Donkey WINS!

Dear Jack,
I won!! I won!!!
I will bring you the hat soon!!!!
Your friend,
~Donkey

Jack has a bogus meeting coming up soon. He doesn't know it, though. I am going to show up at the meeting and give him this stupid hat back!!!

The race

The foolish Donkey has agreed to a race.
A few more furlongs and the hat belongs to Chico forever.
This is a fine hat.
(signed by Chico)

This will actually drop about Tuesday or Wednesday of this week due to vacation of Person and/or Accomplice. It's almost over, kiddies. Thanks for keeping me company.

Almost caught up

"Dear Jack,

He's here! I saw him! I'm really going to get that hat this time.

Don't worry, I will keep looking!

Your friend,

~Donkey"

You know he's going to find Chico, right? It's about time for this gag to end? This one was delivered to Jack yesterday and he has it hanging in his cubicle.

Back at work

Someone Jack strongly suspects has been out for 2 weeks.

she's baaaaaaaaaack! so the photos can resume again (we will wrap this up Aug 30th)


Chico is relaxed now. The weather is great here at Saratoga. This is a fine hat.

The Beginning of the End

This sets the story into motion, that will return the hat at summer's end.

Dear Jack, I hope you enjoy your vacations this summer. I was doing some thinking, and I remembered that EVERY summer Chico bets on the horses.

The horses, of course(s), return to Saratoga today.

Hi

Jack is on vacation this week.

We needed a break!!

Donkey at Eurodisney

This will hopefully deliver to Jack on Friday if I can get an accomplice to help.

Dear Jack,
EuroDisney is awesome! Wait, it has a different name now. Anyway, I think Chico is here somewhere.
Don't worry, I will keep looking!
Your friend, ~Donkey

Chico at Eurodisney

Thanks to L. for the photos. As promised I have erased your cute kids.

I have to drop two on Jack's desk in the next couple of days because someone he strongly suspects is out of the office for a week and this will hopefully frustrate him.

Chico has slipped back to Disneyland Resort Paris for a short visit.
This is a fine hat.

For My Friend Oliver

I am so, VERY sorry Oliver!

I was at a friend's family gathering today. I walked into the living room and said "Yeah!" because at the time it was 1-0.

Then I realized everyone in the room was of Italian- American heritage. Oops. They let me stay.


Dear Jack,
I was so sorry to find out that not only was Zidane red carded, but also that Chico was no longer at the stadium. The confetti was fun though!
Don't worry, I will keep looking!
Your friend, ~Donkey

Updates

Spies report that after Donkey's inquiry(the PS on his most recent message) , Jack showed the video to several people. Apparently he DID view it when he received it, but didn't share it with everyone due to all of the office moves.

This week he played it for a few people (the music was heard several times... it's QUITE distinctive...) and it sparked a debate about whether a woman would walk into a men's room for this gag. A bystander affirmed she would absolutely do it, but Jack was apparently not convinced. Another bystander said "What, with all of the cameras/security here?"

Currently he still thinks it's someone named J, who sits near him, and a woman named N.

J is the person Neil originally suspected, (quite some time ago a spy heard Neil discuss plans to go by J's house to examine his deck).

J and N have no idea who's really behind this. Ha!

PS: Sorry about Italy, Liz.... Donkey will appear soon with Zidane if that helps....

Football

I would be remiss to ignore the World cup, wouldn't I ???

"the real secret behind Italy's exciting football victory the other day....

this is a fine hat."

Now you KNOW Donkey will be at the finals on Sunday, right?

Donkey searches on

I do hope that Manolis will forgive me if he ever realizes that I'm using his photos. They are spectacular and he has traveled far more than I can ever hope to.

Donkey writes:

Dear Jack,

Manolis was surprised to see me, but I know that Chico is here in Greece somewhere. I'll keep looking. Don't worry! Your friend, ~Donkey

PS: Did you like the video on the CD I sent you?

I need to know if Jack ever saw the video!!!

Incidentally

found a great site - http://web.mit.edu/manoli/www//

Manolis has traveled all around the world. Some of his pictures may look VERY familiar to Jack someday.

Greece

Jack somehow thought it significant that the New York airport photo was "old" because of the TWA logo. I thought we were well past that question now.... Chico is NOT ACTUALLY TRAVELING WITH THE HAT!!! Sheesh. Because, if a Person had that kind of money, the Person would not be skulking about CWB!!

