five fave offers for the cube van

My five fave offers for the cube van, in no particular order: -I will give you a trailor house it is 80x20 feet it is a 2000 model the interior is pretty nice it has a blue kitchen with dishwasher it still is on wheels so you can move it. -I believe I have an offer that several people might be interested in. Do you sing in the shower? Chances are that if you do, you have once dreamed of being a famous musician. Unfortunately, not everyone gets the chance to be a rock star, only a handful of people actually have the opportunity to get into the spotlight. This is your chance to be in that spotlight. I am currently working on the audio for a movie to be filmed in Alberta this spring (www.sixreasonswhy.com), the only problem is that a lot of our equipment will have to make it's way from Ontario to Alberta and then back. It would be a lot less expensive to drive myself and the equipment in say a cube van, than it would be to have it shipped. For this cube van I am offering a recording contract. I will record and produce an entire album worth of material at MetalWorks Studios in Mississauga, Ontario (www.metalworksstudios.com) a professional recording studio, the best in Canada. I will have it professionally mixed, mastered, and pressed, ready for HMV. Most importantly, I will then take your album to Sony-BMG and pitch it to the executives through my contacts in the industry. And finally, since you have agreed to take trades internationally, I will throw in airfare and hotel accommodations if necessary. Personally, I can't wait until you get that house. Let me know what you think, this is a serious opportunity that would normally only be available to professional artists and usually costs record labels a lot of money. Not only that, but it just might be the break somebody was waiting for and it was all because of this web site. -i have a 4 bedroom house in newfoundland canada lot ruffly 60 x 200 would be interestd in trade for the cube van. the house about 400feet fro the ocean i wesleyville township north east side with view of ocean. It neds some work like roof and re drywall in side to live in it but if you interested i would trade. i don't need it i just bought another house in ontario. -Hey Kyle, Cool story. How far would you really go for your home? Out of town? Out of state? Out of the country? Out of the continent? Will you come to the Middle East? I am an American, moved to Israel a few years ago. Through different channels, I now own a small apartment. It's a nice place, about 7 minutes bike from the city (Tel Aviv, that is....). Would you move to Israel for a free home? Yours, scott free. it's a cute little studio in a small town, not far from Tel Aviv. Good neighborhood. Needs a bit of minor repair work. Due to certain clauses, I can't sell it. Or at least not without having to pay more money than I'd be making off the sale. I could live in it, but as I plan to sudy in the northern region of Israel (the IIT, in Haifa), I would really like to live in the dorms and if I own my own apartment, my chance of gettting a dorm would shrink drastically. I can give it away. It would be yours - your name on the title deed. You'd pay property taxes, water and electric bills. -Dream Maritime Getaway (Discover our secret) Airfare for two (From anywhere in North America) 5 Days 4 Nights (One of a kind, Beautiful Waterfront house...private patio touching the ocean), Historic St Andrews, New Brunswick http://www.standrewsnb.ca/ Included: -Guided Whale Watching tour on the beautiful bay of fundy -Overnight Trip in a Chauffeured Hummer to Saint John including accommodations in a Model Suite in an Exclusive Downtown Executive Loft. (www.grannanhospitalitygroup.com www.saintjohnalehouse.com) The day trip will include a guided excursion through the majestic Saint John River system aboard fresh water Kayaks. Dinner for two at your choice of the following restaurants...Grannans Seafood Restaurant, Steamers Lobster company, Saint John Ale House. Finishing the night in a premier night club on the waterfront in Saint John at Cougars Lounge, featuring VIP treatment including cover charge, coat check and complementary drinks. The remainder of the trip will include opportunities of relaxing days breathing in the fresh sea air and complimentary golfing in the premier Algonquin Golf Resort as well as small town shopping and fresh Atlantic lobster dinners!Trip Value $12,000 Understanding many offers come through, we would appreciate a response if you are interested as many of these options are time sensitive.

2 Week Hiatus - sign THE PETITION!

Yup, I'm gonna take a 2 week hiatus from one red paperclip.

It might not seem like it, but over the last month I've put in 12 hour days on this project. Lots of writing, trying to slap a book proposal together, a documentary film crew's followed me around lately, and I've done heaps of TV, radio, podcast and newspaper interviews the last little bit. Pretty hectic stuff. Hectic, but very fun. Yes, you could say it's fectic.

So, I'm gonna take a 2 week hiatus. Gonna spend some quality time with the family over Christmas. Spend some quality time with the folks. The folks are stoked. Nothing better than stoked folk. Try it sometime if you get a chance - stoke some folk - they love it.

But the project isn't on the shelf, oh no. Keep sending in your offers in for one trip to yahk! - I will still get the chance to update the offers page. The offers so far are great. Some real great offers.

If you're a journalist or reporter who wants to interview me about one red paperclip, yes, I'd love to talk to you about one red paperclip, but for the time being - please leave a message and I'll call back in January. If you're not a journalist and you just wanna call up and chat, it's all good -but you gotta wait till January too.

I’m kinda excited about the 2 week hiatus - I’ve never been on hiatus from anything before. Being on hiatus from something sounds like fun. Hiatuses are cool. Not as cool as going to Yahk with George Stroumboulopoulos, but cool enough. It's definitely maybe as cool as Yukon Cornelius tricking a Bumble with a pork ploy.

I’ll be back on Jan 1. Back with a vengeance. Back and ready to go to Yahk.

***SIGN THE PETITION !*** Last night on The Hour on CBC Newsworld, George Stroumboulopoulos did an awesome little bit about how I challenged him to go to Yahk. I think George is genuinely intrigued with the idea. I think George wants to go to Yahk! The only thing though, is that he might not be totally convinced that there's massive support behind the idea of him going to Yahk. I think the key to getting George to go to Yahk, is to get a massive number of people to sign the petition. A number that make him realize the reckoning force we are. A number like 2006. I think we should try to get 2006 names on the petition by Jan 1, 2006. Yeah, that seems like a good goal, 2006 people by Jan 1, 2006. 2006 names is a force to be reckoned with. There's no way George can deny that.

Spread the word! We need 2006 names on the petition! Tell your friends to sign the petition! All 2006 of them, before 2006 arrives!

Have fun, and a have a Merry Christmas. Kyle PS 2006 is gonna be awesome.

BREAKING NEWS

Dec 13, 2pm:

I just got an email from Claire Adams, a producer at The Hour on CBC NEWSWORLD - the show hosted by none other than a Mr. George Stroumboulopoulos. I sent her a link about the petition set up by Brent L. to get George to go to Yahk.

Here's what she said:

To: "kyle macdonald" <oneredpaperclip@gmail.com> Subject: Re: George'll wanta see this >>make sure you watch the show tonight!

So, I guess we better watch The Hour on CBC Newsworld tonight. I don't have cable, so I'll have to dig up a TV with cable access somewhere in Montreal. I literally cannot wait to see what they say on air tonight. This is rad.

8pm, 11pm and 2am tonight Nationwide in Canada. Remember, CBC NEWSWORLD - the one on cable, not just regular CBC.

I can't wait to see what George says.

Dear George

The citizens of Yahk have spoken. go here: http://www.yahkkingsgate.homestead.com (lower right, in orange) Quote from the email sent to me by the Yahk-Kingsgate Rec Society: "Keep watching... someone picked the right community!" Yes they did. Click on the following link to sign a petition to get George Stroumboulopoulos to do a live broadcast of The Hour on CBC in Yahk, B.C. this January: http://www.petitiononline.com/orpc0001/petition.html This is such a giant step in the right direction.

one trip to yahk

Click on the link below to get the book about the entire adventure!


The same week I traded the instant party for Michel Barrette's snowmobile, I was interviewed by George Stroumboulopoulos on The Hour – a national TV program in Canada. George asked me, quite succinctly, if there was anywhere in the world I wouldn't go to make the trade. I responded. “I will go anywhere in the world except for Yahk, British Columbia.”

Then I went home to bed. It was a Monday, after all.

The next morning the phone rang and tore me from a deep sleep. I answered. “Hello.” “Hello is Kyle there?” I cleared my throat, swallowed and answered. “Yup. That's me.” “Hey Kyle, how's it going?” “Good. You?” “Great. My name is Jeff Cooper and I work for a magazine in Cranbrook British Columbia called SnoRiders West. We're conveniently located forty-five minutes from Yahk.” “Nice! I guess you saw the show last night then?” “Well, I didn't, but a co-worker of mine, Kerry, told me all about it.” “Cool.” “Well, we've been throwing some ideas around, and well, we want to make you an offer for your snowmobile.” “Really! That's awesome. What's your offer?” “We want to offer you a trip to Yahk.” “Really?”

And he meant it. Return airfare for two people from anywhere in North America to Cranbrook, a day of skiing, meals, and of course, a snowmobile trip to Yahk. Jeff wanted me to come along on the trip as well, so that the official trade could be made in Yahk. This was big news: A trip to Yahk. I agreed with Jeff that this was an amazing offer. Jeff took a deep breath and then gave me one more piece of vital information,”But there's a catch.” “What's that?” “The catch is, you must make the trade in Yahk.”

Ouch. Here Jeff was offering me the perfect offer for the snowmobile, but I'd gone and said I wouldn't go to Yahk. How could I go to Yahk? I might be a lot of things, but a liar is not one of those things. If I went to Yahk, my credibility would be shot. People might think I wasn't serious that I'd go anywhere on earth to make a trade except Yahk. I was totally serious - Yahk was not an option. It's just that, well, I never really expected to actually get a trade offer from anyone in Yahk, it being a small remote community on the other side of the country and all. It wasn't like I had anything against Yahk or the citizens of Yahk, it's just a lot more fun to say you won't go somewhere really obscure, than just go around saying you'll go anywhere. Anywhere is boring. Anywhere is cliché. Anywhere is not Yahk. I had to do some crafty maneuvering to get out of this one unscathed. My reputation was at stake here. I thought long and hard, went for a run, did a little soul-searching, and realized there was only one way to accept the offer without being a liar: I had to tell a lie. I accepted the trip to Yahk in exchange for the snowmobile, then went over to the computer and wrote a message to the citizens of Yahk:

Dear Citizens of Yahk,

On Dec 5th 2005, CBC anchorman and body piercing fanatic, George Stroumboulopoulos put me on the spot on live TV and asked if there was any place I would not go to make a trade. For some strange reason, I told him that I would go anywhere on Earth to make a trade, except Yahk B.C. Don't get mad at me for this, get mad at George Stroumboulopoulos. Why? I'll let you in on a little secret - I think he hypnotized me. Yes, I think George Stroumboulopoulos hypnotized me on live TV with a double whammy of his extremely long, impossible-to-remember-how-to-spell last name and abundant body-piercings. He forced me to say that I would not go to Yahk to make a trade. I've been to Yahk before. Yahk seems like a very nice place. I'm sure you're a nice person too, it's just that George Stroumboulopoulos forced me to announce an official trade embargo with your town. I hope you can live with the stigma of being the only place on Earth I can not go to make a trade. We can still be friends, just not trading partners. Maybe the citizens of Yahk should boycott George Stroumboulopoulos in retaliation for his heavy-handed hypnotic prowess - seems like the most logical thing to me. Actually, I think somebody should start a petition to get George Stroumboulopoulos to do a live broadcast of The Hour on CBC from Yahk to apologize for his evil ways. Yes, if there's anybody out there who knows how to organize an on-line petition, can you set it up and forward me the link? Thanks in advance - this is definitely a step in the right direction.

