Yet another inspiring example of refusing to confine our mind to conventional wisdom and of daring to challenge the inevitable...:)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
$149M Lottery Winner Had 78 Cents in Bank
NEW YORK - With just 78 cents in his savings account and $44,000 owed to creditors, parking attendant Juan Rodriguez plunked down $1 on a lottery ticket. Good thing he wasn't pinching pennies: He won a $149 million lottery jackpot.
Rodriguez, 49, of Queens, bought his Mega Millions lottery ticket about one month after filing for bankruptcy.
He stepped forward over the weekend to claim his prize, proving to be a man of many dollars but few words. At a news conference, he wore dark glasses and said he was "excited." Asked what he planned to do with his millions, he said, "I have no idea."
According to court papers, Rodriguez had exactly 78 cents in his savings account and nothing in his checking account. He owed $19,486 on one credit card and $10,070 on another. And he owed the Internal Revenue Service (news - web sites) $2,279.
Rodriguez bought his ticket in the middle of a double shift at his $28,000-a-year job as a parking garage attendant. He immigrated to the United States from Colombia in 1982.
There was one clue that Rodriguez wanted his cash fast: He opted for a lump-sum payment of $88.5 million instead of 26 annual installments.
(http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041123/ap_on_re_us/bankrupt_lottery_winner)
- Re: Count Opportunities, But Not Penniesposted on 11/26/2004
He is lucky. That's all. That's the whole basis for lottery - wish me luck and let the probability drop on me. So everybody rushes to buy the tickets. But luck is so unpreditable and once it happens it creates legends.
Please paste HTML code and press Enter.
(c) 2010 Maya Chilam Foundation