GodsendJen

I noticed a little something extra on a $20 today.  It had several stamps in red ink.  One was a cute little red flower, the others direct you to "track" the money at the website Where's George.

Maybe I'm just gulible, but I went to the website and entered in my $20s serial number.  The person who "stamped" it had freed it from a Suntrust near my house.  I had gotten in either in change from a local merchant or from a teller at my Bank Of America branch down the road.  The concept is interesting. You can track any bill you want in the database and register to get updates on bills you've entered.  Of course you have to deface the currency in some manner hoping to instruct the next user to go put in some information about the bill as well.  I think having a life (and largely using my debit card everywhere) will probably be enough to deter me from marking up other bills that might come into my wallet...but it could be interesting to see where this little $20 goes from here.

For anyone interested their is also a Where's Willy site to track the currency of Canada. That site is tracking 1,716,693 bills totally $25,791,580 (Canadian). The US site tracks 84,295,862 bills totalling $472,849,798.

Now, can someone tell me who Willy is?  I'm afriad I know little about Canadian history.

In unrelated news I finally got out to a Braves game this year.  The game was sometimes exciting despite our loss.  That disapointment was offset by great company and fireworks.

The Wall Street Journal ran a fascinating article today covering new trends in Wedding Photography.  Don't ask why I read it, we all know I'm not getting married any time soon.  But what I found fascinating was the new trend for the sultry and risqué.

A choice snippet from the article:

The multibillion-dollar wedding industry is offering a revealing new twist on the old bridal portrait. Catering to older and more independent brides -- and reflecting popular culture's turn toward the risqué and voyeuristic -- more photographers are setting up in dressing rooms to immortalize unguarded, preceremony moments. Wedding albums and public photographer Web sites alike are filling up with a different view of the bride -- daddy's little girl cavorting in lingerie, adjusting a bra or hiking her gown for a bathroom break.[Emphasis mine.]

Established wedding photographers say they're taking racy photos at events of all price levels. At a $250,000 affair at the Chicago Four Seasons, photographer Steven Gross -- he charges $10,000 and up a day -- took nearly 8,000 shots, but one that made it into the bride's wedding album was a close-up of her waist and prominent cleavage. Southern California photographer Brian Kramer's portfolio includes black-and-white photos of darling children, classic portraits -- plus an underwear-clad bride chatting on her cellphone in a suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Chris and Mary Jo Prinos of Lancaster, Mass., whose packages start at $3,000, recently captured a bride discussing last-minute details with her officiant while wearing a camisole, sheer boy shorts and a garter belt. (It's not just women: Grooms, too, are caught brushing their teeth or having their necks shaved.)

The article goes on to point out that a lot of older brides (and we know I'll be one of those someday ;)) want to show off the results of the pre-wedding bootcamps and such.  I'm not a prude and I kinda like this idea.  Lord knows that if I ever look good running around in lingerie I might want it documented--in my version of the wedding book, not the one I pass around to the in-laws!

What I can tell you I'll never ask for....a shot of me during a bathroom break.  Some moments are still best kept private.

Full article (subscription required) http://tinyurl.com/g8cvb.

Remember trying to figure out how to color people skin when you were a kid?  Peach, pink, white, appricot, various tans? Crayola just made it easier with MultiCultural Markers.  Chalk one up to progress.

A coworker made some Jasmine necklaces for the office.  Its real beauty is lost in this photo.  Each flower had been picked and threaded onto some standard sewing thread.  Needless to say the  sweet scent of Jasmine has taken over our section of the office. It almost makes you wonder if she is trying to let us know she things someone stinks ;)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said he was privately approached about his interest in becoming the NFL's next commissioner. Bush said Tuesday the issue was discussed at a recent meeting with Patrick Rooney Sr., according to the 'South Florida Sun-Sentinel'.

Rooney's brother is Dan Rooney, owner of Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers and co-chair of the search committee looking to replace the retiring Paul Tagliabue.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5634820

This story is both interesting and terrifying for me. We know the Bush family are traditionally sports fans, but their focus has always been baseball first. I'm not sure what would qualify Jeb Bush as a candidate for NFL Commish and it really makes me wonder what other prominent politicos might have been questioned--and would any of them ever been questioned if Ms. Rice hadn't first introduced the notion of the Washington Insider as NFL comish to begin with?

The new job has seriously cut into my online reading time.  Those precious opportunities to read up on sports at work have dwindled to less than 15 mintutes in a given day.  So tonight I took some time to try and catch up.  I was hoping to find out how young Marcus did in his big Miami audition, but was pleased to find that two other VaTech players signed free agent contracts shortly following the draft. Jason Murphy, an offensive guard, signed as a free agent with the San Diego Chargers, while defensive lineman Tim Sandidge signed with the St. Louis Rams. This is quite an improvement over last year when we only had 3 guys selected on draft weekend.

At least there is a small bit of goodness in the midst of my crappy weekend....I personally like it when my college team serves as the minor leauge feeder team for my NFL team. Go Hokies.

Update:  The draft is over and it should be noted that my Hokies set a record this year with 9 players drafted!  Three of them went to Carolina and others landed with Seattle, Pittsburgh, Cleavland, Sandiego and Arizona. You have to wonder if you'll one day hear Huuuuuuumes echoing through steeler nation the same way it echoed through Land Stadium.  One more member of last year's team will probably get signed as well as our Character guy, Marcus Vick, was not drafted.  You know someone will take a chance on him...

Whomever said When it Rains it Pours really should have won a pulitzer for the statement.  I've been very proud of Lucy's progress in the housebreaking department.  No messes in the house for a week (and only one oops in the last 2 weeks). But now, to top off a really horid week as weeks go, Lucy has decided to eat one of my favorite sandles.  Anyone who knows me know that I break out the sandles as soon as warm weather arrives and live in them until fall.  My favorite work sandles, the cute black flat slip-ons I bought when visiting Atlanta July 4th weekend of 2004, are now ruined.  My spunky little puppy ate right through one of them....boom...

My budget doesn't let me travel nearly as much as I'd like, but I found this list of money saving travel tips to be an interesting read.  (Thanks to the guys at Daily Gadget for highlighting it for me.) I wouldn't say that all 51 tips are fresh new ideas, but some of them certainly surprised me.  For example, tip no. 2 is "Trash Your Cookies":

Trash your "cookies," small files (stored in your Internet browser) that record the websites you surf—and the transactions you make. Say you go online and purchase a $200 plane ticket from Chicago to Omaha. The next time you visit that site, you could be quoted a higher rate than what's actually available because of your spending history. Avoid this problem by deleting these files each time you log on; detailed instructions can be found under the "Help" option in your browser menu.

As a web developer I accepted long ago that cookies could make my life easier, and I'm not really in the habbit of dumping them very often.  But who thought that companies would use them to bilk you for that extra money?  If you paid $200 last time you'd be willing to pay that again, right?  So why bother letting you take advantage of that $30 off sale they are having.  You have to wonder if other companies do this too?  I guess a good rule of thumb will be always delete your cookies before going out to make an internet purchase.  Of course it they can do it with a cookie they can do it with a database, so we might have to work on our cameleon skills.  Other great tips include Never Accept Food You Didn't Order when eating out (many cafes, especially in Europe, apparently charge you for these "freebies") and Beware of Cover Charges as some bistros overseas will seat you and server you dinner letting you wait until the bill arrives to find out about a 15% cover charge for dining with them.

Check out the article at National Geographic.