The year was 1993 and I was portraying Michael Jackson at a Halloween party. During the festivities each guest at the party was asked to lie in the casket for a photo. Was this me foretelling the eventual death of Michael Jackson in 2009?

How could I know in 1993 that he was going to die 16 years later? If this photo had been released sooner could Michael have been saved? There are many questions left to be answered. Why did I choose to be MJ that Halloween? Why was there a coffin at the party? Why did I get into the coffin as Michael Jackson? Why am I wearing a single white glove?

We may never know the answers to these questions so the mystery remains. Did a young cartoonist in central Oklahoma know something that the rest of the world did not? How could I know that Michael would eventually die while others were completely oblivious?

Now I don't claim to be psychic but the facts do speak for themselves. I understand how shocking this photo may be to many MJ fans. Please believe me when I say this is not a TMZ photo of Michael Jackson today. It is a photo of me in 1993. I know it is hard to tell but as you can see my skin is darker which is proof that I was imitating an earlier version of Michael.

This could also explain my obsession with zombie movies. Did Thriller effect me so deeply that I am now addicted to the zombie genre? Am I destined to become a zombie? I once saw Vincent Price in Stillwater while I was attending school at OSU. I'll leave you with the words he told us live during his talk...

Darkness falls across the land
The midnight hour is close at hand
Creatures crawl in search of blood
To terrorize y'alls neighborhood

The foulest stench is in the air
The funk of forty thousand years
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb
Are closing in to seal your doom

And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the thriller...

Disclaimer: This post is meant to be a light hearted look at the media frenzy over the death of Michael Jackson. This photo is not meant to be morbid or disrespectful to the loss of Michael Jackson. In fact this is my tribute to MJ. He was a bit twisted but a great performer. RIP Michael Jackson.

Labels: 90's, funny moment, Halloween, Photo

News 9 did a story on the filming of "The Killer Inside Me", tonight on their 6 o'clock newscast. I was asked if they could use a few of my photos for the story.

This video was shot off of the TV and is a little stretched..

Labels: Curtis Tucker, Enid, Fun Events, funny moment, Photo, Sneakers

I was able to spend some valuable daddy/daughter time last weekend with my youngest. Hot Wife and oldest daughter left early for Tulsa to attend a regional dance competition. Youngest daughter and I drove to Tulsa together later that morning and headed straight to PF Chang's for lunch.

After a great lunch we went on a shopping spree around Utica Square searching for some cologne. We were unable to find the fragrance we were searching for but we were told that we might find it at Saks. I told my daughter that we would head over there after shopping at a few other stores.

As the morning wore on my daughter reminded that we needed to find the fragrance. She stated very knowingly, "Daddy, we need to go to bags." I looked at her very puzzled and asked her to repeat herself. She said, "We need to go to bags." I asked why we would need to go to bags and also asked what it was. She explained, "The place with the fragrance!" It then struck me that she was calling Saks, bags.

Of course I cracked up and she explained to me that sacks and bags were the same thing. We had a great time shopping and later met Hot Wife and oldest daughter for the dance competition. Oldest daughter did great and her team won a trophy and she received two ribbons. All in all it was a great weekend and a fun time with our daughters.

Labels: Daughters, Family, funny moment

Yesterday was April Fool's Day, a day I pretty much look forward to every year. I want to teach my girls to be the best April Fooler's around, but it seems a little early to be tricking them at 5 and 7 years old.

Once they were up and running around the house I did the proverbial "spider on your arm trick", which they of course did not believe since I had prepared them the day before for such trickery. I pretty much let them off the hook as I prepared to tackle bigger fish.

Facebook seemed like a good place to pull an April Fool's prank, so I thought really hard about what I could do that might be plausible. I don't know where it came from but it struck me that I could update my Facebook account from my iPhone and people might think I was where ever I said I was. So, I posted that I was stuck in the elevator in one of our tallest buildings.

I wasn't sure if I could pull this off and make it believable until the responses started coming in. Here's pretty much how it went:

Curtis D. Tucker is actually stuck in an elevator on the 8th floor of Continental South! The Otis guy is supposedly on the way... grrrrr!

Curtis D. Tucker at 8:43am April 1
I hear banging. Can someone bring donuts?

Friend #1 at 8:45am April 1
I was stuck in the elevator YEARS ago!!
Fun times!!!

Friend #2 at 8:49am April 1
Stephanie was stuck in that same elevator when she was 9 months pregnant. Chlosterphobic (sp.) & pregnant- bad combintation!

