Choice Mindsets

Choice Mindsets

04 Mar

Posted at 11:15h in Uncategorized
Megan Bornhorst:
“Tony is like a Choice One Mr. Potato Head.”

If you follow Choice One on Facebook or Twitter, these photos will look familiar. Since the last Mindset, we’ve been “embellishing” our Flat Tony, as the real deal is STILL vacationing in Florida. (Don’t worry, we really don’t mind.) He’s been a pirate, a Scotsman, Zorro, a ballerina, a hula girl… you know, typical things civil engineers aspire to be.

That gets us thinking: as kids, what did other Choice Oners aspire to be?

  • Andy, Not Nick, and Matt wanted to be fighter pilots. Too much Top Gun as kids, gentlemen?
  • Megan wanted to be a princess, Holly a movie star, and Casey a wedding dress designer. It’s no coincidence, then, that the glamour of engineering won their hearts.
  • Brian Schmidt, Kaye, and Ryan Francis wanted to be veterinarians. Come to think of it, they do work with a group of monkeys every day…
  • Surveyors Allen Bertke and Wes Goubeaux wanted to be professional baseball players. Driving hubs is just like driving homeruns, right guys?
  • Ryan Lefeld wanted to play for the Cleveland Browns. Don’t give up on your dream Ryan: at this point the Browns would probably draft someone of your experience in the first round.
Coincidentally, as he was growing up, Tony earned the nickname “Tater” during his time in college. So Megan referring to him as Choice One’s Mr. Potato Head is really pretty apt, except that Tony doesn’t keep a spare set of shoes or eyes in a rear-end compartment (at least we hope not). If you’d like to see Tony decorated as a particular character, reply to this email and let us know. As long as it’s embarrassing, we can probably make it happen!
P.S. We’re only 26 days from the 2016 Charity Cup! Don your best polyester and “hustle” over on March 30!

19 Feb

Posted at 11:15h in Uncategorized

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!

05 Feb

Posted at 11:15h in Uncategorized

Mike Goettemoeller:
“I have Choice One clothes everywhere. Oxford, Loveland, Portland, Sidney, St. Henry… my car.”

Choice One engineer Mike G. is a bit of a nomad. He technically resides in Oxford, Ohio, but sometimes his mad traffic engineering skills bring him to various municipalities throughout the Choice One service area. This prompts him to occasionally crash (no traffic engineering pun intended) at his parents’ place in St. Henry, Ohio, or work from any of the three Choice One offices, whichever is handy at the moment. Heck, he could be on vacation for a week and we’d all just assume he’s at one of the offices we’re not.

We’ve covered some of the random things we stash in our cars, so Mike G.’s stash of clothing really isn’t a surprise. It’s smart, really, because if you’re caught at work without the standard-issue Choice One green, you owe the entire company lunch (which is less about cost and more about principle, just like buying [or not buying] doughnuts).

We play a cheerful version of “Where’s Mike G.?” when we need to find him, trying each of his office phone extensions and then throwing a dart at a map. Perhaps we should consider providing him with a green and white striped Where’s Waldo style Choice One shirt, hat, and glasses. At least that would give him one more article of clothing to stash in another locale.

22 Jan

Posted at 11:20h in Uncategorized

“Kaye, I can’t believe someone from Choice One could run out of green.”
– Nick Selhorst

Hopefully, you can empathize with Kaye, as most of us have been there: you arrive at a destination, let’s say the annual County Engineers’ Association of Ohio Conference an hour and a half away in Columbus, and realize you’ve forgotten your purse/wallet. Oh, and you’re out of gas and have to pay for parking.

We’ve all undoubtedly experienced that moment of panic when we wonder if we shut off the oven, locked the door, or turned off the car’s headlights so we don’t have to ask for a jumpstart twice in one day. After a moment of such panic, Kaye called up her local County Engineer, Shelby County’s Bob Geuy in hopes that he was in attendance. (Hey, she lives in Shelby County, so she votes for him every four years. He owes her, right?) But after reaching Bob’s voicemail, she remembered another friend, Montgomery County Senior Engineer Stephanie Goff, was presenting at the conference. A personally embarrassing, laughter-filled conversation later, Stephanie graciously loaned Kaye cash for parking
and gas.

We’re all human, and it’s humbling to be reminded that we have friends who understand and care (and can act as an impromptu ATM in a pinch). Thanks again, Stephanie, for paying it forward… literally.

08 Jan

Posted at 11:15h in Uncategorized
Megan Bornhorst:
“Congrats on the engagement, Casey! Will this be the first time we change someone’s initials here?”
Jeff Puthoff:
“No. We changed Nick Selhorst’s when he married Choice One.”

Backstory: everything we do at Choice One involves our initials, from official email addresses to hand-jotted notes. Using our unique initials is so commonplace we often refer to each other as AJB, CCE, WDG, and so on. Then, four years ago, the unthinkable happened. Two people had the same initials: Nicholas Jerome Sanders and Nicholas John Selhorst. Since Nick Sanders was already established as our official “NJS,” the newly employed Nick Selhorst became NNS, short for “Not Nick Sanders.”

Indeed, some clients actually call in and ask for “Not Nick” on a regular basis. And we’re pretty sure that’s ok with NNS, as he often refers to himself as “Not Nick” as well. Because let’s be real–being mistaken as Nick Sanders would mean endless hours of listening to Kenny Rogers.

Soon, the newly engaged Casey Heitkamp (CCH) will become Casey Reichert. And at Not Nick’s request, in honor of Casey’s engagement, we will be listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival (you know, CCR) all day at Choice One. Sorry Nick Sanders, it’s not a Kenny Rogers day.

Congrats Casey. Your bridesmaids will be wearing purple and green, right?

P.S. Save the date (sorry, not for Casey’s wedding): the Choice One Charity Cup is
March 30, 2016!

24 Dec

Posted at 01:00h in Uncategorized

Jeff Puthoff:

“I am a trendsetter once again: ‘Grinch Green’ will be the next hot fashion color.”

Boy, look at all of that holiday cheer. Developer Jessica Minesinger and the City of Troy’s Christy Butera were right when they told Jeff Puthoff that his shirt is “Grinch Green,” not Choice One Green. At least he’s in one of the Christmas colors—we all know he won’t wear red.

It’s not that Jeff actually dislikes Christmas, it’s more that all of that jolly, merrymaking stuff gets in the way of a few of his favorite winter activities, such as working cattle, wrenching on machinery, and complaining about the weather. Look on the bright side, Jeff, maybe Santa will bring you a shiny new John Deere tractor and minimal snow plowing this year. Or at least a market increase to $12.00 per bushel of soybeans.

From all of us at Choice One Engineering (including our resident Grinch): Thanks for a fantastic 2015, and we triple dog dare you to have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!