My wife just purchased a Klein mug for our mathematician son for Christmas without mentioning it to me.

I opened our email on Monday to see Cliff’s name and a truncated subject line. I then spent the next 20 minutes trying to figure out if a) I was looking at the wrong email account. B) wondering if it was some sort of phishing attempt c) had Cliff started or was working for a security company and he was trying to drum up business.

I finally clicked on the email and was surprised to find pictures of Cliff, a Kleinmug, a box with drawings on it, and his wife’s garden, the flowers were lovely.

I finally went back and read the text of the email to find out that my wife had ordered a Kleinmug.

Frankly it was the most excitement that I’ve had in a long time, getting an email from Cliff Stoll, very cool. I then needed to explain to my family what happened to me, and explain who Cliff was, and why it was important. I was an network admin during the Morris worm attack, and was on some email chains, and on some network news threads with Cliff, after the fact.

The box arrived, but we haven’t opened it yet to check and see if it’s OK, we are waiting for our son to go out. My wife and our daughters are really excited to see the Kleinmug now that they know the backstory, also I think the girls might want a Kleinbottle as well.

Thanks Cliff!!!

Just caught the “zero volume” joke, upon second reading.

You’re an inspiration, Cliff :)