I MET OTHER FREE HUGGERS!!

Yesterday I was able to receive and give out 1000 hugs!!!!!!! It was totally crazy!!  This is my total hug count for the day, not my free hug count, there is a difference between the two which I am still really trying to understand fully myself but the gist is a free hug comes mostly from strangers and doesn't count friend hugs too much whereas the daily hug count is the number of times hugged in one day so friend hugs qualify for that count.  I am trying to explore this more and it will probably be written about in a future book... But speaking of books, I have a book that is coming out and I need your help in order to make sure it gets published!!! You can learn more about that here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/duckductdave/free-hugs-its-more-than-a-campaign-its-a-lifesyle?ref=live 
Yesterday morning after bible study in America's Center I encountered another person who was planning to give away free hugs at the conference!! It was amazing and exciting and fantastic and fantabulastic, there are no words to describe my joy at having the opportunity to hug with Jacqueline yesterday.  So I Free Hugged with Jacqueline yesterday in the morning before the morning session and then after the morning session I went and bought some supplies to be able to make a couple more free hugs signs for other huggers that would want to free hug with me.  There was also a group from North Carolina that hugged with me for a good amount of time in the afternoon and evening and Jacqueline joined for a little bit of time before heading over to the evening session in the dome.  All in all yesterday was one of the most inspiring and crazy amazing and awesome days in my whole life with receiving 1000 hugs... 1000 hugs!!!! That's a lot of hugs..  and meeting others who were excited about giving away free hugs and joined me in my mission to hug strangers and brighten their days one hug at a time.  I am very blessed that I met them and I hope that this is just the start of something bigger, the creation of a more intimate and caring worldwide community brought together though the simple action of a hug from a person to a stranger. 
I wish you all lots of hugs!!!
Hugs,
David

Urbana Update!

So I am really excited to say that yesterday I received 312 hugs at the Urbana Missions Conference!! I have also been able to take part in some of the Launch Lab where I got some advice about my Free Hugs Tour project that I am working on.  I have a lot of stuff to work on getting my team together for my free hugs tour and working out all of the details of how my team and I are going to go about getting all of the necessary preparation for the tour and coming up with a plan of how the tour might actually look and other opportunities to work with others to make Free Hugs Tour 2013 the greatest experience that it could be.  As I walk around Urbana Free Hugging I am meeting a lot of really cool and interesting people that I am blessed to come into contact with.  It's really exciting and amazingly fun.  So far at the conference I have gotten 378 hugs and my goal for Urbana is to get 1000 hugs.  If you are at the Urbana conference I hope to be able to hug you soon.  :)
Hugs!
David

News

So I just got to Urbana in St. Louis.  I'm all checked in and ready to go.  So these past couple months I haven't been updating my blog very much at all...  Well like not really at all because there have not been any new blog posts.  I was really busy with school from September 1 until November 20 and then I started writing a book about free hugs.  I have completed most of the book and am now in the final editing stages working on getting it ready to publish.  Since I am going to self publish it I started a Kickstarter.com campaign where you can order a copy of the Free Hugs book so that I will have the money in order to get it published.  This only happens if I raise my goal of 3000 dollars in order to have the money to get it published so if your interested in getting a copy pre-order a copy here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/duckductdave/free-hugs-its-more-than-a-campaign-its-a-lifesyle?ref=live  :)
I also have changed up my itenerary for Free Hugs Tour 2013 a little bit which I will share shortly as well. 
Anyway I am really excited for the Urbana Conference and hope to bring more updates shortly and more consistently. 
Hugs!
David

Free Hugs Enterprise?

