Archives for January 2024

Happy Wednesday! We’ve hit the middle of the week. Hang in there, the weekend is right around the corner!

In This Issue: Personality Tests | RJ45 Crimp Tool | Bidirectional or BiDi Transceivers Explained | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Personality Tests

Happy Wednesday!

I hope everyone is having a great week. Ever had conversations that sparked a pretty in-depth internal reflection? Over the past week, it seems lots of conversations have come up in my personal and professional life that have sent me down quite the trail of reflecting on who I am personally, who I am professionally, how I work, how I respond, how I react, etc.

I don’t know about you, but I used to be obsessed with taking all the personality tests that I could find. And there are a TON! At one point in my life, I felt like I was so into them that I was defining myself and changing who I was by what they said. There may have been some things that were like me already, but if there were other things – it kind of felt like I’d adapt to be right on par with them. Because of that, I stopped taking personality tests.

Anywho, the reflection moments I’ve been having recently have made me rethink about all those personality tests. They used to really control me or guide who I was – kinda nuts to think about that. But I’ve gone through quite a few significant life changes and events over the past year. Because of these things, there are moments when I realize that I’ve changed/grown. How I would have responded before, in certain situations, is not how I find myself responding or reacting now.

Do you enjoy personality tests? Which are your favorites? Have you been spending time reflecting this year on yourself personally and professionally? If you have, I hope that your reflections have been fruitful.

Have a good rest of the week!

Ashley

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Product Spotlights & Updates

This RJ45 crimp tool was designed with a built-in stripping blade to cut or strip the wire. This product will work with Cat5, Cat6, and Cat6A RJ45 ends.

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Learning Center Article – Bidirectional or BiDi Transceivers Explained

Fiber optics are great for achieving extremely fast networks. They’re also essential for very long networking connections that extend multiple kilometers in total distance. If the latter is important for your operation, then SFP is likely the fiber optic connection that you will need.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• SpaceX signed a deal with Starlab, the private space station joint venture of Voyager and Airbus, to launch on the company’s Starship rocket. The station is one of several currently in development by U.S. companies, as NASA prepares to retire the International Space Station in 2030.
• Walmart announced a three-for-one stock split. The company said the additional shares will be payable after the market closes Feb. 23 to shareholders of record as of the previous day.
• Starbucks has two new seasonal menu items for you to love this Valentine’s season, launching Tuesday, January 30, and available while supplies last. Read more here.
• The first fully Pixar-themed hotel in the United States officially opened at Disneyland resort on Tuesday. The 15-story hotel overlooking Disney California Adventure Park, which was previously Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel, was recently reimagined into the Pixar-themed hotel.

Happy Tuesday & Happy National Plan for Vacation Day! We’re almost a full month into 2024, so it’s the perfect time to start planning your next trip! Do you have an upcoming trip planned?

In This Issue: A Local Atlanta Hike | Cisco Aironet Deployment Kit | What is a Cat8 Ethernet Cable and How is it Different? | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – A Local Atlanta Hike

Good Morning & Happy Tuesday! Hope everyone is enjoying these last few days of January! It feels like the month that never ends with all the cold, dark, dreary days so I’m definitely excited to welcome February on Thursday!

We had quite a bit of rain last week and Saturday ended up being a total rainout which meant lots of time at home, but I was able to get outside for a hike on Sunday which is always such a mood booster! This time, instead of ice, we encountered LOTS of mud!

Normally we love to head up to north Georgia or the surrounding states for hikes with beautiful mountain views, but this time we decided to head into Atlanta to explore the East Palisades Trail which is a 4.2 mile trail that runs along the Chattahoochee River and leads to a magical little bamboo forest! We hiked this one a couple of years ago during the summertime and everything was lush, green, and beautiful. It definitely gave “Jungle Book” vibes and the reel we posted on it ended up going viral. It seemed like a lot of people were surprised to learn that this hidden gem exists right in Atlanta’s own backyard!

This time around it was a lot colder and far less beautiful due to hiking it in the dead of winter, but we still had a great time and the bamboo forest was still really fun to see! If you’re local, it’s worth checking out if you are looking for a quick day hike! It has a bit of elevation, but it’s definitely a family-friendly hike. Just be sure to follow the maps closely as it is VERY easy to get lost along the way due to lots of intersecting trails!

