On July 12, 2006, Oliver X posted a note on Gadget's It's a Trap task saying "I'm afraid I never got your Halloween card." This prompted Gadget to email Aaro:

Given your story about the New Years party, can you share Oliver X's address with me? I've been sending him snail mail (As part of "It's a Trap"), but I fear that I've been scammed by another MN sf0er.

Just the house number would be enough info for me to confirm the address that I have (if you'd like to respect his privacy).

The "another MN sf0er" was Nicole Marie and this was the first of well over fifty emails that were exchanged to complete this task.

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Aaro was able to help Gadget figure out that the address he got was not real without revealing Oliver X's real address. When Gadget shared the address with Aaro, we spent a lot of time researching what this might be. Hennepin County's Property Information Search revealed that the county thought it was owned by the local power company. Aaro recalled seeing a photo of that building on Flickr. What a strange place for Oliver X to be living or receiving mail at! The next morning, Aaro went out to find that since the photo on Flickr was taken, a mailbox was added and contained the mail that Gadget had been sending. On the mailbox was written "Typhon International" which is a reference to William Gaddis' "J R".

We figured that this mailbox must have something to do with the Thurn Und Taxis Postal Adventure task. Although everything seemed to line up as this being Oliver's, we never had firm proof. We went through a number of ideas as to utilize our situation. One idea was to hijack the task and set up a mail forward with the USPS so all mail sent to that box would end up going to a new mailbox in San Francisco. We ultimately decided to take on the Ransom task with it. I nabbed the box, Gadget generated audio, Aaro created a video and we laid out our demands:


Click to watch video

As nobody knew that Aaro was involved and we didn't have firm proof that this was Oliver's mailbox, Gadget sent the video directly to the person that gave him the false address: Nicole Marie. A few days later, she responds back:

I can't really include in the Postal Adventure task as I am not working on that task. The mailbox is not mine. Was this meant to go to Oliver?
Sorry to disappoint.

We figure that she must have shared the video with Oliver. There was a was a period of impatience after the 72 hours had elapsed. We debated our options. Luckily, not long after, Oliver sends a message to Gadget:

You've got my mailbox.

Gadget replies:

Do you want it back? Will you meet our demands?

Oliver responds:

Well.. that mailbox has been there for months, but I'm not yet satisfied with my results. So not quite ready to meet your demands in any case. But at the same time I don't want to be a killjoy and just ignore your lovely video.

We decide to press hard. We can't waste time. We didn't know if a retaliation was being planned. At this point, we had decided that if they don't comply with our demands we would set up our own mailbox there and take credit for the task without them. Gadget and Aaro both send new mail to the address for proof in case he doesn't comply.

Gadget writes:

And so... will you meet our demands, or not? The 72 hours have expired and new plans are already in motion. It's not too late to meet our demands and get the box and the contents returned, but I need an answer and a commitment now.

Oliver responds:

Oh, fine, you twisted my arm. When, where, and how?

We reinstall the mailbox. At this point Gadget and Oliver discuss what to do next. We were willing to see more mail go through to the box if that's what Oliver wanted, but we didn't want to wait too long. Then Gadget gets a mysterious response from Oliver:

Turns out there's something for you in the box now. I'll let you pick it up.

We fear he's still playing games with us.

The next morning Aaro picks up a handwritten and hand delivered card from Oliver X. Oliver X uses his alternative postal system to send all of SFZero his final message:

dear sf0,

sorry i've been so distant lately. i'm
probably not coming back. it's not you, it's me.
things have changed; my heart is no longer in it
and i need to move on. piratey: you rock.
i hate to leave you with such dismal competition.
we'll meet again some day when you least
expect it. rubin: never got around to
stabbing you in the face. c'est la guerre.
the rest of you: keep it real, darn it.
will always remember the fun times we
had together.

all the best,
Oliver X