Mega Mission Monday: Favorite Quote

All I did was put out the call.

I simply asked my Affiliated Agents to leave their favorite quote somewhere for someone to find on Sunday, 26 September, and to email photos and details.

I asked. And they came through.

Thank you, my dear Affiliated Agents.

Thank you.

(This is a really, really long post, so you might want to break it up into several viewing sessions!)

All missions took place on Sunday, 26 August, all over the globe.

Affiliated Agent HM

Location: family's refrigerator; Sterling, VA

Time: afternoon

I'm at my family's house this weekend, preparing it for the arrival of my grandmother when she is released from the hospital on Tuesday.  She had a heart procedure the week before last and has had a hard time with her recovery so far.  While this isn't my absolute favorite quote, it certainly seemed appropriate for the occasion.  I left it on the refrigerator here so that she'll see it when she gets home.  She's always been a strong woman in every sense of the word.  Hopefully this will remind her of that.

Affiliated Agent CK

Location: Underground station "Georg-Brauchle-Ring"; Munich, Germany

Time: 6:30 p.m.

I loved the idea of the mega mission the favorite quotes and so I decided that would be my first mission, although I did not even ordered the SAL business cards yet. Being very active already with full time job, blogging and running with friends a small, but very active German-Croatian cultural association (non-profit, lots of work), I am already super busy and was not sure if I could handle being a good SAL agent doing at least one mission every few weeks.

Anyway .... I gave myself an easy start with this card / quote mission and I LOVED it.

For this mission I put the SAL link into the card "for more information".

When I heard about the Sunday mega mission of leaving a card with your favorite quote, I knew that would be the launch of my new identity as Secret Agent CK. I had not to think about the quote at all since I am signing all my private emails with my favorite quote for about 10 years now and this quote - lucky enough - fits perfectly to the mission. And here it is:

"The single clenched fist lifted and ready / Or the open asking hand held out and waiting. / Choose: / For we meet by one or the other."

"Choose / Chicago Poems" by Carl Sandberg

On Saturday - one day before day x - I went shopping with my girls and bought the card. On late Sunday afternoon I wrote the quote on one site of the card and on the other site I wrote in English and German a short note that this is just a kind message for no special reason and that I wish the stranger, who picks up the card, a happy, healthy and successful new week. I also placed the SAL link at the bottom of the card to make sure that people - if interested - could find out that nobody weird placed the card. German people can be such skeptics.

Affiliated Agent DS
Location: Post Office; Springdale, PA

Time: 3:45 p.m.

I decided to drop off my quote during the Steelers game since it's a ghost town in the Pittsburgh area. I decided to leave it on the mailbox at the post office since I'm sure someone will need to drop off mail tonight.

Thanks for a fun mission!

Affiliated Agent MC

Location: Steinmart, Target, Sears, and Kohl's; Ocean Township, NJ

Time: 2 p.m.

I attached each quote to a little flower & dropped them off, two at each store. One always was dropped in a dressing room and the second at random spots in the store.  At Target I left one on the price scanner & Sears I left on the employee computer  - I was very stealth, but I think someone saw me do the price scanner at Target, a lady immediately started heading right towards it, I walked away quickly. ;)

I’m sure your day was a great success, thanks for planning it.

Affiliated Agents L & O
Location: Starbucks; Orange, CA
Time: 2:50 p.m.

Greetings from Sunny So California!

At 2:50pm this afternoon, my 7 y/o daughter and I dropped off this little message of inspiration at a Starbucks in Orange, Calif. I was really stumped as to where to leave it ,so after cruising the local Target and it's parking lot for 1/2 hour to no avail, we ended up at Starbucks. it was 104'-I figured there would be a lot of hot and cranky( very much like the 2 of us) stopping in for a cold drink.

I had a totally different quote I was going to use, but this one popped up this morning, and I knew it was perfect.

Of course while at Starbucks, I picked up a gift card to use in a future RAK.

This was so cool:  all day long I wondered who, where and at what time kind people were out doing their guerrilla kindness! thanks for the chance to be involved!

Affiliated Agent J
Location: Miami Lakes, FL

Time: between 1-2 p.m.

Laura - this was my first mission, so I did the best I could as I didn't know I'd be such a wreck.   First I put one of my favorite quotes on an index card with some small decorations - and since I didn't know if I was supposed to put the SAL stuff on it, I put a line with only your website on the back and my initial.

It looked like it was going to rain, so I went first to the library to drop of a book and ended up putting the card in the book drop for the librarian or whoever takes the books out to find - then I spotted the security cameras, so hope that was okay and I got the heck out of there.

Then wanted to put one in a shopping cart outside of Publix but there were way too many people.   I can tell it's going to hard to take pictures of where I put stuff unless it's in a private room.

So since I wanted to complete my mission, I put one where the sign-up area is for classes at NutritionSmart, but a lady came over and started to straighten up the table so I snatched it back and just did my shopping. I ended up leaving the card slid in next to the tart cherry juice, which is something Dr. Oz recommends, so I left it there as that's a popular product.

Next I went to Office Depot and left it by the pretty notepads, one that was close to the same color as the index card so a salesman wouldn't notice it right away.

I hope this get easier as I'm sure I looked suspicious.   I guess with practice and picking the places it will.  I hope one day to be able to get pictures of where I put them.   Thanks - and I'm excited to get ready for more!

Affiliated Agent KM
Location: San Francisco, CA

Time: not specified

Hi Laura,

So excited for today's activity.  I wasn't sure if the quote had to be inspirational or not, I decided not and went with my favorite West Wing quote.  I took a walk down the block to the post box at the end of the street and left my note their.  It all sort of came together and was really fun.  :)

The little symbol at the end is a ;) (winky face) but it doesn't look as winky as it does on the computer.

Thanks for another great idea!

Affiliated Agent KM
Location: various; Pittsburgh, PA

Time: not specified

Hello SAL!

I loves me some quotes, so asking me to pick just one is impossible, so I made three cards.

The first I left tucked behind the button for the walk signal at the corner of Penn and S. Braddock, and the other two were left in the East End Food Coop (today was their annual Art Harvest)--one by the bags for the bulk coffee and the other by some jugs of seasonal apple juice. I wanted to leave them out in the Art Harvest, but it was too hard to find an opportunity to not be seen.

Sorry that the pics aren't that great quality. I was using my phone and trying to not be noticed. :-/  I am, however, happy to report that the card left at the intersection was gone when I walked back home.

Secret Agent L
Location: Aisle 8; Giant Eagle Market District Grocery Store; Pittsburgh, PA

Time: 6:03 p.m.

It's impossible for me to pick just one quote.  I mean, I have favorites, but how to pick just one?  I had a card from the fine folks at Quotable, and I felt like the quote on the front held so much possibility in so many ways, so I chose it as my quote.

I had to run to the grocery store tonight to pick up a few things.  The Giant Eagle Market District in my neighborhood (Shadyside) is always packed on Saturdays and Sundays, regardless of the time of day.  Tonight was no exception.  I originally planned on leaving my quote taped to the side of the Red Box DVD machine.  But there was a cop standing near it, along with a line of people all waiting to get their cinematic fixes for the evening.

My plan was foiled.

So, like any good Secret Agent, I moved on to Plan B: the frozen food section.  Aisle 8 was mysteriously empty.

Target acquired.

I stopped in front of the meatless frozen foods (a usual stop for this vegetarian) and quickly stuck my card (which was prepped beforehand with double-sided tape) to the frame.  A couple of quick clicks of the camera and Mission: Complete.

Let us never forget what we can do when we all come together.

Let us never forget that we belong to one another.