Oklahoma Visit – December 2016

Posted on December 27 by admin

Home away from Home (Sallisaw, Oklahoma)

I made a quick, last minute trip to Sallisaw, Oklahoma recently.

Although Sallisaw has never been an official place of residence for myself nor my immediate family and I did visit there for a week at least once every year for my entire life. Sallisaw is where my Dad, Floyd Neal, and all of his incredibly kind family was from. This is truly my Home away from Home. Let me please share a just a few of my highlights visiting this wonderful city and awesome people of Sallisaw, Oklahoma.

Family of Fantastic Furr’s

I had the great pleasure to finally meet, in-person, two of the most wonderful people to walk the face of this Earth; Tammye and Fred. They are the amazing furr-mommy and furr-daddy of 8 – yes, 8 – animals of all sorts from cats, dogs, horses and even a rabbit!

These two-wonderful people have organized, and execute, a beautiful Sunday morning service of prayer, education as well as just bringing people together for a local independent living facility. I was so fortunate to participate in one of these awesome events on the Sunday while I was there and the joy that it brought to the residents was so amazing!

Tammye and Fred are simply outstanding examples of decency and they deserve only the best in life. They are precious people and I’m so glad they are my friends. Love you both tons!!!

The decency of strangers

Old Sallisaw High School

Sallisaw High School was the root of many great stories. So many great people and awesome relationships were born at this wonderful place. Although it’s no longer useful as a school it is still an extremely useful historical landmark that helps share the terrific memories of Sallisaw history.

AOK Printing

I had a simple printing need while in Sallisaw and I happened to come-across AOK Printing which is a professional printing company. My particular request was easily satisfied and I would like to give a huge shout-out to the great folks at AOK. They can expertly fulfill any sort of major printing or marketing needs and I will certainly be calling upon them for their business services in the near future! www.AOKPrinting.net

14 Flags Museum

Sallisaw is certainly a city in transition between respecting old-school tradition yet allowing for modern growth. One of the old-school traditions that is quite prominent is Sallisaw is the “14 Flags Museum” which is beautifully displayed proudly on Main Street.

14 Flags is a historical landmark with a fantastic history as a gas station, stage-coach stop and authentic living quarters. It’s a really great place to visit if you are ever on I-40 between OCK and Ft. Smith.

General Sallisaw demeanor

Overall I would like to make a general comment about the folks of Sallisaw, Oklahoma. I would like to say that they are kind and compassionate people. This has been my opinion from years of experience of socializing within their community and it is always so wonderful to visit this great place.

I love this place like my Home and I feel a special kindship there. I have great hope that Sallisaw will also be a decent place of great humanity.

Dad’s Legacy

This was my first visit back to Sallisaw, Oklahoma since my dad went to Heaven on 4/21/2016. So, naturally, I wanted to visit his marker and pay my respects to a truly wonderful father.

Honestly, I visited this place several times in a few days during my visit to Sallisaw. Sometimes with family but many times without; it just felt like the right thing to do to be there. The Sallisaw Cemetery is really a beautiful place. You would think that a cemetery might be a grim or sad place to be but this one is anything but. The grounds are beautifully taken care of by the wonderful staff.

Delicious Dining and Stimulating Conversation

On my way back to the airport for my early morning flight, I was graciously invited to stay overnight with my terrific family in Tulsa, Les and Myla. Myla (with Les’s positive encouragement) had prepared the most scrumptious meal ever! I was the fortunate recipient for one of the most delicious meals I’ve ever experienced. After this great meal and some chit-chatty while eating it was time to discuss ‘real business’.

For Les, Myla and myself ‘real business’ consisted of nothing more than shooting-some-poop discussing a wide range of topics into the early-morning hours. I feel sorry for keeping them up so late but it was such a joyous time to get to spend quality time with such great people.

In summary, my Oklahoma 2016 trip was a beautiful experience. We shared great memories of the past and we also shared fantastic vision for the future. I am so proud to recognize my family and friends in Oklahoma because you are all so special. God Bless you, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

Love,

Kevin

Kevin Neal Life Updates, 12/16/2016

Posted on December 16 by admin

I provided the last Kevin Neal Life Update on this post from 11/22/2016 so I won’t rehash older news and I’ll move right into significant updates since then.