Hopefully, we’ll be blessed with a few warm days in February for getting outside and exploring!

Rebecca

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Product Spotlights & Updates

This is a complete accessory kit for the Cisco Aironet access points. Each kit will include every part that is needed to deploy an access point. This kit does not include antennas, This is designed for access points with internal antennas.

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Learning Center Article – What is a Cat8 Ethernet Cable and How is it Different?

Cat8 is the most modern, fastest Ethernet cable standard available today. Although Google tried to make fiber optics the standard for home internet connections, Ethernet has maintained a presence, and every few years new iterations are released that offer better performance. Let’s see how Cat8 stacks up to previous iterations of Ethernet.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• UPS fell short of Wall Street revenue estimates Tuesday, reporting drops in shipping volume, both internationally and domestically. The company also announced 12,000 layoffs as part of an effort to align resources in 2024.
• Starbucks is launching its Oleato drinks in all U.S. stores today! The beverages, named Oleato, debuted in Italy in February 2023 after former CEO Howard Schultz visited the country and noticed locals drinking olive oil daily.
• Netflix co-founder and executive chairman Reed Hastings has gifted two million shares of the streaming giant, according to a regulatory filing, with a current value of more than $1.1 billion.
• Tom Brady is merging his health and nutrition and apparel brands with Nobull. Brady will become the No. 2 shareholder of Nobull.

Happy Monday & Happy National Puzzle Day! Whether you’re a Sudoku master, crossword connoisseur, or jigsaw genius, take a moment to indulge in the joy of solving puzzles.

In This Issue: INK & Pokemon | Cisco Meraki MX100 Security Appliance | 4K vs 8K HDMI Cables: A Quick Guide 4K vs 8K HDMI Cables: A Quick Guide | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – INK & Pokemon

Happy Monday!

February is right around the corner and hopefully some warmer weather as well! The weekend was a bit cold and dreary, but we made the best of it by taking our kids to a hands-on Children’s Museum. We went to a place called INK (Interactive Neighborhood for Kids) and they had a great time. We celebrated my youngest’s birthday and her cousins came along and it was a bit of a mad house.

It seemed like there were several hundred kids there, but towards lunch, the place cleared out a bit and it was a bit more manageable. I think the heavy rain contributed to all the kids being indoors and parents just wanting an outlet to get all of the kid’s energy out.

Other than that, the weekend was pretty chill. I’ve been getting into the Pokemon Trading Card Game with my oldest daughter and we watched some of the regional tournaments in Liverpool, streamed live on YouTube. Pokemon has come a long way since I watched the show in 1997 and played Pokemon Blue on the original Gameboy (yeah I’m kind of dating myself lol).

I get to enjoy my daughter discovering the fun and I’m amazed at how the industry and the trading card game has grown. Last week there was a huge regional tournament in Charlotte with over 2000 competitors. I don’t know if we’ll get that serious about it, but it’s fun to watch.

Well, I gotta catch ‘em all! Have a great day and a wonderful week!

Cris

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Cisco Meraki MX family of devices are multifunctional security & SD-WAN enterprise appliances that feature a wide range of capabilities to address a wide variety of use cases – from an all-in-one device.

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Learning Center Article – 4K vs 8K HDMI Cables: A Quick Guide

Both types of cables are HDMI, and they are used for ultra-high-definition video. 4K is known as HDMI 2.0, and the cables support video at resolutions up to 2150p (3840 X 2160), which comes out to roughly 8 million pixels in an image.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Amazon has reported they will not move forward with a planned acquisition of vacuum-maker iRobot.
• Intel shares slumped 12% on Friday for their steepest drop since July 2020.
• Anyone else have Teams issues on Friday?! We did! Good news! Microsoft’s Teams services were restored on Saturday after a disruption blocked access to the messaging platform.
• Chinese tech giant Baidu will partner Samsung to integrate its Ernie chatbot capabilities into Galaxy S24 smartphones.

Happy Thursday! We hope you are having a great week. The weekend is just around the corner! Do you have any plans?

