Tuesday, September 14, 2010

A penny on the floor.

I was getting lunch today and while on line for my salad, I saw a penny on the floor. My first thought was to not pick it up. After all, it was just a penny. I then thought I wasn't doing anything except waiting, so I picked it up and put it in my pocket.

I then started thinking about what I would bend down to pick up and figured that if it was a dollar, I was definitely going for it. A nickel or dime really depended on my mood. A quarter, most likely, but a penny, not so much.

Then I tried to figure out how much the effort would be worth to actually pick up the penny. I timed that the deep knee bend would take about 3 seconds with the benefit being the penny itself. If I was able to do that pace of penny picking, I would get 20 cents a minute that equates to $12 dollars an hour. If I do some penny picking up intervals or speed work I could probably get to one every 2 seconds. That'll turn into $18/hour. I wondered what world class would be in picking up pennies.

I know that my model is flawed. Fatigue could come into play. Most penny picking up could be considered sprinting. I wondered if anyone could be a naturally born penny picker upper (I'm not). This math said that I should be picking more coins than I currently do.

I finally got my salad. As I ate my salad I wondered if other people spend brain cycles on nonsense like this. I realized I need to spend more brain cycles on training instead. I've done some training recently and after my 30 mile bike ride this weekend, my body was sending hints to my brain about how I haven't asked it to do much recently.

But I am a penny richer! What am I going to spend it on?

13 comments:

Ewa said...

Where I come from one never ever misses an opportunity to pick up even a penny. Doing so is a bad omen and can mean future financial ruin. Picking up a penny is a sing of good luck but no guarantees here that you will become a millionaire. Sorry.

Unknown said...

A really good song by a local Pittsburgh band (The Clarks) is called, "Penny on the Floor" ... now this song is stuck in my head and it has probably been 15 years since I heard it!

Unknown said...

i love how the penny generated so much thought! hahahahah

Patrick Mahoney said...

I recently read an article saying that brain exercise is just as important as physical exercise especially as we age. Most will admit that your brain teaser is cooler than reciting the alphabet backwards or running through prime numbers.

Pahla said...

This post is awesome! I do spend lots of time following a train of thought like yours, but it generally doesn't involve math. :-)

Carly said...

This post cracked me up because I found a penny in elevator at work today and I dove for it. Yes...I gasped, and dove. I found a penny so it must be bringing me good luck....and right now I need all the luck I can get. Now I just don't have any dignity because I dove for while the elevator was full of people.

Travel / Surf Guy said...

I would say - "A penny for your thoughts" but you've just shared them.

Thanks for that and spend it wisely my friend!!

KovasP said...

My son picks up every coin he sees and actively looks for them in coin-counting machines, coin return slots, etc. I bet he's gotten a couple of dollars over the last year or so. Good rumination on how the small things can add up.

Q said...

Ha, I love how the act of picking up a penny mushroomed into deep thoughts!

And I totally would have followed the same train of though as you.

Emz said...

I'm a penny picker-upper. Always!

Love pennies!

And I love purell [sp]. Money is so dirty. Even the paper kind. Think on THAT! ;)

Tri Mommy said...

I always pick up pennies... whenever I see one I think of my Dad telling me that pennies make nickels, nickels make dimes, dimes make eventually quarters and dollars.

And I am glad I am not the only one to noodle oddities. Mine don't usually include math problems but still are quite like your thought pattern there.

Al's CL Reviews said...

Love it.

teacherwoman said...

So much thought behind something that is worth so little... or is it?!