Friend #3 at 8:51am April 1
I've been stuck in an elevator for YEARS... and it keeps going down and down....

Curtis D. Tucker at 8:54am April 1
Lights just went out. Gotta love the iPhone flashlight!

Friend #4 at 9:11am April 1
Yikes - I hate elevators! Laura & I got stuck in one at the medical plaza building by St Marys & it took L a while to recover!

Curtis D. Tucker at 9:30am April 1
Okay, now I've got to go potty. This is not looking good. I think the other guy just farted.

Friend #1 at 9:43am April 1
How many "friends" are with you?

Curtis D. Tucker at 9:43am April 1
Does anyone know Bunker Hunt? He sounds rich and keeps sayings millions on the phone.

Friend #4 at 9:46am April 1
Are you STILL stuck??

Curtis D. Tucker at 10:03am April 1
Still stuck. Just Bunker and I. They can't get the doors open enough to crawl out. Now they're yelling something..

Friend #5 at 10:52am April 1
I just don't know Curtis, You're stuff is breaking and now you're stuck in a box. Just what have you been up to?

Curtis D. Tucker at 11:17am April 1
Looks like we're crawling out the roof...

Friend #6 at 11:18am April 1
ha glad to hear it ! I was just getting on to tell you that you jenxed us! Heating element on our dryer went out last night.Grrrr stop sharing the love, would ya?! Hope you get out soon! Record a dance for YouTube while you wait. :)

Curtis D. Tucker at 11:47am April 1
Have you ever stood on top of an elevator? Bunker is trying to climb the cable. Guess I better give him a boost.

Friend #5 at 11:50am April 1
ok, is this an april fools joke?

Friend #5 at 11:51am April 1
i think bunker hunt might be an oil exec....

Friend #4 at 11:55am April 1
It just occurred to me that your story is just a very elaborate
April Fools joke, very clever Tucker - you got us all sucked into your saga....

Curtis D. Tucker at 11:56am April 1
I'm free! I'm free! Thank God I'm free! Thanks for playing along.

Friend #5 at 11:58am April 1
tell bunker hello

Friend #7 at 1:00pm April 1
Glad you are "out". I was just going to call Darrell to come rescue you in his big red truck.

Labels: April Fool's, Fun Events, funny moment

As a family we've been on several vacations and out of town weekends. A few weeks ago we stayed at one of our favorite downtown OKC hotels. I was remembering back several months when we had stayed there and I had noticed two young kids looking out the window of the hotel across the street.

These two kids had binoculars and they were scanning our hotel for open windows. They caught sight of me just about the same time I spotted them. I could see them laughing and talking to each other. I waved and they waved back. You could tell they were pretty happy that they had connected with someone across the way.

Jump forward a few months and I found myself looking out at that same hotel again. I wasn't sure what I was expecting to see across the street but it sure wasn't what I saw. There standing at the wide open window was this nude dude! He was as naked as a jay bird and was putting on his deodorant.

I started cracking up and my family ran to the window to see what I was laughing about. About that time he came back to the window and did a few stretching moves. Luckily my daughters couldn't find him in all of the dozens of windows.

After a few minutes he disappeared and my hot wife spotted an old fat dude sticking his ugly mug out of another window. He too, was unclothed. What a hoot!

The lesson to be learned is to watch what you do in your hotel room while the window is open. You never know who might be watching.

Labels: Family, funny moment, Road Trips

Have you ever re-gifted? Well, I'm re-posting. This was originally from June of '08 but I thought any new readers might get a kick out of it.

This post is not about the spam you sneak in into your kids lunch when they least expect it. You know, the mystery pink meat substance that we all had to eat once or twice while growing up in the 70's. This post is about the even nastier spam you reluctantly allow to fill your inbox.

As much as we all hate to get electronic spam, I may have found that there are actually a few redeeming values to spam. I know, I know, you can't believe what you are reading. Take a deep breath and see if you might not just agree with me.

