Eric Gehler SEO Richmond Virginia

Step Son Mitchell Lucord Saves the Day Literally

Over this past Memorial Day weekend was seemed to be a time of rest and recuperation. At least for me anyway. The excitement wasn’t known until Sunday, and the Fan Fare happened today.

My wife and I found out on Sunday that on Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend my step son Mitchell Lucord was swimming down at our neighborhood pool which is actually across the street from our house. Mitch is 9 and an accomplished swimmer and member of the Bon Air Blue Streaks swim team. Mitch jumped in and save a 7 year old child from drowning in the pool. According to witnesses, and Mitch’s recap of the incident, Mitch Noticed from across the pool that a child was in trouble. He saw the child go under and struggling to stay afloat. From across the pool, Mitch dove in and swam to the child’s aid. Mitch was able to pull him to safety. The child was still grasping for air once out of the pool.

Today the local NBC / FOX Richmond Evening News got wind of the story and called my wife to see if they could do a story. Ryan Nobles ( @ryanobles ) came out and covered the story.

We are proud of Mitch for his positive actions and hope he doesn’t get to much of a big head

Mitch ( age 9)  being Interviewed by Ryan Nobles from Richmond Fox/ NBC12 News for show airing tonight 5-27-09 in Richmond Virginia

Update: Video of Fox News Report

And the video from NBC-12 WWBT12

From News Website:

CHESTERFIELD, VA (WWBT) - A 9 year old boy in Chesterfield is being called a hero after his quick actions saved the life of another young man.

It is the kind of story that makes you wonder, how would you react in a similar situation? When Mitchell Lucord saw another boy struggling to stay above the water at his community pool, he didn’t even think- he risked his own life to save someone he had never met.

Swimming is a big part of who Mitchell is.

“I swim about 5 times a week” he said.

He was at his favorite pool on an ordinary day, when he realized something was wrong.

“I saw him, I noticed he was going like this, waving his arms,” said Mitchell.

The little boy was swimming in the middle section of the pool. Mitchell was standing just outside the pool when he heard him get into trouble. He rushed into the pool without even thinking. He grabbed the struggling boy, and pulled him from the water.

Mitchell talks about the event, as if it were just another day.

“I think he could’ve suffocated or something, and that would be bad.”

He may not understand how important it was, but his mother, Margie Gehler believes it is starting to sink in.

“Everyone started saying, whoa, do you realize that you’re a hero?” she said.

Her little man, springing into action. Helping someone, without worrying about himself.

“He was thinking, someone needed him and he just jumped in to get him,” Margie said.

A selfless act, that probably saved a life and at the same time helped a young man learn a valuable lesson.

You are probably wondering about the little boy that Mitchell saved. His family doesn’t actually know who he is. They know that he is okay and that his family is thankful.

They dropped off a gift card to Mitchell on Sunday. A small token of their immense gratitude for his selfless act.

What does Google Really Know About Me?

I have been ranting the past couple of days about Google and their hypocrisy about buying links. It didn’t get their attention. Not that any non delusional mind would think that it would. Today I was going through some of the new features on Google introduced to us by Matt Cutts the unofficial official voice of Google.  Playing around, Google has introduced the “Show Options”

Which leads to Searches based on Videos, Forums, Reviews and also sorts with a Time Line structure.  They all include related searches and a “Wonder Wheel”.

So naturally I had to see what was up with my name. All things looks pretty normal as well as the related searches, but then came the “wonder wheel”.  Interesting indeed.

My Wonder wheel was all about my knee surgery, my knee injury that I made websites about etc, but nothing of value to my SEO Status, my Webmaster Status nothing.  Thanks “Google Wonder Wheel” to reducing me to a mere injury and medical condition I suffered back in 2006 and continue to deal with daily.

What does your Google Wonder Wheel say?

Google Speaks but Doesn’t Listen
Google the Hypocrite when it comes to Buying Links. All we have heard in the last year or more is that paid links, buying link are against Google’s TOS. They even asked us to tell them, report them and nark on websites that are buying links. They provided a Spot in Google Webmaster Tools to do so.

So We did, We Narked. We Begged, We Kicked, We Screamed, We Twitted and What. Nothing. Tumbleweeds blowing across the plains of our voices.

So Google you turned us into whinny babies, we did as you asked, you did nothing. We complained about websites that the majority of links were from Paid Sources. You Did nothing. You Do Nothing.

So what are we supposed to do as ethical webmasters, white hat ethical SEO’s..Do we Join the Dark side and Buy LINKS as well? Huh Matt Cutts, Say it ain’t so.

The straw that broke the camels back is in the Jewelry and Diamond Search Engine Results.
Namely Novri, JamesAllen, Bluenile websites are the worst offenders of SEO Link Buying. There top back links scream Hello Buy LINKS.

Yes they were reported up to 3 Times in the past 6 months for their crimes against webmasters and Google TOS everywhere. But what has been done. Nothing. Silence. Keep on Keeping on you Link Buying Bastards, because Google is too much of a WUSS to actually do what they say they will.

I guess I can expect my own personal SERPS to drop for daring to out or mention some bad about Good Old Google huh…..

Tweet This. Link to This..Comment on this. Does the small voice still have enough power to be heard? Only with your help will the voice be heard and get seen by the powers that be….

UpDate:
Since this post my page rank has disappeared, humm is that the answer?
Also RankedHard Seo Comic takes on the issue as well..