BY GEORGE, WHERE'S GEORGE? AND THOMAS?

My son Tyler likes $2 bills, so a couple weeks ago I stopped in my bank and asked for some. One of them had stamps for the Where's George web site. We've mentioned this site before - it's where users can enter the serial numbers of dollar bills and other currency to track where they've been and where they go again after they leave your hands. It's a harmless pastime. I've entered a few bills myself over the years, although I've gotten only a couple subsequent "hits" on "my" notes.

The other morning I stopped for a bagel on the way to work and got another Where's George note in change. No stamps on this one - everything was written out in neat letters using different color pens. I was amazed that someone would take that much time out of a day for such a trivial pursuit. But everyone has their hobby. So to help out I entered both notes on the site and I'll spend them somewhere this coming week. We'll see if they turn up again somewhere.

According to Where's George, The $1 note "has traveled 584 Miles in 174 Days, 5 Hrs, 21 Mins at an average of 3.4 Miles per day. It is now 584 Miles from its starting location." The spender wrote: "This is bill #12,600 I've entered. It was entered during a trip to Alabama for a friend's wedding and spent at Vienna Exxon on 04/03/10."

Whew! 12,600 Where's George bills? That's more bills than I have books in my library. As for the $2 note, "This bill has traveled 26 Miles in 2 Yrs, 17 Days, 11 Hrs, 11 Mins at an average of 0.03 Miles per day. It is now 26 Miles from its starting location." It was spent in Washington, DC, and probably spent most of that time in a bank teller's drawer.

To visit the Where's George web site, see: www.wheresgeorge.com

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