Honestly, now that I've learned how to erase the background around Chico, resize him as needed, and drop him onto a scene, the hard part is finding a picture of whatever location I have in mind.

* * *

So Jack, you were concerned that the airport picture was "old" because it showed TWA. Here is another old building for you. Does this tell you anything?

Perhaps if Chico travels in alphabetical order, Jack and Donkey can catch up. France, Greece... Italy?

This is a fine hat.

Poor Donkey

He's trying so hard.

He just CAN'T find Chico. Not yet, anyway.

"Dear Jack,
I know that Chico is here somewhere. I'll keep looking. Don't worry!
Your friend, Donkey
PS: the food is GREAT here!"

Croissants

"Chico is enjoying his visit, even though the weather is not picture-perfect. That silly Donkey will never find him. Donkeys aren't very smart, are they Jack?"

Chico's been quiet for a few days. We moved to new cubicles at work; Jack didn't hang up any Chico pictures at first so I thought the joke was played out. But I passed by today and saw the NYC airport photo has now been put up; so now we should let Jack know where Chico is.

Donkey will have to go to the Louvre or the Arc de Triomphe; Donkey is always a little bit confused about where Chico is. He's got a good heart, he's just not as fiendishly clever as Chico.

The donkey /smart remark is a subtle jab at Jack's Democrat status. Just to needle him a little.

Photos from France were taken by my wonderful friend Marco... thanks!!!

Leaving on a jet plane

Chico is off to Paris. Don't tell Jack.


"Chico is leaving the country. Where do you think he's headed, Jack? Hint... the food is better than your average fund-raiser dinner...)"

I'm tired but

Jack has jury duty this week. Not much creativity here but perhaps Jack hasn't mentioned it very much. He certainly never mentioned it to ME.

Video

(Created by Virgil, aka Accomplice 2) - goal is to make Jack think Person is on a specific floor in the building. Turn your sound on, because the song makes this video VERY funny somehow.

The next plan

Jack is now suspecting and accusing everyone who sits near him, which of course includes Spy. Unfortunately he has no concrete clues to go on, since Person hasn't given any direct clues as to their identity. It's just so much more fun to throw him off the trail.

We are going to send a video to Jack. It is (hopefully) being edited by Accomplice #2, so that we can drop a cd with a short movie file on it in the interoffice mailbox for Jack tomorrow. Hopefully he will have it before Spy leaves for lunch. (Spy likes to take a long lunch now & then)

It shows donkey walking through the building where we all work. Accomplice#2 gets to work VERY early and so was able to film while carrying the Donkey around, without being observed. (Except, perhaps, by security, who would tend to think A2 has lost his mind. We are talking about a large stuffed Donkey, from Shrek, after all --it's the size of your average small dog. )

Certain elements of the movie were planned, to confuse Jack (ie, where Donkey is within the building, and a hand reaching towards a specific floor button) The edits were necessary because apparently A2 caught himself in the mirror while filming. Oops.

So it's been a slow week but hopefully there will be a good payoff if we get to eavesdrop while Jack watches the video. The envelope will also contain a short note from Donkey, indicating that he's still trying to find Chico to get the hat back.

One of Jack's counterparts found it very amusing that Chico implies Jack is stupid. Jack is a great sport about all of this but it has to be needling him just a little.

Secrets

The Person has been a little busy.

This will go to Jack tomorrow.

A fine day to eavesdrop

Well, hmm.

It seems that the "DC fireworks" picture got lost. Jack is hanging all of his photos on his cubicle wall. Though some are overlapping, DC was not seen on 3 or 4 reconaissance missions by Spy.

The Clinton picture landed in Jack's hands this morning. He had already told one or two people that he had an opportunity to shake hands with the Clintons while he was at the NYS Dem convention, so the luck of googling just the right image has struck again. (The Person doing this just happened to find that photo and decide to use it, not KNOWING that he actually met them in person. Now he is truly paranoid. Hee hee.)

When he was showing the picture to Neil, he read Donkey's note aloud and practically shouted "He was there - he was at the convention! DAMN YOU, DONKEY!!" - in good cheer, of course. Spy and a friend were nearby, suffocating their laughter. It was a very good day in the life of this prank.

Someone who is aware of this prank filled the Person in on a few upcoming items in Jack's personal travel calendar. We're going to mess with his mind a wee bit more in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

Bumping into Bill

Jack is at the Democratic convention. This will surely amuse and offend him. (The cologne remark was a last minute idea. Can't resist.)

