Joke's On You....

Okay, I admit it, I did have a couple of April Fool pranks up my sleeves. But come on, you guys expected something of me. I wanted to do another elaborate prank like last years, but seriously, we didn't have a chance. All year long you guys kept guessing what we'd have in store for April Fools Day. March was terrible. Analyzing every word that was said. Predictions that the "big joke" would be about rock stashing, fearless colons, and even the slow loading of My Page last week.

Frankly, it's not very fun trying to fool anyone when everyone is trying to post spoilers before the big day. At least let the flower bloom before you yank it out of the ground and stomp it flat. In future years, I'd be greatly appreciative if, when you think something is leading up to an April Fool joke, to play along. And honestly, there will be no elaborate April Fool's Day joke if you all keep guessing what it's going to be ahead of time.

No, the only kind of jokes I can do now are ambushes. Keep my cards close to my chest, then spring it on you all at once on April Fools. At least until I can be sure nobody is going to post a spoiler if I do try a joke that leads up to April Fools Day. I don't see that happening anytime this decade, though. I might have to try to outlive all of you and do another elaborate prank in my old age with a new group of people. =)

So... the first joke of the day--there was none! I went to sleep, in the early morning hours of April 1st, wondering how many of you foolish people would wait up until midnight to "see what happens." =)

The next morning, when I did wake up, that's when the real fun started. I put an encrypted code on the homepage. Or was it just random letters? Hard to tell on a day like April 1st, huh? =) I wouldn't want to spoil THAT surprise, but some people did figure it out based on the finds of the Atlas Quest Homepage virtual box I listed. Not many, but a few of you.... (Sorry, it was a 24-hour virtual only. If you didn't get it, it's too late now!)

Then I posted about the AQ bailout late in the day. That was the main joke, posted mostly for giggles because seriously, who would believe it? Atlas Quest is not in any imminent danger of going bankrupt. =) I will not be adding purple cats or rubber chickens to the site. (Though, honestly, I do think rubber chickens could be fun. Perhaps someday....) Marjorie still gets to keep her name, and Canada will continue to be supported. =)

During the rest of the night, I just did things to mess with anyone still popping in. Wassa suggested to me at the last minute that I could draw arrows and circles on the map, as if they were clues, and add a marker on the globe that Marjorie carries. So I did that. I tweaked the note about "A Letterboxing Community" so it would read "An Economic Recovery Stimulus Recipient."

But that was the last of the bullets I had. I went to sleep, and decided not to "fix things up" back to normal until I woke up the next morning. I was planning to fly to California and spent much of the afternoon trying to catch a flight out of Seattle. Alas, as they say, the reason it's called stand-by is because you stand at the window and wave bye-bye, and that's what I did. I'm still in Seattle.

The Seattle airport doesn't have wi-fi, though, so I couldn't "fix things up" until this evening. Perhaps some of you were worried that some of the jokes yesterday were actually true? =) Okay, maybe not..... Everything should be back to normal now, however. Hope you enjoyed the shenanigans, even if they weren't nearly as interesting or fun as last year!

And seriously, you wouldn't post spoilers to mystery boxes. Why would you do it for April Fool jokes?! That just has to come to an end before there will be anymore elaborate pranks in the future....