These past weeks I have been getting into the swing of college life.  I am taking some pretty amazing classes this first quarter at DePaul.  I have Business Calc 1 and Philosophy on Mondays and Wednesdays, Digital Cinema on Tuesdays, and a writing class on Thursdays.  I have meet some really awesome people, hopefully long-term friends.  I am also a part of Intervarsity, Young Life, Entrepreneurship Club (CEO), and Change Makers which is a social entrepreneurship club on campus.  I might look into bicycling club as well at some point. 
One of the things that I love about my class schedule this quarter is all of the classes that I am taking can be applied to my goals for the future.  In my digital cinema class we are going to be learning about documentaries and techniques for making movies which I will be able to employ while working on getting footage for my Free Hugs Documentary this summer.  Philosophy can basicly be applied to anything and I am a philosophy minor so that is always fun.  Math is good because I own a business and learning how to do fun calculus will always be a blast.  Finally in my writing class we are writing "books" like 2 chapters with at least 2000 words, so not super long, but can be a start for a book that I have been thinking about writing.  The question that I am tackling for this book is "How do you create a free hugging enterprise and what are the pro's and con's of such a creation?"  Which can be a good start to a book that I might be able to finish up sometime in the future.    
In other news, I have not yet finalized my itinerary for my free hugs tour.  If all goes according to plan I hope to have that up and ready at the latest the beginning of November but hopefully I will get that up way sooner than that. 
Hugs!!
David

Free Hugs Tour!!

I now have a preliminary schedule for my Free Hugs Tour this next summer!! So right now I am working on organizing my schedule and figuring out and pinning down the exact dates for when I will be where for my tour.  This tour is going to be pretty legit!! I am going to like print posters and get them distributed where I am going to be hugging and stuff and couch surf and free hug for 8 hours a day! The range of my tour is going to be from right when I finish my freshman year at DePaul University, June 14th until about August 31 and then I would move back for school to start soon after that for my sophomore year.  I also hope to be able to get it organized so that I can create a free hugs youtube video for each city that I visit and hug in and have a local band or a band originally from that city to play the soundtrack for the Youtube Free Hugs video.  In addition to that I hopefully will be able to get enough footage of me hugging and talking with crazy awesome people that I can create a documentary or maybe start writing a book or both or something crazy like that.  I am super excited about this and hopefully it will be much better organized and put together than my trip was this past year.  This past year was great and fun but didn't involve as many hugs as I had imagined.  It was more learning about myself and organization but this next summer is going to be all hugging!!! Let's brighten lives one hug at a time together!!! I hope to see you all sometime on my free hugs tour! I will hopefully get those dates pinned down sometime within the next week or at longest the next month.. I'll keep you updated!!
HUGS!!
David

LEAKY CON!!!

These past 4 days from August 9th to the 12th I attended Leaky Con.  Honestly it was one of the most amazing and greatest as well as inspiring experiences of my life!!! The people that I got to meet there were some of the most interesting and inspiring people that I ever met.  I got to meet some other crazy awesome free huggers and am now starting to work on organizing my free hugs tour that hopefully will be happening this next summer.  I am going to start working on a preliminary list of places that I will want to go and maybe some famous people that I would want to hug.  I will also try and make a plan to capture and document my trip this time unlike I did for my first free hugs journey.  I hope that this next one will be a lot more organized and benefitial not only to me but to others that I meet along the way. 
I also got to meet the author Stephanie Perkins!!! I mean I really haven't read any of her books yet but she is such a great and awesome person that I think I am going to start to read them now!! :D
Now I also have to start sending emails and getting in touch with people to help me plan and organize my free hugs tour.  I have a tenitive budget kinda and a loose idea of what I want the tour to look like but hopefully I will be able to raise and earn enough money to make this tour a reality.  I might try and do an indiegogo campaign or other crazy stuff.  I'll keep you updated.  Email me or leave comments with awesome ideas!! I need them!! :D
Til next time this is David signing off. 

Super Awesome Happenings and Plans!!!

The Flea Market in Greensboro was a lot better than the show in Muskegon but it wasn't what I was hoping at all.  I spent more on gas and travel than I made but I did meet some really interesting and cool people!! I mean what more can you ask for right?  The coolest I think would have to be a group that I met when I stopped at a rest stop in North Carolina :D
Now that the Muskegon and Greensboro craft fairs over I am in full work/organize/inventory/organize/get ready for college/Free hug whenever I can mode.  I am working at a friends house so that I can get some more financial backing for the money that I lost and getting my inventory organized using a program or two trying to figure out the right program for me right now.  This Saturday I am going to try and free hug from about noon til 8 or so to get in some good free hugging hours. 
I am going to free hug at Leaky Con in Chicago from August 9-12 :).  I have a swap meet coming up in Muskegon on August 25th which is exciting.  I also start school at DePaul on September 5th.  I hope to have all of my stuff organized and ready by then.  That's my goal at least.. I think I can make it... maybe.
I am also in the imagining phase of a plan that I want to do next summer.  I really want to go on a free hugs tour around the country and spend the whole summer at craft fairs and free hugging with people from all over the country!! Let me know what you think!!
Lots of hugs!
David

Muskegon Craft Fair and beyond!

