In the early fall of 1989 a sign appeared on my front lawn in Portland, Oregon urging voters to "Vote For Norm Rice For Mayor".   My neighbors were stunned.  They had no idea that I was even remotely interested in the Mayor's job, let alone would have started my campaign without telling them ahead of time.  After all we shared lawn mowers, barbecues and occasionally a golf game.  Why didn't you tell us Norm?  We had fun with it for awhile and the lawn sign made its way into my collection of memorabilia stashed in the garage.

Approximately 3 years ago my incoming email's suddenly increased rather dramatically.  At first I was a bit surprised - was one of my real estate domain names suddenly being discovered?  Upon cursory reading some of them, I'd promptly delete them as "junk".  One day, shortly after all this email traffic began, I started reading the incoming emails closer.  Perhaps the one that got me started was when the invitation to a large barbecue in in another Mayor's backyard came in, followed by a number wondering why I had not responded.  The light suddenly came on - and back to that yard sign of 1989.  Could it really be happening that I was getting the mail of a Mayor - now the former Mayor of Seattle, Washington?   How could this be? 

After a few calls up to Seattle it was learned that not only did the other Norm share my same name, but our email addresses were almost identical other than he had added two letters to his first hame.  Our comcast.net email address was almost identical.  Our friends both called us by the same name, and never considered that he would use his full legal name in his email. 

Today I continue to receive emails intended for him.  Upon realizing they belong to him, the dinner invitations, the board notes, the airline reservation schedules, the how do I get tickets to the Obama inauguration questions, are promptly forwarded to the other Norm Rice with a cc note to the sender and deleted forever.   Should I be doing more perhaps as a Realtor?  Should I being adding their contact information to my database and sending them my monthly mail-outs?  I'd even be willing to do a pop-by visit.  After all, these emails are coming from well connected, famous politicians and community minded people who just may know someone who wants to relocate from Seattle to Portland.   Their referrals would be the type of referrals any Realtor would love to receive. 

Today, another email was forwarded off to the former Mayor of Seattle.  In case you are reading this Mr. Mayor, or if any of your famously connected friends are,  I'd love to attend the inauguration of President-Elect Oboma in Washington DC and of course I'm never to busy for your referrals.

Norm Rice,  (the Realtor)

Portland, Oregon