Thank you for your understanding - Kyle

Twenty minutes later, I got an email from a fellow named Brent who set up an on-line petition. It read:

To: George Stroumboulopoulos, CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) We citizens of Yahk, British Columbia Canada and by association, all residents of planet earth who do not live in Yahk -- hereby challenge George Stroumboulopoulos to do a remote broadcast of The Hour on CBC live from Yahk when Kyle MacDonald of www.oneredpaperclip.com will be present to "not to make a trade." If George Stroumboulopoulos makes the broadcast from Yahk, the hypnotic spell he placed on Kyle MacDonald on live TV will be reversed and future trades for the one red paperclip project will finally be allowed to take place in Yahk. Sincerely, The Undersigned

I posted a link to the petition on the website. By the time I went to bed there were already a few signatures, some even from people I'd never met. By the next day even more people had put their name on the petition. I started thinking to myself, maybe this might actually work. Anything is possible, right?

The controversy caused quite a stir in Yahk. Penny AP Anderson from the Yahk-Kingsgate historical society, and a self-described Yahktivist, posted the petition on the Yahk-Kingsgate community website and warned George Stroumboulopoulos that his hypnotic powers would have no effect on the citizens of Yahk. Penny sent me an email: "Keep watching... someone picked the right community!" I forwarded all of the goings on to Claire, a producer for The Hour. She fired an email back right away: To: "kyle macdonald" Subject: Re: George'll wanta see this >>make sure you watch the show tonight!

Dom and I didn't have cable so we went over to her sister's place and commandeered the TV. I was pretty nervous about what was going to happen. George came on the show and described his situation to the nation. He explained how I'd accused him of hypnotizing me - an obvious lie, I didn't accuse him of lying, everyone knew it was true, him with his hypnotic powers and all. He said that he was caught in the middle of “some sort of bizarro love triangle” between me and the petition and the citizens of Yahk. George said that he and everyone at The Hour would watch the petition and see how it went. George also added, “Unlike Kyle, I would definitely like to spend some time in Yahk, British Columbia.”

This made me nervous. I totally expected to get shot down. If George shot down the idea, at least we'd know George had a malicious vendetta against all citizens of Yahk and I'd look like a hero. Now I had to wait and see how the petition went. I hate waiting. Like Tom Petty said, the waiting is the hardest part.

I took some time off from the project at Christmas. When I returned, the petition had more than 1000 signatures. Not too shabby for a petition based on an outrageous accusation and an unlikely-to-come-true scenario. Not bad at all. But it didn't really matter if The Hour came to Yahk or not. I was going to Yahk anyhow. I could pull it off without being a liar – there was a loophole. You see, Jeff Cooper sent me some photos of Yahk and I'd discovered a technicality. There was a sign from Yahk that read:

YAHK – UNINCORPORATED

I figured that since Yahk wasn't incorporated as a city or town or village or hamlet pretty much opened up a giant grey area as to where Yahk actually begins and ends. I could theoretically say that I’m in Yahk right now, and so can you. Yahk is everywhere and nowhere at once, so I was free to go there because it doesn't really exist. Admittedly, an easy way out, but nevertheless, a loophole. I thought about my loophole proudly. It's not everyday you discover a loophole. There was a way to go to Yahk after all. But really, I wanted to coerce George Stroumboulopoulos and The Hour to go to Yahk. Loopholes are fun, but not nearly as fun as national newscasts being forced to travel across countries as the result of petitions based on lies. Stuff like that is way more fun than a loophole, any day of the week.

The signatures continued to roll in for the petition. A few days later I got an email from Claire at The Hour. I opened it with hope in my eyes. Claire had big news, they'd followed the petition's progress and had made a decision: The trip to Yahk was on. This was huge. The Hour was going to do a show live from Yahk. They were going to cover the trades. Yahktivism worked. I was more than excited. I fired off a blog post to tell everyone to book off their calendars for the first week of February. The Hour was going to Yahk. Everything was in place – a live national broadcast to cover the trade in Yahk! There was only one problem: I still had to find a way to get the snowmobile to Yahk.

How'd I get that snowmobile 

to Yahk, anyhow? Click here.

The deal stands. I will take the cube van anywhere in the world (especially Yahk BC) for the right offer.

Big thanks to George Stroumboulopoulos and everybody at The Hour on CBC Newsworld for showing up and filming the trades. You made my Mom's job way easier! Please don't throw her in jail for posting these here. I need her around to cut my hair.

Stay tuned for the video of my second trade on the show as well as those radical videos of Dan and I kissing goats.

have fun,

kyle

offers for one trip to yahk

Send your trade offer to: oneredpaperclip@gmail.com ********** Please post a comment at the bottom of this page to say which one I should take! ********** OFFERS: ********** dear kyle, I will trade you the trip to yahk for free and unfettered use of my name. -kyle Finally, I thought you'd never make the offer. ********** Hey Kyle, I'll trade you my husbands bowflex and the free dust to go with it. And you can stay free in Knoxville Tn anytime you like for the next year. We listned to you on the radio this morning. Good luck. S. Hensley Dust and a blowflex? Are you sure? ********** Kyle I offered you a complete wardrobe from my store Dress to Suit in Edmonton. Yesterday I was able to trade a sweater here for a lot in Alaska. If you are thinking of a smaller home in Alaska with the wardrobe I will include Lot 30D of Block 18. I have the deed here in Edmonton. The lot measures one sguare foot and there are others available if you were thinking of putting both feet down. These titles were issued as a promo for Alaska. By the way if you need to learn how to tie a tie for your clean new shirt, instructions are on our website www.dresstosuit.com. have fun ron Wow. And I do need to learn how to tie a tie. ********** Hi Kyle. I see I've got some pretty stiff competition. I guess you need tangible goods to be able to continue your trade-up to a house. I can only offer something to help you along the way. I offer the driver's seat in our car ( # 33) for the annual demolition derby in Salmon Arm BC, this coming August. Of course, since I also operate a sign and graphics business ( Signs That Work !) There will be a HUGE red paper clip logo on the side of the car. ( And on the Roof!) And additional signage around the arena that seats about 3000. Crowd is better that 6000. (there's a lot of standing room..) We usually run a Lincoln Town car. Last year we made it through to the end but got wiped out in the last heat. It is ..."too much fun...". I'm thinking this is a GREAT photo-op for you ( and me)..no doubt there will be some camera crew following you here. Can send photos of last years derby if you like. And yes...there are some interesting ladies here in the Shuswap... Could also do a full-wrap graphic on your tour bus ! ...lol Good luck, Ken Beyer SIGNS THAT WORK ! Eagle Bay, BC kbeyer@jetstream.net 250-675-5380 Hmmm, this is a tough call, I obviously think this is the greatest thing ever, but I need to re-trade this "opportunity" to somebody else in order to trade up to the house....does anybody else out there have something to trade for a seat in a demoltion derby? Let me know, it'll be much easier for me to make my decision if you do! ********** My name is Robert, i am 12 years old. i will trade your trip to yahk with1 size 9, black and red Converse Allstar high top shoe Converse Allstars are my fave. Is it only one shoe? Left or right? ********** Kyle, I would like to trade the trip to Yahk for A Guest Appearance on our future National/International TV show The 24hr HERO. The show will be similar to Extreme Makeover Home Edition, but we will go one step further and makeover the locations of charitable foundations. Please check out our website and let me know! Thanks, Jason Mielke Creator/Producer The24hrHERO www.The24hrHERO.com Ah yes, potentially trading one trip to Yahk for one TV appearance. A TV appearance for a good cause to boot! Things seem to be escalating quite nicely! ********** OK Kyle, here is my offer. Do you like Art? Large Paintings? Well what about a penny ap original acrylic or plasticine painting? I will offer you "Dog Daze" existing painting or I will create one specifically for you. I have some idea's in mind. Take a look at my website http://www.pennyapanderson.com/. Oh by the way, I am a multi media artist and I will be in Yahk Documenting You being documented by Your documentary crew, being documented by George's "The Hour" on CBC (when he releases the Spell!!). We have plans for you and George!!!!!! Penny A.P. Anderson 403-880-6396 AB 250-424-5596 BC pennyap@telus.net http://www.pennyapanderson.com/ DOG DAZE 4ft X 5ft (approx.) acrylic on canvas Penny, I love it. This is one of the most amazing pictures I've ever seen. Maybe I can trade for it, cause I'd like to give it to my brother. But as it stands, I'm not allowed to make a trade with anybody in Yahk. Maybe George will come around and break the hypnotic spell. (Whatever happens, we might be able to work something out on the side. I am VERY interested in this painting.) ********** Dear Kyle: Here's the offer: return airfare for TWO from anywhere in north america,central america or mexico to Sunny ACAPULCO Seven nights on a very cool and comfy (and big) beach house Lunch at the beach and Dinner in various cool restaurants on the bay. For the duration of the stay. 1 night in Deluxe Condo (for boat trip) 1 Sailboat trip sightseeing and cliff divers sunset trip (totally unique to see those guys jump from the cliffs right next to your boat! Lunch and drinks included 4 hours surf lesson by local surf pro with board rental 2-4 hours powerkite lessons by local instructors or 1 tandem skydive (with video)* *All of above for two people except tandem skydive (1 person), if swapped for either the surfing or powerkite course jump available only for one of the two travelers. 1 bottle of Mezcal Trip to be made on mid to late feb 2006 cheers Emilio Nader Wow. This is gonna be tough to top. You had me at the 1 bottle of Mezcal. ********** Hey, I am just a poor farmer from Wallaceburg, Ontario that would like to trade you for your trip to Yahk, BC. I am not much of a skier but I could get into resting my tired bones in the hot tub and going snowmobiling. Never been anywhere big and Yahk sounds like a great place to start. I'll trade you a Ford 8600 Diesel Tractor with cab and snowplow. Great working condition - I use it everyday. I'll send a picture if you are interested. Let me know, Farmer John Seys A tractor isn't just a thing. A tractor is an investment. An investment in making money. Making money by farming. ********** i have a 1991 toyota privia van that I have no use for anymore it is in good running condition and its metalic blue...lol Nice. Anybody want a Metallic Blue Previa? Where is it? I have it in my drive way in ottawa A capital city Previa. Does it get any sweeter than that? ********** hey their, i have this to offer as a trade. mint taylor made r7 left hander golf driver. (retail 500 us) + ipod shuffle 512 mb ...for the trip to yahk golfing and rocking out ... together at last! ********* I will trade you all of my mom's outdoor christmas decorations. they will look good on any house. several wreaths, large candy canes, 2 thousand lights, 50-60 feet of garland. and also 1/2 a bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey... cause it warms you up and Yahk is very cold. Todd Washam Lima, Ohio I never thought garland would ever enter the equation. This changes everything. ********** hey ..i can offer u a 2004 dainese safety jacket in good conditions or a pair of red shiny hugo boss high heels.(u think the trip would include a flight from germany aswell?)all the best with the house.bianca (munich,germany) Hmm, I could probably twist the arm of the Mighty SnoRidersWest to fly you in From Germany...dainese safety jackets and hugo boss highheels are pretty hot right now. ********** I am prepared to offer you 1 week, thats right 7 days and 6 nights in glorious newport RI for your trip to yahk. You will enjoy the famous sights of newport while staying at one of its signature landmark residences, the cornelius house on rhode island avenue. Minutes walk from fabulous beaches and a bustling downtown area. Check out gonewport.com for pictures and other activities. Hope to hear from you soon, Andrew Burlingame P.S. Includes complementary tour of the international tennis hall of fame and free surfing lessons. Is Newport very far from Quahog? I think the one red paperclip project needs to visit Quahog sooner or later. Also, will you throw in a complimentary towel? - I tend to get wet when I go surfing and work up a pretty hefty sweat on tennis-related tours. ********** I'l offer up "Aus Poof" my 1985 Mercedes Benz Turbodiesel. I'll include a full tank of Biodiesel. Anything to get out of America for a couple days. Seriously. Dean Biodiesel. There's something you don't get offered every day! Do I need to become a mad scientist to develop my own biodiesel after the initial tank runs dry? I have been meaning to get into mad science. ********** I will trade an all access backstage pass for the Mugwump show on Friday January 13th in Portland Oregon, at the Roseland theater. We will pick you up. You can be the guitar tech and engage in all the debauchery that we do. You will be able to come out and direct the band in any fashion you want for a 4 minute musical explosion of your choice. After the show, we will drive to Sc10, Oregon and record the podcast that follows the show for the Fellaheen Radio Networks podcast. CrittendenIV will put you up in the Studio Tank C Section D for the night (at most 2 days), make you exquisite omelette's, homemade rye toast and bloody mary's for breakfast, then we will record your first professional song for your own CD. You will more than likely have the chance to see any of us get involved in a bar fight too.Thanks for the chance to make a trade :) CrittendenIV of the Fellaheen Radio Network Okay, I'll pass on the barfight, but I won't pass on the Mugwump. Mugwumps are definitely IN. ********** hey kyle, well never been to yak, but from lethbridge alberta, not living there anymore but happened to see you on TV down....in Honduras...yes honduras, i work down here right on the beach, and heres my trade......dont need to go to yak...to cold....but if your interested i'll offer you a months vaction free on charge....beach view everything.......getting closer to that house...... cheers leroy la ceiba honduras Wow. Honduras. Now we're talking. Does this include airfare to/from Honduras? ********** I have to trade; 13 Pioneer 41" videowall projection cubes Imtech processor,decoders,dvd player,cables,computer w/ software and manuals In other words a complete videowall system, with spares. Perfect for sports bars,conventions, ski magazines etc. All gear is in excellent working condition and on wheels for easy transport. Will Include 1 day of training / installation assistance. And you can stay In my guest house overnight. There it is : a house (but just for 1 night) and a videowall (forever) (or until your next trade) www.forestfalls.com That's a lot of video wall! Can you bring it up to Yahk to make the trade? transportation= no Since I will be flying to Yahk for a swanky weekend I will already have my carry on bags and skis packed so I won't be able to bring the 3000# of gear with me on the plane. It does however fit nicely into a 16' Ryder rental truck and I will toss in a 1 day free rental coupon. And the gear is but 1 hour from the entertainment capital of the world "HOLLYWOOD" ********** Hi Kyle, I heard you on FM 107 with Ian & Marjorie in Minneapolis this morning. I have a snowmobile tilt trailer that is taking up space in my garage (well, it is my husbands!). Anyway, we have never owned a snowmobile and we reconditioned it for brief business use. All new axel and tires and many new other things that I don't know what they are called. I thought this would go great with your newly traded snow mobile. My husband or I ( we would have to fight it out but given that it is his trailer that I am trading out from under him, he may be the one to win) would love a trip to Yahk! It sounds absolutely amazing and my husband deserves a good respite. Cheers to your project! Regards, Brenda Thanks Brenda! Now if only I can find a way to get the trailer out to Montreal and a vehicle to tow it, with the snomobile, to Yahk. Does anybody want to drive with me from Montreal to Yahk - towing a snowmobile on Brenda's trailer? This might be fun. ********** Hi I am 10 years old and live in Abbotsford BC. I love your site. I haveone slightly used wheel of cheese. Plus one Iguana ststue from Thailand on100% wooden log. I will also include 5 game boy games.Thanks,Dylan Used Cheese wheel, Thai Iguana statue and 5 game boy games - together at last! ********** Ok Kyle, Here's the offer: You want to meet the people and experience the trade..... A 1994 Pontiac Grand Prix SE plus 3 days accommodation in our home. We live rural style, on a hog farm & I would expect you to visit the barn as well. Lotsa people & animals....but all loving and willing to educate you in true Canadian work & life. The car runs well....we run harder. We also love to play harder;-) I very much admire your mission and it's conception.....I hope that if you can be part of our family for just a few days....my own children can see what is possible! ( I have a 24, a 20 & a 16 year old sons...and a cute 2 year old girl!) Kudos, Anita Wow. I've never stayed on a hog farm. Where are you located?

