How Much is a Penny Worth?

You have probably heard that the last pennies have been made.  They cost too much to make and have become pretty much irrelevant. But the last pennies made? They made their mark because they sold for close to $1.7 million.

There were two final sets made at the mints in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and in Denver, Colorado. In Philadelphia they created a 24-karat gold penny and the two last sets included the three dies used to make the last pennies.(Penny pictured below)

Pennies have been produced for 232 years and the first one was produced in Philadelphia also.  The last coin to be eliminated was the half-cent in 1857 and we all remember how that went.  It is expected that the cancellation will save the government around $56 million a year.

But you haven't see the last of the penny.  They can still be found in parking lots and gas stations all over the country.  It is estimated that people have hoarded 300 billion pennies and sooner or later we'll probably see those come out.

How much is a penny worth today? Not much, but it's always been worth that much. In the future if someone says to you, "A penny for your thoughts?" You may want to take the penny, because I'm thinking we're not going to be getting many of them in the future.

The Robot in the House

I remember watching "The Jetsons" television show a long, long time ago. The show first ran in 1962 and 1963.  It ran against "Dennis The Menace" and "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" and as you can imagine it did not do well. Reruns ran the next two years and new episodes were out in the 80's including a movie in 1990.

The Jetsons family lived in the future in the space age and had a robot named Rosie who did all the cleaning. That is where my story begins, I am living as George and Judy Jetson did on their show.

A month or so ago our youngest daughter and son-in-law bought us a robot to sweep up, clean our floors, and wash them.  We call him/her, "May's helper." My wife's nickname is May, so she is her helper.  Here it is pictured below.

It's plugged in right into a wall in the kitchen and our seventeen month old granddaughter pressed a button and got it started.  I had no clue what to do other than unplug it.  My wife seems happy with it, but it does take hours to clean the house.(I could do it much faster, but I'm not challenging it.)

How advanced is this invention? My wife says that it can be programmed to find our dog in the house, take a picture, and then send it to her phone.  I can barely do that, but this thing? I think she made it up. The machine backs up, spins around, and the light flashes on.  I haven't heard any voices yet, but you never know.  

"The Jetsons" television show was a ratings flop, but pretty successful as a re-run.  I have a feeling that "May's helper" is going to do a lot better in our house, although our dog is not a big fan of it

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The Luckiest Man to Have Ever Lived?

There are people who believe they have the worst luck. However, they have never heard of Frank Selak.  His story is one of the most amazing stories you'll ever hear about.  He was born in Yugoslavia in 1929 and he spent most of his adult life as a music teacher.  He passed away in Croatia in 2016 at the age of 87.  But during his life, here's what happened.

As a child he was born two months premature and he was born on a fishing boat. At eleven months old he had life-threatening intestinal problems and when he was eleven years old he almost lost his eye sight.  

In 1957 he was riding in a bus after dropping off all the students on a field trip and the bus veered off into a river when the steering wheel snapped off.  He and the bus driver were okay, but this was the first of seven times he cheated death.  Yes, seven times he cheated death as an adult.

Five years later he was on a train on a rainy evening when a mudslide took out a bridge and the train went into the water.  He broke his arm and had hypothermia and 17 passengers died in the accident.

In 1963 he took his only plane flight and was blown out of the plane and fell 800 meters, lost consciousness, and landed in a haystack.  He was in a coma for four days.

Three years later he was on another bus that skidded into a river and four passengers died.

In the 1970's he escaped two different car fires/explosions in his own car.

In 1995 he was struck by a bus and had only minor injuries.

One year later he avoided a collision on a mountain by driving into the guardrail, which gave way.  He was not wearing a seatbelt and he was ejected from the car and rescued holding onto a tree branch while his car fell 300 feet.

On June 5, 2002, he won the lottery, buying a ticket at the same store he had played the lottery for forty years.  He bought a bunch of things, got married for the 6th time and built a chapel.

By 2010 he had given most of his remaining money away to friends and relatives.

In 2014, he had a heart attack while taking a walk and spent 18 days recovering in a hospital.  Two years later he was gone.

Many of his stories have not been verified or have some details mixed up, but I only have one real question:  how did this guy not write a book about his life?

