Cooksey Connects

Archive for the ‘Thank You’ Category

This past weekend, I had the honor of delivering the opening keynote presentation for the Child Care Mini-Conference in Miami, OK.  I wish to publicly thank the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma and the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma for sponsoring me to speak.  These two fine groups are doing great work in support of the development of young people within their tribal communities!

Following the general session, attendees then came back for more in the breakout session “The Way You’ve Always Done It Doesn’t Work Anymore”- where we discussed some practical tools, tips and techniques for breaking the cycle of being “stuck” in the highly regulated world of child care.  In short, it became clear that Child Care professionals do not need to ask permission to act with compassion and care.  What an impact these amazing people at the conference make every day in their jobs!

During the keynote, I mentioned a couple of videos and promised a link to those, so here they are:

• The Carolina Abacedarian Project – This groundbreaking study which began in 1972 gave the world proof that by providing consistent, age-appropriate, structured child care in the first five years of life can set a child on a path toward adult success and better chance for lesser mental health challenges later in life.  Here’s a clip from the study’s website to explain more.  CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO
• Also, we took some time to watch Dalton Sherman’s 2008 speech to educators in Dallas ISD in Texas.  If you are an educator or care about the future of education and our young people in America, this is 9 minutes of reminder you MUST SEE:

During the day, over 200 child care professionals were not only inspired to continue making a difference in the lives of each young person with whom they interact each day, but also were encouraged to look beyond the walls of their own Child Care centers to build a community within they could network, share best practices, and encourage one another to stay consistent, upbeat, and enthusiastic in the face of each day’s routine.

Child care professionals, I applaud EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU for the tireless service you provide every day.  It was an honor to speak at your mini-conference, and I look forward to seeing you again, soon!

One of my favorite professional groups is the Oklahoma Chapter of the National Speakers Association. Over the past few years, I’ve had the occasion to meet and learn from some of the most talented speaking professionals from all over the country.

I just wanted to take a minute to say, “Thanks for the shout out, Jerry Gitchel!”. Hey, I made his website and his blog. He even posted the pic, included complete with my noggin!

Be sure to check out Jerry’s Blog post (featuring a photo with my mug in it) here!

BOK Center nominated as best new venue

URL: http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/articlepath.aspx?articleid=20081202_11_0_Tulsas248926

The nomination was made by Pollstar, the concert industry's leading publication. We’ll know sometime in early 2009 if the BOk Center will win the award. Good luck, Tulsa!

A special “Thank You ‘tini” to @urbanwallflower, @chimchim237 and @steve_hurst for the info on TwitterFeed. In addition to THAT tidbit, I finally am catching up by learning about OpenID logins. Check Out Vidoop for more on that.

The more I link my various sites together, the easier it is to syndicate everything and stay uber-connected to my fans. Okay, so I may have but a handful of you, but THANKS!

You may now return to your regularly scheduled Tweets!

There’s an effort to elect an unknown random person as President… and it’s someone you already know!

Watch this recent news report, HERE.

Post your feedback HERE as a comment!

From the Pink Floyd Website:

The family of Richard Wright, founder member of Pink Floyd, announce with great sadness, that Richard died today after a short struggle with cancer.

The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this difficult time.

Richard Wright
Born 28 July 1943 (65)

I had the pleasure of seeing Pink Floyd live at Texas Stadium in Arlington, TX back in college. Man, what an incredible show! Just today, a good part of my 4-mile treadmill run was to the accompaniment of Pink Floyd’s live album “P.U.L.S.E.” from that same tour. Richard Wright, you stand among the many great musicians who have left an incredible legacy for the world to enjoy. Shine on!

Lately, I’ve done my share of travel, speaking in high schools for Monster.com’s Making It Count Programs. In a typical month, I may find myself boarding as many as 12-15 planes – each one with it’s own flight crew – Each flight crew, it’s own personality.

Last week, I boarded a flight from Tulsa, OK (TUL) to Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). It was the same old routine. My wheelie bag was gate-checked, backpack stowed below the seat in front of me, flight attendant rattled off the safety instructions as I fiddled with my iPod, and we were off.

Shortly after the pilot leveled out for the trip, the attendant began drink service (oh…and peanuts!) for those of us on this short flight. As the cart parked just beyond Seat 11A, I heard a voice ask, “What would you like to drink today, Mr. Cooksey?”

“Um…wow! Did you say ‘Mr. Cooksey’? Well, I’ll have a Diet Coke, please.”

In all of my traveling, I have NEVER had a flight attendant call me by my name for any reason. Not even traveling in First Class!

A little later in the flight, I stopped the attendant as she headed up the aisle to thank her for actually calling me by name. She replied, “Well, this job isn’t really rocket science so I decided a few years ago to try calling passengers by name. And you know, I’ve learned a lot of interesting names and met some very nice people!”

Well, Judy McClure of Continental Airlines, you made my otherwise routine flight something memorable. In fact, your attention to detail and going the extra mile just to help make your day a little more interesting made such an impression on me I almost forgot about the poorly designed touch-screen kiosk at the check-in counter….almost.

To you, Chicago, IL in winter may not be your idea of warmth. For me, however, this week brings me to the point that winter in Chicago makes me want to slap on some sunscreen and dip my toes into the surf. Let me explain..

Sunday night, severe icy weather in my hometown of Tulsa, OK put me smack dab in the middle of the worst power outage in Oklahoma’s 100 year history! At it’s peak, nearly 600,000 customers (read: households, businesses, cities, etc…) were without power. At this writing, the numbers in the Tulsa area remain around 150-175,000 without electricity…and that’s just from ONE electrical provider!

Should you find yourself reading this in the next few days after it is published, try this link to find out the latest: TULSA POWER OUTAGE.

My house (no, that’s not my house or car in the picture) is somewhere near the intersection of the four “quadrants” of the city…which likely means it’s effectively in “no man’s land” until each quadrant is sufficiently restored to “normal”. That means it may STILL be 3-6 more days before I have electricity restored!

On the bright side, my car is safe (currently at the local, off-airport secured, covered parking garage), my house is looked after, my next round of utility bills will be cheap, and I can finally toss that lasagna that had become a permanent fixture in my freezer when I moved into my bachelor pad after my divorce was final two years ago.

So you see, warmth is where you find it! Thanks, Monster.com’s Making It Count Programs for sending me on the road this week to a hotel with internet, electricity, and a bed I can sleep in – sans sleeping bag.

Early tomorrow morning, I return home….likely to finish cleaning out my fridge.

Cheers!