In This Issue: What the heck happened?! (pt. 5 from Craig) | Cage Nuts | Basics of MPO/MTP Fiber Cables | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – What the heck happened?! (pt. 5 from Craig)

Previously I wrote about the origins of the CK Daily, our work during Covid, and my need to take a sabbatical. Then I wrote about taking a 5 month sabbatical which led to me stepping out of the day to day of CK, and starting Millwood Land Company (EscapeTheHOA). Now, on to part 4.

“Everything is fine … until it isn’t”. – Someone.

2021 and 2022 were great years all around. CK did amazing – 2022 was the best year we ever had, Millwood did great, family was good, and everyone was happy.

As 2023 was marching on we were not seeing the sales we were used to the previous year at CablesAndKits, but we thought it was momentary. We didn’t realize it was going to keep sliding…. and sliding .. and sliding. Then suddenly things were upside down financially. What the heck happened?

I tried leading from the outside for a couple of months but things weren’t changing. I hesitantly and slowly stepped back in and started trying to help uncover what had happened. My wife said to the team “Craig is jumping back in”. I said, “I am not jumping, I am stepping”. A week later I said “Ok, I’ve jumped” lol. It’s really hard for me to do something halfway. I tend to be out or very much in. I was pretty suddenly very much in.

To be honest, I was a little nervous. I had been out of the business for nearly 3 years and wasn’t sure how those who had grown accustomed to not having a wild entrepreneur around would feel. To my pleasant surprise, many said “We need the entrepreneur right now”. It’s always nice to be wanted and needed. 🙂

So I’m back …. and things have been nuts … good nuts, but nuts nonetheless. We are uncovering issues and solving them. On to the next, on to the next, on to the next.

The goals were to:

1. Figure out what the heck happened
2. Fix it
3. Prevent it from happening again.

Simple, right? Not exactly …

More to come in part 5!

Craig

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Cage Nuts for use in equipment racks that have square mounting holes and use snap-in style rack clips. The cage nuts allow users to populate the rack (with square holes) with any of these screw types, or a combination of them, by using the correct nut. In addition, cage nuts eliminate the hassle caused by stripped threads in a drilled rack or enclosure. If the threads somehow strip, simply replace the nut with another nut.

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Learning Center Article – Basics of MPO / MTP Fiber Cables

Fiber optic cables drive modern communication. They are the only viable means for arranging the ultra-high-speed systems that run the backbones of digital communication. Long-range internet connectivity is dominated by fiber optic cables. Perhaps more importantly, the massive data processing that goes on at data centers does the majority of the workload for internet communications and digital information handling.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Amazon’s Ring said it will no longer allow police to request user footage in its neighborhood watch app called Neighbors.
• Meta’s market cap surpassed $1 trillion Wednesday. It’s the first time the company hit the milestone since 2021.
• Apple for the first time became the largest smartphone vendor in China by shipments.
• A Hamptons estate that was once listed for $150 million before falling into bankruptcy was sold at auction Wednesday for $88.5 million. The compound includes 23 bedrooms, two pools, a sunken tennis court, a home theater, spa, sauna and two gyms.

Happy Wednesday & Happy National Compliment Day! Take a moment to spread positivity and brighten someone’s day with a kind word. Wishing you a day filled with smiles, warmth, and the joy of making others feel appreciated.

In This Issue: Midweek Motivation | Cisco 3560X/3750X Four-Port Gigabit Ethernet Network Module | How to Use DAC Cables | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Midweek Motivation

Good morning & Happy Wednesday!

I hope everyone is having a great week. To be honest, the start of the year hasn’t been all that I hoped and dreamed it would be. I didn’t really kick off 2024 with big goals or resolutions, but I did have a lot of hope for what it would look like. It seems like the curve balls keep coming, turning this year into something I truly didn’t expect it would be. With that – I find myself trying to stay encouraged that the best is yet to come. Today I thought I’d share some quotes/verses of motivation. Enjoy!

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” — Michael Altshuler

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.” — Proverbs 3:5–6

“When you are in your rocking chair talking to your grandchildren many years from now, be sure you have a good story to tell.” — Amal Clooney

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” — Malala Yousafzai

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” — Isaiah 41:10

What quotes/verses do you read that keep you encouraged and hopeful? Send them my way and I’ll be sure to share them with everyone.

