she's
actual
size

My tickets arrived in the mail today! bounce bounce

Now, the tickets were bought using Priceline.com. I've heard that when you use Priceline, you need to call the airline in advance to make your seat reservations, or else you might get bumped from the flight. Is there any truth to this? Let me know.

Another strange thing came in the mail today. But, let me give you the backstory.

A long, long time ago, Min was not 21. But she did smoke, and she managed to collect enough Marlboro miles to buy a (rather nice) Swiss army knife. But they required you to be at least 21 in order to get anything from the miles catalogue.

So, being the nice big sister that I am, signed the form and gave them my age. The package was delivered, my sister got her knife, and that was that.

Until, that is, the junk mail started rolling in.

Marlboro has been sending me stuff ever since Min got her knife. I get random magazines. I get posters. I get mailings containing nothing but a huge ad. I also get birthday cards.

Now, I always laugh when I see something from Marlboro in the mail. I know that it's just sucking up to the smokers of the country, trying to keep us from quitting smoking. The birthday cards especially crack me up. They might as well say, "Thanks for not having cancer and dying, valued customer," rather than, "Happy Birthday."

Anyway, this package I got from Marlboro was really heavy (for a package that was sent through the mail). It felt like it weighed at least two pounds. I gently shook it, and I could hear something sliding around inside.

I opened it up. The first thing I saw was the birthday greetings from the cigarette company. I lifted out the ad, and saw...

A horseshoe.

That's right. Marlboro sent me a two-pound metal horseshoe through the mail. For my birthday.

I'm sure you're thinking the question that I voiced to the empty living room: "Why?"

It verges on the absurd. Horseshoe? Luck. They also have that whole Marlboro Ranch thing they've been pushing. (Apparently it's a place where you can smoke anywhere you want while watching people do athletic things.)

But still... Why?

Next to the castration rings, I think this is the strangest thing I've gotten in the mail.

What marketing genius came up with this one? "Hey, I know. Let's send a really heavy object to our customers on their birthday. That way, they'll know that we care for them. Nothing says loving like equine footwear."

Keep trying, Phillip Morris. But thanks for the shoe.