Lucky/unlucky thread

[Sorcerer]

was recently reading an article about one of the first employees at Apple who sold his shares in the company for a couple hundred bucks...today would have been worth 100s of billions.

Or that dude overseas who threw out a hard drive with thousands of bitcoins with a couple hundred million now. He finally gave up the search in the landfill. They are gone forever.

Anyone have some interesting stories of missed opportunities? Not so much stocks you could have bought. More like, I owned 5 Berkshire A and sold when it was $20k/share. Or sold my bitcoins at $20/each.

Could even be a time when you escaped death. Final destination stuff. I had a coworker who was vacationing overseas and visited some tower building. Two days later major earthquake hit and the building was rubble. Not exactly a seconds from disaster but still in the ballpark.

 

[Sorcerer]

Five years ago when our son was only a couple months old, we were driving home and approaching our driveway. I had to stop in middle of road as there was oncoming traffic. A person came up behind us and wasn't slowing down, speed limit was 55 mph so they weren't going slower than that. They had around 100 yards of seeing me with brake lights yet they kept on flying. Within the last 20 yards they swerved around me narrowly missing us. Our child and dog in the back seat would have been killed. Wife and myself would more than likely have experienced whiplash that would have did some sort of permeant damage at best. Not sure if they were on phone or just highway hypnosis. That was probably my closest to potential death.

 

[JohnnyPHX]

How about thinking you have all your ducks in a row for retirement. You get everything paid off including your home. Most major home improvements for energy efficiency done. You finally muster up the courage to give your notice. You normally work from home but you choose to come in to the office your last day so you can drop off your computer equipment. Your boss kind of pushes you to leave early though you were planning a full day to clean up all the loose ends. He says no worries they will take care of things next week. So I leave the office around 1 pm. I decide I will take the long way home and avoid the freeways since I am now officially retired. Well 10 minutes into my leisurely drive home with few cars on the road a driver coming the opposite way turns left in front of me....BAM!!! WTH....airbags go off. Luckily nobody was seriously injured but three cars were totaled in the accident. Then cause my car was stuck blocking one lane everyone was going around in the other lane. While waiting along the side of the road we hear a loud bang! Apparently another accident happened down the road from our accident by someone rushing around our accident. Ugg...felt so lucky to have retired earlier that day then not so lucky 10 minutes into retirement. But it all worked out in the end.....lived to tell about it.

 

[JohnnyPHX]

Also feel very lucky that one day sitting at an oddly shaped 4 way intersection I did jump of the line when the light turned green. A car blew through the intersection about 40 miles an hour from my left. They were either trying to make the light or missed that it turned red completely. I could have been t-boned and at least severally injured if I was in a hurry that day. I am a lot more cautious driving these days for sure.

 

[Al18]

I invested about $2.5K in Nvidia in the 90’s. I’ve been selling some each year to fund my retirement. I originally bought the stock because I thought they had some technical expertise, and they gobbled up 3Dfx along with their patents for penny’s on the dollar when they were going out of business.

 

[MRG]

The last log truck I helped unchain. I was on the other side from the logger who was unchaining the chains on that side. Little did I know the mechanical trip mechanism was broken and when I let the chain loose the log stake swung down from vertical and hit me square on the head, no hard hat involved. It was 4"×4" box steel and about 4' long, weighed about 80 pounds.

As I was blacking out I remember thinking I should fall under the truck, as I thought the entire load was going to bury me. Then I remember the logger, shaking me back to consciousness as I asked what happened.

They wanted me to see the company doctor but I declined. It was about 1980 and they had no idea about concussions then.

About 5 days later I was eating lunch with the owner and others. I looked around and came back from a very foggy place. "Hey, everybody, what's been going on?"

 

[old medic]

Oh the stories I could tell... In my career I have seen miracles and Angels in action. A woman 8 months pregnant hit in a line of stopped traffic by a tractor trailer at 65 MPH... the rear wheels in the back seat, the engine pushed back from being crushed into the car in front. Airbag didn't go off, opened the door and she stepped out without a scratch.
Some know of my accident after I retired, after tumbling 140Ft over the guardrail and coming to a stop, I looked at my twisted bleeding legs, knowing where I was at and that no one seen the accident I figured it was game over. I laid back closed my eyes and that was it.... I woke up 4 days later on a vent and was more surprised than relieved. Most everyone involved with my rescue and recovery are amazed that not only survived, but kept both legs and walking.