Email spam is good because:

1. People without friends that would otherwise never receive an email are now guaranteed to receive an abundance of mail every day!
2. Should you ever need your manly organ enlarged you will know exactly who to contact!
3. We can all say that we've won the UK Lottery!! 167 times in one month.
4. Three names: Nandy Gaskins, Lagina Welty and Dorcas Dull. Should you ever need a baby name you can just use the sender name from your latest spam. These are the last three senders names on three of my latest spams.
5. If you ever need $72,000,000 from a bank in Ghana you know where to get it.
6. You're always sure to get a file full of hysterical cartoons.
7. You can easily kill off 7 people by not forwarding the latest "must forward or else" chain email.
8. You can eliminate friends you don't like by not answering the 20 question chain email and forwarding it back to them and 20 other friends.
9. Deleting spam gives you 20 minutes of break time at work.
10. Deleting spam quickly increases your eye/hand coordination.
11. It gives you something to forward to people you don't like.
12. Has created an entirely new industry in spam prevention.
13. Just getting to say the word spam is kinda fun.
14. You don't have to eat email spam!!!!

That's about it. Please copy and paste this post into an email and forward it to 10 of your closest friends within 1 hour. If you don't you'll have bad luck for 7 days, if you do, you will win an unexpected prize. Be sure to link back to this blog also... curtistucker.com. That is all.

Labels: funny moment, Internet

Well, history was made tonight. Our five-year-old ate her first sandwich. Yes, that's right, we forced our child to eat a plain ham sandwich. I know you're thinking we're such bad parents and kids should not be forced to eat things they do not like. Unlike the days when we were kids.

The list of things that she won't eat include sandwich's, hamburgers, pizza, ketchup, BBQ sauce and a few other grossly horrific food items. We've let her get by with this for some time now because she does eat carrots, sweet potatoes and most other foods.

Tonight's historic event was followed by my speech about what I had to eat as a kid. If you grew up in the 70's you might remember a few of these. The absolute worst was liver! You know the liver that looked like a steak. I think that might have been a food I refused to eat a time or two. When I did eat it I was holding my nose, literally, and would fill my mouth with some liquid to get it down. If today's kids only knew!

Other foods of contention included hominy. What in the heck is hominy anyway? Then there were the oldies but goodies like broccoli, brussel sprouts, spinach and lima beans. Yes, lima beans! Who eats lima beans? What about spam? Are your kids eating spam? On the holidays we had to eat unearthly things like black eyed peas and stuffing.

On the other hand, I also remember the great things I ate as a kid. Who didn't grow up on fried bologna sandwiches, Spaghettios, mac and cheese and frozen pizza?

My how the times have changed. So, when my girls grow up and read this many years from now, remember that mom and dad weren't so bad after all.

Labels: 70's, Daughters, Dining, funny moment, Memories, Parenting

Labels: funny moment

It's my sister's 47th birthday and she is now officially older than me. You see we've both been 46 years old for the last 23 days. My sister and I were both born in 1962 and we are not twins. Huh?

My sister was born in January and I came along later that year in December. Growing up, many people thought we were twins. We even looked a bit alike at a very young age (see photo below).

Luckily we outgrew the look alike thing and I ended up with the good looking gene while she ended up with the mediocre gene. Sad but true.

My sister and I grew up in the 70's when there really wasn't anything to do. No video games, no iPod, no cable and no VCR. My only hope to find adventure was to terrorize my sister.

My favorite terror plot was taking the talk thingy out of here phone. In those days we had to hold a receiver that was connected to the phone by a cord. You could unscrew the receiver and remover the sound making device. My sister would run into her room and answer her phone only to hear the person on the other end repeatedly say, "Hello? Hello?" I would normally be under her bed laughing my butt off.

Listening under the bed with an old cassette tape recorder was another fun activity. My best friend and I would sneak under the bed and listen to all of her boring phone conversations. We would usually hear something like this, "Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? You've got to be kidding me? Are you kidding me?"

Eventually we would get bored and spring out from under the bed, leaving my sister screaming for mom at the top of her lungs. We had many more good times pulling pranks on my sister which I will detail later. I just want to end this post by saying happy birthday sis and beware, there might be Saran Wrap stretched over the toilet seat next time you sit down!

Labels: 70's, Family, funny moment, Memories, Photo, Sisters

I re-post this in honor of the King's birthday...

I remember back in the 70's when my sister and I would stay up late on the weekends and watch the Friday or Saturday night late movies. In those days there were only 3 major TV stations and no VCR's or DVD players. Ultimately there would always be an Elvis movie rerun. As bad as the acting was, they still remind me of my youth and I get a kick out seeing them from time to time.

I actually remember the day Elvis died 31 years ago. We lived in a rent house on south Johnson street in Enid and my mom's best friend called. She told me to tell my mom that Elvis had died. I don't think I really thought that much of it because by that time Elvis had faded from the spotlight.

