Hwa?

This is kinda belated, but what the hey, if Alex can give you guys an awesome (?) Christmas present, I can tell you about something unimportant that happened to me while I was Christmas shopping last year.

I went to a Border's bookstore a few months back to buy some gifts for my sister-in-law (though I prefer the term "sibling by holy decree"). Like any other shopper, I parked in the Border's parking lot. But something was different that day.

You see, the license plate on my car is BHT9289, and it's registered in the great state of New York. And that day, as I pulled into the Borders lot, I pulled in right next to a big silver SUV that had a NY license plate numbered BHT9290.

I'm reaching out to the math junkies right now. What on earth are the chances of this happening? It really freaked me out. I was fairing convinced that Jeff Tolomon was poised somewhere in the Border's stacks, ready to pounce and, I dunno, steal my life essence, or my gift ideas, or my wallet, or something.

Does anybody know how the license plate-making system works? Should I be scared?

If not, too late.