Dillon with D.R. Horton: “Kyle, I have a tip for your caddy work tonight: Don’t quit your day job.”

The D.R. Horton Orange Team (l-r): Dillon Houk, Brad Anderson, Choice One’s Kyle Siegrist, and Missy Smith.

 Last week, Choice One hosted its annual Loveland Charity Cup, and this year’s theme was Mini-Golf Masters. Choice One employees stepped into the role of caddies, and it’s clear that Kyle was doling out advice with the confidence of a seasoned pro but the application more on par with us “beginners” in the golf simulator a few weeks back.

Forget windmills—this course was all about precision shots that could make a surveyor sweat. Contestants faced tricky angles, hazards, and the awkwardness of using a traffic cone as a putter. The champions? Forest Park, proving that mini-golf glory doesn’t require PGA credentials—just nerves of steel and maybe a lucky bounce off a 2×4.

Yet the real hole-in-one wasn’t on the course—it was in the generosity of our clients and friends. Together, we raised over $21,000 for Sweet Cheeks Diaper Bank and the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Cincinnati. That’s the kind of scorecard we actually care about.

Kyle, keep the caddy gig for laughs, but maybe stick with designing subdivisions for the job security. Thanks to everyone who came out, laughed hard, and gave big. See you next year, where the theme may be new, but Kyle’s advice will still be…questionable.

Troy Niese: “The pond is getting winterized. It’s a like a bunch of dads inspecting a DIY project.”

For years, our office fascinations have evolved. First, it was doughnuts (thanks, Jeff Kunk). Then roundabouts (don’t worry, we still love them, right Dane?). And now? The pond at Loveland—our newest source of entertainment and speculation.

After determining its depth earlier this year, the pond has become a seasonal spectacle. Today’s event? Winterization. And, apparently, nothing draws a crowd quite like a pond getting prepped for cold weather. Just look at these green-clad onlookers, gathered at the windows like a team of home-improvement experts. Many of them are dads, so the commentary was top-notch: “Looks good from here,” “Did you check the filter?” and “Yep, that’s how I’d do it.”

From doughnuts to drainage, we’ve proven that Choice One can find excitement in anything. What’s next for our pond obsession? Ice fishing? A curling league? Stay tuned—because if history tells us anything, this body of water isn’t just a pond anymore. It’s a lifestyle.

Nora Schwartz: “The simulator keeps saying: ‘Go back and adjust your difficulty settings’… but it was already set to beginner.”

This week, the entire Choice One crew headed to Caddy’s, a golf-themed bar and restaurant, for our quarterly offsite meeting and a Monday afternoon “par-tee” for our United Way Campaign celebration. We ate lunch, talked business, and then bravely stepped into the world of virtual golf. And by “bravely,” we mean “with wildly misplaced confidence.”The golfing results? Let’s just say the simulator had some thoughts. Nora’s experience summed it up best: despite being set to beginner mode, the simulator still suggested she might be in over her head. Unfortunately, there’s nothing below beginner—unless you count “spectator.”

To be fair, our past golf experiences haven’t exactly prepared us for greatness. We’ve putted around the office and once developed an indoor golf game that used a sledgehammer in place of a club. So when faced with a simulator that expected actual technique, we were… unprepared.

 

Tyler, pictured here mid-swing, was one of a few who actually knew what he was doing. The simulator didn’t question his settings. Nora, meanwhile, expertly avoided any photographic evidence of her performance. A wise move: when the simulator suggests you might be worse than a beginner, it’s best to leave no trace.

Matt Hoying: “Kari didn’t like Spaceballs.”

Gasps were heard. Jaws dropped. Somewhere, Mel Brooks felt a disturbance in the Schwartz.

After returning from our Lexington company trip last week, Graphic Designer Kari casually mentioned she didn’t love Spaceballs, the 1987 sci-fi parody that’s long been a staple of Choice One company trip bus rides. For those unfamiliar, Spaceballs is a spoof of Star Wars—complete with characters like Dark Helmet, Yogurt, and a villain named Pizza the Hutt. It’s absurd, quotable, and deeply beloved by many of us.

And yet… Kari didn’t love it.

Despite this cinematic betrayal, we managed to carry on with our Lexington trip. We visited horse farms, held a Fowling tournament (which is somehow not bowling or football but both?), toured Keeneland, scavenged through a winery, tasted bourbon like professionals (read: not professionals), and sang our hearts out at karaoke (that’s Kari on the right in the photo, belting “Redneck Woman”).

In the end, while Kari may not appreciate the comedic genius of Director Mel Brooks or the timeless charm of a half-man, half-dog named Barf, we still love her. Even if she’s more The Proposal than Pizza the Hutt.

Choice Mindsets: “A Trip Down Memory Lane””

Choice One in the Las Vegas airport, 1997.

Today, many of us from Choice One are headed to Lexington, KY. If you didn’t know, we take a trip together once every two years over a weekend to hang out with each other, meet spouses/guests, and make some long-lasting memories. Indeed, it’s easy to reflect on the completely uneventful history of Choice One travel. After all, we’re a well-oiled machine when it comes to logistics, punctuality, and quiet evenings in hotel rooms… right? Let’s take a stroll down memory lane: ·     Las Vegas, 1997: Jeff Kunk nearly missed the flight home, proving that blackjack and time management don’t mix. ·     Louisville, 2013: We thought we saw ghosts in underground zipline caves. ·     Pittsburgh, 2021: We were extra glad our buses had bathrooms when we got stuck in a four-hour I-70 traffic jam. ·     Ann Arbor, 2015: We overwhelmed a tiny hotel bar with a 50:1 guest-to-bartender ratio. The bartender probably still wakes up in a cold sweat. ·     Cleveland, 2019: We found rats in an alley and some of us saw Baker Mayfield at a hockey game. Browns fan Mitch Thobe, whose back was turned, remains unconvinced. So what’s in store for Lexington? Will our bus survive? Will we find another celebrity in an unexpected place? One thing’s for sure: we’ll make memories, whether we plan to or not.

 

Inquiring Mindsets: “Caption this photo of Andy Shuman.”

“Is this the coffee shop?”

-Craig Eley, Traffic Engineer

 

“It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s just a Choice One survey drone*.”

-Troy Niese, Project manager

 

“Why do cats land on their feet but toast always lands butter-side down?”

-Holly Fannon Accountant

 

“He looks like someone dropped him in a Call of Duty map.”

-Becca Getts, Project Engineer

 

“When you dress for a casual stroll but accidentally end up supervising a construction site…”

-Brian Goubeaux, Designer

 

“I’m here to reinforce the vibe, not the concrete.”

-Brittany Clinehens, Recruiting/HR

 

*Yes! Choice One offers licensed drone surveying capabilities!