February 15, 2014:  Yesterday, for Valentines day, I was off from school, (which is always good) and I got to do two important things. First, I went to Crosses for Losses and met Amanda who is the director, and some other nice volunteers who were working there. I got to unload some food for their food pantry. Then Amanda told me about Crosses for Losses and the people they are helping. The stories are sad; many people didn't have insurance and are living in tents and campers. FEMA said the area did not qualify for assistance even though 480+ homes were lost in the fire. If you live in Colorado Springs, you should visit or call Amanda. They need help and no one knows how bad things are in Black Forest.  
Afterwards, I made my trade for the TV with my teacher. This is one if the biggest and best trades that I have made so far. THANK YOU  Mr. McCann for making me part of your birthday "year of giving back!" Here is something that I learned yesterday: I learned that this project is not all about getting the car, it's about getting to meet people and helping people who are in need and going through a difficult time. It's already starting to happen. I started trading and decided to add a second trade line to help Crosses for Losses. Many people have been helping me out, including Mr. McCann, and now he is starting his own trade project for charity. See more about Crosses for Losses: http://www.crossesforlosses.org/

 February 13, 2014:  I’ve been working on the trade with my teacher for the past couple of days. Today we shook on the deal, so I think I can tell you what I have traded for the watch….drum roll…. A 50”, Panasonic Plasma Flat Screen TV, and it’s only 5 months old! The TV is an awesome trade, but the reason he is making the trade is even more outstanding. My teacher had a birthday on Monday and he decided that he was going to spend this year helping other people. That morning, he told me that I was the first person he was going to help. He was inspired by my project and is starting his own trade line that will go to charity. This gave me an idea for a challenge for all of you. Since tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, maybe you can think of a way to give back to others or help a cause that’s important to you. Let me know if you do anything to meet this challenge. Tomorrow, I will officially get the TV, so I don’t have a photo yet.

February 11, 2014:  I told my teacher today that I made the trade for the heater, and offered him the watch. He was still willing to trade, which I was happy to hear. I haven’t told you what he offered yet, but it definitely is a huge trade up and will get me a lot closer to my car goal. Its value is close to the BG 1000 Home Gym that I’m still trying to trade.

     Remember that one of these trade lines is going to support Crosses for Losses http://www.crossesforlosses.org/  who help victims of the Black Forest Fire. Many people are still struggling to put their lives back together after this fire. My school is less than a mile away from the fire zone. I still am hoping to get something big for the home gym and I might have someone who’s interested….  

February 10, 2014:  (Here is how everything happened on Monday):  I finally got two solid offers for the heater, almost at the same time this morning. The first one was from O.C. who offered me an antique pocket watch that was made in 1874. Actually, he offered the watch last week, but I wasn’t sure if it was a good trade until I did some research. Last Friday, I said that I would take the offer, but we never connected until he called my secretary (mom) this morning. Here’s a little bit of information about O.C.:  His actual name is Francis, but he was nicknamed O.C. which is an abbreviation of his last name (given to him by his drill sergeant). He's a chef in the army and has to work a lot of long hours. Originally, he is from Connecticut, and has been in Colorado since 2008. That’s when he got the watch in a trade deal; he originally traded an outdoor shed for it.

   The other thing that happened this morning is that I got a great offer form one of my teachers, but I had already committed to O.C. I met him late tonight and we made the trade. The pocket watch is really cool and I found out that it’s worth $200-$300. I think this might be an even trade from the heater, but that’s okay. I hope my teacher will be interested in the watch. 

January 22, 2014 - Last Wednesday night, I made a huge trade for the truck bed tool box. I received a new Hurricane Military Space Heater that is worth $350.00-$400.00.  William contacted me on Craigslist. He is in the Army and wants to open a Buy, Sell Trade Store when he gets out. He has served in Afghanistan and Kuwait. This Heater can heat a barracks tent that holds up to 20 guys.  It can run on Diesel or Kerosene. I think it would work to heat a garage or shed. Maybe a “prepper” will want it.  Please tell your friends about my blog and Facebook page. I’m trying to get over 100 likes on FB. I have till April to get my car so I appreciate any help you can give. 

PS: I still have the BG 1000 Home Gym

January 20, 2014:  Last week, I didn’t get any offers for the toolbox and I was starting to wonder if it was a good trade after all. I updated my listing last night and had some offers this morning.  The offers are pretty good, but I’m not sure if they’re a trade up, so I’m doing some research on them. One is for a military space heater that I am seriously considering. I will keep you posted…Also, here is the BG 1000 weight set that I got for the other half of the golf balls. I have it listed too, but nothing yet. I want something big for it.

January 11, 2014 cont.:  Remember when I said that I split the 288 golf balls?  My Aunt and Uncle also understand what I am doing. They helped me out with a huge trade for the other half of the golf balls. On Saturday, they traded me for a home gym. I still have to post it, but I am going to hold out for something really great! As I said in my intro, one of my trade lines is going for charity. I decided to pick something that was close to home that had directly affected my community. The Black Forest Fire hit our community hard last summer. 483 homes were lost in this fire that covered 26 square miles. Crosses for Losses is a grass root non-profit organization that directly helps the victims of the Black Forest Fire. They help 200+ families each month as they rebuild their lives. In our school district 161 students and 22 staff lost homes in the fire. http://www.crossesforlosses.org/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yahooeditorspicks/galleries/72157634127366495/#photo_9019053381

http://www.donbowie.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Firestorm-Color.jpg

Saturday January 11:  Geoff found my listing on Craigslist and gave me a choice between a mountain bike and a diamond plate toolbox.  We met at McDonalds so I could check out the two items. I decided to go for the tool box. As you know, I am trying to trade for something bigger and better each time and I am trying to pick things that people would want for the next trade. Geoff understood what I am trying to do. Thanks Geoff.  Later that day, I made a huge trade for the other half of the golf balls… 

January 2014:  I had many offers for the lead:  a cowboy hat, a Surefire Helmet Light, a tire, "really cool Kung Fu Knives," a portable outdoor basketball hoop, 2 bxs. tracer ammo, 1000  ft. spool of para cord (I had to look it up), $40 cash...But my mom wouldn't let me trade for ammo or weapons and the other items weren't a huge trade up...Some didn't even meet the scrap price of the lead and I thought some might be hard to trade away...I kept waiting, and was ready to get the basketball hoop or helmet light if nothing came in by Sunday. At last, a good offer came in on Saturday morning.  At least, I think it was a good trade...

