Float Our Boat

Welcome, new readers!

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:48:00 +0000

I just found out from an angry blog post comment that Bayliner Magazine published an article about us. Sweet!

To update you, the commenter called us idiots, and said we should earn enough to buy a boat like everyone else. Well, we were trying and came up with this blog and raffle idea as a way to do that. Sure, it's silly and likely impossible. But hey—it makes some fun reading.

For example, I heard back from Phil Collins "people." Turns out his office is in England, but he lives in Switzerland. He has kids that live here in B.C. And Mr. Anonymous will be happy, because he didn't buy a raffle ticket. No word back yet from Eric Clapton.

So let me know—are we idiots who think Obama will help us buy a Bayliner, or is this blog just an entertaining read? We're aiming for the latter, but if Mr. Obama wants to "stimulate" us, we won't turn him down.

Smooth waters!

Address change!

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:58:00 +0000

Hey, everyone! You can still buy raffle tickets, no worries there, but please send your orders to this address:

#31-6450 Blackwood Lane
Chilliwack, BC
V2R 5Z3

Thanks!

Hi Bayliner Magazine Readers!

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 00:20:00 +0000

Our first media interview!

We recently had the honour (yes, Canadian spelling, get over it) of being interviewed by Roger Kamholz, and editor of BAYLINER MAGAZINE! He found our blog and wanted the detailed story of how it aaaaallllll came about.

It was a great conversation–thanks Roger! We're looking forward to entertaining your readers on our blog, and directing all 50 readers to Bayliner Magazine.

Happy boating in 2009!

Larry & Christina Aguilera GET IT ON!

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 06:58:00 +0000

Enjoy.

How close to the $100,000 are we?

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 17:40:00 +0000

Well, in late August I would have been able to tell you that we only had $97,177 to go. Pretty awesome, right? That's a combination of raffle ticket sales (thanks to our largest buyer, Pops!) and the adjustments we'd made in our lifestyle habits.

And then work slowed down for Jer-Bear. And then the economy fell apart and all Jer-Bear's work went away. Now even my day job is being cut back 20% as of January, with who knows what on the horizon.

So now we are back to the starting point. Which is okay, because in these times–especially when you factor in that Olympic Boat Centers have closed–I'm sure the price of a Bayliner 300 is less than $100,000.

Right Bayliner? Bayliner? Hello?

raffle, boating, Bayliner

Dear Phil...

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Here's my letter to Phil:

Dear Mr. Phil Collins, I’m writing to you because you would be doing me a huge favour if you purchased some raffle tickets in a draw I’m having. My boyfriend Jer-Bear and I are trying to raise money to buy a beautiful Bayliner 300. Now, I wish I could say honestly that I was a huge fan, but I’m not really. I do have your album “No Jacket Required” and I like the song “Take Me Home,” but I haven’t listened to it in years, mostly because I don’t have a turntable any more. I mainly wrote to you because I heard you were living or had lived in British Columbia, and I am a native of that province. I hope you’ll feel a kinship with me on that count, or perhaps because I love the British version of almost every TV and movie much more than the American version (especially The Office), or because I have fond memories of watching the Dave Allen Show with my dad years ago – and maybe you share those same feelings. Here’s the standard paragraph I always tell famous people: Now, I’m sure you get a lot of crackpot letters asking for money, or sex (as mentioned in your book) or even both. How often has someone ever written you a letter asking to sell you 3 raffle tickets for $1? That’s Canadian dollars, by the way. Although we’ll also take pounds or euros, but at par. I know that means the exchange rate will be in our favour, but come on! You’re a rich rock star and we’re just a guy and a girl working full time and trying to live our dream. Anyway, if you’d like to buy some tickets, here is the address to send your money: Float Jeremy & Nala's Boat! #2444 Unit 304-7592 Vedder Road Sardis, BC, Canada, V2R 1B0 Visit our blog at www.floatourboat.blogspot.com too, because writing to famous people is one of my crazy ideas to get this boat, and I always talk about my crazy ideas on the blog. Oh, and if you have friends who might want a chance to win $500, feel free to share this letter with them. Although you don’t need to tell Eric Clapton, because I wrote him first. Don’t be offended by that–I read his book and enjoyed it, and since he’s a boat owner it made sense for him to be the first. Sincerely and with the highest regard, Nala

My p.s. to Phil was in two parts, as I found out some new info:

P.S. Visiting our blog will help us too - the more traffic the better! Thanks! P.P.S. I found your address ona fansite where it ALSO said "Phil Collins' boat is named 'Fil D 'Or II'. So you ARE a boat lover and can understand our mission! I feel so good about that, I'm going to buy a couple songs on i-Tunes. Don't worry - they're your songs.