What's New in Babysitting?

When you're watching an eighteen month old who is going on three or four, lots of things are always happening in the house and here are some of them:

She has two dogs and the littlest one she calls "Little."  She recently got a stuffed animal dog who she calls, "Little." Can you tell which "Little" eats dog food?

This girl is going to like jewelry.  She saw my wedding ring on my finger and insisted on trying it out.

One of her new dolls is Rachel, who has her own television show.  This is her Rachel and the one on television.

                                                                                                                                                                                                      

                                                                                                                                                                                  

My granddaughter's Rachel has been hanging out a lot with "Rainbow Bear," as you can see below they are on top of a slide and about ready to go down together which my granddaughter enjoys seeing.

I use different voices when I'm playing with my granddaughter and for Ms. Rachel I started talking like Mrs. Doubtfire. I had the male, British accent down pretty well and frequently I would say, "Helllooo! Oh my child, what would you like to play now? Help is on the way dear! How precious are you?"

I have been able to teach my granddaughter a new game-the old shell game.  I put a small toy piece under a cup and move it around. She manages to pick up every cup before getting to the right one. I think she may be catching on.  When she's an adult,  she's going to forget this, except for this blog.

Lastly, I was never very good at coloring and this picture will definitely prove it.  I could not stay in between the lines, partially due to her shaking my hand while I tried to color, is that really fair to me?

                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                    

MY FAVORITE RIDER COMMENTS IN JANUARY 2026

 At 38 years old she told me about the only normal job she has had: "During the pandemic I started delivering liquor to homes and I was making $5,500 a month after taxes."

The die-hard Houston Texas fan said, "I ordered an Uber recently and before I got in I saw the car was full of Dallas Cowboy stuff.  I told the driver to cancel the ride, I wasn't getting in. When my boss wanted me to work in Dallas, Texas, I told him to get someone else."

Oddest question ever from a rider: "Are you from Paris?"

"Our daughter is one strong girl.  She was at only one pound when she was born and had heart surgery as a baby. She's sixteen now and doing very well."

"If you come across a ghost you should be mean to it and it will leave you alone."

The couple has been married 43 years and I asked, "What's the secret of a successful marriage?" Immediately the wife answered, "I just keep telling him that he's right all the time." Laughing, he said, "Telling jokes like that all the time."

He: "I grew up in the jungle in Honduras. I learned how to speak English when I came here in kindergarten and that's where I learned to speak it fluently."

I told her that a previous rider was a Cleveland Browns fan who had a separate bank account where he was saving money to buy Super Bowl tickets for when the Browns made it there. She said, "That money is going to get old."

I was telling her that one of my past riders was named after her dad's mistress and she said, "My sister was named after my dad's mistress-my mom had no idea where my dad got the name from."

I asked the 19-year-old, "How long have you been working at IHOP?" She said, "Since I've been 13." Me: "How did you get a job at 13?" She: "It's a family business." Me: "IHOP is in your family?" She: "My cousin owns thirty or so franchises."

He: "I recommend to people that the best side gig to have is working in an ice cream store because of the tips."

The chef said, "Chefs are the unspoken heroes of the service world."

The young guy said, "The world needs more smiles and positive vibes."

"People drive early in the morning with their lights off to evade the police."

I asked her what she did for work and the young New Yorker said, "I have two businesses in New York, I'm an over the road truck driver and I just got my real estate license and sold my first house."

He's ten years free of Leukemia, but when he was a child he had a wish through the "Make-A-Wish Foundation. "I wanted to meet Tom Brady.  All the players were on the field for it and I walked up to him and asked if we could have a catch and he threw a pass to me in the end zone of Gillette Stadium and I caught it."

She: "When I was 19, I was driving in the mountains in the dark shutting my lights on and off.  I crashed and was paralyzed. The doctors said I would be paralyzed for life, but there was no way I was going to lay in bed with my mom taking care of me.  It took me 6-12 months before I could walk with assistance and I'm fully recovered with some minor leg issues."

                                                  MORE RIDER COMMENTS

Since she worked at IHOP, I asked her, "What's your favorite food to eat at IHOP?" She: "I'm a French toast girl.  They sometimes call me Frenchy at work."

