I’m sure you will be glad to know that I have finally come to a decision regarding what should be done with the Starbucks gift card that I found a couple of weeks ago (Posted here – Lost and Found). My search to find the owner of the card proved to be an impossible task. I’d like to thank everyone that wrote in with suggestions as to my course of action. In the end I found a unique solution, and as with all decisions of this nature I’m sure I will not be able to please everyone, least of all myself!

As time ticks by, with each passing second the urge to use the card became stronger and stronger from deep within me. It had a similar effect on me as the One Ring had on Frodo in the Lord of the Rings. And so it came to pass on Friday of last week that the last vestiges of my willpower were finally crushed like a tin can at 2,000 feet below the surface of the ocean. Yes, I used the card, which is no mean feat given my aversion to coffee. I charged a freshly squeezed organic orange juice to “my precious” card. I’ll admit it, the heavy burden of being the “card-bearer” is burning a hole in my soul that grows larger with each passing day. It threatens to tear apart the very fabric that holds us Sidewalkers together. I need to find my own personal Mount Doom, to cast the card into! As soon as I identify my “Mount Doom” we shall have some fun following the final fate of the now infamous card. (Does it seem like I’m making excuses to hold onto the card for a bit longer?)

In other news, I came across a penny yesterday that could not be retrieved in a conventional manner. I hope to return to the location to see the coin still in position. If that is the case I plan to use some of the tools in the Sidewalker Rescue Pack to salvage the coin; and further more, it is my intention to capture the whole episode on my trusty cell phone. So keep an eye out later this week for another original Sidewalker movie short…

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $14.53

The Sidewalker Mailbag has been canceled this Friday due to the stunning swoop and following arrests made in the local area by the F.B.I. on Thursday. Read on…

By looking at my Cash Trail map in the side bar on the right, you don’t have to be Christopher Columbus to figure out that Castle Sidewalker is located somewhere in the dark recesses of Hudson County, New Jersey. For my readers from further afield, you may be familiar with this area as it is the “playground” of Tony Soprano, from the HBO series The Sopranos. Right now I wished we lived in the fictitious world of The Sopranos, as that would be more believable than the events that unfolded here early on Thursday morning. Once again the national spotlight shined brightly on Hudson County for all the wrong reasons. The Mayor of Hoboken, Peter Cammarano, was arrested for allegedly receiving payments from a property developer for preferential treatment at the local zoning board. The indictment does actually include the passing of brown envelopes stuffed with cash in the parking lot of a local diner, I kid you not! However I am not going to rush to judgement (that is not the way of the Sidewalker), I’ll just wait and let the legal system run it’s course. What I do find remarkable about the arrest is that the Mayor had only been in office for 23 days. Unfortunately most Mayors around these parts get arrested at some point during their 4 year term; but 23 days, come on, that has to be some kind of a record! Can anyone out there beat that?

It may turn out to be that I’m not the only one who has been picking up cash in Hoboken! I have come to the conclusion that Hoboken may be the only town in America that can compete with Chicago when it comes to political corruption. If you were to measure corruption per capita, Hoboken really knocks it out of the park; which is rather ironic as it is also known as the “birthplace of baseball“.

In other news, I have arrived at a solution for the now infamous Starbucks Gift Card. I shall reveal it’s fate on Monday, so be sure to check back in then.

Have a great weekend…

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $14.29 (plus pending Starbucks resolution)

If you remember a week or so ago I found a Starbucks gift card at a bus stop in Hoboken. The full story of finding it can be found here. After much publicizing of my find, and after a couple of opportunist attempts to claim the card by interlopers, the true owner has not come forward.

I can now reveal the amount outstanding on the card is $10. This sum of money would give an incredible boost to the Sidewalker Fund, but we are left with a couple of questions. Firstly how am I to monetize this find? Secondly, even if I can monetize it, is it within the spirit of my quest to add it to the total?

So let’s look at my options:

1. I can stand outside a Starbucks and offer to buy people coffee for cash. I recall this being done in movie not so long ago, but I can’t recollect which one.

2. Reader(s) of the blog could bid for the $10 value of the gift card, you may even get it at a discount!

3. I’m meeting a reporter this week who potentially wants to do an article about my adventures, we just happen to be meeting in a Starbucks. Perhaps I could use the card there, in order to break the ice at the interview.

Any thoughts on how I deal with this would be most welcome. Or are you a purist, and think I should not include the proceeds of this find in the Sidewalker Fund at all? Let me know what you are thinking…

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $14.29 (plus pending Starbucks resolution)

Today’s post is late because I have been embroiled in what can only be described as a bizarre sequence of events. It all started with me looking down, no surprise there! I was at a bus stop in Hoboken N.J., and down in the gutter glinting at me in the late afternoon sun was what appeared to be a credit card. I bent down with the intention to secure the card, and if possible repatriate it with the rightful owner, before it could be put to a more nefarious use by an individual less scrupulous than myself.

However on further inspection I saw that it was not a credit card at all, but in fact a gift card to be used in a Starbucks Coffee outlet. I would have given it no further thought, had it not been in pristine condition. Curiosity got the better of me and there are several Starbucks in town close by (isn’t that the case in every town in America?), so I resolved to find out if there was any balance on the card.

Well you can imagine my shock when the cashier checked it and told me there was an active balance. My shock soon turned to panic when she asked me what I would like; I do not drink coffee, I don’t even speak coffee and I’m totally out of my comfort zone in the company of Barista’s (I guess I can rule out Starbucks as a future sponsor of my endeavor!). This leaves me with one and potentially two problems…

1)If you have lost a Starbucks coffee gift card at a bus stop in Hoboken, leave me a note in the comments section below or send me a tweet, stating at which bus stop you lost it at, and also the balance on the card before high noon E.D.T. on 16th June 2009. If your information rings true, I will return it to you.

2)In the event a legitimate claim is not made by the cut off time, how will I monetize this “plastic” find to add to the Sidewalker Fund?

When I started this adventure I never thought finding street cash would get this complicated. I think I need a coffee…

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $13.11 (plus pending Starbucks resolution)