Bellaringa slowly on-the-mend

After a tremendous medical scare a few weeks ago, Brandee and I are glad to report that Bella seems to be slowing improving. We have no illusion that she will revert 100% to her kitten-like and somewhat vicious demeanor because, after all, we appreciate blood inside of our bodies instead of Bella’s bite or scratch wounds with our blood running down our arms!

No, in all seriousness, we encourage and appreciate Bella’s feisty attitude after what we’ve been through with her the past few weeks. Bella is playing with Jack more often, she’s certainly more active, she continues to eat well and is in no obvious pain. I guess it’s just natural that a 14-year furr-ball might lose a step-or-two at her age.

Overall, we continue to pray for her to be comfortable, enjoy her life and bring the happiness that Brandee, Jack and I enjoy so much.

Home away from home

Have you ever felt like there is some special place that you feel most comfortable although it has never been your permanent place of residence? Is there a place that is so full of genuinely decent people who share in each other’s life’s journey through good times as well as the challenging times? Most might think of their home away from home as a nice vacation spot on a sandy beach, enjoying a refreshing drink in the warm sunshine. Not me.

I, personally, feel that my home away from home has always been visiting with my Dad’s family and friends in Oklahoma. For me, there has always felt some amazing level of comfort there. Although I have never maintained a mailing address in Oklahoma and we generally visit for one week per year, the heartwarming reception received is such an inspiration that I sincerely try and capture into my travel-bag and bring back to California to infect people with kindness. Wish me luck.

The decency of people

Sometimes in our daily lives, and which is reasonable considering stressful life events, we might tend to think that by default everyone and everything have bad motivation. This is not true and there are decent people everywhere.

During my recent travels, I would like to recognize a few exemptional people that really stood-out:

AOK Printing, http://www.AOKPrinting.net/

I went into their business with a random print inquiry. Not only did they satisfy my need, they went far and beyond my expectations to provide a professional representation of the material. This company is top-notch and highly recommended for your print, graphics or design-marketing needs.

Even if you don’t have printing needs, AOK Printing is a great place to visit to discuss football, family or current events. Highly recommended!

2. American Airlines flight #AA103 on 12/15/2016 (French-speaking flight attendant)

As the safety announcements were announced on the intercom system of American Airlines flight #AA103 on 12/15/16, the accent from the lady over the speaker system was clear that she was most likely fluent in French language. With this rather obvious evidence I engaged in a feeble attempt to engage in a conversation “en français” with this lady. I had studied French in High School but that was long ago and “J’ai oublié le français” (I had forgotten French).

Through-out the flight she played along and encouraged the an ongoing conversation in French as much as we could which was quite fun and entertaining. It was super fun! Merci beaucoup #AA103!!!

All Oklahoma Truck Stops and Eatin’ Places

One of the really special perks of visiting Oklahoma is the down-home cooking and genuine hospitality of the local truck stops, diners and eatin’ places.

Unlike most places where most of us might quickly scarf down a meal for pure nourishment sake or simple sustenance, in Oklahoma any meal is a time to slow down, relax, be grateful and enjoy a great conversation with friends or family.

If you have ever had the pleasure to enjoy such an experience then you certainly can understand my point, if not and you happen to be traveling through any of the ‘fly over states’ (including Oklahoma), do yourself a favor and stop-by a truck stop and enjoy this great atmosphere for yourself. You won’t regret it.

I’m pleased to report that, by the grace of God, things are good. Brandee, Jack, Bella and the Fish all are getting along well. Friends and Family are still beautifully amazing people. Business is solid and growing. And, most importantly, people all over our awesome country have renewed confidence in the future and they are optimistic for good things to come.

God Bless and here is wishing everyone a wonderful early Merry Christmas.

Sincerely,

Kevin

Neal’s giving Thanks in 2016

Posted on November 22 by admin

Here are some quick hit Neal Family highlights as of 11/22/2016 while we start to slow down a little bit from an exciting, hectic and amazing year to enjoy our Thanksgiving.

Bella and Jack’s furry tails (pun-intended)

It has been another wonderful year of amazing times with our daughter (Bella) and our son (Jackson). While each of us has technically aged only 363-days since last Thanksgiving, as everyone knows, cats and dogs physically aged at a much more rapid pace than humans. Bella is 14 years-old now and Jack is 9 years-old.

