My 22nd birthday year can beat up your 22nd birthday year.

Dec. 2005 with Mom

In Feb. 2005, Casey Turns 22.

My 22nd year of life was when I really began to make the turn into becoming the person I am today.

In the Spring of 2005, I was realizing the end of college life was near. About half of friends were graduating in May (while I had obtained more hours of credit overall, I needed another semester to graduate with the switch of my major). I began going to graduation parties with my friends (seen at the parents' house of my friend Lacy Davis below) and saying our goodbyes to those heading back home, overseas, or into the job world.

Those fun times of graduations would be short-lived for me. Soon after those graduations ended, I had one of the worst nights of my life.

It was May 26, 2005 and I woke up at my house and everyone in the family was out enjoying the day. I was home alone watching TV when I began to smell what seemed like a gas leak in the neighborhood, and while I no longer was wishing to breathe in the odor, I called my grandparents (Dear and Pops) and asked if I could come over and bring the dogs because we didn't want to get "woozy" smelling the gas. They were home and so I took our dogs Coco and puppy Cadi over and spent the whole afternoon hanging out with them enjoying the day. The past few years I had grown more and more intrigued spending time with the two of them, listening to their stories of decades past.

As the evening came upon us, I decided it was time to head back home, as I got word the gas leak had been resolved. I loaded up the dogs and was asked by Pops if I wanted to go with them to Steak and Ale for dinner, I said I had to get going because I had to drop the dogs off and drive down to Bricktown to watch my Dad throw out the "First Pitch" at some Redhawks game. Little did I know, that was going to be the last conversation I would ever have with my grandad - who I had become very close with and would end up wearing his wedding ring as my own years later.

I dropped the dogs off at the house and headed to Bricktown. As I exited and began to look for a parking spot, I got a call from my Dad, asking if I had parked, I told him I hadn't and he told me that was a good thing as Pops had just had a heart attack at dinner and was headed to Mercy Hospital. I turned the car back around and headed back out to northwest Oklahoma City.

After getting to Mercy and finding out the details that he had gone unconscious more than once and brought back each time, it was then talked about that if he "goes" again, he would not be revived. After hours at the hospital and all of us spending some time at his bedside, we were all told that he might/might not make it through the night, but that if anything happens, we will be notified. So, I headed to a friends house to "cool off" and would receive a phone call from my older brother that Pops had died and I should come back to the hospital. I broke down like I hadn't in years. My friends drove me to the hospital and dazed out for hours. Later at his funeral, I would break down again, and it would be 7.5 more years until I would cry again, my wedding.

Old photo with my little brother, Tristan, Pops and me on the right

After a few weeks, I was able to get back to my summer...trying to have normalcy again. I was practically feeling it to be my last "summer vacation" and was hanging out with my college friends now on a daily basis (whenever I wasn't at PCO being an umpire). A few of my friends bought plane tickets and headed to Barcelona and then on to Madrid to teach English and experience living abroad, that made me begin thinking of the plans I would need to make for the following January, after graduation in December. Then, August came...

This was by no means an ordinary August for myself or the City of Oklahoma City. Hurricane Katrina hit the City of New Orleans with a fury, and talks of the Hornets relocating to Oklahoma City became reality.

From 1999 to this point (2005) I had been a statistician for my dad as he called sporting events on Cox Communications, high school football, high school basketball, soccer, softball, swimming...you name, we were there. As the Hornets made it official, and then made it official that Cox Communications would be the broadcasting partner for the team, I applied to be a "Stats guy" and with years of Cox Comm. sports stats, I got a nibble that I could be a "back-up runner" for the team...meaning that 3 or 4 games a year, I could have the job that brought stat sheets to the media during timeouts, end of quarters and (more importantly) transcribe player interview from inside the locker rooms post game. Holy cow, that sounded cool.

