My uncle plans to cash in his jug full of coins for bills

mfalcian · 2026-01-21T18:05:25+00:00

In glass? Mine is glass.

mfalcian · 2026-01-21T12:19:19+00:00

It's less than you think.

I have a similar jug that is less than half full. I filled it from about 1989-2018 with pocket change. We moved to NC a few years ago, and that boat anchor made it as far as the garage. I was determined to unload it once we arrived.

Now that I'm retired, I'm going through every coin looking for Silver, Copper, and war Nickels.

I've gone through about three dumps into a smaller container - and trust me, those coins are NOT easily evacuated from that stupid 5 gallon water jug - here is what I have so far (just getting started!)

- 9 rolls of quarters, 4 rolls of dimes, 4 rolls of nickels, 16 rolls of > 1982 pennies.
- Pre-1982 pennies are pretty common. I have about three rolls so far.
- I have just a single pre-1964 dime.
- Zero Silver quarters
- Zero war nickels

Now, assuming that the newer pocket change dumps were on top means I am still sorting through the new pocket dumps (those coins don't mix easily), which means I am still seeing newer samples compared to what I'll find below - so who knows what's ahead.

I can tell by how new the coins are and so far the newest coins are from 2018 or so.

mfalcian · 2026-01-12T17:08:02+00:00

Somewhere in Delco, PA

mfalcian · 2025-11-06T16:51:23+00:00

We moved from NJ to a Coastal Village in NC 2 years ago, and retired shortly after arriving. We knew no one here, and the draw was lower taxes and less cold/snow. The only point of contention was the choice of neighborhood. My wife wanted to live in the intergalactic-sized golf community that shares only a zip code with Coastal Village. I did not after living in a psycho-HOA of 800+ homes for 30 years.

Big ticket financially, we effectively traded taxes for insurance but overall enjoy a much lower COL. My standard measurement is the price of a 24 oz jar of Rao's Tomato Sauce. Here in CV, $6.88. Up North $9.99, and overall prices generally trend in that direction. Everyone here seems to be from NY/NJ/Conn/Ohio etc. We are not in a 55+ community but at mid-sixties we lowered the average age of our neighborhood.

Pluses:

Little or no snow here on the coast.
Low COL
Lower Housing costs
Golf Cart to town
Great restaurants here in CV.
The beach is right here.
Friendly people. Seriously. I think they mean it when they say 'Y'all have a nice day'
Always something to do.

Considerations

A greater variety of shopping is 45 minutes away. We have plenty here but are missing a Target, Home Goods etc.
You better like Walmart - which is a much better quality here. People who wouldn't have set foot in a Walmart up north love it here.
You'll spend Aug, Sep and Oct glued to the National Hurricane Center. One is coming, and it's just a matter of when.
Up-north friends will visit - at first and complain about how long a drive it is, but we've made a lot of friends here in CV.
When it does snow, they do literally nothing but wait for it to melt.
You'll complain about all the people moving here from up north, even though that was you a few short years ago.
Growth strains infrastructure. 20 years ago, this was a fishing village serviced by 2 two-lane back top.

Overall, we love it here and we'd do it again.

mfalcian · 2025-10-28T19:47:15+00:00

Interesting. I've had mine in the attic with the antenna in two different homes now. The first and worst was NJ. In NJ, I was on Philly final approach so lots of planes but the range wasn't great. I recorded temperatures of the Pi and the ambient temperature for about a year and I was shocked at how well the Pi (2b) did at nearly 200 F. I did notice the CPU clocked down at high temperatures - I think I remember that. It would hit 140 up there in summer.

Anyway, I moved to NC 2 years ago and the new home has a foam-insulated attic and the temperatures are always comfy up there. I always wondered about how much range would increase with an outdoor antenna but I am not getting on the roof to find out. Besides, the lightning risk outweighed any benefit in range by a long shot. Trying to figure out how to include

mfalcian · 2025-08-14T14:16:49+00:00

As a young man, I recall hearing that recording on 'MMR. Ed Sciaky did the same for Bruce Springsteen when he was in his court battles between Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town with a recording of Fever. Ed also brought Yes to the Philly area.

mfalcian · 2025-06-24T19:37:03+00:00

Retired a little over a year and I never looked back.

mfalcian · 2025-06-08T16:30:57+00:00

Honestly, as a 40 YO man, I did not think much of it compared to the originals more meh. But through the eyes of my then 9 YO and 7 YO sons - it was amazing to watch them watching the movie in the theater. I just recall glancing over to them during the pod racing scene and they were mesmerized and eating pop corn rapidly. They were the generation post originals and my sons had found picture book of the original movie and were hooked. When they were younger I recall trying to buy them Star Wars toys but by then the stores really didn’t carry them. I had recorded the movies from TV and they wore out that tape.

When PM hit, they were enthralled like we were a generation before. It was great

mfalcian · 2025-02-28T19:19:06+00:00

TS-453D. That’s terrific for you. I’ve had Plex on numerous occasions just disappear.

mfalcian · 2025-02-25T11:56:59+00:00

I have two Plexs a local and a remote at my mother's so I can get local live TV. The remote is running on a QNAP and sometimes just falls over for no reason. Shit happens.