In response to the car & hog farm offer..we are in Southern Ontario....along the shores of Lake Huron. Fantastic beaches in summer...but now...Great snow trails :-)

********** Hi. I've been watching since you were on the fish pen, and thingshave sure taken off recently! Boy would I love a trip to Yahk - andI've always wanted to ski Fernie. I don't own many 'things' as I'm alittle low on the materialist scale (33rd birthday tomorrow and neverowned a car), but I do have some stock in a little company that's gotthe hottest gift item this year - are you interested in trading thetrip for a small chunk of Apple Computer Inc. ? say, a dozen shares -valued at about $1,000 today... not bad for a red paperclip. ;) Andcertainly liquid. You could sell it and buy iPods, or whatever. Orhold out for a month and see if it'll double again. I'll even includein a 1st generation iPod, purchased in Oct. 2001, 3 days after theiPod was announced. Kevin Kevin, I can't believe you're only the second person to offer an ipod yet in all of the offers - I think. I'd love to do a full-on investment analysis on the project. Maybe this would be a perfect benchmark trade to establish value to the tip to yahk. Or maybe the value of the trip to Yahk is immesuarable. ********** We are a high end mens wear consignment store in Edmonton Alberta. We will make sure that you are Dressed To Suit for any occasion and include a New Swiss Military watch and a new pair of Serengeti Sunglasses. Yes a total oufit of Boss, Prada, Versace or whatever fits and you a new watch and serengeti glasses. Nice, I only wear my sunglasses at night. ********** I have been keeping up with your story via your blog. Not making much mainstream press down in South Carolina. I thought I would make trade offer. The trip for the following:My boat named Dangeresque 2 "This time it's not Dangersque 1"1971 Fabuglas Tri-Hull1984 Evinrude 70HP outboardBimini TopSeating for 6TubeTow Rope for tubing6 Fishing Rod HoldersFish FinderDual 6 gallon gas tanksTrailerIt runs great and has caught many fish. For pictures, check the flickr set: http://flickr.com/photos/justinshearer/sets/1567018/ It'd be pretty cool to get some mainstream South Carolinian media exposure while fishing in a South Carolinian stream. ********** I own the Kootenay Country Comfort Inn In Cranbrook BC. I will trade you 60 nights of accommodation in my motel that can be used during the 2006 ski season. These rooms come with continental breakfast . For a look at all amenities check out our website www.country-comfort.com Wow. 60 nights? Now this is an offer. 2 months of funtential! ********** Hi Kyle, If you trade for the 60 nights of lodging in Cranbrook (the offer listed on your website), then I will trade you for 10 of those nights. I run a barter exchange, and would trade you a whitewater rafting trip in Quesnel BC for 4, including lodging, for 10 of the 60 nights in Cranbrook. In addition to that, have a look at my website at http://obe.dobarter.com/ to see some of the other things that you could trade your trip for. Send me an email and I will give you a guest login to that site. There are over $80,000,000 worth of items to trade for. You pick what you want, and I will make the trade happen. Cheers, Hal Tagg This has the potential to get so complicatedly awesome. ********** Hey. I just watched you on Canada AM... awesome job! Suppose your're not interested in trading that trip to Yahk for an autographed picture of Rex Goudie?...lol... let me know: Cheers and best of luck! Josh Yes, I just googled Rex Goudie too. ********** Hello Kyle, I saw you on Canada AM and I think that you are very original ! I would love to go on a trip with you but I don't have too much to trade. I play the guitar and have a extra one to trade with you but would like instead to trade my company and my songs to take along with you on your trip. I promise that you will not be dissapointed as I am very good company and sing and play fairly well. I also know quite a few French songs that I know you might enjoy as well as a few Native songs. I thought that you might appreciate my originality as well *S*. Well, take care and good luck to you. Safe Journeys ! Wolffy Theme music! The trip to Yahk definitely needs theme music. ********** Hey, How's it going...Saw you on Canada AM this morning, figured I'd check out the site. I think I might have something to trade for your trip to Yahk. I have a 1991 Cheverolet Beretta. It needs some minor body work, no big dents or anything, and could use some paint, but it's a good ol' car. Oh, and it's maroon! :) Anyhow...get back to me...Yahk sounds exciting. Thanx and good luck in your quest for a home, Chris Sweet, my favorite colour is Maroon. Is it a 5 speed Beretta? Do you listen to Maroon 5 while driving your Maroon 5 speed Beretta? ********** I'll give you a big blue paper clip for the trip to yalk. How big? How blue? ********** I'll trade you my sisters broom... it's faster then any snowmobile..... I bet. **********

new website layout

Big thanks to a fellow ‘kmac’, Keith MacLeod, for setting up the new layout for this website. My original layout was a duct taped ball of scavenged html I left out in the rain. This is waaaaay better. I haven’t met Keith yet, but I already like him based on the description on his computer services website: “Hi, I'm Keith. I'm your friendly geek around the corner. Actually, I'm not really all that friendly, and depending on where you live, I'm probably not around the corner, either.” Luckily for me, he does literally live just around the corner. Go check out Keith's site: kmacleod.hostingisfree.com Another site I've come across is www.subnixus.com. It's run by a guy named Eric who's attempting to quit his day job by running a blog. Most sites like this are a souless cash grab, but Eric is differnet. He tells the story about his attempt to quit his 9-5 and is doing this because he likes it - a feeling I share with him. My site has shot off in popularity recently, and it's a lot of fun, but I would still be doing this if only 10 people a day came to the site - which was the case from July to November. He continually stresses the importance of creating unique content, like a story that people can follow along with, rather than just a series of links or ramblings. I believe in my quest to turn one red paperclip into a house, and I thank you for coming here to hear my story. I hope you enjoy this site - I'm blogging about it because it's tons of fun, not because I'm trying to make money. However, things like eating and having a place to sleep at night come in handy when you're trying to up-trade, so there's a few ads on this site. If I had a day job, the content would suffer, and if I didn't have ads, I'd starve - so I hope we can live with things the way they are. If you can give me a free place to stay and feed me, I'll drop the google adsense link boxes in a second. If you want to quit your 9-5 job, for real, and create fun blog content instead, go to subnixus and do everything Eric says. His advice is free and it works. Thanks Eric.

