{"id":1627,"date":"2014-06-19T19:30:46","date_gmt":"2014-06-20T02:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/?p=1627"},"modified":"2023-10-16T11:16:28","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T19:16:28","slug":"1st-annual-jack-brooks-law-cypress-reunion-bbq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/1st-annual-jack-brooks-law-cypress-reunion-bbq\/","title":{"rendered":"1st Annual Jack Brooks Law Cypress Reunion BBQ"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past Saturday, June 14th<\/sup>, Brandee and I along with our good friend Natalie hosted the 1st<\/sup> Annual Jack Brooks Law Cypress Reunion BBQ at Vasona Lake Park.\u00a0 The collection of great people and conversation was simply amazing!\u00a0 I cannot thank everyone enough for their participation.<\/p>\n

\"david<\/a>
\n<\/a>The group was outstanding and was well-representative of the great culture of our Company.\u00a0 I am so personally proud to have such sincere and long-standing friendships with these people.\u00a0 Therefore, I would like to highlight some of the fantastic new memories from this event:<\/p>\n

A blast from the past \u2013 Early days of Law Cypress (Randy Savoy)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"savoy\"<\/a>A true testament of the great Law Cypress spirit is embodied in a long-time former employee, Randy Savoy.\u00a0 Randy was the engineering manager even before I started at the Company in 1989.\u00a0 He is absolutely a wonderful person and overall great guy.\u00a0 He attended the BBQ with his son, Peter, who it was a great privilege to meet.\u00a0 At the BBQ Randy shared some hilarious stories from long-ago which really helped to establish a fantastic story-sharing environment.<\/p>\n

Although many of us hadn\u2019t seen Randy in-person for many, many years, immediately when he showed up it was just like the old days when we were laughing, sharing stories and having an overall great time.<\/p>\n

The longest distance traveled award (Mike Heiden)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"mike\"<\/a>Traveling the longest distance to attend the 1st<\/sup> Annual Jack Brooks Law Cypress (LC) Reunion award goes to\u2026.drum roll please\u2026..Mike Heiden who drove all the way up from Los Angeles to attend the event!<\/p>\n

Mike is the epitome of friends and family for LC.\u00a0 I personally knew Mike long before he became a LC employee and he was great fun.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad to report, after not seeing him in a long time, he has built a fabulous life for himself.\u00a0 Brandee and I, as well as the others at the BBQ I\u2019m sure, seriously enjoyed the conversations with Mike.\u00a0 It was sincere, refreshing and funny.\u00a0 Thanks Mike for making the long trip this year!\u00a0 Next year you are going to have a serious challenge to your longest-distance-traveled award I\u2019m sure.<\/p>\n

Comic relief (Carol and Jenny)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"carol_jenny\"<\/a>Another great memory from the event was Carol and Jenny, Kylie and Kaylee.\u00a0 These diva\u2019s know how to rock-the-house and they did not disappoint!\u00a0 As everyone knows Carol and Jen are the core of the Law Cypress family.\u00a0 It\u2019s amazing to see that as more things change, the more things stay the same.\u00a0 And this is certainly the case with our dear friend, Carol.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Going the extra mile (Bob Utley)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"25yoh\"<\/a>The incredible success of Law Cypress was certainly due to the fact that we had a great bunch of hard working people but a huge part of our success was also because of our terrific partners.\u00a0 One person in particular that was an extremely important part of the Companies success was Bob Utley of Fujitsu.\u00a0 Bob is best known for his charming personality and amazing magic talents but he also has fantastic business acumen.<\/p>\n

It was a great pleasure to get to spend some time with Bob and his wife, Elisabeth, reminiscing about all the terrific times we\u2019ve enjoyed together.\u00a0 A very special treat at the BBQ was Bob performing several magic tricks for the children.\u00a0 Although the target audience was the kids, I can tell you for a fact that the adults were also quite impressed with Bob\u2019s amazing talent.<\/p>\n

Bob\u2019s positive contribution to the Law Cypress family is long-standing and much appreciated.\u00a0 He was never an official Law Cypress employee but he is, without a doubt, one of the family forever! \u00a0Thanks Bob!<\/p>\n

A friend of the Law Cypress family (Jim Hughes)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"westint_logo\"<\/a>As a distributor of computer products, true success at Law Cypress could not have happened if it weren\u2019t for our fantastic reseller and technology partners and there is no better representative of this group then Mr. Jim Hughes of Western Integrated Systems.\u00a0 Jim is an icon in the industry and I was so personally honored to have him join us.<\/p>\n

\"jim<\/a>Jim always has great stories and experiences to share.\u00a0 It is really fun to hear him tell his colorful tales.\u00a0 Sometimes I think he might exaggerate just a bit (or a lot a bit) but the \u2018bigger\u2019 and more \u2018fishy\u2019 the tales get makes them all that better.<\/p>\n

As an animal lover, Jim brought to the BBQ his two precious six-year old dogs to enjoy the park.\u00a0 Being an animal lover myself naturally I wanted to introduce myself to his dogs but I was quickly warned by Jim to keep my distance.\u00a0 Jim, being the consummate practical-joker that he is, was dismissed by myself as being a joke so I extended my hand to pet his dogs. \u00a0Naturally I did not believe that Jim truly had these vicious dogs and boy-o-boy was I wrong! \u00a0I’m glad to report that I still have all my fingers in-tact; \u00a0but barely. \u00a0Jim, I can never tell whether you are serious or not so thanks for always keeping me on my toes!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>A Jack Brooks prot\u00e9g\u00e9 (Ivan Bermudez)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"ivan<\/a>What would a \u2018Jack Brooks\u2019 event be without a little discussion about Jack\u2019s proud football history as a great coach?\u00a0 One of Jack\u2019s star football players, long-time friend and one of many \u2018sons\u2019, Ivan Bermudez, made an appearance. \u00a0Yes, I said \u2018appearance\u2019.\u00a0 You see, Ivan is a legend in his own mind and his time is precious so anyone getting to see him is a great pleasure.\u00a0 Actually, I kid.<\/p>\n