 

[jfn111]

Five years ago when our son was only a couple months old, we were driving home and approaching our driveway. I had to stop in middle of road as there was oncoming traffic. A person came up behind us and wasn't slowing down, speed limit was 55 mph so they weren't going slower than that. They had around 100 yards of seeing me with brake lights yet they kept on flying. Within the last 20 yards they swerved around me narrowly missing us. Our child and dog in the back seat would have been killed. Wife and myself would more than likely have experienced whiplash that would have did some sort of permeant damage at best. Not sure if they were on phone or just highway hypnosis. That was probably my closest to potential death.

I came across an accident, back in my working days. Lady had dropped her cell phone and reached over to pick it up not paying attention to what was in front of her. She ended up rear ending the car in front of her, stopped at the light, killing the child riding in a rear car seat.
I'll always remember the father frantically doing CPR on the lifeless child.

 

[Retired Expat]

Luck seems to be so relative…my Ex was of the belief she had “Irish Luck” if not for bad luck she would have no luck at all…..was always in awe of my luck. I didn’t believe it and felt we make our own luck but I have come to accept that I am a very lucky SOB! Not winning the lottery luck but in a million small things just working out for the better than they could have.

Rent a car for 3 weeks in Europe and the agency doesn’t have what I reserved..which was a basic medium sized car. So instead they gave me a Mercedes.. there was a $300 drop off charge since I was leaving it in another country but the Mercedes it turned out was from that country and so no drop off charge.

Nothing life and death just opportunities and good fortune all my life,….. uh mostly!

 

[sengsational]

The coulda, shoulda, woulda stories don't stick in my mind because they're unhelpful. They're especially unhelpful if you go way back in history, like "sold Apple shares I got on the offering". I didn't get those, by the way, but my uncle did, and made a tidy sum, but if he hadn't sold, he'd have been much better off.

On the lucky side, I don't think many of us even know we've had a "close call". We're all one freak situation from the dirt nap. I had one where the light turned green, I started forward, and saw something off to my left that made take my foot off the gas (but not time enough to even brake). An old Delta 88 flew past my front bumper doing about 90. Didn't even swerve. No doubt I'd be a goner if I'd been more aggressive on taking off from the green light.

 

[Dtail]

Kind of a weird one for me.
When I was 10 yrs old, I was playing near the railroad tracks and was just about to step on the track and the train wizzed by me. Just didn't hear it coming.

 

[razztazz]

Shot at across the street from my house on two different occasions in 1975.

Shot at by an A-10 on a USAF test range.

Every single time, as a child, being in the car with my father who was driving at least buzzed and, by today's standards likely drunk, about 98% of the time. No seat belts, no air bags, but a nice metal dashboard.

 

[Sunset]

A fellow was looking at a rifle while I was in the room as a pre-teen and he pulled the trigger. Missed me by luck as he was pointing it in my general direction.

Once when walking around a large pond/small lake, a friend and I heard a shot and the round hit a tree near us. We ducked and to let the hunter know we were not deer, my friend pointed his rifle across the lake and fired off 10 rounds. Wonder if the hunter was lucky that day

 

[Keim]

My dad tells the story of the day he purchased a 30.06 at a pawn shop around 1980. Seems Jimmy Carters car was driving by as he exited the shop with his newly acquired high powered hunting rifle.

He got tackled by the secret service.

 

[CO-guy]

Last week I was walking to lunch in a suburban Denver shopping center. As I walked past an Outback (not my lunch stop) I saw a thick leather wallet on the sidewalk right in front of the door. I picked it up and realized that it was full of cash (large bills). I described it later to my better-half as an "old man wallet" with multiple cards in every slot and large bills ($20s and $50s) mixed in with receipts.

So, I walked directly into Outback, went straight to the host stand, and explained that I found the wallet right outside the door. The kid at the stand looks at it and goes, "OMG! It's full of cash!" So I said, "I know! I thought the same thing when I opened it, but maybe it belongs to a customer that just left?" He asked if I could wait, and I had to use the restroom, but by the time I came out the manager was up front waiting for me. He said that they had identified the customer, were able to contact him, and that he was on his way back to get the wallet.