Jack seems to be doing well enough but, honestly, Bella is having some rough times for the past two weeks and we are seriously concerned. Brandee and I have suspected for many months that Bella has some sort of Feline Dementia or head injury because her behavior has changed so much in the last two months. We have had numerous veterinarian visits and there isn’t much they can do other than to provide her comfort so she has been prescribed a low-dose medication which seems to be working so well thus-far (and I pray that it continues to help her so much).

Bella is still actively pacing around the house in nearly constant small left-sided circles but she’s very unsteady on her paws. She has given up the effort to jump upon anything and needs to be helped down from any elevated furniture.

Some of the serious positives are that Bella is getting great empathy and support from her younger brother, Jack. I have no clue how he knows but, nonetheless, he does and he allows her to do things like snuggle close with him or not cower in fear when she came within a 10-foot radius.

Sorry for the lack of air-time on this particular post for Jackson, I will make up for this next time.

Deeper relations with Family and Friends through the beauty of technology

This year, more than ever, I am so grateful for technology tools that allow effective communication to Family and Friends. While it’s always nice to make a phone call, write a letter or make a personal visit; this isn’t always an option. Therefore, using modern technology tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn or SMS text messaging to exchange information is a great convenience.

It was very important to communicate news to my family regarding my Dad this past year and I’m glad that we could communicate so effectively without much effort. Using primarily Facebook we were able to update each other on the status of events but it also allowed us some time to get to know each other like we’ve never had the chance before.

I’m also super excited that I’ve been able to re-kindle relationships with long-distance friends that I’ve had casual relationships in the past. The ease of these communication tools makes it simple to share a thought, or opinion, here or there and then let that receiving person provide a response. This is a great way to maintain relationships until, hopefully, you can see each other in-person.

Business moves into next phase of growth and innovation

It’s been an incredibly exciting time for the Business! We are fully engaged in projects to full capacity and it is an amazing time to be in-front of such an obvious surge of lucrative business opportunities coming to us in the ‘Cloud’. While other non-believers, doubters and outright critics of ‘Cloud’ technologies challenged my opinion, at that time, I have nothing to say but shame on you. I jumped in head-first, swam-ahead and never looked back. You can try to catch-up now, but good luck.

This is the time of year when I generally double my efforts in preparation for starting 2017 hitting-the-ground running hard. We have already demonstrated our intention to build a business of the future with several news releases including a Finance assistance program as well as a Marketing assistance programs. Our business philosophy is comprehensive and not just focused on product or solutions, but also communication as well as delivery which are the intentions of these new business programs.

Brandee’s Thanksgiving feast preparation

The last food-hangover haziness was barely clearing from Thanksgiving 2015 and Brandee was already busy planning for Thanksgiving 2016!

I think Turkey-Day (a.k.a. Thanksgiving) is Brandee’s most favorite holiday even surpassing Christmas, Fourth of July, Halloween and others. It’s a day where she can really enjoy her sincere joy of cooking and sharing with others. While there are traditional dishes and recipes that she will prepare annually, she also likes to experiment with some new things every year. This might be preparing the turkey in a different manner, creating a new side dish or tweaking seasons to her already favorite recipes.

All signs point ahead to a wonderful 2017

So, in summary, this blog post has shared some information of hopefully inspiration for 2017 to you and your family. It’s our sincere that sharing some personal details of our family life, social interaction, business activities and our upcoming fabulous Thanksgiving feast (courtesy of Brandee) should be a fantastic inspiration.

I hope that we can all just what should do as common sense and live, as well as treat others as you would want to be treated. Very simple and logical.

The Fujitsu Imaging Products Group (IPG) Demo and Education Lab

Posted on November 13 by Kevin

This was a self-imposed project that I was very proud of. In 2007 while working at Fujitsu I took the initiative, and was gratefully given the authority, to organize, prepare and build what I called the “Fujitsu Imaging Products Group (IPG) Demo Lab”. The concept was to setup various solutions that utilized our document scanning technologies for educational purposes.

The project was really great because people were really interested in learning about emerging technologies. I didn’t have to spend any money on building this Demo Lab. All the equipment was excess. We created an internal web portal that people could log on and follow the easy instructions to understand, and try for themselves, the different technologies.

Much of our Demo Lab was dedicated to network-attach solutions so we had many networking hardware products such as Kofax DSS, Axis or Silex but we also had network software solutions such as Network ISIS and RemoteScan TWAIN. It was really great to share this knowledge with others and get such great feedback.