Ivan shared some great stories and memories of all the fantastic JB times.\u00a0 He probably knows Jack as well as anyone and it was fabulous to hear Ivan\u2019s retrospect on Jack as a person, husband, co-worker and friend to everyone.\u00a0 Ivan, I would like to thank you, again, for sharing such awesome memories!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Studs-R-Us and the \u2018new gen\u2019 of Law Cypress (Freddy Bermudez)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"freddy<\/a>Ivan\u2019s cousin, Freddy, another ex-Law Cypress employee, arrived with Ivan at the BBQ.\u00a0 Freddy had been associated with Law Cypress for a long time through his relationship with Ivan as well as friendship with many other LC employees.\u00a0 Eventually I think Jack just made it official and hired Freddy on as an employee.\u00a0 Jack was notorious for hiring \u2018lost individuals\u2019 and Freddy embodied this spirit extremely well.\u00a0 *Just kidding Freddy*.<\/p>\n

Freddy was a great addition to the LC team and his friendship is appreciated to this day.\u00a0 At the BBQ Freddy enjoyed discussing his massive biceps, huge chest and thick neck with anyone that would listen.\u00a0 I\u2019m looking forward to seeing Freddy again.\u00a0 See you see bro!<\/p>\n

The secret ingredient behind the scenes (Natalie)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"natalie_bbq\"<\/a>I\u2019ve mentioned Natalie a few times in this blog and now I would like to call her out specifically.\u00a0 Natalie is a dear friend of Brandee and mine.\u00a0 We have known each other for many years.\u00a0 She is the proudest mommy ever to her beautiful daughter and watching them together is pure magic.<\/p>\n

Natalie helped organize the BBQ event with Brandee.\u00a0 Natalie (a.k.a. \u201cNat\u201d) had a previous commitment that she had to attend later in the day so she couldn’t stay the whole time but, as she always does, stayed to help as much as she could.\u00a0 Nat, and her ham-for-a-daughter, typically keeps us tremendously entertained by singing the Frozen song over and over, are two of the most terrific people you will ever find in your life.\u00a0 Nat and Cookie \u2013 You are A+!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Jack-Buddy!<\/strong><\/p>\n

For those whom worked with Jack they know that one of his infamous phrases to utter was ‘so-and-so buddy!’. \u00a0So, as a final tribute and until next year, Jack-buddy! – looking forward to celebrating in your spirit next year!<\/p>\n

\"jack<\/a><\/p>\n

In all seriousness, Jack was absolutely a great people person and gave so many young kids opportunities to grow, learn and experience life without excessive coddling.\u00a0 In spite of his tough exterior he was a man of great values, as many of you reading this already know.<\/p>\n

It was such a fantastic honor for us to host this event in Jack\u2019s wonderful memory but also a great celebration of the Law Cypress spirit.\u00a0 I seriously cannot wait until next year!\u00a0 Speaking of which\u2026.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Next year\u2019s event is already in-the-making (Lynn Law)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brandee, Natalie and I would like to extend our greatest gratitude to the entire Law family for attending the event.\u00a0 In particular it was tremendous to spend time chatting with Lynn.\u00a0 She has graciously agreed to organize next year\u2019s event already.\u00a0 So everyone get your creative thinking-caps on and start sharing your interesting ideas for the 2015 BBQ!<\/p>\n

Your input is requested<\/strong><\/p>\n

As we plan out for next year I think a more organized approach would be to use technology!\u00a0 Yes, believe it or not, technology is our friend and many of us are in the technology business so we want to eat our dog-food *so-to-speak*.<\/p>\n

Therefore, I am requesting that you contribute something virtually to this past event, as well as future events, by commenting, liking or suggesting something.\u00a0 Your input in valuable and we want to take the spirit of Jack as well as the vision of LC into this next era with passion and pride so please contribute something!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For those whom worked with Jack they know that one of his infamous phrases to utter was ‘so-and-so buddy!’. So, as a final tribute and until next year, Jack-buddy! – looking forward to celebrating in your spirit next year!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[92,4],"tags":[148,395],"class_list":["post-1627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-friends","category-life_and_family","tag-law-cypress","tag-lawcypress"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/jack-with-dogs.png",604,482,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/jack-with-dogs-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/jack-with-dogs-300x239.png",300,239,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/jack-with-dogs.png",604,482,false],"large":["https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/jack-with-dogs.png",604,482,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/jack-with-dogs.png",604,482,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/jack-with-dogs.png",604,482,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/jack-with-dogs.png",210,168,false],"coral-dark-medium-large-2x":["https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/jack-with-dogs.png",604,482,false],"coral-dark-large-2x":["https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/jack-with-dogs.png",604,482,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Kevin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/author\/kneal\/"},"uagb_comment_info":3,"uagb_excerpt":"For those whom worked with Jack they know that one of his infamous phrases to utter was 'so-and-so buddy!'. So, as a final tribute and until next year, Jack-buddy! - looking forward to celebrating in your spirit next year!","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1627"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13413,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627\/revisions\/13413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}