Thanks, Justin

Okay, yesterday was officially the most surreal day I’ve ever lived. I’ve had a lot more crazy and rowdy days before, rest assured, but yesterday was hands down the most surreal. If only last week you had told me that reporters for TWO of Canada’s National newscasts would be in our apartment only an hour before a live interview on CNN, I would have looked you straight in the face and said, “Buddy, you’re on glue.” Big thanks to Nancy Wood from CBC, Mike Armstrong from Global and Kyra Philips from CNN. It was super awesome to talk to you. I’ve uploaded videos of their reports- you can see them by clicking on the link above that says "VIDEOS". Their reports were all great. I really think they captured the true idea behind one red paperclip. Sure, I’m trying to make a series of trades from one red paperclip to a house, but at the end of the day, it’s not about the stuff I trade for, it’s about people. It was very fun to hang out with Michel Barrette yesterday on radio 98,5 FM here in Montreal. Michel offered his snowmobile for all the right reasons and it was a pleasure to spend time with him. He’s going to give one instant party to his buddy that he was going to give the snowmobile to anyhow. He looked at me with a mischievous grin and said his buddy will be “choked” for not getting the snowmobile, but will get over immediately when he sees the keg of beer and bar sign on his doorstep. He’s also gonna throw in some other goodies into the instant party package to up the ante. Speaking French on-air was like my Quebec experience coming full circle. I only moved here last year. When I first met my girlfriend’s parents a few years ago, I hardly spoke a word of French. Learning French has been the hardest, most humbling experience of my entire life. I’ve worked on oil rigs in –40 degree weather in Northern Alberta and slept on a rock in the middle of the outback in Australia, but nothing compares to standing at the dinner table in front of your girlfriend’s family unable to understand a thing or join the conversation. Us English first-languagers are so spoiled we don’t realize it. It’s one thing to not be able to communicate; it’s another thing entirely to be totally invisible. In 2001, when I was staying at Noah’s Backpackers Hostel in Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia, I walked into the kitchen and met a guy by the name of Justin Derosiers. Justin was from a town called Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec. Like me, he came to Australia to have fun and see the world, but unlike me, he was there to learn English. We were both Canadians, but because I was from Vancouver, and he was from Quebec, we could hardly understand each other. I remember thinking about how incredible it was that two people exactly the same age who’d grown up in the same country could hardly communicate. I remember imagining how hard it must be for somebody who spoke only French to go to a linguistically-challenging place like Australia, and make do. It was easy for me, I just said ‘mate’ all the time, substituted “how ya going” for “how’s it going” and faked whatever aussie terms I didn’t get, like ‘sheila’, ‘root’ or ‘tucker’ - often to comedic and self-defacing public humiliation. But Justin was in a different league. He couldn’t fake anything. I imagined how hard it must be to learn another language. When I first came out to Quebec in 2002, I came to Dom’s village, St-Alexis-Des-Monts and got a taste of what Justin was up against. St-Alexis-Des-Monts is located about 2 hours from the US border. About 3000 people live in St. Alexis - 3 of whom speak English. Dom is one of those people. It was tough to say the least. I talked to Justin the other day, and he mentioned that he could probably store the Snowmobile when the trade was made. So yesterday, in my trademark ‘if there was no such thing as the last minute, nothing would ever get done’ fashion, I kinda forgot to call Justin and arrange the snowmobile pickup from the radio station here in Montreal. I sort of thought it was one of those things that would work itself out. But it didn’t. I pulled out my phone, and with cameras of two of Canada’s national newscast rolling, I asked Justin if it’d be cool if the guys from GoJit dropped the snowmobile off at his place. Justin, you came through huge. Thank you. You’re so getting an awesome dinner for this, PS Justin owns a concrete/cement contracting company near Montreal. If you’re in the Metro Montreal area and need some concrete work done, look no further! Cimentier Desrosiers Inc 450-278-0585 - 450-773-0495

CNN - GLOBAL - CBC TELEVISION

Okay, this is officially out of hand. Yes, more out of hand than Corey Hart Driving a Fiero. Today I'll be on: CNN - 1:30pm EST - LIVE! National Post Global National CBC 'The National' TVA 98.5 FM Montreal The Chris Pirillo Show I hope you enjoy it - I'll be wearing Ricky's shirt and the Eagle shirt. Finally, these two amazing garments will get the attention they deserve!

Trade for one famous skidoo Dec 8th 2:30pm

It's finally set up. I will trade one instant party for one famous snowmobile: Date: Thursday Dec 8th Time: 2:30 pm Location: 211 av. Gordon Verdun Montreal Quebec Show up if you'd like! The keg is still empty, if you're in the Montreal area and have the ability to fill it with beer, call me: 514-448-2678 I'm also looking for a tap and a bucket of ice. I will appear live on-air on 98.5 FM after about 4pm EST. (listen here: http://www.985fm.ca/) It looks like Michel Barrette is going to open up the phone lines. You can call the show at 514-790-9850 or 1-866-790-9850 It's a French station, so if you can speak French - great. If you don't speak French, call anyhow! This will be the first time I'll speak French on the radio. My first language is English. I didn't learn French until last year. My French is super rough. Rough like a snowmobile belt. Should be fun. See you there , Kyle

This just in...

I'll be on LIVE TV tonight: The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos CBC NEWSWORLD **ADDED DEC 6th** You can watch a VIDEO of our chat here. The show airs three times, Check here for the schedule: (page set to Montreal / EST) http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/schedule/dailySchedule.jsp?network=CBC%20Newsworld It's on cable here in Canada - I've got no idea if you can get it elsewhere. Good luck!

pic from site en espanol

Man, that is such a rad picture. Noticias Locas rules. If somebody wants to translate the initial one red paperclip page into spanish, that'd be awesome. Until then, this super-awesome link will do the trick.

start your own one red paperclip trading game!

The OFFICIAL one red paperclip trading post can be found here: www.1redpaperclip.com/stuff/forum Go ahead! Steal my thunder! Find yourself one red paperclip and start your own trading game! You can live up to your full funtential! We can have races! We can make blog postings with too many exclamation marks! I'll only give you two hints to start your own trading game: 1.Start small 2.Think big You can get a totally free website/blog with a personal domain name at www.blogger.com The barter section on craigslist.org is an excellent place to post your current item. other traders: USA logcabintrade.blogspot.com/ http://oneyellowpaperclip.com oneharleyride.com paperclip2house.wordpress.com onerobotdog.com PaperReality.com bbqtv.blogspot.com illtradeyouthis.blogspot.com onepurpleeraser.blogspot.com onexbox360.blogspot.com biggernbetter.blogspot.com oneflyingmonkey.blogspot.com lazerpen.blogspot.com geocities.com/secretidentity@sbcglobal.net/index.html geocities.com/deltaforceusa4/TradersSpot.html wanttotrade.blogspot.com Canada fancyblackpaperclip.blogspot.com onebluepaperclip.com Stuffed Monkey oneredgelpen.blogspot.com littlebluecar.blogspot.com cfox.com/shows/oneil.cfm trademestuff.blogspot.com tradingforengland.blogspot.com griffstradingpost.blogspot.com kw-trading.blogspot.com gabbr.com/tradeup Spain: cambiozapatoporvivienda.es Venezuela losfosforos.com Denmark supermaya.dk Netherlands eenrodepen.nl UK 2redpaperclips.blogspot.com wotyougot.blogspot.com round-toit.blogspot.com drumaid.blogspot.com onewebsite.blogspot.com tradeingforglory.blogspot.com New Zealand theedge.co.nz/Default.aspx?tabid=65

The Book

Yes, I am a writer. Yes, I have a publisher. My publisher is Kinkos. You can read my short stories here: http://kylemacd.blogspot.com/2005/10/stories.html I've had a few literary agents and publishers contact me about the idea of making a book about one red paperclip. I was like, "Cool, but who wants to read a book about one red paperclip? - it's just a paperclip." They all replied, "No, not a book about one red paperclip, but a book about your story about trading from one red paperclip up to a house." "Ah, I see. Cool." As an aspiring writer currently published by Kinkos and funded by my credit card, this is extremely awesome. Seeing how I haven't traded up to the house yet, it's safe to say that the book won't hit the shelves until 'sometime in the future'. No idea on the format either. With all the offers I'm getting for each object, it's kind of like living inside a Choose Your Own Adventure Book. Choose Your Own Adventure books are awesome. Maybe it'll be a Choose Your Own Adventure book where you get to choose different objects to trade and get different outcomes. Maybe it'll be an investing book. Maybe it'll be a Harlequin romance. Maybe it'll be a pop-up book. Maybe it'll have scratch-'n-sniff pictures in it. Yes - that's it - it will have scratch-'n-sniff pictures. I can't wait to have a scratch-'n-sniff picture of 'one instant party'. That'll be so rad. In the meantime you can continue to read stories about each trade right here on the blog or check out these short stories I wrote. Heck, you can even go and pick up another book to satisfy your literary appetite. I just finished reading Tom Green's book, Hollywood Causes Cancer. It's got 'surprisingly-good', 'smart', 'funny', 'very interesting', 'real' and 'lived in his parent's basment 'till he was 26' written all over it. It totally satisfied my hunger. Here's some of my favorite books - I highly recommend them all:

Podtastic Funtential

Yes, I'm very interested in appearing on your podcast, no matter how small, or big! home: 514-448-2678 cell: 514-833-3980 skype ID: kylemacmac Call me *ANYTIME *(I live in Montreal, Canada - click here for the current time of day in Montreal. If you wake my girlfriend up and she's angry it'll be your fault! You can deal with her! - Now that I think about it, it might make for an interesting podcast.) I've also got a pretty sweet long-distance plan, so if you'd like me to call you to keep your phone charges down, I can probably help you out. If you'd like to contact me first via email: oneredpaperclip@gmail.com You can also use audio clips from my podcast if you'd like: http://odeo.com/channel/33789 This site is getting thousands of visitors every day and I'd be more than happy to link to your podcast here and on the press page. I'll even write a blog entry about it! We can chat about anything you like! one red paperclip, trading, fun, podcasting, ninjas...anything. Podcasts I've appeared on: Dec 8 - The Chris Pirillo Show Dec 6 - The Unsigned Podcast Network - Paul Puri Dec 4- The Kurt Copeland Show - Kurt Copeland Dec 3 - The Sound of Young America - Jesse Thorn

Go Dutch

You might say that my idea to trade from one red paperclip up to a house is one way to "go Dutch". And that'd be perfectly fine by me if you do. My sitemeter feed tells me that a few hundred people an hour are coming to this site right now via a link from Flabber, a Dutch site. If you are Dutch, you probably know about Ramon Stoppelenburg and his project/adventure called Let Me Stay For a Day. I got quite a bit of the inspiration for one red paperclip from Ramon. He had a very cool indeed. Hopefully I get an offer from the Netherlands so I can wear wooden shoes and take pictures of windmills on dikes. That'd be fun, I'm getting kinda bored of chasing beavers out of my igloo every time I come back from playing hockey with my toque on. Looks like a few days until I trade for the snowmobile. It's snowing outside right now. Perfect.