I got back from my Muskegon Craft Fair a couple days ago.  I must admit that it was a huge disappointment.  I was expecting a lot more of customers and people there than there actually were.   On the good news side I have another craft fair this weekend in Greensboro North Carolina.  I am working on trying to get all of my stuff into boxes and get packed and clean out my car which is difficult when i have a lack of motivation to take the time and do that.  I know I will feel better once it happens but it takes a lot of time to work out where everything needs to go.  My plan right now is to have everything i own super organized and able to fit in my van by sometime in mid August.
This week I have not had the time to give away free hugs as I have been trying to get ready for my craft fair in Greensboro and figure out my schedule. 
I have also been watching this crazy awesome mysterious tv show called Pretty Little Liars which has taken up my precious time.  I watched the pilot episode and got super hooked because there are so many mysteries!!!! I want to know what happens!! I also have come up with some theories about how the series is going to end and stuff.  If you want to know, just ask and I will be glad to tell you my crazy theories. 
Hugs!
David

DePaul Orientation!

Monday and Tuesday I had my orientation for DePaul University which I will be attending in the fall.  It was super fun and awesome!! I met a lot of interesting and cool people.  I am really looking forward to being challenged and learn more about everything mostly.  I am really excited about the social aspect and hopefully increasing my free hugging crew and breaking even with my duct tape business.  
I am packing right now to head out to a craft fair in Muskegon, Michigan.  I am going to head out tomorrow after my double header softball games from about 6-8 or so.  The craft fair is from friday at 7 am til sunday at 5 pm... Lots of time for making money from duct tape and giving away free hugs!! Hopefully something like 500+ hugs!! I won't be getting much sleep these next few days until maybe Sunday or Monday but its sure to be a turning point in my professional free hugging endeavors, good marketing and a chance to connect with others and get some feedback.  I will be sure to keep you updated with all of the awesome stuff that is going to be happening in these next few days.  Then after that I am going to try and start free hugging for at least 20 hours a week and see if I can keep that up for a few weeks and see what happens with that. 
I believe this is the start of the most interesting and real good stuff and discovering what it means to be a professional free hugger.  Stay tuned things are about to heat up and hopefully pretty fast.  Peace, love, and happiness,
David

Mega Free Hugging coming up!!

These past few weeks I have been pretty busy free hugging, building up my duct tape stock for my craft fair in Muskegon, Michigan the 20th though the 22nd, finishing up a summer math class at DePaul, and working stripping paint at one of my friends houses to earn some money. This week and next week are going to be super busy too but I am hoping that the week of the 22nd through the 28th I can work up 20 or more hours free hugging.  I am also going to try and work on updating my free hugging schedule calendar on my website and get some more pictures up on my site. 
I am getting a lot more organized and put together so soon I will be able to free hug and spread peace love and happiness more than ever before!!! Maybe I can even get a free gift for people that I hug like something even better than my amazing professional free hugger business cards!!! Have a great day! Hope to see you soon while I am Free Hugging,
David

Free Hugging In my Duct Tape Tux

Today I free hugged in my Duct Tape Tux that I wore for prom.  I was pretty good for the first 10 minutes maybe and then I went and picked up my 200 brochures that I had gotten printed at FedEx but I didn't have room in my duct tape free hugs bag to put all of the brochures in it so it was hard for me to walk around and give away hugs.  I walked around and tried hugging for another 30 minutes for a grand total of 40 minutes in the duct tape tux in 94 degree heat.  I then stopped at a Starbucks and switched clothes for the train ride home.  I came to the conclusion that I need to plan out a time that is more likely sometime in the fallish where the weather isn't as hot to free hug in my tux.  In the summer I will stick with my pink skinny jeans, free hugs t-shirt and duct tape tie.  :D Or it could be sometime in summer.... just not when its this hot...Overall I got a total of 10 hugs in 40 minutes, and met about 10 people so it wasn't a bad outing it was definately a success but I need to do some work on my tux and maybe improve it or work on another tux design.  I'll let you know what happens with that when it happens.  Have a hug filled day! Till next time,
:David

Sorry It has been a long time!!

