didn't know about my coin collecting.

Mixed Company

You can go for days and days and not find a single coin and then boom, minutes apart, multiple coins are found. Today was such a day for me.

Tuesday nights I take a night course. I just started the Editing Certificate program and the first required course is a grammar course. It turns out I don't know as much about grammar as I thought I did, but I do know a bit more than some of my classmates. The instructor is quite knowledgeable and right into this grammar business.  Tonight's lesson was nouns and subjects - a seemingly easy topic but finding the subject is not always as easy as it seems. So many rules to keep in mind when looking for the subject of a sentence and when the sentence is complex, it's not that easy.

There's about 25 people in the class. Some are taking it in hopes of getting the same certificate as me, others for other programs and a couple just for fun. And yes - grammar can be fun.

I take the train home. On my stroll from the college to the train station I found a 1985 American quarter. I had to scoot in front of some guy to get it before he spotted it. It was found on Bay Street, just north of Wellington.

At the train station, I found a shiny, brand new 2011 penny. The penny, lying on the ground between platforms 43 and 44, was waiting to be rescued from the bus patrons who would have dulled it by walking on it.

I found a total of 26 cents today or did I? Canadian money is worth a bit more than American. Does that mean I found only 25 3/4 cents?

TIFF on a Dime

I work in the entertainment district, near Roy Thompson Hall. It was the hub of activity as they were putting finishing touches on tents, carpets, etc in prep for TIFF.  A bunch of people (media I think) were given a tour of the tents that were set up. I did was across the red carpet. It was still covered in plastic. I'm guessing the plastic will come off before the celebrities show up.

I was walking on King Street, past all this hub of activity when I spotted a dime (2010 dime) on the corner of King and Simcoe. The dime was on the south west sidewalk, near the traffic lights in front of Roy Thompson.  Would have used it to call a friend and tell her about the hub of activity around me but a dime is no longer enough to use a public pay phone so I've tossed it into my piggy bank instead.

At the bottom of the bucket

I cleaned out the shed today. I removed.  I swept. I swept some more. I found things to put in the Goodwill pile. I also found things that should have been tossed long ago, like the empty, squished box that housed a blow up sled and a broken candle holder.

Some animal (possum I think) had been living rent free in the shed so its mess had to be cleaned out. I didn't see the critter - maybe the squatter moved out?

In the shed was a bucket with stuff in it - garden stuff - small pebbles, dried bulbs that I forgot to plant in the spring and some dirt. I dumped the "stuff" out of the bucket and at the bottom was a penny. It was so dirty that I couldn't make out the year but was definitely was a Canadian penny. Hey, do you think a money tree would sprout in the spring if I planted it?

Casino tickets

Yesterday, we went to Casino Niagara with another couple. My daughter babysat their kids while the adults drove to the Falls for an evening of fun and frolic.

My friend likes to gamble and through the casino rewards program got us tickets to see Dennis Quaid and the Sharks. And what a lot of fun we had. He's not the best singer but he sure was entertaining and his band was great.  Gotta love his smile. The guitarist, who was fantastic, was a Toronto boy. We boogied in our seats while many in the crowd hopped and bopped to the music. He did sang some songs I recognized (cover tunes including a Great Balls of Fire, Whole lot of Shakin Going On and a great rendition of Gloria) and some songs I didn't know but quite enjoyed. He danced around the stage; he jumped off the stage and ran up and down the aisles. The sweat just poured off of him. Don't know who was having more fun, Dennis and the band or us.

After the show, we went into the casino in hopes of making a withdrawal as opposed to a deposit. I like to play video black jack. I'm not a big gambler $20 - $30, once a year and I'm happy. And playing the quarter machine keeps me entertained for a few hours. I have yet to learn the valuable lesson - quit while you're ahead.

Well my find at the casino doesn't count as street coins but it was money of a sort. On my way to the bathroom I found a ticket with 52 cents. I'm not sure if this crumpled ticket was discarded or lost. In either case, finders keepers. I took that 52 cents to a 2 cent slot machine and, unfortunately I didn't win anything but it did buy me a few extra minutes of entertainment.

The Campus Penny

Today, my oldest daughter, J,  was moving out of the house and into residence to begin university life. It's a very exciting (and nerve wracking) time for her. We loaded up the car and I mean loaded up the car. The car was so full of her stuff you couldn't see out the rear view mirror. ( I drive a CRV and the last time the cargo area was so jam packed was when the four of us drove to Cape Cod.) I double checked the house before we left and she took just about everything but the kitchen sink.

Her residence room is small - just enough room for two small beds and a couple desks. We met her roommate, who seemed very nice. I'm sure the girls will get along.

J needed to go to the neighbouring building to get some computer network cables, so off we went. When we were leaving that building (Mary Keyes), there was a 1993 penny waiting to be rescued from all the wandering first year students and their families.

Interesting fact about this 1993 penny, lying face up, is that most of the first year students moving in this long weekend were born in 1993.

Let's Go to the Ex

I went to the Ex today - my yearly excursion. In my youth, I spend five summers working at the Ex, two years selling junk jewelry and three years as a games attendant, one of which I managed the fish pond ("prize every time"). I worked long hours but had a blast

Back to the present,  the Ex was quite busy for a Wednesday night  - reminded me of when I was younger - crowds of people everywhere. We got there after 5 so it only cost us $5 to get in.

I had my fill of mini donuts, a corn dog and an ice cream waffle sandwich. Cravings fulfilled and I'm good for another year.

We were wandering around the grounds and I found a 2008 dime behind BMO field. Later, I found 2007 penny (a shiny brand new copper penny no less) in the midway. It was on the ground near one of the games (toss  a ball into the mouth of a wooden painted creature.) Too bad it wasn't a quarter - that would have bought me one more game of Roller Bowler.