There ain't no such thing as a free lunch, but you can have this Ruby

As many of you know, I am connoisseur of all things free, I really enjoy getting free stuff but I am well aware of the economic law that says, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. I learned this lesson from the first economic book I ever read, which I read with my mother one year for school, Whatever Happened to Penny Candy. You cannot get something for nothing, there is always a cost, even if it is not monetary to receiving anything, including lunch. Over the course of my college career I have taken part in more "free" lunches than most people I should think, and I can tell you none of them have been free, almost always I have made an exchange of information in order to obtain the desired delicacy (normally greasy pizza). This week was no exception, I did receive a lunch of pizza on Friday, in exchange for an hour of my time and opinions on the library's iPad checkout program. In fact the release form even listed the pizza as "compensation." We made the exchange, I ate pizza and they got my, rather strong, supportive opinions of the program.

However, this week I did receive something that by a turn of fate was actually free. It happens to be better than a pizza lunch, it was a one karat ruby. Now I'm sure you would like to know how I accomplished this feat of freeness. It was rather simple really, I simply opened up a plastic egg that was being given out by the school newspaper. Most of the plastic eggs contained a dollar bill, or a coupon for a free t-shirt, all things I would very much enjoy. Mine was not however what I was expecting, it was a certificate for a free 1 karat loose gemstone from Sierra West. I really did not believe it at first, it seemed like there must be catch, I, of course, know that there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. But we went to Sierra West and they brought us out of tray of colored gemstones. Of course I let Meagan choose which one she wanted and she picked out a beautiful ruby, which someday I will have set in a piece of jewelry for her. Then the man said, "let me just get your information", ah ha, the catch. But in this case it truly was free because I did not give the man any information, because he already had all my information, why you might ask, because I bought Meagan's ring at Sierra West. So that is how I got a ruby for absolutely free.