Okay, my nice, happy, sunny day abruptly came to an end today when a police officer used his valuable crime fighting time to pull me over and give me a ticket. Was I doing 90 in a 35? Was I jumping the curb running over people? Was I texting on my cell phone? Nope.

Could he have been stopping a drug deal? Could he have been ticketing people for running stop signs? Could he have been doing something to serve our community? Yep.

Instead, what was he doing? He was pulling me over for the crime of the century... not wearing my seat belt!! Oh Golly Gee, the humanity! The disgust! The tragedy! The end of the world is upon us! Me, alone, driving in a 25 mile an hour zone did not have my seat belt on. Are you freaking kidding me!!!!

The imbeciles that passed this law need to be shot. Okay, let me get this straight. Illegal for me, alone, my own free will, to drive without a seat belt. BUT! A parent can drive a car with a child in the car and smoke. Hummm? People can smoke in car, with child, but cannot drive without seatbelt. Hummm?

Alright nut jobs, explain that one to me. You goof's say, oh it saves money on medical bills we all have to pay, but guess what? I HAVE INSURANCE! Let's see, more people die from smoking but it is good, less people die from lack of seat belt but it is bad.

You people that are for seat belt laws, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH! I said BLAH, BLAH, BLAH BLAH BLAH. Okay, it's safer to use a seat belt. I AGREE! But it also safer not to fly, not to ride roller coasters, not to scuba dive, not to ride without hands, not to skateboard without knee pads, but damn it, it's my free will if I want to do those things. Accidents happen!!! Get over it. IT'S MY CHOICE NOT YOURS!

If you disagree with me you are wrong. There is no argument that makes it alright for you to pass a law that makes a grown adult do something that has no affect on other drivers. I will continue to drive in town without a seat belt and when pulled over pay my $20 fine. More out of spite than anything else.

So, I guess I'm off to the window tinter to see about tinting my windows which should keep nosy cops from seeing whether I have my seat belt on or not.

My rant is now over.

Labels: Curtis Tucker

Although I love to get out and enjoy the fresh air and the hit the ball on the golf course, I have never had the time to devote much attention to the sport. Getting serious about golf in your mid 40's can be very challenging, especially when all of the people you know have been playing regularly for many years.

My advice to any young person is to take up golf as early as possible. It is a sport that you can play long into your later years and it is a very social game. Many business deals take place on the golf course and many negotiations are concluded after 18 holes.

The first few times I actually remember even being on a golf course were in 1982 at my Junior College in Tonkawa, Oklahoma. There were no greens, no fairways and we pretty much were there to empty a few beer cans. Those were the days of Caddy Shack which might explain my fine golfing attire.

Here are a few shots from my buddy Kyle Shirm (Photographer Extraordinaire). These may very well be documented proof of the first time I ever played golf... enjoy!

Labels: 80's, College, Curtis Tucker, funny moment, Golf, Memories

Labels: Curtis Tucker, video

When asked what I thought about going to an up coming concert I answered with my typical "swell". In a text message, sexy wife's friend thought my response was humorous and called me totally vintage.

I guess I am totally vintage if not down right retro. I wear my Chuck Taylors with white tee and have become very comfortable wearing wool sweater vests.

I collect pedal car memorabilia and dream of a day when I can be riding a long board on the waves of Hawaii. I happen to think the first few seasons of Happy Days were very cool and I own a vintage Sea Green American Stratocaster. I like the old Corvette better than the new and still catch reruns of Leave it to Beaver. I still think Adam West was the grooviest Batman and George Reeves was a cool Superman.

All in all if you asked me if I would liked to have grown up in the 50's, I would probably have to say that would have been pretty "swell".