SO It's been a while since my last post.  I have been doing a lot of planning and working on getting organized so here is a kinda update if you will.  I will tell you about what I have been up to and about Duck Duct Dave and Free Hugs  I will also try and flesh out some of my ideas for what I want to accomplish in the next couple of months.
So this past few weeks and months I have been doing a lot of organizing and trying to cut down on my physical possessions so that I can pack light and have tons of room in my car when I travel around the country and can have space to sleep.  I am trying to get all of my possessions and things that I own into three 25 gallon bins although I think that is a little bit of a stretch because I am working on a duct tape canopy and that will probably take up 2 bins by itself.   I am trying to get all of my duct tape products into one 25 gallon bin and so far so good.... I don't know what will happen in the future when I have more product but I will deal with that later.  So far I have one empty 25 gallon bin, one is filled with all of my clothes and one is full of duct tape merchandise. 
I have been trying to combine my duct tape business (Duck Duct Dave) with Free Hugs a lot more recently.  I haven't sold a lot of products yet but I am confident that in the future and through free hugging I will get the financial support so that I can free hug 40+ hours per week in the future!! I have a craft fair coming up in Muskegon, Michigan July 20-22.  Hopefully that will go well. 
In these next upcoming weeks I hope to free hug a lot more to spread peace, love, and happiness, brightening lives one hug at a time as well as get some more people to my website and etsy account to try and increase my revenue and hopefully break even soon!! :D  I also hope to get all of my duct tape ties up on etsy and make some free hugs souvenier coasters for $2.  Another project is looking for more craft fairs to sell my items (if you know of any be sure to mention them to me!). 
I currently am taking a summer math class at DePaul and working odd jobs in order to get more money to put into my business and tide me over until Duck Duct Dave takes off. 
In other news, I free hugged yesterday and it was awesome!!! Free hugging is the greatest thing ever.  I meet the most amazing and awesome people!! I got 167 hugs in 4 hours of hugging.  Huggers unite!
Lots of hugs!!
:David

Cool New News!

So I have been super busy these past few weeks.  Mostly I have been making duct tape products.  I was getting those ready for a festival in Piketon, Ohio called the Dogwood Festival where I sold lots of awesome stuff.  The awesome thing was I actually sold a lot of free hugs signs and started a Free Hugs Frenzy for the weekend.  It was pretty awesome.  I also got a lot of hugs.  I will be updating my hug count on my website right after I finish this post.
I also rewrote my mission statement to include more free hugs and distinguish that my dream job is a professional free hugger traveling around the country spreading joy and happiness but I need a way to make money so I sell duct tape merchandise.  I also do accept donations as you can see at the top of this page there is a donation button.... you know in case you were wondering.. Here is the new mission statement: 

Duck Duct Dave creates merchandise made of duct tape, including Free Hugs signs, coasters, and flowers as well as accessories such as wallets, ties, hats, bags, and more as a way to fund David's dream of becoming a “Professional Free Hugger”. The goal of the Free Hugs campaign is to transform everyday encounters between strangers with the knowledge that small encounters can have significant effects on another person's life. By focusing on the seemingly insignificant experience of a hug, we try to create positive life-changing moments. Our approach to human interaction reflects the potential of duct tape- an unassuming, overlooked object that can be transformed into something fantastical.

Tell me what you think! 
I also got my website up! I have a tally of how many free hugs I have given since I got it up.  You should go check it out at www.duckductdave.com
I am working on making some free hugs coasters and mini free hugs signs, t-shirts and other free hugs memerobilia that I should get up on Etsy soon.  Be looking out for that too!! Super exciting stuff and more stuff yet to come.  Lots of progress but lots more to do!!
Hugs!!!
David

Today was a Crazy Day.

