A couple weeks ago I got an IM from the president of the old company I used to work for. She said that they had somehow gotten a CD I had ordered off of Amazon. To which my reply was, "I didn't order any CD off of Amazon". But apparently there was one sitting there for me, and she wanted to know where to send it. So I tell her to send it to my house when she gets a chance.

Of course after this conversation I'm confused, because I have no idea where this CD is from. Then it dawns on me, hey, maybe someone bought me something off my wishlist. So I log into Amazon online and check out my wishlist. Sure enough, someone did buy me something, Eric B. & Rakim's "Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em". This was like a day after my birthday, so I'm thinking, ah, it's one of my friends who got this for me. Nice!

This same day I see a post on my buddy Dave's site wishing me a Happy Birthday. Dave and I used to listen to a bit of Eric B. & Rakim when we were younger, and he's also a wish list friend of mine, so I put the two together, and figured it was he who sent me this. But I thought I'd wait until I got it to thank him.

Well it took a little longer than I had expected to get the CD. Just a couple days ago, I was thinking about just emailing Dave and thanking him for the CD, even before I got it, because it was just taking too long and I didn't want him to think I got it, but was too much of a bastard to say thanks. But I still figured it'd be here any day and I could thank him then.

Well, lo and behold I get it today and it's not from Dave, but someone I didn't even know! That is, until I looked through my old emails. The person who sent it said it was a thank you for advice I gave him a long time ago on web design. So I looked through my emails and sure enough, I still had them. I even had all of the old designs he sent me to have me critique. This was over 4 years ago! I hadn't even made my first version of Assembler at that point. And of course it all came back to me.

I just thought the whole chain of events was amusing. And of course I wrote him and thanked him. I never thought a good deed done over 4 years ago could end up benefiting me today. But I guess it goes to show that little things can indeed make a lasting impact in peoples lives. And that's pretty damn cool.