I really was having a run of the mill day. I was lamenting my “not discussed” grant, while also trying to strategize aims for the next cycle. I met with my students, and I was trying to solve the great cable debacle of 2018. We recently started a new project in our hospital’s NICU, monitoring some vital signs and trying to create some models of clinical outcomes. The problem is, we need to use the babies’ own instrumentation and feed the signals in to our monitoring equipment.

I had sent one of the instruments to the company that makes our equipment with the hope that they could come up with some sort of interface, but was disappointed when they called to tell me they weren’t interested in helping. I asked them to send our instruments back and thought this was the end of the story…

Imagine my surprise today when the envelope of cables arrived? My student came to my office to pick them up. I opened the envelope and found so much more than just the cables tucked inside…

In addition to the instrument and cable, there were four other strange and seemingly unconnected items. There was the employee’s business card, a copy of the sports page from the Prescott, AZ Daily Courier dated 12-7-2013, a blank graduation card, and a postcard from someone’s grandmother send in January of 1995.

Now, the business card and the graduation card are useful items. I may call on this company again, and as a college professor I am always in the market for graduation cards (although it is presumptuous to assume that I would include money). The sports page has me baffled. The company is in Utah. Why would they have sent a sports page from Arizona? And why 2013? And what of Grandma’s note? Would Grandma be happy knowing that some random woman in Iowa received her postcard about her new underwear? And did she ever get the chance to try them out? Where is Grandma now?  Could I find her and find out about the underwear? And what of the refrain? She’s glad the recipient doesn’t live in Cal? The recipient doesn’t appear to be the person who sent me that package, but I used to live in Cal and I’m glad I don’t live there too!!! Thanks Grandma?

This may truly be the strangest thing I have received in the mail. But what does it all mean? Is is a simple mixup of seemingly unrelated objects or is someone at Utah Medical trying to send me a message with these carefully planted clues??