five fave offers for the cube van
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
one trip to yahk
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"
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.
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
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. **********