Kerri Walsh

Sent: 9/26/2008

Received: 10/30/2008

First off all family members reading this blog need to take note that the picture on the bottom right is NOT of Alli. If you don't make it past the abs I understand the confusion but this is actually Olympic champion Kerri Walsh. This last Olympics due to it being on so late we watched quite a bit of it. One of the entertaining stories was Kerri and Misty demolishing the field on the way to another gold medal. What made it so nice is that despite how good they are, they still show class and humility. This makes them easy to root for.

Kerri and Misty have now won 2 Billion matches in a row.

All men and boys who can't handle the outfits please realize this is a technological marvel that somehow helps the women compete more effectively in sand. Somehow the men don't require this technology and I think for that we are all thankful.

Daniel Radcliffe

Sophia Got our latest autograph success. I sent this one out without telling her because I didn't want her to be disappointed if there was no reply. Thankfully (and a big thanks goes out to Daniel) there was an answer and her response is why we do this hobby.

This is her favorite character from her favorite movies and books. She has read the Harry Potter series 6 times. If given one person to choose to get a response from, this would have been her choice but she had never written because of the small chance for success, to say she was (and is) a bit excited is a huge understatement. Thanks again goes to Daniel for taking the time out of his busy schedule to bring joy to his fans.

The Long and the Short

So what is the relationship between these two autographs? Hayden the one on the right for those not in the know (Heroes, Remember the Titans among others) is the autograph we got yesterday. Why it brings back memories of the Phoebe Cates autograph (Gremlins, Drop Dead Fred and a large childhood crush) is that these two stand as opposites in one facet of my autograph collecting experience. Phoebe Cates is the fastest response I have ever gotten

Sent: 7/25/2006 Response: 7/31/2006 (Six days ! and that is coast to coast)

Hayden Panatierre has now taken over the top spot as longest wait for a successful reply.

Sent: 8/2/2006 Response 10/22/2008 (an amazing 2 years and 2.5 months)

One final note. In a previous post I mentioned Shawn Johnson was the only teenage girl I had ever written....Doing the math I was mistaken and had forgotten Hayden. I still enjoy Heroes and Hayden had a long career before it (check her extensive credits) and I think she will have a long career after it.

Autopen

The autopen is one of the biggest foes of the autograph collector. When collecting autographs remotely, while impossible to know 100 percent if an autograph is authentic, there are signs and ways of making a very educated guess. The first is to compare to known authentics.

The autopen machine makes this more difficult because the signature looks like an authentic. That in fact is the whole purpose of the autopen, to sign something delivering exactly the programmed authentic pattern. The two ways to identify an autopen are 1) find another signature exactly the same (no person signs their name exactly the same twice) 2) looks for the tells of the autopen.

This week we sadly got an autopen response. I verified this in both ways, but was put on the trail by the signs of the autopen itself. A normal signature trails off at the points of entry and points of exit of the pen lines. An autopen tends to make dots at the pickup and drop points as the mechanical arm lowers and raises the pen to contact the surface. This can be seen in the enlarged scan of our most recent response. Note the little drops at the start and end of penstroke lines. (it is not initially apparent, but becomes easier to spot with experience)

Shawn Johnson

This one actually came a couple weeks ago. I decided to go back one because this was the last family response, I have a niece that might want to see these and the blog felt really empty and who knows when the next success will come.

Notes:
Sent to an event she was performing at, took about two weeks to get return.
This is probably the first teenage girl I have written to. (The girls have written to others, but this is the first letter I authored, probably won't make it a habit.....or will I?)
Shawn was our family's favorite olympian. From her neverending smile to her amazing performances, she never failed to make you feel good after seeing her perform.

On the pictures a couple blemishes occur. These are from the scanner and not on the original pictures , but because of chance they happened to show up on the face both times and look like moles.

Carlos Bernard

This success vaults immediately up with my favorites. I am not sure why I like the character of Tony Almeida so much, but I do. ("24" for those not in the know) I can guarantee if Tony and Jack were to face off, Tony would be the winner. (Despite what Alli would believe) Because Tony is one of my all time favorite TV characters, Carlos Bernard is one of my favorite actors and I appreciate him taking the time to honor my request. Rumor has it Tony despite apparently dying, will be back this season!

Notes:

Sent off request right before we left for Disneyland, was in our pile of mail as we got back.

Carlos is a big cubs fan (as can be seen by the cubs mug in the picture) unfortunately once again the cubs failed in the playoffs...will the curse ever lift?

Beginning

Because I never seemed to find the time to whip my autograph website into any pleasing form, I have for the moment given up on a complete collection website and will chronicle the successes from now on as any family member receives them. I may draw upon favorite past successes if the going gets slow, but for now the intention is to chronicle only from this day on.