Pennies – The Weight of My Days

Writing volumes

I’ve got to stop spewing. It was just a snippet that I snuck into a blog post, but I keep thinking about it – I’ve written more than 200,000 words in the 500+ days that I’ve been doing this blog. Less than a year and a half to write the equivalent of three books. I didn’t start … read more Writing volumes

New books

As much as I like the serendipity of writing about each day as it comes, I’m starting to bore myself. Now that I’ve written more than 500 posts, it’s time to get serious. Writing time is precious. With this volume of words, I want to be aiming toward a finished product. Books. More than a year … read more New books

What I’ve learned from writing 500 blog posts

On my birthday last year, 500 days ago, I started this blog. I had no idea what I was getting into. I intended for the blog to be a simple record of the sculpture I was going to build from 16,252 pennies. I choose a penny to represent each day, gradually creating the sculpture, and for the … read more What I’ve learned from writing 500 blog posts

1959 odds

If you were born in 1959, what are the odds of pulling a penny with the year of your birth from a $25 box of rolled pennies at the bank? In the wee hours of this morning, I came up with a completely unscientific answer: One out of 2,500. I stayed up late sorting pennies, … read more 1959 odds

Counting my pennies

The day was a struggle. Couldn’t find things, couldn’t do art, my brain was not working, my feelings were painful and confused. I broke out a new brick of pennies, and sorted four rolls into years. I was still crying at the end of those 200 pennies, but I felt a little bit better. So I … read more Counting my pennies

Private parts

One important thing I have learned about writing is to tell the truth. But because this blog is public, I can’t always tell the truth. There are times I have avoided writing the post that I really needed to write because it might hurt someone’s feelings or violate their privacy if I am honest about my day. I … read more Private parts

Hog drop

As we were leaving the 4th of July parade in downtown Norwalk, a poster for the St. Alphonsus church festival caught our attention. There was one event we couldn’t picture: the Hog Drop. There was some cryptic mention of squares, but that didn’t help us. All I could imagine is that they maybe mark squares … read more Hog drop

Sticking to it

There seems to be a conspiracy afoot to keep me from my goals of losing weight, painting my sketched concepts, and writing a book. Just in the last four months, my brain blew up. My shoulder froze. Big projects at the cabin need supervision. I signed up with an unhelpful self-publishing program. And now the … read more Sticking to it

Metal to the pedal

With all the winter slip-sliding on the roads, you’re bound to notice dings and scratches on your car when spring rain washes it clean. But say you can’t afford to re-paint your car. What would you do? Save your pennies? Good idea. You’d probably need less than $400 in pennies to cover your car, and then you’d … read more Metal to the pedal

Reading the code

This afternoon’s fun was reading the Code of Federal Regulations. Not all 200 volumes of it, thankfully. The CFR embodies all the administrative rules which were enacted by federal agencies and which have the force of law. Since my company is managing a federal grant, I needed to re-read the relevant parts in the much-loved Title 48, which deals … read more Reading the code