The year was 2008 and we were in the depths of the Great Recession. I had left my job as a Supply Chain Manager for a Xerox subsidiary in Denver, Colorado and moved back in with my parents in Kansas City. It was the fourth (or fifth?) time I had moved back home.
I was slated to fly to England in a couple months to pursue my MBA, but I could no longer afford the flight. My car had been repossessed a few months earlier as I couldn't cover the $150 a month payment.
After selling most of my posessions, I had $500 to my name. I emailed Manchester Business School and told them I wouldn't be coming. I asked them to hold my place for a year. Luckily, they agreed. Relieved that I had bought myself 12 months, there I was in the basement of my parents house, unemployed, broke, and bored.
The news segment ended with a comment that caught my attention. Something to the effect of, "...and they last changed the composition of the penny in 1982. A pre-1982 penny now contains over two cents worth of copper..."