Christmas Vacation:  My cousin Adam was interested in the Frisbee Golf Set so we took it to Kansas on our Christmas vacation. My dad thought he might start trading too and took a used TaylorMade Driver with him that he didn’t really want. My cousin couldn’t really come up with anything to trade, but my uncle really wanted the driver. So my dad  traded me for the Frisbee Golf Set. Then, my Uncle Daryl traded me 56 lbs of lead (or 7 lead ingots) for the club. Lead Ingots can be melted down to make fishing weights, tire weights, toy soldiers...I looked up the price of lead online and decided it was definitely a trade up. I posted the lead ingots when I got home. Also, I set up a Facebook page for friends, family, teachers to help me with my trades. 

Mid December 2013:  So, I went to Play It Again Sports and traded 144 (or half) of the golf balls for a Frisbee Golf Set. At first the owner didn't want to trade because they had a lot of golf balls, but then he took mercy on me and traded, because I told him it was for a school project. He was only going to give me $20 in trade, but then he allowed me to have this $30 Frisbee golf set.

Mid-December 2013:  And waited, and waited and waited....no offers came in. I needed to keep trading, so I talked my sister into trading for 288 golf balls. A few years ago, she found them all on the golf course near our house; then she would sell them back to the bad golfers. She did raise $75.00 for the Humane Society in the process. Eventually,  she lost interest and the golf balls have been sitting around for a couple of years.

Early December 2013:  So, when I got back, I discovered the email for a trade request: One Kinder Egg Surprise Toy for my Purple Lego. I contacted the person to set up a location and time to make the trade.  On December 7th, I made the 1st trade: One Purple Lego for One Kinder Egg Surprise Toy.  Kim found my listing while she was searching for Legos on Craigslist. She wanted to trade me because she and her brothers have been building a huge Lego city for years. Over the holidays, they always add on to it, she wanted my rare Lego to add to the city. She said she'd put it in a special spot. Kim said that, Kinder Egg Surprise toys come inside chocolate eggs, the candies were illegal in the U.S. because they don't allow toys inside candy. This kinder egg toy was smuggled in to the U.S. in a Ritz cracker box. Kinder egg surprise toys are very collectible in Europe and with many U.S. military families. I did some research and found out my toy was from 2010.  I posted it on craigslist and waited…..

Late November and Early December 2013:  We went on vacation to Florida and I started getting trade offers. Here is my first offer:  "How about 1 red & 1 green Lego as Christmas is coming, in exchange for your purple Lego 2 for 1."  I thought I should hold out for something better, but it was a nice offer, not...Another guy offered to "teach" me how to make $10,000 through trading. I was starting to think that I wouldn't get any good offers, but then I discovered an offer that I missed while I was in Florida.

Mid November  2013:  I decided to start trading with one of my purple Lego's because I never see them in stores or new Lego sets. I started to research how rare my particular shade of Lego is. I found out about this guy who blogged about how rare purple Legos are. I also found out that mine had come from a limited edition set from around the early 2000's. It was from one of my first Lego sets.  I took a photo and posted my purple Lego on Craigslist and hoped for the best.

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Mid November 2013:  I decided I wanted Super Bowl tickets and I was trying to figure out how to get them. My mom told me about a guy she saw on the news who started with some small thing and traded up to a house. We googled, "guy trades for house," and found him. We found out that he started with a red paperclip and ended with a house. I also found out he has a book and a website. This inspired me to do my own trade up project, I started trying to find what to start with.

Mid October 2013:  Trying to decide what I'm going to do for my Personal Project.I like sports and engineering, so I looked to see if there was a field on Sports Engineering, and there is...This field covers many things like equipment, safety in sports, clothing, energy drinks, training...Sports engineering isn't very big in the U.S.A., but it's big in Britain and Australia. I might do a project to educate people about sports engineering. Or I might try to make a lighted/sound ball to help kids who can't track balls when they try to catch or throw. I thought it might be a good idea to increase the power in my mom's VW Jetta, but she didn't like that idea.

Early October 2013:  For the past 5 years, I have been doing the IB Middle Years Programme at my middle school and high school. This program is formed around five 'areas of interaction' which include: environments, health and social education, community and service, human ingenuity, and approaches to learning. Throughout the program, I had to study and perform community service to meet the community service requirement. In our final year, we are required to complete a huge personal project on a topic of our choice. 

Intro to my blog

     Have you ever heard of the guy in Canada who traded up from One Red Paper Clip to a house? It’s true! For a school project, I’m doing the same thing, only for a car. My trade-up project called, “One Purple Lego.” It’s called this, because I started trading with one purple Lego. People have been helping me out with lots of cool trades, but I still have a ways to go. Basically, the idea is for me to TRADE UP for something desired by the public with each trade. I also split one trade and started another trade line for an organization that helps Black Forest Fire Victims called Crosses for Losses. I am going to post my progress here. Please share this with your friends and family.