She: "My friend works for the Denver Nuggets in IT and she has a championship ring and she let me put it on my finger-it was heavy."

The cop told me, "I was one of the Colorado representatives for the last Presidential Inaugural, each state sends them for every Inaugural."

The manager of a Jersey Mikes said, "I told by boss that we need to hire women so they can come in here and clean it up."

He was from Iraq: "When I took the test for citizenship I was very nervous, but I passed."

She: "I had just started working in a liquor store in Colorado when the pandemic shut everything down. It was announced that liquor stores were closing the next day and hundreds of people were in line going around the block and we were letting people in by twos. The closures were canceled the next day."

The accountant from Spain said, "People don't like us, they think our job is boring but I don't."

It's been a mild winter in Colorado and I said to the woman who spent ten years in Chicago, "You must be missing the cold winters there." She said, "No, this is totally fine."

She: "Comparing Charleston, South Carolina with Savannah, Georgia is like comparing pears and peaches."

She: "You should name your mannequin Makayla." Me: Her name is Lily it's on her, but I'll call her Lily Makayla from now on."

Selling pharmaceuticals for cattle she said, "My customers are also my friends."

I asked the woman from California if she was standing outside in the twenty degree weather waiting for me. She said, "I'd be insane to be waiting outside."

Her last driver canceled and she was late for work and she had a headache. At the end of the ride I was pulling up at a mall with valet parking.  She: "If you stop right there, they will yell at you." Me: "I'll go past there, the last thing we want is someone yelling at you today." She: "It would be a sad day for them."

"You're the second driver I've had who wrote a book about this.  He wrote about life lessons."

He: "Human connection is really important."

I was dropping two couples in sales from New Mexico off at the airport.  None of them had ever been in an Uber and as they got out three of them said together, "You're the best Uber driver we've ever had."

Me: "Have you ever got a gift from an Uber driver?" She laughed, "Yes, I got a small little duck with some unicorn stickers."

The 75-year-old man was on his way to Florida.  "I'm getting together with my six siblings to celebrate my mom's 95th birthday and our uncle's 104th birthday."

The guy in his seventies said, "We need to make more connections."

I asked the two couple who had been married 33 years and almost 15 years, "What's the secret of a successful marriage?"  One woman said, "Tolerance," and for the other couple the man said, "God.

The woman from Colorado looking at my mannequin said, "I had a mannequin for about twelve years. We found it in the river and put it on our raft. I just recently threw it out."

The couple met at a square dance club.  Married for 45 years I asked, "What's the secret of a successful marriage?" He said to the effect, "Yes, dear, " and she said, "Saying I'm sorry."

From Nepal, she said, "There are 25 houses in this neighborhood from Nepal." (In Colorado)

He: "The only thing that can brings out your talent is you."

Her last driver canceled and she was late for work and she had a headache. At the end of the ride I was pulling up at a mall with valet parking.  She: "If you stop right there, they will yell at you." Me: "I'll go past there, the last thing we want is someone yelling at you today." She: "It would be a sad day for them."

Wearing pink glasses in my orange car, I said, "I think me wearing those glasses would be too much for my car." She said, "It's never too much.'

Manager of clothing store: "I like when kids come in with parents or grandparents because then I know who has the money."

She: "We once had snow flurries here in Colorado in June."

Thank you to the college student from Rwanda for this bill for my 72nd country represented in my car.

UNIQUE OCCUPATIONS:

Pharmaceutical cattle sales

Researcher at Duke Medical Hospital

Accountant for an arcade company from Japan

Former equipment manager for Indiana University

Social media manager for a podcast in Los Angeles

Geology researcher

Bitcoin and stock trader

I DROVE PEOPLE THIS MONTH FROM:

Nepal, Philippines, Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua, The Congo, Mauritania, Vietnam, Turkey, Peru, Columbia, Spain, Sudan, Albania, Iraq, Japan.

WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT ME AND MY CAR:

The artist said about my car, "This is a work of art."

"This is the most enjoyable ride ever, we should make a poster of you."

She: "This is the best money I've ever spent on a museum."

"This is a life well spent and well lived."

He: "This was so awesome, I never could forget this car. I've never seen a car like this."

