Mystery Gift
by Scott Hardie on May 28, 2007

Thank you, Johnson, whoever you are.
I received what I presume is a birthday gift hand-labeled from someone named "Johnson" in Jacksonville, Alabama, postmarked Anniston, Alabama on May 22nd. This means it's someone who knows me well enough to anticipate my birthday and know my home address. But I don't know anybody named Johnson (unless it's that creep stalking Lenore) and I don't know anybody at all in Alabama. Maybe Johnson is merely the eBay seller or Amazon Z-Shop owner fulfilling someone else's order?
Inside the package was a Spider-Man-themed Xbox controller, new in its packaging, with no note. It has already brought me fun trying to guess who sent it before I've even opened it and used it, so thank you, whoever you are.
Five Replies to Mystery Gift
Lori Lancaster | May 28, 2007
[hidden by author request]
Erik Bates | May 29, 2007
[hidden by author request]
Scott Hardie | May 29, 2007
Good input. The mystery has been solved via email with the giver – it was an Amazon z-Shop, in other words some person somewhere selling on Amazon's site. My gratitude to the giver.
Jackie Mason | May 29, 2007
[hidden by author request]
Logical Operator
The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »

Mars Needs Kitties
Thanks to Lori for sending me this: That gets me thinking: Do you think if people hadn't had the idea for crop circles until a decade later that the fad would have even happened? In this decade we have the tools on personal computers to fake images like this with photo-perfect results, and hoaxers could just distribute photos with the click of a mouse. Photos have been doctored for decades, of course, but now your grandma can do it, you know? Go »
Key Words
I wonder what would come up if you searched IMDb keywords for "train wreck"? Unbreakable? The Fugitive? Go »
White Christmas
We're enjoying our winter vacation in central Illinois so far. Tue 12/22 - When you're hitting the road for your vacation right after work is over, every extra minute feels like an hour, which means I did 45 hours of overtime. The drive was easier than we thought, probably because we had days to prepare this time. Go »
Summer of Suck
It's been a tough summer so far. Here's venting. - Some good people were laid off in my department. Go »
Scott's Pet Peeve #8446
Not all mobile phones mix a qwerty keypad with their main numerical keypad, but I have an old Blackberry that does. That makes me especially frustrated by companies that only provide a letter-based phone number without showing a numerical alternative (800-LIKE-THIS). I just went to cancel Nutrisystem, and of course they require you to call a counselor rather than just cancel online, and the only number they give is 888-459-THIN. Go »
Scott Hardie | May 28, 2007
Extra hint: When they wrote my address, they included the ZIP+4. I only mention the basic 5-digit zip code when I give mine out, so this person had to have gotten my address processed through some kind of site like Amazon that filled in the four extra digits.