Today I biked downtown for free hugs with Positive Focus out by the Water Tower Place on Pearson St. and Michigan Ave.  Free hugging was amazing and awesome.  I felt like I was on top of the world.  I got a lot of hugs and actually made a number of pretty cool and interesting friends.  I also made a lot of people's day which was an amazing feeling.  I really need to get back into free hugging more often!!
Next I walked back to my bike and I was sitting there getting ready to go home when I met another couple of people and they were going to Navy Pier and I wasn't doing anything or have any plans so I decided to hang with them and go to Navy Pier with them.  After getting lost a couple of times and running into a couple of dead ends we made our way to Navy Pier.  When we got there I locked up my bike at the entrance and we went to walk around.
I then saw that they had a tie shop so I stopped by and said that I make duct tape tie's and stuff and that I was interested in maybe selling my duct tape ties there or selling them some so that they could resell them or something.  So we walked around Navy Pier for about 45 minutes and when we got back to the entrance I looked around for my bike and it wasn't there!!!!
I was looking around for it and I must have had a very bewildered and crazy look on my face coupled with my bright yellow biking jacket alerted the police and security guards who called me over and asked me if the bike that they had in their possession was mine.  It was.  They then went on to explain that right after I got there a guy cut my bike lock and tried to steal it but the brilliance of the Navy Pier Security Staff and the Chicago Police Department they caught the guy!!! Just as I was going back to look for my bike, my bike was being returned to Navy Pier to be processed and stored.  Luckily I was there and was able to both identify that the bike was mine and be able to fill out the paperwork and return it back home safe and sound.  I was very lucky that they caught the guy and that my bike was returned to me!! I was told that it was very rare for them to catch the thief and it must have had something to do with the fact that I was spreading peace love and happiness though giving away free hugs earlier today.  I should probably get my bike registered with the city of Chicago now... Thank you so much Navy Pier Security and Chicago Police Department!!!

Creation Madness!

Lately I have been working on organizing my room and house as well as trying to get all of my duct tape business stuff under control and organized.  So far I have been making a lot of wallets and ties.  I also revamped my room into a sort of creation studio type place (pictured above).   I am also working on getting all of my products up to sell online so that I hopefully will be able to make some money and then I can spend more time working on giving away free hugs and all the greatness that comes with that.
Now that I am going to be in Chicago for about a month and the weather is getting better I think that I am going to go Free Hugging downtown more often.  I am going to create my duct tape free hugs bag soon that I am going to have when I free hug and it's going to be awesome!! I'll post pictures once it is made.  Just to warn you... its going to be totally epic!
David

Switchfoot, Zappos and More!!

Tuesday the 20th (yesterday) I went to a really awesome Switchfoot concert at La Jolla Play House in San Diego, California.  It was the most interesting and intimate concert that I have ever been to.  The Venue was really awesome.  It had nice cushioned seats and tables for ones belongings and no big huge crowd.  It was a very nice, relaxing and intimate setting with acoustic guitars rather than electric guitars. Throughout the show the band would answer questions about their new album Vice Verses and the creation process that went in to the album.  After the show I waited in line and get them to sign my free hugs shirt and got a picture of me with the band.  All in all one of the best concerts that I have ever been to.

 

After that I was on my way to Las Vegas to take a tour of the Zappos Headquarters located their.  I barely made it due to my sleeping and my check engine light deciding to come on at the most inconvenient time.. I got it all checked out and it was just the fact that I didn't have my gas cover but it gave me a scare and lost me precious time.   I really like the Zappos culture and it has influenced and inspired me with some ideas which I will share in a later post.  Stay tuned for that!! It's some pretty deep stuff. 
Right now I am on my way to the Solar Panel Store to learn some stuff about creating solar power so that sometime in the future I can get all my energy from the sun!! I should get back on the road.  Til next time,
David

Thoughts

Today and yesterday I have been in Starbucks getting organized and stuff for my tour of the Zappos Headquarters and my meet and greet with Switchfoot.  I was supposed to have a craft show today but it got postponed until the 31st of March because of rain.  I can't make that show anymore but I can focus more on trying to build up my online reputation. 
So funny story: Today I was just checking on the buzz light year bag that I made and stuff to make sure that it was ready and sturdy and could hold up to heavy use and I found that the zipper that I had gotten broke and then yeah I cut it off and made it so that it closes with velcro.  It's still pretty rad. 
Being organized is the one most important thing to having a good time I have come to realize.  Like once I get organized I feel like... you know I am going to be more organized and be able to figure out what to do with my time then increase my productivity. 
I have other profound thoughts that I wanted to share and get your feed back on but right now I am too tired to remember them.  Say Good Night David!!
Good Night David.