This will arrive just before lunchtime tomorrow.

A developing story

Here I am beginning to establish that Chico stole the hat, and Donkey will try to get it back.
I was feeling patriotic. I'm not sure about the use of a black and white photo for the fireworks, and my feeble attempt at colorizing the burst. Hmmph.

Text reads: Chico sits alone in a hotel room, watching the Memorial Day fireworks. He must get out of the country soon. Donkey is hot on his trail. Chico is not willign to give up such a fine hat.

This is on Jack's desk unopened(since yesterday) but he is currently out of the office.


He has a sign outside of his cubicle reading "Where's Chico?" which made Spy double over in laughter. Spy's friend said that Jack still has no idea who the Person is (sending him these pictures)

More Eavesdropping

Jack and Neil had quite an animated conversation today, much to Spy's amusement.

Jack hasn't seen the "poker game" photo yet (it is planned to be delivered tomorrow afternoon), and has made remarks indicating that he doesn't expect to see Donkey again; but he is clearly stewing about the "someone close to you is deceiving you" remark.

Today he asked Neil "come on, is it you?" and Neil SWORE it is not him. (It is not Neil. He does not know who the Person is who's printing the photos). They are currently suspecting someone named Joe, and Neil is actually going to make a point to go by his house and check his deck.

Since this is going well, there needs to be more plot development. Clearly Chico won/stole the hat from Donkey in a poker game. (WHO could have a hand with three kings and two queens? He must cheat.) Chico has shown some signs of being a villian. He has not been very nice to Jack in his recent notes.

Donkey must try to get the hat back.

How Chico got the hat

Ah, memories.

Update for today

Today Spy heard Jack telling a friend that

a) he thought it was his boss at first, but he's baffled now because she's out of the office for a few days and the pictures keep coming

b) it's entertaining... he looks forward to coming to work each day to see what Chico is doing.

c) Donkey appears to be gone.

So, of course, Donkey needs to come back now. (Every time Spy hears something and relays it, Jack is talking to a different person. Sooner or later he will put this together and figure out that Spy must sit near him.)

I think it's time to share a picture from the night Donkey and Chico played some poker. That was the night Donkey bet the hat in a moment of bluffing gone terribly wrong. Chico won the hand and the hat.

It's a great hat.

Turning the screws just a little

I've got him where I want him. He thinks someone else is doing this(hence the allusion to "barking up the wrong tree" ) . This note should drive him crazy. Who is deceiving him?

Mwahahahaha. Jack will get this some time on Monday.

PS: Don't you love the signature? I love the signature.

So much fun

Today Chico's Spy(who sits near Jack) heard him discussing the photos and the envelopes with his sidekick, Neil. They were all CSI and stuff, trying to figure out what had been scribbled out on the interoffice envelopes by the Person doing this, before they were sent to Jack. D'oh, like Person would use an envelope with their own name on it.

All of a sudden Neil noticed the bunny in the Mt. Rushmore photo (at lower right). Spy heard him mutter "what is that?? Oh, it's a bunny" and Jack practically shouted "IS it??"

Spy almost became incontinent, trying to remain quiet while laughing hysterically.

So, now they are sure it is this poor unsuspecting woman named SR. It's too funny really, because she is a terrific practical joker but she knows NOTHING about this. She will be baffled when "confronted" by Jack. This was a stroke of genius suggested by Person's accomplice.

Later Jack told the department administrative assistant about all of this, showing her the bunny and explaining who he thought was doing this. Spy just about fell out of a chair laughing.

I mock them. They aere so easy to fool. Now I can send them a picture of the sequoias saying "you're barking up the wrong tree" and they will think SR is trying to throw them off the trail.

Rushmore

Chico must explain a couple of things here. Jack is the owner of the hat, and he is a local politician.

The bunny in the lower right is a red herring; Jack thinks someone at the office is doing this, and she loves bunnies.

Chico is going to visit a few more places in America, then tour Europe this summer.

On the Beach

The person who made it possible for me to wear this fine hat is printing these pictures, and sending them to actual owner of the Pace hat.

Hello

My name is Chico.

This is my friend Donkey.

Donkey got this hat from someone... someone who works with the owner of this hat. That someone got to thinking that a hat this special shouldn't just sit in an office every day where the same people have to see it all of the time.

And so this hat is going on a little vacation.