PAMELA HAS ARRIVED AND SHE IS GORGEOUS!

Pamela And Alan- Together At Last

Yippee, Pamela arrived into my clutches today. What a long and arduous journey the poor lady has had. She arrived on Thursday, but I live in an apartment and she was locked away in the office until I could rescue her today. She had a bit of a rough ride though and some gorilla of the U.S.P.S. squeezed my Pamela and she busted her glass. She seems to be just fine though, there are two tiny marks, almost invisible. Well, the way I see it, when Kathy Jo Braceland is famous, the provenance of the artwork will include an interesting anecdote of her travels in tight quarters and the rough ride she had!

I should mention that Kathy's packaging was superb, so the handling must have been intense. Pamela traveled Priority, with extensive labeling as to her delicate nature- as fragile as glass. She was protected by a layer of cardboard and wrapped in sheer bubble wrap, along with a significant amount of foam padding to ease the bumps and bruises.

I know the potential problems of shipping. I used to make a living selling books online, and shipped thousands of books each year. One man wrote me angrily that his book wrapping had come loose, exposing his book to the entire office, causing him a bit of grief. Of all the books to have that happen, and why did he ship it to his office? The book? "How To Lose Weight By Having Sex". True story.

So Kathy, I know you are reading this but relax, she is still as beautiful and truly an incredible piece of art. She is going to be hard to part with, folks, but keep the offers coming. Something is bound to entice me into trading.

I have had many e-mails about Pamela, she seems to strike a nerve. Tonight a friend and I bought her out to Starbucks and spread the word a bit. My friend has also fallen for this beauty, seems most people start picking out a spot in their home for her and running an inventory of possible trades in their head.

Pamela's Temporary Place Of Honor In The Mizell Abode

Thanks again for all of the kind words and great e-mails and offers. I feel like I am truly expanding my Universe just a tad, day by day, and I'm glad to have you all in it. Keep the notes and offers coming and spread the word!

Alan Mizell

Houston, Texas USA

And The Winning Trade For The FIVE RED DICE Is...

I want to trade my Five Red Dice for Kathy Jo Braceland's original artwork of Pamela Anderson as a skeleton on the beach.

Pamela Anderson as Skeleton by Kathy Jo Braceland

Whew! I think I literally breathed a sigh of relief. For anyone wondering what my thought process was behind the trade, I will explain. I had no idea what offers might come through the site, but I had a few guidelines that I was looking for. The entire concept was to 'trade up' and continue to do so, seeing exactly how grand the future trades might become. Also, I wanted both traders to feel that they are benefiting from the trade. It seems to me this trade works well for both Kathy and I. Kathy's work is awesome and unique, and I believe owning it will help this adventure grow in scope. I will only trade the work for something worthy, and only to a person who appreciates the art. In addition, Kathy is a working artist, and the growth of this site can only generate interest in her work. Visit her site tonight at http://www.k-jostudio.com/ and check out her vibrant paintings. So it's a classic win-win situation. Also, Kathy understands the site, and supplied plenty of material to make Five Red Dice a more interesting place to visit, in addition to helping promote this venture. All in all, this trade just excelled against some stiff competition. Congratulations Kathy!

Out of the eleven offers, six had no photographs and it is really hard to become enthusiastic without some visual stimulation.

Tracie's stapler and office supplies did appeal to me, and they were local. They also received a good number of votes in the poll. But in the end it fell victim to other more glamorous offerings, and also seemed a bit of a sideways trade rather than trading up.

It was very difficult to not accept the IKEA pencil and Spongebob Squarepants Crocs shoe insert because Fabian really has that ironic sense of humor that I like, and the exotic location of Shanghai, China is totally cool, and he had a great series of photos. Fabian gets it, as they say. But in the end the offering was a bit too slim as these are high quality, expensive dice, and again, it is hard to see it as an even or upward trade.

Barely missing the nod was Erin's Remington Shaver. It has good value, it's brand new and still in the package, and Erin has traded online before and understands the big picture here. But in the end a shaver is a sedan and the artwork is a sports car . We'll see in time if my choice of flash over practicality was the right one.

Most difficult to not choose was Mary's offer to walk a mile. If you remember Mary, she has Multiple Sclerosis, and is beating the odds with her incredible outlook on life. She is inspiring, the idea received votes, I even heard that a friend of a friend of mine was going to offer something, but changed her mind to give Mary's offer a better chance. In the end though, one of the concepts of the experiment is to see how far this little adventure will go, how big the snowball will become. Trading for something as intangible as a walk for the Five Red Dice leaves the concept at a standstill, so I have to, as gracefully as possible, decline the offer.

I do have an alternate offer for such a noble idea though, one that will allow the trading to continue at Five Red Dice, yet still pay tribute to the great offer of the walk, and a twist that will make it seem like a hundred mile walk. Here's the idea...

I have an additional two red dice, one millimeter larger than the five dice, and they are branded from the Grand Casino Coushatta in Louisiana. Since two dice are only 40% of five dice, I will give these dice to Mary for a walk of only 40% of a mile, or 2,112 feet. If she accepts, I will set up a fund on the website of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, with seed money of $25.00, and I will put a link on Five Red Dice for the length of the project with a challenge to visitors to contribute. Almost 900 visitors in less than two weeks folks, and growing. Over the course of time if 1,000 people donate $10.00 each, well, you do the math!

So again, thanks to each and every person that took a look, and especially to those who participated in the first round of trading. Don't forget, this is not the end, this is the beginning of hopefully an ever more astonishing and amusing project.

Alan Mizell

Houston, TX USA

http://www.fivereddice.blogspot.com/

The two 'secret' Grand Casino Coushatta dice.