Category Archives: Friends

The Inaugural Capture & IDP Classic (2023)

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On Tuesday, September 5th, 2023, I was so honored to help organize a golf outing with 11 former colleagues and friends. We had a fantastic time!

September 5th, 2023 was on a Tuesday, the day before we had an already planned our annual ‘Capture & IDP Conference’ in Itasca, Illinois (a 15 minute drive from Chicago), which was held on the 6th and 7th, so we decided to finally organize a golf excursion on the day before the Conference started.

Our golfers included mostly ex-Law Cypress Company and ex-Fujitsu colleagues who have maintained a good relationship over nearly two decades. A great addition to our group was that we were joined by a few of newbies including Guillermo from Buserdi and Grace from Photon Commerce. Both of their energy, willingness to have fun, as well as participate with the group was incredibly awesome!

Golf was a lot of fun, but most of the on-course smack-talk and activities would earn an R-rating from the internet so I’d rather not share these discussions and rather focus on the more family-oriented highlights for the purpose of this blog update.

For the on-course highlights, Dave Gerber won two of three contests which were the long-drive contest (302 yards on hole #10) and a closest-to-pin on hole #6.  Ralph Gammon won the other closest-to-pin contest on hole #13.  Congratulations to both Dave and Ralph for their winning efforts!

After golf, a huge highlight of the day was an intimate concert where the Revenue Man (https://www.therevenueman.net/) played for two hours a selection of homegrown hits, plus also popular cover songs. Everyone really enjoyed the show and interaction. Please check-out the Revenue Man’s songs, download his music and support his dream.

One of the post-golf activities that I planned for “The Inaugural Capture & IDP Classic” was a 30-minute “award ceremony” with gag-award certificates to all golfers so that we could recognize everyone and have a little fun at their expense.

Although I spent time to create and print the certificates for the fun of the group, I fully expected for them to end-up in the trash can. However, I was surprised that everyone was appreciative of their awards and took them seriously!  The awards themselves were intended to be “gag”-type certificates, but for everyone to respect them was totally cool.

Below is each award for your viewing pleasure!

  1. Bob Fresneda – “Gift of Gab” award

2. Dave Gerber – “El Cigarro Grande (The Big Cigar Guy)” award

3. Steve Baldwin – “Best Judge Elihu Smails” award

4. Cesar Vega – “Best Score for Irish Player” award

5. Ralph Gammon – “Best reporter and most inquisitive” award

6. Doug Cripps – “Biggest Troublemaker” award

7. Guillermo Chavez – “Most Distance Traveled” award

8. Jay Stobie – “Like a Good Neighbor, Jay is there!” award

9. Grace Zarzecki – “Best Score – Hockey Player” award

10. Erin Dempsey – “Best Event Organizer” award

11. …and, finally, myself for the worst golfer, I received the “Pickleball Training Class” award because they think I need to stay off the golf course for the rest of my career!

Overall, I hope everyone had fun at “The Inaugural Capture & IDP Classic”. I’m not a professional organizer, so if anyone has suggestions for next year’s event please send me a message or call me.

I really appreciate everyone that participated because, after all, it’s sincere friendships that matters.

Sincerely,

Kevin

Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Santa Clara County

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Friends, family and strangers reading this blog today, tomorrow or in the future,

I’m writing this blog post to try and capture the mood of our local community in Santa Clara County, but also though out the world wide. To sum up the situation, all businesses that are deemed “non-essential” are closed to any in-personal interaction. This includes dine-in restaurants, schools, parks and anywhere a group of 10 or more people are likely to gather.

The Coronavirus (a.k.a. COVID-19) is a highly infectious virus that, as far as we know at the time of this blog post, originated somewhere in China and has spread across the globe infecting millions and killing tens-of-thousands thus far.

According to most experts, the ‘surge’ of cases for infection and death of Coronavirus is predicted to dramatically escalate over the next few weeks. Santa Clara County has been on a voluntary ‘shelter-in-place’ order by our local government since early March 2020. Since then the county has begun to enforce the order for places such as restaurants who continue to offer dine-in services or beauty salons who continue to serve their customers.

It’s really a tough situation right now because these small businesses cannot survive being without paying customers for even a short period of time so they push the limits of a public safety order. On the other hand, people’s lives are a top priority and some people question whether such drastic extremes as ‘shelter-in-place’, instead of just ‘social distancing common sense’ are really necessary.

