A Birthday Present For Al

Post by **KnottyEmily** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:00 am

Okay, time for a bit of an update I reckon.

I sent the book out to Meli today [the 15th] via express courier international, 3-4 days.

I originally hadn't planned to be cutting it this close, but there was an issue with the postage of the book, and it only arrived on friday. What happened was, I ordered it, then moved house and instead of being redirected it got returned to the sender

Anyway, I worked solidly through the weekend to get the thing finished, and I had it done by 1am this morning. Luckily I had decided to make the whole thing using Microsoft Publisher before hand [a few weeks ago], so that I would know exactly how everything would be laid out when it came to actually making it. After I had finished the layout in Publisher [38 pages] I separated the text and photos into separate Word documents and printed the pictures on photo paper. I got almost all of the full A4 graphic type messages printed at a photo developer place, so they're nice looking.

I put the pages into the book this morning and stopped by the post office on the way to school. I did get pictures of all of the pages, but not of the book itself, as the batteries in the camera ran out and I had to catch a train. I'll upload the photos after Al has received the book

Oh, and Meli, I'll PM you the tracking number

Wed Oct 17, 2007 3:18 am

Sounds great Emily. As I said before, I'll be taking as much video as I can fit with the rest of my memory card of my digital camera, while taking pictures with my cell phone camera, that can get really nice shots. Here is one example, in case anyone wants to make sure that Al with their gift will be visible. I am delivering gifts from Ambra, Patti, and Emily's journal. I'll upload the pictures ASAP and I'll make sure everyone sees theirs.

Ambra · Post by **Ambra** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:23 am

Cool! My gifts will be in good company! I took some pictures of the gifts I got for him as well as the card I made and I'll post them once Al has them.

BTW, Meli, if you want to take a peak at what I got him, feel free to do so. In fact, I wouldn't mind another Al fan's opinion about whether or not he'll like them.

Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:32 am

Not to invade your privacy without asking, but the day after I got it, I had to just show my brother what it was so he didn't think it was a bomb or something. But, I took good care of putting everything back nicely and I think its awesome. I LOVE the shirt! I think Al will love it.

Post by **algonacchick** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:15 pm

Yes, you read Meli's post correctly. I have sent a gift for Al to her, as of yesterday. Let's just hope it arrives safely and intact. I wil post pics of my gift after Al gets it. I just couldn't thnk of anything clever to do for the scrapbook, so I decided to just give him my own gift. Anyway, can't wait to see the pics and read every detail about all of this!

Thu Oct 18, 2007 2:51 am

I got the journal today! After Patti's gift, I'll be all set for Saturday!

EDIT: Emily, just wondering, but did that email to Jay get far?

Post by **KnottyEmily** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 3:33 am

I didn't bother wrapping it, as you will have noticed. I just thought it would be easier that way. And I didn't have time

Meli, would you be able to get a picture of the book, before you give it to Al? I only have pictures of the pages themselves before I put them in the leather binding

Thu Oct 18, 2007 7:24 am

Sure, I'll take one!

EDIT: Its okay about the wrapping, the Greek would make me take off all the nice wrapping anyways, so its better that I don't have the chance to ruin anything.

kaztaylor · Post by **kaztaylor** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:03 am

I'm so excited!

Last night I had a dream that I met Al and was trying to tell him the story of how he saved my life, and half way through, he smiled at me and said, "Hi Karen." (Even in my sleep, I swear I ALmost fainted!) Anyway, then I said, "I guess you got your birthday present" and as the dream ended, he was telling me how much everyone's messages meant to him.

I guess I've had this on my mind a lot since I sent Emily my Happy Birthday letter for Al. I'm so pleased to know that it's all together and in Melissa's hands. Thanks, Emily!

Thanks, Melissa!

(btw, I thought I was the only one who used Publisher.)

Can't wait to see the photos of Al accepting our heartfelt sentiments; I know it will mean a lot to him.

Post by **KnottyEmily** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:17 am

This is the first time I've used Publisher. I was going to use Adobe InDesign, but I couldn't find my copy of it, and obviously it's easier to transfer text from Publisher to Word.