Friday the 13th comes on a Friday this month

And it sure brought me some good luck!

First, I was at Wal-Mart, and in the parking lot, staring at me from the ground, was Honest Abe Lincoln. Yes, folks, a shiny 2003 penny sitting there heads-up. Of course I picked it up. My dad always said, "A man who doesn't stop to pick up a penny isn't worth a penny." Maybe not in all cases, but I've got student loans to pay off.

Then, because Wal-Mart didn't have what I was looking for, I went to Sports Authority on my way home. I needed a tube case for my fishing rod. There were a few at Sports Authority, and I couldn't decide between two, one of which had some neat features and was a little heavier and the other that was slightly lighter and austere. I picked the latter because it was $69.99 marked down to $24.97, which was $10 less than the fancy one. Bringing it to the register, I heard the cashier (who insisted it was a "pool case" referring to a pool cue, even though there was a drawing of a fish right on the tag) chuckle after he scanned the tag. I looked at the monitor on the register to see that it rang up for $0.01. One penny. The very penny I had just found in the parking lot at Wal-Mart. So technically, it was free!

The cashier cosulted a co-worker to see if he could really give it to me for $0.01, even though the price tag was clearly marked otherwise. About the time I thought I had K's Six Dollar Dress story trumped, he has to call his manager, who decides one penny is too cheap for a $70 case, but she can give me $5 off. Meanwhile, I don't even care because I would have happily paid the $25 that it was marked. So I got the case I needed for under $20.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, it was too good to be true. I tried to put the fishing rod away, only to find that one of the eyelets through which the line is fed protrudes too far so the rod doesn't fit. All that excitement for nothing.