Have a great rest of the week!

Ashley

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Product Spotlights & Updates

When it comes to distributing fast signals across long distances, Cisco has several technology options available. One of them is the Cisco 3560x/3750x four-port Gigabit Ethernet module.

It is energy-efficient, secure, and scalable. It’s easy to use and reliable. You can easily connect your Ethernet switches to fiber via SFP connectors with this simplified module.

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Learning Center Article – How to Use DAC Cables

Fiber optic networking runs the world, but designing and maintaining a network is not a simple task. You’ll have to compare a lot of different equipment choices, and considering the power and equipment demands, it can be easy to go over your budget.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Swedish fintech firm Klarna is launching a monthly subscription plan in the U.S. to lock in its heaviest users ahead of an initial public offering this year. Klarna plans to roll out a high-yield savings account next, and subscription customers would likely earn a higher rate on savings.
• Chipotle Mexican Grill wants to hire 19,000 new workers ahead of its busiest time of the year.
• Johnson & Johnson has reached a tentative settlement to resolve investigations by more than 40 states into whether the company misled patients about the safety of its talc baby powder and other talc-based products.
• Spotify said it will update its iPhone app in Europe to allow users to buy subscriptions and audiobooks within the app.

Happy Tuesday & Happy National Pie Flavor Day! Treat yourself to a slice of your favorite pie. 🥧 What’s your favorite flavor of pie to enjoy?

In This Issue: Update: Successfully Found Frozen Waterfalls! ❄️ | Yealink CP920 IP Conference Phone | Understanding Server CPU Specs | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Update: Successfully Found Frozen Waterfalls! ❄️

Good Morning & Happy Tuesday! Hope everyone is thawing out after the frigid temps last week!

I was able to get outside for a little hiking adventure on Sunday and, while it was FREEZING, it was absolutely worth enduring the arctic blast to get to see some incredible sights! We had a plan to hit several falls throughout the day, with the first one being Holcomb Creek Falls in Rabun County, GA. We’ve hiked it before in warm weather and enjoyed it, but nothing can compare to what we saw on Sunday. It’s a 120-foot fall and much of it was frozen over making it look like an absolute winter wonderland! We were so impressed with the beauty that we saw there and spent a good bit of time soaking it in!

We finally left Holcomb Creek Falls and headed to Mud Creek Falls. It was a bit of an unusual experience as the falls are located within a country club and you literally park, walk 0.1 miles, and then you’re there! It was definitely not a hike, but it was a beautiful fall!

After that we headed up to Highlands, North Carolina to make a quick stop at Bridal Veil Falls before going to check out Dry Falls which was super impressive! We had to deal with a lot of ice getting down close to the falls. Normally you can walk behind them, but with the harsh conditions, the gate was closed so you could get close, but not up to the falls!

I’m including a couple of pictures so you can see how beautiful everything was!

Rebecca

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The CP920 meets business challenges in audio conferencing with its crystal-clear audio quality making it perfect for small to medium conference rooms. Stylish and ergonomically designed, the CP960 puts smooth and easy control at your fingertips.

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Learning Center Article – Understanding Server CPU Specs

Servers are essential for so many business applications these days. If you rely on your servers for anything, then you tend to rely on them for everything. When you’re shopping for servers (or looking to upgrade your hardware), you’re going to have to compare a lot of different specifications, and one of the most important components to analyze is the central processing unit (CPU).

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Netflix and TKO Group Holdings reported that they will air the WWE’s flagship program Raw starting next year. Netflix is trying to drive revenue by cutting down on subscription sharing and pushing viewers toward its ad-tier membership.
• Oatly and Carvel will partner to add oat milk-based items at the chain’s ice cream stores nationwide. The oat milk-based products will be available at nearly 300 Carvel stores located in 18 states.
• Yoplait is taking on major Greek yogurt brands like Chobani by launching a new offering that’s higher in protein yet still has the texture and flavors of classic Yoplait.
• Crumbl Cookie has unveiled its new lineup of flavors, and it includes the first non-cookie product the store has ever offered: Cinnamon Squares.