Okay, so if you haven’t heard about these quirky little initiatives already, I’m going to be the next person in the viral chain that has turned them, or will turn them, into success stories.
Kyle MacDonald, a Canadian blogger, traded one red paperclip for a house. Yes, really! He started with one red paperclip on July 12 2005 and bartered his way in 14 moves to a house on Main Street, Kipling, Saskatchewan, for which he had to trade a role in a film! He did all this in just over a year, with his progress followed online by nearly a thousand people. At his housewarming party, attended by 12 of the 14 people he had traded with, he proposed to his girlfriend who (fortunately!) accepted. The wedding ring was made from the original red paperclip, which the woman he had traded it with gave back to him for the purpose. Ahhh … or should that be aaaagggh! An interesting idea though.
On a similar theme, but perhaps a bit braver, Ian Usher was offering a different kind of trade – money for his life! Quite literally. He put his whole life for sale on Ebay – job, car, jetski, house and everything in it, even his friends (although quite how that’ll work I’m not sure!). And it sold on 29th June 2008 for around £200,000, according to Sky News. Ian promised that, on the day of the sale, he would walk out of the house with just his wallet in one pocket and his passport in the other. He didn’t know what he was going to do, apart from head to the nearest train station and get on the first train “outta here” (my words, not his)! Now, though, he’s obviously decided to capitalise on all the media interest and has set up a new website so that we can follow his progress in achieving 100 goals in 100 weeks. Looks a bit to me like he’s going to live all his dreams in one fell swoop, and we can help him – yay! But good on the guy for turning a miserable relationship break-up into something so positive. Let’s hope the person who bought his life feels the same! Did they also get his ex-wife, I wonder?
And finally, how would you like to be carrot mobbed?! It’s a new thing that has just started in the States, and it’s all about using crowd clout to reward the companies that do the most good. Nice idea. Carrotmob, based in San Francisco, aims to organise consumers to provide an economic incentive to companies for making positive environmental changes. Read more about it on Trendwatching.com …
Gotta go now, must ring home and say goodnight to the little ones whilst having a wee and attempting to put some lippy on before going to this networking thingy and not eating any of the sandwiches or cakes and then calling into Asda and doing the weekly shop on the way home … oh, and then finishing my daughter’s party invites! And I still won’t have had any tea – so much for keeping my blood sugar levels on an even keel! The joys of being a multi-tasking mum! How much do you reckon I’d get if I put my life up for sale on Ebay (little ones NOT included!)?
Tags: 100goals100weeks.com, alife4sale.com, carrot mobbing, Ebay, Ian Usher, Kyle Macdonald, multi-tasking mums, oneredpaperclip.com, Trendwatching
October 5, 2008 at 12:04 am |
[...] public links >> paperclip One red paperclip, a life for sale and a carrot mob! Saved by kimz0519 on Fri 03-10-2008 You cannot imagine! Paperclip Hanger Saved by bilbea on Fri [...]