Later in life I made a trek to Graceland on my way to the Atlanta Summer Olympics. For some reason I felt the need to find a tiny memento of the King. On the tour there were signs posted and cameras watching every step so it wasn't like I could just nab a book or something from his library. I would have taken a light bulb from a lamp if I could have reached one. Everything was kept pretty much out of arms reach.

As the tour began to wind down I knew my chances were running out to leave with a part of Elvis history. That's about when I saw a glimmer of hope. It was the grooviest, greenest, lushest shag carpet I had ever seen! It was like there was a mile of it covering the famous jungle room. I'll have you know that green is my favorite color and I wanted some of that green shag carpet!

Although there was a rope keeping me away from my lush, green pasture I quickly noticed that the carpet actually went all the way up the walls! Wow! What luck. As the tour exited the jungle room area, I plucked one single strand of green shag carpet from one of the jungle room walls.

I still have that strand today and if you feel the need to be close to Elvis, just give me a call and we'll break it out and watch Jail House Rock together.

Labels: 70's, Curtis Tucker, funny moment, Memories, Olympics

Okay, I'm going to take 2009 by the %#@!'s and get some big things accomplished. Here's a small list of my 2009 New Years Resolutions:

1. Bring back Space Food Sticks. (Am I the only one that misses them?)
2. Play my Fender Stratocaster at least four times this year.
3. Win one doubles match in tennis. (Sheesh already!)
4. Stop buying every new iPod (Except the rumored iTouch large screen)
5. Spend more time giving noogies to my girls. (Yesssssssss!)
6. Take my Hot Wife to Kansas City. (Sweet!)
7. Stop watching Brett Michaels find a chick (After the bus tour of course)
8. Get my basal cell carcinoma mascot removed from my head.
9. Sell more greeting cards. (Gosh! Buy some cards why don't ya!)
10. Lose 4.5 pounds. (Because I need to, that's why!)
11. Have a rational conversation with a democrat. (Are you freakin kiddin me?)
12. Ride my bike more. (And take it off some sweet jumps.)
13. Watch Napoleon Dynamite twenty more times. (Heck, yes I will.)
14. More to come...

Labels: funny moment, resolutions

Our happy home has been invaded by a Christmas elf. This small elf has been keeping tabs on two very worried little girls. You see, this so called "Elf on the Shelf", sits high atop the room and watches every move the girls make.

He's a magic elf and reports back to Santa Claus every night. If the girls have been good, he tells Santa and returns every night only to be found in a different spot every morning. The elf came with a book that explains the entire process. According to the book the girls are to name the elf and are never supposed to touch him. If touched by a child, he could lose his powers.

Not touching a brand new, shiny red elf when you've just discovered him is almost more than a five and six year old can stand. Especially a five year old. After hearing the rules and getting over the shock that he is not to be touched, the girls went about naming their personal elf. After much discussion his name is now Tiny Kriddles.

The routine goes something like this... the girls go to bed knowing where Tiny Kriddles is, they wake up in the morning full of wonderment. Our five year old is usually the first to hop out of bed and begin the adventure of finding Tiny Kriddles. She'll search high and low looking under things and checking every room.

Once she spots Tiny she goes into full cackle mode and starts pointing at him just like a bird dog. She'll laugh and scream and holler for the closest person to come running to see just where she has found Tiny. All in all this has been fun for the girls and has kept them in check just a smidge more than they might have been.

I believe Hallmark might be the spot to get your very own Elf on the Shelf. If nothing else, it sure is entertaining watching the girls search for Tiny Kriddles every morning.

Learn more. Happy Holidays!

Labels: Christmas, Daughters, Fun Events, funny moment

Hot Wife and I attended our first murder mystery dinner with the tennis crew and a few other close couples. The event was a celebration of a couple of birthdays.

We each received an invitation with our names and a description of our characters. The setting of the party was a country club awards dinner loosly based on Caddy Shack. We had to attend the dinner in character. I was picked as the dainty Lee Wong, an unlucky gambler that swings both ways, if you know what I mean. Have you picked me out of the crowd?

The evening began with a stretch limo ride around town where we all got our first clues and introduced ourselves. After a few drinks we made a pit stop to see one of the tennis crew couples that was unable to attend. From there it was back to the dinner and more clues.

We all enjoyed a great time and made our guesses as to who the killer was. The killer turned out to be Mow, the assistant grounds keeper. If you get a chance to attend a murder mystery I would suggest you do it.

Thanks to Sugar Rush in Enid for doing a great job.

