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!!!