An Open Challenge to all Broadcasters of The World

To email this letter to a broadcaster, click HERE To see Corey Hart drive a Fiero, click HERE ****************************** Okay, here's the letter: ****************************** An Open Challenge to all Broadcasters of The World November 29, 2005 My name is Kyle MacDonald. On July 12th, 2005 I put a picture of one red paperclip on my website, http://www.oneredpaperclip.com/, with the following: This one red paperclip is currently sitting on my desk next to my computer. I want to trade this one red paperclip with you for something bigger or better, maybe a pen, a spoon, or perhaps a boot. If you promise to make the trade I will come and visit you, wherever you are, to trade. I'm going to make a continuous chain of 'up trades' until I get a house. After several trades, I now have a snowmobile. On November 28, 2005, The Jeff O’Neil Show on 99.3 CFOX FM in Vancouver B.C. Canada started their own one red paperclip style trading game. The Jeff O’Neil Show will make daily on-air trades for bigger or better things until the end of CFOX’s Santa Fox Food Drive. Since 'The Fox Rocks!', they started with 'one fox rock'. Whatever CFOX has at the end of their campaign will be auctioned off with all proceeds to charity. The Jeff O’Neil Show franchised the one red paperclip idea for charity. The Jeff O’Neil Show is awesome. link: http://www.cfox.com/shows/morning_show/one_fox_rock.cfm You can listen to our conversation here: here Broadcasters of the world, here is my challenge to you: I challenge you to start your own one red paperclip style trading game and auction off your item for charity at the end. I challenge you to franchise one red paperclip. I challenge you to trade for bigger or better things. I challenge you to raise money for a good cause of your choice. I challenge you to have fun. I challenge you to franchise fun. Since you have a massive audience, your potential for fun, or funtential, is much larger than me with my small website. I challenge you to realize your full funtential. Sincerely, Kyle MacDonald Montreal, Quebec, Canada http://www.oneredpaperclip.com/ 514-448-2678 PS You are probably wondering what I will do with my house when/if I trade up to it. I guarantee that I will do something very, very cool with it. Yes, I will do something EXTREMELY COOL with my potential house – after we have a massive party, of course. Stay tuned to find out what will happen. I guarantee it will be fun. *********************************************************** To email this letter to a broadcaster, click HERE

The FOX Rocks

You probably don't care about my bio, but for the sake of clarity here's the short version: I grew up in Vancouver. I moved to Montreal last year. Yes, for a girl. Yes, we're still together. Anyhow, my radio station of choice in Vancouver is 99.3 the FOX. The Fox gives Vancouver its daily dose of loud, in-your-face rock. The kind of thing you NEED on a dark, rainy November night spent delivering pizzas in your Toyota Tercel at high speed. The Fox is rad. The Fox Rocks. So, I was pretty stoked to talk on-air with Jeff O'Neil of the Fox. In addition to being only one 'L' away from having the same name as an NHL Hockey player, Jeff is a Vancouver morning DJ who digs one red paperclip so much that he just started his own on-air trading game. He started with one small rock. A Fox Rock. The Fox Rocks. I love a radio station that’ll take a pun to the physical level. You can listen to our converstion here. Some neato small-world stuff going on here. My cousin Carmen works in the same building as CFOX in Vancouver. Jeff O'Neil lives in the suburb I grew up in, Port Moody, and actually lives in the former house of a guy my brother went to school with, Mike Quinn. That's fun and all, but the shirt I wear for each trade, my lucky trading shirt, was given to me on the day I posted the paperclip on the website, July 12th, by a fellow named Ricky Hebert. Ricky is Carmen's husband. He is the former star quarterback of the Arkansas Twisters, an arena football team. Ricky is a cool guy. He's originally from Haverhill Massachusetts. The shirt is not some emo-rock ironic-that-its-somebody-else's shirt kinda thing. It's Ricky's shirt. He didn't want it any more. He gave it to me as a joke. So far, the joke's going pretty well. Ricky thinks it's funny. I do to. Okay, so Jeff O’Neil started with one fox rock today and they’re going to trade their way up for bigger or better things until they get something massive to auction off for the annual CFOX Santa Fox Food Drive. The Santa Fox Food Drive is an annual xmastime campaign to raise money for Vancouver-area Food Banks. The Santa Fox Food Drive is a good thing. I've got good memories of the Santa Fox Food drive. I remember my brother Scott, his buddy Skippy, and I set a cassette tape on 'record' then drove down to CFOX's Satellite broadcast van in Coquitlam wearing our Witness Relocation Program T-Shirts. We got a DJ by the name of Bill Courage to say "Witness Relocation Program! - right on boys!" on the air. We donated some cash to the cause, then went home and listened to the tape. We thought that was so awesome. We still do. I'm extremely happy that CFOX has added the one red paperclip concept to the Santa Fox Food Drive. The Santa Fox Food drive is a force to be reckoned with on it's own, but this takes things to the next level. The Fox Rocks on so many levels. This might even edge out the Witness Relocation Program t-shirt experience as my favorite CFOX experience. CFOX has really upped the ante with this one. Upping the ante is always a good idea. One red paperclip has now franchised. Franchising is fun. If you want to start your very own one red paperclip style trading game, give’er – especially if it’s going to a good cause! Don't worry about stealing one red paperclip's thunder, I've got surplus thunder. Not Zeus-like surplus thunder - more like this kind of thunder 'round these parts. Speaking of good causes, a few people have asked me what I’m going to do with the house if/when I get it. Will it be given away? Will I sell it and keep the money? Will I live in the house? Some valid questions here. This is a potential house we’re talking about. I have a great idea for what I’ll do with the house, when it happens. But you’ll have to wait for it to happen to find out. Until then, keep making offers for one famous skidoo and get in on whatever Jeff O’Neil and the crew decide to call the CFOX Santa Fox Food Drive Bigger and Better Barter Bonanza – and it won’t be that.

one famous skidoo

This is an original unedited blog post. Much more exciting info can be found in the book I wrote about the adventure!


When I made the trade for 'one instant party', I also set a deadline for all upcoming trade offers: Dec 1. I would decide which offer I'd take on Decemeber first. No sooner, no later. Unless, of course, somebody made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

Well, guess what happened.

I got an email from a fellow named Michel Barrette who wanted to trade me his snowmobile for one instant party. I thought, sweet, this is perfect. A snowmobile is EXACTLY the kind of thing I need to trade for. Especially if I'm going to do a trade in Quebec. Quebec and snowmobiles are like, well, Quebec and snowmobiles. One simply cannot exist without the other. I showed the email to Dom and her jaw almost hit the floor. "Michel Barrette?!" she said. "You got an offer from Michel Barrette?!"

I, like you, had no idea what she was so excited about.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Michel Barrette has his own radio and TV shows here in Quebec. He's very famous."
This was definitely the kind of offer I couldn't refuse.

I googled him and found out he was now the host of a talk radio show in Montreal. Turned out he was on-air right then. Turned out I called him up right away and accepted the trade. Turned out when he came back on the air after the commercial break he talked about the project and announced to all of Montreal that he'd just made a trade with the paperclip guy.

My inbox to public radio announcement in less than ten minutes. Like I said, it was an offer I couldn't refuse.

***

So I posted the big trade news on this site and a few days later I got a call from a local TV station that wanted to cover the trade for their evening newscast. Then CBC, the national broadcaster for Canada called. Then Global TV called, another national broadcaster. Just as I negotiated time slots for film crews for two of Canada's biggest newscasts to visit our apartment, the phone rang again. It was CNN. They wanted in too. Now up to this point, the only video I'd had of any of the trades was the shaky low-res one-take clip of Marcin and I swapping the generator for the instant party. Things were different this time. CNN has really good cameras. Hi-res cameras that pick up a lot of detail. I would even have to brush my hair.

***

On the day of the trade I had two camera crews from national newscasts in our apartment at the same time and I had to kick them out because we were running late for the interview with CNN. I did the live hit for CNN then Dom and I drove down to the CKOI radio station building where Michel worked. There were a few camera crews hanging out front. We hopped out of the car and said hi to everybody. Dom and I pulled the complete “instant party” kit out of the car and put it on the curb. Just as we finished, a sunglasses-clad guy walked around the corner and nonchalantly came in out direction. I stepped to one side of the sidewalk to let him pass by, but he hesitated, and a large grin broke across his face. “The paperclip guy!”, he said, beaming. I scrunched up my face and thought: Did this guy just watch CNN or something? He took off his sunglasses. It was Michel Barrette. We shook hands and smiled at each other. It's a funny feeling when somebody recognizes you from a picture on your website that you set up in your bedroom while eating toast in your underwear. Definitely the far end of the spectrum from CNN, but just as possible. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small paper bag. He extended his hand toward me, looked right into my eyes and said, “Do you want a cookie?” I ate the cookie and then we laughed. It was delicious. Cookies are like that.

Michel opened up the back of the giant semi truck he'd organized to transport the snowmobile down from Northern Quebec – snowmobile heartland, if you will.

We climbed inside and he grabbed the starter cord. It fired on the first pull. Awesome. Michel revved the engine and looked at me with a big grin on his face. The TV cameras rolled. He revved it up real good, checked a few gauges, then hopped off and gestured for me to hop on. I got on and grabbed the handlebars. Just as I was about to rev it up and generally make a lot of noise and exhaust fumes for the TV cameras, Michel grabbed my hand and looked me in the eyes. “Don't rev it too high. It'll take off and you go right through the front wall of this truck.” I thought about it for a sec, it's not the kind of thing you ever really imagine yourself doing – smashing through the front end of a tractor trailer on national TV. I briefly considered going for it, as it would make for some unreal footage, but then re-considered. I couldn't smash through the front of the truck - I wasn't wearing my helmet. I carefully revved it up just enough to make a lot of noise and blow some exhaust out the back of the trailer for the camera guys. They ate it up. Camera guys are like that.



Michel and I did the obligatory 'handshake' picture, this time for the TV cameras and I walked over to Dom - a massive grin plastered across my face. This was it – a snowmobile. In only a few trades I'd managed to parlay one red paperclip into a snowmobile. The back of the tractor trailer didn't exactly double as the front of a majestic ocean liner, but Dom and I were on top of the world. Anything was possible. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and turned around. Michel looked pointed at the snowmobile, “So mister paperclip, where do you want me to tell the truckers to take your snowmobile?” Uh oh. I hadn't thought of this. I always figured that the snowmobile would stay at the radio station until I decided who I was going to trade it with. I was in a pickle. I hate being in pickles. Actually, I can honestly say that pickles are my least favorite food. Definitely the most over-rated gherkin. I thought hard. Our apartment was tiny and it was on the third floor, so that was out. My buddy Matt was at work and it'd be pretty cheeky to drop it off at his place, which happened to be his parent's place too, without at least a little bit of warning. I could definitely make it up to him with vast amounts of beer at a later date, but I'd just gone and traded away my keg full of beer, so that was out too. Dom shook her head, gave me 'the look', and said, “Nice one. I told you you should find a place for that snowmobile. What were you thinking? That it would just find a place all by itself?” I obviously did think the snowmobile would find a place all by itself. After all, it was a snowmobile, isn't that what they do? I frantically tried to think of where I could store the now-famous snowmobile. Then it hit me: Justin. I looked at Dom, who still was all about 'the look', and attempted to regain some credibility.
“What about Justin? He said I could probably keep it in his garage for awhile...”
She looked back at me, this time with the 'the eye' then progressed to 'the voice', “What? You can't just send it over there now. You need to call people a long time before you do stuff like that.”