Labels: Dining, Fun Events, funny moment, Photo

Labels: Daughters, Fun Events, funny moment, Halloween, Hot Wife, Memories, Photo, Sisters

I'm not sure if I should be posting this or not. I'm going to go ahead just because of the humor factor.

We are a family not known for eating at home very often. There are a half dozen restaurants in town that not only know us by name but know our orders before we sit down. Because of this habit we rarely eat at home and even rarer yet, hot wife cooks something. When we do eat at home it is usually cereal, microwave pancakes or mac and cheese.

Hot wife threw a loop in the household today by firing up the crock pot. It was full of pot roast and vegetables. The house very quickly became filled with the smell of home cookin! In most homes that would bring memories of hot meals and family dinners. In our house it brought a bit of confusion.

I had been home with youngest daughter while she played with the Wii. Oldest daughter arrived home from dance and I met her at the door. The first thing she noticed was the smell. She asked, "What's that?" With a light laugh I told her mommy was cooking dinner. She looked confused and asked, "Who's coming over?" I laughed a little harder and said that just because mommy was cooking it didn't mean someone was coming over.

The funny moment came when youngest daughter said, "Wow, I thought that smell was my feet."

Labels: Daughters, Dining, funny moment

A few weeks back we had a big get together in OKC with the couples in our tennis crew. We did a night on the town in Bricktown and spent time at a bowling restaurant. The next morning I opened our window at the downtown hotel and started taking a few photos of the area with my iPhone.

As I was taking pictures and spying on the people walking down below I noticed I, myself, was being watched. I spotted two kids across the street in the adjacent hotel very high up. They looked like a brother and sister pair and were also spying on the people down below. They had an advantage I did not, they had binoculars! As soon as I noticed that they had spotted me I waved. You could tell they were thrilled and both waved back and passed the binoculars back and forth.

The lesson, watch what you do in your hotel room with a curtain open. You just never know who might be watching.

Labels: funny moment, Memories, Road Trips

The cooler weather has brought falling leaves, gray skies and the need for warmer surroundings. Many seniors are packing up their belongings and heading south for the winter. The kids are digging coats out of the closet and I'm starting to dust off my blue jeans in preparation of exchanging them for my coveted shorts.

The squirrels are hiding acorns in our yard and to my recent surprise, a neighborly mouse decided to take up residency in our laundry room. My hot wife was zipping through the living room just days ago when she spotted the fast moving varmint scurrying across the floor heading to the laundry room. Once there, he planted himself behind the washer and began to set up his new little bachelor pad.

My hot wife was not having any part of a furry little rat like creature running about the house. On day one I was not to worried. I actually hoped the little guy would leave by the same hole he crawled in through. Unfortunately, late that night under the cover of darkness, he ventured deep into our house somehow finding his way to our bedroom.

Let's just say that the sound of a disease infested mouse running around our bedroom at 3 a.m. in the morning was not the comfort I was looking for. Hot wife practically crawled on top of me (which was not all that bad) and barely slept the rest of the night. Of course it was my duty as man of the house to rid our happy home of this tiny invader.

I set out on day two to buy mouse traps. Mouse traps. You know, those funny wooden things with the hair trigger metal kill bar. I grabbed two traps and headed home knowing it would only be hours and our guest would be gone.

I've set traps before and quickly lathered a bit of peanut butter on the yellow kill spot. I very carefully pulled the kill bar back and set the spring. I was now at the crucial point of letting the kill bar go without it whacking the snot out of my finger. Like the Flash, I let go really fast and grabbed the wooden part of the trap. Mission accomplished. This was going to be a cake walk.

I very, very slowly lowered the trap next to the washing machine and oh so carefully pushed it back with a broom handle. There it was, ready to snap the neck of any critter brave enough to take the bait. I left the trap and the room satisfied that I had done my job.

Later in the day I tiptoed back into the laundry room to eye my catch. As I peaked around the corner of the washer there it was... a very empty mouse trap. Not only was there not a mouse, there wasn't a spec of peanut butter. That little booger had licked the mouse trap clean and left the kill bar locked in its kill position.

I grabbed my broom handle and used it to drag the mousetrap back into the open. This ritual went on through the end of day two and carried over to day three. Each time I would load the trap with peanut butter and my new compadre would lick it clean. I even tried setting two traps next to each other so he would have to go over one to get the goods off the second one. Of course he did this in no time flat actually setting off the first trap to get it out of his way. I began to get the idea that these traps were wound a little to tight. At one point I thumped the trap repeatedly and it never triggered the kill bar. Okay, so these traps were created for 30 pound rats.