I bought "Another Day in Paradise" and "Follow Me Follow You."

raffle, boating, Bayliner

Dear Eric...

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 08:00:00 +0000

I recently mailed Eric Clapton a letter to see if he'll buy some raffle tickets. Here's is the text:

Dear Mr. Eric Clapton,

I wanted to write and tell you how much I enjoyed reading your book “Clapton The Autobiography.” I am a big fan of British rock, alternative and blues music. I’ve always felt I was born too late (1966) and didn’t get to see my favorites in their prime, although there’s a good argument to be made that you’re most recent years are your prime in terms of enjoying life.

I was very interested to read that you’d purchased a 150 foot yacht a few years back. The second reason for this letter was to say that our dream is to purchase a 30 foot cruiser. Since we don’t want to borrow money to do this, we are telling the story of our quest through our blog (www.floatourboat.blogspot.com) and selling raffle tickets. The raffle will be for $500, which we will hold when we’ve raised enough money to buy the boat.

Now, I’m sure you get a lot of crackpot letters asking for money, or sex (as mentioned in your book) or even both. How often has someone ever written you a letter asking to sell you 3 raffle tickets for $1? That’s Canadian dollars, by the way. Although we’ll also take pounds or euros, but at par. I know that means the exchange rate will be in our favour, but come on! You’re a rich rock star and we’re just a guy and a girl working full time and trying to live our dream.

Anyway, if you’d like to buy some tickets, here is the address to send your money:

Float Jeremy & Nala's Boat!
#2444 Unit 304-7592 Vedder Road
Sardis, BC
V2R 1B0
Canada

Visit our blog at the above address too, because writing to famous people is one of my crazy ideas to get this boat, and I always talk about my crazy ideas.

Oh, and if you have friends who might want a chance to win $500, feel free to share this letter with them. Although I’ll understand if you want to keep the opportunity to yourself!

Sincerely and with the highest regard,

Nala

It's alway important to add a p.s. because it's one of the most-read parts of a sales letter. Here's my handwritten p.s.

If you're a little short, maybe you could write us back? I couldn't part with your letter on ebay, but it would drive some traffic to our blog. Many thanks!

Do you think he'll respond?

raffle, boating, Bayliner

The Texas dream is over

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Our baby was just too far away and had too many complications - the main one being we couldn't join the frickin' forum to contact the guy giving her away to get more details on the extent of the damage.

Sometimes discussion forums are elitist and/or lazy bastards.

Have a great day!

raffle, boating, Bayliner

Crazy Idea #6: Letters to Famous People

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:52:00 +0000

People write letters to lottery winners and celebrities all the time, right? So why not write to famous people we think would be sympathetic to our massive dream??

Watch for our letters later this week. Any response we receive will be posted here. Hopefully they'll buy a few raffle tickets too!

raffle, boating, Bayliner

This could be an exciting time!

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:02:00 +0000

Here is an excerpt from a great letter written by a hedge fund manager closing up shop:

"Capitalism worked for two hundred years, but times change, and systems become corrupt. George Soros, a man of staggering wealth, has stated that he would like to be remembered as a philosopher. My suggestion is that this great man start and sponsor a forum for great minds to come together to create a new system of government that truly represents the common man’s interest, while at the same time creating rewards great enough to attract the best and brightest minds to serve in government roles without having to rely on corruption to further their interests or lifestyles. This forum could be similar to the one used to create the operating system, Linux, which competes with Microsoft’s near monopoly."

My own highlights are in blue. Sometimes things get so bad it's time to start over. What an exciting opportunity outlined above for the U.S. and perhaps the world–an opportunity to start over the right way, with the right focus.

Here is a link to the full letter.

Sorry to take the boat blog into politics, but then again I'm not :)

Free Bayliner cont'd

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 07:00:00 +0000

So here's what this baby could look like if we got it all fixed up.

Jerbear says he isn't keen on a single motor, but if our cost for getting this starts at $2,000 or so, isn't that worth it? We found this one for sale for $18,500. The trick is spending less than that to get her in shape.

Hmmm... food for thought. Mmmmm... food...

Damn I hate it when I get distracted.

raffle, boating, Bayliner

FREE Bayliner cont'd

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:00:00 +0000

I had to show the actual post here, because I still can't believe it.

Damn, I guess it's kinda hard to read, huh? Okay, I'll type it out.

