I mentioned in an earlier post that there was a story behind the paper clip, well, one paper clip in particular. It was a giant red paper clip which Kyle McDonald used to trade up to a house in Saskatchewan. Here is the story from Wikipedia.
MacDonald made his first trade, a red paper clip for a fish-shaped
pen, on July 14, 2005. He reached his goal of trading up to a house with
the fourteenth transaction, trading a movie role for a house. This is
the list of all the transactions MacDonald made:[2]
- On July 14, 2005, he went to Vancouver and traded the paperclip for a fish-shaped pen.
- He then traded the pen the same day for a hand-sculpted doorknob from Seattle, Washington, which he nicknamed “Knob-T”.
- On July 25, 2005, he travelled to Amherst, Massachusetts, with a friend to trade Knob-T for a Coleman camp stove (with fuel).
- On September 24, 2005, he went to San Clemente, California, and traded the camp stove for a Honda generator.
- On November 16, 2005, he made a second (and successful) attempt (after having the generator confiscated by the New York City Fire Department) in Maspeth, Queens, to trade the generator for an “instant party”: an empty keg, an IOU for filling the keg with the beer of the holder’s choice, and a neon Budweiser sign.
Kyle MacDonald’s house
- On December 8, 2005, he traded the “instant party” to Quebec comedian and radio personality Michel Barrette for one Ski-doo snowmobile.
- Within a week of that, he traded the snowmobile for a two-person trip to Yahk, British Columbia, in February 2006.
- On or about January 7, 2006, he traded the second spot on the Yahk trip for a cube van.
- On or about February 22, 2006, he traded the cube van for a recording contract with Metalworks in Mississauga, Ontario.
- On or about April 11, 2006, he traded the recording contract to Jody Gnant for a year’s rent in Phoenix, Arizona.
- On or about April 26, 2006, he traded the one year’s rent in Phoenix, Arizona, for one afternoon with Alice Cooper.
- On or about May 26, 2006, he traded the one afternoon with Alice Cooper for a KISS motorized snow globe.
- On or about June 2, 2006, he traded the KISS motorized snow globe to Corbin Bernsen for a role in the film Donna on Demand.[3]
- On or about July 5, 2006, he traded the movie role for a two-story farmhouse in Kipling, Saskatchewan.
Here is the official site of the Red Paper Clip. Read their mission statement. It’s fun. Also look at their list of crazy ideas under the Ideas tab. I may just have to try one. Or create my own.
Here’s the challenge. Start trading something and let me know what happens!!
Have a fun day!!