He sent his girlfriend pictures of my car and then called her and she said, "You better tip the _ _ _ _ out of him."

"You took some time with this, you didn't just get in the car and "vroom". We're going to have to owe you some money."

"It's been such a blessing talking to you today."

"I loved this ride."

He didn't want to talk during the ride, but apologized at the end and said, "You have a really cool taxi."

"This is the best Uber ride I've ever had, 100%, I'm not kidding."

"I've never seen an Uber like this."

"This is an experience, I'm just taking it all in."

"You've provided a great experience for your customers."

"I really enjoyed your car."

"This is the most interesting ride I've ever had."

"This is beautiful."

"I hope I get you again."

The Mexican woman in Spanish I think she said, "Magnificent experience."

"This was a  beautiful ride."

"This was very nice."

"This was an experience."

"I love your car."

"I really enjoyed the ride."

"Beautiful"

"Your car is beautiful."

"This is the coolest thing I've seen this week."

MY FAVORITE RIDERS IN JANUARY 2026

LAST MINUTE INSPIRATION

I was driving two co-workers of a cleaning company to their next house.  One woman, the manager,  told me that they had cleaned some million dollar houses for football great Peyton Manning, basketball star Nikola Jokic, and football great Brett Farve's mom. I was impressed with many things she said, but the one comment that stood out was, "I love America with a passion." In her younger days she had gotten in trouble, but had turned her life around.

This good ride turned into something extraordinary when she shared this story in the final 2-3 minutes of the ride. She said, "I was 19 and I had just had a fight with my boyfriend. I got in a car and was driving in the mountains with friends and I kept shutting my lights off but I kept them off two long.  My brother and I almost went off a cliff when the car crashed. When I was pulled out of the car I became paralyzed. The doctors told my mom I would be paralyzed for life.  There was no way I was going to lay in bed with my mom caring for me."

It took her 6-12 months before she could walk with assistance and she fully recovered except for some issues with one leg. A number of years later she met a 20-year-old girls who had just had a sports injury and was paralyzed. She was having a difficult time adjusting so my rider spent some time encouraging her. Years later she heard that the girl was walking and playing sports. I gave my rider a hard time for waiting till the end of the ride to inspire me. Her co-worker added, "She inspires me every day."

THE FRENCH TOAST GIRL

A short ride in your hometown can turn into a bunch of laughs with a smiling passenger.  She was heading to work at IHOP and I asked the 19-year-old, "How long have you worked there?" She told me since she was 13. When I asked how she got a job at 13, she explained, "It's a family business." I was laughing and said, "You have IHOP in your family?" Her cousin owns thirty some stores across the country.  Her mom helps get each of the stores going and she's been helping her.  

Since my wife loves eating at IHOP and we were there just a few days ago, I asked her, "What's your favorite thing to eat there?" She said, "French toast, I'm a French toast girl." I told her I had never driven a French toast girl.  My wife loves French toast also and I'm looking forward to driving "The French Toast Girl" again.

THE ALMOST DOUBLE LAWYER

I had never heard of a, "Double Lawyer," until this month. The woman told me that she was studying to take the bar next month and then she said she was already a lawyer.  In Columbia she had practiced law for seven years and then she took 5-6 years off to spend time with her kids.  In The United States she had to get a Master's Degree in Law and then pass the bar exam to be a lawyer here.  She confidently said to me, "I will pass the bar," and I have no doubt she will succeed.  We had a terrific conversation and she has a delightful personality.  I'm adding her to my collection of lawyer stories.

THE PERFECT COUPLE

The best ride of the weekend was driving this couple from Florida to the airport. They had a lot in common with my wife and I beginning with they were originally from Long Island, New York.  My wife and I are from New Jersey and we moved south to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina before moving to Colorado. This couple just had their 43rd anniversary and my wife and I will have ours in August. They also have three kids around the same ages of our three kids. We have two children living in Colorado and they have one.

Both retired, he was an orthopedic surgeon and she ran his office for thirty years.  My wife and I years ago worked together and I was her boss.  I asked them the secret of a successful marriage and she quickly replied, "I just keep telling him that he's right all the time." He answered laughing, "Telling jokes like that all the time." 

