Riv - well, you are in luck. Emails from Alex are 'the good ones'. Just shows, golden tickets can come through 'at any time'. VGL all other less fortunates! :-))
Or, from our own PB, relayed by one of his brothers (https://buffalonews.com/2018/04/20/paul-m-basinski-64-a-fracking-pioneer-who-loved-the-outdoors/):
"In his younger days in the Southwest, he'd hop on a train and ride from one state to another, just do see if he could do it. Any time Paul didn’t know the answer to a question, he would study it and learn about it until he found the answer." VGLA