Elevator Gaffaw

[susandennis]

The Mariners lost again. Shouldn't continual losing get easier to get used to? Or maybe the question should be - how many games do you have to lose before it doesn't suck so much?

After today's loss, I went down to the first floor to get the mail. I'm in the elevator coming back up and looking through it when I spy a long post card from Cray Research Park in Eagan, Minnesota. Curious... because Cray has offices right across the street from my condo and I'm always thinking that they just might need to hire me one of these days.

I flip the card over and there is a NOTE FROM MY SHOES!!!!!

Dear Susan -

Just stopping off in Eagan to rest for a while and see the sights before we continue on to Seattle. Eagan is a choc-a-bloc with office parks and shiny new strip malls but we're sure Seattle is nicer.

Sincerely,

You New Shoes

Ohmygod. Is there anything funnier in the whole world???? When I flip the card over, I see that the panoramic view of the Cray Complex also includes a small (think TV picture-in-picture) photograph of my actual shoes!!!!! Now I'm in serious pee-in-your-pants hilarity.

I finally dig through the rest of the mail and discover the brilliant conjurer of this great hilarity...

unzeugmatic!!

He sent a wonderful card that he signed and through my tears of laughter I realized that the handwriting was suspciously like that of my shoes. What a wonderful treat to brighten up my day (and scare the bejeesus out of that poor guy riding in the elevator with me)!!

Both cards now join my Mantle O Messages...

Thank you thank you thank you!

Comments

[dlanor.livejournal.com]

This shoe story is a hoot. Thanks for sharing. Not sure why your baseball team stinks. Did they trade away all the good ones?

[susandennis]

You know, that's the killer. They didn't trade anybody really important. We lost one of my favorite guys but we got a couple of really excellent new ones. There's just no reason. It's really a mystery. Sad mystery.

[unzeugmatic.livejournal.com]

Susan: When you wrote about your shoes having their stopover in Eagan I wanted to write to point out that I work mere blocks from where your shoes no doubt were resting. I would have offered to go and get them for you, but then I would have had to mail them to you and you'd be right back where you started. The thought of sending the postcard from your shoes themselves came to me and amused me greatly (I amuse myself so easily), and I figured if at least one person was amused by it (that being me) I should see the thought through. I am delighted, of course, that you enjoyed it as well.

The postcard is of what was once Cray Research Office Park, home of what was once Cray Research Inc, which isn't quite the same Cray as is officed across from your condo. I worked for Cray at the time that photo was taken. In 1995 (or so) Silicon Graphics (SGI) bought Cray. Then, a few years later, Silicon Graphics sold Cray, to a company in Seattle called Tera which then changed its name to Cray. So the Seattle office is the home office of what is now Cray and there's a branch in Mendota Heights Minnesota, which is right next to Eagan.

What SGI sold wasn't quite what they had bought, which means that I remained with SGI. I have friends who claim that the reason SGI bought and then sold Cray was to gain me as an employee, and it amuses me not to argue the point. In time we, the SGI employees in Eagan, had to leave that huge and glorious complex pictured on the postcard to move to a different office park in Eagan -- a nice one, but not near so nice as Cray Research Park. The new office park is nearer to the UPS headquarters.

It all comes together to give you a laugh in the elevator!

[susandennis]

Not only was there laughter in the elevator, all weekend long, every time I look up, I see the postcard on my mantle and I smile all over again.

That is fascinating about Cray. I knew it wasn't the same Cray that was the old Cray but I didn't know exactly why or how. Thanks for all those details.

And your office being so near UPS just cracks me up. It's going to be a while before anyone tops this one.