Have you seen my buddy George?

[ornoth]

One year ago today, f_l_i_r_t posted a comment about dollar bill tracking site Where’s George in her LJ.

I was already familiar with the concept, invented by local software engineer Hank Eskin, because sometime between 6/98 and 1/99—almost as soon as Hank had put up the first version of the site—my project team at work found and entered a “Where’s George” marked bill. I thought it was an interesting idea, but didn’t bother registering, and promptly forgot about it.

Until f_l_i_r_t’s note, more than six years later. Being unemployed and having more time on my hands than usual, I decided I’d give it a shot. I ordered a cheap self-inking stamp and began marking each bill I got with the Web site’s URL and entering them into the database.

That was, as I say, one year ago, making this my first “Georgeversary”, as they say, which is, of course, an appropriate time for reflection.

It took 64 days to get my first hit—someone finding and re-entering one of my bills—but it was an interesting one. In those two months, it had travelled 100 miles northwest to Wardsboro, Vermont. The user wrote: “My daughter got it at her elementary school. One of her classmates was making fun of the stamp ’till she explained to him what it was!” You can see its bill report here.

Last summer, since I was in the area, I biked out to Concord to a barbecue where a bunch of enthusiastic “Georgers” from across the nation gathered to swap stories (and bills). I wound up winning a handful of ones at a card game, which I carried with me and spent during my trip to Oregon. Of course, I also spent some marked bills of my own there, and one of my $5 bills was hit in Portland a couple weeks later (bill report).

The Web site asks you to enter a note about each bill, and I gradually chose a consistent format for what I’d enter: the date and place where I received it, the date and place where I later spent it, and anything particularly noteworthy, like its condition. Later in the year, I also started including code to dynamically generate maps showing where each bill had been seen.

By September, I was reliably getting 4-7 hits per month, but that came to a crashing halt as I only got two hits per month in October, November, and December. That was very discouraging, but things fortunately picked back up again once the new year arrived.

Also last fall, my Where’s George user profile page (here) was nominated for their annual user profile contest. I got 18th place out of 56 profiles, which was a bit disappointing, given some of the tacky pages which received more votes. On the other hand, Hank—normally very reticent and spare of words—took an active interest in my unique profile and how I had circumvented his security features in order to create it, which mollified me a bit.

Also in October, I got my first “straps” from the bank: bundles of 100 $1 bills wrapped with paper bank seals. Georgers like $1 bills because they can get more of them into circulation, they change hands more rapidly, and they’re less likely to get deposited in a bank, where they might sit for months, or worse yet be destroyed. They also like straps because they can often get crisp, news bills, which are easier to enter and circulate longer. I was hoping to find my first “Wild George”—a bill that some other Georger had marked—in my straps but no such luck.

Late in the year, I undertook a one-day road trip to Philadelphia and back for a wedding. I’d looked forward to the opportunity to spend marked bills all along the route, hoping to get hits from states I passed through or near, especially the elusive Delaware. Unfortunately, the only one that has gotten a hit travelled north. I spent it on the Jersey Pike, and was re-entered in Kingston, NY in December; however, it went on to become my first bill to accumulate two hits when it later was spotted in Battle Creek, MI in February (bill report).

Typically, users become aware of and register on Where’s George because they find a marked bill. Of course, I hadn’t done that. In fact, despite getting three or four straps and checking the bills I received in change, I had still never found a marked bill: a “wild”. For most of a year I looked, and never found one. Finally, on February 10th, I got a wild in my change at the corner CVS; it had originated in South Carolina (bill report). Synchronicity was at work, though, because within 48 hours one of my bills was hit in South Carolina (bill report), and—most astonishingly— I found a *second* wild at the local pub from a Georger I’d met from Rhode Island (bill report)!

To that’s how the year has gone. I’ve entered 1000 bills into the system, two-thirds of which are $1 bills. I have received 40 hits, and average one hit every 6-8 days. Most of my hits have come from bills I’ve spent at ice cream stands, farmers’ markets, convenience stores, and bars, but not exclusively.

The hits have come from 12 different states: 19 in MA; 4 each from NH, NY, and CT; 2 from OH; and one hit each in ME, VT, MD, SC, MI, IL, and OR. Obviously, getting hits in more states is one of my big goals.

In terms of other, more short-term goals, I am still waiting for Rhode Island for my “New England states bingo”, and I’m slowly working on getting a hit from every county in CT (got 4 of 8), MA (5 of 14), and NH (4 of 10). I will also have a hit on a bill from every Federal Reserve Bank once I get Philly and Minneapolis.

So it’s been interesting and a bit educational. It hasn’t been much of a time-sink, since, being unemployed, I don’t spend all that much money. It’s a relatively painless hobby, and there’s nothing quite like getting a spontaneous hit notification in your email to perk one up— especially since I’ve configured Eudora to play one of the distinctive power-up sounds from the old Defender arcade video game whenever one arrives!

I’d tell you more about it, but I’ve gotta go enter a few more bills to take up to Maine with me this weekend…

Comments

[ornoth.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, and a plug for the wheres_george community on LJ!

[f-l-i-r-t.livejournal.com]

I am so pleased that someone got something out of one of my posts. *L* How narcissistic, ha? *blush*

This sounds like so much fun, thought so back when I posted it, but, as I don't live in the states, my access to George's are limited. I don't quite get how to report internationally. Hmm... I have some USA money in my wallet from last trip home, can I enter that?

And, Maine ha? Wish I was headed up there this weekend, think of me. *soft smile*

[ornoth.livejournal.com]

Yes, you can enter your US currency, as long as it’s still in your possession. Of course, how much circulation it’ll get when spent over there is unknown.

Or you can use the Euro Bill Tracker (http://www.eurobilltracker.com/), although I dunno how often you see Euros versus Pounds and Pence. When I visited Scotland, it was interesting to see all the different notes from different banks. Very strange, having banks printing their own individual currencies!

Maine? Eh. Not usually much fun, although the train trip up isn’t bad, and gives me some focused time to work sans Internet. And at least now the weather’s starting to turn better…

[cozit.livejournal.com]

I seem to get one every 3-4 months or so. Must be more WG bills down here or something. I'm very lazy about entering them, though. I've probably only put in about 5, one of which had been entered 3 times before it found its way into my wallet.

[ornoth.livejournal.com]

Kule. A lot of people have a real hard time getting hits in Delaware and DC, so there’s probably a lot of bills floating around MD. I have just one hit in MD: Silver Spring. Sadly, it’s just half a mile away from DC… but maybe it’ll make its way there next!

[awfief.livejournal.com]

Wow, I didn't know about this! (but it's not surprising). Neat. I think I'd have trouble remembering where I'd spent a particular bill, but I guess if I knew I spent $3 at 3 different places it wouldn't matter much if I got it wrong.

[ornoth.livejournal.com]

Well, not too many people note where their bills were spent, because that means you have to go back and edit the original note after you spend the bill.

For me, though, half the fun is knowing where I got the bill and where I spent it, and figuring out how it got from me to the next person.

You’ll especially like this part. In order to keep track of which bill was spent where, I am very strict about keeping my bills in a FIFO queue. That way, if I can remember what type of bills were spent where, I can compare that with my list of bills on the Web site to ensure that my comments about where a bill was spent are all accurate.

It’s not that hard, but it does require a bit of attention to keep it straight.