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Thursday, May 1st, 2008
SJR Article on Dave
The SJ-R article on Dave Heinzel is online this morning:
http://www.sj-r.com/Heartland/stories/29658.asp

If you're in the Springfield area, you should pick up a paper copy so you can see all the photos.

They edited out parts of my original story. For example, there's nothing in there about how after Dave left college, he spent nine months following the Backstreet Boys on tour, supporting himself by selling charcoal drawings of Howie Dorough. Maybe I'll release the full expose on Dave sometime in the future. There's a lot of shocking stuff in there.

UPDATE
Thanks to all you who provided comments on their humzOo experience. Several of them appeared as a sidebar in the newspaper edition, but they aren't included in the online edition. I can post them here later, if you'd like to know whose name made it into print.
Tags:  article, heinzel, SJ-R
30 Comments
SallyPants
1) Dan, wonderful story. Very well written!
I guess the part about how influential Dave's sister was to his creative genius also was edited out. What a shame.
SallyPants   Thursday, May 1, 2008
carriepassante
2) Great article Dave!
Carrie   Friday, May 2, 2008
billpearch
3) Excellent story. Congrats, Dave!
Bill Pearch   Friday, May 2, 2008
kgilmore
4) Dave deserves all the attention he gets and Courtney deserves an award for believing in the genius and his "out there" ideas!
Gilmore Family   Friday, May 2, 2008
courtneyheinzel
5) Great article! I agree with Sally, it was very well written.
Courtney Heinzel   Friday, May 2, 2008
Amber
6) That's a great story!!! Your life is awesome!!
Amber   Friday, May 2, 2008
nheinzel
7) Thank you so very, very, very much, Dan, for that wonderful article on my son, the "Renaissance man for the digital age"!! I am probably the only person who has to read the article through tears! Not sad tears, mind you, but very happy and very proud tears and also very grateful tears that I am the lucky mom of such a wonderful guy. He is truly one of a kind and I think you captured that in the article. (Thank you, Courtney, for putting up with him!) For all his computer savvy and multiple other skills, he is most of all the nicest guy and best father and I couldn't be prouder!! I love you, Dave!!!
!   Friday, May 2, 2008
ppike
8) Terrific story!!
pegi   Friday, May 2, 2008
nheinzel
9) Dan, it's funny that you mentioned jokingly that Dave sold charcoal drawings to support himself. How'd you know??!! Dave has come up with some very creative ways to earn money. In college whenever he was broke, he would go to a store and get free cardboard (from boxes) and cut out and paint different characters from South Park. They were amazing and the college kids gobbled them up. I had some in my classroom for years and they caused quite a stir.
!   Friday, May 2, 2008
nikideaton
10) Great article!
niki   Friday, May 2, 2008
k8day
11) A really great read. The 4 page spread is a sight to see!
K8Day   Friday, May 2, 2008
spike
12) Nice!
Spike   Friday, May 2, 2008
gotshoo
13) Great article Dan! Picked up my copy of the SJ-R this morning.
shoo   Friday, May 2, 2008
caseymeyer
14) This is awesome!! Dave, you're the coolest famous person in Springfield!!
Casey   Friday, May 2, 2008
dennydeaton
15) Really nice write up Dan! You captured everything so well. Thanks so much for your support.
Denny Deaton   Friday, May 2, 2008
k8day
16) A co-worker of mine saw the article and said "Dave looks exactly the same as he did when he was in cub scouts!"
K8Day   Friday, May 2, 2008
nheinzel
17) Who said that, K8Day?
!   Friday, May 2, 2008
markhamrick
18) Nice article. Dave, you sure have come a long way since the Wuzzies. Can someone scan the paper so us out-of-towners can enjoy the photos, etc? Or would that be pirating the newspaper?
Mark   Friday, May 2, 2008
daveheinzel
19) Thanks for the awesome article Dan! I guess you didn't hear me when I said "just kidding" about that Denny Deaton guy. He's just another one of my characters, like Blamco and Duncan. Really I made Humzoo all by myself, over a weekend. On my laptop. While in the bathtub, drinking Dew and eating a Slim Jim.

Can't wait for my invitation to the "cool kids Springfield club" so I can finally hang out with Gus Gordon, Jessica English and that "hot" chick on the local Fox promo commercials.
Dave Heinzel   Friday, May 2, 2008
Russ
20) That will surely come after your next project, Dave.
Russ   Friday, May 2, 2008
nheinzel
21) Dan, another thing that Dave did to raise money (this time for the American Red Cross, not for himself) was to go around town and take pictures of all the flags and signs that were displayed right after Sept. 11. He put them all together in a poster-size collage and his employer (Stan Squires) helped Dave get them printed and then he sold them for $5. We all felt like giving after 9/11 but Dave was broke as usual so he figured out this way to raise money that he could contribute.

There are many, many stories when it comes to Dave!
!   Friday, May 2, 2008
k8day
22) Nancy, it was Joan Hartley. She said she knows you from way back.
K8Day   Friday, May 2, 2008
k8day
23) Here is what the front page of the Heartland section looks like.
http://www.humzoo.com/k8day/photos/6/11/
K8Day   Friday, May 2, 2008
TheNichols
24) Send us all copies!!
Emmy Ann   Friday, May 2, 2008
nheinzel
25) Oh yes, please tell Joan I said hi!!!
!   Friday, May 2, 2008
stevenheinzel
26) Dave - congratulations on the wonderful article. Dan - great job of writing.
stheinz   Friday, May 2, 2008
27) Thanks for all of the compliments that were directed my way.

For those who only saw the online article, here's the sidebar that appeared in the paper edition:

Reaction to Humzoo
Since going live on March 3, humzOo.com has signed up 142 users. Although it’s not a social networking site such as FaceBook, many are enjoying the community that’s been created among users. Here’s what some of them have been writing about their online experience:


“I just started using humzOo a couple of weeks ago. It’s so easy to navigate and accessible. A friend of mine suggested I check it out and now I'm hooked.”
Emily Nichols, age 27
Tetonia, Idaho

“This was my first attempt at anything like this as I am "older" and quite intimidated by anything to do with computers and the internet. The humzOo site connects me with my daughter and son-in-law who live two hours away.”
Dannie Pipes, age 60
Walnut Cove, NC

“It makes me happy to blog here because at my old blog, I got about ZERO comments. At humzOo, the whole community comes to my site and leaves comments.”
Betsy Gladish, age 27
Louisville, KY

“(humzOo) is a great alternative to all those other "personal website" pages that have too many ads and random people trying to send you pictures of, well, we will say ‘inappropriate images.’”
Kati Day, age 25
Springfield, IL
Dan at BFS   Friday, May 2, 2008
cdcgull
28) Wow! This is so cool! Thanks Dave for being such a great guy and thanks Dan for writing such a great article about such a great guy!!
cdcgull   Friday, May 2, 2008
ben
29) Nice article! What a long article! Lucky....very jealous you have that to work with. Keep up the good work Dave and Denny.
Biker Ben   Friday, May 2, 2008
lgrant
30) Very nice article but it will really have made it when it is reprinted in the Mooresville Tribune.
LGrant   Friday, May 2, 2008
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