At least I knew where the mouse was and we had him secluded to the laundry area. Hot wife got a bit tired of my enjoyment in feeding the mouse so she ran out and bought some new traps. The new traps had space age looking hoods on them and required the putting of the peanut butter on the roof of the hood. Well, half way through day four Mr. Mouse got hungry again and went for hot wife's new trap. Zap!

Yes, in one split second my adversary was gone. From the look of the twisted body it was probably a broken back compounded by a skull fracture in conjunction with a collapsed lung. He was gone and my mouse caper was over. On a happy note, he died with a full stomach and just a smidgen of peanut butter on his chin.

Labels: funny moment

The street that my friends and I lived along in the late 70's was a very wide avenue lined with older two story houses. Along every block there were very large elm trees that would cast great shadows over the bumpy sidewalks running along either side.

Each September would bring the beginning of Fall, the cooler air and the turning of the leaves on the huge trees standing in the front yards of most every home along the avenue. September also brought the beginning of the great cardboard box adventure.

I think I love Halloween so much because it brings back so many memories of my best friend and I and the adventures we had while building our own haunted maze inside his old, multi-room garage.

Our quest would begin with our carefree hunt for the biggest and best cardboard boxes in town. We were both in junior high and couldn't drive so we relied on our trusty old bicycles. You know the ones, bright colored paint, banana seats, chopper style handle bars, goofy white grips and chrome fenders. Real junior high nerd bikes straight out of the seventies.

My bike was multi-colored with reds, oranges and blues while my best friends was mostly green. We would ride these modes of monster transportation all over town searching out appliance stores, furniture stores, dumpsters and the most coveted place of all, the funeral homes. You see, couch boxes were good, refrigerator boxes were great, but coffin boxes were the piece de resistance of our haunted maze.

There was one slight problem when finding these magnificent boxes. Getting them back to the garage on our bikes became a small adventure in itself. Read more...

Labels: 70's, Curtis Tucker, funny moment, Halloween, Memories

Way back in the 70's the coolest thing about a phone was getting an extension for the coil cord connecting the hand receiver to the phone. Having that extension would allow you to walk all the way into the next room without having to carry the phone. Wow! What technology.

That wasn't the only cool thing to come along in the 70's in the way of telephone advancement. Remember when rotary phones were old school and the new technology was push buttons!! We were so advanced it wasn't even funny. And to think we didn't even know that slim line phones with push buttons on the receiver were just around the corner.

Fast forward to 2008 and the phone has evolved into the cell phone which has evolved into the most important piece of electronics in the modern world. You may be laughing and saying to yourself that the computer is the most important piece of electronics in the world today. Well, as all iPhones owners know, the iPhone is a computer!

The Tuckers should be known as the iFamily. At last count we had 10 iPods and 4 iPhones. We are definitely Apple Geeks and own four Mac computers.

The iPhone is the coolest piece of technology ever invented. It's a calendar, an address book, a camera, a photo album, a MP3 player, a video player, a text messenger, an email system, a weather forecaster, a calculator, a GPS system, an electronic map, an answering machine, a clock, an alarm, a stop watch, a notepad, an Internet browser and a phone! But that's not all! With the latest software, the iPhone has become thousands of more applications.

My newest favorite application, shown on my new iPhone in a photo taken by my old iPhone, is called iChoose. Have you been driving around trying to decide on where to eat? Can't decide if you should buy something or not? Are the kids unable to settle an argument?

iChoose solves all of those problems and more. Use the heads or tails coin or the yes/no button and instantly make life decisions that were once so hard to make. With the touch of your finger watch as the coin flips from heads to tails over and over again until it lands on the only probable choice. It is the ultimate decision maker, restaurant chooser, argument solver and all around fun application.

If you don't have iChoose get it for free. If you don't have an iPhone, call me, I have a slightly used 40 foot coil extension cord available for your handheld receiver.

Labels: 70's, Curtis Tucker, funny moment, Memories

The pool is officially closed and the girls are back in school. Here they are showing off missing matching front toofs. There are many times lately that they look very much like twins.

If I remember correctly, I lost both of my front teeth at the same time. I believe I was in the first grade. My mom was helping me pull a shirt over my head and the neck of the shirt caught on my loose front teeth. One yank and my teeth went flying as the shirt came over my head.

I most likely got a couple of quarters, whereas today, our daughters rake in 5 dollar bills for each tooth. Even the tooth fairy is keeping up with inflation.

