July 12th, 2006

Filed under:
Mixed Bag
9 Comments »

Some Random Synchronicity with The Red Paperclip Guy

As you’ve probably heard by now, in one year, Kyle MacDonald successfully traded his way from a red paper clip to a house. It only took 14 trades. It’s a great, wacky story and there’s been a ton of media attention.

As it turns out, I discovered that I’ve got two obscure connections to Kyle:

  • My wife Julie was Kyle’s day camp counselor in Belcarra in the summers of 1993 and 1994. She recalls taking him to emergency with a hematoma on his forehead after he tried jumping from picnic table to picnic table and missed. She also has fond memories of Kyle and, uh, Gross Day.
  • The house he acquired is in tiny Kipling, Saskatchewan (population 1140), where my father-in-law’s family is from.

So, Kyle, if you bump into any Szabos in Kipling, they’re related to Julie.

Comments: 9 Responses so far

Brandon Watts
July 12th, 2006
9:58 am

That’s wild. Disney was right - it’s a small world after all.

[Reply]

Andrea Coutu
July 12th, 2006
11:14 am

Weird connections.

I looked up property values in the Kipling area. Houses are listed for as little as $8k. Still, paperclips are pretty cheap.

[Reply]

Jeff
July 12th, 2006
3:32 pm

I should check to see where the heck Kipling is.

I’ve called Saskatoon home my entire life (Choosing to stay, even when my parents moved to Vancouver), and I don’t think I’ve even driven past the place.

[Reply]

Andrea Coutu
July 12th, 2006
8:41 pm

When I looked it up on Google Maps, it was in the southwest corner, but not so far as Estevan or the border.

[Reply]

Mi
July 13th, 2006
11:10 am

Now, can you do that same connection with Kevin Bacon?

[Reply]

darren
July 13th, 2006
12:07 pm

I can’t, thank God.

[Reply]

Chris
July 13th, 2006
1:13 pm

Turns out Darren has a Bacon number of just 3:

Kevin Bacon starred in Where the Truth Lies with Maury Chaykin. Maury Chaykin was in Intern Academy with Carly Pope whom Darren spotted at 7-11 a few months ago.

[Reply]

Owen Lystrup
July 13th, 2006
2:27 pm

I think, if my ludicrous understanding of how the world works is serving me correctly, that entitles you to some sort of share in his publicity.

And maybe some money.

[Reply]

Kipling House Available For Trade, Comes With Giant Office Supplies
June 26th, 2008
9:56 am

[...] wrote a book about his paper clip odyssey. Regular readers may recall that I have some random synchronicity with Kyle. For his next project, he’s trying to determine who these fancy gentlemen [...]

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