Labels: Curtis Tucker, Memories

Labels: Daughters, funny moment, Memories

Labels: Daughters, funny moment, Memories

1. Create a video on YouTube, optimize it, link it to your site.
2. Leave comments on blogs related to your site, with a link back to your site
3. Join forums related to your site, leave comments with a link to your site
4. Optimize ALL of your pages for multiple high traffic keywords
5. Email friends and family, ask them to email friends and family
6. Run an ad in your local paper with your web address
7. Put your web address on your car, business cards and a t-shirt
8. Open accounts on social networks linked back to your site
9. Optimize graphics and photos with keyword names and alt tags
10. Start a blog (if you have a website), update it regularly
11. Submit your site to a dozen free directories
12. Announce a free give-a-way on your site
13. Create press releases and post on PR sites
14. Volunteer to give speeches and do interviews about your business
15. Trade links with as many web sites as you can
16. Twitter
17. Write awesome articles, submit to article sites
18. Build more than one web site
19. Add five pages to your site every week
20. Run a Pay-Per-Click campaign, only bid a penny
21. Interview a very popular web celeb
22. Pin up your business card at Starbucks
23. Join local message boards
24. Teach a class on your subject or business
25. Write a newsletter or be a writer for a newsletter
26. Join web rings and traffic sharing sites
27. Post ads on Craig's List and other classifieds
28. Create an ebook to sell on Clickbank
29. Add a RSS subscription button
30. Send your story to The Big Idea on CNBC
31. Get a magazine to do a story about you
32. Buy cheap links on hot sites
33. Pick a memorable domain name
34. Get people to Digg & Stumble Upon you
35. Send funny lists to bloggers to use on their sites
36. Choose high traffic keywords
37. Book a spot on Oprah
38. Create the world's funniest video
39. Run late night radio ads
40. Join associations and clubs
41. Be controversial
42. Create a Cafe Press store, sell stuff
43. Give away a prize on another site
44. Collect a mailing list and email to it
45. Guest post on another blog
46. Create a forum on your site
47. Create a fun Google Group
48. Start a podcast, submit to iTunes
49. Attend conferences and seminars
50. Add nude photos to your site (kidding)
50. Be patient!!

Labels: blogging, Internet, make money

I was a kid in the 70's. As I look back I can't believe how many things didn't even exist back then. Here are just a few of the things we lived without...

1. Wireless remote control
2. Music videos
3. DVD's/Videos/VCR's
4. Portable music players
5. Personal computers
6. Cordless phones
7. Microwave ovens
8. Video games
9. Cell phones
10. Cable TV
11. 24 hour news
12. Airbags
13. Cartoon Network
14. Digital cameras
15. Email
16. Internet
17. iPods
18. Microwave popcorn
19. Space shuttles
20. Disposable cameras

Labels: 70's, Memories

Have you ever wondered what the secret ingredient is to make money online? When you boil it down into a nutshell there is one important factor to making money online and that key is eyeballs. Yep, good old fashioned eyeballs.

I can almost guarantee that you can have the best web site, the best content and the best offers in the world, but without eyeballs you're not going to make one red cent. I have been guruing (not a real word) several people over the past year and they have taken my tips, ideas and strategies and created great little empires. The only problem they are finding is that they are not making much money and the reason is... not enough eyeballs.

Eyeballs is of course just another term for traffic. Even the worst offer in the world will convert to cash with a large amount of eyeballs. With that said I would suggest that you learn how to direct eyeballs to your web sites. I will post 50 ways to add extra eyeballs to your website before the end of the month. Keep checking in and start learning how to drive traffic!!

Labels: Internet, make money

Labels: Daughters, funny moment, Photo, Sisters

With the 4th of July comes hot weather, fireworks, swimming pools, hot dogs and just every now and then a miracle...

My four year old daughter is a collector of things and one to turn a piece of trash into a treasure. She can put an irreplaceable value on the most mundane object or make you believe that a tiny bead is the lost Jewel of the Nile.

Recently this inquisitive daughter of ours went on a sleep-over to one of her very close friends. A friend that has a very peculiar pet. This friend has a dead June bug that she feeds and talks to every day. She takes it food and makes sure it has been resting nicely out in the flower bed. Well, this was an inspiration to our daughter! Only she now needed her own dead bug to love and to cherish.

When she arrived home she came running into my studio with a pink cup (the only color in the universe according to her). Inside that plastic, tattered old cup was her new pet, one dead roly-poly. She proudly announce that she had named her little dead doodle bug Lolly Pop.

For a couple of days she was on a mission to comfort and bring joy to the tiny dead bug. She fed it a Starburst candy and put the covered cup outside for Lolly Pop to get some fresh air. We of course played along with her fantasy and talked to Lolly Pop and would help make sure Lolly Pop was still inside the cup.

On the night of the 4th, Lolly Pop was given the special privilege of attending our cookout with several couples and their children. During the evening little Lolly Pop was carried from room to room so that she could enjoy the festivities from her special little cup. I was even requested to turn Lolly Pop over at one point because she just kept laying there on her back. As I flipped Lolly over there was no doubt in my mind that she was well past room temperature and very dead.