I didn't have a long time before I did stuff like that. I had now. Now would have to do. Anyhow, Justin was the kind of guy who'd understand. I'd met him a few years previous at a hostel in Australia. The first time we met he was fresh off the plane from Quebec and hardly spoke a word of English. I remember thinking how difficult it must be to learn a new language by total immersion. I watched as Aussies gave him the gears for not understanding simple English stuff like “How ye goin mate? Yeh, toss the slab of VB in the ute. That sheila you were just talking to's got a few roos loose in the top paddock but I reckon you can get a quick root in before this arvo.”
We laughed about it then, and I couldn't help but think how humbling it must've been for him - not knowing what arvo or ute meant. Sheesh. He must've felt like a total moron. Now was my turn to face the music. I pulled out my phone and dialed Justin. He picked up right away. “Hello?” I looked up. Two TV cameras were in my face. The red lights were on. I swallowed, then went for it. “Hey Justin, do you remember how you said I might be able to keep the snowmobile at your place?”
“Yeah...”
“Well, um, I kinda just found out that I need to find a place to keep it for awhile.”
Justin laughed. This was such sweet revenge. He couldn't see the cameras, and I didn't exactly give him a visual description of my situation, but I'm sure he could hear it in my voice. This was probably way more humbling than the time he had to muster up his best English and ask a pair of true blue Aussies what they meant by 'root'.
I spoke again, “Is it cool if it comes to your place?”
He laughed again. “Sure man. I'll give you the address.”
The camera guys ate it up. Camera guys are like that.

We said goodbye to the camera guys and reporters and lugged the instant party into the radio station. We made our way to a room filled with people milling about and shook lots of hands. There were no TV cameras here. It's funny how even a room filled with people asking you questions in French is a relaxing stress-free oasis after a day spent in front of multiple TV cameras. I could make the most embarrassing phone call of all time and it wouldn't be replayed on national TV. I considered making a real embarrassing phone call, just for kicks, then gave up on the idea. Being able to make an embarrassing phone call without TV cameras capturing every dramatic moment was always something I'd taken for granted. It's funny how your life changes when you go on national TV.

Michel and I talked on-air for awhile about the project. I managed to hold my own in French, and even convinced Dom to get in on the conversation. She was a bit nervous, seeing how every person she'd ever known had heard about the interview and was probably listening. Going on the radio in French was a big end to a big day. When I first came to Quebec a few years before this moment, I hardly spoke a word. Learning French was the hardest, most humbling experience of my entire life. Way harder than that silly little last-minute phone call to Justin. I’d worked outside as a roughneck on oil rigs at forty below, and that was tough, but nothing compares to sitting at the dinner table with your girlfriend’s family, totally oblivious to the real life in front of your eyes. It's amazing how us English first-languagers have got it. We expect pretty much expect everybody to understand us wherever we go, and for the most part, they do. It's amazing when the coin is flipped and you find yourself as an outsider to a culture. Speaking to Michel on the radio in French with all of Dom's family listening was when I felt like I finally bridged the gap. I was still the 'Anglo', something I'm toally cool with, but now I had a least a little bit of Quebecois street cred. I chilled with Michel Barrette on-air. The Michel Barrette.

Michel told us how he was going to give one instant party to his buddy as a gift. He'd originally decided to give him the snowmobile, but after he heard about the project, he changed his mind and decided it would be a whole heck of a lot funnier his buddy got a full keg of beer, a Budweiser sign, and then about thirty additional cases of beer. I figured his buddy might be choked at first, especially if he found out I'd snaked the snowmobile from him, but after downing a handful of beers and seeing the vast amount of intoxicating potential before his eyes, would tell Michel that he was a genius. One thing was certain, I definitely thought Michel Barrette was a genius. A genius and a really cool guy.



PS
Now would be a good time to add "The snowmobile Song" by Stompin' Tom Connors to your ipod arsenal. Yes, now would be a REAL good time to do that.

Click here to see what happened next!