They also said that they were best friends and have been together a very long time. She said that she often says that she went to medical school with him since she went through it with him.  We had a lot of laughs in the car.  I did my best to console him after his Buffalo Bills lost the day before to the Denver Broncos and they were at the game.  I may get another chance to drive them when they return to Colorado and it will probably be just as much fun.

THE GODFATHER OF CLUBBING!

There are people you meet that you immediately like. This New Yorker in his seventies had a huge smile before he got in my car.  He was heading to Florida for a family reunion.  He was meeting his seven siblings to celebrate their mom's 95th birthday and their uncle's 104th birthday.  Over his career he had two stores for young people going to clubs and a long career as a merchandising rep and he call himself, "The Godfather of Clubbing." But, that smile? For sure, he's had thousands of smiles given to him because of what he gave to them.

The Winter Indoor Beach Party

This coming Monday is February 2, 2026. It is the 46th anniversary of one the most fun and crazy nights I've had in my life. (If you know me, I am not known for having crazy nights) My college roommate and I came up with the idea to have a beach party in our living room at Fairleigh Dickinson University on February 2, 1980.

We started planning it at the end of 1979 and he made seahorse invitations that we gave out to friends.  Over the winter break I was working at Burger King and my future wife saw the invitations, but I did not meet her until three months after the party.

We cleared everything out of the living room and put in a couple beach chairs, a blanket, and an umbrella. We had to have sand for the party so we bought some bags of sand and put plastic on the living room floor.  The 250 pounds of sand wasn't a lot when you spread it out, but I remember it as being closer to 1,000 pounds of sand which is in the song below. (We'll never know for sure)

Steve had this extremely large poster of I believe Waikiki Beach in Hawaii.  We put it on one wall and we had flood lights shining on it.(pictured below).  In the sky we put blue tissue paper over the ceiling and we had a little airplane up there with a sign that said, "Don't Burn Use Coppertone." I am in the middle pretending to eat sand and Steve is on my left and another roommate Russ is on my right.

We had friends from high school and college and some girls from Burger King.  Many people were wearing shorts and bikini tops since we turned the heat up.  The temperature outside was in the teens. We played beach music, especially the Beach Boys.

The two funniest moments of the party was that night when some guys from our building knocked on the door. They were not prepared for what they saw when the door opened.  The look on their faces while they were wearing heavy coats was priceless.

Four hours later we cleaned up and threw the sand into the garbage cans in the garbage room just outside our door.  The next morning a number of maintenance people were talking very fast in Spanish and trying to move and figure out what they were going to do with the sand.

Below is the picture of a blanket that most people signed at the party.  Many of the names are fading, but people who were there still remember it. There were about fifty people at the party. 

It went so well that six months later on August 2, 1980, I decided to have a Halloween party at my home and a number of people from the beach party were there. That's another story for August.

Below is the song I wrote in college to remember this unusual and fun college event.  The words go to one of my favorite songs, "Taxi" by Harry Chapin.  Who would ever believe that 46 years later I would be driving people around in my car.

                                                    "The Winter Indoor Beach Party"

It was very cold on that Saturday, it was February 2, 1980.                                                            Fairleigh Dickinson was kind of quiet that night, but it was only eight o'clock.                                      You knew there was something in the air, something was about to be done.                                          But you didn't know when or where, but somehow it would be fun.

So you walked around looking for a clue as your fingertips started to freeze. The force of the wind pushed you towards building two, your teeth chattered and you sneezed. Then the wind howled and led you right next store, next to building two was building one. You didn't know what you were going for, but the cold made you run.

When the door opened at Suite 1 1-A you couldn't believe your eyes. There was nothing you could possible say, the beach was quite a surprise. There were two lights shining brightly on the poster that was on the wall. There was a little plane that was flying right by saying "Don't Burn Use Coppertone."

You stared in disbelief as you looked all around at the pails and the shovels too.  And there was no doubt what was on the ground, there was sand in front of you. There were shorts and bikini tops all around, the umbrella was hit by a beach ball. The Beach Boys were singing in the background, a girl in a bikini was on the wall.

There was a thousand pounds of sand in that place, four hours later, it was time to go. It was a sight that you would have had to face, like nothing you'll ever know.