As the evening came to a close and we were all giving our good-byes an accident occurred and the pink cup was knocked from our daughters hand. Like a slow motion movie I watched in horror as Lolly and the cup now full of dirt, leaves and twigs hit the floor. The mess went everywhere and our four year old let out a scream crying for poor Lolly. We quickly secured the area and began sifting through the dirt and mess on the floor.

As it started to become apparent that Lolly was not going to be found I overheard the kids talking about a prior spill downstairs and began to think that Lolly had been lost during that spill. My daughter was crying and pleading for everyone to find Lolly. Then it happened, a miracle like no other, something I would not have believed had I not seen it with my own two eyes. There, about one foot away, was Lolly Pop on her back with legs kicking. Yes, legs kicking, this roly-poly was ALIVE!!

They say my mouth dropped and my eye bugged out because as sure as I'm typing this I just knew that bug had been dead for the last two days. My daughter screamed with delight and snatched up Lolly along with all of the other mess from the floor. The world had been set right, my daughter had her bug and I had seen a miracle.

As most of the people filed out of the house a conversation sprang up about what had just happened. I reiterated the fact that the roly-poly had been dead only an hour before. It was then that our friend, the veterinarian, announced that during the confusion he had run outside and unbelievably stumbled upon a larger but live roly-poly. He quickly brought it back inside and tossed it near the mess on the floor.

I was in awe. I couldn't believe how quickly he went into action and saved the day. My daughter really had no clue but she did mention that Lolly had gained a little weight. It's a joy to observe the imagination of children, but also a joy to see the creativity of great friends.

Labels: Daughters, Fun Events, funny moment

I don't want to sway or influence my daughters into believing a certain political view. I think each young person will know which party politics they most adhere to and which issues are most important to them. I also don't want anyone to read this post and get turned off because they do not agree with my politics. They are what they are.

With that said, I do want my girls to know what I believe in and how I view American politics.

I am a registered Republican and have been since I could vote. I've voted for the Republican candidate in every presidential election since I could vote. I did vote for a Democratic governor in Oklahoma in our last election. I think Jimmy Carter was the worst president in my lifetime and Ronald Reagan was the best.

I'm a soft core conservative. I believe in less government, less hand outs, much lower taxes, the right to own a gun and I feel abortion should not be used as birth control. I believe in a strong military and the right to destroy any enemy that indicates they mean to do any American harm.

I do not believe humans can control the temperature of the earth, thus global warming is caused by natural occurrences and is now being used by Liberals to sway elections. I believe in the death penalty and do not care if the criminal suffers during the execution.

I believe people should take more responsibility for themselves and if they can't, churches and communities should do more to help. I do not believe the rich should pay 1% more in taxes than anyone else in this country and I believe every person should pay some sort of tax. I believe social security is broken and should be eliminated. The health care system is also broken. Independent companies need to create fair health care services that will put the large, unethical providers out of business.

I believe no individual should be discriminated against but do not believe minority groups should be able to set agendas effecting the majority of Americans. I would rather pass a pot smoker on the road than a drunk. I believe illegals should be stopped from entering our country and the ones that are here already should be given a short time period to learn English, fill out an application for citizenship and pay a fine for entering our country illegally. If they do not, they should be deported immediately. I believe English should be the official language of the United States and anyone serving the public should know how to speak it.

I believe most politicians will bend the truth, change their stances and hide the facts to get themselves elected. I believe government is so big it cannot even control itself. I believe the tax system sucks and there should be a national sales tax.

In the 2008 election I do not have a candidate I would do back flips for. I absolutely do not "get" the whole Obama thing. He's a great, young, articulate speaker but he has no experience or history to base his ideas of change on. I would not hire him to be the CEO of my Fortune 500 company, would not pick him as the troop leader of my Boy Scout pack, would not choose him to speak at an entrepreneurial convention and do not feel he has a solid plan that will be able to change one thing in Washington. Every politician says they are going to change government and then fours years later the next guy is saying how bad the last guy was and now he's going to change everything. Not much ever changes, nor will it, until there is a huge change in the governmental process.

I think McCain can do a better job but I know there are better candidates out there. I think he is a war hero and I trust his insights into protecting our nation. I think McCain has the most experience to deal with world situations and will not hesitate to protect our country if needed.

