I saw the Pixies at DC's Constitution Hall on December 8 (bonus - check out their "leet" spelling of the band name); they rocked. What rocks even harder though, is a little outfit by the name of CDBaby.com. You see, the Pixies decided to cash in on all the aging hipsters' disposable incomemake the last 12 gigs in the tour available on CD (including the one I attended) and the orders were handled by CDBaby.com. When I first placed my order, they immediately sent me an email that looked like this:

From:   CDBaby Loves Ken <orders@cdbaby.com>

Subject: CD Baby Order #686634 - CONFIRMATION

Date: December 9, 2004 10:13:39 AM EST

To:   kcds@xxxxx.com

Reply-To:   orders@cdbaby.com



Ken -



Thanks for your order with CD Baby!



This is just a happy automated email to let you know a real person

will email you as soon as your package is sent, and you will also

receive a paper receipt with  your order in the mail.

... so that was cute, but then today, when the order actually shipped, I received this:

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with

sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.



A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure

it was in the best possible condition before mailing.



Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over

the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money

can buy.



We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party

marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of

Portland waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in

our private CD Baby jet on this day, Friday, January 21st.



I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby.  We sure did. 

Your picture is on our wall as 'Customer of the Year'.  We're all

exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

Yeah, yeah, the wonders of mail merge. But still ...