Monday, February 22, 2010

this is mail time mail time mail timeeeeee



Remember how I said a few weeks ago that despite what the book told me to do, I couldn't actually use it as an excuse to avoid things ...? Screw that. I am totally using this as my excuse to avoid studying right now. And I am enjoying every second of it :)

So page 150 is also "not a book." In fact, it is mail. Page 150 is a postcard. Have you ever made your own postcard? I never even thought about it. The book told me that all I have to do is glue the page to cardboard and send it out as mail! But I was a bit nervous ... U.S. mail can be pretty picky. Remember all those anthrax scares? Mail delivery became some sort of terrorist threat! And the whole system was shut down and all the innocent citizens didn't get their mail. Bills were overdue, pen pals lost touch and everybody was scared to open a letter because they feared for their lives.

I didn't want to risk any of this.

So I did what any curiously intelligent young female who wants to do the right thing would do ... I googled it. Wikipedia. eHow. You tube (that one was unsuccessful).

Turns out I was right. There are a few guidelines as to sending a postcard:
It has to be rectangular and no smaller than 3.5 inches tall, 5 inches long, and 0.0007 inches thick. But it can be NO larger than 4.5 inches tall, 6 inches long and 0.016 inches thick. No worries guys, I whipped out my ruler and made my postcard U.S. mail appropriate.

And just some fun facts here: The post card was patented in 1861 by John P. Charlton of Philadelphia. He did it because he was looking for an easier way to send mail. (I suppose at the time envelopes were difficult because they didn't have the cool sticky ones or licking ones that we have now...) AND the U.S. Post Office was the only company allowed to print and mail post cards until 1898; at which time Congress passed the Private Mailing Card Act which said it was okay for private companies to also sell and send postcards.
So this is good and bad for me. Good because I know its okay for other people other than the Post Office to send postcards ... bad because I'm not a company...I am an individual person trying to send a handmade postcard. But ehhh what the heck, I'm gonna send it anyway and see what happens!

I sent it to my sister Kristen in North Carolina. I did this because...well, she reads my blog and North Carolina seems cool. Also because I sent her a chain letter (which was page 37) and I don't know where it ever went. I know it went to North Carolina to see her and then to California to see her friend ... and then I never heard from it again :(

I figured that would happen. People seem to find chain letters a nuisance. But I thought mine was special.
I really though it would succeed and last until the end of time. But as the days continue and I hear no response, I'm afraid my chain letter may have just vanished into thin air ...

I hope that my homemade postcard makes it. And if it doesn't then I will buy a real postcard and send that. Because I've decided post cards are fun and I like them.

If this works, I will definitely be making my own post cards more often because you get to put whatever pretty picture that you want on the front of it! It's a fun craft. I'll keep you updated on its arrival (or not) to NC; and when it does I'll host a craft night at my house and teach everybody how to make fun homemade postcards properly so that you aren't accused of being a terrorist.

p.s. the title of this post is after the Blues Clues song "Mail time Mail time Maaail timeeeeee. Here's the mail it never fails it makes me want to wag my tail. When it comes I wanna wail MAIIIIILLLLLLL"

5 comments:

  1. i absolutely love that you are avoiding studying...i'm doing the same!

    ReplyDelete
  2. yay more mail!

    ps asbestos is the stuff they used to use as insulation in houses and buildings, that they later decided was volatilizing into the air and people were breathing in asbestos fibers and it was causing lung cancer and such.....

    anthrax is the chemical that was sent in the mail :) Somewhat similar to asbestos though, in that it floats around in the air and you breathe it in! Silly thing about anthrax as a bioterrorist weapon? You need to inhale around 13,000 anthrax spores to get an infection. AND it doesn't spread between people. Better bioterrorist choice? Tuberculosis. You only need to breath in under 10 of those, and it spreads from person to person REALLY easily.

    oh the things I learn in school

    ReplyDelete
  3. ahh anthrax. Thats the stuff.
    And thanks for the Tb tip - i'll make sure to spread the good news ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm also working my way through This Is Not A Book, I came across your blog through the group on Flickr.

    If you like sending out postcards, you should check out Postcrossing.com, you send and get postcards to/from all over the world. It's fun, you get some pretty neat postcards (many are homemade!).

    Just a thought from a random reader. :]

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you so much for reading! I love hearing about random readers. I guess I can be your random reader too! Thanks for the website it looks really cool.

    ReplyDelete