Labels: Daughters, funny moment, Memories

Okay, is anyone else thinking some of these Olympic sports are a little weird? Women's BMX? Are they for real? GIRLS don't ride BMX bikes!!

How is equestrian an Olympic sport? It's a horse. Jumping. Now, if the horse were on the rider and he had to carry the horse over the jumps, that would be a real sport.

What about trampoline? Sure there's a bunch of twisting and flipping but is it sporty? What if they combined trampoline with dodge ball like we did as kids? One guy on each side of the trampoline trying to bean the jumper. Talk about doing flips and twists! That was a man's sport.

Synchronized diving? Was one person diving not boring enough? I think I would rather they go all the way to team diving. Think about this... 15 guys stacked 5 high on each others backs. The team captain runs at them from behind and knocks the pyramid off the platform. The divers all have to do a flip and land at the same time. Think about it.

Rhythmic gymnastics? Shouldn't these gals be at Cirque Du Soleil? Now what if they combined this "sport" with knife throwing instead of ring and ribbon throwing. Talk about ratings through the roof.

How can you have beach volleyball but not have hacky sack?

Shooting? I thought the point of having extra security was to prevent shooting.

If they are going to come up with such wacky Olympic sports I'd like to suggest my own list.

1. Underwater Croquet - need I say more?
2. Hide and Go Seek Marathon - free to hide anywhere in the host city
3. Synchronized Bowling - judged on style and exact number of pins knocked down
4. Marco Water Polo - all players are blind folded
5. Rhythmic Tetherball - each player must hoola hoop while playing
6. Unicycle Pursuit - what a great Velodrome sport
7. Potato Peeling - this is just to help prepare lunch for everyone
8. Beach Golf - every shot is a sand trap!
9. 1000km Crawl - slower than the walk but more entertaining
10. Exhaustathon - each player must do every sport

Labels: Curtis Tucker, funny moment, Olympics

My girls are always asking if they can take off with my camera and snap some photos. They usually come back with close ups of their Hello Kitty dolls, over exposed shots of their doll house or just crooked pics of their toys.

This fun photo caught my eye as I was deleting the others. This is a self portrait of my oldest daughter at age six.

Labels: Daughters, funny moment

Labels: Daughters, funny moment, Internet, video

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: Daughters, funny moment, Memories

Labels: Daughters, funny moment, Memories

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

Okay Dads, when your kids reach the age of talking non-stop (about 4 years old) you will quickly learn that they love to ask the same things over and over and over again. There are a few things my four and six year olds tell me or ask me almost everyday. Here's a sampling...

1. Daddy I'm done going potty
2. Can I have a snack
3. Is it movie night
4. Do we have to eat healthy
5. Is it a school day
6. The light was yellow dad
7. Can I have some gum
8. What number is the Disney Channel
9. Will you sit next to me
10 I want to ride on your side
11. Talk like Goofy again
12. Leave a light on
13. Where's my waggy
14. Ouch, you're pulling my hair
15. Do I have to eat it all
16. Don't forget to check on me
17. Can you turn it up
18. Daddy stop singing
19. Will you carry me upside down
20. You're sweaty
21. Can I text Mommy

Labels: Daughters, funny moment, Memories

As a dad you wait for those priceless moments when your kids do or say something that comes so far out of left field that you can only laugh until you cry. Last weekend provided one of those golden moments.

Our girls have been taking piano lessons for several months now in preparation of their piano recital. Recently it was D-day for our little Liberace's. We all gathered together and sat through two and a half hours of piano plunking, chord bending and scale mutation. Not to say that we didn't enjoy our own kids interpretation of music theory, it's those darn other kids that had the hair on the back of our necks standing on end. None the less, we applauded them all just as though they were our very own.

Our girls sat up straight, played their parts and did a fine job. They were rewarded with a trip to one of their favorite restaurants (Chili's, in case they forget). We all ate, laughed and talked about the grand recital. As we neared the end of our meal, our 4 year old pointed out the fact that she had eaten almost all of her dinner.

We told her how proud we were that she had eaten so good and that she had done such a grand job at the recital as well as at the restaurant. She sat up proudly with her chin in the air and her shoulders pulled back and said, "Thank you, thank you, you can hold your paws up."

We all immediately began to laugh because we instantly knew exactly what she meant. She was trying to say, "Hold your applause." It was a great moment and she beamed from ear to ear as we made her feel like the silliest girl on the planet.