offers for one famous skidoo

Send your trade offer here: oneredpaperclip@gmail.com ********** Please post a comment at the bottom of this page to say which one I should take! ********** There are offers in different languages here too, to get the most out of 'em, copy/paste the text into google translate ********** OFFERS: ********** My husband says he'll trade our house for the snowmobile...of course there is a catch it comes with 4 kids, a dog, wife and of course a mortgage. Okay, so maybe the Playmobile is a better offer...Jennifer - Milverton, On ********** Hi I'm interested in trading One genuine Inuit soapstone carving of a "polar bear looking back" done by one of our most famous soapstone carvers, Johnny Kavik from Sanikiluaq, Nunavut I really need a new snowmobile and could even help out with shipping costs from Montreal up north to the Belcher Islands where Sanikiluaq is located. It is quite big at 30cms by 30 cms by 14 cms thick and weighs about 18 lbs. I can send a pictre if you are interested. I think it would be a good trade and make a very interesting addition to your story as you would meet some really nice native Canadians if you come up here. Hope to see you soon Robert McLean Manager Soapstone Artists of Sanikiluaq www.soapstoneartists.com ********** Hey Kyle, Sounds like you are having lots of fun!! Well I have an offer for trade here in Calgary. How does a 1999 GMC Sierra 4X4 fully loaded except leather sound for your skidoo???? Let me know what you think. Cheers, C.S. ********** Hi Kyle; Love your site; I've been visiting almost every day for a month or so. Here's my offer for the Skidoo: I will offer you $500 dollars to wager in an account at www.poserfish.com The site facilitates all sorts of quirky and fun betting on almost anything you can think of. So it will start off as just $500, but you can put in a bet on whether Fidel Castro will outlive Dick Cheney, Academy Award outcomes, ar anything else you can dream of, and turn it into much, much more and have fun while doing it. How much funtential can one guy handle? Currently, there are even bets up on poserfish about whether you, Kyle MacDonald, will succeed in your trading quest. The odds seem to favor you right now... ********** If you want to get ur house you gotta be able to go into the pockets with the big stuff and one good way of doing it is offering them a sweet looking, would be now famous table for their living room. Make it or break it! David ********** I Kyle, I am interesting to change your skidoo with cedar gazebo gloriette. We cant to deliver where you want and pickup the skidoo. Look the picture and if your interesting call me. (The furnitures are not include). Salutation! L'Atelier du cèdre Val-Garnier inc. Louise Le Comte ********** Salut je t echange le ski doo contre un appareil Bell ExpressVu modele 3100 avec la carte d acces et une carte pirate L' appareil est dans un etat neuf!!! ********** Hi kyle i got a 10 horse snow blower in great condition and working if you want to trade. Thanks, steve from Gatineau ********** I heard about your venture on 980 CKRM in Saskatchewan... I would like to trade you my house for your sled. The house was burned last year in a fire.. but the structure was well preserved by the lath and plaster... the insulation is even good... the bathroom was not even affected. You will need to do some drywall and carpet/lino, but it's a good straight house with very good possibilities and an amazing turnover of aproximately 350-400%. It's yours if you want it. ********** Hi, Kyle i saw your story on the local news paper here in montreal, and found your idea amazing, am the founder of www.vendezmaisonvite.com , i will trade your snowmobile for a great watercooler. It might not be as expensive but it will give cold water all year long. By the way if you get your house i will give you free advertising the day you would want to sell it! Regards. ********** hey kyle, why not trade up to a GOLD 1985 cutlass supreme brougham? This fine 80's automobile is a sweet ride with the most comfortable seats ever made. It deserves to be a part of your journey. I'll even make sure your favourite beer is in the trunk. R.C. Guelph, Ontario ********** I run the Professional Institute of Massage and Fitness in Calgary. I will trade you one education for the snowmobile. I will offer one diploma program in our Massage Therapy program. If you want to check out what is offered go to www.pimf.ca I will even lend the successful person you trade the education to the books to get through the program. I would hope that you consider my trade. I love what you are doing – it is a true success story! Good luck! Rob Thomas ********** I have one 1987 Chevy Blazer 4x4 (needs a battery) if you are interested to trade for that snowmobile - Julie ********** I want to offer you a RED FORD ESCORT 1993. If you wanted to take it in exchange, I would drive the car from Calgary, Alberta and take the snowmobile in a Uhaul truck back to calgary. This is a serious offer!! Let me know! Martin Allard Calgary, Canada ********** Hey Kyle, E-mailed you about our students here in sunny California. Got the O.K. from the principal to start a trade at our school. Going for a Smartboard or a computer for the school. I have a unused ,brand new, portable, light weight message table wood and leather(Burgundy in color). Complete with oils and "learn to message' video -- nothing kinky.I used to be a message therapist/ yoga teacher prior to motherhood.Anyway, just bought a condo on a ski slope would love a skidoo. Consider the trade and get away from the snow for a while . California has great weather and you can stay with us. p.s. my son will throw in his air-hockey table too Cassy ********** I have a beautiful car ( Saturn SL1 93 ) for change. ********** Hi Kyle I would be interested in trading my 1990 ford aerostar van,7 passengers,all wheel drive fully electronic for your snowmobile.If interested,please write back Danielle ********** this is my offer 88 pickup toyoyta lowrider ********** One white polar skin taged and legal. Raw without anything and perfect shape. ********** Dodge Neon 1996, coupé, twincam ********** I'll trade you a black Labrador retriever for the snowmobile. She is about 6 years old. She is really hyper and will greet your visitors by sticking her nose in their crotch. What could be more fun? By the way, I bet you'll end up having a reality TV series based on your paperclip tales. ~K ********** 1991 Biege tempo 2 door 160,000km needs a new transmission soon but still runs. ********** What would you trade for a fairly large, hand-made rubber band ball? ********** I have a poop pen yes that’s right a poop pen fresh from japan and its all the rage there the kids all have one!!!! Its got a guy on it and a tird on the top where you push to make the pen come out. Its GREAT!!!! ********** Hey Kyle, The images for the trades are attached and on monday I will take pictures of the Unlocked Black Motorola Razar v3c Included in the trade is intire laptop package or the Motorola razar: Sony Vaio PCG-FS laptop HP ipaq 2750 (value $450) includes webster dictionary & thesarus SD card Also hp ipaq case (black) Logitek USB microphone/skype certified Logitek Quickcam/webcam 1GB memorex flash drive and genuine wilson leather $250 laptop bag I'm the founder/owner of Gmailinvitation.com and the now popular image hosting site photoshosted.com ! I wish you the very best of sucess on your quest to getting that house, Nicholas Sheriff Jr ********** I will trade one red paper clip for your skidoo. We have alot of snow here. ********** How about a US-made Fender Stratocaster 1962 re-issue with tweed case for the snowmobile? Anyway, thanks for taking the time to talk to me this morning. I'm going to air the interview in about 7-minutes. Garner Andrews The Garner Andrews Show on SONIC 102.9 Edmonton. www.garnerandrews.com ********** I'm looking to get rid of my car, and a snowmobile would make a great gift to my dad. I still need my car for work at the moment, but I'm moving to Florida in the coming year. It's a '90 For Mustang, in the 'fox' body style (I think they call it) and navy blue. Comes with Bumper sticker, a crack in the windshield, good stories, and a tank of gas. ^.^ ********** Hi Kyle, I stumbled across your blog after reading about it on CBC's site & I'd like to offer a trade. I own a custom iron manufacturing shop & we made this table & chair set a couple of years ago just from an idea I had. It's driving my wife crazy since then sitting in our small showroom so I figure a snowmobile in the garage would be slightly less iritating for her. If the table isn't that interesting for you, take a look at our site & something else might jump out you. Greg Henry www.hdiron.com ********** I would like to trade my Victoria Commonwealth Games Volunteer Hat for a Camper Van. By the way. I moved from Montreal in 1982, I use to live in Cote St Luc There use to be a famous DJ who had a side car attached to his bike and us to put his dog in it but I forget the guys name. Gary ********** hey.. i would trade you a 1996 chevy estro van for the ski doo snowmoblie ...cody lovegrove Hamilton Ontaio canada thanks ********** I just saw a story about your trades on ctv news. I have a van that I was going to sell but would trade it for your snowmobile. The van can be seen on my blog http://weblogs.upei.ca/94luminavan I understand that the dollar value of the van may not exceed the dollar value of the snowmobile, however, I thought it worth emailing you about. Cheers, Mike Butler Charlotteotown, PE ********** Hello, I'm interested in trading my car, along with the crazy cross continent story and some pictures that go with it. The initial journey started in Edmonton, AB and ended in Torreon, Mexico with many misadventures in between (thanks to the car). The trip wasn't so much about the places we saw but the people we met and friendship that strengthened through the hardship. Everyone we have told the story to has loved our animated account of the events. However, when we attempted to transcribe the trip to paper, it lost some of the flare and excitement. We believe putting the story in the "write" hands would be a great contribution to your quest for a home (and the story that goes along with it). Much like you, we believe that life is about the journey and not just the destination. Please contact either of us if you are interested in reading a more detailed account... oh and getting a car with its relatively new engine. Joe Gomizelj & Dan McEleney ********** will trade 1994 ford aspire car for sled ********** Hey man, I'll trade you a 9 foot 2 inch Harbour HP-1 Longboard Surfboard for that Skidoo !!! Just think, you'll be the envy of all those Quebecers out there with this authentic West Coast soul rider surfboard !! Hell, I'll even toss in a free lesson to get you on your feet out here. Your choice of beaches, Jordan River, Tofino, Sobrio beach, the worlds your oyster !!! Let me know Thanks bro Lee ********** Greetings !! What a great game !! I would like to trade an 89 ToyotaFourrunner - for the snowmobile. My husband has always dreamed of having asnowmobile and it would be very cool to make a trade and be part of thelegacy ********** classic white volkswagon microbus, pretty good condition ********** I will trade my 1971 girl friend for your snowmobile. Comes well equipped with low mileage. She’s very economical and cheap to run. Let me know. Tony ********** hey man i got a antique set of chairs and a antique cabinet and i would like to trade...Hope you have fun trading your stuff...Maybe be hearing from you.... Adam Saskatoon, saskatchewan ********** I have a 1996 Dodge 1/2 ton V6 (with i think a blown engine but it still starts and runs but i don't know for how long!) it also has and $800 stereo in it with a cd in the stereo. i live in manitoba just north of brandon. the thing is I bought my first snowmobile last year and my wife and i loved it. so that would be perfect for her. the catch is this, i'm in the army and i'm being deployed to afghanistan in january for 6 months so if you want to make the trade i'm willing. hope to hear from you soon, Rob Pethick ********** I saw you on CBC tonight! I thought it would be fun to make you an offer... I have an old 1978 Dodge Sportsman Van... I bought it in 2001 and lived in it for a bit. I built a futon frame for the back and some shelves. It's a good van, because the people before me had it and used it in the summers to haul a trailer. Then, they were old and had it in storage for 13 years. I got it in 2001 for $1000... and have driven and camped and lived in it ever since... but it is getting beyond me to be able to care for it. All the seals are going because it is so old. All the metal pieces are good because it has had so little use, but the seals leak! Right now it needs a starter solenoid and a new carberator because there is a vacuume leak in the throttle arm. I have all the service and mechanical records since 2001. It's not running right now. What my van needs is someone who is good with a wrench and wants a good van for travelling, or camping, or climbing trips... something like that. I don't have the tools or a garage where I can work on it myself. Not to mention that I'm a girl... and while I've done some things like change the front wheel bearings... It stresses me and I usually sit down for 3 cups of coffee before I get into the grease. Lotsa new parts on it... new hoses new thermostat timing chain & gears waterpump belts front coil springs new cap and rotor valve cover gaskets new set of sparkplugs (still in packages) good tires shocks are 1 year old new exhaust on it not much rust on it.... but it's not running right now. I think it's the starter solenoid or the wiring in the steering column. Could you find someone to love my van? Some one that would love to have her? I could trade you for the snowmobile or something else. I live in Canmore and I do LOTS of backcountry skiing and stuff here! A snowmobile would be wonderful! I work at the Canmore Nordic Center and have lots of people to ask about snowmobiles and things... we use them for work every day... I can send you pictures if you would like to see Daisy (the van)... She's blue and grey on the outside and blue interior. Let me know! It would be fun to meet you too! I don't know what to do about the fact that she's not running right now. Could you move it? fix it? Natalie Canmore Alberta ********** A genuine copy of two famous games by sid meir colonization and civilization in original cd. ********** Hi im Dylan i live in mildmay ontario canada and i would like to trade you a RCA 21 inch XL100 television or a mountain dew popcan for the snowmobile if you want to trade please amail me back ********** got this classic motor home to trade ********** i Have a 1949 willys jeep that i would be willing to trade if snowmobile works the jeep needs some work but in runs the transmision and 4 wheel drive works great if your intrested let me know i have a parts jeep that i would think about trading with it ********** a box of paper clips Steve Toronto ********** I am in Kitchener Ontario, would you take a snowboard with boots and bindings for your sled? ********** I offer Smart Phone PDA from T-mobile (Pocket PC) in exchange for the snowmobile. A corporate America must have. Could give you a leg up on the competition. Derell L. Stinson ********** Hey, i seen you on the news on tv, and was wanting to offer you a trade for your snowmobile. I will trade you a 1991 Dodge Spirit. It has a 3.0 motor, its white four door, automatic. Im from ohio, if you want to just contact me back through my email. Thanks, Jamey ********** I've gone 100% digital. My wonderful Leica M2 plus lenses and all as shown is ready for trading.What have you got for a trade? WTVpanana@aol.com ********** Anyone