Ideally I think average citizens should be able to run for office and should serve one or two terms and then go back to the private sector. Ironically I think that is what our fore fathers had in mind. Rich, life long politicians have ruined government and divided the country into red and blue states.

Anyway, those are my political views on things. Nothing is set in stone and I am always open to new ideas.

Labels: Curtis Tucker, politics

Being the hip dad that I am I thought I would post my iPod play list as of July 2008. Also being a techno geek, Internet guru of sorts, I have a fine collection of iPods. I believe there are 10 iPods in our house at the moment.

Some of these tunes might surprise a few of you knowing that I am a 70's rock fan and ex-rocker. There's a story behind most all of the songs on this list. This is by no means a list of my favorite songs, just what is on my iPod at the moment. But each one reminds of a time period in my life, an event or just a feeling I get when I hear the song. Soooo, that being said, here are my top tunes 'o the day...

1. Love You 'Till the End - The Pogues
2. Time of Your Life - Greenday
3. Against All Odds - Phil Collins
4. Jurassic Park Theme - John Williams
5. One Headlight - Wallflowers
6. Go Your Own Way - Fleetwood Mac
7. I Melt With You - SUGARCULT
8. General Attitude - Collective Soul
9. Sweet Child Of Mine - Sheryl Crow
10. If You Leave - OMD
11. I Was Wrong - Social Distortion
12. The Wake-Up Bomb - R.E.M.
13. You Are The Music In Me (Sharpay Version) - High School Musical Cast
14. I Will Survive - Cake
15. Stand By Me - Ben E. King
16. Shame on You - Indigo Girls
17. More Time - Needtobreathe
18. U + Ur Hand - P!nk
19. Soak Up The Sun - Sheryl Crow
20. Bohemian Like You - The Dandy Warhols
21. Happy Days Theme - TV 70's & 80's
22. I melt for you - Modern English
23. December, 1963 (Oh What a Night!) - Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons
24. Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O'Connor
25. Don't Listen to the Radio - The Vines
26. Feeling That Way - Journey
27. Who Knew - P!nk
28. Goodbye Girl - David Gates
29. Come Clean - Hilary Duff
30. Just Like Heaven - The Cure
31. Hey Ya! - OutKast
32. Love Me Like You - The Magic Numbers
33. Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield
34. Don't You Forget About Me - Simple Minds
35. Suspicious Minds - Dwight Yoakum
36. Thank You for Being a Friend - Andrew Gold
37. Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis
38. Take Your Mama - Scissor Sisters
39. Keep Pushin' - REO Speedwagon
40. Fox On The Run - Sweet
41. Our Lives - The Calling
42. We Will Rock You - Queen
43. Girlfriend - Mathew Sweet
44. Panama - Van Halen
45. If I Ever Leave This World Alive - Flogging Molly
46. Shake It - Metro Station
47. Last Train Home - Ryan Star
48. Hollywood - Collective Soul
49. Laid - James
50. Welcome to My Life - Simple Plan

Labels: Curtis Tucker, Memories, music

Labels: blogging, Curtis Tucker, video

Hi Guys!

Is anyone seeing PSA's over there to the right where my Google ads should be? For 24 hours now I have had that PSA show up just on my homepage. I've gone through every word looking for trigger words and changed any that I thought might be triggering it.

If you are an AdSense hound and can help me out take a look and see if you can figure out why I'm getting PSA's on this page only.

Thanks for da help!!

P.S. They may have finally disappeared.
P.S.S. They came back... I just removed the words w-i-c-k-e-d, b-i-g-f-o-o-t and O-J. Let me know if you still see PSA's.

Labels: Internet

I've had a well known community blog going for a few years now but just recently started this personal type daddy blogging thing. I'm finding that is a bit different looking for ideas about yourself and trying to walk a line between telling about yourself but not divulging too much.

Doing research on personal blogs I ran across what must be the most popular mommy blog out there. It is simply called Dooce. Dooce is actually Heather B. Armstrong, an individual that didn't start out to create a blogging empire and huge following but over time has done so.

She's funny, creative and bit on the edge at times. She likes to push buttons and in doing so has created somewhat of a cult readership. The reason I posted about her today is that I think she has done something pretty impressive.

