How to write a message in a bottle

Ewing Island is a small uninhabited island on Sucia's north side. We took the dinghy over to do some exploring. There are no trails on the island and rather than bushwhack we just climbed our way around on the rocks.

This little cove is on the north side of Ewing island.

Amongst the driftwood I noticed a message in a bottle. How cool is that?
It says, "If you pick up this bottle please e-mail me at louves@hotmail.com"

Signed, "Brian 2002.12.20" Brian also included a little drawing of a pig.

Well I was pretty excited, and emailing Brian was just about the first thing we did when we got back to an internets connection. I was hoping the email address would still work considering 7 years had passed. The email bounced. Rejected. No longer a valid hotmail address. I Googled the email address. I Googled Brian Louves. My Magnum PI skills bore no fruit and I had no luck finding the guy.

So if you're going to send a message in a bottle, please focus on contact information rather than small farm animal drawings.