That’s the winning bid for building a section of California’s High Speed Rail Link
“High-Speed Rail Authority Announces Bid Results on Next Segment of Construction in the Central Valley” {PDF} on page three.
Damn and I bid $1,234,567,980. So close.
Heh. I saw that number cited on Wikipedia and just assumed that someone had vandalized the page to put a ridiculous number.
Sometimes numbers just work out that way. I had a friend whose phone number was 789-7890.
[President Skroob]I have that same amount in my luggage![/PS]
I like how the company whose proposal scored the worst across the board was almost twice as much as the lowest bid.
I had a girl friend once with a ridiculous number like 899-8979. Rotary dial in those days, had to wait for the dial to return. By the time her phone rang, she had washed her hair
The longest consecutive time (to the second, let’s not get crazy):
12:34:56
Dennis
We use VPN tokens to access our corporate network. They create a six-digit string of numbers which we then input into the VPN client on our computers.
I really like it when my token generates either a concurrent sequence or a nice round number. 
For years, I have sent my mother a check for her Christmas present (makes for easy shopping). At some point about a decade ago, I decided to go with something other than a nice round number that ended in zeros. So I sent her a check for something like $478.32. When she got it, she thought that I had made a mistake and called me all confused. It was a good laugh on my part.
I’ve kept up the habit over the years, and it tends to amuse the nieces and nephews who get a check from me. I’ll use patterns at times, like the $1234.56. Whatever amuses me at the time.
My father was born on January 23, 1945. MM/DD/YY format probably caused some problems over the years.
I wonder what wiseguy at the construction firm decided to make the bid that amount. I assume their calculations ended up in the neighborhood of $1.2 billion and they decided to have a bit of fun with it.
You know those accountants who work for engineering firms engaged in massive plublic-works projects – they’re a real barrel of laffs.
Well, the odds of coming up with that exact number for a bid isn’t astronomical, but it is exceptionally unusual. Certainly if my bid came close to that number in the OP, I’d’a fudge it just for the fun of it. Power to them for winning the bid as well, not they can start designing cost overruns and really start cashing in. Yeah, I saw that number first on Wikipedia and checked the reference. Sumabitch; mundane, pointless and I was driven to share it with y’all …
mixdenny:
I remember staring, twenty-six years ago, at my digital watch for a solid few minutes just to see the glory that was 12:34:56 7/8/90.
My grandfather was born January 1, 1911. He liked to say that he was one of the few people who could write their birthdate with all straight lines - 1/11/11.
One year after writing the date at on something at work, I noticed all straight lines and called to wish him a happy birthday - on November 11. Doh!
Well, you were only off by 1.
d & r