Choice Mindsets

06 Jan Second Fiddle

Nick Sanders:
“Allen, be sure that Jake understands right away that he’s the ‘Other Bertke.’”

Surely you’re all shocked to hear that we have a new employee with an old name. Allen Bertke (left), meet Jake Bertke (right). On his first day at Choice One, Jake boldly declared that he might be the most distinguished Bertke in the company. And then Nick swiftly crushed Jake’s dream by prompting Allen to defend his status as the First Bertke of Choice One.

Aside from his last name, our new engineer Jake already has a few things in common with us at Choice One. For instance, he originally hails from Maria Stein like Tyler, Mitch, and Casey. He has a twin brother like Allan Heitbrink. He enjoys horseback riding like Kaye, Lexy, and Jeff Kunk. And most importantly, he looks good in green (although really, who doesn’t around here?).

So welcome Jake, it seems like you’ll fit right in. Hope you don’t mind being relegated to the Second Bertke. At least you have a unique first name… For now.

P.S. We are trying to reach 1,000 “Likes” on Facebook. Click here to see how “Liking” Choice One can score you cool stuff.

23 Dec Merry…New Year’s?

Nick “NNS” Selhorst:
“…do a system’s view on subdivisions before New Year’s. I just realized I spelled ‘New Year’s’ wrong.”

We like to rise to the challenge of tight timelines, but when addressing the company at a recent off-site assembly, Nick realized he had overshot his amount of availability and “misspelled” his self-imposed deadline. Kind of surprising, really, because Nick is an above-average speller…

Sometimes spelling doesn’t come easy–just ask Tony. Indeed, there are a few other everyday experiences we at Choice One have a hard time with:

• Wes Goubeaux isn’t good at hugs.
• Tyler Thobe has a hard time being near breakfast cereal. (In truth, he can practically be chased with a box of Fruit Loops.)
• Jeff Kunk has a hard time buying doughnuts.
• Mike Goettemoeller refuses to try Pop-Tarts other than Cinnamon Brown Sugar. (At least you’re eating “healthy,” Mike.)
• Jeff Puthoff won’t wear a red shirt. Ever.

Yet thankfully, one thing does come easy for all of us at Choice One: we want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We look forward to sharing our unique brand of Choice One cheer in 2017.

09 Dec Hidden Talent

Inquiring Mindsets want to know:
“If you were in a pageant, what would your talent be?”

	Matt Hoying, Project Manager “Rock, paper, scissors.” This is only a talent because your opinions aren’t involved, Matt.
	Mitch Thobe, Project Manager “Eating food extremely fast.” Like, faster than electricity, Mitch?
	Brian Barhorst, Designer “Playing the tuba.” Must come naturally–we don’t see any practice in your daily schedule, Brian.
	Megan Bornhorst, Administrative Assistant “Singing.” Really? We thought for sure it would be hugging.

25 Nov Have It Your Way

Loveland Burger King Cashier:
“Do the rest of your guys know you’re coming here without them?”

Our Loveland Choice One crew often hits up the local Burger King for lunch together. But once, when Brian Schmidt went alone, the cashier noticed and wanted to make sure Brian wasn’t sneaking Whoppers without his green-shirted cohorts. Not so says Brian! We’re very thankful for our Choice One family (and for Burger King, clearly), and in the spirit of Thanksgiving, we thought we could recap a couple of current Choice One blessings:

• We finally got the third bathroom in the Sidney office. It even has a little light like in an airplane cabin that lets us know if it’s occupied or not!
• Tony became a grandpa about a month ago. (Congrats Tony!) Now at least he has a good reason to not be around.
• We got a new logo! (Although somehow it came without pockets…)
• Engineers danced. And more mercifully, engineers stopped dancing.

In closing, we think it’s safe to say there’s no shortage of turkeys at Choice One. And even though it’s a day late, Happy Thanksgiving from Choice One Engineering!

P.S. If you want something else to be thankful for, here’s a new video starring Choice One in which we’re NOT dancing at all.

11 Nov Out of Pocket

Tony Schroeder:
“I’m gone two weeks and you guys get rid of pockets.”

An engineer without a place to carry a pen at all times is a lost soul indeed. While Tony was out of the office, likely on a bicycle somewhere in Florida, our newly-logoed men’s shirts were unintentionally ordered without one [apparently] crucial feature: a chest pocket.

While this missing pocket is seemingly disastrous to many of our engineers who “need” said pocket to store their prized blue-only ink pens and giant red Sharpies, there are a couple of advantages of eliminating this storage feature from our attire:

• Choice One families no longer have to discover a forgotten pen or marker has ruined a load of laundry.
• There’s no chance of a washing machine destroying the coveted, original mechanical pencils from Choice One’s early days.
• We have been pushing to make Choice One paperless. If there’s no paper, why does anyone need a pen anyhow?

In the meantime, to keep his writing utensils close at hand, Jeff has creatively buttoned an old pocket to his new shirt. In our opinion, this act bears a significant resemblance (in more ways than one) to Winnie the Pooh’s Eeyore pinning on his tail. Whether the resemblance is predominately due to the pinning action or because Eeyore is a… donkey… will remain unspoken.

28 Oct Halloweenies

Brittany:
“We’re having a costume contest: dress as your kids are dressing for Halloween.”

Jeff Puthoff:
“Mine are dressing as Choice One employees, so I will just wear what I always do.”

Struggling to find the perfect costume for Halloween this year? We have the solution! Our trick-or-treaters Jake and Justin Puthoff  are modeling the hottest costume in 2016: the Choice One Employee.

The costume package includes the following:

• Green shirt (naturally)
• Temporary tattoo of the new company logo
• Choice One branded cell phone with Ohio’s and Indiana’s standard traffic manual apps pre-loaded
• Lunch money (excluded in Jeff Kunk edition)
• Green pen (blue ink ONLY, of course)
• Pocket change for The Canteen

Clearly, the Choice One Employee costume will make you the hit of your Halloween party. So if you’re looking to stand out like an engineer this Halloween (likely in a corner trying to avoid social interaction) pick up the Choice One Employee costume before they’re gone!