I was invited (along with every stats guy, fulltime and back ups) to the first preseason game to get everyone familiar with the job. I was hooked from the first time I walked in the building. I was there early, asked lots of questions and became as involved as much as they would let me...I didn't do that to try to impress anyone, I did it because I had grown up hoping for something like this to become available. I loved it, and at the end of the night, right before I was about to leave, I got asked a question that will go down as one of my all-time favorite moments, (from the PR Director in charge of the game operations) "So, will you be here next game?" "Well, I thought I was just a back-up...do you need me for the next game?" "Yeah, we could use you for every game if you're willing." (I about fainted but calmly agreed to appear at all 35 home games (not 41, as 6 games would be played back in Louisiana that season). I would do this all season, asked to come back the next season and when the Thunder came to town in 2008, the Game Operations crew called the old Hornets stats guys back and we all came back again.

This was a much bigger moment for me than it sounds. It was much more than just a side stats job. I became enthralled with the behind-the-scenes look into this world-wide franchise. I became enthralled with the PR Director's role with the team (and the rest of his team of PR practitioners). This made me once again question what I wanted to do when I graduated. There I stood, 6 weeks from graduation (and in the middle of student-teaching) and had lost all desire to go fulltime into teaching and desperately wanted to learn much more about this "PR" gig I was seeing first-hand operated at its highest level. I was stuck.

Even before the Hornets came, I was not sold on taking on a teaching job in Jan. '06, right after graduation. I didn't want my very first class to be sought out halfway through a school year...I wanted to start out fresh, with a fresh class the following August...this meant I needed to plan out my spring/summer to take on something different. Adding to that thought...I no longer felt the desire to teach (due to wanting PR)...I was stuck. Stuck in a good way though.

Due to going an extra semester and taking on extra expenses associated with more school with it, I had decided to move home with the parents for the last 1.5 years of college to help with finances. So, without a mortgage/rent to pay, and already had paid off my 12 year old Honda Accord, bills were at a minimum...and that's a good thing for a new graduate with conflicted options on a future. In Jan. I would have a discussion with one of my best friends (future usher at my wedding), Dave Ford Johnson. We talked about how "crazy" it would be to go travel for the summer. Not just any normal traveling...a two-month + road trip around the country...was that possible? Just pack up and go? I had never been away from home for more than 10 days for a summer camp.

Regardless, we were set on doing it. That would happen when I was officially 23...so I won't write more on that today...tune in to tomorrow's blog, where the adventures get really adventurous.

(SIDENOTE: I would also be the QB of the championship flag football intra-murals team at SNU, photo below...this story didn't really fit into anything, but it was a lot of fun and since I had photos from it, I thought I'd share them.)

Casey turns 21

I turn 30 in 9 days. To say goodbye to my 20s, I will write a blog each day highlighting a year of my 20s leading up to big number 30. Today's blog, Casey Cornett at age 21.

When I turned 21 years old, I was living in an apartment for the first time (with my best friend/future best man Dr. Trey Hickson), and I had just begun the semester where I officially became an Elementary Education Major. Making the switch 2.5 years into my degree meant that I was going to have take on extra hours in school. I took 18 hours each semester beginning with this one until I graduated.

As I switched majors from Theology to Elementary Education, I switched "jobs" going from an internship at Crossings Community Church into (wait for it) Crossing Christian School, I know, I really branched out. :) Crossings Community Church had launched a new private elementary school just a couple years past and it was an easy transition to relocate to the "After Care" program.

This program called for me to be at the school from 3:00pm to 5:30pm on school days to help with the students who waited for their parents to pick them up after work. I worked in this program for 9 months, only leaving it as the classes I was taking began to demand more of my time, and in the fall I had to take a class that took up that time slot. Bummer.

While I was working form 3:00 to 5:30 daily, I would leave at 5:30 and drive over to PCO baseball fields as I had started umpiring baseball games. This was an experience that "developed" me a lot more than I imagined it ever would. For the first time, I was having to verbally confront upset adults in some situations (as they assumed I missed a call) or upset that I called strike 3 on their son while the kid stood their frozen in fear at a ball going 42MPH went by right in front of them at the plate. It was quite difficult to take on this now authoritative position, but I learned if done so properly and professionally, this job would prove to be very rewarding (especially as I got better at the job). I loved baseball, and played it all I could growing up, so the rules were almost all known by me, but baseball is strange and comes with a lot of strange rules...and the worst time to "learn" these rules is to make a call that is opposite of the rules and have people yell at you...but when they yell at you, you quickly learn the importance of being prepared.

