Dear Law Cypress friends and family,
Please take a moment to vote in this poll so that we can get everything arranged for our BBQ event:
[yop_poll id=”4″]
If you are interested in reading about 2014’s event then please go here: http://www.kevinneal.com/blog/1st-annual-jack-brooks-law-cypress-reunion-bbq/
Or, leave a comment below:
Comments or questions are welcome.
Whether you love them or hate them, I think LinkedIn Endorsements are a fairly good gauge of your professional skills, and especially your online professional persona. I promised myself that after my personal LinkedIn profile achieved 
(99+) Endorsements in any particular category then I would share some of my honest observations on the topic of LinkedIn Endorsements.
I checked a few of my LinkedIn contacts at random and viewed their Endorsements. Knowing all these persons in various capacities whether it be only virtually, in-person or a mixture of both, I can say that most of these persons highly ranked Endorsements personified their professional skills fairly decently. In other words, LinkedIn Endorsements might not deserve the harsh criticism they received when initially launched about one year ago.
Are Skills Perception or Reality? (…and does it matter as long as it is accurate)
Let’s dig a bit deeper and see if LinkedIn Endorsements are truly representative of one’s professional skills. As a reference, my personal LinkedIn Skills & Endorsements screen print as of 1/10/16 is listed to the left. As you can see the three Skills for which I have 99+ Endorsements are ‘SaaS’, ‘Enterprise Software’ and ‘Cloud Computing’.
With over 100 of my professional contacts ‘endorsing’ me for each skill, (without asking or any sort of encouragement) anyone that didn’t know me personally would think that my entire career might have been in the solutions and software business.
Au contraire! (On the contrary)
I have never worked one minute for a ‘SaaS’ (as-a-Service) company. Never have I received a paycheck ever from any ‘Cloud Computing’ organization. Nor have I been a part of an ‘Enterprise Software’, until the past few years. So what does this mean exactly? Are all my Endorsements bogus, or is it misguided individuals or is it blatant propaganda? None of this – let me explain.
Where there is smoke, there is (professional) fire!
Passion for work, industry and others is I’m sure where my Endorsements came from. People know Kevin Neal as an extremely passionate professional about the topics of SaaS, Enterprise Software and Cloud Computing. I don’t hide this passion; in fact I embrace it and wish to share experiences with others with such interests.
* I am a proud Professional Member of AIIM (aiim.org) – A nonprofit educational organization of the topic of Information Management
* I am honored to be a ‘Expert Blogger’ on the topic of ‘Capture’ for AIIM’s web communities
* I genuinely enjoy using my personal time sharing my knowledge freely with others and with no expectations in-turn. A few examples are below:
In summary, my professional life is an open book which I am glad to share with others. I feel it is a pay-it-forward type attitude for those that have helped me so much in my personal career. I can’t thank them enough and I would just encourage others to do the same. Share your experiences, express your thoughts and have an opinion.
turkey slathered under the skin, inside and out with a compound butter of garlic, sage, thyme, rosemary, parsley, salt and pepper.
Turkey slathered in butter.
Time to pull the turkey from her overnight brine.
Turkey coming out of brine.
After many years of driving my faithful 1995 Chrysler LeBaron and driving a hand-me-down car gifted to me by my beloved father for a few years, it was time to finally get a new ride. Brandee had been encouraging me to do this for a long time but I kept resisting. I just wasn’t into status of a new car when the car’s I had still worked well.
So on one fine Saturday morning in the summer of 2014, Brandee, my parents and I head out to the dealerships. I had no intention of making a purchase. It was my plan to just do some investigation. Others had different ideas apparently :-).
I was very open-minded in my choice of cars but I knew I wanted a muscle car for sure. I narrowed-down my selection to 3 different manufacturers and models. These were a Chevy Camaro, Ford Mustang or Dodge Charger/Challenger.
In the end I selected the Dodge Charger. Of all the choices this was the one car that had the best combination of sporty and practicality. I like the fact that the Charger is a four-door and, in retrospect, this was a wise choice. I couldn’t have imagined trying to chauffeur business associates in a two-door or lift Jack’s 95-pound body into a two-door.
The Dodge Charger is worthy of 9 out of 10 Steeler Stars.
2012 Charger, V8, 395HP, Hemi
Oct. 8, 1918-Oct. 25, 2014
Carl Cook, 96, of Sallisaw passed away on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014, in Talihina. He was born on Oct. 8, 1918, in Brent to Lewis and Georgia Cook. He married Christine Dotson on Dec. 31, 1939, in Sallisaw. She preceded him in death on March 31, 2001.
Mr. Cook was the founder of Blunt Baptist Church, a teacher of Veteran’s Agriculture Training Program, a caseworker for the State of Oklahoma and a furniture and mattress maker. He served in World War II in General Patton’s 3rd Infantry.
He leaves to mourn his passing, one daughter, Georgia Christine McAlister of Oklahoma City; one son and daughter-in-law, Lewis C. Cook M.D. and Janie of Texarkana, Texas; seven grandchildren, Les Ruark of Tulsa, Greg Ruark of Mustang, Kurt Ruark of Sallisaw and John Cook, Dr. David Cook, Lisa Soyars and William Cook all of Texarkana; 10 great-grandchildren, Elizabeth, Sarah, Maggie and Harris Cook, Ben, Will and Sophia Jane Soyers, Rachel Ruark Byrd, Steven and Sean Ruark, Tabitha Ruark Kreilaus and Hannah and Emily Ruark; three great-great-grandchildren, Nathan Daniel Byrd, Noelle Christine Byrd and Bonham Reid Ruark; one brother, Floyd Neal of Colfax, Calif.; and one sister, Mary Alice Blackford of Sallisaw.