Spokane Craft Show :D

Saturday and Sunday I had a craft show at Central Valley High School.  It went pretty well.  I made my 60 dollars that I spent to be in the show and made a little bit more than that so it wasn't a lot but it's a start and hopefully with all the business cards I handed out I will be getting more orders soon and in the future.  I have really enjoyed my time here in Spokane Valley chilling with my cousin and my friends that I have here.  It's a pretty chill and awesome place. 
Today I met a pretty cool person who told me about this really cool program project thing called American Bear about the kindness of strangers and awesome cool stuff like that.  Here is a link to their blog: http://beardocumentary.blogspot.com/
It's pretty cool stuff. 
Tomorrow I am headed out to Sacramento to go visit another one of my friends Keith on Sunday.  I will drop off the buzz light year bag that I created for him and chill with him for a little bit then I will be on my way to San Diego for the Switchfoot Concert!!! :D I have to figure out which duct tape tie I am wearing to that concert....
Anywho I am chillin' watching Supernatural with my cousin so I will talk to you later!!
Peace,
David

Spokane, Washington

<p>I got to Spokane yesterday.&#160; 3 more days until my craft show!!! I have no idea what to expect from it so I am super excited as well as nervous.. I think I as ready as I am going to be for this show.. not nearly as ready as I hoped I would be but... oh well.&#160; In other news, my car is a mess and I am super unorganized so that might be why I am not ready for the show.  The next few days I am going to try and get all if my stuff organized and maybe try to get some last minute products made.
Today I am hanging out with a friend that I met the last time that I was here in Spokane.  She is a barista at Starbucks so that makes her automaticly rad.
I like food.  I enjoy Spokane.  I am super unorganized and excited for my craft show.... that's about it for now.  I'll update after my craft show on Saturday and Sunday :)
Hugs,
David

PACKING!!!

Buzz Light Year Back Pack

I leave for Spokane, Washington for my craft show in less than a week and all of my stuff is crazy disorganized from creating duct tape stuff to sell. It is time to start getting everything organized and start to pack my car so that I will be ready to leave and be able to get to Spokane by March 9 to unload my duct tape stuff and get ready for the craft show. I am really excited as well as a little bit stressed trying to get everything ready for my shows. I have no idea how much I am going to sell or make so planning for after these craft shows is hard because I don't know what to expect but hopefully I will achieve some measurable success. In other news, last week Thursday the 24rd I went to see the show "Assisted Living" staring Jordan Stacy and it was a pretty fantastic show. It was well put together and interesting and very thought provoking. I was very glad that I went to see it. I finished a buzz light year bag for one of my friends. A picture of that is at the Beginning of this post.
 So Tell me what you think.
I am going to go organize my stuff now.
Til next time.

There is too much stuffs to do!

I have a craft show coming up on the 10th and 11th of March in Spokane, Washington and another one in Sacramento, California on the 17th of March and mucho mucho things to do in order to get ready for those shows. Number one on my list is increasing my inventory to sell and things. Number two is printing out more business cards and brochures and stuff to promote my business. Number 3 is planning my trip and stuffs. Number 4 is finishing my honors application by March 1. Number 5 is getting business card holders and fun stuff like that for organizing and presentation at my craft shows. Yeah there is more like smaller stuff and everything but yeah basicly that is what I am up to. I also have to finish making a buzz light year bag pretty soon too.. Hopefully by the end of the week. Speaking of my birthday..... (Great segue right) My birthday was pretty nice. I got to watch Supernatural (my favorite tv show) and make duct tape flowers!! Who could ask for a better birthday!! My favorite moment though was after I dropped my sister off at Awana I sat in the car at my house and called one of my friends that I met while I was in Michigan and got to talk to her for a quick 5 minutes and then just sat in the car listening to some country music. It was a great little relaxing experience. That was by far the highlight of my day. Anywho, that's whats up. Til next time, Dave

