Now I should probably start by telling you a little bit about The Great Pogini -- we don't really know much about him or his background. He just showed up at our office one day and said, "I am here for the psychic job!" Which was really weird, because we weren't looking for a psychic. But he told us, "Oh, you're not looking for me now, but in a few weeks you're going to need a psychic and I though I'd save you the trouble." So we figured he must be good, and we hired him.

Anyway, sure enough, a few weeks later, he was doing predictions for us. But the fact of the matter is that none of us here at the office know much about Pogini before he started working at Pogo. To be honest, it's awkward having a conversation with him -- he sometimes answers questions before you've even asked them. So we usually just let him sit there and make predictions. Which mostly involves his watching a lot of Survivor.

But the reason I bring this up is because I was visiting Lego's site, and I found they had this guy called "The Great Redini" working for them. Don't they look awfully similar?

I suppose there are a few superficial differences. For instance, Pogini has a nose. And a body. Plus, Redini is smiling, while Pogini has an expression that seems to say, "I have just sat down in a large pile of tapioca pudding." But still, it kind of makes me wonder, maybe Pogini has a long lost brother! Maybe these two were separated at birth!

We brought it up with Pogini, but all he answered was, "Don't bother me now. I'm getting a vibe from Star Wars Episode III. I predict... Anakin Skywalker will turn to the dark side! Also, he'll have two kids." (Wow. He's good!)

Unfortunately, the Lego people have been just as secretive about The Great Redini's background. I sent them an email to inquire about the situation, and this is all I got back:

sfdewsa siodsfdsf,

Huerwnk sfduie msfdiornm vom,dsf fsgdj fsdfdojrw 
Tkw Hsrastfd TDwesziou miuo. UInmsfd9oprl, rew 
vsfdm,m,iopg fdoidsjkvovdc mlsdftrtyerhj fuitrj. Wew
nbjoui yu unrewregersnfsd..

Suinmvcwert.m,

JLKwecxoi

At first, I thought they were just ignoring me or sending messages in code. But then I realized that it's just very difficult to type Email messages when you don't have any fingers.

(Along those lines, if a Lego character ever asks you over for a night of piano playing, politely decline.)

I'm hoping we'll be able to sort this mystery out. If for no other reason, then I'll have an inside contact at Lego who might be able to get me discounts. I mean, I always thought Legos made better toys for adults than for kids, anyway. Now that I'm an adult, I'd probably have enough discipline to organize my Legos by color or size so that I'd be able to find the right piece when I needed it. Whereas when I was a kid, pretty much everything I owned was organized into two categories: 1) Stuff under the bed, and 2) Stuff not under the bed.

Which meant that when I was 8 years old, assembling a Lego spaceship required following this procedure:

1. Read the instructions.
2. Figure out what piece I need.
3. Dig through the giant pile of Lego parts in my toy chest for about half an hour trying to find that one freakin' little red clear 1x1 piece that I needed for my spaceship.
4. Look under the bed for it.
5. Find the piece. Put it on the half-finished spaceship.
6. Repeat steps 1-5 for the next several months.

You may wonder how any 8-year-old would have the patience to spend all that time building a Lego spaceship. The answer was simple: My mom wouldn't let us watch cartoons. So I had nothing better to do anyway.

But you know, all that hard work finally paid off when I finished and had myself a beautiful Lego spaceship, which I would sit and admire for about 5 minutes. Then, realizing that it didn't really make noise or flash lights or shoot missiles, or do much of anything, I decided it was time to take its maiden voyage down our hallway stairs. At which point, it would shatter into a thousand rectangular shaped pieces, which was pretty thrilling. It also provided days of extra entertainment afterwards because I usually didn't pick up all the pieces and my father sometimes walked through the house without shoes on.

But anyway, getting back to this Redini/Pogini thing, I'll let you know if I get any more information from Pogini, or from the Lego guys. In case I do hear from Lego, I'd like to take this time and point out that Lego makes a really cool soccer playset, and that if they'd like to thank me for all this free publicity, one of those would fit really nicely on my desk. And I've a great storage area for any spare pieces under my bed. Thanks.