Yes! Free. All you have to do is come pick it up. This boat wsa sunk due to IKE in about 4 feet of water. Insurance has processed it as a "Total Loss" and has now left me to dispose of it. I will even give you the clear title. The boat was removed from the water approx. 4 days after the storm. If I don't find someone who wants my baby, it will break my heart to cut her up and just throw her away. Hull is in great shape and would make a good project for someone who has the time and resources.

Now, we're trying to get pictures, because in my mind giving away a 1995 2855 Ciera seems pretty extreme. I will be very interested to see what "Total Loss" actually looks like!

We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, I don't care what the flippin' economy is doing - buy some rafflle tix you guys!

raffle, boating, Bayliner

OMG a FREE Bayliner!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:27:00 +0000

...if we drive 2,400 miles to Seabrook, TX. 37 hours, $900 in fuel, 7 nights worth of meal and hotel rooms (I don't care what you say, Jerbear, I'm not good doing the "Truck-Stop Motel')

To put it in perspective, here's a map showing what our journey would be.

raffle, boating, Bayliner

Discuss amongst yourself...

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:24:00 +0000

whether we will see boat prices drop. I hope so.

raffle, boating, Bayliner

Mmmmm.... chocolate!

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 06:15:00 +0000

We have been obsessively entering this contest at Cadbury's website. I have never bought so much chocolate in my life!! You can enter each chocolate bar's UPC code. So far, I have almost 100 entries.

A different part of this promotion is a photo contest. We specially baked a cake and covered it with individual Caramilk pieces. We wrapped our party hats in the foil from the bars too.

I don't know if this photo will be one of the three we're allowed to enter, but isn't Brandon's expression hilarious?

Happy 40th birthday, Caramilk!

raffle, boating, Bayliner

Waaaahhhh-h-h-h (hiccup) AAAaaahhhh!

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:00:00 +0000

In case you couldn't tell, we are saddened that Olympic Boat Centers is going out of business for good and for real. NOW how will we see our baby? Who's going to shower her with affection and stroke her wheel and throttle every three weeks or so? How dare they mess with our visitation rights!

Well, I'm sure Bayliner will find a new delivery solution. They still have boats to sell, right? Hey, how long do you think they'd notice the deception if we open a fake store? Hmmm...

raffle, boating, Bayliner

SOLD! To the gentleman with the fast fingers

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 07:00:00 +0000

We sold our weight bench. I'd listed it here, but also on Craiglist. Within 5 minutes somebody e-mailed me. The next day they came and picked it up. Bam! Gone.

Now I want to lift weights. That song was right. You really don't know what you got til it's gone.

raffle, boating, Bayliner

Hello, extreme home makeover fans!

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:00:00 +0000

Here's a picture of the outside of the 1987 home we've got an offer on. Here's that post I was warning you about... what colour should we paint it next year?

Thanks for the colour comments!

raffle, boating, Bayliner

Sidetracked ever so slightly

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:00:00 +0000

So here's the thing. We're moving. At least, we found a great house that kicks @$$ compared to our townhouse, and our offer's been accepted subject to selling our place.

If I could take a picture of our crappy neighbour/strata council member and tell you the stories of why he hates us, you'd totally understand why we want to bug out of dodge.

However, OUR DREAM IS STILL ALIVE. We have to scale back on the lottery ticket buying a bit, but we're still selling three-for-a-dollar raffle tickets, so buy some!

And of course, we're still going to implement some of our crazy schemes (like the weight loss booklet and a new one I just thought of but haven't posted about.) And I'm pretty sure I'll still be able to blog almost every day. But I may be a little distracted and some of the posts might be called "Hey, can you help us pick kitchen colours?"

So I apologize in advance. But seriously. Start looking at colours, okay?

raffle, boating, Bayliner

Bayliner dreams

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:00:00 +0000

Bayliner's tagline is "Where fun lives." I find that interesting, because I never thought fun had a home or a hometown or anything like that. Because if it did, it would be a lot easier for people to go there to visit, and most of the world would be happier. Don't you think? Unless it was a transatlantic flight, which are brutal to make on a regular basis.

Anyway, I went to their public site recently because I wanted to screen capture a photo of our baby for the blog. So I try out there fun game called "Find the right boat for you" which isn't really a game OR fun, because after I entered all the details that I knew matched a Bayliner 300, I got this:

It's hard to read, but it says "Based on the choices you've made, we have 0 results." And yes, just to bash me over the head and make me feel inadequate, the "0 results" is in bold.