Happenings

This past week I traveled back to Chicago and am going to stay here and build up my duct tape product for my 2 shows that I have on the west coast. One is in Spokane, Washington and the other is in Sacramento, California. While I am out on the west coast I also plan to go down to Las Vegas, Nevada and take a tour of the Zappos headquarters down there. I am really excited. Then for the month of April I will be in Chicago creating duct tape stuff for craft shows that I will need to find in May. I will also try and do more with my website and stuff in that time too. Random point... If any of you use duct tape, once the rolls are empty and stuff I don't think you should throw them away because you should give them to me so that I can create my duct tape canopy for my craft shows and stuff. I am in need of 300+ empty duct tape rolls for that project. That's a lot of used up duct tape rolls.... so far I have about 12 not including the rolls that I use to make pen holders and flower holders and things. I am also working on a duct tape bag right now for one of my friends which is exciting and challenging. I just got the zipper for that today so I had better get to work making more flowers and a bag and other crazy inventive designs and stuff. Til next time, This is David signing off.

Inspiration and Love

The past few days in Nashville have been amazing! Let me recap. I came down to Nashville and set up duct tape flower making at a Starbucks. I received some interest from other customers and got to talk to and engage with a bunch of interesting people. The next day I went to a Panera Bread in the Green Hills Mall for the the day. There as I was creating duct tape flowers and watching my netflix. I sold some duct tape flowers as I was creating them and got to meet even more amazing awesome people and hand out some business cards and fun stuff like that. Today was by far my favorite. I went to a different Starbucks and set up my duct tape flower making station in the morning. At one point the almost all of the Starbucks employee's were surrounding me asking me questions and interested in what I was doing which was a really cool experience. I also got an email from someone I met letting me know that I impacted their life and it was very humbling and inspiring for me to receive and read that. It's those emails that keep me going when times get tough and inspire me to stay the course and know that what I am doing is the right thing. It really means a lot when someone that I have touched reaches out and touches my life as well. Knowing that I have made a difference in another's life is priceless. It's interesting not knowing what impact you really have on the countless people that you encounter in a day. Getting an email from one of them shows me that there could be more out there that I have impacted without even knowing it! I don't know how well I am articulating what I am trying to say... here are some movie clips from waking life that may clear up what I am trying to say. These clips are very inspirational to me and I hope that they can become and inspiration to you as well. I am interested in hearing your thoughts about these two clips. :D Hope to hear from you soon!! Dave

My Life.

Soooo My life is pretty crazy right now. Let me update you with whats going on. Right now I am in Nashville, Tennessee in order to give away free hugs with some of my friends that I met here last time that I visited. I also am making duct tape flowers and other products in order to get ready for a craft show that I am vending at in Spokane, Washington. I am also trying to find some other craft shows on the west coast to vend in so that my travel to the west coast will be more fruitful. In the mean time I am trying to prepare product and coordinate with my friends so that I can get the most hangout time before traveling to the west coast as well as trying to figure out my money situation. All in all there has been a lot of planning going on in the past couple weeks and tons more planning to go to figure out my schedule for the next year and do all of the crazy exciting things that I want to do before college starts for me at DePaul University in the fall. I am planning on going back to Chicago on the 14th and travel on the 14th because then I won't have to spend the day somewhere awkwardly because it's Valentines day.... Although if I set up shop somewhere with flowers... Oh thanks that's a good idea!! You guys are Genius's!! Yeah so I am going to have to plan that after I finish this... there we go with the planning again. Today I mostly sat in Starbucks planning and organizing my ideas and my life basicly. I still have a lot to do but I got a lot done today and feel a lot more organized. This blog post is a testament to that (being the fact that I am actually updating my blog!!! Novel idea isn't it?) That's what I got for you right now. I'll update you again when there is stuff on my mind. Hopefully soon, Dave

People that one meets at Starbucks are the best!!

You know... I have actually met a lot of people at Starbucks... It's a chill place but today I met this really awesome cool person and we got to talk about like everything and it was really cool! We talked about people watching, duct tape, art, life, food, traveling, free hugs, and awesomeness. Sometimes I am really blown away by the people that I connect with and meet on the road. Not only do they make good stories but they are nice experiences to have. They encourage me that there is hope for the world. I really believe the saying that strangers are friends waiting to happen. I believe that I have met a great friend today at Starbucks. Here's to friends! :D