At this point I was super hungry, so I just thanked the manager and left, but the owner of that wallet is one lucky guy!

 

[aja8888]

In the early 1970's, a good friend and I had a small leased shop with a very productive Artesian well inside. We thought about selling bottled water at that time but figured no one would buy it.

 

[NW-Bound]

Once when walking around a large pond/small lake, a friend and I heard a shot and the round hit a tree near us. We ducked and to let the hunter know we were not deer, my friend pointed his rifle across the lake and fired off 10 rounds. Wonder if the hunter was lucky that day

I would be just as p*ssed, although I would aim into the water.

I wonder what story the stupid hunter had to tell. "Ya know, I ran across some murderous deer today. It took 10 shots back at me!"

 

[Souschef]

I have been very lucky,visiting places just before something happened
Visited the York Minster-hit by lightning and burned the North transept
Visited Nairobi-US Embassy bombed
Visited Aden-USS Cole bombed
Visited Cairo- Tourist bus shot at
Rented many light aircraft-10 involved in crashes after I flew them

 

[harley]

A fellow was looking at a rifle while I was in the room as a pre-teen and he pulled the trigger. Missed me by luck as he was pointing it in my general direction.

Once when walking around a large pond/small lake, a friend and I heard a shot and the round hit a tree near us. We ducked and to let the hunter know we were not deer, my friend pointed his rifle across the lake and fired off 10 rounds. Wonder if the hunter was lucky that day

A friend and I were hiking one time in the Shenandoah National Forest, and he suddenly cursed and put his hand on his head. He said something hit him. We looked on the ground and there was a spent bullet. Never heard a shot, and have no idea where it came from. Didn't break the skin, but did raise a bruise.

 

[GrayHare]

My flight was uneventful, but that same plane on that run crashed the next day and everyone onboard perished.

 

[RunningBum]

I crossed the 2013 Boston Marathon finish line about 30 minutes before the pressure cooker bombs went off. I don't think too many runners were injured, and none of the deaths were runners, but over 5000 runners were held on the course short of the finish line while authorities were trying to figure out what happened and whether it was safe. They were eventually told the race was over and that the finish area was totally closed off. Glad I wasn't in that pack but mostly glad I was not injured. And of course crushed to learn of the deaths and spectator injuries.

 

[RetiredHappy]

I was about 20 years old when I was supposed to meet my friend in the afternoon. I wanted to withdraw some money from an ATM which was a couple of blocks from my home. Being a procrastinator, I wasn't dressed until late morning. I was still "thinking" about walking over to the ATM when I heard a loud bang with my home shaking violently. It turned out that the 5-storey building where the bank was located in the ground level had collapsed. By some stroke of luck, I escaped death that day.

 

[REWahoo]

The recent mid-air collision of two KC-135's and the resulting tragic loss of life reminded me of my own near miss and fortunate good luck in my past.

This incident took place during a KC-135 night training mission in the early 70's. The typical training profile was to first practice a rendezvous with a receiver, then practicing refueling. This was followed by having the navigator do a navigation leg for a couple of hours to practice going from point A to point B using only a sextant for guidance. (This was before GPS, internal guidance or any other electronic means to navigate in the event of a nuclear war, thus we practiced using only the stars to guide us. IOW, we were using the same technology to navigate that was first used in the 1730's. )

The navigation training involved flying to an area relatively free of air traffic which happened to be over Montana in this case. We contacted air traffic control to let them know we were about to practice celestial navigation and they assigned us a flight level to use and cleared us to proceed. Since we would be following the flight path our navigator directed us to follow during the exercise, we would not be on an ATC assigned flight route and were entirely dependent on the ATC controller to watch his/her radar to keep us clear of any other traffic at our altitude.

We had been flying a little over an hour when suddenly an image of a lighted vertical stabilizer similar to the one below flashed in front of our cockpit window. It passed directly in front of us, at our flight level, so close that it was shocking. I estimate we missed colliding by no more than two three seconds.

 

[audreyh1]

I don’t want to say anything and tempt fate!

 

[Luvtoride]

Luck seems to be so relative…my Ex was of the belief she had “Irish Luck” if not for bad luck she would have no luck at all…..

Happy St. Patrick’s Day