I turned 21 in February of 2004. This month might not stand out in most people's life but to me and my family, it was a game-changing month. On February 24, the citizens of Oklahoma City elected my dad to become mayor of Oklahoma City (sworn in on March 2) and this brought with it a whole other perspective to having a publicly noticeable dad. I grew up with my dad being on TV every day as he was a sportscaster for KOCO for (I think) 16 years and became a newscaster for 3 years, going off the air in 1999. The majority of my life he was on TV, although I was usually in bed for the 10pm broadcasts and out playing sports or with friends during the 5pm and 6pm broadcasts, I didn't see him on TV much. Now, I saw him on TV even more, and mentioned in the newspaper daily and had people coming up to me saying, "Tell your dad...(blah blah blah something political). It was very strange at first but overtime I would get used to...who am I kidding, it's still pretty weird.

Now, turning 21 to most would signal the moment they can now legally drink. But this didn't really matter to me much. I was one of those weird kids that literally never had a drink of alcohol, never had a fake ID, never went to many "drinking" parties in high school and SNU had/has it against its rules and that was fine by me. But, that year did open my horizons to what that atmosphere/lifestyle was like...I could now go to places I couldn't before. I was no longer told to get out of a restricted area at Chili's or other restaurants, I could join friends or peers when they went out and it didn't really matter where we went because it was a new place (and I'm quite adventurous)...I now had a lot more freedom and that was always something I desired, the ability to have a drink was a side-note to turning 21 for me...and I was just fine with that.

Tomorrow, I turn 22. Stay tuned.

20 years old, going in circles

February 3, 2003.

20 Years old.

When I was 20 years old, I was halfway through my sophomore year at Southern Nazarene University. My declared major was Theology. Yup, that's right, Yours truly was in school to become a pastor (of some sorts).

I grew up going to Belle Isle Community Church and in high school they moved its congregation to a new building and renamed it Crossings Community Church. I loved it. I loved the people there (adults and peers) and wanted nothing else to do but remain in the church on a more permanent basis. Theology intrigued me.

I had always been somewhat a fan of history. Learning new stories and how we all got to be the way we are now, was always quite interesting. That's another reason church (and Theology in general) enticed me as much as it did. It was thousands of years of stories, which were all quite easily debated (strange that "facts" can be debated, but spend an hour in a philosophy and you'll see what I mean). It was all fascinating.

All that being said, I was an intern at Crossings in the Middle School Ministries ever since the summer after I graduated from Putnam City North (2001). Coming to a close on my second year of interning, I was beginning to doubt my desire to stay in the church from an employment stance. Working for a church was quite a different experience for me than I expected it to be - I was so used to being in the church from a congregation standpoint...that being on the other side really changed my thoughts. And, that was a pretty hard realization for me. I fought it pretty hard. A lot of my friends were fighting it as well. As more and more of them were leaving Theology for other majors, it made me take a look at my life and I began to really start having self-awareness and self-thought....for the first time ever. I started thinking on my own and questioning a lot more, not necessarily questioning other people or their motives...but for the first time, questioning mine.

I'm sure that's quite common for most at that age. You're 20 years old, away from the house you grew up in, surrounded by new people, paying for bills you didn't expect to be and making decisions you didn't think you were old enough to make.

So, I decided to make some of my own decisions and stand up for myself just a little bit more. I realized that I enjoyed communicating with people, debating ideas, working in groups and being involved, but not necessarily working in a church or even Theology...Theology just happened to be a religious-studies major...and since coming out of high school I wanted to be involved in church it made sense in my 18-yr-old brain to study Theology...oh well.

Now that I look back, I wish someone would have helped me with knowing my options (for instance, I couldn't have told you one thing about Public Relations or even name one person working in a Public Relations field). So, I did the best I could at the time (as most people two years into college do).