Veterans Day 2016

Posted on November 11 by admin

On this Veterans Day 2016, I wrote a series of short messages of appreciation of veterans I personally knew and posted them on my personal Facebook page to share their military story with others. On this particular webpage that you are reading now I have consolidated all these posts to share bried stories of these great hero’s.

Scott Green: On this Veterans Day 2016, I pay respect to those Veterans who have so proudly served our great nation. We are indebted to your service forever.

I would like to recognized my tough, cool, brother-in-law Marine and wonderful BBQ-cook, Scott Green. He, and his guys, are so humble about their military service but I cannot do nothing but brag about their bravery in really terrible times. We must not forget how horrible it must have been to roll into Baghdad at that time. But they did it bravely. Semper Fi!

Scott, you are a compassionate person with lots of common sense, whether you admit it or not, and I can’t wait to get back to Ohio for some of that delicious Dayton Urban BBQ.

For those whose live in Ohio, or might visit there any time in the future, please visit his food truck for some delicious BBQ! Twitter: https://twitter.com/daytonurbanbbq Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DaytonUrbanBarbeque/about/

Eugene (Gene) Latimer: On this Veterans Day 2016, I pay respect to those Veterans who have so proudly served our great nation. We are indebted to your service forever.

Gene attend Aircraft Mechanic School in Wichita, where he obtained employment with Beechcraft after graduating. He was drafted into the U.S. Army, but Beechcraft got him deferred twice. After receiving his third draft notice, he declined another deferment and excitedly wanted to go! The U.S. Army transferred him to the U.S. Army Air Corps when they found out he had experience working with aircraft. He served honorably during World War II as supervisor of aircraft mechanics at Lavenham, England from one month before D-Day until one month after VE-Day.

Carl Cook: On this Veterans Day 2016, I pay respect to those Veterans who have so proudly served our great nation. We are indebted to your service forever.

My great uncle Carl was a proud, patriotic World War II Army veteran. He loved American like no one ever and he always preached the importance for respect of our country.

In addition to his military service he raised a terrific family of truly wonderful people whom I personal cherish to this day. Carl was also successful in his various businesses including Real Estate.

Carl had the beautiful foresight to record this short video on his Testimony of Life (including much of his Army service) which I encourage everyone to enjoy:

Tom Postulka: On this Veterans Day 2016, I pay respect to those Veterans who have so proudly served our great nation. We are indebted to your service forever.

Tom is a tough guy. A Marine that utilizes his experience both personally and professionally. He means business at all times. Tom can be the kindest of characters, yet the most voracious person you can imagine for anyone that might dare harm his country of priligy canada, family or friends.

I am so grateful to have Tom as a friend and respect his military service very much. Thanks Tom, and your fellow Marines, for your wonderful dedication to our beautiful country. Semper Fi.

Jack Brooks: On this Veterans Day 2016, I pay respect to those Veterans who have so proudly served our great nation. We are indebted to your service forever.

A common theme among Veterans is their humble nature, overall common sense and, obviously, their patriotic nature.

Jack was one of the greatest people in the world I’ve ever met. He was a veteran of the Vietnam War, and although he rarely spoke of his service, I know whatever happened tortured him tremendously.
Jack’s legacy lives strong in his son who is working hard to make a successful life of his own.

God Bless Jack for everything you did for me, for everyone you coached in football and tutored in life. Your great friendship has positively influenced so many people that you have no idea.

Floyd Neal: On this Veterans Day 2016, I pay respect to those Veterans who have so proudly served our great nation. We are indebted to your service forever.

My beautifully wonderful Dad, Floyd Neal, was a proud veteran of the US Navy. He always advocated service to our country, respect of others and being an overall decent person. These terrific character traits are not unique to Floyd because this is a common trait among all veterans. A Veterans sense of decency is genuine.

Dad’s military service clearly had a positive influence for his 93-years. His learning that the Navy provided was clearly profound on his character and Dad paid this knowledge forward to others. This was a great example of military service helping civilian society.

Dad, love you and please enjoy the first time since your re-birth with your great fellow Vets, including your awesome brothers Gene and Carl in heaven this year.

FloydNeal.com

Kevin's Barnhouse

Technology, Movies, Life and Family!

Oklahoma Visit – December 2016

Kevin Neal Life Updates, 12/16/2016

Neal’s giving Thanks in 2016

The Fujitsu Imaging Products Group (IPG) Demo and Education Lab

Veterans Day 2016