Lesson Learned

This one made me laugh, so I just had to post it. Its a good reminder anyways.
My mom bought Chris and I a GPS unit for Christmas/Chanukkah. Thanks Mom! Because of my job I've been debating buying one for quite a while, but could never quite justify the expense when I can print Yahoo maps for almost free. I have a file folder full of them and I usually just pull the ones I need for any given day. In my test runs the Garmin has found addresses even in the middle of nowhere, which should just about eliminate my need for the Yahoo maps. Hooray for saving trees!
Anyways, in reading the Amazon info I discovered that there is an option for googling an address, then using a usb connection to upload it straight to the GPS. That sounded like a neat function, but the problem was that the Garmin didn't come with a USB cord. I went to their website, and the cord was $14.99. Seemed pretty steep for a simple cord. I checked ebay, since I've found that you can often get cords there for a much better price. (Lesson learned when the dog chewed through the cord to my cell phone charger).
On ebay, the same cord costs about $3 with free shipping. Much better than $15. Then I noticed that the ebay link showed a close-up picture of the necessary USB cord. And, that it looked familiar. On a whim, I pulled the usb cord for my camera out of my desk drawer. Lo and behold, it was the same type of cord that I needed for the GPS. In all of the time I've been using USB hookups for things it never dawned on me that there was a standard size for them. And I'd bet just about everyone has a few USB cords laying around. So next time you're thinking of buying a cord to hook up to your new widget, check your old cords first.