Fortunately, there are now some federal government stimulus money being promised to small business owners, however they are already having major problems with implementing a simple approval process and/or approval workflow.

I, personally, just cringe at how ineffective our government is when it comes to offer services back to the very needy taxpayers because my business is all about work-process automation. These problems I see every day, plain as day, can be easily solved at a fraction of the budget; if you just remove the politics. So I won’t hold my breath.

As you can image, it’s an unreal situation trying to live your normal life with so many restrictions but if it’s for the greater sake of humanity then, from at least what I’ve observed, most people have been totally compliant which is absolutely heart-warming to me. It’s an unbelievable time that you need to have empathy, compassion and patience with others.

After being locked in the house for nearly 1 month solid I told Brandee I wanted to take a night-walk to the store just to experience the activity level on a Spring night, on the weekend in California. I can tell you what I experienced in my walk to the store was remarkable! There is little activity on a usually busy Saturday night. I walked down the middle of what typically is a busy road, with only one car encounter. Also, there was only one airplane that I noticed taking-off from the San Jose International Airport and there was general no sign of life in the outside world.

I’m proud of my fellow community to observe the shelter-in-place order to help slow the spread of the virus. However, at some point we have to balance the risk versus the negative impact to society for social isolation. As I walked to the store this evening in the silence of the night all I could think of was this song remake from the band Distributed entitled “The Sound of Silence”.

Stay safe, stay healthy and stay positive everyone!

Sincerely,

Kevin

Charles Edward Utley (September 1, 1926 – August 14, 2018)

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Chuck Utley

Chuck Utley

Charles “Chuck” Utley, passed away peacefully on August 14, 2018 in Los Altos, CA. Chuck was born September 1, 1926 in Buffalo, NY and was the devoted husband and best friend of Cornelia van der Voort, who he affectionately called “Neil”. He is survived by sons, Robert B. Utley, and his wife Elisabeth of Sydney, Australia, Nelson V. Utley, and his wife Barbara of Cupertino, CA, and Charles A. Utley, and his wife Teresa of Campbell, CA. He also leaves behind much-loved grandsons, Nicholas and Lucas and precious granddaughter, Emily.

Chuck was the son of Charles Bach Utley and Kate (Phelps) Utley. As an only child, he grew up in Buffalo, NY until enlisting in the U.S. Navy during WWII and serving as a signalman on landing crafts in the South Pacific. He graduated from Williams College, Willamstown, MA in 1949. Chuck began his marketing career in Buffalo at Sattlers, a pioneering discount department store, moving later to building products manufacturer National Gypsum Company. He then joined Whitney Seed Company, maker of lawn and garden products, where he was responsible for marketing and advertising. He met his future wife at the wedding of a mutual friend in 1950 and they were married three years later at Neil’s family home in Fredonia, NY and then settling in East Aurora, NY.

In 1963 he moved his sales and marketing experience from Buffalo to Rumrill-Hoyt Advertising in Rochester, NY, where he became an account supervisor and vice president. Feeling the need for change in 1970, Chuck joined Robert Ebey Company Advertising in Menlo Park, CA but not before the family made a memorable cross-country automobile trip to their new home in Los Altos. He spent the next 20 years helping guide what became Ebey, Utley & Company through the economic ups and downs of Silicon Valley and assisted in the marketing successes of many of the area’s important commercial, financial and technology companies.

Throughout his life, Chuck enjoyed travel, barbershop quartet singing, skiing, musical theater, reading, cheering on the ’49ers and attempting to master the banjo. He was a consummate handy-man, ready to take on anything around the house. Above all, Chuck loved his wife, his sons and their families, and admired the character, accomplishments and joys they continually gave him. He will be forever remembered as a caring husband, extraordinary dad/granddad and passionate community volunteer who lived life to the fullest.

Life updates, 8/11/2018

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It’s been a very busy last few months at the Neal Casa. We’ve been busy with life, business and reflection.

As I get older my dad continues to get smarter and smarter. He said time with friends and family is the most precious thing in life, and he was absolutely right.

RJ’s Legacy

RJ - A wonderful legacy of a decent person

RJ – A wonderful legacy of a decent person

We lost a great man this past month. RJ was 100 years young and he was really a wonderful man of decency. He was a hard-working guy from Arkansas who was such an inspirational person. RJ was a man of many, many talents including being handy with just about everything including chainsaws, automotive stuff, plumbing or sorting out every day life’s complications.

