Choice Mindsets

29 Apr Making the Connection

Brian Schmidt:
“I brought doughnuts in for you, Brittany, since it’s Administrative Professional’s Day. Unfortunately, I don’t have a way to get one to you.”

Brittany Clinehens:
“Maybe you could just eat one over the phone very loudly?”

This past Wednesday was Administrative Professionals Day, and it was very thoughtful of Brian “Schmidty” Schmidt to buy doughnuts for Brittany and Megan, our indispensable Administrative Professionals. Now, Schmidty is in Loveland, while Brittany and Megan are in Sidney. Therefore Schmidty’s thoughtfulness leads to his stomach’s fullness, since he will get the doughnuts Brittany and Megan can’t actually eat. Coincidence? Or payback?

Doughnuts aside, we try to keep our three locations feeling like one (pun intended). We email each other to discuss the latest Cleveland Browns debacle… er, “management strategy.” We page each other to debate the minutia of traffic engineering. We video conference over lunch to watch old episodes of The A-Team. And we’ve been known to mail all of our least favorite Jolly Ranchers to another office as a “treat” (no one in Sidney likes Blue Raspberry, apparently).

So happy belated Administrative Professional’s Day to of the all administrative professionals out there, and of course to our own Brittany and Megan! Without you, our three offices would have way less organization, efficiency, laughter, Doritos, and delightful reasons to buy doughnuts. Perhaps someone in Sidney will buy you doughnuts next time, or at least share a few of their coveted Cherry and Watermelon Jolly Ranchers.

15 Apr Giving 100%

Nick Sanders:

“Gonna have to buy a second fridge to post all of my papers!”

It was company meeting quiz time again at Choice One this past Monday. As usual, Nick Sanders, always the over-achiever, had a perfect score. He’s not keeping count or anything, but this is probably his billionth perfect score in a row. And since he likes to hang his good grades on the refrigerator like any proud student, he’s realized he’s going to need a second fridge at home to post each and every company meeting quiz A+.

Now that we know Nick’s refrigerator(s) are full of Choice One quizzes, one might ask what is on the Choice One office refrigerators? Well, in Portland we can assume there are Arby’s coupons held by a Cleveland Browns magnet. In Sidney there’s this delegation poster, which memorializes the one instance of Tony looking like a genius. And in Loveland there is a list of prices for the Loveland Canteen. Ironically, Pop-Tarts are listed under both “Candy/Sweets” and “Healthy Food”, which Loveland Canteen manager Brian Schmidt explains as “the crust is healthy but the inside is sweet.”

Indeed, since Nick Sanders always scores 100%, we now have Not Nick and Obviously Nick—as in “Obviously, Nick Sanders got a perfect score.” Since there’s room on the Loveland fridge, perhaps we can send those perfect quizzes there. As long as the oldest ones aren’t too crusty, Brian Schmidt can post them under “Sweets.”

01 Apr Team “Hustle”

“Oh, and as you can see, I believe I found an appropriate spot for the trophy.”
Duane Puckett, City of Troy

With another Choice One Charity Cup in the books, the Charity Cup trophy is again displayed in a place of royal prominence, as is only appropriate for such a distinctive prize. For the next year, this majestic traveling masterpiece will be housed at the offices of the City of Troy, this year’s Charity Cup champion.

The tournament was grueling. Submersed for hours in the unforgiving world of 1970s disco, Team Troy Grey (l-r Paul Bryant, Duane Puckett, Choice One’s Tyler Thobe, and Scott Frazier) battled with the likes of Team Garmann-Miller Associates Grey in the final game of the ruthless 10-round cornhole tournament. Disco balls flew like Nick Sanders over a gas pump hose, and shag carpet was ruffled like Flat Tony’s leisure suit shirt, but Troy Grey emerged victorious.

All of the efforts were worth it, as the champions from Troy along with all of our incredibly generous clients and friends raised an amazing $5,104.00 for the Miami Valley Down Syndrome Association. From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU to all of those who donated and participated. We are completely humbled by and grateful for your contribution to help this wonderful organization bring joy to these wonderful families!

P.S. Check out a few photos on Choice One’s Facebook page, and stay tuned for the 70s photo contest and more fun from the Charity Cup at www.choiceoneengineering.com!

18 Mar Disco Inferno

Andy Shuman:

“Since Tony is the only one in the room who was a teenager in the 1970s, I guess we’ll have to take his word for it that he was ‘cool’ and not ‘groovy’ back then.”

04 Mar When I Grow Up

Megan Bornhorst:

“Tony is like a Choice One Mr. Potato Head.”

19 Feb While the Cat’s Away…

Tony Schroeder:
“Thanks for allowing me to go on this trip; for a president to take this much time off, you have to have a great staff, or the president doesn’t do much. I will go with a good staff… makes me feel better.”

He’s at it again! Remember 2010’s Tony Chasing Wade, when our company president Tony and his son Wade biked across the U.S.? Now Tony and his wife Joan are bicycling down the east coast of Florida for the next several weeks. You can follow him from Jacksonville to Key West at Tony Transporting Joan.

For each five years of service, Choice One employees receive a vacation to any place of their choosing as an anniversary award. For instance, for his 10-year award, Greg Albers and his wife Jamie spent a week touring San Francisco. Ryan Francis took his wife to an all-inclusive resort in Mexico for his 10-year award. And Tony? For his 20-year “reward,” he’s going to bike 60 miles a day. He might as well have chosen to watch soccer for three straight weeks.

No worries, as Tony indicated, we’ve got things covered while he and Joan are pedaling through the Sunshine State. Heck, in reality, that cardboard cutout of Tony is probably more useful than the real deal. Nonetheless, if for some crazy reason you’re looking for him (like Tom Coverstone and Jessica Minesinger STILL are) Tony will return in a few weeks!

P.S. If you want to see what “Flat Tony” will be up to while “Real Tony” is on vacation, Like and Follow Choice One on Facebook and Twitter!