Thursday, February 26, 2004
Notification in Case of Kidnapping
This is a notification to let all of you lovely people out there know that if you never hear from me again, it is because I was kidnapped by a cult and brainwashed. Please try to rescue me, as I do not want to have drink the Kool-Aid.
What am I talking about? Here's the story so far. A few days ago, I got a very plain postcard-type mailing, which said it was from the "Prize Redemption Center" and contained a claim number. There were instructions to call an 800 number within 24 hours of receiving said notification, and nothing else. I had never heard of this place before, I have no idea how they got my name (although I suspect it was from someone selling the MSU mailing list), and it was all very strange.
Mark said he would call them, just to find out what it was all about. He called this afternoon. This is apparently a company that does "direct online advertising," which wishes me to attend a 45 minute meeting at a nearby hotel, and then they will give me a prize. Apparently, the smallest prize they are giving is a 2-person, 3-night stay in a Holiday Inn. Other prizes include a $500 gift certificate to Amazon and a Sony plasma TV. They asked if "I" would like to bring a friend, and Mark is sufficiently curious that he thinks we should go, so at 7pm this evening, we are on our way to the unknown.
Therefore, if you do not hear from me again, send out the search teams. I don't want to be kidnapped by spammers and made to do their evil bidding for the rest of my life. Alternatively, they might give me a present, and Mark might get to ask them lots of obnoxiously smart questions about their databasing. We shall see.
This is a notification to let all of you lovely people out there know that if you never hear from me again, it is because I was kidnapped by a cult and brainwashed. Please try to rescue me, as I do not want to have drink the Kool-Aid.
What am I talking about? Here's the story so far. A few days ago, I got a very plain postcard-type mailing, which said it was from the "Prize Redemption Center" and contained a claim number. There were instructions to call an 800 number within 24 hours of receiving said notification, and nothing else. I had never heard of this place before, I have no idea how they got my name (although I suspect it was from someone selling the MSU mailing list), and it was all very strange.
Mark said he would call them, just to find out what it was all about. He called this afternoon. This is apparently a company that does "direct online advertising," which wishes me to attend a 45 minute meeting at a nearby hotel, and then they will give me a prize. Apparently, the smallest prize they are giving is a 2-person, 3-night stay in a Holiday Inn. Other prizes include a $500 gift certificate to Amazon and a Sony plasma TV. They asked if "I" would like to bring a friend, and Mark is sufficiently curious that he thinks we should go, so at 7pm this evening, we are on our way to the unknown.
Therefore, if you do not hear from me again, send out the search teams. I don't want to be kidnapped by spammers and made to do their evil bidding for the rest of my life. Alternatively, they might give me a present, and Mark might get to ask them lots of obnoxiously smart questions about their databasing. We shall see.