interested in a trade of two one dollar US coins? Happy trading! Paylady ********** Dear Kyle, Are you ready for a great Canadian Kootenay Rockies winter getaway? After hearing about how you acquired your new (used) snowmobile and that you are willing to travel anywhere in the world to make your next trade EXCEPT Yahk, B.C., we here at Koocanusa Publications and SnoRiders West magazine are pleased to make you an offer that will be hard to refuse. In exchange for your 1991 Ski-Doo Mach I, we want to bring you and one other person on an all-inclusive trip from anywhere in North America to the Kootenay region in British Columbia, Canada, for a great Canadian Kootenay Rockies adventure including a snowmobile trip in and around.... wait for it.... Yahk, B.C.! That's right Kyle, we want to fly you and your next trading partner to the Kootenays and show you a great time for three fun-filled days and nights including putting you both up in swanky accommodations, a full-day guided snowmobile trip to Yahk, a day of superb downhill skiing at a Kootenay alpine resort and pay for all your meals. So what do you say, Kyle? Are you feeling adventurous? I'm sure someone out there would be willing to trade you quite a bit in exchange for the winter holiday of a lifetime—accompanied by the increasingly famous Kyle MacDonald—in the beautiful Kootenay Rockies of British Columbia. We hope to hear from you soon! From your friends at SnoRiders West magazine in Cranbrook, B.C. (Conveniently located only 45 minutes from Yahk.) ______________________ Jeff Cooper Koocanusa Publications Inc. www.koocanusapublications.com 1-800-663-8555 ********** When Georgia comes to mind while pondering around the fire, you'd think peaches are the only find but she has much more to admire. First there's CNN and their famous news team, keeping things interesting from Spring untill Fall. Next comes Coca - Cola with their soft drink dream. And don't forget the Braves, and professional baseball. But what more do we have deep down in the South? Where treasures aren't cheap, and found word of mouth? Well, dear friend from far north, This season here in Atlanta, it's time to come forth, We have so much more than just Santa. The shiney green body takes you by surprise. She definitely isn't shoddy, but a one of a kind prize. With comfort and style to keep you looking hip. She'll always give you a smile, And that's far better than a red paper clip. We will trade you one magic Bonneville for one famous Skidoo. Cheers, Kathy and Lane PS 1996 Forest Green ********** Hey kyle, I saw you on the hour last night great idea but I got a 95 grand caravanwilling to trade. thanks, Jon Hanley Calgary, Ab ********** Its not a house, but it is close... It is actually attached to my house. My patio coverand deck. $1000s of dollars of wood. All you have todo is haul it away...and it is yours. You could useit when you eventually get your deckless/coverlesshouse. Len ********** i offer this pen of mine for something of yours. here is a picture of the kind of pen it is. it has four colors and is made by Bic. http://search-bicworld.artful.net/images_upload/produits/4coul0.jpg ********** For trade of ski-doo. I will offer you 4 great tickets to any show in Toronto, concert, Leafs game, Opera, Ballet, ... whatever show in whatever venue, and I will get spectacular tickets, the best seats in the house. This could be used for 2 tickets to two separate events or 4 tickets to any one event. I'll throw in one nights accommodations as well and transportation to and from the show to the hotel. My offer stands for the ski-doo and will also stand for the motorcycle if you trade the sk i-doo for the bike. I think your site is awesome!! keep it up, I will stay posted and try and participate with offers when I see items that interest me. I may eventually offer.... boat, , ski-doo (just a couple years old), car, or maybe even my House! I wish you the best of luck... Mike Savage ********** will trade my motorcycle for the snowmobile. ********** Life-Size hand-painted Jack Dowd statue of Bart Starr, Green Bay Packers. He engraved his name and the #3 after it. One more thing - it's dated 1996 ********** Hello, I want to trade your ''red paperclip'' with an staindless steel pen. My friendly regards, Silvian Horneman ps: i live in the Netherlands ********** 1996 Honda 800 Series Motorcycle ********** 1995 Jeep Grand Cherokee Ltd. ********** I would give you 2, count 'em _2_ dollars american. ********** I have a piece of hardware for in a laptop it is 256 MB Of memory witch I’am willing to trade you. I live in holland Hoogachtend P.Koningh ********** I realize that you have had offers of other cars, but not one of them has the potential that this baby does. It is a 1985 Honda Prelude with just under 250,000 miles on it. She runs fine, I have driven her daily for seven years. She does need a little work, though, more than your hammer and duct tape could handle! That's where the uniqueness of my offer resides, I propose that you Pimp My Honda with MTV, Xzibit and the boys down at West Coast Customs in L.A. Just think, a $100 car (BIGGER than the Skidoo), pimped out to the extreme to catch they eyes of more and better offers. I mean, just think what kinds of offers a candy-apple RED Prelude with Lamborghini-style scissor doors, 12 video monitors and a built-in inflatable Jacuzzi would fetch?!? Think about it... Besides, I have ALWAYS wanted a snowmobile. Sincerely, The Eric Hunter ********** I have a 1992 Honda Accord that still runs good and looks great, just a lot of miles. I just have to know all the facts on the snowmobile (and speak with my wife). Mike in NY. ********** I Kyle, i'm not pretty good in english but i hope so that you will anderstand what a write. So, that what i offert to you for your snowmobile. A fabulous Chevrolet Malibu Chevelle 1977, 305 HP, 8 cylinders, original A to Z. Place for 7 people or a nice no where trip!! Only 146 000 km or 91 452 miles. See the attachement for the pictures and if you want to see it on person, i'm living on " Le Plateau Mont-Royal". I'm waiting for news soon. Pleasure. Christian Marchand. ********** Ive got a 91 Eagle Premier with 180k on it , no rust and would trade it for your skidoo. I’m located in Greely Ontario. ********** Hi, I’m not really good in english but i’m very interresting by your offer. I propose you to exchange your skidoo for a Hyundai Sonata 1993. The car need some reparation but I go working each day with him. If you want more information about the car, e-mail me !!! Have a nice day Emmanuelle Arcand ********** I have a 1990 Chevy Lumina van I could trade for the snowmobile. Jeff ********** A 12 screen videowall includes 13 pioneer 2000 41" projection cubes Imtech proscessor and decoders pioneer dvd player for playback all cables,manuals and accessories Everything works well and is located in beautiful Forest Falls Ca. http://www.forestfalls.com ******** Great Job with everything! I think its awesome what you are doing!!Here is what I have that I could trade - 1 Vintage (Rare) 1973 Olympic Tennis (PONG ‘Style’) Arcade Machine – Very good condition, works perfectly – a few minor chips in the wood cabinet. It’s a ‘Up To 4 Player’ game and is very fun (and addictive) to play and is very nostalgic – when games were MORE about the game then about the graphics and such ;-). My daughter and play it quite often so I know for a fact that it works.Here is a link to the game itself – it is rated as Very Rarehttp://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=O&game_id=8917 I live in Utica, NY – its almost in the middle between Syracuse and Albany. Hopefully, will talk to you soon. Joshua Bartolomie ********** Hi Kyle, Your idea is really cool. I love that you're bartering and not doing this the old fashioned way of getting into debt way over your head. That is so admirable. I might, and I stress might, have an item to trade you for the snowmobile. It's a drift boat. My husband built it himself and has been contemplating selling it on ebay. We have property in northern Michigan that we could use this snowmobile on. Really. Now, I have to clear this with said husband, but if you would be interested, throw this on the pile of other offers and let me know if it shakes out. Otherwise, look for it on ebay. =) P.S. A drift boat is a shallow bottom boat used by river fishermen. Because of it's flatter bottom, it can be maneuvered over currents much easier than a standard boat. Have a great day!! And Best of Luck to you!! ********** Offer: A rebuilt Pontiac Grand AM Engine - Less then 10K miles 2.4L Comes with a recked car. Keyser Soze ********** Cool project. Dont have much to trade - unles you want 250 copies of our new book Celebrity Anecdotes: Funny Stories About the Stars. Retail value, $6,250. Lemme know if interested. Good luck!Jay Julian Payne ********** THE 1 SECOND FILM is prepared to trade you one Executive Producer credit on a 70mm film valued at exactly $1 more than whatever the dollar value of the Skidoo is. But no less than $501...We would sell the skidoo on ebay and use whatever $ we get to help finish our film. This Executive Producer credit comes with: •a set of 12 custom business cards featuring all 12 frames of THE 1 SECOND FILM and a place to write your name on the back. • a limited edition LENTICULAR CARD featuring 6 frames of THE 1 SECOND FILM on one numbered 3 x 5 card, reserved exclusively for Executive Producers who donate $500 or more. (This card actually animates: preview half of the shortest film ever made!) • a chance to appear in our 70mm 'making of' documentary along with some of our other producers (Kevin Bacon, Tom Green, Ryan Reynolds, etc.) which will screen during the one-second film's estimated 90-minutes of credits. • an invitation to our one-time only red carpet world premiere, for cast-and-crew only. • a limited-edition black 1 Second Film t-shirt misprinted as "Exexutive Producer" due to our former screenprinters error. • an Executive Producer credit on IMDb.com We will make this Executive Producer credit transferable, so should you happen to trade it for something better, we will change the name to whatever the next person wants, so long as it meets our credit guidelines. Glad to see you started shooting some video. Good luck and have fun! THE 1 SECOND FILM - http://www.the1secondfilm.com 'Bringing the world together, one second at a time.' ********** Red '89 Jeep Comanche...runs great...never use it... Ryan Johnson ********** Salut KYLE,Pour ton Ski-doo je peut t'offrir mon velo Devinci double suspension monter en ShimanoLX et XT,IL EST COMME NEUF,je vais t'envoyer une photo rapidement.La valeur du velo est d'environ $2000.00 A+++ ********** salut jaime bien ton idee... pis je croit que jai p-e quelque chose qui pourrai tinteresser . jai tuer un ours noir a la chhasse cette annee et cette semaine je receverai un tapis en peau d ours avec la tete empailler tres jolie ! et crois moi ca vaut le prix du skidoo !! jattend de tes nouvelle! je peut aller te la mene a mtl sans aucun probleme yvan **Okay, it's too much work for me to translate all the offers, but I'm translating the gist of this one: Yvan is offering me a bear skin rug. A bear skin rug made out of a bear that he killed. Quebec! ********** an commemorative envelope (july 20 1969, stamped and sealed)with what helps me to bring my bride near me! kamal shamlou ********** I will trade you every piece of animal clothing in this house. This includes: -your brother's excellent collection (pomeranian etc...) -a recent addition from lake havasu, arizona with a tiger (I hear Arizona is overrun by these ferocious felines.) -2 recent additions of eagles soaring in front of a full moon and wolfes howling at the full moon -shirt with a little girl petting her horse -poster of jesus driving a mack truck (2 nasty) -and pauls house (as long as I can keep living in it) fun-play ********** Salut Kyle! J'ai une offre pour toi: j'ai une télé RCA couleur 27 pouces qui fonctionne encore (elle est pas neuve mais bon...sinon j'en ai peut-être une autre qui pourrait t'intéresser...) + un Monsieur Patate (ou une Mme Patate...au choix) et un disque de ton choix (neuf). Tu peux même me dire quels groupes tu aimes et je vais te trouver un bon disque dans le même genre. Voilà! Je vis dans les environs de Montréal (Lachine/LaSalle). Bonne continuation. Opale ********** I will trade you not one, but 2 life-size Playmobil figures. One is a Soldier, the other is a Pirate. You can see them here: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.dunlop/Playmobil Andy Dunlop ********** divan-lit table de chevet.Offre nous un produit A+ Si tu veux bien échanger ton Ski-Doo contre le divan-lit table de chevet et quelques autres meubles, nous ferons la livraison en plus.A+ ********** Bonjour Kyle, Hi Kyle. We were amazed by your story when we saw it in the newspaper. Dimler Auto is ready to give you a Dodge Neon 95, 2 Door, Black, 5 Speed. http://www.dimlerauto.com/fr/usedcars/listing/details.spy?id=531715 Ask for Danny if you have any questions. Merci Best Regards Dimler Auto ********** Bonjour Kyle, Je suis un illustrateur du Québec (Trois-Rivières pour être précis) et j'ai lu ton histoire dans le Journal de Montréal et j'ai trouvé tout ça super cool. Depuis, je me demande ce que je pourrais bien te proposer en échange et ce matin j'ai eu un flash. Alors voici. Je te propose de créer spécialement pour l'occasion une illustration unique d'une grandeur d'environ 20 par 40 pouces. Je te l'offre encadré, bien évidemment. Seulement, elle n'est pas encore réalisée, alors si tu acceptes, tu devras m'accorder un certain délai pour la réaliser (une dizaine de jours devrait suffire). Tu peux voir sur mon site www.goneau.com un peu de mes réalisations pour te donner une idée de mon travail. Si ça t'intéresse ou que tu as des questions, ce sera avec plaisir que je pourrai t'appeler pour en discuter. Lâches pas, ton projet est génial! Martin Goneau ********** ..en plein mon genre de folie! J'ai patienté des années durant pour retrouver le bonheur d'une maison et puis BOUM! ça y'est! Depuis juin dernier, j'ai ma mignonne maison dans un petit village: Portneuf Station (30 minutes de Québec!). Je vais donc t'offrir une chose que j'avais très hâte de pouvoir utiliser dans ma maison: des graines de fleurs. Elles sont orangées et jaunes, et quelques graines que j'avais reçues en cadeau il y a des années ont peuplé mon terrain de manière spectaculaire! Elles étaient encore très belles en début novembre! Je t'offre aussi, pour accompagner ces moments bucoliques, une vieille chaise berçante à laquelle je tiens pour bercer ta cocotte en regardant tes petites fleurs jaunes jaser, un beau matin de mai. Je suis certaine que ton rêve se réalisera en mai! La meilleur des chances mec! Suzanne Belleau (dit Suzanne La Banane pour mes élèves) p.s. ..je viens d'avoir une idée! je ne veux pas d'objet en échange: je veux jouer dans ton film et... je suis bonne comédienne ! Suzanne Belleau... ********** Hello Kyle, Ton idee est genial, je suis sur que tu va finir par te trouver une maison en echange d'autre chose. J'aurais a t'offrir en echange de ton new skidoo, un ordinateur Celron 333Mhz complet avec ecran 14 pouces, ainsi qu'une aquarium 10gallon tout equiper et une imprimante couleur. Je pourrais ajouter a ca un Nintendo64 avec 3 manette et 5 jeux. J'espere pouvoir trader avec toi. Bonne cotinuation dans on trip, ce genial. Sébastien Abran ********** I need to figure out how to trade my student loan. - Bridget ********** I would like to exchange Michel Barette’s skidoo for: -2 hockey tickets for any game you want during the 2005-2006 season in the red section (just behind the great Henri Richard!) Including underground parking. -Plus one night for two in a suite at Quality Suites Pointe-Claire. Jean-Francois Martin