After the Sidney Choice One office completed it’s recent annual seat swap, Casey found herself “alone” in her new pod for a few days save for some special guests courtesy of our holiday decorating contest (check out all the photos on Choice One’s Facebook!).

There was concern the week before Christmas, as Mary’s light bulb burned out (there is some kind of analogy to make here about mothers with newborns… ). Luckily, Casey and her pod-mates Kyle Siegrist and Zach Borchers were able to remedy the situation to make sure Mary was brightly shining for Christmas Day and into the New Year.

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and from all of us at Choice One, including Mary and Joseph: Happy New Year! May you avoid burning out in 2023!

If you didn’t catch Choice One’s social media last week, you missed a post about our annual Skyline Chili Coney-Off. 27 Choice One competitors raced to see who could eat the most cheese coneys in an hour. If it isn’t clear from the photos, Dane was not the winner.

It was an epic day. Wagers were placed. The local Skyline locations were forewarned of impending doom… er, our arrival. Sabotage doughnuts may or may not have been sent to the Loveland office the morning of the event. A winner was crowned (congrats Nick Sanders!). And, at final tally, 58 feet, 11 inches of hot dog were consumed, which is about the height of an average silo, according to our farmer-engineers.

It’s a little surprising that the cheese slowed Dane down. Historically, Choice Oners, especially Dane, love cheese. Regardless, Dane was able to stuff down 5.5 coneys (and their cheese), but it wasn’t enough to beat Nick—who has once again won with a Lucky 13!

Watch your Happy Meals—we have a thief in the Loveland office! The sore thumb not in green is the legendary McDonald’s Hamburglar, with engineer Kristi Moorman behind the mask. Kristi wasn’t overly familiar with the Hamburglar’s vocabulary (which consists mainly of “CHEESEBURGER!” and “robble robble!”), so the Choice Oners old enough to remember the 1980s commercials featuring the McDonaldland crew educated Kristi on her temporary role.

This year we ran an impromptu campaign to collect donations for the Dayton Children’s and Cincinnati Children’s Ronald McDonald Houses. If we met our goal, Kristi promised to dress as the Hamburglar for an entire day at the office. We made good on reaching the goal, so Kristi made good on dressing up. During her day as the infamous fast food thief, she ate lots of smuggled cookies, politely posed for photos, and secretly insulted Skyline Chili, which the Hamburglar knows is inferior to McDonald’s tasty cheeseburgers.

Thanks, Kristi, for wearing the itchy costume to provide extra motivation to donate to a great cause. We certainly had a few laughs with you and were able to help stock up the kitchens at both hospitals’ Ronald McDonald Houses. And that’s worth a rousing “robble robble!”

It’s a touch blurry, but that is indeed engineer Brian Schmidt holding a Choice One “We’re Hiring” sign specifically because he saw a Google Maps car going by. And, clearly, he was successful at getting himself and the sign on the world wide web for the whole wide world to see. Go ahead—search for “Choice One Engineering Loveland Ohio” and check out the Google Maps Streetview to get several angles of Brian (with Troy Niese and Jesse Waggoner) as shown in the screenshot above.

We are hiring, so Brian’s efforts are greatly appreciated. But it’s a tough gig, working at Choice One. In Loveland we have to worry about daily flying objects. In Sidney? Really bright lights. Sure, there is sporadic tomfoolery and even doughnuts from Jeff Kunk sometimes, but the rest of the time? We’re dealing with coworkers like Ryan Francis, who is hogging all the monitors, and Nick Selhorst, who is throwing all of our stuff away.

Maybe you know someone who’s got what it takes. No, love for red tractors nor love for green tractors is required (but anyone who applies may want to love green regardless). There is occasional free food, impractical “sports” and, yes, fulfilling work, too, but we’re not for everyone. Think someone you know is brave enough? Check out our Join Us page… or at least check Brian, Troy, and Jesse on Google Maps.

It was the Wild West in Loveland this past Wednesday for the 2022 Choice One Loveland Charity Cup. Shootouts were held. Horseshoes (and tennis balls) were pitched… and stuck in chandeliers. Ridiculous photos were taken (that’s John Bear, with Fischer Homes, showing off his handiwork.)

While there was a rodeo of a bucketball tournament throughout the evening, the real attention goes to our amazing clients and friends who raised $21,600.00 for Sweet Cheeks Diaper Bank and the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Cincinnati! We can’t say “thank you” enough to those who attended. Not only did you contribute generously to two amazing causes, but you agreed to follow our silly bucketball throwing rules, posed willingly in our photo booth, and dealt with all the wild west clichés that can fit into one rootin’-tootin’ evening.

Extra points for style weren’t needed for our tournament winners, MI Homes Yellow (below, l-r Spencer Kerivan, Zach Toebben, Brad Austing and Choice One’s Jacqueline Huelskamp).

We hope you’ll all saddle up and return in 2023 to challenge the aim of the MI Homes posse, and most importantly, help us continue supporting the little buckaroos of the greater Cincinnati area so positively impacted by Sweet Cheeks and DSAGC!

Most afternoons, a good portion of the Loveland office takes an official Walk down the road to the mailbox to gather the day’s mail, get some fresh air, and… throw things.

The Afternoon Walk originated as a stationary “recess” in a detention basin, and has grown to a moving cloud of footballs and frisbees, all buzzing about as the group travels on foot along the low-traffic road. As they walk, you might hear “What project are you working on today?” followed by “GO DEEP ADAM!” Another 30 yards and it’s “How are the kids doing?” paired with “HEAD’S UP JACQUI!” And before they head back in the door, it might be “What’s up for the weekend?” before an “OOPS! SORRY SCHMIDTY!” as a few last second tosses finish the outing.

Although Choice One was founded in 1994, our Loveland office has been adding “ballers” since 2011, and 22 of our current 69 employees call the Loveland office home. So if everyone in Loveland takes the Afternoon Walk, that’s about five people per “flying object.” So Kristi, hope that makes you feel like you’re in less danger. To keep safe, just don’t let the Afternoon Walk get crossed with Sledgehammer Putt-Putt…