Ryan Lefeld: “At least she didn’t send you a cactus.”

This week was site designer Jeff Kunk’s birthday. If you’ve read these Mindsets over the years, the photo may look familiar—each year, Jeff’s wife Nicole sends him flowers for his birthday. She always asks for a “manly arrangement” to be sent to Choice One to honor Jeff’s birthday, and the rest of us don’t miss the opportunity to give Jeff a hard time about all the attention.

Choice Oners have come to expect this yearly delivery for Jeff. Like many things at Choice One, the birthday bouquet has become a delightful tradition. Indeed, it is not unlike annually telling Jeff Puthoff he’s old, Kaye taking awkward photos, or holding a Skyline coney eating contest (albeit with less cheese).

Jeff Kunk takes this yearly ribbing in stride—indeed, sometimes it’s nice to be celebrated, and we’re pretty sure that Jeff Kunk’s grin (not to mention Mike Francis’s joy in the background) justifies the tradition by providing office-wide enjoyment. Thanks for a tradition that triggers big smiles, Nicole—and for not sending something as cactus-sharp as the birthday banter!

“Nick Schmidt: “It’s a Schmidt Show around here.”

Brian Schmidt (left), the original Choice One Schmidt, realized that this co-op semester has created a trio of Schmidts in our Loveland office (l-r Brian, Joe, and Nick). Knowing Brian Schmidt’s tendencies, we all know the danger… to any tasty treat in the office. However, it was Nick that coined the trio’s official name.

Keeping the three Schmidts straight hasn’t been too hard, since Brian has always been “Schmidty” (to the point where the name has become a verb), Nick has been dubbed “Scooter,” and Joe is just, well… Joe, since, believe it or not, we only have one Joe. For now.

It’s college career fair season, and with the quality employees we’ve found with repeat names, perhaps there is a second Joe or fourth Schmidt out there to keep this trend going. In the meantime, know our current three Schmidts will keep putting on a show designing great projects and making sure no doughnut gets left behind.

“Lexy Yohey: “Max is picking up chicks!”

Inside Surveyor Max Keeley couldn’t resist holding a recent fuzzy, yellow office guest—and we have the photo proof. Who knew he was such a chick magnet?

The Loveland office has had its share of winged chaos, but this little peep was refreshingly low-drama. No tape traps, no jackets thrown, just soft chirps and MAX-imum fluff. Considering the typical tough-guy nature of our surveyors, Max might consider this soft, fuzzy visitor as a welcome relief from the usual day-to-day.

While our surveyors might occasionally joke around to ruffle feathers, this was a different type of “fowl play.” One thing’s for sure: we know that our survey team is egg-ceptional!

Matt Hoying: “These guys were all cold… but they are the ones with the thermostat in their pod.”

If you’re in west Ohio like Choice One, we don’t need to tell you it’s been cold lately. Jacqueline has been bundled up in borrowed blankets, we haven’t seen Mike G. take off his coat in days, and  now, we have (l-r) Adam Kremer, Justin Puthoff, and Kyle Siegrist huddling up together sporting hats and gloves indoors.

The three gents in the photo have been hard at work designing projects, but apparently, typing and clicking a computer mouse doesn’t get the blood pumping enough to keep warm in recent frigid temperatures. Hence the hats and gloves. What might help? Turning up the heat on the thermostat, conveniently located just over their shoulders on the wall of their pod.

Winter doesn’t last forever, and in the meantime, perhaps Justin can regale everyone with his fond memories of sweltering summer days to thaw their spirits. If nothing else, it’s nice to know that teamwork—whether it be to discuss a complex grading plan or to generate warmth—can help bring everyone a little closer.

Choice One Website: “This person will prepare topographic survey data for design, focusing on detailing CAD drawings of existing site conditions.”

At Choice One, we’re always looking for the right people to join our team. In our excitement for these new team members, we thought we’d use Artificial Intelligence to help us picture someone in the role!

We’re currently looking for an AutoCAD Technician in our Sidney office, so after putting the job description into Microsoft’s Copilot (and making sure the output included a green shirt!) we were given the featured image. At first glance, this might be a great way to visualize a CAD Technician at Choice One. Then again, we’re a little concerned that she has a few pencils for fingers, clearly no one can spell, and all the Choice One employees in the background look like clones.

While this particular attempt to use AI may fall a little short, we’ll continue exploring new ways to imagine the future of Choice One. For sure, we will keep green shirts around and allot at least two coffees per person, but maybe we’ll make sure our future AI counterparts have learned to spell… ideally with human fingers.

Everyone at Choice One: “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!”

Click here to view enlarged images.

How do you get 78 people to smile for the company Christmas card? Bribery, of course!

We at Choice One hope you had a very Merry Christmas and wish you the very best in the New Year. May 2025 bring lots of joy, good health, and great success!

Happy Holidays from Choice One Engineering!