Enjoy your kids and don't forget that they are just kids. Allow them to be who they are and above all, have patience!

Warning: This has been another daddy moment, meant to embarrass and shock our daughters as they get older and read back about how cute and cuddly they once were. Apologies are now given if this post has interfered with or caused a boy to no longer have anything to do with you. Yeah right, boys are vermin that pick their noses and toot under covers.

Labels: Daughters, funny moment

Here's a pretty good list of things I believe my four and six year old daughters would rather me not do. If I've broken any of these (which I have) I apologize now.

A daddy should never...

1. Wear black socks with sneakers
2. Sing in the car
3. Shave off his mustache
4. Wear anything pink
5. Grow hair on his ears
6. Kiss another woman
7. Bake a cake
8. Skip through a store
9. Wear a dress or skirt
10. Use a blow dryer
11. Put on lip gloss
12. Sit to go pee
13. Wear a party/pretty hat
14. Eat anything with sprinkles
15. Say, "I'm so sure"
16. Ride a girls bike
17. Roller skate
18. Sit in a tanning booth
19. Participate in Pilates
20. Wear fur
21. Shave his legs
22. Take a bubble bath
23. Wear socks with sandals
24. Buy panties
25. Eat grilled chicken salad
26. Go shirtless in public
27. Make jewelry
28. Wear earrings
29. Use hairspray
30. Watch My Little Pony
31. Toot in public
32. Smoke cigars
33. Wear earmuffs
34. Spray on a tan
35. Give sweaty hugs
36. Listen on the phone
37. Forget birthdays
38. Belly flop
39. Burp the alphabet
Read the rest of the list...

Labels: Daughters, funny moment, Parenting

I hope the mixture of my posts on blogging, making money online, working from home and being a dad will be a good enough mix to keep everyone coming back for more tips, ideas and stories.

I guess I had better describe my daughters as I see them today. Both girls attend a Montessori school and have never had to stay at a daycare. I've watched them practically every day of their lives. I take them to school, have lunch with them most days and pick them up from school. They are very active and currently are involved in dance, gymnastics, piano and tennis.

My oldest daughter is now six. She is very bright and can read practically anything that is placed in front of her. She's kind, quiet, shy and a bit reserved. She loves bread and butter but hates ice cream. She doesn't so much like to be hugged or kissed but she's becomes very sad when we are away. She learns quickly and remembers everything. She rarely get into trouble and knows that doing certain things will get her in trouble. She does not push the envelope.

My youngest daughter is four going on twenty four. She is happy, lovable, outgoing and very rambunctious. She's smart but is not so much interested in learning. She loves to play, make up things and collects everything. She wants everything now and becomes very clingy to a new item until a replacement comes along. She loves to hug and kiss but has no problem waving good-bye to us when we leave. She loves sweets and is picky about everything else. She pushes the envelope on everything and gets into trouble daily.

Today was a great example of one of my four-year-olds memorable quotes. We were driving home from picking up Hostess Cup Cakes for breakfast, (her favorite at the moment) and we began talking about the clouds and the rain we had just experienced. Without ever having heard her use this word before, my four-year-old says, "I'm assuming the water that comes from clouds is pee." I chuckled like I always do and thanked the Lord again for giving me such wacky girls.

They bring a smile to my face every morning and I greet them with a big hello and a morning hug. They are by far the coolest things I have ever created.

Labels: Daughters, funny moment, Parenting, Photo

Labels: Curtis Tucker, funny moment, video

"I never had any friends later on, like the ones I had when I was twelve... Jesus.... does anyone?" - Stand By Me

That line from the movie Stand By Me is a perfect reflection of me at age twelve. It was 1975 and I was in sixth grade. That was the year that I met my best friend. He's on the front row, far left, I'm third from the right with those really cool pants on.

Being twelve in a small town in 1975 was golden. We were just old enough to ride bikes all over town by ourselves and just young enough to not need a job or any heavy responsibilities. Our parents didn't worry about abductions and we were free to roam from neighborhood to neighborhood.

That year in school we had a really great teacher and our core gang was made up of five guys, two ten year olds and and three twelve year olds. All of us lived right on Broadway street with me living the furthest west. Our school, also on Broadway, was an old brick two story structure named after President McKinley. At that time, pre-political correctness, we were known as the McKinley Bombers. Read more...

Labels: Curtis Tucker, Enid, funny moment, Memories

Labels: Curtis Tucker, Daughters, funny moment, video

Labels: Curtis Tucker, Daughters, funny moment, video