Hammelltime Envelope Extravaganza: Update #2

Here's another update on the expanding collection of autographs in my Envelope Extravaganza! As I did last time, let's first have a look at who didn't pan out:

Raffi

I got a bounceback from Raffi. I'm really not surprised as this address took some real hunting to discover. So no dice here, but the legitimate Canada Post sticker was nice to see. I say this mainly because I still feel a bit scorned and suspicious of Kevin O'Leary's bounceback.

Now on to the successes!

My first written response came from a personal idol of mine:

Terry O'Rielly

For those who haven't heard of him, Terry O'Reilly is the founder of TV and Radio production house Pirate Toronto and host of CBC Radio programs: The Age of Persuasion and Under the Influence. If you find advertising/psychology interesting, check this show out right now (or after you're done reading).

I must say I'm pretty proud of this one!

next up,

Stephen Harper

Whether you're a fan of Harper or not, I figured he was an obvious person to mail. It's pretty exciting to find a letter from the Prime Minister's Office in your mailbox.

Sidenote, the paper this autograph is on is spectacular. I can't even adequately explain how amazing the paper feels. I never thought I'd nerd-out about stationary like this!

And finally:

Rick Mercer

Mr. Mercer, CBC Superstar, sent me the largest envelope I've recieved so far. It's a pretty neat photo, and he actually wrote my name! I giggled like a girl when I saw the return address on the envelope.

 Seeing as it's summer I really didn't think I'd hear back from any of the CBC folks in good time. So thanks Rick Mercer!

Stay tuned for further updates. In the meantime, I'm going to go drinking in Grande Prairie. Have a good long weekend everyone!

Back Alley Episodes

Just to keep everyone up on the happenings of my favourite back alley in Saskatoon, there's been some weird new graffiti.

Over the past week and a half someone scribing the same bizarre message underneath security cameras in the alley. Since it's pretty different from the usual unintelligible nonsense people tag walls with, I thought I'd actually take some time and share it with you.

It's really idle graffiti, nothing for anyone to be concerned about. But I was talking to a few people from work who all agree it's creepy.

My guess is that this is exactly what the person what going for, maybe it's some kind of protest against the constant digital monitoring we're all under? I dunno. It would make a neat idea for an art gallery show but this is no Banksy graffiti, and will more than likely be painted over in short order.

So, in that event, here's Saskatoon crrepiest back alley art. Enjoy!

Hammelltime Envelope Extravagnza: Result #1

Well people, the results are already arriving back from my letter campaign. It's off to a slow start, but I've got 2 responses back from the 15 I mailed out.

The first to return:

Kevin O'Leary.

From him I got a returned, still-sealed envelope.

  I got the address right, but I have a sneaking suspicion anything written to his corporation addressed to him from a hand-written nobody gets a "Business moved" sticker slapped on it. Just another conspiracy about him, but hey, at least my letter actually went somewhere.

Second:

Roberta Bondar

Canada's first female astronaut sent me an autographed photo. Pretty cool! There was nothing else in the envelope, but considering all I asked for was a piece of paper with her autograph on it, this is a decent return.

And that's it so far. Like I said a while back, this'll be a slow process, but I really can testify that I look in the mailbox every day like a kid expecting a letter back from Santa.

So, Is writing letters exciting?