My Mailbox Mystery
Early November 2004
I have a conundrum. Or I should say
I HAD one -- I've since solved the puzzle. But
the whole issue revolved around mailboxes, and whose is who's. I
mean, knowing which mailbox is yours is a pretty important thing,
right? But my apartment building mailbox scene is so messed up, it's
a wonder anyone EVER figures it out... Let
me try to explain... After
I had lived here only a day or two, the mailman knocked on my door
and very politely showed me which box was mine (while speaking a
stream of Japanese, by the way). I didn't understand a WORD he was
saying, but obviously I understood his MEANING exactly, dig? So,
all's cool, right? But for
several days of the
following two weeks, my mailbox ONLY had the mail for ANOTHER
apartment in it... It was TOTALLY messing with my mind, 'cause I'm
like, "Wait -- HE's the one who showed me the box -- is he now putting
the WRONG mail in there?!? Or is somebody ELSE putting the wrong
mail in there?!?" Or did
I just have the wrong stupid mailbox?!? But
listen, dude -- the more I tried to use logic and observation to
confirm for myself which mailbox was mine, and to try and figure out
what was going on, the more
IMPOSSIBLE I realized it was!!! SO,
let me give you the low-down, and see if you can figure it out better
than I could. My
building is a three-story affair, with three apartments on each
floor. It basically looks like this:
| 301 |
302 |
303 |
| 201 |
202 |
203 |
| 101 |
102 |
103 |
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Now,
I live in apartment #102 of the building -- that's the MIDDLE
apartment on the ground floor. So, look at the mailboxes below and
try to guess which mailbox is mine... 
(scroll
down when you're ready for hints) Okay,
here's the ONLY hint I can give you, and it was the ONLY hint I had
myself when I faced this. There was ONE mailbox that had the
apartment number written on it. 
Now,
frankly speaking -- that didn't help me at all!!! Why, in the name
of all that is sacred to postal delivery, would apartment #201 have
THAT mailbox?!? It's the THIRD (top) slot, in the THIRD column of boxes --
how can that be #201?!? But it is, dude. So does that help you?
Remember you're looking for the mailbox for apartment #102... (scroll
down when you're ready for the answer) When
you give up, click the image below: 
Turns
out the mailman WAS correct, of course -- the box he had originally
showed me WAS my box. But somebody else
(another resident) had been
putting the mail for #202 into #102 (my box) -- which, THAT
doesn't exactly make sense either, does it?!? Since #201 was clearly
marked as the upper right box, did they think #202 and #203 would go
diagonally to the LEFT?!? Geez... (For what it's worth, I bought a big, fat, black magic marker --
ain't NOBODY mistakin' my mailbox now)...
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