So then I browsed through other parts of the site and found a parts manual, an owner's manual, trailering instructions, and lots of fun pictures of families with kids on the water having FUN, and I realized - www.bayliner.com is where fun lives! Cool.

raffle, boating, Bayliner

For sale: Weight bench and weights

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 02:00:00 +0000

In Chilliwack, B.C.

This weight bench is in fairly pristine condition, lucky for you, because I am a huge procrastinator and the only thing I've done regularly is walk to work and use my treadmill. It even comes with the sexy Rubbermaid tub and puzzle-piece floormat. I'll throw in the fact that my cat autographed them around the edges with his teeth.

It has adjustable barbell rest, leg curl, pec fly, lat tower, curl pad, various weight plates, additional free weights, rubber pad, original exercise poster and tub to hold weights. Asking $150, but will negotiate. Must sell because it won't fit on our dream Bayliner 300 that we are buying next week when we win the lottery or in 20 years when we've saved for it or earned it.

E-mail me at floatourboat@gmail.com if you're interested.

raffle, boating, Bayliner

Crazy Idea #5 - Blackmail

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:00:00 +0000

When you think of all those forwarded e-mail floating around that have all those gooey pictures of kittens and stuff, and say things like "if you forward this to seven friends in the next seven minutes you'll have seven wishes come true" you have to wonder... do people do that?

They must, because people will buy magic crystals from the ads in the back of magazines like The Enquirer. And sea monkeys from the backs of comic books. My mom once told me sea monkeys were just brine shrimp. I didn't understand why that was supposed to burst my bubble, cuz who cared what they really were when the little girl ones had bouncy hair and a hair ribbon!

I digress.

So sending those e-mail is a kind of emotional blackmail. "How dare you not forward good thoughts to seven friends!" And it's not like they're promising bad luck, they're promising the good kind! Life maybe getting a parking spot right in front of the grocery store, or (in Canada) finding a quarter left in the buggy so you don't have to go back to your car in the pouring rain to go through your ashtray-slash-change drawer for that elusive quarter.

But how can I send an e-mail that emotionally blackmails people into buying a raffle ticket. I just asked Jer-bear and he said I should put "Hey guys, forward this to seven of your friends and you'll wake up with seven inches." I don't know if seven inches is good or not, or if I should even be putting that in this blog, but what the hell. It sounds like something a guy would do, and it means I don't have to put "boobs" or "hot college girls" in here superfluously.

Oh, he just qualified that idea with "Buy a raffle ticket and gain an extra inch."

I think the wrong one of us is in advertising.

raffle, boating, Bayliner

More chances to win...

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 07:00:00 +0000

because NOW you can buy one ticket for 50¢

OR

three tickets for a $1!

Crap, that's one ticket for free! How can you turn that down? You'd have to be insane or mathematically challenged.

Get our address by clicking on this raffle image:

raffle, boating, Bayliner

Astoria Road Trip: Final Installment

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 07:00:00 +0000

Our trip back was actually filled with strange adventure. And nothing starts a trip like that better than a healthy meal!

Midway, we were attached by gnomes of unusually large size...

but luckily the Navy came to our defense.

Jer-bear's stepmom recently got Mac-ified, so we had a bit of a geek fest while the PC boys were sulking by the shed.

And then, despite having visited several times, we forgot how to get back home! Thank goodness Larry could help us by reading grandpa's charts we'd brought back.

Then we overstayed our welcome and Larry started burning our belongings, so we figured we'd better leave.
We were so tired, our faces were permanently blurred. And for some reason, my head swelled to a freakishly large size.

Not only did Canada welcome us back with open arms, she welcomed every item in our truck personally. After 20 hours, we arrived back home at 1 a.m. Whew!

raffle, boating, Bayliner

Astoria Road Trip: Part 6

noreply@blogger.com (Nala) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 07:00:00 +0000

These kinds of things are never actually fun. All your life, you grow up with these things surrounding you, and then at some point you have to come back and weed out which memories you'll keep and which ones have to go. And because it is so different and so personal for everyone, you have to check and double-check things as simple as keys or books.

Check out the beautiful wooden coffered (I think that's the right term) ceiling, and natural hardwood floors.

James Dean was alway spouting off. See him on the left, instigating things while they're trying to roll up the carpet? In the end we had to throw him in the truck to get him to shut up. Now he's instigating in our garage.

It was tough for Jo. There were piles called "good will", "almost good will" and "probably too good for good will." And of course, far too many decisions.

Jer-Bear had never spent so much time in his grandpa's room with his grandpa's belongings before.

And after this, time to hit the road.

raffle, boating, Bayliner