RJ was a dedicated family man and one of the humblest people I’ve ever met. Every time I would talk with RJ, or about him with others, I always learned some new and interesting activity that he was involved. It was really incredible that this wonderful man lived such a blessed life. I’ve heard stories about hound dogs, honey bees, BBQ and, most importantly, life lessons.

RJ had a special gift to deliver important life lessons without being dramatic. He was the epitome of paying-it-forward for his entire life. He was truly one of the good guys and I sincerely appreciate his friendship. He has left a great legacy and lasting impact on my life forever. God Bless you RJ and thanks for being the perfect person you are.

Five amazing things about this great man are:

  1. Wonderful family man with well-respecting children
  2. A great patriotic person with excellent respect for life, liberty and happiness
  3. Outstanding caretaker for his bee-hives
  4. Terrific knowledge of getting stuff done, know matter what is was
  5. …and most of all, the best guy to get general life advice that is so precious

 

Jackson Update

Our best buddy, Jackson

Our best buddy, Jackson

Brandee and my best buddy, our beloved Jackson, is starting to show his age. As always, he maintains a wonderful spirit and zest for living but his body is failing him and he’s lost a lot of weight recently due to his cancer or possibly diabetes.

We are watching him closely all hours of the day to keep him content and comfortable.

Jack has been our beautiful son since we adopted him in January 2006. He has brought us so much fun and joy. Jack was an amazing younger brother to his older feline sister, Bella. He is also such a wonderful older brother to his two nerdy younger sisters, Gracie and Bleu.

Please pray for Jack and his great spirit.  He is a very special Angel.

Here are several Jackson highlights I would like to share:

  1. He is such a sweet brother to his feline sisters, but he will ferociously defend them if a strange cat comes into our territory
  2. Jack loves to take car-rides and walks outside
  3. He never complains and just loves to be with others
  4. Jack likes peanut butter a lot and also likes when he gets bones to chew
  5. Jack loves to have big social events where family and friends gather together. He is a social butter-fly

 

Business Update

P3iD Technologies, Inc.

P3iD Technologies, Inc.

There are so many fantastic updates to the business that I can’t nearly share them all so let me just say this; we have established a business of Trust.

If you Trust then everything seems to find a way to work itself out. I am absolutely pleased at the wonderful people that are contributing their skills to build our great company. I am truly humbled by all the support. Also, I cannot express how grateful I am for the support of our fabulous partners.

I’ve had a vision, and openly shared this concept on social media for many years, of a collaborative technology ecosystem and it’s amazing to see it come in to play so quickly. As a quick summary let me please share:

  1. P3iD is now a California Incorporated Company
  2. P3iD has two outstanding additions to our Executive team who are making such a positive impact
  3. P3iD is officially a key contributing member of several technology organizations
  4. P3iD has a solid road map of products for sale now as end-user applications, OEM and for consideration for co-development projects
  5. P3iD is a major Technology Sponsor at an upcoming industry event

Overall, I could not be more pleased with the progress of the business!

As busy as I am, I still want to slow down and share the important things in life. These things are the terrific legacy of RJ. There is nothing more precious than the decency of such a person.

God Bless,

Kevin

Springtime activities

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One of the fun things that Brandee and I have enjoyed doing recently is going and walking around the local flea market. We don’t go to ever buy anything really, we just leisurely browse the stands and enjoy being in the nice sunshine together. An odd thing that we did discovered, and which is very surprising, is that for the few items which we did actually ask about the price, it turns out that the flea market price was higher than you would expect for things that you can find at regular stores. I always thought that the flea market was for cheaper things but we hadn’t been in a while. Things have really changed and I don’t know why anyone would want to pay more for flea market items that are exactly that same that you can get cheaper and elsewhere???  Anyhow, there must be some logic for this that we don’t understand.

Capital Drive-In Flea Market

There are two rather famous flea markets organized in San Jose. We generally go to the smaller of the two. The Capital Drive-In Flea Market is held at, as you can imagine, a Drive-In Theater Parking Lot. Many years ago there was no such flea market at the drive-in but I can probably guess that this is now a good portion of their revenue as less and less people tend to go to drive-in movies.

I’ve also really enjoyed reconnecting with my friends again for little things like a business lunch. Although we do talk a little bit of business, we mostly talk about life, family, sports and sometimes politics. After being confined to the house mostly and not being able to drive for seven months, this little luxury of socializing with friends is that even more of a pleasure.