In the fall of 2003, I decided to officially quit interning at the church and officially switch my major to Elementary Education. It seemed to fit perfectly. I enjoyed being around youth, coordinating groups and teaching different thoughts and ideas. There really is something special about sitting down and talking with someone and teaching them something new and seeing that "Ah ha!" look on their face.

Anywho, I better stop here. I turn 21 tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Sidebar:  I now realize how much the internet has become the only source for photos. I guess we'll have to wait a couple years/days until 2005 when I actually start having access to photos.

10 Years in 10 Days

On Feb. 3, I turn 30.

Whoa.

My 20s have been pretty incredible and to think back on who I was at 20 years old and to compare that person to who I am today, wow, what a transformation.

I wanted to take a year-by-year look into it; really reflect back on the years that, by all accounts, will go down as the most adventurous, free-willing and irresponsible decade of my life (if I had to guess). That is not to say that my future will not be adventurous nor free-willing...just not as much as my 20s as a whole.

Tomorrow, Thursday, Jan. 24, I will look back on being 20 - where I was, who I hung out with and what I hoped to be like at that time. The next day on Jan. 25 I will move on to being 21, and then 22, etc.

I will end this 10-day blog-a-thon on my 30 birthday. Looking into why what I hope to see (or not see) in my 30s and what my life is like now.

20s, it's been nice and it's time to send you out with style.

My return to SNU - professor style

How strange it is to be a professor.

I have spoken to many classes over the past few years, thanks to requests by former professors and also thanks to unique position I have being a fulltime social media professional. While social media can be an intriguing profession, it is my roots in public relations that I feel is the biggest strength for me to succeed at it.

Many of you know that I have a public relations degree (from UCO), that I worked at Jones PR downtown for nearly 4 years and that I have now been at VI Marketing and Branding (in the PR department - although full-time at Social) for about a 1.5 years, but did you know I also have a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education? 

I graduated in December of 2005 from Southern Nazarene University with a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education (I originally went to SNU for Theology - changed majors after 2.5 years). SNU is where I had my "college experience" and feels like forever since I had walked on the grounds.

Over the holiday break I received an email asking if I was interested in filling in for a professor all spring (who now had to potentially cancel the class for other reasons). It didn't take me long to know I wanted the opportunity. The only catch was the timing, Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11:00 to 11:50. This would have to be discussed with multiple people as I know leaving work for an extra hour in the middle of the day could cause an issue at the office and considering Marek and I went down to become a single car family in November, having the car in the middle of the day (when she needs it to drive to work) will take some major coordinating.

Thankfully, I surround myself with people who "get me" and know that this is something I wanted to pursue. The potential hurdles and issues could all be resolved with some sound communications and planning. One week into the class - so far so good.

None of the 14 students skipped class Monday or Wednesday...I'm guessing it's because of the good-looking professor.

Our Championship Intramural Flag Football team

Group of friends at graduation party

At SNU circa 2005

Bail me out of Jail!

Google+ Hangout with the Mashable staff

I read Mashable on a daily basis to catch up on all the social media and digital news from around the world.

This afternoon, I saw Mashable's Editor in Chief Lance Ulanoff post on Twitter, "Hanging out on Google+, talking about NBC's handling of the Olympics bit.ly/OtEleM" and I was interested to hear what they had to say and clicked the link. Next thing I know I am on screen chatting with the Mashable editors and writers I met in May at the Mashable Connect Conference (a couple of whom I ate breakfast with at the conference).

I write this blog not as a "look-at-me" on the Google+ Hangout but more as a "look-at-Mashable" as they have continued to push the bounds of digital media and now they have open invites for their readers to jump on and chat. Can you imagine jumping on and speaking live on video chats with the New York Times editors and reporters? What about CNN?

Thank you to Mashable for the opportunity to at least listen in, and when they called me out directly by name to respond - I apologize I couldn't speak. :( my physical setting didn't allow for it. I'll make sure next time I click a similar link, I'll be ready to interact with a publication that continues to engage with its readers/listeners/friends.

(BTW, that's me in the bottom right portion of the screen wishing I would have chimed in.)