Choice Mindsets

11 May On Safari

In honor of Choice One’s Kristi Moorman heading to Africa on a 10-week mission trip, Inquiring Mindsets want to know:
“Would you rather have an elephant trunk or a giraffe neck?”

	Caray Schmiesing, Controller “Elephant trunk—an easy extra grabber.” (Another tool to keep your kids from doing something silly, Caray?)
	Jake Bertke, Project Design Engineer “Elephant trunk. To make it easy to pick up all the food I drop.” (At least dropped food is less messy than spilled drinks, right Nick Selhorst?)
	Troy Niese, Project Design Engineer “Giraffe neck so I don’t have to get out of my seat every time I check to see if Jeff Puthoff is here–I’d be able to see over the cubicle wall from my seat.” (You mean you can’t hear the awkward clump of his cowboy boots, Troy?)
	Megan Bornhorst, Administrative Assistant “Giraffe neck. I’d look great in turtleneck sweaters.” (Both functional AND fashionable, Megan!)

27 Apr Three Little Words

Brian Schmidt:
“I wonder if the three words ‘Choice One Engineering’ are as meaningful?”

Let’s see, at first glance, the one direct correlation we can pinpoint between chocolate chunk cookies and Choice One Engineering is that we’re both full of sugar.

When engineer Brian Schmidt saw these three words on the wall at a Penn Station restaurant, we’re pretty sure they made him happy. That got us thinking: what three words bring us happiness at Choice One?

• Free lunch included.
• Just made coffee.
• Green version available.
• Kunk bought doughnuts.*
• Roundabout option selected.
• Beer’s on Mitch.
• Cleveland Browns win.*
• Bathroom is open.
• Rock, paper, scissors
• Canteen’s free today.*
• Pockets are back!*

As Brian has implied, we hope that the three words “Choice One Engineering” bring happiness to others (or at least a smile from time to time). And no matter the three-word phrase on the wall, Brian should bring back cookies from Penn Station for the rest of us for fear that we use another three-word phrase: “Typical Kunk move.”

*Could bring happiness, if it ever actually happened.

13 Apr File 13

Jason Brown, Ryan Homes:
“I’m concerned. It looks like Michael is literally one step away from being ‘trashed.’”

Our friend Jason Brown is at it again, picking on defenseless engineers like Michael Seeger.  But considering Michael placed his own photo near his trashcan, maybe Jason isn’t picking on Michael, but rather warning the rest of us…

We have photos of ourselves near our desks at Choice One to help our new hires, co-ops, and visitors know who sits where among an intricate arrangement of open desk spaces, stacks of construction plans, pre-modeled SmartWater bottles, countless body spray scents, and heaps of pens without pockets to reside in. When everyone has the same shirt on (not to mention the same names), it can get a little confusing for newbies to determine who each of us green-shirted nerds are, and the photos help.

We wonder if Michael thought that putting his photo near his wastebasket would help others recognize him, or if he just didn’t want to let it compete with his handmade P.E. certificate. However, if Michael wanted to help co-ops and visitors out more, perhaps he should put his photo near the Loveland office’s coffee machine where, he is more likely to actually be found.

30 Mar Kick the Tires and Light the Fires!

Josh Craig:
“Just like in the movie, Goose bites it and Maverick lives on.”

Charity Cup Champions City of Greenville (l-r Steve Willman, Curt Garrison, Chad Henry, and Choice One’s Wes Goubeaux)

16 Mar A Household Name

Nick Selhorst:
“I bet Matt’s parents were confused.”

Every week or so Brittany writes a fun question on our break area whiteboard to help us learn more about each other and to have a little fun. We felt this one solicited quite a few entertaining answers (and at least one eye roll…).

So how did Choice One itself get named? Back in 1994, the original founders and owners didn’t want to use their last names for the new company, as they planned to add more owners as the company grew. (What foresight!). So, as the legend goes, the founders wanted something positioned at the beginning of the alphabet, because, you know, the Yellow Pages still mattered then. (What foresight?)

Brittany, maybe next week you can ask a follow-up question on the whiteboard: Why didn’t your parents name you something else? Didn’t they know that you’d work for Choice One someday and we’d have too many Jeffs, Allan/Allens, Nicks, Craigs, Brians, Ryans, and Michaels?

P.S. Don’t forget that we’re approaching the Sidney-area Choice One Charity Cup–join us March 28 for an evening of fun!

02 Mar Act Naturally

Matt Hoying:
“I find it ironic that Megan has a file folder marked ‘Paperless’ and… there’s paper in it.”

While tracking down what was surely a truly thrilling portion of the Engineers Joint Contract Documents Committee Standard General Conditions of the Construction Contract (even the name is long, legal, and boring…), Matt came across one of Megan’s files that, well, seemed like a bit of an oxymoron. The paper in the “Paperless” file is, coincidentally, more legal-beagle language: the portion of the Ohio Revised Code that dictates which kinds of documents can be kept electronically and which must be kept as hard copies.

At Choice One, we’ve noticed a few oxymorons within our line of work. Like how sewer smoke-testing smoke comes as a liquid. Or how traffic engineers perform “speed studies” with the expectation of slowing drivers down. And that sometimes there’s more right-of-way on the left side of the street. Shoot, even our industry is an oxymoron—is there such a thing as a “civil” engineer?

Matt, if you’re looking for more irony concerning paperless-ness, perhaps you could calculate how much paper was used by the State of Ohio to ascertain if a bit of information had to be kept on paper or not. We’re guessing the amount of paper devoted to becoming paperless at the state level is “seriously funny” compared to Megan’s single sheet of printed text.