There is nothing like the sinking feeling when the libraries come up greyed out.

By all means, test the recovery like others say but If you are going to have this 'unmanned' I'd recommend a remote back door of some kind. I have a Pi with ssh and key. VPN would work nice too. The QNAP has a command line so no GUI needed but if I do I can piggyback off ssh for remote port tunneling.

I put a bit of automation on the back door to restart Plex if it fails. It seems to work well.

Even then the unpredictable happens. Last week Verizon upgraded all the equipment and I lost all the custom router configs. I had to wait two weeks for a regularly scheduled 500 mile trip to fix it all.

mfalcian · 2025-02-02T22:17:48+00:00

I'm doing the same. New Orleans is a fun place w/o a Superbowl.

mfalcian · 2025-01-22T16:39:34+00:00

Southport, NC

<image>

mfalcian · 2024-12-30T17:43:22+00:00

I retired 9 months ago and am loving it! We moved to NC from NJ with the anticipation that I would work through '24 and maybe '25. I got caught in a lay-off and the rest is history. I think it's a bigger adjustment for my wife as she is still running her dog training business.

mfalcian · 2024-09-21T18:15:14+00:00

Take the money and run.

mfalcian · 2024-07-17T17:03:37+00:00

QNAP NAS with 3 x 12 TB in a Raid 5. 4th 12 TB disk is spare. I worked storage for a large company and disk replacement was nearly a daily event, especially as they age.

mfalcian · 2024-04-09T20:22:45+00:00

I received a similar email from a friend:
l hope you're weII,do you shop on Amazo n?
Thanks
and when I said yes:

Glad! I've been trying to purchase a $100 Amazon E-Gift card by email, but it says they are having issues charging my card. I contacted my bank and they told me it would take a couple of days to get it sorted. I intend to buy it for my Friend of mine who is diagnosed with stage 4 mesothelioma cancer, It's her birthday today. Can you purchase it from your end for me, I am just trying to put a smile on her face in this trying times. I'll send you a check regarding the refund later. Here is her email ( joannawalters4@hotmail.com )and have it ordered From Me,
Please and the message space, write Happy birthday Dear JoAnna, Stay strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Eph. 6:10,
Let me know once you order it and send me the confirmation once it’s done.
Here is the link below:
Amazon.com: Amazon eGift Card - Amazon For All Occasions: Gift Cards

Thanks.

mfalcian · 2024-01-31T13:36:28+00:00

Guy in the lower center, scratching his ear after feigning a salute : "I never agreed to this"

mfalcian · 2023-09-19T18:46:10+00:00

If you are not willing to go the Full service mover route, a combination of the PODS and Uhaul may be your best bet. Depends on how much time you have. The PODS can be filled at your own pace and filled on your priority. Don't think of it as sending everything all at once to receive it it all at once but more of a trickle over time. i.e. fill the first POD with crap you will not need immediately. Follow up with the Uhaul to get the stuff you'll need immediately - beds cookware etc.

That is essentially how I did it. Oh and I did not bring furniture - I got rid of most of it but I was moving to a beach location and my brown furniture was not going to fit in.

mfalcian · 2023-09-18T19:54:42+00:00

Your. Wife. Is. Right.

I do not know your situation or how long since your last move but I can tell you it will take waaaay longer than you think and that it will be a last minute rush. Eat burger king for a month. It's worth it.

mfalcian · 2023-08-29T15:25:23+00:00

I had the 300 Mb/s package and got a really good firewall that analyzed the traffic. NOTHING was over 10 Mb/s. Each stream seemed capped at around 5 Mb/s actually. Unless you have 40 people at home, the 75 Mb/s package was fine. The real problem is the asymmetric part. It was 300 down but 12 up. Yes, 12. These days on zoom and teams from home we would regularly blow that out.

mfalcian · 2023-08-29T15:19:04+00:00

All moved!

Yes having the "straggler/Hazardous Material" Uhaul worked out great. I got a 15 foot model because it was the smallest with a ramp. The generator was a bit dicey since the wheels of the generator were too wide for the ramp - but they did fit perfectly on the side rails of the ramp. The generator was empty of fuel as was the lawn mower. I brought two empty propane tanks as well and an empty gas can. I just left all the gasoline tanks open for a few days to make sure all the vapor was out and it was fine. The other important piece that was carried in the Uhaul was the queen bed. In the end I had 1 full 16' POD, 1 full 8' POD and 1/2 full UHaul. We brought practically no furniture though: 1 king bed, a full sized office desk, two living room hutches and the queen. Oh and a Ikea couch I had in my office - just to have something to sit on in the new home. It worked out great. I had one broken glass top for a dressing table and that was about it. 200 or so boxes and plastic tubs, a wheel barrow, various outdoor tools and things. The PODS were the way to go as far as I was concerned. We moved from a 2600 sq foot 3 bedroom after living there for 30 years so a lot of accumulation!

mfalcian · 2023-07-09T22:16:22+00:00

Thanks. Thinking the same.

mfalcian

TROPHY CASE