Dooce has offered to give-a-way several Nintendo Wii machines for just leaving a comment on her blog. That is not the impressive part, the impressive part is that in two days she has around 40,000 comments! I understand that many people are leaving multiple comments but this is still a very impressive amount of participation.

If you are looking to become a professional blogger I highly recommend doing a quick study on Dooce. She currently has the magic touch and anything that might rub off can only do you some good. Check out her set up and quickly enter the drawing - Dooce.com.

Labels: blogging

Labels: Cartooning, make money

I was just emailing with one of my new readers and he brought up something I have not eluded to yet. As of today, I do not use any form on PPC ads, AdWords or pay for any other form of advertising. That is not to say that I wouldn't try some of those forms of traffic building in the future. I'll let you know when I use any form of paid advertising.

All of my traffic and income is based on natural SEO. That means I do not spend a dime on advertising, zip, zilch, nada. My traffic comes from my natural rankings in the search engines. My only reoccurring costs are for domain names and web hosting.

My web pages had over 5.8 million page views in 2007 and I aim to shatter that number in 2008. I have not optimized my sites very well for advertising and have relied heavily on Google Ads. This year I am trying new forms of income generation and I will share with you what has worked best for me.

I would guess 90% of my traffic is generated by Google. Another goal in 2008 is to create a large amount of new traffic using viral marketing. More about that later.

Check back and I will soon write some posts on how I can create that amount of traffic without spending a dime.

Labels: blogging, Internet, make money

There are many days I wonder why I'm always running behind and why I don't feel like I get anything accomplished. I'm going to log one day in the life of a stay-at-home dad and Internet guy and show you how difficult it can be working from home. (Both of my daughters are at home because it is summer)

Monday, June 30, 2008
8 a.m. - 9 a.m.
Phone rings. My Mom Granny, my assistant webmaster called. She says the emails she is sending are getting rejected by my server. My youngest daughter wants me to tie a bow in her ribbon. I try to send myself an email and it does not work. I spend 10 minutes filling out tickets to find out why that email is not working.

Start reading the emails that are coming through. Bandwidth is running out on one of my sites. Go up bandwidth limit. Oldest daughter wants me to move step stairs so she can play with doll house. Another email says one clients inbox is full. I go online to up his limit so he can get his email. Both daughters ask me to get batteries for Cinderella Barbie Pumpkin Carriage.

Finish reading emails. Freelance client needs to get paid. Go to PayPal and pay client. One hour gone - money making work accomplished = 0.

9 a.m. - 10 a.m.
Finally got to work on a sketch. Finished it and emailed proof to client. Started next sketch. Updated a few blogs real quick. Youngest daughter hungry, wants a snack. Work accomplished = .75 hours!!

10 a.m. - 11 a.m.
Got the girls a snack. I ate a few peanuts. Answered a few emails. Worked on another sketch. Email now fixed. Sent another proof. Talked to girls about getting ready. Searched for character ideas online. Work accomplished = .75 hours!!

11 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Worked on logos. Searched for ideas online. Answered an email. Ignored a phone call, no message. Had the girls brush hair and finish getting ready. Work accomplished = .75 hours!

12 p.m. - 1 p.m.
Left the house. The girls and I ran to the post office. Checked PO Box. Deposited checks at the bank. Stopped for lunch. Groovy Mom joined us for lunch.

1 p.m. - 2 p.m.
Back to the home office about 1:15. My Mom Granny dropped off some stuff for a blog. Girls fought over the computer and got kicked out of the studio. Worked on late designs. My Mom Granny called with a question on blog labels. Work accomplished = .75 hours.

2 p.m. - 3 p.m.
Worked on a few assorted logos. Girls popped in and out to ask questions. Actually got 1 hour of work done.

3 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Got the girls a snack. Answered a few more emails. Sent another proof. Checked some stats online. Money making work accomplished = .5 hours.

4 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Changed clothes. Had the girls change. Answered a few quotes. Had to wake youngest daughter up. Took girls for swimming lessons at 4:30. Hit tennis balls while waiting. No work accomplished.

5 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Out of the studio.

9 p.m. - 12 p.m.
Surfed the web for information and material. Answered emails. Watched TV while surfing. Put the girls to bed. Inked a logo. Left comments on a few blogs. Checked stats. Headed for bed after midnight. Money making work accomplished = 2.5 hours.

Labels: Curtis Tucker, Work at Home