Choice Mindsets

You probably know the feeling: you walk out of the house or the office, get in the car, and forgot your lunch bag. Or left your phone on your desk. Or put your calculator in the refrigerator. For engineer Zach Borchers, forgetting something in the office on his way home happens a lot—to the point where he’s even forgotten how many times it happens.

Zach parks at the far end of the Choice One parking lot and sits at one of the farthest seats from the front door, meaning he has to retrace 200 steps a couple of times per week. Perhaps on the next Choice One seating chart Zach can request a desk closer to the door to minimize the impact of his forgetfulness. Or we could get him a stylish Choice One fanny pack so his keys and phone are always on his person.

Thankfully, it’s just the little, fixable things that Zach forgets and not the big things: he remembers to wear green every day, never misses a chance to help a fellow Choice Oner learn a new trick in AutoCAD, and always remembers to wear a smile, even when he forgets his keys on his desk and his coat on someone else’s chair.

The weather is always a concern for our field survey crews. Not only do they find themselves randomly in rivers and [someday] hopefully in a helicopter, they also find themselves out in run-of-the-mill elements, like rain. And since surveying in the rain is not ideal, watching the weather radar becomes an important exercise in guesswork.

Many moons ago, Jeff Kunk scheduled the survey crews and was notorious for sending them out if there was even the slightest potential break in a storm shown on the radar. While this resulted in keeping a project moving, it also often resulted in wet, grumpy surveyors. Hence Eric’s reference during a recent rainy day to a “Kunk Window,” which may or may not provide enough time to get a few topo shots/grade stakes set in while dodging raindrops.

“Kunk Window” joins a couple other favorite Choice One phrases like “Schmidty’d All Over” and “free lunch.” And really, all of these phrases speak to a couple of Choice One’s priorities: our core values, like timeliness, and our stomachs—which also appreciate timeliness, whether in rain, shine, or just a Kunk Window.

Remember how we had some new lights going in at our Sidney office? Well, when the lights went in over the survey crew’s area, they, like Casey, needed a moment to adjust.

In addition to brightening up the surveyors, the new fixtures have shed some light on a few other things around Choice One. It’s now a little easier to see what’s not available in the Canteen. It’s a touch harder to wait in the shadows to scare someone. And it’s more challenging to catch an in-office lunch nap with all those lights brightening things up.

After a few days, the surveyors (l-r) Craig Frilling, Kole Egbert, Dan Perreira, and Aaron Plas, shed their shades and embraced the brilliance of their desk area. New lights or not, Brian Barhorst is right—the surveyors always brighten our days. Some might say it’s the safety green sweatshirts, but we’d put our money on those big smiles.

With the arrival of the snow storm last week, our surveyors had the opportunity to shovel the walks and dig out the survey trucks. Surveyor and Fort Loramie Volunteer Firefighter Craig Frilling put his whole heart into the endeavor. When he ended up a little winded and a little sweaty, he joked he might need emergency services. Except… he IS emergency services, which Aaron politely reminded him of.

Craig calling himself for emergency resuscitation would be like… well, like Craig Eley calling for help in a traffic jam. Or Megan Bornhorst using a lot of paper, Jeff Kunk paying for donut delivery, or Caray buying reading glasses. Just like Kyle complaining about complaining, it doesn’t make sense on the surface, but still sometimes occurs. Except the Jeff Kunk buying donuts. That never occurs…

Thanks for cleaning the walks, Frizz. Because of your efforts, the rest of us can get into the office safely. And thanks for volunteering your time as a firefighter—we know if we ever do really need to call 911 you’ll be there ready to help, even if you’re winded and sweaty!

Remember how Kyle claimed he used his stand up desk “all them time?” Well, Brad captured photographic proof that Kyle’s data may be misrepresented.

Kyle had a reason for working like this, but no one can remember. So let’s guess!

• Coming to terms with the Schmidty’d up plan review from Jeff Puthoff.
• Hiding his face so his crazed fans don’t recognize him since the huge success of his music video a couple of years back.
• Literally ducking out of the typical office sports talk.
• Resting his shoulders after cotton ball shotput practice.
• Seeing if his moustache fell on the ground.
• His turn to count in the game of hide-n-seek.

Whatever the reason, we’re not sure if this counts as standing or sitting. What we can quantify is Kaye’s confusion—that is pretty obvious. Regardless, at the end of the day, Kyle is a real stand-up guy, whether he’s photographed that way or not!